Career Salisbury The Invincibles!! - SEASON 12

[Meow]

Heya, started unemployed in FMM22. It turned out to be a riveting tale, and a save I've grown to love.

I started unemployed on the lowest reputation, with the plan to holiday for 1 year and then see what jobs were on offer.

 

Season 1 - Sitting on my ass

I actually got some job offers without applying at all

Spoiler

High flyers in the VNN, York.

And 8th placed Woking in the VNL, which I'm fairly certain I could push to promotion.

As tempting as being in the Football League by Season 2, I stuck to my plan. Waited for the season to tick over...

2 golden opportunities in the VNS! I promptly sent in my application.

It took some time till the offer. In that time, whoever had interim control on the transfers spent the entire 1.5k wage budget.

This was what I was faced with

"Hey we've got only 5 players, I could really use some extra wag-" REJECTED!

Alright... all the transfer budget is to be moved to wages.

This is my squad I ended up with, all free transfers or loans

£600 over the wage budget and still only 18 members in the squad. This is going to be a LOOONG season ahead.

Edited October 7, 2022 by Meow

[Meow]

Season 2 - Am I even sure what I'm doing?

The plan really was to loan in very talented fullbacks from League Two teams, and exploit the rigid 442s played at this level

Rather amusingly, I opted to base it on a tactic I have been using from ages ago.

 

It started well, very well

but with a 18 man squad and as the fixtures piled up, so did injuries

and much much more...

 

Cup Run - Giant Killing Spree

I actually was really motivated for the cup runs.

This win against Leyton Orient means I could match even League Two teams.

And the board gives me money for beating teams in higher leagues. +1 squad member

Another League Two team, another +1 squad member.

This is turning into a sad bastardised version of win one take one... except instead of taking players from the opponents I beat, I get 10-20k from the board which I convert to wages and rummage through the discard pile of unemployed players

And in the FA Cup Third Round

Unfortunate in many ways, because I'd much rather have tried by hand against a League One team or go out beautifully getting smashed by a Premier League team

The result was heart wrenching

Even worse they missed 3 straight, but we failed to capitalise

However overall it was a good FA Cup run and it made me confident that I will be in the Football League extremely soon.

 

I also had a moment where it hit me (together with the fact that this cup exists):

If I could beat league two teams, surely this trophy is a realistic target for this season?

 

Of course, I am still up against National League sides, and fortunately I only ran into them from the semi-finals onwards

I was stunned by an unfamiliar 5221 formation

but ultimately I succeeded in knocking them out and advancing to the finals

 

Overall it was an uneventful finals, but Cameron Thompson scores in typical fashion with blistering speed!

 

Vanarama National South League - Much closer than the final results suggest

Kingstonian were actually got on hot heels for the entire first half of the season, in fact we entered January level on points at about 60 points.

Eventually as the season progressed (and my squad increased from 18 to 20 with FA Cup money), it was a completely different tale for the two of us. Yet it looks it won't be the last time we see them, as newly promoted Salisbury FC and Kingstonian will both be promoted once again.

In fact, it seems like newly promoted sides did very well in the Vanarama North and South. They are 3 out of 4 of clubs that will be promoted into the Vanarama National League.

 

Player of the Season - Is using him even fair?

15 pace, 14 stamina and 16 shooting is lethal at the semi-pro level

He tore up the goalscoring charts.

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by Meow

[MikeF]

Nice start. I like the idea of starting in season two with one of the newly promoted teams to the football pyramid.

[Meow]

12 hours ago, MikeF said:

Nice start. I like the idea of starting in season two with one of the newly promoted teams to the football pyramid.

Glad to hear you liked the decision, it took me a little bit of deliberating before I settled on turning down the York offer.

York actually got promoted and Woking stayed in the Vanarama National League. 2 other National League sides also offered me jobs at the start of the 3rd season, so this year I'm playing 4 sides that I've turned down offers from haha

[Meow]

Season 3 - Quest For Football League Status (with lots of frees and loans)

Word seem to be going around about this new and upcoming manager, storming the Vanarama National South and later the Vanarama National League. He's even taking on some giants in the FA Cup toe to toe.

There actually was a lot of offers, so I'll leave them in a spoiler (except the last one)

Spoiler

And the last one I actually took up, because it was too good to refuse.

I'm not even sure if this is supposed to happen, I'm only regional reputation and I don't think I've done enough to warrant close to this job offer didn't pick Ivorian nationality either. I have seen people comment say the international offers are kinda wonky, but hey I'm accepting it.

But let's get on with the main course, my club career

 

Transfers - Still basically broke

The plan was to build on what I had last season, I think my players last year could already propel the club into league two. The issue was just that we only had 20 (14 when the 6 loan players left). I just needed more players around the quality of my current squad that can serve as rotation options.

Oh and they have to be free, cause I'm mostly broke

The club ended up with 26 players, much healthier squad depth. I'm very satisfied with the quality of the transfers, and these are ones I am the most proud of 

Spoiler

The tall towering target man, Tom Eaves! I'm playing a 442 with a classic big man little man, so his stature certainly helps and he is complemented well by Cameron Thompson

 

With the departure of Adam Wilson, a player like Llanez here makes absolute sense. He will be playing Inside Forward on the left so 15 in dribbling and shooting will be lethal at non-league level. Also he has this thing called caps, which is cool.

 

Absolute tank of a defender, he's got the goods where it matters. No doubt he'll form the spine of my team even in the football league.

 

Little more in the other direction, someone that hopefully grows together with the club as I am planning a rather swift ascent up the football pyramid. Costing only 4k from Boreham Wood FC, surely a steal! 

 

Young exciting winger Sam Folarin also joins us, looks to me like he can do just about anything.

I did raise about 1 million pounds from player sales, but most of it had to be spent on upgrading the training and youth facilities from "poor" to "good", which just about took away most of it.

 

Cup Run - Out for Blood

Last year I was out for blood in the FA Cup out of necessity, but I have developed quite a taste for it and I just want to go all out for the fun of it.

FA Cup

The first big test was Charlton away, a team just promoted from League One but a Championship team nonetheless.

We were battered, but really we fought for it. And did they really get FM'd by me if I had more Clear Cut Chances?

 

The Dons didn't faze me either

 

But as soon as the next draw was announced, I knew my time of playing a back 3 with a midfield square and knocking the ball long for 90 minutes was over

Expectedly we were no match for Leicester, but they required extra time to knock us out. If only we had taken that clear cut chance (which was before extra time)…

 

FA Trophy

I was honestly expecting a routine win of this cup at this point to be honest. I had no issues even taking on League Two sides in the FA Cup. And for a while it went as planned

 

But in cups, all it takes is just 1 moment and your campaign is over

Harrogate actually went all the way in the FA Trophy, winning the whole thing. But also rather amusingly finished in the relegation zone of the Vanarama National League.

