Help in the Blue Square Premier!

Hi guys,

I'm starting a new game with Gateshead and want to reshape the club but with very little money

Does anyone have any experience/advice for managing in the Blue Square?

Staff?

Players?

Tactics?

Thanks Guys

Try this link :http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/289030-FM12-Gateshead-Thread-Ho-way-the-Heed

Best thing to do in my experience is check out all the youth players released from Prem teams at the end of each season, just scout them all, is generally a good way to pick up high potential youth who wont make the grade for say Villa or Man Utd but can be awesome given time in the lower leagues.

^ He's right you know. I also find scouring the bargain bin of free transfers and free agents can be handy. Try not to rely on loans as well, as that can have an impact in the second season when you can't get players of the same calibre - and then you struggle, in my experience anyway! I also find that playing a flat back 4, 2 centre mids, 2 wingers and 2 strikers works very well for me, it's almost the most effective tactic I've used so far.

I've found that as my players are part-time, their fitness isn't great and they tire easily. Therefore I've taken to offering non-contract deals to players so I only pay them for appearances.

This keeps my wage bill right down, but also allows me to have a large enough squad to do squad rotation so I can ensure I always have 11 fully-fit players to chose from.

Currently in the playoffs in the BSP after winning the BSS with Dorchester in my first season, so it's working reasonably well. I'd also agree about playing 4-4-2 with 2 wingers. I push them up to AML / AMR, not sure if this is what Ashley meant but it works for me, top-scoring this season but perhaps conceding more than I'd like. Can't have everything though.

Edit: I should add, not EVERY player is non-contract. Obviously tie anyone down who is going to be a potential star to as long a deal as they'll take, just as normal.

One suggestion would be is to arrange friendly cups and leagues against the highest rep clubs you can, thank me later! No but seriously see my thread.. http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/299152-Crazy-finance-boost-from-pre-season-friendlies!

General Blue Square stuff:

- Never pay money for a player. You can build great teams from signing free agents, or signing players whose contracts are about to expire (just make sure you won't have to pay compensation for signing them up to join you at the end of their current contract). Also, if you only buy free players, you have a larger window for transfers! Yay!

- Check backroom advice regularly for recommended signings - sometimes your staff will pull out a beauty that didn't show up in your scout reports or your manual player searches

- See if you can get a parent club and get one or two of their lads on loan. It's not easy - even if you get a parent club that's in League One or Two, they might not have many young prospects they want to send out on loan. If the board gives you choices for a parent club, choose one that will either pay you a yearly fee, or has the highest reputation (so when you have a friendly with them, more people come watch)

- Don't enter a reserves team - generally your youth team won't have anyone who will make it in the game, and your first team squad should be small, so a reserve team is useless. Also, this frees up time on the calendar that you can spend arranging friendlies with Premier League reserve sides - while you're in Blue Square, these are the best way to make money. Don't just use them in pre-season. if you're worried about affecting player morale, field your reserve players, and in your team talk always use "enjoy the match" pre-game, and "you were unlucky" at half time and full-time.

- Staff - Get a physio with the highest physio rating, and 2-3 English scouts with the highest JPA and JPP (determination is irrelevant, and since you can't scout outside of the UK & Ireland adaptability isn't needed either). Since you won't have enough coaches to have one per category, you need well-rounded coaches - those with high determination, motivation, discipline, even if their actual coaching stats are low. Assistant Manager should have good JPA & JPP to help recommend players and evaluate what you have; beyond that I don't use him for much.

- Tactics - Don't expect a short passing style to work amazingly, as most of the pitches at this level are low quality. Also, keep player roles simple - poachers instead of advanced forwards, central midfielders rather than deep-lying playmakers, wingers/wide midfielders instead of inside forwards.

