It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
I was trying to think of a great way to start my first Football Manager blog post, and after a bit of pondering I think this quote is the perfect start. For those who aren’t familiar with my Football Manager obsession, it began in November 2018 and has ignited a passion for the game, and the sport itself. I was always a big fan of football but with the creation of the Canadian Premier League‘s Valour FC and this new game, I was absolutely hooked. Since I first picked up the game I have consumed as much football as I can, in person, on TV and in Football Manager. (I’m actually a season ticket holder for the Valour now.)
Like anyone who gets into Football Manager, I started with a few different saves but really had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully, with the help of Twitter, YouTube and Twitch I was able to connect with a large variety of FM (Football Manager) players who shared a huge variety of content and I began to learn. As soon as I heard about the idea of a lower league save I was enthralled and decided it had to be my next save. I quickly put together a manager named ‘William Codwell’ who was from England (thanks to Hanna for the character development) and dropped him into the world of Football Manager without much experience.
I was approached by one club immediately – Weymouth FC
One of the amazing things about Football Manager and the sport itself is the incredible depth of history, weaving itself through the minds of endless people, sharing endless stories of their favourite (or worst) moments. As I played the game I found myself constantly looking up clubs on Wikipedia diving into the history, absorbing as much as I could. When Weymouth hired me it was one of the first things I did and I was shocked to see the length of history for this club – who I had never heard of before that day. Founded in 1890! I was really excited to help this club grow from a lower level league all the way up to the Premier League!
OK, OK. But why the quote?
The quote really explains my experience with my Weymouth FC save. I’ve learned more in this save about the game than any I have played before. I mean, I learned a lot – and it’s taken some time! The goal for this save was always to win the Champions League and the Premier League while trying to learn as much as I could about the game. It turns out the learning was the real challenge! As the quote from the beginning of this post says – ‘it is the journey that matters, in the end’.
So where are we now then?
We are in 2036 with the club and we’re heading into our 4th year in the Premier League. I could describe all the seasons preceding this one but lets avoid a 200 page post, shall we? Lets get you caught up quickly with a few screenshots from the game about William Codwell – his profile, his job history and his detailed statistics.
Accomplishments So Far
- 🏆 English Southern League Premier South Championship (2018/2019)
- 🏆 Vanarama National League South Championship (2023/2024)
- ⬆ Promotion from Vanarama National League (Finished 3rd – 2025/2026)\
- 🚚 Moved into Dean Court in Bournemouth (as Bournemouth FC had built a new ground)
- 🏆 Sky Bet League Two Championship (2027/2028)
- ⬆ Promotion from Sky Bet League One (Finished 2nd – 2029/2030)
- 💰 Purchased Dean Court
- 🏆 Sky Bet Championship Championship? (2032/2033)
- 💰 Expanded Dean Court to maximum capacity (16,500)
- 💰 Upgraded Training, Youth and Data Analysis Facilities (four times)
- ✅ Qualified for Champions League (Finished 4th in the Premier League – 2035/2036)
Summer Transfer Window
At this point most, if not all, of the players in the database are newgens (regens?) but I’d like to take you through some of the transfer activities for the club this summer. We finished a surprising 4th in the Premier League in our third year in the division so I went into the summer window hoping to trim some fat and enhance the quality of the squad, especially at CB and FB. Oddly enough, our strikers had done very well in the previous season so we didn’t need to look for much up front.
Always Has To Be Something…
We immediately got into a bit of a controversy with one of our best players, Zakhele Motloung. We received an offer from Tottenham and he was intrigued enough to demand to leave. I initially thought this was acceptable as I prefer to avoid having unhappy players in my squad, so I got Zakhele to agree to a 35M minimum fee which I’d be willing to accept. Tottenham re-submitted a higher offer and I accept it. No big deal – right?
In comes Arsenal with a £45M bid, which by the way Zakhele told me he had no interest in, so I cancelled the Tottenham deal expecting them to match. They didn’t (and haven’t) since, even thought I had offered him out. In the meantime I had worked out transfer deals for two players to come in and be the new first choice CB pairing in our 4-4-2, for a total of £44M including Weymouth’s new record transfer fee.
- Javier Extabe (CB) from Athletic Club Bilbao (£29M)
- Natã Felipe (CB) from Athletico Madrid (£15M – possible £17.5M)
I was really excited about these two additions, but now I was facing the prospect of a real squad registration crisis with the amount of foreign signings I was signing to our club. I considered lowering Zakhele’s price, but then immediately reconsidered – as hes going to be very good and I don’t want to lose him for our first season in the Champions League. (He’s currently wanted by Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc..) I needed for figure out a way to clear some space in the CB position.
Sorry Fellas…
I moved quickly to sell two of our lesser used CB’s, one who was home-grown and the other who was foreign, in order to clean up the squad numbers a bit before registration. We definitely didn’t get value for either of these players because of the rush to sell them, but I was happy to get a fee for both and move them along.
- Frankie Hockey (CB) to CD Tenerife for £2.3M – possible £3M
- Pedro Würth (CB) to Getafe for £2.2M
I’m going to hold on to Zakhele as long as I can as he has a release clause of £56M in his contract already and if a club wants to get him, they know the price. I’ll try to offer him a new contract if he settles himself, but who knows if that will happen.
A Few Last Notes From The Window
Overall we spent £74M in the summer window, while selling seven players for a total of £14.5M. Not a lot of big money to be made, but I do feel we have enhanced our back four as well as our youth/prospect depth, which we need to rely on for home-grown players. So I’m happy with that – to be able to spend that much before a Champions League season is exciting! I can still remember paying players £25/week to play! Here are a couple of additional highlights as well as the transfer summary.
- Declan Rees (FB L) from Bournemouth (£14M – possible £16.75M)
- Giuseppe Bacci (DM) from Roma (£11.5M)
Into The Season We Go
And so here we are – we are off into the 2036-2037 season, which includes the group stage of the Champions League. I’m absolutely hyped, my nineteenth year of the save! Before I end this post, I think it’s appropriate to share our primary tactic (4-4-2) and our first half schedule as I think I’ll come back for the next post before the winter transfer window opens.
If you’ve made it this far – thank you so much for taking the time to read my Weymouth FC save story. Like I said, we’ll be back once we get to the winter transfer window! But until then, please feel free to follow me on Twitter and Twitch to stay connected. Please feel free to leave a comment below, no matter what your feedback!
