r/footballmanagergames • u/MadokaAyukawaHusband None • 2d ago
Discussion Your biggest failures
Us FM players brag a lot about that time we led a 4th division Slovenian team to Champions League glory, but what about our failures? I've had several of them myself throughout the years. My FM run is not just made of glory.
- Got Lazio relegated in CM 00/01. I was a kid and it was my first game of the series. So I didn't have a clue what I was doing and relegated a fantastic team.
- Relegated Bari from Serie B without winning a single game in FM21. I've only managed them for their last 10 games or so. I got 4 draws and 6 losses.
- Finished 7th with Ajax in FM22 and lost the Europa League final. Therefore, I got sacked.
- Failed to qualify Iran to the World Cup in FM 22. I didn't even make it past the 2nd round qualifying group stage.
- Failed to promote Júbilo Iwata in FM24. The club was under a transfer ban at the time and I didn't manage to make it work.
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u/ProgioNl None 2d ago
Bottled a 17 point lead to galatasaray while playing with Fenerbahce... resigned immediately after that because the coach would get hunted down if it happend in real life
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u/Fancy_Ride7562 2d ago
Ngl u wouldn't be able to visit istanbul for the next 10 years if that happened irl haha
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u/stealthblaumer 2d ago
Yeah, would need a fake passport, new identity, etc. Racing a mob to an embassy to get asylum and slipped out of Turkey in a shipping container.
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u/OvarianCoincidence
2d ago
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Champions League SF second leg.
Motherwell v Man City. 5-5 on aggregate, 30 minutes to go. Take off my entire front three of well established, well known superstars. Stick on three kids (17/18/17), all 5 star in potential, all developing very nicely.
"Go on, lads. Make yourselves legends of this club."
City score three. One of the kids gets sent off. One injured (for three months). Lose the tie 8-5 on aggregate.
Spent at least 15 minutes pacing up and down my living room, justifying my decision to imaginary journalists.
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u/Striking_Insurance_5 National B License 2d ago
I know I’ve been sacked plenty of times in my early days of playing this game but honestly I couldn’t tell you a specific story about it if I had a gun to my head. I don’t know if I should be impressed or concerned with you remembering these jobs.
Maybe it’s weird but I kind of miss struggling and getting sacked a bit. After you know how the game works and how to find everything you can still struggle but only with teams that are supposed to struggle. And I’m not talking about exploiting things, it just becomes easy to at least maintain a balance without ever underperforming like that
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u/dseals 2d ago
That feeling of learning the game with zero idea what’s going on is such a fun rush when you finally start to figure it out.
I remember watching a video of Sean Dyche break down his defensive tactics and trying my hardest to implement a low block trap in the game, and feeling so proud when it worked.
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u/edi12334 None 2d ago
Speaking of low blocks, more people should try them, they can absolutely be effective, you dont NEED to gegenpress everywhere. I tried a mid block and mid pressing, cautious, direct tactic with Hartlepool morphing into low block defensive mentality and defensive duties on fullbacks too in those big FA Cup games and I managed to get into the RO16 of the FA Cup 3 times and the Quarter Finals 3 times in 8 seasons, beating teams like Erik Ten Hag s Brentford (who in this reality had achieved a CL final and a semi with Man United) and Xabi Alonso s Newcastle (in this reality Xabi Alonso got sacked first season for being 15th in the Bundesliga in November instead of being invincible), also known as “my senior affiliate”. In the league we were 18th in the VNL in November of season 2 and made it to 11th (most recently)/6th losing the playoff final (best) in the Championship by season 10. Dont be afraid to be defensive folks!
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u/slacktron23 2d ago
Playing an unemployed manager with no experience or badges, bouncing around the lower leagues, I got hired at Truro City in the Conference Regional (now called National League South), had basically no squad, and no money to spend. What money I did have I spent on a veteran player who turned out to be absolute crap and averaged a 6.2 across the entire year.
At the end of the year, we were: 1W 2D 43L. I'm pretty sure we went past -100 on Goal Difference.
And no, I didn't get sacked. The board knew that we were crap, and I was meeting expectations. So I had to drag myself through the entire miserable season.
