Is the Championship the hardest league in FM?

EdenHazard

To me it always seemed the most frustrating league. Its so hard to get consistency going, and because of the amount of games it seems you draw a lot. Teams seem pretty even as well.

Reasons I think its the hardest. Its very hard to have a squad that is too good for the division(especially in the first few seasons, ive never played in it after then) Unlike league one and two where you can assemble a superior squad of players far easier through frees/loans. mostly the young epl players aren't really up for it in the championship. its also hard to attract higher class of players that will significantly improve your team.

RobbieTheRobber

I found that if you can get some older players on free transfers you can get promotion.
This does require you to have sufficient wage budget, something I could never do with Crawley.
The only problem with free transfers is they are usually not close to good enough once you get promoted though.
Which means once promoted you have to release a lot of those players you signed on one year contracts.

Who are you playing with in the championship?

elefant

I'm finding the Blue Square Premier League a nightmare with Vauxhall Motors.

dulpit

elefant wrote: »

I'm finding the Blue Square Premier League a nightmare with Vauxhall Motors.

I tried playing as them in FM 2012. Could not hack it so bailed out, nightmare...

elefant

dulpit wrote: »

I tried playing as them in FM 2012. Could not hack it so bailed out, nightmare...

Yeah, I'm playing fm12 with them. They are absolutely cat at the start. Only 1 player actually earning a wage, the rest on appearance bonuses.

I lost in the playoffs twice before getting promoted. Struggling to avoid relegation now. The gulf in class in the BSP between the top and the bottom teams is huge.

retalivity

the lower portuguese/spanish/italian leagues are way harder than the championship.

There are normally 3-4 leagues at the same level (Serie C, Tercera Division, Segunda divisao, etc), where only the top team plays off with the other top teams for 2-3 promotion places. So winning the league there doesnt even guarnatee you promotion. Plus, the gap between top and bottom is huge, and teams who drop down usually go straight back up.

They are much harder to get out of imo

Mc Love

The championship isnt as hard as you say, sure you draw alot of matches, the step up from the championship to the premiership is the hardest!

antomorro-sei

Jaysus yeah, I've never got a team promoted from the Championship in FM. Disaster of a league.

Reekwind

In truth, I've never had too much trouble with the Championship. You have decent crowds and facilities and can attract young players with good potential. It shouldn't take too long to put together a side of bright young things. On occasion I've gone straight up to the PL with two promotions in a row

Where I find that things get tricky is League 2 and below. You've not the money, time or facilities to build a new young team and so have to scape by on 30-somethings on frees. I'm not even going to get started on the semi-pro sides

RobbieTheRobber wrote:

The only problem with free transfers is they are usually not close to good enough once you get promoted though.
Which means once promoted you have to release a lot of those players you signed on one year contracts.

I can't stress this enough. Forget romantic notions of taking your core of loyal League 1 players to the PL; a new league means a new team. Whenever I make the step up to the top tier (in any country) I reinforce with 5-6 new signings of sufficient callibre

Max Power1

Reekwind wrote: »

In truth, I've never had too much trouble with the Championship. You have decent crowds and facilities and can attract young players with good potential. It shouldn't take too long to put together a side of bright young things. On occasion I've gone straight up to the PL with two promotions in a row

Where I find that things get tricky is League 2 and below. You've not the money, time or facilities to build a new young team and so have to scape by on 30-somethings on frees. I'm not even going to get started on the semi-pro sides

I can't stress this enough. Forget romantic notions of taking your core of loyal League 1 players to the PL; a new league means a new team. Whenever I make the step up to the top tier (in any country) I reinforce with 5-6 new signings of sufficient callibre

Ive had 3 players on my team from the BSP to the EPL and the CL final. It is possible to do, and another 8-9 who lasted from league 2 to lower mid table premiership

Invest in training facilities and academy, it brings me half the english team 15-20yrs in!

Reekwind

Well, I should add a disclaimer that if you manage to scoop up a few future England internationals while in the BSP then it's all very different

The problem is that there are hard limits on a player's development. You may be able to tailor your tactics to suit your players' strengths perfectly but ultimately a good League 1 player will probably not be able to cut it at the highest level. It's very rare, in my experience, that a non-wonderkid can bridge that huge gap in quality

The key is of course putting together a young team of future stars but this is easier to do at higher levels and I find that sprinkling the team with older journeymen (to be discarded on promotion) considerably speeds up the rise through the divisions

EdenHazard

They need to change that in FM! Loads of players develop into top tier players despite playing in lower leagues for a good portion of their careers.

gnfnrhead

EdenHazard wrote: »

They need to change that in FM! Loads of players develop into top tier players despite playing in lower leagues for a good portion of their careers.

Such as?

Lower leagues being League 2 level. I can think of a couple, but definetly not loads.

Max Power1

Reekwind wrote: »

Well, I should add a disclaimer that if you manage to scoop up a few future England internationals while in the BSP then it's all very different

The problem is that there are hard limits on a player's development. You may be able to tailor your tactics to suit your players' strengths perfectly but ultimately a good League 1 player will probably not be able to cut it at the highest level. It's very rare, in my experience, that a non-wonderkid can bridge that huge gap in quality

The key is of course putting together a young team of future stars but this is easier to do at higher levels and I find that sprinkling the team with older journeymen (to be discarded on promotion) considerably speeds up the rise through the divisions

I didnt scoop them up though, they were regens in my youth team.
two started playing in the first team at 15 and were still key players at 33-34

Reekwind

How did you get three world class regens while in the BSP? How did you afford the training facilities, youth coaches, etc?

elefant

Reekwind wrote: »

How did you get three world class regens while in the BSP? How did you afford the training facilities, youth coaches, etc?

Aye. I can barely afford a physio!

gnfnrhead

pfft, show offs with your staff. My club can hardly afford players :pac:

Max Power1

Reekwind wrote: »

How did you get three world class regens while in the BSP? How did you afford the training facilities, youth coaches, etc?

They were regens in the BSP, I invested in training+youth academy every year (even selling players to fund it) and the youths just got better and better.

Half of my first team squad now (top 4 EPL team consistently) are regens, even the club legend with +600 appearances is a regen from the academy