Career Quick, Fun, Dirty - A Relegation Battle Attempt

[DanEnglish]

Quick, Fun, Dirty

Looking for a quickie on FMM23 - I’m attempting this harem / journeyman of a mini-career …

… how many clubs can you rescue from  relegation?!
 

Setup
Starting unemployed with 5 nations loaded - I holidayed to Jan 1st - applying ONLY to clubs in the relegation zone.

Spoiler

Loaded the Aug 2023 transfers update + the promotion/relegation update (combined in one changes.txt)

These nations:

Surprisingly few vacancies for clubs in the relegation zone of the bigger leagues …

… West Ham was the first !

… but they didn’t fire their manager 😞   

 
Club #1
Championship side Huddersfield were the first to offer me something …

Spoiler

I put more pressure of their manager …

… who they fired + (12 days later?!) offered me the job?

Woohoo!

 
Relegation Zone
Huddersfield sit in 23rd place …

… and their form has been awful 

 
THREE Games Remaining
My 1st game in charge is a relegation 6 pointer - against Sunderland in 21st. This is my best chance of points <nervous>

Spoiler

We score late in the 1st half … so I use my favourite ‘park the bus’ tactic for the entire 2nd half!

Giving is a valuable 3 points.

We are out of the relegation zone …

… but still need 1 more point to survive!

 
TWO Games Remaining
I was expecting for us to be slaughtered away from home. We lost 0-2. Let’s move on …
 

ONE Game Remaining
Our final game. We need 1 point to survive.

We are playing 4th placed Southampton. 

Spoiler

Setup
We start with our ‘park the bus’ 41410 tactic. 

Half time
They’ve created nothing. It’s 0-0. 

80mins
Still 0-0. If nothing changes, we survive!

 …

 
The Final Moment
It’s the 89th minute. What happens next?

Spoiler

My keeper has collected the ball + my players move back upfield. 

Ah. They score. A 90th minute winner. Idiots.

I really should have changed the GK distribution to ‘long’ and a passing focus of ‘both flanks’. Ooops.

 

Well that was a failure.

 
 

 
Next
As the relegation outcome has been decided - will now quit Huddersfield … 

… holiday to Jan 1st of season two - then find a new club to attempt this with 🙂

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by DanEnglish

[Jon58]

So Dan English in reality is Big Sam?!

[DanEnglish]

2 minutes ago, Jon58 said:

So Dan English in reality is Big Sam?!

Haha - I was going to call it ‘the Big Sam Challenge’ - but a quick search shows that apparently already exists (and is very different to this)

[DanEnglish]

Quick, Fun, Dirty:
Season 2: Club 2

Again we holidayed to Jan 1st. This time there were LOTS of relegation-threatened vacancies!

Spoiler

Spain!

France!

Italy!

… plus this one looked very attractive, but the club won their next 3 matches so the manager kept his job 
 
 

Quickest to offer us a job was in Germany … !

Spoiler

They offered it EARLY in the transfer window …

They’re not doing that badly …

… but they are in the relegation zone 

 
 

I decided to stay in England to avenge my unsuccessful 1st season - so it was rivals Sunderland or Newcastle who were the main attractions in England …

Spoiler

Newcastle were struggling in the Premier League!

… and like in season 1 - Sunderland were struggling in the Championship …

 
 

 
… but ONLY ONE North-Eastern giants offered me a job!

Spoiler

Welcome to Sunderland!

Their form is pretty bad …

… but with a decent transfer budget - but it may be TOO LATE on the LAST DAY of the transfer window!

Next
Can we save this North-East giant from relegation?! 🙂 

Edited October 9, 2023 by DanEnglish

[Migraz]

Very inspiring save!! 👏🏻

The situation, in terms of points, is still manageable... You can consider also loans? Or have you fixed some rules you are not allowed? 

Anyway after six months of bad management I'm sure you can find some resources abandoned in the reserve team... 🙂

[DanEnglish]

1 minute ago, Migraz said:

Very inspiring save!! 👏🏻

The situation, in terms of points, is still manageable... You can consider also loans? Or have you fixed some rules you are not allowed? 

Anyway after six months of bad management I'm sure you can find some resources abandoned in the reserve team... 🙂

This is still alive - I just need to play the season’s final month 🙂 I think whether we survive or not has been decided by now (!), so just got to finish the season

[DanEnglish]

Quick. Fun. Dirty.  
Season 2 / Club 2

So we took over this North East England powerhouse …

Start
Jan 31st. Sunderland AFC sit in 23rd place. Doable.

 
Transfers
As the Board stupidly offered the job on the last day of the transfer window … so we have almost NO TIME to bring in reinforcements

…  luckily 3 deals were finalised before the window slammed shut.

