Football Manager Discussion (and Champo if you want)

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

What sort of mad bastar formation is that?

Do the attacking mids have side arrows?

Nope. All my quality midfielders seemed to be stronger at MC/AMC and could fill in on the wings rather than being wingers so I gave it a bash. I play with the wide thing quite high up and down both flanks which seems to negate the need to do that. It can be annoying if it draws Torres out to the flanks but that does allow Messi/Gerrard/Ben Arfa to get in there. The two AMCs have a lot of creative freedom as they're the quality technical players... Lucas/Alonso don't really play Makelele style DM but more defensively than the others.

Obviously I tweak it depending on who's fit, who we're against, and all that bollocks.

Edit: I've actually called it Spain4-2-2-2 which probably means I made it up whilst managing Spain which would make sense, trying to fit in Alonso/Fabregas/Xavi/Iniesta.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

NO. Stay strong. Most of those players woudn't go to you no matter how much dosh you have.

This is true, I was shocked Messi/Kaka/Iniesta were interested that I HAD to sign them. I didn't spend much in my first couple of seasons which forces the board to give you more spending as you go along. Your money goes up especially once you get the new stadium and that and as long as you're remotely successful. That squad has cost me a fucking bomb though.

Cech - 27m
Alves - 22m
Clichy - 24m
Corluka - 13m
Kompany - 14m
Coloccini - 6m
Iniesta - 52m
Ben Arfa - 13m
Kaka - 50m
Messi - 50m
Reyes - 20m
Nani - 8m
Kun - 48m
Ashton - 13m
Bueno - 3.5m
Bojan - 900k

This season my budget is still like 120m.

I've made bits and bobs of money signing random/quite good players (even ones my scouts said not to) for bugger all and flogging them a few years later for massive profits (% wise)

[Sancty]

Finished 11th in the German 2nd Division, was favoured to go down, so that's allright.

Although my WCQ with Ghana has started off with 2 draws, not the best start to the campaign, and Essien just went down for a month!

[turdpower]

You playing the old one FLOW?

[Melv]

Finished 4th for the second consecutive season with Villa, the board love me now.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

You playing the old one FLOW?

yes m8 FM07 for me, sadly.

Told ye the new one is 25 bob on play still. I've done half a season as Barca on the demo.

I think I started this game before the new one came out it must've been fucking ages ago

[turdpower]

I'm still playing the old one :D

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

top man

[Melv]

Start of my 4th year at Villa, and I've strengthened the team vastly during the summer, which was helped in no small part from Newcastle being shit last season and being relegated.

In comes Steven Taylor, Andrea Gasbarroni, Michael Owen and possibly Gonzalo Rodriguez.

Curtis Davies has been sold to Real Madrid for just under £10m +25% future sale.

Bouma and Ifil have gone, so I'm looking for a new left back and right back as cover or to replace Smith and Hutton.

I'm also looking for a defensive midfielder to cover for Ever Banega, but that's not really top priority as if I'm struggling I can play Gareth Barry in there.

[MichaelC]

Signed De Guzman from Deportivo on a free.

Needed a DM to shore up my attacking play in midfield and he played well for me in prior games. Took me ages to get him.

And I have like 9 first team attackers - I'm the Newcastle of the SPL.

Thistle are 2nd in the SPL. Only 7 games gone so far though.

[Melv]

Current Villa squad:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v731/euanmilne/VillaSquad.jpg

Rather tasty if I say so myself.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Good shout signing Babel there mate. He always does quite well for me but I can't justify putting him in ahead of Torres/Kun/etc. and now he wants to leave.

He's only 25 I might loan him out. How's he doing for you?

ed: That reminds me, if you play 07 and start with the original database (i.e. Babel at Ajax) he is fucking ridiculous; makes Huntelaar look average

[Melv]

He's only played about 3 games. Signed him in January and before he even played a game he got injured in training and was out for the rest of the season. He's only just back to fitness about 4 games into this season.

I'm spoilt for choice up front, I can't pick 2 from Keane, Doyle and Owen to start. Might just have to rotate the 3 of them whenever one of them doesn't score.

Breakdown of transfers:

IN:
Georginio Wijnaldum (Feyenoord) - Free
Kenji Yamada (Hamamatsu Rafale) - £110k*
Maurizio D'Agostino (Inter) - £2.5m
Andrea Gasbarroni (Newcastle) - £10m
Michael Owen (Newcastle) - £11.25m
Steven Taylor (Newcastle) - £9.5m
Gonzalo Rodriguez (Newcastle) - £10m
* Only signed this Japanese bloke to help with merchandise sales.

OUT:
Phil Ifil (Charlton) - £2.6m
Curtis Davies (Real Madrid) - £9.75m
Wilfred Bouma (Ascoli) - £950k

Not really planning any January signings unless someone awesome becomes available, and I have 3 players that will get work permits at the end of this season so that's like 3 new signings almost.

Villa's future looks bright. As long as I'm in charge.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

9.5m for Taylor sounds a bit steep, or is he that good?

[Melv]

To be honest, he's one of those players I just like signing for a random reason.

I also like signing players of the same nationality of the country I'm in, so naturally I have to pay a bit more for them.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Fair play. I had that problem with Ashton actually, he was shit hot for West Ham and England so I was chasing him for ages, they actually rejected 20m before they sold him to me for 13... he had a great first season but then I found Kun and he's barely played since.

...looking at that list again he's the only English one on it. Bloody hell.

I think to start with I was trying to sign mainly Spanish players (Reyes, Bojan, Iniesta, Bueno) but sort of gave up on that.

[son_of_foley]

Glentoran game. The board wont become a feeder club. FUCKING RAGING. We cant even get players from league 2 under 18 sides to join. It's a cunting joke.

Ive ruined a perfectly good team. Need to win win win for 2 seasons and move across the water

[Smell It?]

Won the league and JPT with Millwall in the first season. Championship here we come. I'm becoming good at this game now.

[TraXX]

After 11 games in the Prem I'm 7th. My squad is thread bare because, like the idiot I am, I only tried to get players from Alf's list and not bother scouting anyone else.

:ashamed:

I'm 2 months from the transfer window and I've got about 8 mil to spend. Hopefully I can get a few decent back up players. Costil, Stancu and Guillherme (the defender) are my best players at the mo. Although I would recomend Joe Mattock, James Wesolowski and Patrick Kisnorbo to anyone who is in the Championship. :yes:

[N.E.R.F.]

Just about to start the 4th season with Arsenal - summer signings include Stancu (doubt he'll get a game though), Morgan De Sanctis as cover for Fabianski and Aquivaldo Mosquero, a Colombian SW DC. Might also be getting Thierry back for a ridiculously low £1.4m plus clauses, one of which is 'after 50 league appearances' so as long as I don't play him every game for a two seasons I'll have him for pennies.

And Ireland just knocked Argentina out of the World Cup :eek:

[N.E.R.F.]

Also I'm the third richest club in the world. Barca and Madrid are miles ahead but I'm £30m odd richer than Man U.

Ireland are World Champions :rofl:

[Sancty]

2nd Season with St. Paulli (German 2nd Division), despite many significant signings I'm favoured to drop out.

11 Games in and I'm first in the league, hoping I can maintain something resembling this form for the next 23 games!

Ghana's trip to the World Cup is picking up steam, halfway through the qualification process I'm only 2 pts back of leading Republic of Congo!

[son_of_foley]

IM CLASS. WON THE LEAGUE. LEAGUE CUP. COUNTY ANTRIM SHIELD.

going to win the bass irish cup as well and not going to win the setenta.

Reckon the trip overseas might come calling sooner than I thought.

[son_of_foley]

Glentoran 7 -2 Dinamo Tblisi

Georgi Kinkladze wept gently as Gary Hamilton destroyed his country with a 20 minute hatrrick in the 2nd leg.

Fans love me

[son_of_foley]

Cockyness shortlived

Hadjuk Split 8 - 5 Glentoran (agg)

Gutted

Going to have to blow my 5k transfer budget I reckon :(

[TraXX]

Work permits can suck my fucking balls. My squad would've been the tits if it wasn't for them.

AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG!!!

[MichaelC]

Picked up a list of good players from the Euro2008 mag, going to see if any of them want to play for Thistle...

Nothing tried, nothing gained. Right?

Lets see how long this 2nd place shtick lasts....

[son_of_foley]

Just sign daryl fordyce. He's amazing.

[son_of_foley]

I signed someone called michael noone. Simply for the headline.

GLENTORAN SIGN NOONE

[MichaelC]

Gone 3rd, 14 games gone. Keep drawing Celtic and losing to them.

The board want European qualification, and I only got them promoted this season! And its bloody Thistle, they havent been in Europe since my dad was at school.

The fans seem to like me though.

[son_of_foley]

I have a former international player from argentina in my swuad. Pablo Paz. Just had a look at his contract

£15 appearance fee
and a massive £3 goal bonus.

I can imagine me counting out 3 shiney coins into his swarthy little hands and it makes me happy

[Melv]

I have a former international player from argentina in my swuad. Pablo Paz. Just had a look at his contract

£15 appearance fee
and a massive £3 goal bonus.

I can imagine me counting out 3 shiney coins into his swarthy little hands and it makes me happy
:lol:

[Smell It?]

First season in the championship with Millwall after getting promoted. Started off like a house on fire but sitting 11th with 5 games left. Hopefully push next year. :(

[Sancty]

2nd Season with St. Paulli (German 2nd Division), despite many significant signings I'm favoured to drop out.

11 Games in and I'm first in the league, hoping I can maintain something resembling this form for the next 23 games!

Ghana's trip to the World Cup is picking up steam, halfway through the qualification process I'm only 2 pts back of leading Republic of Congo!



Ended up finishing 6th, had a horrible turn of form at the end of the season.

