Football Manager 14

[soxfan121]

Hrmm. Is thee a way to get the other clubs in a bidding war over transfer fees, or do I just need to negotiate with them individually?

 
Individually. 
 
ETA: And if you set your price too high, the other team(s) will just walk away, leaving you with a pissed off player because "offers were made". By getting too cute with negotiations, you run the risk of affecting team morale if a pissed off player has to stay in your locker room because you bungled his exit.

 

[DJnVa]

So, I took over Braintree Town (THE IRON!!!!) in Skrill Premier. I won the FA Carlsberg Cup, and got the team into 4th place, good for the promotion playoffs, which, somehow, I won with an injury-depleted squad.
 
I lost the first leg of the semis at home 1-0 to a goal in the 90th minute, but had hope that I could snag 2 goals on the road and somehow my goal-deficient team managed 3 and I moved on. Played Southport in the final at Wembley, who had beaten me twice by 2-0 scores, but I moved 2 guys into my lineup that had fallen out of favor and one got 2 goals off 2 assists from the other.
 
However, I had to sell my soul to do it. I had to blow out the transfer budget and I'm already at my limit for salary and I'm about to start a League 2 season with basically no additions. I'll have to find some players on loan (had 2 help me last year, one I managed to sign) and hope I get lucky and they don't force me to sell anyone I need. I do have 3 decent strikers, and the one with the highest value is the one I would be most willing to sell, so maybe I can dump him, but then I'll have to switch to a 4-5-1. My goal is to simply stay up this season and next and hope some of the my youngsters develop. My board decided to break ground on a new 8000 seat stadium. I scheduled a number of pre-season friendlies strictly for the cash. Going to be a trying season.

 

[Julius.R]

If you guys like wonderkids I'd give this a look: http://www.fmscout.com/a-football-manager-2014-wonderkids.html
 
I always end up grabbing too many players when I first start playing.
 
I'm currently in 2025 in my game, having won 10 League Titles and 5 Champion League Titles with Liverpool. Aiming towards winning the WC in 2026 with the USA, but apart from that I have a lot of fun feeding really low teams (Sheffield FC, BFC Germania 1888, FC Balzers, etc.) with young newgens from countries without the best football setups. It seems to have played big dividends for Jordan, Syria, Iran, and a few different African Nations. History hasn't really been that unusual, Spain won the World Cup in 2014 against England, France beat Romania in 2018, and England beat Spain in 2022 off an Andy Carroll goal in the last minute of extra time. Well that unusual… 
 
I've spent way too much time playing this game.

 

[bsartist618]

First play-through for me.  I've managing Arsenal to a 3rd place finish the first year and am currently in 4th halfway through this season.  True to typical Arsenal form, the team just cannot get a result vs. City/Man U./Chelsea and I recently was given a 10 point in 5 matches ultimatum after losing to Feyenoord in the CL group stages.  I had already clinched and was playing reserves to rest people for an upcoming Tottenham match (which I promptly lost because Ozil got a red card 5 minutes in).
 
I won the next 4 matches somehow to save my job...but I'm wondering what the advice is to stop this bullshit.  Sure, I'm not exactly winning the league, but I am consistently in the top 4.  Good teams seem to dominate possession despite my tactics tending to focus on maintaining possession.  Playing defensively only seems to make things worse.
 
Also a question: how fast does a player typically improve?  Say currently 1 star with 4 star potential (on loan or U21 squad) - when could I expect him to be useful to the first team (3 stars)?

 
So since my last post, Arsenal has gone on a 28 match unbeaten streak to push me up to a 2nd place finish and 3-1 victory over Barcelona to win the Champions League.
I was able to secure a new contract which will hopefully stop with the ultimatums from the board of directors.
 
Question though: what is the best way for a large club to develop 4-5 star potential players who are not good enough to contribute regularly on the first team (only 1/1.5 star current ability)?  Should I loan them to other clubs where they will get first team playing time but I have no control over their coaching quality? Or should I keep them where they can get regular U-21 time and occasional first team opportunities against weaker opponents?
 
I have not had any of my prospects making significant gains except for Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramseys who are capable of contributing to the first team already.

 

[Cellar-Door]

An amazing series of back to back F' you games last night, one in my favor one against.
 
Game 1: West Ham v Arsenal.  Left WB Fabian Johnson sent off for me in the 20th minute, down a man I can't keep possession, Mark Noble gets hurt, yet I score a goal in the 90th minute to win despite being outshot 26-2.
 
Game 2: West Ham v Liverpool. I dominate after Sakho is sent off in the 37th minute, control possession, get lots of shots. Lose 3-0 on THREE OWN GOALS!

 

[DJnVa]

An amazing series of back to back F' you games last night, one in my favor one against.

 
Oh man, I hate those.
 
I had a preseason friendly last night as a newly promoted League 2 side against a Premier team at my place. I was outshot 32-2, yet I won 1-0 as my only on-target shot snuck in. I went 1-4 in friendlies--the only win against the best team I played.
 
I was able to increase my transfer budget by lowering the win share for the League. Then I moved that transfer budget bump over to payroll, so now I'm under my payroll target and have enough transfer budget left to go get someone if I really need to. Opening the season tonight.

