***The Official Football Manager 2011 Thread***

[Maxou 66]

End of season mate. Good way to make money though is arrange friendlies with big clubs before the season starts and sell all the players who won't make it to your first team. Also try and keep the wages down on new signings

Cracking one mate ! thanks

[H72 265]

At the end of August, things are already looking extremely bright for my Gloucester City side. After strengthening the squad with no less than sixteen players during the summer transfer window, despite failing to capture a few other names due to work permit issues - most notably young Ghanaian midfielder Daniel Owusu - the team took the pre-season friendlies in their stride with just one loss against Huddersfield Town at home.

I made sure to rid the club of deadwood who were nowhere near good enough to challenge for promotion. The bizarre thing was, some of these players were on as much as £300-a-week which is almost unaffordable for a club of Gloucester's stature in the lower leagues. Freeing up wages such as these so quickly has been greatly beneficial already and, come the 1st of September 2010, I'm still £1.3k under my wage budget.

The summer at Whaddon Road welcomed numerous trialists out to prove their ability for a shot at the Blue Square North with the Tigers, but only a few managed to make the final cut. However, before rushing into any deals with those adequate for my side, I negotiated the players' wage demands as much as possible and can proudly boast some of the lowest wages in the league with who are most definitely the best players in the league. This is gloriously evident with my marquee signing of Patrick Vaz who's been in sensational form thus far:

Percin was injured pretty heavily during one of the last pre-season games and hasn't featured as much as I would have liked him too, but Ismael Fofana has more than stepped up to the plate, with various assists and even the odd goal as well. Guichard was breezing through the opening matches of the season too but dislocated his shoulder not long after the 9-0 demolition of Corby on the 17th of the month. He'll now miss up to 3 months of action on the sidelines but Sakali is more than capable of stepping up and making life difficult for me when Guichard returns to full fitness. The match against Corby truly showed the dominance that this Gloucester City side can entail when on the top of their game:

It was this thumping that merited my whole starting eleven a place each in the Blue Square North 'Team of the Week':

Consequently, my Gloucester side enters only September with superb morale after netting 23 goals in 5 games and conceding merely 2 in just as many. Promising the Board promotion at the beginning of the season seems to have been the correct decision and I want to continue to make my mark on the league over the next few months with a very realistic aim of winning it. Once this has been set in stone, time will tell if this Tigers side has a cup run or two in them! That's what I'm really hoping for; a run in the FA Cup would rake in much-needed sterling for the least valued playable English side in the game.

A promising start to the season.

[Mor3los_1 3,672]

This is possibly the best team i have ever had so far and it shows. Won the League after only 30 games and have a Scottish Cup Final and a Champions League Final to face. Defeated Munich, Napoli and Chelsea pretty easily to get Inter in the Final, beat Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate somehow after they pretty much dominated the home leg but one of my crappy youth defenders scored "a poachers effort". SPL though are trying to screw me over though. Its the 2nd of May and i have to play 5 SPL games in 11 days and then the Scottish Cup Final 3 days after that, thinking about giving my under 19's and reserves those games as i'm kinda having an injury crisis with not alot of good back-up and not wanting it to get worse for the Final.

[H72 265]

Very good.

I love a swamp of injuries.

[mrmytto 220]

Annan 2 - 1 Bayern Munich in the CL, got drawn a group of; Man Utd, Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and then our good selves, Annan, in pot 4.

[TeamHero 62]

[TeamHero 62]

Was just linked with this player....

[H72 265]

TeamHero, sorry but I just don't believe that scoreline.

[RFC55 109,652]

TeamHero, sorry but I just don't believe that scoreline.

Any reccomendations of who to go mate? Im struggling to get into any game. Start the seasons well and then fall away to fuck. Bearing in mind i havent played properly since 05 and 06! Also how do you manage to pluck all these players for your lower leauge teams? I was thinking a danish team, maybe Norwegian! Just trying to get the hang of the game before entering into a decent one!

