Arrange Friendlies with top clubs

Im now starting a new BSP save, and I have some trouble to invite top premiership clubs for friendlies. In fact most teams reject my offer for friendlies even teams in the BSP. Is there any way to create friendly matches successfully without trying for so many times?

Im now starting a new BSP save, and I have some trouble to invite top premiership clubs for friendlies. In fact most teams reject my offer for friendlies even teams in the BSP. Is there any way to create friendly matches successfully without trying for so many times?

Try championship teams and low prem sides, maybe offer them some fee

Im on a really tight budget so offering them money is not a way to go. I tried for numerous championship teams, and all of them rejected me. So far only Fulham accepted my offer.

offer championship sides a small fee and they will agree. They will still provide you with some good money

They usually accept when you offer to play at their ground.

But I want gate receipts so I want to play at home

But I want gate receipts so I want to play at home

The only thing I can suggest is putting friendly game clauses into contract when you sell players tbh.

The only thing I can suggest is putting friendly game clauses into contract when you sell players tbh.

Exactly, thats what i do

I've put friendly game clauses into contracts in the past, but when I approach the team to set up a friendly they still reject me.

As for getting Prem teams to your place, make sure you check their fixtures first as they may be in the middle of an international tour on the date you are asking. You will also have to offer them some fees, usually you will get an "expected income generated from this fixture", so just make sure it is smaller than that to ensure you get some gate receipts.

How much should I offer?

I remember playing FM2008 as Dundee manager and I was able to get the likes of Blackburn, Bolton, A. Villa and some european teams like Feyenoord and Utrecht to come to my stadium regularly not just at pre-season which did wonders for my finances. This seems to have changed for FM2009 as its nearly impossible to get a reasonable standard team to play me.

It is so hard to get top teams for frienlies, it is ruining the fun for me right now before the season has actually started.

I find the process of arranging friendlies really cumbersome and in need of a bit of attention. I'm quite particular about the standard of teams I want to play and when. Say i want to play a Championship team on date X, it can be a real pain hunting through a whole raft of teams in the championship looking for a team that is available. Would it not be possible to select a date and then ask for a list of teams that are available to play on that day, even making it possible to filter by league/division/standard/etc? Would make things a lot quicker in my opinion.

How much should I offer?

Usually i go for about 40-50% of the expected income for the match, they almost all accept unless they already have lots of friendlies.

you could try praisng their managers and becoming friends, or "feels the 2 of you could become friends" as the game says. Be more likely to accept if you are friends

It is so hard to get top teams for frienlies, it is ruining the fun for me right now before the season has actually started.

You can't expect top tier teams to rock up to a non league football club to profit off them. Unless you have a parent / feeder relationship (Which is allowed in game but is illegal in the Home Nations and Germany so go figure), are close geographically or on good terms with the manager it's difficult. Mimics real life I guess.

Lets have a little look at some of the friendlies some of the BSP teams have lined up:

Oxford Utd:

Oxford City

Morton

QPR

Brackley

Peterborough

Aston Villa XI

AFC Wimbledon:

Wycombe Wanderers

Isle of Man

Ramsey

Brighton & Hove Albion

Football Club United of Manchester

Fulham XI

Farnborough Town

Luton Town:

St Neotts Town

Bideford

Wycombe Wanderers

Swindon Town

Hitchin Town

Leyton Orient

Spalding Utd

Man Utd XI

Biggleswade Town

Atherstone Town

Hampton and Richmond Borough

Hardly a Who's Who of the EPL, and where they do play Premier League teams it's an XI, which is normally kids and 2nd/3rd teamers.

Lets have a little look at some of the friendlies some of the BSP teams have lined up:

And then you have Shamrock Rovers (admittedly not BSP, but still a smallish side), who recently hosted a friendly against Newcastle United, and in the coming weeks will be hosting Real Madrid and Hibernian in their 4000-seater stadium.

They also were set to host Sunderland in Aug 2008, but it had to be postponed due to rain, and it doesn't seem to have been played in the end, according to their official site's fixture list.

Then we have the likes of Sheffield FC 4 leauges Bellow the BSP. They have hosted FERENCVÁROS (most successful Hungarian Side), Sheffield United, and Hutnik Krakow of Poland.

In recent years they have played friendlies against teams like Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday, Chesterfield, Rangers, Blackburn, Doncaster, Inter Milan, Ajax and Manchester United. It should be possible for smaller teams to get big name clubs. But I guess there would need to be a prior relationship to work...

When i was Leeds, i was able to get 400/500k from games such as Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal. That was with NO fee to them.

The only two teams who rejected me were Chelsea and Villa.

The largest club i know which will always accept a friendly for no fee is 1860 Munchen.

It should be hard you moaners!

Try going for local clubs - closer = more likely to agree.

The largest club i know which will always accept a friendly for no fee is 1860 Munchen.

yep they accept it any time and give alot in gate reciepts

I find the process of arranging friendlies really cumbersome and in need of a bit of attention. I'm quite particular about the standard of teams I want to play and when. Say i want to play a Championship team on date X, it can be a real pain hunting through a whole raft of teams in the championship looking for a team that is available. Would it not be possible to select a date and then ask for a list of teams that are available to play on that day, even making it possible to filter by league/division/standard/etc? Would make things a lot quicker in my opinion.

This has been suggested a number of times... because it's such a good suggestion and is worth mentioning again. I like to schedule my own, too, but don't recall ever being contacted about a friendly with an incoming fee. I generally play as a mid- league caliber club.

I always add an "arrange friendly" clause to transfers. One never knows who might be buying and if that can pad one's bank account in addition to a transfer fee. I don't know if you can do it in FM09, but in FM08 you can select multiple friendlies versus a team that "owes" you one... multiple fees... clever little exploit.

