Do you have any strange rituals or "rules" in FM?

I have never noticed this on myself before, but I have some things I alwas/never do when I'm playing:

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<LI> I never ever sign players from Brazil

<LI> Eastern European players > other players

<LI> I can't manage a team if I dont have the correct kits and logos

<LI> From Africa, I only sign players if they are from Togo or Angola

<LI> It's impossible for me to play with two up front

<LI> I can't play a D LC on left back

Well that's mine. What's yours? I know you have them!

When i'm playing a game, I have to put my mouse cursor in my teams box, and i can't change the speed or highlights settings

That's some bizarreness. I don't think I do anything like that, except that I'm pretty meticulous to make sure all the possible teams have kits and logos.

Since CM 01/02, I have always put the mouse in the top left of the screen if I am at home, or top right if I am the away team during a match.

Dunno why, but for some reason I seem to do better when I do this , or maybe its just me.

# I never ever sign players from Brazil

# Eastern European players > other players

Im the exact opposite, at one point my man utd team had 7 brazilians

i don't buy non-EU players, but i'll always look for brazillian/argentinian players with an EU second nationality.

i never have MCs, or i retrain them to AMC/DMCs (same with ML/MR etc)

i don't buy many french players for arsenal

i put minimum release fees on every player after a few tough lessons losing superstars for pennies in spain

can't think of any more...

Always sign Tommy Hoiland

I always Re-train all Central Defenders to Sweepers but then never use them as Sweepers. Don't know why i do it just do.

I can't play with wingbacks, and I always make a sub as near to 59/60 minutes as possible.

I also never click tactics when the oppostition are on the attack. Silly I know, but...

I've got loads, but heres the ones off the top of my head.

[x] I always have the cursor in the net of the goal to which I'm attacking.

[x] I only make subs on the 60th or 75th minute, unless of injury.

[x] I only sign players under 21 years of age, or over 31 years of age. (don't ask)

[x] I try to sign as many players from the nation I'm playing in. (Homegrown)

[x] Every season, the best youth player thats promoted gets straight into my first team, for at least a season

[x] I wont play ML / MR - only AML / AMR, even if the position they play in is MR / ML

[x] I never have MC's in my squad.

[x] All DC's will be retrained to D RC / D LC depending on the favored foot.

[x] A right footed DC plays on the right of defense, and a left footed on the left. I never play to Right footed or two left footed DC's together. This may result in me playing a potentially worse player in a match.

[x] When playing in Cup games v teams lower than me, if any players scores 2 or more goals against me, I will try my best to sign him.

[x] Staff are promoted from within, as much as possible.

thats all I can remember right now, but there are lots more

Originally posted by NepentheZ:

[x] When playing in Cup games v teams lower than me, if any players scores 2 or more goals against me, I will try my best to sign him.

Best thing I have ever read, right there

Oh, I only drink water or milk while playing. Anything else is bad luck. (Based on lots of research)

And if I lose a game I have to do 20 push-ups.

I bet I have more, but I cannot recall anything at this moment

Originally posted by NepentheZ:

I've got loads, but heres the ones off the top of my head.

[x] I always have the cursor in the net of the goal to which I'm attacking.

[x] I only make subs on the 60th or 75th minute, unless of injury.

[x] I only sign players under 21 years of age, or over 31 years of age. (don't ask)

[x] I try to sign as many players from the nation I'm playing in. (Homegrown)

[x] Every season, the best youth player thats promoted gets straight into my first team, for at least a season

[x] I wont play ML / MR - only AML / AMR, even if the position they play in is MR / ML

[x] I never have MC's in my squad.

[x] All DC's will be retrained to D RC / D LC depending on the favored foot.

[x] A right footed DC plays on the right of defense, and a left footed on the left. I never play to Right footed or two left footed DC's together. This may result in me playing a potentially worse player in a match.

[x] When playing in Cup games v teams lower than me, if any players scores 2 or more goals against me, I will try my best to sign him.

