Poll: Things in FM that may only interest me

I have been playing the Football Manager (and Championship Manager) series for around a decade now, and here are a few observations I have made in FM12 that might be of interest to a few people. Most of the things in this post will probably not have been covered by any other post, as it is of no importance/relevance/consequence/interest. For the aspiring manager taking charge of a dire club, these things may help you in one way or another.

So, without further ado.

1: The club's reputation is more important than you think.

Club's reputation (CR) is one of those paramaters where the manager does not have a direct link to it - you cant just change this overnight. The CR for most folk will have an affect on the quality of players and staff they can sign. Its also a value/rating that changes very slowly (I'm talking about periods of over 5-10 years), and this affects other parameters, such as


A: Season tickets

At the beginning of the season the club will sell a certain amount of season tickets, based on the stadium capacity and more importantly, the CR. If the CR is low (1- stars) the amount of season tickets you sell is lower than if your CR is high (4+ stars). If you keeping bringing a club success your CR will improve (slightly), and this will result in more season tickets being sold.

The slow rise in the CR is the reason why you can bring a team from the lower leagues into top flight football and still not selling a large proportion of your stadium capacity on season tickets. This can be frustrating, as wat newly-promoted sides want is more income (and a healthier balance, transfer budget). FM has not sorted this problem out for a while.

On the flip side, this also means that the CR does not decrease drastically. This means that if your side is unfortunate enough to get relegated, your clubs reputation will still be high enough that you can still sign good players and employ good staff. You also wont lose that many season tickets due to relegation. The drop is not as high as in real life!


B: Sponsorship

Sponsorship is also affected by CR. The better the CR, the more likely you are to attract sponsors, both in quality (better per year payments) and quantity (number of sponsors available). I had always thought that this was more dependent on your clubs corporate facilities, but as you cant seem to improve these facilities yourself, you should aim to improve the CR to attract better sponsors.

Again, as the CR changes slowly this negatively affects newly promoted sides, as the amount they get will only increase ever-so slightly. On the flip side, if you were relegated you wont lose that many sponsors, meaning that your chance of a return to top flight is much greater than in real life.


C: Attracting players and staff

I have touched on this earlier, but there are some neat little thing in FM that might seem obvious, but can be a good/pain if you dont understand it. The CR helps when attracting transfers of both players and staff, both in terms of quality and quantity.

However, whats not written in FM is that the CR's reputation is the SAME for the senior, researve and youth teams. Think about that for a second. This means that clubs that have a renowned youth system in real life (such as Ajax Amsterdam, Dynami Kyiv, Benfica) have a rating that is LOWER than clubs that have an excellent senior squad and a slightly worse youth system in real life (such as Real Madrid, AC Milan). It seems having a successful youth system in real life does not mean you get better generated youth players.

One would have thought that the 'youth recruitment network' and 'junior coaching' aspects of board interactions would help in bringing in talent (and they do a bit), it might not be as much as the CR rating. I could be wrong, but this is what I've noticed.




2: The secret life of the board member

Sometimes, the board does things you dont expect, whether it be good or bad. However, there are some hidden aspects of what the board, especially the chairman, can do. Here's a list of what I've noticed.


A: The percentage (%) of transfer revenue made available

For the inexperienced, this might be a terrible function. This percentage dictates how much of the transfer income (after selling a player), you get back into the clubs balance, which feeds back into your transfer budget. For big clubs with huge bank account, this is usually set at 100%, but for lower teams, or teams that have bad finances, this figure can be low - sometimes as low as 35%. The question one therefore asks is what this percentage actually does, and the answer is rather useful.

Lets say you are managing team A, with a 60% transfer revenue made available. This means that 60% of any transfer revenue you get goes back into the bank balance. The board actually keeps the other 40% of the transfer money. This money will be injected back into the club when its in dire financial situation (if the chairman is in a good mood). This is also why you can change this percentage only at a board interaction meeting.


B: The unusual stadium expansion plan

The board, if the club is being successful, will try to expand the stadium if there are funds available. I have noticed that as long as there is money in the balance, the board will expand the stadium, even if you will be crushed by any loan repayment you still have.

The other thing that happens is that while FM seems to have gotten the limits of stadium expansion right for some teams (usually the bigger teams), they have not got it all correct. For example, I have managed a club where the stadium was eventually expanded (after many projects over many years) to 35,000 seats. In reality, the stadium is surrounded by two highways, a parking area and rail lines, and therefore there is no possibilty of expanding it beyonds its currently capacity of 7,000. If you are in a lower league, you might be able to get lucky and get more income by expanding a stadium you know is at its limits in real life, as this is cheaper than building a new stadium.