Spoiler

✅ A Better GK
A personal favourute of mine: Walton.

His attributes are much better than our other keeper:

… joining on loan until the end-season …

✅ Better DC
Only managed to get one center-back deal finalised in time. But he’s a good ‘un! Welcome Nianzou!

 

✅ Better ST
Plus we’re DELIGHTED to get a goal-scorer just in time - on a permanent transfer!

American striker Haji Wright is another personal favourite - and should be effective in the Championship.

 

 
We stayed within our wage limits 👍 

 
Problems
The first month was a real struggle.

Spoiler

Most of our attempted transfers failed miserably, as the transfer window closed:

The players were unhappy …

… and the press were adding to the pressure …

 

Results
So did we survive?!

Here’s the bottom three at the season’s end:

Spoiler

We survived! So where was Sunderland?

Here’s our performance in more detail:

Spoiler

🔥 We finished in 12th! 🔥 

We were amazing - such good dominant performances - with a variation on one of my favourite FMM23 tactics.

Our transfers performed well:

Spoiler

GK Walton
Low average rating, but look how few goals he conceded. A big upgrade.

DC Nianzou
Dominant. Easily a Premier League quality defender.

ST Wright
Lethal in the Championship. Good both in the air + on the ground. 

 
 

 
⛔️ BONUS ⛔️ 
So we survived. But we also THRIVED. Say hello to our FA Cup Final … !

Surely Man City will destroy us … right?

Spoiler

Preview
The EPL title winners are very strong …

… and Haaland has scored 58 goals this season <scared>

 

Kick Off
We start with our normal attacking (suicidal?) formation!

First Half
Ah.

Oh dear.

Ok then …

FULL TIME
We tried …

 
✅
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Spoiler

The Board are delighted

 
Now it’s time to say ‘goodbye’ 🙂 

Edited October 16, 2023 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

Will soon simulate to Season 3’s Feb 1st …

Why: it’s too easy if I have even one day of a transfer window to reinforce.

Also: it takes me ages to manage a half-season, so may take over a job in April when there’s only a few games left (much quicker!)

[leedsunited87]

Interesting this 1 Dan, quick one. Is it continuous? And ovs after a few years surely a top team wouldn't take you on? Just curious, love the idea mate! Well done with Sunderland mate, so unlucky with final 

[DanEnglish]

Just now, leedsunited87 said:

Interesting this 1 Dan, quick one. Is it continuous? And ovs after a few years surely a top team wouldn't take you on? Just curious, love the idea mate! Well done with Sunderland mate, so unlucky with final 

Oh yeah. This is absolutely continuous. As I can’t get FMM24, the shorter nature of this save is that I may even hit 30 years!

Am not bothered if the biggest clubs don’t take me on. However after (finally) succeeding in the English Championship, I’m pretty keen to do the same across the European continent 🙂 

[leedsunited87]

Ahhhh nice one yeah!! 👍 what's your manager rating after keeping them up buddy? Got some nice leagues going there, how is it running for you? I've never gone past 2 leagues even though got a decent phone, I think it would lag on me 😄 

[DanEnglish]

Quick, Fun, Dirty
Season 3 Job Hunting 

After two seasons in the Championship, we got the 1st relegated 🔻and the 2nd thrived 🔥 
 

Applications:
In season 3, we look for a new club in a TOP league … 

Spoiler

France’s Top League? 🇫🇷 

Italy’s Top League?! 🇮🇹 

… or the English Premier League?!? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 

Offers:
These jobs were offered to us after Feb 1st …

Spoiler

Spain’s League 2 🇪🇸 

Italy’s League 2 🇮🇹 

And the English Championship (again) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 

… but I REJECTED! then all - as we’re waiting for something better or harder
 

 
Our New Job:
Eventually this job became available 

Spoiler

Numancia need a replacement …

… so we went for it …

 
On April 21st - they offer me the job!

However they are BOTTOM (24th) in Spain’s 2nd Division

… and in poor form - with just 7 games left!

Can we help them survive?!

Edited October 17, 2023 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

PS. Where is Numancia ?!

Its inland in North-Eastern Spain - best book our flight there quick 😄 

Edited October 17, 2023 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

Quick, Fun, Dirty
Season + Club #3

We travelled to the Spanish 2nd Division …

 
Start
April 21st. Numancia are BOTTOM - a huge 6 to 7 points from safety 😬 

We have just seven games remaining - including four against other lower table relegation candidates!

 
Transfers
While the transfer and loan deadlines have passed - we can register free transfers. So we signed these 3 reinforcements …

Spoiler

DC
Scottish 33 year old Cooper becomes our best defender.

