So, the A-league doesn't work, what's a good league to goto?

So, it turns out that in fact even with Dynamic reputation the A-league doesn't work at all.

I'm thinking of going somewhere else in the World, somewhere slightly less restrictive, anyone have any good suggestions?

Things to avoid:

1. Salary Caps, they're broken, they can't go up and even if they could apparently being successfully doesn't increase league reputation.

2. Foreign player restrictions

Disappointing if the salary cap doesn't rise because the MLS one does from what I have read. What is wrong with the player restrictions? I ask as I will manage there at some point.

They just get annoying...

So, 5 seasons, 3 Asian champions leagues, 2 club world cups: A-league 6th-17th in Asia...

A bit annoying because now I have a dominant Brisbane side in a league that isn't improving.

I think if you delete all of the fake files then the a-league will be playable.

Which fake files?

That does seem weird on my save where I have the A-League loaded there reputation has dropped by one star. You say the foreign player rules are annoying do you expect them to change or are they just wrong to start with?

Neither, I'm getting sick of them and with no improvement in the quality of the other A-league sides are salary cap I see little point going on with this save.

Dynamic league reputation is something for long term games. I wouldn't call 5 seasons long term. You won't see the effects of dynamic league reputation so soon. For that you would have to play at least 20 seasons or so.

Dynamic league reputation is something for long term games. I wouldn't call 5 seasons long term. You won't see the effects of dynamic league reputation so soon. For that you would have to play at least 20 seasons or so.

I'll tell you right now, I've had a 13 season game already... The A-league only went backward on that as well...

So, let's summarise the facts for this.

5 seasons, Brisbane won 3 Champions Leagus, 2 Club World Cups and the A-league went from 6th to 17th in Asia, not to mention it going from 2 stars down to 1 and a half star in reputation...

I don't care if you don't call 5 seasons long term, when things are heading entirely backward after 5 years they're not likely to suddenly jump the other way and with the other A-league clubs becoming a turd and cheese sandwich there's with a full 30 of say 43 matches a season being against these jokes it renders a long term save nothing more than a series of 3-9 nil thrashings followed by one or two actually good matches dotting it.

I mean, come on, when you face your "rivals" and you walk away with a casual 9-0 win that could have easily have been 10-15 nil doesn't really give you much enjoyment, surely. Sure, I wasn't expecting miracles, but when there is no improvement in the near best case scenario, and instead everything heads backwards, there's little else I can really say.

I could in principal make Brisbane the dominant force on the planet in a good 20-30 year save and start winning world cups with Australia, but when Australia are far happier having Graham Arnold leading the side to 13 defeats in 15 (with 2 draws) on a good ride from World number 33 to 80 and the other clubs are in fact getting worse I see little point.

Screw this, I'm going to Uruguay...

It would seem that you arent getting very much help from the other teams that qualify for the continental competitions. I would say that when they start to pull their weight and get good results the league rep will go up. Or i could be wrong about what is actually going on.

I think that the foreigner rule in the A-League is a max of 2? which to me is low but thats what you get for managing there.

Start a save in portugal , it has small sized leagues so seasons dont drag on to much also you have full access to south american players as long as they are over 18. And its possible to be a top team in europe. But you will be a selling club . The main trick it to make sure you have the best Homegrown players you can get.

Honestly, the A-League is broken, and always has been.

The only advice I'd give is to edit the game, kill the original A-League and create a new one.

The A-League in-game is a shocking representation of the actual league. I think if the league was actually implemented correctly with all the information provided by users that a lot of the issues would not be there.

I think if you delete all of the fake files then the a-league will be playable.

ermmm the a-league is always playable, there are no fake files to do with the a-league.

Sadly, I don't think it'll be properly implemented until public demand calls for it. It's kinda complicated, carries too many restrictions on licensing, and when the clubs themselves are only bringing about 10-15k fans per game in a country where games are very expensive for SI to dedicate too much time to it.

Surely, if there was one team dominating, as perported here, the quality would be lower?

