Job Market Completely Broken

I'm 6 seasons into my save and I have taken Espinho from the Portugese 3rd div to the top division, competing with the likes of Benfica, Porto and Sporting Lisbon on a weekly basis. I have a national reputation, the club are currently sitting nicely in mid-table and are doing well in both cups. I started the save with a Sunday League reputation as I like to play LLM style.

Despite the success, the only job offer I've had in 6 seasons is...Alfreton Town. Yes, Alfreton Town in the Skrill South. Now, however you cut it or however you want to spin it, one job offer from a Skrill South club after 6 seasons of almost continued success is, to put it mildly, absolute gash. Not once have I been linked with any other job - not even a passing mention. Nothing. Nada.

I just knew something was up after the 3rd season, but I thought I'd give the game the benefit of the doubt. So I plod on for a few seasons and guide them to (I think) their highest ever position. The board see me as untouchable, I have a great relationship with my players and I've built a really good side.

Anyway, I get bored and start making noises about moving to a bigger club. I don't want a one-club save. It's unrealistic. I want to be managing the likes of Liverpool and Barcelona. So I subscribe to all jobs in the top division of each major European country: England, France, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, Holland, etc. It gets to November and clubs start sacking their managers. Great! Opportunities for me...or so I think.

First application is for Malaga. They turn me down. Then I go for the Fiorentina job. They turn me down. Then I apply for Ajax. Same thing. OK, maybe these clubs are a bit too big. Let's go for someone like...Bordeaux! Struggling at the bottom of Ligue 1, a league that is only marginally higher than the Portugese 1st div. Same old story. REJECTED. I begin to suspect that the game has a massive job-related bug. So then I lower my sights even further. Standard Liege in Belgium. Surely they'll take me! Err...no.

Time after time I get rejected by clubs either slightly higher than my own, on the same level or even below! As a final test, I apply for the Bury job. They're in League 2. Guess what they said.

It's an absolute joke. The game is broken. A friend of mine is playing in Northern Ireland and he wanted to see if the job market is as nuked as I believe it is. He resigned from his job, went on holiday and applied for every job. 12 months later guess how many jobs he has been offered.

You got it. He even applied for a job with the mighty...Skelmersdale. He didn't get it.

This needs to be fixed. I don't care if you're working on 15. I've paid good money for this and I want it fixed.

Reputation takes time to increase, you can argue its too slow in some cases.

You have also done nothing outside Portugal so you have zero chance of getting offered a big club, thats the way it works and its not a bug.

You can see the reputation of all the leagues and you will be only offered jobs at clubs with reputations similar to your own.

As for your friend the top league in Northern Ireland is ranked fairly low down (80th at 1.5* in my save) as its a part time league but for the record I went from there to the Scottish Championship (60th at 1.5*) which is on a par with League 2 (55th/2*)/Skrill Premier sides (78th/1.5*).

EDIT

I've also just looked at the Portugese leagues and although the Premier League is ranked 7th at 3.5* the second league is only 64th/1.5* which is far lower. Of course there might be some differences between saves but in your position in my save you would be doing well to get a job anywhere higher than League 1 in England.

That's funny, because the last time I checked Bury was not a big club.

I think you are also forgetting that I have not had a single job offer from ANY club, whether they're in the same division as me or not. Not even a mention. That's wrong.

My wages are small. About £450 a week. Compensation will be peanuts.

"You can see the reputation of all the leagues and you will be only offered jobs at clubs with reputations similar to your own." Err...so what you're saying is that I'll never be offered a job with a club bigger than my own? I bet Brendan Rogers is glad real football isn't a bit like FM.

I have a few general questions.

1. You do not mention who ends up getting the jobs that you do not get an interview for, are they a poor choice compared to you?

2. You've mentioned that you're starting to compete with the bigger clubs in Portugal but there's no mention of competing with clubs outside of Portugal, have you competed in either of the Continental club competition & if so how did you get on?

3. What's your nationality in the game?

4. Have you considered that you might need to take on a higher profile club in Portugal before bigger clubs in other countries will start taking your seriously?

