Started an FM11 (not sure why I said 08 before :s) game with Swindon. Was fighting for a promotion spot mid-way through the season, but ended up finishing a comfortable 2nd after getting Dani Pacheco on loan for 3 months of the season where he proceeded to slot home 18 goals from just 15 Matches - also somehow scraped to win the Johntsone-Paint Trophy.
Didn't really have any funds to purchase players for the Championship for 2011/12, so was relying mostly on Bosmans. Was able to sign Malick Faye, Boldizsár Bodor, Mika Varynen & Steven Davies who all came up huge as we fought our way to a high/mid-table finish. Was absolutely crushed by Citeh in both the league & FA cups though.
Signed a host more on Frees for 2012/13, including Vladimir Koman & Ivan Fatic and pretty much thanks to the overall speed of my wingers/forwards (and thanks to Scott Cuthberts staunchness at the back) won a tight-fought battle with West Brom for the championship.
Had to make some proper signings for the Premiership and thankfully the Board loosened the purse-strings a little with the extra income predicted for the year, so bought Nacer Barazite from Arsenal & Anton Ferdinand (who was at Wigan). Also signed an aging Drogba (who was a bit of a flop) on a free as well as Danny Holla (who was quite the opposite) and despite an incredibly leaky defense managed to just avoid relegation.
Liverpool sacked Woy, offered me a job, took it along with the 150m transfer budget! :O - team was getting to be an old one by now, particularly in the midfield and on the wings. Signed Miguel Veloso & Brazilian wonderkid "Leandro" (whom absolutely carved up, player of the season etc. etc.) to sure up the central midfield, then snared Alexis Sanchez & Adam Johnson on the wings, and Scott Dann & Chris Gunter in defence. Hocked off Skrtel/Leandro Lopez/J Cole/Aquilani/Konchesky/Thiago Motta, and banished Kuyt/Carragher to reserves. Also raided a whole heap of 15/16/17 y/o's from around europe/south america as there was a total of about 2/3 youth players at the club who might eventually be better than league 2 level. New signings were a hit, defence was impenetrable and went on to win the premiership losing only twice in league games. Was bundled out in the quarters of the C/League by Marsielle though which was quite annoying.
Hocked off a few more players left from Woy whom I didn't want/like - Lucas, N'gog, Glenn Johnson, Juan Manuel Vargas, Ivelin Popov, Kuyt (free) and signed Kyle Walker, Pedro Leon & Koke and have otherwise relied on 3/4 18-20 yo's to plug the gaps. Currently sitting atop of ladder in 2015/16 with a game back to Utd - think I'm really going to have to splurge on a striker come end of season though as Torres, whilst still brilliant, is so incredibly injury prone - and I can't rely on the coupe of 19/20 y/o guns yet to score. Have in past games always relied on spending huge (which I have done for the first 2 seasons really), but I want to try a different approach this time around and see if I can't build a decent team up from the youth squad.