How Brutal Are You In Getting Rid Of Players?

Simple question, do you like me when they are over the hill or in ferdinands case got a long contract (160k 2015?) but on stupid wages and not playing Evans, Vidic and Smalling keeping him out of the team get rid of that player?

Or am I a sick person who should be locked up xD?

Depends what level you're playing at.

In the Premiership you can generally afford to have a few unwanted players on board. Hardly makes a dent in the finances.

Not quite the same in the Blue Square or similar.

So to answer the question : I'm brutal in the Lower Leagues. Ship em in, ship em out - free transfers. One season will do if neccessary. No-one is indispensible, you can always find someone of equal or better talent at that level.

Depends what level you're playing at.

In the Premiership you can generally afford to have a few unwanted players on board. Hardly makes a dent in the finances.

Not quite the same in the Blue Square or similar.

So to answer the question : I'm brutal in the Lower Leagues. Ship em in, ship em out - free transfers. One season will do if neccessary. No-one is indispensible.

Well as M.U im losing 8m a month (all loans and repayments) so i have to save as much as possible e.g. try and spend as much as i get im on 32.5m spent and 31m recouped and im looking for some expendable players at the end of the season ; Gibson , clevererly, diouf , de laet as i dont rate them on this game and im spending 1.1m a week on wages

IRL cleverly is awesome though

If you're not playing over 10 games a season(and are not a regular feature on the sub bench) you get thrown out, same if you make unreasonable demands or whine that you're trying hard in training when you're not. That's just the way i do it.

Utterly ruthless, I have no regard for sentiment if you can't do the job asked of you then there's the door.

I find it gets the results and it allows me to build title winning side after side much like my inspiration Sir Alex.

I'm brutal in the Lower Leagues. Ship em in, ship em out - free transfers. One season will do if neccessary. No-one is indispensible, you can always find someone of equal or better talent at that level.

Agree with this. I'll sometimes keep older players around on 1 year deals in the prem for tutoring purposes, but only if their wages aren't huge and it's worth it for the prospect I want to tutor. In the lower leagues with finances they way they are it's not normally worth it so if they ain't contributing to the first team squad or there is someone younger/cheaper of a similar ability they're out.

I dunno - playing as Hull City in 2020 at the moment. Found Ive kept a few of the current team for longer than I could have due to sentiment.

Cameron Stewart is an example. His stats are poor but he scores 10-15 a season from the right wing in the Prem with his pace 18, acceleration 18 (was 19,19)

Similarly with Liam Cooper - back up DC and Tom Cairney (The Ringmaster) who achieves 30+ assists per season

Other than those I start to sell at age 29/30

Utterly ruthless, I have no regard for sentiment if you can't do the job asked of you then there's the door.

I find it gets the results and it allows me to build title winning side after side much like my inspiration Sir Alex.

I have the exact same approach. If the older players will settle for lower wages and still offer something to the squad I'll keep them for tutor and effect. In 2018/2019 for my Liverpool side I started a 38 Year old Steven Gerrard and a 37 year old Xabi Alonso against title rivals Man Utd in the season run in. Both in the middle of the park, absolute majestic performance from each which resulted in a 1-0 win. Although we lost the title to Aston Villa it kept Utd from winning it. One of my best memories of FM09 was that performance and both retired at the end of the season. Words really can't describe though.

If they have one year left on contract, i tend to see if they can be good coaches and i turn them into coaches who can play in a pinch AND tutor

Once a player turns 28 or so, they're officially on a year-by-year judgement; the moment I start to see Acc/Pace/Sta begin to decline, I make a note to get rid of the player at the end of the season. I'm sick of seeing players with first-team status begin the season with 12 pace and 13 stamina and finish at 9 & 10, respectively, and are unable to play a full 90.

If you are a Club Legend or icon, you can stay. Else I have a better option, get lost.

When I start off with Chelsea, I hardly use Lampard for the first season, Drogba, Anelka as cover for whatever strikers I bring in. When they start not featuring on the bench, I offer them Player/Coach contracts, and if they reject them, they die down their contract and are gone on a free. But if its a youth or reserve player who I cant sell, I just release them

Not really to be honest though i know i would get faster results on the lower leagues specially if i was a little more ruthless.

Sometimes i'll quickly get rid of players that do stupid mistakes though.

I am usually brutal. Heck, at Truro in the EPL I sell players at 29 usually, a good 2 years before they start to properly decline. Just because I feel safer keeping new young players coming through, so I have generations cycling all the time. I aim for 3 per position, usually would result in say a 28 year old first teamer, a 24 year old rotation player who will take over from the 28 year old when he is gone, and a 18-21 year old prospect.

