WHAT SHOULD BE IN FM 2011 - a minor feature missing!

2 years ago i send this mail to Miles, but as it still hasnt been included in the game, i will now finally post this here.

Please read it through and tell me wether you agree with me. Cheers.

From: [mailto:andreas_h_nielsen@yahoo.dk]

Sent: 27 May 2008 09:56

To: Jacobson, Miles, SI

Subject: Suggestions for FM 2009

Dear Miles. I'm not sure whether this mail should go to you. If not please forward it to the right person. Here it goes:

Suggestions for FM 2009

FM 2008 is missing one important future. I don’t know how common it is in the UK , but we’ve seen it happen a couple of times in Copenhagen , where I’m from. Imagine:

A player X has contract expirement on the 30/6-2008 with his club Y. He signs with club Z on bosman rule on the 3rd January 2008 . Now, in FM 2008 this would mean that player X will join club Z for free when his contract is to expire in the end of June. And that’s all fine. But now a day it is often seen that the club Z tries to negotiate a cheap transfer fee with club Y, in order to already take over player X in the January transfer window. Club Y gets a little cash for a player not included in the clubs future plans and with his thoughts already on club Z. The club Z gets their player 6 months before and everyone is happy.

FM 2008 leaves this option completely out and that’s a shame I think.

_____________________________________________________________

--- Den tirs 27/5/08 skrev Jacobson, Miles, SI <miles.jacobson@sigames.com>:

Fra: Jacobson, Miles, SI <miles.jacobson@sigames.com>

Emne: RE: Suggestions for FM 2009

Til: andreas_h_nielsen@yahoo.dk

Dato: tirsdag 27. maj 2008 11.47

Hi Andreas,

Our forums at www.sigames.com are the place to put any ideas you may have, as the community gets to discuss them then.

There are already ways to do this in game though, as player transfer fees tend to go much lower in the window before they can go on a Bosman if they’ve already decided to leave the club.

Cheers

Miles

______________________________________

Dear Miles.

Yes, im aware of the lower transfer values just before contract expirement.

My point is that in the real world, this is how things work. If a player has signed with a club on bosman, the "buying" club are able to contact the players club in order to sign him immediately. I can't see why that option has to be let out of FM.

Example: Theres this highly reputated midfielder that i'm chasing. On one of the first day of the January transferwindow i succeed to get his signature on the bosman rule in front of a whole lot of clubs. Among the next week i get an offer on one of my midfielders that is to good to refuse. I sell him. But now my squad is one midfielder down untill July. Here you should be able as manager to try and negotiate a here-and-now transfer with the players club in order to keep your squad in balance.

Its bothered me alot actually and i know you guys try to make FM as realistic as possible. This is a thing that is worth adjusting.

_______________________________-

I don't see the problem.

The option to sign them is there and the fee is significantly reduced or you have the option of a bosman deal.

Adding the possibility of of changing a contract once agreed I expect would take a lot of work for very little benefit.

I think what he is saying is that after a player agrees to join another club at the end of the season his current club will call the other team & ask if they want to pay a nominal fee to acquire the players services straight away, an excellent idea & this sort of thing probably does go on outside the larger European leagues.

The way the game works at the moment is that a the new club will always look to pick up a player on a Bosman with all the risks associated with that decision, this even happens when I offer the player here & now for nothing let alone a fraction of his true value.

If I was the new club & the player was being brought in to improve the starting 11 rather than just bolster the squad numbers I'd jump at the chance to bring the player in immediately, heck he could pick up a long term injury before the end of the season & then I'm left with a player on the same contract terms yet we get nothing out of the deal because he can't play. On the flip side as the club losing the player if it doesn't adversely effect our aims for the remainder of the season getting shot now might yield a small transfer fee but more importantly will free up wages for his replacement which is an ongoing issue with the current finance model.

to the OP

This example is my argument of including it:

Theres this highly reputated midfielder that i'm chasing. On one of the first day of the January transferwindow i succeed to get his signature on the bosman rule in front of a whole lot of clubs. Among the next week i get an offer on one of my midfielders that is to good to refuse. I sell him. But now my squad is one midfielder down untill July. Here you should be able as manager to try and negotiate a here-and-now transfer with the club of the player that you have already signed on bosman, in order to keep your squad in balance.

think this could be implemented like the current 'buyout clause' feature in the transfer section. Obviously only the club who has signed the bosman with the player would be able to do it. There would be an option next to the player on the 'future transfers in' list showing the price their current club would pay to get rid of him right away. This price could vary quite a bit depending on how much the club really needed the player for the rest of their contract once they knew they were going.

I think what he is saying is that after a player agrees to join another club at the end of the season his current club will call the other team & ask if they want to pay a nominal fee to acquire the players services straight away, an excellent idea & this sort of thing probably does go on outside the larger European leagues.

