To boast. I bought regen Esteban Defender/Wing Back (Right) from Man City for €8,5M halfway through the 2018-19 season. He played 16 games out of 19 and was promptly bought back by Man City for €25M.
Now I need a new Right Defender.
I had never figured that nickname out if you hadn't made this thread.
From the Torygraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/4958515/Fantasy-Championship-manager-becomes-football-reality.html
Quote
Fantasy Championship manager becomes football reality
Ask anyone. Football Manager is more than a computer game.
By Sandy Macaskill
Last Updated: 9:32PM GMT 08 Mar 2009
Formerly known as Championship Manager, FM started life as 500 lines of computer code written by two brothers, Paul and Oliver Collyer, back in 1985 on a farm in Shropshire. It has since evolved into a tool of the football trade which can claim to have predicted the rise of Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney, to name just two. Scouts add to it, agents want their clients on it, a Premier League club had adopted it into their transfer policy.
Of course, for over one million people who are expected to purchase FM 2009, and for those who already have it, it is simply a way of pretending to be in charge of a football club, buy and sell players, win trophies.
It also makes financial sense. According to Sports Interactive (SI), the game's developers, many of those who bought FM 09 on its release in November are still playing on it now; months of entertainment for £30 represents rather good value in a recession.
One of the reasons for FM's success (it only got knocked off the No 1 spot in the PC Charts last week) is that it transcends traditional views on computer games. It makes a mockery of the conviction that computer games are for wonks, schoolboys and the socially challenged.
That the game now allows female managers to be created shows that even [italics] girls play it, while its ability to inspire devotion is borne out by England cricketer Matt Prior, who became obsessed with the game during the England tour of Sri Lanka in 2007.
"I know," Prior wrote in his column for the BBC, "I'm a grown man and, honestly, computer games are not normally my thing - but it's so addictive!"
As with any addiction, there are side-effects. It is not unknown for those who play to give press conferences in the shower in the morning, or experience guilt at omitting players from the big matches, but more seriously, fixation with the game has apparently been cited in 35 cases divorces.
At the heart of it's popularity, though, is the realism. SI employ 1,500 researchers around the world, with a scout at every club in Britain in the top four leagues, to compile data on the 380,000 players and staff listed in their database, so that rather than playing with randoms, players manage something close to reality.
It is perhaps unsurprising, as a result of this realism, that the game should at some point dovetail with the real sport. Legend has Harry Redknapp saying in jest that he was reassured by the stats on Football Manager when he was asked by the press to explain why he had just signed a relatively unknown.
But if that was a joke, gradually more managers and scouts have owned up to playing. The chief scout who headed up Jose Mourinho's "Opponent Observation Department" at Chelsea, Andre Villas Boas, is a self-confessed reformed addict of the game, while others actually began contacting FM's developers for information on players.
"Stories started coming through that managers were using the game and that it was being used inside football," Miles Jacobson, the game's Studio Director, told The Daily Telegraph. "We get regular phone calls from international managers asking about players." When Laurie Sanchez took over as coach of the Northern Ireland national side in 2004 for instance, Sanchez called SI for the number of their head Northern Ireland researcher for insider information about players in the local leagues. "And low and behold a couple of them got picked," Jacobsen says.
"We are able to put the seeds into peoples heads. We are incredibly proud and humbled by the fact that it has become part of the football world." If managers only made underground, furtive forays to the developers, that ended last year when Everton went public, paying for total access to the developers' database which is now used as part of the club's scouting network. That David Moyes might have used a computer game to scout Republic of Ireland under-21 right back Seamus Coleman, for example, does sound rather absurd. But as one agent put it: "If it helps to identify players that they have not heard of, so that they can send a scout along to watch, why not?"
Top tips for the future:
Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi are just two of the players that FM has correctly predicted will rise to super-star status. The FM database currently has 13 players who are expected to turn into world class players. None of them are British. Two to watch are Martin Galvan, the 16-year-old Mexican striker who currently plays for Cruz Azul, and Mamadou Sakho, the defender who captains his Paris Saint Germain despite only being 18-years-old.
The nearly men:
For every Rooney, there is a Kevin Street. Disciples of the game used to swear by Street, the midfielder who was almost guaranteed to always turn into an England international. His electronic meteoric rise hasn't quite mirrored real life, as Street is plying his trade at Altringham. Tommy Svindal-Larsen was another mis-fire. The Norwegian was one of the best players in the early versions of the game, which even earns a credit on his wikipedia page. In reality he never lived up to the hype.
