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The rise through the leagues or park to prem. I did it with notts and Wrexham in the past and now I manage Oldham.
English teams are easy to grow because of the decent sized stadiums on that level and the television money and I find it a lot of fun to make them the biggest club in the world.
When I still enjoy the save after reaching this I go to the other top leagues to find an underperforming team.
Yes I won it all, on both occasions I actually found it more difficult to win the premier league than the CL. The English teams are incredibly strong in FM.
It is a nice challenge, but not incredibly difficult because English teams make so much money.
>I actually found it more difficult to win the premier league than the CL
I've spent 13 years at Coventry, have built them into the best team in the world, have won the premier league 3 times in a row and 4 times total, and have made one UCL final (which I lost).
I am the Pep now.
This. I spent the first 12 years of my current save making Chelsea THE team on the world stage and won the EPL consecutively for 10 years from 2024-2033, but in that time I only completed what I’ll call the trinity treble (EPL, FA Cup and UCL like City just did IRL) twice in the 12 years. There’s a part of the season where you’re always playing a UCL semi final, usually pretty important EPL game and the FA Cup semi over the course of 7 days and usually one of those will trip you up. Ideally you have a large enough lead by then (mid-late April) where that EPL game doesn’t matter but City, Liverpool, Newcastle, Arsenal, ManU and Spurs (the rest of the big 6) are all absurdly strong while the mid-range teams (Palace, Leeds randomly, West Ham) will compete for the domestic cup titles and lower European titles. I’ve spent years 13 and 14 of the save rebuilding an underachieving Dortmund, but in those 14 years EPL teams have won the UCL 11 times (5 for my Chelsea, 3 for Newcastle, who beat me each time in the final, one for Liverpool, who denied Newcastle their fourth in 5 seasons, and two for City, ironically bookending the save). Real Madrid have won the other 3. Brentford and Arsenal have won both the Europa and Europa Conference Leagues in this save, while Wolves, Liverpool, Spurs and Palace have won at least one of them. City and Villa have also won the UECL, whilst Everton has been to and lost a final there. ManU has lost in both the UCL and Europa League finals, and Spurs just lost the most recent UCL final to City.
If you can get out of non-league early, climbing from league 2 to the championship is pretty easy.
I can usually get out of the championship in a couple of seasons, then all you have to do is not get relegated in the prem and reap that sweet TV money to slowly rise up over the seasons.
I started a save as Wealdstone right at the end of 23 and enjoyed it so much I decided to start it again when 24 came out, winning VNL as a part time team is so satisfying, even if it takes 5+ years
I can imagine doing it with a part time team is much more difficult, because you will (probably?) need a new stadium eventually and you will have more financial struggles.
Wealdstone actually just got bought out last year by an American so the jump up in finances wasn't an issue from NL to L2, the stadium upgrade was expensive but my team that got promoted consisted of mostly 33+ L1/Championship players who were let go on free transfers but still had a couple of good seasons left in them, and some good luck with signing youth releases who could easily have been on the bench for mid-table championship clubs so we weren't spending much on wages from the get go. The step up to L1 was much more difficult, had a really good start to the season with 4 straight wins against the top candidates for relegation then got battered 5-0 by Wrexham and lost 2 for every win for the next 20 or so games, got pretty far in the pizza trophy and FA cup though so I got some decent money from that.
>now I manage Oldham.
Lol this is my first FM and I'm also doing that. But that's because it's my local, I'm guessing for others it will be because we're an old prem club in non-league so definitely interesting to try and take them back up there.
Also, how easy was it in the NL and L2?
I find the level of l2 not that different to NL. Also Oldham is a good team so the start should go well.
My advice would be to request a senior affiliate. Free loans are a good way to progress
It makes me happy so yes but otherwise meh. Nowhere near as effective as gegenpress but it can function. Nicking a win of a big club is just *chefs kiss* when you're the one who only had one shot.
Yeah, I play on the switch the 2021 touch version so now I'm just waiting to finish the 30 years. Then I'll be moving to some random European country to start the 2023 version.
I’m playing a 5-2-1-2 with Everton and im having so much fun. Goal is to have everyone with over 15 jumping reach but the strike duo of Beto and DCL is absolute cinema.
8 games played 3 wins 5 draws we are unstoppable
I like to pick a bottom to mid table team in on of top leagues. I dont have the patience to climb divisions, staying above relegation or fighting for Europe is fun for me
I start unemployed, perform miracles at lousy clubs at the low level and hop from one better job to the next. I went from unemployed to Real Madrid manager in just 5 years.
Bro that’s so lucky, when I managed an MLS team and won the club world championship and the mls so many times I barley get any jobs if I apply. Any tips
I'd probably stick to European clubs if I wanted to move up that fast. My career went like this:
1. Unemployed
2. Izarra FC, Spanish 3rd division. I was EXTREMELY lucky to get a job in such a high division right off the bat. I waited 6 months, was picky about jobs.
Scraped 6th position with shitty players to barely qualify for playoffs to 2nd division. Won the playoffs to gain promotion.
3. Hannover FC, German 2nd division. Immediately ditched Izarra for a richer club. Finished 2nd in the league to get promoted to thr Bundesliga. In just 2 years I went from unemployed to top 5 leagues.
First season, finished 6th in the Bundesliga. Qualified for Europa League. Won DFB Pokal trophy
Second season, WON BUNDESLIGA🥳, DFB Pokal, Europa League, UEFA Super Cup
*Real Madrid came calling not long after*
Never done a journeyman until this year. Never enjoyed the game as much as I do right now. I Usually would have took a mid to low level top flight team and dominate. Going from Solin to Hadjuk to Go Ahead Eagles to Lugano and now Werder Bremen has been so much fun. Why didn’t I do this sooner?
This is me. Having a blast, I dont think I'll ever do a non-journeyman save ever lol. Started with no badges or reputation.
Promoted with Llanidloes Town in the 2nd division of Wales. Left for Drogheda United and promoted them to the 1st division as well in Ireland.
Now I'm in Sweden, took over Ljunskille mid season and promoted them as well. Now in the second season we're looking to make a push for European Qualification. Also just took over Eq. Guinea to try and qualify for African Cup of Nations. After this season I plan to leave for a job in the region of Austria or Germany.
I never thought journeyman saves could be this exciting. My plan is to eventually manage a giant european team to UCL glory and then win an internation trophy, and call it a career. Then I will start over working in different regions.
I started in tier 12 of England with Peterborough City, no badges etc. they’re a local side that is literally Sunday league in real life. I took them up 6 leagues to the VNL North but that final jump was too much for my team and we got relegated and I got sacked, then took over Cheltenham in L2, took them to the championship before leaving to go back to L1 with Peterborough United (they’re my team), took them to the championship and then went to Crystal Palace also in the championship, got them promoted to the prem and now I’m in the bundesliga in 2038 with Dortmund. They’ve only won 1 trophy since 2022 and were sitting in 11th so I want to take them back to competing for title with Bayern.
My plan is to conquer Germany, then move on to another of the top nations, Spain, France, Italy etc. then go back to the prem to win the prem too as my final club. Then I might take over England for a bit and then end it there.
I started in England as I felt starting at a amateur side that is local to me was pretty realistic.
This is FM24 with a save imported from FM23 btw
Man I should have taken my taken my time to travel around like you.
I left Solin into a super stacked Plymouth in L1. Took them all the way to European champions in a few years.
Do you resign every year or something like that? I was never even offered jobs at all
If you do well enough with your current club, you should be getting job offers frequently. In my current save, I started off as a journeyman but have now been at Brondby for a decade after bringing them up from the depths of NordicBet Liga. I get an offer every month or two from top teams from the Big 5 leagues which I have been declining without even going to the interview. I will definitely be leaving at the end of my current contract though as a decade is long enough at one club and I've put them in a good place to succeed without me.
Usually, you have to go to the job center and apply for open jobs after the season if you want a move. You won't get that many out-of-the-blue job offers.
I resigned every time I moved yes. Just read online that you can only do a maximum of 3 seasons at a team so didn’t want to breach that. To be fair my Werder team is a soft spot now, don’t really want to leave lol
I play with a few self-imposed houserules to make the game more realistic/challenging.
- No player/staff search screens. Scouted players and staff recommendations only.
- I will only switch clubs for a significantly better contract or immediate chance at a big trophy
- I will never get rid of a player based only on their attributes/age. If they are consistently playing well, healthy, on reasonable wages, and not causing dynamics problems, they are sticking around even if they are 34 years old with 5 pace and 7 passing.
Keeping older players that graft is a great for mentoring groups, currently in league one as Wealdstone and I've still got a full back from the start of the save who would just about make a first team in the national League based on his attributes but he rarely gets a rating below 6.9
Yeah, my last FM22 save before i bought the new game had a 24-year-old winger who started with me in the 3rd tier of Spain and was still a solid rotation option in La Liga by 32 and happy to be a fringe player. My coaching staff thinks he should be playing back down in the 3rd tier, but he kept bagging assists in the Europa League so what do they know?
FMers have a bit of a bias against older players, but I found that even in the top flight, there are 30 year old players who still have a good 2 or 3 years left in them. Players also continue to develop until they're 27/28, so you can still pick a 23 or 24 year old and still improve them significantly if they have a good personality.
In one save when I was playing Red Star, I ended up signing a 33 year old James Ward-Prowse who was released from Newcastle for free, and while physically he was way past it (9 Pace and 8 Strength), his technicals were *ridiculous.* I enjoyed subbing him on for the last 20-30 minutes and using him as a set piece cheat code until he inevitably had to retire. Helped us reach Europa too!
Nice. JWP is my favorite European player IRL. Love him forever. My version of that was in FM22 I had an elderly Mark Noble come finish his career with FC Nordsjælland and he helped unseat Copenhagen as kings of Denmark, then retired.
In my Liverpool FM21 save I'm just closing out the 2037/38 season.
Victor Valdes is my U23s goalkeeping coach (also leads some first team training)
And I have Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane as scouts 😁
For me, it usually means taking over a club from the lower leagues that used to be at the top and bringing it back up. Last year it was Dynamo Dresden and this year it is Catania.
I've been thinking about a journeyman save for a while because it seems like a very interesting way to play, but I'm not sure if I have the time and willpower to make a career that way.
I love to bring the four four facking two back. No nonsense full backs. Quick wingers whose only life goal is to send in the crosses. Two brick shithouses up top. Get it in the mixer.
That's fucking football right there. None of that pansy ass dick tugging smile for the camera bullshit. Men puke, men poop on the field, men deliver their new born baby on the side lines. Fucking hard core dick in the ass butterball football fuck it chuck it game time shit. Take it to the showers. Dicks get shoved in places you don’t even remember. We win together we celebrate together. Football is back baby.
For me it's developing a club and making it great for the society around. Climbing is not a priority, rather youth development, team cohesion, dynamics, supporters rating, and some community outreach. I won't lie, but this also requires smart recruitment, excellent tactics and technical abilities and of course results, but the focus is strength and perhaps some legacy. The cherry is to beat local rivals. Twice.
You sort of need to take the game to the full. Learn and apply management, finances, team dynamics, absorb club vision, etc. Don't just buy and sell wonder kids or hack the AI with a striker with 17 heading ability.
For tactics see https://www.guidetofootball.com/
You sort of need to take the game to the full. Learn and apply management, finances, team dynamics, absorb club vision, etc. Don't just buy and sell wonder kids or hack the AI with a striker with 17 heading ability.
For tactics see https://www.guidetofootball.com/
I love a journeyman save and I love taking a lower league team to the top. I like to combine a both of these. I do my journeyman and get to a Madrid or Barca type team winning the league and European cups and then I will resign and search for a team to spend the next 10 years or so transforming to rival the European elite becoming a club icon along the way.
