FM Live Council & all that

Unfortunately due to being away I'm not really able to log on to forum for any length of time (expensive on board the Queen Mary 2) and due to a massive clanger on the wife's part (holiday ends later than thought) unlikely to be able attend.

The council to me says that SI are REALLY doing something apart GW activity. If you were harsh then you'd say they were now having a meeting about doing something but I think it's progress.

I think my gripe is that the game seems to lack direction or a vision. I may well be way off the mark here but it seems to me that FM Live started as Fantasy Football using the FM database / match engine and became something more.

It seems to have moved so far from the original vision that SI no longer have a vision as such. If I was to be harsh again you'd say Si were making it up as they go along. To get things back on track that needs to be sorted. Maybe the council will allow them to really home in on exactly what direction to take.

It seems to me it's one direction or another

1) What we have now - GW's are not dynamic and remain as they are. New managers need to be given a boost in order that they can find their level in a GW.

2) The entire concept changes to 'rags to riches' or 'minnows to giants'.

Just to repeat what I wrote on in a forum post I'm of the opinion that a new GW launches with 1000 managers, 100/200 will be happy with a lower league manager type of game; into the community, chatting about players, the Fa set up, the games, youths, and generally just enjoying the game.

800 or so will be desperate to get to the top; owning the best players, top 30 ranked, winning premier leagues, getting into UFFA, etc.

After a few seasons your left with 200 / 300 managers, 100/200 are happy with their lot and the rest are either at the top or think they will be at the top soon.

The reminder have come the conclusion that it isn't going to happen and either leave the game or hit the forums to beg for a new GW.

If you accept that as the reason for the levels of activity that we see then really it's back to SI to ask if they have to make a more commercial game. That's not a given, there vision for the game may well differ and it may not need be a mass market product. In fact if you can find enough managers happy with a lower league / simulation type of game then why worry?

If they do need to make a more commercial game then the only one that is viable is 'rags to riches' in some way. The hardcore of the community will generally argue against this, yes it's a long term game they will say but

How that's implemented exactly is open to debate, high pa youth teams to new managers, force top managers out, hard code regression to top teams, allow managers to move clubs, Prestige forced restarts etc etc.

Isn't it already like that though?

In a way it is, I can get into a GW slowly build up the stadium to support a galaticos squad and head on up to the top 50 ish. It takes a long time and with changes to the FA's in some GW's (like Clough) it's a fun journey. Not everyone has played the game for the same amount of time as me though, whilst I'm not amazing at FM Live I'd say I'm above average so very often others can't experiance the game in the same way.

Very early on the hit the wall and are left bored with what is basially a Lower League Manager / Simulation type game.

Also if I started a new seprate account in Shearer I can't see that 2nd account overtaking the first account, so I will be limited as to how far I could progress anyway.

The solutions put forward by the community don't follow this either, if the vast majority of the community that is left are generally happy, their suggestions are often pre occupied with preserving the staus quo. Give new managers a boost seems to be touted around a lot but the second you start suggesting boosts like high PA youth team, hands are thrown up in horror but that's a real boost they say! :)

The one thing that SI seem fairly convinced about is that database players need to remain for an old GW to be attractive. Is this the reason why GW's are not popular? When I've debated with managers who advocate this as a reason why they won't join an old GW it comes across to me as an excuse and not the reason.

Youth

I'll show you a youth player! Make your eyes bleed this one!


Yuuummm and locked for a season on £800 a day.

Clough Season 2 Squad - Old GW Easier!

Nice wages too!

1.4 Injuries and their effect

After this new system was introduced and logged in to find my main striker out for four games. I hadn't even realised I did this but my mouse hovered over the log out button, hang on though he'll still be injured tomorrow!

There is no dodging injuries now, we reached the end of season and I'm looking at squad thinking I have to have a proper squad, many of these players will be out for key games. It really does add a lot to the game.

Beta - What a glorious season, took three stages of Div.1 won the Mid Season Open. I don't think any team has done that previously not even in Alchomedia's glory years did they take 3 out of four.

I've always kept a youth team going and thankfully have managed to produce some first teamers, their not drop dead stunning but are 25+ now and high profile standard. This at least allows me to pump some serious cash at the 28-30yo players subject to being able to find them. Somewhat odd that players now age end of season, so during wage auctions looking at 31yo not just 30yo:)

Clough - Well it's a competitive team for the league we're in for sure but results are not exactly spectacular. Still play some nice football and will further strengthen in the close season. I think we're headed for a mid table finish from what I've seen thus far. UPDATE: A mini good run later and we hit the top of the league around six of the cheapo's I have have turned high profile and the team that was 4th we beat 4-1. Ohhh.