QuoteAs with any addiction, there are side-effects. It is not unknown for those who play to give press conferences in the shower in the morning, or experience guilt at omitting players from the big matches, but more seriously, fixation with the game has apparently been cited in 35 cases divorces.
:D a friend of mine is almost there!
L.
I bought this on a whim and it's been eating away my free time and personal life since.
Currently trying to lead 1. division Lyngby FC to better things, but hampered somewhat by the extreme suck of the club finances. I've been doing OK in the league (third, just below promotion spots and have exceeded the managements expectations on virtually all accounts). I am trying to sell enough players to keep the place somewhat floating, but any tips on that? Any tips in general for an almost complete novice.
Bogh, you seem to be doing fine. Winning promotion and keeping the squad happy, that's doing ok. If you need more cash you can either
A) play attacking football in the Superliga and staying up.
B) aggressively scout youngsters, sign the good ones and then sell them with sell on percentages to higher prestige clubs.
C) aggressively scout adults, sign the best ones you can get for free and then sell them on to better clubs for high money fees.
Don't forget to hire the best possible scouts, physios and coaches. If you want details I'll give you what you need.
I can't seem to sell my players - I've got a pretty bloated rooster and have put quite a few on the transfer-list (slashing their prices to a fraction of their value), but no bids come in. Sending around offers to clubs does nothing either. Is there some trick I am missing?
Quote from: bogh on March 22, 2009, 11:59:12 AM
I can't seem to sell my players - I've got a pretty bloated rooster and have put quite a few on the transfer-list (slashing their prices to a fraction of their value), but no bids come in. Sending around offers to clubs does nothing either. Is there some trick I am missing?
If you are desperate, hold a dutch auction. Make lower and lower offers until somebody bids. Or you give them a free transfer. But you have to play the player you are trying to get rid of.
I restarted after my Fiorentina game got ridiculously easy.
I also seem to manage to transform my own tactical ideas better into FM tactics in this version than ever before. Which is nice, and makes managing even Accrington Stanley fun.
I'm trying to resist this game.. Got enough to do already... :'(
Quote from: Saladin on March 24, 2009, 05:20:03 AM
I'm trying to resist this game.. Got enough to do already... :'(
It certainly is a massive time-sink.
I restarted my Lyngby-game and applied the lessons I learned in the first one. In the final game of the first season, we managed to secure second place in the first division via a superior goal score and was promoted. Now it's near the end of the second season and I am two places and nine points above relegation, but with six very hard games ahead of me.
Pretty much every other team in the Super League has a couple of players that are worth more than my entire team combined. My stingy management has lifted us out of the financial hole, however and I've signed three talented (but so far somewhat underperforming) Brazilian kids via free transfer. I am betting that they will become very strong players as they adapt and learn the lingo. Depending on the overall situation, I'll probably sell one or two or keep them all if they perform and I've got a solid result in sight (cup trophy or similar).
yeah Sallie, these guys are making me tempted to pick it up..quick question is next edition not slated till Oct or so?
Quote from: bogh on March 24, 2009, 09:55:47 AM
Quote from: Saladin on March 24, 2009, 05:20:03 AM
I'm trying to resist this game.. Got enough to do already... :'(
*snip*
See if you can pick up some players from the Allsvenskan or Superettan in Sweden, I've managed to sign players from there in the 2008 for free & very modest fees. Players that could hold their own in the English League One.
Quote from: katmai on March 24, 2009, 09:57:37 AM
yeah Sallie, these guys are making me tempted to pick it up..quick question is next edition not slated till Oct or so?
They usually release the new version in October or November. But stay away if you don't want to gain a very bad habit: i'm playing the game's various iterations since February 1996, CM2, the first game I've ever bought on CD-ROM format.
Aaahhh, memories.... :blush:
L.
Quote from: Pedrito on March 24, 2009, 11:20:14 AM
They usually release the new version in October or November. But stay away if you don't want to gain a very bad habit: i'm playing the game's various iterations since February 1996, CM2, the first game I've ever bought on CD-ROM format.
Aaahhh, memories.... :blush:
L.
Oh i've been playing since CM2 as well, haven't bought this edition yet is all. :P
You suck, katmai. :mad:
I find enjoyment in overreacting when my players publically complain about lack of first team action.
I enjoy crushing their pixelated self-image.
I had some guy who refused to renew his contract and apparently hated me. I couldn't get him sold, so in the end I told the media how worthless he was, barred him permanently from training and stuck him in the reserve team. In the end he ended up in a semi-pro team in the lower leagues, a lot lower than he would have been eligible for before my dedicated effort to destroy his career.
:menace:
What I really miss in this game is the ability to wager on games, it dates back to Ultimate Soccer Manager, which in my humble opinion were better than the CM equivalent of the time. You could actually do something with that wad of cash they'd pay you each month.
