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I will admit like many others playing FM08 I struggled at first, success with Man Utd was easy, LLM was inconsistent and Hull city were down right impossible. Anyway after acouple of false starts I finally got a Hull game going in which I became successful, I'm pretty certain the points I learnt can be carried over to many other games. I am now into my 4th season and my previous history looks like this
07/08 (Championship) 10th Place - W16 D16 L14 F77 A71 Pts64
08/09 (Championship) 6th Place - W22 D7 L17 F87 A80 Pts73 - won play-off final
09/10 (Premier league) 19th Place -W8 D3 L27 F48 A84 Pts27
10/11 (Championship) So Fat 1st W8 D0 L1 F23 A6 Pts24
Some of you may read this an think it's hardly remarkable, but getting to the premier league with hull in 2 seasons is quite an achievement. Not only that but in 08/09 we made the semi-finals of the Fa Cup only to be thrashed by Man U, in 09/10 we made the Semis of the Carling cup.
Here are some of the things I learnt which may help others.
1. Patience - You will struggle at times, don't get frustrated, slightly critisize key players if thier form is sub-par, most will try harder.
2. Defence - I learnt this the hard way, scoring has never been a problem, but we leak worse than a tap with no washer, spend wisely on quality defenders and a good goalie is a must.
3. Staff, Basically get rid of the duffers ASAP, take on as many decent coaches as you can until the board block you employing anymore, the same with scouts, A good Ass.Man who is good at judging ability helps too.
4. Tactics, Don't fiddle too much and do stubbornly stick to the same tactic because it used to work, find a middle ground, utilise 3 or 4 tactics and rotate between them when form starts slipping, a good defensive tactic for cup games is a good idea in the mix too.
5. Strengthen in key ares, The squad I have now is virtually the same as my relegation seasons squad, albeit with a couple of better defenders and a new keeper (I sol my other one for 5m @32 years old). I am never shy to sell a key play but only If I can get a better one for less money. Take a look at what you aren't doing well, conced goals get better defenders/keeper, creating little get better midfielders, not scoring = better strikers.
6.Pace, is important at all levels, try and find players with at least 13 or more for pace in all positions.
7. Do not overanalyze, if you are losing it may simply be that your team is crap and not because of tactics/morale or other issues. Keep it simple and try not to make drastic changes.
Hopefully this might help at least one person. Even with all the bugs this is still a great game, Love at first sight it is not, you simply need to work a little harder to love this game!
My way of playing with a small club is to have good scouts and buy young <19y players with potential and then sell them for much more money later..
I have been playing like this for years and it never fails.. I dont think I ever bought >23y player in fm..
At least somebody on this forum has given advice on how to do better at this game. I was fed up reading comments from some of the other users in a similar mould to "I have no problem with defenders closing down & winning trophies season in season out. You can't do well then that is your problem so sort it out you moron."
One of th mistakes I have done in the past in FM is trying to keep hold too long of my better players when managing a small club. Doesn't matter if they get the contract & money they want, when they wanna move they will move. Keeping them just makes it worse as you start getting bad results, so best is to sell them at a profit and bring in young blood.
Originally posted by kennhyl:
when you say that LLM was inconsistent, can I just ask what LLM actually is?
LLM = Lower League management, basically I found if you can get a decent parent club you can literally coast to success in your league, if not, you will struggle, particularly with the limited promotion places available. I have noticed that most of the top conference and below teams have at least a parent club of championship level or above.
It's one of those little anomaly's of this game that can be frustrating, I may try LLM again when I get bored with this save game though.
1. Patience - You will struggle at times, don't get frustrated, slightly critisize key players if thier form is sub-par, most will try harder.
Completely agree with all your points, patience especially. I've had to try and force myself to not get down about losing or having a bad season and just keep going. I keep reminding myself that the game is like a marathon, not a sprint!
My guide to FM Success 
(FM07)
Linear Mode