I do however have some sentimentality, I have kept my captain even though he is 32, purely because he is a legendary centre-back, a great player who I really value his contribution and to sell him would feel cruel. He was my captain before he was even 21 and he has been an essential first team player since 18 years of age. Led us to fourteen consecutive premier league wins and countless other trophies. I just don't want to let him go, yet I have happily let go strikers who contributed almost as much.

Legends get paid as much as I gave offer and for as long as they want to remain active.. the rest are shipped out

I'm mixture of bother i find its down to how well the player is still playing and if he can perform on pitch when need, i find this helps if player decides to become coach then when he retires i can them add them as a coach have done this Van Persie, Cesc, and Wilshire at Arsenal.

Also how many young players i have brought coming into that postion.

Legends get paid as much as I gave offer and for as long as they want to remain active.. the rest are shipped out

This. Jonathan Viera is a club legend for me, and at 2 stars he is the worst player in the team. I can afford that.

Edit: just as a sidenote he continues to perform well, though!

At the moment i've won the prem 4 seasons running as everton and just done the treble (CL,FA, league) but I still don't have a crazy high wage infrastructure to work with. So with my older players who are on wages that don't match their squad statuses i will usually tell them they aren't in my first team plans and then ship them out for a low fee. However I will always try and nudge them towards a coaching role then add them to my short-list so that i know when they retire and then snap them up as coaches. I don't know why but i really like having my ex-players on my coaching staff.

My current ex- everton player staff consists of Zhirkov, Hargreaves, hibbert and cahill.

What I hate is the team meetings where it says your 34 year old striker is earning too much. You offer them a new contract and they want more not less.

I'd love a "pay as you play" option for people over 32 or injury prone or something?

The problem is I'm unlikely to offer a 34 year old striker 200k a week to play 10 games a season. So I let them go or sell them on.

The the next board confidence thing the message is "We're disappointed with sale of 34 year old Striker"

Well the board should be delighted I cleared 150k off the wage bill for a player that according my Coaches is "declining as a footballer".

I also find that players are unwilling to sign a Youth Coach or a Coach Contract until their current contract is nearly expired. Which is frustrating.

I just get rid of dead wood though. I sort the players by coach "stars" and trim off the bottom. Then I sign players recommended by the scouts as having 4 stars or more.

Depending of course on other things, like comparing different players in the scout list and comparing those to current players in those roles.

But that's the gist of it.

Trim off the crap in the team.

I'm utterly brutal - I follow the late SFraser's squad management model, so I only have 4 or 5 players, of any age, for each position at my club. If I have a senior player at the club who isn't getting game time then he will be cut in January or the summer. I'll terminate his contract if I have to, if I can't sell.

Last time I won promotion, I brought in 20 new players, plus whatever of the new youths I kept. I dread to think how many I moved out - but 80% of my business was done before mid July.

I run a dictatorship, not a democracy. If you no longer have value, I'll have the servant pack your bags.

Usually keep some of the better older players as tutors though for a few years, or fringe players if my youngest aren't quite ready.

I'm fairly brutal, but it depends on the situation. If I'm successful I'm completely brutal - too many sendings off? Sold. Injured too often? Sold. **** performance then react badly to a fine or private chat? SOLD. In terms of age, once a player hits 30/31 I look to ship them out and bring in a younger model. In some exceptional cases I'll keep the player on if he drops his wage demands, but generally speaking I tend to sell them. After 30 players values drop significantly so it's the last chance to get a tidy profit on most players.

im not that brutal at all. I currently have a 35 year old striker who has scored over 600 goals for me and despite his age and stats starting to drop i would rather him retire at the club than sell him. I find it hard to get rid of players who i have nurtured into great players.

im not that brutal at all. I currently have a 35 year old striker who has scored over 600 goals for me and despite his age and stats starting to drop i would rather him retire at the club than sell him. I find it hard to get rid of players who i have nurtured into great players.

Needs to be done regardless. However, your striker sounds like a club legend/icon to me...

I'm utterly brutal - I follow the late SFraser's squad management model, so I only have 4 or 5 players, of any age, for each position at my club. If I have a senior player at the club who isn't getting game time then he will be cut in January or the summer. I'll terminate his contract if I have to, if I can't sell.

Last time I won promotion, I brought in 20 new players, plus whatever of the new youths I kept. I dread to think how many I moved out - but 80% of my business was done before mid July.

