5 One Season Wonders to Manage in FM

 
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On the 2nd of May 2016, Leicester City shocked the footballing world by winning the FA Premier League in what was only their second season back in the top flight after gaining promotion in 2014. Led by the “The Tinkerman” himself in Claudio Ranieri, the Foxes’ brand of fast-paced counter-attacking football combined with Ranieri getting the most out of players such as N’golo Kanté, Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and Captain Wes Morgan meant that they defied all expectations and logic to not only win the Premier League but become the first team in over 20 years to do so outside of Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City.

Unfortunately the following season proved to be a struggle for post-Kanté Leicester, breaking the record for the worst title defence in Premier League history finishing 12th which ultimately led to Ranieri’s eventual departure from the club. Football is a cruel and unforgiving game…the real question is though, could you have done it differently? Can you do one better by not only recreating a classic underdog story, but keeping said underdog at the top of their respective league?

Here are five one-season-wonder champions for you to try and emulate in Football Manager.

 
 

FC Twente (2010)

When one looks at the past winners of the Dutch Eredivisie, FC Twente would appear to be the odd one out amongst the great Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord teams that have won the vast majority of titles in Holland over the past 30 years - so much so that Twente fans themselves can scarcely believe that their team were league champions in 2010 under the guidance of former England Manager Steve McLaren. In a year that saw a 22 year old Luis Suarez bag 35 goals for Ajax, FC Twente shocked the whole of Dutch football by narrowly pipping Ajax to the title by a single point with a squad largely made up of unknown or relatively small name players (Bryan Ruiz being their best player...know who he is?).

The following year Twente managed to come second, however thus began their downfall where they fell out of the top four for the next three seasons. Since then they have failed to come even close to competing with Ajax and PSV, and with a relatively unknown squad predicted to finish 17th at the start of FM21 - even the best Football Manager out there might find it a challenge bringing Twente back to glory in one season.

Key Players: Joël Drommel, Kik Pierie, Vaclav Cerny

 
 
 
 
 

Sampdoria (1991)

Sampdoria are a Football Manager dream. Steeped in history, nostalgia, underachieving and a host of iconic players over the past 30 years (Lombardo, Vialli, Pagliuca, Mancini, Icardi, Platt, Cassano to name a few) - the club have always shown potential to compete with the giants of Serie A however more often than not have ended up selling their best players to the likes of Juventus and Milan, thus preventing them from ever maintaining consistent form and competing at the higher levels of Italian football.

I say more often than not - the exception to this came in the 1990/1991 season, a time when Italian football was dominated by both Milan teams and somehow Sampdoria came out of nowehere to win their first ever scudetto. For context on how remarkable this achievement was - this was when AC Milan boasted the class of Dutch trio Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten, while on the other side of Milan the German trio of Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Klinsmann were in the prime of their careers at Inter having just won the World Cup the year before. Sampdoria weren’t bothered though - 19 goals from Gianluca Vialli sealed them their only Serie A title and since then they haven’t come close to ever winning a second.

Key Players: Fabio Quagliarella, Adrien Silva, Emil Audero, Manolo Gabbiadini

 
 
 
 
 

Blackburn Rovers (1995)

Shearer and Sutton, name a more iconic 90’s Premier League duo. The 1994-1995 season saw cash-rich (at the time) Blackburn Rovers win their first Premier League title in 81 years, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that this was smack back in the middle of Alex Ferguson’s dominant Man United era. Fueled by Owner Jack Walker’s millions, Rovers won the league by a single point over second place United, with Manager Kenny Dalglish taking the Manager of the Year award accompanied by Alan Shearer finishing as top scorer with 34 goals. Fans of English football will know that Blackburn have since had a somewhat tumultuous journey ever since, ranging from European football to relegation down to League 1 in 2017, and currently in the Championship Blackburn are well overdue a return to the top flight. FM21 might just provide that opportunity.

