Alright, boyz!! Here we go...FM 2007 First Impressions
 

I figured since I've got my review copy and I never get a chance to start one of these, why not?

If I'm repeating anything that's already been covered in the demo thread, I apologize, but as this is my first exposure to FM 2007 (I didn't download the demo, because my wireless connection frankly sucks for these things), I'm just going to comment on what stands out to me.

If it feels fairly stream of consciousness, that's because I'm commenting as I notice stuff.

I like the "pick three nations" wizard at startup, especially since when you shift to 'advanced options,' it seems to default to the most common 'lowest level' leagues. League Two in England, for example, leaving out the Conferences.

Makes it easy to just go, like, "England, France, Italy" and you're ready to go.

That's optional, so it can be turned off for folks who prefer the classic setup.

There's a 'recommended setup' option. When I click that, suddenly I've got England, Italy, Mexico, Spain and the USA as playable leagues. I wonder if that's just the minimum SI have set for 'full immersion,' or if that has to do with my system specs and what it can run without impacting system performance.

I'm going to give it a shot with that recommended setup and see how smoothly things run. I can always start a new game and dial it back to my usual "England plus one or two others" if I have problems.

Once you all start to get the game, I'd be interested to see a few of you choose that option and let me know what crops up.

In the advanced options, adding players from additional nations isn't terribly intuitive - my first thought was that selecting the pop-up menu and choosing a nation would select only that nation, and if I did that again, it would replace the nation I'd chosen. I do like that it adds instead of replaces, but I don't know that I would've expected it to do that right off.

Also, it's a little strange that I'm given the choice between UK English and US English, and the game is defaulting to US English...but all of the other measurement options are UK defaults - Celsius, centimetres, blah blah. Nothing major, just disconcerting.

Hey, neat - customizable keyboard shortcuts. That could be cool.

Starting my league now, so I'll cut off my pre-game blatherings here and reply with more pertinent thoughts.

On second thought, going to edit that recommended setup, as I want to guide West Brom, and the recommended setup chose 'Premier Only' for England.

So we'll nuke the USA and Spain, as I'll never use those, and go as deep as League Two in England.

After finally getting situated in West Brom, I'm poking around the interface, which seems pretty much the same, albeit with some changes.

The new head coach picture apparently gets used within the news system (I'm tempted to stick a screencap of Inigo Montoya in there, just for shits and giggles).

The "Job Security" screen now lists all managers, their jobs, and their security status. That's actually kind of cool.

The Board Room has all sorts of information now. Fan feedback about the job you're doing, board information about stuff like "We're not going to pay for scouting trips outside this continent," contract extension talks...good stuff. I'd love to see something like this make it into OOTP, although I want to see OOTP have FM's reputation for getting things right first.

The coach profile screen now has all sorts of new info on you as a head coach. Knowledge of various nations, for example. I'm maxed out on England, with lesser degrees of knowledge about the other nations in the United Kingdom.

The scouts have similar information, which is MUCH more valuable, IMO, than what language they speak. There's also a screen showing overall club knowledge of various nations and the personnel source for that knowledge. That might actually be the early candidate for "Josh's favorite new feature."

One of my attacking midfielders is out for 4 months with a foot injury, so it's time to head to player search to see if there's anybody who can fill in. I search for all players who favor West Brom and play attacking midfielder, and yield one result: Simon Johnson. He's a kiddie, only 23 years old, but I figure I might as well go for it. I'm limited on scouts and how far they can range, so why not take a chance?

Ack! Poachers are trying to steal my scouts! Where's the "Chase them off with a fire hose" button?

I offer Tim Davies a new, full-time contract at double pay. Hope's already making $50k/year and I'm over budget, so I have to hope that our status as one of his favored clubs will save the day.

Augh. Both my scouts left and now my youth coach is being chased by another team.

What makes matters worse is that the "base pay is unacceptable" was Davies' reason for leaving.

He's making exactly as much with Udinese as he would've made with us. The difference is, Udinese is Italian Serie A, not English Championship.

This is not going to make Josh happy.

Hope is willing to take $24k to work for Middlesbrough in EPL instead of the $50k we were already paying him to work for a team likely to win promotion to EPL this season? Something's rotten here. Gah.

This is down to your system specs - the game estimates the power of your system and then selects to maximumise (in its opinion) the scope of your game world for that setup.

PS> Mexico & USA will be a selection because you're in America and it anticipates you'll have some interest in them.

How long have you played? And you've lost two scouts and a coach?

Hey Marc. you guys haven't heard anything official on the USA release, have you?

That's what I thought was going on.

I actually have more interest in England because of West Brom, but I think I left Mexico as an active league all the same.