Thats what I was thinking, Peter. Surely you need 2 or 3 three times all battling it out each season for the league, cups and so forth? The quality of La Liga isn't particularly high IMO, purely cause you get Real Madrid and Barcelona battling each other for the league, then teams like Valencia et al trailing behind not being able to get a particularly nice look in on things. The premiership has at least three teams battling it for the league in Utd, Chelsea & Arsenal, soon to be four cause no doubt Man City will be up there soon enough.

If you have one team doing well consistently in the continental cups, then another 3 teams from your country going out at the first stage or something then I can't see that it would help the league reputation at all.

Brisbane did dominate this season but last season they finished 9th in a 10 team competition. Last year's grand final winner finished 9th in a 11 team comp. The league is remarkably even due to restrictions like the salary cap.

The issues with the A-League are a long list but it isn't worth the effort as SI simply are not listening to what is wrong or if they are they are making no indication of it.

The A-League is in the same position as the MLS. Out of favor supposed second rate leagues that aren't worth SI's time to get done right. It's more then obvious that they give the majority of their focus to the Euro leagues, which does make sense. But the point is, and I've said this many many times, if you aren't going to get the league done right then don't make it playable in the first place.

Now this doesn't mean things can't change. They finally many many changes to the MLS to make it a better experience, but it's still very lacking in a few areas. For those aussies and A-League fans, just keep complaining about it to SI here, post -REASONALBE- well spoken threads in the league specific issues board, and they should get around to changing it at some point. Realistically, since the MLS and A-League are so similar it shouldn't be hard for them to change things, but the MLS cap just got fixed to be dynamic in 11.1 and they didn't fix a number of flat out new bugs until 11.3. So they can get the A-League going obviously, you just have to pressure them into giving their time.

I am hpoping (and have been for a long time) that SI will get around to it but am worried about the amount of time being taken. I think that they will eventually just scrap the A-League and stick with the easy leagues to code.

i won 11 straight a league titles and 6 ACL with brisbane yet the rpepuaton of the league went down to 22 in asia. what a joke;.

It would seem that you arent getting very much help from the other teams that qualify for the continental competitions. I would say that when they start to pull their weight and get good results the league rep will go up. Or i could be wrong about what is actually going on.

I think that the foreigner rule in the A-League is a max of 2? which to me is low but thats what you get for managing there.

The froeigner rule is 5, one being Asian.

The A-League in-game is a shocking representation of the actual league. I think if the league was actually implemented correctly with all the information provided by users that a lot of the issues would not be there.

The HAL is not the best in FM11.

- The HAL has a finals series which is like the pinnacle of the league, whereas in the game its treated like a cup comp.

- I never had a problem with teh salary cap, I didn't go up at all true but was it meant to? IRL it probably gets assessed every year by a commitee or something.

I don't know much about the A-League or salary cap dynamics, but the dynamic leagues take into account all of the teams in the league, and having one team dominate the league can actually hurt it. Example I play in the Danish Superliga and do crazy well with FC Nordsjaelland, but I end up robbing some of the other bigger teams of their talent, they perform less at European level and only my rep carries the league, which drags it down. I think it's even more noticeable when you have caps on foreign players cause your forced to buy up players from the same league weakening the teams like I did in my save and (from experience) they result in having to grab talent from divisions below and under performing.

I'd recommend playing a league with no foreign cap (or a big foreign cap or just a non-eu cap) and try not to pinch players from the same league unless you pay them handsomely for them so they can spend it well and not dip in performance.

tl;dr foreign cap hurts dynamic league rep when you have/are/is a dominate team.

The HAL is not the best in FM11.

- The HAL has a finals series which is like the pinnacle of the league, whereas in the game its treated like a cup comp.

- I never had a problem with teh salary cap, I didn't go up at all true but was it meant to? IRL it probably gets assessed every year by a commitee or something.

It's supposed to go up AUD$100k every season. (See http://www.pfa.net.au/index.php?id=81 and http://www.pfa.net.au/fileadmin/user_upload/_temp_/PFA_-_Minimum_Salary.pdf)

I have resorted to waiting till other coaches get sacked, taking over and signing players who I am scouting to make other A-League sides better.

