Black from the Brink

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Hi everyone, I'm Adam, posting for the first time, and creating a story to keep you up to date with my current save, which will see me through to the release of FM18. I've played and loved FM since the first in 2005, having previously played CM titles and the LMA Manager series on the PlayStation. These games, and FM in particular, have been my main and at times only hobby for 15+ years now, but the way I think about the game, and the way I see things has obviously changed over time, but more dramatically recently, and that's the main reason why I want to create this story, I want a platform to share my thoughts. I've had some incredible saves over the years, teams and players (regens in particular) that I still remember and miss to this day, despite the saves being long gone. I could go into detail about my Southampton save on FM09 and the incredible team I built to destroy Real Madrid in the Champions League, or my FM11 Manchester United save that was started on a boring day with no idea who to be, and ended in 2036 having built a massive dynasty where I won everything every year, but I don't want to ramble. There was one thing in common with these and my other favourite saves, very few changes when it came to tactics.

I've never been a tactical expert, but I've always had relative success in my saves, far more promotions than relegations, far more cup final wins than defeats. I think a huge reason for that is that I could find a tactic that worked for my team and never change it, and then spend years just buying players or developing youngsters to improve the weakest links, until I was left with a squad unrivalled in the world.

Success has been drying up for a few versions of FM now, no real long term saves with dominance, not a whole lot of major triumphs. FM17 is my favourite FM ever, but also my least successful, I struggled on the Beta with Newcastle, ending the save after about 15 games loitering in midtable. I had a save with Man United and played about 4 seasons, and despite a Europa League win in the first season and a title win in the 2nd, I found it hard to keep with the save because of a huge inability to get a result away from home, despite trying anything I could think of. Tactics have never been my strong point, but I seriously felt like my ability to play the game was diminishing.

My desire to play this game, and be successful, is stronger than ever, but I can't play it the way I used to, it doesn't work for me anymore. I have plans for FM18 saves that I have never done before, and I can't wait, but I also need to use between now and then to try new things, new approaches, and I want to share that with anyone who is interested. So hopefully you will enoy this story, and join me as I try to take Blackburn back to the top of the domestic tree, and maybe even further.

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I've already played 3 seasons of this save and have just started the 4th, so I have updated the Seasons section to show a brief overview of my progress so far. Updates after this point will be monthly overviews, with match reports and any extras that come up at any point. Thank you so much for reading this opening post, it isn't what I planned to write but I hope I got what I was trying to say across.

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Career History:

2016/17 - Blackburn Rovers Sky Bet League One: 1st Place (93pts) FA Cup: 2nd Round EFL Cup: 2nd Round
2017/18 - Blackburn Rovers Sky Bet Championship: 12th Place (63pts) FA Cup: 3rd Round EFL Cup: 2nd Round
2018/19 - Blackburn Rovers Sky Bet Championship: 8th Place (70pts) FA Cup: Quarter Final EFL Cup: 3rd Round