Alright boyz, here we go!!! FM 2006 First Impressions

[condors]

currently i have Rushden 3rd in the Championship most of my players are home grown came up through the system most aren't great technically but are good physical stats, anyways i love how we get messages how the team is overachieving, my 1 star player (mathew etherington) of course wants to move to a bigger club (i got him because he was upset at not getting playing time at Chelsea), Most of the team have me listed under favorite personal and usually a teamate. I am curious to see how the team pans out (most of the players are very young hopefully when they get into the 24 year old range we will be good enough for top flight football) don't really have the funds or salary available to sign many players so not much is expected and i get to see kids grow up.

[Ajaxab]

It could just be dumb luck, but I didn't have too difficult a time in getting Exeter to the Prem--oddly enough every promotion was through a playoff except the first one out of the Conference. But succeeding in the top flight is another project altogether. Competing against the resources of Swindon Town and Notts County can be done, but the deep pockets of Abramovich and the resources at the disposal of Man Utd and Arsenal make it much more difficult to get to that next level. It's 2017-18 and the best we've been able to do is 6th and a Uefa Cup spot. Cracking those Champions League qualification slots is the next goal, but it is tough. I've been wondering if I've taken this club as far as I can and thought about taking another job outside of England after being at the helm of Exeter for almost twelve seasons.

[condors]

yeah i almost always leave my team for a bigger club but i am going to stick it out with Rushden and see if i can win the Premier League one day. (i doubt it but will be fun trying)

[Celeval]

Originally Posted by condors

currently i have Rushden 3rd in the Championship most of my players are home grown came up through the system most aren't great technically but are good physical stats, anyways i love how we get messages how the team is overachieving, my 1 star player (mathew etherington) of course wants to move to a bigger club (i got him because he was upset at not getting playing time at Chelsea), Most of the team have me listed under favorite personal and usually a teamate. I am curious to see how the team pans out (most of the players are very young hopefully when they get into the 24 year old range we will be good enough for top flight football) don't really have the funds or salary available to sign many players so not much is expected and i get to see kids grow up.

When your kids start attracting the attention of the Premiership clubs - and they will - you'll have to let some of them go. Don't be afraid to ask for big bucks for them, though - just because they're valued at 55k doesn't mean they won't go for 225k + 50% of next sale.

They still might not, but it's at least worth asking.

[Flasch186]

Forest Green wins the LDV Vans Trophy!!!

a quick look at Wikipedia makes me realize that the tourney is viewed as a farce, somewhat of a joke. so much so, that their is no prize money this year.

ouch!!

[MJ4H]

Is there any way to play this game without the possibility of getting fired? I always get fired just as I'm starting to bring a team together.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Is there any way to play this game without the possibility of getting fired? I always get fired just as I'm starting to bring a team together.

once you get fired just retire and then create a new coach and assign yourself to the team again. hopefully you wouldn't have to do it more than once, because you'd have the team together to start getting good results

[MJ4H]

Interesting. I guess I could do that. Better than taking over Scunthorpe again.

[Sweed]

Looking for a little help on a transfer offer and how realistic it is.
I am Cambridge City (Eng Conf South). Picked as relegationg battler but made three very good preseason signings and find myself in 2nd place 23 games into the season. With the current squad I feel I will stay top 5 and make the playoffs with a realistic shot at promotion to the Nationwide.

With regard to the transfer question I have a kid who is 19 and valued at 90K up from 65K last season. I was getting offers and didn't want to move him so turned them down. To try to stop the offers I put a price of 1 million pounds. Not long after I got my first offer of about 800K and a friendly against a premier team, can't remember who at the moment and turned it down.
Player card now says he is basically untouchable.

Now comes an offer from Sunderland for 975K, 25% next sale, and friendly. Potential value 1.2M pounds.
First would this be a realistic offer IRL (90K value- 975K offer)?

If realistic am I a fool to turn it down? The kid is signed for 2 seasons after this year is complete.

I am new to football so am not sure how valuable he actually is to my team.
In about 25 matches he has no goals and 2 assists. However he is my highest rated player coming in at an average form of 7.21.

When he has missed matches my subs have filled in fairly well. That is this non-football mind doesn't "see" a great deal of difference.

