Long term FM (and formerly Champ Man) addict here, bought FM20 during lockdown (and spent the first two hours looking up Gills players past and present) , but have returned to FM17 where I am on the verge of a second successive promotion with Hereford.
I love a challenge so usually either edit or download a database that will give me the entire pyramid down to levels 9/10, so I can start with the likes of Sheppey Utd or Sittingbourne. Quite like the occasional French save with Calais or an Italian one with San Marino Calcio.
I have never started a save as Gills boss because I'm so anal I know I'd be unable to manage them without deferring to what was happening in real life. I have previously joined them a few seasons into a save before, usually after most of the real life players have moved on.
I dread to think how many precious hours of my brief existence I have wasted playing FM, but goddamn if a last minute winner in a crucial game doesn't have me leaping off the sofa as if it were Gills in real life.