Do you set yourself rules?

I do. I impose a number of rules that I think the board would probably impose depending on the club I manage.

The rules in my FC Bayern game are;

- Wage cap of £45k p/w, no player is allowed to earn more than that and if they want more they are free to look elsewhere.

- Every season at least one youth player must make at least 15 appearances.

- I accept any offer 2.5 times the valuation of the player i.e. if my star midfielder is worth £5m, as soon as i'm offered £12.5m he is on his way.

- I will never exceed the clubs record signing fee.

- Not allowed to pay more than £10m for a player, unless they are an established German international.

A couple of them are totally unrealistic, but I think clubs like Bayern probably still operate a wage structure and do have a limit on how long they can wait before they have to accept offers, even for their star players. It makes it a bit more interesting.

Just wondered if anyone else played by a set of self imposed rules.

I won't sign anyone who I cannot scout or get a coach report for.

Yeah, I am not signing youth contract players since, the AI clubs let their quality youth go too easily.

I refuse to sign a player if I don't like his name. At Werder Bremen I refused to compromise my style of play to chase a result playing a more basic style of football, but I don't generally set myself rules. Often I have aims on things like trying to bring as many players through my own youth system as I can or trying to build a team as much as possible of players from whatever nation I am managing in, but those tend to be very flexible!

i only sign players who fit the average squad personality, i.e. high determination ratings are always included in my search filter.

and no fat-faced regens.

I do. I impose a number of rules that I think the board would probably impose depending on the club I manage.

The rules in my FC Bayern game are;

- Wage cap of £45k p/w, no player is allowed to earn more than that and if they want more they are free to look elsewhere.

- Every season at least one youth player must make at least 15 appearances.

- I accept any offer 2.5 times the valuation of the player i.e. if my star midfielder is worth £5m, as soon as i'm offered £12.5m he is on his way.

- I will never exceed the clubs record signing fee.

- Not allowed to pay more than £10m for a player, unless they are an established German international.

A couple of them are totally unrealistic, but I think clubs like Bayern probably still operate a wage structure and do have a limit on how long they can wait before they have to accept offers, even for their star players. It makes it a bit more interesting.

Just wondered if anyone else played by a set of self imposed rules.

I love some of your rules and I might try the self-imposed salary cap one myself.

The rules I abide by are:

- My reserve goalkeeper always plays in the first three rounds of each cup competition (at least).

- A promising young striker, or a rubbish striker that I've loaned IN from a lower league club always gets number 36.*

- I always adopt the squad number structure of the country I'm in - so if I'm in Portugal I might give my players odd numbers like 76, and so on, I signed a striker for my AC Milan side and gave him number 9. In Argentina, I gave the number 5 to my defensive midfielder, etc.

- If a player is caught stumbling from a nightclub more than three times in his career AND refuses to accept fines, he'll be sacked (I had to do this with a guy who'd only just turned 18!!).

- I'll never spend more than £15m in the January transfer window.

*This is because in Champ Manager 2000/01 (or possibly 2001/02) Gillingham had a striker called Robert Taylor who was ffffffffb IRL, but fs in the game, so I signed him on loan to my all conquering Man United side for a laugh, and he scored on his debut against Liverpool and went on to average a goal every other game. He was given the number 36 and ever since then it's been a lucky number for me.

I love some of your rules and I might try the self-imposed salary cap one myself.

It's really hard actually, especially if bigger clubs show an interest it means the player is all but gone. Plus it sorts the loyal players from the moneygrabbers, I have a star midfielder who has been player of the year 3 years running and he sits on £45k happily, whereas a former CB who was only a squad member demanded £60k, he was promptly sold on and quickly forgotten about.

No I never set myself rules, I will only break them anyway (adolescents, sigh).

Rules can be a real pain in the ass in certain occasions. Imagine you've made yourself a salary cap, but you get the chance to do a "definite purchase", a player who demands more than you can offer him if you follow your rules. What do you do then?

I won't sign anyone who I cannot scout or get a coach report for.

The same for me

No I never set myself rules, I will only break them anyway (adolescents, sigh).

Rules can be a real pain in the ass in certain occasions. Imagine you've made yourself a salary cap, but you get the chance to do a "definite purchase", a player who demands more than you can offer him if you follow your rules. What do you do then?

You don't sign him. That's kind of the point.

Of course, offer him what you can within your limit but if he does not want to sign, then so be it.