M/AMC
Easily now our best passer, hopefully Italian Casiraghi becomes our key creator.

ST
We have a good all-round striker at the club - but this guy offers us something … er … taller 🙂 

 

… but will these reinforcements be enough ?! 

<next part comes tomorrow!>

[DanEnglish]

<continued>
Season + Club #3

… bottom of the Spanish 2nd Division …

… our 7 games to survive starts here!

 
Game 1
We start with new striker English ‘Eaves’ (15 aerial, strength, aggression) …

Spoiler

With no friendlies - we use this game to test our attacking formation …

… our rubbish but high aerial English striker played poorly - but offensively we played quite well …

That 3-2 win moves us up one position …

 
 

Games 2-4
These are the ‘relegation six pointers’ - against the teams in 18th, 19th + 20th.

Spoiler

Game 2
Squeezed out a narrow 2-1 win

Game 3
We dominated but were wasteful in front of goal - just a 1-1 draw at home. Disappointing.

Game 4
They destroyed us all game - tearing us open (4 clear cut chances!) …

… but after going all-out attack, we equalized in the 89th minute. A 1-1 draw. Lucky.

 
Games 5-6
So we’ve climbed up one more place in the table, but are still in the relegation zone:

These are the harder matches <nervous>

Spoiler

Game 5
The good news - we earned a 1-1 draw vs stronger 9th placed opposition.

The bad news - we lost our best defender to injury - new signing Cooper is out for our final games 😱

Game 6
Playing 3rd place title contenders - I don’t expect much …

… but somehow … somehow we score at the end of the first half - and at half-time I shut the game down (again) with my favourite park the bus tactic …

We somehow win 1-0 !!!
 

Game 7
The final match. That last surprising win means we have won 3 + drawn 3 since we took over …

… and have climbed into safety (just!) …

If we DRAW
then we SURVIVE

Game on …

Spoiler

We start with our attacking tactic …

… BUT it’s going horribly wrong …

… we are still losing 1-0 at half-time …

… and due to results elsewhere, right now WE WILL BE RELEGATED !

We push for an equalizer - to save our season …

… a GOAL - after 84 mins !!!

We immediately ‘park the bus’ …

… and celebrate a 1-1 draw! 
 

Final Outcome
The final match. The final 10 mins. The final goal. 

Celebrations as we successfully avoid relegation! 

Though we were definitely helped by Burgos losing their final game - as I’d made a mistake, if Burgos won, and we drew, we’d have been relegated.

Ooops! We got lucky there!

✅
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.  
We survived the Spanish 2nd Division!

Now we resign, holiday to Jan 1st + find a new club to (hopefully) save from relegation!

[till malkovich]

This is the kind of suspense I've only seen in Hitchcock. That's what we watch.)

[till malkovich]

Would you share your favorite tactic please ( Attacking, not Parking Bus) Thanks!

[DanEnglish]

42 minutes ago, till malkovich said:

Would you share your favorite tactic please ( Attacking, not Parking Bus) Thanks!

Here it is:

Spoiler

I make three sets of tweaks - depending on my team + opposition + score line.

Spoiler

WBs / FBs / IWBs - I’ll change these depending on my team / how I want to score.

• One or two WBs - with a ‘mixed’ passing focus, if I have a high aerial ST + want more crosses.
• An IWB + FB - with a central passing focus, if I want varied (one wide, one central) passing options from the back. 

BWM + B2B - I’ll swop these around depending on my opposition’s player roles - so sometimes the BWM is on the left, sometimes on the right.

Overload - I’ll switch to overload, with an SS, RP + BWM if I’m desperate for a goal.

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by DanEnglish

[till malkovich]

4 hours ago, DanEnglish said:

Here it is:

  Reveal hidden contents

I make three sets of tweaks - depending on my team + opposition + score line.

  Reveal hidden contents

WBs / FBs / IWBs - I’ll change these depending on my team / how I want to score.

• One or two WBs - with a ‘mixed’ passing focus, if I have a high aerial ST + want more crosses.
• An IWB + FB - with a central passing focus, if I want varied (one wide, one central) passing options from the back. 

BWM + B2B - I’ll swop these around depending on my opposition’s player roles - so sometimes the BWM is on the left, sometimes on the right.

Overload - I’ll switch to overload, with an SS, RP + BWM if I’m desperate for a goal.

 

Thank you very much!

[DanEnglish]

Quick, Fun, Dirty
Season 4 Job Hunting 

Recap:

Spoiler

Three seasons so far:

1. 🔻 Relegated = Huddersfield in the  Championship.
2. ✅ Survived = Sunderland in the Championship.
3. ✅ Survived = Numancia in Spain’s 2nd Division.