And then you have Shamrock Rovers (admittedly not BSP, but still a smallish side), who recently hosted a friendly against Newcastle United, and in the coming weeks will be hosting Real Madrid and Hibernian in their 4000-seater stadium.

They also were set to host Sunderland in Aug 2008, but it had to be postponed due to rain, and it doesn't seem to have been played in the end, according to their official site's fixture list.

Hey, were a massive club

Hey, were a massive club

I meant smallish on a world scale. I meant no offense of course. The league is larger than BSP, but my point was that the club is nowhere near as big as some of those they were able to attract to home friendlies.

I'm in BSS and I just got freindlies against QPR and Norwich at home with no fee involved

To give yourself a better chance you need to try to arrange the friendlies as early as possible, before the big clubs have arranged their pre-season fixtures.

When I play with BSP teams I make friendly tournaments and invite Danish clubs predominantly Viborg, Velje and Horsens and I get some cash for it. Otherwise it is wise to invite teams that are actually fierce rivals among them selves as that will draw more attendance. When I play on L1 level or the championship then I invite Celtic, Rangers plus some other team like say... Saint Etienne or I invite the three big Turkish teams Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahche which also gives good cash

Im now starting a new BSP save, and I have some trouble to invite top premiership clubs for friendlies. In fact most teams reject my offer for friendlies even teams in the BSP. Is there any way to create friendly matches successfully without trying for so many times?

your reputation is too low i think, so try non league sides and after a season you'll see if you do well enough bigger clubs will accept your proposal,

or just let the assmen take care of friendly's and hopefuly he will get some good sides to match your strenght with

Otherwise it is wise to invite teams that are actually fierce rivals among them selves as that will draw more attendance.

well it could backfire easily if you don't win the supporters will be pritty mad i'm sure

well it could backfire easily if you don't win the supporters will be pritty mad i'm sure

No, i did not meant inviting teams that are fierce rivals to the team you are managing but teams that are fierce rivals to each other but not to you

No, i did not meant inviting teams that are fierce rivals to the team you are managing but teams that are fierce rivals to each other but not to you

now that's a twist, you mean create a tournament?

interesthing idea, if it works then just call in two big clubs you'll lose the semis and they play out the final, all ticket money to you

now that's a good financial advise RonnySanchez

Try a big European club, somewhat washed up in recent years... pretty near the start of the alphabet

Try a big European club, somewhat washed up in recent years... pretty near the start of the alphabet

Accrington Stanley?

Think German-er

1860 munchen

1860 munchen

Always accept friendlies at BSN/S teams for some weird reason. Great way to get a cash boost at the start of each season. Course, making multiple friendlies with them would probably be considered an exploit, but once per year is fine in my book.

I agree with some of the above posts that the whole friendly system is VERY overdue a revamp. IMHO we need the following:

(1) Real pre-season behaviour and tournies, such as Ajax etc.

(2) My assman, no matter how good he is, always arranges away friendlies, with no fee, in some god-aawful european backwater, so he gets turned off for that, and I do it myself.

(3) the whole system needs to be quicker (NOTE NOT EASIER) to set your pre-season up. You should be able to ask your assman to compile a list of teams / dates that are LIKELY to be possibles.

I agree that small teams VERY RARELY get to play pre-season against big prem opposition. The only time I've seen it is with my local team, Cambridge Utd. They are always playing Tottenham - the nearest prem team, geographically speaking. BUT, as noted above, the team the play isn't their full first XI - there are normally only a couple of players' names that you can recognise. They tend to play those first-teamers who were injured the previous season, maybe along with a couple of new signings. The rest are reserve / youth teamers.

I also agree that reputation - both yours AND the club's matters. If you are a high profile manager at a lower profile club you can sometimes get them to agree because of who you are.

As for the "manager mates" thing, I find the whole process a little silly. A few bum-kissing comments in the media DOES NOT make mates. I also think that chairmen's close links should be added into the game, e.g. the Wigan chairman and Fergie - IMHO it should be modelled in the game, and could be used to calculate the chances of friendly invites being accepted.

I've been having trouble assigning friendlies with MLS teams as Barcelona and vice versa. I have the Houston Dynamo as a Commercial Feeder club and I can't get friendlies with them. I also cannot seem to transfer players to them as well.

You cannot send players on loan to a Commercial Feeder Club.

It should be easy arranging a friendly during the summer though. They always accept.

Do you have the MLS league loaded?

ha i've got my part-timers blyth spartans into the BSP and managed to hold a friendly tournament with rangers, althletico madrid and benfica. the gate receipts and tv money helped out no ends! a coupple of k was paid to each team but i think i made about 400k profit in total.

Then we have the likes of Sheffield FC 4 leauges Bellow the BSP. They have hosted FERENCVÁROS (most successful Hungarian Side), Sheffield United, and Hutnik Krakow of Poland.

In recent years they have played friendlies against teams like Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday, Chesterfield, Rangers, Blackburn, Doncaster, Inter Milan, Ajax and Manchester United. It should be possible for smaller teams to get big name clubs. But I guess there would need to be a prior relationship to work...

They're also the oldest football club still in existence today, so they have a bit of novelty and history behind them though.

You cannot send players on loan to a Commercial Feeder Club.

It should be easy arranging a friendly during the summer though. They always accept.

Do you have the MLS league loaded?

I have the MLS league loaded and they never accept. I'm playing as Barcelona too. I have a CFC with Houston and I've brought several of their players onto my team and send them back home after a year. MLS is starting to contend now that I've been training players at FCB.