I'm currently tied with Rep. Congo but down on Goal Differential (by 2 I think) with 1 game to go

Predicted to finish 8th this year, currently 7th after 5 matches...

[Sancty]

Halfway through the season, sitting 1st (only by a point though), and scoring LOADS of goals, which is nice for once.

I really need to gain promotion this year though, my player's values are going through the roof, and if we don't move up, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have a mass exodus of talent.

Got Ghana into the World Cup with a 3-0 win over Madagascar, not fully needed when Rep. Congo lost to Sudan 2-1

Just had the draw, Ghana's been seeded 3rd and put into an allright group with Germany, Poland, and South Korea

Off the cuff: Canada somehow qualified for the World Cup... WTF? :canada:

[Mikey_Jones]

Right, having an annoying problem when trying to view the generated faces. Everytime I try to go to a players page with a generated face it minimizes the game and comes up with the error message:

"array access out of bounds"

Any ideas if it's because I've accidently moved something or a problem with the game?

[RFF Champ]

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b364/Alexvone/Footballmanager.jpg



That game was very difficult to watch.

[Sancty]

Agreed!

[Alf]

I've had that before. It's a touch confusing.

[RFF Champ]

Good call on Stancu, Alf.

He's banging them in for my QPR side.

[Smell It?]

Terrible start to my new season. Lost two in a row. 0 points. :(

[Smell It?]

Just got a point at home to Norwich. :happysad:

[Sancty]

Just finished my 3rd season with St. Pauli and despite being winless in my last 8, still got them promoted by finishing 2nd in the German Second Division.

My two main goalscorers went ice cold down the stretch...

Next up is Ghana and the World Cup...

[S.C.O.S.E.]

Good call on Stancu, Alf.

He's banging them in for my QPR side.

I bought him for Leeds. Took him ten days to piss off the fans, the board and just about everyone else. Scored plenty of goals but the fans wanted shot of him. Now Pablo Piatti, there's a purchase.

[son_of_foley]

I signed someone called michael noone. Simply for the headline.

GLENTORAN SIGN NOONE

The referee has sent noone off.

LOLZ

[Melv]

Kilmarnock signed him on my 07 game. I lost 1-0 to them and noone scored.

[TraXX]

I'm gonna see if I can sign Jesus. Knowing my luck he'll need a work permit.

[Sancty]

So I'm predicted to finish 18th (out of 18) in the Bundesliga... picked up former CM4 starlet Jobi McAnuff to play my MR slot.

Ghana kept me around after a World Cup that ended in the Group Stage, I think it was my last minute win vs. Soth Korea that sealed that deal.

Spain are World Champions...

[Sancty]

...ok, I gotta ask...

WTF is the X in the form... is it another version of a draw?

[RFF Champ]

Score draw

[UK Blue]

Wasn't offered a new contract at Pompey after two mid-table finishes, so decided to start one up with Barca. Gave myself £150m to play with too.

Here's my current squad - I play the usual Barca formation.

GK - Valdes, Viera
FB - Alves, Zambrotta, Evra
CB - Puyol, Milito, Marquez
DM - Toure, Makoun
CM - Xavi, Deco, Iniesta
AM - Ronaldinho, Messi, Ronaldo
CF - Eto'o, Henry

Basically rotate between them all, with Thuram and Gudjohnsen as my experienced back-ups and a host of talented youngsters (mainly from Alf's list) on loan at other La Liga sides.

Went unbeaten in all competitions until January, just lost my first game 1-0 at Betis in the Copa Del Ray. About 20 points clear in the league with Arsenal to come in the last 16 of the CL.

Having much more fun with this game, despite it not being much of a challenge. Although I have noticed that every goal I score from a corner gets disallowed, without fail. I thought the patch was meant to smooth these things over?

[DavidUK]

Parted ways with Rangers after being pipped to the championship by Celtic two seasons on the trot. Kept that game going for a while but no other team even gave me a second look.

So, I've started a new game with West Ham. Undefeated so far in the league after 5 or 6 matches.

Their ambition selection seemed to be very open. I had the several choices - mid-table finish, top-half, european qualification, title challenge, or title winner.

I chose to aim just to finish in the top half, seeing as coming up short even slightly seems to lose you your job. Yet, even at that they expect me to be a challenger for the title within 2 seasons?

[turdpower]

Wasn't offered a new contract at Pompey after two mid-table finishes, so decided to start one up with Barca. Gave myself £150m to play with too.

Here's my current squad - I play the usual Barca formation.

GK - Valdes, Viera
FB - Alves, Zambrotta, Evra
CB - Puyol, Milito, Marquez
DM - Toure, Makoun
CM - Xavi, Deco, Iniesta
AM - Ronaldinho, Messi, Ronaldo
CF - Eto'o, Henry

Basically rotate between them all, with Thuram and Gudjohnsen as my experienced back-ups and a host of talented youngsters (mainly from Alf's list) on loan at other La Liga sides.

Went unbeaten in all competitions until January, just lost my first game 1-0 at Betis in the Copa Del Ray. About 20 points clear in the league with Arsenal to come in the last 16 of the CL.

Having much more fun with this game, despite it not being much of a challenge. Although I have noticed that every goal I score from a corner gets disallowed, without fail. I thought the patch was meant to smooth these things over?

How much did you pay for Ronny?

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

You gave yourself (id est, edited in) 150m?

What's the point in everyone poncing Alf's cheat players? Seems a bit gay to me. I thought cheat players were the domain of the Melv the plastic scouser

Been away with the misses for two weeks, bout to load up the old Liverpool game

[Hlebsfall]

Anyone bought Daniele Vantaggiato on this, he is a bit of a goal machine.

Finishing 20
Heading 17
Long Shots 18

His positioning is wank, but he is LETHAL.

[Melv]

You gave yourself (id est, edited in) 150m?

What's the point in everyone poncing Alf's cheat players? Seems a bit gay to me. I thought cheat players were the domain of the Melv the plastic scouser

Been away with the misses for two weeks, bout to load up the old Liverpool game
I don't use cheat players mate. Not since 00/01 at least.

[UK Blue]

How much did you pay for Ronny?

About £60m I believe.

Of Alf's cheat players, Miguel Veloso and Lucas Biglia look the best prospects. Signed up Urby Emanuelson, Tommaso Vailatti and Kerlon too. All out on loan at the moment, along with Bojan and Giovani Dos Santos, but it should mean I won't have to buy anyone for about another five years at least. Which is just as well really as I spent over £100m on Ronaldo and Dani Alves.

I'm cheating the fuck out of this game. I don't normally do it, but my tenure at Pompey was so frustrating that I just wanted to destroy people. I'll start one up with Oxford or someone soon, have a bit of a challenge again. My best ever game was with Yeovil back in 01/02, playing til 2025 and won several titles but could never quite win the Champions League.

[Melv]

My best ever game was on 00/01. Won about 5 titles in a row with Brechin in the SPL, and got to the CL quarters, where I lost 6-5 on aggregate to Liverpool. Got sacked for that.

[Mikey_Jones]

Right then, me and a mate are trying to set up a network game yet it's not working. It keeps coming up with the error message "Unable to connect to server". He's gone Preferences, Network and made it a server yet it's still not working. Any idea's why?

[Melv]

Try using this:

https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/vpn.asp?lang=en

[turdpower]

Firewall?

[Mikey_Jones]

He doesn't have a firewall, unless it could be mine blocking it when he's hosting it

I'll have a look at that site, thanks Melv

[turdpower]

Windows has a built in firewall.

[Mikey_Jones]

Melv, how does Hamachi work exactly?

[Melv]

http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/33097/t769806-network-games-faq/

Third or fourth post down.

[TraXX]

Right lads. Second season in the Premiership for me and Leicester and the team looks something like this:


Costil

Molinero - Nyman - Kisnorbo - Sepsi

A. Silva [From Everton :p]

Bicfalvi - Wesolowski

R. Augusto

Santa Cruz - Stancu

Subs: Joe Hart
Thiago
Joe Mattock
Hosein Kaebi
Lulinha

I've also got Gael Etock, Myrie-Williams, Papa Waigo and now another guy who I can't remember the name of if I want to change things round.

Finish mid-table for this season and I can leave with my head held high. :yes:



EDIT: For Alf's benefit. ;)

[Alf]

Is that Silva from Valencia?

[RFF Champ]

Anderson Silva is from Everton.

[Alf]

:lol:

Oh yeah, got thrown by the surname only/full name combo.

[MichaelC]

Thistle are in the champions leagiue. drawn at firhill 1-1 vs cska moscow, then won 3-0 away to villareal.

but the board are unhappy - they want the spl title.

[Lazurus]

I set up a new game and simmed it over the weekend.

Essentially I bankrupted all the Premier League clubs (and put their attendances to 0)and ran a 5 year sim and saw that most teams dropped like a lead balloon right down all the leagues as their grounds fell apart etc.

I wanted to see if it was a worthwhile game to play; trying to save a bankrupt big club but alas the clubs still blame the managers and sack them.

So over the weekend I decided to bankrupt all but one (my beloved spurs) of the top clubs and then leave it and see what happened.

I made no changes to Spurs at all and then simmed it for what turned out to be 73 years. When I looked at it this morning this was the Spurs information screen.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k252/t_a_gibson/spurs2080.jpg

Look at the size of the stadium.

Now I've checked all the other clubs and they all seem normal; some have gone up to 60k etc but this is insane.

[TraXX]

Amazingly, Bob Monkhouse has just taken over as Barca boss and bought Mark de Vries and James Chambers off me for a collective £126 million before retiring.

I have no idea how this happened. :shifty:

[son_of_foley]

Still got a shite sponsor on their shirt though laz and also only worht just over a grand.

[turdpower]

I don't understand why you're suprised Laz. You've taken all the bigs clubs down to 0 so they have to go and watch something.

