Atkins United - Football Manager Live Blog

This is my first post for about two months, and in truth, I had forgotten about FML. From reading Kieron’s blog, I can tell that since my ’sabbatical’ things have not improved, with the rich clubs buying all promising youngsters for inflated wages, and making any wage auction pointless.

At the beginning, when I first joined FML, it was fresh, original, and everybody was on an equal playing field. By the time that I left, there was a very lopsided balance in which the moderators and their cronies ruled the gameworld, and sticking their nose in matters which had very little to do with them. One moderator, who I won’t name, was accused of bullying on the public forum, by continuously bidding large amounts for a player that the manager had no intention of selling. When he refused, time after time, the moderator basically told the rest of the gameworld not to continue business with this manager. Is it fair that this moderator was number one for most of the time I spent on the game?

I also (probably wrongly) felt that due to my age of 15, every move I made was criticised.  When I put a player in a wage auction, one manager on the public ‘discussions’ mailing list put something in the terms of

“5 million? Who would pay that sort of money? What a stupid idea?!”

On another occasion, the same manager mocked my paying 50k wages in the (again public) lobby, and then to add insult to injury, on the market place forum also. While I did recieve some support from one moderator, many of the other members of the forums made snide remarks about how ‘inexperienced’ I was, and how ’stupid’ an idea was.

As I referred to earlier, FML was supposed to be a riveting game in which the playing field was so level, that even the worst side can, on their day, beat the FAFA Club Champions. When SEGA offered to let us invite some friends, my friend joined. Within two weeks, he had quit, despite him chewing my arm off to get an invite. He felt the uneven balance between the moderators and their cronies, and everyone else was so unfair, that he couldn’t continue with such a small club. What FML are to do about this come world-wide launch, is unknown. For example, the game could effectively continue for a number of years. If the gulf between top sides and everyone else was so large after a couple of months in beta test, what will it be like in a few years? The answer is that most people will stop paying, or that SI will have to restart the gameworld every 6 months.

When I recieved an email from SEGA telling me the prices, they could have told me that it was free, and I still wouldn’t have registered. While playing against other people is quite a novelty, the honeymoon is well and truly over personally. Instead of using my BETA testers discount, I’m going to buy FM 2009, which is clearly a far better purchase. While some people at the top end will pay for FML, I am sure that many beta testers will not, knowing what lies ahead

Will Atkins

As you may have picked up on in my last blog, I was a bit dispirited about FML. Well, the decision has been made to take a rest from FML. Due to starting a summer job next week, I felt that I wouldn’t really have time to play as regularly as before. The timing is probably right to stand down for a season, and start afresh for season 7. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Kieron, who was a great parent club, always on hand to offer advice and new players. I should have used the valuable resource more, and hopefully when I restart in a month I hope the partnership still stands.

Anyway, see you in a month, and hope your summer (or winter in Australia) is good

Will

Since I began Football Manager Live, I have seen my team take shape. What once was a respectable top 150 side have now become 445th in the world. I don’t see how this has happened.

Someone, somewhere must decide who wins at FML, and who loses. Obviously, I’m losing. I don’t know why it is my side who are losing, time after time. It is not as if my players are of worse quality to other +200 sides. If anything, I would say that my midfield are better then most. I have two good goalscorers, a good goalkeeper, and two great defenders - the other two are still very good.

When I started to slide down the rankings, I shut down my youth team, which brought in money, with which I strenghtened my first team. To be honest, I am thinking about what I can do .. if anything, to turn it all around. I have a low wage budget, and only 15 players under my contract. I honestly am out of ideas.

If you, reader, have any ideas, please leave a comment. You’re all I have left. (Also I don’t think any body reads this, so don’t worry, I’m not hanging much on this)

Will

In my last post, I wrote about the influx of cash that I recieved. With this money, I bought two Spanish midfielders, Miguel Angel Sanchez Capdevila, for 1.8 million, and Barcelona’s Marc Crosas for a below market value 1.2 million. I also bought a new keeper, who hopefully will be the answer to my goalkeeping rotation - my 5th in only 2 weeks, Giorgi Makaridze for 1 million.

However, I only have had one central defender, so I have been forced to play right winger Jack Clarke in the centre half position - a place he’s never played in. Surprisingly, he’s been very solid at the back, as I have been on a (very small) winning run - even beating top 50 sides.

Lag is still occuring around the gameworld, so this page may not be updated as regularly, but I hope to keep it going.

