[FM11] Heathxxx Lower League Management Approach

[nmwaldron]

Still continued poor performances. This game seems determined to put Eastwood town back down to the non leagues. I've had a player sent of at around 30 mins in the last three games. No ones been told to tackle hard. For most of the season we'll hold someone at nil nil till about the 90th minute then we'll conceed in overtime..a lot of times the overtime is more than announced at the end of 90 mins too, with little or no stoppage in overtime. This new patch is really taking me apart. Also, almost every game about 10 mins in, one of my midfielder's condition will mysteriously change to the 50% range with no challenge from the opponent.

I can't seem to turn this around.

[heathxxx]

Firstly, injury time is always a minimum of what's announced in the commentary, as it is when displayed by the 4th official in the real game itself. As in the real world, you can find yourself wondering why the referee did or didn't add a minute longer, in injury time. It can arguably be one of those most dangerous times during a game. Manchester United are famed for their knack of scoring late goals or injury time goals over the years. Some teams will throw just about everything at you to get a goal, so if you're prone to conceding late, using the "contain" strategy might be worth looking into.

With the sudden drops in condition, I don't know what the cause might be, other than you may not have seen the cause of an injury or knock during play. I've not had a player drop in condition for no apparent reason yet. Every time, there's been something in the commentary "player x has taken a knock", or there's a clear foul to show why, or he's just pulled up with an injury. If you happen to spot what seems like a sudden condition drop again, check the after match report commentary to see if there's something you missed during the game. Of course, the speed you view matches might sometimes mean you can miss little things. I usually use either key or extended highlights myself.

With the bookings and sending off's, even though you might not have hard tackling selected in your team or individual player instructions, you may still be using them in your opposition instructions. If the referee appears card happy, then you may need to change these. Alternatively, check to see what the sending off's are for. I think every time I've seen a player clean through on goal, but brought down by an opponent so far, it's been a straight red card for a professional foul. By the letter of the law, this is right. In the real game though, not always do referees send someone off for such an offence, which is why in the real game, there's always so much debate about refereeing consistency.

A daft seeming sending off for getting two yellow cards for something like shirt-pulling can be most frustrating, but you also have to consider potential causes. You could have a slow player facing a fast opponent. If he's not on his toes or covering well enough, he might try to impede his opponent instead, thus picking up pretty soft bookings.

There's usually a number of reasons things seem to happen in FM, but most if not all can be attributed to something. That's the difference between FM and the real game. In FM there's always cause and effect. In the real game, there's the random factor that I doubt any simulation will ever truly capture. That's why I often find it amusing when people accuse the game of being "random", not that I'm suggesting you are, but people often have on these forums over the years.

As for how you're team is doing, it sounds like you're struggling in League Two. Obviously the financial difficulties you seem to be having, must have strained your efforts to improve the squad. How do you feel your team looks compared to your opponents teams? Do you think you have the quality of players capable of pushing for promotion, or realistically, are they no better than average for the division?

[tigerhgrrrrrr]

Bahh... PC problems and had to reinstall Windows 7 and a load of other stuff. Good job I keep backups of everything on an external HD.

Back to my save though, I only lost about three matches worth, so I'm back to the point a fixture or so before the loss to Mansfield Town. Second chance to right some wrongs I suppose, not least the lack of consistency of some of my key players and complacency.

So you have jumped back to a previous save from before your Mansfield defeat?, ....... PC problems you say?...I believe you, I really do! ;-) lol

It is a little frustrating that it is taking me 7 weeks to play a season - but like you have said, why rush it?, take your time. Am Champions (I am on the verge of iconic AFCW status, apparantly. 116 pts, 1 game remaining. Actually, I suspect that "my way" has mostly been my take on your FM09 thread, have not really been too influenced by FM11 posts. All good fun though. Players outside of my regular 1st XI all want to leave - suits me, if they were not good enough for BSP they will not be missed in L2. Just the young ones with potential to butter up & keep.

Looking forward to more income, 7 subs per matchday, 4 (count them!) FOUR posible promotion slots, the League cup & the FLT.

[heathxxx]

So you have jumped back to a previous save from before your Mansfield defeat?, ....... PC problems you say?...I believe you, I really do! ;-) lol

Unfortunately I encountered the blue screen of death. Nothing to do with FM. Had to reinstall Windows 7 again from scratch, all the updates and my software I had installed. Fortunately I keep backups of most things on an external HD, so a reinstall isn't such a chore. With FM though, I hadn't selected rolling autosaves, so my last save just happened to be before the Mansfield game. I lost the game again, though not on purpose. A combination of low player condition after a compact schedule and complacency, all contributed to what was always going to be a difficult game for many reasons.

I'm a "cup half-full" over a "cup half-empty" kind of person though, so to me a defeat can sometimes offer more positives than negatives. It gives me a chance to take stock of things, highlights weak areas in my players or tactics that I can learn from and look to improve. I'd not taken steps earlier to stem the complacency developing amongst my players and on top of the low condition, paid the price with a defeat. I shan't willingly let my players get as complacent again and will look for the signs earlier in future.

The biggest "loss" from the save though, was I'd drawn Sunderland away in the FA Cup, so losing the chunk of cash I would have got from the gate money was a shame. Instead got Reading, who we managed to beat. 4th round draw was either Cardiff or Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough won the replay so we'll be playing them. They're currently top of the Championship and have a very good squad, so it's doubtful we'll win that one. At least in the home game against Reading, they couldn't handle our poor pitch conditions and the torrential rain, which my team used to its advantage.

It is a little frustrating that it is taking me 7 weeks to play a season - but like you have said, why rush it?, take your time. Am Champions (I am on the verge of iconic AFCW status, apparantly. 116 pts, 1 game remaining. Actually, I suspect that "my way" has mostly been my take on your FM09 thread, have not really been too influenced by FM11 posts. All good fun though. Players outside of my regular 1st XI all want to leave - suits me, if they were not good enough for BSP they will not be missed in L2. Just the young ones with potential to butter up & keep.

Looking forward to more income, 7 subs per matchday, 4 (count them!) FOUR posible promotion slots, the League cup & the FLT.

Providing nothing goes horribly wrong from now on, given my team is now 9 points clear of Luton at the top, I'm looking forward to the Football League as well.

