The Confidence screens are amongst the most important screens in Football Manager as they reflect the confidence that the most important people associated with the club have in you. There are countless tales of managers earning good results on the pitch, only to be sacked days after a cup victory or league success, simply because there's a lack of confidence in the boss to take the club forward.
The Confidence screen displays the views of both the board and the supporters. They will keep you updated regularly on their happiness and general thoughts about all aspects of your job.
Confidence is broken down into five main sections with an overall Summary. You will be subject to assessment on your on-field performances in Competitions, your control over the club's Finances, feedback on individual matches, and your transfer market acumen and how your players are currently performing. Each section is displayed to you in the form of a bar, which represents the current level of satisfaction. A fuller bar represents a happier board and fan.
The Board
Communication with your chairman is not, however, a one way street and the successful Football Manager will use the board to his advantage. By selecting 'Make Board Request' from the 'Actions' menu, you can make some preset requests that will all potentially improve your chances of success, with the exception of the new contract request (see Profile).
If you feel you need more time to build the squad, or need transfer funds or a wage pool to improve the playing staff at your disposal you are within your rights to approach the chairman on these issues. However, a boss with a poor reputation or one who repeatedly makes requests in the face of negative feedback from the board will quickly become unpopular and could even be sacked.
Three other facility based options allow you to ask for a stadium expansion, improve training facilities or improve youth facilities, and each can be just as crucial to the long term success of your team. If your stadium is constantly packed (see Attendances in Team Stats) you may want to request extra capacity to boost the club's coffers in the long term.
Similarly, poor training facilities will result in more injuries - an improvement could make for a healthier, happier squad. Improving your youth facilities will have an obvious effect on your academy and it won't be long before you see an improvement in the standards of the players you're producing.
You can request to affiliate with other clubs. There are a number of different deals you can have, and once you've requested this the board will provide you a response in the form of a news item. The option to request a club affiliation won't always be available, this is dependant in the size of team e.g. teams such as Milan, Real Madrid or Chelsea won't have the option of requesting a parent club when you start the game.
If you are knocked back by your chairman you have the option to issue an ultimatum, using your reputation and success as collateral in a gamble involving your own job.
The Fans
If you choose to manage a top team as an inexperienced manager the fans will be instantly sceptical about your credentials and quick to criticise poor performances or results. Pleasing the fans should be a major consideration as a manager, and there are certainly some quick ways to do this. Probably the most straight-forward is by signing a big name player. An ambitious move in the transfer market will certainly placate a support base baying for success, in the short term at least.
Other tools for keeping your fans happy are less costly, though often more risky - declaring your interest in a player, for instance, will have them salivating at the prospect of an incoming talent. However, this excitement will soon turn to anger if the signings you finger don't materialise.
One key way of communicating with your fans is through news interviews with the press. You can rest assured that, while your players will also keep tabs on what you say, the fans are the key consumers of any comments you make to the Press.