My game is something like 8 game days old, and I've lost two scouts (replaced one just before our first friendly) and had my youth coach bail the day before the friendly to become an EPL scout.

So, yeah. Three staff members in about a week. Not happy about that at all.

Especially since I offered one a contract equal to what he's getting in EPL and I'm supposedly one of his favored clubs.

Just had Fulham come knocking for one of my physios. This would make it 4 staff members lost from a team contending for promotion in the first two weeks of this career if he leaves.

Just noticed that you can check the results of your previous team talks with the effect they had on the team.

My 'no pressure' comment against a League Two team apparently pissed off half the team. :D

Everybody was happy with what I had to say afterwards, though, so I guess that's good.

I lose my fourth staff member, again to an "unacceptable base pay rate" when he's taking exactly the base pay rate as I was offering him to stay (which was all my board would allow).

Sigh.

I've replaced both scouts and am about to replace my youth coach. Fortunately I still have two physios left.

One of my players has an expiring contract, but he's on loan to Manchester United and I can't offer him a new deal. I wonder what's going on there.

It's interesting that you can ask players of yours who've played for other teams if they can recommend any staff or player signings to you. That's nifty.

Apparently FM 2007 has mentors.

Was this in 2006? I sure don't remember seeing it.

No, it's new in 2007, you can asign the vets to mentor the young players to help them improve, not sure how it helps.

Yeah, daedalus was just telling me that. That's pretty darned nifty, that you can actually specify who mentors whom.

I'm going to have to play some with that.

What everybody should read, copied from the SI forums:

With full credit to jase19 who posted this in the SI Bugs forum, here is the full list of hints and tips that flash across the screen during the game- some real gems in here:

GUI HINTS AND TIPS

-Selecting the national flag icon on any screen will take you to the senior national team screen.
-When a player is listed in yellow, it indicates he is currently on your shortlist.
-When a player is listed in light blue, it indicates he is currently on loan at a club.
-When a player is listed in dark yellow, it indicates he is currently co-owned by another club
-When viewing a team screen, players listed in light blue are currently on loan at the club.
-When viewing a team screen, players listed in dark blue are currently out on loan at another club.
-When viewing the preferences screen, you can set up your game to save automatically after a specified amount of time by using the 'Auto Save' option.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Wnt' icon indicates that a club is interested in the player.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Bid' icon indicates that a club has made a transfer offer for the player.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Trn' icon indicates that the player has a future transfer agreed with another club.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Req' icon indicates that the player has been placed on the transfer list at his own request.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, an 'Unh' icon indicates that the player is currently unhappy.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Fut' icon indicates that the player is unsure about his future.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Ctr' icon indicates that the player is currently out of contract at the club.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, an 'Ine' icon indicates that the player is ineligible to play in the next match
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Loa' icon indicates that the player has been made available for loan.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, an 'Int' icon indicates that the player is currently away on international duty
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Lst' icon indicates that the player has been placed on the transfer list by the club.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, an 'Lmp' icon indicates that the player is lacking in match practice.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Fgn' icon indicates that the player is foreign.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, an 'Inj' icon indicates that the player is currently injured.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Frt' icon indicates that the player is leaving on a free transfer at the end of his contract.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Pr' icon indicates that the player has reacted to a media comment.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Cup' icon indicates that the player is cup-tied and ineligible to play in the cup match.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Rst' icon indicates that the player is in need of a rest.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Sus' icon indicates that the player is currently suspended.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Yel' icon indicates that the player is one yellow card away from picking up a suspension.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Yth' icon indicates that the player is on a youth contract.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Hol' icon indicates that the player is currently away on holiday.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Wdn' icon indicates that the player has been withdrawn from international duty by his club manager.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Unf' icon indicates that the player is not fully fit.
-When a 'Wp' icon appears next to a player's name, this indicates that the player requires a work permit before he can play.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Slt' icon indicates that the player has a slight concern about something.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Tut' icon indicates that the player is currently acting as mentor for a youngster at the club.
-When viewing a team screen or person list, a 'Lrn' icon indicates that the player is currently learning from an experienced player at the club.



