Some of you may remember me from Football Manager 2015 (last year) where I had a story with 130,000 views known as "All Aboard! - The Toon Rollercoaster" (Which quickly became 'The Managerial Rollercoaster'), where I managed the likes of Newcastle, Juventus and Marseille before calling it quits towards the end of the season.
This year I've been absent on here for well...The entirety of the season! I've been reading some of the stories and I have to say they've been a fantastic read, and with University done until September, I thought I'd come back and start a story...You've all inspired me! I'd dabbled with the idea of creating some content, but never really immersed myself in a save enough to create one...Until now!
Originally I planned to play as Schalke; a fine young team with some real potential but having started that save I quickly realised I couldn't stop and before I knew it I was 4 seasons in...In no time! To put it briefly, I screwed that idea up a bit and so I thought I'd come back with the 'Managerial Rollercoaster V2', if you will, where I pick a team to play as, and see where things take me from there. No rules, no restrictions, just Football Manager fun followed by updates on how the story is going.
To anybody interested in browsing through my old thread, here's a link! (Click the picture)
Although I must admit the formatting of that forum took a lot out of me, a lot of searching for pictures, creating headlines etc. etc. Hats off to the guys like Brendn, xJamieWilliams, PatrickLFC and many more who manage to keep those threads updated on a regular basis! For that purpose I'm going to be taking a much more minimalistic and 'to the point' approach in this year's thread; the idea is simply to showcase to you how I'm progressing along with the ideology behind my decisions, but hopefully it will still be enjoyable for you all!
While I'm still getting myself up to speed on how to create these things, I thought I'd just drop a post here to welcome you all, and to unveil the club I'll be starting at this year...And no it's not Newcastle!
That's right! For this year's Managerial Rollercoaster edition I will be starting my save in the beautiful country of Spain with Villarreal's very own; El Submarino Amarillo!
I hope I can gather your interest for this post, I've really missed updating these forums and it gives me real motivation to play and enjoy the game, as well as helping you all to enjoy the journey with me.
Expect more posts very soon, many thanks!
Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated on these posts, don't be shy to comment!
I thought I'd start things off by going into detail about why I chose Villarreal. In essence, they're a fairly big club from a small city, they have a wonderful stadium and have enticed fans with their attacking Football in the past few years. The finances aren't the best at the club so it'll take a few seasons to put things right, but I have faith in my scouts and the ability to pick up players for low fees for a long-term profit at the very least.
Villarreal haven't won a major trophy since the club was formed back in 1923, besides finishing 2nd back in 2008 they've had a fairly torrid 93 years. While my main focus is to bring the finances back up, a side-goal would be to bring the club their first major trophy, but it's fair to say that the Copa del Ray may be our only realistic chance of doing just that.
Squad
The one criticism I have of Villarreal is the lack of depth. If you browse through the names you can pick out some great players; the likes of Musacchio, Soldado, Cheryshev and Bruno as well as some good young talent in Castillejo, Rodri and Espinoza, but the club lacks depth...Besides a good starting XI, there isn't much to the team and I'm worried that a few big injuries could really set us back, the scarce resources available won't make this problem any lighter.
Sergio Asenjo will be a very important player for us between the sticks, the former Atletico man will need to be at the top of his game if we're to keep a strong defensive record. At the other end of the field I'll be relying on Soldado to win us the points (I know what you're thinking), with assistance from the midfield of course!
Bruno, Musacchio and Ruiz will provide a strong defensive unit, breaking up the opposition attacks before supplying the ball to our more offensive units. The transition needs to be effective! Transfer Policy/Recruitment
We have to acknowledge that it's going to be difficult to keep a hold of some of our bigger names, Trigueros, Musacchio and Mario are already being circled and it's only a matter of time before we lose them. Historically, Villarreal have always been a selling club, besides Riquelme who was by far one of the major exceptions to this rule of thumb.
While our transfer revenue might be low and our budget is a measly €1.99m, I'm going to try and keep the tradition of bringing players in cheap with a view to selling them on for a larger profit. Bosman deals will play a large part in this save along with extensive scouting of foreign regions, but Scouts are sacred and their opinions will be trusted throughout the entirety of this save.
We're going to be among the youngest average ages in the league after the first few years, with an aim of averaging 24 or under, although these will likely be outright bought players as our financial situation is making youth development a low priority of mine, we simply don't have the resources at this time.
Expect a tactics based post soon, along with some changes to the backroom.
The pre-season updates are going to be much more extensive!
I had a Villarreal save won the liga bbva 3 times. Rodri becomes a beast sold him for around 50-70(not sure) to psg. I left Villarreal and went to ac. milan bought him for 65mill and was still a beast. Keep an eye on him
I had a Villarreal save won the liga bbva 3 times. Rodri becomes a beast sold him for around 50-70(not sure) to psg. I left Villarreal and went to ac. milan bought him for 65mill and was still a beast. Keep an eye on him
He looks like he has some real potential, definitely going to be a big part of the future for us! You did well to win the league 3 times, not sure my save will be anywhere near as good as that!