Yeah, I always set myself a salary cap of £50k. And I don't sign anyone who I can't scout or anyone who is a world-class player like Kaka or Ronaldo or Messi.

Some of mine. Keep in mind that I usually play lower leagues.

- If any team (besides my rivals) offer 5 times the market price of a player or more, I cannot refuse to sell him. The profit is just too much or the club to turn down.

- I can't ever sell a player for more than 10 times his value.

- I can't renew a player's contract offering him less if he is an active player of the team. At the same time, I can't offer a player who barely ever plays more money to stay, just so I won't lose him.

- I can't ask around for other jobs while managing a team. Neither that or "admitting being interested in signing for a club"

- If while unemployed, I accept an offer of a club that is a division above the highest division I've ever managed, it has to be a relegation fighter. And, I can't never accept an offer of a team two orm ore divisions higher than the highest I've ever managed, no exception.

- The only exception for leaving to another team while already employed is if I get an offer rom one of my favorite teams (Villarreal, Castellon, New England Revolution, Real Madrid or Spain.) In any of these cases, it would be ok to switch jobs, for obvious reasons.

- If I reject an offer (under X10 market value, so rejectable) for a player and this offer comes from an above league team, I must give this player a pay rise according to a percentage of what he would have made in such club.

There are more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Firstly, I'd just like to say what an interesting idea for a thread this is.

I don't really set many rules, but I can think of two things I stick to religiously.

1) Players over 30 get one-year contract extensions at best. The only exceptions I will ever make to that are if the player insists on longer and I feel he's too important to let go, or if I genuinely believe that the player will be of use beyond a year. In either case, I won't extend it beyond two years, though.

2) When it comes to signing players and naming my team, the only things I take into account are ability and form. Such things as nationality go out of the window. I consider it my job to try and be as successful as possible (not something I often achieve), and if that takes a team full of Zambians then so be it.

I only set my self one rule. Win at all costs. If a new player is going to cost £60m (not likely as I'm more of a lower league manager), then I'll pay it. If he demands £120,000 a week, that's fine. I don't care what the player's nationality is, how old he is, whether he's played for a rival, if he's been with my wife, if he makes my team better, I'll have him.

My rules are much closer to LLaMa, I guess:

Scouting - No signing a player until scouted.

I have one exception to this: if I've personally managed him due to managing an international team, I'll count that as "scouted" even if my scouts can't scout him due to travel restrictions. Its rarely an issue - I think I brought a South Korean 16-year-old to Holland unscouted because he was tearing it up for my South Korea Under-21 side. Don't remember any other instances.

(I also follow the no-player-naming bit, so I avoid the Good Players Guide forum, and bail out of threads where people start player-naming.)

Player Search - No using "player search"

This comes into force more later in the game - I do allow myself to use "player search" for transfer-listed and local out-of-contract players at the start of the game, if I'm a tiny club and in desperate need of warm bodies .. but even then I do insist on scouting the players at least to "Report" level, or bringing them in on trial to get coach reports.

Staff Search - No using "staff search".

For a club, my Hirings are via Place Advertisement only .. I do have to use Staff Search for international management, where for some reason you can't do adverts.

Tactics - I have to make my own, fresh, for each manager I create.

No downloads.

. . .

They aren't so much "rules" as guidelines, more like.

Beyond that, I do tend to be fiscally conservative, and to get great enjoyment out of developing my youth players, but I don't have specific rules about it.

I don't sign anyone who has played for Celtic.

I also don't look at the good player guide or use the tactics in the tactics forum.

As a result I don't know half of the players that get touted about in these forums constantly.

I always keep more english players... eg i have 4 english in my 1st squad, 3 spainish, 3 brazilian, 3 argentines, 2 welsh, a dane, a russian and a porugese

This isn't really a rule, but whenever i play a team in the UEFA/Champions League, whatever Country they're from, i'll leave out the players who are also from that country, for example i'd Bench' Rosicky and so on if i'm playing against Slavia prague or other teams of that Nationality.

I also have this thing, where whenever i'm playing the lowest positioned team in the league, i'd start with 3 goalkeepers. For Example, i'm facing Derby and I'll have a Gk, A Gk who's playing CB and another playing as a CF. (they beat me mostly, but i can't help it!)

Oh and i forgot, i'll try to play the players with all odd/even numbers on their kits. 1/3/5/7.. yeah you get it.