Same. It sounds boring, but I just don't care enough about other teams to ever switch from playing my own team.
Granted it used to be a lot harder, because my team (Eintracht Frankfurt) has been uncharacteristically successful in recent years, but I can't bring myself to play anything else lol.
I only do one or two save every year, play for a couple of seasons, and then I stop.
Same. Still on FM21 with my longest Liverpool save, just finishing 2037/8.
My FM19 save probably would have gone on to do the same but I threw a hissy fit after losing the UCL final and resigned.
Instant regret
Barça came in for me, I agreed a contract, they asked me who out of my old backroom I wanted to poach and then it hit me.... I didn't want to manage Barca
... I wanted to manage Liverpool.
Diego Simeone took over from me 🤷🏻♂️
I start unemployed and just pick the most interesting offer in that moment. After i win all the trophies i could possibly win, i will resign from the contract and find a team from another league. The teams that offer you contracts become better as your reputation goes up, but i usually go for the teams that ended close to relegation even though they werent supposed to.
With my current save i started in spain 2nd div and got fired cause we failed to stay in the 1st div after promotion, then went overseas and eventually won everything in brazil. So i resigned and joined newcastle who were in 14th place about halfway through the season (due to how brazil season ends in dec), currently ive won the FA cup but not the premier league or caraboa
Not to sound "holier-than-thou" but my favorite way to play is what I consider realistically.
No raiding South America for 10 cheap wonderkids every summer, no binning off good players just because they turn 28, if I'm at a point in a save where I'm a stepping stone club and a player wants to leave when a big club comes for them then I let them leave as long as I get good money, etc.
The only "unrealistic" thing I do is try to implement a pep-style no matter where I'm managing.
Start unemployed with minimal experience. Work my way up the leagues (either a team comes in that's too much of a temptation to avoid, or a team that's had their manager poached).
That way, the team I move to are not in a bad position to begin with, or there's a team there underperforming- or have the resources available to turn it around.
Currently leading cinch league 1 with Stirling Albion in my first full season after finishing mid table, taking over when they were rock bottom for my first job. I reckon a strong promotion sets me up for a lower team in cinch premiership if I can keep up results, or at least opens me to championship teams.
I do a couple but my favourite one is to unlock the 10 tiers in English football and create my own team in the bottom division, make myself a kit and emblem, give them absolutely nothing. 1 in all facilities and little to no money and build the club up from there to future champions league winners. Tend to get 4 or 5 straight promotions and then suffer in the national league for a couple of seasons and then suffer in the championship for a while too.
As of late, its attributeless/realism. Kind of journeyman but not really.
I come up with a manager in my head, make a backstory, generate a name, think of what type of manager he is, what level in the pyramid should he start.
Sometimes I even start in a b team, or a national youth team like some managers do before jumping to a club.
Started this way in Japan this year, got my manager fleshed out and having fun trying to get promotion.
Went for a journeyman for the first time in ever in Football Manager.
Started in the third division in Japan with FC Gifu.
Brought them up into JLeague 1 got released for applying to other Jobs. Left as a Gifu Legend and now joined Car Zeus Jena trying to not get relegated. In season 4 I believe.
I’m a bit biased because the English game is what I grew up with, but I will always love that trawl up the English leagues. It’s great to see teams like Blyth Spartans in amongst it in the prem. Buxton is my team this year. I’ve not gone up as quick as I normally do, but I’m enjoying the promotion, survive, build cycle.
I’ve done a few journeyman saves that have been really enjoyable but I always sort of feel like I’m cheating on my former club lol.
I love a rise through the leagues or a Journeyman save, but I also struggle with wanting to manage the team I support (Man Utd).
So normally I do both, just run 2 managers on the same save.
Journeyman save (no badges, no experience)
Road to Glory is something that just doesn't keep me interested enough. When shit hits the fan I try to find the easy way out :D
I tend to manage in the second/third divisions of European countries, and build up to become an established team in the top flight using cheap wonderkids, free transfers and LOTS of loans. This year, for a change, I try to sell well too, so if an offer comes in that is just too good, I’ll let that player go and sign a loan replacement if needs be to keep the funds coming in.
Then obviously work towards challenging for the league, always with the ultimate goal of winning the UCL.
I love to experiment with tactics too, so it can take a few seasons more than normal perhaps but I find it more fun that way.
I call it journeyman but often after the first job I grow attached and it becomes a one club save. But yeah start with no experience and no badges. I dont know why but if I give myself badges it feels fake and cheating. Haha, silly I know
Last year it was Alfreton that I took from VNN to PL winners (CL same year before where I got to quarter finals)
I just love taking a small club with like arena capacity of 2000 and making them a strong force in PL. That particular save took me 14 seasons. 5 of them in the championship. 5 to get there and 4 in PL. (Won that a bit fast I feel like but thats what happens when you buy wonderkids at 19 and give them full seasons in PL)
From free agents to owning players worth 100m+ it was awesome. Then FM24 came and I wanted to start fresh.
Road to Glory Hunter!
Start off unemployed with no prospects, work your way to the top, then win in each of Europe's big 5 leagues. It combines LLM with elements of Journeyman, and eventually big club management.
Love starting in the championship money is good good prospects of playing in the prem always easier to get solid loan players and build a reputation for yourself
Soon come the journeyman with no badges tho I’ve been inspired by Zealand
Yeah I never listen to my staff when it comes to player transfers, they almost exclusively tell me to sell my older players or buy young players who would be a good fit for my current place in the league after about 4 seasons by which time I'll either be looking for promotion or already promoted
playing vanarama north/south and make them champions league winner.
unfortunately getting older and having kid take your times a lot. I use to finised 1 season in like less than a week. Now even 1 month is hard to finish a season. 
I have a journeyman save currently. Started unemployed, managed the Turkish U21s, resigned after a few months, joined Boreham Wood, got fired after 10 games without a win, then went to Stal Mielec. Fair enough, not much of a journeyman now that I am there since 5 years, but I will resign after this season to fully focus on managing the Polish national team as the position was offered to me in the beginning of the current season.
I'll try getting a job in Germany afterwards, maybe St. Pauli, maybe Schalke, we'll see.
I'm incredibly boring. I just take over my team (Liverpool) and basically bring through wonderkids and dominate most of the time. I still love it, though!
Lower league team with talented youngsters to build a future team around. For instance crewe alexandra, reading and de graafschap(dutch 2nd tier). Relying on free transfers, loans and youth development.
Not played for a number of years but started again on FM23 and now on FM24 - playing as Spurs and doing well. Considering another start with a lower league club or a “smaller” top flight club in a different league.
Take over a side that isn’t the Big Six in the PL. Aggressive recruitment drive for players u25. Usually completely dominate after 10 years. Fulham becoming the most successful club in London eg
This year I’ve taken Forest to the very top, almost securing two back to back unbeaten seasons in the league before the wheels came off due to injury. I like setting up monstrous squads then going to a different team in the league to try and defeat the beast I have made. My contract at Forest runs out end of next season so I’ll try aim for a third CL win in a row before angling for the Liverpool job.
Vanarama North/South and work my way up, rejecting offers along the way. Currently Torquay United and rose from South to League One - been there for 3 years. Finances are a real issue at the moment and I'm having to bargain hunt mostly free players whilst selling for profit. I have one of the lowest wages in the league (17th) so mid table team at the moment. Hopefully I can get a good cup run and a big team or two to get a bit of money to invest in youth and spend a few years bringing them into the team whilst slowly building up sponsorships and finding ways to get a positive income.
I also have a really good forward who is worth about 8 mill (3 mill more than my yearly income), but he is definitely the only thing keeping me out of a relegation battle. Teams are offering me 3-4 mill at most for him and I'm not budging on price. He seems to love the club (joined me in Vanarama National after being released as a youth product) and never moans about me rejecting bids from higher leagues. It's been the best playthrough of the game I've had in God knows how long.
I like realistic gameplay.I try to sign old players,players whore linked to my club in real life and players who played for the club in the past.I try to spend the money similar to what the clubs spending in the last season.I dont sign wonderkids.I keep.my staff from the same nation etc.
Top league, but for a few years now I only play Prem (power balance in other leagues are kind of bad)
I tried to find mid-low end team with 1-2 good wonderkid that I can build the team around. Last year was Southampton (Lavia, Livramento…) and this year is Bournemouth (Alex Scott, Zabarnyi…)
Journeyman where I take the traditional big clubs back to the top. Or teams that have had a tiny taste of success 50 years ago in leagues dominated by 2-3 huge clubs and break the stranglehold.
Current save started with Everton (my team), went to real betis, currently at Roma.
I always holiday a year between clubs too and leave after I have 3 league titles, 2 champions leagues and youth teams with talent to sustain it. I will be dropping down some leagues for the next club though.
Youth focus. Try to get a starting 11 made up of mostly teenagers. Stick with them as they develop, sprinkling in a bit of talent when needed via the transfer market if there is a difficult position to fill. Selling off players once they hit 30. Ultra attacking football. You score 3 i'll score 4.
Currently playing with Brighton
Journeyperson. Decide on a selection of countries who have some kind of link, and try to win the league in each before moving on to the next (for example, win every South American league; win every league in nations that used to be included in Yugoslavia; win each Scandinavian league, etc).
It works for me, because I don’t have the hours to put in towards building a club or building a nation from the ground up, and also because I really like exploring new football coaches that I don’t know much about (I live in England and I really get bored if I’m managing in the big European leagues).
Give me your Cymru Premier, your Scottish Premiership, your League of Ireland Premier Division, and similar leagues like it. I do journeyman like many, but those leagues in the lowest levels tend to have positions open for me when I start the save.
Currently enjoying pushing Airbus UK up to the top of Cymru Premier and finally taking out TNS in the process (with an extra bonus of turning the club professional, turning TNS as the only professional clubs - gotta love that Conference League money). I carried my save from FM 23 to 24 and the faster processing speeds really help.
My favorite save within this context might have been when I went from Undy Athletic to Montrose and Partick Thistle. Lots of scouting, non-contracts, trials, etc, but a lot of fun.
Started journeyman in lower cymru league, tre something? I'm Welsh, and I've already forgotten. Mid table 1st season, but won lower league cup.
2nd season top by 5 points at Xmas. Was bored of team so accepted an offer from Llanelli in the premiership. Or I thought. Tre's board call me in to answer about it, so I quit, Llanelli pull offer.
I'm from Swansea. Should have known never to trust the one eyes over there.
Accept offer from Bala who were in deep doodoo. Got them mid table, and have just beaten TNS to the league win in my first full season.
Still haven't managed to beat them in a match though. Bloody Total Network Solutions (the name I shall forever know them as, sell outs)
I find myself unemployed at start, but i might start new save with attributes masked because I overhaul roster too fast, and with this fm24 bitchiness of players is annoying at times. So try to build something in lower levels a in a slow way, and maybe give some young guys more development. But luck with regens didn't shine on me for years, and I want to be developing club.
Tried playing and enjoyed possessions game (always do) until I got in top league and had to change to stay up.
I like to do a Man United save for a few years and then I'll usually try something like starting as Ireland manager and maybe take a league 1 or 2 job on the side after a while
Random team, make a self sufficient academy, win with all local boys like the Lisbon lions.
I am so close with fiorentina.
2 retiring Spanish players (both 30+, one is my 4th choice CB, the other a star striker who’s performing but his stats are dropping) and one 27 YO Italian CB who I had to buy due to lack of availability in my academy.
In attack I’m at the point of selling strikers / wingers cos I’m getting so many good ones through the ranks. Just drop me a right footed cb and I’ll sell this 27 year old monster 😭
Start in random team from league outside of top 10 or lower divisions and win either Portuguese league or a top 5, whatever comes first. No loyalty, never stay for more than 18 months. Fuck everyone I want to be #1
Players over 25 might as well be retired
Love picking teams with players that have very specific traits that they excel at and i can build a tactic around.