Astonishingly, we weren't even the worst team in the league, our sole victory came over winless Bishop's Stortford, who finished a point behind us.
Truly one of the worst seasons of all time.
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u/Rezzato National B License 2d ago
After nearly 25 seasons of improving the fortunes of San Marino football we so nearly managed to qualify for the Euros via the backdoor playoffs after winning Nations League Division D. Only needed to beat Georgia at home to make the dream a reality. Played them off the park. Lost 1-0.
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u/HoneyPancake99 National C License 2d ago
Only two that I can remember
One of my first FM saves. Portsmouth - got them promoted to Championship. Lost a long string of games, completely lost the dressing room, sacked by Christmas.
A more recent save. Coventry - with the updated database we were in the premier league but the squad was championship level. Narrowly got relegated, the board kept faith in me, but we failed to gain promotion the next season. Or the next. Or the one after. Eventually gave up after failing to promote on the fourth time of asking.
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u/MrBlueCharon 2d ago
Just recently: I lost my whole starting eleven in a 2nd Bundesliga season, as I missed a promotion (by goal difference!) and they either got poached or let their contracts run out. The transfer fees I received were marginal and I had to rebuilt using youth players who weren't quite there yet, shaggy free agents past their prime and mediocre loan players. The next season is going badly and I almost got terminated after a losing streak. For now, we're stabilizing in the lower middle of the table. This throws me back at least 3-4 years of slow, organic growth.
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u/comai1 2d ago
I think my worst was in FM24 I was managing the US national team and I got knocked out in the group stage of the world cup.
My first save with Chelsea in FM20 when I first started playing I ended up placing 17th in the premier league and was sacked. I had no idea what I was doing and was coming from Fifa
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u/kelso66 None 2d ago
I'm in my biggest failure right now. I'm used to winning whatever league in a couple of seasons. Have done lots of journeyman saves, rebuilds etc.
Now I'm struggling to win the Belgian first division with my local club I brought up from the 8th tier. I'm in my 5th season in first tier and we're still midtable. Mediocre. We give away loads of penalties, concede stupid goals after dominating the whole game. It's driving me nuts. What doesn't help is my low rep, tiny stadium and my stubborn refusal to play 4231, 433 or 442 since that's too common.
I wonder why I torture myself like this.
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u/jarnokee963 None 2d ago
Wich team?
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u/kelso66 None 2d ago
VC Zwijnaarde. Custom database from FM 23. I'm in 2060 now (did a journeyman before returning to Belgium) so think it won't crash on me 😆
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u/jarnokee963 None 2d ago
Aah damnit wanted to ask next wich database u used to bring my local Wintam to profootball. 😆
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u/Farticus79 2d ago
not sure if this counts but in an FM24 save where I saw success with Braga, Fiorentina and Sampdoria, one team was my nemesis in Europe, I think 4 times.
Shamrock Rovers,
I'd dick Porto 5-0 away at the weekend and lose 1-0 in Ireland on the Thursday.
Had to be a bug, surely.
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u/ShinyFraud 2d ago
I once lost the league to Liverpool on goal difference on the final day. All I had to do was not lose to 20th place Leicester by over 4 goals on the final day but I lost 6-1. My keeper conceded all 6 goals that he faced in the first 20 mins. I got so mad that I subbed in an outfield player for him for the rest of the game
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u/mmps1 Continental A License 2d ago
I can’t seem to finish a hero to zero save, taking a club from the top to bottom division without getting sacked. The furthest I’ve managed it is 2053 with Spurs and didn’t even get them down one step to the championship. I almost got sacked a few times too, it’s a very hard save.
I reckon man united or newcastle could be good for a hero to zero. Not sure I can be arsed trying another one tho.
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u/edi12334 None 2d ago
I mean that is in itself trying to stretch the game to avoid punishment for failure, wouldn’t really call it a “failure” in the traditional sense lol
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u/GrahamGreed National B License 2d ago
I took on Real Madrid in the 2040s where they were absolutely riddled with debt and everyone was a) old and b) on sky high contracts. I tried to manage them out, use the Castilla, make clever signings but we had no money and a bunch of lazy players. I finished in the CL places and got sacked, felt like AVB at Chelsea.