I bet they won everything aswell.

[son_of_foley]

You'ld think so mate but the media prediction is 5th. COULD IT BE THAT DESPITE BANKRUPTING ALL THE OTHER CLUBS ,YOU CANNOT QUALIFY FOR CHAMPOIONS LEAGUE STILL.

70 Conesecutive cases of food poisoining

[Skiznilly]

3 consecutive promotions with Oxford United (Champs, playoffs, runners-up), and currently upper mid-table in Championship around 10 games in. Mostly just been living off the cast-offs of other teams' reserve squads due to lack of fundz. Louis Castles & Federico Macheda averaging over a goal a game each thus far(early days yet, just got them this summer). Michael Noone has proved to be an inspired purchase, but even though I'm now Championship, tons of players (including from parent team) refuse to go on loan here: mostly just Nacer Barazite who I'm miffed about, since he was an absolute legend for me last time 'round. Signed most of Singapore's best players to see if they could hack it in England, and they're decent enough at Championship level, after having been lethal in the lower divisions. Have managed to keep a handful of the original squad, with nippy little Yemi Odubade doing well whenever the main strikers (Ismael Ehui, he's another good 'un) nee a rest.

What really pisses me off though is that despite asking at every possible turn, in my 4th year the Board have yet to find a feeder club, and have only agreed to one training area upgrade. The default feeder clubs are in the Ryman's league, so it seems like the kids are better off playing in the Reserves league, but still, recockulous.....

[Lazurus]

Shockingly no. No English team has won anything in Europe since the start of the game with the exception of Southampton who won the Champion's League once and then got relegated.

English club football has practically vanished.

Each season Spurs develop WHL and move into Wembley. Gaining about 30,000 seats a time. The club is worth well over a billion. Clearly it's a bug but just to see them expand in a real way (rather than the amount of seats just jumping) is really odd.

I'm starting a new game as Reading now; I simmed the game for a few months applying for whatever came up; Reading were flat bottom of the league at the end of November so the job came free. All the best players have been sold.

I just got £15m for Kevin Doyle from Pompey and bought Elmander with £11m of the money. Going to try and buy Benjani with the other £4m.

[Rumblemeister]

Playing the International Management side as two teams: Cameroon and Iran.

Got Cameroon qualified to the Finals of the 2010 WC courtesy of a last game 1-0 victory over Angola, while my nearest challengers, Egypt lost their final match 4-1 to Malawi!

Iran: Finished 3rd in my Final Group behind China and Saudi Arabia, therefore play-off against Japan. Won that courtesy of away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw. NOW have to play a 2 leg play-off against New Zealand. Should qualify from that hopefully.:eek:

[MichaelC]

Lets recap.

champions league group D results
2011/12

Partick Thistle 1-1 CSKA Moscow
Villarreal 0-3 Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle 1-0 AS Roma
AS Roma 2-1 Partick Thistle
CSKA Moscow 2-2 Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle 5-1 Villarreal

Finished as group winners on head to head over Roma, CSKA finished on 10 points one behind us. Villarreal were the whipping boys, which was a shock as they were 2nd in La Liga season before.

Schalke keep winning the UEFA Cup, the Bundesliga, the SUperCup, and now the Champions League. Arsenal lost all their money, all their players went to Spain and Serie A (except Thierry henry) and they're still runaway champions.

This game knows my dislikes and plays on them.

[turdpower]

Gonna start a network game with a mate today, on FM07 (that's how we roll).

I'M EXCITED.

[Xtreme Rebel]

Question lads.

I started a game unemployed and I'm currently managing Hitchin Town. They are list as a semi-professional club in the information.

Is there any way to get this to change to fully professional? Do I just have to wait?

[Melv]

Question lads.

I started a game unemployed and I'm currently managing Hitchin Town. They are list as a semi-professional club in the information.

Is there any way to get this to change to fully professional? Do I just have to wait?
Get promoted, it will happen automatically.

[Xtreme Rebel]

To Conference National/Blue Square Premier? Or to League 2?

[Melv]

No idea. I had it happen to me with Brechin when I got to the First division or the SPL in 07, I can't remember which.

When it does happen, you're instantly able to sign better players (because you can give them better, full-time contracts.

[Xtreme Rebel]

Sweet, that's what I'm hoping for.

Second season in a row I'm tipped for relegation. Came in and the team literally had zero players so I built it from scratch and finished 18/22. This season I'm 15 games in and hanging on in 15th, but only four points above the drop zone.

I am into the 2nd round of the FA cup after coming back from 2-0 down away to Bury. Hat trick inside of fifteen minutes for the win.

[MichaelC]

The good news - 2-0 win at Koln

Bad news - Koln won 3-1 at Firhill after Dario Srna got sent off (what is it with me and important players getting sent off in important games?)

The not so bad news - the game crashed loading after that, so I have a free chance to replay the tie....

[Sancty]

Still got a shite sponsor on their shirt though laz and also only worht just over a grand.

Look closer, it's a B not an 8, they're worth over a billion

[son_of_foley]

I know I was trying to wind him up.

Took carlisle to the top of the championship with a gorgeous little squad including mifsud and assorted others. Lovely team loved it and was happy then Man United came in and offered me the job.

Can't believe I took it, I'm a sodding turncoat :( They were 19th in the league and not scoring goals got them to finsih 6th won the league and fa cup and got to the CL final getting beat by Real Madrid.

Tevez fucked off on a bosman, ronaldo had been sold and replaced with Jesus Navas (WTF). First season i blew my budget in january on ribery and fernandez and they were instrumental in the resurgence.

This summer I got Huuntelaar, yakubu, valdivida, murica, david bentley and luka modric on free transfers.

Sold pique for 40m bought in Veloso and a couple of argie wonderkids. Evans is keeping 40m vidic out of the team because I'm a biast fucker and I shifted carrick out for 15m to newcastle.

First choice team (Ones I signed have * beside them

GK: Simon Pouplin
Dr : Alves
DC : Evans
DC : Ferdinand
DL : Evra
DM : Silverio *
ML : Fernandez *
MR : Ribery *
AMC : Anderson
FC : Huuntelaar *
FC : Rooney

Reckon we could win the league and uefa cup this year. Also have in the squad mutu( want rid), vaz te (got him on a bosman), hargreaves is still there and saha is in the reserves and wont fuck off despite requesting a transfer every 3 days

[TraXX]

My computer's gone and fucked up. I've had to uninstall the fucking game, thus losing EVERYTHING I'VE FUCKING DONE!

Not a happy chappy. :grumpy:

[Lazurus]

I'm starting a new game as Reading now; I simmed the game for a few months applying for whatever came up; Reading were flat bottom of the league at the end of November so the job came free. All the best players have been sold.

I just got £15m for Kevin Doyle from Pompey and bought Elmander with £11m of the money. Going to try and buy Benjani with the other £4m.

Ok the Reading job went to shit.

Elmander was immense and I clawed back points to get to 18th with four matches left and then the cunts fired me. I'd bloody nearly saved them.

In the end Reading went down without me at the helm; after having three managers in a year. Good riddance to them.

I took the job at Stuttgart in the German first division which is a breath of fresh air. I had £16m to spend and got right on the blower to Reading to snap up two of the players I'd just signed for them.

Elmander - £11.5m
Wijnaldum - £2.5m

A profit to Reading of about £1m but two great players for me.

I'm predicted to finish 8th this year but after 14 games I'm 6th (just 4 points of 2nd and with the second best GD in the league. Bayern look uncatchable but I could very well sneak into Europe if this keeps up).

I do need a good goalkeeper in the January window though. For very little money; any suggestions.

Home game against Bayern next; this'll be fun.

[TraXX]

Benoit Costil is your answer. You should be able to pick him up for less than a million at this stage of the game.

Bought myself a laptop that's immensely better than my family's PC. Haven't got the intrweb on it yet so I'll need to copy the updated database and AlfList from this heap of wotsit before I start again.

Still not happy, though.

[Xtreme Rebel]

I'm being criticized for being unwilling to change my tactics despite using totally different set ups for the last three games. Grrrr

[Friday]

The new patch is out.

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/521102691/m/3342088083

[Alf]

Anyone given the new patch a running yet?

[Melv]

Downloaded it, not run it yet.

[Sancty]

Any real benefits of the new patch?... real?

[Alf]

Ahahaha, they've tossed up the Defoe transfer.

Spurs get 1,000,000 every game for 50 games rather than after 50 appearances.

Brilliant.

[Lazurus]

Sounds about fair.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

My computer's gone and fucked up. I've had to uninstall the fucking game, thus losing EVERYTHING I'VE FUCKING DONE!

Not a happy chappy. :grumpy:

oh no you're cheat game getting Barca to buy all your shit players for stupid money.

Are you playing CM2 or sank??

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

I will buy 08 one day. Every time I get a decent game going on 07 I get this "crash dumps" bollocks

[TraXX]

oh no you're cheat game getting Barca to buy all your shit players for stupid money.

Are you playing CM2 or sank??

Oh no, sand in your vagina!

What does it matter to you if, for one saved game, I have a little fun? Does it ruin the experience for you? Does it grip your shit if no-one else plays the game 'fairly'? Rhetorical, by the by.

Anyhoo, I've started with Wigan this time. They've only given me a 2 year contract but they want to be a safe Premier League team by the end. Should be easy enough to manage that.

Plus I get the satisfaction of telling Titus Bramble to fuck off. :yes:

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Bloody hell mate :lol:

[Lazurus]

Titus Bramble won me the Champions League in my Rangers game.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k252/t_a_gibson/cleague.jpg

That just goes to show how shit that team was.

[Lazurus]

Ok the Reading job went to shit.

Elmander was immense and I clawed back points to get to 18th with four matches left and then the cunts fired me. I'd bloody nearly saved them.