GENERAL HINTS AND TIPS

-When taking over a club for the first time, ask your Assistant Manager for a team report. This will help you familiarise yourself with the team and single out areas that need improving.
-When choosing your captain the most important attribute to consider is his influence.
-A player with a high penalty taking attribute is likely to be a good choice to take your spot-kicks.
-A player with a high corner attribute would be a good choice to take your corners.
-If you want to be a danger from throw-ins, choose a player with a high long throws attribute to take them.
-With the right guidance a youngster described as a 'Wonderkid' could become a world class player.
-Withdrawing a player from international duty with his national team may adversely affect his morale, or worse, cause the player to dislike you.
-Rejecting a job offer from another club will improve your popularity with your club's board and the fans.
-Players with high adaptability are less likely to get homesick as they are better able to adjust to new countries and cultures.
-Teams in a strong financial position who consistently fill out their stadiums are prime candidates for stadium expansion.
-The board may decide to build a new stadium if you don't own your current ground or if you are unable to further expand it.
-Sending youngsters out on loan is a great way for them to get competitive match experience.
-When a player has just returned from injury it's a good idea build his match fitness back up through reserve fixtures and then slowly reintroduce him back into the first-team.
-The ratings for reflexes, handling, communication, jumping and positioning are generally a good indicator for how good a goalkeeper is.
-If you're looking for a good wing-back pay special attention to an individual's positioning, tackling, stamina, pace and acceleration.
-Positioning, tackling, pace and anticipation are just some of the important characteristics that make for a good full-back.
-A good centre-back will usually have high ratings for tackling, jumping, positioning, heading, strength, marking, bravery and team work.
-Pace, dribbling, passing, off the ball, creativity, stamina and crossing are just some of the important characteristics that make for a good winger.
-Passing, off the ball, creativity, technique, dribbling and stamina are just some of the important characteristics that make for a good attacking midfielder.
-A good defensive midfielder will most likely have high ratings for tackling, work rate, stamina and positioning.
-Pace, acceleration, dribbling, technique, finishing and off the ball are just some of the important characteristics that make for a good pacey striker.
-Jumping, heading, strength and off the ball are just some of the important characteristics that make for a good target man.
-The better a physio the more able he is to accurately predict how long a player will take to recover from injury.
-When a player is outraged over something it can indicate that he is quite temperamental and maybe has a low level of professionalism.
-When a player is worried or upset over something it can indicate that he doesn't handle pressure very well
-Be wary when declaring an interest in another job. Your current employers may not take too kindly to you casting glances elsewhere.
-You can increase your popularity with your club's board if you deny speculation in the media that links you to another job.
-If your players are picking up lots of injuries in training, keep a close eye on the type of injury that has occurred and think about reducing the intensity of your strength or aerobic training.
-You can improve squad morale by winning football matches or rewarding them with new contracts.
-You can damage a player's morale if you continuously make offers for players at other clubs who play in the same position.
-Be careful when asking an injured player to take an injection and play through the pain barrier for a game. There is a risk that you may upset him so save these instances for really important matches.
-Think carefully before issuing your board with an ultimatum as there is a good chance they will remove you from your position as Manager if they think you're being unreasonable.
-One of the best ways to ensure you do not run into debt is by keeping an eye on your total wage budget. The board will be more appreciative if you stay within the limits set.
-When managing a low profile club, arranging friendly games during the pre-season against high profile teams is a great way to boost your club's finances through additional gate receipts.
-Disciplining players without justification is likely to upset multiple members of the playing staff.
-Notes can be used to record useful information about a player such as whether he responds better to criticism or praise.
-Having players in your squad who list one another as favoured personnel will generally benefit the team.
-When negotiating contract terms with a player, you should consider how additional bonuses may impact your club's finances.
-When joining a new club as Manager, staff who were at the club before you joined will always accept 'Mutual Termination' of their contract.
-Frequently altering the squad status of a player risks unsettling him and make him unhappy.
-Players aged 24 and above are less likely to see dramatic improvements to their attributes through training or natural progression.
-Goalkeepers will generally peak and enjoy their best footballing years between the ages of 31 and 35.
-Defenders will generally peak and enjoy their best footballing years between the ages of 27 and 32.
-Midfielders will generally peak and enjoy their best footballing years between the ages of 27 and 32.
-Strikers will generally peak and enjoy their best footballing years between the ages of 26 and 31.
-Players will naturally develop their mental attributes through experience as they get older.
-Physical attributes decline naturally and sometimes dramatically towards the end of their playing careers.
-Players who are transfer-listed are generally available at a knock down price and are easier to sign.