I'm already scouring the planet for new and better players. Although nobody wants to leave, I've had contract negotiation/agent trouble with my keeper as mentioned previously. There's higher level clubs interested in all my players though, so it shouldn't be difficult to move players on that I don't wish to keep.

Whilst on one of my now legendary trawls for players, I've been looking at African clubs. There's some fantastic regen players that are "very interested" in joining my club. They're either available to sign for free with little to no compensation, or they're no more than 20-40k in price. I actually have 100k transfer budget that's remained untouched after the budget was boosted following my mid-season board expectations review (I do like that feature very much).

Obviously the biggest problem will be getting work permits for any of the players I've made offers for. Going to be a shame if I don't at least get one or two of them, because they're all exceptionally talented looking players, with what I judge to be Championship or Premiership potential. I don't need any third-party programmes to judge players. I always have a high JPA/JPP scout or assistant, plus I look at the distribution of attributes. I think this has come from experience mostly over the last few releases of FM, because I "know" what I'm looking for.

Still, it'll be hugely disappointing if I can't get work permits for any of them. My club can afford them, they're asking for affordable wages (none of them had agents!! ) and more importantly... they want to come to Telford!

Just having had a quick look at my shortlist, there's one of them actually has an EU second nationality, so he will be no problem. The only problem with him however, is that his club want more than I'm willing to pay, so I'm trying different options to break up the transfer fee, to see what they'll accept.

My next major "trawl" through clubs for regens, will be in the summer when they begin to appear for European clubs. From experience though, they're usually much harder to sign. They're either out of my price range, or their wage demands are sky high. Signing players from developing nations is much easier... providing you can get the damn work permit accepted!

[heathxxx]

Well, can't think of anything else but to say "WOOHOO" after this result against Championship leaders Middlesbrough away, in the FA Cup 4th round.

In this match, I really didn't hold much hope of coming away with a victory, however I did remain positive in the team-talk with "we can win this", but started the game with a "contain" strategy and immediately used the shout "hassle opponents".

Middlesbrough were all over us like a rash, but their strikers clearly didn't have their shooting boots on, spurning some really good chances. On a rare break, Peter Styvar found himself in space and took his chance.

I couldn't believe we made it to half-time without conceding a goal, as other than the one chance, we hadn't played at all well. Passing was terrible, no matter whether I used the "retain possession" and "pass to feet" shouts, or the more direct "get the ball forward" and "pass into space" shouts. Indeed, passing was awful all game, as you'll see by the Telford pass completion percentage of 59%. I actually believe this is the lowest pass completion percentage I've ever seen for one of my teams in a match! That aside, I used "encourage" as my half-time team talk, but it was a backs to the wall job second-half, pure and simple, yet Middlesbrough continued to spurn their chances.

To their credit, as you can also tell by the percentages, my team dominated things aerially. Boro' were playing a narrow 4-2-3-1 and apart from their tall forward, their attacking midfielders were small, which clearly helped in that department. I was delighted how well my defence were clearing crosses though.

Other than the goal in the first half, the remaining two chances my team managed to create actually didn't come until the three minutes of injury time. At that stage Boro' were throwing everything at my defence and I swear I saw a kitchen sink go flying past at one point!

My defence held firm though and hoofed the ball clear at every opportunity, which created those last two chances at the other end. One saw Styvar beat the last defender and sky his shot over, the other was an effort at an angle which forced the keeper to make a good save.

I have to say, one of the scruffiest looking performances I've seen of one of my teams ever playing FM, but effective? Hell yes! It wasn't pretty by any means, but in terms of breaking up Middlesbrough's play and snapping at their players heels at every opportunity, they were outstanding.

So into the 5th round of the FA Cup. I swear... if we don't get one of the Premier League big-boys now after getting this far, I'll be absolutely gutted!

[nmwaldron]

Congrats on the Boro win. Amazing result!

I thought my squad was good enough. Most are rated above 3 stars by my asm. This is the team I have;

[nmwaldron]

and this is my asm's report;

[heathxxx]

Hmmm... if you're assistant's ratings are accurate enough, you should be doing better than you are with that squad. That is, if the players are suited well to the roles you're using.

Have you changed anything to take the weather conditions into account, if so, has it improved things any regarding match performances that you've noticed at all?

Clearly morale doesn't look too impressive, but that could be to do with the defeats. If you have determined players, try more aggressive team talks like "expect a performance". If they're not all determined, you might need to try "good luck" or "no pressure", if they appear nervous. It's a while since I've suffered a big dip in both form and morale, so it's hard to suggest the most appropriate way forward.

Perhaps when I get into League Two, my team may struggle too. I suppose it depends on any squad changes I make.

[nmwaldron]

The players I have seem to be able to just about cut it in league 2, but will not really help us with a successful promotion bid. Although, having said that, this team is almost exactly the same as the team I had last year and we finished in 9th place in league 2.

When you're scouting out other players, do you just send your scout out to that country or do you go through each team and have your scout assess the ones who look good?

[nmwaldron]

Some of my scout reports have been off too. Despite my scout having 15 for judging player ability and 16 for judging potential. I just signed a 20 year old German striker because my scout said he was going to be a premiership level striker. I was really pumped to get him into the squad so agreed to pay him 1100 a week and now my ASM is saying he's only going to be a leading league 2 striker in the future.

[heathxxx]

Whilst I do send my scouts out to specific countries or regions within their range of "knowledge", I also look through teams individually. If I find a player who has not only decent looking attributed, but also a good general distribution of attributes suited to the positions/roles I would use them in, then I'll also get a scout, coach or my assistant to provide a report on them. For younger players, I'll use my staff member with the highest Judging Player Potential (JPP). For older players, I'll use the best staff member with the highest Judging Player Ability (JPA).

I'm fortunate enough to have staff at the club, one with 16 JPP and another with 16 JPA. I've not been able to get anyone with a higher attribute in either of those staff attributes, but it's strong enough to give a very good report, which should be very accurate indeed. Based on the information in the reports and my own thoughts, I'll try an approach.

Older players that aren't likely to improve or have attributes change much, I don't really need to scout, but I will usually do so to get information about things you don't generally see, just by looking at their attrubutes. This can be information regarding their character and how well they'll fit into the squad, injury proneness, plus other snippets of information that can be useful.