In the end Reading went down without me at the helm; after having three managers in a year. Good riddance to them.

I took the job at Stuttgart in the German first division which is a breath of fresh air. I had £16m to spend and got right on the blower to Reading to snap up two of the players I'd just signed for them.

Elmander - £11.5m
Wijnaldum - £2.5m

A profit to Reading of about £1m but two great players for me.

I'm predicted to finish 8th this year but after 14 games I'm 6th (just 4 points of 2nd and with the second best GD in the league. Bayern look uncatchable but I could very well sneak into Europe if this keeps up).

I do need a good goalkeeper in the January window though. For very little money; any suggestions.

Home game against Bayern next; this'll be fun.

OK the Stuttgart job was going well but then, about 3 months before the end of the season (we were midtable) Portsmouth fired Harry 'The Bung' Redknapp and without applying offered me the job.

They were 19th in the league but there were only a couple of points in it. I had 8 games to save them.

I won 4 and lost 4 and finished 16th. Never accept a draw. In that situation all out attack is your friend.

[son_of_foley]

Thanks big ron.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

I will buy 08 one day. Every time I get a decent game going on 07 I get this "crash dumps" bollocks

That day was today. Traded in PES 1, Knockout Kings 2002 and a few other gems to pick the game up for £7.88 from GAME. Fannying about trying to sort out patches and stuff is a bit long init

[Chris Scott]

Titus Bramble won me the Champions League in my Rangers game.

That just goes to show how shit that team was.

28 thousand what a crap attendance and what a poor choice to play an European Cup Final.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Bloody hell this game is more annoying than the last one, yet somehow more addictive.

Started up as QPR, signed Daryl Murphy for 200k from Sunderland and he's been a fucking demon so far (10 league games in). For some reason they only expect 'safe mid-table' which means the job is pretty pressure-free, I'm 6th at the mo but out of the Cup to Crewe ( :grr: ) on pens after knocking out WBA

[Beefy]

How much cash have QPR got?

I've just started a new Southend game. I started really well but I'm finding it hard going in the league now. Got them 11th but really inconsistent. I've knocked two Premiership sides out of the Carling Cup though. Birmingham on pens and then Wigan away through a Matt Harrold 25 yarder.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

How much cash have QPR got?

I've just started a new Southend game. I started really well but I'm finding it hard going in the league now. Got them 11th but really inconsistent. I've knocked two Premiership sides out of the Carling Cup though. Birmingham on pens and then Wigan away through a Matt Harrold 25 yarder.

Quite a lot in the first season about £11m if I recall. Got the Rs promoted on the last day of the season (jumped from 5th to 2nd) and went into the Prem with a shit squad. Didn't spend anything until January and by then was well and truly fucked, didn't help that I promised to stay up.

Still, they're happy cos I was only supposed to be 'a big player in div one' in the space of 4 years. My team is still not great but it should be more than enough to do alright in the Championship, notable names Ricardo Gardner, Antony Gardner, Pienaar and Dave Nugent. I've now got Arsenal as a parent club so I've got Gibbs, Gilbert and some other cunt in on loan. No one like Merida or Barazite wants to come :(

Everyone be on the look out for a Welsh Man City youngster called Ched Evans, had him on loan for last two years he got a total of 40 goals and looks pretty naughty

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Finished 4th back in Div 1, only expected to come in top half, lost in the playoffs to Brum though.

Now I'm being linked to the Milan, Man Utd and Real Madrid jobs over the summer.

Now done 3 seasons: Sunderland are in the Champions League, Liverpool need the Intertoto and Utd didn't qualify for Europe at all

[Skiznilly]

Finished 5th after being predicted 24th in the Championship, but lost my ueber-keeper in something like the 43rd game of the season, so ended up getting tonked 7-1 on aggregate by Leicester in the playoffs with my 37 year-old reserve(from the original conference squad) between the sticks, which my fans weren't best pleased with(ingrates). Ended up as 2nd highest scorers in the Championship despite my top scorer (Federico Macheda) only having about 14 goals. Michael noone chipped in with 10 from midfield despite a couple months out. Now just trying to offload a bunch of players to get money in: want to save up this season (stadium's being upgraded from 12,500 to near 16,000, so turnover is small by Champ. standards), hopefully get another top half finish this season, and then challenge for promotion the next one after that. Anyone care to recommend some good young defenders? Just signed Elliott Ward, who seems highly rated, but we leaked goals last season.....

[son_of_foley]

NOONE IS A BEAST

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

5 years at QPR; promotion-relegation-promotion-relegation-promotion, as fun as that was and fucked off to Milan. Apparently I'm 'world class.' Seems to be a bit too easy if you make yourself a previous 'international player' and call yourself Paul Gascoigne (and his real dob, maybe some kinda cheat). Finally put two good attacking players together, Eastwood (championship beast) and Arshavin looked pretty tasty but signed just as I was leaving

Only expected to come 3rd but Inter are Inter and Roma have a fucking amazing squad. I sold a couple of my better players like Nasri and Pandev because they were paid ridiculous wages. I'm setting up the side to basically be shit hot defensively and pinch goals through Kaka and Pato.

P 4 W 4 A 0 so far, two of them were CL qualifiers against Partizan though.

[Craven]

Currently playing as Grimsby, just into the 2008-2009 season, got Pezzoni (DF) from Blackburn on loan for the season, looks like he'll be an inspired signing. Also got a central defender called Sabic who i signed for free. Got clubs like Sunderland, Wigan, etc. sniffing round him. Couple other good signings for me are Winston Parks and Jordy Brouwer. Both strikers and both good enough for League 1, possibly Championship. Stupid of me really to put a 190k release clause in for Parks, as i think he'll be off to another club soon :( Paul Dickov might be able to fill his boots though.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Try giving him a new contract without it??

Won my first 14 league games in a row with Milan, now played 24 lost 3 (Inter, Lazio and Juve away) but still 6 points clear from Inter.

Seem to have re-fiddled my 4-2-2-2 formation quite well to close games once I go ahead. This game seems to LOVE clawing you back from 2-0 up it's ridiculous, but I've generally been alright with Milan except for a couple of 96th minute equalisers from 1-0.

My only signings have been Banega 20m, Rossi 15m and Zarate 1m - bearing in mind I sold Pandev for 15m, Nasri for 24m and some other cunt for 10m I've actually made a profit.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Despite a near Newcastle style capitulation I won the league by 3 points from Inter, surpassing expectations.

Banega is off to Man Utd for 23m, being replaced by Hamsik on a free. Also got Galvan, who's now 20/21 (2013) a Mexican AMC wonderkid already 'world class' and worth 18m... on a free. Looks like a a replacement for Kaka who wants to leave for a new challenge or sank.

I got a bit bored during the off-season so I signed Rooney for 60m, which has totally gone against my being thrifty with transfers and wages as he's on 110k p/w, should be worth it though.

These players who start off average/good are absolute lynchpins of my team:

Frey (GK, Fiorentina)
Insua (DL, Liverpool)
Zapata (DC, Udinese)
Corluka/Garay (DC, Man City/Racing)
De Silvestri (DR, Lazio)
Rosina (AMC, Torino) this guy is a fucking beast
Galván (AMC, Cruz Azul)

[TraXX]

Banega won't come to Wigan. Says he's happy to stay at Boca and learn his craft there. Bastard.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

pre-patch?? it'd be harder to get him from Valencia

[TraXX]

I've only got the first patch. :dunno:

Bloody annoying. I need another really good center mid to go with Julien Sable. I recommend him, by the by. :yes:

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Retained Serie A in 2014, finished the league this time with a mighty 96 points. Pato keeps getting injured so it's just as well I had Rooney. Was well tempted to get Messi for another stupid fee in the summer but decided against it to try and give some more youngsters a chance... my 'financial confidence' thing says they want to sack the accountant and let me do the job which is quaint.

Real Madrid are massively the richest club in the world, like 300m ahead of everyone else. They've won La Liga twice in a row, Arsenal have won the Prem 4 years in a row and Inter have won the Champo League summin silly like 4 years out of five

[son_of_foley]

I dont have a new patch atm so could someone please get a list of all players whose contracts expire this summer from premiership/championship/spl/ligue1/serie a/eerdevisse, bundesliga 1 and la liga premiera?

Random I know but cheers. Thinking of making a football thread about available players this summer and some sort of scouting indication of real-life ability as well as considering which players are likely to be transfer-listed this summer.

[Rumblemeister]

After winning the African Cup of Nations with Cameroon, I got to the quarter finals of the World Cup with them, losing out to ENGLAND who eventually won the thing (beating France in the final).

Lubeck of the German Second Division offered me a 2 year contract which I have declined! Should I have taken it?!:D

[TraXX]

My Wigan board love me. So far in my first season in charge I've turned down job offers from Chelsea, Liverpool, Sunderland, Villa, Genoa and a whole heap of other shite foreign teams.

I'm loyal to the cause, so why aren't my bloody players! :shakefist:

EDIT: Add Spurs to that list as well. And Man U are considering not renewing Sir Alex's contract in vavour of poaching me. T'is good to be wanted I suppose.

[Adam72]

Hoping for some help here guys, when downloading the new patch do you need the bit torreent file, or can you do it without it?


As i'm sure on last years you never had to use one

Thanks

[Lazurus]

After winning the African Cup of Nations with Cameroon, I got to the quarter finals of the World Cup with them, losing out to ENGLAND who eventually won the thing (beating France in the final).

Lubeck of the German Second Division offered me a 2 year contract which I have declined! Should I have taken it?!:D

Yes; any job is better than none if you don't have a great reputation.


Hoping for some help here guys, when downloading the new patch do you need the bit torreent file, or can you do it without it?

As i'm sure on last years you never had to use one

Thanks

There are loads of mirrors out there if you look. You shouldn't need to torrent it.