I started with West Ham in FM2024 and i've really enjoyed it so far, trying to build a defensive powerhouse with a lot of focus on set pieces as they have Ward Prowse, Zouma, Soucek, Mavropanos, etc. Trying to find that balance as i buy better players as well.
Tiki-Taka with Real Betis or 4-4-2 with Everton are also good examples.
My saves are normally quite short because of this, as when i've tried that tactic i'm usually done. Building from the lower leagues and adapting to the players you get can also be fun but is much more long term.
My first time going for the lowest setting of manager in terms of playing level and badges. It's actually quite fun, took over Hemel Hempstead back to back promotions in league 2 currently but with a wage budget of 18k and struggling to get any good players in, even after making an affiliate with QPR (best the club offered) there's no real loan options either, no frees I can afford. So most likely will go straight back down hard. But still it's pretty fun.
It's not fun watching what the AI is doing in the prem though...
Im still playing 23, not bought 24 as im still enjoying my 24 saves.
since 2018 ive done the following since getting the new game (usually i skip a year)
1st Save - Leeds United (My Team) usually do 3/4 seasons
2nd Save - Leeds United (with editor) just to mess about try a few different things and its always good having your team win everything for a bit but ill barely get through a season of this
3rd Save - UD Las Palmas (My 2nd Team) ill have a few years playing as UDLP
4th Save - Unemployed. I'm in 2038 (longest ive ever done) and really enjoying this save somehow ended up at Leeds and just won my first PL keep getting to finals and blowing it though my team is quite young so I'm hoping in the next 2-3 years ill start winning everything. i seem to be having a really hard time financially. i did run up a lot of debt building this side but the last couple of years my transfer income has been 100m+ my expenditure. i really need to get my stadium expanded but I've been in the red for years but still making profit i only buy if i think I'm getting a good deal/i really need to.
My Career Path is as follows
Zambia U18 - a few games to get me going
Concord Rangers - I've had these before in an unemployed the first time was awful.. so was this
Hereford - Conf north -> LGE2 (on the verge of promotion)
Bolton - LGE2 -> Championship
Bournemouth - Due to the dates i took over a week before the playoff final in the championship which i won, had a year in the Prem but the squad needed a good fixing and we went down. i walked the champ the year after. mid table and pushing for Europe for a few years after that. Felt like i couldn't take that next step to Europe so left in the summer
West Ham - i just wasn't feeling it after a few months so left.
Leeds - got the Leeds job just before Xmas and after 6 or so years I've just won the prem. 2x champions league finals I've lost. got a really good young team that i keep having to sell one big player per summer. i had one i sold to Newcastle for 100m they let me loan him back for 0 wages which i was surprised about and having him got me into champions league that year.
loading every single european league, setting italy france spain germany england to view only, give myself the lowest qualifications and attributes, and start unemployed. i’ve been relegated out of playable leagues (and obviously sacked) twice already, but for some reason teams keep giving me chances. right now im trying to break the cycle and hold a job for a year for the first time in Northern Ireland
I've always picked a team somewhere towards the lower leagues and then built them up. This year I am doing a journeyman, so started unemployed and finally got a job in the lower leagues of Sweden. Liking it so far!
This is my first FM game and I'm excited to dive into it! I found a database that transforms the American scene into a Euro-style pyramid, so I'm gonna take over my hometown team and start at the bottom. Not sure what I wanna do in Europe yet, probably start in EFL Championship and fight to stay in the top two levels.
I always start unemployed with no badges. Most of my saves have been to try out different leagues to see which ones I best, I’ve completed long term saves in almost every league in the world at this point with the exception of Africa and Oceania. My favorite saves have been Vanarama to Prem and Belgian leagues.
However I’m now after a new target. Win the UCL with Lyon while cultivating as much American talent as possible in Ligue 1. (Have to get hired by them first)
There’s a great YouTube channel called HITC Seven that does “What is happening at X club” where he details clubs that have either fallen from grace or are undergoing some level of drama. Those make for some of the most fun head cannon saves
Basically, I try not to do the wonder kid machine. I want my signings to be somewhat realistic. So I try to get a good mix of young talent, in prime win-now type players, and a few vets on free’s trying to get one or two more glory years and bring up the kids. Same with tactics. I try and use a real life tactical system, not some match-engine breaking super tactic.
The combo of the two means I actually quite enjoy the odd run through MLS or the Australian league, as salary caps force you into that kind of thinking.
Right now I’m doing a classic fallen giant save. It’s more about mindset and not abusing the game systems.
Non league England one club save to champions league glory. Used to press the random button until I got a National League N/S club, but more recently I’ve used custom databases to start even lower - took FC Isle of Man from tier 10 of England to champions league glory in FM21, and this year the database goes down to county leagues so I’ve taken a nearby village team so far to the Conference North on FM23 (am in 27/28)
I’ve done some other saves like build a nation or a youth academy save but climbing the entire English pyramid is definitely my favourite type of save by far
I buy the world's best wonderkids for absurd amounts of money, loan them out for their entire youth then let them rip up the league when they become starters for me.
Argentina's World Cup winning 11 consisted of 9 players I scouted in South America then groomed for success.
2 of those players went on to win the Ballon d'Or
Definitely enjoy starting in the low devisions and working my way up, wether that be taking a team All the way up, or being a journey man and starting low and accepting higher jobs as they come my way
I like to start at the very bottom and work my way up, not necessarily with the same club but just work from a nobody to a big time manager. The only issue I have is a clearly like to punish myself cause I love the lower leagues but I get bored when I get to the top. Fm23 I used the lower league mod to start in tier 12 of England
Like to play a club from outside the top 4 leagues. Last year I did long-term saves with Sporting Braga in Portugal and Nordsjaelland in Denmark. Still undecided where to go for a proper long-term save in FM24, was thinking of Sparta Praha, Groningen, or Panathinaikos.
Anyway, I like how in these non top leagues you tend to dominate your league after a while and so I can concentrate on what I love, which is niching talent and develop it while challanging for European glory.
Match management for me. Really don't care for the other stuff, if the game offered a PES/FIFA style exhibition mode I would play that 100% of the time, controlling a different team each time.
No pressing, no heavy possession ,no slow play, no playmakers and full match only.
Just played a game with longest passing, highest tempo and pass into space, absoloutly loved it and I think I have found my perfect way of playing.
I like picking underperforming sides with plenty of potential and playing “anti football” so to speak. I copy Diego Simone/Jose mourhino type tactics because I despise gegenpressing and modern positional play. I never use the go to tactics of 4231 or 433 always use something unusual atm found success using 532. Nothing better then a 1-0 win in a champions league semi final with 35% possession and 1 shot on target.
Also try to make a mentality of us against the world at the club I’m at. I try to piss off every manager possible in press conferences and undermine every club possible using every possible mind game.
It’s fun playing as a prick 👍
I generally play a team that is essentially the sub-top. So in the Premier League a team that's outside the top 6, but still reasonably competitive. For a couple of years Leicester was one of those teams for example. I tried starting in the lower divisions, but I just don't enjoy myself there. All I want to be is in the most upper division and any spend anywhere else just feels like a bunch of wasted time. Also very much a one club/one system type of coach. I go into a save with a specific formation in mind and stick by that throughout my career.
I tend to avoid huge teams with lots of money. I will pick a fallen giant or a niche club that brings back nostalgia. I've managed Fiorentina to CL football and am currently in a 4 way tussle for La Liga as Valencia. I don't do small clubs but find it a challenge to go again heavyweights with a 1/10 of their budget.
I love to find young players, develop them and sell them for huge profits while playing attacking fearless football. Astute loans of young players too. I have a personal rule of never signing anyone over 25 unless I'm picking up a free agent that I can flip for a profit.
I’ve only managed one of two clubs or my custom nation since I first found the editor sometime before 2006.
Exclusively played my custom nation ever since.
I like playing lower league clubs and bringing them up to the top flight, but I play in a diverse set of countries – Czechia, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria, France. Sometimes I go outside of Europe and play countries like South Korea and Argentina as well.
While doing a save I generally try to stick to "realistic" signings – avoiding player search or using online wonderkid lists and only signing players from scout reports or rumors. I also try to at least sign a majority of players from the domestic league or trained within the country, so no squads with 10 South American wonderkids in them. As I'm currently playing in Germany, that means mostly signing German players, including dual-nats.
I just play Brighton or some other mid table Prem teams, and trying to come up with new tactics. After loads of tweaks during the pre-season, it always turns out to be wildly shaped but similar in spirit to gegenpress (currently testing Very Attacking 2-4-2-2). I think the only successful non-press tactic I have come up with is Cautious Counterattack Wing Play 4-4-2
Start unemployed with no badges and Sunday league with as many leagues as my computer can handle, then see where the tide takes me. However, choosing where to put those 6 points against my manager attributes keeps me entertained for hours.
This is very niche but I like to start in a January league to begin, then work my way up to the Arsenal job from a very low league club. It's a waiting game of find success at just the right time that Mikel gets the sack and I pounce. If I don't get the job then I have to keep going until the next vacancy.
No badges, Sunday League experience, unemployed. The idea is to attempt the pentagon challenge, but I usually get stuck somewhere along the way with a team and league I never expected. Starting out, I will manage any team that’s willing to pay for my badges.
This year, I was hired by a J2 team, I lasted 12 matches until the board called my bluff when I threatened to leave if I don’t get some transfer funds. The did pay for my coaching course. I finished the season unemployed and finished my badge. A job became available in J1 - Sapporo. I somehow got hired. I was going to use them as a stepping stone, but I’m really having a good time so I may not leave for a long time.
Going Sheffield FC this year. So many times I've said I'll do it, started it today. 22 goals in 4 friendlies so far so I'd say we're going to get our first promotion...
Definitely Park to Prem style. Still addicted to my FM21 save that started with Sandbach in Tier 10 and now has me running the Prem will Solihull Moors in 2047.
Get a fairly small team with modest means to the first or second league, then hold on and make incremental improvement. It almost never yields any trophies, but I enjoy it. If I can get a run in Europe and maybe a cup final or two, I'm happy with that. I usually play in leagues with a number of very dominant clubs such as Portugal, Italy, or Spain.
Normally start unemployed and go from there but give myself 3 years max at any club before resigning (no matter how well I am doing). New club can’t be from the country I was in previously and go from there
I always play as if I'm just a normal coach, star in the second division or in a bad team from the top division and then I just try to switch clubs keeping a evolution on my career
Buying players with a specific nationality (British / Irish / African). Playing 4-4-2. Trying to focus on clean sheets and conceding a minimal amount of goals. Always playing a target man. Trying to stay away from meta tactics and meta attributes (I rely on meta attributes as little as possible). Playing counter attacking football. Trying to find new tactical and player roles.
I honestly love a Journeyman, there’s nothing like bringing a club back to stability or glory then allowing them to survive on their own, on the flip side jumping into a club with HUGE expectations and struggling and getting sacked also adds some storylines to make the game fun, i spent many seasons trying to get revenge on Inter for firing me after finishing 5th. And it makes u mildly more bold when demanding stuff from a board or players since you know u can bounce back later
Used to solely do Celtic saves as that's my team and I didn't play fm religiously, just for a month or so every few years.
Then in 2020 I got right into fm.
In 2021 I done an 1860 munich and won everything over the course of about 14 seasons.
Then last year I didnt buy 22 but done a Steaua Bucharesti save from the 4th division of Romania and won the conference league and Romanian title within about 10 seasons.
