FM18 Leeds United Team Guide: Everything You Need to Know
This FM18 Leeds United team guide provides all the information you need to know about Leeds United FC located in England. If you’re having a thought of managing this club in football manage 2018, this article gives you an insight about the club. The information you find here may help you decide whether to launch a new career with Leeds and what you need to do when u do take the hot seat. It might be a challenging one for you.
The club’s history, finance, board expectation, team report, squad, youth academy, staff, and dynamics are shared in this write-up.
Brief History
Leeds United is an English professional football club created in 1919. The club was formed as a result of the dissolution of Leeds City. Leeds City was formed in 1904 and started playing in the second tier of English football league system in 1905. However, along the line, the club was accused of paying their players illegally during World War I. Thus, the English Football League enforced their disbandment in 1919 after they refused to share their financial records. But a new club, Leeds United, emerged the same year.
Since creation, Leeds United have made a great history of their own. Their golden era came between 1961 and 1974, during the time of head coach Don Revie. In this era, the club won 2 Premier League titles, one FA Cup, one League Cup, one FA Community Shield, 2 UEFA Europa League, and one Sky Bet Championship.
However, their last trophy came in 1992, in which they won the FA Community Shield for the second time. They later got relegated to the Championship in 2004. And since then, Leeds have been struggling to get back to the Premier League.
Club Finance
The overall status of this club’s finance bears a secured status.
Loans and Debts
Leeds United have indulged in a couple of loan acquisitions over the past few years. The club owes a total of £15.25M as a result of loans. The first loan, which was a sum of £11.25M, started in June, 2013 and it’s anticipated to end in June, 2020. The second loan (a sum of £4M) started in June, 2017 and projected to end in June, 2027. Moreover, all loans acquired are repayable on promotion to the Premier League.
Profit and Loss
In 2016/2017 season, Leeds made a profit of £5.81M in Sky Bet Championship. However, the overall balance when you start your career in FM18 is approximately £17.57M, with a loss of £2,343 (due to miscellaneous expenses) in the first month of the game.
Financial Fair Play Regulation
The FFP regulations allow the club to make no more than a loss of £15M after 36 months. But, the board project to make a loss of £4.05M over this period. This shows that the club may narrowly pass these regulations. So you need to be very careful on how you spend, especially on how you acquire new players and renew player contracts. Just have in mind that it’s very possible to lead this club to bankruptcy or face a competition ban.
Budgets
The board left an initial transfer budget of £1.5M while the wage budget is £365,460. But the club is already spending £359,113 on player-wages.
As you can see, the transfer budget is not enough to attract the best players. Even getting some quality players on loan might not be possible. Therefore, you have to manage the present squad or you engage in free transfer business. But honestly, from my experience, the present squad are capable of becoming the league champions.
In addition, the scouting budget of this club is approximately £418K; no restrictions in place. The scouting team can scout any region you want.
Board Expectations
Leeds United board expect you to secure a mid-table finish with the initial transfer and wage budgets. But if you feel you can do better by leading the team to promotion, both the transfer and wage budgets will increase accordingly.
Moreover, the board expect you to at least reach the fourth round of English FA Cup. And at least, reach the third round of Carabao Cup. Just know that any level you choose to reach in the Sky Bet Championship, don’t fail to accomplish it. Otherwise, they may sack you before January or at the end of the season.
The board expectations seem light anyway. But I would recommend that you start with the initial expectations if you’re uncertain about what to achieve. A chance to increase the expectations may arise again in late December.
Team Report
In order to find a suitable tactic that will fit Leeds United, the team report is a good source to seek information. Here, I’m going to share the team’s report and give my opinion about the kind of tactic you should implement. The main section I’m going to discuss in the team report is the comparison section.
In the screenshot above, the All Position comparison is charted, excluding the goalkeeper position. As you can see, the team has quality first-touch, decisions, and work-rate. Also, they rank above average in teamwork. The only disappointing parts are found in strength, leadership, and aggression.
However, from the above charts, Leeds will perform better and adapt quicker with tactics that explores their technicality rather than their physicality. Passing style or possession kind of football will suit this team because they have the right mentality. Here’s the kind of tactic I used for Leeds United.
Coming to the defence section, the team has the best defensive abilities in the league. The defenders have the best range of tackling and marking attributes. The downside that may affect the defence are their not-so-good heading and jumping reach abilities, which can make them vulnerable in air. You might consider improving these areas through trainings.
From the midfield section, the team has very good technical and creative midfielders. Their overall technique, vision, passing, stamina, and decisions are really high when compared to other teams in Championship. So you don’t need to bother much about the midfield. It’s in good shape.
Leeds also have a good attacking force when you look at the comparison report. Their key weapons are off-the-ball, pace, and acceleration. The team’s finishing is above average, which is really good. But aerially, the attack isn’t good enough. So, implement a tactic that encourages long balls and float crosses might not be a good idea for this team.
Squad
Leeds United have a variety of creative, technical, and very few physical players in the first team. The total number of active first team players is 23. And the squad average age is 25. The screenshot above displays the first team squad.
Notable key players that can help the team achieve a lot are displayed below. Use them to your advantage.
Loans and Transfers
Injury Report
Youth Academy
This club has an excellent youth facility, with an above average youth recruitment. There are some youth players who I think can be great first-team players. You need to manage them properly for them to reach their potentials. They are:
Staff
From the staff overview screenshot below, the coaching staff of the club is one the best in Sky Bet Championship. They have great goalkeeping, defending, attacking and technical coaches. The coaching team comprises of 5 members with two vacancies available.
The scouting team is also good with 13 members present, which is considered “too much” by the board. But you can either leave it that way or reduce it in order manage wage expenses. Finally, the medical team, which has 6 medical staff, ranks 8th in physiotherapy and 4th in sports science. Overall, I don’t think any of these areas need improvements.
Dynamics
