8 years into the game, and it's bit of a mess!

I've finally managed to get a longer game going on 09, but i'm in 2016 and lots of things are in a bit of a mess.

There are a load of players who move between clubs for huge fees every year without playing 5 games per club. Rossi moved from Milan to Barca to Arsenal and back to Barca all within 2 seasons.

Another thing i've noticed is how alot of the big clubs just seem to rot. Chelsea have just signed Dexter Blackstock which says it all. Players like Lampard and Gerrard are far too good when they are 36 etc.

Anyone else notice anything wrong as they get deeper into the game?

Its shocking. Big clubs have far too many players over 30. FM 09 has major flaws and i do hope it gets fixed for FM10

The transfersystem is indeed very bad. Although its new the transfers AI clubs make dont make any sense. Clubs like Arsenal, Man U etc etc spend money on regens that arent worth a penny and dont buy youth or anything. The Dutch leagues are also a good example of weird transfers. In the 2 games ive had with 09 so far (2 very very long games) in 2016 Ajax was completly Brazilian, Mexican etc etc and only 2 dutchman who didnt even came out of the youth setup.

For 10 i think there should be a rating for clubs. A rating which decides how they respond on the transfermarket. Are they like Real Madrid and buy half of Europe with hard cash? Or more like Barca and Man U and buying young starlets en turn them in to World Class players. I think it could be done via a rating....

But the best improvement would be the massive amounts clubs pay for players who played less then 5 games.

There are a few problems, and they should be fairly easy to solve.

1) Regens are ALMOST all right only or left only (footed). This affects the rest of the stats and makes the overall player ratings unrealistic

2) The transfer system and computer team management needs work. Teams buy several star players in the same position that never get to play, overpay for old players (80mil euro for a 31 year old in my last save), and don't develop youth players properly (sell away great prospects for almost nothing after a few years etc.)

3) Players don't react realistically to play time vs the kind of contract they signed. An example; if you sign an old goaltender for 2 seasons and tell him he's a backup, he will still whine about not playing. Another example is the aforementioned problem with big clubs signing tons of players in the same position, and they seem relatively happy spending the rest of their careers playing 7 games a year, despite being among the world's best.

I don't think those problems are easy to solve, especially the second.

I hope there is a big focus on manager AI in FM10. It does happen too often that they don't replace older players, spend lots of money on players they never play.

I am in 2016, and am seeing some similar problems. some teams are too conservative about shaking up their squad, and I still see good quality players being bough and unused.

I must say however that the regens are much improved on fm 08. I see much more players with decent physical stats that suit their role, e.g quick defenders who can jump and are strong.

the predominance of one footed players is an issue.

Also an issue is the lack of top quality quality goalkeepers. You get some decent ones, but never world class. It is a fairly complicated position in terms of the number of areas that need to be good for a goaly to be awesome. I have never seen a regen goalie that is as good as one of the top goalies at the start of the game. ( i would suggest that they shoud perhaps use more of a template for what attributes a decent goaleeper will excell in)

Angel Di Maria has just joined Arsenal for 14 mil after playing for Barca 8 times and they signed him for 31 mil

I admit that the transfer system is a bit weird.

Something that I found very annoying is the behavior of non-active leagues or view-only leagues. For example, when the Belgian leagues are view-only, the won't have all full squads. As a result, they were buying all players from lower ranked Dutch clubs. It felt like they tried to fill their squad somehow but because there weren't a lot of Belgian players, they bought Dutchmen instead. As a result, the Dutch teams had to buy second ranked Brazilians, Argentines etc.

Nowadays I play the Dutch league with all players retained in Belgium, Germany and England (all dutch players speak the language of those countries). I'm not 8 years into the game but I have the feeling that there is a lot more balance in the Dutch player market.

I do hope it gets fixed for FM10

This should be FM's motto. At the bottom of the box on each subsequent release it should simply say:

"I do hope it's fixed for FM10/11/12/13 etc etc etc...."

I see this happening on my longer games as well - Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd all sink into mid-table mediocrity, Arsenal finished 15th in the last season I seem to remember. The exception, I generally find, are Liverpool - they seem to be the ones fighting me for singing the wonderkids and actually are managed pretty successfully (i.e they don't keep all players over 30 & never replace them).

Anyone else found the same thing?

i think this is the biggest dissapointment in Fm if you want to play long term, i think it needs alot of love and attention to get it working alot better..

Long terms games in FM09 are just flat out broken. End of.

Was the same, all be it for different reasons (well, some of the reasons were the same) in FM08.

FM07 was ok for long term games, although that had its major regen issues too. Struggling to remember the last FM game I got past 10 seasons in actually.

"Football Manager - This season's fantastic release has a whole host of new problems as well as some of the classic ones!"

I find that managers at the top level rarely get sacked. Fergie is 73 in my game and hasn't won the league since i started! Yet United won't sack him. Transfer market is bonkers. Andre Bikey got signed by Liverpool in my game.

This should be FM's motto. At the bottom of the box on each subsequent release it should simply say:

"I do hope it's fixed for FM10/11/12/13 etc etc etc...."

haha this made me lol!

