No Assistant For Me

I just wanted to make thread about my current, and what will probably be my last, FM11 save. I started it on Monday gone and am only just getting to Christmas in the second season. I started the game with various leagues loaded etc. But, as the thread title suggests, I decided to play, forever and always, without an assistant manager.

I've always relied heavily on my assistant where ever and when ever I have been before on every FM/CM I have ever played. When I see people writing about their journey man saves the first thin everybody ever does is sign the best Assistant available to them. I don't know why but I wondered what it would be like without one to rely on. Could I still be successful? Or would I be like Brian Clough without (can't remember his name, oops) his assistant that he enjoyed so much success with.

Well let me tell you, it's harder than I thought, and so bloody time consuming. I started the game as Cardiff and with a minimum requirement of promotion and a media prediction of 2nd (if I remember rightly) it was nothing short of a miracle when I didn't get sacked after finishing 12th.

But has anyone ever done a save like this before? I know it is just one small change from how I would normally play but I'm having to do a lot of the work, all of the leg work, myself. I've ignored the backroom advice screen largely too. But it has made me realize that I've been addicted to ass'man.

Peter Taylor was Brian Clough's assistant. I don't think I'd be able to do it frankly, I rely on mine heavily, and I imagine most real managers do too.

Ask Carlo Ancelotti, he won't have a save without an Ass Man either

I only get him to do little bits. I do my own press conferences and team talks. I don't see the team report screen as anything more than a novelty. By now, there are no unrealistic transfers to filter out.

However, when I began, I was struggling. Getting him to automatically apply opposition instructions seemed to make a massive difference compared to what I was doing (marking the strikers, closing the wingers and suchlike), and all of a sudden, I was winning games.

Good luck with it.

Biggest problem I would have is the lack of the unrealistic targets filter in player search. Why that is inextricably linked to having an ass man is beyond me.

^ Oh god I forgot about that, and the biggest problem is you can't filter staff either. Want an assistant now? You've got to sift through a load of people who aren't interested.

Also not being able to spot complacency on the pre-match report could be a problem.

^ Oh god I forgot about that, and the biggest problem is you can't filter staff either. Want an assistant now? You've got to sift through a load of people who aren't interested.

I placed adverts :-)

I always find that that leads to the opposite problem, loads of people who are interested but mostly aren't good enough.

I always find that that leads to the opposite problem, loads of people who are interested but mostly aren't good enough.

That's the same with me. Adverts generally bring lots of folks but you have to sift through them all individually and they all usually end up having rubbish stats.

I had to advertise for an assman when I was managing in Indonesia cos there was no way I could play the game without one... and I got a decent one for the level... he had 3* training in most areas (2* when he had to train 2 or more.. ) When you consider that the best scout I got had JPA/JPP of 8/8 and the next best coach had 2.5* training (2* 2, 1.5* 3+) he was awesome really