Squad status

What are the effects of giving a player a squad status of key player, first team, rotation, etc? I never paid much attention to it before, a player's status would be set at whatever he demanded in his contract, and wouldn't have any effect on how I would play him. However, I have just found it to be a useful way of keeping my squad organized, and, well, now I'm getting a bit obsessive about it. Most of the titles are pretty self-explanatory (first team, rotation, backup, etc). I assign my first 11 "first team", my bench gets "rotation", and the rest of the senior squad are "backup" (they also get to be available for 2nd team). Young guns too old for the youth team get "hot prospect" and play for the 2nd team, and my youngsters are... well, "youngsters".

However, I'm having trouble with "key player". How many key players should there be in a team? Just one, or can I have a bunch? What effects does it have on a player to be told that he's a key player? I'm noticing that it effects my assistant's suggestions for team talks - players set to key player gets "expect a performance" more often. Should the player's mental stats be considered? Should I assign it to my captain? What's the deal?

Also, if the player has demanded to be "key player" in contract negotiations, will he get really ****y with me if I drop him down to "first team" or even "rotation"? I haven't noticed any ill effects so far, but maybe there is plotting going on behind my back...

I don't know what "effect" has setting a key player...

but I can tell you that if you sign someone and give him key player/first team on his contract, and then later on you put it down to rotation/reserve he will get upset and moan about you not maintaining promises

a key player, imo should be given to 1/2 or 3 max players... 4 at a stretch, i.e in chelsea, lampard/terry would be key.

Man utd maybe more, vidic/ferdinand/ronaldo/rooney. Arsenal... um... fabregas, adebayor at a stretch, at clubs lower down the league such as blackburn, santa cruz would be a key player, bullard at fulham, downing at boro and defoe/crouch at pompy.

But as you say, its all about opinion.

to me setting a key player is setting your max, or what you feel the max amount of wages you/ the board are willling to give, and these should only be given to players that you feel you/ the club could...

A: not do without.

B: could not get the same quality to replace with little difficulty.

Try to convince a player you're acquiring to accept as low a status as possible - you can always promote them, but many get very grumpy if you reduce it. If you have too many key or first team players and they don't get regular games they'll complain and morale will suffer. The player's attitude will depend onhis hidden mental attributes such as ambition. Sometimes a player with a very high ambition will agree to be backup but soon constantly complain to the media that you're not playing him regularly.

It's all about your man-management and if you neglect this area you could end up with a very unhappy squad and crashing morale.

Try to convince a player you're acquiring to accept as low a status as possible - you can always promote them, but many get very grumpy if you reduce it. If you have too many key or first team players and they don't get regular games they'll complain and morale will suffer. The player's attitude will depend onhis hidden mental attributes such as ambition. Sometimes a player with a very high ambition will agree to be backup but soon constantly complain to the media that you're not playing him regularly.

It's all about your man-management and if you neglect this area you could end up with a very unhappy squad and crashing morale.

The above is so true and in my opinion,

, at the start of the game, or when you take over a team, if you then change the squad status for the new signings they will become unhappy stating "Brought to the club for false reasons" (or something similar). So be carefull when you take over a team not to disturb the whole squad with these kind of settings/changes.