Football Manager 2010

[Secura]

Thought I'd start a new game as Manchester United, see what happened. Having won the Community Shield thingy, my first three league games were against Manchester City (Old Trafford, 1-1), Liverpool (Anfield, 1-1) and Stoke (Old Trafford, 5-0). I took a shower and come back to find this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Absolutely bizarre... quite like all the penalties in the Sunderland-Spurs game. The media are all praising Carrick for his amazing hat-trick!

[naut]

England didn't make it to the tournament under the capable stewardship of Harry Redknapp.

.

[Madoushi]

I think I saw '09 in an EB here. Neat game. Reminds me a bit of Eastside Hockey Manager, just clearly a thousand times more polished. :nod:

[Craterus]

Here's a screenshot of my trophy player, if anyone's interested:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My assistant pointed him out when he came through (the start of last season) but I wasn't sure how best to approach it. Certainly good enough for the league but didn't fit my formation. Having never had a promising generated player before, I decided to change the formation and push him into the first-team. 16 years, 233 days old when he made his debut in the Argentine Premier Division. After a decent half-season, he's being tracked by Bayern but they've yet to make a serious offer.

That record has since been broken by a goalie I got this summer. Made his debut in the opening league game at 16 years and 1 month. The coaches say he's as good as my 36 year-old goalkeeper (club captain and last season's player of the season) but obviously with the potential for bigger and better things. I'll try to rotate the 2 but I'm so keen to develop one of these generated players into a world-beater that I might show him a bit too much preferential treatment. We'll see.

With the no-transfer policy, I made a few free transfers and have a lot of spare wage budget but with the option of turning to some promising youth players, I might survive without spending much money in the future. Still looking to move on, unless these youngsters really start to get good.

EDIT: Money is in Argentine Peso, by the way, not US Dollars. Not sure on the conversion rate so I don't know what he's worth in £, sorry.

[Ferret]

Not bad at all, and yeah I thought $15 mill looked a little steep

I decided to start at city so I had some cash to splash and finished a pleasing third. The bookies have made me favourites to the title for next season but I doubt that will happen, United and Chelsea were a good 20 points clear of me and I haven't made any major signings in the summer, just young prospects. Getting a bit addicted though...

[Secura]

I decided to start at city so I had some cash to splash and finished a pleasing third.

Aside of all the boo-hiss stuff, third's a really good finish, congratulations.

The transfer system is quite humourous at times though; I'm unsure how Manchester City's initial transfer budget is £55,000,000 when the club is debt-free and essentially owned by Arabian royalty. Compare it to Manchester United, who get about £65,000,000 and are in tonnes of debt... seems silly.

What was sillier for me was Real Madrid's limit of only £13,000,000. What the Dickens is one meant to do with that? ¬_¬

[Ferret]

Yeah they seem pretty tight with it and don't mind getting more, they sold De Jong without even asking me...
I just pretend they don't trust me with a lot of money and that there will be lots more to come, they gave me around 80 million at the start of the new season so I'm happy with that. And don't worry the opening game of the season was at old trafford, again, and we lost quite badly, following that was a draw with a visiting pompey side, that somehow survived despite having 9 points taken off, and the bookies may regret those title odds

[naut]

EDIT: Money is in Argentine Peso, by the way, not US Dollars. Not sure on the conversion rate so I don't know what he's worth in £, sorry.

£2,500,000.

Pretty standard for a quality youth player from Central-South America. Like this guy, my scouts say sign him at whatever cost:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And I came close to beating Barca... (Or at least getting a draw).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Secura]

So, I'm back to playing as West Bromich Albion, a team that I've grown to like playing as due to the width of the squad and relatively good prospects of the younger players. The media prediction was fourth, which showed that there was a possibility of promotion back to the Premier League, but I'd obviously have to work hard for it to stave off the Sheffield Uniteds and such.

I started my first season by selling a few fringe players I had no interest in retaining, making around £4m in the process, which was nice because last time I played as WBA, I was in debt by Christmas. I stuck to my tried and tested method of simply loaning the players I needed, bringing in John Bostock (CM from Spurs), Federico Macheda (Striker, Man Utd), Javier Garrido (LB/LWB, Man City) and Danny Wilson (CB, bought from Rangers by Liverpool) on loan until the end of the season. I also purchased a nice English AMC, around 17-18 for about £3.5m and then set about pushing for promotion.

