u/NerdyOutdoors

End of summer and these have not been getting the love on my boards, and looking to try different things.

Willing to do +\- as needed, 2-for-1, three-person trades, meetups, hangouts, whatevs.

No OG boxes on any of these.

WTT:
EQD dunes, very good condition, velcro.
Way Huge Supa Puss analog delay, very good, velcro.
Boss Bd-2, modded (modder unknown). Includes keeley mod on the face, and fuzz mod on the side.

WTTF:
Caroline Parabola Pawnshop?
Caroline Icarus V2 or mayhaps Aaron Graves?
Sorta washy lofi things? Dirty verbs?
Things that make guitars sound less like guitars?
Dd-8?
Re-2 / re 20?

Located in USA.

Happy trading!

Got questions about modding, editing, and more? Use this space for discussions about launchers, mods of all kinds, troubleshooting, etc. Careers using mods can get their own threads if the focus is the career itself.

Mod-centric posts that are not in this thread will be removed with a gentle reminder to post them here.

Please keep it civil in here!

Got questions about modding, editing, and more? Use this space for discussions about launchers, mods of all kinds, troubleshooting, etc. Careers using mods can get their own threads if the focus is the career itself.

Mod-centric posts that are not in this thread will be removed with a gentle reminder to post them here.

Please keep it civil in here!

Looking for some insights. We are doing a sierra high camp loop soon. Carrying the usual essentials, sleeping at the camps so not carrying tent, cookware, full-on sleeping bags.

Is the terrain rough enough that you recommend full-on over-the ankle hiking boots? Or are people comfortable in trail runners?

I’ve Done some east coast backpacking wearing trail runners in New England and been Ok on overnights, but shorter distances than the high camps.

Just looking for people’s experiences

Modding talk goes here! Share your favorite mods, ask questions and maybe get help, chat about modding in general or particular mods. Please keep it civil.

All -- it's the slow season on this subreddit, and we are being surprisingly inundated with questions about modding. The last week or so have seen a significant uptick in modding questions that come to dominate the top of the feed.

Many of these questions are best answered by literally reading the documentation for the mods.

Many other modding troubleshooting can be addressed by quick google searching. And modding needs some trial-and-error to get right! We are not an emergency mod-fix service. That's just not the intent of the sub. Additionally, many mod creators are active on discords, and questions are more likely to gain quick traction there.

And, a handful of these can be solved with the search bar. It's right up there!

Lastly, a number of these questions really feel SEO-optimized and we have some concerns that we're seeing bots and sock puppets, not real people.

At the same time, we know that mods can vastly improve the game experience and lend all the "Seriousness" and realism that people wish EA would just... fix.

So here's what the mod team has decided on.

1. Bi-Weekly Modding thread that will be stickied. Individual Modding Q + A goes there. Questions about the best mods these days, troubleshooting, even just chatting about your fave mods. If you are a modder and want to pitch your mod, it goes there, on Sundays. Really elementary questions that are easily addressed by the mod documentation will probably get removed as "low effort"

2. After today, new modding questions will be removed. Currently existing modding questions will remain.

3. When FC 27 drops, we will revisit this policy *if / once modding becomes available*

4. Sharing a career / discussing a career save built around mods is fine and can remain, as the career saves do, their own posts.

Thanks!

At the midpoint of season 6, our transfer business raised serious questions about the promotion chase as we sold two top players for significant fees. Would the sale of Lasse Berg Johnsen to Premier League strugglers Wolverhampton, and Sam Sutton to title-chasing Eredivisie side Feyenoord, hamper our efforts to maintain a position in the promotion hunt? Those two players were key men on the pitch and Sutton, especially, was a playmaking winger who oozed class. And would our recruitment of replacements prove successful? And last, could we maintain our form and avoid season 5's calamitous swan-dive down the table and out of the playoffs?

Fans needn't have worried. The replacements we found proved able and skillful, especially surrounded by the quality of the rest of the team, and we coasted into the end of the season on a high note, securing promotion with 4 matches to spare.

The Table at the End

No one was catching Leeds this season, who built a stellar record this season as they sought an immediate rebound from their relegation in the 2029/30 season. With parachute payments in hand, they carried a squad full of top-notch firepower. The real race was going to be for 2nd place, and avoiding the chaos of the playoffs. In this, the fixture list was our friend, as we only played two teams in the top 8 from January onward. Our springtime was full of relegation contenders and mid-table strivers, and our results spoke for it. We dropped just 9 points in the league from February 1st onwards to maintain our grip on 2nd place. While we lost an FA Cup quarterfinal match to Bristol City, it was an excellent run-out for the squad.

The end-of-season match record

No matter what we managed to do on the score sheet, Leeds kept excelling us, and the matchday 43 loss to West Brom, followed by the 1-1 draw to Leicester, ultimately sealed Leeds' title as we needed them to stumble down the stretch.

Still, it proved a stellar rebound after last season's disappointing flop in the spring, where we nosedived out of the playoffs entirely. Here, we showed our mettle and our focus, and closed out games with the top scoring attack AND a top-five defence.

The Replacements

Let's look at our transfer moves. You'll recall we lost 27-year-old star Sam Sutton to Champions-League-contending side Feyenoord. Nominally a left-back, we pushed Sutton up the field to left wing / left mid, where he was revelation to the league. When he made his move to the Dutch side, we replaced him with 31-year old Alfie Doughty. Long a veteran of promotion-chasing sides, with Premier League experience at Luton Town, he brought veteran leadership and class. In 18 appearances, he tallied 5 assists in the league and contributed to 8 clean sheets -- a solid return on the £3.75 million that we paid.

A bargain at twice the price, perhaps?