In addition to scouting, I often try to get players on loan. In the lower leagues, I look at a hell of a lot of players on trial. I think this season alone, I've easily had over thirty players on trial, so I can get an instant report and feedback from my coaches, regarding their suitability. star and descriptive ratings for their ability and potential. It doesn't cost anything to give a player a trial, plus they can even participate in reserve and youth matches. With the latter, you can get some indication of how they perform in a role and match situations. I also try to offer players trials of the maximum four weeks available.

[heathxxx]

Some of my scout reports have been off too. Despite my scout having 15 for judging player ability and 16 for judging potential. I just signed a 20 year old German striker because my scout said he was going to be a premiership level striker. I was really pumped to get him into the squad so agreed to pay him 1100 a week and now my ASM is saying he's only going to be a leading league 2 striker in the future.

What's your assistants JPP and JPA though? If it's less than your scout's attributes, then I would lean towards what the scout has suggested being more accurate, over the assistant opinion in this case.

[nmwaldron]

What's your assistants JPP and JPA though? If it's less than your scout's attributes, then I would lean towards what the scout has suggested being more accurate, over the assistant opinion in this case.

Hmm...yeah, my assistant's is 13 and 12 respectively, both my scouts are 16 for both.

[heathxxx]

I'd certainly go with the scouts advice then.

Not an easy task in the lower leagues for sure, but if you can get an assistant that has 16 upwards JPA, as well as the other key assistant attributes I've mentioned before, it's a really big help. I haven't unfortunately at the moment, as although the Norwegian bloke I had was fantastic, he got to the age of 68 and decided to retire. The new assistant is ok in most aspects, but is lacking in JPA, so I'm having to rely on my scouts more and my own judgement.

[tigerhgrrrrrr]

Unfortunately I encountered the blue screen of death. Nothing to do with FM. Had to reinstall Windows 7 again from scratch, all the updates and my software I had installed. Fortunately I keep backups of most things on an external HD, so a reinstall isn't such a chore. With FM though, I hadn't selected rolling autosaves, so my last save just happened to be before the Mansfield game. I lost the game again, though not on purpose. A combination of low player condition after a compact schedule and complacency, all contributed to what was always going to be a difficult game for many reasons.

I'm a "cup half-full" over a "cup half-empty" kind of person though, so to me a defeat can sometimes offer more positives than negatives. It gives me a chance to take stock of things, highlights weak areas in my players or tactics that I can learn from and look to improve. I'd not taken steps earlier to stem the complacency developing amongst my players and on top of the low condition, paid the price with a defeat. I shan't willingly let my players get as complacent again and will look for the signs earlier in future.

The biggest "loss" from the save though, was I'd drawn Sunderland away in the FA Cup, so losing the chunk of cash I would have got from the gate money was a shame. Instead got Reading, who we managed to beat. 4th round draw was either Cardiff or Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough won the replay so we'll be playing them. They're currently top of the Championship and have a very good squad, so it's doubtful we'll win that one. At least in the home game against Reading, they couldn't handle our poor pitch conditions and the torrential rain, which my team used to its advantage.

Providing nothing goes horribly wrong from now on, given my team is now 9 points clear of Luton at the top, I'm looking forward to the Football League as well.

I'm already scouring the planet for new and better players. Although nobody wants to leave, I've had contract negotiation/agent trouble with my keeper as mentioned previously. There's higher level clubs interested in all my players though, so it shouldn't be difficult to move players on that I don't wish to keep.

Whilst on one of my now legendary trawls for players, I've been looking at African clubs. There's some fantastic regen players that are "very interested" in joining my club. They're either available to sign for free with little to no compensation, or they're no more than 20-40k in price. I actually have 100k transfer budget that's remained untouched after the budget was boosted following my mid-season board expectations review (I do like that feature very much).

Obviously the biggest problem will be getting work permits for any of the players I've made offers for. Going to be a shame if I don't at least get one or two of them, because they're all exceptionally talented looking players, with what I judge to be Championship or Premiership potential. I don't need any third-party programmes to judge players. I always have a high JPA/JPP scout or assistant, plus I look at the distribution of attributes. I think this has come from experience mostly over the last few releases of FM, because I "know" what I'm looking for.

Still, it'll be hugely disappointing if I can't get work permits for any of them. My club can afford them, they're asking for affordable wages (none of them had agents!! ) and more importantly... they want to come to Telford!

Just having had a quick look at my shortlist, there's one of them actually has an EU second nationality, so he will be no problem. The only problem with him however, is that his club want more than I'm willing to pay, so I'm trying different options to break up the transfer fee, to see what they'll accept.

My next major "trawl" through clubs for regens, will be in the summer when they begin to appear for European clubs. From experience though, they're usually much harder to sign. They're either out of my price range, or their wage demands are sky high. Signing players from developing nations is much easier... providing you can get the damn work permit accepted!

Close season No 1 !. Reduced shortlist from approx 1600 to 350 realistic "gems". My debt of £180k transformed in a day into a positive bouncing between £70k - 100k, due to winning FAT (that was £500k !) - keep arranging those money spinning friendlies as long as you can at seasons end!. Shifting deadwood now. Quite exciting actually.

[heathxxx]

My reward for the FA Cup 4th round win over Middlesbrough, is a 5th round home tie against current holders, Liverpool.

Obviously I'm delighted to finally get a Premier League club, although of course I would have preferred an away fixture financially. If I do stand any chance or hope of pulling off a major shock though, I believe I've more chance of doing it at home than at Anfield. My poor pitch condition I can use to my advantage I feel, especially if the weather is also poor on the day.

Meanwhile, in the FA Trophy 3rd round, we managed to stuff Mansfield Town 4-1 to exact a little revenge for our league defeat against them. The result itself takes my team to thirteen consecutive wins in all competitions, since that league defeat. Adapting things slightly tactically for winter conditions and poor pitch quality, has certainly made a difference.

Although our record of wins is excellent, I've still some niggles defensively. We do have the second lowest goals conceded in the BSP, but we've not managed to sustain a good run of clean sheets. Four consecutive games without conceding was the best so far, early in the season. The best after that was two consecutive matches a couple of times this season. Now this could be something to do with both enforced changing of players (injuries and suspensions) and rotation to start games with highest possible condition percentages, meaning my back four changes almost every game. Would be nice to have a settled back four, but it hasn't been possible. It's also an area of the squad I don't have the depth of quality I would like. I have decent cover for both full-backs, but not really for the centre-backs.

