"Big Game" Bug

I assume this has probably been raised elsewhere, however the search function keeps timing out on me.

Probably my biggest gripe with what is still my favourite game is the way there is clearly an overly strong "big game" feature within the programme to enable smaller teams to raise their performances when playing against a larger side or in an important game. The problem is that it seems to kick in on a much more regular basis than it should. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has seen a long unbeaten/winning run with a big club come to a sadly predictable end against one of the division's minnows- and I have replayed some of these games on several occasions, with the same result.

The other side to this is the number of stories you see of people having taken the likes of AFC Wimbledon into the Champions League. I've done the same myself with both Bournemouth and Notts County, but deep down I know that it is not so much my ability as a manager, as the characteristics of the game that have made this possible.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review this for the next patch/FM11 as it has been a problem for the last few versions. Clearly it needs to be in the game in some form, otherwise the "Roy of the Rovers" type stories that happen in real life would be pretty much impossible (Leeds would have been annihilated at Old Trafford in this year's FA Cup for example), but it needs "turning down" quite a bit as it is spoils what has always been one of the game's strengths- its realism.

I don't think for a second there is any kind of mechanism in the game that allows smaller teams to do well against bigger teams. I think it's all down to tactics, motivation, confidence etc. Smaller teams play differently against you than bigger teams, and if you don't adjust your tactics accordingly, or your players are complacent, then you're going to suffer.

Let me ask you something. Have you noticed this in the AI? By that I mean, do AI teams often have their winning runs halted by much smaller teams? Or is this just something you've noticed happening to you?

AI teams suffer from this as well.

After a few seasons in the game it is very rare for the "big teams" in the countries where I have the leagues running to be in dominant positions. As an example I just gave up on a game in season 5- season 4 ended with none of Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, Barce, Real or Inter making it into Europe. Burnley stayed in the premiership for the 4th time (something Derby did with monotonous regularity in 08).

As I said in my first post, it's not just that it creates a really annoying banana skin for you as a manager of a big team, it also makes way too easy to manage a smaller club. Taking the likes of Peterborough into Europe should be a really rare achievement, bordering on impossible, yet most people I know have managed something like this at least once in the year they have the game.

Surely the mark of the accuracy of the game's data should be that, by the time the patches come out teams average out their league placings as roughly what happens in real life? Yes there are teams that habitually struggle against lesser opposition (Liverpool this year for example) and having that within the game is also important, but to have smaller clubs routinely picking up points off the big guys is unrealistic.

There's only so much realism you can keep once a massive gameworld starts to run.

Millions of things happen every week in the gameworld that are different to real life, plus us as players are controlling one of the teams, so it would be silly to expect teams to have roughly the same position as they do in real life year on year.

Plus there's the fun element. It's not easy taking a basement club to the top, but with hard work it is possible. If it wasn't a lot of people would not be happy as it would take the fun out of the game for many many people. It is, after all, still a game.

In terms of the AI, the big teams in my long term games have generally stayed just that. My Barletta game in 2026 sees AC Milan, Inter and Juventus the top Italian teams (along with me) and Chelsea are one of the best teams in the world. So there will be a lot of people who have not experienced what you have seen. But there are so many variables in the game, and so many people playing it, that things like this are bound to happen to some people.