We also sold Lasse Berg Johnsen last season to Wolves. Here, we ended up bringing in a slightly younger prospect, gambling instead on the upside that our scouts observed as our man was playing in the Danish top flight. Julius Lorents Nielsen was at SIF where he proved a competent mid

Solid work from a defensive midfielder

Nielsen posted an average WhoScored rating of 7.22 in his 18 appearances and was absolutely a strong like-for-like replacement for Johnsen. Good vision and a range of passing ability, coupled with his late runs crashing into the box, gave us 4 goals and 2 assists in the second half of the season. While he lacks Johnsen's overall defensive acumen, he's still a capable midfielder, though he might be better in a box-to-box role rather than as a more defensive #8 like Johnsen was. That will be an area for improvement in the transfer window.

With these two in the fold, the final team stats look like this: Kieran Wilson led the championship with 29 goals, while rising star Idrissa Goodwin notched 12 goals, many of them from free kicks outside the box. A free-kick specialist, he's been a decent replacement for Jude Carroll, though he needs to develop a more complete range of passing if he's going to match Carroll's playmaking and assist-generating skills. Longtime club servant Reece Cole rides off into the sunset with 10 goals and 9 assists, leading a top-notch playmaking midfield.

The Stats

The strength of the team in in the midfield, which generates chances at a rapid clip, as you can see Dean (10 assists), Doherty (10 assists) and Cole (9 assists) are massive factors in the side. As we usually play just one forward, and count on box-crashing centre-mids and cut-ins from the wings, they are pivotal in remaining multi-dimensional.

The end of season matchday XI is complemented by a lock-down backline that's dominated the Championship, although we'll have some worries about it in the Prem. O'Sullivan has been excellent carrying the ball forward and letting Doughty roam, and Cvjetinovic and Matthews have been incredibly capable defenders, especially on set pieces, where they can control the aerial balls. Curtis is already attracting attention after a strong Championship season, and we probably can't hold onto him for the entire upcoming year.

https://preview.redd.it/ruhd3s9x0fah1.png?width=1387&format=png&auto=webp&s=39b37a4e732656377e76681176e1bb24cbcb765a

Life in the Premier League

Moving to the top tier means some revision to squad recruitment rules, as we probably need to actively spend SOME money, even if we are a risk for immediate relegation. At the same time, Exeter will always prioritize the long-term existence of the club, meaning that significant portions of the income from promotion will go towards the academy, coaching infrastructure, scouting, and more.

Promotion means a significant cash influx of £113 million, but not all of that is going to the transfer fund. Exeter can expect a little more than half of those profits to be made available, while the rest will remain in the hands of the club and the Supporter's Trust.

In addition, we are also governed by Premier League Squad Cost Ratio (SCR). Per the Premier League Regulations, "A squad can spend up to 85% of their football-related revenue and net profit/loss from player sales" to be compliant with SCR Rules. Additionally, there is some room to exceed the 85% rule, although if a club exceeds the SCR by 115%, it faces a potential points deduction. SCR will be assessed in February, after the close of the winter transfer window. Newly promoted sides are granted an estimated SCR for the first season, based on historical trends, guaranteed TV contract money, and other factors.

Exeters expected SCR revenue, in the form of the transfer fund, was £61.898 million, which puts the SCR allowable spend around £52.6 million.

You can see in the table below, we will track our SCR live through the transfer windows. As long as the green line stays above 0, we are within the SCR rules. (I'll tweak the sheet to make the red match up better, that formula is currently wrong). More on transfers in a moment.

Current SCR values after the close of the Summer Window.

In addition to SCR rules, we wanted to enter the transfer window with a solid recruitment plan and identify important needs for the squad, given our relatively limited budget, and the likely need to actually make purchases. Our plan was to spend at approximately a 1 / .5 / .3 / 0 ratio -- where if a hypothetical top player cost us £20 million, then the second best player should cost 50% of that (£10million) and the third-best player we recruit should cost about 30% of the max spend, around £5 million. Coupled with potential income from sales, this prudence should see us able to improve the squad, find Premier-league caliber players, and take some chances on high-upside youngsters.

Priorities

The Move to the Prem required us to improve quickly and effectively, with the stakes of relegation in front of us, there won't be room to get this very wrong.

We need, in order of importance, a Premier-League-caliber goalkeeper, rated 75 or higher; a centre-back, a central midfielder, and possibly a fullback, to improve the starting XI. Those targets are essentially non-negotiable and will cost us transfer fees.

We will target relegated Prem teams (Nottingham Forest, Southampton, and Sheffield United), longstanding Championship teams with either high-upside youngsters or starting-caliber veterans, and then look for non-European-Competition (Champions League, Europa League) teams in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.

After that, we need 1-2 rotation-level central mids, and probably one more rotation level central defender. Here, our goal is to NOT pay fees for rotation and sporadic players--these will be loans and free agent signings.

Thanks to the YA, we are set well on right-fullback, and on the upfield wingers like the LM.

If significant offers come in for squad players, then we will need to adjust. With the Premier League TV money and our long-running team profit, we do not need to sell players to function; we just need to be financially smart. As ever, if a top-level team comes knocking for players, then we do need to entertain that.

The Transfer Biz

The first two moves shore up the back line. Free agent Kristiansen is 74-rated and is just 18; like Doughty, he can play LM or LB. He has decent defensive awareness (66 at signing) that we will focus on training upward to ensure he's a solid defender. Then we paid £15.4 million to Derby County, who have not managed to escape the Championship, for their centre-back Dylan Leonard.

Opening moves in the transfer market

At 23 years old and 77-rated, Leonard is one for the future, with room to grow. He comes with 80+ on defensive awareness, so hopefully he can anchor the back line with the more veteran Matthews (age 27). The risk is that neither of them have experience with the pace and strength of Premier League forwards, so they will be learning on the fly.

Our scouting department had some work to do in identifying goalkeeper possibilities, so O'Leary started the preseason tour, backed up by youth academy prospect Joe Taylor. The 18 year-old shows great signs of potential after his year on loan last season at Doncaster.

O'Leary and Taylor had a decent preseason tour, but we ultimately decided that we needed to upgrade the goalkeeper spot, and the scouting department landed several prospects.