Oh and i forgot, i'll try to play the players with all odd/even numbers on their kits. 1/3/5/7.. yeah you get it.

Is that a superstition more than a rule?

I will always sign more players than I need such as if I have a midfield of Messi, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Pirlo, I am likely to add to that with players of Matias Fernandez and rotate giving a young player a chance to gain experience

Is that a superstition more than a rule?

I don't do it because i'll think it'll bring me luck, just for the 'can ya do it' feeling... Does that sound odd?

- Wage cap of £45k p/w, no player is allowed to earn more than that and if they want more they are free to look elsewhere.

I always do that. The cap defends on the position of my team, my current one has just been promoted to the Premier League and I refuse to pay more than £18k p/w to players. The highest I will go to is around £60k p/w and that's only when I'm constantly winning major trophies.

I sign more young, promising (ie PA is 5 star or more) players than I need, so if one fails, I have another who can step up, and another.

I'm struggling to find another promosing right back though.

I must always have an attacking mentality, tackling easy, and time wasting rarely- this goes out the window when I play one of the big four though!

If I find two youngsters of similar ability, one domestic, one foriegn, I'll go for the domestic one.

Both my 'keepers must be amoug the best in the league.

I must play two up front if possible- 17 year old signed from Uzbeikstan, take a bow!

Players over the age of thirty only get one year contracts, unless they are certain to become coaches/scouts/physios/whatever.

Three youngsters must make their debuts every season, and at least one should become a regular.

One rule i have is that as Everton manager in my current game i do not enter the reserves league. Instead I do tours of various european countries and sometimes venture into America also, because i feel that it makes the players more cultured. (plus you can find some good regens during these games )

I don't do it because i'll think it'll bring me luck, just for the 'can ya do it' feeling... Does that sound odd?

But if you set up the kits so that all the key players have odd numbers, then you shouldn't have a problem doing that most of the season...

1 - do not break transfer record unless the player is essential, and must be signed to fill a gap in the side

2 - always play in a pre-season cup

3 - over 30's get no more than a 2 year deal

4 - captain is a centre-back by choice, if not possible than a central midfielder or goalkeeper - NO OTHER POSITION IS ALLOWED

5 - attractive, passing football is a standard

6 - no player will be sold to a rival

Just started a new game today

1. Starting the game with no players at all except the ones generated in the youth team

2. No using the player search - all signings must be found by one of my scouts

3. No transfer funds in the first season - all must be free transfers in

4. Must play the same 4-4-2 formation throughout my career (no tweaks of any kind)

5. Can sign only staff on full time contracts until I am made professional by the board

6. Oops - forgot a big one -- Stay with the same club throughout my career - last game was 40+ seasons

I found a nice little cheat so you never get sacked

1) Always start unemployed and work yourself upwards.

2) Only sign players you can scout

3) Never sign players that has "might have problems with injuries" or worse unless they are truly, truly exceptional, i.e. best in the world at what they do.

4) Fill up your Under 19/20 with players you bought.

5) Atleast 3 players that can play each position competently.

6) Lock players to contracts that expire when they are 32. After that they get 1 year extension if I think they can still be usefull or if they have been legends for the club.

I'd never thought of this before but i do seem to have a few rules that have evolved through learning what happens when they are not imposed, to my cost i might add.

1. I will never sell a player to a team that are a) A rival or b) i am directly competing for position against (e.g. i want European football and the bidding club is in my league and a UEFA Cup possibility)

2. I will never, regardless of squad status, sell a striker to a team in my league, (Learned to do this when Valeri Bojinov went to villa and slotted four past me in one game).

3. Players over thirty never get more than a one year contract.

4. I must always try to convince retiring players who have had a long career with me or my league to stay on as staff.

5. At least half my team will be youth/oldies when playing a lower league team in a cup comp.

*This is because in Champ Manager 2000/01 (or possibly 2001/02) Gillingham had a striker called Robert Taylor who was ffffffffb IRL, but fs in the game, so I signed him on loan to my all conquering Man United side for a laugh, and he scored on his debut against Liverpool and went on to average a goal every other game. He was given the number 36 and ever since then it's been a lucky number for me.

I done that once in FM06 with Arsenal. I was late in the game (2030ish) - and some really pants 17 year old scored against me in a cup game for a L2 side. I signed him, played him, and he scored about 25 goals in his first season

My Rules. There are far too many to remember, because I do a lot "naturally" - so don't see them as rules, but.

