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Biggest problem child/primadonna you have ever managed?


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Just had an incident in my game when i signed an Irish u/21 keeper on a free as backup for my Conference team. On the day after he signed i had a friendly game, which he missed after being seen by the press leaving a bar in the wee hours of the morning. Checked his profile, and the personality attribute 'slack' jumped out at me.

oh oh.

Gave him a warning, he had a whinge. A week later he skipped training, gave him a further warning, he had another whinge. Another week later he skips training again and bang, he is gone. Free transfer. So he lasted all of two weeks.

Thankfuly he was signed on small wage so cutting him was not particularly expensive (still more than a struggling conference team can afford tho....)

Anyone had anything worse? Had a really promising player come through who was an absolute nutcase? Or can anybody beat my record of two weeks before the hammer fell!

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I had Lee Cattermole at West Brom once and he was an inspirational captain, a model professional, a leader of men

I had him at Birmingham City in a different game, and we were flying high, when he got sent off in a game. He then got sent off in his first game back from suspension. I warned him. He then got sent off in his first game back from suspension again. I fined him two weeks wages. He went bananas and got about 8 other players to go in a strop as well, leading to a nosedive in form, the complete alienation of the squad, a civil war, and eventually, my resignation

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I signed 2 players for a Serie B team at the same time, Fabbiani from Cluj & Fawzy Chouchi from an Algerian team. Immediately 2 former club legends announced that the signings were a bad idea & the fans also echoed their concerns. Both players threw a strop hit back at the fans and within a week had missed training.

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I have Arturo Vidal on my current Aston Villa save. He's generally a good player, but he picks up yellow cards like they're on special offer and got sent off FOUR TIMES in the league last season. All very problematic, as he is our best defensive midfielder and is forever getting banned. What makes matters worse is that he never quietly accepts his warnings and get on with it. Instead, any warning about his behaviour is likely to result in a massive strop, other players becoming unhappy and general squad dissent.

He's had a more peaceful start to the new campaign, to be fair, but another slip in his discipline and I'll be looking for a replacement.

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Only ever had 2 players get fully upset with me, into my 11th season now (hence a Squad Discipline stat of 20 for me); in my third season, at Sevilla, Fazio was attracting huge attention even before I joined, I managed to fight them off in the summer, but about September-time he requested a transfer, so I offered him around for £25m, which I got from Juve (I think). I got my revenge when his error (for Man City now) allowed me to win the 2020 League Cup.

In my last season, 19/20, Gianmarco Zigoni was attracting attention, and requested a transfer. Since he'd missed half the games that season due to injury, I managed to get £15m for him, while buying a short term replacement in Nathan Delfouneso for £5m.

Anytime a player thinks of leaving, I tell them I want the club to progress to match their ambition (and given that the clubs has gone from near-relegation to League 1 to contenders for the Premiership under me, I think I can back my promise); players tend to "surprisingly" back down, 9/10 times. If they don't, then I immediately look to offload them. No point in having someone at the club who doesn't want to be there.

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I'm fantasizing about forming a squad with amongst others Joey Barton, Mario Balotelli, Adriano, Robbie Savage, Andy Carroll, David Grof and the formidable Andre Luis (

or
) :). Now if only Vinnie Jones, Stig Tofting, Duncan Ferguson and/or Gazza would want to return to the game to become part of my coaching staff.;)
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I'm fantasizing about forming a squad with amongst others Joey Barton, Mario Balotelli, Adriano, Robbie Savage, Andy Carroll, David Grof and the formidable Andre Luis (
or
) :). Now if only Vinnie Jones, Stig Tofting, Duncan Ferguson and/or Gazza would want to return to the game to become part of my coaching staff.;)

The media would surely dub you 'The Mean Team'

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I have Arturo Vidal on my current Aston Villa save. He's generally a good player, but he picks up yellow cards like they're on special offer and got sent off FOUR TIMES in the league last season. All very problematic, as he is our best defensive midfielder and is forever getting banned. What makes matters worse is that he never quietly accepts his warnings and get on with it. Instead, any warning about his behaviour is likely to result in a massive strop, other players becoming unhappy and general squad dissent.

