Football Manager 2023

[bobzy]

I've got another issue with players' etc.

Upon signing contracts with me (Concord Rangers, newly promoted from Vanarama National to League Two) some players had "locked in" demands of improving the training facilities.  Fine, whatever, agree contract.  Can't remove that wish anyway.

A year down the line, I've asked the board about three times to improve our training facilities - we can't because of our financial situation.

 

SUDDENLY... "Patrick Kelly unhappy promise not kept"; he's unhappy I haven't improved the training facilities.  No dramas, I'll just have a chat with him.  Ah yes, I can select "I took it to the board but they wouldn't sanction it unfortunately" - very reasonable, exactly what happened.  Player will understand and I can do absolutely nothing in this situation as we don't have enough money.  WRONG.  Player doesn't understand.  He's **** furious and wants to leave on a Bosman.

[tomsky_11]

Anyone doing a non-Villa save but keeping an eye on how Villa do under Emery?

Have just finished 24/25 season in my first save (starting unemployed with no experience or badges, 3 seasons at Swansea University and have just moved to Walsall) and Villa, without particularly major squad changes, have consistently finished 5-7th and have just won the Europa League.

Gerrard meanwhile is currently unemployed, having had one season in work since us, in which he got Luton relegated to League One.

[bobzy]

11 hours ago, tomsky_11 said:

Anyone doing a non-Villa save but keeping an eye on how Villa do under Emery?

Have just finished 24/25 season in my first save (starting unemployed with no experience or badges, 3 seasons at Swansea University and have just moved to Walsall) and Villa, without particularly major squad changes, have consistently finished 5-7th and have just won the Europa League.

Gerrard meanwhile is currently unemployed, having had one season in work since us, in which he got Luton relegated to League One.

On my save, Emery was never Villa manager; was just at Villarreal.

 

Antonio Conte is the Villa manager in my save (June 2027).  He joined in the summer of 2024 and has finished 12th, 10th and 11th.  The squad is pretty shit to be honest

Steven Gerrard took up the Hull managerial role in November 2023 and is still there.  12th, 14th, 8th and 14th in the Championship.

[HKP90]

13 hours ago, bobzy said:

I've got another issue with players' etc.

Upon signing contracts with me (Concord Rangers, newly promoted from Vanarama National to League Two) some players had "locked in" demands of improving the training facilities.  Fine, whatever, agree contract.  Can't remove that wish anyway.

A year down the line, I've asked the board about three times to improve our training facilities - we can't because of our financial situation.

 

SUDDENLY... "Patrick Kelly unhappy promise not kept"; he's unhappy I haven't improved the training facilities.  No dramas, I'll just have a chat with him.  Ah yes, I can select "I took it to the board but they wouldn't sanction it unfortunately" - very reasonable, exactly what happened.  Player will understand and I can do absolutely nothing in this situation as we don't have enough money.  WRONG.  Player doesn't understand.  He's **** furious and wants to leave on a Bosman.

Sounds realistic to me. You agreed to a promise when issuing a contract that you could not deliver. That you had no control over it is irrelevant. 

If I was hired for a job where they said, for example, I could get extensive training to further my career, only for the person who hired me to come back after I'd signed the contract and tell me upper management refused to allow it, I'd be looking to move on. That it was not the fault of the person who hired me wouldn't make me stay. 

[bobzy]

4 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

Sounds realistic to me. You agreed to a promise when issuing a contract that you could not deliver. That you had no control over it is irrelevant. 

If I was hired for a job where they said, for example, I could get extensive training to further my career, only for the person who hired me to come back after I'd signed the contract and tell me upper management refused to allow it, I'd be looking to move on. That it was not the fault of the person who hired me wouldn't make me stay. 

I'm not saying it's not realistic, or that it's a problem with the game, just that it's an issue I face when signing players.  Can't not have that element as a "promise" and can't get the promise fulfilled  

[HKP90]

23 minutes ago, bobzy said:

I'm not saying it's not realistic, or that it's a problem with the game, just that it's an issue I face when signing players.  Can't not have that element as a "promise" and can't get the promise fulfilled  

Ach, just bin Concord Rangers off and get a job with more ambitious owners!

[bobzy]

22 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

Ach, just bin Concord Rangers off and get a job with more ambitious owners!

I can't do it!  Just been promoted to League One (League Two was ridiculously easy; very odd - League One looks absolutely solid ).

[mikeyp102]

I do find they don’t sack managers as often as they used to. Yet I’ve resigned twice to take a different role (not offered but knew I’d get it as unemployed) and it says on my bio sacked twice…. Don’t think so chief 

[juanpabloangel18]

Just finished my first season as the inexperienced (both in-game and IRL) manager of AVFC. Was expecting it to be hard. However...

• Finished 4th on 74 points, finishing above Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal
• Won Manager of the Year
• Only major signings were Bamba Dieng, a £4m 22 y/o striker from OM who I never picked, and my wonderkid LW, Andreas Schjelderup for £7m - who turned out to be a key player
• Played a 4-2-3-1 attacking Gegenpress in every single game, to great effect
• Got great use out of Bednarek, Augustinsson, Chambers & Guilbert
• Ings was out for almost the whole season, Watkins got 25 as a pressing striker
• Bailey and Buendia were both very good
• All but froze out Mings, Nakamba, Sanson, Young

Team stats below. Sign me up NSWE

[Villaphan04]

SHA have gone into administration in my save the first season. 12-point deduction time

[Hornso]

20 hours ago, Villaphan04 said:

SHA have gone into administration in my save the first season. 12-point deduction time

Shame I can't like this more than once.

