Football Manager 2009

[BabyBear]

On my wedding in July, I got the game football Manager 2009 as present I really like this kind of game, but was still playing an old version (2006 I think).

When I started the game, it seems a lot has changed, and it was hard for me to feel confortable with a team and to find a good playing style. After a quick try-out game, where the result wasn't important but learning the new functionalities was, I now started a new game to play for a long time

Since I want to build up my career from scratch, I started the game as unemployed. So the first task was to find a good team where I could start . Looking at the available spots, I applied to a whole bunch of them, but in the end there were 2 teams still competing for my training skills. In the end I picked a team from the Blue Square South named 'Braintree'. The expectations of the team was to end within the top five of the league. The transfer budget I had was only 2k which is suitable to buy... nothing.

Within the first matches, I tried to find out the strengths of my team and to find a tactic which benefits the team the most. In the end it was easy to find that Braintree has a good midfield (for their league). So I didn't had to buy additional players for that part of my team. I could use an extra defender and my assistant manager was able to help me with that by recommending one. The defender was also worth 2k, so that was all my transfer budget spend for the season. I also wanted an extra forward. Braintree has 2 decent forwards, but once one of them would be injured (which was allready the case in the beginning of the season), I didn't had a good back up.
I thought the easiest way to solve this issue was to loan one, but I was not able to find one that wanted to come to my team I even tried to find a 'mother club' for my team, but this also failed. In the end I found a belgian striker without a team. The player itself wasn't that good, but during his trail, I found out that when he was in my team, the other striker was scoring easier then before... Seems like it is a good distraction for my opposition.

Now I could get started to my season. Currently I'm halfway through my season and my team really plays well. I even had a winning streak of 12 games in a row. Thanks to that I'm on the number 1 spot with 7 points infront of the second team. (after 25 games). The biggest benefit of my team is that they have a very good stamina. In most of my games I made the difference in the second half of the game, sometimes even in the last few minutes.
I also had a decent run in the FA Cup, I went through all qualification rounds, but lost heavily 4-0 against southend in the first round (team 3 divisions higher as me).
Currently I'm also still playing in the Conference League Cup and the FA throphy. I'm even in the finals of the Conference League Cup O.o I had to play to some Blue Square Premier teams, but never one of those top teams (14th place in BSP was highest ranked I played against). So I have been really lucky with the drawings. The semi-finals was also against a BSS team (Team Bath). I always let my best players rest before a cup game to get a good result. And this seemed to have helped me a lot. (Cup game mostly is 3 days after a league game). It seemed that the opposition sometimes were still tired of their previous league game where my players were cruising.
I hope i'm able to hold my good league position until the end of the season to gain promotion to the Blue Square Premier. I think it's really necessary for my team, as I don't know if I will be able to revitalize my financial situation otherwise if I need to stay in the BSS for another season.

Do you also play football manager 2009? Please post some of your stories, also any tips and tricks that could help me out would also be appreciated Or do you know some good players which are really cheap....

[BabyBear]

Just a little excited as i'm progressing through my season. I was able to reach the quarter finals of the FA Throphy. This will also be the first time I will be challenged with one of the top teams in the Blue Square Premier (Kettering Town, currently on 3rd position). Hopefully I'm able to set a good result.

Within the competition there are 30 games played now. I lost my last one against one of my competitors for the title (AFC Wimbledon) with 1-0 , but luckily I'm still 7 points in front. The main reason for this loss is actually that I played with my second squad as 3 days later I had to play the Conference League Cup final against Rushden.

In the Conference League Cup final, I was able to use all my best players and none of them were tired (Their current condition was all higher as 95%). My opposition on the other hand had an average condition of 89%. So I was really hoping that this would really benefit my team within the game. In the first half hour, there weren't many chances until all of a sudden my right winger made a long cross into the box of my opposition and my striker was able to score with a diving header. From that point I changed the instructions of my team from 'Attacking' to a normal playing style and I managed to keep the lead until half time. After half time I kept using the same strategy. Just playing around the ball so the opposition can't catch it. It's a boring style of playing, but victory was more important for me at that time . After 60 minutes of playing, Rushden finally started to create some chances and were even close to equalize. But again luck was on my side when after 70 minutes the referee gave me an easy penalty (actually harsh for Rushden). And I was 2-0 infront . I thought, looking at the display of my team, this is a game I can't lose anymore. But 3 minutes after my penalty, Rushden was able to score a lucky goal 2-1. The last 15 minutes were really nail biting, but when after 92 minutes the striker of Rushden missed the chance to equalize, when he was through on goal, the referee signalled the end of the game and Braintree won their first Cup in the 111 year they existance So letting my players have a good rest before this final really paid off.