 

Vanarama National League - Onward to the Football League

We had much more of a sweep of the league this year. We pulled clear of the pack in November by smashing then 2nd placed Chesterfield 3-0, and had a quiet end of the season after being knocked out of the cups.

 

We were sensational in attack, but all our strikers picked up injuries at various points of the season and so we rotated.

 

Player of the Season - The Future of the Club?

So yeah, we have been promoted into the football league. These are the lads especially that we can thank for that.

But who was THE BEST? Very tempted to go based on goals, ratings or maybe even the tricky winger that provided the bulk of the assists.

Ultimately despite being very young and not playing that many games, he scored most of his goals when it mattered. He was brought into the first team when Folarin got injured and his backups were getting tired from the fixture congestion, I just let him continue in the first team after some good performances. 

He's also got mean eyebrows and a sexy haircut

Really delighted with his progress too

Edited January 5, 2022 by Meow

[SlyViper]

Wow looks like Kingstonian are following you up too!

[Meow]

1 hour ago, SlyViper said:

Wow looks like Kingstonian are following you up too!

They are! In fact after noticing it, I went to look at the 8 clubs that got promoted into both the VNN and VNS that year (5 in the south and 3 in the north). Since you've pointed it out, I'd like to give an update about those. It breathes some life into the save!

The clubs that have been recently promoted have had a lot of positive momentum. All of them have been incredibly successful, none of them have been relegated in the 2 seasons and many have gotten promoted again.

 

League Two

Spoiler

Besides us, there has actually been another club climbing together with us. Feels a bit like a sibling storming the leagues together, in fact they've been playing very well in League Two as well.

I've actually been deliberately organising friendlies with them every pre-season. They've actually amassed quite an interesting squad.

If you notice, I've actually sold Mini to them. He was not my signing in the first place, and when I saw them bid I instantly accepted.

Vanarama National League

Spoiler

From the South,

We actually have name familiar to us. Gosport Borough were the weakest of the bunch of 5 VNS teams, finishing in 13th. Yet here they are, clinching promotion! 

 

In the North,

We also have a familiar name, Buxton who achieved promotion via playoffs from the VNN to play together with us in the VNL. They finished 9th and just 3 points off the playoff spots, so hopefully we see them again.

 

I don't think FC United of Manchester needs much introduction to the people who play Football Manager

They just got promoted from the VNN via the playoffs in the season just past, and will be competing in the VNL this season

Vanarama North/South

Spoiler

Establishing themselves rather comfortably in the Vanarama North and South, we also have 3 more teams

Hendon, who was the other club that needed a manager at the start of this save. They finished 8th both times in the VNS, missing out on the playoffs by just 1 spot. Maybe they could build a solid foundation to slowly ascend the english football pyramid 

 

Carshalton Athletic actually gave us a good run for our money in the first season, finishing runners-up. They actually finished in the play-offs in 5th, but still haven't achieved promotion.

 

Tamworth is an unfamiliar name to us in the story so far, but they have actually been doing very well. They have performed well just like Carshalton and also finished in 3rd in both seasons. However just like Carshalton, they have not have much luck in the playoffs.

This was actually quite fun.! I've also kept a shortlist of ex-Salisbury players, so maybe we can have a little catchup with some of them in the future

Edited January 5, 2022 by Meow

[Meow]

Season 4 - The Hawks are Swirling

Bigger teams are definitely taking a notice of us and our squad. While I'm certain the manager is safe from temptation (because it's me lol), I can't say the same about the players.

Nonetheless I have received some offers

Spoiler

It baffles me that they think I'll accept jobs for financially mismanaged clubs just 1 league up.

 

Transfers

IN

Out

 

Detailed thoughts on the transfers

Spoiler

I knew my squad was quality and frankly still too good for League Two, but I also know what it lacks. Leadership and a proper set-piece taker.

With a proper core of players brought in when we were in the National League, we really just needed a little refreshing of the squad. Along with all of last year's academy players, out went 4 players. Only Wegkamp was hard to part with, but really we were moving on from the big man little man 442.

In their place I brought in someone who could lead the troops, though the squad probably has 3 centre backs that are better than him

He almost wasn't given a work permit, but it went through on appeal and our team had a new captain. I could hear the sigh of relief from Idris Hicks and Chris Stokes in particular, who were the captains for Season 2 and Season 3 respectively.

 

Not sure how much I'd usually recommend bringing in a luxury players who only serves as a mentor at this level, but for £500 it's hard to say it was a bad move

 

Finally... would it be incredibly irresponsible of me to chuck a fresh academy graduate onto the field for his expertise in dead ball situations?

 

Tactical Changes - 4231 or a 433? Yes

Big decision to shift from the asymmetric 442 to the... well I call it an asymmetric 4231.

Oh Anderson is supposed to be a BWM in this case, probably took a wrong screenshot. The DM is only DLP if Thorn plays there with Clarke as a B2B in the MC position.  

 

Cup Runs

Probably the limpest exits so far of any season, after so many heroic wins against League One sides. Nope this year I just get knocked out by all competitions by January

Spoiler

We also got knocked out by Norwich in the FA Cup on the 4th of January, but the history from the fixture list broke and I can't screenshot it.

 

 

January Transfer Window - A Small Fish in A Big Ocean

I have never covered the winter windows in this career so far, but only because they've been thoroughly uneventful. We had predominantly been signing out of contract players and have only sold 1 player midseason so far, but really all the action has been in the summer window.

This season was different. We've felt all powerful being the big fish in a small pond for a long time and even occasional triumphs in the cup against much lower sides has not really stirred the pot much. Perhaps the mere 1-0 defeat against Leicester last season as a non-league side has gotten a few scouts on us, because for once it felt like I did not have control and I just couldn't wait for the window to end.

January Transfer Window in Detail

Spoiler

Rumours starting circulating right before the window opened about some of our players wanting to move to a club with better facilities to fulfill their potential. It was partially true, we had players who wanted to move to fulfill their potential but it had nothing to do with our facilities which were in good shape. 

Yet the first bids that came it were for players who weren't even involve in the rumours, 3 separate bids for the former Liverpool academy player Dannie Anderson and a substantial bid for last season's star man Connor Barnsley. We swiftly rejected the bids, which caused much uproar in the dressing room. It didn't help that our form was shaky in December, which just got worse in January.

In the chaos, I had a moment of calm

Hold up Ross Marshall, you barely survived being moved on last summer. Getting a little too big for your station, are we?

I even opted for asymmetric and for Anderson to play BWM at DM so you stayed. Out with you!

