your personal rules

post your own restrictions to play more realistic\fun\fair

here are mine:

- no managing rich clubs

- no cheat corners

- no re-load

- no Lukaku\Neymar (wonderkids from internet, only scouted players)

would be interesting to read yours, maybe i'm missing something important

I played a save recently with Pro Vercelli where i signed players only from Italy and it was fun since i had to really focus on player development and scouting.. i want to try this again but with a weaker country since the fact that Italy normally produces good players and once you could poach the youngsters from Inter,Milan,etc was a lot easier.

Don't remember the last time i started with a high division club to be honest, the entire fun of the game to me is to bring a small club up the ranks.. in fact as soon as i win the first Champions League i usually get bored and think it's time to start a save somewhere else..

I'd also like to play a save without using player search but i can't never set my scouting network to be so efficient to the point where i can skip that option..

1. Never, ever, never, ever buy a player with less than 10 for workrate, teamwork and determination. Core requirements for a squad of champions.

2. Always get rid of, at the earliest opportunity, any player with less than 10 for workrate, teamwork and determination on any squad inherited upon taking up a new job. Core requirements for a squad of champions.

1. Never, ever, never, ever buy a player with less than 10 for workrate, teamwork and determination. Core requirements for a squad of champions.

2. Always get rid of, at the earliest opportunity, any player with less than 10 for workrate, teamwork and determination on any squad inherited upon taking up a new job. Core requirements for a squad of champions.

Should add, obviously you can build a world class team without these 'rules'. It's just my own personal rule. Nobody gets to come on the journey to glory with me, without those basics.

i signed players only from Italy and it was fun

yeah it's a good idea, in my future save i might try to sign only native players or from "friendly" countries (you know UK-Ireland-Wales, Russia-Ukraine, Sweden-Norway-Denmark etc). And another idea i have to play a season in top league with average club without signings to see what i can achieve if compare with IRL (all i need is precise research, i guess UK and Spain are okay)

* No players scouted with "inconsistent performer", "selfish player" or "problems with injuries" as weaknesses... There's little point in having potential superstars who'll never amount to anything because they'll play 1 good game and 10 crap ones, or they'll just go from injury to injury.

* Also, no "Silver Star" youngsters with allegedly high potential... If he's 18 and he's still "silver", he's probably never going to fulfill his potential

* Determination >=15 for youngsters. Workrate/Teamwork are a bonus, but some roles (striker) can do with lower values as well

* No big fees for players over 24 unless it's an emergency... No way I'm going to fork out 15-20M for a player with ridiculous wage requests and just 2-3 good seasons in him.

* If you ask for wages over 5M p/y you're on your way to the transfer list.

* Players over 30 or with an expiring contract who aren't Tutoring material (ie Determination <15) must go...

* Max 3 reloads per season, not allowed in 2-leg games or in the final month of the season.

On my current Chelsea save I'm going for something a little different. Not quite a rule, but an aim, which is "Most players from outside the top nations as possible", with the most "multi-cultural squad". It's quite fun, I like scouting different regions looking for hidden talent. My DM from Gabon is my favourite 'obscure' find so far

- I always try to build teams with players from the country i´m managing in.

- Sell players before they turn 30.

- Rarely buy players older than 21 , Never buy any players over 25 years.

- No cheat corner tactic

- No reload

- Always set up a good youth set up

- Never buy players who are unrealistic overpriced

+++

post your own restrictions to play more realistic\fun\fair

here are mine:

- no managing rich clubs

- no cheat corners

- no re-load

- no Lukaku\Neymar (wonderkids from internet, only scouted players)

would be interesting to read yours, maybe i'm missing something important

-No transfers for 1st season(unless i'm doing LLM), so basically as the squad is.

-No 48mth installments

Can't think of anything else. I'm game for managing rich clubs, although i tend not to buy known wonderkids and focus on more intelligent transfer activity, not assorting a dream-team. I'll never buy Neymar, although i have bought Lukaku before. Also, i will never buy a player who i deem to be an unrealistic target in real life. For instance, if i am managing Sunderland, i won't buy Neymar/M'Vila etc, who are easy to buy.

