Football Manager 2012..

[Stoke_Gull]

Things going well enough at Plainmoor at the moment, sitting 3rd in the table in the middle of February with Jamil Adam having banged in 29 goals so far and Laurent Robert getting 6. However my finances have nosedived in the recent months, in October I made a loss of £70k but in November the loss was down to just £12k due in part to getting over 5000 for every home game. However since then the losses have increased dramatically despite keeping attendances hovering around 4000 - 5000 mark. In January the club recorded a loss of £98k and I don't know where exactly I am losing all this money or how to keep it down, only O'Kane was given a higher wage when his contract was renewed. Anyone got any ideas on how to solve my money worries?

[stevegull]

It's normally completely down to wage budget. I had the exact same thing with Torquay. I was about 2k p/w over budget and once i got it down to budget things evened out, although i did it a bit too late in the season which meant my budget was slashed again for the next season.

Terminating contracts is what i did. I pretty much offered out my reserves for free, and those that had interest in them, great, those that didn't got released if I didn't see where i would use them. I relied on cheaper youth players to fill up squad numbers, which can be risky, but i did get promoted from League Two doing it.

Hope this helps you do you don't have to sell star players!

[PlainmoorRoar]

Think im about to start my 4 season in the prem with torq, just turned down signing Ramos from Real madrid as hes too old, trying to get Ozil

Last year i won the carling cup and league
This season i won the Fa cup and league

going for the Champions league this coming season!

Jacks stadium going nicely selling out the 18K every game with 10K season tickets, with sponsorship going through the roof, finances are good!

[Plymouth Gull]

If you're on Steam you've probably noticed the patch is out. Haven't started a game on it yet as I'm quite into my current game, which I'm aiming for a long term game with Macclesfield, which may take some time!

We finished 23rd in League Two in the first year, it was all a disaster, truth be told. Just terrible. Thankfully I didn't get sacked though, and having basically revamped the squad we're 4th in the BSP with about 10 games left. It's so tight though. Luton are clear at the top, but from 2nd down to 9th it's about 7 points between them all. Mental. I did have a good run of 10 without defeat, but that ended with a shock 3-0 home defeat to 17th placed Blyth! Wasn't happy!

Hopeful of the playoffs, as Luton will win the league.

[Plymouth Gull]

Bump!

I've kind of come to a standstill with my Macc game. As you can see from my last post I was in the BSP. I reached the playoffs, won them (thanks to a 6-1 win over rivals Stockport - won 5-1 at their place!) and beating Cambridge 2-1 in the final (I like how they bottled it like in real). Into League 2, I kept the same squad with a few additions, and went straight through. Leading the table for most of it, I was eventually displaced by Accrington who hit form at the right time, while I lost all my form, losing 4/5 in a row near the end. Finished 2nd though. Into League One, the club were struggling financially, nearly 800k in debt. My season opener was away at Nottm Forest. I was 1-0 up at half time, but my keeper got injured straight away into the second half, and for the one and only time in my whole FM career, I didn't have a back up. On came a 16-year old guy who didn't even have a contract, let in Forest's only two shots on goal as we lost 2-1. I've decided to call it a day for now. I might come back to it, but I've fancied a different challenge on the latest patch.

My new game is with Hibernian. One of my first aims is to get rid of everybody who isn't Scottish, as I want an all-Scottish line up. The first season will just fly by but I want to try and finish in the top 3 and qualify for Europe. I doubt I'll be able to topple Celtic/Rangers just yet, but thats an aim for the near future. Throw in a cup or two and some success in Europe and I'll be happy. It'll be interesting to see how this goes, I think.

[popside_yidlad]

I dont know if I should really be admitting this but I started life at argyle as manager as I wanted a challenge and found tqy too easy in first career. Slashed all wages at the club and managed to win the league by adding couple of faces but mainly relied on youth system. Jamie Richards is a fantastic prospect if given the chance. Added couple more faces in rory fallon and eunan (sorry), finished second in first season in league 1 to then be offered hearts job which I took. In my first season I finished 2nd to a Celtic side that reached semis of euro cup, won league in second and was subsequently offered Scotland job (had to apply). Guided them to euros beating Italy home and away to win the group.

[popside_yidlad]

Forgot to mention lingy rebuilt tqy and made them a stable league 1 team after winning play-offs in my first season

[stevegull]

After a change in computer i started a new game, with Norwich for some reason. I guess as it's a challenge and I can build them up.

Narrowly avoided the drop in my first season, shipping out crowd favourites like Grant Holt and Adam Drury in order to give myself some room to manouver in the transer market (I was given £0 by the board!). A couple of free signings helped, with Guti and Crespo leading the way as i went for experience to try and keep me up. Crespo was lukewarm at best, but did finish top scorer for me with 8 goals! However, he was my top wage earner by a distance and wasn't really worth it. Guti was fairly important, and had a hell of a pass on him. But yeah, stayed up... just.

