Still Losing Staff

This has been going on ages and it's doing my head in!

Constantly getting my staff being poached by other clubs. Only way I can counter it is to offer improved contracts. Seems like all I seem to be doing with my staff every few months is offering improved contracts. How realistic is this?

And now I've had a situation where one of my coaches was approached by another club. So I offered an improved contract. Then a bit later he's approached by another club. So I go to offer him another improved contract but he says to me that he's only just signed one and won't enter into negotiations at this time. He then accepts the other teams offer. Oh come on! If he wanted to move clubs then tell me that. If he's just after the money (which it seems staff in this game are) then when he gets the offer from the other team, surely he should then give me the chance to offer an improved deal.

I've made this point before. It may be that staff movement does occur in real like to this frequency but the press don't report on it because it's not news. Or it doesn't happen this often and the game is obsessed with moving staff around constantly.

Boooooooooooooo

I wrote about it in the bugs forum, but didn't get much interest.

Blimey - that was posted back in November and no response. Great. Should rename the game to Staff Manager 2011

Yeah I agree its a pain in the $£"%, I seem to be constantly offering my staff new contracts

This has been going on ages and it's doing my head in!

Constantly getting my staff being poached by other clubs. Only way I can counter it is to offer improved contracts. Seems like all I seem to be doing with my staff every few months is offering improved contracts. How realistic is this?

And now I've had a situation where one of my coaches was approached by another club. So I offered an improved contract. Then a bit later he's approached by another club. So I go to offer him another improved contract but he says to me that he's only just signed one and won't enter into negotiations at this time. He then accepts the other teams offer. Oh come on! If he wanted to move clubs then tell me that. If he's just after the money (which it seems staff in this game are) then when he gets the offer from the other team, surely he should then give me the chance to offer an improved deal.

I've made this point before. It may be that staff movement does occur in real like to this frequency but the press don't report on it because it's not news. Or it doesn't happen this often and the game is obsessed with moving staff around constantly.

Boooooooooooooo

Agree, it happens too much, and is very unrealistic.

In real life, Newcastle just tried to get a Leceister coach (Chris Powell?) and Leceister refused to allow them to buy out his contract. That should be in the game.

Yeah, I hate this, it's completely unrealistic and bleeding annoying. What annoys me most is when a club clearly needs a new coach, rather than advertising or offering a contract to just one or two coaches, they systematically go through every single one of my coaches offering them contracts, and I go through and do the same, until they eventually give up and try somewhere else. I'm much prefer if, like in real life, clubs asked permission to talk to my coach, I'd say yes or no, and that would be it!

The current system just doesn't work.

Yeah, I hate this, it's completely unrealistic and bleeding annoying. What annoys me most is when a club clearly needs a new coach, rather than advertising or offering a contract to just one or two coaches, they systematically go through every single one of my coaches offering them contracts, and I go through and do the same, until they eventually give up and try somewhere else. I'm much prefer if, like in real life, clubs asked permission to talk to my coach, I'd say yes or no, and that would be it!

The current system just doesn't work.

But that's not how it works, I'm afraid. You don't have to ask permission to your employer to talk a contract with somebody else, unless you have some very special clauses on it. (like say, football players) The fact that somebody is working for you doesn't mean you own him and can prevent him from switching jobs. That's like Capitalism 101...

Game just doesn't take into account age and work stability... which is fine for players, but not as fine for staff members, which should really settle down once they hit 40 or the like, unless they are big paid managers/asistants. Could be a nice improvement for 2012.

But that's not how it works, I'm afraid. You don't have to ask permission to your employer to talk a contract with somebody else, unless you have some very special clauses on it. (like say, football players) The fact that somebody is working for you doesn't mean you own him and can prevent him from switching jobs. That's like Capitalism 101...

Game just doesn't take into account age and work stability... which is fine for players, but not as fine for staff members, which should really settle down once they hit 40 or the like, unless they are big paid managers/asistants. Could be a nice improvement for 2012.

But then why not do it properly and not even tell us that a club has approached my staff. If it was realistic, wouldn't it be that the first I'd hear of it is when my staff came to me handing in their notice?

But then why not do it properly and not even tell us that a club has approached my staff. If it was realistic, wouldn't it be that the first I'd hear of it is when my staff came to me handing in their notice?

agreed. I suppose they do it as a bit of helping players. Could even be some staff that gives you the chance to negotate with him, and some that doesn't, which is how it works in most cases.

Then again, the cries of "BUG!!!!! BUG!!!!!" would be deafening if a staff members left without telling you before. Even if it would be quite realistic (well, with a two week notice)

But that's not how it works, I'm afraid. You don't have to ask permission to your employer to talk a contract with somebody else, unless you have some very special clauses on it. (like say, football players) The fact that somebody is working for you doesn't mean you own him and can prevent him from switching jobs. That's like Capitalism 101...