Super Bladesman, please could you elaborate on SFraser's management, I'd really love to hear it. Thanks.

I let Icons/Legends go if they still want to play somewhere. No point keeping them in the ressies.

Needs to be done regardless. However, your striker sounds like a club legend/icon to me...

he is a club legend and has been scoring goals for my club for 13 years so far.

Well, it depends.

If they're asking for unreasonable wages, then I'll ship then out. If they're being disruptive, asking for money way above what they're worth, and think they should be at a bigger club, I'll let 'em go. I'll purposely sell them to Man City so their career ends (170 goals in 350 games with me followed by 7 in 53 for Citeh, so up yours Dave Greenwood ) for as much money as I can get and replace them with someone brighter and smarter.

If, on the other hand, it's a loyal player, or someone who became captain, or someone who was happy to stay under my £50k/week wage cap despite being England captain, they can stay as long as they want. I'll give 'em a new contract just to sit in my reserves until retirement, giving them the odd League Cup match, or maybe a couple of run outs in the final league games. I kept a goalie until he retired at the ripe old age of 38 last season because he was happy to sit on the bench for ten years without moaning. I'd kept Hargreaves until he turn 40 since he'd single handedly saved us from relegation about three times, and refused to retire.

So not really brutal. I do get emotionally involved with my players

I do get emotionally involved with my players

If you didnt your doing it wrong lol.

I think winning Titles and Trophies have made me more ruthless. Cuz when i first started i tried to do right by the player, but at the end of the day you gotta do what's best for the club.

Although having said that in my recent save i played this 35 year old striker because i wanted him to break the club record for most league goals....he never did.

It partly depends on how far/fast my side's rising. If there isn't too much progression then older/weaker players will be less likely (but not safe from, especially if a fair size of the wage budget is being taken up) being shown the door if they still look strong/play very well, but when rising I'm eager to keep improving the squad each year as much as I can, this can be an issue after promotion to a big league when players bought in the first year or 2 become vulnerable when we're challenging for European qualification and the like, not to mention with a promotion side. Had an especially tricky situation not too long ago when I had some players perform strongly during a surprisingly excellent season which at least heralded our arrival as a 'there or thereabouts' side from stuggling to make the top half. Of special note was a CM/AMC/ST who was far more suited to the former positions, but had done consistently excellently over a couple of years as an advanced forward when I needed to play him up front, despite very low finishing. I had a lot of agonizing that summer, deciding to be ruthless and go for bringing in players with far more class, though as I feared, it didn't work too well to start off with.

Wow , i guess so far we have proven that the forum is a heartless place where results count and reps dont

( Kinda good suggests a meritocarcy in a way )

I only offer 2 year contracts to players when they reach 30 so when I see that they start to decline I let the contract run out.

I get terribly sentimental and always feel bad releasing players on a free, even if they're crap. They might have kids to support and need the wages!

I don't mind selling players to other clubs, mind.

Having said this, I'm generally quite strict with myself when it comes to signing superstar types (I very rarely buy them) and I always keep my wages under control so having a few underused players in the squad doesn't have too much of an impact.

I am usually brutal. Heck, at Truro in the EPL I sell players at 29 usually, a good 2 years before they start to properly decline. Just because I feel safer keeping new young players coming through, so I have generations cycling all the time. I aim for 3 per position, usually would result in say a 28 year old first teamer, a 24 year old rotation player who will take over from the 28 year old when he is gone, and a 18-21 year old prospect.

I do however have some sentimentality, I have kept my captain even though he is 32, purely because he is a legendary centre-back, a great player who I really value his contribution and to sell him would feel cruel. He was my captain before he was even 21 and he has been an essential first team player since 18 years of age. Led us to fourteen consecutive premier league wins and countless other trophies. I just don't want to let him go, yet I have happily let go strikers who contributed almost as much.

You are mad getting rid of players at that age. I regularly keep world class players on until about 33/34, using them sparingly at that age can mean you still get a fantastic level of performance from them for a couple more years.

I moved Pastore out the LAM at 31 and used him as an inside forward and he went on to win world player of the year, last season Babacar at 33 has his best season ever scoring 37 league goal in 26 apps. Had Cristiano Ronaldo win back to back player of the year at 32 and 33. Its all about how you use them, but if the quality is there they can perform well in to their 30's.

