Squad Harmony.

I must have missed it when the game was first released, but it has recently been pointed out to me that there is a new part of the confidence screen called Squad Harmony.

Now I am guessing that it is simply an indication of how well the squad get on with eachother.

Harmony. Agreement in feeling or opinion

Now this sounds great.

My only problem is that mine is currently at 0% (zero).

I am guessing that should suggest that lots of my players don't get on with eachother and many of them are unhappy and want to leave the club.

The problem is that this simply isn't the case.

I have a total of 37 players spread between my Senior and Reserve squads.

9/37 have superb morale.

5/37 have very good morale.

10/37 have good morale.

6/37 have good morale.

7 have poor morale, (4 of whom are injured).

It'e certainly not an issue with the performance of the team.

2010/11. Lost in Playoffs in Conference South.

2011/12. 6th in Conference South.

2012/13. 8th in Conference North.

2013/14. Lost in Playoffs in Conference North.

2014/15. Lost in Playoffs in Conference South.

2015/16. Champions of Conference South.

2016/17. Currently 5th in Conference National, (with 2 games in hand).

Just so there is no mistake, that is a significant overachievement in terms of the board expectations.

4 players are transfer listed by request, (if I had any offer at all for them I would accept it).

Now many players, probably about half the squad are "dismayed by the lack of harmony at the club", but there doesn't seem to be an underlying reason for it.

It seems that the harmony is causing many of the players to have a slight concern "Dismayed by the lack of harmony at the club", and that in turn causes a further lack of harmony at the club.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no reason for the initial lack of harmony at the club.

There are no players who dislike eachother.

No players are having personal problems.

I am not overly harsh on the players in terms of either finining or post match team-talks.

Contracts are not an issue either.

So what exactly is the route of the problem?:confused:

It will be those 4 players who are transfer listed by request.

This problem occurs when some of your players are unhappy for whatever reason and that is probably those four players. Basically there unhappiness is effecting the whole squad.

I have N'Koulou in my team mate. Scored 13 goals in his first season and was immense at CB.

2nd season with me he was wanted by BIG clubs and this unsettled him hugely.

The board are constantly 'monitoring' the harmony amongst the squad.

He finished with an avg rating under 7.00. I now need to sell him to restore things.

Thay have only been transfer listed since the Jan transfer window closed, (we're in April).

There was nobody transfer listed by request before that, but the "dismayed by the lack of harmony at the club" has been in existance for about 2-3 seasons now.:confused:

I assume they were unhappy before that though?

I would check your whole squad (reserves and youth, too) and make sure no one else is unhappy. It's always been solved for me after I've fixed these problems.

Nobody is classed as "unhappy".

Many just have "dismayed by the lack of harmony at the club" as a slight concern.

This seems to be a result of the 0% harmony rating rather that the other way around.

The 4 transfer listed are unhappy, surely? And surely, they were unhappy before too, otherwise, why have they asked for a transfer?

When I say unhappy, I mean that they have concerns, whether that be lack of first team football, they want to move on or them not liking somebody. That's the sort of thing that I've found contributes to this problem.

I suppose you're right.

Fringe players wanting to leave because they are not up to the standard of a succesful club, (that has moved up a division), and not getting 1st team football making the whole club unhappy to this extent seems a little wrong.

It just doesn't seem to be balanced right to me.

I never usually have a problem but with my current club its much lower than I'm used to even though we are doing well.

I think at least part of the problem is personality.

On the information screen you have a "Squad personality" which I presume is the dominating "group" within the squad - Mine is currently "Very Determined"

However I'm trying to to make the squad more professional as well as determined by bringing in more professional players.

On your coach report screen there is a section for personality and the professional players are listed as "Having to Adapt" while the determined ones are listed as "Similar attitude" or "Fits in well"

At the moment I have nearly 50% of my squad as "Having to adapt to fit in" but if I carry on bringing in professional players I'm hoping they become the majority and my squad personality will alter to reflect this. Once that changes I think I'll see an increase in squad harmony.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not moaning that it's affecting results.

It just doesn't seem proportional to any of the issues in the squad.

We have just gone unbeaten in our last 14 .

We have just won promotion for the 2nd year in succession.

We haven't conceded a goal in 450 minutes.

