Hi guys! It’s been a while since I last wrote anything. 2020 has been an awful year so far for all of us, and for me personally too! I dipped my toe into content creation at the start of the year and had a whole series planned about youth development. I’m very disappointed I couldn’t finish the FM20 Kids from Montbéliard series because you received it so well! Luckily for you, I’ll keep a focus on player development in Football Manager 2021.
COVID-19 and mental and physical health issues got in the way. I had to put everything aside, to be able to work the few hours a day in my job. When I came home from work, I had to rest to go again the next day. I’ve been declared unfit since September and gave up my job. So, I’m now permanently totally incapacitated. Which makes this so sad is that I’m only 29 years old! But, let’s look at the bright side; I don’t have to work anymore and can put a lot of time into Football Manager and content creation! With all this time to put into writing, we need to have some plans right? So here we go; my plans for FM21!
Passion4FM partnership; guest writing
Recently, I’ve partnered up with Passion4FM. It’s an opportunity to expand my reach and learn new things from Espen, who’s been one of the big guys in the community for eight years! He contacted me back in June, and asked if I’d liked to be associated with Passion4FM. I hugely respect his work, and him as a person, and was flattered with his request!
Our partnership means I’ll be guest writing for P4FM, which will hopefully help Espen to get content out on the site, and I should benefit from it by growing my audience. I’ll most likely write about how I approach training and player development in my Football Manager saves. I also might write some tactical posts and other basic stuff. Here’s to constructive cooperation!
FM21 BETA save; AFC Ajax
Approximately two weeks before full release the bèta version of the game will start (around the tenth of November). In these two weeks before the official release of the game, people tend to manage a big club to get the grips of the new game before they start a real challenge. I’m one of these persons and started with AZ last year. This time, my main save will be in Holland too (we’ll get there in a minute).
The bèta version of the game is a testing phase actually, and we should all report as many bugs as we can! It’s also handy for exploring new features, UI changes, scouting, tactical testing and more. I’ll manage AFC Ajax during this phase of the game, and here’s why:
- Ajax is the strongest team in their league.
- Ajax has a playstyle that suits my own.
- Ajax has a lot of youngsters so I can dive into training and development immediately.
- Ajax is one of my favourite teams from the last couple of years.
It’s most likely that I won’t blog about my bèta save because it’s such a short period. I’d like to put that time into exploring new things in the game instead of writing about it! I might do some updates on my Twitter, so make sure to follow me there.
FM21 Blog Series; FC Twente
The heading already tells you which club I’m going to manage during my main FM21 save, but it doesn’t say anything about how I’m going to play. My loyal readers would know by now that I heavily invest in player development. This year won’t be any different! It’s the part of the game that keeps me invested in my saves. Setting objectives like winning the Champions League is really cool and all, but what if you win it within eight seasons? Then your save tends to be over, right?
I like to have long-term challenges, like producing a Ballon d’Or winner and becoming the main-supplier to the national team. But then, short-term challenges are needed to get through the first few seasons as well. Like, becoming financially healthy and winning the Eredivisie. They’re all there, but I won’t go into detail as I will do that once I introduce the FM21 blog series. I can, however, already tell you that I won’t go youth-only as I did with FM20. Albeit, I will look at the youth teams before doing realistic signings.
So, why FC Twente?
- FC Twente is my local team
- Champions in 2010, but almost went bankrupt in the years after
- The Doyen Sports scandal
- Were relegated in 2018, but went back up immediately and are now rebuilding
- Eredivisie has no restrictions in regards to Non-EU players, lovely for scouting newgens
- Need a rebuild in regards to squad and infrastructure
- Troublesome finances
- End of list
Flipping the Tactics Board; Inverted formations
There are three things that I really like in Football Manager. These three things are why I enjoy the game so much:
- Player development (obviously)
- Newgen hunting
- Weird tactics
I had planned to do this with FM20, but due to different reasons, I didn’t. Ever since inverted wingbacks and inverted wingers became a thing, I thought about writing about inverted formations. It’s something different from the usual content I write, and I like the challenge of making them work properly.
The Tweet on the right can give you some ideas about what I mean with inverted formations. During FM21, I will create and write about some of the inverted formations, and this series will be called Flipping the Tactics Board! Something I really look forward too!
Other Ideas
The above subjects will be my core of FM21 content, but I still have a lot of other ideas. I don’t know if I’ll be able to work on them, and that’s why I don’t mention them in this post. However, you’ll see a lot of content coming from me this year, and I can’t wait for it all to start!
I hope to see you during one of my journey’s. If that’s my bèta save on Twitter, my main series over here, my Flipping the Tactics Board series or with my guest-writing for Passion4FM!
As ever, thanks for taking the time to read! And make sure to let me know what you think of my plans, either in the comment section below or on Twitter!
Hope to see you soon!
De Raam FM 
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