For what it's worth, I do get a bit of an emotional attachment to my players.... until they play badly, give away a penalty or somehow do me wrong... love turns to hate very quickly

generally sell players before the hit 30 to make as much money as possible, although the odd one or 2 is allowed to stay if i get a bit attached to them.

if i have a back up in the early to mid 20's who will never be first choice and hasnt progressed enough i ship them out. they are usually good enough for most other EPL sides and i look back at their career stats after a few years and wonder if i made a mistake.

i try to keep wages reasonable but rarely ship someone out for wanting too much money (unless i cant offer it)

Once a player turns 28 or so, they're officially on a year-by-year judgement; the moment I start to see Acc/Pace/Sta begin to decline, I make a note to get rid of the player at the end of the season. I'm sick of seeing players with first-team status begin the season with 12 pace and 13 stamina and finish at 9 & 10, respectively, and are unable to play a full 90.

many great players in real life would have they kinda stats for pace ect

many great players in real life would have they kinda stats for pace ect

Yeah but in real life the difference between Pace 12 and Pace 9 isn't that of a great player and a total disaster.

Not as brutal as I would like. Nobody will buy my transfer listed players, even if I list at half market value.

Super Bladesman, please could you elaborate on SFraser's management, I'd really love to hear it. Thanks.

There's an extensive thread by him in the Tactics & Training forum on youth development which covers this here.

Brutal is the way forward. End of first season with MUFC ditched Evra, Vidic and Carrick, end of second season saw Giggs, Park, Berbatov, Ferdinand, Nani and Owen leave. Brought in Bojan and Mbia, unimpressed after 6 months so got rid at a small profit on both.

My job is to win and keep costs down as im losing £8m a month because of the Glazers so if players not upto scratch bye bye.

Wow , i guess so far we have proven that the forum is a heartless place where results count and reps dont

( Kinda good suggests a meritocarcy in a way )

The realistic hardships of LLM - always remember it's not the winning that's important; But if you lose, you're out of the family!

I guess I'm part of the wussy minority here...

I mean, I do cash out by selling players around 29-31, but I can't help but feeling really bad about it

Actually when they're club icons or even loyal servants I still try to re-negotiate their contract on a lower wage, so I can keep them around without losing too much money.

I even feel bad when I sell okay backups (often fizzled-out wonderkids or decent academy graduates), despite it being the best choice for their career... it's just I don't like the idea of telling one of my players "sorry, you're not good enough for us in the end. Goodbye"

On the other hand I'm quite ruthless with awful youth players, mediocre backups and with players I inherited from the previous manager (because those are often terrible old geezers on ridiculously high wages...)

I'm only ever brutal in the lower leagues. Rarely sign players on loan term deals as the aim is usually to keep rotating in/out trying to get promotion. Usually works. Regularly double digit players out and in.

Pretty brutal. If I decide that a player is asking too much for a new contract, or a senior player is no longer the best in their position and I've got a couple other contenders, or I just want a change of style, I'll be ruthless. In my Liverpool team, I got rid of Reina because when it came to renewal time, he was asking for a 80k increase.....I have a good backup keeper, a top class one in fact, on a quarter of the wages....bye bye Reina. Got rid of Bale because I wanted to give a young left winger the 1st team berth, but didn't want to waste Bale on the bench.

That said, I'm not always harsh. I allowed Carra to stay as long as he wanted, and I'll do the same to Gerrard.

If they can't make the cut they are gone. Don't care if they have been there for 1 season or 10, unless they serve a purpose they don't have a place in my team. With youth... I give them until they are 20 to prove they have what it takes and then they can go but i am ruthless in terms of the contracts. £250 a week is the ceiling for youth players which is a problem because most come straight out wanting £2000 a week which i sure as hell won't give them so they get chucked if they refuse the offer i make.

There are a couple of exceptions. Howson will be in my Leeds save until he retires because he is Leeds United, Pastore may be afforded the same luxury as well as Cahill.

I am generally not brutal in getting rid of players. For those whom I think are of insufficient potential, I will usually put them up for sale/loan. If nobody buys them, I'll just let their contracts run out. However, for those who make mistakes frequently (especially mistakes that led to goals by the opposition), it's another matter altogether.

If they can't make the cut they are gone. Don't care if they have been there for 1 season or 10, unless they serve a purpose they don't have a place in my team. With youth... I give them until they are 20 to prove they have what it takes and then they can go but i am ruthless in terms of the contracts. £250 a week is the ceiling for youth players which is a problem because most come straight out wanting £2000 a week which i sure as hell won't give them so they get chucked if they refuse the offer i make.

There are a couple of exceptions. Howson will be in my Leeds save until he retires because he is Leeds United, Pastore may be afforded the same luxury as well as Cahill.

How do you get wonderkids on a £250 p/w contract?