We ultimately landed on Young, signed from Nantes

The former Sunderland academy product had seen a number of stints on loan and never could break through into the starting XI for Sunderland, so he spent two seasons in France with Nantes before we swooped in.

The £10.4 million fee is a little above our expected ratio of 1 / .5/ .3 -- It's more like .66 of the price of Leonard, the high-dollar signing. But we are still well within the SCR guidelines, and offset this fee with several sales of fringe players who move on.

Young brings top-tier experience after seasons in France facing off against shooters from PSG, Stade Rennais, and Ligue 1 Champions Strasbourg, so he's got the bona fides to back up our signing. Nantes were solidly mid-table with him between the sticks and he pulled off some impressive saves for them. Bringing him back to England for another crack at the Premier League was a no-brainer.

Last, we dipped into the ranks at a recently-relegated side. Nottingham Forest could not avoid the drop this season, and were relegated back to the Championship. We took this opportunity to poach one of their starting XI players who would make an immediate impact for us, while landing him at a bargain price and wage.

For the low low price of £4.6m

We land a starting defensive midfielder for just £4.6m. At 27, he is well experienced, and having played with Forest in the Prem, he'll add much-needed leadership and stability. He is a better overall defender than Nielsen, and so will allow us to push Nielsen up the pitch into a true box-to-box playmaking role.

The addition of McDonnell also means that rising star Idrissa Camara will probably see a little less playing time as he adjusts to the rigors of the Premier League, but at just 18 years old, the exciting prospect still has room to grow and will see significant matchday minutes as a substitute, or in the starting rotation sometimes.

These moves really nailed down the starting lineup before the first match of the season, leaving us room to profit from the sales of fringe players, and fill in our ranks with free agents and loans who would not interfere with the growth of young stars.

https://preview.redd.it/3cd7cn51egah1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=92d0d0764ebf720826ef9d3c92838953616ece16

https://preview.redd.it/24r7t1f3egah1.png?width=1639&format=png&auto=webp&s=537245b73a71b154a6af2b3aaf161d97c1c68c36

Finding Rotation and Matchday Substitutes

Here, we loaned in Sule (age 25, rated 71), Dyche (age 28, rated 72) and Kamara (age 25, rated 66) as substitute and rotation players to provide talented depth for the crowded fixture days. Then we added White and Maghoma as central mid depth. White slots into the area of the pitch vacated by the retirement of Reece Cole -- an attack-minded CM who best plays as a classic #10 or shadow striker, but who can drop back in a pinch. Not as defensively strong as Cole, he still provides needed versatility. Maghoma is a classic box-to-box man who will see time as a matchday sub.

The Early Results

It was never going to be easy. The later start to the season before the closing of the transfer window gave us time to solidify the squad before facing too many fixtures. With 3 Prem matches under our belt, however, we remain undefeated in the league, with two draws and a win against fellow promotion side Leeds (that makes it 3 in a row against Leeds stretching back to last season).

Not a great Carabao Performance though

The Carabao Cup scoreline does not flatter, but the match was extremely close until we bounced a shot off the post in the 80th minute, and gave up a goal in the 81st, and then another goal in the 89th.

We will need to continue earning results against newly-promoted sides and other mid-tier sides, assuming that the top of the table will likely take all three points from us. IN prior seasons, the 20th place side has been earning 15-20 points in the table, while the other relegated sides have been in the 34-38 range. Earning 40 points on the season might be enough for safety, and we're on a good start here, with 5 points in three matches so far.

Youngsters for the Future

Currently away on loan is rising star Bryn Powell, an exciting prospect who brings a silky touch as a ball-playing defender.

Talented young defender out on loan

Back from his loan in Turkey of all places, Dyer provides incredible pace on the flank. He's been a joy to play as a substitute, when his speed is a huge threat. 2 preseason goals.

Wide man with shifty feet

Other Players to Watch

Striker Gunner Elliott has been making the case for running a 4-4-2 formation after last season's breakout performances as a substitute, where he tallied 10 goals and 4 assists. He is a change of pace striker, quicker off the line than Kieran Wilson; he has been devastating when we put passes over the top or can feed him through passes against a high back line.

The new hotness at striker?

And we have our captain, defender Hayden Matthews. Coaxed away when Portsmouth were relegated, he inspired our stellar defense last season. But it remains to be seen if he has the skillset needed for the Premier League.

Captain Matthews - can he repeat his defensive heroics again?

The future is cloudy -- we don't have the finances or the recruiting firepower to craft wholesale changes to the lineup; instead we need to hope that our player selection and lineup choices can secure enough points for safety, and continue to build craftily and wisely.

We made no significant sales in the summer window-- instead, we swatted away offers from Championship sides and kept our core intact. We are likely to face increased pressure if we can improve on our successful start, and the winter window will be its own challenge, much like last season.

Here's the lineup now. We play one striker and try to clog the midfield, overwhelming the opposition there and winning balls back early. Wingers Doughty and Dean provide a real threat; we have Dean coming inside often, while Doherty and Nielsen play as box-to-box players and playmakers. At the back, we are relatively talented but inexperienced; as only Curtis and goalkeeper Young have earned top-tier experience.

The XI

Last, the Rules and so on....

Playing on PC, with gameplay mods and financial realism mods.

Premier League Squad Rules: Max of 25 in the Squad, excluding U-21s. At least 8 must be homegrown.

Squad Cost Ratio Rules: I use the opening transfer budget as the "match and sales revenue" figure, and must stay under 85% of that number. The corollary is that Exeter would likely continue its relatively thrifty ways, so I tried to honor that, while still needing to jump into the transfer market deep end!

Player Recruiting is still a factor. I calculate positional overall (Attk, Mid, Defence, GK) and can recruit players who are +1 over the average. There is ONE exception allowed as the "Marquee signing" who can exceed the +1. For this season, the allowable recruiting targets are below.

