by @_JDFM
You might know @_JDFM as the founder of the FM Creator’s Championship, or as the Official Virtual Football Manager of Margate FC for FM21. More recently, he has completed an FM Journeyman save for FM20 as well as his “Call of the Dragon” save in Wales, so we asked him to name his Player of the Year from this year’s version of the game.
Football Manager has really got me in a pickle over the last decade. Amassing well in excess of 10,000 hours of gameplay from FM10, it’s had a grip on me stronger than Peter Crouch’s dancefloor repertoire. It’s been a love affair that has brought joy and despair across leagues, nations and continents. And with FM21 looking so good, it looks like the draw is here to stay.
I only jumped into content creation for FM20 and the art of putting your content in the public eye certainly adds an added realism to the save, strangers commenting on fictional characters is something that takes getting used to.
In all of my time playing FM, my tendency has been towards building youth, developing my own world away from the usual suspects, favouring unknown wonderkids rather than the big names. Considering my usual style of play within Football Manager is to assemble an arsenal of overpowered newgens that make Barcelona look like Bradford (sorry lads), naming a real player is huge. But that’s the effect that Ilaix Moriba has had on me..
The world of Moriba was an FM20 Journeyman save, starting with nothing and climbing to the top. My Journey started with an obvious move; the Romanian Second league and the legends that are Daco-Getica. After taking a team of part-time farmers and bootleggers up a division, Astra Giurgiu came calling like I knew they always would. My first season was successful but brought no rewards or silverware. I needed a bigger challenge.
That’s when Bordeaux came calling, let’s be honest moving from Romanian football to the dizzy heights of the PSG league is a bigger step than Crouch’s dance routine. But they clearly liked my penchant for swanky Romanian designer clothing and baguettes. So in 22/23 I became the Manager of Bordeaux, coming in during the middle of a season is never easy but I dragged them up to 3rd position in my first season.
The next season is when things pushed on a gear, coincidentally when Moriba arrived on loan from Barcelona. His first season was good if not glamorous, but it was enough for me to spend £35million on the guy which in reality was a steal!
My love affair with Moriba came from my preferred tactical role of a Mezzala, admittedly a little OP this year but it just offered everything that I loved from a player, and Moriba was a worldie in this position. He’d constantly pick the ball up from deep, charge forward and score screamers for fun.
In total Moriba played 182 games for Bordeaux scoring 65 goals and chipping in with 42 assists
It was so much more than the numbers alongside Moriba’s name, he was the big game player we always needed. Popping up with huge goals in cup games, pushing us to Champions League glory and even completing FM by toppling the mighty PSG and winning the Ligue 1 title.
Our relationship wasn’t always perfect; not only did I break Moriba’s heart whilst in charge of the French national team..
..but there were also times when he wanted bigger and better things, in reality he had outgrown the club. And to be honest, I think I had too. I told him with confidence that we’d one day leave together and take over the world..and that’s exactly what we did:
Liverpool came calling, and I ran there quicker than Peter Crouch down that right wing for a goal and a robot celebration. Moriba was already on speed-dial and he along with a couple of other Bordeaux favourites came in the door for a measly £60million. That season we lifted the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
That save will always stay with me as my favourite FM20 save and the legend that is Moriba is one of the main reasons for that. Maybe we’ll continue our love affair in FM21…
Thanks for reading,
If you would like to catch up with more of @_JDFM’s Football Manager content including his Welsh-only FM20 save with Hiraeth then get on over to his Youtube channel, drop a sub and brace yourself for some great content to come with the arrival of FM21.
Interested in writing a Guest Author piece for WeStreamFM? Drop us a DM or else feel free to reach out to @MaddFM directly.