He's had a more peaceful start to the new campaign, to be fair, but another slip in his discipline and I'll be looking for a replacement.

very funny...i'm having actually the same problem with de Rossi...a very good and legendary MC (tat's what the game describe him) with Roma...but when he get himself frequently sent off...i fined him...and it was a boommmzzzz (Ris Low huh?)...he got upset and cried unfair treatment like a baby...massive dissent soon generated from the squad...:mad:

but when i do nothing...team discipline problem soon crept onto my team report.

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^^^ Pauolo Cannavarro has been sent of 3 times for my Napoli side this season and it's not even Christmas. It meant i dropped two pts at Atalanta, 2 pts at Genoa, and luckily i held on to beat Chievo 1-0 away from home, but nonthless the league is so tight, and he put the team in bad situations 3 times now that i fined him a weeks wages. He was shocked, and then the press told me it was generally accepted that i had lost the dressing room and more players would complain! We are in 3rd place though, which is about 8-10 places above expectation, so they can sod off. No-one else complained, and i placated Canavarro by asking him who i should sign.

But i've never had a really bad prima donna, they are not worth it at all, not even if he was messi :D

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He then got sent off in his first game back from suspension. I warned him. He then got sent off in his first game back from suspension again. I fined him two weeks wages. He went bananas and got about 8 other players to go in a strop as well, leading to a nosedive in form, the complete alienation of the squad, a civil war, and eventually, my resignation

How many times do I have to tell people. You don't build up from Red Cards from Warning to 1 Week Fine to 2 Weeks fine when they're sent off.

You warn or issue fines for what they were sent off for.

That is, if they get 2 yellow cards then you give them a warning.

If they get a straight red then give them a Weeks Fine

If they get a sent off for violent behaviour then it's 2 weeks fine.

It's not

if they the get 2 yellow cards and are sent off, give them a warning, they get sent off the next game for 2 yellow cards, or even a straight red give them 2 Weeks fine.

That will upset the player because warnings and fines are a per game punishment.

It's just not how the game works. Punishment for their appropriate issue, not a build up of issues and you'll have a much happier squad.

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How many times do I have to tell people. You don't build up from Red Cards from Warning to 1 Week Fine to 2 Weeks fine when they're sent off.

You warn or issue fines for what they were sent off for.

That is, if they get 2 yellow cards then you give them a warning.

If they get a straight red then give them a Weeks Fine

If they get a sent off for violent behaviour then it's 2 weeks fine.

It's not

if they the get 2 yellow cards and are sent off, give them a warning, they get sent off the next game for 2 yellow cards, or even a straight red give them 2 Weeks fine.

That will upset the player because warnings and fines are a per game punishment.

It's just not how the game works. Punishment for their appropriate issue, not a build up of issues and you'll have a much happier squad.

People play it their own way, if they have that policy and it makes the player unhappy, so be it

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People play it their own way, if they have that policy and it makes the player unhappy, so be it

I'm aware people play it their own way. And that's fine. But if they want to keep the squad happy and the player happy and stop the rest of the team being sent off then they need to stop this policy.

It might make sense, but it's not how the game works. I agree that someone being sent off for different reasons warrants stricter discipline. But the game isn't programmed that way.

If you want to avoid primadonnas and mutinies, so to speak, then you're better off dishing out the punishment as I've highlighted. Otherwise you'll just upset the team. Regardless of how you think it should be dished out.

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but when i do nothing...team discipline problem soon crept onto my team report.

I thought I'd try to change my approach to players who get sent off depending on the circumstances, and the same has happened to me. Ashley Young, who once took a two week fine for a poor performance without complaining (I realised after that I had overreacted) is moaning that I don't have enough squad discipline!

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