[Lazurus]

My Wigan board love me. So far in my first season in charge I've turned down job offers from Chelsea, Liverpool, Sunderland, Villa, Genoa and a whole heap of other shite foreign teams.

I'm loyal to the cause, so why aren't my bloody players! :shakefist:

EDIT: Add Spurs to that list as well. And Man U are considering not renewing Sir Alex's contract in vavour of poaching me. T'is good to be wanted I suppose.

In which case they all want you because you've set yourself to being World Class (or former international). I find the game gets too easy if you do this as even if you took Man U down in your first season Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal would still want you.

The game I'm currently playing (where I started at Reading) I chose to be a more moderately experienced player (whatever it is that makes your rep 'national') which meant that no-one would touch me for a while but when Reading fired Copell and were about to go down they took a chance on me. They then fired me before I'd managed to even see out the season and went down anyway with their third manager (Paul Jewell) of the season.

Once that job was gone the only clubs who would touch me were lower league clubs or German or French.

By doing well with Stuttgart I managed to get the Portsmouth job at the end of the 08/09 season and managed to keep them up.

In 4 years there I finished

16th (was 19th when I took over in March)
2nd (stupidly close table with the eventual winners - Man U I think - about 20 points ahead)
4th
5th
6th (although I'd already accepted to take the Valencia job at the end of the season about a month earlier so I really didn't care).

We went into Administration every year bar the one I finished 2nd in and were fined 9 points due to my scattergun bosman policy that sent the wages through the roof.

In the year I came 5th I actually won the Champions League (I also won the League Cup in the year I finished 2nd) so I was in the Champions League for three years in a row.

I'm now at Valencia and a World Class manager. I immediately spent £50m on players from Portsmouth and brought them out of financial trouble. Even though I said I'd stay at Pompey until the end of the season this is still earlier than the end of the Spanish season so I got to manage the last three games of the year; won them all and drove Valencia up to 4th (from 6th) and into the CL.

[TraXX]

:ashamed:

Yeah, I did put meself down as a former international.

I've got 4 games of the season to go. Deffo not gonna be relegated, which was the main target for the board. I think I'm actually 10th, with a good chance of getting into Europe via the Euro Vase.

Can you qualify for Europe by winning the Carling Cup in the game? Because I did. :chin:

Need to strengthen the squad if I'm to push on though.

[Lazurus]

Yes you can. Carling Cup will get you a UEFA place.

[Simon]

Started a season with United and won everything...can't remember the last time I managed that.

Started the season off with 40m to spend and decided to go out and get a striker. Couldn't decide between Benzema and Aguero, then had a headrush and decided to buy the both of them and go for a really attacking 4-3-3 formation over the course of the season.

Also brought in Albelda who was, of course, in the cold at Valencia - an absolute bargain at 3m. I was scouring the Spanish league and noticed that Bojan was available on a free within 6 months - obviously didn't need him in the short term, but figured that a potentially world class player was always worth signing on a free, so snapped him up. Didn't want to come at first, but a 3m signing on fee twisted his arm.

In honesty, my squad was massively unbalanced - my first choice keepers were Van Der Sar (too old) and Heaton (too young), with Foster (too injured) and Kuszczak (too shit) out of the picture. I also sold Silvestre, assuming that I would buy a centre back - which I didn't end up doing. So my back four for pretty much the whole season was Evra-Ferdinand-Vidic-Neville. I had O'Shea, Brown and Simpson as backup, but none of them were much cop.

The key to my success was rotating the three strikers. I sold Saha before the start of the season, but that still left me with Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Nani, Aguero and Benzema fighting for three spots, plus Bojan in the later part of the season. Luckily, something of a circle was created - the fact that I had a load of attackers to rotate helped me progress in all competitions, which in turn left me with enough matches to keep them all happy - I played a total of 69 matches in all competitions. Nani played the least with 39 appearances in total, 23 starts...none of them were unhappy at the end of the season, brilliantly.

Won the league at a canter thirteen points clear of Arsenal, ending with 92 points only because I had four away matches in five days with the title already won - I lost three of them, under normal circumstances I'd have expected to reach 100 points.

Won the two domestic cups 2-0, against Charlton (League Cup) and Blackburn (FA Cup) respectively, before a late Tevez goal won the Champions' League for me against Milan.

Despite this ridiculous amount of success, I had a relatively low budget for the second season - I didn't want to get rid of any first-team players, but knew I needed to spend big to consolidate the defence and midfield. Selling Park, Fletcher, O'Shea and Carrick plus youngsters Eagles, Martin and Jones brought in upwards of 20m, and added with transfer money and the like I have ended up spending 67m on new players:

-17m on Andres Iniesta, replacing Scholes who has retired
-3m on Jamie O'Hara, who I see as a very good prospect and potentially a regular if needed - basically a younger, better Darren Fletcher
-11m on Ezequiel Garay, who will probably go straight into the side at Vidic's expense - the Serbian wasn't great for me last season, despite scoring some important goals.
-18m on Gareth Bale. My biggest buy, but he won't be first choice for a while...Evra was great for me last season and scored a few goals as well, but he won't be around forever and Bale is nearly 10 years younger than him - should figure regularly anyway, if this year is as successful as last then he should start 20 or so games and get a few sub appearances too.
-14m for Maicon, who will go straight into the side at the expense of the ageing Neville.

Also signed a couple of youngsters including John Bostock from Palace who is only 16 but already has the stats of a very good player...looking at his stats, he would be good enough to fight it out with my other 7 strikers for a starting place, but I've sent him on loan to QPR to help his development - if they don't play him or he's not doing the business I'll bring him back and develop him myself. Should be quality.

Squad for this season:

GK: Foster (Heaton)
DL: Evra (Bale)
DC: Ferdinand (Vidic)
DC: Garay (Evans)
DR: Maicon (Simpson)
DMC: Hargreaves (Pique)
MC: Anderson (O'Hara)
MC: Iniesta (Albelda)
FC: Rooney (Nani)
FC: Aguero (Tevez)
FC: Ronaldo (Benzema)

That leaves Bojan out of my first-choice 22, and I have old hands like Giggs and Neville waiting in the reserves if needed.

Hyper.

[Craven]

Well, finished 9th in my second season with Grimsby in League 1, which was a good finish considering i said to the board i'd finish mid table. Suffered with injuries mid way through the season, which cost me a play off place. Winston Parks decided to fuck off in the end, didn't want to renew his contract so i lost him on a free. Balls. Still got Jordy Brouwer and got Sam Vokes from Preston (Vokes i got in a part exchange + 400k for Francisco Duran). Good bit of business i thought. Few games into my third season now, currently sitting pretty, 1st in the league.

Anybody know of any decent scouts by the way?

[Lazurus]

Generally anyone who wins everything in a single season is cheating.

Anyone who wins anything in their first season is almost certainly cheating.

Anyone who has a nearly perfect league season until they've already won the league and then loses the games that don't matter is pretty much a lock for cheating.

[Simon]

Generally anyone who wins everything in a single season is cheating.

Anyone who wins anything in their first season is almost certainly cheating.

Anyone who has a nearly perfect league season until they've already won the league and then loses the games that don't matter is pretty much a lock for cheating.

Why? And I'm not cheating. It's very difficult to defend yourself against accusations of cheating because the burden of proof is on me and obviously you can't provide any where this game is concerned. But I'm not cheating. I just explained to you the reasons why I think I managed to win everything - I managed to keep six world class strikers happy. My defenders and midfielders weren't particularly great, but strikers score goals and I had six strikers (seven including Bojan) doing that.

This is on 01-02 by the way, I know a lot of people say it's easier.

[Lazurus]

I wasn't saying that you were cheating. I was just saying that it looks like it.

Me winning the Champions league with Portsmouth (I won it with Rangers once too) also looks like cheating.

01-02 is much easier as the morale of your players doesn't come into it so much. Even players on a sulk play well. It's also easier to rotate as chemistry isn't so important.

[Simon]

For fuck's sake...I recalled Bostock after deciding that Pique wasn't good enough to be a first-team player so I needed an extra midfielder (Bostock can play midfield as well) - brought him on at half-time in the Charity Shield and he scored two goals in his first nine minutes. Madness.

[turdpower]

I've notice Simon does a few games with United over the course of the last few games and he always buys a fair few Tottenham players :D

[Alf]

Generally anyone who wins everything in a single season is cheating.

Anyone who wins anything in their first season is almost certainly cheating.

Anyone who has a nearly perfect league season until they've already won the league and then loses the games that don't matter is pretty much a lock for cheating.

That is bollocks.

With Spurs I quite regularly do immense in the first season and win cups. A couple of times I've won the league if luck is on my side or if I make some particularly shrewd signings. I almost always qualify for Champs league with Spurs in the first season. The second season is usually the tough one.

But then I am a tactical GENIUS.

[Beefy]

You're also a dirty cheat, Alf.

You heard me.

[Alf]

WHAT THE FU....

You don't mean that Befey.

[son_of_foley]

The game is mental though as Villa and City will challenge for the title in the first season and its common for 2 of the big 4 to finish mid-table.

I managed to finish 16th with a derby squad + like 5 players so with a squad like spurs and 3/4 good signings the league is a possibility.

[son_of_foley]

I've ruined my united team.

I'm making them play a brazil inspired 4-2-2-2 with wingbacks basically running all the way to amr/aml and we either murder teams by 5 or 6 goals or get murdered. I need to win champions league for closure.

[son_of_foley]

Also when I patch the game I am going to convert Giles Barnes to become a Liber Grande Sweeper witha free role and probably get sacked very quickly for it.

