The Foxes - Fight or Flight

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Hello and Welcome to my latest FM Base story thread. I attempted to start a journeyman type save to run along side my main story http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...tories/351293-rise-wales-carmarthen-town.html but have been really struggling to get into it.

So, after watching my beloved Leicester City's remarkable journey continue to unfold week after week, I feel the time has come to embark on my own journey with them.

Now, I have decided to give myself a couple of rules to keep the save interesting and make it more of a challenge. These rules have taken inspiration from Lippo's http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...s/349903-liverpool-sucks-everton-journey.html



1) I will not be approaching transfer targets myself. All targets will be added to my "transfer targets" list & left to the DoF to discuss a fee & negotiate a contract.

2) I can only sign 1 foreign senior player (i.e. Not HG) and 1 foreign U18 player each season, putting an emphasis on recruiting and developing home-grown players (hopefully it will be possible to implement this with a DoF in place).




I plan to make this a more detailed save and than my other one, so will likely progress at a slightly slower pace.

The save will start when Steam's January update is released.​
 
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The Club

The club was founded in 1884 as "Leicester Fosse" by a group of old boys from Wyggeston School, before joining the Football League 6 years later. It wasn't until the Football League resumed in 1919 following the end of World War I that the club reformed to become "Leicester City Football Club".


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Since their election to the football League, the Foxes have spent the majority of their history yo-yoing between the top 2 tiers English Football. They have only managed to win a handful of top flight silverware including 3 League Cups (1964,1997 and 2000). They also have 1 community shield to their name in 1971, which i am going to count despite only featuring because Arsenal had other preseason commitments!

Leicester have only recently returned to the top flight last year, where they produced the Premier Leagues greatest ever escapes, winning 7 of their remaining 9 games to stay avoid the drop. We all know what they have achieved this season, so lets just hope i can achieve the same....


Current Stadium: King Power Stadium (Built 2002)
Attendance: 32,262


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The Squad


Goalkeepers

1. Kasper Schmeichel
2. Mark Schwarzer


We have a decent first team keeper in Kasper Schmeichel, who at the age of only 28 has a number of decent years left in him. The backup is Mark Schwarzer, who at the wise age of 42 is surely going to be hanging up the boots up at the end of the season.

We could do with a decent under study to Schmeichel, as his fell countryman Daniel Iversen doesnt look set to be a world class keeper unless the new update happens to be very kind to him!

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Fullbacks

1. Danny Simpson
2. Christian Fuchs
3. Ben Chilwell


We have some decent options at the LB position with the Austrian captain, Fuchs and a potential England star in Ben Chilwell. I am focusing on developing home talent when possible so Chilwell will certainly get his chance this season. Unfortunately we have fewer options at RB following Ritchie De Laet's loan move leaving Simpson as the only natural player in that position.

The signing of a new RB will be high up the priority list of new signings.

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Centrebacks

1. Robert Huth
2. Wes Morgan
3. Liam Moore
4. Marcin Wasilewski

Club Captain Wes Morgan stars alongside the German wall in Robert Huth. Although I am a big fan of Morgan's he is isn't the most gifted of players and could potentially be a weak link. I do however have high hopes for youngster Liam Moore who has earned himself a handful of England U21 Caps. The grizzly looking, Wasilewski is at the other end of his career but provides some useful cover for injuries.

A young talented CB is another position that will need addressing rather swiftly.

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Central Midfielders

1. Danny Drinkwater
2. N'Golo Kante
3. Gokhan Inler
4. Matty James
5. Andy King
6. Daniel Amartey


We have plenty of decent options in the centre of the pitch, with the likes of Kante, Drinkwater and Inler. New signing, Amartey is a little bit of a mystery to me but am hoping he has the ability to push for a first team place. Matty James and Andy King look set to be a bit further down the pecking order but will be given a chance to prove themselves.

I am pretty content with our midfield options and am unlikely to be looking for any new signings in the immediate future.


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Wingers

1. Riyad Mahrez
2. Marc Albrighton
3. Demarai Gray
4. Nathan Dyer
5. Jeff Schlupp


Mahrez is obviously a world-class talent and will be desperately hoping that our DoF keeps hold of him. Albrighton is an industrious winger, with a brilliant delivery that can ask questions of some of the best defenders. Gray and Schlupp are both young talents with lots of potential whilst loanee signing Dyer offers additional cover.

Another position that i am very happy with for the time being!

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Strikers

1. Jamie Vardy
2. Shinji Okazaki
3. Leonardo Ulloa

The Premier League's record consecutive goalscorer, Jamie Vardy will be leading from the front, accompanied by Okazaki. Ulloa is a useful backup but am slightly annoyed that Kramaric has gone out on loan, hopefully we can avoid any major injuries as we look pretty thin up front.


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As long as the update doesn't change him too much, Amartey can become incredible - he's a regular starter in the City team in 2019/20 on my save!
Also, good luck with the save!
 
AW190 said:
As long as the update doesn't change him too much, Amartey can become incredible - he's a regular starter in the City team in 2019/20 on my save!
Also, good luck with the save!
Click to expand...

