* Chairman & Manager Relationships *

Well the title basically expresses the point i'am trying to get across.

There is no getting away from the fact that it can prove very important for a manager and chairman to have a good relationship. As the football manager series are meant to simulate a real-life football management situation, you would have thought that SI would have included a feature where by a chairman and manager have constant interaction?

And iam disapointed to say that SI have failed to incorporate this into the game. The only feature that comes close is requesting for more money, improve facilities etc (also perhaps board confidence) ... I'am hoping SI will include a new feature where by they can have more interaction on a daily/weekly basis.

I will give some very good examples of real-life happenings that have occured over the past few years:

1. Rafael benitez and Tom Hicks/George Gillte - Lets face it, they have a poor relationship and this has been proven by the fact that they can'not bear to talk to each other and the chairman(s) refuse to spend big in the transfer market and Benitez has declared on numerous occasions that liverpool need Good investment to fulfill there ambitions.

2. Kevin Keegan and Mike Ashley - As a sunderland fan i find this highly amusing, but the fact that Ashley made desicions behind Keegan's back and ran the club how HE and ONLY HE thought that it would be sucessful proved that he knows next to nothing about running a football club.

3. Jose Mourinho - Roman Abramovic - Now this is an interesting one because it is believed that the two did'nt get on basically because they did'nt see eye to eye. This proved costly in the end as Mourinho left and chelsea havn't won a league title since his departure.

I suppose you are starting to see the point i'am trying to get across now, and i hope SI will somehow add a new feature where by the manager-chairman have more interaction between each other

Think its a good idea

Contrasted by Moyes and O'Neill doing well with the chairmen of Everton and Villa, respectively. And I suppose you could lump Wenger & Arsenal in there too.

Gareth Southgate and the Boro Chairman. Would love to see managers not losing their job upon relegation. Loyalty is just one of the aspects which can be introduced to add to the ones SAFC pointed out.

Maybe when you get your monthly training reports, you could also attend a monthly obligatory board-room meeting outlining, in detail, how they feel about certain results/signings and a representative of the fans to keep in touch with how the fans feel the club is doing?

Like, for example. Going off my FM08 data, the Rushden board could call me into a monthly meeting and comment on certain things that happened during the month:

"Congratulations on reaching the final of the Johnson's Paint Trophy. <chairman's_name> feels that this is a fantastic achievement for our club as we only expected the club to enjoy the experience of the Johnson's Paint Trophy"

"We are pleased to see that you won 3-2 against the 3rd placed team, Crewe Alexandra. We are especially pleased with the amount of attacking threat the club had during the match."

"We are still disappointed with your control of the wage bill, although are pleased to see that you're taking measures to reduce it by selling <player_name>."

Things that are relevant for the month, and you could have the possibility to react to each comment and, depending on your reaction, you could increase/decrease the harmony between yourself and the board which might directly affect how much funding they are willing to give you.

Using this as an example::

"We are still disappointed with your control of the wage bill, although are pleased to see that you're taking measures to reduce it by selling <player_name>."

Reaction:

"I still need to sign some newer players, maybe increasing the wage budget would mean i'm in control of it a little more?" - Negative atmosphere with your board

"Ok, i'll take it on board" - No change

"I have plans to sell/release a few players who are nearing the end of their contracts so the wage budget will soon be back under control." - Positive atmosphere with the board.

Obviously these are just general outlines, but you get the idea. Thoughts/opinions?

Definatly, I was thinking this earlier. It would also be good if you could ask the chairman to give you more money for a specific player.

The only problem that i can see is that the interaction will get just as dull as the press conferences after a few months, i.e. there comes a point when you dont need to read the question or comments, you just know what answers will be positive and which will be negative.

Great idea. So far we've really only had the chairman interfering in transfers. It would be good to have more in-depth interaction. I've just been taken over and I noticed using FMRTE that the new chairman has far higher attributes in interference and lower in patience. Yikes! That should perhaps be more obvious in the game through his messages.

Yeah, would be handy to ba able to "talk" to them, for instance say i want a player who has just become transfer listed, my balance is fine but my transfer budget is lower than what i need. I could then ask the board for a top up for x player rather than a general, we have yet to see a return yada yada!

I think SI have just scratched the surface though, as the longer you spend with a club you get privilages like choosing your own feeder teams etc so the thinking from SI is there IMO.

add propose to chairman for more funds to get xx (player) would be a good one.

The only problem that i can see is that the interaction will get just as dull as the press conferences after a few months, i.e. there comes a point when you dont need to read the question or comments, you just know what answers will be positive and which will be negative.

But it would be different from press-conferences in a way that these interactions take place only for specific reasons/events e.g. when you need extra transfer/salary funds to sign a particular player or when you're under-pressure and ofcourse, when you've performed exceptionally well over a period of time. So, it won't be dull as the frequency of these interactions will be much lower.

Well the title basically expresses the point i'am trying to get across.

There is no getting away from the fact that it can prove very important for a manager and chairman to have a good relationship. As the football manager series are meant to simulate a real-life football management situation, you would have thought that SI would have included a feature where by a chairman and manager have constant interaction?

I dont think you need constant interaction with the chairman because if you had this I think it would become boring like the current press conference feature but I do think it has to be more constructive interaction. For example I know that I am not the worlds best manager so I am not surprised that I regularly get the message saying the board think I should be performing better. Instead of saying that I think it would be good if the chairman indicated in more detail where he and the board think I am failing as a manager.

Perhaps at the end of a season you could be invited to a board meeting where you could discuss things like your transfer targets for the coming season and who you should get rid of, how you think the current squad of players will do in the league\cup\champions league competitions and your wages bill if its seriously in the red.

3. Jose Mourinho - Roman Abramovic - Now this is an interesting one because it is believed that the two did'nt get on basically because they did'nt see eye to eye. This proved costly in the end as Mourinho left and chelsea havn't won a league title since his departure.

They got on fine before Shevchenkogate, and are on good terms now- Abramovic bought Mourinho a car iirc.

I agree with trekman - maybe have an end of season board meeting, or perhaps you could request to be present in their monthly meetings or something. Thus, you only attend if you have something to say.

Definitely, it's an amazing idea.

As long as its optional and doesnt effect your job security, why not.

I'd also like more say in what happens to my backroom staff when clubs aproach them. I know that if a coach gets approached by another club you can offer them a new contract and 9 times out of 10 they'll re-sign but this seems a bit of a cheat in the game to me. I think it would be better if the board consulted you by saying something like 'x has aproached us with a view to signing coach y and we would like to know if you want to keep this staff member'. You could then be presented with the option of a. Allowing you club to talk to the staff member in question or b. you could say that your really need this staff member so the approach gets refused.