Friendlies: Who do you play against?

Hey guys, just a quick question. What kind of teams do you guys tend to play against in pre-season friendlies? Do you play against big teams or small teams? Or against a mixture of both? I tend to play against smaller teams and build up my fitness and around the end of July/beginning of August, I play against teams like Milan, Real etc. Is this a good way?

Also, if I play home games against teams like Man Utd, Barca etc. would that increase my season tickets sales?

Thanks

I just play whoever my assistant organises.

I just play whoever my assistant organises.

Same here, he usually seems to come up with a good variety of opposition.

Carlos Queiroz keeps arranging summer tours of Mexico for me.

Hey guys,

How do you asssign your assistant to organise your pre-season?

Hey guys,

How do you asssign your assistant to orgaanise your pre-season?

Manager - manager options - team settings - tick the first box

Cheers

i tend to let the assistant take care of it, he usually gets me a good variety of opposition, although last season i only ended up with one friendly. dunno what happened there!!

I usually do it by myself, if I'm a club not in the top 2 divisions of that country I usually try to get 1 from the top league and 1 from the 2nd league and then a few from below. But if I'm a top team, I usually try to organise a pre-season tournament with top European sides.

Let the asst manager do it.

Hmmm maybe I should let the Ass Man do it.

Cheers

I tend to go on a tour of a European country, usually Italy or Switzerland. I send the reserves to Holland and the Under-18s to Belgium.

I get the Ass Man on it. People say when you're a small team to get games against the big teams to get some revenue but if you are a truly dire team, they pummel you and you end up with morale so low it's beyond repair and then you suffer going into the league games.

The assistant manager should always be trusted

I play whoever a accepts me. Last season I played against Sevilla, Barcelona, Atletico and Real Madrids B teams, but now I've been promoted no one will play me!

I'll use my Watford game as an example here, i tend to play about 6 pre-season fixtures each year and the standard of these games varies, i may go on a tour to a country where i stand a chance against their top flight sides, if not i'll try and get one of the bigger UEFA cup sides to come to my place to give my side a good work in the hope a suprise win will give a good morale boost. I'll perhaps play a couple of sides from a league or two below me in England and then perhaps a local non-league side.

I then have my reserves play local non-league sides from the Conference south and southern/ryman leagues whilst my under 18s will play local non-league sides from the leagues below ryman premier level, ie. Step 4 and below.

How do I arrange friendlies for Under-18s and Reserves? Is it the same way as the first-team?

How do I arrange friendlies for Under-18s and Reserves? Is it the same way as the first-team?

Yep, simply go onto their respective fixture lists and go through the normal process.

With my Lazio team I normally create a 4 match tour in a different continent from the middle of July to the start of August then 2 home glamour matches. This season I toured Australia and had home games against Arsenal and Atletico Madrid.

I usually fix up a tour of America or China, then i set up any required feeder friendlies. Finally if there is a team that has impressed me in the previous season (usually as one of my kids has been on loan or they put up a good fight in a cup tie against me) then i will arrange a friendly and throw them some money, i'm so generous!

I let the assistant do it, whenever I invite clubs for friendlies/tours/tournaments they always seem to decline me anyway

I tour in whatever countries i have merch feeders. Usually china and USA. Makes your merch income huge eventually - was well over £80m a season even if i didn't sign any "big names".

If i'm a lower club i just leave it too my ass man, mainly as whether a club accepts your invite is almost random - e.g. i had barca play at tranmere but liverpool declined - no champions league qualifiers or anything like that, was just weird.

Always do a short 3-match tour of an emerging country (gotta help the game develop overseas, ya know! ), although I tend to focus on feeder club countries (usually either go to China, the USA, or Japan. I would like to do Australia, but they start their pre-season in July unfortunately so it's difficult to arrange).

After that, it's a series of home friendlies every few days against a random selection of mid-range European clubs. I just go with whoever appears to be available and who I think it might be interesting to play.

I've always used the assistant to arrange them. If I want to do it myself.

What is the date in the game I need to organise them on/by??

thanks.

A

If I'm a club in the second tier or lower of the country I'm playing in then I get friendlies against big teams' U-18s to get more ticket sales than against teams smaller than me. This trick works in BSN/BSS aswell if you get your U-18s to play like UTD and Liverpool U-18s all season as they aren't in a league.

Always top teams at home. Makes lots of money from ticket sales and it allows my players to develop faster.

I enjoy playing against a variety of teams from across the globe. It's a nice break from those same league rivals that you play every year. Sometimes I will play a random team from some country, enjoy the game, and start scheduling them next year and the following year, starting a tradition. I also like to play some of the teams I had previously managed in that game or past games (Darlington, Cardiff, et cetera).

Kind of a side question here... Will you burn out your youth players if you play too many U18 friendlies?

My first two friendlies are usually against a League Two then League One side. Then I'll take a three game tour ta country in which I have a feeder club, with that team being one of the opposistion. Finally, I'll play a game against a team from the top division from one of the top nations, although not one of the very top teams from these leagues.

i usually arrange a couple of ties against smaller opposition, then one or two against teams on a similar level to me, then i try to finish it off with a home glamour tie (which i then hope is picked up for TV, giving me an extra little cash boost)

for my reserves, i always arrange a cup or league against my feeder clubs/reserves of clubs on the same level as me, while the u'18s get a cup/league against non-league local rivals.

Hate going on tour to places like China, never do that.

As Newcastle I played my customary game against Gateshead with the young lads, then Sunderland Nissan with a mixture which ended up only 4-0... Then Plymouth and Hull, my feeder clubs, whose requests I was not allowed to reject which was a pain as the games were way to close and it sort of ruined the pre-season.

Everyone was knackered for a tour of Germany, beat Bochum 5-0, and Stuttgart we lost 2-1 with a weak side out, before The Toon Cup which we got knocked out by the eventual winners Real Madrid in the first game.

Too many games as the feeder clubs are a pain. Ah well

like many other people, i just let my assistant manager do it, but ill also arrange a pre season tournament with my reserves, under 18's and my local club, bury town. this lets me comapare my youngesters against the current first team and see if any are close to being able to make the step up

I like to go on tours to central europe, switzerland, austria etc. Then about a game against lower league opposistion and a team about the same as us. Though occasioanaly I am entered in the Amsterdam Tournament. This as Spurs btw.

I normally manage a lower league team so i try to play at least one team that are in one of the top leagues to bring in some cash. I just get friendly with there managers and then ask them for a friendly.