I wouldn't say it's that hard. I remember I was playing a network game with my friends I was Arsenal, was doing pretty bad in the league at first and I always start my games with low rep so the pressure was on, ended up 3rd and I won the CL.

The hardest thing ever in this game is have an unbeaten season, I have actually never done it. Closest I've come is 1 loss.

Won the league first season on FM10 with Inter. Was unbeaten until the last day of the season, had the Champions League final about 4 days later. Rested players for it (was against Napoli btw), got beat 3-1, was absoulutely gutted. Champions League win sort of made up for it.
 
Won the league first season on FM10 with Inter. Was unbeaten until the last day of the season, had the Champions League final about 4 days later. Rested players for it (was against Napoli btw), got beat 3-1, was absoulutely gutted. Champions League win sort of made up for it.
Lol, it just seems to never happen. I've won back to back Quadruples but I've just never had an unbeaten season. Unlucky with that one though, the time I only had 1 loss it was to Man City they had balotelli and he scored a wondergoal :(

Sometimes the game does stupid things like that (the fixture dates I mean), for example I had a FA cup final where my first choice keeper was on international duty :S
 
Lol, it just seems to never happen. I've won back to back Quadruples but I've just never had an unbeaten season. Unlucky with that one though, the time I only had 1 loss it was to Man City they had balotelli and he scored a wondergoal :(

Sometimes the game does stupid things like that (the fixture dates I mean), for example I had a FA cup final where my first choice keeper was on international duty :S

Don't think I've ever had an unbeaten season myself, ever :( I'll see what I can do on this years ;)

Haha, that's a joke that, I'd be so angry if I never had a decent backup.
 
I've gotten Plymouth into the UEFA Europa League without cheating. It pretty much consists of picking up every good free agent you can find from good clubs. For instance, some of the Italian clubs dropped players out of their squad after one or two years and I snapped them up and gained promotion in successive seasons to the premiership. Have to find the best youngsters to bring in on loan (Macheda, Kakuta, Wilson, etc) as well.

It involves using a rotating door policy for your club. Pick up players on free transfers, keep them for 1-2 seasons then sell them for a profit. Then pick up new players as you move up the ladder.

As for starting in the BSP or lower, you can forget it. I have zero patience for something like that.
 
I cant believe some of the replies in this tread. Not only are people interjecting with suggestions that the champions league isn't that hard because they won it with a big team once, but were having suggestions ranging from about 8-15 years.

Personally I would say at least 15, probably more like 25-40.

Here are the problems I can see.

Getting a few fairly quick promotions in the lower leagues is possible, but eventually you get to a position where you find yourself in a league where your reputation and stadium size is very restrictive. If your a historically small team from near the bottom of the BSN/S you wont suddenly start to attract much more than a few thousand fans due to your stadium size and reputation. To expand you stadium costs money, plus your reputation wont increase as fast as your stature for example if you take Gateshead to the championship and you have a twenty thousand seater stadium you will still only attract 5-8 thousand fans mainly helped by away support. This is realistic Sunderland and Newcastle fans from the local area wont suddenly start supporting Gateshead because they've made it to the championship.

Having to pay to expand your stadium and not getting big gates results in you not being able to compete in the market for the standard of players you need.

Another problem you have with the reputation lagging behind is that players wont be attracted to your club as you have a low reputation.

This makes it hard to take a BSN/S team to the premiership. Not to mention the fact unambitious boards can force you to sell players, not let you expand your stadium or improve training facilities when needed etc.

As for the champions league. Securing a squad good enough to challenge for fourth in the prem takes time you need a couple of world class players and you cant just get these on free transfers, you have to bring through youth and slowly improve your squad in the transfer market, which takes ages! Once you've qualified for the champions league, you then need to win it, which is a challenge and takes a combination of luck and skill even if you are at a top club.

Remember not cheating is abiding by these guidelines

The traditional definition for LLM in the CM/FM series is:
Starting with sunday league experience
Managing in as low a league as possible
Not using any exploits to generate money unrealistically
Not using any cheat programs Genie, FMRTE etc
Using your own (non exploitative) tactics
Not taking tips on players from other people
No Reunion players, or similar

Plus you should probably be playing with attribute masking on, otherwise it is too easy to search for players and click around teams just looking at their players regardless of how obscure they are.
 
Agreed, anything below 15 seasons is highly unlikely in my opinion.
 
I did this in FM10 with Dorchester and it took me 17 seasons. Longer than I wanted but major obstacles were BSP (4 seasons to get out of it), League 1 (4 seasons) and Championship (5 seasons). I was particularly annoyed by BSP but I was unlucky - Bradford went down from League 2 first season so had to make do with lottery of playoffs.
 
I think honestly with no cheating or assistance, your talking 15 seasons absolute minimum. I cant see how you can. For starters getting the players you need to compete every promotion is hard enough. Despite hearing these people claiming they've got premiership reserves players on loan or some out-of-contract seasoned ex-international. No way, as number 1, your usually (very) skint and can only pay peanuts and 2, because of your club rep is poor they will just not want to come.

For example I played a game with Vauxhall in the BSN and manage to get them up through the playoffs, but I struggled big time attracting even poor rep/ability players and even when I went up straight away into the BSP, I was competing with clubs that money and a good rep, that had players their bench better than my best player! Even picking up free's, offering large wages I could only afford for slighty better than what i had players to come. It takes seasons to raise your rep enough for players to fancy coming when your an unfashionable side.