Now, regarding set pieces, offensively. We have the second highest number of goals from corners in the league, with 11 so far this season after 30 games played. That's a ratio of slightly over one in three, which I don't think is bad. We're top of the pile for goals from indirect free-kicks (IFKs) with 9 goals.

Direct free kicks (DFKs) we've scored none in the league all season, though the highest scoring team only has two themselves. Indeed, with all teams having played at least 30 games each in the league so far this season, there's only been a combined total of 9 goals scored from direct free-kicks.

Having read through a variety of threads on the forums, including the ME feedback thread in the FM General Discussion forum, there's been quite a few complaints at what seems to be a low number goals from direct free-kicks. At the moment the game seems to fall below real world statistics for direct free-kicks, although it isn't actually that far below the real figures if you compare end of season averages in the game, to end of season averages for different leagues around the world. That said though, I believe that PaulC has acknowledged that goals from DFKs is below expectations, but that it may have something to do with ball movement physics in the ME. I'm quite sure that it's something Paul and SI will be looking to improve, so it's not something that worries me particularly at the moment. I actually think things generally look better, even if they're slightly lower than they perhaps should be, than being over the top and easy to exploit.

Given the statistics for IFKs seems to be ok by comparison, my suggestion for those (including myself) who don't seem to be getting much joy from DFKs, is to try setting free kick takers to do something other than take a shot, based on what you feel works best for your team. For example, if you're getting some joy from your big tall centre-back who's good in the air attacking the far post on corners, look to do the same thing from free-kicks. At the moment, I simply have mine set to "mixed" from both left and right sides. It's worth experimenting with different settings though, to see if you notice a particular setting working better for your team, that you can use.

[heathxxx]

Just had to share this one, as I'm about to play Forest Green in the BSP, who are lining up like this:

Interesting shape to the formation there, with the DMC position offset to one side, in what otherwise looks like a diamond 4-4-2 or wide 4-1-2-1-2 as some will call it.

Just found it interesting, as it's the first time I've seen an AI manager stray from something more orthodox looking, at the start of a match.

[ObaMartins09]

You know that they only have 10 players there right? It's a 4-2-3-1 with deeper midfielders. Except they're missing a DM.

[heathxxx]

You know that they only have 10 players there right? It's a 4-2-3-1 with deeper midfielders. Except they're missing a DM.

Heh... you're right and I completely missed that when I spotted the funny looking shape. Turns out they had the Invisible Man playing as the DMCL, because when I went to the opposition instructions screen, he was there.

One of those little glitches with the game I suppose.

[heathxxx]

Well, here it is... the FA Cup 5th round tie at home to Liverpool.

Comprehensively outplayed by a vastly superior team.

I really can't complain about the effort my team showed, playing with a "contain" strategy and our goal came from a corner, scored by my centre-back. At 2-1 there was a glimmer of hope at half-time, but although we held strong in the second-half, there just wasn't enough punch up-front for my team.

The only thing that I rue from the game was that my leading striker Peter Styvar was out injured. Although not Premier League standard, he would have been able to hold up the ball better and certainly posed more of a threat from the few chances we did create, when my defence made the long clearances.

Still, getting this far and only suffering a narrow defeat to a team 4th in the Premier League and current FA Cup holders, is an achievement I think I can be proud of.

[nmwaldron]

No small feat there! I see you have Sall scoring for you too, he was a beast for me and my player of the year for three seasons straight

[heathxxx]

Yeah, he's on 10 goals this season. Mostly from corners and indirect free kicks, but they're not all from headers. Since I have both corners and free kicks set to "mixed", although he does pose opponents danger being the "attack far post" or "best header" man were I to aim specifically, he's also muscled his way to a few goals too. Nothing better than seeing a hulking centre-back barge a couple of players out of the way to hoof a ball into the net from a yard or two out!

Now, here's one for you nmwaldron...

Do you use "Contain" much as a strategy during games?

Those who know my posts over the years, will know that I've always favoured a very attacking orientated approach to things tactically. Things like "defend" and "contain" have never usually been words you could associate with my tactical vocabulary.

However, experimenting as I have been with some of the strategies during matches, "contain" is one I find I'm using quite often in matches that seem tricky or where opponents seem to be attacking and pressing quite a lot. To my pleasure, this strategy isn't actually as singularly defensive as one might think.

4-2 up after the first leg of my FA Trophy semi-final against local rivals Shrewsbury, I decided to start with a "contain" strategy, used in combination with the shouts "get the ball forward" (play more direct passing), "hassle opponents" (close down more often) and "pass into space" (try more through balls and balls into channels).

Essentially, the strategy did "exactly what it said on the tin".

My team held firm, defended deep and "contained" my opponents attacking movements, with only long range efforts getting anywhere near my goal. They weren't allowed time to get too close to my final third of the pitch. On the counter, my team were considered and accurate. They didn't rush things and execution of passing and shooting was far more precise.

At half-time we were 4-0 up and finished the game with a 5-0 win. This also, was the away leg where I thought it would be pretty obvious Shrewsbury would throw caution to the wind and attack from the off. That they did and my "contain" approach did the job perfectly.

So what could be interpreted as perhaps a more defensive strategy, doesn't actually have to be the case. We had 10 shots on goal to their 6. Of our chances, 9 were on target and 1 was blocked. Of the Shrewsbury chances 2 were on target and easy saves for the keeper, the remaining 4 were off target, long range efforts.

Even I'm learning things here and becoming a convert to strategies that I would stubbornly disregard in the past.

[nmwaldron]

I've only really used "contain" during the last 10 or so mins of a match if we're winning or holding on to a draw we didn't really deserve. Along with the 'Retain possession" shout it usually works but I haven't tried it anymore beyond that. Will have to look into it though as I'm finding many of our opposition are very attacking minded from the getgo even though my scouts are telling me they usually play a counter attack strategy.

[heathxxx]

May be to do with their reputation, as with Eastwood Town, pretty much most clubs will be higher reputation and favoured more in the match odds

[phnompenhandy]

That is definitely very interesting. I'll try that out in my forthcoming FA Cup round 2 fixture away at Brighton (I'm FC United, Level 7).