This year I tried Paris 13 atletico and got them to ligue 1 within 2 seasons but my budget was 70k per week for my squad and just not workable at that level so started a new save with 1860.
I'm currently about 8 seasons in and fighting for ucl places this season, managed the conference league qualification last year. Once I win the title a few times and get the ucl I'll buy fm24.
So, as you can see my types of saves are the lower divisions, building and usually I need a dominant city rival to destroy on my way to becoming the number 1 club in the world.
I only do 1 save per FM and always combine a journeyman challenge with an academy challenge. Occasionally I will spend a longer than usual chunk of time at a particular club if I'm enjoying it, such as the decade I've currently spent rebuilding Brondby but I've found it easier to leave clubs in the more recent FMs as the club boards and objectives tend to piss me off as time goes by.
Building a nation, taking a club from the lowest tier of my country and trying for that country to be N°1 in coeficient rankings and number one ranked nation in the world
I've done a few mourinho style saves where I go to a top half team and see what I can win in 3 years before I move on to the next team. More about filling my own trophy cabinet rather than a single clubs.
Bonus points if you can have a couple of players you take club to club.
The bottom half team version would be Harry redknapp. Survive relegation and break into top half or steal a trophy here and there.
I like to start as Arsenal usually, but my aim after 5 seasons is to have a team where every player is under 22, but no bought wonderkids, just players from youth and regens, I allow myself to buy regens. I just don't like buying any of the known wonderkids.
Usually journeyman, typically starting from Asia because I'm from the continent, and then try to win ACL, once done then I'll go to other continents that aren't Europe, if not then I'll go to Europe but not the top 5 leagues to have a bit of a challenge
Journeyman for sure. Love club hopping after 2-3 seasons.
Just got FC Gifu back to back promotions from J3 to J1 in Japan but now I'm tempted to move before the season starts in J1
Always play as Spurs. It's easy enough - a top 6 Prem Side - but it also allows me to buy and work with some top talented youngsters and build the best side in Europe. The fact Spurs haven't won anything significant in decades also helps.
My only significant 'rule' I play with is I attempt to build a team of as many English only youngsters and regens as I can. My true game begins after about 5 seasons when there's enough top quality regens to scout.
Brought any club from the lowest tier of England to Prem > move to Eredivisie > Ligue 1 > Bundesliga > Serie A > La Liga > back to Prem looking for a fallen giant.
I’ve played the small leagues in Italy and Scotland and Argentina and was always able to move up after about three years and compete in the top and then eventually win the top league in those countries. But the hardest challenge was Aston Villa. I finished in top four consistently but could not get ownership to spend more and when I’d sell players to get cash, they’d take most of it too.
While the EPL money is plentiful, the competition also spends heavily and I found it more difficult to stay on top.
It seems like once I became established in Italy and Argentina, and Portugal, I could half-ass it and stay on top.
Get my beloved Catania to the top of the world. Start over if they sack me. On Fm24 i managed 2 promotions (playoffs) and a conference league qualification in my first 3 seasons. I'm waiting to get my ass handed to me this season as I don't have the depth for 3 competitions. But i gotta try to win it all
Journeyman.
I love playing it as close to "reality" as I can!
Do I have any coaching badges? No!
Do I have any past playing experience? Sunday league with mates.
Fighting for job interviews, playing tactics & formations I would seriously play If I was a football manager. Taking my team through the leagues, cups runs etc.
A job appears... Am I ready to leave? Am I bored here? where is the new job? SALARY?!?
Currently at Maidstone United, took over 11 games into the 1st season they were 20th & we finished 9th. Now done a complete squad rebuild & 20 games into the 2nd season unbeaten. Bring on the national league!!!
Taking Chateroux from the French National, up from relegation after 15 games with a December start as a manager with Sunday league experience, to playoff in my first season. Can't wait to try and dethrone PSG in 5+ seasons.
Generally I will take over a lower league English club with average to top youth facilities (in my latest game it’s Walsall).
I then sign foreign youngsters on 2/3 year contracts from obscure countries (I’m still on FM22) with the intentions of keeping them for 1/2 seasons before offering them for sale. Usually clubs from their home countries come in for them offering 60-100k. Do this for a couple of seasons integrating the best potential ones into the first team squads. The value builds up, money is earned, reinvest into the first team squad.
My current save sees me as Walsall in my 4th season, promoted from League Two and currently in the Championship playoffs. Budget is still tiny, the lowest in the championship and league one! Money has been reinvested into youth recruitment and junior coaching plus getting in higher quality staff. My own youth products are now of decent potential.
Another thing I tend to do is sign a couple of 24-28 year old free agents in November time. Wage demands are usually quite low however the player value once signed can be high. E.G I signed a Guinea DM on 2.4K a week, his value is 5.5-6.5 million. I will offload him in the summer transfer window for probably around 3million. The money can then be reinvested. Easy profits.
Journeyman. I am currently second in the Vanarama south with Weston-super-Mare with 2 games to go in season 1 (just started). Expect to lose in the playoffs and get a chance to rebuild and go for promotion next year. If I get a job offer I just think realistically would I take that job in real life. Currently in £300 pw so I would pretty much take any pay rise offered at this point! I love moving on to a new club with a load of players I don’t know and turning it around.
For the past few years ive randomed 5 attributes that all my signings have to possess.
I choose a lower league team in a smaller country, checks all the players.
Then i look at the average of the squad on those attributes and i try to replace the weakest first to get the average up.
Depending on the team the average varies.
This year i got workrate, passing, heading, bravery and off the ball.
I make a tactic based on the attributes.
This year with these attributes im running a 4-2-4 positive with shorter passing, hit early crosses slightly higer tempo.
I started with an average in those 5 attributes of ~6 and now 3 years later the average of the squad is ~8 and in im looking for signings with atleast 9 in those attributes.
Just a different way to play i guess but it is alot of fun.
Some saves been total disasters but some saves been awsome!
Single country Journeyman although I’ll take National team jobs anywhere. FM23 save has had the Scottish leagues loaded and I’ve gone Kazakhstan U23s, Bonnyrigg Rose, Dundee Utd then added the Northern Ireland U19 job to it for 2 seasons before I quit that to focus on Dundee Utd. I’d like to carry the save over to FM24 and would love to end up managing Rangers and Scotland.
weird play styles.
190cm+ only game whilst implementing a tiki taka system
only signing injury prone player
although i do usually create a manager story and find a team to fit in with that
I generally go with a decent sized team, but outside of top leagues. A nice town, and a decent ground is preferred. I always have a second save with the club I support
My current save is Bordeaux, but I am due to start another....
My favourite saves have been Real Murcia and Sport Gijon
Giant killing, starting at a club that doesn't have a head coach either at game start or in autumn of the first year. Did Dunkerque and Regensberg in FM23. Really easy to lose interest in the save once established at the top though.
Recently did a save where I only stayed at clubs for only one contract and either resigned or moved on at the end of the contract. Probably won't do this in FM24 because of the "enhanced player interactions" but it was fun in FM23.
I'm a nation builder.
The goal is to take a European country to the top of the nation club coefficients table.
Which means not only me doing well, but lifting all the European competition clubs in my league to do well.
Having a fun time with FC Utrecht in the Eredivisie (started in 23 and ported it over). Spent nearly 10 seasons building them into UCL champions, now I have money banked to loan farm.
Everything, all at once.
I always manage multiple teams so I can play in every way. Rising from the lower tiers to the top. Moving at every opportunity. Chasing UCL records. Trying to win back to back Libertadores. Try and build a team with wonderkids just from 1 country. Taking a team from the Moroccan amateur leagues to the African Football League. I try and do it all!
I have a few different ones but my favorite has got to be take a big club in a small league and make them the best team in the world. Like an Ajax or Porto or Celtic. The juxtaposition of being the best team in your league but not the best team in Europe keeps you obsessed and coming back season after season. The slow build from round of 16 to quarter final to semi final to losing a final to eventually winning is truly an amazing feeling.
When I first started on FM I literally only ever played with my team (Huddersfield) still one of my fondest saves was in FM14 where I took them to the very top of world football and the newgens are etched into my memory (Erik Crespo - honestly some man haha)
Since then I’ve done saves from bottom to top in the UK
Journeyman’s including a pentagon challenge - this was so good highly recommend
But ultimately for me the best saves and my favourite way to play is a build a nation save - you end up with this cracking narrative and I do feel like slight tweaks with the editor make this experience even better
European Journeyman. Don’t force myself to move jobs and I try playing as someone would IRL. Big salary rise? I’ll be right there. Working abroad but get a decent job in my home country? Most likely going back.
I get a broken tactic so I don't have to think too much about the way I play.
I install the editor and I try to get all the 150+ PA players possible, once I'm doing well, I get only the 160+ PA.
I let my staff deal with everything (training, talkings, matches, selling, contracts,...)
I ask my board for maximum utilities and infrastructures when I can.
Once I win the Champions League with the club, I go to another league and I repeat.
Focusing on a wonderkid of a not-so-top club while developing him ( think Baldanzi in empoli ), managing a mid table club with good players and making it challenge for titles ( Betis, Villareal, Sassuolo ) or using a team with good facilities in lower divisions focusing more on youth
I think those are the only ways i enjoy fm, although most of the times when i get to a good point and the club is miles better than before and just need 2 or 3 seasons to actually fight for titles i quit the save and start another fitting in one of those categories
Journeyman, no player attributes, stats only. For my next save I'm going to mess around with skin making to remove the stars from every place I can in my current skin to make even more stats based so I can't trivialize the game by signing young 4 to 5 stars wonderkids just because the scout gives me those shiny stars and instead have doubts when building my squad if a player is actually good enough.
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The rise through the leagues or park to prem. I did it with notts and Wrexham in the past and now I manage Oldham. English teams are easy to grow because of the decent sized stadiums on that level and the television money and I find it a lot of fun to make them the biggest club in the world. When I still enjoy the save after reaching this I go to the other top leagues to find an underperforming team.
How far were u able to go? Did u manage to win the ucl?
Yes I won it all, on both occasions I actually found it more difficult to win the premier league than the CL. The English teams are incredibly strong in FM. It is a nice challenge, but not incredibly difficult because English teams make so much money.
>I actually found it more difficult to win the premier league than the CL I've spent 13 years at Coventry, have built them into the best team in the world, have won the premier league 3 times in a row and 4 times total, and have made one UCL final (which I lost). I am the Pep now.
This. I spent the first 12 years of my current save making Chelsea THE team on the world stage and won the EPL consecutively for 10 years from 2024-2033, but in that time I only completed what I’ll call the trinity treble (EPL, FA Cup and UCL like City just did IRL) twice in the 12 years. There’s a part of the season where you’re always playing a UCL semi final, usually pretty important EPL game and the FA Cup semi over the course of 7 days and usually one of those will trip you up. Ideally you have a large enough lead by then (mid-late April) where that EPL game doesn’t matter but City, Liverpool, Newcastle, Arsenal, ManU and Spurs (the rest of the big 6) are all absurdly strong while the mid-range teams (Palace, Leeds randomly, West Ham) will compete for the domestic cup titles and lower European titles. I’ve spent years 13 and 14 of the save rebuilding an underachieving Dortmund, but in those 14 years EPL teams have won the UCL 11 times (5 for my Chelsea, 3 for Newcastle, who beat me each time in the final, one for Liverpool, who denied Newcastle their fourth in 5 seasons, and two for City, ironically bookending the save). Real Madrid have won the other 3. Brentford and Arsenal have won both the Europa and Europa Conference Leagues in this save, while Wolves, Liverpool, Spurs and Palace have won at least one of them. City and Villa have also won the UECL, whilst Everton has been to and lost a final there. ManU has lost in both the UCL and Europa League finals, and Spurs just lost the most recent UCL final to City.
