Devotion to Promotion [A Football Manager 2020 Career]

Club
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Season 4: November 2023
Ups & Downs

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Manager Notes
The month is an odd mix of highs and lows. We drop two of our three League 2 matches. One of the losses is an embarrassing 4-1 defeat at home to lowly Leyton Orient; the other is a respectable 2-0 loss to top of the table Gillingham. We also pick up a wild 4-3 FA Cup win over Ebbsfleet, and a penalty-shootout win in EFL Trophy group play. At the end of the month we switch into a new 4-1-2-3 formation and pick up a convincing 2-0 win, so we may have stumbled onto something good for December.

As we near the halfway point in the season, we’re definitely a mixed bag of good and bad. Still, for a first season in League 2, to be sitting mid-table feels like a passing grade.

Season 4 Episodes 5 is up on YouTube.

Club
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Season 4: December 2023
The Part Where We Find a Nice Bus

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Manager Notes
Our awful September seems a thing of the past, as our new 4-1-2-3 formation transforms our defense. We go the entire month without conceding a goal. Our offense is marginal, and we do manage to lose a cup match in a penalty shoot-out, but still, the solid defensive work gets us two wins and two draws in league play, and a huge 2-0 win over League 1 Doncaster in the FA Cup Second Round.

We end the month in 12th place, but we’re only 4 points away from a playoff spot now and we have a match in hand to most clubs in front of us. If we could keep up this pace, we could conceivably reach the playoff zone in another month. Lots of work to do, but it appears as if our season has taken a solid turn for the better.

Season 4 Episodes 6 is up on YouTube.

Watched your two most recent episodes. Keeping in mind I haven't been watching every one (and I know nothing) but in your last match of the season I thought you having your right winger on attacking was a bit of a problem. He wasn't tracking their wingback all that closely so they had a lot of joy down that side.

Really looking forward to the next one!

Roke wrote:

Watched your two most recent episodes. Keeping in mind I haven't been watching every one (and I know nothing) but in your last match of the season I thought you having your right winger on attacking was a bit of a problem. He wasn't tracking their wingback all that closely so they had a lot of joy down that side.

Really looking forward to the next one!

Thanks! I can use all the tactical help I can get. It's not my strong point.

I'll take a look at that, but it doesn't surprise me. I know that our regular right winger has been hurt for a while, so I'll have to take a look and see who was out there. In general, our outsides (wings and fullbacks) all rate out as being suitable for the league below us, and our wings have been hit hard with injuries to boot. I think a lot of our problems this season are coming from weaknesses on the outside. Ideally, I'd like to let our fullbacks deal with the heavy defensive work but I know they've been costing us a lot of goals this year too.

Latest episode went up this afternoon, with a significant technical error that I had to work around (sound didn't get recorded). Had to improvise.

I plan to catch up on all the written updates this week.

Club
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Season 4: January 2024
Rising, Rising, Rising...

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Manager Notes
Our good form from December holds true for much of the month, and we crawl slowly up the table. We win 4 of 6 matches, only lose one, and get a draw in the other. The 13 points are good enough for us for rise just into the playoff zone, at 7th place. Our 4-1-2-3 and 4-3-3 formations have been strong, with the 4-1-2-3 thriving on the road and against top teams, and the 4-3-3 thriving at home and against teams down the table. Our defense is particular has been stellar: we manage a run of 10 games without conceding before our 2-0 loss to Tranmere.

We also have some good fortune in the FA Cup. We get a super easy draw against Swindon Town in the 3rd round, which we cleared 1-0. Then we drew Newcastle at home. Stunningly, we hold them 0-0 until the 85th minute, when they bang home a winner to beat us 1-0. The financial haul from the run helps push our finances to over 700k, but still our Chairman won’t open up to spring for better training facilities. The cheap bastard.

Going forward, it’d be awesome to sneak into the playoffs, but we’ve got to keep up our good form to do so. With a third of a season to go, it’s anyone’s guess how this will turn out!

