Dynamic tactical traditions

We've had dynamic league reputations and hopefully dynamic rivalries are just around the corner, so what will be the next frontier in the drive to making the FM world but responsive, engaging immersive?

Dynamic tactical trends and traditions, that's what!

Have you ever wanted to stamp your identity onto a club? In FM2010 I turned Cagliari into a centre of excellence for beautiful, attacking football based on the ideas of Marcelo Bielsa. Some seasons into my career, which had already reached the mid 2020's, I resigned to see how the club would react following my departure.

Whilst Cagliari stayed relatively competitive thanks to the strong squad and youth set up, the team's tactics and formation reverted back to more traditional, standard tropes. I found this rather disheartening as if i'd stumbled upon one of the game's limitations, an invisible wall in my gaming experience, which could not be overcome. Almost like those horrific transparent barriers found in some open world games.

Just like Roberto Martinez and Paulo Sousa created a tradition at Swansea, Fred Pentland did at Athletic Club and Bill Shankly did at Liverpool FC, shouldn't the tactical innovators and philosophers amongst us (at least that's what some of us would like to think) be to create not only create teams but club ideologies and identities?

Of course, with many of these ideas that sound good on the outset, there is an issue of balance. For every Rinus Michels there are pragmatists such as Alex Ferguson or managers whose single minded visions don't take root within the culture of a club regardless of their success (Helenio Herrera).

If you like the sound of this idea, how could it be made more selective and rare without turning to the idea of a lottery or set of values for what good football is? Would the game's handling of manager to fan/club relationships need to be developed? Perhaps there should be a level different to the current "legend" reserved for managers who achieve the status of forefathers like Busby, Shankly, Michels, Maslov etc?

What do you think?

It seems a good idea. May be hard to implement. It would need a system to see how much the fans like the style you play. Maybe a confidence bar for how popular your tactic is. But how much restriction does this have if you have a successful long ball tactic that you have used for many years and get offered the Swansea job are you allowed to use it? It would have some restrictions but could upset people if they are constantly slated by the fans despite wins.

I think, it could be good.

It seems a good idea. May be hard to implement. It would need a system to see how much the fans like the style you play. Maybe a confidence bar for how popular your tactic is. But how much restriction does this have if you have a successful long ball tactic that you have used for many years and get offered the Swansea job are you allowed to use it? It would have some restrictions but could upset people if they are constantly slated by the fans despite wins.

I think, it could be good.

And it would be awful and unrealistic to have a sort of "preferred" style of play in the game, especially when the likes of Athletic Club, who enjoy a parallel tradition to the Pentland style of gritty, physical play as championed by Javier Clemente.

Perhaps this could be influenced not just by results but the way the manager endears themselves to the club through press conferences, loyalty, the support of favourite players and the like.

It would be difficult to implement, and since dynamic rivalries are yet to make it into the game, I can't see dynamic tactical trends or managerial legacies come to FM for a good few years. Would be great to play within an even more immersive game world through!