TRANSFERS HINTS AND TIPS

-When approaching to sign a player on a free-transfer who is under the age of 24, the buying club will have to pay the selling club compensation.
-Signing a player with a massive reputation can provide a commercial windfall through shirt sales.
-A player may be more willing to sign for a club if they are one of his favourite teams.
-If you offer an injured player to clubs, they are less likely to show interest until the player is over his injury.
-A club may have more luck in signing a player if they are one of his favoured clubs.
-Praising another manager in the media and building friendships with other managers may help your chances of having a transfer bid accepted for one of their players.
-Making enemies with other managers by openly criticisng them may damage your chances of having a transfer bid accepted for one of their players.
-When viewing a player profile for a player at another club, you can declare your interest in him by selecting 'Player Interaction' from the actions menu.
-Should you wish to sign a player who is also interested in joining your club, you can sometimes unsettle him by 'declaring interest', which can make it easier to sign him in the long run.
-Be careful when declaring interest in a player as you can unsettle those at your club who play in the same position.[
-When sending a player out on loan, with the 'Can be recalled' clause active, a club can recall the player at 24 hours' notice.
-When sending a player out on a loan which involves a fee, the club cannot recall the player for the duration of the loan.
-When sending a player out on loan, a club can prevent him from becoming cup-tied by ensuring the 'Can play in cup matches' clause is not active.
-Clubs can sign unattached players at any time during the season.
-When trying to sign a player from another club who is on a long-term contract, be prepared that you may have to pay more than his estimated value to land him.
-To avoid losing your players to other clubs on free transfers, you should look to renew contracts for those who are in the final year of their deal.
-You can offer contracts to virtual 'greyed out' players from your own team. This is particularly useful if you're a low profile club and in need of players.
-To increase your chances of selling a player, go to his profile and select 'Offer To Clubs' from the actions menu.
-If you offer too many of your players to other clubs in a short space of time, you may damage your team's morale as other players become worried that they're next in line.
-Setting a player's squad status to 'Not needed by the club' will increase the chances of the player agreeing terms with another club.
-The game clock will stop at more regular intervals on transfer window deadline day to give clubs a chance to rush through last-minute deals.
-Trialists are not allowed to play in competitive matches. They are only eligible to play in friendly games or reserve team fixtures.



ASSISTANT MANAGER HINTS AND TIPS

-When viewing your team screen you can get your Assistant Manager's assessment of your squad by selecting 'Get Team Report' from the actions menu.
-You can get your Assistant Manager to arrange pre-season friendly games by selecting 'Manager' -> 'Options' from the menubar and selecting 'Responsible for arranging friendly matches'.
-You can get your Assistant Manager to renew your players' contracts by selecting 'Manager' -> 'Options' from the menubar and selecting 'Contract renewals handled by Assistant Manager/coach'.
-When viewing your team screen you can get your Assistant Manager to pick your squad for a match by selecting 'Ask To Pick' from the actions menu.



TRAINING HINTS AND TIPS.

-Players who are very versatile are more likely to successfully retrain to a new position.
-Players who are very versatile are less likely to lose new positions they've learned through retraining when they're not playing or retraining the position.
-When managing a semi-professional club, it's a good idea to try and tie down key players to full-time contracts to maximise their training time.
-Staff on part-time contracts have less time to train players than full-time staff.
-Intense physical training is best carried out in pre-season, before the domestic season is under way.
-Too much intense physical training during the season is likely to tire your players out faster and increase the risk of injuries.
-Player's attributes will naturally decrease during the off-season, when they are away on holiday or doing very little training.
-The strength training category covers a player's natural fitness, stamina, strength and work rate.
-The aerobic training category covers a player's acceleration, agility, balance, jumping, pace and reflexes.
-The goalkeeping training category covers a player's aerial ability, handling, kicking, throwing and one on ones.
-The tactics training category covers a player's anticipation, decisions, positioning, movement, team work and command of area.
-The defending training category covers a player's tackling, marking and concentration.
-The attacking training category covers a player's passing and creativity.
-The shooting training category covers a player's finishing, long shots and composure.
-The set-pieces training category covers a player's crossing, corners, free kicks, penalty taking and long throws.
-When assigning coaches to training schedules, take care not overwork them. Even the best coaches can't give the players the attention to detail they want if they've too much to do.
-Remember that your youth players are still developing and as such will tire quicker. Be considerate with your workloads when devising youth schedules.
-Youth team coaches only train youth players, they do not work with or train senior players.
-Goalkeeping coaches work with and train both senior and youth goalkeepers
-Fitness coaches work with the senior and youth players, but only deal with the physical aspects of training.
-First-team coaches only work with and train the senior players, they do not work with or train youth players.
-General coaches work with and train both senior and youth players.
-Retraining a player to play in a new position can be a cost-effective way of providing additional cover for your team without having to make a new signing.



SCOUTING HINTS AND TIPS

-When viewing your team screen you can find out the level of scouting knowledge your club has by selecting 'Knowledge' from the scouting section in the 'tree' menu in the side-bar.
-Your club's level of scouting knowledge can be increased by either signing scouts who already have a large knowledge base, acquiring an affiliate club or by sending your existing scouts out to investigate new territories.
-Scouting your next opposition will give you an insight into their tactics and key players and help you plan your tactical approach for the game.
-Parent clubs automatically expand their scouting network by using scouting knowledge from feeder clubs.
-When signing scouts from a foreign country, your team will benefit from the scout's knowledge of players from that nation.[
-Scouting a player more than once will increase the likelihood of the scout finding out more about his strengths and weaknesses.
-The more scouting knowledge your club has, the more players will appear on the player search screen.
-Assigning a scout to 'Scout Next Opposition' and to a country/region in another continent will result in that scout spending a lot of time travelling rather than actually scouting players.