The A-League is in the same position as the MLS. Out of favor supposed second rate leagues that aren't worth SI's time to get done right. It's more then obvious that they give the majority of their focus to the Euro leagues, which does make sense. But the point is, and I've said this many many times, if you aren't going to get the league done right then don't make it playable in the first place.

Then why have they hired people just to work on these leagues?

They might not have all the rules right because they are very very complicated, but to say something like that is a bit out of order.

i won 11 straight a league titles and 6 ACL with brisbane yet the rpepuaton of the league went down to 22 in asia. what a joke;.

how did the rest of the teams do in the comps? Your team alone will not be enough to carry the nation upwards.

DLR does work it just takes time and patience, i have taken the scottish league from 15th to 6th in Europe in 13 seasons, you just have to work at it and hopefully the AI teams do better than they should.

Then why have they hired people just to work on these leagues?

They might not have all the rules right because they are very very complicated, but to say something like that is a bit out of order.

To be honest, if they hire people to research these things and it ends up like this, then I'd sack them. If I did work this dodgy I'd get sacked, so why shouldn't they?

I mean really, to say: "Oh... but they're complicaaated!" isn't really an excuse, and if it is then the company has some serious issue with the definition of complicated!

Saying it shouldn't be in is a bit rediculous though, they should instead just get it right! It's not that hard!

The problems lie in it being unique though - the data researchers who set up the A-League are forced to do so using a generic worldwide league template, and the A-League just has too many little quirks to work properly.

Then why have they hired people just to work on these leagues?

They might not have all the rules right because they are very very complicated, but to say something like that is a bit out of order.

How do you know they have hired specifically for these leagues?

foreign players ? right now you can only have 1 player outside the salary cap, those rules are not going to change anytime soon. And of course you are not going to get any superstars from the European leagues to come join you in the A-League.

The players in the a-league would struggle to get past 3 stars at their best to be honest.

Maybe you ar expecting way too much in your a-league save.

And yes, I may go Manage an A-League side in the near future also.

How do you know they have hired specifically for these leagues?

There was a thread where they mentioned it, i might be wrong on the A league but they definately have a dedicated coder just for the MLS so they can get it better, but apparently the rules can be difficult to impliment in the FM model.

The a-league is a new league and i think it was only first included in fm from fm 2007 and since then there has been massive improvements. Not only that but the only issues mentioned in the OP are the salary cap not improving with DLR (which was only included in this years version of the game) and foreign player restrictions because they annoy him. The rules as far as i'm aware are correct the only issue they're really having is implementing the DLR with the salary cap and because this is the first version with DLR its no real surprise that it may have been an issue with some of the more complicated leagues.

Firstly, The A-League has been in FM since 2005 - The first season for both products.

Secondly, no, the rules are not correct. The following rules are not implemented:

- Minimum salaries

- Youth marquees

- No trades between A-League clubs

- Correct squad number caps

- Salary cap increases each season

- short term loans at anytime (injury replacement players)

- Buy-out clause for state league players

And the following are implemented poorly or not at all:

- Marquee Players

- National Youth League setup

- Youth player of the month/year

- Final league payouts

- Players playing ACL games before they are supposed to be at the club (Michael Petkovic)

- Finals Series being separate to league (FFA's fault)

- Minimum spend on salary cap

- Match Review Panel

- International players allowed in NYL squads (they shouldn't be)

And here is how I would fix the problems:

Australian & Visa Marquees, Youth Marquees, Minimum and Maximum Salary Cap

An easy one really (I think). On the squad registration screen the following options are added: Int (International Marquee), Aus (Australian Marquee), YM (Youth Marquee) and Yth (Youth Contract). Just to clarify, the 'Yth' is required since A-League players are considered youth up to and including 21 year olds. With these options then all the squad and salary issues are managed on one screen. The YM is spread across three players and is up to a AUD$150k and is paid outside the salary cap. The Yth is for the three players that are required by the squad rules to be registered in the 23. The Int and Aus are for the marquees. Salary cap minimum and maximum will all be managed here too. Minimum may be an issue and a must but would make it more realistic. With this setup the user can manage all things financial about the squad all in one screen and no new contract types are required.

