Starting Unemployed

Just wondering how many people play FM08 by starting unemployed, rather than picking say their favourite team. In my mind it's the most realistic way to play and is often the more rewarding - it's really satisfying when you claw your way up and get that first big club job.

I started a new game the other day and wound up at a club called Umedalen if the Swedish 4th tier (strangely they have two 2nd divisions) and having saved them from relegation with only half a dozen games remaining the second season has started strongly thanks to a major overhaul in the playing staff. Things have gotten a little rough due to a host of injuries and the odd suspension with basically inadequate back-up players that are only still at the club because it would cost too much money to terminate their contracts. As a result the wage bill is a bit high (at a staggering £3,100!) and the clubs balances are slowly but surely dropping further into the red - meaning that a good cup run and/or promotion is needed really.

Surely it's not as fun taking over Man U from the start?

Just wondering how many people play FM08 by starting unemployed, rather than picking say their favourite team. In my mind it's the most realistic way to play and is often the more rewarding - it's really satisfying when you claw your way up and get that first big club job.

I started a new game the other day and wound up at a club called Umedalen if the Swedish 4th tier (strangely they have two 2nd divisions) and having saved them from relegation with only half a dozen games remaining the second season has started strongly thanks to a major overhaul in the playing staff. Things have gotten a little rough due to a host of injuries and the odd suspension with basically inadequate back-up players that are only still at the club because it would cost too much money to terminate their contracts. As a result the wage bill is a bit high (at a staggering £3,100!) and the clubs balances are slowly but surely dropping further into the red - meaning that a good cup run and/or promotion is needed really.

Surely it's not as fun taking over Man U from the start?

I've just started out with Stafford Rangers. Not easy so far. I was expected to avoid relegation and we're currently midtable, though my expectation is that we will get promoted. It's very rare that I don't get promoted first time with non-leaguers.

As for the fun factor. I think that the first season or two can be a real struggle and the lack of resources really frustrating. However, when you finally get to the point of having a bit of cash, even as little as £20000, the game opens up and is much more rewarding... and you stretch the money further.

On one game I got Lancaster to the third round of the FA cup and played Villa away. Needless to say we got tonked 5-0 but the gate receipts were something like £500000 which was a huge amount for Lancaster. Overall, it can be a really rewarding experience if you stick with it.

Yep. It's a good thing. I like to earn my stripes.

£20,000 would be a fortune for me! Where's the worst club you've taken over as? Mine was a Russian club called Spartak Ryazan (or something similar), where they were rock-bottom of the lowest division with only about a dozen games to go and were so bad that even when at home to second from bottom were given odds against of 33-1! Needless to say, despite a valiant effort thanks to some aging stars quickly brought in, the side still got relegated and I moved to some Chinese side. Subsequently I ended up moving to FC Dordrecht in Holland and eventually Real Madrid where I won the treble... I came a long way.

What I liked was I could see my 'languages' and was fluent in English (just), Russian, Chinese, Dutch, Spanish and French (having also taken over Cameroon and winning the African Cup of Nations). In real life my extent of foreign languages extends to two sentaces of German and being able to count to ten in Spanish!

I'm fussy about only managing a club I like the name of so I rarely start unemployed. Plus I want a job right from the start rather than having to apply for the same jobs that are always available each time you start.

As for realism, if it was realistic and I was unemployed no football club would ever employ me. Me installing myself as manager of some random club is no less realistic.

As for it being fun taking over "Man U" at the start, I'd rather deny myself the pleasures of FM forever than manage Manure at any stage of my career!

Definetly play starting unemployed.

More enjoyment, my long term plan is to eventually get the Arsenal job instead of starting with them.

Havent managed it yet though!

I have four games going at the moment, one of which is an unemployed one. Got my first job at CENE in the brazilian leagues, bloody confusing! may be sacked for bankrupting them soon but at least my performances on the pitch have been good.

I like to set up the game using a load of leagues i've never used before, that way i get to learn more about the other competitions hence the Brazilian confusion. Imho good way to play the game.

I would point out that there are a whole host of options between starting unemployed and jumping straight in at one of the top clubs in the world. You can choose your own team to start at in a lower league if you desire!

Originally posted by glamdring:

... rather than having to apply for the same jobs that are always available each time you start...

As for realism, if it was realistic and I was unemployed no football club would ever employ me. Me installing myself as manager of some random club is no less realistic.QUOTE]

You can partly get round that first problem by selecting different start dates, but even then you don't usually get offered exactly the same clubs and if you do just go on holiday for a while before applying for any.

As for realism... your point is a valid one, though in context to the game you must admit that starting at the bottom is the best compromise you can get. I suppose theoretically there's nothing stopping your average Joe on the street studying the relevent qualifications that could persuade a club, somewhere, to offer you a job... chances are though it'd be something like a lower league Chinese side offering you the equivalent of £20 a week! I won't be giving up the day job any time soon that's for sure!

Starting at the bottom is the most realistic yes, but the bottom doesn't have to be unemployed. I don't want to have to holiday my way through to some random point in the season before I can get my teeth into a job in general.

Yeah I understand that - it's what I used to do and as you said you can get your teeth into things from the off.

What I like about starting off as unemployed though is you never know where you'll end up. I've managed in Mexico which I'd never had considered normally yet it proved entertaining as I eventually got to the Copa Libertadores, only to be knocked out by the mighty River Plate (by a single goal I might add ).

There's a randomise option now when you add a new manager which will install you at a club where you don't have to choose yourself. All you do have to do though is keep hitting randomise until it selects a team from whatever your lowest league is.