I almost almost made it out of the transfer window without a departure I wasn't comfortable with, but it wasn't to be

Idris Hicks, I thought you were good enough to take all the way to the Championship as first choice. I thought you would be the one, but you left me when I was finally planning to transition from you being the understudy of Jake Eastwood to taking over. I stuck with you and your 2 reflexes and even quadrupled it in the time we've had together.

Good thing we secretly cloned him before he went  But seriously I don't think Hatfield has got as much potential (despite what the coaches think), and even if he does he isn't ready to quite take over Jake Eastwood yet. He'll be backup for now and looks like we have to get Eastwood again or look for a new keeper next season

 

Contract Disputes

Spoiler

Good lad with high professionalism and work rate, but mate you aren't the player you once were. He refuses to accept 1k and backup status, and his contract runs out in June

 

I did bring in a replacement early, he was out of contract in North America so he arrives January. I really do want Eaves to stay on as a mentor, but we'll see how it goes.

 

International Management - Still Baffles I Am Here

Spoiler

Surprised it was pretty easy, at the very least it was harder than winning with Morocco in FMM20

 

League Two - Thank God the January Transfer Window Ended

We were genuinely at risk of having to endure the drama of the playoffs during January. The chaos saw us got kicked out of both the FA Cup and JPT, but it got really easy 2nd half of the season with only the league to focus on and the players stopped being angry. It looks like we cruised it, but we didn't really.

Unfortunately @SlyViper, despite a flying start Kingstonian just couldn't do it at this level.

Injuries did Fenwick in early in the season, so really with the rotation there wasn't much chance our players were going to top the goalscorer chart.

 

Player of the Season - One of Our Own!

My favourite part of every year is looking at every player and see how much they've improved or if someone has pushed into the first team. Connor Barnsley again an influential player, it's also nice to see Thompson, Fenwick and Llanez maintaining their performances in the Football League

I also noticed Thorn and Raikhy over the season being reliable in midfield, with Thorn providing assists from deeper free kicks and having quite a decent long shot. The ratings are very bad at reflecting that however.

 

The player of the season has to be Farrington, a lot of pressure to be thrown into the first team of a newly promoted club. He really made the difference too 

I think his attributes looks promising too, he'd be class with just a couple points here and there 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Meow

[Rich]

Well done mate, great job. Good luck in league 1 😁

[Meow]

Season 5 - Squeaky Bum Time in the League

Although we face yet another step up again, I'm fairly confident in the squad's ability to perform. Looking back it really was Season 3 in the Vanarama National League that we brought in a huge amount of talent, most of them for free.

I actually didn't really had to do much looking around myself, really left it to Jake Cole to just scout for players with expiring contracts. Speaking of the scouting team though, we actually have major news

That's right our very beloved Chris Stokes has joined the scouting team and will be retiring from football. I'll cover him more in the transfer segment.

 

Transfers

IN

OUT

Not pictured above are actually 2 more departures. Our versatile winger Sam Folarin left in May to a non-league club and the departure didn't carry over, and as mentioned before veteran left-footed centreback Chris Stokes became a scout.

A crucial area that was covered was goalkeeper, where Jack Butland is very capable at this level.

 

Detailed thoughts on the transfers

Spoiler

Letting go one of my better deals 2 years ago. He was promising and I thought I could squeeze out maybe 2-3 points across the board, maybe bring him into the Premier League. Not only has he not stepped up a level, he actually has seen 0 growth across all the attributes.

I was probably going to move him on anyway, if not this year probably the next. So when Bromley came in with 160k, I let him go.  

 

And with his departure, the one likely to fill his role is a loanee from Reading. Very proud of this signing, completely free with 0 wage contribution and can play both wings.

 

I also thought that our youth intake was pretty good this time around

 

Meanwhile 3 of my players in particular are drawing top flight attention. Although they wanted the opportunity to talk to those clubs, they didn't really kick up much of a fuss when I rejected all the bids.

And yet again, another window passes with my squad intact. Relegation release clauses only apply to the league they are signed in, right? RIGHT?

 

And just like my players, I was also very much disciplined and faithful of the current project at Salisbury

Spoiler

 

Tactical Changes - Just a normal sane 4231

No major changes really, a shift in position but the basic shape and remains the same. In fact, I'd argue this isn't even that far different from the 442 I played previously.

 

Cup Runs - Finally!

League Cup

Actually had a very historical moment for the club, we beat a Premier League team. Well a relegation threatened side who only got promoted from the Championship via playoffs, but a Prem team nonetheless

We were however expectedly knocked out by an established midtable Premier League side

 

FA Cup

We also made it quite far in the FA Cup, but I'm less worried that we lost and more worried of the scale of the loss against a midtable championship side.

 

PJT

It had been sometime since we've won anything but the league, so I did try hard to win the PJT.

And it was ultimately worth it, as we got our hands on another silverware in front of a giant crowd in Wembley

 

January Transfer Window - Oh god who did he lose this time?
No one actually. I was busy looking at foreign players who could possibly get a work permit. 

Spoiler

It's hard to find players that are both good enough and willing to join, especially since the clubs reputation is now trailing it's actual standing in the league. There's a reason we've been Jordan Addo-Antoine from Reading for the 3rd season in a row, fullbacks have been a particularly a problem position. Maybe an expansion of our search range could help.

Doesn't help that I'm a stingy bastard either

 

Turns out the work permit office were particularly ruthless today, all the Comoran, Gabonese and Burkinabe players were savagely rejected. 2 got their work permits though

Sanchez, just hoping for some actual people that can play leftback.

 

Cavada, totally scouted him for his 20 leadership. No caps oddly, but I guess he played enough games in the Italian Serie C?

 

League One- On Edge the Entire Season

Even though it was one of our more consistent seasons in the league, this was the closest title race out of all the seasons so far.

We even had to play Derby on the final game week, which makes having 1-3 points difference between us for almost the entirety of the season really nerve wrecking. 

We did clinch it in the end, but mad respect to Derby for keeping pace with me the entire season.

 

It has also been ages since one of our players won the golden boot, and by a ridiculous margin as well.  

 

All of that of course was helped by incredible service by the rest of the squad, especially our wingers and our freekick taker Thorn.

 

Player of the Season - His Name is So Cool Too

I wish the game tracked goals per minute. Gabriel von der Reith's goal return looks crazy, but it's actually even more insane because I took him off regularly after 25-45 minutes to keep him fresh for the next game. The dilemma is real, but I have on occasion took the left IF off (usually Llanez or Atta) played him as a wide Target Forward with Eric Farrington down the middle.

Zion Atta also had an amazing season, though it seems West Ham is sniffing around and he has declared he wants to go.

 

In any case, he looks absolutely amazing. Him, Barnsley and Farrington will be crucial players and also garnering attention from top flight clubs.

