So, my staff member was kidnapped

I'm used to seeing the message saying "Club X has made a contract offer to one of your staff members". It happens quite frequently, but it isn't usually a big problem. Staff are like players in that they can choose who they work for, and I have to deal with that.

I just had Liverpool make an offer for my best talent scout (With PA/CA judging of 20 and 19 respectively). So I offered him a new contract; I couldn't afford to lose him. He accepted my offer, which was around double his previous contract. I had to, to ensure he stayed.

Around 2-3 days late I was given another message for different member of my staff, immediately followed by a confirmation of the move for said member of staff (I couldn't have pressed continue, as there was an important message pending in my inbox). Hang on a second, they didn't even give me a chance to offer him an improved contract? I'm used to teams poaching my staff but that was just BS, it's like they just kidnapped him on the way to work and forced him to sign a contract under duress.

I got so annoyed I closed the game. Fair enough if a member of staff rejects my contract offer (Had that with my Head youth coach, and my Assistant Manager the previous season). But this guy just sort of left. He didn't even give 2 weeks notice...

Has this happened to anyone else?

I think it only happens on transfer deadline day as all deals are concluded much quicker then

Possibly the most irritating thing that can happen on FM when you get a message that one of your dream team backroom staff has signed for someone else before you even had a chance to realise that they'd been made an offer...

It is irritating, true.

I think it only happens on transfer deadline day as all deals are concluded much quicker then

But staff can move throughout the season, not just during the transfer window.

I really hope FM can modify the system, and not just allow clubs to poach our staff just like that.

What I propose is that if a club comes in for out backroom staff, there is an option to talk to that particular member of staff to try and convince him to stay. Then the decision is down to him.

If you choose the right option combined with the right staff stats (loyalty, ambition etc) then he might be more inclined to stay.

i have heard of cases IRL where the club who wants the staff approaches the club first.

why is this not in the game?

I've had this happen too, though I can't remember the circumstance. They need to add a stop to the game progression when this happens so you have a time to react and offer a counter offer.

LOL, this is how I annoy multiplayer-human players, and they did the same to me.

There are two things you can do. Not in the case of 'kidnapping' as in the OP, but when clubs come in for your staff. First offer your staff member a new and improved contract. Increasing it by 1500 - 3000/ week should do it.

If this fails and the staff member leaves, try to poach a staff member from the club who stole a staff member from you. At least in the relative sense your opposition hasn't gotten any stronger, nor has your team lost much, you get revenge, and its fair.

Yeah, had this a few times as well. Very annoying.

Then however, I poach staff a LOT more often than losing mine due to that, so in the balance of the eternal karma of the universe I sense that may well not be a really big deal after all

It annoys me even more when club x's 1st attempt fails and the staff member signs an improved contact to stay, then the same club will try to get a different staff member of mine also. It can be a vicious circle sometimes and I have to spend more time offering new contracts to keep my staff members.

I'm not sure how it works irl but they should approach the club 1st and this should appear in the news screen so that you can't continue the game untill you have responded to the offer.

Basically, that's what I do too.

Try to sniff out 3 or 4 good youth coach from the better team like ManU, Liverpool, Spurs, Milan, or Inter. Guess the game found its way to revenge.

Sign them on long contracts as the teams poaching them would be rather reluctant to pay out 4-5 years compensation to you.

I think that it would be good if a staff member who had been at the club for a long time came to you (like a player sometimes does) and asks for a better deal when a move is made for them. As well as this it should be highlighted more clearly in the news feed such as making it the same importance as confirming a transfer with an option to offer a new contract or interact with the said staff member and ask him to stay. At the moment you can't interact with staff members in regards to contracts - asking them to reduce wage demands when the club is in financial trouble.

This has happened to me before, would be nice to see if something has been done about it in FM13.

Staff being poached has been on ongoing issue for years.