MATCH HINTS AND TIPS

-When an icon with a green cross appears next to a player it indicates he is carrying a knock.
-Using easy or normal tackling in a match will reduce the risk of your team picking up cautions or red cards, particularly if the game is being officiated by a strict referee.
-Be aware of how the weather can effect your team's performances. Bad conditions are more likely to penalise those who play a short passing game, try adopting a more direct style at times like this.
-Players with low stamina may tire and struggle to play at their best, particularly in poor weather conditions or high tempo games.
-When watching a match you can keep an eye on the opposing team's formation and changes made during the game by selecting 'Formations' from the 'tree' menu in the side-bar.
-When using the 'Use Playmaker' tactic, your players will generally look to try and pass the ball to the person you've assigned to that role.
-A playmaker is someone who generally looks to receive the ball and dictate play.
-A target man is someone who will look to bring others into play via flick-ons or holding up the ball.
-Constantly changing your tactic and making dramatic alterations to the style of play will not help your players settle or find their rhythm and is likely to have an adverse affect on the team's performances.
-Allowing too many players to have a high level of creative freedom will likely see your team fail to adhere to your tactical instructions. Use creative freedom sparingly for full effect.
-Passing style and tempo are linked. A short passing game works best with a slower tempo, whilst a direct, counter attacking style needs to be swift and quick.
-If you like to play possession football and dictate the tempo setting your goalkeeper's distribution to short and to a near player may help you succeed.
-Time-Wasting is useful late in the game but be sensible - employ it too early it can backfire and cost you the game.[
-Taking the time to set up player positions on set-pieces can be very rewarding. Taking advantage in these situations is often the difference between a draw and a win.
-Allowing your players to close down often will naturally put the opposition players under duress, but be aware that good players will find ways to avoid pressure and expose your team.
-Players who pick up knocks but have no injury indicator may be able to shake off their injury and return to a good level of fitness later in the game.
-If you find you're leaving too much space behind your defence, try setting your centre-backs mentality to 'Ultra Defensive' or using a deeper defensive line.
-When playing against a strong team, you may get some success by playing on the counter attack. This can be particularly effective when playing away from home.
-When trying to hang onto a result, a good way to wind down the clock is to employ time wasting tactics in the latter stages of a game.
-Defenders with low concentration are more prone to making costly mistakes in defence.
-Strikers with low composure are more prone to buckling under the pressure and missing one-on-one opportunities to score.
-New signings need time to settle in and gel with their new team-mates.
-Too many new signings in a short space of time can upset the balance and rhythm of your team.
-Foreign players with a distinctly different football cultural upbringing may take a while to settle into playing a different style of play.



TEAMTALK HINTS AND TIPS

-Ensure that your players don't become complacent when leading well at half-time. Make sure they get the job done.
-A confidence boost at half-time can often be what your players need to win the second-half and turn a game around.
-Telling your players exactly what you think of them may buck their ideas up. Give them the hairdryer treatment when you feel it is needed, but be aware that some players may become disgruntled and complain to the media
-Remember how your players react to certain instructions in certain situations. Their mental attributes will determine how effective your instructions are.
-Ignoring your players at half-time is generally a bad idea, but on rare occasions leaving them to stew over their performance may result in a better second period.
-Keep your players happy. Praising wins keeps morale up and provides greater impetus for the team to string good performances together.
-If morale is low, harsh team talks are unlikely to improve things. Aim to encourage your players and give them a lift.
-Pre-game expectations will impact on performances. Telling your players you expect a win in games you aren't clear favourites for adds unnecessary pressure.
-Informing your players that you expect a defeat may lower morale, although it can have a beneficial effect should you go on to lose as your players may not get too downhearted by events..
-Be more generous with your praise for good performances when playing away from home.
-Be less harsh with your criticism for poor performances when playing away from home.
-Be more demanding of your players when playing at home, where your fans will be expectant of you to push on to try to get the right result.
-Team talks can be very useful for morale, but don't always follow the same route. Constantly saying the same thing to your players may have less of an affect in the long-run.
-Think carefully about singling out players for criticism or praise. Only do it when it's merited or risk causing rifts in the squad if the player or his team-mates feel it was unjust.



