Football Manager 2013

I guess the main thing is to pick a club that will be fun to manage. I picked Lincoln because they are a local side, have a relatively big stadium and are professional.

In terms of scouting I set out from the start to rely on my scouts so for the first few seasons I only signed players based in the UK and my priority at the start was to sign the best scouts that I could afford. There are alternatives like what PhroX suggested or look online, or boost the clubs youth academy. The two best early players that I signed were from the trial day thing at the start of the season which is meant to find free agents new clubs and I tended to always sign free agents.

There are lots of midweek fixtures so tiredness can be an issue and also helps to make the league more unpredictable.

Also if I was starting again I would try to remember to upgrade my facilities earlier.

In the end I opted for Eastleigh. Which is a good fit for me. I have visited the place I don't live far away from it :). I love having the logo for the club without having to download an enomous pack :p
I will definitely request better facilities asap. I am lucky because i think Eastleigh is a very well run club so I have money to get plenty of new players in.

I am not sure if Eastleigh's scouting network is very good but i've had no trouble signing players. There is an abundance of free agents desperate for the big time. I am opting for young players with good determination/personality, i think that is important in the lower leagues. I am tipped for 2nd place which is a play off. I'm currently 6th after 5 games. There are games TWO DAYS after one another. Sickening.
 
I started my current long term career game at Eastleigh (although I've since moved on), albeit under the previous database so there might've been some changes. Basically though, you're the richest club in the Conference South - your budgets are bigger and you're a fully professional club, meaning you can recruit better players than your rivals. However, you need to, as success is a requirement. Not just from the board (they will typically demand promotion), but the from clubs finances, which are precarious (Calling them a well run club is...not quite accurate. They're a club gambling on achieving success. If it work, they'll be fine. If it doesn't, they'll be in a lot of debt). I'd say you really want to be playing league football within 3 years if you want the club to reach any form of financial stability. That said, that's certainly an achievable goal.
 
I started my current long term career game at Eastleigh (although I've since moved on), albeit under the previous database so there might've been some changes. Basically though, you're the richest club in the Conference South - your budgets are bigger and you're a fully professional club, meaning you can recruit better players than your rivals. However, you need to, as success is a requirement. Not just from the board (they will typically demand promotion), but the from clubs finances, which are precarious (Calling them a well run club is...not quite accurate. They're a club gambling on achieving success. If it work, they'll be fine. If it doesn't, they'll be in a lot of debt). I'd say you really want to be playing league football within 3 years if you want the club to reach any form of financial stability. That said, that's certainly an achievable goal.

Interesting, thanks.

I just checked they finished 1st in real life this year. I got my work cut out...
 
A few interesting things i've learned in the Skrill Southern league.

-Five substition rule. It is quite painful to have so few subs. A utility man is essential.
-Player mentality - they seem a bit touchier if you criticise them. I get more demotivated players in comparison to a top divison side. You have to tailor team talks differently.
-Centre backs can only play as limited defenders.
-Players seem to run out of match fitness quicker than their top league counterparts. Too many visits to the pub? :lol:
-Many of the better players are all comfortably 30+ plus. Seems like many old pros from higher divisons are willing to drop down to this level. I almost got a 42 year old championship quality goalkeeper but another club got him.
 
How is your game going?

I think in the Skrill Premier you are allowed 7 subs which makes things easier. My captain always struggled for fitness in the second half. Its probably realistic that the best players you can sign are players at the end of their career or youth prospects. I rarely sign older players as they tend to want contracts that are a bit too long.
 
I am in 2nd place after 19 games. Three points off the top and six points off 6th place. Anything could happen at this point. I had a very slow start, I went for fast wingers and a target man but it didn't seem to work; switched to a 4-4-2 diamond and found far more success.
I really want to win this league. I don't have any luck in the play offs.

The board are refusing an upgrade to our training facilities due to financial reasons. Once I get promoted I think that will change.
 