Wouldn't of thought the update will downgrade him so thats good news for me :).

Cheers mate.
 
What Leicester is doing in real life is way beyond words (it reminds me of what Montpellier managed to do in France when they still had Giroud, Belhanda and Yanga-Mbiwa) trying to recreate such a success in FM will be one heck of an ordeal but I wish you the best of lucks in your attempt ^^

Not a bad squad, you should have no excessive trouble to stay out of relegation zone with these lads... It sure lacks a bit of depth here and there but other than that is more than okay.
Have you considered giving a chance of someone from the academy to act as the senior squad's fourth striker? In case of no decent prospect in such a position maybe loaning a young striker to cover such area like James Wilson or Iheanacho would be a wise move.

As for right back, I don't know how much cash you have to splash but if your budget allows it take a look at Sam Byram (Leeds) he looks quite promising IMHO (I considered him as a replacement for my Arsenal save in case someone snatched Chambers away, but since I managed to keep the lad I didn't make a move for Byram in the end though).

.P.S.: In all of my saves Leicester ALWAYS signs Álvarez Balanta... Are you gonna emulate the CPU there? XD
 
Zlatan Lumic said:
What Leicester is doing in real life is way beyond words (it reminds me of what Montpellier managed to do in France when they still had Giroud, Belhanda and Yanga-Mbiwa) trying to recreate such a success in FM will be one heck of an ordeal but I wish you the best of lucks in your attempt ^^

Not a bad squad, you should have no excessive trouble to stay out of relegation zone with these lads... It sure lacks a bit of depth here and there but other than that is more than okay.
Have you considered giving a chance of someone from the academy to act as the senior squad's fourth striker? In case of no decent prospect in such a position maybe loaning a young striker to cover such area like James Wilson or Iheanacho would be a wise move.

As for right back, I don't know how much cash you have to splash but if your budget allows it take a look at Sam Byram (Leeds) he looks quite promising IMHO (I considered him as a replacement for my Arsenal save in case someone snatched Chambers away, but since I managed to keep the lad I didn't make a move for Byram in the end though).

.P.S.: In all of my saves Leicester ALWAYS signs Álvarez Balanta... Are you gonna emulate the CPU there? XD
Click to expand...

I know i still cannot believe what they are managing to achieve this season in the Premier League! I don't think i will be achieving the same heights in my first season, but hopefully a couple of years down the line things will be different.

Yeah i am planning to use and develop quite a bit of youth in this save and am liking the look of young striker, Joe Dodoo. He will definitely get a shot in the side this year, although haven't looked at his profile on FM yet.

Sam Byram signed for West Ham in January, so am guessing his value will be too high for me first season. My DoF will then be in charge of making all transfers, although Balanta might be making an appearance on my shopping list, who knows :p.
 
Started a Foxes save myself last week up to jan 2nd season. Will be good to compare saves.
 
ChrisBones1990 said:
Started a Foxes save myself last week up to jan 2nd season. Will be good to compare saves.
Click to expand...

How did you get on first season? I am likely to have an advantage in terms of players ability when the update comes out, but will be interesting to compare ;)
 
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The Manager


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Following the release of the official winter update I can finally begin my Leicester story!

Although this story isn't tailored around a manager, I decided to re-create club icon Emile Heskey anyway. Slightly embarrassingly, he was my favourite player as a kid and even ended up taking a liking to Liverpool following his move from Leicester.
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I didn't really think too much when it came to his managerial attributes but clearly decided to lower certain attributes like "Adaptability" and "Goalkeeping". I am intending to stay at Leicester for the duration of the save, so adaptability is a rather irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

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The Director of Football


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The signing of my Director of football is essentially the most important one i will be making this save and have decided to go with former German International, Fredi Bobic.

He joins with a vast knowledge of the game and also comes with experience in the role of Director of Football. Hopefully he will prove to be a good addition to the backroom staff, otherwise i am going to be pretty f****d!


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He has decent attributes in the two most fundamental areas associated with a Director of Football; Judging Ability and Potential.

I was also a big admirer of his tendency to sign youth players and passion for youth development. These are two areas in which I strongly agree.​



So these are going to be the responsibilities of our newly appointed Director of Football. He will be in charge of all our transfers both in and out and also player contract negotiations. I can only hope he does his job well!

I left me in charge of finalising player signings, just to try enforce the rules I outlined on the OP. Any player he signs that doesn't breach these rules, I will be accepting, wether i agree or not!​

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Up the city! We're gonna win the league

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
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Following the recent update and the vast improvement in a number of players ability, the board have set me the objective of achieving a mid-table spot. I am yet to experience the unpredictability of the EPL on FM16 but believe a mid-table finish is definitely doable.