Key Players: Bradley Dack, Darragh Lenihan, Adam Armstrong

 
 
 
 
 

Montpellier FC (2012)

Most people forget that not only have teams other than PSG won the French Ligue 1 during the past 10 years, but also that in the 2011/2012 season Montpellier FC took French football completely by surprise by winning the league title ahead of PSG in second. That season PSG spent €82m strengthening their squad, however it was Montpellier’s record transfer who stole the headlines, scoring 21 goals to help them win the league - that man was €1.7 million signing Oliver Giroud, and the rest as we know is history.

Fast forward and Montpellier have since only managed a series of mid-table finishes, while PSG have moved on to completely dominate French football for the foreseeable…have the days of surprise league challengers come to an end, or do Montpellier still have that taste of success ready to be reignited?

Key Players: Téji Savanier, Gaetan Laborde, Andy Delort

 
 
 
 
 

VfL Wolfsburg (2009)

Once upon a time there was life before Bayern in the Bundesliga. In the 2008/2009 season, three things happened: Brazilian Striker Grafite scored 28 league goals; Edin Dzeko scored 26 league goals and Zvjezdan Misimović notched up 20 assists - the fact that all three players were playing for the same team meant that VfL Wolfsburg won their first ever Bundesliga title, finishing two points ahead of Bayern and firmly etablishing Manager Felix Magath’s name in the history books as one of the greatest German Managers ever (let’s not talk about his later spell at Fulham).

Nowadays and similar to Ligue 1 mentioned above - it’s difficult to see anyone other than Bayern winning the league, and even if that happens it’s likely Dortmund will be the ones to do it. Is the future of German footall written? With young talent such as Xaver Schlager, Marin Pongracic and Josip Brekalo coming though to the first team, there may be life in the old wolf yet.

Key Players: Wout Weghorst, Maximilian Arnold, Kevin Mbabu

 
 

⭐ Bonus Team ⭐

 
 

Greece (2004)

The ultimate underdog. Before 2004, Greece had never won a game at an International competition, and after being drawn in a group with Portugal, Spain and Russia most football enthusiasts that they would face an early exit and soon be on a flight back to Athens. They were wrong.

After beating Portugal and earning a draw against Spain in the group stages, the Greeks went on to defeat France and Czech Republic, setting up a final rematch with hosts Portugal who themselves had beaten England and Holland to make themselves favourites for the clash. Greece Manager Otto Rehhagel had built a rock solid hard working Greece team, difficult to break down and seemingly set up to win all of their games by a single goal…so why should the final be any different? The Portuguese were frustrated for the whole game, and on 57 minutes Greece took their chance through an Angelos Charisteas header which was enough to win them the game and the tournament.

Never has such a feat been experienced or repeated on the international stage - with Greece failing to qualify for Euro 2020, can you make the 20 year anniversary of their epic win one to remember in 2024?

 
 

There you have it! Whether you are looking for a short-term save (ideal for the FM21 beta) or a longer term challenge with the goal of turning these one-season wonders into regular title contenders or even champions of their respective leagues - either way it should be both a challenge and an entertaining journey trying to emulate these team’s past glories and bringing good times back to their loyal fanbase.

Be sure to let us know how you get on either below in the comments or on our socials!

Thanks for reading,

MaddFM.

Interested in becoming a guest author for WeStreamFM? Email info@westreamfm.com or DM @MaddFM_ for more info.

FM21 Custom Views

 
 

That new purple skin is a beauty and as tradition would have it I’ve knocked together my custom views to compliment your new save.

My Squad View

 
 

This is pretty straight forward and contains most of the normal squad information.

  • Overall Happiness - Pretty obvious and it stands out like a sore thumb if someone’s unhappy.

  • Training Rating: Reward those that train hard and penalise those that don’t.

  • Injury Risk: If you’re like me and select your squad from this page it gives me a quick look at the condition and injury risk.

  • Stats: The standard FM Appearance, Goals & Assists.

  • CA/PA: My scout’s opinion of the player’s current and potential ability.

  • NEW: Style: Your Assistant Manager’s opinion of this player’s player style.

  • NEW: Performance: Overall Training Performance, this is a new feature for FM21 where you can see if a player is training better or worse than the previous week.

Squad View - Pathway

 
 

This view is designed to monitor player happiness and take into consideration the playing time pathway features added to FM20.

