Football Manager 2013

[GazTheGull]

Just started my career with Torquay, made it through pre-season with the only win coming at Weymouth, but only lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace in the capital one cup.

Planning on doing a network game with some of my mates when they get it, me being Torquay and them being Premier League teams

[Plymouth Gull]

Do you not prefer network games where you're in the same league? For banter purposes..

[GazTheGull]

Yeah, I suggested we all start with teams in the Blue Square South but they refused to budge from the Premier League

[Plymouth Gull]

Join them in the PL. Think how much fun it'd be to snatch the league title on a dramatic final day...

[GazTheGull]

They've chosen all the good teams: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle, Man City, Man UTD. Oh and one of them's Liverpool. I might be Wigan, just to mix things up a little? Still love being Torquay on football manager, my offline one with them should give me some hope

[Plymouth Gull]

Spurs?

[GazTheGull]

As a person who grew up loving Arsenal because on Henry, to me that would be traitorous. Stoke seem like an alright team on here

[Plymgull]

Got the game on release (also played during beta) have to say, unlike previous versions i am finding this years very hard.

I've tried a couple of teams including Torquay and with all teams i seem to be very inconsistent with results.

The Exeter result had me wishing there was an in-game option to throw football boots at certain players.

[Plymouth Gull]

As a person who grew up loving Arsenal because on Henry, to me that would be traitorous. Stoke seem like an alright team on here

Fair enough!

[Plymouth Gull]

So I've started a game with Torquay. Signed one player, a 22-year old striker on loan from QPR for 6 months, after he scored two in two PSF's. Pre season didn't really go that well, and I went into my first competitive game away at Wolves. Got smashed 5-0. A great start. However, I stuck with the same starting XI for the opening league game, at home to Rochdale. 0-0 at half time, before we turned on the style in a 15 minute spell, hitting 3 goals without reply. Bodin scored 2 and Howe scored the other, which was good as he'd been poor in pre-season. First away game saw us go to Bradford, despite dominating for long periods we lost 3-1 courtesy of a Garry Thompson hat trick. Bodin did get my reply early in the second half. So yeh, a mixed start, still a bit undecided on whether the formation I'm playing will work (4-5-1 like we play IRL).

Oh another thing, I asked the board to consider increasing the youth level, they said yeah so we're paying £1.3m on increasing our academy. Certainly didn't expect that! Aiming to earn a profit this year, so an FA Cup run would go down very nicely!

[Regiment]

does the game have to be installed via steam again, or can you run directly from the disc ??

[Plymouth Gull]

Steam.

[Plymouth Gull]

So I've started a game with Torquay. Signed one player, a 22-year old striker on loan from QPR for 6 months, after he scored two in two PSF's. Pre season didn't really go that well, and I went into my first competitive game away at Wolves. Got smashed 5-0. A great start. However, I stuck with the same starting XI for the opening league game, at home to Rochdale. 0-0 at half time, before we turned on the style in a 15 minute spell, hitting 3 goals without reply. Bodin scored 2 and Howe scored the other, which was good as he'd been poor in pre-season. First away game saw us go to Bradford, despite dominating for long periods we lost 3-1 courtesy of a Garry Thompson hat trick. Bodin did get my reply early in the second half. So yeh, a mixed start, still a bit undecided on whether the formation I'm playing will work (4-5-1 like we play IRL).

Oh another thing, I asked the board to consider increasing the youth level, they said yeah so we're paying £1.3m on increasing our academy. Certainly didn't expect that! Aiming to earn a profit this year, so an FA Cup run would go down very nicely!

Still on this game at the moment, about to start my 4th season (2015/16).

In my first year I finished in 13th place, boring midtable finish really. However it allowed me to get rid of players I didn't want such as Ryan Jarvis (£12k) and also a few others went (Rice, Macklin, etc).

Season 2 I hoped for a top 10 finish, or an improvement on last season at the very least. We certainly got it. The first half of the season we were plodding along in mid table, until after January our form really peaked. We finished 6th, although we were close to automatic promotion a couple of times. In the playoffs we met Plymouth. I lost 1-0 at their place in the 1st leg, before beating them 4-1 at Plainmoor. Wycombe awaited us at Wembley, but two terrible penalty decisions against us in the first 30 mins saw us 0-2 down. Bodin pulled one back, but it wasn't enough, so it was League 2 again for us. However, the money certainly helped as we made a profit of around £300k. I rejected a £900k bid for Bodin from Celtic as he had had a storming season, scoring 29 goals in all competitions. Howe was also excellent, scoring 28. We also reached the South Final of the JPT, losing out to Crystal Palace on away goals (2-2 aggregate). Gutting to get so close to Wembley again!

In my 3rd year I had to deliver a top 7 finish or possibly face losing my job. We started really well, going unbeaten through August and September. A blip followed, including a run of 5 defeats in 6, which dropped us down to 7th/8th place. However, after that blip we went on to only lose two more games all season, from mid-December. We ended up finishing 2nd in the division, no thanks to Rene Howe again, who hit 23 goals. Bodin was rubbish, he spent more than half the year injured and when he did play was very poor. Considering he was on around £4k p/w (including bonuses) it wasn't good enough. So yeah, promotion was confirmed with a game to spare as we lost away at Bristol Rovers but still went up as 4th placed Kidderminster didn't win. In the cups, we didn't do much in the COC or the FA Cup, going out in Rounds 1 & 2 respectively. The JPT had our name on it this time though. After beating Argyle and City in rounds 1 & 2 (we did the double over them both in the league too!) we reached Wembley courtesy of beating Leyton Orient, Oxford and then Crystal Palace in the South Final. That was very sweet after last season. Again it finished 2-2 on aggregate but this time I won on away goals - lovely job! Infront of a dismal 16000 at Wembley, we edged out League 1 highfliers Hartlepool 1-0 thanks to a late Michael Symes goal.

So yeah, all in all a perfect season. The finances were still average, flitting between +100k/-100k.

I'm all but done now with my squad for League One. Its been my busiest summer yet, as lots left and replacements came in. Through selling two players I've brought in £800k which obviously boosts the finances a lot. Roarie Deacon left for £100k 12 months after signing, while Bodin finally did move on, to Celtic, for £700k. Hindsight suggests I should have sold for £900k two years ago, but I wasn't to know he'd struggle so badly. Notable signings include Matt Tubbs and Aaron McLean, who should both do a job in L1 for a year at least. I'm confident my team has enough about them to comfortably survive in L1, though there are question marks about some players - Poke and Saah for example. Saah was a rock in League 2 so I'll give him a chance but I have signed another CB as cover if he doesn't make the step up. I replaced Poke in the second half of last year as I managed to get Dorus de Vries on loan which was a big coup for League 2!

Oh also, in my above quote I say how the club upped the academy level. They didn't. I did think it was weird as we had no money whatsoever, but at the end of the first year they cancelled the plans. That is something I want to do soon, but obviously I'm going to need to get the finances better off first!

[stevegull]

How's it going for everyone?

I'm in season 3 and my QPR team is currently challenging for the Europa League after i finally managed to trim the expensive and overpaid older generation from my team. I've signed a good crop Brazillian youngsters and also some French ones. I've also taken Scott Sinclair on loan from Man City for the last two seasons. Podolski has also just joined me on loan until the end of the season so I'm excited about that!

Joey Barton continues to be a liability and just loves a booking!

What's happening in all your games?

[Plymouth Gull]

Not on a TUFC game, Steve?