Position	Max Allowed Summer	Max Allowed Winter
GK	74
Def	77
Mid	77
Fwd	79
1 over Max "Marquee"	Young, GK, 77 rated

Goalie Matt Young is the Marquee signing, at +3 over the allowable cap. All other players must come in at or below the allowable rating.

I also try to negotiate in "good faith" and not sign players to contracts I won't honor (like, I can't give a guy an important role in his contract if he's only ever playing cup matches or as a rotation day player) and build the squad with 1-2 starters at each position, then move to -3 or -4 in the rating for the backups and rotation players. So Wilson (78 overall at the start) is followed by Elliott (70 Overall) and Sule (71 overall); the starting midfielders are all 75-76 while the backups are 68-73 overall

I use a randomizer for negotiating with target players. Here, I actually targeted defenders as our max signings, but lost out on two of them before landing Leonard, who fits our recruitment. This let me target the goalkeeper as the max signing. A number of depth and loan players declined our advances, preferring to negotiate with larger clubs.

Transfer targets

Overall, the run-out into the Premier League was really fun; I think it was kind of interesting to have the pressure on after failing in the prior season. I kept waiting for the losses and draws to stack up, but we managed the games well.

IF you read this much, you're a saint (or a glutton for punishment) -- thanks for reading!

We moderate a pretty small EA FC subreddit called seriousfifacareers. Recently, we had two posts in the sub, both from the same user, post SIGNIFICANTLY more views and upvotes than is typical in our subreddit.

Typically, posts in our subreddit (about vaguely more realistic and challenging EAFC/FIFA career modes, and the questions around those) get in the range of 700-4000 views, and usually like 20ish upvotes if we're lucky.

The posts by this user have earned 20,000+ views, and over 100 upvotes on 3 out of their 4. These are *weird* numbers for our sub.

The user has created 4 posts, only in our subreddit. And has ONLY replied to comments on their posts. They do not seem active on other subs (which, no big deal, but it's weird...) and have posted 0 comments on things outside of our sub.

So what am I looking at here? Is this someone who has added bots to drive clicks to their sub? Is this karma farming? Is this just the algorithm doing algorithm things? If so, why do other people's posts NOT get this kind of treatment?

How, as a mod, can I guesstimate the validity of a user's post?

If you saw my early-season post from the end of season 5 and the start of season 6, you might recall that I was surprised we had no serious offers for star players like Sam Sutton or Kieran Wilson, who have been excelling and growing well beyond their expected potentials.

Well, the winter 2031window has upended significant parts of the roster and we now have to rally round the team to build on an incredibly successful first half of the season, and hope to avoid the end-of-season dive that we faced last year.

The Situation in the League: Post-January

We sit 13 points higher in the table than at a similar point last year (51 points in the 29/30 season), and have only lost three matches all season. The team has proven itself resilient and defensively competent, despite the loss of star Kyllian Antonio to Rangers. With just 27 goals allowed, we have the 5th-best defence in the league, and maintain the top scoring attack.

Several games have seen us notch late equalizers or winners, with a never-say-die attitude. And with a game in hand over Leeds (at the moment), we remain within striking distance of the trophy.

However, even the slightest dip in form sees us at risk of sliding a spot, with Middlesbrough climbing the table. After that, there's a significant gap to 4th-5th, then another gap to a group chasing at 6th-8th.

The top of the table

Our own team has been performing well (obviously), with real diversity in attack and a number of playmakers on the pitch. Longtime club stalwart Reece Cole has been engineering things in his final season, as he announced his retirement early this year. His 7 goals and 7 assists are typical of what we expect from the central midfielders. Ryan Docherty has been playing well alongside him and has developed into a devastating box-crashing midfielder capable of making late runs and pounding the ball into the roof of the net.

Star front man Kieran Wilson, an academy graduate, continues to dominate at the front. He leads with 17 League goals (and one more cup goal.), while super-sub Gunner Elliott has added 7 goals in his appearances, mostly as a substitute. Tom Dean leads the assists with 8, as a playmaking winger on the right side.

Top Scoring players and assist leaders

You might notice some conspicuous absences on this list, as we lost a massive portion of the starting midfield, and lost a significant number of goals and assists in the process. And that brings us to the winter transfer window, and the kinds of business that a top 2nd-tier team has to make.

The Winter Transfer Window

It was relatively quiet for the opening two weeks of January, as Exeter made some profit off of fringe academy graduates who move on to more match minutes in pastures greener.

Early January saw us making a tidy profit on some rotation and fringe players who continue their careers elsewhere

McCabe was an agreed transfer back in October, that was finalized when the window opened. He flashes great potential, but was locked in behind Tom Dean and Evan Mooney on the right side, and was not seeing significant minutes. While I might have preferred to loan him out again, the academy has other prospects further back who might rise to a similar level. In the name of securing club finances, expanding the academy, and hiring more staff for infrastructure like scouting and coaching, it was a necessary sale.

Roberts has not been rising to his initial potential, and the club's rise up the table left him on the outside looking in when it came to the back line. After struggling to break into the first team, he was mostly relegated to rotational matches or substitute duty, and then other players have proven just as adept. With Sheffield Wednesday desperately needing help at the back, he was a logical sale for Exeter.

Last, Alfie Hobbs, a young academy man, was promoted to the first team and then promptly loaned out. With the starting XI usually playing with three holding or deep-lying midfielders, he needs to develop the physicality and defensive acumen we need before he can break into the matchday squad.

So, no big deal, right? Some fringe players, some academy guys, a modest profit, and the team keeps humming.

But this is the Championship, which serves to illuminate some of the best players in the world who might have gone temporarily undiscovered, or who fell into a rough patch and were briefly dismissed in the churn of the news cycles. Many second-tier teams, especially the ones without parachute payments, serve also as stages on which players can enact their dramas in ways that catch the eyes of teams further up the pyramid -- and this season, Exeter are no different.

