The ruination of my marriage. Or how I delved back into Football Manager 2020.

Well its transfer window time. The squad are feeling the effects of so many games and performances have dropped off. Disappointing defeats to Swansea, West Brom and Leeds have dropped us 7 points from the playoffs and the squad is not performing well. December having only 1 win in 6 games.
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As part of the freshening up, some players have been transfer listed.

George Friend
Marvin Johnson
George Saville.

Britt may also end up on this list as his performances haven't been good enough. Fletch has dried up on the goals front and the bright spark up front has mainly come from loanee Patrick Roberts playing in an unfamiliar Shadow Striker role. During the window, Jarse has his sights on a quality attacking midfielder. Nmecha remains at the club along with another loanee (Yannick Toure). Both will get game time, but Toure less so as his performances haven't lived up to the hype.

4 scouting staff were let go to reduce the wage bill as per the board requests.

So here's the table as it stands on New Years Day. Jarse is still meeting the board requirements for a top half finish so there are no concerns over an immediate firing.
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And the player stats for the half season to date.
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Get ready for the usual Christmas/new year drop. Then it really will mirror real life.;)

Enjoying the updates.
 
So the season draws to a close. Middlesbrough finish in 9th place, 14 points from the play offs after a horrible mid season slump that saw manager Hew Jarse almost lose his job, then followed by 13 points from 18 in the last 6 games to keep the wolves at bay after a switch to a 4-1-4-1 formation that shored up the defence.
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Ashley Fletcher finishing top scorer with 17 goals and the highest average rating across the squad of 7.21. Marc Bola, the surprise of the season contributing 7 assists.

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Stojanovic set a new clean sheet record.
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In terms of staff, Dennis Bergkamp unfortunately wasn't with me for long, Wolves poached him to be their assistant manager. His replacement, David Platt who has admirably taken over technical attacking coaching and the results paid off.

In terms of the squad, Rudi and George are leaving. Harold Moukoudi, Paddy Roberts, Lukas Nmecha and Yannick Toure are all leaving at the end of the loan spell. The best loans were Harold and Luksa. Harold played every game of the season and was a rock, Lukas had a great spurt mid season and finished with 8 goals in 22 appearances with 4 assists.

FC Toronto are showing interest in Haydon Coulson and have had a £3.8m bid turned down.

The board and Hew have agreed that the playoffs are the minimum target while getting the wages under control for next season and have give Hew a new 1 year contract.

There are a couple of new targets on the horizon. Preston and Derby were both relegated to League 1 so on the transfer list right now are

Tom Lawrence (Derby). He can play as an attacking left winger and an Inside Forward. At the moment, Tavernier is playing that role but its not natural for him and some attacks down that flank were snuffed out due to his lack of experience playing the role.

Ben Pearson (Preston). He's a defensive midfielder. The plan is to offload either Howson or Clayton and have Ben step into that role and make it his own.

Patrick Bamford (Leeds). This will be tricky as Leeds have just won promotion, but he's a known Championship commodity and I think if Hew can pair him and Fletcher together, its a good partnership.

As for now, season is over and Hew will take a few days to reflect before embarking on next season's plans.
 
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So, as we approach the new season, a round up of the in's and out's.

Out
  1. Ryan Shotton > Blackburn £600K
  2. George Saville > Hull Loan with £1m future fee
  3. Adam Clayton > Hibernian £210K
  4. Jonny Howson > Real Salt Lake £1m

In
  1. Eddie Nketiah < Arsenal Season long loan
  2. Patrick Roberts < Man City Season long loan
  3. Harold Moukoudi < St Etienne Season long loan
  4. Oliver Skipp < Tottenham Season long loan
  5. James Garner < Man Utd Season long loan
  6. Jon Toral < Hull £2.1m

The shape of the squad is different to last season with more of an emphasis on defending. Marcus Browne will be given more of a chance to shine in the Inside Forward role. Marcus Tavernier drops back to midfield into his preferred Mezzala role which he can make his own what with the legacy midfield having left for pastures new.

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Ash and Eddie will compete up front. Britt remains on the transfer list and turned down a contract from QPR, so he'll get game time, but it will be reduced.

Here we go for Season 2.
 
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Interesting that you have gone more defensive there.
Are you finding that it is mirroring real life? Woody wanted to play an attacking, more expansive game but has ended up shoring up the defence to get results.
 
Yes, I am finding a lot of real life data in here. Lots of lapses of concentration at the end of games conceding sloppy goals, rank bad defending and lack of experience showing in keeping the ball and playing is simple.
 
So, as we approach the new season, a round up of the in's and out's.

Out
  1. Ryan Shotton > Blackburn £600K
  2. George Saville > Hull Loan with £1m future fee
  3. Adam Clayton > Hibernian £210K
  4. Jonny Howson > Real Salt Lake £1m

In
  1. Eddie Nketiah < Arsenal Season long loan
  2. Patrick Roberts < Man City Season long loan
  3. Harold Moukoudi < St Etienne Season long loan
  4. Oliver Skipp < Tottenham Season long loan
  5. James Garner < Man Utd Season long loan
  6. Jon Toral < Hull £2.1m

The shape of the squad is different to last season with more of an emphasis on defending. Marcus Browne will be given more of a chance to shine in the Inside Forward role. Marcus Tavernier drops back to midfield into his preferred Mezzala role which he can make his own what with the legacy midfield having left for pastures new.

View attachment 1139

Ash and Eddie will compete up front. Britt remains on the transfer list and turned down a contract from QPR, so he'll get game time, but it will be reduced.

Here we go for Season 2.

I used Browne as an inverted winger and he was immense. Scored 20+ goals and ended up top goalscorer.
 
Yes, I am finding a lot of real life data in here. Lots of lapses of concentration at the end of games conceding sloppy goals, rank bad defending and lack of experience showing in keeping the ball and playing is simple.

Does it have things like player morale etc? If a players morale is down, do you have to 'gee them up' in different ways (arm round the shoulder, or stronger methods).
I presume reducing Britts game time will reduce his morale, which means he will play worse, reducing his game time, reducing his moral, ad infinitum
 
Does it have things like player morale etc? If a players morale is down, do you have to 'gee them up' in different ways (arm round the shoulder, or stronger methods).
I presume reducing Britts game time will reduce his morale, which means he will play worse, reducing his game time, reducing his moral, ad infinitum

Thats true, its a balancing act. I'm thinking about listing him for loan as QPR have shown interest. Maybe the move will help him rediscover his form.
 
So, the end of the first month of the season is here and time for a quick status update.
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Boro are undefeated in all competitions after 8 games, with a Premier League scalp to their credit in the Carabao cup against Norwich.
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The new loan signings have slotted in well and James Garner is already looking like a key player in the midfield.
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Fletch continues to lead the line with 6 goals in 4 appearances in the league and 2 in 2 in the cup. Ably supported by Eddie Nketiah with 2 in 2 in the league and 1 in 1 in the cup. Britt has also chipped in with 1 in 4 in the league.
 
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