1) Some managers who get the jobs have bigger reps than me, some don't. There is no pattern. I should definitely have been offered the Bordeaux and Bury jobs.

2) No I have not yet competed in European competiton.

3) My nationality is English.

4) How can I take on a higher club in Portugal when I'm not getting offered ANY jobs. I repeat for the 5th time: I HAVE NOT HAD A SINGLE JOB OFFER IN 6 SEASONS APART FROM ALFRETOWN TOWN. How can I make this any clearer?

I'm managing Hibs in one of my saves, and am about six seasons in. Won a couple of trophies and finished 2nd to Celtic three seasons on the bounce now. During this time I've had job offers from Rangers, Montpellier, Wigan, and even Liverpool when they were in the bottom three of the EPL.

4) How can I take on a higher club in Portugal when I'm not getting offered ANY jobs. I repeat for the 5th time: I HAVE NOT HAD A SINGLE JOB OFFER IN 6 SEASONS APART FROM ALFRETOWN TOWN. How can I make this any clearer?

Yes, but did you apply for any of the bigger jobs in Portugal or did you just expect offers to come in? If you did apply and didn't get the job, were you offered interviews? Who did the jobs go to? Sensible appointments or someone with a lower standing?

"You can see the reputation of all the leagues and you will be only offered jobs at clubs with reputations similar to your own." Err...so what you're saying is that I'll never be offered a job with a club bigger than my own? I bet Brendan Rogers is glad real football isn't a bit like FM.

How is that relevant?

For the record he went from Reading (Youth coach) > Chelsea (Youth Coach) > Chelsea (Reserves Manager) > Watford > Reading > Swansea > Liverpool its not like he went from some unknown to Liverpool manager.

Just for comparison, I'm with Leeds in Sky Bet 1. I've coached in England, Portugal and the Netherlands (via applying for jobs). Been with Leeds (via applying myself) for 3 seasons.

This current season I've gotten e-mails with four interview requests. All the requests are from teams either in the SB1 or SB2 leagues. I was linked via media reports to three Premier jobs as well, but nothing came about from those. And I didn't apply for them.

So I'd say it "can" work but you are certainly not the only one to note a lack of offers. One thing I notice, I get more offers if I'm near contract expiration. If I'm early in a new contract extension they slow down.

Yes, but did you apply for any of the bigger jobs in Portugal or did you just expect offers to come in? If you did apply and didn't get the job, were you offered interviews? Who did the jobs go to? Sensible appointments or someone with a lower standing?

Yes I have applied for them. No I didn't get them. No I wasn't offered any interviews. On a couple of occasions I was laughed off. The jobs went to complete morons.

However you cut it, whatever you say, however you try to defend it, 1 offer from a Skrill South side in 6 seasons is simply not realistic. I have declined new contract talks with my board, I have made it plainly obvious I want another job. Maybe the solution is to to start the game as international footballer at Man utd or something.

So I'd say it "can" work but you are certainly not the only one to note a lack of offers. One thing I notice, I get more offers if I'm near contract expiration. If I'm early in a new contract extension they slow down.

This is a major aspect of it. If you're only just into a new contract, a lot of clubs will be reluctant to approach you due to the excessive compensation they'll have to pay.

This is a major aspect of it. If you're only just into a new contract, a lot of clubs will be reluctant to approach you due to the excessive compensation they'll have to pay.

Err...perhaps you didn't read the part where I said I was on £450 a week. Hardly a fortune is it.

Yes I have applied for them. No I didn't get them. No I wasn't offered any interviews. On a couple of occasions I was laughed off. The jobs went to complete morons.

However you cut it, whatever you say, however you try to defend it, 1 offer from a Skrill South side in 6 seasons is simply not realistic. I have declined new contract talks with my board, I have made it plainly obvious I want another job. Maybe the solution is to to start the game as international footballer at Man utd or something.

I haven't defended anything, so calm down. I asked a few questions, like everyone else, just to get an idea of what's happening in your save since you weren't giving enough information in the OP.

In my own game, I ended up in the Ukraine as a South African manager with Sunday League experience. Took me a while to get anywhere. After promotion, I started getting the odd offer from teams lower than me in the league. When I proved myself eventually and won a cup competition, the offers started streaming in. From a high mid-table Ukrainian team, I ended up at Lyon, although I had to make a LOT of promises to get the job.