Kyllian Antonio was the first domino to fall back in the first transfer window. He has had an excellent season at Rangers, where he's made 23 appearances and had a hand in 5 goals as scorer or assist man. Rangers sit second in the Scottish table and advanced to the Europa Knockout stage. He's been a success story for Exeter as a proving-ground.

Antonio in the Scottish Prem

With Exeter steadily holding in the table and throttling the opposition, teams in need of patching up their roster looked at us to see who might be a valuable component. And in the final week of the transfer window, we saw TWO players catch the eye of top-level teams looking to cement their statuses or advance their own climbs through the ranks.

The first offer came from a Premier League team that was sadly undermanned in the centre of the pitch, and needed an upgrade to destroy attacks and set the tempo.

Wolverhampton swoop for Johnsen

At 31 years old, Johnsen would not seem to be a candidate for a breakout season, but Exeter have unlocked the player and unshackled him from his prior roles as a holding, defensive-minded midfielder. Having him play box-to-box and even inside the opponents penalty area, Johnsen notched 5 goals and 6 more assists in the first half of the season. His stamina and passing range have been impressing scouts, but Exeter were able to swat away offers from Championship sides (and the odd Turkish side), until Wolves came calling. Sitting just outside the Prem relegation zone, they were light on centre-mids and needed to strengthen. Johnsen sees his wage packet jump from Exeter's £8.8k/week to the Prem's eye-watering £46.5k/week. (It really is a different world with that TV money...).

The £18.1m set a new transfer sale record for Exeter, latest in a series of high-value transactions that can ensure the club's survival and growth well into the future.

At almost the same time, another offer arrived for another key midfield man.

Feyenoord spend 16.5m to land Sutton

Sitting 3rd place in the Champions League table after 8 matches, and atop the Eredivisie, Feyenoord looked to solidify a left-back position that's been a patchwork for much of the season. Sutton, age 29, still has plenty of wear left on the tires, and has been a driving force in Exeter's play this season. With pace and playmaking acumen, he's tallied three goals and 6 assists, while his defensive skill set and workrate let us attack with verve, knowing he will track back and defend well. Able to play both LM and LB, his positional flexibility will provide Feyenoord with strength at the back and offer a problem to opposing sides when he overlaps.

The Replacements

With these moves coming late in the window, we found ourselves light on options in the transfer market. We had an extensive shortlist of players, but few who could match the quality of the men who were moving on, AND who would be available at a reasonable price. January is often a time when teams panic-purchase, and while we had a range of plans, none of them were ideal.

Targets at the central midfield position were especially a challenge. With Cole announcing his incipient retirement, and youngster Idrissa Goodwin still growing, we needed a first-team caliber player who would likely be more than a one-year stopgap. Johnsen provided a wealth of intangibles -- a longstanding Championship veteran, he was a quick decision-maker, defensively strong and physical, with a vision to pick out incisive long passes to unlock defenses on the counter. While no one was going to provide all those things, we wanted to prioritize that defensive competence.

Our decision then, was to land 24-year-old Julius Lorents Nielsen, from Danish side Silkeborg IF. Coming in at a reasonable fee of £3.05 million, he has a similar physical and defending profile. Signed on a 3-year deal, he will provide cover at Cole's retirement as well, and he does have some room to improve his game.

The new #8 for Exeter

In his first match, he proved an effective destroyer in the #8 role, intercepting passes and tackling effectively; he notched a clean sheet on his debut with us against Burnley. While he doesn't bring the vast experience with the Championship that Johnsen had, he has consistently faced top-notch opposition against perennial Europa League side Kobenhaven and Europa contenders Brondby and Midtjylland.

In replacing Sutton, we took a similar approach. Guided by the lessons learned from last year's late-season disintegration, we wanted a winger who could combine playmaking with defensive diligence. Sutton had been playing up the pitch at LM, which let us develop younger players like O'Sullivan and Naylor, while still providing the aggressive pressure that his defensive skill set allowed.

One of our top targets, the American Peyton Miller, was playing with Kobenhavn in the Europa League, so we had to cross him off our list. Rising English star Joe Johnson was playing at Getafe in the top tier of the Spanish leagues, and his release clause was going to be too high for us to meet. And Belgian international Beni Mpanzu was loaned out by Bergamo Calcio to a different English side, and we were unable to pry him away.

That left us making an offer to a player who brings a range of experience in the English leagues; one who even enjoyed a spell in the Premier League with Luton Town as part of their sole season in the top flight.

Exeter paid £4 million to land Doughty from Fortuna Sittard

At age 31, Doughty brings years of top-tier footballing experience, and immediately maintains a crossing threat from his position on the left. He still has pace to give, with a good first step, and adequate top-end speed to keep pace with most wingers. He is signed on a two-year deal, so we do minimize our exposure if he declines more quickly than we expect. He's only a small step down defensively from Sutton, and he also maintains the positional flexibility we need for our system.

Overall, it was not an ideal transfer window, but our moves to replace players look prudent at the moment. We have a relatively short contract with a veteran player, who comes with the range of experience in the Championship and beyond that our team needs. And we have a mid-career player who still has some room to grow, who brings the defensive physicality we need. He will need to grow as a passer and shooter to maintain that dimension of our midfield, but hopefully these moves are not a SIGNIFICANT step back for the team.

The Future

We have finished our toughest stretch of games (on paper) and look forward to a winter and spring facing a number of mid-table and relegation-scrapping sides. The fall and festive seasons were the most challenging stretch, with 10 out of 19 matches against playoff-seeking sides (or, in the case of Fulham, a Premier-league side!). We held up well in those matches, with two draws, two losses, and six wins. While those included our best lineup and featured the star players that we just sold, it does bode well for the future-- the back line held up against the opposing strikers, and our own midfield and attacking creativity provided the edge.