[Skiznilly]

Anyone at Championship/League 1 level, I highly recommend Federico Macheda, who will probably get released from Man U reserves at the end of his initial contract. Got something like 29 goals in 39 matches(one goal off of the league's top scorer), most assists in my team, and had the highest average rating in the Championship. And yet, he only made the bench in the overall team of the season, and Fans Player of the Year went to Michael Noone, who, much as I love him, only had about 3 goals, 5 assists, and an average rating of around 0.4 less. How does that work?

Just snapped up Cameron Jerome on a free, but mostly because I'm hoping to sell him on within the season and make a tidy profit: Got a decent young strikeforce of Macheda, Robert Ujcik, and Viktor illugasson. Unfortunately the cut-throat nature of the championship means my Singapore internationals have either been released, or are languishing in the reserves.....

And also, after upgrading my stadium to 15,500, it myseriously lost all those seats after the first game, so I'm upgrading it again now (but with more seats). Weird. Also, in my 5th year now, and despite asking about 20 times, the board has yet to find a suitable feeder club (despite agreeing in principle). Anyone have a clue what that's all about?

[Alf]

That stadium thing is a known bug. Have you downloaded the patch?

[Skiznilly]

That'd be it then. Possibly also explains the lack of feeder kelabs. Downloady downloady.

[Lazurus]

Are you using a 'not entirely legal version' of the game?

Most of those are adapted from the demo and the demo is programmed to start going very odd after 6 months.

[Skiznilly]

I might well be....now that I'm a wage-earning man, thinking of buying an entirely-legal copy, but not sure if I can afford the time to start from scratch again now I'm in gainful employ. Will see if the patch fixes things on current version, if not, legality and royalty payments are called for, methinks.

[Lazurus]

If you see European teams in the African Cup of Nations you'll know it's time to switch out and start again.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

01-02 is much easier, partly because of the morale thing but mainly because it's much simpler. In more modern versions of the game you have to alter player/team instructions more before/during games depending on the opposition, pitch, home or away and so on. Plus you've been playing 01-02 for six years so you should have an idea of formations that will destroy the AI; whereas you generally have to tweak or change for every new version of the game.

I'm bored of Milan (have done 8-9 years inc. QPR seasons)... I fancy startin again in Portugal or sank, this time as a total unknown.

[turdpower]

Still not started 08, probably won't the way things are going.

But when you say it's easier to start out as an international player and you always get top jobs.

What about being a top international from Wales or something?

[Lazurus]

I don't think the country you're from makes a difference.

Just say you're a Sunday league footballer but take a big job at a big club. If you have a good couple of years you'll be World Class in no time.

[Simon]

Someone link me to the January update for FM2008, and graphics packs as well if possible. Sexy.

[Hlebsfall]

Just download the latest patch, the transfers are in that.

[Simon]

Does the patch have the graphics pack in it?

[TraXX]

I've just bought Flamini in what can best be described as the deal of the century.

£235,000! In the the Jan '09 transfer window!

:hyper:

[Skiznilly]

I bought Danny Haynes for 20k off Barsley, when they went into receivership.....actually, I bought their three best players at 1/10th of their value. Am I a bastard for doing that?

Also, despite applying the patches/cracks/etc, my games still wonky. Anyone know if it'll correct itself if I uninstall, keep the saved files, and buy/install a legit copy, or are the saved games doomed beyond redemption?

[TraXX]

The saved games should be in your 'My Documents' folders. The game itself will have installed into the 'Program Files'. Should be relevetively simple to uninstall/reinstall the game without fucking up what you already had.

I think. :shifty:

[Skiznilly]

Ya, I've re-installed the current one no problems, but was just wondering whether the saved games would keep all the bugs of the version they were saved under, or if they'd "re-align" themselves with a legitimate patched-up bersion of the game.

[Melv]

Does the patch have the graphics pack in it?
www.sortitoutsi.net.

You get loads of different graphics there, take the ones you want.

[Lazurus]

Ya, I've re-installed the current one no problems, but was just wondering whether the saved games would keep all the bugs of the version they were saved under, or if they'd "re-align" themselves with a legitimate patched-up bersion of the game.

The games, sadly, keep the bugs.

[Skiznilly]

Ah well, I'll probably just play this one until I get promoted to t'Premiership, then start a new'un legit-stylee(Not too sure how well a 12,400 seater would go down with the big bois). Should be a bit harder with the update patches too, considering Oxford have been shite this season....

[Simon]

I have found this 'superpack' (http://sortitoutsi.net/index.php?page=downloads&area=file&fileid=4406) that has everything...but it's in French, I seem to remember downloading this once before and because it was in French my version of the game didn't recognise it - is there an English version of this?

[Alf]

http://www.fmunderground.net/fmu/forums/index.php?autocom=downloads&showcat=4

Register here and download them from the relevant forums. You won't get an ALL IN ONE but you can download complete sets for all the leagues.

The ss08 stuff is tremendous.

[Simon]

CHEERS

[Simon]

Just went there and every time I go to download a file it basically just says DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU PAY US A BIT OF MONEY YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT QUICKER?

I don't want to download it quicker, I want to download it slowly but for free. How might one approach this task?

[Melv]

I told you earlier, Sortitoutsi.net - go to the forums there.

[Alf]

Si, probably look at the fucking screen and figure it out for yourself.

The ones on sortitoutsi aren't as good as fmunderground... and in most cases the links on sortitout take you to fmunderground.

[Ringo]

Yeah, those ss08 kits are bootiful.

[Grimario]

I told you earlier, Sortitoutsi.net - go to the forums there.

Yeah Si, sort it out.


Is there a new game coming out this year? I don't feel like I have much left to do with FM2008, short of checking the "choose random players" button. Still too many short falls, both short and long term, in the game :(

[Melv]

New game will probably be out a month or so into next season.

[Melv]

While I'm here, Finally started a game with Liverpool I plan on continuing.

Signed Quaresma, Garay and Rafinha.

Torres scored a hat-trick in the first 3 games, 14 in 9 for him so far.

[N.E.R.F.]

sort it out si

[Melv]

:lol: best FM moment ever.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v731/euanmilne/EuanMilneInbox-2.png

[turdpower]

Well, who else do Watford have?

[Craven]

don't suppose any of you lot have tactical advice for being in the championship? Currently playing as Grimsby 2010-11 season but for whatever reason i keep getting dicked on. I don't know if it's because i've either got a) shit players b) It's before the recent patch from SI so it's buggy c) i'm just shit at FM or D) all of them.

[Simon]

Just got sacked as Spurs manager not long into my fourth year in charge.

Fickle CUNTS. Levy can fuck off...I came fifth in each of my three seasons in charge, and in the latest season I was in the hunt for fourth until the last day of the season - if I'd won my last game by three goals instead of drawing away to Boro, I'd have got fourth. Also won the League Cup and UEFA Cup in the second season...and yet a bad start to the season in the fourth year (ok, an AWFUL start - two win, five draws and five defeats in the first twelve games of the season) and they sack me straight away. Now I know how Jol feels. I reckon I was about to turn it around as well, they sacked me the day after a 4-0 win over Liverpool that would surely have seen the start of a surge up the table. Wankers.

I'm genuinely quite bitter about it. I'd done everything that could be expected of me, catching the top four inside three years and giving myself the possibility of a title challenge - obviously not this season because I fucked up the start, but I had the makings of a top side and only finished about ten points off top last season.

:mad:

[JIJ]

Seems like you weren't going anywhere.

[Simon]

I might have been struggling at the start of the season but I would say my team was better than the previous year :mad::mad::mad:

[Lazurus]

The Spurs board had invested money in the team Simon and you'd wasted it. They made the right move. Tell me where they finish at the end of the season if you don't mind.

It sucks but it improves the game as it feels real.

Where next for you?

[turdpower]

I might have been struggling at the start of the season but I would say my team was better than the previous year :mad::mad::mad:

:lol:

[Chris Scott]

Yeah you gotta love getting sacked and really being annoyed about it, happened to me when I was Inter Milan manager.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

It's a bit difficult to find out if anybody has asked this before, but how the fuck do you sort out the fake Germany names in the latest patched up version. It's fucking me off a fair bit. None of the other forums appear to have an explanation because they are gay.

What's that team_holland.ddt file do also?

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Oh I think I see now. Have to go and delete that fucking Inc file thing again in a different folder.

[RomulusWolfe]

Anyone noticed with the recent patch that you can't talk to your players or the media? Is there another mini-patch to fix this or is it just my game?

[Beefy]

Won League One at the second attempt yesterday and have played half of my first season in the Championship today. It's quite a step-up. I've got no problems scoring goals but I'm conceeding a stupid number at the other end. My team never seem to start playing until we're 2-0 down, although that generally is only about 15 minutes into a match.

Shouldn't get relegated, but this is real hard work.

Just found this on a Leyton Orient messageboard:

http://rapidshare.com/files/100856755/CM9798.rar

It appears to be CM97/98 (second only behind 01/02 as the best CM/FM version ever) updated to the start of this season. I'll give it a go in the week.

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Let me know if that works. I've still got 97/98 but my computer fucks up in all kinds of ways if I dare try and play it, sank to do with the dodgy old graphics I think

[Grimario]

Doesn't work for me. Guessing it might be Vista not being compatible :chin:

:dunno:

Downloading the most recent patch and the Weegie update, keep myself occupied till Pro Evo comes out on the Wii :hyper:

[Hlebsfall]

Is there no something akin to Dosbox you could run it through?

[Melv]

Works for me. It's even got the Brechin squad up to date, fantastic.

[Grimario]

Note to self: Do not start a game with USA, Australia and ALL of England, Italy, Scotland, Spain, Brazil and Argentina loaded and forget to take it off MAXIMUM details from when you were running a Rajah game.

:irked:

Luckily, you can turn the detail down later on, whoo.