1. Will not leave a club unless I'm sacked.

2. Will give the Ass Mans best youth choice first team football every season.

3. Never play with 5 at the back.

4. Never sign players in the age bracket of 23-29. Exceptions being position cover.

5. ALWAYS have my fave player as Captain.

6. Number 26 shirt is retired. (Its my number )

7. Strikers will never get the Number 9 shirt. Either AML / ML will get it, or no one.

8. Jan Transfers get the numbers 99, 98, 97 etc. (I don't know why. I've done it since CM03)

9. My average squad age must never be above 24.

Lastly - some things that I do during a match....

1. Hover the cursor over the goal I'm attacking in on the highlights.

2. Have the main screen set to Home Stats if I'm at home, Away Stats if I'm away.

3. Never ever make a sub outside the minutes of 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90. (Unless injury demands it.)

I know there are lots more, I just cant think of them

NepentheZ's rules are pretty interesting. I like the one about the number 9 shirt! And I also do the same thing as he does with his assistant's best youth choice, although I suspect NepentheZ gives his youngster more first team football than I give mine. I'm less fussy about player age when I sign players. However, I don't like to sign anyone over the age of about 26, and the only player over 30 I'd sign would be a goalkeeper.

Another one of my rules is, I always have at least one youth teamer in the first team every game (except in the CL), i'm confident enough that the other players are good enough to deal with it, but that's in the German league, I might not be able to do it in England or Spain.

the only one i ever abide to is i never sign more than 5 players in a season with the exception of youth players for the stiffs or as a replacement for a departing player

I try to, like not spending over £10 million for a player when in the Premiership. If I'm playing in the lower leagues as I am now I try to stick to my wage cap and breed through youth players.

i never give out the no.13 shirt

for me also the number 3 shirt MUST be occupied, its my lucky number so insist on it being occupied

Due to my OCD tendancies, I set myself a large number of rules on squad numbers and get a bit bizarre about them. 9 always a striker, 3 is always a DC, never give 27 to anyone other than Bojan. I retired number 7 in one of my games as VdV was amazing in it and when he left, the next 3 people who wore 7 were awful and I didn't want the same to happen to a youth teamer I'd brought up, so he continued to wear 36. Every player in the squad/reserves/U-18s has a number with the reserves being 40 onwards, unless they are likely to play in League Cup games when they'll have high 20s and the 30s. U-18s starting at 70 and then going as is it was 0 (so GK wears 71, DR 72, ST 79 etc etc). I don't like reassigning numbers once they've been given (except for if the player was in bought in Jan and has a stupid number.

When I play a friendly, I alter the order of the players so they still wear their proper numbers as much as I can, as real teams do.

If I play an AI team that has a silly number (i.e. in 2015 Giles Barnes wore 9 for Fulham) then i'll use FMM to change it otherwise it annoys me.

(I had to buy Remy Riou on Pro Evo once as Arsenal had given him 2...sigh...)

Non number related - If I start a new game, I try not to buy the same players that I did in the previous one.

i never give out the no.13 shirt

I also do this.

Otherwise I don't sign players who I can't see all the attributes for, which is basically anyone I can't scout. Can't think of a lot else though.

Excellent thread!

Some of my self imposed 'rules', some make sense, others probably dont:

Players never get removed from a squad number unless they are being promoted (ie from a high number to a vacant lower number). The only exception being when I am trying to offload a player and I have no intention of playing him in the upcoming season, in which case he doesnt even get a number. This is just in case it has an impact on morale - does anyone think it does?

Loan players always get a number in the 40s.

When blooding a youth player he gets a number in the 30s (if available) and keeps it until he warrants moving up.

I tend to never off load a youth player no matter how poor he seems. They all get at least one season in the reserves to justify continued employment wth me. Just every now and again I turn a no-hoper into at least a reasonable player, but admittedly more often than not I end up selling them to TNS for £1k!

My top youth players always get their chance in Cup games against lower teams or in 'dead' games at the end of the season.

In terms of formation, I play 4-4-2 about 90% of the time, and so feel I need 4 strikers in my first team squad - one of these must be youth academy product.

Who puts a keeper on the bench? I never bother. It's a gamble but I reckon it pays off in the long run. Less than once a season I lose a keeper during a game.