I hope that the 3 points I lost in the competition to prepare for this final won't hurt my title chances though.

[BabyBear]

After winning the Conference League Cup, everything went downhill in my season and my team got into a negative spiral. I lost 2 of my games in the league and I lost both games against Kettering Town in the FA throphy Semi Finals (seems return games had to be played in the semi finals for this competition).

Something had to be done to keep my team in their excellent league position as I'm feeling the breath of my competitors for the title. After my first request for a mother club didn't had any result, I was now able to make a second request to the boards (the option became available again). This time they suggested 3 teams. MK dons (Coca Cola league 1 team), West Ham United (Premier League) and Alfreton (or something like that Coca Cola League 2).
Out of those 3 teams I requested to the board to have an agreement with West Ham. They agreed to it and immediat after the agreement was made, West Ham even suggested to loan one of their forwards to my team (Zavon Hines).
With this reinforcement within my team I was able to finish on the top spot in the Blue Square South with Hines scoring 10 goals in the last 10 games of the competition.

So to summarize the season... Winning the competition (Blue Square South), reached 1st round of FA Cup (lost against Southend CCL1), Won Conference League Cup (against Rushden) and reached the Semi-Finals of the FA Throphy (lost against Kettering). Which I think is actually a good result from starting with a BSS team



Within the transfer season, I was able to perform some incoming transfers. I was able to get:
- a new winger (natural position both left and right). With very good stats on pace and acceleration.
- A new central defender with average defending stats.
- A new right side defender, scouts told me it would be a good addition to most Coca League 2 teams and would grow out to one of the better players in the Coca Cola League 1. Since I'm currently only playing in the Blue Square Premier competition... this certainly was a great transfer... even because the player was on a free transfer.
- I hired a keeper from West Ham (my mother club)
- and I was able to increase the length of Zavon Hines (forward) loan with 8 months.
- I promoted one of my youth players to my senior squad. A player with average stats for both central defender and central midfielder positions. This is something I try to do every year... promote atleast 1 player from my youth squad to play with my first team.

Since my team allready was rather a competitive team against Blue Square Premier teams looking at the cup games of last season. I didn't went on a spending spree to get in new players. Also my finances and the board wouldn't have allowed it. ( I currently have a small debt)

The preparations of the competition went with up and downs, but my team was ready for the first game against Harrogate (winner of the Blue Square North of last season) or so I thought. My team had a lot of motivation and good will... but the referee didn't seemed to like it. After playing 25 minutes, one of my central defenders got his second yellow card by showing to much enthusiasm in one of his tackles. And I continued the game with 3 defenders (instead of 4) 5 minutes later I was very lucky to receive a goal as my opposition made an own goal. Before the game was 40 minutes far... my other central defender could go for a shower... again 2 yellow cards. I took my forward Zavon Hines (seemed to have a small injury) from the field and replaced him buy my youth product... talking about a debut. Before the end of the first half was there, Harrogate was able to score the equalizer. During the half time talk, I reshaped my tactics and played on the counter attack... (not much of a choice here). My youth product played a very good game and was able to keep the attackers of the opposition away from my goal. He had help though from the goalie in some occasions. Good I loaned him from West Ham.
After 15 minutes into the second half, one of the opposition players played the ball back through the keeper from the halfway line... not a good plan it seemed as again Harrorgate scored an own goal... a flattered 1-2 lead for Braintree (my team ^^). After a hard battle in the last 30 minutes my team got victorious in their first game of the new competition. The victory didn't came as easy as planned, but I always like to win the first game of the competition to get my team in a certain flow from the start.

Currently i'm 6 games into the new season and I was able to win all of them (even the away game against Kettering... the main contender for the title). The only difference I currently see with last season is that this season I'm really lucky to win some of my games, as last season it was because I really played better. By looking at the games I played this season and last season, I think I will be able to end in the top half of the Blue Square Premier competition and compete for promotion to the Coca League 2 the season after. This season next to a top half position, the most important thing I need to look after is my finances... I really want to get out of this small debt....

[Detomah]

Your making me want to play the game again, it's lke a really hard core drug for me, why I try to stay well away for them though, I missed far too much of my education as a kid due to the very original Football Manager and with these modern ones there's enough in them to completely take over your life.

Once I finish some of the work i've got on and my course, I may just treat myself for a couple of weeks though.

I do really enjoy reading your playing accounts though, missed them in your absense.