Championship Manager Thread

[Bonji]

I certainly hope the game is going to improve and I'll buy it to find out. I've been a loyal CMer since 1998 so there is not point stoping now. I'm excited to see how the game changes.

[DutchFootballRulez]

probably have more licenses, and increased patch support

[Father Ted]

I just got CM4 yesterday and started playing Southend in the 3rd division in England. Did ok in preseason. The first league game was a 0-0 tie and since then I've had 4 1-0 defeats. I'm chopping and changing some of the players but no success yet. I tried getting a couple players on the tranfer market but I've only got $17K transfer budget. Should I just keep slogging along and hope for a miracle or does anyone have any tips about getting started?

[sinner78]

league and cup double with karlsruhe in cm3 01/02..
not bad if I dont say so myself..

[Maczebus]

Originally posted by Father Ted
I just got CM4 yesterday and started playing Southend in the 3rd division in England. Did ok in preseason. The first league game was a 0-0 tie and since then I've had 4 1-0 defeats. I'm chopping and changing some of the players but no success yet. I tried getting a couple players on the tranfer market but I've only got $17K transfer budget. Should I just keep slogging along and hope for a miracle or does anyone have any tips about getting started?

Keep slogging.
I started with QPR in division 2. We were way over our salary budget and had bugger-all to spend.
Eventually I got to season 2013 and we holders of everything we could possibly win (all domestic titles, CL winners, Supercup and Inter-Continental cup). I know that's a bit down the line but it does show how things improve with a bit of 'effort'.

Sort your training out - with specific schedules for the main positions (at first, can get clever later) - so a seperate one for defence, mids and attack. I'm sure you can figure out what's best for the positions. Make sure they still do their wieght training and general keep-fit stuff too.
Get your coach(es) assigned to these schedules.

With no money to spend, look for out of contract players. Can be a problem bringing in new players even if they are free:
1) You being in division 3, they might not want to go there. You won't know until you ask.
2) The extra wages might put you even more over your salary budget.

Basically, for the first season at least it's usually a case of using what you've got. I was lucky I had Jerome Thomas (19 y.o.) on loan from Arsenal when I took over at QPR - he was valued at £1m+, but I offered them my entire transfer budget of £35k and they accepted it. He wanted eff all wages too. His value peaked at £15m a few years later.
A good place to look for cheap players is Scandinavia. They know English which is a good start and usually aren't as money grabbing as some other nationalites on there.
Oh yes, so if you've got some scouts send them off looking somewhere. The you can check their finds in the 'player search' area.

Keep trying things vis a vis formations and teams, you'll soon figure out what works and what doesn't. And the bottom line is keep it simple to begin with. Remember these are lowly division3 players without the skill and adaptability of the top lads. On that note, I've pretty much always used the 442 formation with my left and right wings whipping in crosses. You can get fancy later on - or indeed if you're desperate late in a game.

Hope some of this helps - please feel free to PM me if you've got any follow up enquiries (or post here I guess - but I forget about this thread).

Edit - Have you downloaded the appropriate patch for CM4 yet?

[Greddy]

I use a 4-4-2 with Barcelona. Well, it's kind of a 4-1-3-2. Looks like this...
....o..o....
.............
o....o....o
......o......
o..o..o..o

I also send my central mid all the way up into the box. If you didn't know, you can do that by right-clicking the player and dragging the cursor where you want him to make runs.

We won the Spanish Primera and Champions League in my first year. Now, in my second year, we're 1/3rd of the way through the season and doing well in all competitions. Here's my line-up...

...........Kluivert.....Saviola...........
................................................
Overmars........Kaka.........Farnerud
......................Xavi...................
Taylor.....Mexes......Puyol.....Hinkel

Alexander Farnerud was a HUGE find. I bought him from Landskrona(swedish) for 450k pounds. One year later, at 19yrs old, he's broken onto my first team! He's worth about 10mil now and gets paid about 2000lbs a week, not bad. The other two you might not recognize are Matthew Tayler and Andreas Hinkel. Two 20(now 21) year old defenders I picked up for about 6 and 8 million respectively. Both great players, but kinda expensive for you small club managers.

