Football Manager 2013

I won my second Champions League with Red Star just now, five years after my first and things seem to be getting pretty easy. The only thing keeping me engaged is Ligue 1, where Monaco is probably the best team in Europe... last season I went 33/4/1 for 103 points while they went 32/4/1 for 100 points... PSG only had 83!

Spoiler resolution warning :


But now I have a shiny new stadium, loads of income from transfers, and more youth prospects than is reasonable for one team to have.
 
2019/20

Spoiler :

League 1 was a breeze. Terry Jones continued to be impressive and carried the team to first place and a trip to the Championship in our first season up. I found a nice Northern Irish striker that formed a great forward pairing with him, and the two of them dominated.




2020/21

Spoiler :

First season in the Championship, finished a respectable 10th place. Terry Jones absolutely transformed this season. In the last two seasons he scored 26 and 22 league goals. In his first season in the Championship, he scored 37 league goals.




2021/22

Spoiler :

Second season in the Championship. Tried to improve my defence. Didn't really work. But I have Terry Jones, so I basically adopted the philosophy of if we score more than them we will win. Jones only scored 35 league goals this season, however he also increased his number of assists from 6 the previous season to 18. Played Derby in the promotion playoffs first round, got dominated 6-2 on aggregate. It was either this season or the last, but my chairman decided to sell the team. I was really annoyed cause at the exact same time I was getting sold, Southend was also being sold. But their buyer ended up being a Danish tycoon. I would have loved all of that Lego money.




2022/23

Spoiler :

Over the break between seasons I did some thinking. Whitehawk are stuck in a terrible little 5k seat stadium, which is abysmal for the Championship. Likely won't get a new one unless promoted, and its creating a financial bottleneck. So in order to raise funds to make a push for the Premier League, I had to make a decision. I had to sell Terry Jones. With a big payday from his sale, I would be able to greatly strengthen the entire team. So I did. West Ham were generous and payed me $42.5 million for him.



Of course, now we are on a timer. If I don't get promoted before the money runs out, I might have trouble competing in the future. After buying a bunch of new players, especially defenders who I could now afford thanks to my financial windfall, my team were actually capable of defending, and smashed the league. After promotion the board announced the construction of a new 16,125 seat stadium due to be completed next summer.



And of course, I pulled off a win in the Capital One Cup, qualifying for Europe.




And a special shoutout to one of my players, Sylvestre Guyonnet. He was on the team when I started this save. He was considered to be League 2 quality, so he managed to stick around a while. I even ended up using him regularly in League 1. And he got a number of matches in the Championship when other midfielders got injured, which speaks to my squad depth as a result of the financial limitations my stadium is creating. At this point I plan on just keeping him signed to the team until he retires. I'll let him get a game or two in the Premier League, then just keep loaning him out.

Spoiler :



 
getting a shiny new stadium is a good feeling. i went from 17k to almost 40k and now due to the gobs of money i have they're expanding it to 51k! c.r.e.a.m.

i won my second champions league with red star in 2027 and here is my financial situation.

value: 10th (556m pounds) (9th - monaco, 11th - atletico), this shot up around 150m pounds after my new stadium

turnover: 21st (112m pounds) (20th - wolfsburg, 22nd - villa) still working on increasing revenue. more seats should help.

season ticket holders: NR (10,890) (100th - tp mazembe 19,500) this is my biggest weakness. with a less than ideal fanbase i can't reap that sweet, sweet season ticket money, which hurts my bottom line.
 
i started a new new (new?) game, taking over historically successful but presently horrible Red Star FC in the French third league. won back-to-back promotions to get to Ligue 1 and just won my first Ligue 1 title!

remaining goals:
- win champions league (~3 years away?)
- build badass new stadium (in progress)
- have max facilities
- break £1 billion in worth (currently £220 million)

- five champions leagues, check
- 65,000 all-seater stadium, check
- max facilities, check
- just broke £1 billion in worth, check

Spoiler :


i think i might retire this save...
 
Anyone else picked up FM16?
I got the game + beta access + FM documentary for about £28.

So far it is only a little different. I'm not so sure about the new screens, it feels just more cluttered then it did before. There are some nice minor tweaks which make things a little easier..for example if you're subbing off a right back the game will highlight players on your bench who can play in that position. Of course the game is updated with a new database...but apparently Villa don't have Sherwood as boss!

Designing your manager's image just feels like a cheap gimmick to me....I would prefer it if they focused on another or new part of the game.

I'll give it another several hours and come back with some more details...
 
Played several more hours with it.

I feel that playing defensively rewards you more then it did in FM15. Counter attacking seems a more viable strategy as well. The biggest difference is the tactical instructions. In FM15 "pushing up", "getting stuck in" and "playing a higher line" seemed to be the best model for winning but in this one those instructions are not as effective.

I think the 3D match engine is much improved, I don't have as many "wtf, why didn't the GK hoof that into row Z?!" moments then I did before. I think the actual movements of the players is more realistic then in the previous FM.

It's early days but I think this is more of a tweaking, perfecting FM then a large scale reform.
 
(Calmly) "Listen, Rom, I know you haven't scored in a few matches, but I have full faith in you getting back to your scoring ways, and so does the team."

Romelu Lukaku: (Calmly) "Cheers, boss, I won't let you down."

Well.

He was right.

 
Finished a few Premier League seasons back in August/September. Loaded up the save again the other night.

2023-24

Spoiler :

First season in Premier League. Finished respectable 12th.




2024-25

Spoiler :

Built new 16k seat stadium. Board gave me a ton of money to spend. Spent $132 million buying and brought in $119 million selling players. With improved team managed 3rd place and qualified for Champions League. Man U is scary.




