Newbie to Football Manager....

I'm new to Football Manager- as in never played before and finally took the plunge.

Given that I'm American I have had next to zero exposure to soccer/football so (unlike Out of the Park Baseball) I'm sort of at a loss on what I need to do when running a team or how professional soccer "works".

Is there any tutorials or sites that are helpful to noobs like me who are almost soccer/football ignorant?

Any help would be appreciated.

What DO you know about football?

Well like 90% of the people on here, I'd guess the best way to learn is to watch football (Association, not American) and play football.

For a quick start though, I'd head over to the Tactics and Training forums for a read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football_tactics_and_skills is relatively good I'd say for people new to the sport.

What luck! I'm an American-born european whose first introduction to association football was through football manager 2007. I will tell you now I was awful but I learned through:

• Watching real games.
  
• Picking a team to follow and following them (Aston Villa of the English Premier League in my case.)
  
• Reading online websites for tips.
  
• Asking friends who played the game.

I'm not entirely sure if there are any tutorials, but I'll have a look around for you - I know firsthand how massively difficult it is to get started without any help. One of the best things you can do is pick a team (preferably a good one) and just dive in, mess around, don't set yourself any goals other than to learn how it works. Pay attention to what the AI does. Most of the game is pretty self explanatory, it's just learning what all the various stats/sliders/etc. do that is the most difficult part.

The link posted in the previous post should help as well. Good luck.

I know how the game is played- but nothing about how a team "works" in regards to team management stuff. I've got the Tactics and Training docs which explains how to set up basic tactics (which I understand).

So any thing you guys can point me to on the topic of "managing your team effectively" or "team management basics" would be very appreciated.

Another good way is to look around different clubs' websites. I have done this with Ice Hockey, after I got NHL 09 and have developed a real interest in the sport. I have adopted the Detroit Red Wings as 'my' team, and now love watching them play whenever they are on the telly here in Britain. Their site helped me get to know some of their players, and although it didn't help me with the rules, I have got a lot more enjoyment from NHL 09 having known who Zetterberg, Datsyuk et al all are.

So, who are your favourite football team? If you don't have one, why not adopt one?

Here is my favourite team, St Albans City FC. They play in the Blue Square South in England, and are my local side. Here is my thread on them, take a look at that and the website, and get stuck in!

Not interested in a non-league side and want someone bigger?

Manchester United

Real Madrid

Liverpool FC

Hope I helped. You've come across a brilliant game, so enjoy it.

Watch as many games of football as possible, this way you learn different styles and approches to the game, not only in terms of teams, but players.

if you want a pick a team go for Newcastle United, fantastic city, fantastic support on our way back to the premier league. And if you do choose to support us you cant be accused of a glory seeker as we havnt won a major trophy since 1969 lol

O.k., I get how soccer/football is played and the strategy/tactics stuff- what I looking for is "Front Office" level stuff. I have no idea what a "transfer" is or any of that. It is not the on the field stuff that has me puzzled- it is all the front office doings.

i would read through the tatics part of the site for some help there and the team guides and do a season with a big team like manchester united real madrid barcelona so on...

This is a 'transfer.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_(football)

O.k., I get how soccer/football is played and the strategy/tactics stuff- what I looking for is "Front Office" level stuff. I have no idea what a "transfer" is or any of that. It is not the on the field stuff that has me puzzled- it is all the front office doings.

Ah, perhaps I'll have a try.

First off, players are bought and sold (transfers), as opposed to the North American standard of "trades". Occasionally there are swaps, but I dare guess 90% of the time it's usually money for player. After the clubs agree upon the fee, then the player will negotiate a new contact with the club buying him. This is, again, different from the North American way where the team that has traded for his player inherits his existing contract. So in FM, all you basically do is identify a player you like, make the club a bid (usually more than his evaluation, but it's not always the case depending on the player's happiness, availability, the club's financials, etc...)

The other big difference is youth development. As opposed to the draft system in North America, young prospects are brought up and recruited by your own club. Basically a free for all. Most likely, every year at the beginning of the season, your club will have new players aged 14-16 to add to your existing under 18 team, and whether they stay or go is up to you at that point.

Oh, and one more thing... in most leagues there will be 2 "transfer windows", meaning that those are the only times a player can change teams. It's usually July-September in the summer, and January-February over the winter. You can still negotiate and finalize deals with clubs throughout the year, but the players involved will not change teams until July 1st or Jan. 1st at the earliest.

I know I'm leaving a lot out... but hopefully that's good enough to set you exploring the game!

So, a "transfer" is essentially transfering a player and the player's rights to another team. So it is basically a "trade" (in baseball terms) of a single player and cash between two teams. Got it. Loaning a player would be the player goes to another team, but the loaning team still owns his rights. Is this correct?

Is there a PDF of the FM 2010 Manual available- or just the on-line version? Thanks for all the information, it is starting to make some sense now. If anyone else can weigh in on this- awesome! I really appreciate the help.

So, a "transfer" is essentially transfering a player and the player's rights to another team. So it is basically a "trade" (in baseball terms) of a single player and cash between two teams. Got it. Loaning a player would be the player goes to another team, but the loaning team still owns his rights. Is this correct?

Pretty much yeah. In a loan deal the club who is receiving the player on loan may pay some or all of the players wages. But this differs from deal to deal.

I can give you a few tips that I find to be very helpful..