Alex has given you a decent idea of why you're struggling to get jobs. Take that advice.

Let me clarify, I'm in year three with Leeds now. They are my sixth club in my save.

In my first couple of moves it was very difficult to move up. I ended up with Chester and gaining promotion and Coach of the Year in the Skrill for that season. That seems to have helped some.

However, up through this last move to Leeds (which I still applied for myself but interviewed while still employed) I had to resign and then apply/interview for each job. And did not always get a job right away. My fourth job jump I wanted to get into the Netherlands. It was the fifth job that opened up that I finally got. I missed almost half a season unemployed while waiting for new jobs to open up and continually applying for them.

I faced a similar problem when bouncing around trying to get a job for a European team when I had been managing in Asia and South Africa. I won both the African and Asian Champs League but when it came to job hunting in Europe the 'bigger' clubs or clubs who I felt should take me wouldn't even look at me. It was realistic, I eventually got my job with an underachieving team in Denmark, turned them around and moved on. But as others have said you got to win things and progress deeply in competitions in Portugal and on the continent to enhance your rep. When you do that, you will find offers filtering through.

Err...perhaps you didn't read the part where I said I was on £450 a week. Hardly a fortune is it.

And how long is your contract? Your situation means that outside of Portugal, you're not going to be desirable to the mega-rich clubs. That leaves clubs that would probably rather go low-risk and pay no compensation than paying up and hiring in some foreign unproven manager.

There is nothing broken about it - things have been made more realistic in FM14, so you can't go dancing around the World as easy as you could in, say, FM12/13. I got a job at one of the leading MLS sides with Sunday League rep in FM13. I'd say that's a lot more broken than your example.

Sunday League Reputation takes a while to build up. I'm currently playing as a Sunday League Manager and after winning the regular season in Australia with Perth Glory, I resigned and got rejected by a couple Serbian second division clubs before finally getting a job with one, after promising the stars. I have IGE so I can see my reputation and it is still well lower than Perth Glory's and lower than the Serbian clubs that rejected me. It's about the same as that of the club that gave me the job. Plus, I'm Serbian so that helped. But even though I won the A-League regular season and got the the Grand Final, I would have no chance of getting another A-League job with my reputation.

In my last save I started as an International Footballer from Australia and took over Partizan Belgrade. I won the league 3 years in a row, didn't win any cups and only played in the Champions League twice (knocked out in the group stages) and I had to fight off big clubs left right and centre. I was getting job offers monthly from top clubs.

So it's all in the reputation, you just have to ask yourself if you think it's realistic that you would be well respected throughout Europe based on your achievements given that no one has ever heard of you before you took over this team. The game obviously requires you to really prove yourself when starting with such a low reputation.

I think you're all forgetting a key aspect of my situation. I'm in the top division in Portugal and Bury laughed me off. They're in a league about 40 odd places below mine. That aint right however you swing it.

Also, the guy in Northern Ireland is totally unable to get another job outside of NI. His only option is to resign, remove Northern Ireland and hopefully that will force the game to give him another job. FM is basically a role-playing game, and for it to allow you to start in a place where you can't actually progress is a massive, massive bug. It's like being unable to level up in Far Cry 3 or Dark Souls. It's just poor.

I have a feeling I will have to absolutely dominate in Portugal and Europe before I am offered crap jobs in League 2 and League 1. Yeah, very realistic.

Clearly your doing something wrong, I moved from Nurnberg to Aston Villa, no issues.

Yes I'm clearly doing something wrong. I'm winning football matches, developing a terrific youth team, turned a club that was losing money into one that is profitable and we are now competing with Benfica and Porto.

I'm glad my team doesn't have a manager like that. I would sack him immediately.

What is your contract? wage and length.

When did you last apply for a job at a Portuguese club? What happened.

Explain why I had no issue (as a German Manager at a German team) moving to Aston Villa. Clearly somethings broken...

I don't care about your issue. For all I know you started as an semi-professional footballer or even an international footballer.