In my current game I have decided to refuse to pay any money for players, instead only signing people on frees. I have taken Exeter City from the Conference to the verge of promotion to the Championship in five seasons having spent just £6k (in my first season - none since)! In that time I have received nearly £2.5m in transfer fees for outgoing players, thus the board are always happy with me, even if the fans are not.

Also I feel that upon promotion the players who got me promoted deserve a crack at the higher level, and so only sign a player if I consider it essential to plug a hole. Then, if the squad dont cut it after one season then I'll start to replace them. I also avoid signing people in the January window if possible in case it upsets the apple cart.

I always have two 'main' goalkeepers. The number one is my established choice, while my second choice must be young, ie 22 or under and I loan him out for the season for experience and get a young loanee in from a higher club to take his place.

And for some reason I always insist on 7 pre-season friendlies + an extra game between the Reserves and the u18s.

I always have my best DM as number 4 and never let anyone have anymore than £42k/w wages. I have a weakness for Scandinavian and Eastern European players (my current Recreativo team contains the core (apart from A. Hleb) of the Belarus national team).

I will always use easy tackling, no exceptions.

Oh, remembered another one. I have to keep telling myself this one otherwise all the time.

NEVER, EVER sign promising youngsters from top clubs around the world at age 16-19. They will be truly horrible almost for certain and you'll pay an overprice for them. Over the years I've probably wasted 20m or so on this.

interesting read, and surprising how many people say the same thing about the over 30's... that something thats always been around or just because of how quickly they die off in 08??

1. personally, i dont like having anybody over 31 in my squad at all, prefer youth players. if it means gambling on a player coming straight into the 1st team, then i'll do it. only ever kept carragher and gerrard past 31 and then carragher wasnt a regular player.
   
2. do not, on any account, sell players to rivals.
   
3. if it can be helped, dont sell players to other teams in the prem, cos theyll only score when they play me.
   
4. sign staff that are NOT from uk/irl.. get the knowledge bar as high as possible.. (not sure why i do this, just gets annoying later in the game when theyre all carp)
   
5. keep the same formation all the time, no matter what. changes mid-match must be to more attacking.
   
6. dont go defensive if i get a man sent off, attack. its the last thing theyll be expecting.
   
7. if a 2-leg tie was a draw, always go for the win, bugger the away goals rule (if it applies) i'd rather go out trying to win than trying not to lose... if that makes sense...
   

think thats about it.. not bad considering when i first read this i thought i didnt have any rules!

I don't care what the player's nationality is, how old he is, whether he's played for a rival, if he's been with my wife, if he makes my team better, I'll have him.

Brilliant. I am exactly the same.

1. Team must have at least two English players in (or German if in Germany etc).

2. This increases to 3 in season 3, 4 in 4 and 5 in Season 5. So by season 5 I am very well set for European football criteria.

3. I try to bring players through from the youth set up, and get in talented youngsters also.

4. My subs set up is always defender, keeper, midfielder, striker, winger. Then if 7 subs we have two talented youngsters to maybe bring on if we are cruising...for experience.

5. Only a 'star' gets the 25 shirt if I am playing Chelsea.

6. If playing a top club, I look to sign a player from the worst team (bottom of League Two) if I am in England. This player will be a decent youngster, and the fee will be £500,000 plus 50% of sell on and a friendly. Generally the player concerned will be sold on the year after for basically whatever I can get for him, and I will play him once in a meaningless game. Odd I know, but I have done this for year now.

The only limitation I set is that if I start a new game and I'm a seaons behind in real life i.e. starting FM 2008 but in real life we're about to start 2008/09 season, then I will sell/release players that the club has sold/released in real life and sign the players the club has signed in real life. Come the January transfer window in the second season (2008/09) on the game then all bets are off!

For example started FM 2008 as Man Utd so at the end of the first season players such as Pique left and no one came in.

Hmm ... a couple of guidelines rather than rules. I am Dutch, so I'm fairly careful with my money after all I don't pay much for players, nor do I give out high wages. I do give out high bonuses though.

1. No star players.

I don't have a need for so called "star players". They only ask loads of money and I usually have other players who are just (or almost) as good as they are. And usually more consistent as well.

2. Transfers.

Why pay a lot for players? I can get by without a load of money. In all my years of playing CM/FM with a Dutch Premier Division club, I believe the most I paid for a player would be somewhere around 3 million guilders/euro. I don't believe one has to buy good players for a lot of money. There are always good players whose contract runs out you can sign.

3. Wages & Bonuses

Low wages, high bonuses.

