Playing as a crappy team - tips?

so i'm fairly new to the game, and don't want to play as big name clubs, but rather small ones.

any tips on how to start winning games? do i get best coaches or try get best players money can buy early on? mixing the 2 doesn't quite work..

Good players playing in the right places

Consistent lineup and tactics

Large cash payouts to the refs

so i'm fairly new to the game, and don't want to play as big name clubs, but rather small ones.

any tips on how to start winning games? do i get best coaches or try get best players money can buy early on? mixing the 2 doesn't quite work..

It depends a lot on what you think is a crappy team?? .... is it Birmingham, Derby or Tamworth?

more like fc minsk in belarus

there is no talent pool in youth, money is scarce and games can be hit or miss. i won against dinamo moscow 2-0 and then lost to osipovichi next game with literally same lineup

fc minsk has a fairly good attacking midfield for it's available players, razin sasheska rape mid attack, but it has poor finishing and barely any defence apart from rybak. the lithuanian goalee is terrible for his stats, 2nd goalee plays better every game and doesnt lose morale like main goalee.

i tried firing half the coaches and signing new ones, but rtun out of money quite soon. i tried recruiting a couple star players, but every time they seem to not perform.

i'm thinking along the lines - find all the best teamwork stat players, all potential talent res-youth and just play them for a year or two till they get good, and then with new year and new budget get a better coach?

My advice would be to try and create the tactic that you think will work best with the type of players at your disposal, then more or less stick to that, bringing in the right type of players to suit the tactic and improve the team. The worse your team, the more limited they are tactically. Keeps things simple and limit your player's liscence to do what they want. Make sure they start playing the way you want them to as well as getting the result.

For crappier teams pace is even important in forward players, however do consider buying skillful and clever older players in other positions as they are frequently cheaper and can really glue the team together.

I really wouldn't worry about coaches too much for the moment. At this level good coaches are a luxury.

Have a look in the Tactics and Training forum, there's a sticky about lower league management, by heathxxx. An excellent read for anyone interested in a small club. As a result, I let the game select my club and after 6 seasons, I'm still with Morecambe, but we're in the Championship.

Both extremes of the age scale: free transfers of veterans and loans of youngsters. It's surprising what you can get for nothing.

Tactics wise: don't be afraid to use players out of position.

I always play as Bath City (in BSS in FM10 and BSP in FM11).

As others have menitioned, go for good free transfers. There are some really good ones to be found there, that can really lift the squad. I always end up taking in about 10-20 new players. Some for the first team and some youngsters for development. Don't expect to be able to get good coaches. Usually the ones with good stats are not interested or want way too high wages, and even then, the board tends to limit you to a precious few, so the number of stars they can generate are limited as they have to cover 2-4 schedules each. Also training facilities are bad.

So if you want immediate success, go for good players. I always use the pre-season friendlies (and plenty of them) to test out loads of free "talent". I get report card reports from scouts on a whole bunch of players, and sometimes just take in some that look good on trials to see who works and who doesn't. In FM11.3 I have had some really quality players offered to me by their agent (who was subsequently fired by the players *lol*), and they seem interested in playing for me. I got a really good spanish DM in my current game, and and great Antillian striker, who sadly got injured during the trial for 5 months.

As for tactics, usually something fairly rigid and with a lack of creative freedom, as the players are usually not good enough to handle too much fluidity/freedom.

Buying better players would be a start

Have a look in the Tactics and Training forum, there's a sticky about lower league management, by heathxxx. An excellent read for anyone interested in a small club. As a result, I let the game select my club and after 6 seasons, I'm still with Morecambe, but we're in the Championship.

This

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/241531-FM11-Heathxxx-Lower-League-Management-Approach

If you bring in a lot of new players I would stick match preparation on team blending and as high as possible,which also is good to teach your players the formation you set them to play. Remember that it takes time to get them comfortable enough with a new tactic to get consistant performance.