What is your contract? wage and length.

When did you last apply for a job at a Portuguese club? What happened.

I'm getting tired of repeating myself. Read above.

I'm getting tired of repeating myself. Read above.

No. You read above.

I fail to see anywhere where you comment on the length of your contract.

You go into detail about applying for jobs across Europe but barely touch on Portugal. No mention of which clubs or when.

I have read this whole thread more than once and despite your terrible attitude to all that comment i still ask and hope to offer my insight into why you aren't getting the jobs you expect.

Now i won't bother. You clearly do not want others advice or opinions. I have come across so many like you on here i wonder why i bother sometimes.

Yes I'm clearly doing something wrong. I'm winning football matches, developing a terrific youth team, turned a club that was losing money into one that is profitable and we are now competing with Benfica and Porto.

I'm glad my team doesn't have a manager like that. I would sack him immediately.

Problem is, like many have pointed out. You're still a nobody in football terms. Well done, you've taken a small team in a relatively small league and taken them to the top division. Not won any trophies, not been in Europe, not really done anything outside of Portugal. You're then expecting the rest of Europe (with a "national" reputation (as in, you've been heard of in Portugal, not really anywhere else) to go "OK! This guy is awesome brah, let's sign him!" rather than go with the guy they know of and has a reputation in that country.

Bury might well have just never heard of you or what you can do/have done.

As for compensation, £450 a week on a 5 year contract still boils down to £117k over the course of the contract - for some clubs, the compensation based on that wage is still too much - then to add your wage to it they'd have to pay you (They'd assume you'd probably want a pay rise after all) and you might just be out of budget until your contract is down to pretty much nothing.

That being said, clubs don't headhunt the player as much as I like. I was flying high with Valencia - winning La Liga and the CL and the Barca/Real/Munich jobs came up. I wasn't even in the frame, even though I was world class rep.

At the very least, I would have thought Real Madrid or Barca would have come sniffing considering I was beating them both on a regular basis with a smaller rep team.

I think you're all forgetting a key aspect of my situation. I'm in the top division in Portugal and Bury laughed me off. They're in a league about 40 odd places below mine. That aint right however you swing it.

Why isn't it right?

How long have you been in the top league in Portugal?

You only have national rep in Portugal which translates to lower in England as you are much less known.

Also Bury would look at you more favourably if you were unemployed. Its certainly something I would like to see tweaked for the next version but the fact remains you are much less likely to be offered jobs if you are employed as it stands.

Also, the guy in Northern Ireland is totally unable to get another job outside of NI. His only option is to resign, remove Northern Ireland and hopefully that will force the game to give him another job. FM is basically a role-playing game, and for it to allow you to start in a place where you can't actually progress is a massive, massive bug. It's like being unable to level up in Far Cry 3 or Dark Souls. It's just poor.

No, he needs to have other leagues loaded around the same reputation level.

Starting with Sunday League rep I've gone from Hong Kong > Northern Ireland Danske Bank Premiership > Scottish Championship > English League 2. I have never applied for any jobs they have always been offered and I've also turned a few down over the years.

Out of interest I resigned last night to see what I would be offered and within a few game days I had five interview offers from clubs in the following leagues: South African Premiership, Finland First Division, Argentine Second Division, Italian Serie C1/B & English Skrill South.

Tbf to the OP, this does highlight something.

He started with Sunday League football rep which is obviously very low. With each promotion/league win you would have received a small reputation increase.

Maybe in future there should be an overall rep increase for taking the club up x divisions in y years, because IRL this would be noticed.

That being said, clubs don't headhunt the player as much as I like. I was flying high with Valencia - winning La Liga and the CL and the Barca/Real/Munich jobs came up. I wasn't even in the frame, even though I was world class rep.

At the very least, I would have thought Real Madrid or Barca would have come sniffing considering I was beating them both on a regular basis with a smaller rep team.

I don't have to say anything else. You win La Liga and the Champions League with Valencia, you have a world-class reputation...and still Barcelona and Madrid ignore you.

Argument over.

The weird thing I've found is that I often get offers from bigher clubs aboard but much less from the same country.