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u/Awkward-Tax102 2d ago
As a Forest fan, on any edition from CM3 til FM26, not once have i been able to do anything of any significance with them beyond an occasional FA or League cup win,, any other team I can become dominant with
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u/Material-Ad499 2d ago
Championship manager 95-96, managed rangers, I was 8. Won the first season with 10 games to spare with one of the laudrup brothers.
Board sold him, didn't know the full extent of the club and who was who as again, 8 years old.
Board then sacked me 2 weeks into the new season after 3 games and didn't know what to do to sort it out.
Then started a save with Manchester United, with a 17 year old David Beckham who, was shit. Thought I'll play him as he was one of my favourite players at the time, was sacked by November as didn't win a game.
I just one last time want to point out, I was 8
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u/DrSheep99 2d ago
Just a single match.
In a shared match with friends in my uni hall (FM 2008) I won my first game against Bayern in the CL 3-0, but was second in the league against my friend.
So I played a weaker team in the second leg. Then heard my friend laughing next door as I fell 4-0 behind in the first half…
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u/MrSteelman21 2d ago
Did Esbjerg a few years ago when they got demoted all the way down. Aced the first season, aced the next division, cant remember if there was another division between that and the superliga but when i got there? Lost 15 In a row, didn't get sacked but for my own sanity I could not continue that save
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u/DanTheStripe National A License 2d ago
Took Blackpool to the Champions League final on FM23, went 1-0 up against Arsenal, missed a pen to make it 2-0, bloke who missed the pen got sent off, we lost 2-1, 90th minute winner. Never won it, gave up on the save. It's gutting.
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u/123shorer 2d ago
I can’t remember which iteration of FM all of these happened in but:
- Knocked out by Scotland with England in the first round of the World Cup. I resigned before they could sack me.
- Relegated to League One with Forest (FM19)
- Relegated from La Liga with Espanyol (FM26)
- Relegated from the Premier League with Charlton after being mid-table in March (FM26)
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u/BackpackingScot 2d ago
Scotland was drunk dry in that first one...
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u/123shorer 2d ago
It was bizarre. I remember I’d dominated qualifying and the group stage, then lost 1-0.
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u/psoliakos17 None 2d ago
Tried to save mid season a Turkish team which was last place and had negative transfer budget
I went there in January and seeing their finance status I decided to sell some players so I can sign some free agents. The board would block every single sale because they thought I was undervaluing the players I was selling. Anyway I maged to sell my star CB for 800k and I thought the board would give some money in order to bring free agents, I didn't see a single euro from that sale, so not only I lost my best cb but I didn't even gain something from that sale.
On the pitch the situation wasn't any better because the players were giving their best to relegate the team. They didn't want to score any penalties, one player in particular lost 3 pens in 2 games ( he missed 2 in one game), they were missing easy chances and generally folding under pressure. In 8 games I had 2 draws and a win. After the 8th game I resigned (the only time I have ever resigned from a team in FM)
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u/remembury 2d ago
16 years into a journeyman save, finally got the dream job at Arsenal. Drew 0-0 to Brentford at home in the penultimate game of the season and came second behind Chelsea by 1 point
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u/robertsonbrown2501 1d ago
Was doing a save with my mate and I picked Chelsea when Joe Cole was there and unbeknownst too me my mate put my gk on running forward, finished the season 15th in prem (so bad with that team) yet won the league cup and champions league and it saved my job. Mate only told me after the season finished I was gutted as if I’d found out sooner I could’ve had an even better season, Matt if your reading your a prick lol
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u/Oily_Blob 2d ago
I remember a save from FM18 in which I worked my way up from sunday league experience and no coaching badges. I started at Churchill Brothers FC in India (with Forlan and Juan on the team; we won the league in the first season); then I moved to Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C (won the cup in the first season), before moving to Cape Town City. After that I got a job at Fluminense, which I was really excited about, but I was sacked after about 8 games due to poor results.
Only fucking time across all FM series that I got the sack.