The midseason run against the top of the table

With Leeds sitting number one in the table, it's worth noting that we went 2-0 against them, including the resounding 3-0 win in October, and the narrow 1-0 win in January which kept us within reach of the trophy. Had Leeds won that match, they would have extended their lead to 6 points, though we would have had a game in hand. Our result means that the fate of the title race is firmly in our hands for the moment.

All that said, we saw this movie last season, where we began February in the playoff places, but tallied just three victories. Here, we will need to be at our best to avoid that again. We have our League One trophy from 2027-28-- can we add another trophy to the case?

The run-in is promising, with only matches against Ipswich (7th), Leicester (5th) and Watford (6th) as matches against top-10 opposition coming up. Much of March and April will consist of playing against teams that are hovering near the relegation places. Our job here will be to accumulate as many points as possible against the bottom of the league, and hope that Middlesbrough stumbles a few times to open up a gap between us and them.

THE RULES

As a reminder, for recruiting rules: I calculate the Starting XI average at each of the 4 areas of the pitch: Attack, Midfield, Defense, Goalkeeper. I am allowed to consistently recruit and sign players who are +1 over that positional average. Additionally, I am allowed ONE "marquee signing" beyond that position average.

In Exeter's world, it is very difficult to pay actual transfer fees. The fan-owned club operates dominantly through the free-agent market, with just one or two paid signings per season. The economics have been particularly bad (especially in real life!) so I try to respect that and target frees and loans. Because of the significant transfer income from the sale of Antonio, I was able to target a potential purchase.

To complicate signings, I have a randomizer built into my google sheets, and a lovely redditor has created a really nice weighted randomizer that accounts for player quality much better than I do. So when I chase the "marquee signing," I use https://5ungc6-joseph-boyd.shinyapps.io/FifaDiceRoll/ to land my targets.

If you read this far, you're a saint, and thanks! Happy gaming!

In my last update my beloved Exeter made it into the EFL Championship. Early in the season, we were riding high in the playoff spots on the back of a top-five defence and a blistering attack.

Unfortunately, both of those elements of our game faded after the January transfer window, and we ended season 5 on a terrible run of form.

10th place Exeter fell off the pace, especially defensively

Whether it was teams around us improving in the winter window, or our team getting predictable, we suddenly were the lead driver on the struggle bus. Arguably, our early season form was due in significant part to an easy schedule at the opening of the season, and then a murderer's row after the transfer window where we consistently played top-10 teams.

The fixtures after the window are below. We notched just three victories and five draws -- 14 points -- from all the fixtures (a possible 54 points), including abysmal performances against Derby (21st, saved their season...)

The run-in to end the season

You can see the slide happening after the Huddersfield match, where our vaunted defense leaked goals and couldn't close matches.

Arguably, important transfer business weakened us somewhat: promising young right-back Bobby Porter took a move to Birmingham City and a five-fold increase in his wage packet. His high defensive awareness and physicality were an asset that we missed, and a platoon of Sam Curtis and Joe Rankin-Costello could not fully compensate.

The winter transfer wasn't quite enough to stay in the playoff hunt

Despite the failure to hold onto a playoff spot, we moved up a few spots from our inaugural 12th-place Championship finish in the prior season, and earned much-needed experience for the coming season.

Season 6:

With the dive down the table fresh in our head, we shortlisted a range of defensive improvements and awaited the inevitable run on our best players. And it didn't take long:

Antonio to Scottis

We lost arguably our best defender, 22-year-old Kyllian Antonio, to Scottish runner-up Rangers. The lure of the Old Firm and European football proved a lucrative offer, and he sees his wages go from 3.5k to 23.5k, along with the opportunity to play in the Europa League. The sale broke the record set in our second season, at £7.7 million.

Academy grad sold for a record £11m

And then we followed that with an even more significant, record-smashing sale that would have more effects on our team. Young midfield star Jude Carroll, a product of the academy, was the target of an offer from Spanish La Liga Side Valencia, with a wage jump far outside what Exeter can manage. He slots into a side that needed his vision and free-kick acumen. After flailing in 17th place last season, Valencia are already up to 5th place in La Liga and are knocking on the door of European Football, and Carroll is a key part of that new success.

Surprisingly, we fielded no significant offers for other key players such as striker Kieran Wilson or midfielder/defender Sam Sutton.

We chose to invest the money in coaching, upgrading the coaching staff across the board, adding a global network scout, and keeping our two youth scouts out and about identifying young talent.

We did invest in a replacement for Antonio. With the funds from that sale, we swooped into League 1, where Portsmouth had been relegated, and landed the towering defender at a relatively cut-rate £2.8m. The 26-year-old still has some upside and room to grow in our system, as we need a ball-playing defender in the centre, and his strong defensive IQ and good pace make him an adequate replacement for Antonio.

Most important signing

We also continued to play the free agent market and rewarded our academy players with contract extensions. We did manage an important upgrade at goalkeeper, landing former West Brom man O'Leary between the sticks, where he's made a strong start to the season. In the midfield, we added young free agent Idrissa Goodwin, and veteran Dru Yearwood, to patch up the spot vacated by Carroll.

Free agent acquisitions

The Matchday Squad

The matchday squad now includes a number of Exeter Academy players making their break into the matchday squad, with Wilson and Dean leading the way. Other academy players include Hanlon, Peacock, and Said. Young players with room to grow are Wilson, Dean, Curtis, O'Sullivan, Doherty, and Mooney (whose loan from Havre we bought out mid-season last year). More veteran players include Sutton (age 28), Johnsen (age 30), Cole (age 32 and planning to retire), Cvjetinovic (26), Matthews (26) and O'Leary (29).

The Matchday XI

Some player thoughts: Mooney and Dean are not quite interchangeable, Dean is a better defender and more complete midfielder with some strength in the holdup play. Mooney has been excellent as a super-sub so far. Doherty has been excellent for us, ever since a loan spell back in our league 1 days. He does come with lower stamina and needs to sub out around the 60' mark, or he can come in as a sub to replace Cole or Goodwin. Sam Sutton is absolutely a beast. Picked him up on a free and he's continued to develop; he led our team in assists last season. Kieran Wilson has taken a while to get here but now has some pace on him and is big and strong enough to out-muscle defenders. Gunner Elliott is a phenomenal change-of-pace-sub.

