Snapshot of your story - FM 12

elefant

After trying many different approaches to the game over many years, I decided to go for a big challenge, and that is to try and win the Champions League with the worst team I could find in English football. The team I found was Vauxhall Motors.

I'm now in my 5th season with Vauxhall, and it has been a serious uphill struggle.
The club has pretty much no money, even in the 5th season. Most of my players have always been paid €0 per week, and are on appearance fees (and that I have never spent a penny on a transfer goes without saying).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, after 2 seasons of losing the playoff final in the Blue Square North, I finally won the playoff final- thanks in main to the goals of one Omar Koroma, who was playing way below his standard in the BSN.
Omar Koroma now-

So off into the Blue Square Bet Premier league for the 2014/2015 season. This was a serious struggle. To give a sample of the task ahead of me, some teams nearly had players on as much per week as my entire wage bugdet per week (just over €3000). Even now, the top spending side Bradford spend €1.27 million per annum, compared to Vauxhall, the lowest spending side at €188k!

And so I was headed for relegation, 4 points off safety, when a miracle arrived from North Village Rams, all the way from Bermuda, in the shape of young Kingsley Zuill. I got him as his contract was expiring, and he arrived when his contract ended at the beginning of March. Zuill almost single-handedly kept us up with 5 goals and an assist in 6 games in the run-in. The table finished like this:

This season, Vauxhall have once again defied the odds and are in nose-bleed promotion-playoff territory. Led by nobodies such as Dominic Iorfa, Robert Hughes, Jonathan Maguire and the effervescent Zuill, this season might by the greatest in all my Football Manager playing years. IN February things look like this:

Kingsley Zuill:


As shameful as it is to admit it, I think this is the first ever game of Football/Championship Manager where I've refrained from saving/quitting/replaying games. Losing playoff finals and spending yet another season in the Blue Square North was torture!

(Apologies for the long and probably boring diatribe; I've always wanted to do one of these!)

gnfnrhead

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Wasting no time, I decided to start a new game straight away and even add my own challenge rules.

-> Unemployed with a Sunday League reputation.
-> Win all five continents version of the Champions League.
-> Win as many other trophies as possible.
-> England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France are off limits.

Change of plan. I've decided to have them as unlockables for winning the Champions League's.

Africa: France
Asia: Italy
North America: Germany
South America: Spain
Europe: England

Just for an added challenge as I was thinking of putting a very specific challenge in there too. Make Arsenal the most successful side in England. Obviously, that means about 20 titles will be needed (potentially a lot more depending on how the game goes for United and Liverpool) so would be a real sense of achievement having worked up to getting the job.

Also wont be doing club and international at the same time. It's one or the other, even under age.

Hopefully get to play again this weekend.

Mars Bar

****ing torn calf muscles can **** the **** off. :mad:

Mars Bar

The league standing has gone from 14th to 18th. I'm getting fed up trying to attract big players to Waterford. Next time the Manchester United job comes available, I'm gonna apply for that.

Mars Bar

On the other hand, the club has moved for 24th in Europe to 18th...

Mc Love

Mars Bar wrote: »

The league standing has gone from 14th to 18th. I'm getting fed up trying to attract big players to Waterford. Next time the Manchester United job comes available, I'm gonna apply for that.

I didnt move up - I moved down and took a pay cut to join rovers but we beat spurs again in the League Cup final 2-1, won it for the first time since 2002 when we played them in the final

Mars Bar

Mc Love wrote: »

I didnt move up - I moved down and took a pay cut to join rovers but we beat spurs again in the League Cup final 2-1, won it for the first time since 2002 when we played them in the final

I earn about €3,000 a week. I can't afford a pay cut! :pac:

All 4 strikers injured at the same time and I only play one up front. :mad:

gnfnrhead

Mars Bar wrote: »

I earn about €3,000 a week. I can't afford a pay cut! :pac:

All 4 strikers injured at the same time and I only play one up front. :mad:

I always re-train players so they can cover several positions. RB can cover LB and vice versa. DM and CB, DM and MC, AML/AMR and ST. Have six or seven people who can play in most positions usually.