Shearer - Finished 3rd in AEFA once again a UFFA spot so good result there, already have bagged a £1m + Aq Fee AMC who's 30. New leagues which I pray for the sake of the GW won't be qual. Still carrying two / three players really in this team but I'm not going to buy unless we're talking jaw dropping. Some decent youths coming through but it does take sooooo long before their as good as half decent 30yo.
Still managed to bag the Best of Fed and U21 League in AEFA this season.

Latest vibe on the forums seems to be player progression, some ME problems all due to be fixed very soon and the never ending 'what you gonna do about activity SI, open a new GW'. I suspect there are around 9/10 managers who've bounced into every new GW that contually ask the new GW question.

I get their point, playing short term in a long term GW must be a buzz.

Ohhhh Sometimes you win the lottery

During my desperate efforts to strengthen the Clough squad during wage auctions I chanced upon a player that hadn't played much but was still well known.... Strange, anyway I managed to get him on £4k a day £65k Aq Fee.

We won our first game 6-1 have limped along with a defeat a draw and another thumper 5-0. In this time he's gone £170k High Profile with some amazing goals in the process.

Div.5 is pretty well balanced there is one team on a good run and another with wages of £230k! We lost 1-0 to them but actually had more chances. I really hope I'm not in Div.5 when my wages get to that stage:(

I've got Sega fright in Shearer I think I should move but don't really know if I should so I'll just do nothing :)

It has been a bit gritty on the forums recently, 1.3 had a progression bug which no one liked naturally. Everyone thought that the new injury system was ace. There were at least a hundred posts about the progression bug and six on the new injury system. Not nice being SI sometimes!

It is getting a bit flaky on the forums again as managers sit in their GW's with plans for world domination coming to fruition, only to find the world is now 20 odd managers.

Had a good debate with someone in the forums (not naming names) and it went like this:-

Them: I justify my position due to this real life example.
Me: That is not comparable to real life because it's more like ....
Them: It's a game stop using real life examples.

I do like a debate and I think it should remain as a debate, it is strange that many months back I had a debate with someone in the lobby. Who was right or wrong is irrelevant (well I was right naturally) but the guy the following day pm'd me to apologise. I was quite shocked, it's ok to disagree about something!

My favourite is, 'do you think this player is worth X', do you want a honest answer I say, I then say no, and here is why. Someone once told me after that I didn't know what I was talking about and should shut up! Hehe.

Gah look at that me just with just another random wibble, what was this post about again, errr something about football.

Jak's Football Manager Live Player Price Guide

I suppose prices are subjective, I've had a lot of players that have great stats but they only tell you the type of player not when or how often they play like their stats. In other words i've owned some right duffers that should be great but are not.

I always look for Rep (relative to club played for, a high rep player at a low rep club is going to be nice!), Aq Fee (ability) and finally stats (will give you a clue as to the type of player).

I did this more really for the sake of my own sanity! I bagged a £1m household name at 29 in Beta for £1.4m and got to thinking is that expensive or not?

Comments on Players
Household Names - These players are the regular match winners or as defenders will almost never make a mistake and are amazingly consistent.
World Famous - Either consistent or occasional match winning performance. You might see the odd mistake at the back but it's going to be rare.
High Profile - Great players above average in every respect.
Well Known - Your bread and butter type rep can be quite variable so these can easily turn into High Profile. They should be VERY cheap!

1.4 Injuries - Rough Outline

Ok Mr. Collyer has just outlined the new injury system that will be rolled out to beta. As ever this is Work In Progress and may not make the final game, we're just trialling it:-

Injuries:

- an injury can occur in any match resulting in a player having to leave the field
- only after a major competition match can an injury become lasting, but the chances of it lasting are reduced by up to 50% if the user has general physio skills (10% per level)
- lasting training injuries can occur from time-to-time but with the likelihood reducing by up to 50% if the user has general physio skills (again, 10% per level)
- injuries prevent a player playing for X number of major competition matches only; a player is eligible to play in any other matches
- if a team has no scheduled major competition matches, or the player is a free agent, injuries recover over time at a standard rate based on the usual 1 month = 1 year timescale, but as soon as his team (if he has one) has a scheduled major competition match this recovery freezes and the team must play a match to continue the recovery of any injured players
- the length of an injury can be reduced by any general physio skills and any injury-specific physio skills

From my own point of view I'd have liked to have seen only the League count as recovery time giving us some real depth to the squad management side of the game but still overall a MASSIVE improvement.