[x] Staff are promoted from within, as much as possible.

thats all I can remember right now, but there are lots more

[x] I never ever, ever, watch penalty shootouts. I switch to the forums, or to another screen as they take place.

[x] I put an Astrix at the end of a players name if they have potential to become class.

[x] I put an apostrophe at the end of a players name if they need first team football via Loan.

i only buy players that were found by my scouts before. so i never use the search --> players menu

i think its one of the LLM rules

I also never watch penalty shootouts, mostly because they're just really boring.

Also I never sign Africans, until they sort out the scheduling of the African Nations, I never will.

*) I always have the cursor on the menu bar when playing a match

*) I never press the continue button from the bottom of the screen

*) Any player in the reserve who is 21 or over are either sold or moved to first team

*) I never buy players who's name I cannot pronounce

-What a player looks like can sometimes put me off, mostly with regens

-I cant take off regen pictures until about 7 or 8 years in because for some reason i need to know whether they are regens xD

-I search random words in the search bar as a way of finding staff and players

-When playing in lower leagues I nearly always have 1) a brazlian central attacking midfielder, 2) A portuguese winger and 3) an african defender. Dunno why but in lower leagues there seems to be always good players who fit in those positions =P

1) When the opposition have a penalty, I make sure my GK's name is showing and put the cursor over part of the goal(Make goal as small as poss.)

2) I always try to sign the player who scored most Prem goals. (Or Champions League)

3) Im very loyal, dont agree with selling players at a certain age.

- never sign a player over the age of 27

- if a rival in real life signs a player i don't buy them

- if mr wenger signs the player irl then i sign them if reasonable

- i must play at least 1 pre-season friendly wearing each kit of mine (home, away, third)

- i always play the champions league theme before a CL game

- i always play the national anthems before any international game

- i always play god save the queen, and abide with me before an fa cup final

- staff roles are primarily for ex-players

- the captain is never a wide player or an attacker, prefer DC, but DM, MC and GK are acceptable in that order of preference

I guess this could be strange, considering how most people seem to play...

- I play as realistically as possible... right down to completely changing the game preferences to match the league I'm in(currency, units of measure, date format, etc.)

I always use all my available subs.

Originally posted by NepentheZ:

I've got loads, but heres the ones off the top of my head.

[x] I only make subs on the 60th or 75th minute, unless of injury.

[x] I only sign players under 21 years of age, or over 31 years of age. (don't ask)

[x] I try to sign as many players from the nation I'm playing in. (Homegrown)

[x] Every season, the best youth player thats promoted gets straight into my first team, for at least a season

[x] I wont play ML / MR - only AML / AMR, even if the position they play in is MR / ML

[x] A right footed DC plays on the right of defense, and a left footed on the left.

[x] Staff are promoted from within, as much as possible.

I only make subs between the two times mentioned, unless there's an injury.

That second rule comes into force after 3 years.

The rest I follow.

[x] I never have MC's in my squad.

[x] All DC's will be retrained to D RC / D LC depending on the favored foot.

I'll take those two up.

I also:

1)Play youth players in the cups.

2) Slag off Colin Warnock at risk of upsetting my squad- even if he's in the Conference and I'm managing the champions of China, Asia and the World.

3) Refuse to sell to Warnock or Mourinho.

4) Refuse to sell or loan to Swindon or Oxford.

5) Turn the laptop on its side, so that my team are shooting downwards, in hope that the ball will be pulled down by gravity.

i always shout and swear at the moniter if i score a goal and then its dissallowed for offside if that counts

i always play with 3CB and never wing/full backs

never play a player in the positions ml or mr always aml or amr i must have an AMC too and mentality is always set to attacking even if im winning. no idea why i do these btw lol

~~Stevie G~~

I always play 2 up front. Well, except on one save when I alternated between 4-2-2-2 and 4-1-2-3 (the 3 was FL-FC-FR so not really a strike partnership)

I only ever play one of 4 formations, the 2 mentioned, 4-4-2 diamond, and 4-1-3-2 (1 DMC, 3 AMCs with farrows!)