2025-26

Spoiler :

Man U had a big dropoff, and none of the other big teams stepped up to take over, allowing me to win the league on just 75 points. Based on quick check on Wikipedia, that is the lowest total for a winner since 1996/97.



In Champions League drawn with Atletico Madrid, Fiorentina, and Sporting. Won group, advanced to knockout round.



Drawn against Cagliari in first round. Won easily 5-1

Quarter final against Benfica, got through on away goals.

Semi final against Barcelona. Managed to hold onto a 2-2 draw during the second leg at Camp Nou to pull out a win.

Final against Man City. I was glad that they had knocked out Man U earlier, as United are the only Premier League team I've yet to beat. 3-1 victory in the final to become champions. Accidentally pulled off a double.




2026-27 (so far)

Spoiler :

Having caught up with my progress from a few months ago, I started the new season the other night. Eight games in. Superior to most of the clubs. Man U still terrifies me. I think I've played them 12 times in total now, best result is 4 draws. Of the 3 goals I've conceded this season, 2 were against Man U. In the other 7 games only conceded once. Champions League group consists of Fiorentina, Zenit St. Petersburg, and FC Red Bull Salzburg.

Played Man U in the Community Shield, lost. But I beat Olympique Lyonnais for the UEFA Super Cup.




And finally, might as well share a few of my players. Specifically just the ones my assistant labels as world class in his reports.

Spoiler :

Marcelo Navarro - D (C) - $23 M from Boca



Pernão - AM (R) - $18.25 M from Cruzeiro



Nicholas Grant - AM (L) - $14 M from Olympique Lyonnais



Oliver Eastham - AM (C) - $7.5 M from Manchester United

I actually bought him while in the Championship. Amazing that they were willing to let a player with such potential go for so little.



Ratinho - D (R) - $27.5 M from Botafogo


 
Spoiler :

So, that went well. Dominated the league, and for the first time managed to defeat Man U. Conceded very few goals. In fact, of the 15 I conceded, 3 came in my second last game against Arsenal when my defense had a terrible game. That loss also meant I didn't break 100 points. Also ended up winning the FA Cup for the first time, as well as the Club World Cup. And while making this post, I noticed we had 5 Champions League qualifiers. I'm guessing an English team won the Europa League.



And amazingly, the man responsible for a good portion of my goal scoring was club legend Terry Jones. I had bought him back when I got to the Premier League for $2.7 million and used him as a backup. But Man U went and triggered the release clause on my main striker right before the first game of the season, so I wound up just using Terry. And he delivered big time. Of course, when you have three world class midfielders feeding you passes, that probably helps a lot.



Won my group in the Champions League. Made it back to the final. But lost to...Zenit. They were the only team that beat my twice this season.



 
Well, I've peaked in my FM career.

Spoiler NSFW absolutely destroyed 11 mens' lives :


The story behind it - my first season as CF America (MEX), and I've been doing insanely well despite constant injury problems. In the semi final first leg of the cup, I get smashed 4-0 away to Queretaro, basically giving up hope on winning the cup. So, for [feces] and giggles, I make this tactic. 4-2-4 set by default to Overload, ridiculously high defensive line and constant closing down, and an emphasis on getting the ball in the box. If I'm out of the competition, I might as well go out in a blaze of goal-scoring glory, right?

In front of a packed stadium at home in the second leg, I instead make history. After passionately demanding that my players take revenge for the last match, the brilliant player and current love of my life Darwin Quintero smashes a volley from 20 yards out in the third minute, setting off a chain of events which I could never have envisioned. They don't just look for goals, they dominate the match. I had a couple scares with close chances in the first half, but besides that, the ball didn't even touch my half in any highlights. I keep raining shots on their net, with 16 total shots taken by the half, 3 resulting in goals.

Going in 3-0 up at half, many would switch back to a more "standard" tactic, try to net two more and solidifying the defense. "[Screw] that", I think aloud, and continue to urge on the players. And they deliver. Goal after goal after goal hits the back of the opposition's net, my defenders putting in their best display of the season as they sweep up any chances before they get too close. The wingers and strikers who cut them up last match were comprehensively shut down as my players walked away with double the opposition's score in an 8-4 aggregate win, headed on to the cup finals.
 
Currently at 2034 in my current FM17 save, playing as Whitehawk, the same club I managed in FM15.

Things have gone pretty good, with my club finally winning the Premier League in 2033.

Spoiler :






The club is an economic powerhouse, currently sitting on over $400 million in the bank, since I don't really have anything to spend it on. But that money has bought a top tier scouting network and fantastic academy which has started producing some exciting youth players, though they are still a few years away from making an impact.

Spoiler :

U-23 squad. Considering the quality of my first team, a 5 star potential rating here would indicate they have a chance at being a world class player. They are predominantly players I have uncovered through my scouts and managed to get for fairly small fees. Takuto Ishii is the only prominent member of the U-23 that worked his way up from my academy.

Top U-18 players, with a few really good looking prospects after years of having nothing good come through my youth intake.



And some of my star players

Spoiler :

Joseph Chan - USA - DC - $0 from Revolution Academy

Ivan Rasic - SRB - AML - $425K from Partizan Belgrade

Francisco Jesus Cortina - ESP - AMC - $76M from Levante

Federico Vazquez - ARG - ST - $64M from FC Porto - 103 goals in last 117 games


Finally a few of the wonderkids I have in my U-23 squad and working their way into the first team soon.
Spoiler :

Carlos Miguel - ANG - M C - $1.5M from Recreativo do Libolo

Manuel Romero - COL - ST - $1.2M from Deportivo Medellin

Robbie Stead - WAL - GK - $775K from Manchester United

Răzvan Ţandără - ROM - M C - $2.6M from Steaua Bucharest

Saul Hipolito - MEX - M C - $7.5M from Veracruz

 
Top Bottom