Finally, the salary cap should raise by the AUD$100k as I posted previously (post #25)

Minimum Salaries

This is a must. It relates directly to the salary cap and will help with the current ability to use the workaround of offering high goal and match payments and a small annual salary. This must be hard-coded to the league, unfortunately.

Trades Between A-League Clubs

Simple, Turn them off. It's against the rules.

Correct Salary Cap Numbers & National Youth League

This is a two-pronged approach and can be done in one of two ways:

a) Change the NYL squads from youth teams to reserve teams. Make the NYL use squad registration (14 players max as per A-League rules), then when you register your A-League team you only need to register the 23 players as per A-League rules and the actual A-League should then allow players in match day squads to be either registered in the Senior or NYL team. This approach will allow you to set your senior players to "Available for NYL team" and means you can keep your first 23 in your senior list and also keep them match fit. This approach will require regens to be left turned on but coding will need to be in place so the squad will never have more than 14 players under 21 years old.

b) Make the NYL teams into 'B' teams, install 'Youth Team Manager' and let them do the under 21 signings. Again, make the NYL use squad registration, then when you register your A-League team you only need to register the 23 players as per A-League rules and the actual A-League should then allow players in match day squads to be either registered in the Senior or NYL team. Squad registeration should always be done by the user in both situations. This approach will allow regens to be turned off and allow your youth team manager to sign them from state league clubs.

Either will work I feel.

Injury Replacement Players

Allow short term loans of up to two months at anytime during the window. I am not sure if it can be linked to injuries but if it can then link it to long term injuries (I cannot remember what the A-League definition of 'Long Term Injury' is). If it cannot be linked there will need to be some sort of cap. Loans are only available during regular season and must not progress into the finals (Pretty sure thats how the rule reads for the A-League).

Buy-out Clauses for State League Players

All A-League clubs can buy state league players for about AUD$5000. There are documents below that will state all the correct figures.

Awards

Add in the NAB Young Player of the Month and NAB Young Player of the Year.

End of Season Payouts

There are some wide ranging issues here linked to the league and finals being separate I feel. Currently, it is possible to pay your squad more than you actually earn from the prize money. The end of season payouts shouldn't just be "High', 'Normal' and 'Low'. It should also have a percentage linked to it so you can see how much the squad actually takes. I feel the EOS payouts lead to other A-League clubs coming into financial ruin by the game. I am not sure if it is an issue with other leagues but it is a big issue in the A-League.

Players Playing ACL Games

Researchers have an option to put in the date a player joins the club. I have entered all these for Victory as I felt it would directly effect when they start playing games for the club. Unfortunately, it doesn't. If you start a new game with Victory you will see that Petkovic has games from the ACL credited and Langerak does not. This was not the case. Please take these dates into account for the sake of realism.

Finals Series being separate from league

SI, when you go to renegotiate the contract with the FFA make sure you explain the downsides of having both competitions split. The FFA are not in the computer game business and I feel they really do not understand the implications of their decisions.

I posted this in the bugs forum and feel it is relevant here too.

Match Review Panel

Rules are here. Not important but will allow something different in the league.

References:

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/...360-source.pdf

Here is the link for all the transfer rules in Australia. 9.4 states there is to be no movement of players between clubs in Australia. 10.3 states the transfer fees for state league clubs to A-League clubs. These are probably the more important parts of the document but it does detail most of the rules for Australia. Note, this is a document for all clubs in Australia, not just A-League. I am not sure if SI got a copy of the regulations when the contract was drawn up.

http://www.pfa.net.au/index.php?id=81 and http://www.pfa.net.au/fileadmin/user...mum_Salary.pdf for finances.

So there is my take on what should be fixed and how it can be fixed. Please feel free to comment on what I have said here and add any further bugs I have missed. I have gone of previous posts and memory for most of my writing here. As a researcher of the A-League I do have a vested interest of the league being correct. I also feel that if SI cannot reproduce the A-League correctly then they probably should not take up the A-League contract, or if they are they get the better end of the deal.

I am interested to see if SI do have any comment to make. I understand that the rules are different from other leagues around the world but they have been pretty much the same since inception. Finally, I would love to see the post where it states who is coding the A-League. Maybe whoever is in charge can come in here and have a look at what has been written.