UPDATE: I haven't got to the cup tie yet, but I've tried the contain strategy in the last two league games, both against demoralised struggling opposition (with me going through a ropey patch myself).

Very interesting. In two games the opposition didn't have a single shot, on or off target. Wow! To be fair, it was pretty turgid watching my boys. We don't get bodies up the park and into the box in our attacks and so I'm watching dreary but safe 1-0s. I'll continue against better opposition and with my players getting more familiar. will report back.

[heathxxx]

One thing to check with every "strategy", is to have a quick look at the advanced settings to see if counter attacking is ticked.

In the case of "contain" it isn't, but you can get some forward momentum going with the shouts. When I've been using "contain" as a starting strategy, or if I switch to it during a game, I usually use the following two as standard:

Get the ball forward

Hassle opponents

Pass into space

Though sometimes in addition to these:

Exploit the flanks

Pump the ball into the box

Clear the ball to the flanks

The thing is with shouts though, it obviously depends upon who you're playing, how your team is playing and the players you're looking to get the most out of yourself, or focus on pressurising for opponents, not to mention formations, weather and pitch conditions. So there's certainly a need to experiment with the strategy/shout combinations to see what works best for your own team in different circumstances.

It's been very interesting how "contain" has worked out for me though. As you've also seen phnompenhandy, it can be very effective at shutting opponents out and reducing them having efforts on goal at all, or restricting the quality of their efforts to long range or snatched attempts. If you're particularly worried by the lack of forward momentum, if you can't seem to get anything by utilising shouts, then you can always try ticking the counter attacking box in the "advanced" tactics settings. The only down side I see doing that though, is that when your team surges forward and overloads, as is the nature of counter-attacking generally, you lose something of the ability to "contain" if caught opening up space.

What I'm liking about the "contain" strategy and the shout combinations though, is the shutting down of space for opponents, whilst carefully looking to probe and exploit any space opponents allow, with more precision and consideration.

If you want to shut a game down though, for a laugh, try "contain" with:

Retain possession

Pass to feet

Playe even safer

I just find it amusing watching my back four just pass the ball around, whilst there's usually an opposing striker puffing and panting trying to close them down, all the while (especially at home) to cheers of the crowd as your side keeps possession.

Pass... "wayheyyyy"... pass... "wayheyyy"

[Jungztar]

@Heathxxx

Sounds interesting with the Contain strategy... What about the team and player mentality settings? do you use the default or do you tweak them? I normally play very "compressed" with players having +/- 2 clicks from the team mentality.... So I figure that I lower the team mentality to 6 or 7 (with Contain strategy) and then tweak the players accordingly?

I like the idea with enabling counter-attacks but I also see the same weak points as you do... Maybe it is just for periods of time during the matches or exploting tired opposition players?

[heathxxx]

Jungztar - I almost exclusively use the tactics creator and the default individual settings it applies for each position or role. I don't like to deviate from that with "advanced" settings, as it restricts what I can do with the touchline shouts, during matches.

Ticking the counter-attack box in the team settings was one option for consideration, but I think you can instruct settings with shouts, that encourage similar aspects of play to counter-attacking, without the need to tick the check-box. Alternatively, I might simply change the strategy to "attack" if I want my team to push forward more.

[Quinby]

Hey heath and others i just won the fa trophy with afc telford in 1st, finished top by miles of the BSN and now season has finished- its 8th may 2011 and i cant arrange any friendlies. i wanna make some extra cash and get some young guys on trial :|

so how can i do this? cant i do them in post season?

[heathxxx]

I think you may have to wait until pre-season before you can arrange any friendly matches. Probably around June.

[Quinby]

Oh ok thanks heath. that sucks coz i hoped i could get some quick money. oh well time to improve...

While im here u guys should check out Mauro Aldave...Uruguayan, signed for free in first season- italian second nat so no wp. scored 50 in 41(5) in all comps

Screenie: good TM type- great in air

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[heathxxx]

Well, have now finished my second season, so here's all the stats.

[heathxxx]

The FA Cup run, culminating in a 2-1 5th round defeat at home to holders Liverpool, along with the route there, I've posted about in some of the previous threads.

Delighted with our overall performance in the BSP and FA Trophy. Adapting things a little to contend with the poorer pitches and weather conditions, learning to use a "contain" strategy against strong opponents away in the league and cup sometimes, all helped contribute to a great season.

All told, I believe my squad was indeed better than those in my division, with the exception of Luton Town perhaps. I feel a little sorry for Luton Town though, because they lost the play-off final last season and got knocked out of the semi-finals this season. Had it not been for my team, under normal circumstances they would have run away with the BSP title, as you'll see from their own league position and points. They did crumble a little after my side defeated them on their own turf though and it looks like that poor run of form towards the end of the season, carried on to the play-offs for them.

It's going to be interesting to see if I can strengthen this squad, because although it's been very good in the BSP, I do believe I need to strengthen significantly if we're to attempt another consecutive promotion. Although the average squad age is 27, a lot of my key players are over 30. Some of these may not be good enough or able to play 40+ games over a league season, but they will remain useful squad players. Of particular concern is my defence, as although it's been very good in the BSP and BSN prior to that, I feel I'll need to get some players with better overall physical attributes, including pace and acceleration.

I will be doing my usual trawl for players though, scouting and offering trials to those who look to have the right attributes to suit my tactical approach. Although I've always hoped I can introduce some of the more technically demanding roles and settings, or go with a more continental shape, I will most likely stay using my "summer" and "winter" 4-4-2 system. I guess I've hit a comfort zone with it now and am reluctant to try anything more outlandish, unless I'm 100% sure that the players I have, or can get, are fully capable.

Although the stats might suggest the success so far was easy, there was still a lot of observation involved. Not least in preparing for matches and opponents carefully with media interactions and opposition instructions. Also during matches, observing assistant feedback, the stat widgits, the play itself. Not being afraid to change things with shouts, or substitutions. Praising when necessary and scolding players when required too.

All these things and more, are part of the bigger picture, that when you begin to grasp this bigger picture, becomes much easier to understand and work with more naturally. This game really does have all the tools there at your fingertips. You just have to try using them all, experiment with them and get a feel for them.

[dan_lcfc]

Hi Heath, just applied your 'Contain' tactic for my FA Cup first round tie at home to Cheltenham. I won 2-1, their goal a set piece.