1.4 Token Screenshots

Some more random 1.4 screen shots, work in progress so don't get wound up if something doesn't make it. This time featuring on the tokens thing. Nothing yet has made me go wow I need one of them! I think we 3d makes it in might make a difference. Tried FM10 and the 3d is pretty good would love to see stadiums in and maybe would could see something sexy with tokens then.

I suppose custom crowd chants could be good.

AS EVER WORK IN PROGRESS MAY OR MAY NOT MAKE IT INTO GAME!

Clough - Made a huge start to the season with a 6-1 win and in the following 4 games have just got a point, doh. Promotion doesn't look likely but we are playing some neat stuff, last season we looked awful and were awful. So some progress.

Beta - Most of the squad over 30 but thankfully a big stadium generates enough cash to replace all those fairly easily. Have won first two stages of Div.1 and then just avoided relegation (ladder FA always full of drama). Although the new rep system doesn't kick in for a few seasons I've banked a 17 from Gold Cup and the two Div.1 wins should assure us of Gold Cup next season. So that's 40% of my rep sitting at 17 for when the new system kicks in.

Shearer - In a forum thread a post by T Bag made me check Shearer and Clough for join dates and number of teams in the top 50. Only a handful of teams had got to the top after they joined a GW late. I don't really care too much for being top 50 or anything really I just want to play competitive games but should I give up on Shearer..... It's the only GW I currently do youth, I don't know we'll see.
Results wise it looks like we could get into UFFA again, I think pro rata we're top of the Premiership I can't see that continueng with my youth filling out a few critical positions but UFFA place I'd be happy.
I guess getting into UFFA every season, apart from one, is kind of Tottenham like which is ok I guess.

Clough Season 13 - Starting Out at the Bottom

Another season starts in Clough, I'm going to stick with Clough for eight months minimum (that's how long there is on the account) so we'll see where the journey takes us.

I'm going to move the Shearer account somewhere else so we'll focus on Clough here for a while, it's likely to be a sorry tale but we might have little bouts of minor glory along the way.

A fairly typical end of season one stadium, just after this I added a Exclusiv Corp Box, ouch £1.8m odd.


I've been looking at stadiums again recently I think the optimal kind of stadium delivers around £250k a day and costs around £15m. If you time it right and do it over 56 days then it'll take 100 days return. So.....

The first ten million is done in the first three months, but it only costs £5million due it generating an income and you having 56 days to pay.

The final five million is free as your now using cash your stadium is generating but you would never have had had you not spent the first £5m :)

So pretty cheap stadiums, they do hold you back a little though!

Anyway to facilitate the stadium wages have to be kept low. So I can't really expect much this season.

So my target is around mid table, if we can get anywhere near promotion I'll be delighted!

Clough Progression Issues?

Clough Season 13 Squad

I like Clough the mods and orgs run the FA's so that hoppers are inserted into the structure at their correct level. So although my teams rubbish and didn't have a great first season (12th in Div5) I know if I can improve squad the level of teams I play next season should be pretty consistent. I'm not at the mercy of however many random hoppers there are.

So the second season squad is put together on that basis.

GK Urso - That lack of rep is a worry but we are a low rep club. Stats and Aq Fee and even performance make me keep him.
DL Cazumba - All last season the left postion was an achilles heel for us. At 31 I'm only going to get one season but it does cure the problem for one season at least.
DC - Svensson - A speculative buy from another team had a decent season with us. Aq Fee was only £35k on purchase. A little bit ropey at times but should cope with Division 5 ok.
DC - Talis at 30 should get two seasons from him. A no nonsense DC not a great footballer but was plaeased to land him at wage.
DR - Beardsley another of the Talis mould no nonsense defender.
ML - Cedric ahhh this player and me go back some way. At the start of the GW a wonderkid candidate but often doesn't get the breaks. Not awash with ability but will run up and down that left flank all day. I think a club record of £150k to land his signature.
MC - Woods Stupid injury system:) I've tried to land Woods in a few GW's starts of at 20 as I recall very solid MC who can on occasion open a teaam up. In his prime here and if we're to make any progress this season it very much depends on Woods.
MC - Labadie safe solid DM at the right age.
FC - Martinez delighted to have land such a player at the proper age of 27! Ok he's never going to be world class but at this level should have something to offer.
FC Antonio - Another striker that should threaten at this level.