I always retrain my strikers to AMC, none of my players play only in 1 position (except Goalkeepers) I never buy anyone of 29 years+. For some strange reason when ever a match is being played the cursor HAS to be off the screen, i dont know why. I also try to tell my players what to do, but when they didn't respond, I decided to stop.

If my team gets on a good run of results, I feel like I can't stop playing as next time I boot up everything seems to go wrong.

I only ever sign players if they look good visually, even for regens

I don't like signing players if they don't visually look like they are a good player

My rituals/rules...

1) I must receive my managerial salary in US dollars (i set currency in US Dollars, no matter what league I'm managing in)

2) Always sub players (all three) between the 60th and 70th minute

3) I like buying Slovenians and Czech players (if I have the money)

4) Sign players from my old team when I move clubs

5) Give a personal team talk before, at half-time, and after the game

6) Watch Toronto FC games in the European offseason

-i have wages in yearly cost.

-always use uk pounf sterling currency (have done since cm 94-95 or so)

-always play a long run with lazio and cesena italy.

-never play fotballmanager before finalpatch is out months after initial buggy game is out

-always hit my space when iget angry so my kyebboards are short lived at home

-never reload or edit in the game whut so ever

- i like to play 4-4-2 formations or 3-5-2 formations with wing game and crossers.

-always follow my fav team sunderland in the game and try to help them sometimes by selling players cheap or buy players no one wants from them if i have the money.

-always read svenskafans.com when game is processing and its very slow on my 4 year old computer.

I always sign young Scots are try and develop them.

I always look at the players who are available on a Bosman, or out of Contract at the End of Season.

I always sign Barry Ferguson as am Assistant when he hangs up his boots.

I never bring Ex Celtic players to Rangers.

Originally posted by Ridleys:

I don't like signing players if they don't visually look like they are a good player

Me too, forgot about that.

1) always have at least 1 aussie in my side no matter how crap they are

2) make 2 subs at 60 minute mark and then the last 1 anytime after 73 minutes

3) must have a can of coke no matter what

4) scandanavia is a goldmine for youth players so i scout there as much as possible.

5) must be wearing any type of sporting jersey when playing wether it be my chelsea, psg, roma, ajax, dutch national team or my beloved brisbane broncos rugby league jersey

1) During Penalties, when shooting I always hold a pen in my hand, when stopping, I pull my shirt over my head and look at my nipples. (I used to do this in my youth footy games and just kept doing it in FM)

2) Never force a player to "take an injection"

3) I also play the CL theme songs before my cL matches.

4) After being knocked out of a cup I play November Rain. All 9 Minutes, and can't continue on until it's finished.

5) I will not awnser the phone, door, instant messages etc. during extra time, even if pausing is an option.

6) Eat meat during first match of every career( This isn't really superstitious, i just realized I seem to always start up a new career at lunch).

7) Make a thousand pound offer for Ronaldo at least once a year.

I do have some, yeah, not as bizarre as some in the thread however, okay, maybe a bit.

- When I watching a match and don't need to make a sub etc. I must put the cursor in between the pitch and the menu on the left hand side, otherwise the world will end, it doesn't matter where about in between those lines though, I'm not insane

- In the tactics screen I always pause the game if the opposition has the ball

- In choosing a club to manage I have to like the team colour, no weirdness, like orange and green etc. Then, if they have a logo again I must like it

- I'll scout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland every season (if my scouts can go there obviously)

I always click the top screen play button at home and the lower play button when I am away.I always sing the champions league theme for them matches and as I am manager of bayern Munich at the moment then I talk to my players in German,strange I know but they do improve

This is a great thread. I was worried for a minute that I might have a slight form of OCD on FM, but it seems like it affects everyone so that's fine.

Here are mine :-

* I always look on wikipedia at the club I manage, and the city/town to get info about it (currently Orihuela of Spain).

* I look on google earth to find out how far away my regens were born from the club.

* I look on google earth to see how far away potential feeder clubs are from the club.

* I always try to stay loyal to the group and try not to sign too many players or sell them. I also like to promote from my yuoth team.

* I always position my cursor aon my team tactics button.