Hi everyone, Giacomo Freeka here with my first ever attempt at an FM career blog post. I fell out of football manager around FM22 and decided to buy 24 on a whim a short while ago, and after playing through a season, decided to track my progress. I chose Wigan for no particular reason, completely forgetting about their pretty miserable real life ownership woes and 8 point deduction at the start of the season, so I despite a fairly strong squad, I could be in for a tough time if we don’t start winning quickly! 
 

I’ll post a summary of my starting team, formation, tactics, and any transfers I’ve made, and then follow it up with a full season 1 review as I already have the season finished, until then, stay tuned!

                                     START OF SEASON 1 (23/34)

Wigan have quite a good starting squad for league 1 I feel, with a some really good, quality players for the level, and a few especially promising youngsters. Here is our squad at game start: 

A talented young squad, with an average age of 24, but the main issue will be injuries early in the year. Losing star CB's Jason Kerr and on loan Charlie Goode will be a huge blow for our defense, and missing 2 wingers and my (ideal) starting striker for this season will not help matters. But, with the help of the following key players, I think we can easily stay in the league despite our 8 point deduction, and maybe even mount a playoff push…

                                                Key Players

GK Sam Tickle

All going well, Tickle should be in our net for multiple seasons. A 21 year old great starter for the level with some serious potential to boot, I rate Tickle incredibly highly and will do everything I can to hold onto him

CB Charlie Hughes

Yes, don't refresh the page, this man is somehow not on loan from a premier league team. He's all ours! Already a leading League 1 player, I don't think you could ask for much more from a center back at this level, even before you look at his age. Him and Tickle should anchor our defense for the foreseeable future, hopefully into the premier league and beyond.

RB Steven Sessengnon

I don't mean to solely focus in on our defenders, but it is definitely the clear strength of this team. Sessengnon is definitely an especially attacking full back, basically entirely utilising his great for the level physicals and good dribbling + technique. Of all the players I'll list here, he is the one I'm least sold on, but his versatility and raw physical tools should hopefully compensate for his weak mental abilities.

CM Matthew Smith

I'm not very happy with our midfield situation overall, but Matthew Smith is, in my opinion, easily our best player, and maybe one of the best in the league. He has almost everything you want in a do-it-all midfielder bar pace, but at 22 he can only improve. Not much to say here, I'm expecting alot from him.

AM/ST Stephen Humphrys

Our best attacking option by a country mile, I'm hopeful Humphrys can produce the goods either as an inside forward or up front. I ended up playing him on the left hand side of a front 3 more than up front, as that's where he found the most form, despite his pace not being very good for the position.

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Before I finish this post and go through my first season, I will show off the one signing I was capable of making in the summer I began. Due to the huge amount of loaned players already at the club, and the 5 per matchday squad rule in league 1, any additional loanees weren't really possible for me, so I hunted down a free transfer I was really happy with, and a former Wigan man at that!

Lee Evans will slot right into the starting 11 as a midfield partner for Matt Smith in a 3 man midfield. He actually did start the game at Ipswich originally, but left on the 2nd of February as a free agent IRL before signing for Portsmouth. Thankfully for us, at least in FM, he is just a free agent since the update, so we can bring him in for a reasonable 6.75k a week, below our top earners Josh Magennis, Jordan Jones, and loaned out Charlie Wyke.

Thanks for reading, and soon I'll be back with a full season 1 review, highlighting some key moments and summarising our season. Could we potentially challenge for promotion despite a huge penalty? We'll find out…

                             END OF SEASON REVIEW (23/34)

Hello everyone! Thank you for continuing to read the story of my Wigan Athletic career in FM24. My aim is to challenge for the playoffs in our first year, or at least pull off a comfy midtable spot. In my last post I said I was worried about how we'd start off with a huge points deduction and some suspect player morale to deal with. And as you can see, our first game of the season did nothing to comfort my doubts! 

A pretty shocking 2-0 defeat where despite being fairly even on the stat sheet, the average player ratings tell a different story. Derby are playoff favourites and a strong team, but it was clear to me we needed some tactical tweaks from what I originally had planned, so I switched to a more high tempo, attacking 4-3-3 from the counter attacking setup I started with. And I like to think after that change we made a huge turnaround, bouncing back for the next 2 months in style. 

Certain players began to set themselves apart from others in my squad even at this early stage. Stephen Humphrys was scoring a goal nearly every other game cutting inside from our big Target Man, club veteran Josh Magennis, who also put in some nice performances of his own, scoring from near post corners as much as he liked.

Jordan Jones, a player I glossed over in my last post, also started to establish himself as our best out and out wide player, ahead of Fulham loanee Martial Godo and lower league veteran Callum McManaman. His ratings didn't stand out in any particular area, but the 29 year old was raking in goal contributions in the early stages of league 2, hauling us all the way from rock bottom of the table to a solid 7th position in September!