This is exactly why I remember that FM is a game (and a very unrealistic one) and I don't get annoyed if something unrealistic happens. I just play the game as it is and if Chelsea sign Dexter Blackstock then I'll be more pleased than annoyed.

I find that managers at the top level rarely get sacked. Fergie is 73 in my game and hasn't won the league since i started! Yet United won't sack him. Transfer market is bonkers. Andre Bikey got signed by Liverpool in my game.

Andre Bikey is that good on his day. If it wasn't for his... issues (trying insanely long passes, using as much time as possible, going crazy) he could play for Liverpool in a few years. He has the raw ability, and FM can't replicate those things.

I see this happening on my longer games as well - Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd all sink into mid-table mediocrity, Arsenal finished 15th in the last season I seem to remember. The exception, I generally find, are Liverpool - they seem to be the ones fighting me for singing the wonderkids and actually are managed pretty successfully (i.e they don't keep all players over 30 & never replace them).

Anyone else found the same thing?

I noticed this on my save once. Took over at Man U (spit) and they were 19th in the EPL in 2014(ish) and still had Scholes and Neville at the club.

And yes Liverpool were on course to win their third title in a row.

to add to general transfer questions, why do Arsenal and Chelsea tend to buy an old and normally crap Goalkeeper as back-up in the first season?

to add to general transfer questions, why do Arsenal and Chelsea tend to buy an old and normally crap Goalkeeper as back-up in the first season?

AC Milan bought Julian Speroni as their FIRST choice keeper on my game!

To be fair, Arsenal do always buy Kinsky or some other Chinese keeper, and Chelsea always do buy Enyeama; but they are good goalkeepers to be fair, they're not crap, and they're good backup.

It's been a problem for a while to be fair. In 08 Man United were constantly buying David Jones and Giles Barnes-needs to be sorted...

FM08 Players didnt last long enough, regens had horrible physical stats (also free kicks and corners).

FM09 Players last too long, common to see current superstars playing aged 38. Regens are stupidly good.

right. So two (long term) game flaws on the opposite end of the same spectrum for two concurrent releases.

So maybe the next one will be balanced?

the trouble is with the transfer system that SI won't allow themselves the proper time to improve it because they listen to people that ask for trivial things such as boot colours in 3d matches & numerous other redundant features.

SI need to concentrate on the game they have, & actually improve the game instead of revolutionizing pieces of the game that need to be built upon & improved. the core elements of the game are no where near what SI are capable of. this "new" transfer-system is just as flawed as the previous version, just as the 2d match engine was (& is) still flawed when the 3d match engine was implemented.

the transfer system, AI management & the match engine are the 3 major things SI should concentrate on & until these things are conquered i don't see why it bothers players when trivial features aren't included.

I'm thinking the reason teams buy really good players and not play them is the same reason they try to buy 3rd GK (even when he's crap).

It looks like the AI likes to keep a certain number of players around for each position and are looking to get the best they can afford. They never get played because their CA isn't as good as the players who are already at the club.

I think the solution to the problem already exists within the game, but it needs a lot of attention and some creative thinking. Right now SI are placing a lot of emphasis on the ME, they won't be applying themselves to this problem. It's nowhere close to being a priority for them because it's not an issue you run into early on in a game.

Where are all the Keepers? Im into my 24th season with Man Utd (when i can be bothered to play), and there are NO decent regen Goalkeepers. None exist!! I have a keeper with a rating of 3 stars from my scouts (they are good scouts - high stats!) and i have possibly THE best keeper in the world. And he's cack!

I have scoured the world for decent keepers and the only half decent ones that are playing football as a career are over 35 (and they are cack also). This RUINS a long term game for me!!

I have to agree that long term playability is very poor in 09. I've tried several saves and have found that once you reach 2016/17 roughly, the games balance is beginning to get seriously out of kilter. I've managed to persevere in one save until 2025/26, but it had become almost laughable.

I think a solution to one problem could be to include in the training system, the ability to improve the weaker foot. I guess we are all born left or right sided and it's only natural that you need to train to improve your ability on the other side. That might help resolve the problems with regens being one footed and therefore unbalanced in their stats.

c'mon guys, read the back cover. its the most realistic game......

In my game 7 out of the 20 dutch top-league teams are bankrupt - I'm in 2021.

I have to agree that long term playability is very poor in 09. I've tried several saves and have found that once you reach 2016/17 roughly, the games balance is beginning to get seriously out of kilter. I've managed to persevere in one save until 2025/26, but it had become almost laughable.

I think a solution to one problem could be to include in the training system, the ability to improve the weaker foot. I guess we are all born left or right sided and it's only natural that you need to train to improve your ability on the other side. That might help resolve the problems with regens being one footed and therefore unbalanced in their stats.

Im into 2021 and my entire team is made of brilliant regens. How many leagues are you playing with??

The only longish term game I had on FM09 was 8 seasons in. By that time, Man U were battling relegation and Stuart Pearce was manager

Long terms games in FM09 are just flat out broken. End of.

Was the same, all be it for different reasons (well, some of the reasons were the same) in FM08.

