Football Manager 2013: Managing Norwich City 2012-13

I'm going to restart this blog and focus on my career with Norwich City in the latest FM 2013.

I will do an update for each month of gameplay and will link to relevant youtube highlights etc. 
I am also looking at some software called Camtasia which records you playing the game.

Anyway, before we start the game in July 2012, here's a little background

A few observations on FM 2013.  You have much more control and support than ever before, with your assistant reminding you if you have done something stupid. This helps as even though I am 'between jobs' in RL, I still don't have the endless time to devote to FM that I used to, and very occasionally in the heat of everything, I will miss something like the fact my goalkeeping coach has been bought by Derby and no-one is training my goalies! These things are very rare, but it's good to know your assistant will remind you.  Again the game plays more realistically than before, with the slight loophole whereby you could trick your transfer/wage budget by signing a group of players at the same time, being eliminated. So far it also seems that clubs are far more wise at knowing when they have a good young player, and the days of buying the next Messi for 20,000 appear gone. That said you can do more to develop the youngsters you do buy, so again if you put in the work you get your reward.

The most addictive and realistic simulation in the world

                                                                    


As those who follow me know, I don't 'cheat' in FM so I never view these lists of best new youngsters etc that some FM players like to share and send out. To me it would ruin the sense of achievement. If my scouts don't find them, or I don't know them in RL they aren't getting signed!
My 1st seasons, therefore, are usually about prudence and consolidation.

When I played FM 2011 I played as Newcastle, and they gave me a 20 million budget to avoid relegation (and in one of the low points of my FM career I still took them to relegation, albeit cutting all the dead wood and slashing the wage budget so much that I kept my job, before gaining immediate re-promotion and 6 seasons later leading them to winning the Champions league). 

I got a big shock when I took over Norwich City and the chairman gave me just £3 million and a wage budget of 315 million (!) and told me to avoid relegation. He also said that because their finances were tight I could only have 15% of transfer fees generated by selling players. I could have argued on this point but decided to accept he knew the club's finances better than I, and to work within the constraints.

                                     Shock sacking for Hughton as Simington takes charge                                                       

I have always hated mediocre players on stupid wages so I quite relished the challenge of keeping the wages low whilst achieving success. When I managed Newcastle most players were on £50,000 p/w plus (including Alan Smith, Joey Barton etc) and as previosuly detailed, I ditched them all post haste.  At Norwich the highest earner is Bassong on 25,000 and everyone else is on 20k p/w or less.  I wanted to ensure that those I brought in were also on sensible wages. If you work out what kills your finances on FM, it's not paying 8 mill for a great player, if their wages are sensible, it's buying players on a free and paying them stupid salaries which end up costing more than the fee, and lead to a wage escalation race among your players. Of course you miss out on some talent that way, and there have to be exceptions that prove the rule, but that Eureka moment which came to me during FM 2010 has stood me in good stead. Pay what you need to in transfer fees, but keep wages manageable at all costs.

I will close this first post with a list of the squad I inherited. Very few big names or fancy-dans, and very much UK based. Lacking in real top quality, imho, with the exception of Bassong and possibly Turner and Garrido.  Some solid premiership players, however,  and some who really are Chamiponship level and who I will need to replace. However I have learnt from experience not to try and change too much too soon.

                                                                
                                Club captain Grant Holt. Will he be in Simington's long-term plans?

1	John Ruddy		GK	October 24, 1986 (age 26)	Everton	2010	83 (0)	0
13	Declan Rudd		GK	January 16, 1991 (age 22)	Academy (1999)	2008	11 (4)	0
28	Mark Bunn		GK	November 16, 1984 (age 28)	Blackburn Rovers	2012	–	–
31	Jed Steer		GK	September 23, 1992 (age 20)	Academy (2003)	2009	2 (0)	0
Defenders
2	Russell Martin		RB/CB	January 4, 1986 (age 27)	Peterborough United	2010	109 (3)	7
3	Steven Whittaker		RB	June 16, 1984 (age 28)	Rangers	2012	–	–
5	Sébastien Bassong		CB/LB	July 9, 1986 (age 26)	Tottenham Hotspur	2012	–	–
6	Michael Turner		CB	November 9, 1983 (age 29)	Sunderland	2012	–	–
18	Javier Garrido		LB	March 15, 1985 (age 27)	Lazio (loan)	2012	–	–
20	Leon Barnett		CB	November 30, 1985 (age 27)	West Bromwich Albion	2010	40 (4)	2
22	Elliott Ward		CB	January 19, 1985 (age 28)	Coventry City	2010	54 (0)	1
23	Marc Tierney		LB	August 23, 1985 (age 27)	Colchester United	2011	31 (2)	0
24	Ryan Bennett		CB	March 6, 1990 (age 22)	Peterborough United	2012	8 (0)	0
33	George Francomb		RB	September 8, 1991 (age 21)	Academy (2008)	2009	3 (0)	0
–	Daniel Ayala		CB	November 7, 1990 (age 22)	Liverpool	2011	9 (1)	0
Midfielders
4	Bradley Johnson		CM	April 28, 1987 (age 25)	Leeds United	2011	25 (4)	2
7	Robert Snodgrass		LW/RW	September 7, 1987 (age 25)	Leeds United	2012	–	–
8	Jonny Howson		CM	May 21, 1988 (age 24)	Leeds United	2012	11 (0)	1
11	Andrew Surman		CM	August 20, 1986 (age 26)	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2010	42 (7)	8
12	Anthony Pilkington		LW	June 6, 1988 (age 24)	Huddersfield Town	2011	25 (7)	8
14	Wes Hoolahan		AM	May 20, 1982 (age 30)	Blackpool	2008	136 (21)	31
15	David Fox		CM	December 13, 1983 (age 29)	Colchester United	2010	60 (7)	1
17	Elliott Bennett		RW/AM	December 18, 1988 (age 24)	Brighton & Hove Albion	2011	24 (12)	1
21	Jacob Butterfield		AM	June 10, 1990 (age 22)	Barnsley	2012	–	–
26	Simon Lappin		LM/LB	January 25, 1983 (age 29)	St. Mirren	2007	108 (14)	3
27	Alexander Tettey		DM	April 4, 1986 (age 26)	Rennes	2012	–	–
–	Korey Smith		CM	January 31, 1991 (age 21)	Academy (2007)	2008	61 (12)	4
–	Tom Adeyemi		CM	October 24, 1991 (age 21)	Academy (2000)	2008	4 (9)	1
Forwards
9	Grant Holt (captain)		FW	April 12, 1981 (age 31)	Shrewsbury Town	2009	115 (14)	70
10	Simeon Jackson		FW	March 28, 1987 (age 25)	Gillingham	2010	34 (33)	18
16	Steve Morison		FW	August 29, 1983 (age 29)	Millwall	2011	23 (14)	10
19	James Vaughan		FW	July 14, 1988 (age 24)	Everton	2011	1 (5)	0
25	Chris Martin		FW	November 4, 1988 (age 24)	Academy (1998)	2006	82 (29)	32
37	Harry Kane		FW	July 28, 1993 (age 19)	Tottenham Hotspur (loan)	2012	–	–

Next month:  July 2012.  Assessing the squad, deciding on formation and looking to strengthen the team.






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