Some players were really struggling, in particular RB Steven Sessegnon. I had concerns that he was a little overrated by my scouts, and he only had 1 start above a 6.8 in this entire stretch! He soon lost his everyday job, splitting time with utility man Sean Clare at the position, who was definitely surprising with his performances.

Following this, we had to deal with a sticky October following some key injuries, and reinjuries to some returning players, and the goals began to dry up. This even included an EFL Trophy loss to the Liverpool U21's, where Jayden Danns scored their only shot in a brutal FMing

Despite this however, we bounced back for a perfect November month to send ourselves into 3rd place, right behind 2nd place Derby County (although this was at the cost of a group stage exit in the Trophy) 

I had really started to believe in the possibility of promotion, and even let myself dream of automatic places! We even had dreams of an FA Cup run, as we dispatched Lincoln in the 2nd round to potentially face premier league competition in round 3.

We were on top of the world! Surely Santa Claus wouldn't ruin our year, right?

Wrong! In our next fixture following our FA Cup win, Lincoln decided to injure a resurgent Steven Sessegnon, putting him out until March, and a Steven Humphrys goal ended with us splitting the back to back with them 1-1. It seemed like everyone but old man Magennis forgot how to score, including Stephen Humphrys who, spoiler alert, would go from 9 goals in 19 games at the Lincoln game to not scoring for the ENTIRE rest of the season! This definitely did not help our Christmas, and we plummeted to as low as 11th in league 1, 15 points off of 6th place.

The January window would come and go with me both deciding not to panic and keep my tactic the same as it was pre winless streak, and only making a very minor transfer move, terminating the loan of never used, twice injured Charlie Goode, sending him back to Everton,  and bringing in a new RB on loan to give backup and competition to Sean Clare until Sessegnon's return. 

In some ways I like Kayne Ramsay more than Sessegnon, and he's undoubtedly and better right back than Clare on paper. The hope was that he would cover the position until Sessegnon returned, but he did even more than that, taking the everyday role from him with some fantastic performances against tough opposition.

Our fortunes took a huge turn for the better in the FA cup as we dodged all Premier League, Championship, and even League 1 opposition to face Salford Cityin the 3rd round, who we managed to dispatch comfortably in the end. 

Our next opponents however, were the not quite so easy, although still very beatable Birmingham City. They were Championship relegation strugglers, so it would be a great test of our squad to face them in the DW stadium. Can we match a low tier championship team?

Not quite yet…despite a good performance they were just more clinical, and we never looked like scoring with our possession until we were already 2-0 down. Hopefully next season we can go even deeper in domestic competition.

Through January to March our form stabilised quite a lot, and with the team staying relatively fit and healthy, we clawed our way back towards 6th place Lincoln in our promotion search.

The only other change to our squad in the meantime was the promotion of young academy striker Josh Stones to the first team. He is very lacking technically but he works hard and can run for days, which brings something much different to the lumbering Magennis and horrendously out of form Humphrys 

Unfortunately, as we neared the end of the season, promotion began to look out of reach for us, A draw away to Cambridge saw us in 8th, 3 points behind Reading in 7th and a full 12 behind Lincoln. A win against Port Vale and a Lincoln loss took us into 7th, with a huge rematch against Lincoln away at LNER Stadium in what could be a promotion 6 pointer. Could we keep our composure?

A Gigantic keep our promotion hopes alive, but it still wasn't in our hands. 4 more games to play, and we were equal on goal difference with Lincoln. Could we win out and have them lose their remaining games? Our next match was a diffcult game against 3rd place Portsmouth, and it showed immediately that maybe the players weren't ready for the bright playoff lights, going down 2-0 with 20 minutes left…

But what a comeback we mustered! Extreme desperation backup Jonny Smith with a brace and Sessegnon off the bench give us a huge win with just 1 game left! Playoffs were within reach!

But unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about this, and The Imps would muscle a draw to clinch the final League 1 playoff spot an hour before our game started. I didn't tell the squad before the match, but if nothing else it shows that we have what it takes to make a run next season. We would have finished third without our deduction!

Lincoln would lose to Portsmouth in the Playoff semi-final and Derby would go up alongside Oxford and Bolton. What will next season bring? Who were our standout performers in 23/34? What will we do in the transfer window next year? Find out next time, in a much more streamlined and less bloated post because I can actually use screenshots as they happen! Thank you for reading, and see you tomorrow!

                             PRE-SEASON ROUNDUP (23/24)

Hi everyone, welcome back to my Wigan Athletic career in FM23! Last time I sent out a huge full season review to get to this stage, and now I'm going to go over our standout players from last season, any award winners we had, and what our plans will be for the summer transfer window. First of all, I want to show off our Player of the Season at Wigan, a player I have not even mentioned up to this point.