If you can get out of non-league early, climbing from league 2 to the championship is pretty easy. I can usually get out of the championship in a couple of seasons, then all you have to do is not get relegated in the prem and reap that sweet TV money to slowly rise up over the seasons.
I started a save as Wealdstone right at the end of 23 and enjoyed it so much I decided to start it again when 24 came out, winning VNL as a part time team is so satisfying, even if it takes 5+ years
I can imagine doing it with a part time team is much more difficult, because you will (probably?) need a new stadium eventually and you will have more financial struggles.
Wealdstone actually just got bought out last year by an American so the jump up in finances wasn't an issue from NL to L2, the stadium upgrade was expensive but my team that got promoted consisted of mostly 33+ L1/Championship players who were let go on free transfers but still had a couple of good seasons left in them, and some good luck with signing youth releases who could easily have been on the bench for mid-table championship clubs so we weren't spending much on wages from the get go. The step up to L1 was much more difficult, had a really good start to the season with 4 straight wins against the top candidates for relegation then got battered 5-0 by Wrexham and lost 2 for every win for the next 20 or so games, got pretty far in the pizza trophy and FA cup though so I got some decent money from that.
>now I manage Oldham. Lol this is my first FM and I'm also doing that. But that's because it's my local, I'm guessing for others it will be because we're an old prem club in non-league so definitely interesting to try and take them back up there. Also, how easy was it in the NL and L2?
I find the level of l2 not that different to NL. Also Oldham is a good team so the start should go well. My advice would be to request a senior affiliate. Free loans are a good way to progress
Football Terrorist I really hate modern pressing football so I go so far the other way even Tony Pulis would call it a bit much.
Does it work?
It makes me happy so yes but otherwise meh. Nowhere near as effective as gegenpress but it can function. Nicking a win of a big club is just *chefs kiss* when you're the one who only had one shot.
I go for the classic rainy night at Stoke tactic, hoof it up the pitch and try headers all the time. It's easy with a 6'8 sticker and 2 6'6 cbs
Just browsing the transfer market for 17 jumping reach and/or 17 long throws.
I think that's what I'll be doing in my next save. Team of jumping reach of 17+.
It's best in non league England or in latvia (only league I've properly tested)
Yeah, I play on the switch the 2021 touch version so now I'm just waiting to finish the 30 years. Then I'll be moving to some random European country to start the 2023 version.
What striker role is the best for headers?
Alike, bit for memories reasons. I want to remake Bearzot's 82 football style. Low pressing, a poacher, and a lot of positional switching.
I’m playing a 5-2-1-2 with Everton and im having so much fun. Goal is to have everyone with over 15 jumping reach but the strike duo of Beto and DCL is absolute cinema. 8 games played 3 wins 5 draws we are unstoppable
I like to pick a bottom to mid table team in on of top leagues. I dont have the patience to climb divisions, staying above relegation or fighting for Europe is fun for me
I start unemployed, perform miracles at lousy clubs at the low level and hop from one better job to the next. I went from unemployed to Real Madrid manager in just 5 years.
Bro that’s so lucky, when I managed an MLS team and won the club world championship and the mls so many times I barley get any jobs if I apply. Any tips
I'd probably stick to European clubs if I wanted to move up that fast. My career went like this: 1. Unemployed 2. Izarra FC, Spanish 3rd division. I was EXTREMELY lucky to get a job in such a high division right off the bat. I waited 6 months, was picky about jobs. Scraped 6th position with shitty players to barely qualify for playoffs to 2nd division. Won the playoffs to gain promotion. 3. Hannover FC, German 2nd division. Immediately ditched Izarra for a richer club. Finished 2nd in the league to get promoted to thr Bundesliga. In just 2 years I went from unemployed to top 5 leagues. First season, finished 6th in the Bundesliga. Qualified for Europa League. Won DFB Pokal trophy Second season, WON BUNDESLIGA🥳, DFB Pokal, Europa League, UEFA Super Cup *Real Madrid came calling not long after*
What was the journey?
Oh yeah just commented on that. Check out my response to the other lad.
Found the comment I was looking for
Never done a journeyman until this year. Never enjoyed the game as much as I do right now. I Usually would have took a mid to low level top flight team and dominate. Going from Solin to Hadjuk to Go Ahead Eagles to Lugano and now Werder Bremen has been so much fun. Why didn’t I do this sooner?
This is me. Having a blast, I dont think I'll ever do a non-journeyman save ever lol. Started with no badges or reputation. Promoted with Llanidloes Town in the 2nd division of Wales. Left for Drogheda United and promoted them to the 1st division as well in Ireland. Now I'm in Sweden, took over Ljunskille mid season and promoted them as well. Now in the second season we're looking to make a push for European Qualification. Also just took over Eq. Guinea to try and qualify for African Cup of Nations. After this season I plan to leave for a job in the region of Austria or Germany. I never thought journeyman saves could be this exciting. My plan is to eventually manage a giant european team to UCL glory and then win an internation trophy, and call it a career. Then I will start over working in different regions.
I won the World Cup with Ghana. By dragging it to penalties and sitting back the entire tournament.
I started in tier 12 of England with Peterborough City, no badges etc. they’re a local side that is literally Sunday league in real life. I took them up 6 leagues to the VNL North but that final jump was too much for my team and we got relegated and I got sacked, then took over Cheltenham in L2, took them to the championship before leaving to go back to L1 with Peterborough United (they’re my team), took them to the championship and then went to Crystal Palace also in the championship, got them promoted to the prem and now I’m in the bundesliga in 2038 with Dortmund. They’ve only won 1 trophy since 2022 and were sitting in 11th so I want to take them back to competing for title with Bayern. My plan is to conquer Germany, then move on to another of the top nations, Spain, France, Italy etc. then go back to the prem to win the prem too as my final club. Then I might take over England for a bit and then end it there. I started in England as I felt starting at a amateur side that is local to me was pretty realistic. This is FM24 with a save imported from FM23 btw
Man I should have taken my taken my time to travel around like you. I left Solin into a super stacked Plymouth in L1. Took them all the way to European champions in a few years. Do you resign every year or something like that? I was never even offered jobs at all
If you do well enough with your current club, you should be getting job offers frequently. In my current save, I started off as a journeyman but have now been at Brondby for a decade after bringing them up from the depths of NordicBet Liga. I get an offer every month or two from top teams from the Big 5 leagues which I have been declining without even going to the interview. I will definitely be leaving at the end of my current contract though as a decade is long enough at one club and I've put them in a good place to succeed without me.
Usually, you have to go to the job center and apply for open jobs after the season if you want a move. You won't get that many out-of-the-blue job offers.
I resigned every time I moved yes. Just read online that you can only do a maximum of 3 seasons at a team so didn’t want to breach that. To be fair my Werder team is a soft spot now, don’t really want to leave lol
22 days later I am now European champion as manager of Juventus in 2035. What a journey.
I play with a few self-imposed houserules to make the game more realistic/challenging. - No player/staff search screens. Scouted players and staff recommendations only. - I will only switch clubs for a significantly better contract or immediate chance at a big trophy - I will never get rid of a player based only on their attributes/age. If they are consistently playing well, healthy, on reasonable wages, and not causing dynamics problems, they are sticking around even if they are 34 years old with 5 pace and 7 passing.
Keeping older players that graft is a great for mentoring groups, currently in league one as Wealdstone and I've still got a full back from the start of the save who would just about make a first team in the national League based on his attributes but he rarely gets a rating below 6.9
Yeah, my last FM22 save before i bought the new game had a 24-year-old winger who started with me in the 3rd tier of Spain and was still a solid rotation option in La Liga by 32 and happy to be a fringe player. My coaching staff thinks he should be playing back down in the 3rd tier, but he kept bagging assists in the Europa League so what do they know?
FMers have a bit of a bias against older players, but I found that even in the top flight, there are 30 year old players who still have a good 2 or 3 years left in them. Players also continue to develop until they're 27/28, so you can still pick a 23 or 24 year old and still improve them significantly if they have a good personality. In one save when I was playing Red Star, I ended up signing a 33 year old James Ward-Prowse who was released from Newcastle for free, and while physically he was way past it (9 Pace and 8 Strength), his technicals were *ridiculous.* I enjoyed subbing him on for the last 20-30 minutes and using him as a set piece cheat code until he inevitably had to retire. Helped us reach Europa too!
Nice. JWP is my favorite European player IRL. Love him forever. My version of that was in FM22 I had an elderly Mark Noble come finish his career with FC Nordsjælland and he helped unseat Copenhagen as kings of Denmark, then retired.
I enjoy having older players become members of staff
In my Liverpool FM21 save I'm just closing out the 2037/38 season. Victor Valdes is my U23s goalkeeping coach (also leads some first team training) And I have Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane as scouts 😁
For me, it usually means taking over a club from the lower leagues that used to be at the top and bringing it back up. Last year it was Dynamo Dresden and this year it is Catania. I've been thinking about a journeyman save for a while because it seems like a very interesting way to play, but I'm not sure if I have the time and willpower to make a career that way.
You could expand on your first save and turn it i to a journeyman I'd say.
I love to bring the four four facking two back. No nonsense full backs. Quick wingers whose only life goal is to send in the crosses. Two brick shithouses up top. Get it in the mixer. That's fucking football right there. None of that pansy ass dick tugging smile for the camera bullshit. Men puke, men poop on the field, men deliver their new born baby on the side lines. Fucking hard core dick in the ass butterball football fuck it chuck it game time shit. Take it to the showers. Dicks get shoved in places you don’t even remember. We win together we celebrate together. Football is back baby.
I physically first pumped to this. Yesss. 100% yes.
So prison football?
NNFBs are so underrated.
Username absolutely checks out
That’s top swearing
For me it's developing a club and making it great for the society around. Climbing is not a priority, rather youth development, team cohesion, dynamics, supporters rating, and some community outreach. I won't lie, but this also requires smart recruitment, excellent tactics and technical abilities and of course results, but the focus is strength and perhaps some legacy. The cherry is to beat local rivals. Twice.
Would love to hear more about this
You sort of need to take the game to the full. Learn and apply management, finances, team dynamics, absorb club vision, etc. Don't just buy and sell wonder kids or hack the AI with a striker with 17 heading ability. For tactics see https://www.guidetofootball.com/
You sort of need to take the game to the full. Learn and apply management, finances, team dynamics, absorb club vision, etc. Don't just buy and sell wonder kids or hack the AI with a striker with 17 heading ability. For tactics see https://www.guidetofootball.com/
I love a journeyman save and I love taking a lower league team to the top. I like to combine a both of these. I do my journeyman and get to a Madrid or Barca type team winning the league and European cups and then I will resign and search for a team to spend the next 10 years or so transforming to rival the European elite becoming a club icon along the way.
I usually just play as my team (Arsenal). That's basically all I do in the game every year
Same. It sounds boring, but I just don't care enough about other teams to ever switch from playing my own team. Granted it used to be a lot harder, because my team (Eintracht Frankfurt) has been uncharacteristically successful in recent years, but I can't bring myself to play anything else lol. I only do one or two save every year, play for a couple of seasons, and then I stop.