[H72 265]

Any reccomendations of who to go mate? Im struggling to get into any game. Start the seasons well and then fall away to fuck. Bearing in mind i havent played properly since 05 and 06! Also how do you manage to pluck all these players for your lower leauge teams? I was thinking a danish team, maybe Norwegian! Just trying to get the hang of the game before entering into a decent one!

So you're wanting to play a lower league game? If you've not played properly for so long then I'd recommend starting off at a big club until you get used to everything and get a feel for the game back.

I found all these players from game to game in lower league management across the year. Once you find a gem, it's hard to forget them for your next game! I've played one lower league game in Denmark once a year or two back and it was great fun but I can't really give any advice!

If you do start that game, PM me and I'll give you a list of lower league players to look at with really low wages.

[Mor3los_1 3,672]

Had an absolute disaster at World Cup 2026 with France. Ended up with a group of USA, Chile and Australia, finished bottom of the group . Took the Brazil Job after just before i was gonna get fired so alls good. Beat Man City 1-0 in the Euro Super Cup and also sold them my star Israeli Left back for £40 million in cash, i don't accept no over 48 month crap.

I have over £80 million to spend and i've bought one player for £8 million, my team is already great. My Brazilian forward who wanted to go to a bigger club is now happy after winning the Champions League, also put a £50 million bounty on his head, Arsenal were snooping about but nothing came of it.

[Raligt 2,541]

I think I might have to ruin sellick this summer after that. Might give Rangers £50million to challenge for the title again

I am County by the way. Enjoying it so far. Won the league cup but didn't do great in the league. Got a good group of players aswell. I'm making it a bit tougher by only buying British players. I have England, Scotland, N.Ireland and Welsh leagues loaded.

[H72 265]

Sakali secures historic victory

Home Park, Plymouth.

With the fixtures nearing December, Gloucester City are still undefeated competitively! The league run has been one of my most enjoyable of any FM game of the past, with the team consistently pulling off huge wins against the league opposition despite numerous injuries complicating things slightly. As for the Cup run I've been talking up so strongly, a 1st Round tie paired The Tigers up with Darlington of the Blue Square Premier who weren't enjoying the best of times after relegation from the Football League. Strangely enough, the bookies gave City absolutely no chance. After falling unluckily a goal behind in the first-half, a poacher's effort from experienced Nigerian midfielder Kuami Agboh was enough to raise spirits just before half-time.

The team eased through the 2nd half, coming out on top with a 3-1 victory to the happiness of the support grouped together in the rain at temporary home Whaddon Road. Up next, the Club was faced with an extremely difficult tie against mid-table League 1 side Plymouth Argyle who needed all the money they could get consequent to their recent financial troubles. They needed a cup run just as much as Gloucester did. It was to be no easy encounter.

The FA Cup e-on 2nd Round

After a grueling 90 minutes however, Gloucester City AFC, of the Blue Square North, advanced proudly to the 3rd Round of the FA Cup! This is, without question, one of the best results in the Club's history. What makes things even better, is that I've had key players missing for weeks - if not months - through injury. Patrick Vaz hasn't featured for an very long time and Guichard has only just returned! Fofana, the Club's top goalscorer with 19 goals in 20 games, missed out on the trip to Plymouth too. It was far more difficult than it could've been before the game had even kicked-off.

After going ahead so early on, I set the team out to counter attack and to try and hold on to the result, but after Plymouth equalised rather quickly I decided just to go for it and set our intent to attack. Then, in true FA Cup style, on came Tom Parinello, a player almost completely unused so far this season, to deliver a pinpoint cross to the head of Sakali at the back-post in the 89th minute to seal victory away from home in the shock result of the FA Cup so far! The draw for the 3rd round awaits us.

Regarding the league, City sit aloft at the top of the table after 14 games with an incredible 14 wins, scoring 52 and conceding only 7. We're only 3 points clear but have 2 games in hand, with Boston Utd and AFC Telford trailing behind in 2nd and 3rd places. Funnily enough, right on cue, the Club has broken another record of being unbeaten for 21 games since the 14th of August 2010.