LB Tom Pearce didn't do anything spectacular last season, but in a season full of ups, downs and injuries, he stayed healthy all season, racked up 8 assists, and a 6.90 average rating. Left back is one of a few position I don't think we need any strengthening, and I think he could even do a job in the Championship if we make it up there in the near future.

Our top goalscorer ended up being another player I didn't talk about much, Striker Josh Magennis. He ended up with 11 goals in League 1, and considering most of those were from corners, it shows how brutal we were going forward at certain points this season. Due to him being 33, we let Josh go when his contract expired, and he ended up moving up a tier, joining Arminia Bielefeld and starting for them  in the Bundesliga 2. 

The biggest dissapointment of the season has to be Steven Humphrys. After a really solid 9 goals in 19, he failed to score or assist in his next 22 games, 33 hours of football! As young as he is and as much as he started well, I couldn't justify renewing his contract for a huge 8k per week, so he entered free agency. Hopefully he finds a home somewhere else in league 1, but it won't be with us.

Now we get to a full list of our released players, and it's mainly just the 2 I've listed and a lot of youngsters without a future in our club, with a few exceptions

McManaman was absolutely rancid when he did play, so we aren't sad to see him retire. Jordan Jones started off brilliantly, but once he turned 30 his performances started to wain considerably and we wanted to upgrade at the position anyway, as well as free up some budget space. We'll need a replacement at backup GK as Ben Amos leaves, but that shouldn't be too difficult. We won't have much of a budget to use, with 150k in the transfer fund and our wage budget increasing by just 2k to 122k per week, due to the fact we are currently running at a deficit. It should be a quiet transfer window…

Or will it???? Find out who left in my next post! Thank you for reading!

                          Transfer Special 24/25 - Wigan Athletic

Hi everyone, welcome back to my Wigan career where we just made a huge sale, and I'm ready to announce that we sold one of our most promising young players for a deal that could go as far as 7.25m!

Transfers Out:

CB Charlie Hughes - Southampton - 6.75m (7.25m)

We managed to get him back on loan for the season, but I will miss Hughes once he's gone. Really fantastic CB and with Southampton currently 15th in the Premier League it could be difficult for him to get a look in there. Hopefully he can help us out in what might be his last season here!

RB Steven Sessegnon - Coventry City - 1.3m

Delighted to get this much for a player I wasn't all that keen on. He did play better post injury last season but making 1.3m on Sessegnon is a no brainer in my opinion. He moves up to Championship Coventry to try and keep them out of a relegation scrap.

W Jonny Smith - Preston North End - 130k

A much smaller fee here, but I heavily targeted wide players in the Summer and Smith, a player who rarely played even last season, just didn't have a role. Recently relegated Preston obviously rate him, but I don't think we are strengthening them too much with this move.

Now that we are finished with the movements out of the club, time for the ins!

Transfers In:

Archie Mair - Norwich City - Free Transfer

With Amos leaving I needed a new backup, and Mair is better, younger, and cheaper than him. I was delighted that there was no interest in young starlet Sam Tickle but even if I did get a huge bid, I think Mair would be a fine GK to ride out the season with.

CB Kelland Watts - Newcastle - Free Transfer

The only player I had in on loan that I tried to resign, Watts was superb alongside Hughes last season on the left side of our pairing, and with club captain Jason Kerr returning from a long injury spell near the end of last year, Watts didn't let him regain his first team spot. We just need one more CB to have a nice rotation of 4.

CB Michael Ihiekwe - Sheffield Wednesday - Free Transfer 

Veteran experience for our backline, while it is a long contract for a 32 year old, the fee is low enough that we should be able to keep him around and not feel it too much anyway. Very good CB for the level, and 15 heading should make him a menace from corners.

RB Nathan Asiimwe - Charlton Athletic - Loan 

I struggled to find a good replacement for both Steven Sessegnon, who just left for a big fee, and Kayne Ramsay, who Charlton wanted too much money for and refused to loan back to me. Instead I settled for another Charlton full back on loan. I'm not fully happy with Nathan and may look to upgrade in January, but for now he should compete with Sean Clare for the starting job.

CM Panutche Camara - Ipswich Town - Free Transfer 

It's hard to say no to a player with 20 work rate, and he'll slot into my tactic perfectly as the BWM in my midfield 3. A full international for Guinea-Bissau, he's exactly what I want from my midfield this season, hard working defensively and not completely incapable of making a pass either.

CM Jeando Fuchs - Peterborough United - Free Transfer

A huge transfer for us and a huge statement, Fuchs was unhappy at Peterborough after their failure last season and was willing to join us on an honestly criminal wage. He should absolutely boss the midfield and potentially make it difficult for Camara to get a game as long as he's fit!

