retired_jst4stac

Some interesting comments.

I knew people would mention Wimbledon or Wigan. The Dons did it in are when money and/or big gates were far less important than they are now. Wigan are bankrolled by a 'sugar daddy'. Preston and Brighton are irrelevant to talk about, in my view, as they have been in the league forever. I'm talking about non-league sides, that have never been in the league and built significant history and support.

The issue, to me, is that the likes of Stevenage won't ever get gates that can sustain a push into the Premiership. It's sugar-daddy or nothing for clubs like that to get into the top flight.

Besides which, it's clear that FMH teams aren't just getting into the Premiership and then struggling. They're getting there and winning the Champions League!

retired_cacuna

I think you're a bit harsh to discount all non-league teams as 'redundant' just because they're non-league currently.

For instance Stevenage have currently got a far better setup than Brighton imho - heck most non-league teams have, as most of them actually have a stadium of their own

(remember we've managed to go up the divisions DESPITE having no stadium and limited case and facilities)

Stevenage isn't a good club to pick on for potential gates - the team is located in a very good catchement area for crowds being easily commutable from London and also Cambridge.

If they reached the Premiership then they'd have no problem whatsoever imho filling a 20,000+ seater stadium.

retired_jst4stac

I don't discount non-league teams as redundant. I support one not a million miles from you, which was a couple of games from being in the Premiership not so long ago.

But I don't see any of the current Conference sides being in the Premiership in the next decade, do you? I'm not saying it should be impossible in the game, but it seems from these boards that people are achieving it quite frequently - and not just achieving it, but succeeding at that level too.

We'll have to disagree on Stevenage's chances of filling a 20,000 seater stadium. I don't envisage people abandoning Cambridge to go and watch them (Cambridge based people who want to watch premiership football already commute to Tottenham on the whole), nor many Londoners eschewing any of their top flight clubs to travel out to Hertfordshire.

It's not impossible of course... Wigan managed to get 15-22000 people at the JJB once they hit the top flight. But would Wigan have got there without Dave Whelan's patronage? No.

Similarly, could Stevenage get 15-20000 gates in the Championship, in order to have significant money coming in without a sugar-daddy chairman? I strongly doubt it. Their gates in another successful Conference season weren't even particularly impressive.

I guess I have come to see that yes, it's important that it's possible in the game to go from Conference to Prem. But I don't think it should be so easy that you are able to nonchalantly talk of doing it in testing for every release, or that this board should have numerous people who've done it a month after the game came out.

retired_cacuna

I don't mean to 'talk nonchalently' of doing it - but it IS something which I do with all our games, partly because playing them a lot helps with the tuning and tweaking of the simulations ..... bear in mind that I have a heck of a jump start on most people and on average have been playing my 'long term' game for 2 (real world) months before you lot get to see the game on the shelves (as such its not like its something I can do in a short time).

With regards to the difficulty of FM PSP in this iteration - I'm planning on putting up a poll at some stage to get a feel for how people percieve the games difficulty for every person saying one of our games is too easy please bear in mind that there's usually at least one saying its too hard (as such its a case of hitting a balance which keeps most people happy and content).

PS> and I am as usual listening to any people boasting and checking if their tactics are exploiting AI flaws which need to be rectified

retired_jst4stac

May I point out this thread marc?

http://community.sigames.com/eve/for...2/m/9462076222

Getting a conference club into the Premiership is one thing, and yes it should be 'possible' in the game. But surely it shouldn't be so 'possible' that in that thread alone you have six people who did it in just four or five seasons? Not to mention then going on to do well in the Premiership.

retired_cacuna

How many of those people did it 'first time' with the game however? ...

Humans have a natural unfair advantage in our games because after playing the game multiple times they get to know weaknesses in teams and also (importantly) some of the players who are young and who will develop over time.

Difficulty is something I'll be looking into, however more to fix some of the 'cheat' tactics rather than trying to make it more difficult across the board*.

*Although some of the new features in the game will make the game somewhat more challenging anyway (but more on that later when things are fully announced ).

nicsan

I actually think that Stevenage irl with a little luck would have a good shot at building a 'dynasty' (so to speak ) ...

They've got a good youth policy and with a little luck and the right coaching staff in the lower levels they could groom a side which could take them up the league levels fairly easily.

The location of the team is well placed to attract support as the team grows imho and so over time anything could happen.

Bringing Brighton back into things again - we raised a huge amount of cash when we sold Gareth Barry despite him not having ever played a senior game for the club. If Stevenage could groom similar players or better still hold onto a small core of them then they could easily rise to the Championship imho (remember Brighton while in the Championship have had a fair few of the same players who at one stage were nearly relegated from the league, a LOT of the difference in the lower levels if organisation, training and having those one or two players who are a little bit 'special' imho).

(I live just up the road from Stevenage if you wondered about why I know a little about the club and their youth policy etc. ..) </BLOCKQUOTE>

Correct me if I'm wrong,but wasn't it Stevenage who were denied a place in the Football League because their ground didn't measure up to League requirements?.Wouldn't it have been interesting to see how far they would have reached if they'd been successful with their application back then.However,on the downside anyone remember Maidstone? - and to a lesser degree,Colne Dynamos?

retired_mhickle

I took halifax up to the prem! It took four seasons, won all the titles on the way but not the prem. won the uefa cup once, super cup once, and now the vase its my tenth season in charge and possibly my last. I have been trying to unlock the hidden cheats, but still to no avail!!!!!

retired_eklunder

I took over Woking and I'm doing very well.

First Season picked up the last playoff place and lost in the shootout in the playoff final to aldershot.

Season two i won the conference with 106 points and season after also got promoted to league one which I've just started with 1 win and 1 loss.

Players I've got who have been brilliant:

Bruno Value (5k from Porto)
James James (12k from Colchester)
Terry Unsworth (Free)
Helder Barbosa (8k Porto) who tried to buy him back for 800k after making international appearance(and scoring) whilst Woking were in League Two.
Shane Paul (Free from AVilla) who has been my top scorer for 3 seasons.