Much ADO About Everything – Forwards and Backwards

In the first blog, I was very complimentary of our defensive solidity – praising a system that had conceded less than a goal a game on the way to a 6th placed finish. We needed only to improve the offence and we’d be well on our way to serious success…

A Guide to Scouting and Transfers – a.k.a. How to make a simple process as complicated as possible

Scouting and signings

So I’ve been requested to write a bit on my approach to scouting. As I don’t feel that scouting itself is terribly exciting, I’ve morphed this request a little into covering more on the process of the entire transfer.

I guess that there’s an opinion amongst some of my readers that I am more thorough than some FM-ers in my transfer policy. I say “thorough” but that’s really a polite way of saying it. Pernickity, overly analytical, obsessive or borderline anal might be more accurate descriptions of my transfer policy.

I really enjoy the transfer dealings within FM and I tend to spend an awful lot of time considering my moves, at least whilst I’m managing small clubs (which is 99% of the time).

For me then, there’s a very logical process which culminates in a player signing on the dotted line…

Feralpi Salò – In the hunt…

I’m feeling good about this season. We’ve reached the winter break, just a little before the halfway point in the league, and things are going pretty well. We’re embroiled in a very interesting title challenge and surpassed all my expectations in the Champions League despite a sticky start.

More importantly than that, though, is that the team feels like it’s performing really well. I feel like I have options all over the park and there aren’t many players who I feel have let me down on a regular basis, indeed I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some.

Normally I would wait until the end of the season and do a big update then but Thomas Levin (worth a follow on twitter by the way) suggested that I provide a little bit of information on my scouting techniques. I guess that I am more thorough than a lot of FM-ers… well “thorough” is the polite way of putting it. Others might describe it as indecisive, un-necessarily picky and borderline anal.

This was the case but the scouting section has become so big (waffle) that I’ve decided to issue it as a standalone article. Therefore this update will simply be that – an update on the fortunes of Feralpi Salò. I hope you still find it interesting.

Feralpi Salò – a big gamble?

Not long since my last update but two days of almost continuous manual scouting, squad tweaking and procrastination now sees my Feralpi Salò side ready and raring to go for a new season.

I probably wouldn’t have decided to write another update so soon but there’s been a fair bit of re-jigging in the squad as I aim to balance the books whilst still improving the squad and I think it’s probably worth recording.

When I say there’s been a fair bit of re-jigging, I’ve actually taken some fairly significant gambles in both player sales and purchases although surely the biggest piece of news is that we no longer have the smallest wage budget in the league – lowly Nocerina knocking me from my coveted perch.

So this way for all the moves and our early fixtures…

Toulouse – Naldo goes mental

A very, very brief update tonight to confess that I have, in fact, descended into insanity.

Despite usually being an incredibly frugal manager who shies away from splashing the cash and prefers to develop a team from well planned cheap signings, hence being presumptuous enough to write an article on Financial Prudence in FM, I have quite clearly lost the plot.

Why? Well, here’s why:

 

That’s right. £42m. Forty-two million pounds sterling.

Once you see him, though, you might understand…

Toulouse – Summer 2013 Transfers

You will probably notice that these posts on Toulouse are getting shorter. This is because I now know the squad and the tactic pretty well which minimises the amount of time and effort I need to put into analysis of games and signings… the latter, of course, being a complete lie when it comes to the striker.

Decisions have been made, however, and the squad now looks to be settled.

For me, this summer was all about two things: strengthening and deepening. Strengthening the first team by improving the quality of players in certain positions; and deepening the squad by providing better quality back-ups and youth players, particularly important given the number of games we’ll be expected to play this season.

I’ve always said that, in FM, three seasons should be enough time to get any team to win any league and this is our 3rd season… so is this squad now good enough to win the title which we missed out on so cruelly last season…

Toulouse – Post Xmas Update – Procrastination Mastered!

My Toulouse save has now reached the run-in period with the January transfer window just closing and the squad finalised for what will be a challenge for the third Champions League qualification place. The biggest news, however, is that I have finally mastered my procrastination over the striker role and what I want him to do.

In an effort to maintain the level of extra detail that I’ve been providing in these updates, I’ll therefore go into some tactical explanation of my choice for the lone striker and what that means for the rest of the team, for expected in-game reactive tactics and for transfers. As well as this, I’ll update on the transfer activity that I completed during this window and some plans I have for building the squad going forward.

Toulouse – the first month

Toulouse away kit

First few games down and things have started well. I’ve only played 5 games thus far and I wouldn’t usually post an update at this early stage but there have been a few items of note that have occurred in the meantime, not least the closing of the transfer window.

If you haven’t read the first update which covers squad analysis, setting up the tactic and early transfers then you can find it here.

The very first thing to note is that my chosen first choice ‘keeper is inexplicably “unavailable” despite being registered and free from injury. I think this has something to do with the pulmonary embolism he suffered in real life, his enforced retirement at the end of the season and SI’s way of incorporating such an unfortunate injury into the game. It would have been nice to be notified of this in some way, though. As it is, I’m forced into going with Ahamanda and Riou a little earlier than I would have liked.

Financial prudence in FM – part 2

So following on from part one of this article, I’ll start looking at the non-contract aspects of the game which can affect your finances.

Visit any FM forum and there’ll be a thread about what people want to see in the next version of the game – amongst them there are players who want to introduce features such as control of ticket prices, investment in club shops and developing the design of your own stadium. Not for me, if you want that sort of game then dig out a copy of Ultimate Soccer Manager or perhaps even Theme Park and pump up those salt levels at the chip stand so you sell more drinks… with 50% ice of course.

It’s just not what I’m looking for from Football Manager and I also think there’s more than enough scope within the current game to allow you to improve your club finances. The first, and most obvious of these, is bread-and-butter to every FM player…