sortitoutsi
Football Manager Graphics
- FM24 Graphics
- FM24 Player Faces
- FM24 Logos
- FM24 Kits
- FM24 Backgrounds
- FM24 Installation Instructions
Football Manager Guides Database
Football Manager Data Update
Football Manager Shortlists
- FM25 Guides
- FM25 Shortlists
- Best FM25 Wonderkids
- Cheap FM25 Wonderkids
- FM25 Young Players aged 21-25
- FM25 Best Free Players
- FM25 Expiring Contracts
- FM25 Bargain Players
- FM25 Injury Prone Players
- FM25 Richest Clubs
- Best FM25 Facilities
- FM24 Guides
- FM24 Shortlists
- Best FM24 Wonderkids
- Cheap FM24 Wonderkids
- FM24 Young Players aged 21-25
- FM24 Best Free Players
- FM24 Expiring Contracts
- FM24 Bargain Players
- FM24 Injury Prone Players
- FM24 Richest Clubs
- Best FM24 Facilities
This site is not endorsed by Sports Interactive or SEGA and is intended for entertainment purposes only. The views expressed on this site are the views of the individual contributors and not those of Sports Interactive or SEGA.
Pippadoc
The summer transfer window started off terribly!
Last years top scorer, and Player of the Year, Victor Appiah went down for 4 months with a torn calf muscle!
However, I have been busy in the transfer window to cheer myself up
First off, a pretty uninteresting signing! Sikhosana is our back-up goalkeeper for the coming season, and as long as Kadouk doesn't get injured (or an annoying international call-up), I don't expect him to see the field for the club for the length of his contract.
Mofokeng is one for the future. Hopefully, I can give him a few appearances as this season and fingers-crossed develop into a starter somewhere down the line. I do have some promising right midfielders at the moment, but it's nice to have some depth in case some bigger clubs come in with a massive offer for our current starter.
Lesiba Nkosi, is a great defender for us, and also a very versatile player. He will come in and likely play centre-back this year, but he can also replace his name-sake Lebo Nkosi at right-back if we need to.
Ntibane will be coming in to start at left back for us. That's going to allow me to shift Kabelo Khumalo over to right-back to replace Lebo Nkosi. He's relatively young, and should be sell-able for a profit at somepoint down the line.
With Sidney Urikhob being the wrong side of 30, I'd like to plan for the future and get his long term replacement. Meet, Michael Machaka! He's got the potential to be great, and hopefully he can get plenty of time in the first-team this year to speed up his development. That way, I might be able to get a bit of money for Urikhob.
Finally, Mofokeng has been signed in order to add depth up front since Appiah's injury will leave us short for a while. After the signing I realise Mofokeng was the goal-scorer that handed me a loss in my first game in charge of Platinum Stars
On the out-going front, there's been plenty of squad players and reserves players released and sold for small chunks of money. Nothing particularly interesting to report on that front.
Pippadoc
We got past the first game this year! We did it playing some great football, and the only disappointment is that we conceded two goals. Unfortunately, next up is a 2 leg tie against Sundowns, the reigning league champions.
Well, how about that!
A 9-2 aggregate win against the current best team in South Africa. Mofokeng got the start in Appiah's Advanced Forward role, and he had a field day with the Sundowns defence, scoring a great hat-trick on route to the first final appearance of my Platinum Stars reign. With performances like that, I can't help but think we've got a real shot at the League title, not just a Champions League qualifying position.
Waiting for us in the Finals is Bidvest Wits, last years 7th placed team. It should be an easier task than Sundowns, and I'm fully expecting to walk away with my first trophy outside of Asia!
Pippadoc
We carried on the group stage where we left off season with two comfortable wins. In the final game against Club Africain we suffered our first defeat of the Confederations Cup campaign. It was a close defeat and I did give some young players game time as well.
The Semi-Finals against Bloem Celtic went fantastically! We more or less put the tie to bed in the away leg, then managed a nice 2-0 victory in the home leg to make it a comfortable game for me.
In the Final we play Club Africain over two legs. We split the group stage games, so hopefully with a bit of luck we can manage to pick up a continental trophy (although not the right one).