Its annoying but does happen in real life. My main issue with it, is it happens fair to often. There shouldnt be 11 outgoings and incomings staff wise every season for every club. The odd ones yes. Happens with all clubs but seems to best coaches just change on a nearly yearly basis on my saves.

Been highlighted so many times but id also like to see some loyalty by groups of staff who have relationships together.

For example at my real life club Norwich City we lost Paul Lambert recently to Villa. He took all his own back room staff with him who have followed him from Wycombe to Colchester to norwich and now to Villa.

Similarly Our new gaffer Chris Hughton has brought in his own trusted staff members and mixed them with the current ones.

For the benifit of realism I hope these issues have been looked at within FM13. Less random chopping and changing, and more groups of staff following a manager. On FM I feel quite sorry for some staff sometimes. A manager leaves and they resign from there coaching role yet when he gets his new job he forgets his old chums who quit with him lol!

To hire a staff that isn't free, first the team should do a offer to the other club and after the agreement negotiate the contract, the same process when hire players.

Its annoying but does happen in real life. My main issue with it, is it happens fair to often. There shouldnt be 11 outgoings and incomings staff wise every season for every club. The odd ones yes. Happens with all clubs but seems to best coaches just change on a nearly yearly basis on my saves.

Been highlighted so many times but id also like to see some loyalty by groups of staff who have relationships together.

For example at my real life club Norwich City we lost Paul Lambert recently to Villa. He took all his own back room staff with him who have followed him from Wycombe to Colchester to norwich and now to Villa.

Similarly Our new gaffer Chris Hughton has brought in his own trusted staff members and mixed them with the current ones.

For the benifit of realism I hope these issues have been looked at within FM13. Less random chopping and changing, and more groups of staff following a manager. On FM I feel quite sorry for some staff sometimes. A manager leaves and they resign from there coaching role yet when he gets his new job he forgets his old chums who quit with him lol!

I am sure managers in real life don't lose their staff without adequate prior knowledge or warning. That is the issue.

I think it would be neat to have a backroom entourage. You often see when managers leave a club they take the backroom staff with them.

I think after a few years of working with the same staff some loyalty should build up. And when you are hired as a new manager you should be able to say "I'll bring my own background staff" and you're given the option of what staff you want to keep from the old setup.

You would also expect staff in the lower leagues to be less happy to move, because like most of us, we don't just move house (or even country) to get a better wage. For top football players, this is less of an issue because a footballer's career is short - any money they make as a footballer needs to last them for life.

And, of course, former top footballers are likely set for life and hence would be less likely to move around, even if offered a lucrative job offer. Some might just want to settle down with a club they love as a backroom staff member, for example.

Would be nice if like Real life some managers had a tendancy to take there own back room staff with them. Like Real life some do and then also some dont and are far more lone men.

Would be a nice feature if a club approached you to be there manager you could try negotiate where you say you'll agree to there offer in principle as long as your back in bringing your own men with you from your staff. Or at the other end of the scale the club approaching you could offer you the job but say you'll have to work with the current staff for finacial reasons etc.

Either way the point is, its not nice them vanishing. Hopefully address in future release

I have no issue with my staff being approached by other clubs but I do have an issue with the way it is done in the game. I imagine most of us have missed a news item about a member of staff getting an offer from elsewhere but haven't had a clue until it has come up in the inbox that he has left.

I think it would be neat to have a backroom entourage. You often see when managers leave a club they take the backroom staff with them.

I think after a few years of working with the same staff some loyalty should build up. And when you are hired as a new manager you should be able to say "I'll bring my own background staff" and you're given the option of what staff you want to keep from the old setup.

This kind of does exist in game, well as best it can with the coding. I generally just do long term saves and if you're on your staffs favoured personnel list if you resign/ get sacked/ take over another club most of them will quit and you can sign them up at your new club for no compensation then to your old club . Though the termination fees for the staff at the new club you've joined usually are ridiculous money if you want to get rid of them!