PLAYER INTERACTION HINTS AND TIPS

-A good way to help avoid upsetting a dropped player is to warn him that you plan to rest him in advance. The player is less likely to get upset if you tell him you intend to rest him prior to the game.
-A player is more likely to agree to a rest if he is starting to feel jaded, especially after a tough prolonged period of games.
-When resting a player, choose the length of rest carefully as many players don't enjoy being out of action for too long.
-Once a player enters the latter stages of his playing career he will start telling you his long-term plans. This will give you an idea of what he wants to do when he hangs up his boots.
-A good way to strengthen your relationship with a player is to sign someone they have recommended to you.
-You can strengthen your relationship with a player if you sign the backroom staff member they have highly recommended to you.



UNSORTED HINTS AND TIPS

-Parent clubs are more open to accepting loan offers from their feeder clubs than other teams.
-Players at parent clubs are more open to accepting loan offers from feeder clubs where a loan agreement exists between the teams.
-During an impending board takeover, an enforced transfer embargo will prevent clubs from signing new players until the takeover is complete.
-You can offer youth players full-time future contracts which automatically come into affect when they are eligible.
-Criticising referees too often could land you a touchline ban, forcing you to leave the next match in the hands of your Assistant Manager.

Neat. If another coach is warned by the FA for complaining about a referee's decision, you can 'view' the incident. Not that you can really tell whether he's got a leg to stand on, mind, but it's still sort of cool that you have that Sportscenter-esque thing going on there.

Me: "Win this for the fans!"
John Hartson: "You big meanie, I hate you and I wish you weren't my coach!"

Seriously, dude felt angered and harshly treated over THAT of all team talks? Why do I get the feeling that the team talks are essentially random and don't mean much?

Icy, I HEART you.

In the most platonic and purely heterosexual way possible, of course. :D

I don't know anything about this particular player, but I doubt anything in FM is essentially random and doesn't mean much. :) Perhaps he thought that you were being condescending toward him. Then again, maybe he's just a big baby.

Some players just might resent being told that they need to win one. They know their job and they don't need to be told what the goal is.

I always disliked that rah-rah stuff. So I agree with the player there. ;)

It could be "Win one for the fans" is a much more cynical talk than you're making it out to be. Maybe it's more like "you guys have quit on me so save yourself SOME dignity and at least try to win one for the fans." I've found several things in team talks, media interaction, etc. to be that way -- probably a UK vs. US English thing.

Or it could be the match was a friendly -- players don't generally like being told to go all out for a friendly.

For those who aren't aware Mr. Hartson is a very passionate individual, very industrious and hardworking but has a bit of a reputation as a hard-nut.

If he's been playing well in prior games its possible this is why he's taken offense - simply put if you're busting a gut at work and have been trying really hard to do well for the firm and achieve your best and your boss then turns around and says "well clive this is an important deal, can you please try a little harder to impress this customer" how would you feel?

How is the sim time compared to FM2006?

Generally a bit faster on most systems ...

Has Hyperthreading (particularly for the download version) been fixed?

Was this still an issue for the 2007 demo? This was fixed in the 2006 downloaded version in one of the patches.

Wow, these look great. I'm hoping to get mine in the next few days. :D

I have the 2006 latest download patch and still get crashes only when hyperthreading is turned on.

Hyperthreading is greyed out for me.

But then, nobody ever accused me of running this game on the most impressive system around.

Hartson, incidentally, while he's pissed at me, has been scoring like a madman since that little incident. So, uh, we'll deal with the anger.

Sack: JIC you didn't know, hyper threading is for dual core Pentium machines ;)

actually, I'd think it's Pentium processors with HT technology or any kind of dual core processors, AMD or Intel, as my AMD X2 4200+ shows a ticked box in the hyperthreading option and not a greyed out option like my old Athlon 2000+ used to show. Me likey :)

FM

dola, that was in reference to the 2007 demo, as I still wait patiently for cd-wow to ship my game...

FM

Again, nobody accused me of running the most impressive machine around etc.

But FM is humming for me with my setup, so that's all I'm worried about.

Marc, if you set a deadline for a response, does that ensure you'll get a response?

I had a team offer me a player last night, I tweaked the particulars of the financials slightly and counter-offered, never heard back before the transfer deadline, and ended up losing my star player at that position for a month to a broken jaw suffered in international play.

Would setting a deadline have made the difference?

Usually yes, but I've found that if you always set a deadline, some managers end up being less responsive to them.

FM

Hartson with the hat trick to knock off Sunderland.

Me, to the press: "He's been amazing!"
Hartson: "Duh."

I love the increased interactions.

usually within a couple weeks of the transfer deadline, all my transfer dealings carry a deadline of "next day" or whatever it is called...

FM

edit: broken dola

But when it's, like, "here comes the deadline!" that's probably a pretty good time to do it, huh?

yeah, read my other post. :) I'd say in the last couple weeks before deadline...

