Reality hits home!

[mcbgun]

Hey guys,

After starting unemployed and taking the Bromley job I've enjoyed great success with them, taking them from the BSS to League 1 in successive seasons. Each year I have successfully improved my team without spending hardly any money and using Xenon's Man Utd tactic at home and Brob's Unbeaten for away games I've easily won the 3 previous leagues, scoring a hatful of goals along the way.

My first major challenge though has come in the form of league 1. I don't know if anyone else has experienced hitting this wall but wow is this league hard! This season I have got rid of a lot of deadwood, got a brand spanking new backroom staff and have what I thought at least was a very good league 1 team, again without spending any money.

This season has also seen me lose my first big player, a left winger who I signed for nothing and was made to sell by my chairman who accepted 750k for him. Admittedly that was good business given that he was worth around 350k but still its never good to lose a first team player against your wishes!

I think I got a bit drunk on my own success because I said I'd win the league as my start of season expectations and this gave me a good wage budget. However around 10 games in, and I'm hovering around 10th. some may say that is still good for a newly promoted club but a couple of my first teamers, notably my goalkeeper, have said their worried by the club's underachievment this season. My own fault for setting such high expectations I suppose. In any case this lead to my goalie handing in a transfer request which I refused.

Looking at my stats for the season so far I'm conceding as much as I'm scoring and so I'm thinking priority number one in the transfer window is improve my two centre backs and left back as they are rated at 3 stars by my assistant manager (previous seasons have seen all but a couple of players rated at 3 stars so I should not be surprised that I'm less competitive).

I'm interested to see if others found league one to be the hardest league to transition to and how they set about getting promoted. Incidently, that 750k I received didn't go in my transfer budget as the % of transfer revenue was set stupidly low thanks to my tight penny pinching board and I didn't increase it until I realised afterwards!

Cheers guys, lower league is where you earn respect in this game!

Mcbgun

 

[pipodeclown]

You say "lower league is where you earn respect in this game" but I think that when you use downloaded tactics you kinda take the biggest part of it away, I am with woking (BSS) in championship after 6 seasons, created my own tactics for them, direct promotion until league 2, I have taken 2 seasons for league 2 and 2 for league 1 and am doing suprisingly well in Championship. The thing with the lower league's is that you have to take your time. Good luck, just take your time and you will be in PL in no time

 

[King Salas]

League One is a tough league, and gets harder as you progress through the game as big clubs get stuck in there. In one file, I took over Torquay in League One about five or six seasons in. The league was full of teams the like of Leeds, both Sheffield clubs, Millwall, Southampton, Blackpool and even clubs coming up from league two who could hold there own. I lasted 18 months before getting sacked.

 

[mcbgun]

You say "lower league is where you earn respect in this game" but I think that when you use downloaded tactics you kinda take the biggest part of it away, I am with woking (BSS) in championship after 6 seasons, created my own tactics for them, direct promotion until league 2, I have taken 2 seasons for league 2 and 2 for league 1 and am doing suprisingly well in Championship. The thing with the lower league's is that you have to take your time. Good luck, just take your time and you will be in PL in no time

Can't disagree with you on that point. However, what I will say is that you still have to get the players in to make them work and be good at wheeling and dealing. I still stick to my trusted formula of having an assistant manager with as best a judging player ability rating as possible and using him to get a lot of my players as I find getting decent scouts at lower levels is a nightmare.

In terms of creating your own tactics, that is something that I have never done based purely on the fact that I have not set aside time to create one. Its something I will do though. One thing I have noticed is that from the BSS up to and including League 2..most teams adopt a small pitch so playing through the middle is perhaps the way to go.

 

[JordanK]

I don't know if it's just me, but I usually find Lower Leagues easier. The buying of players is easier and it's not hard to sign a League 1 quality player for Conference teams. The tactics are also a lot less complicted as pretty much everyone plays a 4-4-2. The only thing I find really difficult is going on a decent cup run

 

[BeadSTARR]

I think you have set yourself upto fail. Should have been realistic even if you know you are going to trounce the league. It makes you look all the more good when you are futher up the league. Ideally you shuld have said, survive relegation.
All you need is a good defence. Look at your back 5 (inc keeper). These need to be the priority along with 1 good striker. You can improve the rest of the team slowly. It may take you a good few years to get out of League 1, but be patient. I created a team with no money, no players and not staff. I eased through the BSP and League 2, but League 1 was the struggle. It took me 2 or 3 years to get out. Signing some experienced players for this standard is always a good idea, especially the players who get released from higher leagues.

 

[mcbgun]

I think you have set yourself upto fail. Should have been realistic even if you know you are going to trounce the league. It makes you look all the more good when you are futher up the league. Ideally you shuld have said, survive relegation.
All you need is a good defence. Look at your back 5 (inc keeper). These need to be the priority along with 1 good striker. You can improve the rest of the team slowly. It may take you a good few years to get out of League 1, but be patient. I created a team with no money, no players and not staff. I eased through the BSP and League 2, but League 1 was the struggle. It took me 2 or 3 years to get out. Signing some experienced players for this standard is always a good idea, especially the players who get released from higher leagues.

Lol i realised this when i strayed away from my usual avoid relegation formula. You learn from your mistakes i suppose. Thanks for the tips.

 

[FelixDavies]

You say "lower league is where you earn respect in this game" but I think that when you use downloaded tactics you kinda take the biggest part of it away, I am with woking (BSS) in championship after 6 seasons, created my own tactics for them, direct promotion until league 2, I have taken 2 seasons for league 2 and 2 for league 1 and am doing suprisingly well in Championship. The thing with the lower league's is that you have to take your time. Good luck, just take your time and you will be in PL in no time

I completely agree mate, well said.

 

[Smoggy]

You say "lower league is where you earn respect in this game" but I think that when you use downloaded tactics you kinda take the biggest part of it away, I am with woking (BSS) in championship after 6 seasons, created my own tactics for them, direct promotion until league 2, I have taken 2 seasons for league 2 and 2 for league 1 and am doing suprisingly well in Championship. The thing with the lower league's is that you have to take your time. Good luck, just take your time and you will be in PL in no time

it does take that part out well said pal

 

[BillStruthLoyal]

It took me two seasons to get out of league 2 then 2 seasons to get out of league 1. If you make the right loan signings then it should be ok. I scored a lot of goals from corners in league 1 and 2 which got me up the table.