retired_magskee04

For this foray into LLM I have taken on the personna of an ambitious manager looking to win the Premier league in the shortest possible time. Changing club if it furthered my career (I know some LLM's don't like that but I view it a a lot more realistic than Southport in the champions league in 2020, I will only apply to teams one league higher as in RL and hopefullt FM you would be unlikely to be accepted for such a club).

I found by ancient computer too slow with the regional conferances active so decided to start with Accrington Stanley.

Season 04/5 to late Jan Accrington Stanley

I was short of strikers and wingers so spent most of my budget on a striker for £30k and my scout also found am 18 year old AM LR who looked promising so I splashed £8k for him. The rest of the gaps I filled up by season long loans.

League form was OK but not outsanding, by January I was 9th in the table but I had had a good FA cup run beating Bournemouth in the second round. I thought 3rd round draw would bring in the money with a home tie against Fulham, but out of misplaced loyalty to the fans the chairman refused to increase ticket prices and the TV companies decided that 2 all championship games were more deserving of their coverage so the revenue was £70k, identical to the second round. With goals either side of half time Fulham won comfortably 2-0 but the lads put on a good show and were far from humiliated.

The 18 year old winger prooved a real starlet with an average rating of 7.50.

The Mansfield job came up and as I was looking unlikely to get Accrington promoted this season I appplied for the job and was accepted.

2004/5 season from late Jan Mansfield Town

Mansfield were 23rd in the league but the bottom half dozen were all preyy close so I was sure I could drag us out of the relegation zone. The transfer money I was promised disappeared with the compensation to Accringtion for my moving. The wage bill needed reducing so I sold a couple of midfielders on high wages and surplus to requirements and brought in a squad F C and D C where I was short.

Only had the league to play for and got 23 pts from 17 games not spectacular but enough to get up to 18th in the league, well clear of the drop zone.

2005/6 season to mid Nov Mansfield town

During the close season I obtained a couple of quality wingers who were out of contract (Accrington would let me near the teenage starlet). I also bought a cheap Scottish D/DM C who would be a first team regular. Aston Villa approached me for an ambitious young defender who would not renew his contract with one year to go so I flet I had to accept £300k for him, so I sent my scouts out to find how best to spend the money. I also got rid of most of the dross at the club getting the wage bill down to budget

The season started well and by November I was 4th in the league in the 2nd round of the FA cup with a draw against Tilbury I had every hope of making the third round. Fulham had again been my undoing in the league cup, this time away in the first round (Fulham had been relegated in 2004/5) so the gate was not huge.

Then the Rotherham job came up. Rotherham were 20th in league 1 having been relegeted the season before. The Mansfield team was very young and full of promise. My 1st team squad had 16 players (excluding loanees) half of these were 21 or less and 5 more were 23 or 24 with 3 players in the 30s to offer some experience. In normal circumstances I would have stuck with them but Rotherham had much more potential for quick progression. My application went in and was accepted.

2005/6 season from Nov Rotherham

On joining Rotherham I found what a mess the club was in. The squad were basically league one players on championship salaries, the wage bill had gone though the roof with severl reserve players earning more than the salary cap. I started reasonably enough with 12 pts from 7 games so by the end of the year I was clear of relegation.

I had received a couple of offers for 1st team regulars that were too good to refuse as with the money rom them and a reduced wage bill by selling off the over payed dross cheaply I would be able to buy some players of at least equal quality on much lower wages.

The new year saw Arsenal come to Millmoor in the 3rd round of the FA cup (again no TV). My tactics were park the bus and hope for a share of some huge gate receipt from Highbury, it almost came off the lads kept a clean sheet for 73 minutes until a slightly higher than usual tempo started to take effect and Fabregas scored, as I went more and more attacking in search of an unlikely equaliser Arsenal ruthlessly exploited the gaps and 2 goals in the last 2 minutes meant the final score was 3-0.

I then had a bad run with just 6 points in 6 games, but by know my scouts had done there job and I had bought a decent 19 year old AM C who proved to be a real star (average rating at end of season 7.50), a versatile D/M RC who I usually played as a centre back (though he complained of too much competition for places when the AM C arrived and is still unhappy at the end of the season dispite playing virtually every game). A spent most of my transfer money however on a AM LC who has really started to show his class (average rating 7.75). This resulted in my winning 12 of my lasting 16 games resulting in finishing 5th in the table (I needed to win on the last day of the season and hope that Cardiff or Swindon Lost to make the playoffs and they both did).