FM07 was ok for long term games, although that had its major regen issues too. Struggling to remember the last FM game I got past 10 seasons in actually.

"Football Manager - This season's fantastic release has a whole host of new problems as well as some of the classic ones!"

Beyond poor physical attributes, FM 08 isn't that bad long-term. The upside is that every single team has players with rubbish physical attributes. The downside is that in your next game, they have a physical powerhouse up front against your brave but weak centre-backs...

I hope this tells everyone that regens weren't actually that bad in FM 07 (beyond some balances like not having god-like mental attributes on rubbish 16-year-old or physical attributes that basically meant that they would have double-digits in free kicks but nothing else) or FM 08 (beyond poor physical attributes).

Career games are very annoying with this problem i think the most you can play is 10 seasons before its unplayable because it just becomes rediculas with the terrible AI management system currently in place. But its like its a new problem its been an ever pressant problem for the last 3 games if i remember correctly.

Please SI fix it or you may face losing some of your fans to CM if what i've heard about there new game is correct

I see this happening on my longer games as well - Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd all sink into mid-table mediocrity, Arsenal finished 15th in the last season I seem to remember. The exception, I generally find, are Liverpool - they seem to be the ones fighting me for singing the wonderkids and actually are managed pretty successfully (i.e they don't keep all players over 30 & never replace them).

Anyone else found the same thing?

It's the complete opposite in my game. In the second season Liverpool finished 17th and for the next 10 seasons they finished in the bottom 5 but strangely didn't get relegated once. Even with Gerrard, Carra and Torres they still couldn't do better than 15. Quite weird really.

Im into 2021 and my entire team is made of brilliant regens. How many leagues are you playing with??

In the longest save (2025/6) I played with Portugal, England, France, Spain, Belguim, Netherlands and Scotland with all Leagues loaded. In an another save till about 2020/1, I played with Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and I think Serbia and Croatia ( not sure if it was one or both).

So, I have a fairly decent balance their I believe. But, don't get me wrong, there are some good regens, but I find that you'll have a dozen very good DMC's and DR's, but no good GK's or DL's . Also more and more teams continue to buy ridiculous players for ridiculous money! Which leads to the major problem, I feel, and that is it becomes too easy. Your "world class" opponents are not competitive.

Cheer up love, it might never happen !

Also an issue is the lack of top quality quality goalkeepers. You get some decent ones, but never world class. It is a fairly complicated position in terms of the number of areas that need to be good for a goaly to be awesome. I have never seen a regen goalie that is as good as one of the top goalies at the start of the game. ( i would suggest that they shoud perhaps use more of a template for what attributes a decent goaleeper will excell in)

i'm in the year 2015 on FM07 and there are 5 top class GK regens i can think of. only problems i have with that game is the amount of players who have low stats in off the ball and positioning, and almost all regens are one footed. other than that FM07 is very good for regens and long career saves

I don't think those problems are easy to solve, especially the second.

I hope there is a big focus on manager AI in FM10. It does happen too often that they don't replace older players, spend lots of money on players they never play.

If that was the only thing SI have worked on for FM10 and they got it to work i'd love it. It's the only major thing that bothers me tbh.

Yeah, Real Madrid has Kameni and Abbiati, and a promosing African as a goalkeeper...

...and Casillas is still their captain.

Im currently in 2020 with Wigan been with them from the start..I have noticed as others have said players moving about a lot when only playing for a few games. Another thing is that the top club do rot slowly they dont replace there good players with good players bring in average players. And I find they dont bring in the best regens either. The AI teams keep there players till there like 38 just not to get regens in. And someone mentioned Lampard and co are still amazing at 36 thats been same on my game

The transfer system/market will need adjusting a little for FM10

The thing I actually really dislike is how much the amount of players goes down by. At the start of the game, I usually have a database of 30000ish. In about 7 years, it's down to about 23000. 7000 players not replaced.

I don't really like how the regens come out either. In a way, their stats aren't "normal", in that if you look at Gerrard at his peak, and someone who has a similar CA and plays his position, their stats will be total different. Although this might be down to training etc.

Also it's hard to train regens properly (i.e. give them loads of play time so they improve) when your a top level side trying to win the division.

Sure someone will pick this post apart though

The thing I actually really dislike is how much the amount of players goes down by. At the start of the game, I usually have a database of 30000ish. In about 7 years, it's down to about 23000. 7000 players not replaced.

tbf, if it maintained the same amount of players as at the start of the game the players histories would slow the game down a lot

I don't really like how the regens come out either. In a way, their stats aren't "normal", in that if you look at Gerrard at his peak, and someone who has a similar CA and plays his position, their stats will be total different. Although this might be down to training etc.

I do agree with this, regens do seem to be unrealistically good. But if you think about it, as football IRL has gone on the players have also become better quality.

Also it's hard to train regens properly (i.e. give them loads of play time so they improve) when your a top level side trying to win the division.

It's hard for top teams to give their youth a chance and challenge for titles IRL. You don't see Man Utd putting out their 17/18 year olds out on the field every week. That's why the top teams pay top prices for ready made players who are near their potential.