3: The staff we all forgot about

The last thing I will touch at this time is your staff members. Since the introduction of fmscout, managers have used it, among other things, to find staff with great training attributes to improve their training.

People should remember that the ratings are based on calculations primarily using three key attributes - the determination, level of disciple, and motivation (DDM) of the staff. These three attributes forms a large portion of how ratings are calculated. The maths behind it all have been covered in previous forum posts, so I will not explain them here. I will, on the other hand, go on about something else.


A: The physio that cant physio

Hiring a physio sounds like a simple thing - just pick a staff member with 20 in physiotherapy? Wrong. Physio's ability, like the other staff members, are dependent on other factors. While it is true that a physio with 20 in physiotherapy is desirable, but a physio should also be motivated, and disciplined (the DDM returns). Also, if you have a young team, 'working with youngsters' might be another attribute you might want. Playing FM for so long I get the feeling that you get a more 'effective' (read: shorter injury times) physio.


B: The scout is not a judge

Again, people seem to hire scouts that have 20/20 in judging players current/potential ability. Sounds good. Is it? Not really. Scouts also require some form of DDM (although this is not affect scouts that much), but to be an effective scout, they should also have - along with 20/20 JCA/JPA - a high level of adaptability. Being adaptable means that, like players, the scouts would be able to settle in and be more effective in countries where his scouting knowledge is skethy. I also believe scouts that are more adaptable, motivated and determined produce more consistent scouting reports. Also, these reports wont vary wildly with scouts (I've seen scouts who give out 3.5 stars to one player whereas others only give him 2). Again, if you use fmscout the art of finding good players using scout seems to have died.

I'll also point out that the hidden attributes (consistency, injury proneness, important matches, dirtiness) can be drawn out by good effective scouts without the use of fmscout. The better the scouts the more accurate the reports.


I'll post more of this kind of stuff if people want me to (poll below)

Wow mate! I really enjoyed reading this.
Although, you missed something about CR.
The more CR you have, the better media prediction you'll have in the league.
EXAMPLES: Boston united, Boston are a terrible team most of the time, just surviving relegation, manager always gets sacked et cetra, but predicted second due to CR.

4: The squad

I think a lot of people know a lot about this subject, but there are things that have caught my eye.


A: The squad personality disorder

I initially thought the squad personality is most influenced by your teams captain (hence why people say you should pick a player with high influence) and vice-captain, but it seems its not that simple. The squad personality is based on the team's ratings in four categories: Professionalism, Determination, Ambition and Loyalty. These are obtained from the attributes for every play in the club, and the highest rated/most dominated attribute to being shown as the squad personality.

Personally, I think this idea needs a re-think. Surely the squad personality should be based more heavily towards the personality (or personalities) of your captain and vice-captain? As they have the heaviest influence, the squad should - in theory - adopt their personalities over time. Because what if the squad personality is not the same as the personality of your captain (for example, a squad personality of ambitious but your captain is determined)? Does this have an affect on the games he plays? Should I pick a captain that has the squad personality for the price for a few points off influence? Does having a highly determined, yet (media) volatile vice-captain disrupt things? How does this influence squad harmony? Its not very clear, FM!

I can see why squad personality clashes can result in messages when players go out on loan ('player A is glad player B has gone on loan', etc). Also, does the squad personality include the personalities of your staff members? Surely the managers personality has an effect on things?


B: The Work Permit conundrum

Work permits (WP) are really annoying, but sometimes the player is worth the extra effort.

The standard way of getting a WP is for the player to gain a second (or more) nationality. As countries have different rules and timescales in order to obtain eligibility managers send out players on loan to these countries (Argentina, Croatia, Montenegro: 2 years, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzgovina, Bulgaria, Colombia, Ecuador, Macedonia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Serbia: 3 years). There are also countries that have zero years (Ukraine, San Marino) as well as extremely lengthy (Andorra, 25 years), so be mindful where you pick!

However, there are ways to improve your odds. From here on I will talk specifically about how to gain WP for a club in the UK.

The main, and often controversial, method is by International Appearances. The governing bodys rules state that: "Any foreign player who seeks a work permit must have appeared in at least 75 percent of his national team's competitive A matches during the previous two years. A competitive A match includes the World Cup, World Cup qualifying and any other match played in the country's federation. If the player has not fulfilled this requirement for any reason, the club must provide written evidence documenting the player's injury history."