FM

dola, what I meant by "always a deadline" is that I usually set the deadline and then never take it off, even when we're in October and I'm doing some advance talking for January signings...

FM

all you people with a copy can suckit. i want my damm copy!!!

Sorry, DT.

From the "I know you are, but what am I?" category:

I have to say I'm not very happy with the scouting system right now.

I like the current/potential bit. I like the region knowledge bit.

I don't like that I've had a guy with a maxed-out knowledge bar for England searching England for 3 months, he's found 6 guys, and apparently only 3 of those are considered 'realistic targets.'

Another guy has been searching Germany for the same length of time, he's found 3 guys, and none of them are 'realistic targets.'

So, what, are scouts essentially useless except for scouting very specific players and opposition?

Unless this has drastically changed from last year, I think this is normal. From my recollection, if a scout has found 6 guys, that means 6 guys at a certain "star rating." If you have him recommending 4-star or 5-star guys, he won't necessarily find very many. If you bring up his list of scouted players, though, it's huge. It's just that he's not going to recommend anybody 3-star or below. You'll still have all of those guys in his list of players.

Now, if it has changed since last year, color me baffled.

The thing is, I haven't found a setting anywhere to select what type of guys he's recommending.

Additionally, one of those guys was 2 star current, 3 star potential. There's only one guy in all of England who fits that profile?

This is pretty strange -- playing the demo, I had my scouts scouting Spain, and they all had several guys on their list of scouted players after 1 month. Or are you talking about something else?

Nope, pretty sure that's what I'm talking about.

My England scout is up to 9 players on his list after his trip ended and I restarted it, but Germany-boy is still stuck with 6 guys, and he's on his third go-round.

and how good is your scout at judging player potential and current ability?

FM

Might it also have something to do with how good your team is?

I know if I'm in conference or something like that my scouts will find tons of players because my team isn't that talented. When you get up more towards Premiership you might find less because there's less out there that will be a benefit...don't remember what team you are playing with.

I pre-ordered at Gogamer last year and got on release day. So I figured I would be smart again and pay the extra money for next day delivery and preorder again with them.

So, I log on to check my order wednesday and it says "processing title in stock should ship in 24 hrs". I fire off an email to customer support this morning as it still reads the same. I decide to check my email to see if I have gotten any response and to my surprise I have a confirmation of order cancellation:mad: .Flipping scrotums.

I have never had a problem with them like this. Oh well, I intend to send a complaint but at this point I guess I will wait for the digital download.

Not as good as before both my scouts got poached within three days of the league starting, I can say that. That said, the guys I have left (and I just hired a third):

Kevin Kavanaugh (England/Scotland): 15 ability, 13 potential
Robert Turner (England/Germany): 14 ability, 12 potential
Stephen Howes (England/Wales): 12 ability, 14 potential

I would expect guys not as good at judging ability/potential to yield more, not fewer, players, as I would expect there to be some measure of overrating going on as well as underrating.

Maybe. I'm playing with West Brom, and we're currently tearing up the Championship.

But the problem with that though is that there's virtually no communication from my scouts unless they're talking about my own players. No "Sorry, Boss, there just isn't much out there we think is useful."

Which makes it hard to figure out what's going on.

Dammit, no! :(

Nigel Pearson poached away (he's my assistant coach) to go run Sheffield Wednesday.

That makes, like, five staff members I've lost in less than half a season.

In fairness, he's making $375k at the new job, whereas I could only pay him $110k.

So that's the first staff member I've lost where I can really understand the reasoning.

I wonder if some of it is because these guys don't want to work for a virtual unknown. If so, that's kinda cool. But for those who want to start out with a big team, it kinda takes away the fun.

Well the thing is, we're not really a "big" team. We're a Premiership yo-yo squad. Good enough to dominate the Championship (which we're doing), but I fully expect when we get promoted, we're going to spend next year fighting like mad not to go down again.

On the bright side, we just had a ridiculously profitable month, doubling our profits for the season.

Maybe the board can see through to letting me have more money for wages so I can, you know, cover the rash of injuries?

It'd be nice if you could give the board reasoning for the funds request. As it stands, I can ask them for more (I'm over budget right now so I can't DO anything to get players who'd be marginally useful, even with the $5m transfer budget), and if they say no, I can give them an ultimatum.

No way to say "look, our entire frontcourt is out for two months, can I PLEASE sign some new players?"

Since I usually play in Conference North or South, that seems like a big team to me. YMMV.

Is FM 2007 available here in the US via download?

it will be. it's not out yet though. word is it will be b/w the 24th and 31st (closer to 24th prolly)

Sack, can it be played small screen?

Thanks Daddy.

