Just got back into this after a little hiatus.
Started a career mode (manager only, no virtual pro; legendary difficulty/world class board) with Bradford City.
Board wanted top 6 in the first season, started the campaign going 28 games without a loss (21 wins, 7 draws)!! Needless to say got promoted to League One finishing first with 100 points and also won the Paint Trophy. Didn't spend a cent improving the squad as it was already good enough to make a title challenge (being on a ridiculous run of form sure helped) and decided to pump all transfer budget into excess wage budget (planning for the future
).
Season two in League One they wanted me to stay close to the middle of the table but the free agent market was far too kind to me. Ended up with Gibbs, Wellington Silva, Pedro Boutinho and Lansbury who would all be brilliant in the top half of the Championship/bottom half of the Premiership (except Gibbs would be a decent signing for any Premiership club). The rest of the team are all original players and League One standard free agents. Again, pumped the majority of my transfer budget into excess wage budget. I've got enough high 50s/low to mid 60s rated players who can do a job for me.
28 games into the season, I'm sitting 2nd just two points behind leaders Barnsley in the table, just won the 4th round of the FA Cup against Crystal Palace and in the area semi-final (which should just be called the quarter-final) for the Paint Trophy. Invested £100k (my record signing) in a 29 year old, 72 rated GK but the rest have all been free agents replacing players of similar quality (sometimes higher, sometimes lower) and selling current players to make a profit. Team is currently rated 3 stars which is comfortably Championship quality - explains how I'm cruising. So I expect another easy promotion before selling Gibbs and using the funds to strengthen other areas of the squad as it's currently imbalanced.
Sticking with the initial 4-3-3 formation for now (only made the fullbacks more attacking of course
) but am slowly tweaking the tactics to something more suitable. If my team get promoted the squad will easily hold their own in the Championship and probably finish top half. £105k/week currently spent on wages, £160k/week currently free (I think this is on par with the likes of Wolves/WBA/Wigan/Blackpool - so really pleased with that). Granted I've got no transfer budget remaining but I'll hopefully make a little bit from cup wins and the board will give me a little bit at the end of the season. Have about £4m worth of players up on the transfer market too.
edit: Just drew Blackpool in Round 5 of the FA Cup, a very winnable game considering earlier in the year, I drew Chelsea in the 4th round of the League Cup and they sent out a team which was a mix of youngsters and fringe players (stronger than the current Blackpool side). I managed to outplay them and created more chances but they nicked it 1:0 in the 115th minute with an offside goal, I hit the post twice in injury time
« Last Edit: Jul 27, 2011 11:42:18 pm by vitez »
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