Tips for getting out of the lower-leagues

I've created a top ten tips for getting out of the lower-leagues in FM 2009 - but most of them revolve around transfers.

Can anybody chip in with more suggestions for getting out of the Fizzy Pop?

Tips so far:

1. USE LONG-TERM LOANS CAREFULLY

In the English leagues, you can only take four England-based players on a season-long loan in one season, so don’t waste any of your four on speculative long-shots. Take the player on trial in pre-season first, so you can assess how good he really is before committing to a long-term loan. Which leads us on to…

2. BEWARE OF PARENT CLUBS

Becoming a feeder club for a higher-league side might seem like a good idea, but it usually gives them carte blanche to send you players on season-long loans. Given that in Coca-Cola League 2, the best you can usually hope for is a Championship parent club, this can mean one or more of your valuable season-long loan slots is occupied by a Doncaster youth teamer who couldn’t hit a pig’s backside with a banjo. UPDATE - as you'll see from the wiser heads who've contributed below, you can cancel the loan transfer of a player a parent club has sent you by going to the player's screen and withdrawing your transfer bid. Sounds like something that could be made much easier in a subsequent patch IMHO.

3. LOAN PLAYERS TO TARGET

Unlike previous versions of Football Manager, Premiership players will normally sully themselves as far down as League 2, giving you a chance to pick some prime youngsters to bolster your squad. We’d particularly recommend Fred Sears (West Ham), Fabio (Man Utd) and Keith Treacy (Blackburn Rovers). Premiership clubs will usually let you have loan players without contributing to their wages.

4. SCOUR THE BARGAIN BIN

The average lower-league transfer budget will rarely stretch to a bag of Maltesers for the team bus, let alone a new striker, so you’ll have to take full advantage of any free transfers that come your way. Advancing years and a lack of pace aren’t as much of a problem in the lower leagues as they are in the Premiership, so sort the free transfer list by international caps to find half-decent, experienced players who could fill gaps in your squad. Make sure you only offer them 12-month contracts, so they don’t become a drain on your wage bill when their knees finally give way in season two.

5. KEEP AN EYE ON THE WAGE BILL

Lower-league clubs have a total wage bill that even Carlton Cole wouldn’t bother getting out of bed for, so don’t waste a penny. Ship out any high earners that aren’t guaranteed first-team starters, as it will give you more scope in the transfer market. Try to keep your total wage bill 10% below the budget, so that the board won’t tug on the purse strings should you need to draft in an emergency signing.

6. LISTEN TO THE GRAPEVINE

The new transfer gossip menu (represented by the ear icon) is a god-send for sniffing out potential loan and free-transfer targets. You can normally nip in and steal a deal before the club rumoured to be signing a player gets its arse in gear.

7. DON’T GO SHOPPING ON TRIAL DAYS

The new trial day facility – where free agents play in a game arranged by the players’ union to impress prospective managers – is well worth attending, but don’t buy players solely on the strength of their performance in this match. The standard of play is abysmal, meaning that Jason Lee could look like Pele for 90 minutes. Take a player on trial and assess him in your own pre-season games before offering him a contract.

8. DON’T GET TOO CREATIVE

The vast majority of players in the lower leagues have all the creativity of a breeze block, so don’t be too adventurous with your tactics. Only give Creative Freedom to one or two attacking loan players you’ve managed to prise from Premiership clubs, and keep the rest on a tight rein. Similarly, keep tinkering with the formation to an absolute minimum. Bringing on an extra defender to hold on to a lead is sensible; switching from 4-4-2 to Glenn Hoddle’s Christmas Tree formation at half-time is suicidal.

9. CUPS RUNNETH OVER WITH CASH

With lower-league club chairman rarely give a flying toss about how well you do in the cups, it might be tempting to ‘do an Arsene’ and stick the stiffs out in cup games and concentrate on the vital league position. However, cup matches can prove a nice little earner, especially if you can make it through to the FA Cup third round, or even the latter stages of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, where a trip to Wembley could really bolster the transfer coffers. Even a scrawny win in the first round of the FA Cup provides a £20k bonus – enough to pay the wages for a week or so.