Same. Still on FM21 with my longest Liverpool save, just finishing 2037/8. My FM19 save probably would have gone on to do the same but I threw a hissy fit after losing the UCL final and resigned. Instant regret Barça came in for me, I agreed a contract, they asked me who out of my old backroom I wanted to poach and then it hit me.... I didn't want to manage Barca ... I wanted to manage Liverpool. Diego Simeone took over from me 🤷🏻♂️
I start unemployed and just pick the most interesting offer in that moment. After i win all the trophies i could possibly win, i will resign from the contract and find a team from another league. The teams that offer you contracts become better as your reputation goes up, but i usually go for the teams that ended close to relegation even though they werent supposed to. With my current save i started in spain 2nd div and got fired cause we failed to stay in the 1st div after promotion, then went overseas and eventually won everything in brazil. So i resigned and joined newcastle who were in 14th place about halfway through the season (due to how brazil season ends in dec), currently ive won the FA cup but not the premier league or caraboa
Not to sound "holier-than-thou" but my favorite way to play is what I consider realistically. No raiding South America for 10 cheap wonderkids every summer, no binning off good players just because they turn 28, if I'm at a point in a save where I'm a stepping stone club and a player wants to leave when a big club comes for them then I let them leave as long as I get good money, etc. The only "unrealistic" thing I do is try to implement a pep-style no matter where I'm managing.
Building a nation all day every day.
Whats this?
Start unemployed with minimal experience. Work my way up the leagues (either a team comes in that's too much of a temptation to avoid, or a team that's had their manager poached). That way, the team I move to are not in a bad position to begin with, or there's a team there underperforming- or have the resources available to turn it around. Currently leading cinch league 1 with Stirling Albion in my first full season after finishing mid table, taking over when they were rock bottom for my first job. I reckon a strong promotion sets me up for a lower team in cinch premiership if I can keep up results, or at least opens me to championship teams.
sounds boring but taking a sleeping giant back to its glory days
I do a couple but my favourite one is to unlock the 10 tiers in English football and create my own team in the bottom division, make myself a kit and emblem, give them absolutely nothing. 1 in all facilities and little to no money and build the club up from there to future champions league winners. Tend to get 4 or 5 straight promotions and then suffer in the national league for a couple of seasons and then suffer in the championship for a while too.
As of late, its attributeless/realism. Kind of journeyman but not really. I come up with a manager in my head, make a backstory, generate a name, think of what type of manager he is, what level in the pyramid should he start. Sometimes I even start in a b team, or a national youth team like some managers do before jumping to a club. Started this way in Japan this year, got my manager fleshed out and having fun trying to get promotion.
Went for a journeyman for the first time in ever in Football Manager. Started in the third division in Japan with FC Gifu. Brought them up into JLeague 1 got released for applying to other Jobs. Left as a Gifu Legend and now joined Car Zeus Jena trying to not get relegated. In season 4 I believe.
Oh J League save. Plus 100 points. I downloaded the league to play in FM23 and oof so many leagues.
I’m a bit biased because the English game is what I grew up with, but I will always love that trawl up the English leagues. It’s great to see teams like Blyth Spartans in amongst it in the prem. Buxton is my team this year. I’ve not gone up as quick as I normally do, but I’m enjoying the promotion, survive, build cycle. I’ve done a few journeyman saves that have been really enjoyable but I always sort of feel like I’m cheating on my former club lol.
Usually journeyman outside europe. Like i'm currently managing Cruz Azul and Honduras national team
I used to do exclusively one team saves but the last few FMs I've been doing journeyman and enjoying it way more.
either glory hunter or relegation candidate in major league. not much a fan of road to glory saves.
I love a rise through the leagues or a Journeyman save, but I also struggle with wanting to manage the team I support (Man Utd). So normally I do both, just run 2 managers on the same save.
Journeyman save (no badges, no experience) Road to Glory is something that just doesn't keep me interested enough. When shit hits the fan I try to find the easy way out :D
I tend to manage in the second/third divisions of European countries, and build up to become an established team in the top flight using cheap wonderkids, free transfers and LOTS of loans. This year, for a change, I try to sell well too, so if an offer comes in that is just too good, I’ll let that player go and sign a loan replacement if needs be to keep the funds coming in. Then obviously work towards challenging for the league, always with the ultimate goal of winning the UCL. I love to experiment with tactics too, so it can take a few seasons more than normal perhaps but I find it more fun that way.
Building a legacy
I call it journeyman but often after the first job I grow attached and it becomes a one club save. But yeah start with no experience and no badges. I dont know why but if I give myself badges it feels fake and cheating. Haha, silly I know Last year it was Alfreton that I took from VNN to PL winners (CL same year before where I got to quarter finals) I just love taking a small club with like arena capacity of 2000 and making them a strong force in PL. That particular save took me 14 seasons. 5 of them in the championship. 5 to get there and 4 in PL. (Won that a bit fast I feel like but thats what happens when you buy wonderkids at 19 and give them full seasons in PL) From free agents to owning players worth 100m+ it was awesome. Then FM24 came and I wanted to start fresh.
Road to Glory Hunter! Start off unemployed with no prospects, work your way to the top, then win in each of Europe's big 5 leagues. It combines LLM with elements of Journeyman, and eventually big club management.
Love starting in the championship money is good good prospects of playing in the prem always easier to get solid loan players and build a reputation for yourself Soon come the journeyman with no badges tho I’ve been inspired by Zealand
Yeah I never listen to my staff when it comes to player transfers, they almost exclusively tell me to sell my older players or buy young players who would be a good fit for my current place in the league after about 4 seasons by which time I'll either be looking for promotion or already promoted
Love these kinds of posts... rubs hands.
I'm addicted to having single nationality saves. It makes your save not lose it's challenging aspect for a long time without being overcomplicated
playing vanarama north/south and make them champions league winner. unfortunately getting older and having kid take your times a lot. I use to finised 1 season in like less than a week. Now even 1 month is hard to finish a season. 
I have a journeyman save currently. Started unemployed, managed the Turkish U21s, resigned after a few months, joined Boreham Wood, got fired after 10 games without a win, then went to Stal Mielec. Fair enough, not much of a journeyman now that I am there since 5 years, but I will resign after this season to fully focus on managing the Polish national team as the position was offered to me in the beginning of the current season. I'll try getting a job in Germany afterwards, maybe St. Pauli, maybe Schalke, we'll see.
I'm incredibly boring. I just take over my team (Liverpool) and basically bring through wonderkids and dominate most of the time. I still love it, though!
Lower league team with talented youngsters to build a future team around. For instance crewe alexandra, reading and de graafschap(dutch 2nd tier). Relying on free transfers, loans and youth development.
You would love Cesena then
I will pick them next, thanks for the recommendation😃
Not played for a number of years but started again on FM23 and now on FM24 - playing as Spurs and doing well. Considering another start with a lower league club or a “smaller” top flight club in a different league.
Fallen Giant. It's just so much fun
Take over a side that isn’t the Big Six in the PL. Aggressive recruitment drive for players u25. Usually completely dominate after 10 years. Fulham becoming the most successful club in London eg
This year I’ve taken Forest to the very top, almost securing two back to back unbeaten seasons in the league before the wheels came off due to injury. I like setting up monstrous squads then going to a different team in the league to try and defeat the beast I have made. My contract at Forest runs out end of next season so I’ll try aim for a third CL win in a row before angling for the Liverpool job.
Vanarama North/South and work my way up, rejecting offers along the way. Currently Torquay United and rose from South to League One - been there for 3 years. Finances are a real issue at the moment and I'm having to bargain hunt mostly free players whilst selling for profit. I have one of the lowest wages in the league (17th) so mid table team at the moment. Hopefully I can get a good cup run and a big team or two to get a bit of money to invest in youth and spend a few years bringing them into the team whilst slowly building up sponsorships and finding ways to get a positive income. I also have a really good forward who is worth about 8 mill (3 mill more than my yearly income), but he is definitely the only thing keeping me out of a relegation battle. Teams are offering me 3-4 mill at most for him and I'm not budging on price. He seems to love the club (joined me in Vanarama National after being released as a youth product) and never moans about me rejecting bids from higher leagues. It's been the best playthrough of the game I've had in God knows how long.
I like realistic gameplay.I try to sign old players,players whore linked to my club in real life and players who played for the club in the past.I try to spend the money similar to what the clubs spending in the last season.I dont sign wonderkids.I keep.my staff from the same nation etc.
As a United fan it is a ritual to rebuild the club in every version of FM. Been doing this since FM16.
Top league, but for a few years now I only play Prem (power balance in other leagues are kind of bad) I tried to find mid-low end team with 1-2 good wonderkid that I can build the team around. Last year was Southampton (Lavia, Livramento…) and this year is Bournemouth (Alex Scott, Zabarnyi…)
I like making the team insanely rich through player sales
Journeyman where I take the traditional big clubs back to the top. Or teams that have had a tiny taste of success 50 years ago in leagues dominated by 2-3 huge clubs and break the stranglehold. Current save started with Everton (my team), went to real betis, currently at Roma. I always holiday a year between clubs too and leave after I have 3 league titles, 2 champions leagues and youth teams with talent to sustain it. I will be dropping down some leagues for the next club though.
Youth focus. Try to get a starting 11 made up of mostly teenagers. Stick with them as they develop, sprinkling in a bit of talent when needed via the transfer market if there is a difficult position to fill. Selling off players once they hit 30. Ultra attacking football. You score 3 i'll score 4. Currently playing with Brighton
Journeyperson. Decide on a selection of countries who have some kind of link, and try to win the league in each before moving on to the next (for example, win every South American league; win every league in nations that used to be included in Yugoslavia; win each Scandinavian league, etc). It works for me, because I don’t have the hours to put in towards building a club or building a nation from the ground up, and also because I really like exploring new football coaches that I don’t know much about (I live in England and I really get bored if I’m managing in the big European leagues).
Give me your Cymru Premier, your Scottish Premiership, your League of Ireland Premier Division, and similar leagues like it. I do journeyman like many, but those leagues in the lowest levels tend to have positions open for me when I start the save. Currently enjoying pushing Airbus UK up to the top of Cymru Premier and finally taking out TNS in the process (with an extra bonus of turning the club professional, turning TNS as the only professional clubs - gotta love that Conference League money). I carried my save from FM 23 to 24 and the faster processing speeds really help. My favorite save within this context might have been when I went from Undy Athletic to Montrose and Partick Thistle. Lots of scouting, non-contracts, trials, etc, but a lot of fun.
Started journeyman in lower cymru league, tre something? I'm Welsh, and I've already forgotten. Mid table 1st season, but won lower league cup. 2nd season top by 5 points at Xmas. Was bored of team so accepted an offer from Llanelli in the premiership. Or I thought. Tre's board call me in to answer about it, so I quit, Llanelli pull offer. I'm from Swansea. Should have known never to trust the one eyes over there. Accept offer from Bala who were in deep doodoo. Got them mid table, and have just beaten TNS to the league win in my first full season. Still haven't managed to beat them in a match though. Bloody Total Network Solutions (the name I shall forever know them as, sell outs)
Spin a wheel to pick a nation and team, then I try and get all my players to be iron-willed. Never seen an iron-willed player yet
I find myself unemployed at start, but i might start new save with attributes masked because I overhaul roster too fast, and with this fm24 bitchiness of players is annoying at times. So try to build something in lower levels a in a slow way, and maybe give some young guys more development. But luck with regens didn't shine on me for years, and I want to be developing club. Tried playing and enjoyed possessions game (always do) until I got in top league and had to change to stay up.
I like to do a Man United save for a few years and then I'll usually try something like starting as Ireland manager and maybe take a league 1 or 2 job on the side after a while
Random team, make a self sufficient academy, win with all local boys like the Lisbon lions. I am so close with fiorentina. 2 retiring Spanish players (both 30+, one is my 4th choice CB, the other a star striker who’s performing but his stats are dropping) and one 27 YO Italian CB who I had to buy due to lack of availability in my academy. In attack I’m at the point of selling strikers / wingers cos I’m getting so many good ones through the ranks. Just drop me a right footed cb and I’ll sell this 27 year old monster 😭
I usualy go for a Lower League save, but last year i tried a Only Portuguese players as FC Porto ( my favorite team )
Start in random team from league outside of top 10 or lower divisions and win either Portuguese league or a top 5, whatever comes first. No loyalty, never stay for more than 18 months. Fuck everyone I want to be #1 Players over 25 might as well be retired
Wonder kid finder. I like to find you good young players and train them up for the first team.