However with a chance at promotion this year of next I wonder if I should keep him? I'm also worried about what the fans will think if I transfer the kid.
What will the board think? Happy with the cash or upset that it could hurt our promotion chances? The board has seemed very happy with me so far and would allow me to make offers above the budget (if on the contract screen the "board will allow" statement is correct), though I haven't actually done it.

Would this money do me much good if I don't get promoted? I mean sure I might have the cash to spend but is anyone going to want to come to the south?

Anyway I would be interested in any comments on this.

Thanks,

Sweed

[RPI-Fan]

As has been mentioned earlier in the thread, Premier or Championship clubs don't meddle around with

__________________
Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

[Marc Vaughan]

If realistic am I a fool to turn it down? The kid is signed for 2 seasons after this year is complete.

These are the hardest decisions to make - if you take the money in theory you should be able to replace him and have a financially stable team for at least a few years, but he's settled in your team and performing well - if he leaves then his replacement might not cut the mustard and you might find out just how valuable his contributions were ...

As manager I'm afraid its up to you (but personally I'd take the cash, its a huge amount for a club at your level) ...

[path12]

Sweed, I don't know the kids position, but generally there is a couple factors I tend to take into account when managing in the lower leagues (which I mostly do).

First of all, if the kid is just 19 and you've got teams from two leagues higher making big bids for him, he's probably going to get pissed if you don't let him advance to the higher profile league. I tend to use my young guys who can get big offers to make money to a) keep the board happy, and b) fill several holes on my team at the level I'm at so if I get promoted I'll be able to be viable on the next level.

You don't mention the position, but based on the stats you posted I assume it's not striker! Either way, if you have other options, I'd probably take the offer from Sunderland. You're right that you might not be able to get someone worth 1M to come to the conference, but you could certainly get two or three 300K or so players that would help your squad.......

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

once you get fired just retire and then create a new coach and assign yourself to the team again. hopefully you wouldn't have to do it more than once, because you'd have the team together to start getting good results

Also while there isn't a 'non-sackable' option in the PC game currently - this does exist as an 'unlockable' in the PSP version ....

[path12]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

It's 2017-18.

Man, I play too slow. I've been going since February and am only to 2010 in my latest game.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

These are the hardest decisions to make - if you take the money in theory you should be able to replace him and have a financially stable team for at least a few years, but he's settled in your team and performing well - if he leaves then his replacement might not cut the mustard and you might find out just how valuable his contributions were ...

As manager I'm afraid its up to you (but personally I'd take the cash, its a huge amount for a club at your level) ...

Originally Posted by path12

Sweed, I don't know the kids position, but generally there is a couple factors I tend to take into account when managing in the lower leagues (which I mostly do).

First of all, if the kid is just 19 and you've got teams from two leagues higher making big bids for him, he's probably going to get pissed if you don't let him advance to the higher profile league. I tend to use my young guys who can get big offers to make money to a) keep the board happy, and b) fill several holes on my team at the level I'm at so if I get promoted I'll be able to be viable on the next level.

You don't mention the position, but based on the stats you posted I assume it's not striker! Either way, if you have other options, I'd probably take the offer from Sunderland. You're right that you might not be able to get someone worth 1M to come to the conference, but you could certainly get two or three 300K or so players that would help your squad.......

Thanks for the responses guys. I thought I had in there that he is a MC. I play a 442 and he is the more offensive of the two MC's. Good passer leading the team with 72% completed.

I think what I will do is counter offer leaving the money the same but making the transfer not go through until seasons end. That way if he helps me get promoted I'll have the ability to upgrade the team for the next year.

I guess my main concern was if this was realistic or if I happened upon a kind of a cheat. From your responses it must be a realistic possiblity.

Thanks
Sweed

[st.cronin]

This game is unreal - the feeling of "oh dear god, not again" when one of your defenseman makes a stupid pass in front of their own goal...

I still have no real clue what I'm doing or what's going on, but somehow currently have Galway United in 1st place in ID1.

