Football's Coming Home - Burnley F.C.

[zacram]

I was a little reluctant to embark on a new FM story as i've barely been playing recently, but following the climatic Premier League finale the other day and subsequent absence of games over the next 2 months I've been well and truly inspired to fire up FM22 once again.

And with that I've decided to revisit an old challenge of mine from a previous FM and conquer Europe with an ALL English squad. I'd normally start in a lower division but due to time constraints thought I might need a little boost and who better to start with than recently relegated Burnley and their predominantly English squad (13/23 Senior players).

Key Players


Dwight McNeil evidently holds our greatest potential. The young U21 International is a very talented winger and someone that will likely be looking to build the team around moving forward.

James Tarkowski has previously made it into the England setup but has really slipped down the pecking order in recent years. He is a solid Premiership defender but his contract is up at the end of the season and currently I don't have the financial muscle to meet his renewal demands.

Nick Pope is another capped International and arguably the best English keeper we currently have, although usually finds himself on the bench. However, he is certainly going to be our Number 1 for the foreseeable future.

I decided to turn the first transfer window off, mostly just so I could get straight into the games and get my scouting in-line for January. To which the bookies believe our current squad have the capabilities of avoiding the drop and securing 15th spot in the League - A position I'd probably take in my debut season over overhauling the squad.

We had a pretty easy opening set of fixtures which didn't go as well as I was hoping. I really had hoped we'd get all 3 points from Norwich and then an Ashley Barnes dismissal inside 2 minutes at home to Wolves kind of ruined any chance we had of picking up points.

So we go into the first international break in the Top Half of the table, but not sure it'll remain that way when I next update somehow.

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Good to see you back again! Will be interesting to see how many seasons it takes you to get to the top

 

[zacram]

As preparations got underway for the return of domestic football following the International break we were hit by the news that our captian, Ben Mee had damaged his spine and would be ruled out for up to 5 months - Not really the news I wanted to hear!​

Things didn't get much better as we crashed out of the League Cup against League One opposition following a rather dismal performance, whilst picking up just a point in the League.

I then decided to power through the next few months of fixtures, tinkering around with my formations and ultimately getting to our first transfer window and an opportunity to freshen up the squad. Fortunately we managed to find some form towards the end of the year and a good December has elevated us to a decent position in the League.

We sit right on the periphery of the top half of the table and most importantly 14 points clear of the relegation zone. I cant really see us getting relegated this season now which was our main objective so may now try cut some dead weight out of the squad in January and free up some finances.

The board have given me £20M to spend in January and a fairly decent wage budget to work with. I doubt we can get a star player with this budget but hopefully enough for a couple of new faces at least.

At a glance the club look financially rather secure but I was listening to a podcast the other day that talked about the debt that the new owners had dumped on Burnley and low and behold we currently have an £81M net debt at the club!

So Burnley could now be in serious trouble in real life!

I've managed to extend a few contracts for key players such as Tarkowski and Mee but we currently have 6 players that are set to be released in July. Ashley Barnes has a one year extension clause that I'll probably activate but the rest will probably be departing in the Summer or potentially over January to get them off the wages.

Now to see what transfers I can get done in January!

​

 

[zacram]

Ross Barkley was my first signing having been transfer listed at Chelsea for £9.5 Million. On paper his attributes look very impressive despite not having a glowing scout report. As a natural AMC he does now offer me greater ability to move away from the 4-4-2 formation and into a more natural 4-2-3-1 that I like to use.

Dael Fry was the only other player to join in January. He was available for a very good price and something we could afford with cash up front so decided to bring him in. In a fully fit squad he probably doesn't start but with injuries and what not is a good addition tot he squad on a very low salary as well.

I did clear out a few of the old heads that were closing in on the end of their contracts, cashing in where I could and more importantly getting some hefty wages off the books.

I was going to do a few periodic updates but having been ill the other day I kind of ended up tanking through the rest of the season as the FM bug finally got to be again!

It's been a bit hot and cold for us on the results front but overall it's been better than I expected in my debut season. We've struggled against the "Big Sides" but mostly come out on top over those in the bottom half.