[tomav84]

On 03/12/2022 at 16:18, juanpabloangel18 said:

Just finished my first season as the inexperienced (both in-game and IRL) manager of AVFC. Was expecting it to be hard. However...

• Finished 4th on 74 points, finishing above Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal
• Won Manager of the Year
• Only major signings were Bamba Dieng, a £4m 22 y/o striker from OM who I never picked, and my wonderkid LW, Andreas Schjelderup for £7m - who turned out to be a key player
• Played a 4-2-3-1 attacking Gegenpress in every single game, to great effect
• Got great use out of Bednarek, Augustinsson, Chambers & Guilbert
• Ings was out for almost the whole season, Watkins got 25 as a pressing striker
• Bailey and Buendia were both very good
• All but froze out Mings, Nakamba, Sanson, Young

Team stats below. Sign me up NSWE

guilbert played 22 games??

[juanpabloangel18]

15 hours ago, tomav84 said:

guilbert played 22 games??

Appearances, but yeh. I extended his contract for another year!

We have a really great squad in the game with a silly amount of depth. One of the hardest things was keeping players happy because I couldn’t give them enough game time. 

[Milfner]

Started as Dresden, promoted in second place. Not really digging the save but hopefully i get into this year because the first season wasn’t much of a challenge. 
 

Not really a fan of the adjustments to the scout / recruitment process. Feels very clunky. Can’t really be arsed to talk to an agent every time I want to sign someone. 

[bobzy]

It's 24 Feb 2031 and Concord Rangers are sat 2nd in the Championship.  Shouldn't be anywhere the top spot - let alone playoffs - but had a ridiculous start.  At one point I was 8 points clear at the top, but the league have started catching up .  Elsewhere...

Villa are currently 18th in the Prem and in danger of being relegated.  Imanol Alguacil (no, me either) is the manager.  Douglas Luiz and Matty Cash are the only remaining first team players from the start of the game.
Man City have won every single title since I started the game.  In total, they've won the league 10 times in a row.
Chesterfield are in the Championship with me (17th).  They're the highest not-my team which was non-league at the start of the game in the league pyramid.
Birmingham City are in League One.  They have a strong youth setup but somehow managed to get relegated to League Two for a season (sadly won the title at first time of asking).
Of the teams who started in the Premier League, only Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Fulham are not currently in the Premier League (all of them in the Championship).
Erling Haaland has scored 101 goals in 99 games for Norway.

[Villaphan04]

and Newcastle have bought Emi Martinez from Villa for 55m in the summer window

[BennettVilla]

On 21/12/2022 at 14:30, bobzy said:

It's 24 Feb 2031 and Concord Rangers are sat 2nd in the Championship.  Shouldn't be anywhere the top spot - let alone playoffs - but had a ridiculous start.  At one point I was 8 points clear at the top, but the league have started catching up .  Elsewhere...

Villa are currently 18th in the Prem and in danger of being relegated.  Imanol Alguacil (no, me either) is the manager.  Douglas Luiz and Matty Cash are the only remaining first team players from the start of the game.
Man City have won every single title since I started the game.  In total, they've won the league 10 times in a row.
Chesterfield are in the Championship with me (17th).  They're the highest not-my team which was non-league at the start of the game in the league pyramid.
Birmingham City are in League One.  They have a strong youth setup but somehow managed to get relegated to League Two for a season (sadly won the title at first time of asking).
Of the teams who started in the Premier League, only Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Fulham are not currently in the Premier League (all of them in the Championship).
Erling Haaland has scored 101 goals in 99 games for Norway.

Ill do something similar for your enjoyment

It's 14 APR 2029 and Solihull Moors (I know mainly blunose fans but I go to watch them from time to time)  are sat 6th in the Championship in our first season there. Elsewhere...

Villa are currently 9th in the Prem and have finished in the top 10 every season with 4th the highest last season. Still got Unai Emery in charge and remaining players are Dougie (capt), Boubs, Buendia and Watkins.
Man City and the scousers have 3 titles each
Birmingham City (this is my most enjoyable part) are in the national league for their second season and only just scraping along in the playoff places.  Apparantly they still have 11,500 season ticket holders which is a completely unrealistic fact!

First time ive bought FM for many years since I was mid 20s and Im back into it and absolutely loving it again! Particularly blose doing so garbage
 

 

[dubbs]

Haven't got a PC but I understand there is a version of this on the Switch.  Anyone had any experience?  Been years since I've played a FM game and interested to hear how it works on a console.

[villa4europe]

28 minutes ago, dubbs said:

Haven't got a PC but I understand there is a version of this on the Switch.  Anyone had any experience?  Been years since I've played a FM game and interested to hear how it works on a console.

Give me about 3 hours

Its the touch version so I'm expecting the same as what was on the ipad a few years back, it's perfectly fine, it cuts out things like FFP and miserable players which I prefer if anything

[villa4europe]

It works... Its somewhere half way between the ipad version and the xbox version which is how I've played it for the last 5 years, there's a new learning curve and getting used to it to do again

The problem is the touch screen is better than the fiddly controls but the touch screen is better on a bigger ipad

I'll pile hours in to it still so it's worth the £35 to me personally but at the moment I think the xbox and ipad versions are better