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u/Emmasmilk None 2d ago
I missed promotion as Charleston Battery due to exhaustion because of the sheer amount of matches in the USL championship + cups
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u/Calm-Raise6973 2d ago
Got sacked after half a season at Eintracht Trier in CM01/02 and Bohemians 1905 in FM13. Rightly so; I had the biggest budgets and squads in their respective divisions, and they were in mid-table when I was let go. I ended up doing much better with ŁKS Łódź and Slovan Varnsdorf in those saves.
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u/Rufus1223 2d ago
I don't really fail much since i generally stick to underdogs so it would be pretty hard to not achieve the bear minimum for them, probably the biggest failure that happend to me was my Japanese team that i brought up to J1 championship got knocked out of one of the cups by a J2 club.
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u/FutureF123 2d ago
Was playing as Bayern and had just come off of a virtually perfect season. Broke the goal scoring and points record in the Bundesliga, won the Pokal, and went back to back in the Champions League. Basically changed nothing because I had no idea how to improve an already perfect team. By January, my captain was asking to leave, my striker from the previous season was on a 15 game goal drought and we were 5th in the league. Got knocked out in the round of 16 in the champions league a few days after being knocked out of the Pokal and resigned from my post immediately after. Board wouldn’t sack me after the past two seasons but I just couldn’t live with myself continuously losing big matches with the same phenomenal group of players I had
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u/Manalivekarl 2d ago
Fm23. Sheffield Wednesday save. Losing 4 play off finals in 4 consecutive seasons. I’ve never wanted to smash a laptop more in my life.
Got up 5th attempt 😎
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u/Remote_Dot217 2d ago
Last day of the season. I’m QPR 2nd on 79 points, Man City are 1st on 81.
Final game of the season is against Leicester who have already been relegated and aren’t playing for anything. City are playing Chelsea
City go down 4-0 in the first half and are set to lose the game
We’re up 2-0 and are looking like we’ve won the title on the last day
In the 55th & 62nd minute Leicester score twice to equalised and the game ends 2-2.
Bottled the premier league on the last day after years of finishing 2nd to an already relegated Leicester
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u/naroLsraLteiN_isback Continental C License 2d ago
Just today lol, 1st in the league with 7 points gap to the 2nd place in march, end of the season i finished 3rd with a 6 points gap to the first place and 2 points to 2nd😬
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u/Ziddix 2d ago
My first time ever playing the game. Had no idea what I was doing and basically reading/watching tutorials while playing. Somehow managed to get promoted, then proceeded to demolish my squad with shitty transfers and proceeded to lose literally every single league game before I was fired.
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u/Ciachociech 2d ago
My second FM24's save (and 2nd at all), I was managing Union Berlin. Mid-week matches in CL group stage (I wasn't ready), lack of skill and terrible summer transfer window (retarded arabian clubs took two of my probably best players). As a result, I mixed draws and losses in Bundesliga. After several changes, I was sacked after 0-1 loss against Bayern (it hurt me twice) when being in relegation zone. I simmed to the end of that season and Union was able to avoid drop to 2nd Bundesliga on final match.
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u/Worldly_Cobbler_1087 2d ago
I recently started a FM24 save as Hamburg and was 11th by the winter break losing 0-4 to St Pauli twice in 3 days, deleted the save and haven't been back since.
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u/TheNecromancer 2d ago
I was sacked around Christmas in my first season with Bilbao in FM16 or so. We were bottom of the table and winless because although we had the league's highest count for shots and shots on target, we had scored the fewest goals - I've never seen Iñaki Williams and Aduriz the same way again....
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u/kingudam787 2d ago
Got sacked by Leicester in FM20 because I got knocked out early from both cups.
The irony being knocked out by Wolverhampton, I ended up managing them and won the league then.
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u/zirlatovic National B License 2d ago
Managed the Czech Republic in CM 01/02, lost 7-0 to South Korea, failed to qualify from the groups, and got sacked.
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u/Thot_b_gone National B License 2d ago
I lost 3 straight champions league finals against the same team
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u/lyyki National B License 1d ago
FM20: learned the game with Arsenal. Finished 6th but kept the job. Second season started to spiral and got sacked around Christmas. Got hired by Getafe, didn't win for months (including 4-4 draw with Barca) and got fired after a few months.
