Football Manager for Dummies - Guide

Backroom Team - Importance of signing optimal staff members

Importance of signing optimal staff members

Let's start with the most tedious part, shall we?!

The very first thing I do when starting a new save, is replace any pre-existing staff. I swiftly offer Mutual Terminations and start assembling the backroom team I can rely on. Club finances might take a slight hit initially, but setting up good foundations can be hugely beneficial long-term. How am I to identify good signings, if I can't trust my Scout's judgement? What use is there in signing Hot Prospects, if they won't develop under suboptimal Coaches? What if injuries stifle their development significantly, due to poor Medical Staff?

Put together a good backroom team on the first day and you can keep it for years to come!

Scouting Team

Director of Football and Scouts are the first thing I tackle. Having capable Scouts with good Scouting Knowledge of various nations can be very beneficial for our scouting process. Our staff's Scouting Knowledge will slowly transfer into our club's World Knowledge during their first 100 days at a club, which will uncover previously unknown players and staff, as well as their attributes.

Scouting Packages do this as well, but in order to uncover as many players as possible, which gives us extra flexibility on the Player Search screen, we want both—the best Scouting Package we can afford and the most World Knowledge we can gather.

Depending on the stature of our club, we may have to reach compromises, but we'll try finding a decent mixture of both—Scouts from different nations with different Scouting Knowledge and decent attributes. All we need is one Scout with good JPA/JPP attributes that we use for final Scout Reports and the rest can be there solely to provide our club with their Scouting Knowledge—nicknaming capable Scouts can help you can identify them quickly when requesting Scout Reports:


The same goes for Director of Football. The more Scouting Knowledge he has, the more players from different nations he will recommend should we ask him for Transfer Suggestions or allow him to initiate signings on his own.

Coaching Team

Coaches will directly impact our player development, so it's worth signing the best we can attract. The more stars they reach in their Coach Assignments and the lesser their Workload, the better the player development. Overworked Coaches can lead to unhappy players.

Medical Team

Physios and Sport Scientists will help preventing injuries, as well as reduce recovery times of injured players. We'll fill all empty staff slots with the best candidates we can find, to give our players the best chance of avoiding injuries.