Mc Love

Mars Bar wrote: »

I earn about €3,000 a week. I can't afford a pay cut! :pac:

All 4 strikers injured at the same time and I only play one up front. :mad:

Only 3k??? Was on a lot more when I was with Limerick!

danniemcq

what difference does your wage make?

I'm guessing the better the less likely you are to get sacked but if you take a pay cut is that put back into the transfer kitty?

and is the only way to do it when negotiating a contract?

dulpit

danniemcq wrote: »

what difference does your wage make?

I'm guessing the better the less likely you are to get sacked but if you take a pay cut is that put back into the transfer kitty?

and is the only way to do it when negotiating a contract?

I always figured that my wage affects the overall wage budget of the club, so I set it at the minimum. That not correct?

danniemcq

dulpit wrote: »

I always figured that my wage affects the overall wage budget of the club, so I set it at the minimum. That not correct?

Not sure i've heard before about job stability thats all.

Its a shame though that unlike Fifa manager and other games that you can't do anything with your money. I know its pointless but so is nothing.

Mars Bar

Put my left winger up front.

Injured on the 19th minute.

brinty

Mars Bar wrote: »

Put my left winger up front.

Injured on the 19th minute.

Play with no strikers Mars Bar

Mars Bar

brinty wrote: »

Play with no strikers Mars Bar

I think it's the only solution. Do a Del Bosque on it.
The position is cursed!

brinty

Mars Bar wrote: »

I think it's the only solution. Do a Del Bosque on it.
The position is cursed!

Yep or play 4 in attack
They'll hardly give ye 4 injured strikers in one game
although nothing would surprise

I think i got something like that in a game a few years back...both my keepers got injured in the same game...well harsh of FM...

gnfnrhead

danniemcq wrote: »

what difference does your wage make?

If another club wants to hire you, they have to pay compensation based on your wage and length of contract. The better and longer your contract, the less offers you will get.

Mars Bar

Just checked it there. €3,500 I get a week. Fair play to the club for keeping me on such a small wage!

dulpit

Mars Bar wrote: »

Just checked it there. €3,500 I get a week. Fair play to the club for keeping me on such a small wage!

I get 300 per week in South Africa. What's the cost of living in SA like compared to Ireland I wonder...

Basing it on the price of a bottle of coke, it currently costs roughly 8.00 South African Rand, which is 65c. I bought a bottle of coke in shop a while ago for 1.45, meaning my 300 euro in South Africa is equivalent to 670 euro per week. Or 34,840 per annum. That's the minimum I could set myself to earn... Won't be flying back to Ireland too often... :pac:

Mars Bar

Finally, 5 star training facilities! :cool:

gnfnrhead

Take a bow, son.

17 year old youth player making his debut against the Premier Division Champions, on in the 55th minute!!! My youth system is making some good players this season, think I got very lucky. Thats the fourth player capable of playing in the Premier Division to come out of my first batch of youth intakes and its only the end of October!

kryogen

At the moment the LOI is ranked 11th in the standings, highest it has ever been (year 2030)

brinty

HI lads...thinking of doing one of these challenges of taking a lower league side up the divisions, this will be my first time ever doing this despite playing many versions of the game..
I'm going to go with my second team...Grimsby Town...
I haven't a clue what the team will be like and what will be needed...
So
1) Can anyone recommend some players i can get in cheap/on loan etc...
2) Will premier league teams be willing to loan some youth/reserve players to me...
3) What tactics will work best at the lower league levels etc...4-4-2, possesion based...who knows!!

This could be fun or a disaster but we'll see...

Patsy fyre

brinty wrote: »

HI lads...thinking of doing one of these challenges of taking a lower league side up the divisions, this will be my first time ever doing this despite playing many versions of the game..
I'm going to go with my second team...Grimsby Town...
I haven't a clue what the team will be like and what will be needed...
So
1) Can anyone recommend some players i can get in cheap/on loan etc...
2) Will premier league teams be willing to loan some youth/reserve players to me...
3) What tactics will work best at the lower league levels etc...4-4-2, possesion based...who knows!!

This could be fun or a disaster but we'll see...