I assume they are far more willing to upgrade stuff when the club has money in the bank. Looks like you have a decent chance of winning the league if you've been playing better since the tactical tweak.

When training younger players is there anything I should be doing? The training assignment screen rates most of the areas at 4.5 stars with I think 3 at 4* and my U18 coaches are similar. My wage budget is tiny so I've been concentrating on signing future leading or star prospects.
 
i haven't found a good way for young players to realize their potential. i have a wunderkind but he seems destined to be a star. it seems that getting productive 1st team experience seems to be the way to read from what i've read. but they're pretty meek so i usually play them in low level cup games and league games against relegation candidates.
 
Yeah I've been playing most of the young players that I've signed as they are the best players that I can sign. In January I've signed 3 players (15, 16 and 18 years old) who for the first time I'm not planning on playing immediately so I'm a little worried how their development will go. The 18 year old has been loaned out as Cordoba in the second Spanish league were interested and currently he is rated as a League 2 player. The other two I've given tutors which will hopefully help.

I signed this guy when I first got promoted when he was 18 for 5 million which was more than I wanted to play but his CA was already close to premiership standard. I'm currently considering whether to give him a new contract now to extend it by a year to 2025 whilst I can still afford his wage demands. Its current January 2022.
Spoiler :
 

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At what point do you try to pick up the regens?

I spent 10 million on the three players above as they had decent stats already. My maximum wage is £21.5k so once a prospect passes a certain age I have no chance of signing them. The other reason for signing some youngsters is that they should qualify as home grown when I have to sell my current home grown players because they want too much money. For instance its looking like my captain will leave at the end of the season unless I'm able to offer more money at the end of the season.
 
well yea wage is a bit deal for them. here are the three guys i was talking about:





the last dude is obviously my best. pretty much i pick them up as soon as possible. it's worth mentioning i can field an entire starting 11 of failed/failing wunderkinds.
 
We posting wonderkids and their progression guise? In Football Manager 2013 I got the best regen ever. I coached him up to this:

Spoiler :


Almost the perfect ball playing defender. /brag. Oh and that technique reached 20 at one point too.
 
20 Creativity for a centreback..woah...Modern day Bobby Moore.
 
madviking is an american and doesn't understand english football references

madviking only learned who bobby charlton was a month ago

:lol: You know I do have respect for a foreigner to enter & immerse himsef in soccer. I couldn't imagine myself replicating your efforts in baseball or American football.

Anyway, Bobby Moore was a top quality centreback in the 1960s. He was the captain of England in our '66 triumph. One of his abilities was his skill in moving the ball from the defense to the attack. He frequently dispossessed the opposition forward and dribbled forward and began an attack. Moore, alongside Franz Beckenbauer were perhaps the best centrebacks of the '60s and '70s.

My regen has the qualities to do similiar things. With that creativity and passing he can begin an attack from the heart of defense. Very Moore like ;)
 
i figured he was another '66 guy. you english never let go and hold '66 so close to the heart. :p

speaking of which, jose mourinho led england to victory in the 2018 world cup after hodgson won euro '16! :lol:

related, somehow chelsea has gone without a manager for over 18 months. :crazyeye:
 
If England had done better than reaching two semi finals in the period since, then it might get a bit less attention. In all the games of FM that I've played England have done well which I think is partly to do with FM rating England players better than they are, that the game sells well in the UK and that players perform how they are supposed to more often in the game.

Chelsea not having a manager for 18 months sounds like a bug. You could try reporting it.

Just won my first ever national trophy. :D

Spoiler :



We're 9th in the league whilst Spurs are 5th so didn't think we had much hope. Garcia scored and then picked up an injury, after that we were hanging on. They finally equalised but deep into injury time Sutton's replacement, Wright, scored the winning goal to clinch Lincoln City's first ever top level trophy.
 

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Congratulations Dell. That first cup win after years of slogging it in the lower divisons must feel fantastic. Delayed gratification is best gratification.
 
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