1.4 - Injuries - Educated Speculation

I'm glad I got the ok to blog about 1.4 gives me something to wibble on about instead of moaning:)

This is sort of quite well informed speculation, we can expect to see something along these lines. Injuries are pretty broken in FM Live at the moment. If your activity rating is low for whatever reason you just as well get your players trained by Jack the Ripper rather than play games I think they'd be safer!

If your activity rating is high then injuries just as well be off as you can just log off to avoid their effect.

In 1.4 as you can see from the rep system the serious side to the game are FA games, everything else is fun. So logic would suggest that turning injuries off for the fun games would make sense. So regardless if a player has done his metatarsal in or not he will only be injured for Rep FA Games.

You could logcally then change injuries from time, say two days, to games so out for two games. However the Xtreme FA's potentially play 160 games a season (if leagues run three times). It's swings and roundabouts though, as although you'll get more injuries a season you'll have more games to cure them.

After some good discussion \ debate I proposed:-

• Main FA League - Healing: Yes Injuries: Yes
• Rep Enabled Cups - Healing: No Injuries: Yes

So say you have your striker out for 20 games with a broken leg, play an FA League game and the injury will be 19 games.

OMG what happens if I get into UFFA reach the final of the Gold Cup have two good domestic cup runs, I'll be picking up injuries but these games don't cure players.

Ever heard of the term strength in depth.

OMG what happens if he gets injured in the last league game of the season and I'm in the final of the Gold Cup?

Do you risk him in the last league game of the season knowing you have a Gold Cup final coming up? Football Management in Football Manager Live!

Head Hits Wall

Open a New GW I can't compete with existing teams!
Don't open a New GW SI teams should be forced to work their way up from the bottom.
I can't EVER overtake existing teams so make the top teams leave.
I'm not leaving.
Open a New GW I can't compete with existing teams.
Give new teams a boost!
Even with a boost I still can't overtake existing teams, give me a proper boost like £30m.
You must be joking it's long term game!
Open a New GW I can't compete with existing teams.
If you open a new GW when my GW is dead whats the point.

Meanwhile GW's, whilst not quite on their last legs that's being a bit dramatic, are not exactly brimming with new users for the reasons listed.

1.4 - New Reputation System

Ok hold the phone this is a big one! Spot the difference, no more 5star Rep system but now we're moving to a scale of 1-20!

However that's not all!

To this...
The screens do a good job demonstrating the the change and the likely way this will rolled out to Live, you'll have advance warning.

League ranges from 1 (bottom of the lowest tier) up to 18 (top of the highest tier)
League divisions all overlap by 1 level. Consensus seems to be this is a good thing.
Main cup competition is 1 less than winning the highest league the cup involves
Secondary cup competition is 2 less than winning the highest league the cup involves
Gold Cup starts at 1 below winning the top league, so 17 rising to 20. Provides security if you qualify, but doesn't make chasing the Prem redundant.
Silver Cup runs at 2 below Gold Cup, so 15 rising to 18 (same as winning the league)
CWC Cup runs at 1 below Silver Cup, both start and end, so 14 rising to 17
GW Cup starts from 1, and rises to 1 below CWC cup, so 1 rising to 16

New Money Old Money
Converting your old rep to new is fairly simple case of times it by 4. So:-

Old Rep	New Rep Low	New Rep High
1	1	5
1.5	6	7
2	8	9
2.5	10	11
3	12	13
3.5	14	15
4	16	17
4.5	18	19
5	20

1.4 Preview - Judging Potential

FM Live 1.4 will be a I think one of the biggest changes since v1, this is a work in progress so things could change!

The headline changes are:-

• Judging Potential changes
• Club Reputation Changes
• Injury System Changes

I thought I'd start my coverage with a few screenshots. On the left we have the new Home Page. Very fancy!

As you can see you can change these around and have a range of choices for what appears where.

As yuo can see on the last screenshot JP has changed. You no longer get an instant reading you have to assess the player first!

This is a massive change to the game and will stop the managers going omg 5 star potential he's the next Ronaldo! Although we did have a youth on £40k a day a few days into Shearer.

Your own players will be assessed automatically it takes time. Should you see a player you like you can add him to the assessment list.

As you can see in the Screenshot below. Do we still need youth academies? Their also penciled in for 1.4 just we haven't seen them yet.

