FM11 Guide - Staff

Who are your staff
Your staff assist you in your job as manager and handle various tasks such as training and scouting. Staff members include an assistant, various coaches, scouts and physios. All clubs in FM have staff however the number of staff you are allowed depends mostly on your clubs reputation. The current staff at your club can be viewed on the information section of your clubs screen.

How many staff can I have
All clubs in FM have staff however the number of staff you are allowed depends mostly on your clubs reputation, as your clubs reputation or financial status increase the number of staff your allowed increases, you can also request the board to allow more staff. You can see how many staff you’re allowed on the boardroom overview screen. You can also mix and match the different coaches you’re allowed to sign.



The benefits of having more staff
Having more staff can mean better training, better fitness and better scouting. Coaches are most effective in training when they focus on one category so having 9 coaches or more means you can have a coach specifically focused on each training category. Having extra coaches on each training category reduces the workload.

More scouts mean more scouting opportunities at once and improved scouting knowledge. Having more physios means better injury prevention and rehabilitation as well as improved fitness and quicker recovery after matches.


Staff roles

Assistant Manager – Your assistant is perhaps your most important staff member, they can handle many areas such as taking charge of reserve and youth squads, giving advice on your team, your players, opposition instructions and team-talks, they can also be made responsible for other things like contract renewals, attending press conferences and taking charge of first-team friendly matches.

You’re only allowed one assistant manager so choose carefully. Key attributes needed in an assistant are tactical knowledge, man management, motivation, level of discipline and judging ability & potential. Assistant managers can also do training so the attributes working with youngsters, determination and coaching attributes are also important.



Coaches – Coaches are primarily responsible for training and are assigned to training categories, the quality of training a coach gives is rated on a scale of stars and is dependent on a combination of coaching attributes, determination, motivating and level of discipline. Coaches can also give reports on your player abilities. There are 5 different coaching roles.

First team coaches – are responsible for training only the first team, they cannot train youth players. I’m not currently aware of any benefit from having a specific first team coach rather than a general coach. Key attributes are coaching attributes, determination, level of discipline and motivating.

Youth coaches – are responsible for training only youth players on youth contracts, they cannot train players on full time contracts. I’m not sure of the benefits of having specific youth coaches over general coaches but perhaps youth coaches with a high working with youngsters attribute can train youth players better and bring better youth players into your youth squad. Key attributes are coaching attributes, working with youngsters, determination, level of discipline and motivating.

Goalkeeping coaches – are responsible for coaching only goalkeeping categories; handling and shot stopping. Key attributes are coaching goalkeepers, determination, level of discipline and motivating.

Fitness coaches - are responsible for coaching only fitness categories; aerobic and strength. Key attributes are coaching fitness, determination, level of discipline and motivating.

General coaches – can train anyone at your club, youth and first team players. They can also coach any training category. Key attributes are all coaching attributes, determination, level of discipline and motivating.

Scouts – Scouts can be sent out to scout nations, leagues and competitions and give you reports on recommended players. They can also scout individual players and give reports and scout opposition teams and give you information on their tactics. Key attributes for scouts are judging player potential and ability. Other useful attributes are tactical knowledge (for scouting opposition), adaptability, level of discipline and working with youngsters.

Physios – Physios give you injury reports and help any injured players rehabilitation, they also have an effect on players fitness and the speed of their recovery after playing matches. The key attribute for physios is naturally physiotherapy. Other useful attributes are motivating and level of discipline.



Staff attributes

Coaching attributes – are the attributes highlighted below, they are purely used in training and are only really needed for coaches, they are relevant to specific training categories and how effective that coach is in training that part of a players game.



Man management – is how well staff deal with people, a high attribute in this could see your staff form good relationships with players more often. An assistant manager with a high rating in this will bring player issues to you sooner.

Working with Youngsters – is how well staff handle youngsters, this attribute is most important for youth coaches but is a useful attribute for any staff member to have.

Determination – is the mental desire of a staff member to succeed. This stat contributes to the overall training rating and so is mostly important for coaches.

Judging ability & potential – determine how well your staff judge a players ability and potential, they are key skills for scouts to make accurate scout reports and key for coaches and your assistant in assessing your own players ability.

Motivating – is how well a staff member motivates players, key for assistant managers in giving you effective team-talk suggestions and in helping keep the overall morale of the squad up. Motivating also makes up part of the overall training rating of a coach, a coach who can motivate players better will get them to work harder in training.

Level of Discipline – is how strict or relaxed a staff members approach is, a high attribute is best as he will get more out of the players by taking a more strict approach, this attribute in an assistant manager could see your players pick up less bookings. Level of discipline is also part of the overall training rating of a coach.

Physiotherapy – is only relevant for physios, a higher attribute will result in more accurate injury reports as well better injury prevention and rehabilitation.

Tactical Knowledge – is how well a staff member understands and applies tactics, this attribute is only really appropriate for assistant managers, a high rating will see you gain better suggestions in pre-match opposition instructions. Scouts can use this attribute to give more accurate opposition pre-match reports.

Knowledge – displays what nations a member of staff has knowledge of. All staff except most physios have complete knowledge of their home nation, some have additional knowledge of other nations. Your staff members knowledge becomes part of your clubs knowledge so signing foreign staff can greatly improve your clubs scouting knowledge, this leads to more players appearing in your player search.



5 Star coaches
Since coaches are responsible for training, and the quality of training they give is determined by a combination of attributes, it’s important to know what combinations provide the best training for each category. A coaches training ability is defined by a star rating that can be seen when they are selected on a single training category, a 5 star rating is the best possible. The star rating is based on a combination of 1 or 2 coaching attributes as well as determination, discipline and motivating or “DDM”. The following training categories show what attributes are relevant.



Strength – Fitness, DDM

Aerobic – Fitness, DDM

GK Shot Stopping – Goalkeeping, DDM

GK Handling – Goalkeeping, DDM

Tactics – Tactical, DDM

Ball Control – Mental, Technical, DDM

Defending – Defending, Tactical, DDM

Attacking – Attacking, Tactical, DDM

Shooting – Attacking, Technical, DDM

An excellent tool that can help you quickly find out a coaches star rating is the FM Coach Calculator.

Recruiting new staff
When you first join a club you might want to replace some of your staff as there are usually better ones available for free. Inherited staff will always accept mutual termination of their contracts leaving you with available staff positions.

You can find new staff by going to your staff search. Narrow your search by making different filters and setting the minimum requirements for your staff, remember to ask your assistant to filter out unrealistic targets.

The search results will reflect the scouting knowledge of your club, for example if you don’t have any scouting knowledge of France then low reputation French staff will not show up on the search results. Signing foreign staff can be beneficial for gaining their scouting knowledge of different countries.






Advanced tips

• consider personality and media handling style when looking at assistant managers, especially if you plan on sending him to press conferences.
• Having more physios will result in players recovering faster from injuries and quicker fitness recovery after a match.
• If you have reached your staff allowance limit you can ask the board to allow you to sign more.
• Signing foreign staff with knowledge of other countries will expand your clubs scouting knowledge.
• Determination, level of discipline and motivating contribute to the training ability of coach along with the appropriate coaching attributes. The FM Coach Calculator is an easy way of discovering a coaches training ability before you sign him.