Just as a more meta gaming side, I actually think he has got really good PA. He's this good and still improving. Barnsley meanwhile I think will be good but not quite elite. Still unsure about Farrington, cause he's a little younger

I'm planning to retrain him as a AML in the advanced playmaker role, to focus his training on his weakest attributes and give him familiarity in the position. 

 

Next update, I'll update you about the 2026 World Cup as the Ivory Coast manager. Along with that, I'll talk about how some of the past Salisbury players have done since moving on from the club.

[Rich]

What an excellent season again mate, great league campaign and great cup runs! Great write up as well 👏🏻

[Meow]

32 minutes ago, Rich said:

What an excellent season again mate, great league campaign and great cup runs! Great write up as well 👏🏻

I like crafting little narratives around players. I'd write all day about where many of the well-known players go in the save if I could, but I'll stick just with the occasional update about some players. Mostly past Salisbury players. I do share more in chats like Discord and Telegram, but I summarise quite a lot for the Vibe post.

Here's just a sliver of it: Basically I noticed Riyad Mahrez was playing for Ipswich in League One, so I looked around some of my fierce competition for League One promotion spots. Apparently I was up against some pretty stacked teams for this level.

Spoiler

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Meow

[StuartM]

Going very nicely mate, well done!

[Meow]

4 hours ago, StuartM said:

Going very nicely mate, well done!

Thanks mate! Based on matchups in the cups, I was very worried for quite a few seasons about the step up into the Championship. Now the season before, I'm beating Championship teams in the cups and I'm quietly confident about next season.

[Rich]

You need to be involved more with the community, a compliment, you speak a lot sense and things I would say 👏🏻

[Meow]

1 hour ago, Rich said:

You need to be involved more with the community, a compliment, you speak a lot sense and things I would say 👏🏻

Oh you flatter me. I would say though I've met 3 other friends in real life who played FMM as well, it is fascinating seeing playstyles and tactics that evolve independently from Vibe. I'm guessing that's also partly the fascination here haha

[Meow]

World Cup 2026 Update and Reminiscing Old Salisbury Players

I thought I'd give a little update on the international career a bit. The World Cup as Ivory Coast is a little more of a challenge than the AFCON, so might be a little more drama.

And with along with this update, I thought I'd have a little nostalgia trip talking about the original Salisbury players from our Vanarama National South year and how they've been doing in the save.

 

World Cup - Smashed The Group Stages

Group Stages

Not much to say here, Netherlands might have been an actual threat if they had real players. But really I've been using Germany and Netherlands with their greyed out players as spanking boys by arranging friendlies with them, smashing them 5-0 or 6-0 just to farm elo.

 

Knockout Round

With a first place finish in the group stages, the first knockout round is way too easy. Gotta hand it to FIFA, these countries must feel so included in the World Cup 🙄

 

Next round is where the real knockout stages start, and we've been drawn out against England.

Unfortunately even against a 10 man England side, we were toothless and they even scored one against us to send us crashing out.

 

Uruguay ended up winning the entire thing

 

Aftermath of The World Cup

The Ivorian FA were satisfied with the performance, but I wasn't. 

I do genuinely think I've brought Ivory Coast as far as I can, they've got good players, but they particularly lack good keepers and both are now in their 30s.

 

I was shopping around for a new team and there actually wasn't many teams that would accept a National reputation manager not of their nationality. One that did pop up was this.

I'd also like to say that the previous Jamaican manager was a genius, a sacked genius but a genius nonetheless. Really good players who have Jamaican 2nd Nationality were called up. Trying to win the Gold Cup with Jamaica is actually a possibility and would actually be a good challenge for me.

 

Reminiscing About The Old Days - Nostalgia Trip

It's season 5 and we're deep into the Football League. I think it's a good time to just look back on some of the lads that were the backbone of our team when we first took over. There a good balance of players that still remain at the club, still at the club we moved them on to and some that have since moved on to other clubs.

It's nice to go through all of these players because it does bring the save to life, but also it could be a good recommendation to pick up these lads on any lower league management save, since they were many were released by their and can be gotten free with low wage demands.

 

Players Still At the Squad

There are actually 3 players back from the Vanarama National South season still in our squad. 2 of them would be great additions for any non-league save and the last of them is a regen

 

Spoiler

Jordan Helliwell

Incredibly versatile player. Initially he played all across the backline, but as we stepped up into the football league he has only played as a fullback. Average rating is pretty harsh on him since FMM counts late-game subs getting a 6 into the ratings.

He's one of those coveted player who can be played on both sides and doesn't really complain about game time. He's very good in the non-leagues with his athletic abilities really shining, and he has been a very valuable squad member filling in in both left and right back.

 

Cameron Thompson

The man can run, the man can shoot, he's Cameron Thompson. The star man of Season 2 stepped down into the non-leagues with us, but has very much found his level in the football league with us.

He's one of those players who are incredibly specialised in what he is able to do, and he's really shone for us over the years.

 

Timmy Fenwick

The man that came on loan to us from Crawley, bought into the Salisbury project and moved to us permanently for 14k when we were promoted to the Vanarama National League.

Timmy Fenwick is probably one of the fastest players around and uses it to his advantage. Although the players he has had to come against are getting better every year, so is Fenwick. He's even been garnering attention from FA Cup holders Nottingham Forest, but we have decided to hold onto him.

 

The Loanees

We also had the maximum of 6 loanees that season, our wage budget was extremely tight and in all honesty these players from League Two level clubs were very good in carrying our squad to the next level. With Fenwick already mentioned, these are the 5 other loanees 

Good number of these players only did play 1-2 season with us in the non-leagues, but I'd reckon they'd be good recommendations for a non-league save as well.

Spoiler

Junior Tchamadeu

One of the key areas I wanted to be really strong was the wingbacks. Tchamadeu is really a physical phenomenon, and good technical and mental attributes for this level.

Salford did get promoted the season where he was with us, so he returned to become a regular starter for a perpetually relegation threatened League One team.

 

Damian Secilla

Tchamadeu's left sided counterpart is Secilla. I do recall he looked about as good as Tchamadeu was when they were both with us.

Leyton Orient let him go to French club QRM, but he's been struggling for game time and his development has stalled.

 

Jonathan Rides

Kidderminster Goalkeeper was the goalkeeper we loaned in that year. He played a bit at the start, got injured for a month and we ended up playing Hicks in goal for the rest of the season.

Can't say he's really done that well for his career.

 

Louis Hutchings

The last player that we loaned for only 1 year was Louis Hutchings and one of the players we loaned from our senior affiliate Reading.

He had a decent year with us, but never broke into the Reading side and eventually moved on a free to Truro.