We have only conceded 4 goals in the last 14 games.

Now despite all that the squad harmony is on 0%, (in fact I have just checked and it has now risen to 15%).

And all this because 4 out of a total of 52 players at the club had requested to go on the transfer list.

It still just doesn't seem right.:confused:

My squad description is "fairly professional" by the way.

And while I'm at it, if you can select 5 subs all the way through the season in Conference National, and you can select 5 subs in the Conference National Playoff Final, why can you only select 3 subs in each leg of the Playoff Semi?:confused:

My squad description is "fairly professional" by the way.

But what do the individual coach reports say for each player?

How many have to adapt?

Out of interest (though it can be relevant), have you bought in many new players recently?

My squad harmony has always plummeted when I've gone on holiday.

I think it needs more careful management of your players. Make sure that all players KNOW their roles, don't have anyone on first teamer who isn't going to be, for example. Listen to your assistant when he warns you of players being unhappy - keep an eye on all players who have any even slight concerns. Be quick to deal with these issues, always respond to players etc and this problem shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Out of interest (though it can be relevant), have you bought in many new players recently?

I have just finished the 2016/17 season.

I signed 1 player in the January transfer window, (but also signed a total of 4 players on loan since November).

I signed 8 players in the Summer, (but that's not that many when you consider that we have just been promoted).

But what do the individual coach reports say for each player?

How many have to adapt?

There doesn't seem to be an overview for this, (if there is I can't find it), but hang on.

Balanced 6

Fairly ambitious 6

Fairly sporting 3

Fairly professional 2

Unambitious 2

Fairly determined 1

Professional 1

Resolute 1

Fairly loyal 1

Well this is the mix of senior squad at the moment.

I think it needs more careful management of your players. Make sure that all players KNOW their roles, don't have anyone on first teamer who isn't going to be, for example. Listen to your assistant when he warns you of players being unhappy - keep an eye on all players who have any even slight concerns. Be quick to deal with these issues, always respond to players etc and this problem shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Well I used to be pretty poor at that so have made an extra special effort. I play close attention to a players designated "status" at the club. I have very few first team players and many Rotation players as I have quite a big squad and tend to rotate them often throughout the season.

My Ass Man has not warned me of anyone being unhappy, (not since January anyway), can't remember before that).

My problem is that the "slight concerns" you talk about dealing with, are seemingly caused by the "squad harmony" being at 0% rather than the "squad harmony" being caused by something tangible that I can deal with.

The 4 players who are transfer listed by request are all leaving in the Summer so that should help, but I am not convinced that 4 fringe players are the cause of this anyway. I can see this continuing next season, (after 2 successive propmotions), even without players being transfer listed by request at the club.

Of course having jumped up 2 leagues now I will probably have more players that are surplus to requirements so maybe I will have to give that special atytention over the Summer.

There doesn't seem to be an overview for this, (if there is I can't find it), but hang on.

Balanced 6

Fairly ambitious 6

Fairly sporting 3

Fairly professional 2

Unambitious 2

Fairly determined 1

Professional 1

Resolute 1

Fairly loyal 1

Well this is the mix of senior squad at the moment.

You are right there isn't an overview, you need to look at the report for each individual player.

You also need the right type of coach and both player + coach need to have been at the club for a reasonable period of time (GK coach gives info for GKs, defensive coach for defenders/DMs, attacking coach for wingers/strikers).

You also need to look at your squad personality which is on the club information screens.

You are right there isn't an overview, you need to look at the report for each individual player.

You also need the right type of coach and both player + coach need to have been at the club for a reasonable period of time (GK coach gives info for GKs, defensive coach for defenders/DMs, attacking coach for wingers/strikers).

You also need to look at your squad personality which is on the club information screens.

Well the squad personality is classed as fairly professional.

I only have 1 Ass Man and 1 coach. Remember I have been managing a semi-pro team in Conference National.

I just don't think that a squad that has just won 2 successive promotions should be this unhappy because....... well I'm honestly not sure why they are unhappy. I suppose that's the point.

You are suggesting that it is because there are different types of p[ersonalities in the squad and Neji is suggesting stuff like individual player happiness, (which really isn't an issue except for 4 fringe players.