Firstly, The A-League has been in FM since 2005 - The first season for both products.

Secondly, no, the rules are not correct. The following rules are not implemented:

- Minimum salaries

- Youth marquees

- No trades between A-League clubs

- Correct squad number caps

- Salary cap increases each season

- short term loans at anytime (injury replacement players)

- Buy-out clause for state league players

And the following are implemented poorly or not at all:

- Marquee Players

- National Youth League setup

- Youth player of the month/year

- Final league payouts

- Players playing ACL games before they are supposed to be at the club (Michael Petkovic)

- Finals Series being separate to league (FFA's fault)

- Minimum spend on salary cap

- Match Review Panel

- International players allowed in NYL squads (they shouldn't be)

And here is how I would fix the problems:

Australian & Visa Marquees, Youth Marquees, Minimum and Maximum Salary Cap

An easy one really (I think). On the squad registration screen the following options are added: Int (International Marquee), Aus (Australian Marquee), YM (Youth Marquee) and Yth (Youth Contract). Just to clarify, the 'Yth' is required since A-League players are considered youth up to and including 21 year olds. With these options then all the squad and salary issues are managed on one screen. The YM is spread across three players and is up to a AUD$150k and is paid outside the salary cap. The Yth is for the three players that are required by the squad rules to be registered in the 23. The Int and Aus are for the marquees. Salary cap minimum and maximum will all be managed here too. Minimum may be an issue and a must but would make it more realistic. With this setup the user can manage all things financial about the squad all in one screen and no new contract types are required.

Finally, the salary cap should raise by the AUD$100k as I posted previously (post #25)

Minimum Salaries

This is a must. It relates directly to the salary cap and will help with the current ability to use the workaround of offering high goal and match payments and a small annual salary. This must be hard-coded to the league, unfortunately.

Trades Between A-League Clubs

Simple, Turn them off. It's against the rules.

Correct Salary Cap Numbers & National Youth League

This is a two-pronged approach and can be done in one of two ways:

a) Change the NYL squads from youth teams to reserve teams. Make the NYL use squad registration (14 players max as per A-League rules), then when you register your A-League team you only need to register the 23 players as per A-League rules and the actual A-League should then allow players in match day squads to be either registered in the Senior or NYL team. This approach will allow you to set your senior players to "Available for NYL team" and means you can keep your first 23 in your senior list and also keep them match fit. This approach will require regens to be left turned on but coding will need to be in place so the squad will never have more than 14 players under 21 years old.

b) Make the NYL teams into 'B' teams, install 'Youth Team Manager' and let them do the under 21 signings. Again, make the NYL use squad registration, then when you register your A-League team you only need to register the 23 players as per A-League rules and the actual A-League should then allow players in match day squads to be either registered in the Senior or NYL team. Squad registeration should always be done by the user in both situations. This approach will allow regens to be turned off and allow your youth team manager to sign them from state league clubs.

Either will work I feel.

Injury Replacement Players

Allow short term loans of up to two months at anytime during the window. I am not sure if it can be linked to injuries but if it can then link it to long term injuries (I cannot remember what the A-League definition of 'Long Term Injury' is). If it cannot be linked there will need to be some sort of cap. Loans are only available during regular season and must not progress into the finals (Pretty sure thats how the rule reads for the A-League).

Buy-out Clauses for State League Players

All A-League clubs can buy state league players for about AUD$5000. There are documents below that will state all the correct figures.

Awards

Add in the NAB Young Player of the Month and NAB Young Player of the Year.

End of Season Payouts

There are some wide ranging issues here linked to the league and finals being separate I feel. Currently, it is possible to pay your squad more than you actually earn from the prize money. The end of season payouts shouldn't just be "High', 'Normal' and 'Low'. It should also have a percentage linked to it so you can see how much the squad actually takes. I feel the EOS payouts lead to other A-League clubs coming into financial ruin by the game. I am not sure if it is an issue with other leagues but it is a big issue in the A-League.

Players Playing ACL Games

Researchers have an option to put in the date a player joins the club. I have entered all these for Victory as I felt it would directly effect when they start playing games for the club. Unfortunately, it doesn't. If you start a new game with Victory you will see that Petkovic has games from the ACL credited and Langerak does not. This was not the case. Please take these dates into account for the sake of realism.