 

Harrison Furlong

The only player here we brought in for loan and decided to bring him again next season for the Vanarama National League, we always was a tireless box to box midfielder that we could rely on.

Only enough despite never breaking into the first team of Reading, fellow Championship side Burnley was interested and he moved North for quite a cut-price fee.

 

Players We Let Go A Little Too Early

With every transfer window, you move on players, sometimes it turned out to it was premature and other it was not really your choice. Although you have done well, you do wonder what could have been, and these players have done much better than what you expected.

Spoiler

Oliver Denham

Even though Denham played decently for us, I thought he was worth letting go when a bid from then VNL side Notts County. Both him and Notts County have since climbed to League One together with us, and even finished 9th this season.

While I wouldn't take him now into the Championship, maybe he could have done it for us a couple years more.

 

Gerrit Wegkamp

Actually one of the players that was signed before I joined the club. He had 2 sensational seasons with us alongside Cameron Thompson, but he wasn't getting any younger so I let him move on for a pretty cut price when Chesterfield came knocking for him at the time.

He definitely wasn't one for the long term, but I certainly overestimated on how quickly he would have declined. Maybe we could have brought him into League Two for a final hurrah.

 

Idris Hicks

Going from players we let go by choice, to one where we did have our arms twisted a little. I was happy with our performance with in the FA Cup against a Premier League Leicester side, but little did I know that would have eventually led me to lose my first choice goalkeeper.

I was planning to have him till my Championship season, but looking at him now I'd argue he could have gone all the way to the Premier League and then became a really good 2nd choice keeper. Very obviously he didn't immediately break into the Leicester first team, but he's had some loan spells to gain experience but he already looks a good player for only 4.7m.

 

Timely Departures

Sometimes the good times must end, and end it did. We still had good memories with these players, but we did move them on for both our sake and for their careers.

Spoiler

Adam Wilson

I think Adam Wilson is tale of a timely departure. He performed well for us and wanted a move to a larger club. Notts County was perhaps an appropriate club for him to go to. And for us we got a really good compensation for him, all of which went to upgrade the training facilities.

It wasn't to be for him though, after a rapid rise by Notts County he has actually been pushed out of the first team. Hopefully he gets to move on and revitalise his career.

 

Ben Dempsey

We let go of our playmaker at the time, but Dempsey might have bitten a bit more than he could chew by moving straight to a League One club. Only recently has he broken into the first team, but only since Mansfield have been relegated to League Two

 

Isaac Christie-Davies

Bit of a sub player for us, but the ratings is a bit harsh on him since he often came on late for someone else.

Made a massive move to Chesterfield together with 2 other players when we got promoted into League Two, but unlike the others he hasn't really found his foot there

 

Christie Elliot

He wasn't really the type of player I would have gone for, but I was very short on rightbacks and he was one of the better ones that were free. He was also one of the older heads, which really helped to stabilise a rather young side, especially in defense.

He has actually kicked on pretty well and has really found his level in the VNL. Still going strong despite being 35.

 

Kitt Nelson

Nelson was a wonder for us, having a player able to play both wings with only 5 subs was really valuable.

Moved him on the VNL club York, but he's failed to get any game time since.

 

Mini

I'll be honest, at the time I let him go because Kingstonian bid for him. Can't say all has went well for him and the club, who after reaching the dizzying heights of League Two have now been relegated back to the Vanarama National South.

 

Larnell Cole

Probably one of the players that has done the worst since leaving. Northampton really was a level too much for Larnell Cole. He has now moved back to the level he left us at, but he really hasn't looked the same.

 

Nelson Aideyan 

Aideyan was actually an unexpected departure. We were looking to move him on, but no club were interested. Eventually we found a club in Scotland that were willing to make a straight swap for him and Calvin Wilson.

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Meow

[Guest]

At least you are getting 100 points I just secured 3 points in VNN and got the sack at last but yeah  

[Rich]

My man 👏🏻
 

Doing some great stuff again, really enjoying your journey.

[Meow]

21 hours ago, Tanza said:

At least you are getting 100 points I just secured 3 points in VNN and got the sack at last but yeah  

Well I'm not doing anything special tactically, it's a lot of sending scouts out and checking scout reports. I'd say my specialty is assembling good squads for next to nothing.

I often hearing people that are always desperately finding tactics and also people who never play their friendlies. I'm baffled to think there's probably overlap in those groups of people. Not only do I play friendlies, I arrange so we play 7-9 friendlies. It helps at the start of the save, when changing tactics, when there's massive turnover in the squad and for squad fitness.

9 hours ago, Rich said:

My man 👏🏻
 

Doing some great stuff again, really enjoying your journey.

Haha good to know you're loving it. Now that I'm in the Championship it gets exciting for the readers, since we can start pulling recognisable names on a free. To put it in perspective, Facundo Pellistri was released on a free by Man U. He's out of my budget, but hopefully it gets you eager waiting for the next update to see who I've signed.

I'm personally always excited by my transfers, but I've got to convey and give background story to let the readers understand that. With some names, I don't even need to do that.

[Meow]

Season 6 - Tactical Tinkering

Big season up ahead and I've promised @StuartM and @Rich there'd be really good transfers coming in. This is actually the most confident I've felt about my squad against the rest of the league, and you'll see why.

 

Transfers

IN

Yes, THE Emi Buendia and Billy Gilmour. Massive players for a club just promoted into the Championship. On a free, as well.

OUT

A massive farewell to our captain Farrando and Jordan Helliwell who has been with us from the beginning. Thorn and Atta are also high performing players, but I felt we already replaced them.

 

I've also learnt from @Scratch that academy graduates from improved facilities tend to generate players with much better hidden attributes. So it could make up for a slightly lower natural ability.

I was already planning to make a solid squad out of players that come through, with Eric Farrington, Sami Jarvis and Jordan Minshull already finding their way into the first team.

 

Detailed thoughts on the transfers

Spoiler

I guess it's worth mentioning about my only cash purchase for the window, especially since I've mostly had free agents and bosmans almost every year

You know it's always a proud moment to have your first South American wonderkid regen. He looks like a good all round player, but I will be turning him into a playmaker (ignore the CM trained role, I changed that immediately after).

"How did he get a work permit?" you might ask. Well, he didn't. He's just English.

 

As always, and especially with a rising reputation

Spoiler

 

Final Squad - Looking Powerful

Took a little longer than usual to get the snapshot of the squad because I wanted to retrain Farrington in the AMC position to at least dark green.

I'm also doing a little tactical experiment. Tom Eaves have somehow turned my entire factory line of center forwards into aerial and strength powerhouses. Von der Raith, Farrington, Schieskow and Forster are all 16-17 aerial across the board with 15-19 strength. I'm thinking that making my entire frontline out of aerial monsters could actually work, especially given that Von der Reith and Farrington I'm certain have not just the attributes to play elsewhere but the potential to grow even more.