Jesus, I got promoted in my first season with Forest. <_<
Now I am bound to have to abandon my youth policies to avoid the big, black hole that is Premiership relegation struggle.
What's the verdict on this game then months after release? Does it still make everyone moist? Should I buy? How is the 3D engine?
I think it's the best adaption of football management ever. The tactical part seems more realistic and works better, and the AI cheats less once you create a super team (which makes it a bit boring after a while).
The last patch seems to have toned down the amazing amount of world-class talents found everywhere as well.
My personal opinion on the 3D engine is that with a good computer, it adds a lot to the game. Watching your team pull even in the 94th minute has never been so heart-stoppingly delicious. The graphics aren't superb, but not bad, and actually are functional. Do your defenders leave 60 yards behind them for the opponents' strikers to exploit? The match engine will show you. Are your strikers constantly being marked and out-muscled? The match will show it.
Sure, some bits are imperfect (like press interaction) and the game wasn't finished when it was released, but now it works well. And with 4 gigs and a quad-core, my computer easily manages 30 leagues and a large database.
Hmm.
I started a game with FC Nordsjælland and did pretty good, but I have serious problems after the first season. I sign a few quality players (making my line-up much stronger on paper), but I am constantly loosing matches and morale is tanking. I am playing a mediocre team in the league, so I should be getting my arsed kicked by the top five teams (at least away), but that sends my morale into a tailspin and makes me loose all the "easy" games, which in turn lowers my morale even further. I just finished the second season and only avoided relegation by a couple of points, so I am a bit nervous about season three.
Any tips?
Quote from: bogh on April 02, 2009, 06:01:50 AM
Hmm.
I started a game with FC Nordsjælland and did pretty good, but I have serious problems after the first season. I sign a few quality players (making my line-up much stronger on paper), but I am constantly loosing matches and morale is tanking. I am playing a mediocre team in the league, so I should be getting my arsed kicked by the top five teams (at least away), but that sends my morale into a tailspin and makes me loose all the "easy" games, which in turn lowers my morale even further. I just finished the second season and only avoided relegation by a couple of points, so I am a bit nervous about season three.
Any tips?
Do you have cash? And what kind of tactics are you using?
Quote from: Saladin on April 02, 2009, 07:32:54 AM
So y ou have cash? And what kind of tactics are you using?
Yeah, I am fairly well off, in fact. Transfer are mostly limited by players not wanting to play for my club, not by my financial situation.
I generally play offensive short passing with two box players, two offensive midfielders on the wings, two central midfielders or one supplemented by a central defense mid and four backs. Everybody on the wings are set to run forward - midfielders sometimes set to run forward, sometimes not. Generally don't play with target man or play maker.
I vary this pattern from time to time (playing more defensively against stronger teams at away games for instance).
Hmm..
I suggest reverting to a 4-2-3-1 to get some stability, atleast against
teams like FCK.
What areas of the team do you need to reinforce?
I suggest lowering expectations before games as well.
Just purchased it along with CK+DV through gamers gate.
Need to decide who to start as manager in this version. I like starting in lower ranks and working way up, and of course can't play my new MLS Sounders team till next edition sadly.
Tactics are important in this game.
While you can stay in the same framework most of time, with a 4-4-2 or a 4-1-2-2-1 (an old-fashioned 4-3-3 with wingers, really), it is essential to adapt your style of play to that of the pitch and opposition.
Scout "Next opposition". Always. All the time. And get a scout with 10 or better in tactical knowledge. He will tell you some essential stuff like the style of play of your opposition (don't man-mark and close down good teams who play high-paced direct football), the pitch size (direct football on short and narrow pitches? Not a good move) and their dangermen. Use the OI (opposition instructions) to good effect. Teams playing 4-4-2 with good fullbacks use them as wingers, and they should be shown onto their weaker foot as well as their regular wingers.
When playing on wide and long pitches, don't play a narrow passing game. Play direct with "target man" and "run onto ball" and several players on "try through balls". And for Hod's sake, use fast forwards with forward runs set to often.
And unless you play as Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or Man Utd, you will struggle in the Premiership at first. :cry:
Also, training schedules based on key stats for all positions, and good coaches (which in most cases will mean you won't get them... 12+ is somewhat decent for stats).
For matches, look at the odds ahead of the game. Are you the favourite? Then chances are, you should attack, attack and attack. When attacking, what is the greatest danger, apart from missing the target? Getting a long clearance behind your back line. Use fast DCs when attacking, preferably with at least some degree of anticipation, concentration and positioning. When constantly under pressure, having players with high composure and decisions are very helpful.