By the end of the season, WBA had won the Carling Cup (beating Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea in the process!), bowed out of the FA Cup in the semi-finals (I had major injury trouble, lost 3-2 to Stoke) and had won the Coca-Cola Championship with seven games to spare, finishing on 115 points, +89 goal difference and only losing a single game (against Watford, 2-1 at home) in the course of the league season. Promotion to the Premier League (along with Newcastle and playoff winners Notts Forest) and qualification to the Europa League to boot!

Even better was my young English AMC (46 apps, 34 goals, 36 assists, 24 MoMs, Av. Rat of 8.55), who was called up to the England squad for the 2010 World Cup. England progressed all the way to the final where they met Italy. An early Lampard penalty was cancelled out by a Cannavaro equaliser, and the game went to extra time; Italy had three (yes, THREE) players all sent off for second yellow offences, whereby my AMC and Rooney tore them apart for a 4-1 victory and football coming home. The best part? The AMC's value increasing to £28m and netting me £31m from Man City in the summer! :P

So now I'm in my second season, promising the board that I won't be relegated; I purchased Gareth Bale and Rafael for 12m each with the proceeds from my former AMC, and Real Madrid have just offered me Rafael van der Vaart for free as a replacement, which is nice. I'm looking towards a mid-table finish and perhaps winning the Carling Cup or FA Cup again, depending on teams drawn and such. The Europa League isn't relevant at this point. :3

The most satisfying part is the fact that the media starts saying things like "a female manager has achieved so much, blah blah blah!" and hailing me as a hero and such. xD

EDIT: Scratch that about van der Vaart; while my assistant manager tells me that signing him is a no-brainer, the player doesn't have any desire to join the club at all and I'd have to smash my wage structure to sign him. ¬_¬

[naut]

The most satisfying part is the fact that the media starts saying things like "a female manager has achieved so much, blah blah blah!" and hailing me as a hero and such. xD

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Unfortunately my game save became corrupted. So Derby is no more. =(

[Beskar]

Unfortunately my game save became corrupted. So Derby is no more. =(

RIP Derby.

I wonder though, does anyone agree that sometimes FM2010 is basically just time consuming? When you are actively doing something, you are fine with the time, but when you are waiting between games and when you click 'Continue' and it keeps knocking you out of continue for the most pointless things, or require like 7 presses to actually move on, and after 30 minutes of this, you actually progress to the next day?

Makes me want to just Holiday mode at times.

[johnhughthom]

It's all about finding the right database size and number of leagues for your setup.

[Ferret]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So, I'm back to playing as West Bromich Albion, a team that I've grown to like playing as due to the width of the squad and relatively good prospects of the younger players. The media prediction was fourth, which showed that there was a possibility of promotion back to the Premier League, but I'd obviously have to work hard for it to stave off the Sheffield Uniteds and such.

I started my first season by selling a few fringe players I had no interest in retaining, making around £4m in the process, which was nice because last time I played as WBA, I was in debt by Christmas. I stuck to my tried and tested method of simply loaning the players I needed, bringing in John Bostock (CM from Spurs), Federico Macheda (Striker, Man Utd), Javier Garrido (LB/LWB, Man City) and Danny Wilson (CB, bought from Rangers by Liverpool) on loan until the end of the season. I also purchased a nice English AMC, around 17-18 for about £3.5m and then set about pushing for promotion.

By the end of the season, WBA had won the Carling Cup (beating Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea in the process!), bowed out of the FA Cup in the semi-finals (I had major injury trouble, lost 3-2 to Stoke) and had won the Coca-Cola Championship with seven games to spare, finishing on 115 points, +89 goal difference and only losing a single game (against Watford, 2-1 at home) in the course of the league season. Promotion to the Premier League (along with Newcastle and playoff winners Notts Forest) and qualification to the Europa League to boot!

Even better was my young English AMC (46 apps, 34 goals, 36 assists, 24 MoMs, Av. Rat of 8.55), who was called up to the England squad for the 2010 World Cup. England progressed all the way to the final where they met Italy. An early Lampard penalty was cancelled out by a Cannavaro equaliser, and the game went to extra time; Italy had three (yes, THREE) players all sent off for second yellow offences, whereby my AMC and Rooney tore them apart for a 4-1 victory and football coming home. The best part? The AMC's value increasing to £28m and netting me £31m from Man City in the summer! :P

So now I'm in my second season, promising the board that I won't be relegated; I purchased Gareth Bale and Rafael for 12m each with the proceeds from my former AMC, and Real Madrid have just offered me Rafael van der Vaart for free as a replacement, which is nice. I'm looking towards a mid-table finish and perhaps winning the Carling Cup or FA Cup again, depending on teams drawn and such. The Europa League isn't relevant at this point. :3

