retired_mari360

I see a lot of comments around the Internet about people saying that they're having a hard enough time in the top leagues, so they dread to think how hard it would be down in the lower leagues.

However, I'd have thought that the challenge level would be the same. Sure, Aston Villa are a better team than Ebbsfleet United, but the opposition are also not as good.

I've not played as a top-league team since '95, where I played as Arsenal (using the logic that I'd probably be rubbish and wouldn't mind seeing Arsenal lose all their matches!) and then took a break until CM4 and I've been down in the lower leagues (and all round the world!) ever since, doing single seasons here and there with teams with transfer budgets less than a weekly supermarket shopping trip.

So to anyone who plays FM Handheld at the top and the bottom end of the footballing world, is it really harder at the bottom in the first season?

(I appreciate competing with better terms after promotion might be harder than starting with a team of that level, by the way. It's why I only play a single season with most teams I manage - I get scared and restart the game or get a new job.)

retired_pella183

I very rarley start at the bottom leagues, i can't be bothered with the scouting for players etc - usually in the PC version i edit Stevenage and give them a couple of million...

But its the same as most FM/CM games - you have a tactic that seems to work no matter what team or division your in IMO - just depends on your patience levels and how often you get to play the ggame i think.

But to answer your question after re reading my ramble... :o It's not any harder at the top.

retired_dayizee

I would say yes, simply because you don’t have the flexibility of changing your squad like you can with a Premier League side and its big transfer budget.

With a weak Premier League side you might struggle but at least you’ve got a transfer budget to buy a few hidden gems who might be able to keep you up. In FMH07 it was a bit too easy and you could attract young South American superstars to your mediocre side and turn it into a good side.

With lower league teams you tend to have little or no transfer budget and it's hard to attract good players to your club on a free. And if good players do want to come, they want more than you can afford. So you tend to be stuck with more or less the same squad for a few seasons.

If your squad is better than average for the division then you can do well. I got York promoted in successive seasons with just two or three additional players. But if it's worse than average then it can be really hard to turn things around, especially in FMH08 where players seem much more picky. Having said that I think it’s still easier to do well in the lower leagues in FMH than it is in the PC game where you can really get stuck in a rut of mediocrity.

retired_dayizee

Oh yes, I meant to add that the loan system is more important to lower league clubs. But it's still hard to find players who will make a difference.

retired_cacuna

I think its a different challenge in the lower leagues than in the top ones - you have less flexibility with budgets but also more players available in some manner (as often any warm body will do ) ).

In the lower leagues its about shaping things around the players you have and bringing in players to shore up the team when the opportunity arises, in the upper leagues there are less players who might 'improve' your side (because your existing team is pretty talented already) and generally more competition for those players (ie. in the lower leagues you're picking up unwanted rejects - in the top divisions you're after players probably valued highly within their existing teams).

Both are good fun and real challenges imho - taking a bottom team up the pyramid though and evolving it from a 'small' club to a 'top' one is always for me going to be the ultimate ..

retired_yalda

I have been playing CM and FM for years now and I have bever taken control of a team in the top two flights of the english pyramid. For me there would be no enjoyment in taken control of a top team. I like the challenge of turning around the fortunes of a lesser club.

My two biggest succes stories to date is getting Herefored United in to the prem and also Gravesend to the prem and to european glory on FMH 07.

retired_Lpink

Are Lower Leagues More Difficult?

My answer is no. They are equal I think.

Advantages of the lower league start, is that you have only a fraction of the big time money. This is good, as it makes you use players you'd never normally pick, players from the squad that you have, that you can happily let go on a free since their contract is expiring etc.

I hardly sign anyone except regens and the max loan players. Also in addition to this, progre4ssing through the game to get a few matches under belt is a lot quicker.

There are many 30somethings that you can bring in on 1 year contracts too.

With the right tactic, lower leagues can be the easiest thing in the world. The wage budgets will rise and rise too to accommodate your growth.

One criticism I have is that when you are a smaller team and you have taken say Bournemouth to the Premiership title, and then list some bit part, crap stats man who you kept from the beginnning or brought in as a short term measure, if sold the players go nuts for no reason. This happens to me for players that are not a patch at all on the existing team.