The most important thing for a lower division manager to remember is that loans are your best friend:). If you can't afford Man U's hot prospect, loan him.

[odg78]

Originally posted by Greddy
Alexander Farnerud was a HUGE find. I bought him from Landskrona(swedish) for 450k pounds. One year later, at 19yrs old, he's broken onto my first team! He's worth about 10mil now and gets paid about 2000lbs a week, not bad.
--If you don't have him already, I would suggest Tobias Grahn. He can play forward or any attacking midfield position. He's cheap and great.

[TrooperBari]

Originally posted by Father Ted
I just got CM4 yesterday and started playing Southend in the 3rd division in England. Did ok in preseason. The first league game was a 0-0 tie and since then I've had 4 1-0 defeats. I'm chopping and changing some of the players but no success yet. I tried getting a couple players on the tranfer market but I've only got $17K transfer budget. Should I just keep slogging along and hope for a miracle or does anyone have any tips about getting started?

1) Definitely keep slogging. You might want to look into tweaking your tactics a bit, though, as the computer has a nasty tendency of figuring out your game plan if you stick to it too long.

2) As was mentioned before, out-of-contract players and players listed for loan are a good way to beef up your squad for not a lot of dosh. Also keep in mind that speed kills, especially in the lower reaches of the league. I've unearthed players with a 20 finishing rating that've been complete crap, but if you've got a burner or two up top (19-20 pace), they can really wreak havoc.

[TrooperBari]

A couple other things:

You'll probably have to continually adjust the emphasis of your training in accordance with your results. Right now it sounds like shooting and perhaps fitness should be high on your list (shooting intensive, fitness next lowest). When the goals start flowing, then you might scale back the shooting drills and lean more toward skills or tactics.

I usually separate my players into two groups - one for skills and/or shooting training (offensive mids and forwards) and the other with a more tactical emphasis (defenders, d-mids and wingbacks). Usually everything is normal for the attacking group except for the week's emphasis while I knock shooting down to light for the defenders and make tactics intensive.

Don't know how well this'll translate to CM 04 - I'm still on 01/02 - but hopefully this will get you started, Father.

[Bonji]

Training in CM4 is different in CM4. I prefer to let my assistant take care of it and I just work them hard in the preseason, go to general in the 1st hald of the season and no-match in the 2nd half of the season because it is less intensive. I might need to do something different because Barnet in the English conference does really well in the 1st half of the season and sucks in the second half of the season.

Are there any really good CM4 players with training out there?

[blackpool fc mark]

I have just got promoted to the Premiership with Blackpool, and so im rather pleased, however the circumstances of my promotion where kind of strange, at first i struggled, but just before christmas i went on a 15 match unbeaten run, this took me to 8th, i stayed thereabouts until about 5 games to go, what happened next was amazing.
With one game to go i had managed to climb to 5th (a playoff place) but going into the last game i noticed that if 2nd to 4th place all were to lose, i could sneak into the 2nd automatic promotion place. Thats exactly what happened, i could not believe i had been automatically promoted without ever being in the top 2 till the very last game of the season.

Naturally, im very happy, however my squad is no way near 'Premiership Quality'. I only have about 3 or 4 players that i think could cut it at the moment.

I have been given a transfer budget of just £5 million, could anyone help me, by suggesting some good cheap players, who can cut the mustard in the Premier League. I definatley need a new goalkeeper, any help would be much helpfull.

Thank You

[Greddy]

Originally posted by Bonji
there any really good CM4 players with training out there? I still haven't mastered the art of training a first team(i keep them on general training), but I have a few suggestions for your youth and reserve teams. You should definately create a new training regime, I called it "youth training", and assign it to players on your reserve schedule. That should be your reserves and U-19(or 20) teams. In this regime you need a LOT of technique and skills training. Not too much endurence but some. Get rid of the tactical training, it really just prepares guys for their next match. The main point being that you don't care how your reserves do in their league, just how their skills advance individually. So just load up with technique and pig in the middle. Try and get one of those in every day, sometimes both. Throw in some shooting and other stuff to round them out, and you'll have your future studs ready in no time.