[Skiznilly]

Well, after upgrading RAM, I paid cash money for a fully-legal copy, applied the la€st patch, everything's hunky-dory, but come february-time, it starts to go crazy during matches; i.e. the commentary and pitch-screen action will be completely different, it will suddenly cut to a replay of a goal that hadn't been scored yet, the score won't necessarily change to reflect this, nor will the scorer necessarily be credited if the score is. Then, come the end of the match, it's impossible to "continue" out, so I just find myself having to quit all the time. I tried holidaying past the match that initially gave me all the problems, but same thing happened. Patch is 8.0.2 118048(m.e v665).

Anyone else having problems like this?

[son_of_foley]

no

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

Just finished a 3rd season as Man City. So far we've finished 7th, 5th and 6th respectively... and throw in a UEFA cup runner's up medal. Richards and Huntelaar (signed in first season) both left at the end of the first season, and the club 'forced' me to sell Elano for 28m-odd in the second season. I've Anglicised the side a bit and given a few of the potentially good but shit if they don't get games players a real chance in centre mid. Mike Johnson left for Everton for 9m also.


Joe Hart

Corluka - Woodgate - Dunne - Capdevila

Bentley - Ireland - G Fernandes - Downing

Nihat - Kessling

That's the rough first team, I've somehow amassed far too many choices up front... Sinama-Pongolle (7m), Bojinov, Eduardo (6m), Walcott (free), I did have Chevanton (1.6m), Caicedo... as well as Sturridge and Evans in a limbo of too good for the reserves but not good enough for the Prem. I've got the Aissati as well who's practically replaced Downing (and Petrov) on the left.

Thinking about it that team doesn't look that good, but it's solid enough defensively (back up inc. Chimbonda (2m), Wheater (6m)) and I never seem to have trouble scoring.

[Beefy]

For anyone who can't be arsed with downloading and installing these thnigs separately and who has a spare couple of quid:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Football-Manager-2008-PC-3-7GB-Update-DVD-FM2008-patch_W0QQitemZ230236977572QQihZ013QQcategoryZ4107 2QQcmdZViewItem

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

would you have to play the game with geordie george written all fucking over it??

[Flow (Ice Cold) 3000]

In other news I came 3rd two years in a row with City, Eduardo and Pongo have been fucking quality up front together.

Last year (season 6) I came 5th, with 82 points which is the most I've got. I reckon this coming year could be a bit of a breakthrough as I've finally got a good keeper (Enyeama) and real quality at CM (Toulalan and 31y/o Kaka).

[UK Blue]

In my third year with Barca. Won the league twice, Champions League once but yet to win the Spanish Cup. I'm aiming for the perfect year this time around, it's Feb and I'm about 15 points clear of Real Madrid in the league, through to the Copa Del Rey semi's and got a QF Champions League clash with Arsenal coming up. Already won Spanish Super Cup, Euro Super Cup and World Club Championship thingy. Could win SIX trophies! :D

Oh, and I'm unbeaten in sixty league games. All despite the fact that my team has a goal/shot ratio of 0.000001.

My best team goes something like:

Valdes, Daniel Alves, Puyol, Milito, Evra, Xavi, Iniesta, C Ronaldo, Messi, Ronaldinho, Eto'o.

But I swap around a lot with these:

S Viera, Zambrotta, Marquez, Garay, Emmanuelson, Sunny, M Veluso, Y Toure, J Moutinho, van der Vaart, Giovani, Bojan, Henry.

Got quite a few promising younsters out on loan too. It's much more fun playing with an awesome team. :yes:

If I achieve the perfect season I'll have to retire though. I'll start one up with Aldershot or someone.

[viva_la_raza]

I still have 2007, got too into to get 2008. Am in the worst mood, got sacked as Inter Milan manager after five seasons. The board and fans were so fickle it was unreal. Won Champions League in my third seasons after losing twice in the final, won four consecutive Serie A Titles, and a Coppa Italia along with the World Club Championship.

Signed Sultan Cem, who turns into the most amazing goal scoring machine in the world, and was only 16 when I first picked him up.

Started the fifth season looking to win the title again, lost the first five games and they sacked me immediatly :(

Here was my team at it's peak:

Akinfeev, Cordoba, Materatzi, Alves, Sidnei, Grosso, Viana, Riquelme, Polenz, Iaquinta, Ibrahimavitch

[Craven]

So i started a new game with QPR. Got them prmoted from championship after they gave me shit loads of money to do so. Now i'm in the premiership, they've given me a budget of 100k odd to stay in the league. How the fuck am i meant to survive with that? Even Derby this season had more of a budget than that.

Should i send them an ultimatum to try and give me more money? Dunno whether i'd get sacked or not. Suppose i could always save it.

Anybody know of any cheap premier league quality players?

[Alf]

If I have a season where I win practically eveything I tend to resign and find anew challenge. I get bored if I'm just constantly winning the same league.

[J]

I've got to agree with Alf on winning the same league again and again a few times I have found me going from winning the champions league to quitting and taking a job for some lower league team fighting for relegation.

If I do stay with a team at the top then I try and blood in as many youngsters from that country as I can, try to emulate Celtic winning the European Cup with 11 players born from within 30 miles of Celtic Park.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

I started a game over the Easter break, first proper one really, having got the new patch.

Started out with Bayern Munich, signed Darijo Srna only and he got about 12 goals and loads of assists in his first season, with Luca Toni and Klose scoring for fun. Cleaned up every comp: German League Cup, German Cup, Bundesliga and UEFA Cup.

Sold Klose and Ribery for big bucks the next season and replaced them with Klass-Jan Huntelaar and Guilherme, the young Brazilian. Didn't go so good that season, won the German League Cup and league again but went out of the Champions League at the quarters to Real Madrid.

Took the Spurs job that summer. They were struggling but had shitloads of money from selling Berbatov before I got there, then I sold Gareth Bale to Liverpool for £40 million, plus I sold off a load of shit players Ramos had bought in and got in Ciprian Marica to partner Robbie Keane before raiding Bayern for Guilherme again, plus got Aiden McGeady, Ilsinho, some quality Nigerian left-back and Miguel Veloso in to sort out the midfield (already had Jefferson Farfan and Renato).

Finished 5th in the league, pushing a very expensive Liverpool team to the last game for 4th place after being set a target for midtable safety. Also got to the UEFA Cup final but lost to Lazio. I think a title push would have been possible but I had a run of horrendous form in the middle of the season off the back of a misguided couple of team talks following disappointing draws pushing the morale down, gotta watch that.

I sort of wanted to push Spurs on but no real top players that I needed in certain positions were interested in coming so it was tough to improve the team. Liverpool offered me their job, then Real Madrid offered me a job the same week with a scandalous transfer budget. They'd just finished midtable so I took that for the craic. Signed a load of ridiculous players like Nasri, Aguero, Nani and Ibrahimovic to add to the already ridiculous squad, but Valencia are also ridiculously fucking good and they've dropped only 5 points (a 4-1 defeat away to us accounting for 3 of those) and we're in February. So I'll probably not win the league but manage to keep my job for another season at least because there's another year on the contract.

Ibrahimovic doesn't get on because I play with one striker, young Brazilian Diogo who was there when I took the job and who I missed out on signing with Bayern in the first season. He's a goal machine.

[Alf]

Does anyone find it really bloody hard to buy players with the new patch.

I'm having to offer 40 mil for Lucas and Liverpool still won't accept... which is ridiculous...

It's bloody impossible to buy decent players.

Ashley Young, they won't accept 25 mil. Bollocks.

[The Rosk]

We wouldn't in reality mate. £28 million and he's yours.

[Alf]

Bullshit.

We'd probably end up selling Berbs for around 25-30. No way would he go for 25. A bid of 15 would turn their heads.

I understand that the teams don't want to sell but when you bid big they should be swayed a little bit.

[The Rosk]

We bought him for £10 million when he was an unproven youngster. Since then he's become basically the best ever player in the world.

[Alf]

He's no Darren Bent...

[Alf]

In my first season with Spurs. I just beat reading in the semi of the carling cup... I got Chelsea in the final :)

[Craven]

Does anyone find it really bloody hard to buy players with the new patch.


I know what you mean. I've put in bids of around 32 million for henri saviet (bordeux) and they keep turning me down.

[Ozanne]

How many of you actually tinker with the training mode? I hardly ever do anything with it, to be honest I can never be bothered to. Seems like too much hassle

[turdpower]

I know what you mean. I've put in bids of around 32 million for henri saviet (bordeux) and they keep turning me down.

Tried bidding anymore? :dunno:

[Alf]

How many of you actually tinker with the training mode? I hardly ever do anything with it, to be honest I can never be bothered to. Seems like too much hassle

The most I do is make sure I have excellent coaches.

[Ozanne]

That's what I do whenever my own coaches contracts are up, so you never make your own schedules, just leave it at general?

[Hlebsfall]

Don't know if this is considered a cheat, but there is a way you can score a marked amount more goals at corners.

Basically, have your best corner take deliver balls to the '6 yard box.' (Team instructions)

Then set your best header of the ball to 'attack near post', and your second best to 'challenge GK.' You can also throw another player to attack near post as well if you like.

Main thing to make sure is you turn 'near post flick ons' off, if any of your players have that.

You end up scoring boatloads of corners this way.

[Beefy]

I think it's generally the other way round (best header on the keeper, second attacks near post), but yeah it's pretty much a cheat as the AI can't defend against it. One of the mods on the SI forums reckons that he can score 70 goals a season from corners (with the right players, obviously) using that set-up.

[Melv]

Created Melvchester United and stuck them in the Premiership in place of Fulham, and started a game with fake players. It's a bit mental, I signed a left back from Milan for £140m :lol:

[Alf]

I think it's generally the other way round (best header on the keeper, second attacks near post), but yeah it's pretty much a cheat as the AI can't defend against it. One of the mods on the SI forums reckons that he can score 70 goals a season from corners (with the right players, obviously) using that set-up.

Yeah, it is a bit of a cheat...

