Football Manager's 'Friend Zone'

I'm sure most of you are aware of the term 'the Friend Zone'... I believe this exists in Football Manager.

After taking Walsall to the Premiership with 2 promotions in around 5 seasons, I felt things were on the up. I had a towering 19 year old centre back, a regen called Tapiwa Murambadoro. I could see him being in the starting line up for years to come, along with Hans Jorgen Jeppesen, who had finishing of 18 and was the key to taking me to the top half of the Premier League. In the second year of Premiership existence, the pair were sold by the chairman for a grand total of £8,000,000. I was furious. No way were these two worth that little. Even if I was a selling manager I would have kept them for a year at least and sold them for upwards of £15,000,000 each. And then it dawned on me.

Walsall were not a big enough club. We could attract hot prospects but not keep them, and we couldn't replace them regardless of the budget we had. They were a small big team, and a big small team. Not enough, but too much as well. Coupled with the fact that Walsall's measly 11,000 seater stadium meant that any hopes of an expansion would mean an extended stay in the top flight, which was just unsustainable...

...so I quit and went to League One Southampton. And the EXACT same thing happened. Right now I've just played the first game of the second season in the Premiership, I've overspent just to replace like-for-like players and now my first choice right back is being sold. My left back conceded 2 penalties in the first match (ironically against Worsul) and thought it was too harsh of me to fine him, even if we lost 4-3, a match we dominated.

My squad is too small for comfort, but because I've had to spend so much on replacements for key players, I haven't got any money left. Also I am absolutely furious with the way the game handles reputation...

...which leads me to my next point. How can Southampton, absent from the top flight for well over a decade, not sell-out one single league match? NOT EVEN MAN UTD?? Our capacity attendance was just 70%. We never got over 30,000 in our 32,000 seater stadium. That makes absolutely no sense to me. And how can my Gareth Bale-esque left-back, who stayed on loan for the whole 4 seasons I've been at the club, suddenly not want to be here anymore? We're on his favoured clubs list! He's left in the reserve team! He won't even enter contract negotiations (now that I can afford him)! And he has the cheek to say he is 'sad to leave Southampton' at the end of a fantastic season in the Premiership, finishing 12th. You massive c...

At this point, I can only think of two ways of winning the Prem. Be Man Utd/City, or taking a team from Conference and building your team to be better than the league you're in, having a Championship side by the time you're in League 2, which is how most people do it.

Where the hell do I go on from here?

Football Friend

Football Friend

lol unfortunately its true

this is the kind of problem rl managers have, top 4 are dominant

lol unfortunately its true

this is the kind of problem rl managers have, top 4 are dominant

Yeh the OP's problem is just one of the many things I expect from FM year after year. It seems they would rather concentrate on adding 'new' features rather than making what they have work to a satisfactory standard. This kind of thing should be sorted alongside the transfer system. And also the player interaction.

Yes these things will probably improve (slightly) for FM12 but they will still be massively flawed. All for the sake of introducing 'new' features to appear that its more than basically a data update to shift copies.

You just have to dig in and get through it. Moving up from the Champ to Prem is a big step, and it takes a while for your team to adjust. You will lose your best players to begin with, nothing you can do about that, but you have to keep finding new young talent from the lower leagues and get a few old pro's on free transfers. Avoid relegation, and gradually improve your team until you become the one that nicks players off the newly promoted teams.

As for the attendances, it takes a while for your regular fanbase to increase, as this seems to go up with reputation. A couple of seasons in the Prem and you will be filling your stadium, but you have to be patient.

I took over Leicester halfway through a season, they were struggling in 18th in the Champ. Got them to the playoffs that season, but lost in the semi. This was a good thing in hindsight, as it allowed me another season to strengthen the team and I won the league comfortably the next season. First season in the Prem was tough, but picked up a few shock results against big teams and finished quite safe in 15th. Next season I finished 11th, and this season I am up in 7th and challenging for a place in Europe.

It's been tough, I signed Hatem Ben Arfa who instantly became my star player, but during my second season in the Prem my board sold him for just £8m. I was gutted, but had to carry on without him.

the example i always think of is Blackpool last season, they were losing out to clubs a league below, players were not interested in moving there despite them being promoted.

With my Aberdeen game my rep has now caught up with my success, players no longer ask to leave for bigger clubs, and do not declare interest when big clubs come knocking, but it took 20 odd years, which to be honest i think is pretty realistic. Porto's rep didnt suddenly rocket when they won the champs league, infact even their manager wanted to go to a bigger club. Rep should only increase through prolonged success, not because of a couple of good seasons.

Well...

I understand the OP being frustrated, but I don't find the scenario he described as something wrong or unrealistic...

It makes sense for Walsall, a small club, to sell their best players (although sometimes the chairman accepts lowish offers instead of allowing you to negotiate a higher fee).

It makes sense for Southampton, a fallen mid-table act, to fail to attract/keep good players if there's something better available to them... On the same vein selling the stadium out every single time should take time and a decent amount of success...

Give it time, and it'll work out just fine... And if it doesn't, it means FM is more realistic than we thought

P.S. I'd rather read many more stories like that than "I won CL with Gateshead in 2021"... Sure it'd be less fun, but in real life a long career of respectable mediocrity and of "going nowhere" is much more likely than all the rags-to-riches success FM stories

Well, put a asking price on your players which you'd be willing to part with them for, you want £15m, put the tag on, it will ward off some bids, and those that want to bid still will offer better deals than otherwise.

I think your save sounds fantastic. Keep at it!

Improve every year.

I had a league 2 side in the conference with Luton. After promotion I bought half a team worth of league 1 quality players, and won the league first time trying. I then brought in half a team of championship quality players, and managed to go up in the playoffs in my first year. Finally, in the championship, I started to spend money rather than going for frees and put my club in debt buying 5-6 players good enough to survive in the premiership. We went up through the playoffs.

I went further in debt making sure I had 5-6 mid table premiership players, and finished around 15th or 16th. The next year I improved, selling players for slightly more than I bought them for and replacing with more aging stars. The next year I finished 10th or so, winning a cup or two. I then won the UEFA Cup, finished 2nd in the league, and managed to break even finally, for the first time in 3-4 years. From this point I spent a fortune, ended up winning the Champions League while finishing 2nd again, and the year after barely took the title.

How? Continual improvement. Make the team a little better every year, and look to step up a level every year. Once I had the title I grew bored of that save. What was left to do? I had a new (still smallish) stadium due to open, I'd lifted the title and the champions league, and couldn't see a motivating factor to carry on towards.

Once Iw as on an okay footing from that, I spent a fortune on players that could win the league. Came 2nd

Yeah, that OP makes me want to start a new save with... *plucks random Championship team out of thin air* ...Watford!

But even in Blackpools case, they literally built a whole stand over the summer to get as many people in. Krald, thats a very good idea. I shall put £100m asking price on them all!

RBKalle, you're right, it's not wrong or unrealistic, but it's a terrible position to be in. Sometimes I think to myself 'why am I up at 3am when these players are going to be sold at the end of the season anyway?'

And I can't just leave the club, I have loads of hot prospects going out on loan... I have Graeme Pepper who scores for fun and Thomas Prior who is Zinedine Zidane in disguise... okay I've lost my first match away to Walsall but let's pick up some points and improve