Finals Series being separate from league

I posted this in the bugs forum and feel it is relevant here too.

Match Review Panel

Rules are here. Not important but will allow something different in the league.

References:

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/...360-source.pdf

Here is the link for all the transfer rules in Australia. 9.4 states there is to be no movement of players between clubs in Australia. 10.3 states the transfer fees for state league clubs to A-League clubs. These are probably the more important parts of the document but it does detail most of the rules for Australia. Note, this is a document for all clubs in Australia, not just A-League. I am not sure if SI got a copy of the regulations when the contract was drawn up.

http://www.pfa.net.au/index.php?id=81 and http://www.pfa.net.au/fileadmin/user...mum_Salary.pdf for finances.

So there is my take on what should be fixed and how it can be fixed. Please feel free to comment on what I have said here and add any further bugs I have missed. I have gone of previous posts and memory for most of my writing here. As a researcher of the A-League I do have a vested interest of the league being correct. I also feel that if SI cannot reproduce the A-League correctly then they probably should not take up the A-League contract, or if they are they get the better end of the deal.

I am interested to see if SI do have any comment to make. I understand that the rules are different from other leagues around the world but they have been pretty much the same since inception. Finally, I would love to see the post where it states who is coding the A-League. Maybe whoever is in charge can come in here and have a look at what has been written.

Excellent post - I agree 100%.

So, why is it FFA's fault about Finals series being seperate?

SI has said that the FFA has stated in the contract that the two series must be separate. I feel the FFA don't know the knock-on effects and if they did they would want the two merged again.

Australian FA should change their rules would make it easier on SI then.

MelbVictory.

The ideas are excellent, but of course if they are not in the game they would require lots of new code, which requires testing to avoid bugs, etcetc. I am not saying this is an excuse as to why it is not there, I myself want to play every league as accurately as possible, but patience may be required, and a constant gentle reminder that there is a good number of people pushing for this.

I just know that Australian league is broken.

And also just know that more people in this forum playing Australian League than Italian League..

MelbVictory.

The ideas are excellent, but of course if they are not in the game they would require lots of new code, which requires testing to avoid bugs, etcetc. I am not saying this is an excuse as to why it is not there, I myself want to play every league as accurately as possible, but patience may be required, and a constant gentle reminder that there is a good number of people pushing for this.

I understand you are not making excuses but constant 'gentle reminders' for the last 5-6 years has done nothing. I am hoping that some more people will jump on board here so people power gets it fixed.

Well, to be honest they haven't got one main feature of the Italian League right... Isn't that right, Juventus?!

I have come across another issue; players not being registered. I am currently in my second season with Victory and Brisbane have failed to register Mitch Nichols amoung about half a dozen others. He is their up and coming star so should be a first team regular. The other issue here is because of the salary cap I think it is more likely. Maybe one thing that could help is if the salary budget cannot be altered. Not too sure about this. SI has stated previously that they cannot implement auto-registration of players as it doesn't work. Ideas on this would be great.

MelbVictory.

The ideas are excellent, but of course if they are not in the game they would require lots of new code, which requires testing to avoid bugs, etcetc. I am not saying this is an excuse as to why it is not there, I myself want to play every league as accurately as possible, but patience may be required, and a constant gentle reminder that there is a good number of people pushing for this.

I assure you, I'm patient. Still playing the game aren't I?

I just had a look at my leagues after two seasons. There are seven middle east leagues in the top ten in Asia. Is it possible that these leagues have too higher reputation to start with? In my opinion the K-League and J-League should be top two, then Qatar, UAE and Saudi leagues, then Australia and China, then Uzebekistan, Iran and Indonesia should be top ten. The tenth spot in my opinion is a matter of debate and can easily be Oman, India, Kuwait, Thailand etc.

My point is that the Middle Eastern leagues need to be toned down in reputation.

Have any of you guys got saves of good quality managers from A-League clubs signing players that you think are less than par? If so can you please post them so I can colate them and provide a case to SI of this happening?