How neutral is a neutral venue, e.g. Wembley?

Just asking, how neutral is a supposedly neutral stadium? Do the home/away sides play on level grounds, or the away side is at a disadvantage?

Just asking, how neutral is a supposedly neutral stadium? Do the home/away sides play on level grounds, or the away side is at a disadvantage?

I mean in the game, obviously. Please do not ridicule me using real life 'examples', I am talking about the game.

No idea, there is no notification of ticket allocation etc to show if anyone would have an advantage. Personally i've never witnessed any difference in the way my team plays if it is on a neutral venue or not, and sucess has been 50-50

I always tend to find that if I'm listed as the away side I need to play more like an away side, but maybe I'm just paranoid. I generally use the same tactics home and away, but with counter-attacking switched on for away games and a less attacking mentality. I do the same depending whether I am listed as the home or away team in a neutral venue match because I found on a few occasions that I would get caned if I tried to play attacking football as the "away" side!

I think there is a difference, im pretty sure i noticed it myself

I would like to think it was completely neutral but lets just say im a lot happier when im listed as the home team.

So most of you think that it ain't so neutral after all...?

There used to be (not sure if they are fixed now) a bug in some cases with tickets also in that the "home" team got the entire gate receipts in certain cases...I don't think it was just the play-off final either were the losing side keeps all the gate receipts (in England)

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

There used to be (not sure if they are fixed now) a bug in some cases with tickets also in that the "home" team got the entire gate receipts in certain cases...I don't think it was just the play-off final either were the losing side keeps all the gate receipts (in England) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

How do you find out about ticket allocation? I've never had a message about it and i've been to nearly a dozen finals.

Not allocation, but usually ticket income at a cup final is split equally between the two clubs and I have played in finals were I got nothing. Mebee the other team got nothing too, but I'm pretty sure I did get gate receipts as the "home" team. Like I say though it was a past version and I think it got fixed a while back.

played league cup final with middlesbrough v arsenal lost 4 nil at end of game said arsenals home advantage showed in this win so i think if you are listed away then it is harder to win

ps fm08 and 8.0.2

Doesn't that mean that there is no way to ascertain whether there are more fans from one club in the stadium or not?

I think glamdring is differentiating between ticket counting and ticket income.

Then again, back to the main question here, how does the game allocates home/away status in neutral games? Luck? Or other factors such as reputation on number of fans present in the stadium?

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

I think glamdring is differentiating between ticket counting and ticket income. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Surely that's the same thing i.e. more income means more tickets have been sold.

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

Not allocation, but usually ticket income at a cup final is split equally between the two clubs and I have played in finals were I got nothing. Mebee the other team got nothing too, but I'm pretty sure I did get gate receipts as the "home" team. Like I say though it was a past version and I think it got fixed a while back. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Correct me if I'm wrong. He said that the ticket income, regardless of the proportion of fans that turn up, is split evenly to the two clubs. So lets say Arsenal and Manchester United are playing at Wembley, Arsenal could have just one fan turn up (and be seriously intimidated), while the other seats are packed with Man Utd fans, and Arsenal would still get 50% of the total income from this match.

I think that is his point though.

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

Doesn't that mean that there is no way to ascertain whether there are more fans from one club in the stadium or not?

I think glamdring is differentiating between ticket counting and ticket income.

Then again, back to the main question here, how does the game allocates home/away status in neutral games? Luck? Or other factors such as reputation or number of fans present in the stadium? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I thought he was saying that that was the way it usually occurred but on occasion he has received no revenue whatsoever, so it would appear that there was a difference in the two teams.

Yes, but that is either split evenly (I assume, I've never managed both clubs in a final and looked exactly at the incomes) or one team got the whole lot. How many fans from either club were there was irrelevent either way.

I tend to find that the team listed as home dominates possession.

Also in the post match comments they always say it was a home win or away win.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I always tend to find that if I'm listed as the away side I need to play more like an away side, but maybe I'm just paranoid. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Same here. I do worry that it isnt neutral at all.

i play identically home or away or neutral, regardless of opponents, my tactics change in game depending how the game is going, but it is still the same style of play.

I have been caught a couple of time playing in a neutral venue and forgetting and chossing the wrong tactics because I was shown as being the away team.

I'm sorry, I don't remember where I read this, but I thought SI had responded to a similar thread about a year ago saying that it is definitely neutral, although it can be affected somewhat by how close the teams are to the neutral site (i.e. Japan playing Scotland in Korea would have a slight advantage due to larger crowd support in Korea).

I am playing as Arsenal in my game, and in a Community Shield game against Manchester United at Wembley, I was listed as the away team. What I noticed was that when Man Utd scored, the crowd cheered loudly, while I did not even get a clap when Arsenal scored. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I am not from England, but I thought Manchester is in the north-west, and Arsenal is based in London? If that is the case, then shouldn't there be more Arsenal fans at Wembley, if what you are saying is right?

I definitely think that the neutral grounds are just neutral in name only, the home/away rule still applies.

perhaps clubs reptation is taken into account

i.e if liverpool were playing bath city in the FA cup final, there would obviously be more liverpool fans therefore they would influence the game more, giving the impression that they are playing at home

it might be worth looking into the rep of teams and their posistion before the game (i.e in the home slot or away slot) as there might be a possibility that it is porgrammed to put the team with the higher rep in the home slot

could be totally wrong but so feel free to disagree

i have feel i have made somewhat of a breakthrough in this area.

in my arsenal save FM07 i am playing chelsea in the fa cup final and the champions league final.

for the fa cup final arsenal(me) are listed as the home team and are 6-4 favourites, with a draw 2-1 and a chelsea win 13-8.

for the champions league final chelsea are listed as the home team and are 6-4 favourites, with a draw 2-1 and an arsenal win 13-8

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

Just asking, how neutral is a supposedly neutral stadium? Do the home/away sides play on level grounds, or the away side is at a disadvantage? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

A couple of games ago I managed Chelsea and they bought Wembley - so other teams were certainly at a disadvantage if their oppnents were Chelsea!

Wow, is it even possible to buy Wembley?

So almost everyone agrees that the neutral venue thingy is a bit buggy?

a bit buggy lol i would say VERY much bugged i almost always win if i am listed as home team and never won when listed away infact if i am listed away i always got slaughterd

about ticket income.

i read somewhere the other day, the runner up in the final of the fa cup doesnt get a share of tv money or ticket money. could be BS but i did read it