Firstly, I'd set the backgroud skin on the in-game menu to something that looks interesting, that way you'll be happy whilst playing and the happy stat will increase. This means your players will play a better game, a fantastic start.

Furthermore, Make sure your team knows which goal they are trying to score in, too often my players have had their CA and PA deducted for a lack of awareness, it also cost me 3 points in a 2-1 defeat to Wolves!

Finally, Make sure between each game your players take showers, it will increase their shower stat, therefore they are happy about being clean. This will have a knock on effect on the happy stat.

Simple things go a long way, remember to switch up your tactics, that way the other team won't know what hit them!

what the hell?

I'm trying to put some of this in baseball terms- that helps greatly.

So, a "transfer" is essentially transfering a player and the player's rights to another team. So it is basically a "trade" (in baseball terms) of a single player and cash between two teams. Got it. Loaning a player would be the player goes to another team, but the loaning team still owns his rights. Is this correct?

Yes, but they trade players like commodities, usually for cash and often over several months. So if you want to bring Wayne Rooney to your team, you'd offer £20million up front plus £40million over 24 months. Or, if you have enough money, all of it up front. Rooney's home club decide if they want to sell or reject it, or even negotiate. You can also offer to part-exchange a player too.

A good tip when buying from Spain and Brazil is to check the player's "contract" page because this will show the player's minimum release fee clause, meaning your bid will HAVE to be accepted. Not all countries have this, but those two countries do, and it can be a good way to bag a bargain.

Welcome aboard.

A quick guide to things I needed to learn:

Transfers:

Transfers are simply the exchange of players for money, other players, or both, often with various clauses (though these aren't so important). Transfers are one of the two most impotant things you will be doing in management along with the actual playing of the matches.

Transfers in all leagues that I am aware of will take part in 'transfer windows', usually a month or two where you will be allowed to purchase and sell players with other teams. You can sign a player onto your club at any time of year, but only if they aren't under contract with another team - if you buy a player outside of a transfer window, they will not become part of your team until the first day of the next transfer window (or on another transfer window date you have specified).

If a player is under contract for another team, you can approach them for a contract right away, but you will have to pay the owning club a compensation fee that will usually be far too expensive to make it worthwhile. Instead, consider either waiting for their contract to expire, or 'make an offer' to the owning team. When you make an offer, you will negotiate for a price over the player, which can range from a little as £0 to in excess of £100,000,000, depending on who it is you attempt to buy and under what circumstances (though such numbers are ridiculous to pay).

Once you and the owning team come to an agreement over the offer, they will accept your bid for the player and you will be given a chance to offer a contract to the player. If he accepts, he will be transferred to your team and become part of it. Be careful when picking players! Players who do not speak the language of your team, players of clashing personality and players who are too old or too poor for your team may cause more problems than they solve.

This is where your backroom staff comes into play.

Scouting:

Scouts are some of the key members of your club, their primary stats to look for are judging player potential and judging player ability - from what I know, working with youngsters can be important too, for scouting youth talent for potential. Depending on the size of the team, you can send them to scout various leagues for players, scout specific players you are interested in, scout a team (one of your most important scouting duties will be to have someone scout the next team you are playing, to get a good idea of what they are like before a match).

Having the largest scouting team available to you and scouting abroad for talent (buying foreign scouts for relevant areas, such as a french scout to scout France) will also be key. Bringing in good players and especially talented youngsters from abroad will be key to developing your club over time.

Your scouts will come up with lists of report cards, the players who they recommend, and if you scout an individual player they will also deliver you a report card and add it to their list. This will be your primary method of discovering new talent to add to your team, and any successfull football manager will be looking to increase their squad's strength by buying better players than their current ones and ensuring all positions on the field have at least two players who can be fielded.

Coaches:

This is one of the trickier things to master - your coaches will be assigned to different areas and will have different strengths. I can't say too much as this isn't my strongest area but I suggest finding better coaches when you can (you won't have to buy them in transfer windows like player, but you will need to pay compensation fees to their parent clubs unless they have no contract)...as to what makes a good coach, see here. If you can't figure out what a good training schedule is, see the training & tactics forum for help. There will be training schedules you can download and import into the game that work well.

Assistant Manager:

The assistant manager will be one of your most useful tools in your path to success. Your assistant manager will help advise you on tactics, and you should always try to have the best assistant manager you can afford/find. He will be able to play friendly matches for you (if you get tired of doing them yourself), schedule new friendly matches to play inbetween seasons, make recommendations on new players, make coaching recommendations and he can even run your whole team if need be (allowing you to 'Go on Holiday' which allows you to play through parts of a season for as long as you wish).

Those are all the most important things I can think of. You will be prompted by your assistant manager to renew player contracts at times but as long as you keep these basic fundamentals, it will mostly just be trial and error. Play the game, explore the various options and learn. That's the best advice I can give you is to just jump in headfirst with no expectations. Once you feel confident enough in your ability to manage a team, set yourself some goals, preferably easy ones like bringing a middle-of-the-road team to one of the top league teams over however long it takes, then expand your horizons from there if you so wish.

EDIT: Haha I spent so long writing that that I got beaten to the punch. Oh well, good luck anyway. If you have any more questions I can help with let me know. ^_^'

If you're looking for some tips and ideas about the tactical side of managing, you should definitely read the Tactical Theorems pdf. The download link can be found in this thread: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=159310

Dont watch Stoke as thats the wrong way to play lol