The most satisfying part is the fact that the media starts saying things like "a female manager has achieved so much, blah blah blah!" and hailing me as a hero and such. xD

EDIT: Scratch that about van der Vaart; while my assistant manager tells me that signing him is a no-brainer, the player doesn't have any desire to join the club at all and I'd have to smash my wage structure to sign him. ¬_¬

Wow, sounds like you found a right beast. Do you know what happened in the premier league in the first season? City always seem to do really well on mine, whether or not I'm managing them, they might even win it with this new guy

[Secura]

Currently I'm just playing with the Coca-Cola Championship and Barclays Premier League as my playable leagues (though I obviously don't intend for West Brom to be relegated... currently sitting on fifteen points with six games played, which is nice) with a large database, as it were, and it's fine for the most part.

The thing that annoys me most is when it's a week or two of international matches and it simulates each and every single one.... with my laptop, those international qualifier/friendly time periods can take an hour or so depending on length and number of matches. Pain in the bottom. :<

[Secura]

Wow, sounds like you found a right beast. Do you know what happened in the premier league in the first season? City always seem to do really well on mine, whether or not I'm managing them, they might even win it with this new guy

It's a shame I had to sell him, but £31m was just too good to turn down; it's completely stabilised West Brom's finances (I was making a loss in every month when in the Championship, except the month I won the Carling Cup and reached the FA Cup semis) and I was able to buy two potentially world-class fullbacks. Start my way from the back and work forward!

The first season in general:

Premier League winners: Chelsea
Champion's League qualifiers: Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal
Europa League Qualifiers: Everton, Stoke, West Brom
FA Cup winners: Man City
Carling Cup winners: West Brom
Champion's League winners: Real Madrid
Europa League winners: Stuttgart
World Cup 2010 winners: England

Relegated to Championship: Wigan, Fulham, Portsmouth
Promoted from Championship: West Brom, Newcastle, Notts Forest

Top Premier League Scorer: Gabriel Agbonlahor, 21
Ballon D'Or winner: Cesc Fabregas
Player's Player of the Year: Luka Modric
Manager of the Year: Carlo Ancelotti

[Craterus]

What's the AMC's name?

[AggonyDuck]

My guess is that the AMC in question is Jonjo Shelvey. Not too many others fit the bill of being willing to join WBA at a cost of £3.5 million and being able to make the 2010 World Cup.

[Secura]

That's a fantastic guess! I think Charlton took me to the cleaners for him, they really didn't want to let him go, hot prospect and all that, and apparantly Man City, Liverpool and Valencia wanted to buy him.

He was a late call-up to the England squad by Fabio, made it to the World Cup and multiplied his own value tenfold... and now he's sat on Man City's bench unlikely to get a game over Tevez, and I'm £31m (well, £7m after buying Rafael and Bale) better off!

Has anyone noticed that clubs tend to buy the same players each game, or at least try to? I've noticed that Chelsea always buy some Suarez guy and Landon Donovan, in every game I've played. o_o'

[Craterus]

Man City signed Denilson and Lucas in the first transfer window on both my FM10 games so far. That's the only trend I've noticed (apparently it's fairly common). Only 2 games though, and the first was a quick mess about on the demo with Torquay playing for just 6 months.

Chelsea just signed a 32 year old Robbie Keane on my current game and there was another strange bit of transfer activity - Premier League's gone mad

[Ferret]

Yeah City signed those two in my chelsea game as well, couldn't stop me winning the treble though

And oh right I thought the AMC was one of the game's generated players, didn't realise Shelvey was that good. I'm sure you'll be very pleased to hear Liverpool have signed him in real life, Secura

[Secura]

And oh right I thought the AMC was one of the game's generated players, didn't realise Shelvey was that good.

He isn't, the player's only as good as the team he's playing with... you could have a player with every stat maxed at 20, and he'd still need the rest of his team in order to win. :P

I believe it was probably a glitch or something, but I'm not complaining, got Bale and Rafael out of it.

I'm sure you'll be very pleased to hear Liverpool have signed him in real life, Secura

He isn't a player I'd rate in real life or say "Fergie, sign him up!" about, just an average kid. But we'll see, I suppose.

[naut]

Chelsea just signed a 32 year old Robbie Keane on my current game and there was another strange bit of transfer activity - Premier League's gone mad

!!!!!

And oh right I thought the AMC was one of the game's generated players, didn't realise Shelvey was that good. I'm sure you'll be very pleased to hear Liverpool have signed him in real life, Secura

We all know the main reason they've done it. To meet the home-grown quota coming into ruling next season.

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Does anyone else find that most of the good regens in the game are central defenders?