We did manage to get to the FA Cup Quarter-Finals having played all non Premiership sides before we were ultimately foiled at Anfield. Although they dominated the game we did make for a nervy last few minutes following a late goal but that ended any slim chance of silverware for us this season.

We could then focus on the League and our Premiership survival was essentially clinched before these run of fixtures even commenced. Again it's a similar story really as we haven't been massively outplayed by anyone and steadily kept the points ticking over. I suppose the particular highlight was the 5-2 victory over Arsenal.

We clinched 10th place in the League and technically a top half finish which is very pleasing considering we were predicted a relegation battle. Definitely a platform to build on for next season.

Weghorst has been phenomenal for us this season and came joint first in the Golden Boot Award. It's a real shame he isn't English but his estimated value has gone up to + £52 Million so will hopefully attract some lucrative offers.

We have also got a few good prospects coming through the academy although only really one top English talents - Jacob Bridger.

I now have a decent transfer budget to work with over the summer - Now it's time to get to work!

 

[zacram]

As expected it's been a very active transfer window for us as I start to overhaul the squad. I've managed to purge the squad generating a decent amount of revenue whilst mostly focusing on bringing in a number of up and coming English prospects.

Below doesn't show all the deals as some are technically at the end of last season but will run through the new faces.

Noni Madueke is clearly our biggest signing of the summer and the deal I got over the line first. Following his recent developments at PSV he has been labelled as a wonderkid and £27.5 Million doesn't seem a bad deal especially as we managed to sell Cornet for £27 Million, essentially covering the cost.

His wage demands were high but he is the new star of our team.

Following Newcastle's relegation I swooped in for Trippier, re-welcoming the "Burnley Beckham" back tot Turf Moor. He is an experienced international that is in his prime and joins us on a 2-year deal with the option of extending for a 3rd.

We needed to bolster our central midfield and Matt O'Riley came in at a very affordable price with plenty of potential to develop his attributes further.

We needed another CB following the sale of Nathan Collins and have again opted to go for youth and potential over experience. I was close to signing Eric Dier instead but liked the look of Burns and am backing him to develop into a future England international.

Tyler Morton was then our final signing and another young talent to strengthen up our depth in midfield. Probably not an immediate starter but isn't far off the pace and a very useful squad player at this time.

So here is the new and (hopefully) improved squad going into the new season.

We now only have 3 non English players of which only Weghorst is a starting player, so we are almost there. I was very open to selling Weghorst but no offers came in for him despite his impressive season last year and therefore couldn't afford to replace him this time around.

Clearly the bookies believe the squad has improved as we are now predicted a mid-table finish and away from a relegation scrap.

Financially we are still in a bit of bother with a Net Debt of £115 Million!

Not ideal but at least i'm still getting resources to improve the squad and push towards some Continental football.

The transfer window is now open but unless we sell anyone we have no money to bring anyone else in.
​

 

[zacram]

We kicked off the 2022/23 season against the reigning Champions and bookies favourites, Liverpool. The result and performance reiterated how far off the pace we still are in the League and a long way off competing anywhere near the top.

I had completely forgotten about this deal, but I'd signed Jamie Bynoe-Gittens on a pre-contract back in January I think. We had to pay £875k compensation fee to Dortmund but is a very small price to pay for a young English talent.

He then made an instant impact in our League Cup victory over Rochdale.

Last season's academy product, Jacob Bridger also made his senior debut and becomes the club's youngest ever player and goalscorer! Hopefully he can kick on his development and become a future star for us.

Despite a dominant performance we ended up losing against newly promoted, Sheffield United before picking up a point away to Spurs.

I then decided to tout our main striker out there to see if we got any decent offers and decided to accept Lazio's £27.5 Million offer for Weghorst. Had he been English I would have kept him but wanted to cash in on him whilst I could.

All that money then went on teenage striker, Liam Delap. It's a little risky trading a proven goalscorer for a player with barely any senior experience but I'm willing to take the punt.

He then made an instant impact, picking up a brace against West Ham as he was thrown into the starting lineup having signed that morning. Not a bad introduction to the home fans.

That was our first victory of the season in the League and launches us up to 12th. It's very early days and am hoping we can get ourselves into the hunt for a European spot this year.