- If a player is injury-prone (a lot of them at this level), try and get him on a lower weekly wage - or, even better, a non-contract if you can (not all clubs offer non-contracts; those that do generally allow them for players on 'rotation' or 'backup' squad statuses). Make up for the lower weekly wage with a higher appearance fee - again, a pay-as-you-play style contract.

- Keep the squad small - two players per position should be fine.

- Focus on signing players who can make a difference now - your training facilities are poor, so trying to develop younger players isn't realistic.

- When selling players, most of the time you'll have to offer them to other clubs for free; like you, other clubs in Blue Square aren't paying high transfer fees. If you even get 1000 pounds for a transfer sale, it's a success. But don't hold out for someone to pay value for the player - the longer you do that, the more he's costing you per week in wages.

I kind of disagree on several points, mainly squad size and reserves. Non-contract players are golden and you can keep them match fit in the reserves. If you're in the BSP you're already playing 46 league games, and if you go on a good run in the FA Cup or FA Trophy you can be playing 50-55 games. When you consider how many games get postponed due to cup fixtures/replays and conditions, you need that large squad come Feb/March. So if you can afford to have a reserves team do it just to keep the back-ups fit.

I also find using more advanced player roles and a fluid style works fine if you have the players for it. It's not hard to get quality players for that level either, especially if you look at the youths that Prem and Champ clubs release.

I kind of disagree on several points, mainly squad size and reserves. Non-contract players are golden and you can keep them match fit in the reserves. If you're in the BSP you're already playing 46 league games, and if you go on a good run in the FA Cup or FA Trophy you can be playing 50-55 games. When you consider how many games get postponed due to cup fixtures/replays and conditions, you need that large squad come Feb/March. So if you can afford to have a reserves team do it just to keep the back-ups fit.

Fair enough - it depends on whether your club allows you to have players on non-contracts. My recent couple of saves have been with clubs that unfortunately don't allow that, so that kind of slipped my mind a bit. If you can get players on non-contracts, then definitely stack up on them; but I'd still opt out of the reserve league and just arrange lucrative friendlies. You'll keep them match fit, if you use the team talks I stated above their morale won't take a hit, and you'll bring in money.

Advanced player roles and fluidity just haven't worked for me, but I'm no great tactician. I just found I had a lot more success at that level with simpler roles. Happy to be wrong on that

Gateshead are a top BSP club, the owners can be relied upon to clear debts at the end of the season so overspending is not really a problem. I got them to championship successive seasons where I did falter I admit but the most important player is a top quality POACHER. While not viable for BSP someone like Fabien Brandy will rip up league one or two. Remember that there are a wealth of top free agents if you are willing to search. I reckon that at least during BSP and L2 with some transfer window nous you can have, players wise, the best team in the league. 442 should really be sufficient for the lower leagues. Just ensure you have the best players available in the key positions, so GK, play maker and poacher. Gd luck mate.

Search for a striker called 'Fergus Bell' and sign him up, I can't remember where the hell I got him from right now but if I think on I'll look later. He's in his third season for me now, first season he scored 34, second 32 and so far in the presant season he's scored 19 in 27 games played and he's only just 22 now.... I got him for free by the way.

Fair enough - it depends on whether your club allows you to have players on non-contracts. My recent couple of saves have been with clubs that unfortunately don't allow that, so that kind of slipped my mind a bit. If you can get players on non-contracts, then definitely stack up on them; but I'd still opt out of the reserve league and just arrange lucrative friendlies. You'll keep them match fit, if you use the team talks I stated above their morale won't take a hit, and you'll bring in money.

Advanced player roles and fluidity just haven't worked for me, but I'm no great tactician. I just found I had a lot more success at that level with simpler roles. Happy to be wrong on that

In fairness I don't think there's any right or wrong approaches in the lower league. I can fully understand that a lot of teams will save money by not playing reserves, and a lot of teams don't have the players to try an attractive approach. I also think the game doesn't put enough emphasis on physicals in lower leagues, meaning you can play a teenager out of a Prem academy for 45 games.