Season 4 Episodes 7 is up on YouTube.

Little bit of a delay here, but catching up now...

Club
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Season 4: February 2024
Still Rising...

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Manager Notes
We have a generally strong month, rolling to four league wins against one loss and one draw. The 13 points see us rise to fourth place in League 2, only two points outside of an automatic promotion spot.

As with January, our new 4-1-2-3 formation has made a ton of difference, as we aren’t allowing teams to score with any consistency. We only gave up two goals the whole month, which makes it easy to keep tacking on the points.

We’ve got some tough matches coming up in March, but it’s exciting to be so close to an automatic promotion spot. With 11 games left in the season, there is still plenty of time to move up if we can keep up this form!

Season 4 Episode 8 is up on YouTube.

Aww yeah, nice to have you back GB.

Roke wrote:

Aww yeah, nice to have you back GB.

Thanks, Roke! I'm going to try to post two new videos a week, and catch up with the write ups this week.

It was such fun digging back in the other night, and I'm really looking forward to playing more.

Club
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Season 4: March 2024
Slipping Away

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Manager Notes
Our run of good form grinds to an end, as we only pick up 8 points over six matches in March. Injuries are a factor, but it just seems as if opponents are adjusting to our tactics and we’ll need to come up with something different. Our offense in particular is struggling, as we only get two goals in our most recent five matches.

The slip in form sees us drop from 4th to 6th, five points away from automatic promotion. With 5 matches left in the season, automatic promotion is looking like a stretch, and we suddenly find ourselves looking at clubs in our rear view mirror. We’re seven points safe for a playoff spot, but unless we sort things out we may find ourselves in a battle just to hold our current position. The fact that most of our recent and remaining schedule is made of top-third teams doesn’t help.

Hoping we can hang on for this last stretch of the season!

Season 4 Episodes 9 is up on YouTube.

Club
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Season 4: April 2024
Whew! We Made that Hard!

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Manager Notes
By the slimmest of margins, we made it to the playoffs! We actually did pretty much everything we could to blow it. After winning our first match of the month, we only picked up one point in our last four matches. We took things to the final day of the season, where although we lost, we got help from teams around us losing as well to just barely qualify for the playoffs! Whew!

The omens look fairly dire for us heading into the playoffs, but we’ll give it our best shot! We’ll need to win two matches to get promoted to League 1, and we’re coming into the playoffs having only won one of our last six matches. Fortunately, we’ll get a bit of rest before we jump in and play, and maybe that slight break will help us get our heads screwed on right again.

Season 4 Episode 10 is up on YouTube.

PLAYOFFS!

Nicely done. Though it would have been nice to see Wimbledon up there.

Roke wrote:

PLAYOFFS!

Nicely done. Though it would have been nice to see Wimbledon up there.

Thanks Roke! I'm almost caught up posting to where I am with the game now...

Club
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Season 4: May 2024
Onward to League 1!

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Manager Notes
In dramatic fashion, we claw our way through the League 2 Playoffs and win promotion to League 1! We faced off against Tranmere in a home-away two-leg Semi-Final. After two legs and 180 minutes of football, we were dead even at 2-2. But in extra time on the road, Jake Scrimshaw scores a stunning goal to give us a lead that we’re able to nurse home.

In the Final against Walsall, Andrew Robinson scored the sole goal of the game 24 minutes in, and that’s enough to see us squeak by Walsall at Wembley to win promotion. Woot!

As glad as I am to be moving up, I’m also equally nervous about the idea. We’re not even close to ready for League 1, not in terms of players, finances, or facilities. This will be a bear of a jump, and I’m almost wishing we had another year to solidify the club’s situation.

Playoff Episodes on YouTube
Season 4 Episode 11 (Semi-Finals)
Season 4 Episode 12 (Finals)

Well done Godzilla - time to get your scouts to work !

