Olympique Marseille (CM00/01), 5 seasons Napoli (CM00/01), 2 seasons Tottenham Hotspur (CM01/02), 3 seasons Wolverhampton Wanderers (CM01/02), 4 seasons Manchester City (CM01/02), 3 seasons Borussia Dortmund (CM01/02), 4 seasons Bayer Leverkusen (CM01/02), 4 seasons Real Betis Balompie (CM4), 1 season And the repeat offenders: Real Madrid (CM00/01, CM01/02, FM06), 6 seasons altogether Athletic Bilbao (CM00/01, CM 01/02), 3 seasons altogether And my most frequently managed club: Valencia (CM00/01, CM01/02, CM4, FM06), countless seasons National team jobs I've held: Spain England Holland Admittedly, I'm short on lower-league management, but winning the European Cup with ********ing Wolves should count for something.
I don't remember how many seasons but I remember many of the clubs: Arsenal Saint-Etienne Ajax PSV Haarlem Notts County Huddersfield Town Wolverhampton Wanderers São Caetano DC United I know I'm forgetting some especially the ones with just letters for a name (there is a one with a name like AGOV in Holland for example) or names I never could pronounce (eastern europe and asian ones). I play Arsenal usually at the start of each new version just to see what they've done to the squad. I usually last only a season or two because it gets too easy fast. My favorite league is the Dutch league but after trying Ajax and PSV I've been hooked on Haarlem. I've probably played Haarlem more than any other team. I also like some of the lower leagues in England. I had two long games with Wolves (got there after a successful lower league career and took them to CL glory too) and Notts County. The only national team I've managed is the US but I've never liked the way that works in CM/FM so I skip that now.
Arsenal's squad isn't much to write home about in FM06, but Reyes and Cesc eventually turn into two of the best players in the game.
The people SI has set the players attributes and potential have always had problems with Arsenal. They either overestimate the squad (it gets boring beating ManU, Chelsea, Barca and R.Madrid 7-0 or 8-1 away) or underestimate us. There are often serious problems with important stats due to their balancing process. My "favorite" was the Pires of a few years ago with the stamina of my grandma. I probably shouldn't even mention how clueless they've been about our younger players. If you've seen the release data from some of the earlier versions, you've seen that we had a horrible batch of kids and almost none of them could even cut it at the lower leagues in the future. This despite them playing on their under-x national teams at the time and despite many of our past castoffs already going on to do fine for other teams in the Prem. I remember that Milan's youngsters were all future Pele in a recent release. I doubt they'll ever get a reliable system for assigning stats across the leagues. They are still the best mgmt game.
I'm glad that they seem to have gotten the Spanish leagues pretty accurate and are no longer underrating Spanish players like they used to. Balance was definitely a much bigger issue in older versions - anyone who spent time with CM01/02 should remember how screwed up the Serie A was, with Lazio and Roma being unstoppable and Juventus utterly useless. I also REALLY wonder about the impartiality of whoever their Spanish researcher used to be, because for a long time they had a really bad habit of severely underrating Real Madrid while at the same time making Barcelona godlike.
I really need to play this game more. I'm currently managing Derby in the first season of last years game, got side tracked by Empire Earth II and some other games. I think I'll have to pick it up again this week! I picked Arsenal at first just to get them the Treble, but then restarted with Derby. I'm sitting 8th in the table with an outside shot at a playoff spot. Picked up some good players on loan from Premiership clubs.
Are there no good Dutch AMR's? I'm managing Holland and have had to play Robben out of position on the right in order to cover the position (van Persie is on the left).
Coventry City Rushden Blackburn Bayern A lower-league Italian side that escapes me. Revs US and ManUre, where I debuted my 0-0-11 formation and got sacked in a month! But the joke was on them because they got relegated! Mission accomplished!
No love for van der Meyde? Seriously through, I found the best option was just putting Sneijder there. In terms of clubs I have managed, I'll need to have a long think about that one. The list will be huge, as I am a bit of a mercenary and jump between clubs quite a bit for the next challenge.