 

Start of the Season - A Slow Start
I bet the entire world didn't blink an eye when a newly promoted team isn't doing well, but I for one was surprised. We've always always kicked off the season strongly.

 

Obviously we made some tactical changes and I was really tempted to revert back. Problem was I already committed to the changes and moved on my other left inside forward Atta to make room for Von der Reith there, putting him back up front leaves only Llanez with Buendia on the right flank having to swap to cover.

Then it clicked. I knew exactly when it did as well, about one-third way into an away game at Stoke. 

He looked confused for a couple of games in the match engine before. Now I could see him cutting in properly, functioning exactly like an Inside Forward should.... except he's also an absolute menace during set pieces.

I should add that Farrington was actually injured during this period as well, which compounded the issue. The worse part is the dreaded revelation that he's injury prone.

 

Cup Runs - We Took Our Chances

I'll be honest, I didn't particularly prepare for the cups. We were a Championship team, so it's just the major cups now against the top dogs of the nation. I decided that if I made it far, then I'll consider taking it seriously. Maybe quarter finals, then I'll start going all out.

 

League Cup

Most of the League Cup Run

Spoiler

A matchup against Liverpool this early on is never a good thing. I was fully expecting an exit and extra focus on the league given it was Sept and I was just recovering from the slow start.

I'd say it was one of the least scary performances by a Liverpool team I've seen in FMM22. We played on par with them and ended up taking the chances we got better, knocking them out of the tournament.

 

The next big match was against a nearby team, Southampton. It was the quarter finals, so by this point I was planning to be tough to play against and maybe go as far as I can.

Southampton actually aren't doing well in the Premier League, so I was definitely hoping for a result against them.

We did perform very well on the day against them, but all was even at full time and it went to penalties. We did come out on top though, which means we are through to the semi-finals.

 

It was us, Spurs, Man City and Leicester. And I'll bet everyone wanted to draw us. I was thinking top of the league Leeds would have made it into the semi-finals, but they lost to Leicester. Leicester was exactly who I hoped to be drawn against, and that's who we got

We beat them convincingly at home 2-0, and set up to kill the game away. We would probably have went on the offensive if they got one back, but despite some good chances they never did.

 

Man City was the one that ended up getting through to the finals, which means a clash for us against the most dominant team over the last half decade. I was debating on if I should go to the ultra defensive tactic I use against opponents that I will never beat (that I've mostly used in international matches), but I decided against it and went with my usual 4231.

Despite what the stats looked like, it was actually a game of 2 halves. 1st half we were absolutely getting battered and Man City took the lead. At half time I thought, "Why are we playing their game?" and immediately swapped to a direct style of passing. We ended up actually running the entire 2nd half, and our threat from free kicks and corners eventually led to a foul in the box that Von der Reith tucked into the bottom right corner on the 93rd minute.

We pushed City to extra time! Then a cross whipped in by Dannie Anderson is put into the net by Cameron Thompson at the far post. I was nervous when we were trying to hold on, but we did and saw the match out for our first major trophy! 

On hindsight though our defense actually won 28 out of 29 aerial duels, which actually shows how effective we were shutting down an increasingly desperate Man City from distributing the ball.

 

FA Cup

And all that happiness actually followed by a bad run in the league, which also saw us knocked out of the FA Cup

 

 

January Transfer Window - A Mass Culling

I thought it was going to be more of the same again, but I was wrong

It was WORSE!

In any case, a further exodus on players this January in preparation for the Premier League coming ahead. Some of these players are good players, but we have to make decisions at some point and we need to move on players to make room for the transfer window ahead.

Detailed thoughts on some of the sales

Spoiler

Calvin Wilson was one we brought in in exchange for Aideyan a long time ago. He has come good for us and his athletic ability and some of his defensive abilities has really grown. 

However his mentals has not budged for a long long time, and it's likely that his decisions will forever be 12. There's a likelihood that he doesn't have much PA to squeeze out anymore either.

The tipping point is however, he's been here for multiple seasons and still doesn't really fit into the club.

In addition, it was a pretty substantial fee that Newcastle were willing to hand over for him.

 

The other major departure was Fraser Cookson. He's a bit of an unorthodox fullback, but this is actually quite good for our system that really keeps the right side secure while allowing the left wingback to push forwards. The real issue is that he is exactly Dannie Anderson, except without the capability to also play centreback and a poorer aerial presence. 

11m from Stoke and he went.

 

Championship - We Really Grew Into The Division

As mentioned before, we actually struggled quite a bit. Partly a result of adapting to tactical changes and injuries.

When form improved, this was the lay of the land. Direct challengers for automatic promotion are Bournemouth, Norwich, West Brom and surprisingly fellow promoted club Derby. 

As the season panned out, all but Bournemouth started to fall off the pace. Brighton had a bit of a 2nd half surge, after the chaos of being raided as a club just relegated from the Premier League. 23 departures and 10 arrivals in 2 windows. They did have a bit of a gem signing, Arthur Cabral on a bosman from Sassuolo in the summer. It did prove a little too late however, as they never once cracked 2nd.

It was actually close at the top between me and Bournemouth, until...

You FOOLS, you absolute fools! I really do question the AI in FMM, the game will never really be genuinely challenging until they fix stuff like this. Remember the Premier League leading Leeds? They literally started mass selling players in January and accumulated 116m in profits over the season, promptly exiting the title race and almost dropping out of the top 4.

I was shit talking Bournemouth quite a bit after the January window but they actually handed me a 3-1 defeat away. They still did fall off the race though

 

Promotion into the Premier League. I do also have to add, this is the wage bill lol

 

Out wide, he's still terrorising defenses. Meanwhile we debut our even more strong and aerially dominant striker, Sascha Schieskow.

 

Player of the Season - A Trophy is a Trophy

And here we come again to my favourite time, just looking back at the performances of our team. Emi Buendia has really been the signing of the year, to the detriment of Connor Barnsley somewhat. On the other hand, Billy Gilmour has been a thorough disappointment.

I do think overall best player over the entire season is Von der Reith, but with winning our first major trophy I think the heroic performance of our defence should be recognised. They kept the best attack over the last half decade quiet for 120 minutes, in particular Dannie Anderson and Jordan Minshull

Ultimately despite the assist from Anderson, I think Jordan Minshull really kept them at bay. Multiple times winning crucial headers launched into the box

 

Next update we will come back for the Gold Cup with Jamaica. With us popping into the top flight, we'll also spend the time talking about how the world has changed during the 6 years we were toiling around in the lower leagues.

