Hi guys,

I decided to start a non-league to the top save and selected Dulwich Hamlet because of their lovely pink which is really atypical. In 4 years i have made it from the Vanarama South to the Championship playing almost exclusively with free transfers and young players playing a hardworking (workrate), physical(usually acc/pace but my defenders are also tall and strong) direct counterattack/direct counter gegenpress. Laughably using less than half of my new transfer/wage budget almost every season as I do my best to keep us financially sound.

I'll write out the story in fuller detail in another post or below if anyone is interested.

2020/2021: Won Vanarama South, English FA Trophy

2021/2022: Won Vanarama National

2022/2023: Finished 7th in League 2, Promoted via playoffs

2023/2024: Won Skybet League 1, also lost in the finals of the Papa John's Trophy

It is now June in 2024 and I am going into the championship with what arguably is mostly a league 2 level side punching far above their weight class.

I'm currently having problems signing players of a leading league 1 or championship equivalent level. Even getting loans has been tough though I did get some good players from Fulham (Senior Affiliate). I do have 3.4 million in wage budget from my years of relatively prudent financial management but no one actually good is willing to sign. For reference my club reputation is only 2 stars.

Any tips to help? If I wait it out a bit into say July, would players be more likely to sign as the game recognises i am in the championship?

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in FM20 taking Dulwich to the top, and I just bought FM21 planning to do the same thing. As soon as I loaded my first game I noticed many players on F/T contracts. Huh?!

Went to look at club status and Dulwich Hamlet is Professional status already in the Vanarama South?Is this actually true? I tried googling around for real news about this, and even checked the clubs official site but couldn't find anything. Is it just a random thing at the start of a new game or are they in fact professional now?

Imgur link to the album, if you'd rather read this story over there.

This is Dulwich Hamlet in FM17. They actually are not in the game at the start date, so I had to sim until 2020 in order for them to pop up in the Conference South. Their finances are okay, and they're worth less than a house in London, England, which is where they play. Their facilities leave much to be desired, playing in a 500-seater stadium. They have no manager. They haven't played in the National League South in recent memory. This is their roster. Combined, the senior squad is on £2,765 per week and is worth £38,500. They have four Isthmian League trophies in a history that dates back to 1893. Unbeknownst to them, their story is about to change dramatically.

I take control of several large European clubs and make offers like this for every player on their roster. This here is a retrospective of the final results. In total, Dulwich Hamlet makes £4.34 billion spread out over four years. For some reason, many of those clauses that appeared to be guaranteed did not trigger--perhaps the game required that the bought player actually play in the competition before triggering the clause. I also took over Liverpool, Arsenal, and Tottenham as well, but Dulwich Hamlet ran out of players that I could purchase, saving them from a potentially club-crippling offer. After completing my offers, Dulwich Hamlet is now worth one billion pounds. What does one billion pounds get you? This is their new manager. This is their new squad. Wages have gone up quite a bit, but are still unimpressive, given that this is National League South.

Dulwich Hamlet loses their first six league games and look like favourites to go right back down. But then something happens and they go 5-1-2 in their next eight. What changed? This happened. That's right, someone in National League South is making £9,500 a week. By season end, Dulwich Hamlet are league champions. After starting 0-0-6 and 5-1-8, they finish 19-8-1 and stay in first place for the last

FT: Dulwich Hamlet 1-4 Carlisle United

Date: 8 November 2019 — 20:55 CET, 14:55 EST, 19:55 GMT, 01:25 IST

League: FA Cup

Venue: Champion Hill Stadium (London)

Attendance: 3,336

Referee: J. Oldham

Lineups

So the 5 fans who care about this game can have a chat.

Also the people who accidentally tuned in expecting the bake off or something.

Will anyone be going down to Champion Hill on Saturday to see the game?

Link to Part I here

Imgur link to the album, if you'd rather read this story over there.

In the last post, Dulwich Hamlet had just been promoted to the Premier League, after four seasons in the Championship. This is the Premier League that Dulwich Hamlet will be entering. The Top 6 is still the same old Top 6, with titles for Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, and Chelsea in recent seasons. Sheffield Wednesday is one of a number of clubs that can call themselves the best of the rest; Everton and Leicester have been relegated. Apart from that, this is your typical Premier League.

This is the team Dulwich will be taking into their inaugural Premier League season. As you can see, they have made a number of high profile signings; last season's top paid player, Giovanni Simeone, is now the 7th-highest paid player, as Dulwich signed six players on £200,000 per week or more. Despite the large payroll, Dulwich is favourites to go straight back down. Turns out paying massive wages to Championship level players in a promotion bid can hamper your ability to reshape your roster going forward.

Dulwich starts the season out well, taking seven points from their first three and even beating Liverpool away. Dulwich actually starts with 10 points in their first five games, going 3-1-1. But then they go on a dreadful 1-3-11 run, and by mid-season Dulwich is as the pundits predicted: relegation candidates. They're having a better season than fellow promotion winners Leicester City, however: they've just sacked Jamie Vardy. Yes, that is Slaven Bilic who is managing Liverpool. Dulwich responds by buying three more players on £195,000 per week, giving them nine players in total who are on £195,000 per week or higher. A team that is paying £2 million per week to its top nine highest paid players should not be sitting in 17th place; despite this, Paul Cook's job is rated "very secure." Getting Dulwich Hamlet to the Premier League will do that.

By the end of the season, Dulwich Hamlet finishes in 17th place, making it to safety on the last day. But what matters is that they are safe, and have another season to try and do some

Probably doesn't need a match thread but fuck it we won a game

Link to Part I

Link to Part II

Link to the Imgur album for Part III

Earlier in this story, I took over several other clubs in an FM save and used them to give Dulwich Hamlet £4.34 billion. At no point did I take over the club. Why? Because I wanted to see what the game's AI would do with the money.

This is Dulwich Hamlet, 14 years after I gave them £4.34 billion: Premier League mid-table regulars and FA Cup champions. How will the FA Cup victory affect this club?

Apparently, by sacking their manager at Christmas. His crime? The team is in 10th place. Claudio Ranieri sympathizes. Assistant Aaron Pierre of Grenada is promoted to manager. Aaron Pierre has a fairly average season with the team, finishing in 7th. In the Europa League, Dulwich wins a group containing Ajax, Las Palmas, and Legia Warsaw before getting knocked out in the first knockout round by Dynamo Kiev. The club is now worth £1.69 billion after a season of European football. Although the junior coaching is only average, Dulwich's facilities are quite good now. Dulwich Hamlet's rise in status has led it to acquire Huddersfield as its newest affiliate. Here is the roster. Carl Gross was named to the Premier League team of the season, again indicating that for Dulwich Hamlet, salary is not at all correlated to talent. The new manager prefers a 4-4-2 formation. Dulwich Hamlet have so much money that they're now investing it.

Pierre does not last long, getting sacked the following season just before Christmas, with the club mired in 15th place. Seferovic is hired as the replacement. In other news from around the league, Pep Guardiola is sacked by Chelsea. Seferovic is able to stem the bleeding a little bit and has the club finish in a disappointing 10th place by the end of the season. Dulwich fail to make any noise in th