clubs: kansas city (only on a demo) sheffield wednesday bohemians darlington mansfield watford nat teams: usa south africa
Not to brag (which, of course, is an immediate signal I'm about to brag ), but in 01-02, I won the CL with Woking in the 08-09 or 09-10 season. I've had 3 versions, and I just got the 05-06; I'm in June 2006 with DC United. Not counting my first few failures when I first purchased the game and got fired without completing a season (OK, if you must...Wrexham and Notts County), I've managed Brighton, Cardiff, Everton, York City, Pescara (Italy), Lyon, Fortuna Koln, some 2nd div. Dutch team (which I quit in season 2; no fun, and the money situation was not just dire but also hopeless), Bristol City, Torquay, Huddersfield, Bristol Rovers, Tottenham, Hibs, Rangers, Sunderland. I think that covers it. I've won the CL with Woking, Cardiff, Everton, Spurs, Rangers, and Sunderland. I've won cups or leagues with all of those, plus York City, Lyon, Bristol City, Torquay, and Hibs. And Huddersfield if you want to count the LDV Cup. I think the reason I've done so well in the CL is that while most CM managers design tactics that lead the league in scoring but are 5th in goals allowed, I tend toward the opposite. That makes me very, very tough to beat in the knockout phase. I'm a total geek for tactics. I really miss the w/wo ball screens. The big flaw in the current tactics screen is that the arrows govern where players are depending on which half of the field the ball is in, not whether you are attacking or defending. That's a stupid choice the designers made. But that's another topic. I've found that the most fun way to play is to pre-plan your career. For example, my last savegame before I got 05-06, I set up the top 4 English leagues and the top Scottish league, set my favorite club to Rangers, and nationality to Scottish. I'd always wanted to manage either Celtic or Rangers, to see what it was like. So I started at Bristol Rovers, got them to the Premiership, won an FA Cup, got my statue built...then went to Spurs. I think that was after 7-8 seasons at Rovers. I won a UEFA Cup with Spurs pretty quick, lost *TWICE* in the CL final to ManU (consecutive years, too!!! ), then, when I finally won the CL, decided it was time to go to Scotland. Besides, I had my statue there, too. The Hibs job opened late the next season. Near the end of the NEXT season, the Rangers job opened up and I took it. I stayed there ~6 years, and had just the most awesome collection of players I've ever had. In terms of depth, I mean; my 20th-25th players were just outstanding. But it was so easy it got boring, (yep, another statue) so I took the Sunderland job. Got 'em promoted from Div. 1 to the Premiership, managed 'em there about 6 years, and had a problem with the save, but I was about bored anyway. (I kept English sculptors busy.) I'd been managing almost 25 seasons, easily my longest game. The point is, every time, I decided as I took one job what it would take for me to look for the next job. I picked Rovers to start, and decided that when I hit that CL wall that small clubs hit (I was severely lucky to win with Woking; it's almost impossible, for me anyway, to win the CL with a truly small club), I'd go to a big club. When I took the Spurs job, my ambition was to win the CL. Once I did that, I was looking for an opening in Scotland. When I took the Hibs job, I was going to go to either Celtic or Rangers, whichever opened up first. When I took the Rangers job, I decided to stay until I was dominant in Scotland. I kept my interest in this savegame MUCH longer than any other, and I also planned my career MUCH more than any other savegame. I don't think it's a coincidence. Once at a club, you develop an emotional attachment to many of your players. But if you stay at the same club you get bored. That's why it's so helpful, I believe, to decide before you take a job what your goals are, what it will take for you to move on.
I always wonder why people don't like the clubs in the 2nd Dutch division. I love playing Haalem. They have a weak squad, little money, no fans, a tiny stadium which is hard to expand. The leagues rep is so low that is seriously hurts your ability to attract talent. However, you can get some good loans from the top Dutch clubs and Belgium. Plus you can have any foreign player that you can convince to join you. Perfect. Also it seems like few people leave europe except for the couple that play their local MLS team once. You guys should check out some of the S.American and Asian leagues. I enjoyed my time in Brazil (I forgot to list a 2nd division club there which I also played at) and had a great deal of fun with some unpronounceable team in south east asia. I'm thinking of heading to Africa for my next club.
I've always wanted to manage a South American team, because I find all these great players and none can get work permits to play in England.
Eveyone likes different things about the game. I really enjoy rotating my squad, which is why I've tended to manage in England. More matches, esp. more midweek matches. You have to build a squad with at least 18 reliable players to get to the EPL, and once there, I tend to have around 25 players get at least 10 matches (once I've qualified for Europe, that is.) As a result, I'm a killer in the League Cup. I might be playing mostly 2nd line players, but my second line is damn good. So I almost never get knocked out of those things early like the big teams often do. Scotland has the League Cup, and a 38 match season, so the fixture list is pretty crowded there, too. With most other leagues, you just have matches on the weekend, so once you've decided who your best 11 is, all you have to do is react to injuries. I'd rather have to make choices whether to it's time to rest this or that starter. Managing DC in 2005, with the Open Cup and the CCC, was pretty crazy. But the extra matches aren't spread out. They're packed into the first part of the season, so it's insane squad rotation for a while, and then at the end it's like managing a French or Italian or German team that's not in Europe. I also don't like the board bailing me out. I like to keep the club's finances in the green. In order to do that with my Dutch team, I had to keep scheduling midweek friendlies and playing my gray players. Managing Pescara was interesting. They were in Serie C. They had a pretty big stadium. If I had thought harder about it, I would have realized that for a C team to have such a big stadium, they must have just gotten relegated, which means being saddled with all those Serie B level contracts. The team was losing money hand over fist, but the board bailed me out. I got promoted twice in a row, which was the only way the team could be kept alive.