This ruling has a few caveats, as it (unfortunately and indirectly) means that the FM engine will* grant a conditional WP to a player who played ONE international game and got hurt, meaning he could not play in the other international games. Also, you are more likely to be granted conditional work permits from players in regions where there are a lot of competitions, like Africa - World Cup, African Cup of Nations, the CECAFA Cup, amongst others.

*there are other factors, such as the players with higher potential ability, or players with higher attributes, the national team rank of the player is 70+, will more likely be granted a WP by the FM engine, but the international appearance is the big one.


C: The Performance Precognition

To answer what Atreidas has written, I may have missed how the Club Reputation (CR) affects the media prediction. However, I think the media and board predictions are affected by other factors.

I think the media prediction depends on how the media rates you, looking at factors such as the CR, but also things like the ratings of players who were brought in/sold (this is presumably why the media prediction drops when you do a lot of wheeling and dealing, or if you lose your star player), last years performance (e.g. club coefficient).

For the board expectations, I think they make their predictions with more influence on what is going on in the club internally, and therefore they differ from what the media predicts. Also, I think the club is testing your ambitions and visions of the club by making you choose the expectations early on in your career (if they give you this choice).

I would really like to know how the FM engine actually decides.

For those of you interested in how FM determines match odds, its basically a lot of maths, based on how many goals you scored and conceded compared to the league average. The mathsy bit is readily available online.


D: The transfer desk

When there is a new manager on a forum one of the first questions they post is 'whats a good cheap player for team A?'. My primary recommendation is to look at the transfer listed players (or even the free agents) in the player search. Sometimes you will find insane bargains, as the managers on FM are not real people and therefore make the oddest of decisions. For clubs with an abundance of talent, such as Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, they will sometimes transfer list players who want regular first team football. As the club wants to get rid of them ASAP their asking price can sometimes be half of their value (or less, depending on other factors). Also, have a look at free agents, using attribute searching, to find players that you can sign on the cheap to fill needs in your teams. If you have scouting reports, the better.

The other unwritten rule is to have a look at players with expiring (6 months) contracts. You can approach players and sign them for free (you will have to wait 6 months for them to arrive on your team). This is another way you can get some nice transfers. You can do the same thing for staff (coaches, scouts, etc).

Again, all this depends on your CR.

If anyone wants me to comment on anything specific regarding FM, feel free to leave a comment behind

5: Things I would want want changed for FM13

This has been done before, but I thought I'm put in my two cents.


A: Match graphics:

1: The pitch dimensions and especially the dugout needs to be corrected. Having the manager in that box next to the touchline and having your coaches in the dugout would be a bonus.
2: The ball bouncing in the crowd and not swerve across it and through the stadium.
3: A stretcher so that a player with a broken leg does not walk off the pitch behind the physio.
4: (Rolling) advertisement around the pitch.
5: Goals are not the same at every stadium.
6: Fans chanting, mexican wave, flags, etc.
7: More realistic stadiums layouts.
8: Referee should not have the same kit colour of either team.


B: Game

1: (InGame) Being able to play the advantage.
2: (InGame) Corner taker is offside a lot.
3: (InGame) Referees running faster towards players to award cards.
4: (InGame) Ball arrives quicker for goal kicks, corners, free kicks, throw-ins.
5: Be able to become chairman, or ask a free chairman whether he wants to take over a club.
6: Travel should influence player condition.
7: Introduction of a Club doctor (if you can afford one) who works with the physios.
8: More realistic contract talks (wages, etc).
9: More control over feeder clubs (improving their youth facilities so they get better youths for which you have first option, etc).
10: More detailed manager history for yourself that determines your attributes at the beginning of the game.
11: Removal of injuries and other things so that your filesize does not become huge.
12: Proper 64-bit support.
13: Ask Nation to propose host bids.
14: More flexibility in News Subscriptions.


C: Training

1: Bring back the button where you can see which attribute has increased over the past 6 months. Would be great if instead of an arrow we can see a +1, +2, -1, -2, etc for each attribute.
2: More details in what facilities are upgraded (swimming pools, physio room, etc) or added during the upgrade.
3: Be able to improve a players 'weaker foot'.


D: Youth

1: Intake and development should be based in a separate reputation system, as well as junior coaching and youth recruitment network.
2: Generates players faces should be better.
3: More detailed academies (personality in tune with academy and club personality).


E: Finance

1: Negotiations with sponsors. More flexibility.
2: Having an 'Investment' balance that can be used to improve training and/or youth facilities, stadium expansion, new stadium. This might be useful than constantly asking the board.
3: Being able to pay debt off early.
4: Being able to control match and season ticket prices.
5: Merchandising, and how a financial link with another club is affected by this.