* Max 3 reloads per season, not allowed in 2-leg games or in the final month of the season.

haha that's a good one. i may adopt that

*Always develop youth players.

*Discipline is paramount, I have no time for two footed hacked tackles.

*Always defend players publicly even if it confuses them and others, I'll slap them silly in the dressing room or at the club but I follow Ferguson's policy of not whinging to the media.

*Never buy inconsistent or injury prone players. These guys usually get shifted unless they're under 18 because at least then it can be solved.

*Priority is given to youth players on the transfer market.

*Players remain forever if they have a role at the club.

*Players to be sold if a stupid offer comes in for them (i.e. Barca wanted Wes Brown off United for 11million when he hit his 30's in FM2010. Who am I to say no? He wasn't even backup at that point.)

*Always accept the referee's decision (as a referee myself this is a vital one.)

*Always criticise the referee's decision if he's failed to turn up (>.> I expect a high quality of refereeing, I have no time for card-splashers or those who are biased.)

*Wages are set by me not the player.

*Wages are set by the player if he's Eric Cantona or anyone remotely as godly as him.

*Anyone who looks disinterested too often for my liking in a match will be offloaded.

*Scouting networks will be encouraged. I'll only sign players from the network or suggested by the staff. I've not the time to go trawling through player search too often.

Think that's about it...

I just play the game without cheating and only quit the game when I have to reboot the computer. I only save after the fifteenth match, regardless of results... every 15 matches played = screenshots and save game. The only exception to this is when I save it on the 1st August every season..

I don't sign players who my scouts/staff haven't brought to my attention unless something else in game attracts my attention to them (e.g. a superb performance against my team, player of the month awards, etc). I wouldn't be 'playing the game' if I signed a player because I saw his name on a forum post..

other than that, I just play the game and see where it takes me... this is the beauty of FM, everybody has a different way of playing and everybody enjoys their way of playing the game even if others frown upon it or even downright criticise it, we play our way and love it!

I do not use editors to see CA/PA or adjust players/staff/clubs. I use the original unmolested database and never tinker with the save even though I do have FMRTE installed (I was curious, it was 11.2.1 patch version, and it's way too complicated for me...)

* Also, no "Silver Star" youngsters with allegedly high potential... If he's 18 and he's still "silver", he's probably never going to fulfill his potential

Is that generally true? Didn't know that. No wonder I'm a bit hit and miss with bringing through youngsters, as I tend to focus primarily on their potential ratings. :o

* Max 3 reloads per season, not allowed in 2-leg games or in the final month of the season.

You crack me up RBKalle!

my first rule is: no shame in managing AC Milan in every FM as my main save game, major clubs can be equally challenging and fun hehe

second: get by the first season through loans then aggressively target youngsters from other clubs through scouting or knowledge from previous games or real life

third: sign an egyptian player in my second season if he's good enough in FM as he IRL

fourth: barely spend any transfer money in the first 3-4 seasons unless on a quality youngster (under 18)

fifth: always create my own tactics and training

sixth: no "cheats" (reload, player guides, downloading tactics, unrealistic tactics, ....etc.)

First Rule: Never, under any circumstances, apply, or declare interest, or start as... Southampton.

Second: Don't buy players over 25.

Third: Look for english players first.

Fourth: Aim to not spend too much on transfers.

Fifth: Don't know how the cheat corner works, so, don't use that!!

Sixth: Enjoy it.

*I always get angry with players wanting to leave the club, whatever their reason. I set their squad status to 'not needed' and put them on the bench.

Very unprofessional but so realistic

*I never sign a new contract unless I get a pay rise.

*No fights in the locker room tolerated, the first one to dislike someone else is sold asap.

*I criticise my fiercest rivals' managers.

*I try to convince club legends to stay at the club and take a coaching job.

*33 and older out, except for goalies, legends and the ones I like.

My rules:

(1) Buy Canadian player if he's good and within my budget

(2) Buy American player " " "

(3) I must be the highest paid member of the team (unless you're really good - like when CR7's annual salary was $2 million more than me!!)