For Season 4 - I really want a job in a TOP division - like the top league in that country.  
 

Applications:
After Jan 1st - there were available jobs across Europe …

Spoiler

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 English Premier League
Fulham + Derby try to escape relegation.

🇮🇹 Italy’s Serie A
Genoa are doing terribly badly 

🇪🇸 France’s  Ligue 1
Nantes are also really struggling

 

Offers:
But ONLY ONE club offered me a job!

We stay in Spain! 🇪🇸
Just a 2 hour drive (or a 2 day walk!)

 

Our New Job
Real Valladolid offer me a job in mid-March …

… they’re in a tough situation - 19th placed, needing to gain 4 to 5 points MORE than their (our!) relegation rivals.

10 matches left. The transfer window is closed. Our best keeper + defenders are injured. Morale is rock bottom.

⚠️ Our first + last games could be crucial ⚠️ Relegation six pointers.

Can we keep them up?! 😬 <nervous>

Edited October 19, 2023 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

Quick, Fun, Dirty
Season + Club #4

Start
Deep in the relegation zone in the Spanish top division …

… we have 10 games to ensure survival …

 

Transfers
Bad news. It’s mid-March so the transfer window is shut. Plus we’re in a top league, so there are almost no freebies available good enough for our 1st team 🔻

We did get these two though …

Spoiler

ST
Haller is useless. Except he has 15 for aerial, strength + finishing. If we need a late goal, or want an aerial threat, he’s our man.

DC
With our two best DCs injured, we bring in an older English center-back (again!) to slot straight into our 1st team.

Others
We tried to reinforce elsewhere, but had multiple work permit applications fail 😞 

Not ideal.  
 

 
Games 1-4 (of 10)
We are struggling. This is harder than expected 🔻 the Board aren’t happy

Spoiler

Only four points from four games.

We got DESTROYED in both losses - but our real problem is in scoring.

We play with one central striker in a 4213 (or 4123) - with minutes rotated between our 2 options across 4 games.

Option A:
Big man Haller (15 aerial + strength):

• zero goals !
• zero shots !
• won two-thirds of his headers

Option B:
Sharp-shooter Riis (17 shooting):

• zero goals !
• 2 shots on target (from 7 shots?
• won one-third of his headers

Which option should we stick with?! 
 

Games 5-9
Our decision on ‘which striker?’ showed results … 

That vital 2-0 win put us just 2 points from safety! However the next few games 

Spoiler

Game 6
Recovered from 0-2 down to rescue a vital 2-2 draw. Lucky.

Game 7
Atletico Madrid? Away from home? We got SMASHED 😞 

 

Game 8
An easy win. But in the last 10 mins I didn’t park the bus, so they got a late consolation goal.

Game 9
Again were losing 0-2, and had to switch things around to rescue another crucial 2-2 draw.

Form
3 wins. 3 draws. 3 losses. Is 12 points from 9 games enough?

 
 

 
Game 10
The final match. This decides our season.

We are still in the relegation zone, 3 points from safety! But we play 16th placed Girona … if we beat them, they get relegated + we leapfrog them into safety.

we MUST WIN to survive!

… no pressure … 😬 

Edited October 21, 2023 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

<continued>
Season + Club #4

The Final Game

We MUST win to survive …

We recently switched to a slightly more balanced tactic … in a similar style to the ‘Black Hawk’ tactic.

“Demanding!” 
The team reacts well 👍 

… and we race into an early 1-0 lead.

Half-time
Still 1-0. Nervous.

Second Half
After 60 mins - we make subs + move to my favourite ‘park the bus’ tactic … 

Full-time

Success! We steal a 1-0 win away from home! Our opponents Girona are relegated!

We survive (just!)

Thanks go to ‘sharp-shooting striker’ Riis … 

… After zero goals in his guest 4 games with me, his 17 finishing and 5 goals in our last six games changed our end-season

✅
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.  
We survived the Spanish Top Division!

Edited October 21, 2023 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

Quick, Fun, Dirty
Season #5 … 

Unemployed
After holidaying to Jan 1st - I declared interest in every potential job opening in the 5 leagues’ top two divisions (but only for clubs involved in a relegation battle) …

… but got ZERO offers 🔻 

So was unemployed for the whole season. Unexpectedly demoralizing. I may have to open my horizons to:

• Nations - who are at risk of not qualifying for a major international tournament … 
• … or rebuild clubs where they’ve declined so much that it’ll be a big job to rebuild them back up.

So let’s go for Season 6!