They are unhappy because there is disharmony. I believe there is disharmony because there are too many personality clashes.

I know its difficult at lower league clubs but you have an AM and a coach.

Although you follow what I've said I'm not sure if you fully understand so (Apologies if you already know this):

1) Squad personality - Fairly professional (This means a high level of hidden stat professionalism - at least 15)

2) Its difficult to tell with personalities but I would suspect none of your balanced or fairly ambitious players fall into this category which is most of your first team squad.

3) To confirm this we can look at the coach report but we need the right coach which isn't easy at lower levels but is part of employing the right coach for your club, its not all about skills.

4) On the coaches/AssMans profile screen it shows their "coaching style" - This can be GK, Defending, Attacking, General or Fitness. General is useless for what we want while fitness style coach seems to give the information for all players. A GK style gives the info for GKs, Defending style for defenders & DMs and attacking style for wingers & strikers.

5) So what is the coaching style of your AssMan & coach?

6) Then look at some of your players, particularly the fairly ambitious ones. Look at the coach report, use the drop down list top right to select who you want the report from.

7) The area you want is "Personality" 4th from top and you need to view the 2nd line of information which the correct coaching style will unlock for you.

It will say something like:

x believes you have a fairly professional squad and feels x is having to adapt to fit in

x believes you have a fairly professional squad and feels x fits in well

x believes you have a fairly professional squad and feels x is in a similar mould

I'm fairly certain a lot of your players will have the adapt comment above which is the root of your problem.

Although you follow what I've said I'm not sure if you fully understand so (Apologies if you already know this):

No not at all.

I am following what you are saying but it appears I don't understand at all.

1) Squad personality - Fairly professional (This means a high level of hidden stat professionalism - at least 15)

2) Its difficult to tell with personalities but I would suspect none of your balanced or fairly ambitious players fall into this category which is most of your first team squad.

1) Yeah I get that. Seems pretty straightforward.

2) You could be right, but the fact that my squad as a whole is described as "fairly professional" seems to suggest otherwise.

I don't really have a team with a few important stars. I have a deep squad with players that can come in easily from the Reserves. I just picked on the guys who were in the senior squad simply because they were in the senior squad. After an injury, a suspension or a couple of bad performances they might have been back in the Reserves.

3) To confirm this we can look at the coach report but we need the right coach which isn't easy at lower levels but is part of employing the right coach for your club, its not all about skills.

4) On the coaches/AssMans profile screen it shows their "coaching style" - This can be GK, Defending, Attacking, General or Fitness. General is useless for what we want while fitness style coach seems to give the information for all players. A GK style gives the info for GKs, Defending style for defenders & DMs and attacking style for wingers & strikers.

5) So what is the coaching style of your AssMan & coach?

3) Ok now we seem to be gettig somewhere. I am pretty clueless about this style of thing.

4) Yeah, well this is sort of how I assumed it always worked.

5) Ass Man has coaching style of Attacking. Unfortunately so does the coach.

6) Then look at some of your players, particularly the fairly ambitious ones. Look at the coach report, use the drop down list top right to select who you want the report from.

7) The area you want is "Personality" 4th from top and you need to view the 2nd line of information which the correct coaching style will unlock for you.

It will say something like:

x believes you have a fairly professional squad and feels x is having to adapt to fit in

x believes you have a fairly professional squad and feels x fits in well

x believes you have a fairly professional squad and feels x is in a similar mould

I'm fairly certain a lot of your players will have the adapt comment above which is the root of your problem.

ok lets have a look.

1. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Mordal fits in well with the rest of the squad.

2. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Mordal fits in well with the rest of the squad.

3. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Johnson is having to do some adapting to fit in.

4. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional group of players and Brathen is helping to improve the professionalism amongst the squad.

5. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional group of players and Truls is helping to improve the professionalism amongst the squad.

6. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Avery is having to do some adapting to fit in.

7. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Buckley fits in well with the rest of the squad.

8. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Thompson is having to do some adapting to fit in.

9. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional group of players and Sergeant is helping to improve the professionalism amongst the squad.

10. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Kris fits in well with the rest of the squad.

11. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Gildea fits in well with the rest of the squad.

12. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Briscoe(2010) fits in well with the rest of the squad.

