Ploughing A Lonely Furrow

[Robson]

Following a couple of months contemplating where I go with FM21, I return with a save much closer to home in the English leagues.


English football will hopefully bring about some nostalgia + familiarity although I’ve found a club that I don’t recall myself ever having a proper save with or maybe even managing at all. I’m heading to East Anglia and for a fresh challenge with Ipswich.


Ipswich Town


Synonymous with our nickname, The Tractor Boys, this area is known as much these days for its farming than its football, although that wasn’t always the case. In the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s Ipswich was not only a regular name in the top tier but they challenged the big boys, won cups and were renowned for some pretty nice football. They produced two of England’s finest managers, Sir Alf Ramsay and Sir Bobby Robson as well as a number of international players like Mick Mills, Terry Butcher, John Wark and Paul Mariner to name but a few.


By the 90’s though Ipswich began crumbling as evidenced by a record 9-0 defeat to Man Utd in 1995. A couple of relegations were repaired with promotions but they finally left the top flight in 2001 and didn’t return. Then after years of Championship mediocrity they fell down another step to the 3rd tier (League One) in 2019 where I pick them up having finished 11th last season, the club's lowest finish since 1953.


The club has had debts during these times but now as I arrive these appear to have finally been cleared although we have next to no money for the season ahead. Big contracts and the ability to buy players is initially going to be a problem.


So as I open the doors to the training ground, what awaits me, and just how big a challenge is this going to be to turn things around?

[Marshdweller]

I shall follow this with interest! I'm not too far down the road in North Essex so Ipswich are (were?) the biggest club in the vicinity and until the last couple of years an annual trip to Portman Road to see Forest lose or draw was always on the cards. Despite the fact that they never surrendered the three points easily, I have a small soft spot for Ipswich. Also, Luke Chambers was a good player for Forest and I kept half an eye on how he was doing with them.

[Robson]

So, as I hit the training ground, I count no less than 71 players (counting a handful away on loan). A first team squad of 27; 25 in the U23’s; 19 in the U19’s. What we aint got in quality, we sure have in quantity.  It isn’t too bad actually for the level we’re at. Let’s quickly summarise the situation by team report:

• General – one of the older (26.27) and taller squads in League One.
• All Positions – well above average in every category though top in none. Strong and hard working.
• Goalkeepers – holy moly, abysmal. Fairly rubbish at…everything.
• Defenders – pretty good across the board, particularly marking but no pace. We have a few defenders turned 30.
• Midfield – solid in every category and good teamwork.
• Forwards – good in the air but once gain no pace.

In summary, physically poor, mentally above average and technically pretty good.  Drilling down to the individuals: -

• Andre Dozzell and Teddy Bishop are decent and I need them to fulfil their potential before its too late.
• Stephen Ward and Luke Chambers are experienced leaders with a very important role to play.
• Flynn Downes and Luke Woolfenden are the two best players we currently have.

TL;DR see below at a glance. And yes, I'm proposing to go 4-4-2.  Seems fairly sensible to me at this level.



I’m thinking I should loan out another 3 or 4 players for experience and maybe loan in a couple of good youngsters from bigger clubs perhaps to find a little bit of pace, oh and a keeper. If anyone notable does join, I will make a quick mention later.  And one last thing, we have a tremendous Head of Youth Development by the name of Bryan Klug.  If you get the chance, look him up in your own game.

[Robson]

Thank you guys for a couple of likes and comment, it may seem small, but it is really appreciated.  Let me update with a league caption at the exact halfway.



Oh my.  Double the pointage...  I really feel we are having a tremendous season but the two teams above us, Tigers & Pompey, are on for 106pts and 100pts respectively which quite frankly would be obscene and I'll take my hat off - in 3rd place - if they go on to do that.

We have been completely under the cosh financially.  I didn't manage to sell or buy anyone at the start of the season, so the squad is what it is currently.  I like us but I have noticed that lack of pace and how our defence can not handle anything above a standard defensive line.

Our strikers are costing us the most though.  Tactically I can handle the defensive limitations but if we want to be better (100 pts?) then we have to score more and take the prolific amount of chances created.  Woolfendean (7.23) and Downes (7.10) have indeed been two of our best players so far.  Lankester has 12 goals; and Dozzell has 8 assists.

As a start, its pretty good but I want promotion from this level at the first attempt so game on.  Again if I can squeeze out a deal or two I'll come back for short reply.