It has been a very busy transfer window for us with a lot of money going out and coming in. With the exception of 2 Welsh squad players we now have a fully English side and can kick on with the challenge.

 

[zacram]

Following the end of the transfer window we managed to put on quite a run of form across all competitions and extended our unbeaten run to 9 games. The penalty shootout victory over Sheffield United also put us through to the quarter-final of the League Cup, which could be our best route into Europe should we get a good draw.

City them emphatically ended our unbeaten run, as Kevin De Bruyne ran the show. We did get a red card midway through the first half that always meant we were going to be up against it but was hoping for a slightly better performance.

We managed to get back on track, before we suffered our fist long term injury of the season, with Kieran Trippier ruled out for 3 months. He hasnt been quite as effective as I'd hoped going forwards but has still been a regular starter for us this season when fit.

We picked up just a single point form our remaining 2 games before the winter break as players head off for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar. It's been a pretty steady start for the season for us and pretty much where I expected, mid-table. I think Top 7 is beyond us this season but it's looking a very open season this year so who knows.

One of the big headlines I did spot is that Pep has been sacked by City. They aren't miles off the pace of Liverpool so am a little shocked at that.

Our main man has been Dwight McNeil so far this season, leading the way in most of the stats. We sold our main goalscorer in the Summer so is good to see his contributions increasing from the left wing to help out our inexperienced striker in Delap.

Nick Pope was the only player to receive a call-up to the World Cup and unsurprisingly didn't feature in a single match.

It was a repeat of Euro 2020, as Italy once again edged out England in the final - Hopefully in 4 years time we will have a few more Burnley faces in that England squad!

​

 

[zacram]

We returned from the winter World Cup break with an impressive victory against Everton, before being thumped 5-0 at both Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford in the space of a few days. Not exactly confidence building, but we did then return to winning ways across 3 different competitions.

Madueke was a casualty during those run of fixtures, missing the around 1.5 months. He hasn't been quite as effective in his Burnley career yet as I'd hoped but still has plenty of years left.

We then travelled to Villa Park for our Semi-Final Carabao Cup fixture against Watford and thanks to a Barkley brace we comfortable saw them off and booked our place at Wembley!

We could barely have asked for a nicer cup run - playing just 2 Premier League opposition in Sheffield United and Brighton. Somehow we've managed to avoid all the big sides and will face Arsenal in the Final, which again is much better than it could have been!

The games are coming thick and fast following the World Cup break and despite a depleted squad we've managed to keep the points tally ticking over.

Having resound myself to no transfers this January I was amazed to see a £17 Million bid come in for Josh Brownhill! I has a little hesitant to sell but after a look through the transfer listed players I decided to sell him for what I see as an upgrade.

So just moments after the £17 Million reached our bank account it was back out the door heading over to Crystal Palace to secure the signature of Ebere Eze. He wanted a move following relegation and is a very useful player to have especially due to his versatility of covering multiple positions.

So just a quick summary of our relatively quiet transfer window.

But just before that closed we had a final rehearsal for our Carabao Cup final as we hosted Arsenal.

Although it ended in a draw they were the better side, despite our home advantage. We are going to need a much better performance at Wembely to secure us some silverware and equally importantly a guaranteed slot in Europe.

So as we pass the halfway stage in the season here is a look at the table. We are clinging onto the Top 7 but are in competition with a number of sides so will need to keep grinding out the wins.

​

 

[sahajpal97]

Hi, I have been following this save and it is an interesting concept. It would be great if you could check out my FM 2021 save too that I am writing about currently. It is called "The journey of a lifetime".

The journey of a lifetime: Part 1

So I am going to start a new save. It will be a journeyman save. So what that means is that we will stay at a club till we get sacked or get a job interview by another club. I will choose my own club to build.

fm-base.co.uk

 

[zacram]

Our FA Cup campaign didn't go quite as well as the Carabao Cup, as we got hammered once again at Anfield in just the 4th round of the competition.

Fortunately we bounced back in the League, picking up 3 wins from 4 games, with the only loss coming against Chelsea who are currenlty second in the League.

It was then time to travel to Wembley for our first ever Caraboa Cup final.