Lets be Upbeat 1.4

Whilst SI fumble around the marketing and long term future of GW's in beta 1.4 is taking shape. Whilst I can't yet go into specifics it looks like it's going to have a big impact.

Currently progressing is a case of sign players as cheap as possible to get to 3.5 star rep, build stadium and kick on from there. That won't work in 1.4. Reputation will come from doing well in your FA leagues & the big UFFA comps (Gold, Siliver and Cup Winners Cup). So you'll have to do the business on the pitch prior to building a stadium.

Hop FA's for easy games if you want but your running with wages of £200k+ you could be staring at bankruptcy. (I'm all for putting hoppers in the bottom tier if it hurts them and boy will 1.4 hurt them!)

The ability to restart leagues mid season should keep extreme FA's happy as they'll be able to run three or four seasons in one as it were.

It's no secret that the youth side of the game is going to get tweaked and by the looks of it will be a little better. I'm no fan of youth academies as their very casual user friendly but I think JP will be nerfed and JP is VERY casual manager friendly.

There is even talk of the injury system getting fixed in 1.4, ok it's like 12 months overdue but finally no longer a system that encourages you to log off! Awesome.

Talking of that I've been busy in Clough trying to patch together a team to get out Division 5, I was particularly delighted sign Michael Woods at 29 who should run the middle of the park and if I leave him go at 32 I should get 3 seasons out of. One game later he's out for five days, sweet! Gah :(

Return of the Moaning Old Git!

There was a thread on the forum by Loris and initially it looked like your typical moaning thread but in fairness to the guy what he was saying actually struck home.

Basically he'd be in a few worlds played long term only to see that GW die. He was open to the suggestion that he could move to Clough or Whiteside but he was saying 'well what's to say that won't die'.

For eight / nine months now there have been moans from the community from managers stuck in this boat and all the while they've been saying to Sega 'why are you opening more worlds!'.

SI / Sega have been saying their seriously thinking of doing something, after eight months though it's getting a bit old. Now we find out yet another world may open 'in theory for cancelled accounts' which is bound to take another batch of managers from older GW's.

Still we hear nothing of Sega plans for the old worlds and i think you eventually must come to the conclusion there are not any.

I did suggest the problem is that GW's become top heavy with rich clubs, thus making progress beyond a point impossible and it might be better to invite top ranked teams to new worlds. This would allow new managers to progress and eventually themselves earn the right to play in a new GW.

Is this is a good idea? I don't know but I do know it's better than f*&! all or just six months of waffle.

Harsh? I really don't want to be all doom and gloom but I'm paying for this game and Sega are not a charity, well not in my book anyway.

On a more positive note the first season in Clough is coming to an end and whilst we've had a fairly dismal mid table finish the FA's are set up properly. So if I do well close season with signings I've a chance of doing better next season.

On another more positive note we won the first stage of the Division One Title in Beta and on an even more positive note we've had a few decent results in Shearer. Continuing the theme the youth I've now managed to get together in Shearer is starting to look a bit tasty.

Shearer Silly FA Set Up

It's been an interesting pre-season in Shearer. A few of us who started off in the SFA decided to move back. I was under the impression that we'd end up being allocated a spot based on the recent rules but Shearer it seems is a bit behind the times.

Even though I made my thoughts known still nothing was done. More team arrived in the SFA and we'd have been in a situation where the top rep teams in the FA would have been spread across three divisions. It would have been a massive boost for me as we don't have forty tough games a season but done at the expense of the lower rep teams, pretty bad form and I didn't want to be part of it.

You could argue that eventually it'll sort itself out but it never seems to as someone is always moving.

It's a theme that carries on throughout the GW sadly, e.g. current SFA Champs Boosh find themself in the third teir of the Casual FA. Mind if I was an org I'd be tempted to make sure they were not in my division as well, very scary team :)

Anyway long story short we're back in AEFA, I don't really want to whinge about it or anything else so shall draw a line there. In fact I'm staying away from the forums I just end up moaning anyway and I don't mean to :)

Shearer Season 12

Season 12 wow doesn't time fly. We've never won a Premier League or an FA Cup but we've got into UFFA every season apart from one (Alonso sucks) so we've been there or thereabouts. I've still got cash but I'm quite happy being competitive so I think this is the team that will roll into Season 12.