Quite a bold move, playing a friendly between the semi final second leg and final.

davet010 wrote:

Well done Godzilla - time to get your scouts to work !

Quite a bold move, playing a friendly between the semi final second leg and final.

Thanks!

About those friendlies...

Our training facilities are so awful that I think playing matches is less dangerous.

Club
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/8cNiwIb.png)

Season 4 Summary 2023-24
Table | Manager Profile

Season Notes
This is the first time I can remember that I’ve ever gotten three consecutive promotions in Football Manager. And as happy as I am with the promotion, my overall feeling is that it would have been better for us to stay in League 2 for another season. It’s looking like we’ll have the lowest wage budget in League 1 by about 10k. Our youth and training facilities are poor. We have one player who our scouts say is ready for League 1. Everyone else is League 2 or lower. We have lots of work to do, and with the playoffs running until the end of May, and a considerably short window to get stuff done.

Unlike last year, we get no notable Year End Awards. Nya Kirby, our outstanding CM on loan, gets our Player of the Year. Other than that exception, we were more of a team of lots of good players but no superstars.

We’ll have a lot of work to do in the off-season, but it does start out with some great news. I’ve asked Chairman Jimmy dozens of times to improve our training facilities, and every time he’s refused, but this time, with our account flush with cash from the playoffs and a deep FA Cup run, he relents. We’ll be building new facilities in the fall. That should help a ton!

Going forward, we’ll attack this offseason with much the same approach as we have in the past. Selling on or releasing the bottom half of the team who would struggle at League 1, and trying to replace them with players who can handle that level of play. Let’s get busy!

Career Overview
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Season Wrap Episode

Club
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Season 5: Summer Preseason 2024
Onward to League 1!

Manager Notes
This season promises to be a bear, as we are completely unprepared for promotion to League 1. We’ll have the lowest budget in the league by about £10k, and as we enter our offseason, we have only one player who grades out as a good fit for League 1 competition. Somewhat repeating the blueprint we’ve used in previous seasons, we dive into the offseason with the intent of keeping the better half of our team and replacing the lower half with players better suited to the league we’re heading into.

But without a doubt, I spend the most time I’ve ever spent in a Football Manager offseason micromanaging sales and player acquisitions. We earn about £300k for selling players, which allows us to increase our wage budget so that we’re only £5k lower than the next lowest team. I haggle for every pound of salary as we look for replacement players, and refuse to consider only what looks like the best value. We go through every Championship and Premier club looking for loans.

By the time we head into the season opener, we’ve added a good dozen new players to our team. A key moment comes when Leicester City allows us to take two quality outside wingers on loan for free, then Aston Villa lends us a brilliant-looking right back for free as well. We end up leaning way too much on loans for my liking, we’ll likely be starting the limit of 5 loanees in every match, but we simply don’t have the funds to compete without doing so.

As we head into our 5th season, we brace for a bear of a relegation battle!

Season Opener on YouTube
Season 5 Episode 1

Club
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Season 5: August 2024
A Bumpy Start

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Manager Notes

We start the season with a rough stretch, as we pick up only two points in our first four matches. I’m starting to get nervous, but then we rebound in the bottom half of the month, as we win three of four and pick up some momentum. Of particular note is a 5-0 rout over Blackpool to get our first win. We end the month in the top half of a yet tightly packed table.

We might be okay. Our loaned players look as good as advertised. It’s nice to have strength on the outsides. Last year we were weak on the outside, but our loaned fullbacks and wingers look like the real deal. I’m cautiously optimistic that we might have enough about us to avoid getting embroiled in a relegation battle. I do feel like we were quite lucky in some of our wins, however, so I’m not sure we’ll have much more about us than avoiding relegation. It’s really tricky to call, as we’ve looked both awful and brilliant at times in this first month.

Season 5 Episodes 2 is up on YouTube.