It can, you do not have to play full screen :)

Yeah, there's an option to turn off the full screen, but that's never worked for me, unless I run the path with -small_screen (or something -- it seems like it changes every year) at the end. And even then, my computer doesn't seem to like running that path unless there are no spaces in it (for example, I have to rename the directory "Sports Interactive" to "SportsInteractive") -- it can be a PITA, but as long as Marc tells me what to put at the end (which he always does), I'm cool.

The scout's determination would influence the amount of players he finds more than his judging abilities.

Sack, how did you label your level of experience at the beginning? Could they be leaving knowing that they're going to a club who has an established manager instead of a complete rookie at the helm? Of course if you created yourself as a player with a lot of experience from the outset, this is a moot point.

That's the theory.

It's never worked for me, allegedly because of my video card.

Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally.

That's news to me. Thank you, sir.

Random, although from the initial response of my supporters, it's likely I was 'randomly' assigned the rookie level. Still, I would expect that if that's influencing them to leave, that SI would have chosen that as a media response possibility, rather than 'base pay is unacceptable,' considering they've very nearly all taken the same amount to go to another team that I was offering them to stay.

'Ceptin' the last guy who left, Nigel Pearson; he took a 3x pay raise. I put out an advert for his replacement, and the Youth Coach for Man United said "ooh, ooh, me!" That surprised me a little.

Of course, he wants a raise from the $300k'ish that United are paying him to something closer to $900k to work for West Brom.

It wont be available for download during those dates. Not sure where you got them from.

OK.

Any idea when, if at all?

He settled for $400k/year and a $375k signing bonus. Plus, I owe Man United compensation of around $600k, I think. Expensive, but for a guy of that quality to replace the guy who left, I'll take it.

He'll still be making that when I hit the Premiership next season, which at only $25k/year more than he was making as a youth coach, should be a bargain.

aaah. just assumed the digital download would be concurrent with the US release of WWSM

Oh, Lord. All three scouts have determination of '1.'

I love this. Darlington have offered me a transfer fee of $0 for reserve Rob Davies, with a 40% sell-on clause.

That's hilarious.

I've had deals like that work out. If it's a young guy who doesn't fit into your plans and you can't properly develop him, you let him go, he plays full time and becomes decent and gets bought by a premiership squad and BAM, profit you'd have never gotten on a straight sale.

Mostly though, the offers are laughable.

I'm really getting pissed off at Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal continuing to pester me for Curtis Davies after months of 'no.'

It's to the point that Davies is upset now, and I really don't want to let him leave - he's so key to our defense that we'd go from clear promotion contenders to the Premiership to, at best, fighting for one of the playoff spots.

At best.

That is really new to me too, where has that been talked about? or is it in the manual?

Damn can't wait for my game, i was hoping i could get it for the weekend as gamplay shipped it to me 3 days ago, i guess i'll receive it on Monday then.

How much are they offering? Surely it's enough for you to buy a replacement or two even. Start shopping for the replacement before you let him go though. Since he's upset his performance is bound to start suffering.

Btw, are the SI forums having lots of troubles to load or is it my connection?

That's the thing. They aren't offering.

They're "inquiring as to how much I want." And doing it three times per week.

If they were offering me, I might consider listening for just that reason - sometimes you just can't say no.

What I've tried to do instead is ask him for a signing and then go get that player and hope that makes him happy.

just set his value high enough to drive them off...aka "this player is essentially untouchable"

or set it for something to allow you to get a replacement...3-4x his value or something

Yeah, I can't figure out how to set his value. I can figure out how to set the asking price but those don't seem to be the same thing.

Hey, on the bright side we're now making in the millions each month in profit.

And Nigel Pearson played for Sheff Wed for years - no doubt they will be listed under his favourite clubs

This year you can't set player's value, it's done auto by the game and i think it improves realism, one thing is what you want for the player (asking price) and another thing what is his real value compared with other players.

setting his asking price is what i meant. just used the wrong terminolgy cuz it's 5:30am

You could also try setting his transfer status to "the club do not wish to sell this player."

It is.

The major clubs are ignoring that.

Marc's hints and tips has this information.

Ah thanks, is it out for 07 or is that the 06 one?

I don't think the new one is out yet.

It might be in the 06 guide, but I think that has been the case since at least CM4, if not before. (determination == more scouted players)

Go 10X value. They'll usually back off but sometimes they'll bite.

Damn. Five years of playing this game and I never realized that. I thought I read that guide carefully too....

Thanks!

Just send back a 10-15M, 50% sell-on with an additional 1M for appearance and possibly for international appearance. Oh, and a friendly. Usually holds them off for awhile. And, well, if it doesn't, then, hey, you have money.

Other one is to ask for that and replacement back. A Djourou from Arsenal for example would be a good replacement and, if you can get a good chunk of money on top of that, all the better.