Sacked?

I've just got sacked as Swansea in the 3rd season, After being expected to get relegated in the first season I finished 9th in the league, Second season I finished 7th in the league and only missed out on European football after Southampton lost in the F.A Cup final. I reached the Semi's losing to Liverpool on penalties after dominating the match. This season then I chose the season expectations as as qualifying for Europe. I was in December and I was 12th, but the table was very bunched and one win would have propelled me further up! after a disappointing result I then get a message saying I had been sacked without any warning! Has the board forgotten all about the previous 2 seasons they were delighted with? I haven't got a clue where to go from here now, Its the first time I've been sacked as a manager, Should I carry on the same career or start a new one? I don't know what to do!

just carry on, you've done wonders with Swansea, just apply for whatever job you want

The reason you got sacked was you set it so high and even if you felt you had the squad to get that high its always safer to go lower "just in case" But just carry on, after two great seasons at swansea people will notice you and this means a decent job might be just round the corner

Bad luck Kyle! I wish I could say you will get picked up by quickly by another team but, in my experience, you will likely be unemployed a fair while; unless you go on holiday & apply for all jobs.

When I have the opportunity I always give as low expectations as possible. The gains in extra transfers and wages are pittance.

Don't aim high! Sounds wrong but works very well!

Tough luck

However, this is something many managers face, the spell of success... Expectations rise and when previous success and not alsways repeated or even improved, people quickly forget where the club was before the manager took over and how happy they were all the time.

In this case you also added to this by promising to the board that you would even exceed your previous success and you were 7 spots away from what you said you would achieve when bein sacked.

It may be a bit harsh also due to the narrow table situation, but I don't find this a sack which should not have happened. Did you check the job security page before? You should have been indicated as in danger of losing your job there before the board tooko their decison.

Best of luck with your next challenge though

Don't aim high! Sounds wrong but works very well!

I disagree, aim high but realistically (not too high not too low). If you have a squad that you think can qualify for europe but set the goal for mid-table finish, I would believe that would be demoralizing for your squad and would hinder you in getting good enough players in the transfer-market. Why would a player want to join a team thats aiming at a mid-table finish when he wants to, and is good enough to play in the europa-league or even the champions league?

Ofcourse, aiming low decreases your chances of getting sacked but it also makes it harder to build a competative squad.

Note, this is just my opinion, as I have no actual facts that this is how it works but find it so logical that I refuse to believe otherwise.

About you being sacked. Tough luck. I would be really pissed. But stranger things have happend to managers. Just look at Hughes at City and Erikson at Leicester, to name recent examples. Think they had exectly the same expiriance as you. Aimed high, were not far from it do to congested table but still way below their goals on the table itself, and got sacked.

Same happened to me, see me post. Take the challenge with a new club

When I have the opportunity I always give as low expectations as possible. The gains in extra transfers and wages are pittance.

This is the mantra to follow.

I take a look at the Expectations, and compare the transfer budget in each one. If it's a negligible difference I'll take the lower expectation. That way, when I win the league the board are amazed.

sometimes the expactation is high to start with

Then I'd check out my Board Confidence - and if they were getting worried I'd ask them for more time to rebuild the squad.

Footballing boards are often filled with complete tossers, in FM as in real life.

Go find yourself a club that's more willing to respect your merits

I disagree, aim high but realistically (not too high not too low). If you have a squad that you think can qualify for europe but set the goal for mid-table finish, I would believe that would be demoralizing for your squad and would hinder you in getting good enough players in the transfer-market. Why would a player want to join a team thats aiming at a mid-table finish when he wants to, and is good enough to play in the europa-league or even the champions league?

Ofcourse, aiming low decreases your chances of getting sacked but it also makes it harder to build a competative squad.

Note, this is just my opinion, as I have no actual facts that this is how it works but find it so logical that I refuse to believe otherwise.

About you being sacked. Tough luck. I would be really pissed. But stranger things have happend to managers. Just look at Hughes at City and Erikson at Leicester, to name recent examples. Think they had exectly the same expiriance as you. Aimed high, were not far from it do to congested table but still way below their goals on the table itself, and got sacked.

I disagree, mainly due to believing that the expectations work in a different way in the game.

My understanding is that this is just between you and the board, i.e. what level of performance the board expects from you and what accordingly they will judge you on. I don't see this as your aim for the season which is communicated to the squad as well.

If that was so, I may agree, but I beliéve this is just about how much you can spend and what you need to achieve to keep your job. And sacrificing the extra budget for lower expectations seems to be a good choice usually.

But anyway, the OP was more about past success being forgotten when going through a phase of relative difficulties.

Don't aim high! Sounds wrong but works very well!

This!

I always choose the lowest possible expectations.

I've just got sacked as Swansea in the 3rd season, After being expected to get relegated in the first season I finished 9th in the league, Second season I finished 7th in the league and only missed out on European football after Southampton lost in the F.A Cup final. I reached the Semi's losing to Liverpool on penalties after dominating the match. This season then I chose the season expectations as as qualifying for Europe. I was in December and I was 12th, but the table was very bunched and one win would have propelled me further up! after a disappointing result I then get a message saying I had been sacked without any warning! Has the board forgotten all about the previous 2 seasons they were delighted with? I haven't got a clue where to go from here now, Its the first time I've been sacked as a manager, Should I carry on the same career or start a new one? I don't know what to do!

you told them you could get in europe yet you were hanging around 12th thats why they sacked you.

I agree this is not odd for the game and the OP hasn't achieved what he told the board he would.

But realistically, if he had the previous success at Swansea, the board would probably give him a bit longer (maybe even half of next season too) to turn it around.

It would be nice to have a feature like when you are over achieveing they ask you to review your expectations to possibly push on.

They could state:

"The board are not happy that you are not on target to meet expectations, but due to your previous history, we are willing to allow you to adjust your expectations for this season only."

Winner, Europe, mid-table, stay up (or whatever)