The Results

We've maybe seen this episode before. We sit now at the top of the table, with less than one goal per game allowed, and a blistering 2.1 goals per match scored. 12 matches in, and our only loss is to Stoke City in the Carabao Cup.

The table might mislead, again. We played just one match against the top 10, with a draw against Leicester in matchday 10. We now face Leeds this week and Norwich immediately after, with later games against Coventry and the rest of the top ten in coming weeks.

top of the table.

We'd like to prove that the swan dive down the table is behind us, and that we can, in fact, hold out against the top teams in the Championship. November and December will be pivotal in holding a lead at the top of the table, or at least keeping a grip on the promotion and playoff spots.

The team is not as deep as last season, and that will be the job of the winter window: getting 1-2 more central mids and defenders to rotate with the starters, while progressing our young stars.

THE RULES

As a reminder, for recruiting rules: I calculate the Starting XI average at each of the 4 areas of the pitch: Attack, Midfield, Defense, Goalkeeper. I am allowed to consistently recruit and sign players who are +1 over that positional average. Additionally, I am allowed ONE "marquee signing" beyond that position average.

In Exeter's world, it is very difficult to pay actual transfer fees. The fan-owned club operates dominantly through the free-agent market, with just one or two paid signings per season. The economics have been particularly bad (especially in real life!) so I try to respect that and target frees and loans. Because of the significant transfer income from the sale of Antonio, I was able to target a potential purchase.

To complicate signings, I have a randomizer built into my google sheets, and a lovely redditor has created a really nice weighted randomizer that accounts for player quality much better than I do. So when I chase the "marquee signing," I use https://5ungc6-joseph-boyd.shinyapps.io/FifaDiceRoll/ to land my targets.

Coming into the 5th season summer window, the recruiting looked like this:

Max allowable target calculation

and here's the results of our negotiating. A number of targets declined us this season, and some free agents signed with other teams before I could make a compelling offer.

https://preview.redd.it/tqum48mmgi7h1.png?width=742&format=png&auto=webp&s=1637a00f90fa118b283ea5af7949f9aac1178a61

As ever, if you have read this far, you're a saint!!

Happy gaming, and I welcome your thoughts!

Here's more of my long-running Exeter experiment. Sadly, this is definitely into the alternative universe now, as my beloved Grecian were IRL relegated. (Is this "into the Exeterverse?")

The end of season 4 saw a solid first season in the Championship, as we finished 12th, with a consistent run-in of draw after draw to end the season: we kept accruing points steadily but could never stop anyone else from scoring. Season 4 saw us post the absolute worst defense in the league, but also one of the top three scoring attacks around.

I started season 5 with a mission: Improve that defense as much as possible within the recruitment policy of the club and the save.

As a reminder, for recruiting rules: I calculate the Starting XI average at each of the 4 areas of the pitch: Attack, Midfield, Defense, Goalkeeper. I am allowed to consistently recruit and sign players who are +1 over that positional average. Additionally, I am allowed ONE "marquee signing" beyond that position average.

In Exeter's world, it is very difficult to pay actual transfer fees. The fan-owned club operates dominantly through the free-agent market, with just one or two paid signings per season. The economics have been particularly bad (especially in real life!) so I try to respect that and target frees and loans.

To complicate signings, I have a randomizer built into my google sheets, and a lovely redditor has created a really nice weighted randomizer that accounts for player quality much better than I do. So when I chase the "marquee signing," I use https://5ungc6-joseph-boyd.shinyapps.io/FifaDiceRoll/ to land my targets.

Coming into the 5th season summer window, the recruiting looked like this:

Positional averages for recruiting.

While my CDMs were adequate, I really wanted to improve the midfield in some capacity, as more possession and more awareness in the middle would take some pressure off my back line.

Departures - sales and loans

The big money sale - 20-year-old McGinn to Birmingham, still short of a record

Loans of two promising defensive players, and the loss of a key starter

Sale of two rotation players

The big news in our transfer sales was the sale of McGinn, the 20-year-old winger. Always a high-upside prospect, many in the club felt he was likely to move on quickly even as the ink was drying on his contract. And indeed, Birmingham offered nearly seven times the wages, paying him 11.5k a week, a price we can't sustain at Exeter. The £5.1 million fee falls short of Exeter's record sale (that would be academy grad Dunn in season 4, at £6.3 million), but it still fills Exeter's coffers for investment in coaching, scouting, and the academy, as well as providing some flexibility in wage negotiations.

The other significant loss was starting centre-back Thomas O'Connor. The 31-year-old accepted a move to Millwall, where he saw a four-fold rise in his wage packet to £7.5k per week.

Loanee Ibrahim Said had a brilliant pre-season tour contributing an assist and a clean sheet, while Hawkins certainly looks one for the future. Most of the other departures this season were rotation players who moved on for more match-time opportunities.

Depth and starting XI transfers

A Familiar face returns on loan

Rotation options

Cvjetinovic slotted immediately into defense, while LB/LM Naylor is another rotation player.

The most important signing here was new centre-back Mladen Cvjetinovic, who was released by Holstein Kiel after six seasons. The Bosnia and Herzegovina international player found himself on the outside looking in after a middling season there, and we were happy to snap him up in the opening week of the transfer window.

Naylor, Anderson, and Rooney are all match-day substitutes, while loanee Campbell-Slowey is a more sporadic cup option, though he has already impressed.

And a familiar loanee returns. After looking about at a number of options for wing depth, we renegotiated with Havre for Evan Mooney, the 20-year-old Scottish winger. This time, we went ahead and added an option to buy, having liked what we see. Finances permitting, we will likely activate the purchase clause, as that gives us good depth behind Exeter star Tom Dean.