It will be interesting to share who are the top dogs and who has won the major trophies etc. And probably most important, last happened this season in the Premier League.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Meow

[StuartM]

Great season @Meow, cup win, storming league campaign, good business - all check ✔️

[Scratch]

Well, I've been trying to read this for a couple of weeks now and I've finally done it! This has to be the most interesting, most in-depth career I've read in a long long time. Takes a long time to read, but it's well worth it!

Good luck in the EPL next year. I wonder if you'll finally spend some of that money you've been squirreling away!

[Meow]

@StuartM I'd hope for a great next season as well. I'd usually plan out my transfers for the next season by January, but the step up into the Premier League means we wait for confirmation of who gets relegated.

@Scratch Yeah I am intentionally structuring this to be a bit like an extensive diary. I want people to get the sense that they are sucked into the story, fall in love with the players and feel the squad change/grow. Glad you're enjoying it!

[Meow]

Gold Cup 2027 Update and World Football History

I'd say this is the main event of managing Jamaica. Pretty much just Mexico and United States and maybe Canada are even a challenge for my side.

 

Gold Cup - Walking Retirement Home 😒

Group Stages

Group stage was uneventful, scored 8 goals conceded 0 goals. Easily grabbed the top spot.

 

Knockout Stages

I'd say that it was a comfortable win, but it honestly wasn't. Our team didn't really do that great, but we took our chances and converted the penalty to seal our place in the next round.

 

Then disaster struck

I didn't banish him? What happened?

Oh wow, 2 guys retired on me. Not just 2 guys, 2 center backs! That leaves me with just 3 DC for the rest of the tournament.

 

 Haiti in the semi-finals, and US vs Mexico in the other semi. This is probably the best run to the finals for us.

 

I was rethinking my strategy and tactics for the finals and although I usually go with a midfield 3 against tougher opponents, I didn't have that many good midfielders. Then it also hit me how stupid it was to play 4231 all along with a sub-par midfield.

This is what I settled on, hopefully it allows for more leeway for our attacking wingbacks.

 

Honestly nothing brings me more joy than the chaos of international football, especially coming against stronger teams and every highlight you just scream in joy when they don't score

 

We won... I had only 3 centerbacks and played a back 3 and still won... Thank god there were no injuries.

Problem is though, these are the players that are either definitely retiring or probably retiring if they don't get a club. 2 of which are goalkeepers, that's half the Jamaican goalkeeper pool and all of the good ones.

 

As such, bye bye!

 

World History - Revealing the the Apex Predators of the Save

Now that we have to contend with the very best, I thought that there's probably no better time to talk about what has happened in the save file over these 6 years.

Continental Competitions Winner

Definitely important to note, as we intend to fight for the very top in a few years.

Spoiler

 

 

Other League Winners

Good to know as we might be be butting heads with them soon

Spoiler

 

 

English Competitions

And most relevant to us of all, the Premier League and cups

 

And most importantly, the most recent Premier League table

 

Leeds and Leicester actually took over Arsenal and Spurs in the top 6, though Spurs have regained it as Leicester slipped back to midtable. Man U are a consistent Europa League team, but they've had a bit of a horror season.

The ones that concern us the most are the 3 relegated clubs, Swansea, West Ham and Southampton. And you'll see why next update 😉 

[Guest]

Well the leeds united team is going to be a force in future

[Meow]

Season 7 - To The Promise Land!

This is probably the big season, the big summer transfer window, the key to determining if I'll settle myself among the top Premier League clubs immediately or take a few years to do so.

I mentioned before how important this table was and on hindsight I really should have raided Arsenal and Man Utd... I mean Emile Smith-Rowe went for 8.25m to Derby. FU-

On 12/02/2022 at 09:59, Meow said:

I think it is a lucky time to be getting promoted now. Of the top 6, Man Utd and Leeds (reminder Leeds not Arsenal are the big boys this save) have struggled in the last season. Leeds in particular had their squad stripped with a net profit on 112m

I believe a top 6 spot is up for grabs!

 

Transfers

Another lucky moment is the relegated clubs. It's a huge blessing we've got clubs with quite good players to raid from.

I'm used to starting to scout 1 year early and plan all my moves in January, so it is crazy hectic to be only able to scout once clubs are confirmed to be relegated in May. Still it is worth it

IN

Out

 

I've also scouted a whole bunch of other players, but they ultimately refused to join or have wages that are too high compared to my squad. Here they are

Most painful was Callum Hudson-Odoi who agreed a contract, then decided he was not willing to make the move afterwards.

Oddly enough it was all my attacking targets that I could not get to join, while the fullbacks were all fine. Fortunate because reinforcements there was more urgent. Noah Katterbach and Guille Rosas alone has changed fullback from my weakest to one of the stronger positions on the pitch.

 

Job Offers - Hmm....

Yeah, no

New international job

 

Final Squad - Looking Powerful

I think the Premier League is going to be surprised by my squad, even the coaches underestimate my team also ignore Barnsley in midfield my coaches are clueless

Even with regular rotations I'm pretty confident about the players I have covering

 

Cup Runs - Look Away Now

League Cup

Yeah! As Cup holders, we want to try and retain the...

😑

Ok what the fuck Forest, winning 2 cups from the 2nd division...

 

FA Cup

On another note, we've never actually made it far into the FA Cup at all.

It's crazy that I have reached the Fourth/Fifth Round far into the lower leagues, yet now I'm in the Premier League and my teams still haven't gotten further into it.

 

Premier League- Truly An Underdog Story

Honestly we had a spotty start to the season, but something I noticed immediately was... so was most of the top teams.

I mean most of it was because Leeds, Man Utd and Spurs played Man City who steamrolled them, but the ensuing run of bad form following might just help us break into the top 6 or even top 4!

 

Overall it was a tough campaign, but we held steady in what I could only describe as the most awful Premier League I've ever seen in my time playing FMM.

And yes don't worry, I'll talk about the elephant in the room later

 

I mean it when I say worse Premier League ever. I've never seen top player performances quite this.... meh

 

The Demise of Manchester United

I'll say it first, this is not the strongest squad I've seen get relegated before. Biggest club for sure, but that's just relative to the start of the game. They might be a "big club" and even a top 6 club who were 5th just 2 years ago, but I can see why this happened

Spoiler

Keeping in mind Rashford is 30 years old at this point: Ancient players like Maguire, Pogba, Shaw and even Van de Beek are not exactly good or even Premier League quality anymore. 

Oh and Sancho hasn't been doing well this save either, they accepted a 7m bid from me to give some perspective. His wage was too high for me to make it happen though

 

A 12th placed finished + this

Meant pissed players and a massive early thrashing to Man City sent the morale into the gutters. It really did spiral out of control in the end.