[Ajaxab]

Yesterday I got really pumped about finishing 4th in the Prem with my Exeter boys. We were the only team to beat Chelsea in the league and thrashed Liverpool 6-0 at Anfield in the second last game of the season. I was proud of this team as they fought injuries all year long after starting the year playing in the Intertoto Cup. So I was thinking that finally after twelve seasons, we would be seeing the Champions League.

Of course in my excitement, I forgot that 9th place Arsenal were in the Champions League final against AC Milan. And of course they have to go and beat Milan on pks screwing us out of millions of pounds and getting into next year's Champions League through the proverbial back door. We're stuck in the UEFA Cup again.

To compound the problem, I was hoping that Champions League football would allow us to resign our best defender. Chelsea had offered 25 million pounds for the guy in the previous year, but I wanted to hold onto him. So the final year of his contract comes this year and he won't sign. I'm stuck desperately trying to transfer him through the fall, but no one bites. He ends up signing on a free with Dortmund and will be leaving the club over the summer. I wonder if things would have been different if Arsenal don't screw us over.

I love this game...

[Shepp]

I have a 20 year old left winger on my Southend United team that has a slight concern of: "Feeling the pressure of public expectation".

Does this mean that he just needs to be left off the first team for a while? Or does he need to be given more positive comments in the meadia, team talks, etc.?

[Marc Vaughan]

Feeling the pressure of public expectation

This means the fans are starting to see him as the 'great hope' for the team and expecting a lot of him - young players sometimes find this sort of pressure hard to handle (understandable really ) and it can cause them to struggle with their form or in more troublesome personalities express their stress through missing training etc.

[WSUCougar]

*grumble*

Three missed penalty kicks in a sloppy 4-1 loss this morning. THREE!!!

*grumble*

[SirFozzie]

Congratulations, your team has just been made honorary dutch citizens

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Sweed

Looking for a little help on a transfer offer and how realistic it is.
I am Cambridge City (Eng Conf South). Picked as relegationg battler but made three very good preseason signings and find myself in 2nd place 23 games into the season. With the current squad I feel I will stay top 5 and make the playoffs with a realistic shot at promotion to the Nationwide.

With regard to the transfer question I have a kid who is 19 and valued at 90K up from 65K last season. I was getting offers and didn't want to move him so turned them down. To try to stop the offers I put a price of 1 million pounds. Not long after I got my first offer of about 800K and a friendly against a premier team, can't remember who at the moment and turned it down.
Player card now says he is basically untouchable.

Now comes an offer from Sunderland for 975K, 25% next sale, and friendly. Potential value 1.2M pounds.
First would this be a realistic offer IRL (90K value- 975K offer)?

If realistic am I a fool to turn it down? The kid is signed for 2 seasons after this year is complete.

I am new to football so am not sure how valuable he actually is to my team.
In about 25 matches he has no goals and 2 assists. However he is my highest rated player coming in at an average form of 7.21.

When he has missed matches my subs have filled in fairly well. That is this non-football mind doesn't "see" a great deal of difference.

However with a chance at promotion this year of next I wonder if I should keep him? I'm also worried about what the fans will think if I transfer the kid.
What will the board think? Happy with the cash or upset that it could hurt our promotion chances? The board has seemed very happy with me so far and would allow me to make offers above the budget (if on the contract screen the "board will allow" statement is correct), though I haven't actually done it.

Would this money do me much good if I don't get promoted? I mean sure I might have the cash to spend but is anyone going to want to come to the south?

Anyway I would be interested in any comments on this.

Thanks,

Sweed

A little update..

After getting some advice from Marc V. and path 12 I made a counter offer to
Suderland. 975K pounds, 50% of next sale, friendly and my young MC does't leave until the end of the season. Potential total vaue of 1.4 mil pounds.

I'm now sitting in 1st place in the Conf South 25 games in with only one loss to Canvey Island, my record (13-11-1). Chance of promotion looks good and if it happens I'll have a large wad of cash to upgrade the squad

This is a GREAT game.

[Karim]

Once again I've run into a problem with a young central defender (23 years old) with outstanding attributes but 'Unconvincing' at a position. (I should have used screenshots.) I decided to put him on a custom schedule and train him as a central defender. It was a 'heavy' training program. I paid $10.75 million for him and now it looks like my third bust of this kind.