10. REST PLAYERS WHEN POSSIBLE

Lower-league squads are normally a mix of kids and pension dodgers, both of whom are prone to complain of tiredness come February or March. Consequently, take every opportunity you can to give a player a rest. No match for 10 days? Give them three days – or even a week – off training. Suspended for three games? Do Likewise, although make sure you hit them with a decent fine if they’ve been silly buggers. If you have two or more internationals in your side, your league matches will be postponed on international weeks, providing another opportunity to tell the rest of the squad to put their feet up. Esepcially as those postponed games will lead to heavy congestion at a later date. And Fergie thinks he’s got it tough…

Good post. Thanks for sharing!

Nice post

Would add:

Make sure you build up consistency within team both tactically and squad selection wise. This allows the players to gel together and familiarise themselves with your tactics enabling better performances

Another tip I can add is look at teams like the Andorran, Albanian, Luxembourg etc national teams & u21's etc. These often feature good players for the level your at, usually better and will still sign (especially if playing domestically) and as regens come through from these nations sometimes you get a gem who's absolutely great.

You do know you can cancell transfers from your feeder club dont you?

Click on the player they are about to send and Withdraw Bid.

Other than that, its a pretty good post overall, good job.

Here's one for Finance's of a lower league club...

I'm currently playing as Northwich Vics in the Blue Square Premier, crap finances and a low wage budget. I've found out that creating a few home friendly league competitions against Championship or Premiership opposition boosts your finances because of the gate receipts. Vics are now valued at £500k and have a nice bank balance of £700k.

Don't agree with number 2 - as Farsley Celtic my parent club is Leeds, and they've got loads of quality youngsters they're prepared to send to me. The 3 I got last season were the main reason why I got promoted to League 2, and I got the same 3 this season, and am currently top of League 2.

with no.2 u can cancel the loan transfer of a player that the parent club has offered you

2. BEWARE OF PARENT CLUBS

Becoming a feeder club for a higher-league side might seem like a good idea, but it usually gives them carte blanche to send you players on season-long loans. Given that in Coca-Cola League 2, the best you can usually hope for is a Championship parent club, this can mean one or more of your valuable season-long loan slots is occupied by a Doncaster youth teamer who couldn’t hit a pig’s backside with a banjo.

Nice guide, however #2 isn't true. When you get the news saying something like "Parent club is sending player xx to you on loan", you can go to that player's screen, and choose to withdraw transfer bid. That way you can cancel all the loans you don't want.

Another tip, a striker with decent pace & acceleration can be deadly. Most defenders in lower leagues are slow, so using target man & run onto ball options can work wonders.

You might want to take out the players you name in #3 as player naming is considered a **spoiler**. Otherwise a good guide ('cept #2 as others have mentioned).

I'd add: Arrange friendlies, build positive relationships with other managers (for loans and friendlies). Arrange Cup friendlies, and beware of what clubs have reserve games (or squads) and what don't, before taking on a new LLM job. Reserves can be mightily important for making money in the transfer market and keeping players fit.

I've created a top ten tips for getting out of the lower-leagues in FM 2009 - but most of them revolve around transfers.

Can anybody chip in with more suggestions for getting out of the Fizzy Pop?

Tips so far:

1. USE LONG-TERM LOANS CAREFULLY

In the English leagues, you can only take four England-based players on a season-long loan in one season, so don’t waste any of your four on speculative long-shots. Take the player on trial in pre-season first, so you can assess how good he really is before committing to a long-term loan. Which leads us on to…

2. BEWARE OF PARENT CLUBS

Becoming a feeder club for a higher-league side might seem like a good idea, but it usually gives them carte blanche to send you players on season-long loans. Given that in Coca-Cola League 2, the best you can usually hope for is a Championship parent club, this can mean one or more of your valuable season-long loan slots is occupied by a Doncaster youth teamer who couldn’t hit a pig’s backside with a banjo.

3. LOAN PLAYERS TO TARGET

Unlike previous versions of Football Manager, Premiership players will normally sully themselves as far down as League 2, giving you a chance to pick some prime youngsters to bolster your squad. We’d particularly recommend Fred Sears (West Ham), Fabio (Man Utd) and Keith Treacy (Blackburn Rovers). Premiership clubs will usually let you have loan players without contributing to their wages.

