Football Manager 2018

[Alex_14]

Having an eerily similar season go Aberdeen’s a couple of years ago. Started the season strongly, unbeaten in 8 or 9, before getting hammered 0-4 at home to St Johnstone and going on a 5 game streak without winning. Since that blip in October, I’ve gone unbeaten (now in February). Sitting in 2nd but we’re miles off the top as expected. Signed Lewis Morgan on a permanent deal, and my loan star Jeff Reine-Adelaide has been fantastic too.

[LondonHMFC]

Started one with Ross County, just for something a bit different. Andrew Davies is one moany c**t, him and Michael Gardyne caused me no end of arse ache, constantly complaining. So got rid of Gardyne, and managed to make the situation with Davies a bit better. 

Ploughed all the cash into getting a striker from AC Milan called Pinamonti, well worth signing if you can get him. 

Got knocked out of the League Cup, lost 2-1 away to Dundee United to start with, but beat the other two sides. 

Started the league well, beating Dundee 3-1 away from home, and then beat Aberdeen 7-6 at home. 

Managed to draw away to Celtic 1-1, and was down to 10 men for 60 minutes. The slump then hit, losing by the odd goal here and there, nothing really in it. The changing room was a nightmare, Davies kept coming to me to complain about the atmosphere, even though he was the sodding ring leader. Dynamics seem to play a massive part in the game this year.

1st of December, I got the dreaded vote of confidence, board were happy to stick by me. 3rd of December I was sacked. 

Holidayed till January, and now looking for another club. 

 

[Thistle_do_nicely]

How's it been so far?

I'm still on 2017 (actually really enjoying it so far after getting past the hairy initial 3 or 4 seasons) and will likely get given the new version as a christmas gift. Think I've got a few more seasons of life left in my current save anyway.

[senorsoupe]

Managed to convince Dodgy Dave King to open up his war chest a bit to fund a January spending spree, spending over 9 million pounds on John Souttar, Jordan Archer, Cammy Kerr, and Lewis Morgan.  Also  sold Jak Alnwick, Carlos Pena, and Bruno Alves (Watford paid me 1 million for Alves!) to further Scottishize Sevco

[JamieStevenson]

Seems I've completely lost the dressing room. This all started because I wouldn't allow my whole starting 11 to move to Dundee.

[senorsoupe]

First season turned out interesting, I only lost the Prem title by 10 points to Celtic while Aberdeen won the Scottish Cup beating Celtic in extra time.  Ross County and Kilmarnock went down, the latter losing the playoff final to Dunfermline while Morton won the Championship.  In the Premiership both Edinburgh clubs failed to make the top 6, Hearts finishing 7th and Hibs 9th (having sacked Neil Lennon and replaced him with Malky Mackay). The surprise was Hamilton who finished 4th and qualified for Europe.  

Not sure if I will continue my Rangers save TBH, it was fun to do well but as a Celtic fan it's hard to stay enthusiastic lol!

[RandomGuy.]

Hamilton have been pretty OP in my saves too, interested to see how folk get on managing them.

 

Sort of bored of my Saints save to started a Scottish one. Sitting 5th after give games when I took over. Beat Slovakia 1-0 at Hampden to start things off.

 

Headed to Wembley and took the lead in the first half, held until the 92nd minute when Dele Alli smashed one in off the post from 20 yards. After that I had Lithuania, who I dispatched 2-0.

 

Malta came next, and it took until the 88th minute to finally beat them, before heading to Slovenia. England played Lithuania so were guaranteed first if they won, while me and Slovenia were pretty much in a straight fight for second, although they currently sat there, meaning I needed to win.

 

Went 1-0 down in the second half, responded instantly, but struggled for more chances, had to go for it so went attacking, only to get caught on the counter and lose 2-1.

 

Feels pretty realistic tbh, left resenting a late equaliser from England which meant I had to chase the game against Slovenia.

 

 

 

 

[Bully Wee Villa]

Out of curiosity, if anyone has got that far, how do they accommodate the 2022 World Cup?

[forameus]

27 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

Out of curiosity, if anyone has got that far, how do they accommodate the 2022 World Cup?

They don't really.  They move it, just like they did in FM17.  The work they'd have to put in to accommodate it would be considerable I'd imagine, considering seasons are hard-coded to start at x and end on y.  They'd need to rewire that, amongst other things.  I was quite surprised when they first made the decision given it could be seen as a political stance, but it's purely down to them taking the easy option.

I have to say I'm actually quite enjoying this.  Opened up Italy down to Serie D so I could manage Como 1907 after they Sevco'd their way to the bottom tier last season.  Match Engine seems a bit more interesting, and I'm actually having some joy in working the team talks to decent effect unlike the usual "oh no, now they hate me" clicks.  Expect I won't get into it as much as I did years ago, but it's certainly more enjoyable than 16 and 17 were at this stage.

Still a bit of a mess in other areas though with bugs - if you're particularly highly strung or these kinds of things will bother you, I'd get the demo first.  There's some tremendous petted lips going on on the official forums, threats of Trading Standards and everything.

[RandomGuy.]

Anyone know of any, decent, strips for Serie B, I'm saft as shite so generic badges and kits annoy the hell out of me. Got all the usual stuff but not Serie B

[senorsoupe]

Decided to keep going on my Rangers save, and one realistic aspect is that English clubs are bonkers with money!  Middlesbrough paid me 6.75 million quid for Jordan Rossiter!  In turn I snapped up John McGinn from Hibs (for 2.2 million).  Also a top tip, Lewis Morgan and Cammy Kerr have been class for me since I picked them up in January.  I also got Ali Crawford on a free and he's been very good in the first round of Europa League qualifiers. 