Also, determination and work rate play a higher role than you would imagine. If you end up a goal or two behind, less determined, lazy fucks give up and you lose 4-0. A determined bunch with higher work rates will try and try until the final whistle, and that's why YOU let two goals in the last 7 minutes when playing against them.
/coach Norgy
Thanks for pointers Norgy.
Always been a LLM fan so starting out at low low low lvls of English game, so no shot at managing Premiership clubs yet :P
And i'll be sure to add determination to list of attributes (always look for high workrate and teamwork as well)
Actually, the pitch size thingie really had escaped me. Only after losing all 3 games against a lesser teams at their home ground, I realised I had been fooled by a short, narrow pitch. No space for my players.
Tight marking and closing down works best against teams who play possession-based football.
In the lower league, I imagine closing down the big target men will do much good, though. And possibly closing down and pressing the opposition defenders so they won't be able to hit those long balls.
This slightly annoys me. The game somehow got the idea that I'm a female coach from Botswana. :S
Are you hot?
I could star in Baby Got Back.
How's your game going? And I want screenies damn it! :P
I am wondering how low my reputation must be when Marco van Basten fields an entire reserve team against me on Anfield or what the fuck the new stadium is called as Liverpool manager. The sole exception were their DCs.
The good news was of course that I had never won at Liverpool before and did now.
Once again, the short pitch created some concerns before the game. Okay, it's not that short, since it must be over 100m, but fairly short. I tried to solve the problem of "lack of space behind their DCs" by lowering our mentality to 10 for attackers, 9 for midfielders and 7-8 for the defenders, put passing on 3 at the back, 7-9 for the midfield and 14 (direct) for the strikers. In the first half, possession was 69-31 in my favour and we were up 2-1. I think I may have found out how to crack that pitch problem now. The second half was uneventful as I turned off counterattacking and just focused on keeping possession and keeping the liverpudlians from getting space.
I've experimented with something resembling Arsenal's style of play, which means a high mentality (11-15), high tempo (15+) and passing set at 3, which is very short. Despite not possessing great players, it's been successful against poor teams. :)
I am not going to play that way against Arsenal, as their team thrashes mine 9 times out of 10.
Fortunately, the 10th time was at Emirates. :p
I'm back on the crack that is FM. :cry:
Ah, the "just one more match, then I will..." addiction. :blush:
Quote from: Norgy on April 08, 2009, 03:34:57 AM
Ah, the "just one more match, then I will..." addiction. :blush:
And the contemplating about search parameters to find best players i can afford for a LLM team, finding hidden gems for loan, etc...
after two trial runs to get use to new set up of 2009 version I started at lowest possible rung of the English game in Conference South side Dorchester town.
After searching out multitude of tactics and reading various web sites I'm trying out a 4-5-1.
Halfway through the 1st season leading league in fewest goals allowed, but also in fewest scored :lol:
But for a team that was predicted to be relegated sitting in 12th with half of my matches being draws. :D
Desperate for a striker as the defense and keeper have been phenomenal.
Hidden Gems, I'd look at Natural Fitness and Determination. Especially in your lower leagues. Sometimes a player with high stats there and low everywhere else will be great in leagues where skills don't count for as much. I'd also look at the basic stats for each position and search based on them.
I wish I could search with terms like "Sum of "Off the Ball" and "Pace" is greater than 34".
http://www.fmformation.net/general-guides/34505-player-attributes-guide.html
This is a guide to the meaning and usefulness of player attributes. You can use them to set search terms for finding good players for each position. I suggest that when you search you don't include only players in that specific position. You might find a potential genius left winger that is only an attacking midfielder
Thinking about picking this up on Steam, as it is on sale for 15.
Hmmm, I wonder if forming an all midget team would be possible?
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 17, 2009, 08:44:15 AM
Thinking about picking this up on Steam, as it is on sale for 15.
Hmmm, I wonder if forming an all midget team would be possible?
Define midget
Quote from: Viking on April 17, 2009, 08:48:18 AM
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 17, 2009, 08:44:15 AM
Thinking about picking this up on Steam, as it is on sale for 15.
Hmmm, I wonder if forming an all midget team would be possible?
Define midget
Anybody under 5 feet(1.5 m or so).
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 17, 2009, 08:50:07 AM
Quote from: Viking on April 17, 2009, 08:48:18 AM
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 17, 2009, 08:44:15 AM
Thinking about picking this up on Steam, as it is on sale for 15.
Hmmm, I wonder if forming an all midget team would be possible?
Define midget
don't think there are any that short..