[scottinkc]

Originally posted by Greddy
...but I have a few suggestions for your youth and reserve teams. You should definately create a new training regime, I called it "youth training", and assign it to players on your reserve schedule. That should be your reserves and U-19(or 20) teams.

For some reason, when I put players in my U-19's, they disappear from my training screen. Am I missing something? (probably)

Hey Blackpool Mark. I have found a couple of guys who are decent Premier league players. Not world class, mind you, but should be able to hold there own. Try Stewart Greacen (DL/R). Won't help going forward, but 20's in tackling and marking, and 13 or so in positioning. He usually gets 7's for my Plymouth team. Also try John Reider Torseth Jensen. Good at any defensive spot (good header, too). Sometimes not great stamina, though. I bought him for just 1,000 pounds from some semi-pro team in Norway. On the offensive end, Ivan Bosnjak is a good right winger (In my game he has a 180,000 buy out). Also look at Cherno Samba and Leroy Lita as strikers. Back to defense, look at a couple of the young Coventry defenders (Munn and Cooney). And finally, look at the reserve sides for the top clubs. They will usually have some mid-30 guys who are just playing out their time, but still have good stats. They should be able to keep you up for this year, so you can strengthen for a decent run next year.

Sorry I can't help with a goalkeeper. :(

[blackpool fc mark]

Cheers for the advice ill check them out.

I have done well recruiting some good forwards...David Bently and Isaac Promise on frees and Hussaine from Man Utd on season long loan (as soon as i got him his value jumped to 6million, my midfield is good so i dont think it needs strengthning, and i just got Nyron Nosworthy for 2mill and Henchoz for a new centre back partnership..... still need a keeper, the search continues

[Tony Cheval]

Bonji, a good Google search can find schedules and/or discussion of training methods, go to town. :D

[Tony Cheval]

Blackpool Mark, what year are you currently in? When I get back home I'll look at my current game, swiped a hot young N. Irish keeper whose name I can't quite remember at the moment, he's currently #2 to Carroll in my game despite playing for QPR in Div 1.

[Father Ted]

Thanks TrooperBari and co....I'm doing better now. I put a new training schedule in and it helped turn things around. I've won a few games and went from bottom to fourth from bottom. Still 12 points off a playoff spot in mid-december. I got a winger from QPR reserves who did really well the first 4 games, then got injured and is out 4 months.

I also sold a player for 20K who had not played but I don't have the funds returned to me to put more players. Is this typical?
Also, does anyone know how to "praise" a player?

[TrooperBari]

Originally posted by Father Ted
Thanks TrooperBari and co....I'm doing better now. I put a new training schedule in and it helped turn things around. I've won a few games and went from bottom to fourth from bottom. Still 12 points off a playoff spot in mid-december. I got a winger from QPR reserves who did really well the first 4 games, then got injured and is out 4 months.

I also sold a player for 20K who had not played but I don't have the funds returned to me to put more players. Is this typical?
Also, does anyone know how to "praise" a player?

Does your club have negative cash flow and/or is their balance in the red? If so, money from transfers goes straight to paying down the debt instead of the transfer kitty. I had plenty of such frustration while managing Forest.

I think in CM4 you have the option somewhere to circulate a press release or something of that nature that praises the player in question. I with they had that option in 01/02 ... all you can do in this one is agree with any pundits or media types who say so.

[DutchFootballRulez]

You can praise players in CM4 after 5 meaningful matches. And only 1 player a week. with CM 03/04 u can praise different players multiple times.

Also, COACHES, COACHES, COACHES. Find them, Young Good coaches and CHEAP place them on the Squad, NOT TOO MANY to drag down the Wage Bill. But find these GEMS, and Add a scout or two to go find players that are affordable.

You may also want to find a good Physio who has Excellent Coaching stats. And look out for Retiring players who have coaching stats.

[uclatony]

I have CM 03/04. But there is no MLS league in the game. Does anyone here have a link to an update that puts in MLS players into the game and allows you to play the MLS league?