The bookies have gone with Arsenal as favourites which is understandable.

But we are two very evenly poised teams!

We are currenlty level on points in the League and have an identical head to head record in the 4 games we've previously played against each other.

A quick look at our 2 starting lineups.

Unfortunately we came up just short. It was a close game and we had some late chances to equalise as we threw men forwards towards the end of the game but we failed to recover from an early Saka goal.

We suffered yet another heavy loss to Liverpool (after we scored 2 goals inside 4 minutes) as well as a narrow defeat to United as we headed into the International break. We are hanging on to the Continental position but are in competition with a number of sides all to which have games in hand on us.

So 9 games left to play in the season and we still have a big chance at getting into Europe - The 2 games against Brighton and West Ham could be key!

 

[zacram]

It really does look like we have a 'Golden Generation' on our hands as this may be one of the best youth intakes I've ever had on Football Manager. We have 3 x 5* potentials and 3 x 4.5*. I just need to hope that they all decide to play for England and not other nationalities.

Here is a quick look at the 3 best potential players.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens continues to remain in the top 50 Wonderkids list - in 17th place. He has a had a very strong debut season for us and due to injuries and fatigue has featured quite heavily.

Another 6 points on the board keeps us in the race for the top 7, but with some ground to make up on those above us.

Our next 2 games were against Brighton and West Ham, both of which are currently battling for continental football next season and massive fixtures.

In our first game we managed to ease past Brighton thanks to our 2 CBs coming up with set-piece goals.

We then had a shootout with West Ham and despite a late surge, unfortunately fell just short of any points and a major blow to our chances of qualifying for Europe.

Fortunately we managed to respond with a couple of emphatic victories over both Spurs and Southampton to put us in 7th place going into the final game of the season - A place in Europe is within reach.

And we did it - Beating Aston Villa which subsequently relegated them from the premier League in the process.

Celebrations were however cut short as Bournemouth somehow managed to beat Liverpool in the FA Cup Final and taking a European place away from the League!

So after all that we finish in a very impressive 7th place, but miss out on a place in the Europa Conference due to Bournemouth winning the FA Cup. Cant say I'm not gutted but still a good platform to build on for nest season.

This is our supposed best XI of the season - pretty accurate bar a few to my fully fit starting XI

I now have a pretty healthy wage budget to work with in the Summer and hopefully improve on our 7th place in the League and hopefully another cup run to go alongside.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Wow, that youth intake is the stuff dreams are made of!

 

[MidKnightDreary]

Agreed! I'm kinda tempted to do a Cardiff-Wales save...

 

[zacram]

Wow, that youth intake is the stuff dreams are made of!

I know! Never had a youth intake like it before and youth recruitment wasn't even maxed!

Agreed! I'm kinda tempted to do a Cardiff-Wales save...

I've tried doing it with Wales before and you get to a point where you really struggle to progress - Still fun but have to hope for some good Welsh regens

 

[zacram]

My main priority was to bring in a new first team LB and Tyrick Mitchell proved to be the best option available to us - I somehow missed off the transfer value below but was an £18 Million deal in the end. He is a young player still and may struggle to earn an International cap but at 23 could be a longterm player for us moving forwards.

Wayne Hennessey retired at the end of the season and so I needed an experienced back-up keeper and bagged Alex McCarthy for just £205k. I was very surprised to find him at Real Madrid who had previously done a player exchange deal with Southampton. He is an experienced back-up should Pope pick up an injury.

I was surprised to find Connor Gallagher available for a deal that could total just £30 Million. He is a massively talented midfielder that can play in both an attacking and defensive capacity and a player that i believe could get a senior call-up as he has done in real life.

Following Villa's relegation we swooped in for Danny Ings getting him at a bit of a steal. I was a bit over reliant on Delap up front last season so was keen to bring in another striker and Ings is a very prolific name to bring in. Hopefully he can put those high finishing attributes to good use.

Not only did we take Ings but we also went in for Konsa. On paper he is our best CB and a big addition to our defence that did prove to be rather leaky last season.

