what is the 'real' season start time?

okay answer me this. if you choose to manage manchester united in FM 09 then why have you got berbatov in your squad when the date reads 1st july 2008? whenever a new version of the game is released, a new season in an enlish game starts on 1st july but the transfers are up to date after the transfer window has closed in august. surely this is unrealistic? wouldnt it be better to have a choice of which database to start from? i.e. one with realistic transfers starting from the 1st july and one with the transfers after august. i appreciate that the finished version of the game wont be ready till just before xmas but why have the transfers already in place on july the 1st?

the benefits of having a realistic squad on the 1st july would be you could hang on to players you felt should have been kept and not splash the cash on players you dont rate.

its also very frustrating being a low down division club with no money on the 1st july when your trying to find some good free agents but you cant because theyve all been snapped up by clubs before august which hasnt happened yet! then your left sifting through the rubbish.

what does everyone else think?

Good point, though some players may do the complete opposite, some may choose a team because they have new and interesting players, others maybe just as miffed as you are.

Maybe its just down to the balance of the game that they are trying to acheive.

well, you're managing the club for the new season, not for the previous one.

You should inherit the squad

It's simple. The answer is "Cus' that's the way it is".

Sure they could choose to do both, but they could also choose not to and focus more on other aspects of game developing.

My only complaint will raise it's head in feb - i hate that the Jan transfers start at the clubs in june. Other than that i don't see a problem with it - if you want the team to start like they did last year, play FM08. If you want the current squad, play FM09.

This is a good point. Maybe it should be put in that the transfers will go through on the date that they actually did in real life?

My only complaint will raise it's head in feb - i hate that the Jan transfers start at the clubs in june. Other than that i don't see a problem with it - if you want the team to start like they did last year, play FM08. If you want the current squad, play FM09.

I thought you could choose the old database? Or am I wrong... Can't be bothered to check it out, but as far as i can remeber you can actually play a game patched with the earlier database.

I thought you could choose the old database? Or am I wrong... Can't be bothered to check it out, but as far as i can remeber you can actually play a game patched with the earlier database.

Yeah, you're right.

I thought you could choose the old database? Or am I wrong... Can't be bothered to check it out, but as far as i can remeber you can actually play a game patched with the earlier database.

Yes you can, what i wanted was for the real life transfers that happened in january, to happen in january. Rather than in june as it leaves some squads, imo, stronger than they should be.

I also feel it would be a nice challenge to try and incorporate a squad member who was not part of your plans.

Yes you can, what i wanted was for the real life transfers that happened in january, to happen in january. Rather than in june as it leaves some squads, imo, stronger than they should be.

I also feel it would be a nice challenge to try and incorporate a squad member who was not part of your plans.

Okay I can follow that. But then it would be better if they just didn't happen at all. First off, it would just seem silly to sit in the middle of the first transfer window and see that player X will be transfering to your club on the 1. january... It would be annoying in so many ways. Let me try to make an example. You stand without ANY descent WBR and have a super WBR transfering to your club. Then you can't really justify buying a new WBR since you already have one coming in, but you would then have to either get a barely acceptable one or play with some crap solution in your team.

And you could make bundles of these examples that would just annoy the frick out of you.

So I think that the whole use-old-database-or-accept-january-transfers thing works fine.

It would also be just as unrealistic for the club to have prearranged transfers for the January window when that never happened in real life either

It would also be just as unrealistic for the club to have prearranged transfers for the January window when that never happened in real life either

I think the OP's original point was to have transfer's arranged to go through in the game as they did In Real Life, instead of being added to the .0.2 Db in teams at the start of the season in a new game.

Eg:

Player A (IRL) Joins Whatever Team United on 14.1.09

You start a new game on '09, click on "Player A's" profile and it says:

'Joining "Whatever Team United" on 14.1.09'....

I think the OP has a very valid point.

okay answer me this. if you choose to manage manchester united in FM 09 then why have you got berbatov in your squad when the date reads 1st july 2008? whenever a new version of the game is released, a new season in an enlish game starts on 1st july but the transfers are up to date after the transfer window has closed in august. surely this is unrealistic? wouldnt it be better to have a choice of which database to start from? i.e. one with realistic transfers starting from the 1st july and one with the transfers after august. i appreciate that the finished version of the game wont be ready till just before xmas but why have the transfers already in place on july the 1st?

the benefits of having a realistic squad on the 1st july would be you could hang on to players you felt should have been kept and not splash the cash on players you dont rate.

its also very frustrating being a low down division club with no money on the 1st july when your trying to find some good free agents but you cant because theyve all been snapped up by clubs before august which hasnt happened yet! then your left sifting through the rubbish.

what does everyone else think?

i think it would take too much time i feel not to have all the players who joined teams after july the 1st not to be in there teams squads.because think about it that means they would have to spend more time looking at all the players who joined after july first and put them in the team at the date they joined ect.it is easer the way they do it.

I think the OP's original point was to have transfer's arranged to go through in the game as they did In Real Life, instead of being added to the .0.2 Db in teams at the start of the season in a new game.

I think though that in July when the new game season starts, the players wouldnt be pre-arranged transfers in real life. So even though you get the players in Jan for realism sake, it also wouldn't be realistic because in real life them players hadn't been arranged to be bought then. You can look at it either way, maybe just have an option to start in January with clubs in the same league position as in real life with their new players in addition to how the game already is.

Happened on CM3 didn't it?

Seem to remember Morten Hyldegaard (immense keeper on CM3!) have' Joining Coventry on 01.01.99 with the 3.04e patch?

I think though that in July when the new game season starts, the players wouldnt be pre-arranged transfers in real life. So even though you get the players in Jan for realism sake, it also wouldn't be realistic because in real life them players hadn't been arranged to be bought then. You can look at it either way, maybe just have an option to start in January with clubs in the same league position as in real life with their new players in addition to how the game already is.

anyway the game is out in november so the january window is 2 months after that so why are people worry about the january players in the first team squads at the start of july.

I sometimes feel the same way. The players shouldn't be in the club at the beginning but there should be 3 choices:

1. Start with all the players from both transfer windows in July

2. Make them future transfers in the game so they come at a realistic date. This would be a problem if the players who get transferred get injured or banned as this would make it a tricky situation and not be very realistic at all.

3. Reset the teams to how the team ended in 2007/2008 so the player can use the full transfer budget. This would be annoying as often a team buys players who are not as well known and some players may want to keep those (i.e. youngsters) so they won't have to search for the players again.

2+3 would be what I would prefer to use when I start a new game.

I think the biggest reason this is not done is that it would be a huge hassle.