[JamieStevenson]

Midway through April. Sitting in 4th just by goal difference. Clark is injured so Ryan and Smith are doing really well right now. We had dropped down to 6th and looked doomed but we've clawed it back. Looking forward to the last few games of the season which I'll play tomorrow night.

[ilostmyself]

Hard Brexit has wrecked me in my save. Need to apply for work permits for Spanish players and nearly all get turned down as no Spanish internationals want to sign for Falkirk

[Eddie Murphy]

I started a save with Cowdenbeath (I know I know)

Lost 3 out of 4 league cup matches against Livi, Falkirk, Montrose and Ross County but I'm tbh I'm not overly fussed as I used them to try out tactics etc...

Lost 1-0 to Partick U20's in the Irn Bru cup but again, not fussed.

Onto the league, I am currently sitting 3rd after 11 games. 4 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats and currently 9pts above the relegation zone (where I was predicted to finish!)

Signings

Derek Riordan - Free agent, a complete waste of a jersey (gutted)! Has contributed nothing and currently sits with an average rating of 5.9

Mark Stowe  - on loan from Falkirk, a good winger who has chipped in with the odd goal and has a handful of assists

Lewis Clark - Free agent, had a bad injury during pre season but is now the permanent RB at the club (much to Fraser Mullen's annoyance)

Dominic McMeekin - on loan from Dundee Utd, not managed to break into first team squad and will probably be sent back to Tannadice.

Jordon Armstrong - on loan from Motherwell, he's sharing the left side of midfield role with Stowe and has fitted in well.

Connor Gethins - A free from Formantine, a revelation! Brought in following the Riordan saga, Connor has been fantastic. Scored 5 goals in first 7 games and more importantly has been handing goals on a plate to Ryan Connelly.

The club is debt ridden and I fully expect the board to start selling my star players against my wishes. Have tied down Connelly, McGovern and Rumsby on longer deals so should at least get some money.

'Mon the Blue Brazil!

[LondonHMFC]

1 hour ago, Eddie Murphy said:

 

Connor Gethins - A free from Formantine, a revelation! Brought in following the Riordan saga, Connor has been fantastic. Scored 5 goals in first 7 games and more importantly has been handing goals on a plate to Ryan Connelly.

 

Bloody hell, my Gran used to put him up in digs when he played for Ross County many moons ago. Surprised he is still about. 

[Skerla]

I’m fucking shite at this game. Can’t seem to score a goal in the league.

[JamieStevenson]

We've scored a lot of goals but have conceded an unreal amount as well. 9th place Brechin had a striker with 30+ goals ffs.

Finished 6th in the end. Only 2 points between 4th and 7th. Board have kept me on for another year with the only goal of reaching the playoffs. I'm expecting to offload a fair load of players as I do have 4 already coming in and 6 players returning from loans.

[JamieStevenson]

It's going to be even harder this season with a strong Ayr side coming up, Killie & M'well coming down. Hopefully brings in some more punters as the attendances last season were shocking other than the 2 Falkirk home games of 8.5k and 9k.

I'm currently trying to offload 8-10 players and I need to find a backup RB, and another winger and that should be me sorted for the new season.

[RandomGuy.]

I’m fucking shite at this game. Can’t seem to score a goal in the league.

f**k the Scottish leagues and go Napoli. Fun as f**k.

[Kyle]

I bought this yesterday after vowing not to after not really enjoying last year's game. I think this one is better. I like the new dynamics feature as it gives you something extra to think about when signing/selling/dropping players and the tactics/substitution screen is a marked improvement for me too.

I've gone Saints, naturally. My first course of action was to terminate Denny Johnstone's loan and to sell Graham Cummins (got £600k for him - he was worth more, but I'm just clouded against him). I also sold Paul Paton to Hibs for £120k. Braw.

That gave me quite a lot of wiggle room in the transfer market and I must admit I went a bit nuts. Think I've signed 11 players in total including  Liam Henderson, Scott McTominay, Demetri Mitchell, (loans) Tom Hopper, a Brazilian winger on loan from an Italian team (I think Bari), Magne Simonsen (utility player who's most comfortable at right back), Peter Grant and a couple of others from the Norwegian leagues who are cheap. Some of these guys are short term fixes, others are long term replacements for some of the old stagers.

My season has started pretty well. I got to the play-off round in Europe (knocking out teams from Andorra, Finland and also Bordeaux before losing 2-1 on aggregate to Viktoria Plzen).

I made the mistake of not keeping track of my first team squad properly , with 2 natural strikers, as well as O'Halloran who could cover there going into August. I asked the board for more money to spend, not expecting anything, and they gave me a transfer budget of £1.2 million. I decided to splash £400k on Esmail Goncalves and I managed to extend Scougall and Wotherspoon's contacts with the extra cash.

League form has been alright. I'm currently sitting 4th after;

4-1 win away at Killie on the opening day (Maclean hat trick and Henderson )

0-0 draw at home against Motherwell (was a bit lucky if I'm honest)

3-2 win at home to Partick Thistle ( was 2-0 down at half time and just went all out attack in the second half) (Wotherspoon and a Maclean double)

3-1 defeat away to Celtic (after taking the lead early doors scored by Scougall)

Hibs at home next. 

David Wotherspoon has just been called up to the Scotland squad. Once again, he's magnificent in a football manager game.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Kyle