Yeah this would be a good feature

It's a good idea if it is straight forward to implement. Co-Ownership gives one club the option to buy the other clubs 50% share in the player so maybe it could be coded in a similar way

Surely it would be unnecessary though? Why offer the contract with 6 months on the table when you want him now? Make a transfer bid a week before January, and try to buy him then. If it doesn't work, then you'll be into the mix of anyone offering a contract.

I can see why you want it implemented, but it doesn't seem to make sense to me. Also, the original contract offer would be from July 1st. The new contract would be from a different date, which seems like the kind of thing that sounds proper hard to code without starting over with the contract terms.

Surely it would be unnecessary though? Why offer the contract with 6 months on the table when you want him now? Make a transfer bid a week before January, and try to buy him then. If it doesn't work, then you'll be into the mix of anyone offering a contract.

I can see why you want it implemented, but it doesn't seem to make sense to me. Also, the original contract offer would be from July 1st. The new contract would be from a different date, which seems like the kind of thing that sounds proper hard to code without starting over with the contract terms.

I suppose the OP is thinking that irl if a contract is already agreed for the summer his club may be willing to do a deal in January for a cut price.

Maybe for example when he accepts your contract offer to sign in the summer you get an option next to 'accept' 'reject' and 'delay', something like 'Make offer to sign player in Jan window'. Although no contract has been signed, it has been agreed and the AI club will realise that they will loose him for nothing in the summer and may wish to do a deal now. If they are a club struggling financialy then all the more likely

Surely it would be unnecessary though? Why offer the contract with 6 months on the table when you want him now? Make a transfer bid a week before January, and try to buy him then. If it doesn't work, then you'll be into the mix of anyone offering a contract.

I can see why you want it implemented, but it doesn't seem to make sense to me. Also, the original contract offer would be from July 1st. The new contract would be from a different date, which seems like the kind of thing that sounds proper hard to code without starting over with the contract terms.

The transfermarket is a very dynamic size, especially in real life. Clubs are acting throughtout the whole transferwindow, and squads change all the time during a window. I have to refer to my example from prior post: I sign a midfield player on bosman that will join me 6 months later. At the time i sign him, my squad is in balance and even though his marketvalue is low because of his upcoming contract expirement, i don't really see any point in spending cash on him when my squad is in balance, and that my clubs economi isn't that good. But then i get an offer for one of my best midfielders that i can't refuse. So i sell him, but now i am in need of a midfielder for my squad. But now i can't buy the player already, that i have signed on bosman. Why not give me the oppurtunity for that??

I do know that Watford have done this in the past with Don Cowie and possibly with Stephen McGinn, so although very rare it does happen.

The transfermarket is a very dynamic size, especially in real life. Clubs are acting throughtout the whole transferwindow, and squads change all the time during a window. I have to refer to my example from prior post: I sign a midfield player on bosman that will join me 6 months later. At the time i sign him, my squad is in balance and even though his marketvalue is low because of his upcoming contract expirement, i don't really see any point in spending cash on him when my squad is in balance, and that my clubs economi isn't that good. But then i get an offer for one of my best midfielders that i can't refuse. So i sell him, but now i am in need of a midfielder for my squad. But now i can't buy the player already, that i have signed on bosman. Why not give me the oppurtunity for that??

another example: your star midfielder gets long-term injured and there are only 2 days left of window.. instead of racing to find a new midfielder you just sign bosman player now instead of waiting 6 months for him. It might seems like it is pointless or whatever, but it does happen very often IRL and could be very useful!..

Surely it would be unnecessary though? Why offer the contract with 6 months on the table when you want him now? Make a transfer bid a week before January, and try to buy him then. If it doesn't work, then you'll be into the mix of anyone offering a contract.

I can see why you want it implemented, but it doesn't seem to make sense to me. Also, the original contract offer would be from July 1st. The new contract would be from a different date, which seems like the kind of thing that sounds proper hard to code without starting over with the contract terms.

Not really.

The new contract starting July 1st will stay the way it is.

When you do the small transfer fee thing it could be to take over the last 5+ months of his current contract, and he just gets the same wages that he was already on until June 30th. Or, maybe the new wages could just start from the earlier date but still continue through to the end date agreed in the original negotiation.

I agree, I think Edgar Davids did this. He went on loan to Barca after he agreed in January to join Inter in the summer.

This has happened in Scotland a few times too from what I'm aware. I *think* Celtic have done it to Hibs a couple of times with the likes of Riordan?

I am happy to see the responses to this thread. I know its a small feature, but it has really annoyed me. I really hope that SI will pick this thread up and do something about it for future versions of the game.

I think ANY new option that can be implemented that makes this game more realistic should be included.

I can't think that for me playing this game that this transfer option would arise often as I forward plan a lot and tend to ensure I've always got the squad I want, but it could be a useful feature none-the-less.

Good post by OP.