Game just doesn't take into account age and work stability... which is fine for players, but not as fine for staff members, which should really settle down once they hit 40 or the like, unless they are big paid managers/asistants. Could be a nice improvement for 2012.

I know that's not how it has to work, but that is how it works in football IRL. If a club wishes to sign another clubs coach, they ask the club for permission to speak to them (Steve Clarke at Chelsea being a high profile example). While in reality they don't have to ask permission, clubs generally do anyway.

That's not my real problem anyway, its the way a club will go through every single one of my coaches making me offer every one a new contract. That is unrealistic. If they wanted just one coach, fair enough, but if they don't get him, it's unlikely they'd then try all my other coaches one by one before moving on

I know that's not how it has to work, but that is how it works in football IRL. If a club wishes to sign another clubs coach, they ask the club for permission to speak to them (Steve Clarke at Chelsea being a high profile example). While in reality they don't have to ask permission, clubs generally do anyway.

That's not my real problem anyway, its the way a club will go through every single one of my coaches making me offer every one a new contract. That is unrealistic. If they wanted just one coach, fair enough, but if they don't get him, it's unlikely they'd then try all my other coaches one by one before moving on

Fair enough. I've never heard of a club approaching other for a staff member here in Spain, myself, so it might even be down to particular countries.

Ah fair do's then. Over here I've heard of a few instances where clubs have had to work out compensation packages for assistants or coaches and some where they've turned down approaches from other clubs to steal their coaches. I'd like to be able to do that in FM. Actually, right now, I'd like to be able to tell Aston Villa to F*** off and leave all my coaches alone, as they're going through one by one yet again trying to take one

Well, at least it seems I'm not the only one that is annoyed by this particular issue!

I have an Arsenal save on FM10 which is currently in the year 2026, and I have lost count of the times I've had to offer my coaches improved deals to stop someone poaching them. Overall, it's not too bad for me in my game because Arsenal have bags of cash, so I can afford it, but I'd imagine that someone managing a team operating on a strict budget would be tearing their hair out!

The really annoying part is, given long enough at a top team, your coaches will become world class, so if another top team needs a coach they will make an offer for one your guys, then if you offer them a new deal which is accepted, they make an offer for the next one, then the next one, and so on.

I have literally had to offer my entire coaching staff new deals within the space of a few weeks because another club systematically offered them all a job one at a time. Grr!

It's more a niggle than a bug, but I agree it needs to be looked at.

I know that's not how it has to work, but that is how it works in football IRL. If a club wishes to sign another clubs coach, they ask the club for permission to speak to them (Steve Clarke at Chelsea being a high profile example). While in reality they don't have to ask permission, clubs generally do anyway.

That's not my real problem anyway, its the way a club will go through every single one of my coaches making me offer every one a new contract. That is unrealistic. If they wanted just one coach, fair enough, but if they don't get him, it's unlikely they'd then try all my other coaches one by one before moving on

I'd imagine it's down to not annoying the club and ruining future transfers by starting on a bad relationship. Coaches are important but players are even more important - it's not worth ruining a relationship with a club because of a manager.

Exceptions do exist for the best coaches, of course. I remember when Real Madrid were tapping up Valter Di Salvo from Manchester United (and then they got angry when the players started complaining he was too harsh in training).

The player equivalent would be talking to the player's agent behind the club's back to arrange a transfer. The difference is that players are much more valuable than coaches.

Another thing I hate is the lack of staff loyalty. If a club can afford a staff member, he's gone, full-stop. Wouldn't some staff like to stick around? Look at some former players - a lot simply want to settle down but remain in football for financial or enjoyment reasons - a "sideways" move (i.e. coach of Spurs -> coach of Newcastle) makes no sense because it may only be a little extra money (which he has millions already) while uprooting his entire family.

Yeah I agree, and what's more, coaches will move from top, top clubs to lower clubs if they're offered even just a little more money. I just don't think it's that realistic.

I think staff in general needs to be looked at in FM, they play a massive role in football yet are still a bit marginal to be honest. Yes, they have an effect in training and reports, but that's really about it, when in fact building a strong, cohesive back-room team seems to be a vital part of a managers job. The way Chelsea have performed since they lost Ray Wilkins demonstrates that, even if he didn't do that much (as is rumoured) his departure hurt moral and has clearly done something to the players.

Perhaps coaches style should be more important, and their personalities, so managers would have to look for these so that they would match the style and personalities of the squad they wish to build. Just a thought.