(4) Don't buy inconsistent players, unless you manage in Indonesia, because nearly every player is inconsistent!

That's really it.

* If you ask for wages over 5M p/y you're on your way to the transfer list.

I'll never transfer list players because of wage demands. Personally because I have earned more than $5 million a season myself.

1. Don't re-load.

2. Always start at the lowest division in a country

3. Never manage Spurs

4. Most importantly have fun. I'll ignore these and any other rules if it means I'd enjoy the game more. Cept managing Spurs >:|

I'm suprised that people are so extreme with "older" players, i'll sign players over 25 all the time just as long as they have a good personality to be tutors and i'll snatch the occasional free agent over 30.

Simple Rule:

No visible attributes what-so-ever.... (you need a modified skin for it to work).

> Start unemployed with low rep.

> Be realistic when considering job offers. Take the money on offer into account and always try to stay employed.

> Don't sign players i've had before.

> Deal with press conferances in the way I'd respond in real life.

> NO reloads. The game doesn't cheat, so why should I?

> Don't look for amazing potential signings on the internet.

> Only use FMRTE to fix established bugs.

> Don't reject players just because they are old. That way lies missing out.

> Never spend over the wage budget.

> Leave the club in a better state financially than when I started.

1. Use iranian players even tho if you got zlatan on the team

2. Buy iranian youngsters and scout iran 24/7

3. never accept any job offer try to stay untill i get a son

My Personal Rules

Never eat yellow snow

Never sign anyone over 32

1. I don't use 'fog of war' and can see attributes for any player.

2. Never look for players or search a player's name.

3. Only go on scouting reports and coach's reports.

4. Never Re-load.

5. Never break a contract. I won't leave until my contract's up.

6. Always start as 'semi-pro'. Sunday league is pointless and ridiculous.

I dont really have rules just guidelines.

I dont sign players who are at their potential or past their potential.

I dont let any player think they are bigger then the club.

- No reloads. Ever.

- When morale drops, grit my teeth, and applaude my sides effort- despite the result.

- Spend at least 30 mins every pre season searching for players on a free.

- Never sign a striker with a combined finishing/composure of under 20

One of my major rules is no transfers for first season, except an emergency loan type. So i have the same squad that the team IRL would have for the first season. I hate the idea of buying new players in general, but straight off the bat especially so. That is unless i'm managing an obscure Norwegian side then i do whatever it takes to win!

Another rule is no 48mth transfers. EVER. And only spend what i get given.

...5. Never break a contract. I won't leave until my contract's up....

I like that one. Might steal/borrow it off you.

- Spend at least 30 mins every pre season searching for players on a free.

Mine would be more like: Try not to spend five hours searching through the likes of Rwandan U19's on the off chance they have a good regen...

- no reloads

- no mucking around with tactics for more than 10 minutes per season

- no mucking around with training for more than 10 minutes per season

- rely primarily on scouts and coaches for advice re: teams and signings

That's pretty much it

never play fabisnski almunia scillacci bedner denilson rosichy

always have split screen and my stats on the home side and match stats

never tell all players pleased at half time

never give into wage demands regardless of who it is

clean out dead wood

never sell players to everton aston villa

only sell real good players abroad not at home especially goal keepers

never loan players im trying to sell cos the almost never sign and you loose value

Another rule is no 48mth transfers. EVER. And only spend what i get given.

Your the second person who said that, I dont get why its seen as some bad thing?? Or am I just missing something obvious...

Your the second person who said that, I dont get why its seen as some bad thing?? Or am I just missing something obvious...

Because it allows you to spend up to four times your regular budget and makes the game easier.

What are cheat corners?

1. Don't manage in England

2. Never manage a top club

3. My DC's MUST be at least 6' with better than average pace for that league

4. Never sign a goalkeeper with an Eccentricity rating of more than 9

Your the second person who said that, I dont get why its seen as some bad thing?? Or am I just missing something obvious...

