An idea for FM 2013 - Managers and transfer bids/contract negotiations

Bit of an idea that I've been thinking about over the last few days, kind of brought on by events at Newcastle over the summer. It seems that at NUFC (not sure if it is like this at other PL clubs), that a manager identifies a player that he wants and then punts it to the MD/CE. They then decide how much to offer (if it's Derek Llambias, it'll be too low ) and also deal with the contract negotiations with the player and his agent. Appreciate that once you drop down the league ladder, then the manager will become more involved of course. Then again f FM is all about realism, is this not an avenue to be explored in a future version?

Apologies if it's already been thought of.

The problem with that is I like to have control over these things, and care less about realism for this part of the game.

Realism is good in some parts of the game, but not this.

Personally, I'd like to be the director of football and have the manager bring me lists.

I'd then ignore his list and buy my own players. I don't care about playing the matches themselves, I just want to do the team-building stuff.

Personally, I'd like to be the director of football and have the manager bring me lists.

I'd then ignore his list and buy my own players. I don't care about playing the matches themselves, I just want to do the team-building stuff.

Amen to that. Holiday the matches because they take too long...

I quite like doing both myself. So I like it the way it is

I've wanted something like ths to be brought in since chairmen were given personality traits in the game, maybe a compromise would be to have an option like the 'valid takeovers only' in pre-game preferences that allows the player to select the level of realism in their game & then when you sign a contract you can go for full control or I just want to coach you do the deals, would make the financial control statistic more meaningful as you're less likely to be given a full control over the finances if you have a record of sending clubs into financial ruin.

It could also be used to more accuately model how football/sporting clubs do business outside the UK where teh 1st team manager has less control/input in the financial aspect of transfer dealings & contract negotiations.

If I was SI, I'd be working to introduce features like this as optional.

You could play normally as you always have.

You could play with what I like to call "Total Club Control" (you can use that for free SI if you put the option into the game) where you get complete control over everything, with no Board AI to tell you what to do. Take loans, hire 50 staff if you want, build a new stadium to your specifcations, choose to scout the entire world even if you are in the conference, it's your choice.

Director Of Football Mode where you lose control of the match-day.

Director of Football mode where you are the manager who isn't given control of stuff that the DOF is.

And the option to pick these on their own all the time, or with each club having their own system that you decide if you want to join them. Ie Man City might let you have regular control. A team in the BSS might let you have total control. United might make you a director of football. Chelsea make you a manager under a DoF.

That sort of thing.

If I was SI, I'd be working to introduce features like this as optional.

You could play normally as you always have.

You could play with what I like to call "Total Club Control" (you can use that for free SI if you put the option into the game) where you get complete control over everything, with no Board AI to tell you what to do. Take loans, hire 50 staff if you want, build a new stadium to your specifcations, choose to scout the entire world even if you are in the conference, it's your choice.

Director Of Football Mode where you lose control of the match-day.

Director of Football mode where you are the manager who isn't given control of stuff that the DOF is.

And the option to pick these on their own all the time, or with each club having their own system that you decide if you want to join them. Ie Man City might let you have regular control. A team in the BSS might let you have total control. United might make you a director of football. Chelsea make you a manager under a DoF.

That sort of thing.

For something like this to happen, finances need to be improved and harder to manage. Otherwise, there is no challenge to it!

For something like this to happen, finances need to be improved and harder to manage. Otherwise, there is no challenge to it!

I have mentioned this several times but it seems that the people that will defend nonsense in the game because its realistic are happy to forego that particular objection in this scenario.

I would like it be club specific and manager specific so that some clubs let their manager do all the negotiating and be in full control of transfers whilst others dont let the manager do this at all, this could also be influenced by your own reputation and could be added to negotiations when being offered a job.

do we not already have the "interact with board" option? Doesn't that do what the OP wants?

:confused:

Nope, what the OP is proposing is an option to ask the board to deal with the financial side of the club. IIRC Spurs are a real world example, Harry will decied what players he wants but the negotiation regarding transfer fees & contracts are dealt with by Daniel Levy.

Contract negotiations are an area that I do believe need looking into as I would imagine that the days of these being handled by the manager are long gone except in very rare circumstances.

As far as I know that is how it works everywhere - the manager isnt a financial expert and isnt the one to decide how much to pay someone or how much to bid, they just put their suggestions forward and try to persuade the board into it being a good idea.

A kind of middle ground would be nice, where you and the managing director/whoever it is sit in on the bids together. You talk to them and suggest a rough figure, they come back and say yes/no and the same for contracts. They say I dont think so, you try to persuade them. It is essentially what the game already does with the interact with board, but more detailed and more important in getting a deal done.

(you can use that for free SI if you put the option into the game)

On a lot of game forums, it is in the small print that any ideas posted on the forum may be used without any credit, and you lose all rights to the idea.

I think this should definitely be looked at. It seems Chief Execs / Directors of Football are becoming more involved in transfer dealings. It could be an optional feature that can be turned on / off. If turned on there could be different degrees of control. You could have the Roman Abramovich type who takes matters into his own hands or the David Gill type who is given a list of targets by his manager and told not to go beyond the managers valuation of the player. Then you could have the Arsenal situation where they have struggled to compete in the transfer market due to Arsene Wenger's insistence on having full control of his club. It's a more realistic model and Harry Redknapp has admitted to not being involved in such deals and not knowing how much money certain players are on.

Having had a long United career in FM 11 I certainly would have liked to have this option. There seemed to be too much haggling / negotiating trying to get the transfer fee and wage to an acceptable level. Seems un-realistic that the manager would be responsible for this when it could easily be handled by a Chief Exec such as David Gill (having been given basic information by the manager). The information could include a min and max price / wage. Whether or not it's a must have signing etc...