In fact the one match in the last eight that I didn't win I was 2-1 up with 20 minutes to go, I was down to 10 men but relegation threatened Brentford only had 7! With 10 minutes to go they scored an equaliser but all my pressure at the end led to nothing.

This led to the playoffs my AM LC superstar had been injured for the last fortnight and was doubtful for the final, then 2 days before the 1st leg against Tranmere 4 players had minor knocks and by physio forgot to tell me giving me quite a shock when I came to select the team on Saturday morning. Do I play a half injured 1st team regular, a youngster in his first team debut or the reamis of the dross I have not yet managed to get rid of. My decisions (a crock in goal, a debutant up front and an overpaid journeyman at the back worked a treat, after 20 minutes I was 3-0 up and when the 4th went in just after half time I even took off my keeper to save hime from aggrevating his injury. Putting a few youngsters in the 2nd leg resulted in a 1-0 defeat but we were on the way to Wembley.

In possession and chances I had the better of the final but I could take the chances, Swindon scored on the half hour and the final score remained 1-0.

Toward the end of the season I applied for the jobs at Notts Forest and QPR to try and ensure championship management next season, I also cheakily applied to Leeds who were in the hunt for a playoff place but it all came to naught.



After 2 seasons I am at my third club and trying to apply for a fourth and I have a loyalty rating of 17 and an ambition rating of 9. How are these worked out?

I play quite slowly but will providean update either at the end of next season or when I move clubs again.

retired_nekh_20

FM is notorious for offering jobs with higher reps to managers who frankly don't have that reputation.

Do you think in 1 season, an unknown manager who hardly set it alight with Accrington will be offered the job of Mansfield in League Two? I doubt it.

After the 2nd season, do you think it's realistic to become manager of the Rotherham team? Again, I doubt it.

retired_magskee04

FM isn't 100% realistic (although it is the best there is)

some things work against you and you can not change (e.g. IRL just about every club promoted to the premier league gets at least 3-4M to spend on transfers this is reasonable as a £12 TV revenue will pay the transfer fees and their wages (plus increased wages for existing players) without the club going bankrupt if they go straight back down in FM you might get £100k

Others work in your favour but are difficult to determine how realstic it is (e.g getting offered jobs you do not deserve). If I had had one season at Accrington and reached the playoffs would a struggling League 2 side be interested. Lets face it most people play FM starting as the manager of a premier league club with no experience at all.

Should I only get useless players on Bosman's because IRL virtually all decent players have their contracts extended a couple of year before it expires, or is sold on 1 year before it expires, should I pay clubs what I think a player is worth if the computer will let me have him for much less (or is there a problem with him I don't yet know about)?

It is far better to define rules like only apply to clubs one league above you rather than trying to make the decision of what wuld the probability be of me getting this job if I applied for it in real life?

retired_tinkfaeree

We need (mostly) no rules. We have guidelines. And one of them is to play the game in an ethical way that seems most realistic to us.

I don't know what you mean with "when the computer will let me have him for much less". If you mean some tricking around so you can reduce the price tag much much lower, I'm not even interested, and you're absolutely wrong here.

Have a read at the guidelines sticky before I repeat it all anyway.

retired_nekh_20

I was addressing your point at the top.

"I know some LLM's don't like that but I view it a a lot more realistic than Southport in the champions league in 2020"

I was just showing you how unrealistic it was to think you can jump ships and hop your way to the premiership. Southport in the CL is unrealistic yeah, and I don't think anyone has actually achieved such a thing in LLM in this new game anyway.

As unrealistic as it is though, look at Wigan, although they had bundles of money, they have made it into the top league in 10-15 years I think.

" If I had had one season at Accrington and reached the playoffs would a struggling League 2 side be interested. Lets face it most people play FM starting as the manager of a premier league club with no experience at all."

Yeah, they can play the game how they want, but you cannot justify you jumping to League 2 just because another FM player would start in the prem. Here in LLM we are all about realism, which is why I think jumping up to League 1 in two seasons is a bit strange.