I didn't say it was a bad thing, people can play the game however they want, which is none of my concern. Installments are just how transfer work these days, but when i see people spending £100m on Neymar, Hazard, Lukaku etc etc, i know it's all done on 48mth installments, which is not realistic, and i like to play in as realistic way as possible. It's not only that, but the clubs they are signing for, Sunderland, Newcastle etc etc. Neymar is just not going to S'Land. EVER. Well, not in 2010 anyway. And that's another rule, i generally don't sign player who i think are unrealistic targets. I.e- Lukaku for Everton etc. Takes an amount of subjectivity but no matter.

What are cheat corners?

There is a corner exploit where your Cb's(or whoever is running at the far post during corners) will overpower the opposition and score tons of goals. That's why you see on people's saves that their CB's are in double figures

I just set it to mixed, and tell my CB's to go forward, and it doesn't happen often at all, so i'm not exploiting it. Unless i desperately need a goal

1) Become financially stable within three years of taking charge at new club. (Run at a profit over a season).

2) No wages over £90k p/w.

3) Always try and ultilise youth,

As managing Ajax I've set myself following rules:

1) No transfers more expensive than £2m

2) When there's a big offer for my player (2,5 times his value or over £10m) I let him go.

3) Buy only players to positions that I don't have anybody coming from youth ranks

4) Buy only youngsters, with Dutch/Belgium nationality

5) Never buy anyone from Feyenoord/PSV

I left all the set-piece settings as standard, but Gary Cahill scores quite a few from corners. Am I accidentally cheating?

Anyways, I don't really have many set rules, more like loose guidelines:

- Always try to stay within budget, i.e. always pay up front for players, no silly wages.

- Look to develop youth where possible, but not at the expense of buying players for the present (unless I'm at a rich club with tons of spare cash).

- If I can buy players of the same nationality of the league I'm managing in, I will. But if a better player is foreign, I will have no qualms about buying them instead.

- I keep players for as long as they are performing, regardless of age.

- Troublemakers are out of the door - no matter how good, or who they are. My squads are more serene than a Buddhist temple.

- I rarely sign a player if he: has low teamwork, workrate and determination stats, pace/acceleration lower than 11, and I never sign players who scouts tell me "doesn't enjoy the big games".

- I do reload, but only in certain situations when the game "*freaks out" as I call it.

*So, for example; having 7 players red-carded (straight reds) in the space of 6 matches, 3 players going down with the same injury (hip injury, 3 months out) within the space of 20 mins of each other in the same match. Basically things that are as likely to happen in real life as a little green man knocking my door and asking to borrow some sugar. But then, I've got Southampton to 2nd in the Prem and into the knockout stages of the Champions League, and I think the little green man will be knocking my door before that actually happens, so maybe I should re-think that one! :o

Besides the obvious (for me) no reloading/no FMTRE:

-I usually play as an unplayable club (from the division below the lowest playable league - holiday the first season and manage a team that is promoted into the lowest league)

-I try and keep the squad as native to the team's country as possible (I won the UCL/Eredivisie double with Feyenoord with an all-Dutch squad, for example)

-Try and develop young unknown/unpopular talent rather than known wonderkids.

-Only DB edits are to fix competition names/3 letter competition names/Award names.

-Always run a club at a seasonal profit, if not a monthly one.

-Only use my own tactics.

- Have fun

- If you lose its not your fault its ur multi millionaire players or refs

- If you get annoyed spend 30 mins shouting at your brother why your annoyed and why the game is wrong and how my man utd is better then sunderland and darren bent is cheating to score against me ( sunderland are my bogey team bent always scored against me (11.2)

1. Don't manage in England

Why? Just curious!

Only rule anyone ever needs:

1. No Keith Andrews!

Why? Just curious!

probably because it's full of blood-sucking money-grabbing leeching mercenaries who have, as a result, dragged the level of English international football down to the level of San Marino...

either that or he just doesn't like managing in England..

I usually only start one save on each version. This one I actually discarded that rule, got a save on my laptop that only has a few of the top leagues running because the computer isn't really powerful. The other day I decided to try the game out on my desktop and loaded up 42 divisions and a large database.

Off the top of my head:

- Not a rule, but I never start with a team other than A.C. Milan.

- I never sign players over 24. But I mainly target under 21 players.