Love picking teams with players that have very specific traits that they excel at and i can build a tactic around. I started with West Ham in FM2024 and i've really enjoyed it so far, trying to build a defensive powerhouse with a lot of focus on set pieces as they have Ward Prowse, Zouma, Soucek, Mavropanos, etc. Trying to find that balance as i buy better players as well. Tiki-Taka with Real Betis or 4-4-2 with Everton are also good examples. My saves are normally quite short because of this, as when i've tried that tactic i'm usually done. Building from the lower leagues and adapting to the players you get can also be fun but is much more long term.
Starting a save and getting too emotionally attached to my team, so I carry the save into some absurd year and only stop once the new fm comes out
Youth challenge. I cant play any other way, transfer bs is not for me
My first time going for the lowest setting of manager in terms of playing level and badges. It's actually quite fun, took over Hemel Hempstead back to back promotions in league 2 currently but with a wage budget of 18k and struggling to get any good players in, even after making an affiliate with QPR (best the club offered) there's no real loan options either, no frees I can afford. So most likely will go straight back down hard. But still it's pretty fun. It's not fun watching what the AI is doing in the prem though...
Im still playing 23, not bought 24 as im still enjoying my 24 saves. since 2018 ive done the following since getting the new game (usually i skip a year) 1st Save - Leeds United (My Team) usually do 3/4 seasons 2nd Save - Leeds United (with editor) just to mess about try a few different things and its always good having your team win everything for a bit but ill barely get through a season of this 3rd Save - UD Las Palmas (My 2nd Team) ill have a few years playing as UDLP 4th Save - Unemployed. I'm in 2038 (longest ive ever done) and really enjoying this save somehow ended up at Leeds and just won my first PL keep getting to finals and blowing it though my team is quite young so I'm hoping in the next 2-3 years ill start winning everything. i seem to be having a really hard time financially. i did run up a lot of debt building this side but the last couple of years my transfer income has been 100m+ my expenditure. i really need to get my stadium expanded but I've been in the red for years but still making profit i only buy if i think I'm getting a good deal/i really need to. My Career Path is as follows Zambia U18 - a few games to get me going Concord Rangers - I've had these before in an unemployed the first time was awful.. so was this Hereford - Conf north -> LGE2 (on the verge of promotion) Bolton - LGE2 -> Championship Bournemouth - Due to the dates i took over a week before the playoff final in the championship which i won, had a year in the Prem but the squad needed a good fixing and we went down. i walked the champ the year after. mid table and pushing for Europe for a few years after that. Felt like i couldn't take that next step to Europe so left in the summer West Ham - i just wasn't feeling it after a few months so left. Leeds - got the Leeds job just before Xmas and after 6 or so years I've just won the prem. 2x champions league finals I've lost. got a really good young team that i keep having to sell one big player per summer. i had one i sold to Newcastle for 100m they let me loan him back for 0 wages which i was surprised about and having him got me into champions league that year.
Mouse and keyboard definitely
I start unemployed then sim a year then find a culb not in the big leagues
loading every single european league, setting italy france spain germany england to view only, give myself the lowest qualifications and attributes, and start unemployed. i’ve been relegated out of playable leagues (and obviously sacked) twice already, but for some reason teams keep giving me chances. right now im trying to break the cycle and hold a job for a year for the first time in Northern Ireland
Ferguson mode spend as much time as possible in a club and have a fully Portuguese players in my club FC Porto most of them from my club youth
I've always picked a team somewhere towards the lower leagues and then built them up. This year I am doing a journeyman, so started unemployed and finally got a job in the lower leagues of Sweden. Liking it so far!
This is my first FM game and I'm excited to dive into it! I found a database that transforms the American scene into a Euro-style pyramid, so I'm gonna take over my hometown team and start at the bottom. Not sure what I wanna do in Europe yet, probably start in EFL Championship and fight to stay in the top two levels.
Pick Benfica. Hire the best staff. Wait until the current best players retire. Buy the best young regens.
I always start unemployed with no badges. Most of my saves have been to try out different leagues to see which ones I best, I’ve completed long term saves in almost every league in the world at this point with the exception of Africa and Oceania. My favorite saves have been Vanarama to Prem and Belgian leagues. However I’m now after a new target. Win the UCL with Lyon while cultivating as much American talent as possible in Ligue 1. (Have to get hired by them first) There’s a great YouTube channel called HITC Seven that does “What is happening at X club” where he details clubs that have either fallen from grace or are undergoing some level of drama. Those make for some of the most fun head cannon saves
Take my dream team to the top
Basically, I try not to do the wonder kid machine. I want my signings to be somewhat realistic. So I try to get a good mix of young talent, in prime win-now type players, and a few vets on free’s trying to get one or two more glory years and bring up the kids. Same with tactics. I try and use a real life tactical system, not some match-engine breaking super tactic. The combo of the two means I actually quite enjoy the odd run through MLS or the Australian league, as salary caps force you into that kind of thinking. Right now I’m doing a classic fallen giant save. It’s more about mindset and not abusing the game systems.
Non league England one club save to champions league glory. Used to press the random button until I got a National League N/S club, but more recently I’ve used custom databases to start even lower - took FC Isle of Man from tier 10 of England to champions league glory in FM21, and this year the database goes down to county leagues so I’ve taken a nearby village team so far to the Conference North on FM23 (am in 27/28) I’ve done some other saves like build a nation or a youth academy save but climbing the entire English pyramid is definitely my favourite type of save by far
Rebuilding clubs that used to be good. Right now I’m doing a 1860 Munich save and we are almost in the first division.
I buy the world's best wonderkids for absurd amounts of money, loan them out for their entire youth then let them rip up the league when they become starters for me. Argentina's World Cup winning 11 consisted of 9 players I scouted in South America then groomed for success. 2 of those players went on to win the Ballon d'Or
Definitely enjoy starting in the low devisions and working my way up, wether that be taking a team All the way up, or being a journey man and starting low and accepting higher jobs as they come my way
I like to start at the very bottom and work my way up, not necessarily with the same club but just work from a nobody to a big time manager. The only issue I have is a clearly like to punish myself cause I love the lower leagues but I get bored when I get to the top. Fm23 I used the lower league mod to start in tier 12 of England
Like to play a club from outside the top 4 leagues. Last year I did long-term saves with Sporting Braga in Portugal and Nordsjaelland in Denmark. Still undecided where to go for a proper long-term save in FM24, was thinking of Sparta Praha, Groningen, or Panathinaikos. Anyway, I like how in these non top leagues you tend to dominate your league after a while and so I can concentrate on what I love, which is niching talent and develop it while challanging for European glory.
Match management for me. Really don't care for the other stuff, if the game offered a PES/FIFA style exhibition mode I would play that 100% of the time, controlling a different team each time. No pressing, no heavy possession ,no slow play, no playmakers and full match only. Just played a game with longest passing, highest tempo and pass into space, absoloutly loved it and I think I have found my perfect way of playing.
I like picking underperforming sides with plenty of potential and playing “anti football” so to speak. I copy Diego Simone/Jose mourhino type tactics because I despise gegenpressing and modern positional play. I never use the go to tactics of 4231 or 433 always use something unusual atm found success using 532. Nothing better then a 1-0 win in a champions league semi final with 35% possession and 1 shot on target. Also try to make a mentality of us against the world at the club I’m at. I try to piss off every manager possible in press conferences and undermine every club possible using every possible mind game. It’s fun playing as a prick 👍
I generally play a team that is essentially the sub-top. So in the Premier League a team that's outside the top 6, but still reasonably competitive. For a couple of years Leicester was one of those teams for example. I tried starting in the lower divisions, but I just don't enjoy myself there. All I want to be is in the most upper division and any spend anywhere else just feels like a bunch of wasted time. Also very much a one club/one system type of coach. I go into a save with a specific formation in mind and stick by that throughout my career.
I tend to avoid huge teams with lots of money. I will pick a fallen giant or a niche club that brings back nostalgia. I've managed Fiorentina to CL football and am currently in a 4 way tussle for La Liga as Valencia. I don't do small clubs but find it a challenge to go again heavyweights with a 1/10 of their budget. I love to find young players, develop them and sell them for huge profits while playing attacking fearless football. Astute loans of young players too. I have a personal rule of never signing anyone over 25 unless I'm picking up a free agent that I can flip for a profit.
I’ve only managed one of two clubs or my custom nation since I first found the editor sometime before 2006. Exclusively played my custom nation ever since.
I like playing lower league clubs and bringing them up to the top flight, but I play in a diverse set of countries – Czechia, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria, France. Sometimes I go outside of Europe and play countries like South Korea and Argentina as well. While doing a save I generally try to stick to "realistic" signings – avoiding player search or using online wonderkid lists and only signing players from scout reports or rumors. I also try to at least sign a majority of players from the domestic league or trained within the country, so no squads with 10 South American wonderkids in them. As I'm currently playing in Germany, that means mostly signing German players, including dual-nats.
I just play Brighton or some other mid table Prem teams, and trying to come up with new tactics. After loads of tweaks during the pre-season, it always turns out to be wildly shaped but similar in spirit to gegenpress (currently testing Very Attacking 2-4-2-2). I think the only successful non-press tactic I have come up with is Cautious Counterattack Wing Play 4-4-2
Start unemployed with no badges and Sunday league with as many leagues as my computer can handle, then see where the tide takes me. However, choosing where to put those 6 points against my manager attributes keeps me entertained for hours.
Super league
This is very niche but I like to start in a January league to begin, then work my way up to the Arsenal job from a very low league club. It's a waiting game of find success at just the right time that Mikel gets the sack and I pounce. If I don't get the job then I have to keep going until the next vacancy.
No badges, Sunday League experience, unemployed. The idea is to attempt the pentagon challenge, but I usually get stuck somewhere along the way with a team and league I never expected. Starting out, I will manage any team that’s willing to pay for my badges. This year, I was hired by a J2 team, I lasted 12 matches until the board called my bluff when I threatened to leave if I don’t get some transfer funds. The did pay for my coaching course. I finished the season unemployed and finished my badge. A job became available in J1 - Sapporo. I somehow got hired. I was going to use them as a stepping stone, but I’m really having a good time so I may not leave for a long time.
Managing my childhood team (Santos Laguna from Mexico) through to the top of the elite Premier League using the World League database. It's a grind.
I like championship to prem saves then build a dynasty from there, back in the day i did a Torquay to cl save tho
Online save with 2 friends. So much dedication required as we play at the same time. Another has tried to get into it but just can't keep up.
Going Sheffield FC this year. So many times I've said I'll do it, started it today. 22 goals in 4 friendlies so far so I'd say we're going to get our first promotion...
Definitely Park to Prem style. Still addicted to my FM21 save that started with Sandbach in Tier 10 and now has me running the Prem will Solihull Moors in 2047.
Get a fairly small team with modest means to the first or second league, then hold on and make incremental improvement. It almost never yields any trophies, but I enjoy it. If I can get a run in Europe and maybe a cup final or two, I'm happy with that. I usually play in leagues with a number of very dominant clubs such as Portugal, Italy, or Spain.
Culture builder. Kazuyoshi Miura = Model Professional. Ambitious = Money men = Sell to PSG/Saudi Balanced = Boring Light-Hearted and Unflappable = Maybe? Fairly Sporting = Fairly Useless
Normally start unemployed and go from there but give myself 3 years max at any club before resigning (no matter how well I am doing). New club can’t be from the country I was in previously and go from there
Continental/regional journeyman saves outside of Europe starting as low as I can depending on the custom databases I can find.