Since the beginning of the season, this Gloucester side have won every single game apart from one game against Nuneaton away, where we drew to force a replay in the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup - how important that replay win was! City are also in the First Round of the FA Trophy but that tournament hasn't really got underway yet so time will tell how the team deal with another cup-run opportunity.

I may as well attend the FA Cup 3rd Round draw just now. Here's hoping we get plucked against Manchester United away!

-- The draw processed:

The FA Cup e-on 3rd Round

VS

8th of January 2011

The Riverside Stadium

The FA Cup 3rd Round

The winner receives £68,000

This is an almost perfect tie! Due to Gloucester being a non-league side, the Club is set to rake in 50% of gate receipts from this match; a match being held at the Riverside Stadium with a capacity of 35,100! Having checked our finances just there, it delights me to note that after being £30k in the red before the game against Plymouth, the finances now show the Club to be £24,449 in the black! This is the best financial position the Club has been in since I arrived.

If I've made around £55,000 in profit from the 2nd round tie, then I'll surely make nearly double that with the game against Middlesbrough. This is a prime example of just how important a strong cup run can be for a small non-league side. Let's not even get started about how beneficial a win would be against Boro with the £68,000 up for grabs...

On the football side of things however, Middlesbrough are sitting 8th in the npower Championship but are only 4 points from the top of the table. They boast the likes of Kris Boyd, Kyle Naughton (albeit on loan), Kevin Thomson and David Wheater, just to name a few. It's a while yet until the tie is to be played, but I've plenty of time to consider just how to approach this game. Do I continue to attack and risk a slaughter for the small chance of taking the lead? Or, do I park the bus and hope we take our chances with set-pieces? Time will tell.

Just now though, The Tigers are dominating.

[TeamHero 62]

TeamHero, sorry but I just don't believe that scoreline.

What more proof do you want

Can guarantee that's real...

Goal of the game

[H72 265]

I don't mean that way. I cba explaining either.

Nevermind.

[laudrupno1 3,932]

U make urself the manager of the other team by adding a new manager put all there players down the one side and u win 20+ - 0 remember doin this wen was bored to see wot crazy scores would get

[laudrupno1 3,932]

Mite get back into FM myself and try a lower league club for a change

[H72 265]

Lower League Management (LLM) are the best games in FM. Fact.

[laudrupno1 3,932]

Gonna start a new game and deffo pick a lower league team need a fresh challenge

[Mor3los_1 3,672]

I'm in the 2026/2027 season and since i started with Rangers best scoreline i've ever had was an 11-1 win against Annan and thought was with my B team. Also in that match my Norwegian wonderkid scored a double hatrick in his first ever game and became a favoured personal after just that one game

[Mor3los_1 3,672]

The total shit feeling you get when you realise the Scottish defender who was a decent prospect who you sold to Inverness 8 seasons ago is now with Real Madrid and worth £11 million

[H72 265]

BASTARD.

Nuneaton 1-0 Gloucester City.

The first loss of the season. It was always coming seeing that it's December but it's still disappointing.

[RFC55 109,652]

BASTARD.

Nuneaton 1-0 Gloucester City.

The first loss of the season. It was always coming seeing that it's December but it's still disappointing.

In my Dover game im 6 clear but lost 3 games. LLM is much better than being any of the big guns

[H72 265]

In my Dover game im 6 clear but lost 3 games. LLM is much better than being any of the big guns

It is.

The feeling of accomplishment when you get a small team promoted and keep them up the next season is brilliant. Mind you, it works both ways. I had a Montrose game going months back and after back-to-back promotions from the 3rd Division to the 1st Division, I was relegated via the Play-Off system.

Everything fell apart that season with finances so I was always up against it. Still, enjoyed it nonetheless.

[RFC55 109,652]

It is.

The feeling of accomplishment when you get a small team promoted and keep them up the next season is brilliant. Mind you, it works both ways. I had a Montrose game going months back and after back-to-back promotions from the 3rd Division to the 1st Division, I was relegated via the Play-Off system.

Everything fell apart that season with finances so I was always up against it. Still, enjoyed it nonetheless.

I brought in Lillan laslandes as a player coach and the dover fans love him

The Fa cup makes the game imo