The whole reputation/progression aspect of the game needs looking at, because it clearly doesn't work as it should.

I'll give it two more seasons at Espinho. If we're in Europe and doing well, and doing well in the league and maybe winning cups and I STILL don't get offered anything...well, then I know for sure it's nuked.

Tbf to the OP, this does highlight something.

He started with Sunday League football rep which is obviously very low. With each promotion/league win you would have received a small reputation increase.

Maybe in future there should be an overall rep increase for taking the club up x divisions in y years, because IRL this would be noticed.

Fully agree with everything written here.

As someone that tends to start in the lower leagues, Reputation is the biggest flaw for me. It needs to be more dynamic really. Yes the game is all about Managing a club but if you are sacked after a poor run of results it should be a little more difficult to get a new job while there should be more interest in you if you rise through the leagues or massively overachieve for a season or two.

I would love to see the interview process focus on the reasons behind you leaving your last club or why you are seeking out a new job.

I don't have to say anything else. You win La Liga and the Champions League with Valencia, you have a world-class reputation...and still Barcelona and Madrid ignore you.

Argument over.

The weird thing I've found is that I often get offers from bigher clubs aboard but much less from the same country.

I suspect much like players rivalries play a role and in the example there Real & Barcelona probably feel like they don't have much chance of attracting that manager given he has won La Liga & the Champions League.

If he made media comments that he was interested in the jobs it might have triggered an interview.

I suspect much like players rivalries play a role and in the example there Real & Barcelona probably feel like they don't have much chance of attracting that manager given he has won La Liga & the Champions League.

If he made media comments that he was interested in the jobs it might have triggered an interview.

In fairness, I was content in the role and gave no indication that I wanted to move, so yes, this is the case. I know this because when I left Valencia for Liverpool I got a news report saying "they were surprised as I never showed any interest in moving on".

As it turned out, Brendan Rodgers was appointed at Real (he just won the league with Liverpool) and Guardiola went back to Barca after winning the Bundesliga for the 3rd time in a row. So it wasn't as if they got some random nobodies in either.

On top of that, I had been arguing with Martino and Ancelotti. So maybe I wasn't in their best books at the end of the day.

Even so, you'd expect there to be a bit of speculation that the young upstart who took Valencia to their first ever CL win after winning La Liga for the second time might have been a little interesting for them. After all, Barca and Real have no real issues with taking on any manager they want, from rivals or not.

Either way, I was just surprised I wasn't even in the frame from a media point of view. It seems if you genuinely want to move, you need to make sounds about being available. Which, unfortunately, could result in you being sacked from your existing club if things backfire.

I started managing San Marino and although I was never going to leave, I did find the number of job offers after initial success less than I expected.

By the time we won the Champions league for the first time I think I had been offered all but the biggest jobs, (or at least interviews to them), but every so often I get approached again now, (even though they know I'm nor going to move). I don't get many offers though despite winning 5 Serie A's on the bounce and making 3 of the last 4 Champions League Finals.

Having said that, (I also run a different Manager/club alongside this and I seem to get offered regular jobs. The reason I think is that I have a history of moving clubs, (Croatia, Serbia, England, Germany, Belgium, and I think there was somewhere else too). Because I move about more, other clubs seem more inclined to approach me. Both profiles have a World Class reputation despite me not winning much of note with the 2nd profile, (although decent success with Partizan and Celtic).

I suppose I'm not really clarifying anything here. Just that I have had very different experiences with 2 manager profiles in 1 single save. This sort of leads me to suspect that what I do as a mangaer, (moving regularly for example), might encourage offers with this in mind. In hindsight, i would have loved to keep tracj of what jobs I was offered over the years.

This has given me an idea that I am going to propose in the ideas thread.

I would like to see job/interview offers tracked via some sort of CV(ish) system. (Maybe CV isn't the correct term). It would also include job applications that we made but which were unsuccessful.

Yes we all agree that there's a lack of clubs coming to get us, but when we go for the jobs ourselves we have no issues like the ones being raised.

There is an issue of clubs not coming for you, but it's often only when you've given no indication of wanting to move.

