My FM wish-list from 2007 - what features have been added since?

The last edition of Football Manager that I played was FM 2009. Just after its release in October 2008, I made a wish-list of features I wanted to see in future FM games. I'd like to know if any of these ideas have been included in FM 2011.

Here is the list:

- Appointment of a head scout would be a nice touch

- Give the head scout the option to bring in his own team or you hire and fire them

- Development of the clubs training grounds shouldn't just be restricted to at home - we all know that clubs are building academy's all over the world and this should become part of the game

- New technology - Managers use all sorts of techy stuff in today's game, they know how far a player has run during a game and other bits and pieces. Scouts could give you pro zone reports and Opta could award their own player of the month/year

- When a manager leaves a club, his backroom team normally leave as well (depending on who takes over), this isn't represented in the game at all.

- Interaction with a player could be improved - you receive an offer and aren't sure about it - a possible discussion with the player about it along the lines of “are you happy here?”, “would you consider this offer?” I know you can look at a players level of happiness but you normally find out they wanted to leave after you've knocked back the offer.

- Teams possibly bringing in a general manager in some scenarios.

- Talking to the press about the signing of players or why you haven't signed players etc

- More commentary - making you more aware of flair players or guys who like to rough up the opposition etc.

- Comments and interviews for the official match programmme or official club website not just the standard newspapers

- Agents taking fees for transfers and offering players around, sending videos etc

- Refusing offers with “totally unacceptable” or “not good enough”

- Vote for player awards

- Testimonials, eg for being at a club for 10 years

- Players fighting over a shirt number

- Recommending players for their national team.

- Talk of up and coming stars within your team - media hype on young players is huge in today's game - Theo Walcott being an example - Managers try to protect these guys from the limelight as much as possible

- There should be many more questions and answers possible in the press conferences

- I'd like to praise/criticize/insult an opposition player in the media. E.g. "Thierry Henry always bottles it in big games. I'm sure tomorrow will be no different." And each player could have their own opinion of you based on things like this. Player should also be able to voice an opinion through the media. Eg if one of your players was unhappy with the opposition you could back them up or if your captain criticized the efforts of his team mates you could take a side in the matter. Again with this you should be able to praise or criticize your whole teams performance publicly or even the opposition.

- Training ground bust-ups would be great as well and you could try to sort them out or players might have to leave the club. Could happen with staff as well or a coach could tell you if someone has a bad attitude in training rather than just "Player did not turn up for training."

- You should be able to complain about a referee directly to the FA and not just through the media. The FA should then review a referee's performance and possibly demote them to a lower level.

- On penalty decisions, sending offs instead of having to decide on whether a decision was incorrect by looking at the 3D pitch you should have a note from your assistant. e.g. “Upon reviewing the video footage, Pat Rice believes you should have had a penalty.”

- Big games should be more high profile and things like the CL final or a deciding title game should be highlighted massively. Your players or assistant managers could come to you saying your 17 year old wonder kid is coping or crumbling under the pressure.

- Signing players should also be more interesting and should also have a press conference with player and manager. Player could please fans with comments and managers could say he is important for the future or he'll be straight in the first team.

- Transfers could be negotiated differently too with representatives meeting you on a day for a series of negotiations rather than you make an offer and 4 days later they tell you the answer. It should have one day of heavy negotiating with the time moving as slowly as it can (i think it's in three hour periods) and you negotiating like that. Also the chairman could push the budget like this if they just want an extra hundred thousand or something.

- Countries need favored personnel e.g. Bobby Moore for England.

- SI should create a super-pack with all the real team badges, player faces, kits, competition logos etc and release it anonymously on sortitoutsi.com in order to avoid litigation. If FM players can get their hands on all this stuff there is no reason why a team of developers working full time can't organize something.

- Annual pre-season friendly competitions like the Amsterdam tournament with full competition history and unique rules etc.

Be able to compare a scouted player with any player in your squad or even a recently departed one via a scroller. “.... would be a suitable understudy/replacement for ...”

- Players getting booed or cheered when returning to play against a former club. This would be reflected in the sound pack/commentary and the player's performance could perhaps be affected in some way.

