Assistant Manager - What is required?

Assistant Manager - What is required?

What skills and any names?

Is Di Matteo any good?

Depends what you want them to do. If you want them to be a big part of training, look for good coaching stats. If you want their opinion on players and the squad, look for one with good JPA/JPP attributes. If you'd like them to help you with tactical advice pre-match, the 'Tactical Knowledge' attribute is clearly one to focus on. And if you want them to handle team talks, look for Motivating, Man Management and perhaps Level of Discipline. Determination is obviously a good stat for any staff member as well.

I don't know about real top class assistants for the big clubs, but I usually sign Dave Watson from Wigan as mine. Very decent attributes in most areas and a four and a half star Tactics coach to boot. Only lacking in the JPA/JPP areas, but I have my scouts and my own eyes for that.

I normally sign Tony Coton as my assistant manager anywhere I go (although, I haven't done that at Bayern).

Brian McClair maybe?

Tony Coton is always my choice. Excellent assistant manager. Has some brilliant coaching stats plus high determination, discipline, JPA, JPP and motivating all 15 or over. And I've seen him improve in a couple of saves too. The only downside to him is low tactical knowledge but its not something that I personally look for in an assistant.

Sidnei Lobo is worth a look: my usual choice. Very good JPA/JPP, pretty good tactical knowledge and decent tactical coaching.

Sidnei Lobo is worth a look: my usual choice. Very good JPA/JPP, pretty good tactical knowledge and decent tactical coaching.

I second that! I got him when Steve Clarke buggered off to manage Norwich. Clarke was a very good assistant manager as well.

I spend almost no time bothering about who is the Ass Man. I take who's there when I join & only check him out when his contract is due, then might change him.

I care little about input from AM. Never seem to have problems.

Depends what you want them to do.

This.

Personally I use the assistant's stars on the squad screen and I use my assistant for team talks and press conferences, so I look for JPA, JPP and motivating. Anything after that is a bonus.

I only look for 3 things, JPA/JPP and tactical knowledge so I get full opposition instructions in matches, man management is a bonus as I get him to take PC for rivals as theres about the same 20 questions every time and it annoys me.

I always look for one with high JPA/JPP, determination, level of discipline, tactical knowledge, motivation and working with youngsters.

Usually hard to find a Assistant manager with high levels in all, so decide a few you want the most.

Edit:

Also high Man Management

I look for Adaptability if he is foreign and JPA,Tactical knowledge,Determination . For sure also Man management,Motivation and Discipline. These for a start. At the end of my searching some times i dont get there and i hire a newgen one. Usually they have high potential ability. Depends what you want them to do, press congerences,team talks etc

I look for Man Management, Tactical Knowledge and JPA / JPP.

i look out for level of tactical knowledge,discipline, motivation first of all and hope that the Tactical Coaching is good as well. reason being is for OP Instructions and team talks and to take my coaching part of training.

i figure i have scouts and my own eyes to check out players.

Determination, Discipline and Motivation are a given for all staff. Those attributes are more important for coach star ratings than the training categories.

Assistant managers with high Tactical Knowledge rating are rare, and I don't use OI or ask for their tactical advice so I ignore this.

Judging Player potential and ability are both very important for me, since I use his star ratings in the squad screen actively. The other important attributes are Man Management and Working with Youngsters.

Then there is what I deem the most important of all; their Playing Mentality. I prefer Balanced or Cautious. The reason for this is that these mentalities have a clear influence on their choice of team talks and in press conferences. I have found Attacking and Adventurous to be very bad mentalities because they put too much pressure on the players and are too full of themselves in press conferences, so they do more damage than good. Very Cautious could possibly be bad for very strong teams, as these guys are regularly expecting defeat in every match.

I don't have evidence for this observation, though.

Tony Coton again, Sidnei Lobo, Steffen Freund, Massimo Neri have all been good assistants for me in the past.

Lobo I think is available at the start of the game and will go to quite a lot of clubs so a lot of people end up with him!

I presume low tactical knowledge means the pre-match, half-time and post-match advice he gives for team talks is pretty useless? I'm at St Mirren with no money so got anyone I could and ended up with Billy Dodds to act as another coach but his tactical knowledge is 2!!

Mark Bowen - One of the best

He buggered off to Aston Villa in my game and got sacked in less than 2 years. Now Carragher just retired in 2015 and I'm considering whether to sack my current Assistant and go down the sentimental route despite his lack of experience.

I second that! I got him when Steve Clarke buggered off to manage Norwich. Clarke was a very good assistant manager as well.

I presume low tactical knowledge means the pre-match, half-time and post-match advice he gives for team talks is pretty useless? I'm at St Mirren with no money so got anyone I could and ended up with Billy Dodds to act as another coach but his tactical knowledge is 2!!

AFAIK, team talks depend on man management, not tactical knowledge. Tactical knowledge should matter when you ask him for tactical advice (like opposition instructions, for instance). I'm not 100% sure on all this though, since one of FM's biggest flaw is the lack of proper documentation...