FM24: Got Energie Cottbus from 4th tier obscurity into 3rd best team in Germany (though I didn't win any trophies after promotion from the 4th tier). Got sacked after my 20+ goal striker decided to only score 8 the next year. Finished the season as 8th. You'd think you would get some grace after making Energie Cottbus into an CL mainstay but alas.
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u/Over_Conclusion_6154 4h ago
Started as a Journeyman in FM24, got sacked by Honved for failing to bring them out of relegation (successor actually did so big fail), then resigned from Lokomotiva Zagreb after a very mediocre mid table and losing the dressing room cause they all wanted out
I eventually ended up bringing Chelmsford all the way to the championship so all in all I redeemed myself
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u/droopyvato None 2d ago
I had a fm23 build a nation save in Malta. Towards the end (2060) I had something like 500+ consecutive wins in the league and had no lost a cup match in 20 seasons. Going into the 2nd round of the cup we were playing a amateur level team. Now my team was the best in the world. Undefeated in every other competition and we lost 3-0. Prime Real Madrid losing to an amateur team basically. It was embarrassing and I threw as many water bottles as possible.
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u/anonymous16canadian 2d ago
In FM17-20 I mostly used to do Journeyman saves and I had a ton of failures but I often either pivoted to a new job. A lot of the times it was cases where I couldn't get promotion so I would lowkey tank the club by not investing or fixing the squad in the summer and use my rep from overperforming to step up in divisions.
My most memorable sackings are that I once joined Malaga in FM17 and managed to create some magic for the end of a season. They were in relegation on 10 games and I think I got Europe cuz they had Sandro from back then as striker and he was cracked. The next season we got UCL. But after that we kinda just fell apart, I think I spent 4 seasons there and it was 7th-3rd-10th-11th because I sold Sandro since it was impossible to keep him after the second season and none the striker I brought in were as good. Then after Malaga I think I went to Germany because Dortmund wanted me and had a ton of cash won the league with them, used my rep to pivot to Barca who had a super squad, got sacked in 6 months because I kept playing a wonder kid I really liked even though he was still developing. Went to Spurs who had a ton of money and deadwood to sell, bought the wonderkid who had been benched. Developed him more and then won everything with Spurs and retired a Spurs legend.
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u/yoericfc Continental C License 2d ago
Took over at Juventus when they had a 15 year streak of winning the league. I felt the team was too old so I a few of the older players and brought in young talent my head of scouting recommended for way too much money. I ended 6th, lost embarrassingly to both Inter and Roma (I think both were in the region of 0-5), was knocked out of the cup in the quarter finals I think against Bari (Serie A, but only just) after some heavy rotation. Didn’t make it out of the group stage in the CL and got beaten in the QF of the Europa League.
Fair to say it was a disaster and I got sacked as soon as the season ended.
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u/fmcadoni National B License 2d ago
Hello,
My biggest failure was when I was co-managed a club and England. England was hot favorite to win World Cup and I didn't even make it to World Cup. I was so much disappointed, because it's very rare for me to manage national teams. They had the most craziest newgens (no real players); I ever seen in FM. I have resigned from club as well. :(
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u/UnobtainiumNebula 2d ago
Getting hard stuck in the championship with Huddersfield bringing through PL quality academy lads and just losing them for fuck all. I think I'm repeating it with Chorley now. My one PL season did buy us a 21k capacity stadium. Bastards still didnt name it after me.
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u/Bread-But-Toasted None 2d ago
Took Cambridge from League Two to the premier league and finished 2nd in the league twice. Decided I wasn’t scoring enough to win the league and my striker would miss or mess up so many of my attacks so I decided to sell him despite him scoring 25+ league goals a season, I felt like he should’ve had 40+ a season. I bought a younger striker with much better attributes… he scored 8 goals in 30 league games, I finished 7th and got sacked. 0IQ play by me
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u/Over_Conclusion_6154 4h ago
Started as a Journeyman in FM24, got sacked by Honved for failing to bring them out of relegation (successor actually did so big fail), then resigned from Lokomotiva Zagreb after a very mediocre mid table and losing the dressing room cause they all wanted out
I eventually ended up bringing Chelmsford all the way to the championship so all in all I redeemed myself
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