GK Neumann - He's still young for a Goalie and it shows sometimes. Try playing FM Live without a goalie and you'll see the massive effect this position has on the Match Engine. Still he's coming into his prime now and he has got what it takes.
DR Ristic - Only 20 so a risk here but he's getting 7.2 av rating often when the team are not playing well. I have no doubt his influence in the U21 squad was the reason why we did so well at that level last season. He's not going to be a megastar but I'm expecting High Profile safe and solid by the time he's 24/25.
DC Pique - Just finished his first season went from World Famous to Household Name at the age of 32. He will falter a little come 1.3 but his ability is so high he's good enough for me for another season.
DC Gandolfi - I've watched Gandolfi against top strikers and he keeps them quiet for long periods. If it's hidden stats you want then my bet is he's good them in A1 condition. I do have a 29 'safe' DC on the bench should I feel the need.
DL Barre - A left back and a waste of cash, watch the games.... If we're losing or playing a top team then Barre will often come into the middle make the killer tackle and feed the ball to someone who then turns the game. There are maybe 3 or 4 right wingers who would trouble him in the Gameworld.
DM Yakob - With his ability and age I think he won't stay past this season but he likes to win and will run all day. If I wasn't quite so rich then I'd keep another season.
MC - Schneirderlin I bought Yakob to set him free, is everywhere always, just a triple A player in his prime.
MR Tremolada - Most of the time can't be bothered to use his massive ability, against the bigger teams or big games you better have a good left back cos if he's on form then it's game over. Is a bit erratic though.
ML Tadic - Great attitude not in the same class in terms of ability as the right winger but will run all day and a little more consistent. He does struggle to open teams up should they have a class right back.
FC Welbeck - Does have runs of good / bad form, patience though, the good form is so good though he's well worth having.
FC M'Villa - Start of last season at 25 he was a £200k Aq Fee Well Known. Now £500k+ and World Famous and still rising. Not a wonderkid but a normal youth that's come through.

Subs of Note
For the first time I'm not just getting a few high rep / low wage players just to keep rep high.
Poggi - such a commanding presence in youth games and at 17 is getting 7+ at senior level. Could be a wonderkid this one.

Oi Dusty Bin!

You've probably heard of these but this one made me laugh.

There are some lunatics in Wales, give them a bit of time and the internet, eesh.

OVER 18 ONLY!

Player Prices

Well here is a bit of speculation and devolpment of players prices idea.

Just a reminder the most you should ever pay for world famous is £1m at 30 at the end of a season.

I've assumed a player will give world famous performance for two seasons, (not at 33 in 1.3) and kind of worked from there.

I think I'll try it with household names next.

Does it work? I don't know, really teams at the top of the gameworld often have oldies playing. You'd think that it's a short term strategy but if their getting the players cheap enough it's just a great strategy!

Youths unless wonderkids are often a liability so I'm pretty certain it's more effective overall.

Not as much fun though!

Youths on the Go In Shearer

News that SI are opening a new GW, I'm not doing the progression rant again, suffice to say whilst the game is great they have badly designed it in on a macro level in my view. Get the top teams out of a GW into a new one and everyone progress's. That's not to say it's not a great game, it is, I keep saying that.

To Clough, ohh we're mid table now in Division 5 with a few players starting to suggest they were indeed bargains. Some have also suggested their just terrible:) Still wage auctions soon and maybe next season we can go for promotion or top 5 at least.

Meanwhile in Shearer I did sign another Household name, winger, £1.6m couldn't see anyone else that amazing so left the cash in the bank. Have moved back to SFA and are likely to be in the Championship or Division One. Amogen, Duff and Inter moved as well. The SFA in Shearer is great but I hope no one new joins even though I'm not great at FM Live playing a team with a few Household-names, a few world famous etc isn't going to be pretty. That's the other movers are of the same sort of quality.

It's odd why the Shearer mods do it, The Mighty Bosh are legendery youth team, top 4 in the world they moved to Casual and are in Div.1. Not great if your new and join the Casual FA either then.

Anyway enough of my whining how badly the game is run, it's not like that in Beta or Clough so not all bad and I'm happy enough winning the odd game here or there, even if it is at the expense of lower ranked teams.

In Shearer I'm kind of back doing youth, after a fashion, I give myself rules about wages and promptly broke them:) Poggi is only 17 £65k Aq Fee it's true he's pretty immense at youth level but at £5k a day a bit over the top.

I was looking back at the season 1/ 2 / 3 / 4 youth team that won every SFA U19 league, the U21 league for two seasons and apart from a few they've all pretty much failed to make an impact at 25/26. Still I'm a cheap skate when it comes to wages so they were never going to be world famous but I'd gamble on a few of them going very well if they got a chance.