Club
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/8cNiwIb.png)

Season 5: September 2024
Clicking

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Manager Notes
Our bumpy start settles down and we go on a good run in September. Our loanees are a powerful help, and have made us immediately competitive on the outsides. In particular, our LB and RB are so strong, and having attacking support from these positions really helps our offense click.

We stumble a bit at the end of the month with some losses, but overall our performance is good enough to lift us to 3rd place. I’m starting to wonder if we might actually be a decent club this year. I wish we weren’t relying on loaned players so much, as we’re not developing our own players to the degree that I’d like, but given our circumstances I think this is the only way.

Season 5 Episodes 3 is up on YouTube.

You're drawing more fans in League One than I was in the first two seasons in the SPL in my Queen's Park save.

Looking good so far. Starting to worry about what you'll do if you get promoted again this season?

Roke wrote:

You're drawing more fans in League One than I was in the first two seasons in the SPL in my Queen's Park save.

Looking good so far. Starting to worry about what you'll do if you get promoted again this season?

At this point, I feel like we're getting a lot of coin toss wins. You know, those matches where you're even on shots and chances but you win 1-0 or 2-1? I feel like the other shoe will drop.

Promotion would be a beast. I 100% feel like staying in League 1 for another couple of years would be best. We need to build a fan base, facilities, and get our own players playing instead of relying on loans.

I don't tend to use lower league clubs, but is there any way that you can seek a feeder club relationship with a Prem club (I think through asking the Board, maybe?). At least that way you can secure a pipeline, and you might even get preseason friendlies.

I must say though that you and Roke are both doing far better than I would have managed - I'd be like the stereotypical 'big time player = crap lower league manager', of which the British game in particular used to be replete with examples.

davet010 wrote:

I must say though that you and Roke are both doing far better than I would have managed - I'd be like the stereotypical 'big time player = crap lower league manager', of which the British game in particular used to be replete with examples.

In the first couple of times I've done it I've always found the first season to be the most difficult, though that's true of most FM games. I rely heavily on my Scouts & AssMan for talent evaluation and you start off with nobody scouted.

Plus I think what Godzilla Blitz has done with Nuneaton is more impressive than my Queen's Park save. I've always had a player wage bill in the top-half of the league, I walked into a squad with a MC who was my player of the season up the leagues until I got to the SPL, and I had 3 Champions League calibre players come through my youth system in consecutive years starting with my year in the Championship. As far as lower league clubs go, that's a great situation.

davet010 wrote:

I don't tend to use lower league clubs, but is there any way that you can seek a feeder club relationship with a Prem club (I think through asking the Board, maybe?). At least that way you can secure a pipeline, and you might even get preseason friendlies.

We had one with Coventry up until this year, but they never gave us money and their loan players were never that hot either.

I've asked our chairman for a new senior affiliate three times a year for all four years, and every single time the guy turns it down. I think I've gone through every possible multiple choice answer with him. The bastard.

davet010 wrote:

I must say though that you and Roke are both doing far better than I would have managed - I'd be like the stereotypical 'big time player = crap lower league manager', of which the British game in particular used to be replete with examples.

This is by far the best I've ever done. I got relegated first season the 2 out of 3 times I tried this with FM19.

Nuneaton started out pretty easy, with a top half wage budget for National North/South levels, but it's gotten relatively less each season since then. This season we're bottom of the league by £5k pounds, which really drove the reliance on loan players. I had to wade through about 300-500 possible loan players to find 3 decent ones that we could get for free.

I feel like I've learned a ton about the lower leagues now from having spent about 10 seasons of FM19 and FM20 down here. There are patterns that start to emerge, and you get a better sense for the timing for signing players, and I've been haggling for every single pound off of a salary. I've let so many players walk because they just didn't provide good value. We have to find bargains at every position.

Conversely, I have no idea how to buy players or manage in the upper leagues. If we ever get some money and need to spend to purchase players, gosh, I'll be lost!