4. SCOUR THE BARGAIN BIN

The average lower-league transfer budget will rarely stretch to a bag of Maltesers for the team bus, let alone a new striker, so you’ll have to take full advantage of any free transfers that come your way. Advancing years and a lack of pace aren’t as much of a problem in the lower leagues as they are in the Premiership, so sort the free transfer list by international caps to find half-decent, experienced players who could fill gaps in your squad. Make sure you only offer them 12-month contracts, so they don’t become a drain on your wage bill when their knees finally give way in season two.

5. KEEP AN EYE ON THE WAGE BILL

Lower-league clubs have a total wage bill that even Carlton Cole wouldn’t bother getting out of bed for, so don’t waste a penny. Ship out any high earners that aren’t guaranteed first-team starters, as it will give you more scope in the transfer market. Try to keep your total wage bill 10% below the budget, so that the board won’t tug on the purse strings should you need to draft in an emergency signing.

6. LISTEN TO THE GRAPEVINE

The new transfer gossip menu (represented by the ear icon) is a god-send for sniffing out potential loan and free-transfer targets. You can normally nip in and steal a deal before the club rumoured to be signing a player gets its arse in gear.

7. DON’T GO SHOPPING ON TRIAL DAYS

The new trial day facility – where free agents play in a game arranged by the players’ union to impress prospective managers – is well worth attending, but don’t buy players solely on the strength of their performance in this match. The standard of play is abysmal, meaning that Jason Lee could look like Pele for 90 minutes. Take a player on trial and assess him in your own pre-season games before offering him a contract.

8. DON’T GET TOO CREATIVE

The vast majority of players in the lower leagues have all the creativity of a breeze block, so don’t be too adventurous with your tactics. Only give Creative Freedom to one or two attacking loan players you’ve managed to prise from Premiership clubs, and keep the rest on a tight rein. Similarly, keep tinkering with the formation to an absolute minimum. Bringing on an extra defender to hold on to a lead is sensible; switching from 4-4-2 to Glenn Hoddle’s Christmas Tree formation at half-time is suicidal.

9. CUPS RUNNETH OVER WITH CASH

With lower-league club chairman rarely give a flying toss about how well you do in the cups, it might be tempting to ‘do an Arsene’ and stick the stiffs out in cup games and concentrate on the vital league position. However, cup matches can prove a nice little earner, especially if you can make it through to the FA Cup third round, or even the latter stages of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, where a trip to Wembley could really bolster the transfer coffers. Even a scrawny win in the first round of the FA Cup provides a £20k bonus – enough to pay the wages for a week or so.

10. REST PLAYERS WHEN POSSIBLE

Lower-league squads are normally a mix of kids and pension dodgers, both of whom are prone to complain of tiredness come February or March. Consequently, take every opportunity you can to give a player a rest. No match for 10 days? Give them three days – or even a week – off training. Suspended for three games? Do Likewise, although make sure you hit them with a decent fine if they’ve been silly buggers. If you have two or more internationals in your side, your league matches will be postponed on international weeks, providing another opportunity to tell the rest of the squad to put their feet up. Esepcially as those postponed games will lead to heavy congestion at a later date. And Fergie thinks he’s got it tough…

Another one is to try and get a parent club from the premier league or a higher league as they load out some pretty decent players. I started in BSS league and im now in League 1.

Thanks for all the feedback - and pointing out my **** up with point two. That might save me ruining another season at Chesterfield!

Thanks for all the feedback - and pointing out my **** up with point two. That might save me ruining another season at Chesterfield!

Hehe still a good introduction to the forums. We could use more of this sort of stuff ..

Have you been over to FM Britain and have a gander at the tactical bible material there? They loads of interesting stuff covering youth development and media etc.

dunno if anyone else has found this but my first priority is always to get a good goalkeeper with defenders so terrible a keeper that has good reflexes and one on ones has on more then one occasion saved me points. also i just generally either ask ass man who to loan or go to reserve team of all prem clubs and look at each youngerster or player over 32 same for championships most of the players wont come but sometimes you can get class players such as randall from arsenal

Getting a good AssMan is great too as they'll now recommend players to you in the 'team report' window. This is why getting the wage bill under control is so important: Better Staff!

Have you been over to FM Britain and have a gander at the tactical bible material there? They loads of interesting stuff covering youth development and media etc.

Good Lord, that's hardcore. Thanks for the tip.

Another tip, a striker with decent pace & acceleration can be deadly. Most defenders in lower leagues are slow, so using target man & run onto ball options can work wonders.