13. Rory reckons you have a fairly professional squad and Griff is having to do some adapting to fit in.

So there are 6 players that I cannot view the info on, (I had never realised the significance of the coaching style before so thanks).

We have 6 players that "fit in well".

We have 4 players who have "some adapting to do".

We have 3 players that are "helping to improve the professionalism".

That seems quite a decent mix to me.

6 middle of the road, 3 extra professional players will balance the 4 less professional.

Or have I missed something else?:confused:

Hmmm much better than I thought it would be.

The big problem is I don't know how the squad personality is worked out.

Currently in my save I have 38 players in the first team/reserves (Prem club btw) of which 12 are having to adapt.

I presumed this was the reason my squad harmony was fairly low by my standards at around 50% but I've just looked now as I've started a new season and its jumped to 75% :confused: Maybe I'm on the wrong track after all?

In the off season I've made 6 new signings (Don't know if they fit in or not yet) and got rid of 3 (2 didn't fit in).

I also sold my club captain and therefore installed a new one who is better suited to the role - perhaps this has an effect?

Changing your captain will undoubtedly have had an affect.

Going back to Neji's thoughts regarding the four transfer listed players.

Do they have high influence stats?, what sort of personalities? & role within the team?

Maybe its a mix of the high influence players having the "wrong" personality.

Going back to Neji's thoughts regarding the four transfer listed players.

Do they have high influence stats?, what sort of personalities? & role within the team?

Maybe its a mix of the high influence players having the "wrong" personality.

Do they have high influence stats? 2, 5, 13, 7.

what sort of personalities? Ambitious, very ambitious, very ambitious & balanced.

what sort of role within the team? Rotation, rotation, not needed, backup.

So that doesn't seem to fit either.:confused:

Do a little experiment for me, get FMRTE. Make the unhappy players happy - put them back to 100% and take them off the transfer list. Make sure you do that for the ones who are unhappy for other reasons than squad harmony. Process a few days and see if they still have the problem.

Changing your captain will undoubtedly have had an affect.

This is probably quite important I agree.

the problem is that I like to have my captains as defenders, (or at least defensive minded midfielders), and as I only have 2 attacking coaches I am unable to see the personality comparisons of these players.

I hope to turn professional in the next hour or so so maybe then I will be able to appoint a defensive minded coach and then look at it again then.

Do a little experiment for me, get FMRTE. Make the unhappy players happy - put them back to 100% and take them off the transfer list. Make sure you do that for the ones who are unhappy for other reasons than squad harmony. Process a few days and see if they still have the problem.

Sorry Neji, I don't use stuff like FMRTE (I'm guessing it is some sort of editing tool). It's not going to happen I'm afraid.

I will post back when the players are gone and see what happens and also when I get a defensive coach.

Maybe all will become clear then.

Not even for a quick test? You don't have to save it, I just thought it would be the quickest why to find out.

Not even for a quick test? You don't have to save it, I just thought it would be the quickest why to find out.

My LLM blood would boil if I did something like that.

Lets see how things go after these guys leave.

Fair enough. You're just scared you'll get addicted

Fair enough. You're just scared you'll get addicted

Nah. More scared that I would do something wrong and corrupt my game. lol

I've had excellent squad harmony without interruption for 3 seasons, but just now it's plummeted to poor. Quite simply I'm having a clearout of fringe players/youth who haven't made the grade. They've all been offered for sale and are being snapped up. It hasn't affected first team performances, neither did it affect my negotiation of a new contract. I'm sure once the new season starts and they're all gone, squad harmony will be back to excellent.

I am interested to know if your 4 unhappy players leaving in the summer window has cured your squad harmony problem.

I am having exactly the same problem, but in the premiership and it is getting worse as the season progresses, like a little insidious virus spreading from player to player.

Every month a little "slt" will pop up on a new player and it is always concerned with the lack of club harmony, nothing has changed since last season apart from the addition of Rooney and Akinfeev who joined, I did make Rooney my Assistant team captain in favour of my old Goal keeper who has been dropped to the back up keeper position and sent out on loan.

I too have 4 fringe players who feel that are not appreciated because I have transfer listed them, so I am hoping that they are the root cause of the problem, I tend to go through seasons fairly slowly, so half a season is a long time for me.