several questions

1. How do you play your friendly games? do you do it yourself or you let your ass man? in the second case (what i do), do you know a way for him to use the tactics I have chosen beforehand, including selection?

2. Does anyone buy players in the beginning of the year with SOLE intention of selling them for a profit? If yes how does it go? does it pay?

3. Do you ever use the "set nickname" option? Not as it was intended to be used. Like a strategy. For example sometimes I use it to write next to the name the position a player is better at and i cannot remember it myself. or his goals/assists so I do not have to navigate through screens.

4. Has it ever happened to you that players who you thought mediocre, became stars? for example, I have 2 regens now in 2021 who i have since 2015. A striker and a defender. when i bought them i had them as back up to the subs (!). I never thought they would be someone great so I was trying to loan them out every year to earn money from them. Two years ago they played well for me and last year I loaned them out for 8M each ! now, they are superstars, have a rating of 7.0+ EVERY GAME and they are magnificent! that is fm my friends!

5. Seriously? are they kidding? I just beat Besiktas in the super cup final with 7-0 and their manager questions my approach and gives me advice on how I should have played....

3. I always use nicknames (see below). Helps my players become unique to me. I remember who they are easier. It's just a bit of fun. And it's easier to keep track of them when they have moved on (by searching for "/ \").

1. friendlies is done by my ass man, I don't care about the tactics he uses, they're just for getting the players into shape.

2. No

3. I use it for my scouts (name JA/JP) and for my best coaches (name (JA Attack/defense/GK)).

3. I always use nicknames (see below). Helps my players become unique to me. I remember who they are easier. It's just a bit of fun. And it's easier to keep track of them when they have moved on (by searching for "/ \").

nice idea! never thought of the searching part! i find it difficult though to touch the real name of a player! I don't know why!

1 - Unless i'm trying to create a tactic i play them with commentary only, no replays and at maximum speed.

2 - Only young free players sometimes.. i'll sign them and have them tutored if needed then loan them out to get their reputation and value up and normally sell on the next season, keep in mind though that you need to be a club with good reputation for this to work properly.

3 - I use nicknames on nearly everything, i nickname my scouts with the region they are scouting and their JPA and JPP to track their progress faster, i nickname my coaches with their training category Coach name(Strength) for instance, i nickname my youth team players to make them easier to identify for tutoring and to have a good idea of which players are the top prospects.

1. friendlies is done by my ass man, I don't care about the tactics he uses, they're just for getting the players into shape.

2. No

3. I use it for my scouts (name JA/JP) and for my best coaches (name (JA Attack/defense/GK)).

about the friendlies... I thought the same but my ASS man keeps using youth that i do not care about and leaves out stars that need to get fit! does it happen to you? check it!

sorry, I am stuck, what is JA/JP?

Checked my friendlies, and he seems to play everyone, including youth team. As long as my players are fit by the first match I'm happy.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/576674232706878136/6901E7EDC48D60B5015F8D6FAA2BCAB314309FAD/

^^ means he is the best defense coach with the best JA, and when I check a defensive players report, i use his opinion.

1. How do you play your friendly games? do you do it yourself or you let your ass man? in the second case (what i do), do you know a way for him to use the tactics I have chosen beforehand, including selection?

2. Does anyone buy players in the beginning of the year with SOLE intention of selling them for a profit? If yes how does it go? does it pay?

3. Do you ever use the "set nickname" option? Not as it was intended to be used. Like a strategy. For example sometimes I use it to write next to the name the position a player is better at and i cannot remember it myself. or his goals/assists so I do not have to navigate through screens.

4. Has it ever happened to you that players who you thought mediocre, became stars? for example, I have 2 regens now in 2021 who i have since 2015. A striker and a defender. when i bought them i had them as back up to the subs (!). I never thought they would be someone great so I was trying to loan them out every year to earn money from them. Two years ago they played well for me and last year I loaned them out for 8M each ! now, they are superstars, have a rating of 7.0+ EVERY GAME and they are magnificent! that is fm my friends!

1-ass man plays all friendly games unless i am setting up a tactic

2-i used to this on older versions, but mostly players i sign i have the intention of playing, it doesnt always work that way tho.

3-never use the nickname feature at all

4-there are always bargins to be found, i have on several occasions signed players for back up on free transfers only for them to become first team regulars, the best part about FM i think.

Ow:

4. Absolutely, sometimes mediocre players just fit perfectly in your tactic making them play above their usual level.

OMG the striker I am talking about in my number 4... scored 7 goals in the last 2 games and helped in the super cup final victory over besiktas with 7-0

1. depends what I'm doing... new players/new tactic I might play them in full, pure fitness only then probably let the ass-man. I generally play a couple myself (especially the *most important* e.g. against rivals) then leave the rest to my ass-man

2. every player I sign I intend to keep forever or sell for profit so I guess the answer is yes... seriously though, I do sign youngsters in the lower leagues that bigger clubs have released with the intention of loaning them for a season then selling them the next (must have 3 star potential though). I will only play them if desperate but if they do well they'll keep the shirt... they can force their way into my plans that way (and some do)

3. nope, never.. I don't see the point, as I know the nicknames I give them in my head... when I'm watching a game I call them their nickname even though in the game they still have their real-name..