My main question is how much do you 'ride your luck' so to speak

http://http://img213.imageshack.us/f/facup1stroundstats.jpg/

I definatly competed with them in all areas and as you can see the stats are pretty even, with me probably edging it.

My concern is that in your screens it seems that you were camped in your own half, and getting the classic breakaway goal. I that the case?

Thanks in advance,

dan_lcfc

[heathxxx]

Well, against some of the superior teams I've played in the cup, then there has to be some element of luck involved, but as you'll have seen, it's about staying tight at the back and looking to sniff out opportunities going forward.

Against teams at a similar level, it can be useful to shut opponents out effectively, whilst also providing a more considered and precise approach going forward, depending on what shouts you look to use too.

It doesn't really matter if an opponent has as many or more chances than you, so long as they aren't dangerous ones. If your chances are "better" and on target, then that's what really matters. If you think that teams are going to throw everything at you offensively, then whilst they're snatching at chances, you're team is likely to be making better moves going forward and exploiting the gaps they can leave open in midfield and at the back.

[heathxxx]

Just working my way through the close season at the moment.

Really struggling to find any players that can improve upon those I already have. Hopefully once the League Two fixtures are announced and pre-season preparation begins, that might change. There were a couple of good English prospects that I've been tracking throughout the second season, who played for BSN or BSS teams, but were rated as potential for League One or Championship. One I approached, a regen central defender with Gainsborough in the BSN, would walk straight into my side. He was valued at 50k which I was prepared to pay. I threw in an offer with future incentives, then Crystal Palace threw their hat in the ring with a 450k offer, which I couldn't compete with and was accepted.

With agents offering players in the meantime, it's going to be a learning curve for sure. One Brazilian with a second EU nationality was offered and although 32, was certainly good enough for a couple of seasons and possibly about Championship standard. His agent fee was silly, as was the high signing on fee, not to mention wages over 1,500 Pounds per week, which there's no way I could afford, let alone be willing to pay.

I suppose this is where the "tight-arse" side of me, always looking to haggle, might struggle this season with transfer dealings. With a bank balance of just over 1.3 million Pounds, it will be interesting to see what wage and transfer budget I will be allowed. Especially if I optimistically choose "promotion" as my expectations.

Realistically, with the exception of one or two players, I would evaluate my current squad as being equivalent of the mid-table League Two teams. So if I'm going to push for promotion, I'll really have to improve, or otherwise get everything else absolutely spot on when it comes to my tactical, man-management and media dealings.

Meanwhile though, I am looking at younger players and have signed three or four in their late teens. They're rated to have League One potential and a couple of them could offer good backup immediately. If I struggle to improve my squad significantly, then I may look to rotate these younger players, in the hope they'll develop quickly with match experience.

Incidentally, during the coarse of last season, I managed to discover a lot of great African regens, whilst doing my regular trawls for players. I approached no less than fifteen players, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best when it came to their work permit applications. Not a single one passed. Sometimes I wish there was the option to play the "political asylum" card in FM!

[heathxxx]

Thank you AFC Telford board and directors!!

Much to my delight, having saved up quite a lot of money over the last two seasons, my board have offered me 850k/16.5k transfer/wage budget to "attempt to avoid relegation", or 1.5 million/16.5k for league "winner".

This means I won't need to rely on free transfers so much. Although I'm possibly adding pressure, I'm going for "winner" to get the maximum available. Even though there's no difference between wage budgets, the transfer funds difference will allow me to edit the budget if I need to pay higher wages.

With promotion to League Two, the club has also now turned professional.

[nmwaldron]

Good for you Heath. I've been fighting to get out of league 2 for 3 seasons now with Eastwood. My board continually offers me zero for transfer budget and around 19k for a wage budget. It doesn't matter what option I chose; from avoid releagation to win the league, the options are the same. I guess it doesn't help that we're now 600k in the hole.

The financials of this team are really starting to upset me. In my 5 seasons here I've spent maybe 20k in transfer fees and every season we go further and further in the hole. Our stadium is a small one and at capacity holds around 5000 people. last season I helf around 20 pre-season friendlies, all supposed to be bringing in around 30k or so in income with around 3k in expenses, still we started the season 200k in the hole and like I said, at the end of the season we're looking at 600k in the hole.

Can't see any real way forward here. Each season we just miss out on the playoffs. I'm going to try your "4-2-3-1 wingers wide" tactic next season in the hope that my established players can handle it and thus perform better and move us up into league 1.

[phnompenhandy]

While you're bombing through the seasons, I'm getting through one game fortnight a day on average. I found something very interesting (if obvious to anyone but me). I played 5 matches using the 'contain' strategy, all against teams I'd normally thrash by 4 or 5 goals. After the first 2 I mentioned above, the next 3 were real struggles and I only broke through in the final 20 minutes after I switched to my regular 4-3-3 and made substitutions.

Then I found the cause. For all the issues with Match Preparation, the screens are very useful in helping to analyse what's going on. My regular tactic had all the bars filled to max, but in switching to the same formation with the contain strategy, whilst the formation bar remained full, the mentality bar dropped to zero, and all the other bars fell to about 10%. It is of course a pretty radical change and it will take the squad a good few weeks to gel. It's clear now why the players weren't getting forward - or back in the ways that I was expecting.

Therefore, a team needs time. Maybe when I'm out of the cups and have a healthy lead at the top of the table with a month to go I can train them in the tactic, continuing into the next pre-season.

[ashp]

I just want to thank you for this thread! Previously I tended to just throw together a tactic, buy in tons of new players and then lose game after game without a clue why, blindly following any ass man advice. Thanks to reading your approach to games I've switched to watching full games and playing close attention to changes in conditions. I'm looking at the weather, scout reports, ass man advice, opposing players in more detail and carefully watching the stats and motivation of players during the match and trying to adjust things.

While i'm still fairly incapable of adjusting correctly to things on pitch (or even SEEING the problems on pitch), things have definitely taken a turn for the better.

[Quinby]

Hey heath and others i was just finished my 1st season and i am wondering how you find players.

I am looking through the player search and trying to find some non-contracted players and transfer listed players but not finding many quality players. Ive scouted france and england but not many players are found and most are not good enough.