[Dirk Nowitzki]

English saves seem popular these days!
That's a very good start to the season. It looks like the top 4 teams are clearly better than the rest, and hopefully the other teams start dropping some more points here and there, which is often the case. Perhaps you can bring in a striker on loan to give you that offensive push you need?
Keep it up, I'll be following!

[Marshdweller]

Given how long the season is and the gap only being three points, I reckon you're in with a very good chance of grabbing one of the automatic spots. Good luck with the rest of the season! I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on.

[Robson]

Klug has gone early with this shout.  First season of my save and he's dropping in the "golden generation" big talk.

[Marshdweller]

Nice to see the Dutch connection with Ipswich still going strong.

[jawzy]

I miss Martin Rueser.

[Robson]

Not normally one for interim posts but this automatic promotion race verges on epic.  Look at our goal differences.

Quick mention that in the last couple of days of the winter window there was a mini flurry of small transfer dealings.  Allowing 1 or 2 to go whose contracts were low, a bit of loan business, and a couple of names in that were in the beggar's corner of the transfer list.  It just freshened things a little.

Eyes now on the prize, 6 games to go.

[Marshdweller]

Good luck!

[Robson]

From Bad to Worse to Despair
On the 1st of May, with a game to go, the table read Hull 95; ITFC 94; Pompey 92.

A week later, Hull lost whilst Pompey won 6-1 meaning they would finish level on points.  For us a draw would have won the league, as would a win but we lost at home 0-1 to Fleetwood.  We were a little jaded condition wise and it was a big game but the result was truly inexplicable.



Worse Follows
Charlton were beaten over two legs leaving us MK Dons at Wembley where we lost 1-2 in the play-off final.  94 points and 90 league goals (or 93 if you include the play-offs) over a whopping 49 games (plus cups) and it wasn't enough to get out of this division and we will have to do it all again.

Despair Finally
Our chairman Marcus Evans has responded by going haywire with the finances.  We have next to no money and certainly none for any transfers, so he cuts my transfer revenue percentage to 10%.  He then has the great idea to slash the wage budget to 85k per week.  When you are already spending 125k per week these combined measures mean letting players go and even if you sell someone the benefits are meagre.

A job going well has suddenly become much tougher.  Time to regroup and sort things out.

[Marshdweller]

Ah man, that's tough to take, and the cut to the wage budget just adds insult to injury. I'll be very interested to see what you do over the summer.

Great season otherwise though!

[Dirk Nowitzki]

Ouch, that one hurts.
Are you in the red, or do you think cutting the wage budget is related to the salary cap in League One?
I hope you can find some cheap players that strengthen you squad and go all the way next season.

[jawzy]

There is a small plus side, your balance after the summer should look healthier with Ipswich season ticket sales being rather good. So maybe come january your chairman might loosen the purse abit

[Robson]

FM Finances 101
One thing I have become pretty good at with the FM series is unravelling difficult financial issues. I’ve taken on a few such cases at clubs in various saves.


At the start of this save ITFC had about £2.3m in the bank if I remember correctly but no transfer budget or room with the wage budget. The reason for this, as it turns out, is because we were about to lose £200-250k per month. Thus, come the end of the season the balance was about nil.


Now that pot does refill a little bit by itself as you receive money for things like sponsorship renewals, maybe TV via the league and even some from previous (stage payment) transfers. But of course, that is all going to disappear once again over the following season. And I suppose to help the new budget last longer the Chairman is thinking, no new transfers and reduce the outgoings on wages.


It’s a shoestring operation. So here is what I did.

1. Restore the wage level to the adjusted budget. First you let go any loanees; then sell any worthless players you didn’t use much (transfer fee almost irrelevant, it's purely a cost cutting exercise); then release any veterans at the end of their contract (e.g. Luke Chambers and Stephen Ward). Finally demolish half the youth setup. Remember my 2nd post and 71 players being at the club? Well, I let about 30 of them go as 3-star potential at League One is not a player worth investing in.
   
2. Only when the wages are restored, go and ask the Chairman to review the transfer revenue percentage. I got mine back up to about 50%.
   
3. Then and only then sell someone meaningful, someone with a value but who's easily replaceable. Ipswich had 1 or maybe 2 like this I could sacrifice.
   

The wage is now well within budget plus 50% of those sales drop into the transfer kitty. I then reduce the transfer budget to expand the wage budget even further.