I said elsewhere, instead of rejecting the offers I get, I attend an interview now and then just to show that I am looking. Keeps my board on their toes as well.

It would be nice if the odd ambitious club or two still try and sign you. Even Ferguson had one or two approaches (that I know of) while at United. Not sure if clubs do this already, but they seem to mostly leave you alone if you're doing well, give no indication of wanting to move and your contract isn't running out.

Is this another of those threads where the general consensus is "even though you've won two promotions and established a club in a top flight league in a reputable country, that only translates to a non-league job in England because everyone knows English football is the best, also they don't have Google outside of Portugal so no one knows of your achievements"?

Also if your application is rejected because the club can't afford the compensation, the news item tells you that.

You started as an Englishman with Sunday League reputation. Then you took a job in Portugal where you have done well but not won anything. Any "reputation points" you have gotten so far will be in Portugal, not in England. Hence, in England you are still a completely unknown manager. In every other country than England and Portugal, you don't even exist on any list of "manager".

Until your World Reputation grows (from winning continental competitions) you will remain a less than zero in Europe, a virtual zero in England and a rookie manager who have done well with a nobody club in Portugal.

Of-bloody-course you have only received an offer from Alfreton!

How did he get from the third division to the top flight if he's never won anything?

I'm 6 seasons into my save and I have taken Espinho from the Portugese 3rd div to the top division, competing with the likes of Benfica, Porto and Sporting Lisbon on a weekly basis. I have a national reputation, the club are currently sitting nicely in mid-table

This needs to be fixed. I don't care if you're working on 15. I've paid good money for this and I want it fixed.

I think there is a problem here, but I really don't think you are helping yourself.

1. You are managing in what is a low reputation structure.

2. You still have only a National reputation which means that you are not known outside that structure.

3. You are being rude. If you want people to take you seriously, then just tone it down a little but and post reasonably.

I agree with your point in general, but the way you are making it just turns people off. Be constructive, specific and polite and you might get a better response

There does seem to be something up with job offers in this version.

I had a save with Parma where in a 5 year period I won the Serie A 5 times, a few Italian cups, super cup and Europa league. When I got bored and tried to find a new job, very limited success. In the end I tried resigning to see if that would help, and left the game on holiday mode to apply. Other Serie A teams laughed off my application and the best interviews I could get were from Dutch second division teams and in the end I had to make do with Toulouse who had been relegated to the French second division. Surely during a period of back to back titles like that I should have attracted at least an interview from another team.

On the other hand I had a save where I took Derby into the Premier League, and made them into a decent upper mid table side and got to one FA cup final. An ok performance but nothing amazing I would say, but I still got asked to interview by other teams including Man U and Arsenal.

You have achieved relatively little. It's brilliant that you have taken a small team from a small league and moved them up to the highest league in the country. You are still not winning anything and are in a league with a low rep. Why on earth would Boardaux offer you a job when you are literally a nobody when it comes to being outside of Portugal. Win the league and you will receive job offers.

I've taken Falkirk from favourites to be relaged from the Scottish Championship to 7 times winners of the SPL. I don't get top job offers and I don't expect them as I've been winning a minor league.

Winning a 2nd or 3rd tier divisional title or just getting promoted from those levels without winning the division is worth nothing outside of Portugal so it only goes to explain the lack of overseas job offers.

Which is an issue IMO. An English coach getting multiple promotions abroad would be hot property back in England, especially in a country which is much closer to the better European nations than the lesser ones.

How did he get from the third division to the top flight if he's never won anything?

Second place/qual promotions? In any case, what I meant was anything of note... as in, the Portuguese Premier League or the Portuguese Cup.

Second place/qual promotions? In any case, what I meant was anything of note... as in, the Portuguese Premier League or the Portuguese Cup.

It would be interesting to know the difference in reputation boost between winning a title and finishing second (and still getting auto promoted). I'd personally contend that finishing 2nd or 3rd with a team predicted to struggle should result in a bigger reputation jump than winning a title with a team expected to contend.

It would be interesting to know the difference in reputation boost between winning a title and finishing second (and still getting auto promoted). I'd personally contend that finishing 2nd or 3rd with a team predicted to struggle should result in a bigger reputation jump than winning a title with a team expected to contend.