Anybody under 5 feet(1.5 m or so).
After winning the Premiership with my beloved Forest (thank you, Rafael Sobis), I began a new game with Port Vale.
No money. No classy players. Just debts. Lots of debts.
Keeping the club in the black is impossible, but at least we won promotion thanks to four freebies: Jan Tore Amundsen (DM M C), Sefyo Soley (DC DMC MC), Philippe Leonard (DLC) and Stephane Beyrac (SC).
Beyrac proved to be a perfect target player and his strength and jumping dominated the opponents' box.
With Soley at the back and Amundsen running amuck in midfield, it wasn't pretty, but it was efficient. Bring on League One!!! :menace:
Now in my fifth season as FC Nordsjælland. I've won the cup twice in a row, but so far been unable to finish in the top three. Halfway into the season I am in first place, about ten points ahead of FCK, through to what looks like a fairly easy semi-final in the cup and was thrashed completely in a rough Euro Cup group.
Steffen Iversen and his injury prone-ness
9.7.2008 3 weeks twisted knee
4 days after recovery
2.8.2008 3 weeks twisted knee
4 days after recovery
28.8.2008 2 weeks gashed lower leg
all in games...
If my defense wasn't rock solid I'd be screwed... even with Rade Prica at the club.
In my 2nd season at Dorchester Town, in 5th(last spot for playoff) 2/3rds of the way through season.
Season is going well, but have some tough choices as need to pair down the clubs payroll as financial books are bleeding red.
Is there a way to create a completely randomized game, i.e. what Syt did for his OOTP baseball game?
I'd like to start again in a fantasy league, with fantasy teams and players.
L.
Have a look at the SI Games forums.
I know you can randomise all players, but I am unsure of the clubs and leagues.
This is probably the best place to ask or look:
http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=25
Thanks but I'm too lazy to look around the forums :blush:
I'll start a game using third world backwater countries' tournaments, randomize the players and pretend they're some fictional countries with fictional competitions.
It's decided: I'll use Serbia, Thailand, Belarus, Costa Rica and Norway.
L.
:mad:
Quote from: Norgy on April 28, 2009, 11:48:41 AM
:mad:
Don't get mad, he wasn't really bagging on Costa Rica too much.
Hey Thaigesvenn, don't be angry :P
L.
If you're going with fictional countries, at least pick the fictional ones like Belgium and Hungary.
You're right.
I'll pick Belgium, Moldova, Andorra and Sicily -_-
L.
Just my luck, Tromsø IF gets taken over by a Taiwanese Billionaire. While I've won the Norwegian League with Rosenborg for the last few years it's been getting harder and harder.
Tromsø
Estimated Value: 560 MNOK
Population of City: 54,000
Season ticket holders: 4050
Team
32 MNOK
55 MNOK 1.3 MNOK 6.5 MNOK 10 MNOK
37 MNOK
23 MNOK 4.5 MNOK
35 MNOK 11 MNOK
50 MNOK
Rosenborg
Estimated Value: 162.25 MNOK
Population of City: 190,000
Season ticket holders: 15100
Team
9 MNOK
6.75 MNOK 11 MNOK 11 MNOK 10 MNOK
5.75 MNOK 47 MNOK 9.25 MNOK 16 MNOK
27 MNOK 23 MNOK
I can't keep up with them.. The guy just bought a premiership quality team and is playing them in fucking northern norway.. the only possible brightspot is that he probably has replaced the Astroturf at the Tromsø stadium with grass which he pays to heat.. fuck...
I have fallen for temptation... :cry:
Forza Coventry! :D
Seems that nobody wants to play for Coventry.. :cry:
The Rosenborg board are building me a 41,000 seater stadium named "Roar Strand Park".... I am so refusing that job offer from Aston Villa...!!
(norgy will get this...)(basically I'm getting a 41,000 seater stadium in a town with 170,000 population of which 50,000 are out of towners named after a club legend)
2010 came out today, anybody picking it up?
Quote from: katmai on October 29, 2009, 11:09:36 PM
2010 came out today, anybody picking it up?
I'm downloading it at the moment. Obviously I can't give any impressions yet.
Quote from: BVN on October 30, 2009, 02:10:38 PM
Quote from: katmai on October 29, 2009, 11:09:36 PM
2010 came out today, anybody picking it up?
I'm downloading it at the moment. Obviously I can't give any impressions yet.
And now? :P
I'll probably buy it during this week, although I'll have to check if my laptop can run it semi-decently, or if I'd need an upgrade.
09 ran like a absolute dog on my laptop, I never played it much it was so awful.
So 2010 shall certainly not be gotten by me.