Idea for Training in future versions of Football Manager

I would like to see the current training feature of FM overhauled for future releases as I find the current version old, stale and largely a let down to what is a very good game.

Based loosely on the old model from earlier editions of Championships Manager (when SI still ran it), the model would include individual sessions during the days of the week and different training activities amongst a core of training sets.

Training Sets

1. Attack

2. Defence

3. Fitness

4. Tactics

5. Ball Control

6. Goalkeeper

7. Set Pieces

8. General

Training Activities

1. Attack:

i) Off The Ball Movement Training

ii) Speed of Play Training

iii) Through Ball Training

iv) Crossing Training

v) Build Up Play Training

vi) Attack Vs Defence

2. Defence:

i. Offside Trap Training

ii. Jockeying Training

iii. Positional Training

iv. Interception Training

v. Blocking Training

vi. Pig in the Middle Training

3. Fitness:

i. 10 Km Run

ii. 5 Km Run

iii. Sprint/Shuttle Training

iv. Boxercise

v. Short Distance Swim

vi. Long Distance Swim

vii. Circuit Training (Cardio & exercises e.g. push-ups, lunges etc)

viii. Relax & Massage

ix. Ice Bath

4. Tactics:

i. Watch Video of Forthcoming Opponents

ii. Shadow Play

iii. Formation Understanding

iv. Area of Play Training – Defence

v. Area of Play Training – Transition

vi. Area of Play Training – Attack

5. Ball Control:

i. Short Passing

ii. Long Passing

iii. Standing Tackle

iv. Sliding Tackle

v. Shooting – Place Shots

vi. Shooting – Power Shots

vii. Shooting – One on One

viii. One Touch Passing

ix. Two Touch Passing

x. First Touch Training

xi. Heading Training

6. Goalkeeper:

i. Handling Training

ii. Aerial Ability Training

iii. One on One Training

iv. Distribution Training

v. Penalty Saving Training

vi. Catching Training

7. Set Piece Training:

i. Inswinging Corner Training – Attack

ii. Inswinging Corner Training – Defend

iii. Outswinging Corner Training – Attack

iv. Outswinging Corner Training – Defend

v. Penalties

vi. Free Kick Training – Short Range

vii. Free Kick Training – Long Range

viii. Long Throw Training

8. Gerneral:

i. 5 a side Game

ii. 8 a side Game

iii. 11 a side Game

iv. Time Off

Training Sessions

09:00 – 10:00

10:00 – 11:00

11:00 – 12:00

13:00 -14:00

14:00 – 15:00

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

This would be the general outlook of the Training Sessions. It would then be up to you as the manager to fill in the Training Sessions with Training Activities. If you didn’t enjoy the aspect of the game or found it too time consuming you could leave to your Assistant Manager to do it for you completely or he could come up with a number of schedules he would recommend you implement (at the click of a button), this of course would depend on how good your Assistant Manager is.

Here is an example of how it might look:

09:00 – 10:00

10:00 – 11:00

11:00 – 12:00

13:00 -14:00

14:00 – 15:00

Monday

5 Km Run

One Touch Passing

Short Passing

Through Ball

Shooting – Placed Shot

Tuesday

Boxercise

Off The Ball

One Touch Passing

8 A Side Game

Relax and Massage

Wednesday

Area Of Play – Transition

Shadow Play

Pig In The Middle

Watch Video of Opponents

Off

Thursday

Off

Short Distance Swim

Interception Training

Attack Vs Defence

Off

Friday

Inswinging Corners – Attack

Shadow Play

Formation Understanding

TRAVEL

TRAVEL

Saturday

Watch Video of Opponents

Off

Off

Off

Off

Sunday

Off

10 Km run

Ice Bath

Off

Off

The idea behind it all, is that you can customize your training to the opponent you are playing. If you are at home, you have more training time. If you’re away you have less due to travelling.

Certain Training Activities will also be a good way of players gaining PPM’s (Player Preferred Moves). If you do a lot of Short Passing Training for example, after a while certain players will develop the PPM: Likes to Play a Short Simple Passes or if you do a lot of Shooting – Power Training a player might develop the PPM: Likes to shoot with power etc…

It would be challenging with your coaches as well because you would not be able to double book them. Each coach would have a rating in each Training Activity. You would not be able to use the same coach in the same time slot for two activities.

Each activity would come with a brief description indicating what areas they improve and possibly any negative effects they might have, for example Sprint Training would improve Pace, Acceleration but there would be a higher chance of players suffering hamstring or groin injuries.

I fully accept it’s far from the finished article, but I’m sure somebody far cleverer than me can take the good bits from this idea and incorporate it into the game and help enhance an area of the game that has been overlooked for a number of years now.

All opinions, ideas and constructive criticism welcome.

Haha

Well that didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to. There was suppose to be a table for the Training Sessions giving an exmple of how it would look.

I liked the training in USM98. Also sending your team away for training camps abroad.

They had something like this in FM2006 (I think) I love the idea and was thinking about something along the lines like that already

What happens in the current game if you don't alter your training. Does it keep to the default settings all of the time or does it change dependant on how many games played in a week, international fixtures ect. Was wondering if the assman auto takes control or not?