I think I'd have to go along with Glamdring in many ways on this one. If I was to apply for a management position in football I would be ignored by everyone. For that reason I often start at my favoured club of Bournemouth.

There are two more reasons for that. Firstly I often find myself tiring of the game when not at my favoured club. Being Bournemouth manager gives me ambition to do well; and put right what has gone wrong in the real world (such as not playing Sam Vokes from the start of the season and I can get decent money for him when he goes whereas we'll probably get £100k in the real world).

Secondly there is the ability to set what you feel your experience to be in the game so why not use it? I could set myself to be a former part-time footballer who, after having done my coaching badges, gets myself a job at a small team in Northern Ireland. Alternatively I could set myself as a former international and choose Manchester United.

If you set yourself as a Sunday league footballer and go on to manage Arsenal then that is where realism steps in and bonks you on the head. That just wouldn't happen.

I usually set myself at the automatic level or former professional as I feel that makes sense for someone who has stepped in to manage Bournemouth through troubled times.

I can actually think of another point that stems from experience. In FM07 I started a game unemployed and ended up at a small club in Norway called Skarp. It was fun and I enjoyed something like seven great seasons there but I was left with two concerns. Firstly, how would a thirty-something Englishmen from darkest Dorset end up managing a team in Tromso? Sure I could send in my CV, but how did I hear they wanted a manager? Is there a worldwide management related job agency? Does my agent decide to scour all the remotest spots in world football and pack me off there? Can I afford a decent agent who has contacts in Tromso if I am an out of work prospective football manager?

The second concern is about progression through my career. After those seven seasons at Skarp I felt I had become a good football manager. I had taken little Skarp from the brink of nowhere to a stable position in the Norwegian first division. Thing is could I get a job elsewhere? No, I couldn't. Not even little clubs of the equivalent of Skarp wanted me. I tried Norway, I tried Sweden, I tried Germany and I tried the Conference South. I couldn't get a job anywhere after seven years of good progression at Skarp. I felt like I had hit a wall and I would never reach greater heights than a stable position in the Norwegian first division.

I'll always remember Skarp, and I do believe it is fun and somewhat realistic to start unemployed and work your way up the management career ladder. Do I believe that it is not realistic to start at your favoured club, or any club, and work your way up from there? No I don't. Every manager has started somewhere; many at big clubs. If you're honest about your experience level...well not honest, but it's as good a word as any...then your game will have a good degree of realism and you won't get stuck in a dead end like I did and like I have read many managers in Wales have.

Sometimes do. Sometimes don't.

When I first install the game, I start unemployed and take what is given to me.

generally when i first get the game, i start at celtic and keep going till i win the champions league (used to take a while but this year was just 2 seasons so i did a third for kicks)

then i start unemployed with an ultimate goal of getting the celtic job on my own

in 2008 i'm on my 3rd carreer game, 1st i went from unempleyed to arbroath, one promotion later i went to reddich in BSN, got into BSP then got sacked, and got the job at recreativo, but gave up on it after about a season there

2nd game i got my 1st job at jena in the German 2nd division, just missed out on promotion but got the udinese job, althought they had been relegated and were in masses of debt. despite that i won the league and finished 8th in my 1st top flight season, qualifying for the euro vase, but was sacked due to the debt. then went to Ghana for a spell as the national team manager, and after finishing as runner up in the african cup of nations i got the job at celtic, where i won them their 8th consecutive league title, but then my game broke =(

now on my 3rd i'm at the start of my second season, got the job at donegal celtic, relegation candidates but finished 5th

so basically i do like the unemployed games, because for a start the sense of achievement in getting the job at a favourite club is great, and by the time you get there the players you know are gone so you can't be as bias

I've had some interesting games when starting unemployed.

One game in FM06 I ended up in Slovakia at Lipany, who were dead last in the second division after 4 games with only 1 goal scored. Ended the season as runner up with promotion and the following season champion in of Slovakia.

A different unemployed game in FM06 saw me land a job in Iceland. But I left 4 games later due to no perspective (absolutely nobody would come) and I immediatley ended up with Molde SK in Norway with whom I finished 4th.Not a really realistic move, but still. I continued for two seasons before moving to Poland as the national team manager.

I like it. But I also settle for a game with simply picking a club in some lower division or an obscure country. I've managed in every league in FM over the years.

I like lower clubs.

just started one now and ended up at workable in hong kong. they have a decent squad except for at goalkeeper and right back.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mikeytwigge:

just started one now and ended up at workable in hong kong. they have a decent squad except for at goalkeeper and right back. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Could be fun - there are plenty players in Hong Kong with CA of 1 !

i started unemployed and was surprised to see that Coventry wanted me.. so after a season at convey missing out on the playoffs i move to man city in Jan and managed to get them off the bottom of the league! in my second season now and going on strong!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by scorer2006:

i started unemployed and was surprised to see that Coventry wanted me.. so after a season at convey missing out on the playoffs i move to man city in Jan and managed to get them off the bottom of the league! in my second season now and going on strong! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Coventry from the start?! Does your manager profile have you as a former International or something?

Depends who you sign on as. If it's just "you", eg, 18 year old sunday footballer, then it's much harder to get a job. I only ever sign on unemployed as an ex-international. It's no less likely than me really getting a job, after all.

If I want a real challenge I sign on at a club the lowest league possible. Tried Harrogate once, got bored.

People tend to be really put off by how difficult it is to nail down a job when starting unemployed but what they don't realise is that real life managers go through much the same rejection and problems when first starting their managerial careers. Marcello Lippi had 9 different jobs in his first 10 years of management, Juande Ramos has had something like 11 jobs in 14 years.

What separates the haves and the have nots is the determination to carry on through the difficult times. More people should try it.