I still needed a centre back and a left back but since I was already over the wage budget I had to try to secure those players on loan. I made several offers, more than 30 if I remember correctly, but in the end only one of these players accepted to come to Dorchester for the season. I guess he might not have read the papers properly when he signed them but I was extremely happy that he did: left back Lee Molyneux from Southampton accepted to join us until June 2011!
And that was all, five players in plus one on loan. I sold six of my players but didn’t get a penny out of the transfer income due to the club’s poor financial status. I also offloaded all the players from this year’s youth intake, there were nine of them. I felt that it was better for these young lads to forget about football, there was no trace of talent in them. So I sent them home with letters for their parents saying something like this: «Dear Sir/Madam, Please take care of your son and, if possible, give his football boots to somebody else.»
Here’s how my 23 man squad looks like, they are all the players that I have at the club… Some of the Romanians were sold but I still have 9 of them, 6 English players, two Dutch players, two Argentinians, one from Ireland, one from Wales, one from the Czech Republic and a Spanish midfielder. Most of them are under 23 years of age but there are a few older players like 39 year old Czech midfielder Lasota.
My assistant manager is quite optimistic, I hope he’s right.
The team did pretty well in the friendly games, we only lost two of them but concluded the pre-season campaign with a great performance and a 1-0 win over Pompey Reserves. Unfortunately striker Biagini got injured during that game and he will be out for no less than 7 weeks! :(
The media prediction was… predictable, they say that we would finish last. The bookmakers thing that there is something better in store for us, they say that we have an outside chance for promotion!
I really don’t know what to expect but from what I’ve seen during the friendly games I guess we could finish somewhere in mid-table, maybe even higher. My main concern is that our squad is very slim, an injury crisis would surely give me a mountain of unsolvable problems. I guess we’ll need some luck too…
Thanks a lot for reading my friends, what do you think about my new signings?
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Ana Garcia
16 июня, 2010 at 12:44
Wow, some really good signings Johnny!
Jaunje and el Kadi look really good for the level you will playing at.
Hopefully they settle well into your setup and help you get your top half finish!
Best of luck.
Lye
16 июня, 2010 at 14:21
Hi mate,the two midfield players are pretty good and they should serve you well at this level. I am waiting to see how your team stands this season. You still have a lot of good players from last season squad so i believe you should grab at least a play-off spot.
Callum
16 июня, 2010 at 15:04
good luck johnny think you will do quite well if you don’t get plagued by injuries some really good signings you have a great midfield :)
Majk
16 июня, 2010 at 15:18
Some very good signings there Johnny! I’m sure you’ll challenge for at least a play-off spot.
It’s tough to see the economic situation at the club, I’m having the same issues with Basingstoke. It feels like someone is sucking the money through some unseen backpocket.
Johnny Karp
16 июня, 2010 at 17:20
@Ana
Thanks, I’m quite eager to see those two midfielders in action. They played well in the friendlies so I hope they will do well in the league too.
@Lye
Thanks for the confidence, a play-off spot would be just wonderful. :)
@Callum
Thanks mate, I hope that my physio won’t have too much work to do.
@Majk
Thanks. Maybe you should call the police so they could ask your board a few questions :)
Sears
16 июня, 2010 at 17:29
Johnny — Great signings there , you’ll surly battle for a play off spot. Also , how did you get so much forign players to join your club ? In my game when I try with a lower league team there attributes don’t come up or my assistant doen’s tell me which ones will join and which ones won’t join ? Goodluck!
Johnny Karp
16 июня, 2010 at 17:42
Thanks Sears. I can’t get assistant or scout reports for those players, I just have to assess their skills on my own. I’m not sure if you refer to attribute masking, I turned that off in my game.
Laxeyman
16 июня, 2010 at 18:22
Hi Johnny, the two midfielders look really good and you’ve made some other good signings too. I think you can achive at least mid table, but good luck with injuries, or they could be a problem.
Vinners
16 июня, 2010 at 19:39
Hey, I have read every one of your posts from your Notts Country story and this story. This is the first time I have decided to post, I don’t consider myself as a FM master or anything. But my credentials are that I took Reading to the premiership and won Champions League, Premiership, League and FA cup in one season. In my current game I took AFC Wimbledon from the Blue Square South to League two, then swapped to Wycombe and gained promotion and currently I am 2nd after 16/46 games (I had a 2000-1 bookies rating). I also took Greece to the quarters of the world cup in my Reading game and I am currently with Jamaica but they are poor.
Anyway, I was just going to ask why is there a necessity to have a parent club, I cannot find one either for Wycombe but I just looked for any club which is offering their player on loan then try and pick them up for as cheap as possible. But like I said I probably don’t know FM as well as you.
Oh finally, I play FM 09.
Johnny Karp
16 июня, 2010 at 21:35
@Vinners
Thanks a lot for following the stories here. You did pretty well with your teams, those are very good results. About the parent team, there are a few advantages: they are more likely to accept loan offers for their players from you, they won’t require wage contributions and the most important thing is that their players too are more likely to accept the loan offer. So I guess it would be a big advantage for a small club like Dorchester since most players refuse to come here on loan. Why didn’t you switch to FM 2010?
Vinners
16 июня, 2010 at 23:47
Ah that makes sense, I do have problems where my scout tells me they’d be interested to come on loan, then they reject me. Well that justifies me trying to get a parent club. I don’t really know why I didn’t get FM10 I guess I just need considering I had FM09 but I’ll probably get FM11 once it comes out.
Sears
17 июня, 2010 at 11:44
Johnny, how would you come about turning off attribute masking ? Is it in prefences? Thanks.
Johnny Karp
17 июня, 2010 at 14:56
@Sears
I don’t know for sure but I think that you can do it only when you start a new game, when you select your team, database and so on there is also an option about attribute masking. You should however check in preferences, I can’t open the game right now to check.
Kevin
17 июня, 2010 at 17:11
Hi Johnny
Some really good signings and pre-season results. I like the capture of Lee Molyneux as well. I think he’s a good player. The 23 year old from Den Hagg is not bad either. Best wishes for the new season.
Johnny Karp
17 июня, 2010 at 17:15
Thanks Kevin. I just hope they will stay fit for as long as possible.
Sears
17 июня, 2010 at 20:50
Ok I’ll try find it , thanks Johnny. My exams are nearly finished so I can start playing the game again soon ! Thanks for your help , much appricated.
MO
18 июня, 2010 at 17:33
Hello
I like your story, i have followed the Notts County story as well. Good luck for next season.
PS: Can you show me how to save your football manager game, so if your game crashes, you already have a save to continue from?
Thank You
Johnny Karp
18 июня, 2010 at 17:39
@MO
Thanks a lot for reading the stories. I always save my game to multiple files, you can select that in the preferences: rolling auto save on (every game week)and save to multiple files. That way if the game crashes and you are unable to load the saved game you will always have a backup save game file that you can use. It might not give you the chance to continue exactly from where you left off but it still is a good backup.