Tell me why I Should Like Pre Season?

I have come to the conclusion that I really dislike pre-season as i find it too slow. I now try to do my transfer dealings between Feb & May. Will set up friendlies on the day league fixtures are announced, then holiday to the day before first league game.

Am I alone in doing this?

If any one can tell me what I am missing out by doing this please let me know.

if you take care of your friendlies yourself you can take better care of your players fitness and have less injuries. Even if all you want to do is give your best players 45 minutes and to do so start the game. Come back in 5 minutes at half time switch everyone over and go away til the end of the game.

Also dealing with other clubs trying to sign your players/staff.

Signing new staff

Sending youth out on loan.

I can send youth out on loan in August.

Staff can be signed anytime.

I trust my Ass Man to balance my Squads in Friendles (misguided maybe!!)

If staff get poached in that period I can live with it as they seem to be easily replaced (maybe too easy!!)

if you take care of your friendlies yourself you can take better care of your players fitness and have less injuries. Even if all you want to do is give your best players 45 minutes and to do so start the game. Come back in 5 minutes at half time switch everyone over and go away til the end of the game.

Also dealing with other clubs trying to sign your players/staff.

Signing new staff

Sending youth out on loan.

^^ this is exactly why, mainly for the fitness part. Your assistant may play your best players every game so you have half a team either in superb condition or injured and the other half with no match fitness. Pre season is all about fitness and raising morale and I dont trust the AI to do that well enough.

Pre season is a good time to try out different formations or player instruction, obviously that's of little importance for people who like to use the same tactic in every game but thanks to my tinkering in pre season I developed a much stronger defensive corner/long throw instruction set & have on occasions discovered that a player is better suited to play in another position.

Pre-season is by & large a dull time of the year that irl is only enlivened by the anticipation of the new season, unfortunately this is not something that FM can replicate so I understand why the OP just flies through the whole process.

I love to play my up and coming along with the tried and tested in friendlies, and create wacky tournaments.

My 4T Tournoir with Torquay, Truro, Totness and Taunton is the highlight of the summer! Plus I always win.

I fully understand your reasoning it is just that pre-season can take the best part of two hours to complete even at a superficial level of tinkering.

I only get about two hours an evening to play so find pre season to be chore as I just seem to immerse myself in it like I can cup and league campaigns. Surely I am not alone in thinking this?

"This post should have appeared after #3 but work server dropped out"

well i dont holiday until the 1st league game of the season but when it comes to friendlies i get my ass man to take charge of them.

Pre-season is probably my favourite time in FM, mostly because that's when I do most of my transfer dealings. I decide who didnt make it, who did, who almost did, and sell, or loan appropriately while bringing in new talent. I never manage friendlies though, don't see the point, my assistant can handle those fine, and even if he does play my best players initially in them, he typically changes them all by half-time so my full squad get a work-out.

Also, in terms of a developing team, it's often easier to get people interested, and on a low wage *after* they've been released by their club, compared to pre-contracting them.

I find pre-season a big snooze. I'll holiday as much as possible.

It's a chance to get excited about the upcoming season!

Buying new players, trying out new players to see how they fit into your team, moulding the new youngsters, testing out different tactics, etc.

Main reason I don't holiday pre-season is because the transfer window is open. I'm usually done with my buying very early in the window, but I want to consider any offers for my players. Or I'm actively trying to flog them.

Other than that it's just an annual challenge to see how much I can tonk my local non-league affiliated club by.

I have come to the conclusion that I really dislike pre-season as i find it too slow. I now try to do my transfer dealings between Feb & May. Will set up friendlies on the day league fixtures are announced, then holiday to the day before first league game.

Am I alone in doing this?

If any one can tell me what I am missing out by doing this please let me know.

If I copied your method of holidaying through pre-season on a previous FM12 save I had, I would have missed the news item informing me that Neymar was within 6 months of his contract expiring and available to sign on a free transfer. I'd say that's a pretty good reason for not holidaying all the way through pre-season, you just never know what bargains may come up out of the blue which will have inevitably been snapped up by the time the new season rolls round.

My preseason takes a maximum of one hour. I have the ass man arranging and taking care of friendlies so my only concern are the transfers.

Every one makes valid points. I suppose it comes down to what you value more:-

Speeding through to get to the good bits or taking your time and possbily being rewarded!

my preseason takes ages co I get loads of news updates so I can find out the best talents and players been offered around easier but another good part about preseason is there isnt a better time to tinker with your tactics or even make a new one as i don't like chopping and changing my tactics during the season as I have 3 effective tactics.

Also its when I find prices go lower as an arsenal fan I always looked at wilshere and at the end of the season 2015/16 season they wanted 120,000,000 however on July on the 2016/2017 season they sold aly cissokho to real madrid for a low offer 10.25 million (arsenal selling their key players never?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?) wilshere put a transfer request in and i got him for 30mil still a lot but for a world class player who can play anywhere in midfield who i can have for bout 7-8 years is good.

so keep an eye out for changes that happen in the transfer window because you just get better deals in preseason then you do in february

Pre-season is probably my favourite time in FM, mostly because that's when I do most of my transfer dealings. I decide who didnt make it, who did, who almost did, and sell, or loan appropriately while bringing in new talent. I never manage friendlies though, don't see the point, my assistant can handle those fine, and even if he does play my best players initially in them, he typically changes them all by half-time so my full squad get a work-out.

Also, in terms of a developing team, it's often easier to get people interested, and on a low wage *after* they've been released by their club, compared to pre-contracting them.