I think there is definitely some room for SI looking into this further. Perhaps they could give personalities to chairman/chief execs which could impact on how you are able to do your business?

until they greatly improve the AI this could end up a disaster, imagine the AI being in full control of your finances, i can only imagine the wage budget after a few seasons!! haha

How can you possibly play Football Manager and NOT play the games? I don't really see the point in having the game at all, you might aswell just subscribe to a Fantasy Team..

As for the issue of transfers and negotiations - I do think that it is a good point that the game does not reflect real life, but like FIFA12 doesn't do real time 90-minute games it would take the fun out of the game. I, personally, find it an achievement when I've signed a big name player for a smaller club - from the first bid to the contract negotiation, all part of the fun. Taking that out would lose a MASSIVE chunk of game time for me anyway, I spend a lot of time looking for the right player in the right position at the right price, and I wouldn't trust anyone other than me to take control of the negotiation should they mess it up!

Because the games take over 5 minutes even when set to commentary only at the fastest speed.

You're looking at 10 minutes + for Key Highlights on the fast settings.

The match itself doesn't interest me that much once I've sorted out the tactics.

Bit of an idea that I've been thinking about over the last few days, kind of brought on by events at Newcastle over the summer. It seems that at NUFC (not sure if it is like this at other PL clubs), that a manager identifies a player that he wants and then punts it to the MD/CE. They then decide how much to offer (if it's Derek Llambias, it'll be too low ) and also deal with the contract negotiations with the player and his agent. Appreciate that once you drop down the league ladder, then the manager will become more involved of course. Then again f FM is all about realism, is this not an avenue to be explored in a future version?

Apologies if it's already been thought of.

Forest have this in place and it can be frustrating but it's good in a way as at least you stay in the financial limits of the club. But yeah, Forest have an acquisitions panel which consists of Nigel Doughty(Chairman, Owner), David Pleat, The Manager, John Pelling(I think) and some others maybe. Manager gives list and then leaves the AP to get on with it. That's how I've seen it from the media and from when Billy Davies complained about it alot.

I know, but surely after all the time invested in the squad you'd want to see the results in action? Ahh to each is own I spose.

I know, but surely after all the time invested in the squad you'd want to see the results in action? Ahh to each is own I spose.

I do see the results, I just don't see the bit in between my meddling and the result

Personally, I think the best way this could be implemented with the OP is via the manager contract negotiations.

There's already aspects of the game (Such as the chairman accepting bids if they need the money) which could be helped with this kind of approach as well. If these options were negotiated over within manager contract negotiations, it could really diversify the game and probably be more in keeping with realism also.

For example, if you were a rookie manager offered a big club job, they might insist that they control the transfers (Or at least have the ability to veto your decisions on who to sign) but if you were an experienced manager with a proven track record, you could well be left with everything to do.

For people which don't like the approach at all, simply changing their starting reputation to 'world class' would instantly allow them to do everything..

There's a lot more I could say about that idea, but if something like the OP was to be added, I honestly think that would be the best way to do it.

*I don't work on FM, so that's my personal opinion, that's all.

Those actually sound like perfect ideas - well said.

Because the games take over 5 minutes even when set to commentary only at the fastest speed.

You're looking at 10 minutes + for Key Highlights on the fast settings.

The match itself doesn't interest me that much once I've sorted out the tactics.

How do you sort the tactics without watching the match? The one can't exist without the other and neither of them can be done without the other, they're inextricably linked...

Forest have this in place and it can be frustrating but it's good in a way as at least you stay in the financial limits of the club. But yeah, Forest have an acquisitions panel which consists of Nigel Doughty(Chairman, Owner), David Pleat, The Manager, John Pelling(I think) and some others maybe. Manager gives list and then leaves the AP to get on with it. That's how I've seen it from the media and from when Billy Davies complained about it alot.

Same at Huddersfield now too, Nigel Clibbens and Anne Hough mainly deal with the transfers, although I think Lee Clark chooses the targets... having said that, there is rumour that Alan Lee was signed by Town Chairman Dean Hoyle without Lee Clark's input (Oh yeah, and DH gets involved in some of the deals )

I don't know how easy or difficult it would be for the AI to be able to sensibly control this kind of deal, but for realism's sake I think there has to be a time when it's included within the game. Although, I'd rather that SI have it working impeccably before introducing it because a feature like this going wrong could be a true "game-breaker" and most likely would be. It would certainly be cause for a lot of upset customers... (one would assume).

i really like the idea

How do you sort the tactics without watching the match? The one can't exist without the other and neither of them can be done without the other, they're inextricably linked...

I watch the matches till I'm happy, then it's holiday time until it stops working.

Yeah the matches take far too long and are an absolute pain the arse, i usually watch the first few minutes or so then holiday especially if i have gone a goal or two up.

Really wish that there was a result only button because going on holiday for the day can lead to not being able to react to certain news items etc

*I don't work on FM, so that's my personal opinion, that's all.

We don't want excuses

I suggest constant pestering of Miles, it's not as if he's busy.

Also have to say that I'm baffled to hear that some people go on holiday for matchday's, for me it's the bit between the matches that is the mundane element.

Also have to say that I'm baffled to hear that some people go on holiday for matchday's, for me it's the bit between the matches that is the mundane element.

You'd be surprised actually, I know of at least 3 guys in the office who play that way as well. We don't all play the LLM approach either, but that's not to say it isn't a fun way to play the game either

I really like the idea of it being within Your contract. So you and the board can specify if you/they want full control/partial control/no control over the transfer dealings. Seems fairly sensible, actually.