Your scouts are so poor and only manage to scout useless players! I ended up using Fm Scout (I wasn't doing the LLM challenge btw) to find players as trawling through hundreds of free players to find one to improve you is not fun! Even with scout when I found a player, soon as I offer him a contract, a club a league above would swoop for him!

Without people using downloaded super tactics its hard using your own tactics as these change when presented with a new challenge in a higher league.

Some people claiming 8 seasons...pah!
 
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You're right uncle bad touch, Improving your team gets harder and harder. My FM2010 game I eventually managed to qualify for the champions league with Coventry City (not LMM, but no cheat and with attribute masking), Manchester City, Chelsea, Athletico Madrid and others would constantly sweep signings away from me.

I was saying 15 minimum... but i would agree this would still be rediculous. As I stated prbably more like 25-40.

I want to try and do this with Solihull Moors, my local non league team, and they are predicted 18th in BSN.

YTFC fan, when you say 17 seasons, you mean to get to the premiership, not to win CL right?
 
Yea, you need have a few seasons consolidation I feel and try and establish yourself as reliable team, people you read about just banging promotion after promotion out like its nothing. Plus signing great players on a wheel dealers budget, when replicated is impossible. Ive read a few stories also of people taking teams from the bottom tier of poor rep countries like Slovenia and Belarus and winning the CL within 10 seasons!
 
YTFC fan, when you say 17 seasons, you mean to get to the premiership, not to win CL right?

Absolutely, the 17th season I finished 2nd in the Championship.

I played for another 10 seasons and managed 5th as my best finish but got knocked out in Europe by Lecce of Italy.
 
I've managed to stay in budget and do two straight promotions (through playoffs) with Gateshead now. Though I guess that I'll get stuck in Npower League 1 for at least 2 seasons 'cause my stadium is 11 750 and hardly any facililties.

Usually this is the way advance. Two to Seven years for league one and championship.

And of course this is with only scouted players and staff and own tactics.
 
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I've managed to stay in budget and do two straight promotions (through playoffs) with Gateshead now. Though I guess that I'll get stuck in Npower League 1 for at least 2 seasons 'cause my stadium is 11 750 and hardly any facililties.

Usually this is the way advance. Two to Seven years for league one and championship.

And of course this is with only scouted players and staff and own tactics.

That's pretty good, GL in league football!

I'm Solihull Moors even the lower leagues will be a struggle I think, Jealous of your stadium (6)... They start with 3,000-3,500 a week wage budget, 0 transfer, Basic Training and a 3000 seater stadium.

I do search for players using the player search, but i've got attribute masking (standard) so its hardly useful. I'd have to say my star singing is a coach with 11 on JPP and JPA, no scouts want to come to me as I can only offer 70pw!

I'm looking foward to the end of this season, a lot of bad players contracts end, no one wants them for free, or they dont want to accept another clubs offer :(.
 
Player masking? You mean you can turn on so that you see all player stats?

That's like cm 97/98 ;)

Fun fact: Luton has won both blue square premier and league two with Richard Mooney as manager (Trained AIK irl with a not so successful result)
 
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I took Havent and Waterloovile to Premier League, I won the Carling Cup when I was in the chapionship, but lost my first game in the Euro Cup. I didn't qualify. I got relegated and gave up that game. Then Superblademan's DB came out, so I started in level 10 ;)

It is very hard, and I just avoided relegation from L2.
 
With Dundee United, a pretty decent SPL team it took me 3 seasons to win the SPL and 9 seasons before I won the Champions league, I class myself as being a rather good FM player but I think taking a team from BSP or BSN/BSN to win the Champion's League would take me 20 seasons minimum, realistically probably 25-30 seasons (without getting lucky with a tycoon takeover or whatever)
 
Player masking? You mean you can turn on so that you see all player stats?

That's like cm 97/98 ;)

Fun fact: Luton has won both blue square premier and league two with Richard Mooney as manager (Trained AIK irl with a not so successful result)

I have attribute masking on, so I can't see players stats - but you hear about people trawling the database.... just looking at player stats. I still need a good striker!

"Fun fact" - lol... interesting where was the fun! :p
 
I have attribute masking on, so I can't see players stats - but you hear about people trawling the database.... just looking at player stats. I still need a good striker!

"Fun fact" - lol... interesting where was the fun! :p

Interesting is more accurate, 2 Blue Square Premier Teams that ran through 2 leagues.
 
On FM10 me and my pal took Notts County and Dagenham from League One to The Premier League in 5 seasons, by the year 2018 my Notts County Team were Champions of England and the Champions League, Mezut Ozil and Rene Adler were quality players for me, alot of time was spent on that save file.

Now ive got FM11 ive downloaded some extra leagues and im gonna give it a go with my local team Margate, from the Isthmian Premier League five leagues up to the Premiership! MISSION
 
I'm not lying.. I will upload the save of my Hyde game once I get my hard drive back from my friend then you can see for yourselves. and by the way I never cheated. and yes I had Sugardaddy activated, so some random spanish tycoon took over when I was in the Championship pre-season. and also I brought in Marchena and Forlan when I was in championship as a free transfer after both of them were released from their club. Marchena was about 33 or 34 and Forlan was 36! and yes they retired just after one season playing for my HYDE FC! Marchena wasn't so well, but Forlan was reliable and scored about 15-20 goals in that season.
AND JUST SO WE ARE CLEAR! I GOT A TRANSFER BUDGET OF 120M pounds for my 2nd and 140M pounds for my 3rd season in the Premier League and if you think I can't win Champions League with that much money? my club was worth 1.4 Billion pounds 2nd richest in europe after valencia which was 1.5 bn.
 
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