Will

Continuing from my earlier blog, some more of my players were sold on. Attacking left-winger, Pablo Ibanez was subject to an intense bidding war, before leaving for 666,667. Defender Michael Grant was sold out of auction of 1.6 million, and other players have seen their auction bids increase by a lot. The result of this is that I suddenly had an extra 3 million added to my transfer budget. I was about to spend the bulk of it on a promising midfielder Nuri Sahin, but just before I clicked ‘instant buy’ - I spotted his wage - a staggering 70k! I have been stung by high wages before, with Thiago Motta, and Lubos Kalouda both commanding high wages, which drastically cut my transfer budget. Happily, their bank manager is now engineeing a new deal at pastures new, as they have both been bid for in transfer auctions.

With quite a few of my squad moving on, I will have to spend my new hard-earned on new players - keep your eyes out for comings and goings over the next few days!

As you may have seen in my last blog, I have not been in a great FML mood. After not winning for about 3 weeks, I was seriously thinking of packing it in, or restarting at least. Anyway, after a couple of losses today, I was certain to do it. I put loads of my players up for auction, but a match was started against me. After ‘auto-selecting’ a side, I said ‘gg’ to my opponent, and continued trying to sell my players. Anyway, when I finished, there were 10 minutes left, and I was 2-0 up. With bids already coming in for some of my players, I suddenly had a bit of money in the bank.

I opened up the auction page, to see what was around, and what I could do with my new cash. I almost couldn’t believe that Liverpool’s Danny Guthrie (last year at Bolton) (In Real Live by the way) was at instant buy for only 1/2 of his acquisition fee. Buying him immediately, I was in a much better mood, and feel like carrying on (for one day at least)

Oh, while I was writing this blog, I lost an AI game… it was to good to last

Hi

Sorry for the lack of blogs over the weekend. As you may have seen on Kieron’s blog, logging in has been an ordeal, due to the change of servers or something. I couldn’t log in over the weekend, and when I lost every game on Monday, I was in too much of a bad mood to write a blog.

While I was away, I lost in the final of ‘Sick of Friendlies’, the second time I have fallen at that hurdle. I also fell from 4th to 13th in the Melmac Championship, meaning I did not qualify for the knockout stages. This is one of the problem’s with AI, as it is not realistic. I fell nearly 100 places over 2 days as a result of my AI performance. My friend, who only started last week, is now higher then me in the rankings, despite not being in any great form. I think that SI should review the rankings system (not that I’m bitter or anything!)

Anyway, rant over, hopefully I’ll be in a better mood by my next blog!

Will

My first full day in the ‘childhood’ of Hastings Town has gone very well. Jack Clarke, a right winger, was signed on loan, and has made an immediate impact on my side. Since Clarke has come in, I’ve had a lot more goals, thanks to his assists. He’s also chipped in with a few himself!

Most of my games today were played in the Melmac Championship, where I needed to complete 64 games in one day - most of which were against the AI engine. However, a shaky gameworld has led to being signed-out, and then having to wait for 50 mins to sign back in again. In that time, however, I shaped this page, so the time was not wasted (or maybe it was!)

Due to some of the competitors having been deactivated, I went on a long winning streak, but my bubble was burst with a couple of defeats. My main problem is inconsistency - on a good day I can (and have) beaten top 10 sides, but can also (and have - frequently!) lost to sides around 300 places below me.

My side is fairly settled, but can be improved in most areas, particularly my goalkeeper. At the moment, I have four keepers, all in regular rotation, and none of which are of any great quality. This would be something which I would look to improve on, with the loaning of Hasting’s reserve keeper, Bizzarri.

I also qualified for the final of ‘Sick of Friendlies’ (that’s how its spelt…), for the second time - in it’s 11th season. The form of my two strikers, Matusiak and Robert have pushed me through the knockout stages, despite needing penalties in the quarter final.

Anyway, hopefully today’s results (none of which in the league) have been positive, and I hope that it moves me up the rankings for tomorrow!

TTFN,

Will

Hi, I’m Will Atkins, and my team is called Atkins United. Personally, I am from Surrey, England (its near London), and am incedentally from the same town as pereniall number 1 ranking side ‘The Hairy Nosepickers’.

However, the contrast between our two sides is striking. I have only ever won two trophies (one of which was a reserve cup), whereas the Nosepickers have won 8 official trophies, and around 100 unofficial ones. His team has contained illuminous names like Kaka, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. My claim to fame is that one of my strikers is Teddy Sheringham’s son.

So, in my time of need, I turned to Kieron Turner of Hastings Town (who you should know … this is his blog that I’m piggy-backing). Over the last close-season, I lost many of my players in wage-auctions (as I was on holiday), and slumped to 300th in the rankings.

Anyway, as Kieron’s feeder-club, I receive some players on loan, and a first-option on some of his players. In turn, he gets a first-option on my players.

In the future, I will continue this blog, and keep you up to date with happenings at the Newchapel Park.

See you later,

Will