- I start to offload players when they hit 32. If they are looking the possibility of coaching after retirement, I offer them a new contract, as player/coach, one year with the extension after 20 games clause and I don't play them, forcing them to retire and become coaches. Unless, they've got a couple more years and can play to 34 or 35 like Nesta, Pirlo, Ambrosini etc.

- Never download tactics or training schedules. Solely use what I create.

- No cheats like FMRTE or Genie Scout. I don't even check player CA and PA. Just scout reports.

- I get rid of unprofessional players who whinge about training workload. Got rid of Robinho for £14.5 million to Chelsea.

- No selfish players, unless strikers. Ibrahimovic is damn selfish, but can't get rid of him due to his wage demands. But he's a goal machine, so not fazed about that. Besides, as a poacher, that's all he's there for and he does a fine job.

- Never appeal against ban. If ban is for professional or violent behaviour, a week's fine and I make a note of it. Otherwise, I issue a warning. Team is best disciplined in the league with just 33 yellow cards and just 1 red.

- Instantly get rid of youth players with a PA of less than one star. Keep those with star ratings of 1 to 2.5 for under 20 before getting rid of them. I only bother with ratings of 3, having them tutored and the whole she-bang.

• no reloads, ever (I know I shouldn't be surprised, but some of you actually do this? sigh)
  
• fog of war always on
  
• no in-game editors or external scout utilities to see hidden attributes
  
• more a guideline than anything else, but I always buy players through the scouts and the search, never through "known" players from good player lists. Sometimes I even go as far as letting a game holiday for a few seasons before starting, so I have to find regens and scout/search the market, rather than pick known players.
  
• always try to build my own tactic, only download someone else's if I try for a while and can never get my own tactic going well, which isn't fun
  
• corners set to mixed so I don't feel like exploiting the corners too much. I do have each centre-back attacking each post so they bag a good amount of goals, but then again my team has a world-class corner taker and two giant centre-backs, so I consider it realistic to play for my strengths.
  
• never use instalments to buy players at all, always pay the full transfer at once.
  

This is realistic and challenging enough for me. I don't need to go nuts like the LLM guys, just have to be sensible.

Hehe great thread. My personal rules:

- Never give an agent more than £500k in agent fees, for any contract, no exceptions. Don't care if I'm getting Messi for free, if his agent wants £550k in agent fees I'm walking away.

- Always pick a tactic + variations (mostly strategy) in pre-season and then stick to it until the season is over.

- All players over 31 get rolling 1-year contracts, not gambling on them to stay fit.

- Always fine at least 1 weeks wages for any player getting a lower match rating than 5.9.

- Every 2-3 weeks I take a look at the Confidence panel to see what players are in good form. I talk to everyone and tell them they've been playing well, and if their avg rating in the last 5 matches is above 8.00, I tell them they're key players. Also do the same for underperforming players.

- Always max out the Tactics slider to at least the lowest notch on 'Intensive' on ALL training schedules - mental attributes are the most important attributes for all positions in the game. Also, get a Tactics coach with at least 4.5 stars.

- Never pick more than two tactics to train in the Match Preparation panel - and max out the slider during pre-season, with the Special Focus Area set to 'None'. Not until all familiarity levels reach 100% fluid do I lower the workload to 'Very Low' (to maintain familiarity levels) and start setting the Special Focus Area to 'Team Blend' for the first couple of months of the season. After that I switch between 'Team Blend' and either 'Att Mov' or 'Def Pos', and in the final 2-3 months of the season I just keep it on 'Att Mov' or 'Def Pos' without switching back to 'Team Blend' between matches.

I have lots more, but this is turning into a wall of text. =P

Mantralux, how do you ever sign any players with the 500k rule?

I have different rules for different save, for my Crewe save.

1. Never hand out a contract of more than 100k a week no matter how big of a club we become.

2. Age doesn't matter sign anyone who is good enough.

3. Fine any player who plays under a 6.

4. Never sign a player who I have signed on a previous save.

For my journey man save with the quest to win every continental equivalent of the champions league there are not many rules at all. I spend as much as possible to improve the squad because I do not care about the long term financial security of the club because within 4 or 5 seasons I will be leaving.