I've since abandoned his custom training program and put him on a medium level regime all my defenders use.

Attributes (after one month of training - before/after)
-------------------------------------------

Bravery 18(15)

Strength
Natural Fitness 17(17)
Stamina 20(18)
Strength 20(16)
Work Rate 16(14)

Aerobic
Acceleration 17(14)
Agility 15(13)
Balance 16(13)
Jumping 20(17)
Pace 16(13)

Tactics
Anticipation 20(19)
Decisions 20(20)
Off the Ball 20(20)
Positioning 20(20)
Teamwork 13(10)

Ball Control
Dribbling 20(20)
First Touch 17(14)
Flair 12(12)
Heading 20(20)
Technique 20(20)

Defending
Concentration 20(20)
Marking 20(20)
Tackling 20(17)

Attacking
Creativity 20(20)
Passing 16(13)

Shooting
Composure 20(20)
Finishing 20(18)
Long Shots 17(14)

Set Pieces
Corners 7(4)
Crossing 20(17)
Free Kicks 4(1)
Long Throws 11(8)
Penalties 6(3)

[path12]

Originally Posted by Karim

Once again I've run into a problem with a young central defender (23 years old) with outstanding attributes but 'Unconvincing' at a position. (I should have used screenshots.) I decided to put him on a custom schedule and train him as a central defender. It was a 'heavy' training program. I paid $10.75 million for him and now it looks like my third bust of this kind.

I've since abandoned his custom training program and put him on a medium level regime all my defenders use.

I'm not sure I'm reading this right. Was he a DC that you wanted to train for another position or another position you wanted to make a DC? Those attributes are pretty damn impressive, even with the initial drop.

[Blade6119]

is it possible you just have really crappy custom schedules?

[path12]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

is it possible you just have really crappy custom schedules?

That was going to be my next question.

[Karim]

Originally Posted by path12

I'm not sure I'm reading this right. Was he a DC that you wanted to train for another position or another position you wanted to make a DC? Those attributes are pretty damn impressive, even with the initial drop.

Since he was 'Unconvincing' at DC, I set his new position to 'DC'. In my experience, a player who is 'Unconvincing' at a position, will not improve just by playing him there.

[Karim]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

is it possible you just have really crappy custom schedules?

For the DC:
Strength, Aerobic, Tactics, Ball Control, Defending were all set at one 'tick' below Heavy. In other words, the 'maximum medium' possible.

Attacking, Shooting and Set Pieces were 'Light'.

Overall, the training schedule was 'Heavy', one or two notches above 'Medium'.

[path12]

Originally Posted by Karim

Since he was 'Unconvincing' at DC, I set his new position to 'DC'. In my experience, a player who is 'Unconvincing' at a position, will not improve just by playing him there.

What position was he originally? By that, I mean what position is he 'natural' or 'accomplished' at?

[tanglewood]

Just an FYI Karim, 23 is probably slightly too old a dog to learn new tricks, or at least one that would take a long time to adapt. Players are at their most malleable when they're 21 or younger really.

[Izulde]

Wait, you can train players for new positions? How do you do that? If I'd known that I'd have been working on upping up some of my young guys into being more versatile, well except for Matt Farrell who's already Everywhere Man at 16/17.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by daedalus

One thing to watch for is over-improving. I know, I know. That sounds stupid. How can you improve too much? I am referring more to the fact that you shouldn't upgrade at too many positions at once, even if you are financially capable of doing so. Earlier in the thread, someone mentioned that they don't understand how their team can so underachieve when they've brought in multiple 4- and 5-stars quality players with their new Premiership money. It has to do with the fact that the new players require time to integrate (or settle, as it were). If I recall correctly, this situation was confirmed by Marc Vaughan a few posts after as well.

As Butter said, improve at a position or maybe two and see which of your old players can hold up for now. Just be careful about trying to integrate too many new players all at once, the key is to stay up over multiple years to keep improving. ("Thanks for putting me in the position to replace you with better players, guys. Have fun back in the Coke.")

This bears repeating, because it's one of the things I just wasn't getting until this current game with Maidenhead.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Wait, you can train players for new positions? How do you do that? If I'd known that I'd have been working on upping up some of my young guys into being more versatile, well except for Matt Farrell who's already Everywhere Man at 16/17.