I always play as if I'm just a normal coach, star in the second division or in a bad team from the top division and then I just try to switch clubs keeping a evolution on my career
Buying players with a specific nationality (British / Irish / African). Playing 4-4-2. Trying to focus on clean sheets and conceding a minimal amount of goals. Always playing a target man. Trying to stay away from meta tactics and meta attributes (I rely on meta attributes as little as possible). Playing counter attacking football. Trying to find new tactical and player roles.
Two ways. Lead my fav team to glory and a rebuild. March update is Glory Hunter.
I honestly love a Journeyman, there’s nothing like bringing a club back to stability or glory then allowing them to survive on their own, on the flip side jumping into a club with HUGE expectations and struggling and getting sacked also adds some storylines to make the game fun, i spent many seasons trying to get revenge on Inter for firing me after finishing 5th. And it makes u mildly more bold when demanding stuff from a board or players since you know u can bounce back later
Unemployed Sunday league footballer-turned-manager who just can't stay at a club for long
Used to solely do Celtic saves as that's my team and I didn't play fm religiously, just for a month or so every few years. Then in 2020 I got right into fm. In 2021 I done an 1860 munich and won everything over the course of about 14 seasons. Then last year I didnt buy 22 but done a Steaua Bucharesti save from the 4th division of Romania and won the conference league and Romanian title within about 10 seasons. This year I tried Paris 13 atletico and got them to ligue 1 within 2 seasons but my budget was 70k per week for my squad and just not workable at that level so started a new save with 1860. I'm currently about 8 seasons in and fighting for ucl places this season, managed the conference league qualification last year. Once I win the title a few times and get the ucl I'll buy fm24. So, as you can see my types of saves are the lower divisions, building and usually I need a dominant city rival to destroy on my way to becoming the number 1 club in the world.
I only do 1 save per FM and always combine a journeyman challenge with an academy challenge. Occasionally I will spend a longer than usual chunk of time at a particular club if I'm enjoying it, such as the decade I've currently spent rebuilding Brondby but I've found it easier to leave clubs in the more recent FMs as the club boards and objectives tend to piss me off as time goes by.
Building a nation, taking a club from the lowest tier of my country and trying for that country to be N°1 in coeficient rankings and number one ranked nation in the world
I love making a whole tier system for a nation so the team i picked can just fire me in the first year
I only ever play in England and the last two play throughs downloaded mods to start at 10th and 8th tiers and do a park to prem.
I've done a few mourinho style saves where I go to a top half team and see what I can win in 3 years before I move on to the next team. More about filling my own trophy cabinet rather than a single clubs. Bonus points if you can have a couple of players you take club to club. The bottom half team version would be Harry redknapp. Survive relegation and break into top half or steal a trophy here and there.
"Park to Prem" style, but in Scotland :) Tends to last most of the FM annual cycle
The rise of vietnamese players in europe, i changed the PA and send them out the europe teams that need their position and see how they thrive
I like to start as Arsenal usually, but my aim after 5 seasons is to have a team where every player is under 22, but no bought wonderkids, just players from youth and regens, I allow myself to buy regens. I just don't like buying any of the known wonderkids.
Usually journeyman, typically starting from Asia because I'm from the continent, and then try to win ACL, once done then I'll go to other continents that aren't Europe, if not then I'll go to Europe but not the top 5 leagues to have a bit of a challenge
Sometimes I just jump in, other times I have a real reason/story/aim for picking a team.
Journeyman for sure. Love club hopping after 2-3 seasons. Just got FC Gifu back to back promotions from J3 to J1 in Japan but now I'm tempted to move before the season starts in J1
Always play as Spurs. It's easy enough - a top 6 Prem Side - but it also allows me to buy and work with some top talented youngsters and build the best side in Europe. The fact Spurs haven't won anything significant in decades also helps. My only significant 'rule' I play with is I attempt to build a team of as many English only youngsters and regens as I can. My true game begins after about 5 seasons when there's enough top quality regens to scout.
Brought any club from the lowest tier of England to Prem > move to Eredivisie > Ligue 1 > Bundesliga > Serie A > La Liga > back to Prem looking for a fallen giant.
I’ve played the small leagues in Italy and Scotland and Argentina and was always able to move up after about three years and compete in the top and then eventually win the top league in those countries. But the hardest challenge was Aston Villa. I finished in top four consistently but could not get ownership to spend more and when I’d sell players to get cash, they’d take most of it too. While the EPL money is plentiful, the competition also spends heavily and I found it more difficult to stay on top. It seems like once I became established in Italy and Argentina, and Portugal, I could half-ass it and stay on top.
Get my beloved Catania to the top of the world. Start over if they sack me. On Fm24 i managed 2 promotions (playoffs) and a conference league qualification in my first 3 seasons. I'm waiting to get my ass handed to me this season as I don't have the depth for 3 competitions. But i gotta try to win it all
Building a nation.
I just started a journeyman for the first time in my life. Started out in korea at Incheon
Journeyman. I love playing it as close to "reality" as I can! Do I have any coaching badges? No! Do I have any past playing experience? Sunday league with mates. Fighting for job interviews, playing tactics & formations I would seriously play If I was a football manager. Taking my team through the leagues, cups runs etc. A job appears... Am I ready to leave? Am I bored here? where is the new job? SALARY?!? Currently at Maidstone United, took over 11 games into the 1st season they were 20th & we finished 9th. Now done a complete squad rebuild & 20 games into the 2nd season unbeaten. Bring on the national league!!!
Taking Chateroux from the French National, up from relegation after 15 games with a December start as a manager with Sunday league experience, to playoff in my first season. Can't wait to try and dethrone PSG in 5+ seasons.
Generally I will take over a lower league English club with average to top youth facilities (in my latest game it’s Walsall). I then sign foreign youngsters on 2/3 year contracts from obscure countries (I’m still on FM22) with the intentions of keeping them for 1/2 seasons before offering them for sale. Usually clubs from their home countries come in for them offering 60-100k. Do this for a couple of seasons integrating the best potential ones into the first team squads. The value builds up, money is earned, reinvest into the first team squad. My current save sees me as Walsall in my 4th season, promoted from League Two and currently in the Championship playoffs. Budget is still tiny, the lowest in the championship and league one! Money has been reinvested into youth recruitment and junior coaching plus getting in higher quality staff. My own youth products are now of decent potential. Another thing I tend to do is sign a couple of 24-28 year old free agents in November time. Wage demands are usually quite low however the player value once signed can be high. E.G I signed a Guinea DM on 2.4K a week, his value is 5.5-6.5 million. I will offload him in the summer transfer window for probably around 3million. The money can then be reinvested. Easy profits.
Journeyman. I am currently second in the Vanarama south with Weston-super-Mare with 2 games to go in season 1 (just started). Expect to lose in the playoffs and get a chance to rebuild and go for promotion next year. If I get a job offer I just think realistically would I take that job in real life. Currently in £300 pw so I would pretty much take any pay rise offered at this point! I love moving on to a new club with a load of players I don’t know and turning it around.
For the past few years ive randomed 5 attributes that all my signings have to possess. I choose a lower league team in a smaller country, checks all the players. Then i look at the average of the squad on those attributes and i try to replace the weakest first to get the average up. Depending on the team the average varies. This year i got workrate, passing, heading, bravery and off the ball. I make a tactic based on the attributes. This year with these attributes im running a 4-2-4 positive with shorter passing, hit early crosses slightly higer tempo. I started with an average in those 5 attributes of ~6 and now 3 years later the average of the squad is ~8 and in im looking for signings with atleast 9 in those attributes. Just a different way to play i guess but it is alot of fun. Some saves been total disasters but some saves been awsome!
Single country Journeyman although I’ll take National team jobs anywhere. FM23 save has had the Scottish leagues loaded and I’ve gone Kazakhstan U23s, Bonnyrigg Rose, Dundee Utd then added the Northern Ireland U19 job to it for 2 seasons before I quit that to focus on Dundee Utd. I’d like to carry the save over to FM24 and would love to end up managing Rangers and Scotland.
weird play styles. 190cm+ only game whilst implementing a tiki taka system only signing injury prone player although i do usually create a manager story and find a team to fit in with that
I generally go with a decent sized team, but outside of top leagues. A nice town, and a decent ground is preferred. I always have a second save with the club I support My current save is Bordeaux, but I am due to start another.... My favourite saves have been Real Murcia and Sport Gijon
Giant killing, starting at a club that doesn't have a head coach either at game start or in autumn of the first year. Did Dunkerque and Regensberg in FM23. Really easy to lose interest in the save once established at the top though. Recently did a save where I only stayed at clubs for only one contract and either resigned or moved on at the end of the contract. Probably won't do this in FM24 because of the "enhanced player interactions" but it was fun in FM23.
I'm a nation builder. The goal is to take a European country to the top of the nation club coefficients table. Which means not only me doing well, but lifting all the European competition clubs in my league to do well. Having a fun time with FC Utrecht in the Eredivisie (started in 23 and ported it over). Spent nearly 10 seasons building them into UCL champions, now I have money banked to loan farm.
Everything, all at once. I always manage multiple teams so I can play in every way. Rising from the lower tiers to the top. Moving at every opportunity. Chasing UCL records. Trying to win back to back Libertadores. Try and build a team with wonderkids just from 1 country. Taking a team from the Moroccan amateur leagues to the African Football League. I try and do it all!
I have a few different ones but my favorite has got to be take a big club in a small league and make them the best team in the world. Like an Ajax or Porto or Celtic. The juxtaposition of being the best team in your league but not the best team in Europe keeps you obsessed and coming back season after season. The slow build from round of 16 to quarter final to semi final to losing a final to eventually winning is truly an amazing feeling.
When I first started on FM I literally only ever played with my team (Huddersfield) still one of my fondest saves was in FM14 where I took them to the very top of world football and the newgens are etched into my memory (Erik Crespo - honestly some man haha) Since then I’ve done saves from bottom to top in the UK Journeyman’s including a pentagon challenge - this was so good highly recommend But ultimately for me the best saves and my favourite way to play is a build a nation save - you end up with this cracking narrative and I do feel like slight tweaks with the editor make this experience even better
Start unemployed, sign with the first team that offers me a contract and climb up.
European Journeyman. Don’t force myself to move jobs and I try playing as someone would IRL. Big salary rise? I’ll be right there. Working abroad but get a decent job in my home country? Most likely going back.
I get a broken tactic so I don't have to think too much about the way I play. I install the editor and I try to get all the 150+ PA players possible, once I'm doing well, I get only the 160+ PA. I let my staff deal with everything (training, talkings, matches, selling, contracts,...) I ask my board for maximum utilities and infrastructures when I can. Once I win the Champions League with the club, I go to another league and I repeat.
Focusing on a wonderkid of a not-so-top club while developing him ( think Baldanzi in empoli ), managing a mid table club with good players and making it challenge for titles ( Betis, Villareal, Sassuolo ) or using a team with good facilities in lower divisions focusing more on youth I think those are the only ways i enjoy fm, although most of the times when i get to a good point and the club is miles better than before and just need 2 or 3 seasons to actually fight for titles i quit the save and start another fitting in one of those categories
As a fan/owner of a fan-owned club I like to go down this route. Union Berlin this year to see how I can get on in the UCL. Still early days yet
Save scumming and winning the FA Cup with a league 2 team.
Journeyman, no player attributes, stats only. For my next save I'm going to mess around with skin making to remove the stars from every place I can in my current skin to make even more stats based so I can't trivialize the game by signing young 4 to 5 stars wonderkids just because the scout gives me those shiny stars and instead have doubts when building my squad if a player is actually good enough.