But then when you consider how many times you've had games where you have 25 shots on target and no goals. Or when someone scores 2 against you and you look and see that that's their first two for 30 games. Or how many times you get that 'That's his first goal for xxxx team'. How many times you'll scrape a 1-1 only to see your lesser rivals annihilate them.

The game is setup in an odd way... did you know that matches results are pretty much pre-determind before you watch it. It's to save up on processing power so matches are processed to a point in advance.

The game cheats... so why not fight fire with fire?

[Alf]

Did anyone see the april fools from SI?

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e51/aymardee/aprilfool.jpg

I've nicked that screenie by the way... I'm not Desmond Adenignog

[UK Blue]

What does it mean if some of my players are worried about "a lack of managerial discipline?" Should I fine them?

[Alf]

Warn players who get sent off or miss training. if they do it again then fine them

Bollock them in the team talks if they play shit etc etc.

[UK Blue]

I like to regularly give my players days off after games to get them back near 100% quicker, maybe that's the problem.

Nearly finished my third season with Barcelona, won five trophies so far this season with the Champios League final against Benfica coming up to complete the set. Just lost a league game 1-0 at Sevilla though, so my seventy game unbeaten league run has come to an end.

Anyone else have the problem at corners where almost every goal you score is ruled out for pushing?

[Beefy]

Yeah, it is a bit of a cheat...

But then when you consider how many times you've had games where you have 25 shots on target and no goals. Or when someone scores 2 against you and you look and see that that's their first two for 30 games. Or how many times you get that 'That's his first goal for xxxx team'. How many times you'll scrape a 1-1 only to see your lesser rivals annihilate them.

The game is setup in an odd way... did you know that matches results are pretty much pre-determind before you watch it. It's to save up on processing power so matches are processed to a point in advance.

The game cheats... so why not fight fire with fire?

Oh I agree.

And yeah the game calculates the score before kick-off and then recalculates it every time you make a tactical change.

[Craven]

Tried bidding anymore? :dunno:

Well, i'm putting crap initial fees in with it as well, but that's only because QPR have given me a ridiculous budget to try and survive in the premiership (110k!).

Anymore and i'd reckon i'd put the club in administration, probably.

[Alf]

First season with Spurs. Finished 4th.

Lost the CC final to Chelsea 3-1. Lost the semi FA cup to Everton 1-0 in the final minute of extra time. Lost the final of the UEFA on penalties.

Gutted.

Got this young lad Kalouda coming in. He looks ace, check him out.

[Melv]

Gone back to my Liverpool game. Finished 4th in the 2nd season, and I've made a few changes in the summer. Sold Agger to Barca back in January, and Skrtel wanted out so I've sold him to Man City.

In comes Zapata and Woodgate as replacements. Zapata goes straight in to partner Garay in defence as I'm looking to phase Carragher out.

Pepe Reina wants a new challenge, so of all clubs, Aston Villa have met my asking price of a whopping £30m. I actually hope he goes for that. I'll probably stick with Carson until January or the summer when I can get a proper replacement.

[Melv]

Current Squad:

GK:
Jose Reina
Scott Carson

DEF:
Alvaro Arbeloa
Urby Emanuelson
John Arne Riise
Cristian Zapata
Ezequiel Garay
Jamie Carragher
Jonathan Woodgate
Rafinha

MC:
Lorik Cana
Javier Mascherano
Lucas
Thiago
Xabi Alonso
Steven Gerrard
Diego Buonanotte

ML/MR:
Ryan Babel
Ricardo Quaresma
Salomon Kalou

FC:
Fernando Torres
Sergio Aguero
Kevin Doyle


Lining up vaguely like this:


Reina

Rafinha - Zapata - Garay - Arbeloa

Mascherano

Gerrard - Aguero

Quaresma ------------------------- Babel

Torres


With the backup team sort of like this:



Carson

Arbeloa - Carragher - Woodgate - Riise

Lucas

Thiago - Xabi Alonso

Kalou------------------------- Nakamura

Doyle

[Alf]

How does Aguerro do as a centre mid? I've been considering getting him for just that purpose.

I've also been playing with the idea of getting Alves and re-training him as a centre mid. His stats are perfect for the role.

[Melv]

I'd say he does just as well there as he does up front. Doesn't seem to score much less goals, although he hasn't been a regular for me as Alonso has been immense.

[Alf]

I might get him then, or try to.

I've got my heart set on Anderson though.

What do you reckon on the Alves idea?

[Melv]

He looks good enough to play there, certainly at Defensive Midfield anyway - although he does have a couple of stats that suggest he could play further up the pitch. I think he'd be a great AMR.

[Alf]

I play a 4231 so I reckon he'd be good as part of the two man central mid or the right sided mid. If I can get Aguerro he'd be the AMC, or Anderson if I can get him.

I bought Veloso and I've still got my eye on Lucas for the second central mid position.

It all comes down to how much cash I get. The only transfer I've made so far is Veloso and I've sold a heck of a lot of players (and plan to sell more).

I'll probably get 10 mil though. I hate it when that happens.

[Melv]

Reckon I'm just going to keep Carson as my first choice, all of the keepers I've been looking at are no better than him. (Gordon, Hart, Akinfeev and some Italian bloke). Signed a 16 year old Ivory Coast regen keeper with an afro who my scouts say will be quality. :D

[Melv]

As I type that, Man Utd humiliate me 5-1 at Old Trafford in Carson's first game as my first choice. Hmm.

[Fanny Batter]

AHAHAHA. My United Under 18's just had a match against their Blackpool counterparts, and Blackpool had four players sent off. Record? Anybody had a game end early due to too much voilence?

[Alf]

Reckon I'm just going to keep Carson as my first choice, all of the keepers I've been looking at are no better than him. (Gordon, Hart, Akinfeev and some Italian bloke). Signed a 16 year old Ivory Coast regen keeper with an afro who my scouts say will be quality. :D

Ben Costil is ace, young and cheap. I'm grooming him as a possible robbo replacement.

[Melv]

Signed Allan McGregor as backup for Carson for now, window's shut so I won't do anything til January. I suspect I'll be fine with what I have - Dean Bouzanis is out on loan this season but he's usually a star, and then there's the 16 year old afro.

[Skiznilly]

AHAHAHA. My United Under 18's just had a match against their Blackpool counterparts, and Blackpool had four players sent off. Record? Anybody had a game end early due to too much voilence?

When I played against Farsley Celtic, they had 3 players sent off, all from 2 penalty incidents(one guy had a bit too much backchat, I think). Anyone else had/seen 3 dismissed in a match they controlled?

For those playing in the lower leagues, I signed Chelsea Reject Jody Morris on a free at the beginning of the game, ad he's been immense. Michael Noone and Adam Nowland are also good centre-mids at Conf/League 2 level. Finding a good keeper down in he doldrums strikes me as trickier. Got Zac Barrett, who was ace of base in my unpatched game, but now he's a bit meh to be honest.

[Melv]

In '07 I think I had 2 players sent off on each team in a game I played.

[DavidUK]

I've had 2 players from my team and 1 from the opposition, I think.

[Alf]

I got 55 mil transfer and have spunked 13 of it on Lucas. Now to get Anderson... Man U don't want to play though.

I sold Kaboul to Ajax for 13.5... nutters...

[Melv]

I nearly signed Kaboul for Liverpool but I wasn't paying £10m for him.

I paid £16m for Woodgate instead.

[Melv]

After starting with Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal - 2 of which away - in my first 5 games, I've climbed my way up to joint 2nd after 11, still 9 points behind Man Utd, who have only drawn a game and won the rest so far.

15 goals in my last 3 games has just shown what good form I'm in though. My Rafa-style rotation system is working wonders.

Torres has 15 in 12 games, Aguero has 7 in 9 from midfield. Reckon I could push United the whole way this year.

[Matt E]

When I played against Farsley Celtic, they had 3 players sent off, all from 2 penalty incidents(one guy had a bit too much backchat, I think). Anyone else had/seen 3 dismissed in a match they controlled?

I remember seeing a screenshot on the FM forums once from a guy who'd seen 3 Leeds players sent off against him while playing as Man United on one of the old CM3 versions.. 2 of them for punching Ferdinand :D

[Alf]

I managed to get Alves for silly money.

I'm going to attempt to train him as an AMC.

Man U just wouldn't sell Anderson. Gutted.

[RFF Champ]

Are you all happy to regularly play players in positions that they are only accomplished in?

It's something that I've never liked doing. The only exception is out wide, if someone is a natural AMR and an accomplished MR then I'll happily play him there with an arrow going forward but I've never really considered doing it for anything else.

[Alf]

If you double up with training them for a new position it works ok.

If that player is competent then that is enough and they will get better in that position.

If I have an injury to a defender I've got no problems sticking a midfielder in there. Or if my right winger is out. I'll just move him to AMR with a farrow and stick a striker in there. Or cut the farrow and stick a normal midfielder in there. Or a right back.

I really like having a small squad so that everyone gets maximum playing time, especially youngsters.

Versatility.

Lads, I'm pining for a lower league game again. I came across this to help me decide who to go for...

http://proxymoron.org/llm/

Is anyone interested in starting up a game with me and sharing our wonderful experiences?

[Lazurus]

That's a top notch website Alf. Nice work mate.

[Melv]

I tend to play my Left midfielders on the right and vice versa while I'm training them up to play on both sides anyway.

I like my players to be versatile. Even centre backs I re-train to be full backs or defensive midfielders just in case of a crisis.

I like training my forwards to play on the wing too. Keane and Doyle did well when I put them there on my Villa game.

[Melv]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v731/euanmilne/WorldAwards.png

:D

[Alf]

That's a top notch website Alf. Nice work mate.

I'm not sure if you are taking the piss or not...

If not, fancy letting it choose a team and giving it a bash?