The only downside to the campaign is I didn't get to register new players for the games. As I lost my right-back and sold/released a bunch of squad players, that means I've got a pretty small squad to pick from for the Confederations Cup. It seems like a silly rule and all my new signings are useless for the Confederations Cup
Pippadoc
Get In! My first trophy in South Africa \o/
We got a great early goal, but we couldn't press on from there. It ended up being a close game and there was a few nervy minutes near the end of the game when Wits could have gotten an equaliser. Fortunately we held on, now for a repeat of this in the Confederations Cup Final.
Pippadoc
We managed a nice 2-1 win in the First Round against Bloem Celtic before this monstrosity happened ...
I've got no idea what went wrong here, they dominated us and thoroughly deserved to hammer us! I was beginning to think I had things sussed after we bossed the games against Sundowns in the Super 8 Cup - this puts another spin on things, we definitely still have work to do!
Well, it's on to the Confederation Cup. Although this performance has left me a little less confident we can take the trophy.
Pippadoc
Not a great start! It was an even game, and we could have taken something away from it with slightly better finishing. Clearly we're facing a lot better side than most of our domestic opponents given that we usually have the better of possession. It's going to be tough to come away with the trophy now, especially as we've surrendered an away goal.
We were outclassed, plain and simple!
They had the better of us throughout the tie. Looking at it in a good light, at least we only conceded one goal from open play. The penalty we gave away for the third goal was a result of us chasing the game and getting caught on the counter attack. Hopefully we can bounce back from this and earn ourselves a qualification place for this or the Champions League for 2027 (unfortunately I don't think we're qualified for 2026).
Pippadoc
What a first half of the league campaign!
We've been playing fantastically and managed a great string of results to end up top of the table at the halfway point! Motshumi has been phenomenal in replacing the injured Appiah, I'm definitely feeling better about possibly losing Appiah in the near future (fortunately Appiah's injury should let me keep until the summer at least. I'm a little disappointed we're only 1 point clear at the top of the table, but Kaizer Chiefs did beat us and have been playing excellently as well.
Hopefully, we can keep this form going for the rest of the season. Or at least do well enough to finish in the top 2 and qualify for the 2027 Champions League.
Motshumi has been rewarded for his excellent form with us! He's earned himself a place in the best XI in the whole of Africa! A great achievement, but hopefully it won't drive up interest too much.
Finally, I've built a World Class reputation now and I've gotten a couple of offers from Championship sides before earning my first interview offer from a Premiership side. After finishing up in Africa I should have my pick of the clubs in the worlds!
Pippadoc
This transfer window has been all about preparing the squad to cope with us possibly having to sell Key Players in the summer or later on.
First off I added a Goalkeeper I should be able to develop into a quality starter. At times Omar Abou Kadouk has been attracting interest from Premiership sides, so at some point I expect I'll be offered more than £1 million at which point he will be sold. Hopefully I can keep around long enough to develop Mahlangu into at least a 3 star players.
Next up, a central defender. Hovani Vezi has been attracting a lot of interest recently, and I may again have to accept a multi-million pound offer in the near future. Mbenyane will hopefully get some time off the bench this season, and will be a suitable option to play with a season or two.
Mdluli and Dlamini, our starting central midfielders, have both been attracting interest recently. Aliyu should be able to come in and player either of my midfield roles (Deep Lying Playmaker/Box-to-Box) depending on who leaves first. The only worry is if both leave at the same time
redwest159
How important to you take Determination as an attribute? Looking at Michael Machaka, his rating of 6 in that department would put me off of thinking he'd ever reach his potential.
Pippadoc
We had a great second half of the season losing only 1 game before the season finale. We went into the final match in top spot, knowing a draw would be enough to earn our first title. We also knew we already have a Champions League spot for next season, and that's the most important thing!
I've been in a similar situation before in Tampines, and there we lost the title on the last day of the season. So, safe to say I was nervous going in to this game!
Before we find out the results in the League, a quick look at the South African Cup is in order. We did well in the cup, even against Kaizer Chiefs. Unfortunately we conceded a late goal to take the game to extra-time, before losing in the lottery of penalties.
Back to the League now ...
GET INNNNN!!!!!
We took a great 2-0 lead before having a minor meltdown and letting Maritzburg draw level. Fortunately, Nhlapo managed to score to get us back ahead and give me a relaxing final 20 minutes of the game. Kaizer Chiefs didn't even win their game, so it was academic in the end!