Second season I cancelled Crespo's contract for the pricely sum of £1.8million as it was simply unsustainable to keep him on my budget. I was given some decent money to work with (about £12million i think) and went about finding some top youngsters, as well as my usual smatterings of aging heroes (Guti stayed on and i signed up Asier Del Horno). Most of my budget went on a friend's recomendation of Carlos Fierro, a Mexican striker. And while he looked a decent prospect, he was far from ready for the first team. I told my board i could get mid-table and I was safe from the drop a few weeks from the end, with Steve Morrison providing the goals this term. As the end of the season loomed i decided to blood some youngsters and inevitably slid down the table. I finished just outside the drop zone, but with a hefty points difference. The board said my position was 'very precarious' but i just held on for the next campaign. I also became Croatia Under 21 manager in this season, and was unbeaten as my side topped their qualifying group for the U21 Euros.

Third season saw me finish 13th in the table, just as i told my board i would do. I signed up some great prospects from my Croatia side for next to nothing, but their time was to come. I blew most of my £10million budget on Olivier Giroud, some tank of a french striker who had scored 15+ goals for his french team every season, and i knew that i needed a striker who could regularly hit the net. I also signed some young German called Julian Wiebmeier who is a great prospect and was floating around my first team. Wiebmeier started the season on great form and netted a lot of goals to earn him a starting spot, but he soon tailed off. My French striker, Giroud, hit the net twice in the whole season and was fairly disappointing. Both his goals came in the same game as well! I'll put his slow start down to 'cultural differences'.

Starting my fourth season now, and have also taken on the role of managing Colombia, after realising that the U21 tournament for my Croatia side was some distance away. This game may well see the death of my exam results though!!!!

[Plymouth Gull]

Sounds good, Steve. I haven't played FM for ages. The Hibernian game I mention up there though, I got sacked.

[stevegull]

Sounds good, Steve. I haven't played FM for ages. The Hibernian game I mention up there though, I got sacked.

No one likes Scotland anyway! That's what happens when you try to build an all-scottish team!

I've only had the axe weilded on my head once, during a stint with West Ham in FM 08 where i signed Kain Bond for banterous purposes!! I always give Tony Bedeau a cheeky trial as well at the start of any game.

[Plymouth Gull]

Haha, really need to get back into it soon. I've 3 choices though;

a) Continue with the Wigan save I started (and do as you've done with Norwich)
b) Continue my Macclesfield game where I've just achieved back-to-back promotions up to L1)
c) Continue my career game where I've done a season and I'm at Braintree in the BSS.

Hmm.

[stevegull]

I do exactly what you do, by the sounds of it. I'll have a spell of playing the game pretty solidly but then i'll stop for a while and come back to it.

You can never replicate my Norwich save!!

[Plymouth Gull]

Haha, I won't replicate it, I'll better it!

So I've gone for my Wigan game for now. I decided to see how the current squad would do with just one or two additions, so I've disposed of Hendry Thomas (£2m to Fulham) and Connor Salmon (£1m to Reading). Entering the DW Stadium have been Guti (free) and Martin Olsson from Blackburn, for a club record £7.5m. Also, Carlos Fierro is coming in at the end of the season, for £2.4m, with another £2.5m after 40 league games for me.

I had a very good pre-season, scoring hatfuls in most games. Think my average was probably 4/5 a game. The league season started off at the Emirates, and we were hammered 4-0. However, our opener at the DW saw us come from behind to beat West Brom, one of those games you need to take the points from when you're going to be at the bottom. Just squeezed past Brentford in the League Cup, at Griffin Park, after a 5-3 penalty shootout win (0-0 in the game).

Travelling to Fulham next, and just been given an away tie at Chelsea in the LC 3rd Round! Annoying!

[Plymouth Gull]

After 6 games, I'm 4th. Won 4 lost 2 (at Arsenal and Fulham). Beaten West Brom (H 2-1), Newcastle (H 2-0), Swansea (A 3-0) and QPR (H 2-0). Won't last but happy with how it's gone so far!! Survival is what I expect from this year, anything else is a bonus. I lost at Chelsea in the Cup though, rested several players as we had the QPR game 4 days later which was a big one I wanted to win. Took a weakened Chelsea side (still including Sturridge, Mata, Cahill etc) 80 minutes to get the only goal of the game though, Cahill scoring a header.

Enjoying this so far. Agreed to sign Joan Oriol from Villareal for £550,000, as cover for Figueroa.

[stevegull]

After 6 games, I'm 4th. Won 4 lost 2 (at Arsenal and Fulham). Beaten West Brom (H 2-1), Newcastle (H 2-0), Swansea (A 3-0) and QPR (H 2-0). Won't last but happy with how it's gone so far!! Survival is what I expect from this year, anything else is a bonus. I lost at Chelsea in the Cup though, rested several players as we had the QPR game 4 days later which was a big one I wanted to win. Took a weakened Chelsea side (still including Sturridge, Mata, Cahill etc) 80 minutes to get the only goal of the game though, Cahill scoring a header.

Enjoying this so far. Agreed to sign Joan Oriol from Villareal for £550,000, as cover for Figueroa.

Going pretty well then!!! My teams tend to be so inconsistant!!!

Fierro should end up being a top player for you, and at £2.5 million is a steal. Guti did alright for me in my first year at Norwich, but he does get worse quite dramatically. I'm gunna launch myself back into my game now...