Best way to deal with going from bottom to top leagues?

[cooper795]

At the moment I'm playing as Altrincham, and after successive promotions to league 2, I've stalled a bit and am mid-lower table after 12 or so games. I always thought it was possible to get successive promotions to the Premier League however, or is this much harder than I first assumed?

I played in the Conference with much the same team as I had in BSN but for League 2 I've had to make a few more changes, playing with only 4-5 of my original BSN team (most of which have improved significantly). Is the best way to go up the leagues by signing a lot of new but better players every season, or does this mess up team cohesion too much?

Also, with regards to tactics, in the lower leagues is it feasible to play players in roles such as 'Advanced Playmaker', or does this get a bit too technical? I always imagine the playmaker role to be associated with very technically gifted players, not those that started out in the BSN.

Anyway, any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[Scotty98TR]

Don't make too many changes to your side, it could take them half a season to settle, by which time you will already be out the promotion race. I'd buy 3 or 4 key first teamers a season, and keep the tactics basic until you get into League 1 at least.

 

[TheBetterHalf]

I do the following.

- Use/sign the players that can do the best job for me THIS season. I don't build for the future until when in the CCC or even the first year in the Prem as those young players willing to sign for me won't be good enough in 5 years anyway since the progress of our club has been better than theirs.

- Have enough players in the squad to be able to use a rotation system, but almost no players in the reserves and u-18

-Don't overspend. Just because you are given a transfer budget and a hIgher wage budget in your 6th season, it does not mean you have to use it.

- Try getting players that have an advantage over the other in the leagues. Getting a player with 12 in crossing instead of 8 won't make that a difference but instead, focus on hardworking ironwilled players with good Physic( stamina, speed).

 

[thefwf]

Pace, pace and more pace for strikers, doesn't matter if his finishing is 8!

Also manually go through the U21 teams of EU countries every transfer window, odds are at the end of a season they'll be a few available on a free, offer them all trials since you can't scout them, odds are you'll find a couple of gems a season! I find alot of the Scandinavian countries have players that will sign for L1/L2 teams on a pretty low wage but have the potential to be in the first team all the way up to the Championship and sometimes prem as they develop as you get promoted.

 

[cooper795]

Thanks for the help fellas, I have a dearth of pace in my squad so that's something I'll look into for january/next season. Just gone 5 games unbeaten to pull me from a relegation scrap to play-off contention so my abundance of new players seem to be gelling quick.

Also, just another quick question, I assume that if you get a player on loan for a full season, and then loan him again next season, he doesn't need to gel with teammates again? I've had one guy on loan for three seasons in a row now and hope he hasn't spend most of that time gelling!

 

[MANUMAD]

I like what TheBetterHalf said.

My lower leagues experience is in Germany (from 3rd div) and the Nacional in France.

Buy players that are comparable to bottom half teams in the league directly above you. Doable if you do your homework.

Aim to win something asap (cup wise). For example with BIELEFELD in FM12 I brought a number of oldies and freebies in (plus a couple of class youngsters from top league on loan) and managed to win the Cup first season (while I was in 3rd div) and never looked back as it gave me a nice financial platform.

But I spend ages on each and every facet of FM in lower leagues saves to be able to do that.