LB/LW Ali Adnan - Mes Rafsanjan - Free Transfer 

Another big transfer, and definitely my riskiest, we brought the Iraq international out of the Iranian Premier League and into Wigan. We needed backup for Pearce at LB and desperately needed wingers, so Adnan does too much for us not to love him. I just hope I don't regret him being here until 2027!

CM Jensen Weir - Brighton & Hove Albion - Free Transfer

One of the last moves I made chronologically, Weir was just sitting without a club and I felt he was too good not to bring in, even if only to be a squad player behind Matthew Smith and Lee Evans. Solid all around midfielder, and only 22 years of age.

Miscellaneous Wide Players - Premier League - Loan

I really struggled to find wingers for transfer that weren't either asking for 10k+ a week or more interested in the championship. I decided to loan in 3 talented youngsters instead, to pair with Adnan out wide. Mazilu is probably the most talented, but they each have their own strengths and weaknesses depending on our opponent, which I quite like. We also signed some of the obligatory released prem youngsters, but I'll only mention them if they ever become relevant to our first team or look like real quality.

FW Jamie Donley - Tottenham Hotspur - Loan 

A very pricey loan, I was desperate for goals and I'm hopeful Donley will provide them. Surprised Spurs would send him here instead of the league above us but not going to complain, should score for fun in League 1

FW Scott Hogan - Birmingham City - Free Transfer

I needed another striking option, and after trying and failing to buy Callum Robinson, I signed his countryman Scott Hogan. I don't expect too much from him, but for a season I think he should be fine as a backup.

And that's everything! I decided to hold onto the Hughes and Sessegnon money as, despite actually lowering our committed spend on wages this season, we were still losing money, and half of the fee would be in instalments. Hopefully we can open the coinpurse next season if we win promotion!

And with that, I'll get back to you all with our start to the season next post! See you then!

                    Season 2 Begins (24/25) - Wigan Athletic

Hi everyone! Welcome back to the start of our second season, with our aim being playoffs or automatic promotion to the Championship. I think we have the squad for it, especially with another minor signing I forgot to tell you about in my last post!

W Diallang Jaiyesimi - Charlton Athletic - Free Transfer

More wide depth, and he actually provides something we don't have in that he's right footed and natural as a winger on the right hand side. Not expecting the world from him, but for free, on a one year deal, and on 2.5k per week i dont see a reason not to.

Anyway, back to our team as a whole, this is how I expect out starting 11 to shape up to begin the year:

I think we have a talented enough squad to use a slower, more methodical tactic offensively, so the basic control possession tactic with tempo raised slightly to standard, and we'll see how it goes. Unfortunately, as you can see above, both Mazilu and Tickle have been injured in preseason, so we'll be without Mazilu for 2 weeks and Tickle for 2 months! Let's see how August goes with our new signing Archie Mair in net…

About as good as it gets! Losing so quickly in the League Cup is disappointing, but our defense has been rock solid otherwise, Mair has been brilliant, allowing just 2 goals in 5 games he's started, and Watts and Hughes are dominating defensively too, with Fuchs or Camara  sitting in front of them. And September goes just as well for us, as we go undefeated for the month!

It's here I want to mention Scott Hogan and his special technique I'm calling the Hogan Special (brother)

Basically, almost every game he starts, someone playing as an out and out winger will drive down the line towards the edge of the box (usually Moreira or Jaiyesimi), throw in a low driven cross, and Hogan will tap it in past the goalkeeper. He has yet to score a different type of goal, yet as I type this in December he has 10 goals in 10 starts! Donley isn't playing too badly, but he could lose his place to Hollywood Hogan sooner than later, especially after his first start in October gave us this against Peterborough.

3 goals, 3 almost identical low crosses to tap ins. And I don't even have low crosses set, just mixed! Moreira and Jaiyesimi have also been my most impressive wingers by far, Moreira especially has been such a hard worker in the press, constantly winning the ball back, and the Chelsea youngster is quickly becoming a favourite of mine.

Our paint trophy woes continue with a loss to non league Harrogate, but with Sam Tickle back in goal nothing can stop us, as we rise to the very top of the table! Our new slow paced tactic is working perfectly, and although some postponed games for international duty, as well as an FA cup replay mean we will fall to 3rd with 2 games in hand, you have to bet on us to reclaim our top spot.

It was a jam packed November, which saw our first league loss of the season to a struggling, recently relegated Preston side, and a tightly contested FA Cup bout with Plymouth Argyle for a chance to face Rochdale in round 2. 

Here's how the table looks on the 1st of December, we are just behind bitter rivals from last season Lincoln, and within touching distance of high flying Colchester, who, off the back of a 16 goal season from star striker Samson Tovide, have flown to the top of the table. Last season, December was where it all fell apart for us, and with our games in hand upcoming, will we rise to the occassion or fall out of title contention? Thank you for reading, and I'll see you next time!