  • Agreed Playing Time: Your agreement with the player.

  • Actual Playing Time: As it says on the tin, what the player’s current actual playing time is.

  • Playing Time Happiness: A very visual representation of your player’s mindset, they can be disappointed that they are out of the side but happy to be in your team.

  • Progress: Quick glimpse at how the player is progressing.

  • Promises: Have you ever been in a position where you’ve had an interaction with a player only for them to rub it in your face at the end of the season because you forgot all about it? Well this keeps a marker of the promises you’ve made and should remind you before it’s too late. I imagine with the new interaction features in FM21 you’ll be making more promises than ever before!

Development View

 
 

One of the Headline Features for FM20 was the Development Centre & when you get used to where you find your reserves and youth team you’ll see this overview screen. I have only made a few tweaks to this screen, adding nationalities, media descriptions & some happiness columns.

Staff Views

 
 

Here we have the views I use for my backroom staff. Having played this title for what seems like forever you’ll be used to the ‘DDM’ phrase for your staff if not, have a look at this post. These views all take in to account DDM plus the attributes you’ll be looking at for their specific roles.

Staff Search

 
 

Much like the Staff View above this filter is used in the Staff Search and shows the specific attributes for Coaches, Recruitment and Medical. I find these filters extremely pleasing on the eye and if you’re exporting the attributes for calculating the perfect staff member for your team, this screen makes it easy.

Transfer View

 
 

If you spend time ignoring your scouts and scouring the transfer list for bargains then this view will probably be right up your street.

  • Info: Unhappy, Transfer Listed, Listed For Loan, Injured or a number of other pieces of info will be shown here.

  • Agreed Playing Time: A new addition to my transfer view, but here you’ll see if a player is surplus to requirements which could lead to a cut-price deal.

  • RC Injury: This is really important for me as sometimes you’ll only skim through a scout report but here it’s very obvious if a player has a recurring injury.

  • Media Description: Looking for an explosive winger or a Wonderkid? The media description will reveal all.

  • Attributes: These attributes match my squad view, if you have attributes you’re keen on, replace them here.

  • Minimum Release Clause: There are a number of different release clauses in the game, but I keep the basic one on this view. If you purchase a lot of talent from Brazil, add the minimum fee release clause for foreign clubs.

International Squad View

 
 

If you use my normal squad view you’ll find a lot of the attribute and scout recommendations will be blank. This view is just a modified version for when you’re taking a sneaky peak at those U18 International Squads.

Fixture View

 
 

Nothing special here, just a small additions to quickly see if there’s a formation you’re struggling against or to quickly see where a tactical change may have inspired a turnaround in performance.

These files should be placed in Documents > Sports Interactive > Football Manager 2021 > Views (if you don’t have a Views folder, create one).

What We Know So Far - FM21

by MaddFM

 
 

Throwback - the date is September 24th 2020, and after much commentary and deliberation about Football Manager 2021 potentially being delayed, postponed and at times rumoured to be in jeopardy altogether due to Covid 19 restrictions, a glum year all round is jolted back to life by the heroic announcement from Sports Interactive that this year’s version of the game will in fact be released as planned and most importantly, just in time for Christmas.

 
 

Not much was mentioned about new features, licensing, leagues, match engine or gameplay in general aside from the sleek new kits and colour scheme which we love here at WSFM towers - however shockwaves rippled through the Football Manager community at the announcement that not only will the game be available on PC and Switch as well as the usual Mobile and Touch versions, but will also return to Xbox for the first time in over a decade since Football Manager 2008 (context: Lionel Messi was a 20 year old hot prospect in that version who could only be nullified by the wonderkid that was Anthony Vanden Borre).

 
 

Fast forward to Monday 12th October - Prime Minister Boris Johnson has just made some important announcements about new Covid 19 restrictions, however this isn’t the announcement people are talking about. The big news is, Football Manager have released their first feature announcement trailer, and needless to say the team at Sports Interactive have come up trumps yet again #FMToTheRescue.