 

[wibi]

How does the bigger team release clause work?  Is it just league based or something else?  I took Cambridge United from Skrill Premier to Championship over the last 6 seasons and last night one of my guys was offered a contract from QPR who are also in Championship with me.  The game said I couldnt reject the contract because it was a bigger team but I couldnt figure out why

 

[swiftaw]

How does the bigger team release clause work?  Is it just league based or something else?  I took Cambridge United from Skrill Premier to Championship over the last 6 seasons and last night one of my guys was offered a contract from QPR who are also in Championship with me.  The game said I couldnt reject the contract because it was a bigger team but I couldnt figure out why

My guess it is based on team reputation.

 

[DJnVa]

How does the bigger team release clause work?  Is it just league based or something else?  I took Cambridge United from Skrill Premier to Championship over the last 6 seasons and last night one of my guys was offered a contract from QPR who are also in Championship with me.  The game said I couldnt reject the contract because it was a bigger team but I couldnt figure out why

 
Have you played in the Championship yet?
 
If you're still in the offseason after promotion but before playing in the Championship, you may still be regarded as a League One team. If you've already spent a season in the Championship, disregard.

 

[wibi]

 
Have you played in the Championship yet?
 
If you're still in the offseason after promotion but before playing in the Championship, you may still be regarded as a League One team. If you've already spent a season in the Championship, disregard.

 
2nd year at the Championship level sitting mid pack 8 pts ahead of QPR at the mid-season transfer period

 

[soxfan121]

Then it is club reputation. And you're gonna lose the player. This game, it is cruel.

 

[BrazilianSoxFan]

You can always try to offer him a new, bigger contract.

 

[wibi]

You can always try to offer him a new, bigger contract.

 
Never even gave me the option once the bigger club clause was triggered

 

[soxfan121]

Did he have a transfer release clause? Because you can always offer the contract. But once the offer from a big club is made, I've never had a player pick my lower-rep club and new contract over the higher league club and new contract.

 

[DJnVa]

So, League 2 is much harder.
 
Scored one goal through my first four games--3 league games and an FA Trophy match. Managed to win one game though. Tinkered with the lineup, trying 2 strikers (since my defensive lineup was generating zero offense) and shot out to a 3-1 halftime lead in my next game, only to give them back and draw 3-3, then lose a Johnstone Paint Trophy match in penalties after my top 2 guys were stoned on my first 2 attempts.
 
The other team promoted with me is 0-5 though, and if I can stay ahead of them and one other team I'll stay up. I should have a lot of flexibility in the next offseason.

 

[mgoblue2]

Just popped in to brag that a Capital One Cup 2nd round loss to Wednesday is my only loss in 2013/14 with Everton. League wrapped up by April, United in second and made it to the FA Cup semis before a Shola Ameobi winner from Fulham. I've sapped the entire budget but I wonder how much Kenwright will let me have for the Champions League. No more difficult games to finish undefeated either. Will update if I manage to pull it off.

 

[Phil Plantier]

Now that you're all addicted, here's the dealer with the new stuff. Sign up for the newsletter and get 10% off your pre-order. They haven't revealed any new features yet (as far as I can tell) but you know you can't resist.
 
http://www.footballmanager.com/lang/en_GB

 

[candylandriots]

Sorry for bringing this dinosaur back to life, but some of you know I recently quit my job and kind of doing my own thing for a while. Saw FM18 was available for 50% off about a week ago and decided to give it a try.

It is certainly...realistic. Managing Crystal Palace, I already have major injuries to key players, lost 6-3 to Arsenal setting an EPL record for number of goals in a game, and gave up an 89th minute goal to Burnley to lose with an errant pass in the 18-yard box.

I can see how this is both going to absorb a lot of time that I should be spending on more productive pursuits, and I can also see myself justifying it with all that I’m learning.

Shit.

 

[slamminsammya]

Sorry for bringing this dinosaur back to life, but some of you know I recently quit my job and kind of doing my own thing for a while. Saw FM18 was available for 50% off about a week ago and decided to give it a try.

It is certainly...realistic. Managing Crystal Palace, I already have major injuries to key players, lost 6-3 to Arsenal setting an EPL record for number of goals in a game, and gave up an 89th minute goal to Burnley to lose with an errant pass in the 18-yard box.

I can see how this is both going to absorb a lot of time that I should be spending on more productive pursuits, and I can also see myself justifying it with all that I’m learning.

Shit.

Mate I just got it last week as well. Sporting Clube de Portugal. I learned managing in Portugal is quite a bore if you're out in Europe. The matches against Benfica and Porto are interesting and everything else is pretty lopsided.

And the amount of young talent in Portugal should be illegal

 

[Seven Costanza]

Sorry for bringing this dinosaur back to life, but some of you know I recently quit my job and kind of doing my own thing for a while. Saw FM18 was available for 50% off about a week ago and decided to give it a try.

It is certainly...realistic. Managing Crystal Palace, I already have major injuries to key players, lost 6-3 to Arsenal setting an EPL record for number of goals in a game, and gave up an 89th minute goal to Burnley to lose with an errant pass in the 18-yard box.

I can see how this is both going to absorb a lot of time that I should be spending on more productive pursuits, and I can also see myself justifying it with all that I’m learning.

Shit.

Welcome to FM! Best sports game on the planet. Also the most frustrating, and I'd imagine the most likely to cause a divorce.