Help Tips for when you are promoted 'early'

[Meestercat]

Hey all.

It's the summer of 2028 and after 3 years of team building in League One  I, against the odds, completed successive promotions into the Championship and Premiership with Colchester. 
 

My squad is now hopelessly underpowered for the situation, it's reputation is still fairly low, and my transfer/wage budget and structure is tight.

Does anyone have any general tips or advice for pulling off the impossible and keeping Colchester up?  

Edited March 21, 2023 by Meestercat

[Meestercat]

For context I've based my tactic off Blackhawks 4123 tactic, though I've dropped my IFs back into the AM strata.  Do I stick with this or go full Dyche 451?

All my players are now rated 2 stars max and with my reputation it's hard to attract any decent players, especially as I'm mostly limited to UK players or the odd random lower tier international players. Do I flood the team with loans?

[sscout]

40 minutes ago, Meestercat said:

For context I've based my tactic off Blackhawks 4123 tactic, though I've dropped my IFs back into the AM strata.  Do I stick with this or go full Dyche 451?

All my players are now rated 2 stars max and with my reputation it's hard to attract any decent players, especially as I'm mostly limited to UK players or the odd random lower tier international players. Do I flood the team with loans?

If you're feeling adventurous might I suggest a tactical experiment of going down to a 4-5-1 with W on both side? The Black Hawk uses narrow width if I'm not wrong and Ws on narrow width behave pretty similarly to IFs

But other than the tactical suggestion, yes loans are the way to go

Loans and see who you can get for free or for cheap, most transferlisted players can also be loaned in. If they reject your loan try again with an option to buy, actually just try loaning in all kinds of players transferlisted or not with options to buy and see how that works out. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by sscout

[DanEnglish]

If you listen to podcasts - the latest episode on ‘the football manager show’ (from the Athletic) is about ‘what to do when you’re promoted’ - they interview someone from SI about it (it’s pretty good)

One tip that was new to me - if you get promoted early - then you only need new signings for the 1st season, until you’re established in the premier league, get that reputation boost + cash boost. So don’t sign wonderkids who’ll be good in 2-5 seasons time. Instead get new players on 1-2 season deals woo can help you survive NOW

[rseven]

Let's find something positive, your opponents will go for more attacking mentality. If you have a pacy striker, counter attack could be tried

[DanEnglish]

Just now, rseven said:

Let's find something positive, your opponents will go for more attacking mentality. If you have a pacy striker, counter attack could be tried

That’s great advice. Focus on whatever strengths you have. Pacy striker? Use + abuse him? Aerially dominant (18+) striker? Feed him as many crosses as you can. 

[Migraz]

On the signing side, loans. I have ever had positive experiences on that. For the tactics read carefully the Pro and Cons in the team report. Despite is under-considered, most of the time gives you good ideas to base your tactic on... Of course better the assistant, better the advice. 

[rseven]

One more, alternative tactics should be designed. When I play a strong team, I will not adjust much during the match, but with a weak team we have to. For example, DMC in 41221 formation will be key to adjust. Role A to enhance defense and Role RP for attack and Role DM for balance. And even you can put him to DC and switch to 541 for dead defense. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by rseven

[Meow]

As with most situations, it kinda depends. Especially so with promotion into the Premier League, your approach can be changed by what happens around you.

 

Transfers

First before deciding what to do tactically, begin looking around at other clubs.

1. Clubs relegated from the Premier League

Given you were just double promoted from League One to Premier League, you won't sign anyone you want from these clubs (I would know 😢). However there will be a few decent pickups, and you'll be surprised at the quality that can be ruined by the AI sometimes.

2. Clubs relegated from the other loaded top divisions

Let's face it, relegated clubs from the Premier League went down for a reason. 3-4 pickups from there will likely place you between relegation at worst to comfortable midtable at best.

If you haven't already been looking out to Europe (likely due to work permit issues), now is when you'll get a better selection with a higher % able to get work permits. They'll also likely add a different dimension to your current squad, which will likely still have elements of low league players.

3. Don't snub the Championship

It's a tough league, there will be many clubs who fail the playoffs or finished slightly off it. Maybe top players there might be out of reach, but you'll be able to attract some decent players from there.

4. Trust some of your squad

You'll be surprised how much a squad improves with just a handful of additions.

17 hours ago, rseven said:

If you have a pacy striker, counter attack could be tried

17 hours ago, DanEnglish said:

Focus on whatever strengths you have. Pacy striker? Use + abuse him? Aerially dominant (18+) striker? Feed him as many crosses as you can

Aside from AF and TF, I reckon CB, FB, any DM role, BBM, W can also be adequately covered.

Your dynamic physical Championship players aren't going to look that out of place partnering a more technical player.

Most Championship teams with 6-8 players, i.e. 2 centrebacks, 2 midfielders, 1-2 fullbacks and maybe 1-2 forwards across the frontlines.... would probably be comfortable midtable at worse, challenging for Europe (albeit Europa/Conference) at best.

5. Loans

While @Migraz and @sscout mentioned loans, I will say to keep in mind that loans are NOW.

I would only start looking for them after exhausting transfer options. Going too heavy on the loans can benefit you for the season, but result in another upheaval come next year.

 

Tactics

Unfortunately a lot of the tactics would depend on the above transfers. There can be instances where you review your squad come start of season, and you realise "Wow that's actually decent".

1. Don't Go Too Defensive

It can sometimes be a self-fulfilling prophecy, playing like a relegation team can get pressure piled on and get you fighting for relegation.

Related to that...

2. Tactical Tweaks not Overhauls

I think some good suggestions have already be made, both in terms of style and formations that maintain your current squad makeup

So I'll just quote them as endorsements

22 hours ago, sscout said:

going down to a 4-5-1 with W on both side

17 hours ago, rseven said:

DMC in 41221 formation will be key to adjust. Role A to enhance defense and Role RP for attack and Role DM for balance. And even you can put him to DC and switch to 541 for dead defense

Both allows continuity of the vaguely 433 squad the BlackHawk tactic has.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Meow

[Cockers2505]

I will add my 10 pennies here, I have noticed people mentioning not to take note of your Scouts, but if you are one of those that doesn't use them as you prefer to use your own judgment, I will say this one thing WHY you should use them:

They can predict a player costing £0 even though they are worth thousands, and that player, if you add all that has already been mentioned above could be a make or break player, so my advice is still SCOUT players, and look at the advice on HOW much they might take for him, saves money for better player as you gain recognition and experience in the big league.