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I have been provided with a very generous £15 Million transfer budget and an excess of £40k p/w salary to accomplish my season objectives. Hopefully Bobic can use the money wisely and bring in some quality additions to the squad.
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We settled on establishing our pre season training camp in Austria, playing 4 Premier League sides in total. It was a relatively simple pre season to contend with, as we breezed through undefeated. Craig Shakespeare was left in charge of our pre season as i took the decision to assess the squad from the stands. I see it as more of an opportunity for players to build fitness and familiarise themselves tactically, so the results are rather redundant.

Having said all that, I am always looking for big performances from my players and was largely pleased with what I saw. Despite being impressed by a number of players, there was one man that really stood out...

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6 Appearances
6 Goals
4 Assists
8.05 Average Rating

I will be hoping he can carry this form into the start of the season, albeit against much tougher opposition!

We have been given a kind start to our 2015/16 campaign, avoiding any of the so called "big" teams. Hopefully this will allow us to gather some early momentum. First up we welcome Stokalona to the King Power Stadium.

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Following the end of our pre season, I received news confirming the arrival of Bobic's first signing, Mathias Vecino. He arrives from Fiorentina for a reasonable sum of £6.25 Million and looks a very good addition to the squad.

I was hoping for the signing of a new RB or CB, as we already have a number of decent options in midfield with Kante, Drinkwater, Inler. Nevertheless he looks a quaility player and at the age of 23 still has time to develop.

This signing also takes up my senior foreign player slot, so can now only accept the signings of HG players or a Foreign U18 player.


Bobic has also agreed the contract renewals of 3 players prior to the start of the season. Captain Morgan has been awarded a lucrative 3 year extension, seeing him earn a massive £42.5k p/w! Despite my admiration for the man, I would have been much happier if it had been a 2 year deal.

The new contracts of two young English prospects, Chilwell and Dodoo was much more pleasing news. Both have bright futures ahead of them and am delighted to see them commit to the club...for the time being anyway.

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We managed to field a team which I believe to be very close to our starting XI for the opening game against Stoke. Although, new signing Vecino is still struggling for match fitness following his move from Fiorentina so decided to leave him out of our match day squad.

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21st Minute - Mahrez plays a perfectly weighted through ball between Stoke's CBs to Okazaki, but Butland pulls off a terrific diving save to deny him a debut goal.

28th Minute - Simpson beats Pieters on the outside and whips a ball into the 6 yard area, Vardy gets in front of his marker and tucks it past Butland into the bottom corner. 1-0.

52nd Minute - Drinkwater is disposed on the edge of the are by Bojan, who slots a ball in behind Morgan to Diouf who beats Schmeichel far to easily at his near post. 1-1

54th Minute - Mahrez dribbles into the area, beating a couple of defenders before beating Butland from the tightest of angles. An instant response 2-1.

87th Minute - Another inch perfect through ball is played by Mahrez, putting Vardy in one on one with the Butland, who again makes a vital save.




A very pleasing opening performance as we begin our 2015/16 campaign. We dominated the game and deservedly came away with all 3 points, thanks to our star duo Mahrez and Vardy​

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MOTM - Jamie Vardy :1 goal, 1 assist, 8.9 rating




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Following our impressive performance against Stokalona, I decided to go with an unchanged lineup for the trip to Bournemouth. There was a slight tactical adjustment, as i dropped both Mahrez and Okazaki slightly deeper. Vecino is still building his fitness in the reserves and currently have no rush to bring him in.

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2nd minute - A corner makes its way right the way through to the back back post, where it is met by the boot of Cook but thankfully Simpson makes a telling intervention and clears the ball off the line!

8th minute - Vardy ***** a chipped through ball in behind the defence for Mahrez, but he cant find a way past Boruc.

12th minute - Vardy drives into the penalty area, only to be brought down by a clumsy slide tackle from Cook and the ref has no option but to point to the spot. Mahrez steps up to cooly convert the peanlty into the bottom right hand corner. 0-1.

28th minute - Albrighton whips a cross in from the left wing, which Vardy catches on the volley from about 5 yards out. Keeper didn't stand a chance. 0-2.

36th minute - Albrighton delivers another cross tot he backpost, finding Mahrez completely unmarked and simply taps the ball into the open net. 0-3.

43rd minute - Okazaki tries a speculative long range effort, which is needlessly spilled by the keeper, allowing Vardy the simplest of tap ins. 0-4.

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53rd minute - Kante puts Vardy in one on one with the keeper but is denied his hattrick by a top quality save.

57th minute - Caalum Wilson has a decent effort saved by Schmeichel as Bournemouth finally begin to wake up.

71st minute - A last ditch slide tackle from Huth blocks Afobe's effort which was destined to hit the back of the net.

89th minute - Morgan fails to effectively clear a cross, which falls to the feet of Afobe who places the ball past Schmeichel from 5 yards out for a consolation goal. 1-4.




We were unstoppable in the first half, but really dropped off in the second half and allowed Bournemouth to play some decent football. All in all it was a very pleasant day down on the South Coast and we return to Leicester with another 3 points. Mahrez and Vardy stole the headlines yet again!

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MOTM - Jamie Vardy: 2 goals, 1 assist, 9.2 rating​
 
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