I figured I'd lead on from the last post by posting the pre-season update as a single (possibly double) post, as opposed to multiple posts. That way it's easier for you to keep up with what has happened so far in the save!
The first months in charge of a new club can often be the most important, laying the groundwork is a very important part of the progression of a club and it's vital to get it right from the get-go, a club can only be as strong the foundations it has in place. Staff
My first priority as Villarreal manager was to re-organise the backroom, that means hiring and firing staff who I feel can help to take the club forwards and aid player development. From the starting position our coaching was ranked towards thelower end of the league, simply not good enough for a club in the Europa League (We should be in the Champions' League (Such as IRL) but the database I am using has us in the Europa League for some reason).
Every staff member who started at the club was relieved of their duties, to but it briefly they simply weren't good enough. However, after sifting through the unemployed coaches I was quickly able to put together a backroom that I consider to be good enough for us going forwards.
I opted to go with three fitness coaches, two goalkeeping coaches and one coach for each of the specific areas (Ball Control, Attacking, Defending, Shooting) meaning 4 coaches, with 9 in total. Originally we were allocated 7 staff positions but having hired that quantity of personnel I quickly realised we could do with more strengthening in certain aspects of our coaching.
We now rank first in seven of the eight categories, an extremely pleasing statistic considering the way the backroom looked when I first arrives. An additional 2 Physios and a couple of Scouts were also hired, but these positions still do not rank so well compared to the coaching side of things.
Transfers
Having joined a club with very limited resources I always knew the transfers were going to be tough periods of time. Holding onto our players is hard enough, but competing with some of the big boys for signatures is even harder. Many days were spent scouring the lists of names presented to me by my scouts. We managed to ward off most of the big teams for some of our players, but with the club being in financial scarcity, some offers are too difficult to turn down. Which brings me to our departures.
A grand total of €42,000,000 brought in during the Summer window, the majority of that coming from the sales of our star defender Mateo Musacchio to French Champions Paris Saint-Germain. Musacchio himself wasn't too fussed with us turning down low-ball offers ranging from €10-15m, but when a deal was negotiated for €30m the club simply couldn't let the opportunity slip away, even though 30% of that fee would go to his former club River Plate, due to a clause in his contract.
Joining Mateo on the departures list are left-sided defenders Jaume Costa and Bojan Jokic; Jaume came to me amid interest from Italian Giants AS Roma and I knew I couldn't keep him here against his will, so with a replacement in mind I managed to negotiate a tag of €10m with an additional €2m revenue coming from the sale of Jokic to Watford.
Rodri; although a player with great potential he simply doesn't fit into our Liga BBVA squad with only a limited spaces being available, so Ajax took us up on the opportunity to loan in the youngster, an excellent proposal giving their youth facilities.
Bringing €42m into the club via player sales, we were allocated €20m of that by the board to re-invest in the squad. The first of these incoming signings was Carles Planas; a left-sided defender from fellow Spaniards Celta Vigo. Planas had once been a big prospect at Barcelona before moving to the Balaídos. He has some excellent stats and is a more than capable replacement for the outgoing Costa.
Another left-sided defender coming in to the club is Spaniard Juan Carlos who arrived for a fee of €3m, a player who can play all the way down the left-side, Juan will be able to provide cover both defensive and offensively which makes him a huge addition to the club, as well as being home grown!
Upon arrival, Alfred N'Diaye was our only defensive minded midfielder along with many more offensive minded midfielders, this left cause for concern and prompted me to add strength in depth by signing Oscar Lewicki from Swedish side Malmö. He comes with a small price-tag but a wealth of experience and will no-doubt be able to provide structure to the backbone of the team.
Fabián Noguera; a highly touted South American Defender becomes our like-for-like replacement for Mateo Mussachio. Being strong, quick and good with is feet, Fabián has the potential to be a focal player in our team, and for a price of €4m I could hardly resist bringing him in.
Finally, Marco Djuricin; an Austrian attacking midfielder/striker signed from Salzburg becomes our final signing of the first transfer window. Having only two strikers (Bakambu and Soldado), I figured bringing in a third-choice striker could help us to add more depth and options to our attack. Something that may be needed should we progress far into the Europa League!
This concludes the transfer window, and I have to say I'm happy with the business so far. Tactics
With my squad now completed for the first half of the season, I was now in a much better position to be able to assess the squad and build the formation and tactic around the strengths we possess here at the club.
In the end, my coaches advised me that a 4-1-4-1 formation would allow us to be strong defensively while still possessing some strength in attack on the counter. Castillejo will act as our more attack-minded wide winger while Cheryshev will operate as a more supporting wide-midfielder.