My thoughts exactly, i'd say that's the best tip you can give someone, it can be the difference between survival and relegation.

Nice list there, this will definitely help for my upcoming second season:thup:

Brilliant guide matey!

This will help so many people.

Great post but may edit the OP point #2. Also for the loan strategy. Go wild with the 3 month loan option. In the lower leagues (basically from BSS/N to League 1), 5 of my best players on the pitch are usually loaners. The four long term loaners are usually spread out of by position. Usually a GK, DC, MC and ST. Then i supplement my team by rolling 3 month loans of strikes and wingers.

Also, i can not emphasize #8 enough. I managed to take Hyde from BSN to PRM while keeping essentially a very simple 4-4-2 tactic. Did not even tinker with is for 7-8 seasons.

1. 4 players age 23 or younger, 4 players age 24 or older. At least for League 2 and upwards to the championship.

2. Already mentioned a few times

1. USE LONG-TERM LOANS CAREFULLY

In the English leagues, you can only take four England-based players on a season-long loan in one season, so don’t waste any of your four on speculative long-shots. Take the player on trial in pre-season first, so you can assess how good he really is before committing to a long-term loan.

5. KEEP AN EYE ON THE WAGE BILL

Lower-league clubs have a total wage bill that even Carlton Cole wouldn’t bother getting out of bed for, so don’t waste a penny. Ship out any high earners that aren’t guaranteed first-team starters, as it will give you more scope in the transfer market. Try to keep your total wage bill 10% below the budget, so that the board won’t tug on the purse strings should you need to draft in an emergency signing.

10. REST PLAYERS WHEN POSSIBLE

Lower-league squads are normally a mix of kids and pension dodgers, both of whom are prone to complain of tiredness come February or March. Consequently, take every opportunity you can to give a player a rest. No match for 10 days? Give them three days – or even a week – off training. Suspended for three games? Do Likewise, although make sure you hit them with a decent fine if they’ve been silly buggers. If you have two or more internationals in your side, your league matches will be postponed on international weeks, providing another opportunity to tell the rest of the squad to put their feet up. Esepcially as those postponed games will lead to heavy congestion at a later date. And Fergie thinks he’s got it tough…

with regards these points, it may be useful to point out:-

1) Long-term loans - best to aim for 4 players that would almost certainly start in your 1st eleven - players to form the "spine" of your team; a good keeper is the best bet, followed by CB/Midfielder of some sort/Goalscorer - at least that is the pattern I aim for, where possible, and use the short-term loans to cover injuries, and fill out the squad more....

5) VERY important to keep a tight reign on money; even at the end of a season with promotion, it is likely your club will run at a loss, and start generating debt (other expenses like ground maintenance, match appearance fees, staff wages etc. will count against the club in the long run)....

10) Was lucky enough to have 3 good cup runs in the BSP with Wrexham - ended up getting to the FA Cup 4th Rnd, and winning the Conference Cup and FA Trophy! Was playing a match every 3-4 days at one point, and just rested players between games (right-click on player and 'rest' them for 2/3 games or whatever), in order to save their legs! figured that their stats weren't going to improve much anyway, and we did get a few trophies out of it! Didn't have much of a squad, or anything like a decent coaching staff, so training didn't seem much of an issue!

Ohh, the coaching thing reminds. If you want, reduce your staff to a good AssMan (definition of good for me is good in JP/JA) and a good scout. Earlier on, good JP stat is bonus, the important one for both Assman and Scout is JA. Since most of your players are short term hires.

Since nearly all you players are likely to be on yearly contracts and you are unlikely to get any young player that will be of any use to you, no point wasting money on coaching.

Mods i wouldn't mind seeing this added to the sticky as could be a major help to a lot of those trying to take their local clubs up the league, although some of the above mentioned issues re : #2 may want to be edited

it is good. I'll mention again the player naming though.

Bazac, you do know you can edit your post? PM me if you want an assist.

it is good. I'll mention again the player naming though.

Bazac, you do know you can edit your post? PM me if you want an assist.

Have edited the post now. Thanks for the offer.

great post

it will help so many people because its so simple and you dont have to read through loads of stuff

well done and welcome to the forums

This is a really nice post. Thanks for such a positive contribution to the forums. Its whetted my appetite for a League 2 game after I finish guiding Mexico to an assault on the World Cup.