At this point, I have still kept the core of the squad together, and we are good to actually go shopping again for free transfers and loanees.

[jt]

Loving the save so far and gutted you didn't get promotion. However it makes it an even better story as you didn't get success straight away and it will only make that success feel even better.

Great explanation on how you have coped with the finances. Looking forward to hearing how season 2 goes!

[Robson]

Season 2 Starts Here
With players flocking out of the club I surprised myself by only bringing in five replacements.  Loic Mbe Soh returns on loan from Forest, whilst Lewis Wing and Marcus Tavernier are borrowed from M'Boro.  Tyler Smith was attained on a free from Sheffield Utd, and lastly Steve Seddon was the only purchase for around 40k.

I have retained Dozzell and Bishop who are both massively injury prone and the likes of Lankester, Downes, Huws plus I have made the guy pictured below, Woolfenden, the new captain.



On paper I would say we are about the same strength as the previous season but the media have gone for us in big way, favourites for the league and actually odds-on with the bookmakers for promotion.

Not Seeing Eye-to-Eye With The Chairman
Let me give you an example of this relationship.  A lot of clubs are sniffing around a young talent we have at the club by the name of El Mizouni.  I am keeping a close eye on his development myself as I can sniff a possible sale, at the right time, for the right price.

In the end clubs started bidding and at first I got an offer of £6m cash on the nose from Palace.  By the next negotiation I moved the amount up to £8.5m, also all up front, from Brighton.  So what does the Chairman do?  To my amazement he accepts an offer from Leeds - too good for the club to refuse - only it's less at £7.25m with only £1.6m up front.  The so called £5.6m of bonus add-ons may not have been realised either as they were so conditional on appearances for club and country.  What a complete moron.

The best bit here though comes from S.I.  All these deals to English clubs fell down on work permits as he is Tunisian without enough points.  This would appear to mean the player blames me for apparently blocking his move and so he then doesn't turn up to training.  You can't make up the shenanigans!  

Full Circle
I broke from the 442 midway last season but we have started the new season very, very slowly.  So the 442 will be coming back out again.  Finances are a bit stronger and if El Mizouni can be sold before Xmas I might be able to strengthen the team in January.

[Marshdweller]

Mbe Soh looks like a decent player in this version, so hopefully he'll be good for you as you mount a successful promotion campaign!

[Robson]

Mid Season News
We started so slowly it was painful, hovering around 10th place or lower until the Autumn.  Any longer and fans, players or the board might have become restless.  It was therefore a good decision to relaunch the 442, and when I did, things then fell into place.  We went on one long run after another to top the table as we head toward Spring.

The El Mizouni transfer sage flattered to deceive and amounted to nothing as it seemed to dawn on clubs that they would struggle to register him under the new rules at least until he is a fully seasoned and regular international with an array of caps for Tunisia.  However this wasn't the only transfer news...



We have broken the club record not once but twice as I sold my two favourite players at the club who also happen to be our best ones.  Each was a club record sale.  First, when I got the offer for Woolfenden I scoured the markets for a replacement before sanctioning the deal.  In the end I was happy to take Owen Otasowie on loan from Wolves bot that's only until the end of the season.  I just felt the value was too good to ignore and made a business decision.

Similar happened again on Jan deadline day.  When I negotiated Stoke up to £9m for Downes, it was more than enough.  I've converted Lewis Wing (M'boro} from a loan to a full signing for just £325k and quite honestly there isn't miles of difference between the two players, well except the £8.7m net difference we pocketed.

In an extraordinary turn of events, we are now financially secure and ITFC has bank balance of £18.6m.

One final mention, Louis Barry of Aston Villa also came in on loan and he looks a player.  Oh, and we have M'boro in the 5th round of the FA Cup.  I'd quite like to win that and get a money-spinning quarter final.

[jawzy]

some nice fees for league one sales

[Marshdweller]

I'd you get a moment, could you post a screenshot of Forest's transfers so far this save please? I'm genuinely interested/astonished that they decided to spend that money on a centre-back given they start with about 8 in the senior squad.

[Robson]

Well Forest and Stoke are having a grand time.  Forest won the Championship last season and Stoke were promoted with them via the playoffs.  Lets just say neither are doing as well in the Premiership.



And here is that Forest transfer recruitment <below>.  Of course the irony of that Woolfendean deal is that all season long Forest have been loaning Ipswich our other centre back, Loic Mbe Soh.  Other than Soh I'm not seeing much on the outbound side that suggests anyone has left, they do indeed have 7 or 8 options in their squad at that CB position.  Woolfy looks to be partnering Joe Worrall.