I ahead a few other interesting things happen during the second half of the season ...
First off an interview offer from Man City. Not as enticing an offer as it would have been in the past. Man City have new owners now, and no where near as much money.
Morten Andersen, one of my first signings in Melbourne, has continued to be a great player after I left. It's great to see him become the clubs all-time top goalscorer. To be honest, I'm surprised he hasn't earned a call-up to the Danish national team and earned himself a move to Europe somewhere. Somehow, I don't think that will happening for him now.
Finally, I got myself a new contract in South Africa! We've got Champions League football to look forward to next season, and hopefully I can get out of Africa without needing to sign too many more contracts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks mate!
I think Determination can be massively over-valued in terms of player development. If you can give your promising youngsters plenty of first team game time they're going to progress quickly regardless. They may not reach their maximum potential, but you should be able to get them pretty close to it.
Also I look at Determination as probably the one attribute I can most easily change. With some tutoring from a player with very high Determination it's pretty easy to raise a players Determination by a fair few points. If you can get some high Determination players across your squad to begin with you can give your youngsters great determination and they can pass that on to the next generation of youngsters.
Pippadoc
So, Motshumi filled in magnificently for Appiah this season and when Appiah returned he was on fine form as well. Outside of the strikers, Thabo Nhlapo was amazing for us having a hand in 28 goals from left midfield! Defensively, all our starters managed over 7.00 ratings which is great to see.
Nhlapo's amazing season was enough to reward him with the Players' Player of the Season award!
Vezi thoroughly deserved his Young Player of the Year award, he absolutely fantastic and I imagine I'll be fending off bids for him over the next couple of seasons!
I earned the Manager of the Year award, which is always nice.
2 of our 3 best players are going to the World Cup this year. Kadouk never had a chance of going with Sudan so that's about as good as we could hope for
Pippadoc
Last summer, I promised Vezi I'd improve the stature of the club if he'd stay for another season. Despite winning the Premiership and Super 8 Cup, apparently that wasn't enough. So I figured lets offer him around for a ridiculous amount (over 5 time his value) and that'll probably placate him!
Unfortunately, I got many an offer on him and ended up selling him for £2.5 million.
A week later, his value is up to £4.7 million. He may be an even better player than I thought, I will certainly be keeping an eye on his progression!
Pippadoc
First off, I've brought in Abel Morfou to be our new starting DR. That allows Lesiba Nkosi to either replace Vezi in the centre of defence or to become a versatile substitute (he plays all defensive positions)
Makhoba is coming into the squad to compete with Lesiba Nkosi to play as a central defender. In the long term, I expect him to become an undisputed starter for us.
Ntombela is one for the future. He's already gone out on loan for the season to get him the game time I won't be able to offer him this season.
Kalu is coming as the long term replacement for Thabo Nhlapo. There's a lot of interest in Nhlapo at the moment and I may end up losing in the not too distant future. Hopefully, before then I can give Kalu enough game time to develop him into a solid starter for us.
Pippadoc
We made it to our second consecutive Super 8 Cup Final relatively comfortably. Swallows were dispatched without any trouble at all in the Quarter Finals. In the Semi Finals we put ourselves in a comfortable position in the First Leg before winning the second leg despite a sloppy performance. On to the Finals, and chance to win back-to-back Super 8 Cups.
An undeserved win for us, but I'll take it!
We were massively under-pressure before we managed to get a goal against the run of play. Almost immediately after the restart, they got a player sent off. From then on, it was a relatively comfortable end to the game with us managing to stop Sundowns create too many chances against us but we still struggled to create chances for ourselves.
Dan
Pippadoc
Saprissa came in and offered Dlamini's foreign club minimum fee release clause, and off he went to bigger and better things. Fortunately, I have Aliyu in place already, although he's bit of a step down for the time being. I'll be looking to add some depth to the midfield in January, but I'm not overly worried by the loss.
In other news, Sundowns have won the Champions League. They thrashed Kaizer Chiefs in all South Africa final. Hopefully, that can be us in the next couple of years!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep, a trophy is a trophy
Thanks for commenting
Pippadoc
We had an easy run to the Finals, scoring 12 goals and only conceding 1 over three games. We earned ourselves a game against Kaizer Chiefs in the Final and chance to secure an early double.