[heathxxx]

While you're bombing through the seasons, I'm getting through one game fortnight a day on average. I found something very interesting (if obvious to anyone but me). I played 5 matches using the 'contain' strategy, all against teams I'd normally thrash by 4 or 5 goals. After the first 2 I mentioned above, the next 3 were real struggles and I only broke through in the final 20 minutes after I switched to my regular 4-3-3 and made substitutions.

Then I found the cause. For all the issues with Match Preparation, the screens are very useful in helping to analyse what's going on. My regular tactic had all the bars filled to max, but in switching to the same formation with the contain strategy, whilst the formation bar remained full, the mentality bar dropped to zero, and all the other bars fell to about 10%. It is of course a pretty radical change and it will take the squad a good few weeks to gel. It's clear now why the players weren't getting forward - or back in the ways that I was expecting.

Therefore, a team needs time. Maybe when I'm out of the cups and have a healthy lead at the top of the table with a month to go I can train them in the tactic, continuing into the next pre-season.

Interesting about the sudden drop in fluency of a tactic, simply from changing the match strategy. I believe wwfan mentioned something about it and that he wasn't particularly keen on how it's been implemented. Must say, I haven't paid that much attention, as I usually start with the same strategy every match and change it at some point during the games. So if simply changing the strategy and nothing else affects the fluency in match preparation so much, then I would tend to share wwfan's thoughts that if nothing else changes, then the match strategy you employ should not suddenly affect the fluency your team has with everything else.

My thoughts on that being the case, are that either provision should be made to have five slots for the five strategies of an individual tactic, not have starting strategy changes affect overall tactical fluency at all, or only affect things in a very minor way. Hopefully it's something that SI will address in the future, although in fairness, it's a completely new implementation with this version of the game.

I've perhaps been lucky in that because I switch through a few different strategies during matches, it's probably not had as detrimental effect as you've noticed.

[Jenko_EFC]

phnompenhandy, Strategies change quite alot which I assume you know. Stuff like Defensive Line, Width, Mentality of all players etc which will make alot of differences to your tactic and therefore alot of differences to Match Preparation levels. I tend to start every match and train my team with "Standard" because it very easy to change to a different Strategy, defensive or attacking, without mass dropping of Match Preparation levels. The less drastic your changes to your tactic, the less drastic the difference in the bars. Can't remember where I read that but it works in my save.

My game is going a bit faster now I'm using "Extended" alot more. The first 20 or so minutes of the match I play in Full and if we look comfortable I'll switch to Extended. Hopefully, I'll reach the end of the season soon and update you guys. Still not sure what I should do next season, mass clearout and get as many in as possible or keep the main spine of the team and look for subtle upgrades, similar type of players but better attributes. I'll have a look at the attributes of the best in the next league should I get Promotion which I'm confident I will and make my decision then.

[heathxxx]

Good for you Heath. I've been fighting to get out of league 2 for 3 seasons now with Eastwood. My board continually offers me zero for transfer budget and around 19k for a wage budget. It doesn't matter what option I chose; from avoid releagation to win the league, the options are the same. I guess it doesn't help that we're now 600k in the hole.

The financials of this team are really starting to upset me. In my 5 seasons here I've spent maybe 20k in transfer fees and every season we go further and further in the hole. Our stadium is a small one and at capacity holds around 5000 people. last season I helf around 20 pre-season friendlies, all supposed to be bringing in around 30k or so in income with around 3k in expenses, still we started the season 200k in the hole and like I said, at the end of the season we're looking at 600k in the hole.

Can't see any real way forward here. Each season we just miss out on the playoffs. I'm going to try your "4-2-3-1 wingers wide" tactic next season in the hope that my established players can handle it and thus perform better and move us up into league 1.

Don't forget to adapt the tactic over the winter months when playing conditions are poor, as that particular one is rather attacking and creativity/flair/movement orientated. Might need to reel things back a bit and play the basics, be more rigid.

The financial struggle you're having isn't going to help much. I've been fortunate enough to enjoy two decent runs in the FA Cup, which brought in a lot of money. The fact my board has made all the money I've generated over the last two seasons, suggest they might be more ambitious than yours at Eastwood.

If you feel you're banging your head against a brick wall though, there's no shame in walking away. Given my attempts to improve the squad over the summer, I do believe it's much harder to attract higher quality players, not least because of agents and fees involved. There have been several deals I've walked away from, because although the players would add depth to my squad, the fees and wages demanded weren't worth it in my opinion. This is going to be the most difficult part for me, because I have a decent squad for League Two, but I always want to improve. I'm not prepared to pay what I feel is over the odds and plunge the club into debt, for players who may only be slightly better than those I have.

The difficulty longer term, is that I have quite a lot of players over 30. I have signed a couple of new first team squad players and several youngsters, but it's certainly going to be a challenge. As I think I said in a previous post, I'm going to have to pay a lot of attention to detail this season, in an attempt to miss nothing and seize every chance and opportunity against opponents.

[heathxxx]

phnompenhandy, Strategies change quite alot which I assume you know. Stuff like Defensive Line, Width, Mentality of all players etc which will make alot of differences to your tactic and therefore alot of differences to Match Preparation levels. I tend to start every match and train my team with "Standard" because it very easy to change to a different Strategy, defensive or attacking, without mass dropping of Match Preparation levels. The less drastic your changes to your tactic, the less drastic the difference in the bars. Can't remember where I read that but it works in my save.

Probably in wwfan's How to Play FM: A (Very) Short Guide to Match Preparation, Strategies and Motivation thread, which makes a lot of sense and he's also using the "standard" starting approach.

I've always been one to be a little more extreme than wwfan sometimes, with the settings I use. I know I was with the sliders and probably still am within the remit of the Tactics Creator. Given observations like these regarding match preparations and their impacts tactically, then it's something I'm still learning to handle and utilise. My match preparation fluency has probably reached its current "peak", simply because my team is now well used to me switching strategies numerous times during matches, on a fairly regular basis. The only strategy I can say I've never used once in this particular save, has been "defend". Everything else I've used at some point, but I may try to use "defend" with a combination of shouts that encourages forward momentum still. Like anything, it's a balancing act of assessing risk versus reward.

[heathxxx]

I just want to thank you for this thread! Previously I tended to just throw together a tactic, buy in tons of new players and then lose game after game without a clue why, blindly following any ass man advice. Thanks to reading your approach to games I've switched to watching full games and playing close attention to changes in conditions. I'm looking at the weather, scout reports, ass man advice, opposing players in more detail and carefully watching the stats and motivation of players during the match and trying to adjust things.