F: Scouting

1: Have a 'scout released players from a certain league' option.
2: Search 'minimum release fee' option.


G: Networking

1: Be able to pick another team straight away if the Board declines initial feeder team. The reload time is too long.

Atreidas
What you said about CR and media prediction is not entirely true. For example, in my Man Utd save, I am always predicted to finish 2nd, despite having a higher reputation than Man City. But the general pattern does indeed follow the Club Reputation.

s2lx
About Squad Personality:
I don't think the squad personality should be too heavily determined by the captain. In reality, the club's personality should be more heavily influenced by the manager or by the coaches. The captain does indeed have an impact on how your team plays. It's good to have a highly determined and influential captain because of 2 reasons:

1. Good for team meetings.
2. During a match, a determined captain will encourage the team to come back from a losing position.

In my opinion, squad personality should be determined exactly as it is. Also remember that how quickly a new player settles in depends on how much his personality matches your squad personality, and this should depend on all (or majority) of your squad, not just the captain.

Also, going through your list of desires from FM13, some of my questions/thoughts are:

1. You can see what attributes have increased when you click on the "Training" tab of a player.

2. Generally, IRL, a manager does not affect the finances. So, to keep it realistic, I don't think too much control over the finances should be allowed. However, I do agree with you that you should at least be able to suggest paying off the debt, or you should be able to tell the board that you don't intend to use the transfer budget and it can be used to repay the loan.

3. I would like the board not to put restrictions on how much I can pay each category of player. I think the board should just give me a wage budget and let me spend it how I deem fit.

4. Number of coaches: I prefer the old system where the board would just place restrictions on the number of coaches, and not the type of coaches. I find it annoying that I can only have x coaches, because as a club with limited resources, I don't want first-team or youth coaches. I would prefer full-time coaches that can coach all my players.

BRILLIANT POST!!!!!!

Gurdit:

Squad Personality

I think your second point in the squad personality shows that the current system is flawed slightly

With regards to squad personality, I have a different take. Looking at the past three (plus) decades, the very best teams have had captains were the identity of the team, from the likes of Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich, West Germany), Moore (West Ham, England), Cruyff (Ajax, Barcelona, Netherlands), Maradona (Napoli, Argentina) in the old days to Hierro (Real Madrid, Spain), Raul (Real Madrid, Schalke, Spain), Sorin (Villareal, Argentina), Ayala (Valencia, Argentina), Maldini (AC Milan, Italy), Pirlo (AC Milan, Juventus, Italy), Zidane (Juventus, Real Madrid, France), Zanetti (Internazionale, Argentina) in the not-too-distant-past, to the modern day Gerrard (Liverpool), Xavi (Barcelona, Spain), Puyol (Barcelona, Spain), Casillas (Real Madrid, Spain). I think a good captain should influence a club, whether it be good or bad.

The captaincy should also be a long-term thing for a club. Having the captaincy changed every year should be more detrimental to the club and should have an influence on the squad personality (and the club's vision).

While having a determined and influential captain might be good, if the rest of your squad (i.e. squad personality) is just fairly professional, how does this affect the match if you go a goal down? Do they act professional as the squad personality states, or take on the determined personality of the captain? If so, over time the squad should gain a more determined personality than its professional personality, meaning that my opinion (that captains should influence squad personality) holds true?

For new players (transfers and youths), they should mould into the squad personality of the club over time (say, a bedding period of one or two years), depending on their age.


Training

With regards to the "training" tab: The old system was better, as you had a button which you can click to see the improvements in all attributes at the same time, and not with this graphic system where you can only see about 5 attributes at one time. It was a lot clearer in previous versions and I would like to see a return.


Finances

It is true that managers may not have that much influence on the finances, I would still like to see this section changed, as I would like more details, such as
- Number of sponsors possible (also some info on how to increase the number for a club)
- See sponsor negotiations because the current method raises/lowers sponsorship money way too slowly
- Be able to negotiate contracts with players. I hate it when the contract they want has wages that are 6+ times greater than what they originally had. This is a problem if you buy a player to fill a need and you cant get rid of him after a few seasons because no other team will want to take him.
- A value in a players "transfer & contracts" that lists an approximate market value for the player, so when you offer him to other clubs you have a ballpark figure.


Coaches

I quite like the current coaching system, as you do get youth and first team coaches in real life. This is especially true to teams with a very good youth academy, as in these academies you have a lot more coaches and more talented players. Also, youth academy coaching is a great way for young coaches to get licenses to become full coaches.

Brilliant Article .