He started as Sunday League rep (so, obscure in all probability) and is now at National rep. That's as big a jump as you can get in any league system of that size without winning major honours within that country. Isn't the only one left Continental? He's never going to get a continental rep if he's not competing regularly in Europe.

Which is an issue IMO. An English coach getting multiple promotions abroad would be hot property back in England, especially in a country which is much closer to the better European nations than the lesser ones.

I know my game has been moved on a bit so it might not be 100% accurate, but let's compare the competition reputations to see what level his success equates to.

Portugal Regional Division (is that 3rd Div?) is ranked 138th in my game. It's similar in rep to Welsh Second Division.

Portugese National Championship is ranked 113th in my game. It's similar in rep to Conference North/South which are ranked 116th.

Can you see what people are getting at? The reputations of the competitions that he has won, (maybe, or maybe he just won promotion from them), is so poor as for it to be barely make a ripple elsewhere. If he was a Portugese Manager and he won the league below Conference North/South and then won Conference North/South, would you expect teams on the continent to be chasing him? That's effectively what you are saying.

There is no way a Continental team would be chasing a manager who had got promoted to Conference North/South and then to the Conference. Reputations matter. It's there for a reason.

I do not think there is anything to back that up, Steven McLaren won the Eredivisie with a unfancied side yet he was(is) still considered to be a figure of fun in England & his only job prospects when he was looking to make a return were at troubled Championship sides.

As far as I know the OP didn't damage his reputation in England before going abroad - he started overseas. And we're talking about him getting rejected by clubs like Bury, not getting a gig at clubs the size of Forest and Derby.

If I was a young English coach and I went to the third tier of a decent footballing country, got two promotions and established the club in the top tier (this is getting overlooked), I'd expect clubs in League One or Two to at least give me an interview. I'd also expect clubs to be able to do research and see my achievements, rather than have them hit an invisible wall when they try and travel outside of Portugal.

I know my game has been moved on a bit so it might not be 100% accurate, but let's compare the competition reputations to see what level his success equates to.

Portugal Regional Division (is that 3rd Div?) is ranked 38th in my game. It's similar in rep to Welsh Second Division.

Portugese National Championship is ranked 113th in my game. It's similar in rep to Conference North/South which are ranked 116th.

Can you see what people are getting at? The reputations of the competitions that he has won, (maybe, or maybe he just won promotion from them), is so poor as for it to be barely make a ripple elsewhere. If he was a Portugese Manager and he won the league below Conference North/South and then won Conference North/South, would you expect teams on the continent to be chasing him? That's effectively what you are saying.

There is no way a Continental team would be chasing a manager who had got promoted to Conference North/South and then to the Conference. Reputations matter. It's there for a reason.

And establishing the club in a top league with clubs like Sporting, Benfica and Porto? That's just as significant as getting there in the first place, especially with a small club.

I should also add that I'm not arguing why it is how it is in the game or that it's a bug, I'm saying it's not realistic (IMO).

It would be interesting to know the difference in reputation boost between winning a title and finishing second (and still getting auto promoted). I'd personally contend that finishing 2nd or 3rd with a team predicted to struggle should result in a bigger reputation jump than winning a title with a team expected to contend.

Yes I agree but it doesn't quite work that way in FM in my experience.

For whatever it's worth, David Moyes was such a manager. Did well at Everton, never won anything. That was his downfall, as without winning trophies you don't know what it takes to do so. That's why these veteran managers from Italy and elsewhere jumps from one big club to another around Europe. As such it makes sense to celebrate winning above all else in a game like FM.

He started as Sunday League rep (so, obscure in all probability) and is now at National rep. That's as big a jump as you can get in any league system of that size without winning major honours within that country. Isn't the only one left Continental? He's never going to get a continental rep if he's not competing regularly in Europe.

Yep I'm not arguing how it is in the game, I am just sympathising with the OP because to me he has clearly done enough to get better job offers than a Conference South team, and I think English clubs would take notice of a British manager doing excellent things abroad. I have long thought the reputation system in FM is far too rigid.