A goalkeeper who believes he should be paid more? I rack up his "clean sheet bonus". Now, go earn your money by keeping the goals out. Surely you can get a fair number of bonuses.

A striker who believes he should be paid more? I rack up his "goal bonus". Now, go earn your money by scoring a lot of them. I just wish the Assist bonus would return, which was usually set higher than goal bonuses, in order to let them give the proper pass if they have a hard time scoring from that angle.

Squad bonues are usually fairly high here too.

No use spending lots of wages on players. Even when playing European Football, the only thing higher wages does is resorting to higher wages. I don't set caps to my wage limit, but I do strive to keep wages healthy so I can survive even when I underperform a year or two in a row and don't get any European football. I'm not managing a top club, so what use is it to believe I can hand out wages like a top club?

4. Youths & Experience.

If anything, I prefer my players to come up through the youth ranks. I always strive for excellent youth facilities, so I can cut down on my buying since my youths should be of sufficient quality to take over in time.

If the Youth team is bad, go find some better youths out there. Scouts do their jobs well, so I often get to find a few without a need to pay much for them. They don't need to be world-class, but if they can help in winning the Under-19 league, it automatically gives the Reserve team the option to play in the National cup. Which is good practice for all those youngsters who just reached the age of 19 and aren't allowed to play in the Under-19s anymore.

Then they can get some nice cup experience against established and amateur teams - plus they get some money for progressing through the next round as well, without the need of me playing them in the senior team to get them that experience.

5. Team Play.

Even without star players and high wages, I believe one should be able to beat big teams by having fairly good players and a good tactic. Make sure the players get accustomed with the tactics, keep things tight and give the players the feeling you appreciate them. Having a healthy team-feeling does wonders for a rotating squad.

6. Red cards.

"The best defense is the offense." When down a player, go all out attack. I have a "very determined" squad, so it results in my players putting the pressure on the other party a lot, generating a lot of chances and oftentimes turning the tables around, even when they're down a goal or two.

It's my way of the AI's notorious 4-2-4, which, I'm sure of, the AI curses me for just as much as I curse them for their full-out attacking tactic ;-)

7. New goalkeepers.

If I have signed a new (usually younger) goalkeeper on a squad rotation-base, who is unlikely to gets the first team position at the moment, I usually give him the first team role in Cup-games. It doesn't matter whether it is the national cup or international cups, he gets the role.

If he performs badly, he gets substituted, but they generally perform well and it keeps them happy for 2-3 years and they can still outperform the current first team keeper if they perform well.

The only rule I abide by, is if I have a game against a team, and one of my current players used to play for them, I must leave him on the bench until the 80th minute, when he comes on and gets a standing ovation from both sets of fans (in my head )

1. Never play a keeper on the bench, just not worth it and the extra flexibility with the extra sub has won me more games then I'll ever lose as a result of not having a 2nd keeper, in fact I'm yet to suffer a goalkeeping injury since adopting this strategy

2. Any young promising centre back is given the number 50 shirt

3. Sign as many youngsters as possible as long as they are worth less then 1M pounds

I use a few bare in mind that I'm Kettering in Conference (Blue Square Premier):

Always get a physio with a rating of 20 in the first year.

Get a seperate coach for everything.

Different training for each position. (Keepers, Defence, Midfield, Attack)

I have to stick to these (dont know why!!!)

Never sign a player over 28. NEVER.

Wage cap goes up by £200 a year.

Wage cap currently £800 a week, anyone wants more they will be offered to clubs, not played again, put in reserves.

Never sell to a rival team, no matter how much money.

As season finishes look at your rivals team, see who is almost out of contract, sign them, fans love you for taking your rivals best goalscorer, defender etc!

Only sign players with league experiance.

Only sign transfer listed or out of contract players.

In all the cups (FA cup, Setana Sheild and FA trophy) Play youth team and couple of reserves. Because:

If you get knocked out, you excepted to anyway.

Give youth team good experiance.

If you win you think "Bloodyhell not a bad youth team I've got.

Never play a player that is under 80% condition.

If I sell a player, always find a better replacement before I let the deal go through.

When a player comes back from injury, bang him in reserves for at least 2 weeks (Time depends on how long hes been out for!)

When its pre-season Reserves and Under 18's arrange friendlies against Utd, Aresnal, Chelsea etc:

Gives them experiance of playing the best.

Brings in a shedload of cash.

See I dont have many rules!!