I always go to start a Lower league save and have these visions of me taking them to The premiership , Europe etc etc.. But the matter of the fact is I'm ****. I always finish mid table or in a relagation scrap. I play a couple of seasons..just floating, signing new better players and still getting nowhere.
I dont download the tactics off here because then I would be good. (Well I wouldnt but Id feel good.) So I tend to go for the big teams. Well Bigish. not the super powers like Barca, Real..More like Athletico Madrid, Aston Villa. Because then if I Do, do well I feel like ive acheived something where as if you start with Barca and win the league its sort of like ''Yeah I won the league, I was expected too.''
If I come say 5th with Aston Villa Id be happy, I also like to have a bit of money to manouver in the transfer market, as thats half the fun of the game. Buying players and selling.
The very first time I played a Football Manager game was back in 2001 and I started with Aston Villa. I did finish 5th in my first season, qualifying for the old UEFA Cup for my second season. My second season was legend. I splashed the cash - if you call spending 15 million on about 5 players splashing - and made it to the UEFA Cup final and the FA Cup final. The sad bit was that I met Newcastle United in both finals and lost both. And realistically, while I had a quality squad, it was small, so my league form suffered under great cup runs and I slumped to 8th in my second season. Fortunately, Newcastle finished inside the European spots so I got a UEFA Cup spot for my third season again. I suffered a third season hangover, went out of all the Cups early and my squad seemed to lose confidence as I struggled with relegation early on before a late surge saw me home in 11th. The board also started giving me gears. Fourth season was a disaster. One of the young guys I bought and turned into a superstar started complaining that the club was too small for him and he ruined my squad's harmony so I ended up quitting.
Long story short, like you, I was pumped by taking an average club and doing pretty good things with them, even if only for a while.
---------- Post added at 10:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 AM ----------
Look, I see both sides. I have taken a Conference North side to the Premiership before and it is an awesome feeling. But it is also a little unrealistic. Harrogate Town - who are sandwiched between York City, Bardford City, Hull City & Leeds United - will never find themselves in the Premier League. I've taken a little more realistic approach this time around by taking AFC Telford, one of England's largest towns withouth a League club, on a journey to the Premier League.
But, in doing this, you can also see why people choose big sides with quality players. With AFC Telford, I am frequently enraged as I dominate a game with my strikers repeatedly finding themselves one-on-one with the 'keeper only to send their shot crashing into a spotlight, and their butchering of chances ultimately see me lose 1-0. It's very trying to watch the lower league dregs butchering chance after chance, so the appeal of having Wayne Rooney netting 30-odd is very understandable, or having midfielders sinking 30-yarders instead of seing your Blue Square North ''star'' midfielder hit the corner flag from 10 yards out.