Another, more deserved, trophy for us!
We went into the game with injury troubles leading to me having to promote an under-18 striker to play alongside Victor Appiah. We got off to a great start taking the lead, but after Kaizer Chiefs equalised I was dreading another penalty shootout. Fortunately, our young striker, Siyabulela Dlamini, picked the perfect moment to get on the score sheet and seal our second trophy of the season
Pippadoc
Phenomenal first half of the Premiership season. We've been able to score bucket-loads of goals as well as keep it pretty tight at the back as well. We take a 6 point lead into the second half of the season and unbeaten record as well.
Now we've gone half a season unbeaten, I'm shooting for an Invincibles season. It'll be tough, especially as we were lucky to get a draw against Kaizer Chiefs this time around. But hopefully if we can stay relatively injury free we can manage it. In the transfer window we do need to add some depth to the midfield now Dlamini has left, but I don't envisage bringing in a starting player. We need to have a strong side together for the Champions League in case it's like the Confederation Cup, where I wasn't allowed to register new players after the summer break.
Dan
Pippadoc
Just the one signing this window. Matlawe is a depth signing in midfield who can hopefully develop into a quality starter for us in the long term. For the time being I expect him to get some game time off the bench and only start if we have an injury crisis.
We have had some bad news though, Melusi Mdluli my other central midfielder who began the season as a starter will be moving on in the summer after he signed a deal to move to Millonarios on a free transfer. Lesiba Nkosi, the swiss army knife of my defence, is also moving on a free transfer, to Al-Sadd in his case. It's looking like I'll lose Victor Appiah as well, he hasn't signed for anyone else yet but he's refusing to discuss a contract with us.
There's more disappointing news as well. In our 17th game of the season we blew our shot an Invincible season. We suffered an awful loss against a Maritzburg, who are currently near the bottom of the table
----------------------------------------------
It was fantastic, hopefully I can get the League title even if the unbeaten season is of the table!
Thanks for commenting
Will_FFC
Pippadoc
A great honour for Thabo Nhlapo, being named the best player playing Africa. He has been fantastic for us and thoroughly deserved it! We even managed to get Victor Appiah to earn the runner-up spot as well. They could be inter-changeable really, both have had fantastic years and deserve to be noticed.
Nhlapo has done well enough to earn himself a place in The African team of the year. Given he's beaten out players plying their trade in Europe, it's a massive achievement. Unfortunately that may make him even harder to keep hold of
We had a 4 players make into the Inter-Africa team of the year, although it looks we'll be losing two of them this season. Particularly impressive is Mandla Mdluli at right midfield, he's only 18 and surely will end up in Europe at some point.
--------------------------------------------------
Cheers Will, thanks for commenting
Pippadoc
A nice easy run to the Champions League Group Stages for us. We breezed past a few minnows without any trouble at all.
We've probably got the harder of the two groups. We face both ES Tunis and Etoile du Sahel from Tunisia as well as Al-Ahly from Egypt. In the other group, Kaizer Chiefs and Sundowns play against TP Mazembe and Vita Club from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I expect to see a familiar foe if we make it out of our group!
SBR
Pippadoc
We had a fought run to the Final of the South African Cup. Needing extra-time to beat a Cape-Town, a lower league side, is just a poor game from us. We then had to go to penalties against FS Stars to earn our place in the Final. We've earned a match against Kaizer Chiefs to get our third trophy of the season. A domestic clean sweep would definitely make up for failing at an Invincibles season.
And that's the domestic clean sweep dream over and done with.
We had control of the game, but we just couldn't create chances. There's not really too much more to it, it was a pretty even game overall. Kaizer Chiefs just defended excellently whilst we slipped up and conceding a stupid penalty to give the game away.
-----------------------------------------------
Cheers SBR
I'd say your youth development challenge could be as tricky as this one!
Pippadoc
First off, our fantastic performances this season has helped us to set the League record for goals scored! Now, we just need to clinch the title.
On a similar theme, Thabo Nhlapo has set the League record for assists in a season. He's proving to be an irreplaceable part of our team, hopefully we can keep him for this Champions League campaign at least.
This moron has been trying to get his Continental Pro Licence since I joined the club back in 2024! Three years later, after god knows how many extensions, he's finally admitted defeat.
SBR