Just about to start with FM2011 - Any pointers??

Happy days, just about to hit 'start new game' for the first time on FM 2011, just wondering if all you seasoned veterans have any pointers or hints to avoid any obvious pitfalls!? I already have my angry head on for dealing with the agents, any other things I should watch out for?

My biggest 'issues' (hardly life ending) with the previous version(s) was increased sponsorship for lower teams (or lack of), non-footballing costs in the EPL and tutoring/young player mental stats... Obviously I'll be finding a lot of this out but probably not for a few weeks as it'll probably be February before I press 'continue' for the first time if 2010 is anything to go by - so I'm just being impatient I suppose!

Thanks

1. contract negotiating.

Always make your first offer ridiculously low - I use €1 for everything, wages, bonuses & signing on fees.

Then make a proper offer once they come back to you - it helps to get the signing on / agent fees down a lot.

2. Match Prep.

Every time you tweak your tactics, use versioning numbers to save them so you can easily identify the most recent tactic - otherwise you'll end up with 20 archived tactics to choose from in the match prep screen and not know which one is the most recent. e.g. 4-4-2v1.9.9 , 4-4-2v2.0.0 etc

3. Set piece instructions.

Use the set piece wizard from the tactics menu to create these. Remember that you must set the instructions for EACH of your formations.

The kickers remain constant across tactics once you set them up once, but the player positioning has to be configured for each of your tactics.

Once you've created it for a particular tactic, save your tactic with a new version number.

4. Set match prep to average in pre-season, then once it becomes fluid, reduce to Very Low for the rest of the season.

When you first start the game, only add 1 tactic to match prep to get it fluid faster - then add the others during the season.

5. Handling the balance between wages / transfers is vital to save you cash.

Before the squad bonuses email arrives, move all of your money into transfers and the bonuses will be lower for all 3 options.

If you are managing a big club, before the start of season expectations email, move all of your transfer budget into wages - you will then get the board maintaining the amount that you have budgeted for wages, plus they might give you some cash for transfers. You can always move more money from wages to transfers afterwards if necessary.

Otherwise it's very difficult to get the board to give you more money for wages at the start of a season.

hope this helps

Awesome, thanks for that, I got annoyingly side tracked by work yesterday so didn't get to play anywhere near as much as I wanted - so far 0 matches played, 0 players signed, 10 players unhappy with me and 3 players potential signings walked away from negotiations! Tutoring seems to have changed a lot too, plus the training and this match prep thing - seems the game has more changes than I realized (good thing!) but time will show me if these lare more superficial than game changing. Have to say I'm really happy with it so far though, just hope that doesn't change when I come up against the match engine!

Just through the player searching I've done, the game seems completely awash with amc's - is this a nudge towards the way to go formation wise or are they more a luxury?

Does anyone know if sponsorship can be increased for small teams?

Well, formation-wise, narrow initial positioning is still best & set the width on team instructions towards wider so that the players will open up the play when you have the ball. However, 4-4-2 is finally a properly valid formation in this version of the game. In fact, I never played 4 at the back in previous versions of the game (going back for the past 15yrs or so), preferring 3 instead, but 4 is much more effective in this version than it used be in previous.

You're right about the increase in amc's, I play 3 narrow amc's personally to take advantage of this.

About sponsorship, if you're team is doing well then the sponsorship money will increase when the current deal is renewed.

If you want this to happen faster, use the editor and set the sponsorship to end at the end of the first season.

There isn't any other way to increase it though besides getting results on the pitch.

Before you start install 11.2.1.

1. contract negotiating.

Always make your first offer ridiculously low - I use €1 for everything, wages, bonuses & signing on fees.

Then make a proper offer once they come back to you - it helps to get the signing on / agent fees down a lot. do this if you want to lose out on potential signings - many players/agents will simply walk away from an offer like this. make a low first bid but don't be an idiot about it. if you scout a player before you make an offer your scout will usually state what wages he is likely to accept

hope this helps

make sure your training and match prep is set up asap.

sometimes good coaches are better than signing players. if you have a team with a lot of potential, ensure you have the best possible coaching set-up to get the most out of your players.

there are some good shortlists in the good player sub-forum to help you find good players.

I have yet to see an agent just walk away - they always come back and say "we're too far apart here". The issue is your second offer - it should be a proper one but with low (but at the same time reasonable) signing on / agent fee.

I have seen the situation where I thought I had successfully negotiated a contract and confirmed the offer only for the agent to come back 2 days later and say that he didn't even inform his client of the offer since it was too pitiful to pass on. He did have a "hatred" relationship with me though, since I flogged some other players that he represented, but was funny to see. Managed to sign the player for a couple of quid extra anyways a week later.

Not reaching a successful end to contract negotiation isn't the end of the world, you can have another go a week later. Thing is to plan your transfers early in the window to allow for breakdowns in negotiating. Obviously if there are several clubs bidding at the same time as you, you don't any of this - but I think that's pretty obvious.

Each to their own though, it works fine for me, hence my recommendation.

My best recommendation - DONT LISTEN TO THIS FORUM.

Trust me - its good advice - and that includes not listening to me as well.

Well actually in the "why is the finishing so crap" thread / rumble in the jungle, maidel is one of the few people actually talking sense. so do listen to him.

11.2.1 ME is excellent, best FM yet. Fair play to SI for sorting everything out. Pity it takes til Jan to get the real game every year though.