As for our defensive line, Asenjo will be on his toes ready to break up direct passages of play, Noguera will take on the Ball-Playing Defender role and Mario will be providing offensive support from the back with a more attack-minded approach to his play.
The midfielders are simply responsible for winning back possession and moving the ball forwards to our offensive units.
The tactic itself will take a lot of tinkering as we look to find the right balance between offense and defence, but the shape will likely stay as seen in the picture above.
Pre-Season Results
Pre-Season itself went very well for us, we looked strong defensively while showing danger on the break, and although we mostly played sides much weaker than ourselves, the fluidity and confidence is starting to show in the team. 5 straight victories heading into the first day of the season will provide the squad with some much needed confidence as we prepare to face Granada at home.
As for the qualifying stages of the Europa League, we battled through the 3rd round and playoff with relative ease, bar a late scare away in Denmark. We will now be seeded as a first seed team heading into the group stage draw, and fingers crossed we can come away with a draw that provides us with a good chance of progression.
This concludes the pre-season update, I appreciate it has been very long winded but I figured putting it all in one post would help with the fluidity of the updates.
Next up you will be seeing our group stage draw for the UEFA Europa League.
Having battled our way through qualifying rounds in Denmark and Scotland we were now set to be drawn into the Group Stage draw of the UEFA Europa League. In terms of finance, progressing in this tournament would help to bring in extra income while allowing us to take on some of the finest clubs in European Football.
Coming into the draw we were set to be seeded as a first seed team, meaning we would no doubt be the favourites to win the group at the end of the day. But we know we can't get carried away with that label, there will always be work to be done and we will certainly be put to the test, but I have confidence we can progress.
The group draw saw us drawn alongside Czech side Sparta Praha, Belgians KAA Gent and finally, Greek side Panathinaikos. While this group could have been much more difficult, I still think we'll be put to the test, mainly be Prague who will no doubt be gunning for top spot alongside us.
Prior to the Qualifying rounds our board set the objective of reaching the Playoff round, but for me that lacks ambition. I want us to be looking for the knockout stages, maybe even for the quarter-finals.
The way the fixtures are structured we will be playing the biggest game of the group stage early on, a home tie against Sparta Prague which could give us a huge head-start should we take the three points from that game, while a loss could all but end our hopes of topping the group early on.
The next updates will see us start our LIGA BBVA campaign, I will likely be posting updates one month at a time, as this allows me to play the game for more than 20-30 minutes at a time while allowing me to keep you all updated in a simple and easy-to-read manner.
Overall, our first six games of the season have been very lackluster, we've only managed 5 goals in 6 games but have only conceded 3. It's been a frustrating month, our Football has been well structured and our defence has been difficult to break down, however, on the other side of the pitch we have struggled to put the ball into the back of the net. It should come as no surprise that our midfield trio have possessed the highest average match ratings, after all they have the ball for most of the game in what seems to be an endless midfield battle.
Many tactical tweaks will be made over the next few weeks to try and get more urgency out of the team, perhaps a direct, fast paced approach will help us to be more incisive on the break, but we don't want to lose our solidity at the back.
The results so far leave us sitting in 7th place in the table, a pretty respectable start given our poor edge in front of goal, and with a board expectation of a top half finish we certainly have something to build on.
The 0-0 draw at home to Valencia was a particularly frustrating game to watch, neither team created any worthwhile chances and the game finished with only a single shot on target, coming from about 30 yards out.
Apart from that I haven't been too upset with our results so far, an impressive win against Malaga was followed by some well fought draws against Celta Vigo and Deportivo, if we can improve our game in front of goal, I have no doubts that we can push on and stay near the top end of the table.
As for the Europa League, so far we have only played a single game, and you won't be surprised to see that it was in fact a 0-0 draw, neither time looked the part and I'd say a draw was a fair result...I'm disappointed, but glad we didn't lose the game, silver linings!
Panathinaikos managed a late victory away in Belgium which takes them to the top of the group but there's plenty of Football to be played and I'm still hopeful of our chances to top the group.
I think it's fair to say that October is going to be a difficult month for us, away ties in both European fixtures as well as taking on Barcelona, Bilbao and Atletico in the league games. I wouldn't be surprised if we came away from those three games with as little as a single point, but I have to be hopeful, only time will tell!
Please let me know if there are any changes that would improve the format of this thread, I'm trying to keep it simple while providing enough information to help you follow the save. Hopefully the format works well, but I'm keen to improve it if need be!
Just a brief post to say that I haven't gone inactive, but have actually lost this file during the upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. I'm not sure why only my FM Games folder was deleted but I no longer have access to my Villarreal save, or my Schalke one.
Whilst I'm a little bit disgruntled, I'm going to come back with a new save when I can figure out how to correctly format it. Possibly with a Premier League Club! *Wink*
Sorry to anybody who was extremely interested in this save.
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