- Cheating/diving incidents which carry on in the media for weeks afterward.

- Guard of honor for the champions during their final away game of the season.

- Fans need to play a bigger role. E.g. "We want Kinnear out" in the form of in-game chants/banners mentioned in the match commentary and in the media. Managers should be able to appeal to fans who aren't filling the stadium and the fuller the stadium the better the home team plays. Not too much but an if no-one turns up they aren't going to play as well.

very good

very good

I laughed.

@ OP

Few of them are in the game.

Few of them are over - ambitious.

Few are quite good.

Looking at your post history, when and where exactly did you post this 'wish-list' to begin with?

I made a wish-list of features I wanted to see in future FM games.

The word is made and not posted

The last edition of Football Manager that I played was FM 2009. Just after its release in October 2008, I made a wish-list of features I wanted to see in future FM games. I'd like to know if any of these ideas have been included in FM 2011.

Here is the list:

- Appointment of a head scout would be a nice touch

Not Included

- Give the head scout the option to bring in his own team or you hire and fire them

Not Included

- Development of the clubs training grounds shouldn't just be restricted to at home - we all know that clubs are building academy's all over the world and this should become part of the game

Not Included

- New technology - Managers use all sorts of techy stuff in today's game, they know how far a player has run during a game and other bits and pieces. Scouts could give you pro zone reports and Opta could award their own player of the month/year

Included

- When a manager leaves a club, his backroom team normally leave as well (depending on who takes over), this isn't represented in the game at all.

Included. Obviously not the whole team, but if you have been at the club for a while its pretty common for a number of staff to follow you out the door.

- Interaction with a player could be improved - you receive an offer and aren't sure about it - a possible discussion with the player about it along the lines of “are you happy here?”, “would you consider this offer?” I know you can look at a players level of happiness but you normally find out they wanted to leave after you've knocked back the offer.

Player conversations are included, but they don't really cover what you want. Also, they are buggy as hell at the moment.

- Teams possibly bringing in a general manager in some scenarios.

Not Included

- Talking to the press about the signing of players or why you haven't signed players etc

Like the player interaction, its included to an extent.

- More commentary - making you more aware of flair players or guys who like to rough up the opposition etc.

There are more commentary lines but nothing like you want.

- Comments and interviews for the official match programmme or official club website not just the standard newspapers

Not included.

- Agents taking fees for transfers and offering players around, sending videos etc

Included, you have to pay agent fees & you get offered players all the time, not in the form of videos like in some of the older versions (last version I remember the videos in was CM03/04).

- Refusing offers with “totally unacceptable” or “not good enough”

Included

- Vote for player awards

Included

- Testimonials, eg for being at a club for 10 years

Not Included

- Players fighting over a shirt number

Not Included

- Recommending players for their national team.

Not Included

- Talk of up and coming stars within your team - media hype on young players is huge in today's game - Theo Walcott being an example - Managers try to protect these guys from the limelight as much as possible

Not Included

- There should be many more questions and answers possible in the press conferences

There are more questions than ever before, but still not enough variety.

- I'd like to praise/criticize/insult an opposition player in the media. E.g. "Thierry Henry always bottles it in big games. I'm sure tomorrow will be no different." And each player could have their own opinion of you based on things like this. Player should also be able to voice an opinion through the media. Eg if one of your players was unhappy with the opposition you could back them up or if your captain criticized the efforts of his team mates you could take a side in the matter. Again with this you should be able to praise or criticize your whole teams performance publicly or even the opposition.

You can talk to the press about opposition players like that, but not the second part you mentioned.

- Training ground bust-ups would be great as well and you could try to sort them out or players might have to leave the club. Could happen with staff as well or a coach could tell you if someone has a bad attitude in training rather than just "Player did not turn up for training."

Not Included

- You should be able to complain about a referee directly to the FA and not just through the media. The FA should then review a referee's performance and possibly demote them to a lower level.

Not Included

- On penalty decisions, sending offs instead of having to decide on whether a decision was incorrect by looking at the 3D pitch you should have a note from your assistant. e.g. “Upon reviewing the video footage, Pat Rice believes you should have had a penalty.”