Off the top of my head, I know one of the places you can set a new position for a player. When you have a player's information screen open, click Training->Overview, and you will get a coach's assessment of the player as well as a setting for positional training.

There may be a place to set it in the team training screens, but I can't remember right now.

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by Karim

Once again I've run into a problem with a young central defender (23 years old) with outstanding attributes but 'Unconvincing' at a position. (I should have used screenshots.) I decided to put him on a custom schedule and train him as a central defender. It was a 'heavy' training program. I paid $10.75 million for him and now it looks like my third bust of this kind.

I've since abandoned his custom training program and put him on a medium level regime all my defenders use.

Just going from the most obvious: Has he had injuries? A form drop? Those will drop ratings, even if temporarily.

More over, have you double-checked your coaching situations? It seems to be the generally accepted convention that coaches should not be assigned to more than 2 things or they apparently lose effectiveness. Also, assuming I understand this correctly, if you keep the coaching workload down to light, it helps the coaches get players to develop faster. That's something else to keep an eye on.

Beyond that, I'd be wary of overly min-max'ing. From what I've seen, if I don't at least keep a training around 10, the ratings associated with those training seems to start to deteriorate.

[Chas in Cinti]

Originally Posted by daedalus

More over, have you double-checked your coaching situations? It seems to be the generally accepted convention that coaches should not be assigned to more than 2 things or they apparently lose effectiveness.

Slightly off-topic, but:

This isnt true in FM05? In that one, you assign them all to all.. yeah?

-Chas

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Chas in Cinti

Slightly off-topic, but:

This isnt true in FM05? In that one, you assign them all to all.. yeah?

-Chas

Even in FM05 I generally only assigned them to two coaching slots at most based on convential wisdom that they would lose focus. I'm not sure I ever heard from Marc or anyone if it really made a difference though.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Karim

Once again I've run into a problem with a young central defender (23 years old) with outstanding attributes but 'Unconvincing' at a position. (I should have used screenshots.) I decided to put him on a custom schedule and train him as a central defender. It was a 'heavy' training program. I paid $10.75 million for him and now it looks like my third bust of this kind.

I had a similar problem with a player who was listed as Unconvincing as CD and no other position rating, though he was neither as good nor as old as your guy. Made him available for loan, he went off to a lower division team for a full season as a 20 year old, and when he came back he was a fully fledged central defender (the rank below natural, accomplished I think?). A full season starting as a centerback in competitive (ie, not reserve team) football and he'd found his feet.

Worth a try, maybe?

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Off the top of my head, I know one of the places you can set a new position for a player. When you have a player's information screen open, click Training->Overview, and you will get a coach's assessment of the player as well as a setting for positional training.

As a caveat to this, check back periodically to (a) see what progress he's making, and (b) to be sure he's not "unhappy about having to learn a new position."

[Marc Vaughan]

Even in FM05 I generally only assigned them to two coaching slots at most based on convential wisdom that they would lose focus. I'm not sure I ever heard from Marc or anyone if it really made a difference though.

It makes a difference - there are some areas which are more suited to small units of players than others though (ie. high coach to player ratio), for instance technical skills require more coach interaction and one-on-one than fitness training which most coaches can cope with larger amounts of players at once doing ...

(on top of this bear in mind also the coaches personalities and preferences - don't put that coach with 1 working with yougsters onto the youth team for instance as he probably has no patience with 'kids')

[Marc Vaughan]

PS> Beware of hugely over-training players, especially youngsters as it can seriously hurt their development and in worst cases make then injury prone as they break down from overwork ...

[st.cronin]

My second year in the Irish First Division, Galway United places first and wins promotion to the Irish Premier Division. I have a nice mix of youngsters (19 year old goalie Lee Crockett, 29 year old winger Jimmy Gleeson) and vets (30 something Adrian Carberry, with an odd mix of skills - he has played centre back, fullback, winger, and striker, and a 35 year old Polish centre back Marcin Szmsrfddli).

woot

[Karim]

Originally Posted by path12

What position was he originally? By that, I mean what position is he 'natural' or 'accomplished' at?

