Football Manager 2010

[naut]

Well yeah but I'm already stretching my computer with the current amount of leagues. Can't afford to load any more leagues that I have no interest in just to use a springboard for bigger and better things.

Same. Risk of crashes is quite high. Auto-save is a vital feature.

Not getting relegated is the only realistic aim, the club isn't high profile enough to attract the kind of quality I would need to stay up. Having said that, I've done surprisingly well so far. Having played 3 of my fellow promoted sides in the first 5 games, I've already got 2 wins under my belt. I also led at River Plate for 91 minutes before conceding a late equaliser - the fans weren't happy but they'd have taken a point before the game

Same. I haven't got the squad to do much more. And making too many changes to the squad could be detrimental. Luckily Derby has a fairly good reputation so I can attract decent names. I've picked up a Polish international striker in my first season (Smolarek) and a couple of bargains from the EPL and a French forward of Europa League level on a free (Briand).
Similar for me I lost 2 - 1 to Arsenal and the fans were disappointed!?! because I went ahead and then lost.

What's your transfer policy with Derby? Going for the wonderkids or signing experience? In Argentina, it seems you can get away with signing players aged 35+, the average age of my first 11 must be over 30. On FM08, once a player hit 32, they were pretty much done for. Immediate loss of all physical ability and the technical stats took a hit too.

Loans and frees in my first season, as I set to no starting budget and anyway I had no cash regardless. Good cup runs, including a semi-final loss in the FA Cup boosted my cash flow. This season I've got 300K wage budget and 15-18 million for transfers. I've basically balanced the inflows and outflows so I've still got a sizeable portion left. Mostly I've been renewing contracts as many were running out. But, I've been signing a lot of youth and improving aspects of the team fairly reasonably. Picked up Diaby for an absolute bargain 3.5 million and Joe Hart for even cheaper 1.8 million.

Yeah, I've noticed the age thing too. Older players can actually improve, Robbie Savage for me has improved hugely despite being 35, probably has something to do with the Imp. Matches stat. As long as they play the decay is slowed.

Going alright though. Drew with B'burn(H), lost to Arsenal(A) and beat Chelsea(H) in my first three games so I'll survive most likely and hope to build on it the following season.