Not Included

- Big games should be more high profile and things like the CL final or a deciding title game should be highlighted massively. Your players or assistant managers could come to you saying your 17 year old wonder kid is coping or crumbling under the pressure.

Not Included

- Signing players should also be more interesting and should also have a press conference with player and manager. Player could please fans with comments and managers could say he is important for the future or he'll be straight in the first team.

Included, every time you sign a player you have the option of calling a press conference about them.

- Transfers could be negotiated differently too with representatives meeting you on a day for a series of negotiations rather than you make an offer and 4 days later they tell you the answer. It should have one day of heavy negotiating with the time moving as slowly as it can (i think it's in three hour periods) and you negotiating like that. Also the chairman could push the budget like this if they just want an extra hundred thousand or something.

Transfer bids still work like they used to, you make an offer and hear back a short while later, but now all contract negotiations are done in a single meeting with the player & their agent. Its also possible to ask the board to handle a transfer if its a player who is way above your budget but will be a really good signing for the team, sometimes the board will be prepared to handle the bidding and contract offers by themselves. Its also possible to ask the board to increase your transfer budget for an important transfer and you have to justify it to them before they will give you the money.

- Countries need favored personnel e.g. Bobby Moore for England.

Included

- SI should create a super-pack with all the real team badges, player faces, kits, competition logos etc and release it anonymously on sortitoutsi.com in order to avoid litigation. If FM players can get their hands on all this stuff there is no reason why a team of developers working full time can't organize something.

Not Included

- Annual pre-season friendly competitions like the Amsterdam tournament with full competition history and unique rules etc.

Not Included

- Be able to compare a scouted player with any player in your squad or even a recently departed one via a scroller. “.... would be a suitable understudy/replacement for ...”

Included

- Players getting booed or cheered when returning to play against a former club. This would be reflected in the sound pack/commentary and the player's performance could perhaps be affected in some way.

Not Included

- Cheating/diving incidents which carry on in the media for weeks afterward.

Not Included

- Guard of honor for the champions during their final away game of the season.

Not Included

- Fans need to play a bigger role. E.g. "We want Kinnear out" in the form of in-game chants/banners mentioned in the match commentary and in the media. Managers should be able to appeal to fans who aren't filling the stadium and the fuller the stadium the better the home team plays. Not too much but an if no-one turns up they aren't going to play as well.

Not Included

Hope that helps.

Pretty sure some annual pre-season friendlies are included.

- SI should create a super-pack with all the real team badges, player faces, kits, competition logos etc and release it anonymously on sortitoutsi.com in order to avoid litigation. If FM players can get their hands on all this stuff there is no reason why a team of developers working full time can't organize something.

Just saw this and want to say why would SI waste time on this. There are pretty good packs out there with great variety.

I would rather they focus on the game.

Just saw this and want to say why would SI waste time on this. There are pretty good packs out there with great variety.

I would rather they focus on the game.

It would also breach their license agreements, or rather absence of license agreements.

It would also breach their license agreements, or rather absence of license agreements.

I think releasing it anonymously is the key part of that statement.

Just saw this and want to say why would SI waste time on this. There are pretty good packs out there with great variety.

I would rather they focus on the game.

Hear, here. And, given they could have aliases on other sites, who are we to know they don't already?

It's harder than you might think to find suitable quality images. It's usually OK for the big teams but the lower down you go the more difficult it becomes. And getting suitable quality player pictures is expensive.

That what makes the Cutout Megapack such an amazing piece of work. Albeit time-consuming to obtain and install (lots of people are having plenty of issues just getting it onto their hard drives), once it's up and running, the collaborative efforts of lots of dedicated users have combined to make one fantasic addon to the game. For SI to put that much effort into such a project would either take too much time away from other parts of the game, or a new team of employees.

Players fighting over a shirt number

Not Included

It kind of is, actually. Or was. Players as far back as FM08 used to have a preferred squad number. If two players wanted, say, number 9 whichever one didn't get it used to sulk like buggery.