[Craterus]

We all know the main reason they've done it. To meet the home-grown quota coming into ruling next season.

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Does anyone else find that most of the good regens in the game are central defenders?

Actually, as Shelvey is under 21, he doesn't need to be registered in the 25-man squad so I'm not sure the home-grown rule applies to him. But I'm not really clear on these new rules yet

And, I think quality defenders are most prevalent because they need to be good at fewer stats to be world-class. (Marking and Tackling are the only technical attributes that are essential, and you can even get away with Tackling <15)

[naut]

New game as Valladolid. Decent staff, average players, no money, no fitness at all. I keep drawing and losing right at the end of games. Strikers with 13 or less finishing means no goals. Going to be a long and arduous season.

[Ferret]

Actually, as Shelvey is under 21, he doesn't need to be registered in the 25-man squad so I'm not sure the home-grown rule applies to him. But I'm not really clear on these new rules yet

They have to have 4 players registered for the club that trained there for three years when younger than 21 or something like that. So he's being signed with the future in mind.

[Secura]

So, I'm coming up to the end of my second season in charge of West Bromich Albion, and the whole "lulz, female manager" thing still hasn't worn off for the press; yes, I have boobs, and yes, I'm playing a football simulation game, and yes, I've just beaten Liverpool 7-1, do we have to keep mentioning it?!

After promotion to the Premier League, I had been asked to avoid relegation and to reach the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, Group Stage of the Europa League and the Fourth Round of the Carling Cup. No real miracles expected, so no pressure, right? Well, no pressure except players demanding higher Premier League level wages, my best players asking to move to Manchester City or Real Madrid and the rest demanding first-team football in the middle of a congested fixture list!

There's been a shake-up of League managers, which is nice to see for the most part.; Henning Berg has taken over at Blackburn, Henrik Larsson is at the helm of Bolton Wanderers ad Liverpool hired Marco van Basten. However, the biggest heartbreaker for me had to be when

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

José Mourinho walked out of Inter Milan in November and joined the blue half of Manchester two months later... cue major fangirl tears.

There's been alot of arguing between the FA, managers (I got a match ban, Fergie style, was quite chuffed by that!), players (City sign some Angel Di Mario dude only for him to ask for a transfer request six months later) and the media (Furious Ferguson and Wretched Williams, for example), but it's been a nice season for the most part.

Anyways, I won the Carling Cup again, although I'd argue that this year's run of Liverpool (4th Rnd), Arsenal (Quarters), Chelsea (Semis) and Man Utd (Final) was much harder than the previous year. There was alot of bus-parking and counterattacking involved, but I'm chuffed with keeping the cup. The same cannot be said for the Europa League, where Celtic utterly annihilated me 6-2 on aggregate at the Quarter Final stage... but there's always next year, I guess. As for the FA Cup, currently waiting to play Stoke in the final.

And the Premier League? Well... pictures speak a thousand words, so take a look for yourself:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

One game remaining, against Manchester United themselves at Old Trafford... need I say more?

[AggonyDuck]

Whoah, what a way to decide the league.

[Secura]

Whoah, what a way to decide the league.

Oh, it was glorious. An utterly fantastic match, had me on the edge of my seat... you can see the outcome for yourself:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The best part is that the media quoted Alan Hanson, back when he said that Manchester United wouldn't win the Premier League with a young squad... managed to capture a screenie of it and my response:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I also managed to overcome Stoke 0-4, though I believe they just rolled over and let me win to be honest... so I also managed to add the FA Cup to West Brom's trophy cabinet... not a bad haul for my first season in the Premier League and second in-charge!

A nice message to end on from the newspapers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hopefully the chairman will put all the prize money to good use and upgrade the stadium; I can't imagine teams like Barcelona coming to The Hawthornes when it can only seat 28,000 people. xD

[drone]

I don't know which would bring more ink in the press, a female manager winning the Treble, or an American manager winning the Treble. If you can get the FA to hire you for Euro 2012, bravo!

[Secura]

I don't know which would bring more ink in the press, a female manager winning the Treble, or an American manager winning the Treble.

You know, it's funny that the game never mentions my nationality whatsoever; I chose American solely because the inspiration for the name was from an American vocalist, but still... would've been nice to see my attachment to the dollar and mentioned or something. The game does mention me being female on-and-off, which is nice.

If you can get the FA to hire you for Euro 2012, bravo!

I had considered taking over from Fabio Capello, but considering he won the World Cup in 2010, I adopted a mantra of "if it's not broken...". I'll be rooting for the English contingent in my team all the way though. ^_^