 

Europa Conference League- Still a Continental Trophy

Honestly I came in here expecting to win. I'd bet the entire competition has 2-3 tough teams.

 

Leicester and Milan are probably the 2 that are of any real threat, and I'm glad they draw each other. You might see some teams that would be decent irl, but with the loaded leagues they are mostly grey players.

 

Really sums up the entire Cup really...

And even Milan gets knocked out by Galatasaray, so

 

Team of the Season - Very Familiar Names

Special segment here from the usual Player of the Season, after all I do have a very special surprise

All of them are very familiar names to us.

3 players of ours have made it into the team of the season! It's crazy to think that my plan worked out. Rather than 3 brilliant players competing for 1 striker spot in our system, we now have an entire unit of our attack that is quick, have great scoring abilities in open play and dominate in the air during set pieces

 

And to end of for the season, our board has decided to build a new stadium. We are a club born anew and with our new stadium we begin a whole new era in the history for the club.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Meow

[Meow]

Season 8 - Already Creating History

Will we suffer 2nd season syndrome or will be build on what we have?

 

Job Offers - Just One This Time

We take it without much hesitation though. I seems the list of mere "continental" reputation manager is incredibly saturated with ex-players.

 

Transfers

Turns more players are interested a Premier League club who finished 5th than last year as a newly-promoted club.

After 1 year of interest from us, Hudson-Odoi finally joins. With him quite a few players that in 2021 were considered wonderkids, but have gone on to have mundane or catastrophic careers. They were all filthy cheap too, usually squad players or 2nd division players.

IN

Out

As with every season, we have clubs bidding on our players. It's a heavy farewell to Fenwick, Anderson, Mair, Drysdale and Llanez, who (besides Anderson) were playing 1-2 divisions above their level because of 1-4 standout attributes but they aren't good enough going forward.

Anderson I sold because I thought selling Liverpool their own academy player was funny. He's decent but replaceable.

Detailed thoughts on the transfers

Spoiler

Probably a name everyone knows, but honestly shocked that his mentals didn't develop. He'll probably be backup for us, while we see if his mentals improve with time.

Cavada was probably the one I thought about the most. He was good, but not the best defensively in our squad. I did ultimately decide to move him on. Leeds were consistently top 6, but have fallen to midtable just this season so I don't really view them as a direct rival.

 

He was easier to let go. Hatfield was our academy product, but after a 1 season loan to West Brom where he never played he came back even further behind from ever getting into the squad. 

 

As mentioned, I do find it hilarious that Liverpool paid for a player from their own academy. Even more so is that his loyalty to his boyhood club was repaid with being chucked out on loan to Watford. I just don't think his vision of the Salisbury aligns with mine, he left a Europa League team thinking he'd play Champions League only to end up with a relegation scrap.

 

Cup Runs - The FA Cup Curse?

League Cup

As mentioned, Leeds were never really direct rivals and we pretty much get a clear shot to the finals

 

We face Man City in the finals, a formidable foe

But we had weapons of our own and just like 2 seasons ago, we beat them to hoist the League Cup. This time much more convincingly, as we show we have built on the strength since then.

 

FA Cup

It does surprise me we made it to the Fifth Round in non-league, yet all the way to our 1st season of the Premier League we only made it as far as the Fifth Round. This changed this year!

We get to go out in the quarters instead...

 

January Transfer Window - An Unexpected Loss

We strut around the market, now confident that we are the top dogs looking to pick off at smaller or unstable clubs. Maybe we were too confident.

Our ex-player scout primarily responsible for scouting in South America decides he fancies another go at being a player. In non-league. I'm not even sure SI knew this was a thing, cause I've now also lost all my South American scout reports! 

 

On the other hand, look at all these delicious expiring contracts. Take a guess how many and who did we manage to get to strengthen our squad next year?

 

Premier League- It was Over, Then It Wasn't

While I didn't fear strengthening Leeds, I certainly regretted shaking up the defense. We were among the top scoring teams in the league, but we were clearly less reliable at the back compared to clubs around our position.

The glass cannon style was exhilarating, but only barely managed to keep ahead of other clubs vying for the top 4.

Despite always being 2nd or 3rd, we were always within 3 points of falling out of the top 4 altogether.

Only during the tail end of the season did the defense started to finally click, but by then Liverpool had a huge lead over the top 4 pack. We did secure top 4 handily. We also had the easiest run-in to the end of the season.

 

What I didn't expect was Liverpool's loss against Everton, while we won against bottom of the table Forest. Liverpool's next game is Man City, which if they lose and we win against Leeds puts the league in OUR hands. We dominated Leeds shot after shot, but only managed to score in the 67 minute and again to calm my nerves.

Man City has done us a favour here! If we win the next game, we win the league!

And that's exactly what we did!

 

Unexpected Job Offer - I Took It

For the observant, you'd already notice the change.

The differences between the 2 sides is stark. And I've actually never managed Belgium before, which apparently is fairly common among FMM players.

I love a good underdog story, but Ukraine didn't have many attacking talent and they weren't bad enough so I had genuine fun just playing for draws so it was overall really stale.

 

Europa League- Can We Add Another Continental Trophy?

Group Stage

We eased past the group stage

 

Knockout Stages

From the get go, I already had my eyes on the big teams that could potentially pose a threat. Leicester, Milan, Barcelona. Regardless my goal is to win the whole thing, so we have to be ready to take them on if we do meet them.

 

It is after all an all-England final. Leicester are quite a team. They've always had a good squad in this save, but always underperformed and were constantly in a "best of the rest" position in the league. In a one-off game, Leicester was the one I didn't want for the finals.

Ultimately we were out done by them on the day, and only had a runners-up medal to go home with.
 

Player of the Season - What A Lad

As a technicality he is a player of Salisbury at the start of the season, before I decided not to keep him. I usually do little checkups on the players I release, see which non-league or maybe league two team they join. This was quite an unexpected one, makes me wonder if he actually had potential we didn't see.

Not only that he really took the chance and stepped up when their first choice keeper got injured. 

[MatiasDFS]

Buendia out 🙄

[Meow]

19 hours ago, MatiasDFS said:

Buendia out 🙄

I love the passion you have for your fellow Argentinian. I do wish I had gotten him earlier, but he still had 2 cracking seasons with Salisbury.

Unfortunately the 18.5m for a 31 year old winger, one whose physicals were already declining was too good to turn down. This is how he looks just 1 year on.

Don't worry though, if you love your Argentinians you'll look forward to the next update. Another Argentinian will be one of 2 big name bosmans coming in. He wasn't quite high value enough to be 1st page in the screenshot for expiring players, but he was valued highly enough to have been bought for over 40 million pounds by his previous club.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Meow