The Idiots Guide To FM

These are just my views on the game and some of the aspects of the game, feel free to tell me if i've got anything wrong or left anything out. I've only included things that people might not know or things that have been raised on the forums recently, everything else is self explanatory or common sense.

The Idiots Guide To FM

LEAGUE AND GAME SELECTION

Mode

Detail levels do have an affect on the processing speed of the game. Selecting “View Only” for a league or cup competition, means that you can not manage a team in this league, but scores etc will be generated. As such, “View Only” will not affect processing as much as “Full Detail” and may be worth selecting if you have no intention of moving clubs, but like to load a variety of leagues.

Database Size & Load All Players From

Both are pretty much self explanatory, however queries have been raised before regards players not appearing despite a large database being selected. “Load All Players From”, is not a guarantee, but will increase the likelihood of a player from that nation appearing, it also gives us the chance to load players, but not load leagues, which means that we can enjoy faster processing and more available players.

Enable Attribute Masking

Tick and players will appear with some attributes unavailable, you will need to make full use of your scouts and have them report on these players in order to view their full list of attributes. If you’d rather not wait for your scouts to report back simply untick this option and all attributes will be visible from game start date.

ADDING A NEW USER

Past Experience

Options such as “professional” and “international footballer” are self explanatory regards experience and reputation, “automatic” isn’t as obvious. “Automatic” means you start the game with no experience whatsoever, this will limit your options if starting unemployed and you may be stuck with non league or lower league management until you build up you reputation in the game.

If someone were to select “automatic” and pick a top tier team, then they run the risk of upsetting fans and players with their lack of experience or reputation. Upset players can lead to low morale, which we all know can lead to negative results. So it’s worth bearing in mind the team you intend on taking over and the experience that you choose.

Start Unemployed

Obvious, but its link to “past experience” isn’t as obvious (if he forums are anything to go by). Picking “international footballer” means that you can start the game unemployed and expect to be offered a position with a club at a relatively high level, “professional” and you can expect a slightly lower level, “automatic” and the best you can hope for is probably non league.

YOU, THE MANAGER

Manager Overview

Displays all of the information we need to know and is set as our automatic homepage. You can change what information is visible by clicking the small triangle to the top right of each section, this provides a drop down selection box and you can modify your overview as you wish. This is particularly useful if you are considering moving clubs, simply set one of the options to show available jobs and when you return to your homepage, after each match, the info will be there and you won’t need to keep visiting the job centre.

Manager Profile

Club/Player Loyalty – The loyalty you show to your team and players. Signing or selling lots of players, declaring interest or applying for other jobs will have a negative effect on this attribute.

Domestic Player Bias – How often do you sign players who come from the nation you manage in? If the answer is “not very often” then expect to see this attribute decrease.

Financial Control – Operating within your budgets and a healthy bank balance will see this go up, frivolous spending and going over budget will see it go down.

Hands On Approach – How much control you take at the club. For best results develop your own training and tactics, take team talks, attend press conferences and don’t go on holiday.

Squad Discipline – Letting your players away with red cards, being late for training or poor performances might be your management style, but it can affect this attribute and a lack of managerial discipline can make more professional squad members unhappy.

Tactical Consistency – Self explanatory, change your formation and tactics every match and you’ll see this attribute going down, maintaining some level of consistency will see it increase.

Tactics – This information will change depending on your tactical style.

Knowledge – Your knowledge of other nations can be increased by working with staff from those nations, managing in those nations, sending scouts to those nations. The bars do fluxuate from season to season and a full bar may decrease if you do not continue to be involved in that league, the introduction of newgens and retirement of current players means that you can never maintain a full knowledge of a nation without actively maintaining it.

Board And Fan Confidence

Much the same as FM08, with the addition of Squad Harmony and Club Stature.

Squad Harmony – Player disagreements, unhappy players and too many signing can all be to the detriment of squad harmony. Sales and signings are often forgotten about when ti comes to this bar, but a team that has gelled and had time to work together and get used to each other will have a greater squad harmony than a team that has changed its playing staff relatively frequently.

Club Stature – Self explanatory, but something to think about when taking over a big club in crisis. Failure to guide them out of crisis and restore their world stature could be the final nail in your coffin.

It’s worth mentioning that the choice you make regards seasonal expectations is directly linked to board confidence. It might be tempting to tell them you can win the league in order to get those few extra million, but fail to deliver and their confidence in you will plummet, usually followed by the sack.

BACKROOM STAFF

Scouting

Club stature, financial position and league will determine where your scouts can go. You’re unlikely to be able to scout Brazil when managing in League Two and in a poor financial position.

It is possible to assign scouts to competitions as well as nations, areas and specific players. All options can be found in the assignments option. However, scouting does cost money and although there is no obvious fee for each area, it’s safe to say that South America costs more for a team from Scotland than sending the scout to England.

PLAYERS

Personality – Interaction – Tutoring

You may not realise it, but all three are interlinked.

Right click on any player and select player interaction, this will give you a variety of options, including player praise, disappointment etc. For younger players it will also give you the option to select a tutor for them to train with, half your work is done as it gives you the relevant players and you should select the best option.

Personality is something you should always consider when conducting any player interaction. A player with a “temperamental” personality will react differently to praise or criticism than a player with a “professional” personality. In the same way, a player described as “temperamental” may not bond, and so may not benefit from tutoring, with a tutor whose personality is “determined”.

Player personality should also be taken into account when you give a press conference, team talk or interact with other managers. The way the player reacts to your statements, is determined by their personality and a “determined” player may well react better to a negative statement than a positive statement.

Favoured Personnel

It is possible for players to up their game in a match against a manager they admire or a player they are friends with. A team full of players who share their favoured personnel are likely to have better morale and better squad harmony, both of which can lead to better results on the field.

TRANSFERS

Perhaps You Weren’t Aware That….

Players under 24 will have a fee assigned by a panel and you will have to pay a fee of some sort, even if their contract is about to end.

The money you’re told is available is not always available. The cash amount the board describe is the amount currently available, NOT including future transfer fees. It is possible to take over a club and be told there is £16m available, because at that moment £16m is available, but you won’t be able to spend it because it’s already tied up in transfers.

Really good idea, could help a lot of newbies

Disclaimer: Written for idiots, by idiots.

Disclaimer: Written for idiots, by idiots.

Sorry, I forgot to mention the help given by CaptainPlanet, thanks for reminding me. ZING

I was wondering whether the title meant it was for idiots or by idiots I reckon there ought to be an apostrophe in the title somewhere too!

Has scouting changed since FM08? In FM08 if you give a scout multiple assignments he completes one first and then does the other one afterwards.

I was just wondering about scouting cost too the other day. I wish that was included in the financial breakdown really because it is one aspect of finances that the manager has control over so it would be good to know exactly how much I am spending. My Scunthorpe scouts are constantly out all over Europe, but I might send them out far less if I knew how much it was costing me rather than it just being lumped into Other or Non football costs or whatever it gets included in.

Yeah the scouting info is wrong Nomi. It does one then the next, doesn't split the time across the two.

I was always under the impression that it split them over the two and two assignments meant each would take longer than usual. If it's wrong i'll change it.

The second assignment will say "Pending" until the first one is complete.

I stand corrected then and have removed as necessary.

If you tell a scout to look at two players it will do them concurrently rather than consecutively.

Automatic experience doesn't give you none, it sets the level based on what team you choose.