Finally we signed Brandon Williams. Having sold both our LBs from last season I needed another option to deputise Mitchel and Williams was availbale for a very cheap price. He can also effectively play on both sides so is a very useful player to have in the squad to provide much needed cover.

Following our busy summer transfers we managed to find our way to top spot following match week one! Both Ings and Gallagher scored on debut as Eze also bagged himself a hattrick. Not a bad opening day to the season by any means!

Following another goal Gallagher then left us in the lurch with a first half dismissal and ultimately City punished us despite a valiant effort with just 10 men. Still a much better result than the two thrashings City gave us last season

We also managed to stumble our way into the 3rd round of the League Cup as we look to try go one better than our runners-up medal from last season

So with the Transfer window now closed here is a summary of our summer dealings.

That has now left us with an entire English side (bar one of our regens). The starting XI is good but the squad is a bit thin and should we get hit by injuries may need to utilise some of the teenagers.

We are still operating with one of the smallest wage budgets in the League despite having some big earners now on the books.

As you can see I have completely used by financial resources this season and almost wiped our transfer debt. We do still however have that rather large £120 Million net debt to contend with and a bank balance now in the red (and rising). This really is a season where we could do with reaching Europe!

Although the bookies don't think we have it in us - predicting a rather bland 12th place finish.

​

 

[zacram]

Despite narrowly losing to Arsenal, we managed to then go on a 6 game unbeaten rub across all competition, making a string start to my 3rd season with Burnley.

We then extended this record to 7 with a victory over the Hammers, but it did come at a cost...

Noni Madueke suffered a broken leg following a robust tackle and consequently is ruled out for the majority of the season.

He hasn't been in the best of form with just a single assist to his name after 9 appearances, but is undoubtably one of our best players and will be a major loss for us moving forwards.

The loss of Madueke didn't seem to really impact us on the field though as we continued to win games. Before our loss to Leeds we had gone 14 games unbeaten and now in a very strong position to chase a European place.

Unfortunately our League Cup draw wasn't as kind to us this year and we failed at the quarter-final stage at the hands of Manchester City.

However, we rounded off the year with more points on the board and sat up in 4th place in the League. We are now at the halfway stage and have a 7 point gap on Leeds in 7th so will be very disappointed if we don't finish in the Top 7 this season and surely European football to go along side it!

The transfer window is now open but with no budget to work with I doubt any deals will be taking place this January.​

 

[zacram]

We kicked off 2024 with a good win at home against Everton before grinding out a bore draw with Leicester.

We then managed to finally avoid defeat at the hands of Liverpool, keeping a clean sheet at Anfield and picking up a very unexpected point. We've been on the receiving end of a number of a number of thrashings against Liverpool so this is a landmark result.

I was then forced into selling Dael Fry after he declared that he was not willing to extend his contract which expires in the Summer. He is our 4th choice CB and felt I should just cash in on him whilst I can and sold him to Derby for £0.5M more than we spent on him.

I then decided to bring Phil Jones in who has been a free agent since being released by Manchester United 6 months ago. He's not going to be a first-team player but does provide a solid back-up option on a low wage (if he can stay fit).

Following another point against Spurs and an FA Cup 3rd round win, the inevitable happened...

Phil Jones picked up an injury!

He hasnt actually made his debut yet, just playing in the U23's and got a "wear and tear" injury after a 6 month break and just a couple of weeks of training...

Another 4 points from our remaining 2 games of January keeps us in the European places. We've drawn quite a few games recently but the points tally has kept ticking over and we are in a very strong position to finish in the Top 7 once again.

So the transfer window closes and here is confirmation of our lack of activity. I didn't really have anyone I wanted to sell (or offers come in) and with no money to work with it was always going to be quiet.

 

[zacram]

We almost managed to pull off an incredible fightback at the Ethiad, only to be thwarted by a 90th minute winner by non other than Erling Haaland to complete his hattrick.

Arsenal then inflicted further cup disappointment on us, this time knocking us out of the FA Cup at only the 4th Round. Not our best cup campaign but this allows us to fully focus on the League.