4. lots of times (see 2) one in particular is my left-winger signed as cover... I released the guy he was "covering" for as he wasn't getting any games... he has 2 star potential and is nearly 33 and is still my best player

5. in SI's school report the manager interaction would be given the comment "must do better"

1. depends what I'm doing... new players/new tactic I might play them in full, pure fitness only then probably let the ass-man. I generally play a couple myself (especially the *most important* e.g. against rivals) then leave the rest to my ass-man

2. every player I sign I intend to keep forever or sell for profit so I guess the answer is yes... seriously though, I do sign youngsters in the lower leagues that bigger clubs have released with the intention of loaning them for a season then selling them the next (must have 3 star potential though). I will only play them if desperate but if they do well they'll keep the shirt... they can force their way into my plans that way (and some do)

3. nope, never.. I don't see the point, as I know the nicknames I give them in my head... when I'm watching a game I call them their nickname even though in the game they still have their real-name..

4. lots of times (see 2) one in particular is my left-winger signed as cover... I released the guy he was "covering" for as he wasn't getting any games... he has 2 star potential and is nearly 33 and is still my best player

5. in SI's school report the manager interaction would be given the comment "must do better"

1. οκ

2. i mean with the sole intention of profit making. never to play him

3. i mean for strategy reasons. not just a nickname!

4. i get so angry that i see players i sold for 1-2M to play for Barcelona and be the best in CH L...

5. "fail" would be more appropriate for it!

1. Personally Friendly games for me are organized by my ass man and played by him, to me they are just for getting my players fit and my ass man seems to be better at rotating all the players so they all get match fit, and it leaves me extra time in pre-season to get deals done and prepare for the new season.

2.No i buy players to improve my squad if they are then sold for a profit im happy

3. i sued to all the time making the players all individual to my game and so i remember who they were, for instance i had a regen called Herman and his nationality was yup, German, so he got nicknamed "herman the german" in that season i also had "token Englishman" "poacher" and a few others i now cant remember,

4. yes quite often i buy so many young players every season there will always be players i think dont make the grade, i either sell them on where they suddenly get better alot quicker than they did in my ressies, or players who i was considering getting rid off then but they show promise with a increase in stats over the off season i manage to keep them

5. they must be i get that regularly as mentioned in another thread i love being told im "out of my depth" despite being the most successful manager in my game!

sorry, I am stuck, what is JA/JP?

In case the previous reply wasn't clear to you:

Judging (current) Ability and Judging Potential (ability), i.e. the scouting attributes that all staff members have.

I have an excessive friendly list, something around almost 10 games roughly. My team need the majority of those games to get back to match fitness as we just turned pro pretty much. But anyway, I run them all myself super speed with goal action highlights. Sometimes I slow it down, because it's the friendly games that I use in pre-season to determine whether my youth prospects are about ready to join the squad.

This year for example I have a 17 year old Oliver Culshaw, he's quite poor but I stuck him in the friendlies and he out performed my main strike force at times. So now he's played a bit with the first team and he's got my attention so he's on the bench when we're short of strikers in favour of some first teamers by way of conditioning just in case I want to throw him on.

Never use the nicknames. Not at a stage to answer the other questions sadly.

1. I always take control of friendlies, sometimes to test a new tactic and to try players in different positions.

2. On FM 11 I've never done this. In the old CM days it was easy to get Bosmans then instantly sell, but I prefer not to try such schemes anymore.

3. Never thought to do that, don't think I need to. I occasionally set a nickname just for ***** and giggles.

4. Not with regens or youth players, but I have occasionally brought in players as back up who unexpectedly establish themselves as first choice, but I'm sure that's not all that uncommon.

5. YES, seriously? What the heck is going on there? Been there got the t-shirt!!

i usually add YP1 next to acadamy players i wanna keep tracks on

1. I let the assistant take care of the friendlies, but since he is unable to both create enough friendlies and get only the first team squad match fit, I need to create up to ten friendly matches (including the super cups). That way, the whole club becomes reasonably match fit in a month's time. Any less friendlies and things could be bad...

2. No. To make a profit off a player I usually play him until he needs to be replaced for reasons of age or outdated quality.

3. No, and here's the reason why:

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/1354/laspalmassquads8january.png' alt='laspalmassquads8january.png'> Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/img]

I got all the information I need in one screen

4. Some players perform better than expected yes, and other players, despite being world class, disappoint me.

5. That mind-game comment is nonsensical. Of course, the whole media/manager interaction system is flawed at its core.