The fun part would actually be finding out the answers to those questions yourself.

elefant

Season coming to close for Vauxhall Motors, and things have only been looking up.

Using the platform of a skillful counter-attack, and an absolutely rock-solid defence Vauxhall have defied the media predicted 24th, and bottom, placed-finish to storm to second place in the final standing, and a semi-final showdown against Newport.



While not always the most clinical team Vauxhall have consistently been a very difficult team to beat. My goalkeeper Loris Karius (who I once had as a backup in Serie A in another game, and somehow managed to lure to Vauxhall when I was in the Blue Square North) has kept a whopping 23 clean sheets in 45 league games this season. In fact, out of my 14 wins in this calendar year, 8 of them have been by the narrowest of margins. This is most certainly a promotion push based on a mean defence!

Key man this season has definitely been captain and centre-back Dominic Iorfa, ex Wolves youth player. Third highest average rating of players in the division, Dominic is well on the way to becoming a club legend.



Three games to go in what will be a great season no matter what. Promotion would be the icing on the cake. Fingers crossed!

(and yes, for a team that has statistics like Stoke, I even have two wing backs with 18 and 19 long throws. It's all about the result! :pac:)

Chavways

Just realised I had this in the wrong thread. :rolleyes:

Don't have time to upload pictures now but Limerick are having another great season. We won the usual auld cups and are on course to win the Senior Challenge Cup as well. After a very slow start to the LOI(being 5th and 12 points behind 1st at one stage) we are now 2 points behind with 4 matches in hand.

I had an easy enough route to the Champions League this year. Beat the top teams from Slovakia,Norway and Bosnia. Beat the Norwegian side 11-4 on aggregate. I was handed another 6.5 million for getting to the group stages and after seeing my group I nearly sharted myself. Real Madrid,A.C Milan and Marseille. If I even get a draw in any of the matches I'll be delighted.

Youth and training facilities are constantly being upgraded. Just spent another 4.5 million on the youth setup but still seeing no results. All of the players are still only 1.5 star potential. I'm still not getting maximum attendances at matches so haven't needed to upgrade the stadium yet.

retalivity

2nd full season at liverpool 2034/35
Got to the league cup final, lost to Huddersfield after being 1 up after 75 minutes.
Leading the league all season until the beginning of April when i then only picked up 3 points from a possible 15, ended up finishing 2nd 4 points behind Man City.
Got to the FA Cup final against everton, lost 3-1 after being 1-0 up at half time.
Got to the champions league final where I faced the holders Arsenal (who knocked me out at the semis the previous season)....surely not another defeat....



BOOM! I was bloody lucky though. First half we were awful, and to concede in extra time against 10 men I feared the worst. However, they dug deep and got the equaliser and closed it out on penalties. I was worried though, as only 3 of my players had a penalty-taking attribute of 10 or higher - O'Connor who scored the winner was 6!!!


So still not won the league yet, but its my first champions league success in this game, after 23 years!

brinty

Hi lads,

Started with Grimsby last week in BSP, second at start of October, very enjoyable so far, a lot more interesting than previous games cos i haven't a clue on players etc etc..

Will keep you posted.

elefant

Vauxhall's play-off dreams end in disappointment, but it certainly wasn't boring.

Semi Final, leg 1 vs Newport, my goalkeeper gets sent-off for a handball. Now, this hasn't happened to me in years and years of playing football manager so Inever waste a subsitute on a goalkeeper. Centre-back Robert Hughes played over half an hour in goal, and did well to only concede one, leading to 1-0 defeat.
Hughes, determined after his spell in goals, then had a stormer in the second leg, scoring two goals and claiming man-of-the-match in a 4-1 win to put me through.

Despite dominating the final versus Cambridge a mistake from Hughes meant I suffered a 1-0 defeat at Wembley. This meanty Vauxhall had lost three playoff finals in 5 seasons.

This season Vauxhall have started in blazing fashion, losing only 1 of their first 8 games and topping the league at this early stage. Hopefully a playoff won't be necessary this time- the road to the Champions League continues!

gnfnrhead

'Cause we're out of the blue red, and into the black!



Hopefully it keeps up and doesnt fall back into the negative. Might actually have some money next season!