And with that we got straight back to winning ways with an emphatic win over Wolves, which included a Danny Ings hattrick. He hasn't been anywhere near as prolific in front of goal as I'd imagined when we signed him but perhaps this is a defining moment for him to get some confidence back

The 3 points did come at a cost as McNeil picked up a broken toe. He is our top of the pile in goals and assists yet again for us this season and is loving life out on the Left Wing. So this is a massive loss to us as we look to push on in the League.

Once again though the loss of a key player didn't seem to bother us and we recorded 3 more victories, which included a massive victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

I even brought Phil Jones on for the final 15 minutes to make his debut and add a little extra salt to the wound.

So that result over United means that we leapfrog them in the table and are now up to 3rd with just 9 games remaining in the season!

With the exception of Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal we have a pretty good season run-in. I'm sure we'll have some other tough games but I'm confident of us qualifying for Europe next season... the big question will be which competition?!

After last season's incredible youth intake this one seems a bit bland (especially as it has been improved since). However, we still have a couple of future prospects that could potentially make first-team appearances.

 

[zacram]

We took full advantage of our run of fixtures against sides in the bottom half, picking up 10 points from a possible 12 in our next 4 games.

That meant that we managed to qualify for the Europa Conference League with 5 games left to play in the season. That was essentially my main aim for the season, but we are now in a great position to go on to potentially qualify for the Champions League.

We only managed to get a point off of the 2 London sides, but the draw against Arsenal meant that we had now qualified for the Europa League.

We then beat already relegated Sheffield United at Bramall Lane and before we kicked another ball we had qualified for the Champions League!

A few days later United lost the Manchester Derby and subsequently meant that we had secured ourselves a Top 4 finish with 2 games to spare!

Our next couple of games meant that we had little to play for with our position already secured, but we ended up getting a couple of draws including a decent result over Liverpool.

The below XI is very close to what I would have chosen. Dwight McNeil has been incredible yet again for us yet again alongside Conor Gallagher who had a a very impressive debut season for us.

Nick Pope is still are only player to get called up to the Euro 2024 tournament. McNeil did make the initial squad but was then cut from the final cut.

We have been given a very low budget considering our achievements this season. The wage budget hasn't been improved and I have less than £24 Million to work with. It's rather disappointing and it may be a rather quiet transfer window based on this unless some players end up leaving.​

 

[zacram]

This has arguably been the most uneventful transfer window for a team that has just qualified for the Champions League for the very first time, but shall run you through the deals non the less.



Harry Winks was the first player to join following his release from Spurs. I had actually looked to sign him previously but didn't want to pay the asking price and so we just managed to pick him up on a free. On paper he is non a starting XI player but adds some much needed depth to our midfield with the extra matches coming our way this season.

Phil Jones then decided to retire a year early on the contract we had given him. It wasn't the end of the world as he was just a backup and so I picked up Taylor Harwood-Bellis to fill the same role after he was released by City. He is still improving and can cover the RB slot as well, so a useful acquisition on a very low wage.

Meanwhile, England lost their 3rd major final in a row! This time beaten by France.

This also led to Southgate resigning.

I was never going to apply for the job at this stage anyway but did at least hope to have seen my name linked to the job....which it wasn't.

My final summer transfer was to bring in Jamie Shackleton for just £6 Million. I really needed a RB and a number of players were on my radar but we simply could not afford to bring them in at this stage. I'm hoping the asking prices drop on some of them and we can have a another crack at it next summer, but we shall see.

It was a decent start to the new season, despite losing away to Spurs. We actually played terribly in that match and were lucky it only ended 1-0.

We are only predicted an 11th place finish, which I suppose isn't all unsurprising considering our lack of improvements this summer. Hopefully we can at least land ourselves a Top 7 finish again at minimum.

Just a quick confirmation of our summer dealings... or lack of

Financially though we are looking in a much stronger position despite that net dept of £57 Million.

So this is our squad up until at least January now. The starting XI hasn't changed at all and we are just going to have to hope we can avoid any length injuries this season otherwise we'll need to utilise a number of our academy players.

The Champions League draw has also been made and we will be going up against 13x (in-game) Champions Real Madrid in our debut campaign. The aim will be to finish 3rd and sneak our way into the Europa League knockout stages, but either way the additional money must surely help me out with next seasons budgets.