Marquee Signing Pursuit

I had a few names in mind for the top signing. I was targeting the 74-75 OVR range, with an absolute emphasis on the "Defensive Awareness" stat. I shortlisted a number of CMs, CDMs, and CBs, but with two starting-XI CBs already under contract, I didn't want to short-circuit their development.

First two that I extended feelers to

I started with two veteran CDMs. Both of them declined to open negotiations with me, opting to seek out bigger teams and more significant wage packets.

Declined, seeking to stay closer to home in Italy

25-year-old Issa Doumbia was next in my phone calls. The agent said he had no interest in a club that wasn't really established in the Championship yet, and we were not going to be able to match his likely wage demands. He rejected our overtures as well.

We had our eyes on Abu Francis

Francis, long a target of our recruiting team, signed with Werder Bremen as we were negotiating with him and his agent. Talks never got beyond the exploratory stage, but this was a disappointment.

Veteran EFL leadership would have been nice.

Longtime Championship and even Premier League veteran Oliver Skipp was high on our list of prospects. He declined to negotiate with us, instead opting to move to sunnier climes at Getafe. His £17.3k wage packet is also well beyond what we could afford.

Finally, we landed a player with the attributes we needed at a price we could stand. Former Malmö FF player Lasse Berg Johnsen was released by Sporting KC, and landed on the free agent market. While not our top choice, he brings veteran leadership and even some European Cup experience, having made 12 appearances in the Champions League with Malmö in 2024 and 2025.

A compelling veteran addition to the midfield

Johnsen has repaid our faith wonderfully, with 6 goals (3 from the penalty spot) and 1 assist in 13 appearances so far this season. He has also contributed to 7 clean sheets in the league. Adding him provided us much needed strength and acumen, as he is a clean passer with excellent vision, and can hold off opposing defenders. His defensive skill helps close down passing lanes and break up attacks well outside the box.

The Starting XI and Matchday Subs

Other key moves this season: with the sale of McGinn, we opted not to pursue a new starting left-wing or left-midfield player. Instead, we moved Sutton up from left-back, and moved O'Sullivan from centre-back into that fullback spot. Instead of coming in as a sub, O'Sullivan has made himself an instant starter in that position. If needed, Cole or Dean can rotate to the left-wing spot as well.

We have good depth in the centre of the pitch now. Doherty is making the case to be a starter also, while Bjordal, who already announced his retirement, is a solid rotation piece. At the back, Porter is the future behind Rankin-Costello, and Antonio looks like one for the future, at just 22 years old. This is his second season with us and he's been pivotal in our improvement.

Gunner Elliott is loads of fun as a high-impact substitute, while Sam Smith plays very much like Wilson- a little slower, but a physically strong presence who can hold up the ball.

Starting XI for the league

I've tried to mix some age brackets here, matching youth with veteran knowledge and skill.

Over age 26: Fisher (31), Sutton (27), Cole (31), Johnsen (30), Rankin-Costello (31), McGuane (31), Smith (31), Bjordal (32).

22-25: O'Sullivan (23), Cvjetinovic (25), Antonio (22), Dean (22), Wilson (23)

21 and under: Carroll (19), Porter (19), Elliott (21), Doherty (20), Mooney (21), Peacock (19).

The reserves are mostly younger players, with a smattering of veterans who aren't seeing match time. (but MAN, I RECOMMEND BEN GARRITY FOR YOUR SAVES. BRO IS A BEAST).

Campbell-Slowey is on loan from Bristol. Wintle has been eclipsed by younger players (Carroll, Doherty) or by veterans who provide more firepower (Cole, Johnsen). McGuane is a better option for pace and physicality. Rooney is a depth player, at age 26, he's a known quantity. Anderson, another free agent signing, gives us excellent pace in the front of the line if we need it.

The reserves

I'm excited most about Hopkins, the young winger, and Naylor, the fullback. Naylor was found in the free agents, while Hopkins was a YA player.

The focus on Defence... did it work?

I'd say so. We sit in 4th, on 21 points, with just 9 allowed in 12 matches, in a 4-way tie for the 2nd-best defence in the league, and we have posted SEVEN clean sheets already.

The Table in October

If you need to improve your defensive record -- this is purely anecdotal, however--look for the players with the higher "defensive awareness" stats. That's been my guiding principle this season and it's helped.

Defensive Awareness stats at the moment:

O'Sullivan: 72. Cvjetinovic: 76. Antonio: 77. Rankin-Costello: 71

Sutton: 77. Cole: 58. Johnsen: 72. Carroll: 71. Dean: 42

Wilson: 26.

Overall...

Now that I'm done IRL coaching sports, I can return to imaginary coaching sports! This was another fun transfer window, and gameplay (with mods) has been really challenging.

Shoutout to Paulv for the gameplay mod and the career realism mod. I have made minor additions to the realism mod to affect free agency a little more, but his work was instrumental in improving the FC experience.

And if you've read this far, shout-out to you -- you're a lovely reader. This post was 100% composed by a human.

We are revising our AI / LLM guidelines to be significantly tighter, after a range of community complaints.

We are trying to return to a more "here's the actual career I am playing" discussion center, and as the game cycle slows down, the feed is dominated too much by posts that ultimately don't engage the game or the spirit of our previous AI post.

1. Posts that are clearly written using AI / LLM support will be removed. We'd rather have your original writing.

2. Visuals that are merely posters will result in removal. Visuals should come from gameplay, spreadsheets or other tools.

3. Posts *about* using AI in support of your career will be examined on a post-by-post basis. People have talked about using tools such as "Claude is my Director of Sport" or deepening their own personal storylines. If you are doing that kind of thing, it's probably OK.

More broadly: the point of this community is for you to share your thoughts, experiences, and fun. Having the machine write that for you removes *you* from the equation.

Additionally, we will be revisiting subreddit rules to clarify how AI-crafted posts might violate other community expectations ("high-effort posts", "post frequency," etc).