 

Introducing Football Manager 2021 in 60 seconds. This marks the beginning of our FM21 feature reveal period. Screens that only get a few seconds of air time ...

 

ICYMI ☝️

 
 

If you are in any way like our friend Brian and slightly overwhelmed by the abundance of features, graphics and absolute video production mastery from the Sports Interactive content team, below is a quick synopsis of what we know so far in terms of Football Manager 2021 features.

Recruitment Meetings

Many FM players have trust or control issues, and at times our scouts don’t do a lot to appease the situation. The introduction of Recruitment Meetings appear to give us additional input and control over the types of players our scouts will both source and recommend - hopefully gone are the days where your Chief Scout recommends a 33-year-old Left Back when you already have a worldie and a wonderkid in that position!

 
 

Body Language

 
 

Something makes me think this little guy could have a big future in the FM community - representing all that is good and pure in the world, or in the Football Manager world at least! Player interactions have been given a completely new dimension of reality with the addition of body language in the conversation; we all know how a 121 meeting with a player can take a sudden turn for the worst at the flick of a button, and hopefully this functionality will enable us to keep morale high, motivate and spur on your key player to kick on a notch in your next game, or most importantly convince him to stay when other clubs are sniffing around - we’ve all been there 👀.

 
 

Player Availability

This could be the Football Manager equivalent of Tinder. How often have you pursued a player or played hardball with a club to negotiate an acceptable transfer fee, only to find out that the player has no interest in joining at the contract screen? Now you can approach the player’s agent to identify whether or not the player is open to a transfer that the current time - if the response is positive, it might make you think twice about asking said player to sack their agent later down the line when it comes to contract renewals 😏.

 
 

Press Conferences

 
 

It would appear that Press Conferences are about to get a hell of a lot more real - the trailer eludes to multiple members of the press being in the media room, upon which you can select which member of the press or media publication you would like to receive questions from and perhaps more importantly who you wish to ignore! We all know a certain United States President that might enjoy this feature…

 
 

Tactical Instructions/Advice

“We should switch to a shorter passing style”.

Changes to Short Passing Style.

5 minutes later.

“We should switch to a more direct passing style”.

Unless we’ve hired Ant & Dec or the Chuckle brothers to be our Assistant Manager, nobody needs to be this confused right? It appears that pre-match tactical advice at least has been given a makeover, hopefully making it more intuitive and user-friendly as many of us tend to ignore this advice due to lack of trust and/or control issues. In the Assistant Manager we trust?

 
 

xG (Expected Goals)

Many have campaigned and advocated for this in the past, and finally it’s here. xG i.e. Expected Goals basically allows you to more critically assess just how clinical your attackers are and overall how likely you may be to score and win games based on how and where you tend to have more shots at goal. By assigning an Expected Goal rating to chances from different areas of the field, it enables you to measure the quality of goal-scoring chances that are created against the likelihood of them being scored. While the trailer leaves much to the imagination, it would appear that the Data Analyst will now present a more in depth illustration in terms of goal-scoring opportunities and statistics based on your team’s tactic, strategy and playing style. Stats nerds, ASSEMBLE.

 
 

Matchplay Graphics

While there is no mention of changes or additions to the match engine (yet!), it appears that the in-match presentation has been freshened up, with noticeable changes to the match score, menu and dialogue boxes that appear - no complaints here, we like what we see so far.

 
 

Licensing?

 
 

We all love a good cliffhanger. While there is no official confirmation as yet, the appearance of Leicester City’s official logo in the trailer suggests that some form of licensing agreement has been reached. Is it with the club specifically or is there more to this than meets the eye? Might we see Premier League licensing in the near future?

There’s only one way to find out - Football Manager 2021 is out on Tuesday 24th November 2020, with the beta expected to drop a couple of weeks beforehand. Your season starts here.

Be sure to follow WeStreamFM on Twitter for reaction to the latest FM21 updates - you can also get involved in the hype by joining the WeStreamFM Discord where you can find hundreds of like minded FM enthusiasts as well as some of your favourite WeStreamFM streamers, bloggers and YouTubers all gearing up for the next edition of the beautiful game.

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