Rangers Academy. Final FM18 save.

[Stevey Murray]

Today I decided to begin my final save.

I'll be ending FM18 as I started, With Rangers.

I'll be starting off with the intention of using my academy but I will be signing any player that I see fit in the first season. Every season after that I will only be signing players over the age of 30.

My main goal in the early stages on the field is to dominate in the league and qualify for the group stages in European competition. Off the field I will be looking ad developing my academy and using it to provide not only a stream of players to challenge for first team football but to also provide a stream of income for the club.

With that out of the way I shall begin.

As you can see from the report we are just OK but he have a lot of decent young players in the ranks who will improve drastically throughout the season.

I'll be looking at bringing in a young striker to challange Morelos and a decent CAM as that is what the team is lacking.

Unless we can secure some super talent over the summer then this is how I will be lining up for most games. Ryan Kent will be a phenomonal player throughout the season and I can see me struggling to keep him beyond that so I will be training the young striker Dapo Mebude to play on the left.

The star of the team will no doubt be Ross McCrorie. He develops really well as a volante and in previous saves I have seen him go onto top premier league teams for fees in excess of £50m so one of my priorities will be to not only develop him but to keep the club progressing at such a level that he does not want to leave.

Jamie Barjonas is another player I will be focusing on developing as a CAM. I have previously had great success playing as a left sided IF or IW but I would like to take a different direction this time around.

Staff wise the coaching team is quite decent. I have opted to try and bring in everyone's go to HoYD, Phil Cannon, as a temperory replacement for Craig Mulholland as I never have much joy with him on intake day. I will also be looking at bringing in some more scouts.

I have 8 games set up for pre season including a visit from Guardiola and his boys. Ill just be looking to bild match fitness and team cohesion in these fixtures. Europa league qualifiers have yet to be drawn so we should have a busy pre season and have the boys working well together for the season opener against Hibs at Waster Road.

I plan on updating this thread on the first of every in game month so I'll leave at that for the moment and I'll be posting again when it hits the 1st of July.

If there is anything you would like to see from this thread then just let me know.

All the best folks.

 

[Stevey Murray]

Its July 1st and it has been a quiet month as you can see

A couple of easy friendlies and an easy away game in Europe. The boys are playing well but cohesion is a problem at the moment so it will be heavier training until it gets in the green.

The player stats after the Glenavon game are decent. I was dissapointed with Morelos because he missed a few chances, as he does, which could have made the game a lot more comfartable. I'm not overly worried at the moment though as we still have players on the field who are capable of scoring.

Not much in the way of transfers. Aberdeen have been making cheeky offerrs for Andy Haliday but there is no way ill be letting him go for the pittance they are offering. Xadas has been brought in to rotate with Ejaria at the moment. In previous saves I have noticed that he isn't very consistent and I am hopeful that I can get him past that.

Young Quitongo was on a free (An error in the database I downloaded as I am sure he is at Partick Thistle at the moment) brought in to play on the right wing in the under 20s at the moment until I have a free tutor and reason to play him but unless Candieas, Murphy, Arfield and Grezda all pick up injuries I can't see him featuring this season.

 

[Stevey Murray]

July has been quite a good month for us. 8 games this month, 4 qualifiers 3 friendlies and a league game, and we have been great. Morelos has been struggling to find the net this month but I have Arp coming in shortly to hopefully either scare him into scoring or take his place.

I have opted for a different set up than the one I have started with as I wasnt happy with the way things were looking on the pitch. I have had very little luck with a CAM and this time round is no different. As you can see the results have been speaking volumes.

A fantastic preformance away to Sevilla was the higlight of the month. The way things are panning out on the pitch I am confident that we can reach the group stages and compete on all fronts until December at least.

Not a lot in the way of transfers. Tomas Hubschman has been brought in to tutor some of my young midfielders and Brian Hendry came in for nothing from Queen's Park. I don't think he'll get much in the way of game time in he future but I do think I can make a few quid off him in the long run.

 

[Stevey Murray]

The transfer window has slammed shut and it was a quiet one for us.

There wasn't much that we really needed to strengthen so I just brought in some youth and a tutor. Ryan Jack had been unhappy so He has been Loaned out with the hope that we can get rid at the end of the season.

Things have been going well in the league but as you can see our strikers arent really scoring so far in but the story in Europe is very different. Wether that is down to cohesion or my tactics I don't yet know but I'll start tinkering if things dont improve. The team does seem to be playing well though and I have been delighted with the preformances in Europe.

This has been the stand out preformance so far. We were expected to be defeated over both legs but as you can see here we smashed them over both legs with Kent and Morelos standing out.

The draw has left me less than optomistic though and I am feeling like 2nd would be my best bet but a tough ask. I have no doubt that I'll put Cluj to the sword but Ajax and Bordeaux will be difficult challenges.

An ok few games at best in August with a worrying draw with St Mirren. I'm hopeful that its just a bump in the road and the boys will kick on and pay a bit more attention.

I'll post my next update after the first 3 europa group games are done.

 

[Stevey Murray]

I was going to wait until the first 3 group games were done but we had a cup semi final against city rivals Celtic and the game went .....

Brilliantly. I tinkered aroung and changed my wingers to inside forwards and it seems to have done the trick.

All games are going really well. Europe is going much better than I expected but we have still got 2 away games to play and it is only the half way mark.

Ill be putting up another update at the end of December.