[Marshdweller]

Cheers Robson, interesting to see how accurately SI have replicated the quirks of Forest's recruitment!

[Robson]

It took an incredible 193pts over the course of 2 seasons but it's over.  Ipswich are out of League One and we are not looking back.  Our goal difference alone obliterates everyone else's and as you may be able to tell from the simple league positions graph, we did not even get going for the first dozen games.

For Ipswich it was our most points; most wins; most clean sheets; record players sale (twice).  Oh and did I mention we reached the FA Cup semi-final?  We lost that 0-1 to Liverpool, at Wembley, in extra-time.  Most amazingly of all we move on with £20m in the bank.



Are we going to be ready for Championship?  Probably not.  Our squad was absolutely more than capable but after those sales mentioned previously there are few I look at as the basis of something special.  Improvements are needed throughout the squad and I suspect we'll need two or three attempts to get through the Championship and out the other side.

We have had two above average youth intakes and one or two from the first batch are on the very outer edges of the squad.  Despite this and despite the money cushion we will still rely on loans plus free or cheaper transfer listed players.  Better players are not interested and it isn't so easy under Brexit rules to import players from other nations.  We are still finding our new players from the likes of Burton Albion, Hull City and occasionally West Brom when we shop posh.

I'll mention tactics in an upcoming post.

[jawzy]

Glad to see you promoted. Also happy to see Wycombe bounce back after relegation oin the first season

[Robson]

The Promotion Tactic
I started the save with the 1st version of this tactic.  And later came back to it - tweaking it slightly - in the Autumn of season 2 and I believe it was the catalyst for our turn of fortune and long run at the League One title.

First of all, it's pretty simple and it looks like a conventional 4-4-2.  The wide players stay out wide, the midfield two are a creator and a grafter, the forwards are a no.10 and a no.9.  Note those two central mids both have a support role which seems to be important without an extra body in there.

The tweak I made, and I think it's an important one, is to remove Play Out of Defence / Shorter Passing / Work into Box.  We do still build from the back thanks to the goalkeeper distribution instructions so our style does look nice and incisive without being direct.  Play out of defence I felt might have been contributing too much to turning over possession and getting counter attacked.

The higher defensive line is intended to squeeze the gap from defence to midfield and the pressing is for protecting the height of the defence.



Incidentally this is fairly much the team that's now taking on the challenge of the Sky Bet Championship.  Five of those lads in the image are loaned in.  Outside of this XI its worth mentioning Sam Field, Kieran O'hara, Zac Vyner, Callum Paterson and Keane Lewis-Potter.  Our odds are 16-1 and the media are predicting 12th.  We should be able to do that, I consider us to be decent.

[Robson]

This quite honestly one of the oddest versions of Football Manager I have ever encountered.

We've scored 44 goals in our last 13 games culminating in a 6-0 FA Cup semi-final victory. And we're a Championship club.

Full season report due in the next 24-48 hours I reckon.

[Marshdweller]

Wow! I look forward to reading it!

[Robson]

Season 3 - Tractors Gone Mad
ITFC settled in to the 3rd season and championship life quite nicely. A moderately over achieving club buoyed by morale from the consistency and success we've enjoyed. Then goals started to flow. In league and cup competition young Louie Barry scored 37; Jack Lankester 29; Lewis-Potter 21. El Mizouni got his head down scoring 17 and assisting 17. We sailed through the FA Cup draw. From 3rd round to semi-final you play 5 games and we scored 20 goals. We would lose though to Liverpool in the final.

The league season had a touch of Deja Vu. As well as our form went so did Watford and M'Boro and it felt like my first season when we could touch Hull and Pompey but not surpass them. Another game of cat and mouse.



90-odd points and 3rd place again. This time though we made short work of the play-offs. Huddersfield beaten 2-0 and 4-2. West Brom proved stickier in the final but we won that 1-0 to secure promotion to the Premier League.

I would like to highlight our 3-year return under my management. It's all a bit...FM.

288 league goals; 86 wins; +158 goal difference and 286 points.  Add to which semi-final and final appearances in the FA Cup plus one or two club records.



Don't know what to expect when we go up.  More of the same (like Dirk's York save) or the FM gremlins to arrive at various levels.

Below, Louie, the best Barry since Gareth.