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Distribution of staff - unbalanced?


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I find some of the club staff lists at the start of the game (9.3) quite odd. I admit that I haven't played FM09 a great deal, as I have a long-running game in FM07 where this issue is not so evident.

To give just some examples:

[AM = Assistant, C = General Coach, Y = Youth Coach, F = Fitness Coach, GK = Goalkeeping Coach]

Darlington - AM, GK, Y x2

Bradford - AM, C, GK, Y x5

Rushden - AM, C, GK, Y x3

Mansfield - Y x3, F x1

Oxford - AM, Y x2, GK

Altrincham - AM, Y x3

These are just a handful of examples, yet in many cases these sides will have just one or two people to coach a senior squad of 20+ in the majority of coaching areas, while there are multiple staff to handle a quite small youth squad, which will generally produce very few players of senior calibre.

I don't know how other people distribute their staff, but I very rarely go with staff in specialised positions, preferring the flexibility of a general coach who can be used wherever their skills are suited.

While the database may well reflect their real-life roles, I wonder if it does not cause problems in a game balance perspective. It is particularly difficult when playing as a smaller side, as you have a tight staff limit (sometimes lower than your actual staff level), and don't have the finances to fire them to clear up room.

The situation in Brazil is particularly problematic, with sides having upwards of eight physios (does this number provide any advantage whatsoever?) and, in Sao Paulo's case, four goalkeeping coaches.

Firstly, has anyone found that youth coaching is so valuable at lower levels that you would want to devote so many staff to them?

Secondly, is it perhaps better to fudge reality a little and have the game start with more balanced club staffing?

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A few more examples:

Cardiff - AM, C, GK, F, Y x6

Charlton - AM, C, GK x3, Y

Plymouth - AM, C, GK, Y x5

Chievo - AM, GK, Y x2, Physio x7

Reggina - AM, F, Y x7

Poor Reggina, with one coach to cover two coaching areas for the senior squad and one to cover all the rest, while they could have an individual coach for every area in their youth squad. As for Chievo, would seven physios really be an advantage - enough to mitigate having a single person to cover all but goalkeeping?

The bigger teams tend to have at least three people to coach the senior side, but there is still a big focus on the youth squad. Perhaps it's just the way I play, but I would not find that useful at all.

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A few more examples:

Cardiff - AM, C, GK, F, Y x6

Charlton - AM, C, GK x3, Y

Plymouth - AM, C, GK, Y x5

Chievo - AM, GK, Y x2, Physio x7

Reggina - AM, F, Y x7

Poor Reggina, with one coach to cover two coaching areas for the senior squad and one to cover all the rest, while they could have an individual coach for every area in their youth squad. As for Chievo, would seven physios really be an advantage - enough to mitigate having a single person to cover all but goalkeeping?

The bigger teams tend to have at least three people to coach the senior side, but there is still a big focus on the youth squad. Perhaps it's just the way I play, but I would not find that useful at all.

I've noticed this with some of the bigger clubs in Serie A. There are tons of physios and tons of youth team coaches, but very few coaches that are eligible to work with the first team.

Now, for big clubs like Juve, Inter, Milan, etc., they have a ridiculous number of scouts, coaches, etc. IRL. I posted a list from the Juve official supporters site and the numbers were mind boggling. Now, the game doesn't need to fully support that sort of staff, but a more even distribution would be better.

Personally, I also think that the game lacks the ability to simulate the informal scouting networks that exist for big clubs in the main football playing regions of the world. Ex-players such as Sivori or Leonardo have brought young players to the attention of their old clubs. I'm sure if Ranieri or Mourinho wanted a scouting report on any player in South America, it would be on their desk by the next morning, without having to send a scout. JMHO...

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After reading this, I took look around at the teams in the Premier League and was kinda suprised at what I found:

Arsenal - AM, 3C, GK, F, 4Y, 4 Physios , 13 scouts

Chelsea - AM, 2C, GK, 7Y, 7 Physios, 15 scouts

Liverpool - AM, 5C, GK, 3F, 3Y, 4 Physios, 7 scouts

Man Utd - AM, 3C, 2GK, 3F, 7Y, 8 Physios, 14 scouts

Man City - AM, 2C, 2GK, F, 5Y, 5 Physios, 7 scouts

Everton - AM, 3C, GK, 2F, 8Y, 6 Physios, 2 scouts

It does seem interesting to see how the staffs are on the teams. Most times when I start a save, the first thing I usually end replacing the scouts and the physios. With my last Man Utd save, I ended up terminating all my physios and almost all of the scouts. I guess its hard to rate the staffs of the teams but I thought the better reputation teams would have the better staffs.

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Those sorts of staff distributions are reasonably realistic, inasmuch as the coaching staffs of most clubs seem to be based on long-term relationships rather than the sort of wheeling and dealing you can do in FM with the attributes laid out in front of you.

The one thing I wonder, and have been asking in another thread to a deafening silence, is whether the AI knows something we don't, namely whether the presence of specifically contracted youth coaches affects the number and quality of regens; I ask this because, after many years doing what you have and going for all general coaches, all the while having top Premiership clubs with top training facilities producing four crappy regens a year, I figure something must be up...

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Which again makes you wonder why there are so many youth coaches at lower league sides, when their youth squad will be producing players of minimal potential. Far better to focus on training senior players, including those you pick up with decent potential yourself.

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