superdave - that sounds like me. I always go for the bigger squad (usually over my wage budget too). I had a good game with Top Oss in the 05 version and generally manged to contend, but never win. I had managed Chelsea before that and it was too easy. I meant to play 05 much longer but I was mailed a free copy of 06 so that I could write a review of it on the web site. I gave it a good review because I really like the new match engine and the player-manager interaction. Saying that, I didn't realize what you said about the arrows so I'll have to look into that. I'm managing Kettering Town in Conference North and loving it. WE are tied for 2nd 15 matches into the season, and enjoyed a nice Cup run until Mansfield beat us with a late winner in the 2nd round. I'm running something like 15 leagues on full detail and it's working great. This is the way I like to play. I should point out I started with an unemployed american and that was completely futile in terms of landing a job. I failed at about 10 applications so I created a new English player and took over Kettering a la Gascoigne (minus the drink).
--Cesena --West Ham --Barcelona --Deportivo La Coruna --Man U --Juve --Milan --Inter --Oldham --Rushden and Diamonds --Koln --Leverkusen --Sporting Lisbon --DC United --San Lorenzo --Marseille --Newcastle
in FM05 and '06 I've only done Barcelona. In CM 03/04 I started at Rangers, got sacked went to DC United, won 2 Trophies, got to Man City, then Man Utd and won 3 trophies. Then the game crashed at FM was released.
Argentina: Boca, Newell's Old Boys, Velez England: Accrington Stanley, Bradford City, Carlisle, Man Utd, Nottingham Forest, Notts County, Sheffield Wednesday Germany: HSV, St Pauli, Wolfsburg Holland: NAC Breda, RKC Waalwijk, Vitesse Italy: Bari, Lazio, Napoli, Palermo, Siena, Verona Scotland: East Fife, Livingston, Rangers Spain: Villarreal, Xerez CD Other: Atlético-PR, Besiktas, Cruz Azul, Landskrona, Toulouse National: Argentina, Croatia, England, France, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Scotland
It's interesting to see what people's preferences are, because in FM you get both ends of the spectrum. Some like playing big clubs, others like to try and accomplish the impossible with the crappiest team they can find (like, say, winning the Champions' League with Castel di Sangro.) I tend towards sleeping giants, myself - I'm currently trying to lead Sheffield Wednesday back to the Premiership. From experience, though, I'm in the camp that thinks Athletic Bilbao are the hardest team to manage in the game. Their squad is really good at the beginning of FM06 - Llorente, Orbaiz, and Iraola are all world class - but it becomes damn near impossible after a few seasons because there are simply no good Basque regens.
With 2006, I've started a game with Boston United and another with Chelsea. The former is the one I'm taking more seriously and the latter is pretty much just to see what I can do with tons of money. With Boston, my expectations are to battle against relegation. After ten matches, I'm in fourth place. This despite having four of my ten played matches be against every other team in the top five. Before my most recent match, I was in 6th and my opponent was in 7th. I was considered a long shot to win -- I won 5-0. My biggest problem, though, is injuries, and the mid-season is going to be pretty tough as I just lost my only left-sided midfielder for 3-5 months.
Always start off with America of the mexican league. I wait to get offered other jobs and have so far been at: Atletico Madrid (various times in different FM versions) Arsenal Liverpool Celta Fiorentina Real Madrid Betis Middlesburough and national teams Mexico Colombia Bolivia Denmark Small list overall because I really like to take my time at a club and rebuild with youth players and see my investments pay off
In all versions of CM/FM (I've played the last 8 versions like it was my job), I start a long game with Liverpool, which I play until I make it more than ten years without getting fired, (takes a couple gos sometimes), then I adopt a new team each time. Among the clubs I've managed: England - Man City (when they were in D2), Watford, Darlington, Rushden, Lincoln City, Leyton Orient, Hayes Scotland - Rangers, Hearts USA - D.C. United, Revolution Spain - Barca, Osasuna Italy - Lazio Germany - Schalke France - P.S.G. National Teams - U.S.A, Engerland, Australia (I'm sure I'm leaving some out.) Mind you, I got sacked from several of these within a season. But I won 5 straight European Cups with Darlo. You never know . . .
Hmm.. since the beginning? Many Let think of as many as possible. England-Man Utd, Fulham, Rushden, Bristol Rovers, Macclesfield Italy-Milan, Parma, Napoli Spain-Real Madrid, Barcelona France-Metz, Marsielles Holland-Ajax, de Graapschamp (sp) Germany-Hertha BSC, Hamburg National Teams-Czech Republic, Nigeria, Cameroon, USA
Hertha BSC Everton Slovenia For CM 03/04 Hertha BSC Everton AJ Ajaccio Union Berlin Paris SG Ipswich Town Celta Vigo Willem II Holstein Kiel Germany Croatia