Yeah I agree with you, i find the actual season almost boring compared to pre season. So much more going on in pre-season, transers major squad and tactic overhauls. I love it

I love pre-season, as many have said, buying & selling, finding good clubs to loan the youngsters to etc. In fact, I honestly get disappointed when I see the club badge of my first league opposition appear in the weekly calender thing at the top of the screen!

I attend my friendlies on my main saves and rotate the team. I sometimes get bored and change saves in preseason but I usually like to have a tour a league with teams from other countries. I also finish my transfers

If i unclick the transfer window then i just set everything up, from pre-season fitness to friendlies and leave everything to my ass-man. But after the first season i really enjoy off-season and pre-season- setting up deals and tours etc..

I get very bored in pre-season and would love to skip it, but I can't as I can't trust the AI to run things efficiently, and I don't want to miss anything.

The only time pre-season is more interesting is when developing tactics. When I'm certain of my tactics then it's just a fitness exercise.

i love pre season... lets me plan my transfers out, arrange the friendlies i want, sort the pre game preperation etc and sort out my individual trainings.. aswell as sort staff out etc... love it

I love pre-seaon. It's a very important time for me. A big chunk of space without games for me to look around and find new players. When it comes to the pre-season games, I use them for two things - fitness, and auditioning for a place in the first team come the first game of the season. I make sure all my players know this. I never say anything to the effect of "it's just a run out". You play well enough for me in pre-season, you get to start the season proper.

woul have thought buying and selling players during the summer would be many peoples favourite part of the game. I personally can't wait after March to get ripped into the squad.

Would have thought it would be easier to sign/sell players in the summer instead of during the season too. Plus there would be more players available and at better prices

I love pre-season. Especially if you are playing in a league where transfers can only be done in the allocated windows, this time of the season is crucial. Contracts expire in the summer, so targets will be released/not sign new contracts. If you need to sell some players you no longer need, use this time to offer at one price and then lower the price if the players aren't selling.

In terms of friendlies. I like to give the youngsters a run out, alongside the experienced pro's. Maybe play one match where my highest rates (by assman) players are used, then one where the highest potential rated players are used. Maybe use a team all of the nationality of your club and eschew foreigners. Last couple of friendlies get the 'first' team playing together.

LOVE PRE-SEASON!!!

I am another one who gets more enjoyment out of squad building than the playing of games generally. During pre-season I let my assman do the games themselves, but I do most of my selling in that period, which leaves holes to fill so some buying as well.

Big pre season fan here. Chance to snap up the players I have been keeping my eyes on, time to balance the squad to fit tactics. Prune dead wood and plant new young seeds.

Its a busy and time consuming period but its just as fun as playing games. I have never thought of it as a chore, then again I dont play this game for the football (I am not a football fan), I play it for the challenge of developing a club to be a good successful business

When I am not enjoying it for that, its for the database editing and running signups

Big pre season fan here too. I enjoy tinkering with the tactic, making sure the balance in the squad is fine, working on fitness, getting players tutored, signing/selling players. Looking out for players who have been released. Loaning out promising players. I just enjoy getting the teams morale up and fitness up.

Pre-season with a club you've never managed before is even more exciting as you learn all about the new bunch of players at your disposal.

Would have thought it would be easier to sign/sell players in the summer instead of during the season too. Plus there would be more players available and at better prices

Not if you are a wheeler dealer type, I typically scout players that will be available on bosmans and sign them as soon as possible.

I find pre-season to be the perfect opportunity to test out some young lads from the academy and see whether I want to keep them in the first team, the reserves or send them out on loan. It's also a vital thing to ensure that your team is fit for the start of the season so I take control of every friendly and make sure that my squad gets enough playing time

I have to say pre-season is the best part of the game for me! I love looking around trying to find new talent and free transfers, trying to flog players I don't need, loan youngsters to decent clubs, sorting my staff out. I take full control of every game even the friendlies even though I have 1 tactic only. So yeah I love it!

Pre-season is my favourite part, I like to assess how the previous season went - see what went wrong and set a 'focus' for the upcoming season.

For example if I feel we conceded too many goals last season, the focus next season is on improving the defence whether through signings, focusing training or tightening up tactics (ideally all of those).

I let the assistant manager handle the friendlies as I keep my squads very lean so typically everyone will be match fit for the first game of the season.

I have to say pre-season is the best part of the game for me! I love looking around trying to find new talent and free transfers, trying to flog players I don't need, loan youngsters to decent clubs, sorting my staff out. I take full control of every game even the friendlies even though I have 1 tactic only. So yeah I love it!

Ive got the dreaded staff sort coming up at the end of this season, cannot wait messing with the staff is probably the most boring part of pre season for me. I love searching for new talent and sorting playing staff/tactic. I usually make radical changes to my tactics as well, in the past ive finished the season with one tactic and started the next with something completely different.

Ive got the dreaded staff sort coming up at the end of this season, cannot wait messing with the staff is probably the most boring part of pre season for me. I love searching for new talent and sorting playing staff/tactic. I usually make radical changes to my tactics as well, in the past ive finished the season with one tactic and started the next with something completely different.

I dont mind looking for staff etc. like I say about the tactics though is that I only play the 1 formation which is a 4-1-2-1-2 so don't need to do anything with regards to that.

Yeah pre-season is my favourite part though I do find the pre-season games a bit tedious. Often I find pre-season can take me almost as long as the full season as I spend *hours* poring over released players, free transfers, tactics, ect, etc.

Yeah pre-season is my favourite part though I do find the pre-season games a bit tedious. Often I find pre-season can take me almost as long as the full season as I spend *hours* poring over released players, free transfers, tactics, ect, etc.

Yep it takes me ages too but I love it, I am currently in pre-season, halfway through my friendlies