None. He's only 'Unconvincing' at DC. Hence, the wish to train him at DC.

[Karim]

Originally Posted by Critch

I had a similar problem with a player who was listed as Unconvincing as CD and no other position rating, though he was neither as good nor as old as your guy. Made him available for loan, he went off to a lower division team for a full season as a 20 year old, and when he came back he was a fully fledged central defender (the rank below natural, accomplished I think?). A full season starting as a centerback in competitive (ie, not reserve team) football and he'd found his feet.

Worth a try, maybe?

That's a good idea. Thanks.

[path12]

Originally Posted by Karim

None. He's only 'Unconvincing' at DC. Hence, the wish to train him at DC.

Interesting. I don't know that I've seen that before.

As for the discussion about training, I never have my workloads set to heavy. Just under it, yes, but never actually to heavy, and I tend to drop down to midrange overall for my main squad once the season kicks into high gear.

My own personal must about training is that I always have ball control and tactics into the high range for everyone except goalkeepers. Works for me.

[Shepp]

Originally Posted by Shepp

I have a 20 year old left winger on my Southend United team that has a slight concern of: "Feeling the pressure of public expectation".

Does this mean that he just needs to be left off the first team for a while? Or does he need to be given more positive comments in the meadia, team talks, etc.?

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

This means the fans are starting to see him as the 'great hope' for the team and expecting a lot of him - young players sometimes find this sort of pressure hard to handle (understandable really ) and it can cause them to struggle with their form or in more troublesome personalities express their stress through missing training etc.

But what is a good way to address this concern? Should I give him a break from the first team for a while? Or does he just need nurtured along with positive media comments and such?

[Marc Vaughan]

But what is a good way to address this concern? Should I give him a break from the first team for a while? Or does he just need nurtured along with positive media comments and such?

Whatever you do DONT build him up to the media that'll just put more pressure upon him and encourage the media to keep paying him attention.

Try and play down any media attention to him where possible and consider resting him from any marginal games you have to demonstrate to him (and others) that he's not the be all and end all to the club and that his teammates can cope without him ...

[Flasch186]

marc:

i had a player last season request to go on the transfer list, which I obliged...then the next season he had second thoughts and wanted to be taken off, which I also obliged. The very next week he decided he needed to move to a bigger club and requested to be transferred. What happened?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

marc:

i had a player last season request to go on the transfer list, which I obliged...then the next season he had second thoughts and wanted to be taken off, which I also obliged. The very next week he decided he needed to move to a bigger club and requested to be transferred. What happened?

Well, at first, he couldn't stand BF, but then he met GF and thought she was nice but then 3R got in the picture and that was just too much for him hence that latest transfer request...

Ping: flere-imsaho for a diagram

FM

[Marc Vaughan]

i had a player last season request to go on the transfer list, which I obliged...then the next season he had second thoughts and wanted to be taken off, which I also obliged. The very next week he decided he needed to move to a bigger club and requested to be transferred. What happened?

Sounds like a player with a hot temper and a bit of an ego who 'feels' he should be at a bigger club ....

After a while it sounds like his ego was hurt at him being listed and him not going anywhere so he decided to stick around .... then for some reason (could be as simple as him performing well and getting man of match and thus raising his profile in his eyes) he's decided he deserves moving on again.

IRL you do get some players like this who torment their clubs but are good enough to put up with, Danny Cullip when he was at Brighton was always requesting to be listed and refusing to sign new contracts etc. .... eventually he did move onto another club (where he bombed ) but only after we'd put up with things for around 3 years, he was our captain at the time incidentally

[Neon_Chaos]

Jesus. My team just self-destructed. And I think I caused it.

We were on a 12-game unbeaten streak, 2nd in the Championship.

Then we lose horribly... 1-4 to the #1 team. And I tear apart a new asshole into my players at Full Time.

And then... BOOM. Morale just plummeted, we're on an 8-game LOSING STREAK. And 6 players on my team have been suspended during that period... each for practically ASSAULTING THE OPPOSING TEAM with fists and elbows and what not. I'm throwing fines all around... JESUS H. CHRIST.... my team is crumbling before my very eyes.







damn. I love this game.