While i'm still fairly incapable of adjusting correctly to things on pitch (or even SEEING the problems on pitch), things have definitely taken a turn for the better.

Assistant manager advice can still be important to take note of, so long as you have one able to provide quality advice. I still rely on advice from my assistant a lot. He has very good tactical knowledge, judging player ability, motivation and man-management skills for this level though.

Attention to detail and using all the tools available, all add to the immersion for me, so it's good to see others making observations and using everything they have available. I've always been the same, so am perhaps rather "experienced" in reading what's happening in matches and the statistics. I only tend to view extended highlights or key highlights now, but I will switch to "full" if things aren't going quite as well as planned.

Motivation and man-management is indeed important. I think the longest period of time I've seen one of my players have "poor" or "very poor" motivation, is a couple of days. It's important to interact with the players and give them a pick-me-up when needed, or a well timed lambasting too, if that's what's best for their personality. I do tend to look for stronger character traits when I'm building my squads though. A player's character to me, is just as important as any playing attributes I might be looking for. Strong personalities and those similar to existing players, makes squad management and motivation much easier to manage. I know others like to have a variety of personalities, but my preference is to have like-minded individuals, in order to quickly forge a stronger "whole".

Hey heath and others i was just finished my 1st season and i am wondering how you find players.

I am looking through the player search and trying to find some non-contracted players and transfer listed players but not finding many quality players. Ive scouted france and england but not many players are found and most are not good enough.

I do spend an awful lot of time looking for better players and it's an ongoing thing. Throughout pre-season and the season itself, I'm keeping my eyes peeled. I use the standard search, scout searches and reports, along with looking at teams in different parts of the world manually.

When it comes to regens though, it's useful to know when they're likely to appear, so you can manage your time better focusing attention in different countries.

This thread will help you with the regen dates - Newgen dates - chronological list.

[tigerhgrrrrrr]

Just working my way through the close season at the moment.

Really struggling to find any players that can improve upon those I already have. Hopefully once the League Two fixtures are announced and pre-season preparation begins, that might change. There were a couple of good English prospects that I've been tracking throughout the second season, who played for BSN or BSS teams, but were rated as potential for League One or Championship. One I approached, a regen central defender with Gainsborough in the BSN, would walk straight into my side. He was valued at 50k which I was prepared to pay. I threw in an offer with future incentives, then Crystal Palace threw their hat in the ring with a 450k offer, which I couldn't compete with and was accepted.

With agents offering players in the meantime, it's going to be a learning curve for sure. One Brazilian with a second EU nationality was offered and although 32, was certainly good enough for a couple of seasons and possibly about Championship standard. His agent fee was silly, as was the high signing on fee, not to mention wages over 1,500 Pounds per week, which there's no way I could afford, let alone be willing to pay.

I suppose this is where the "tight-arse" side of me, always looking to haggle, might struggle this season with transfer dealings. With a bank balance of just over 1.3 million Pounds, it will be interesting to see what wage and transfer budget I will be allowed. Especially if I optimistically choose "promotion" as my expectations.

Realistically, with the exception of one or two players, I would evaluate my current squad as being equivalent of the mid-table League Two teams. So if I'm going to push for promotion, I'll really have to improve, or otherwise get everything else absolutely spot on when it comes to my tactical, man-management and media dealings.

Meanwhile though, I am looking at younger players and have signed three or four in their late teens. They're rated to have League One potential and a couple of them could offer good backup immediately. If I struggle to improve my squad significantly, then I may look to rotate these younger players, in the hope they'll develop quickly with match experience.

Incidentally, during the coarse of last season, I managed to discover a lot of great African regens, whilst doing my regular trawls for players. I approached no less than fifteen players, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best when it came to their work permit applications. Not a single one passed. Sometimes I wish there was the option to play the "political asylum" card in FM!

I like to arrange a lot of away friendlies at Calais - am always hoping an illegal immigrant or two may sneak back in the coach with us ! (Damn should have saved that thought for 1st April!). Close season was a bit of an ordeal, it took about 10-15 gaming hours to wade through (due in part to a head cold that made me a bit "thicker" than usual, and partly due to a huge shortlist and a lot of contractual news items I could have done without. Sussed now that by unticking teams on my "news subscription" list in the "contracts" box at least filters out the news items of next to no interest at all. Found that out near pre-season start and foolishly I decided to holiday for 1 week and missed the chance to down size my pitch (I thought wise as up a division and expecting to be 2nd best now a lot. Wont do that next season!

By the way, nothing wrong with "tight ar$e" - its a good approach for me!

[heathxxx]

Whilst I'm browsing for players, I'm also pondering over some role changes within my 4-4-2.

Although the Central Midfield "Defend" and Central Midfield "Support" roles and mentalities have served me pretty well, I've been thinking of getting a little more creative in the middle of the pitch. Although some people don't like the idea or prefer not to have two playmaker roles, I see nothing wrong with the roles themselves as a central midfield pairing, as I'm not going to apply a specific "playmaker" with the check-box. Pretty much the same as I currently use the Target Man role, but don't assign the check-box instruction. I've never particularly liked making one player or another the focus of play.

What I'm looking to change to, is a Deep-Lying Playmaker "Defend" and an Advanced Playmaker "Support", retaining the MC positions. Fortunately, I already have players with double figures in each of the key attributes for both roles. My only reservation at the moment however, is encouraging a central midfielder to play in a more advanced role and if it will detract too much from the solidity of my midfield. I'll use pre-season to have a closer look and if not totally satisfied, I'll revert back to the original standard Central Midfield roles.

As I'm instructing a midfielder to get into the space between midfield and attack (MC Advanced Playmaker "Support"), I'll also change my Deep Lying Forward "Attack" to an Advanced Forward "Attack". I don't want the the attacker and midfielder occupying the same spaces.

The only other real changes tactically that I'm looking into, is to take a leaf out of wwfan's book, using "standard" mentality as the starting strategy, then shifting up or down during matches as I see fit. I'm also going to use a more "balanced" philosophy and "more disciplined" with creative freedom. I'll retain "more roaming" though, as I like my forwards (apart from the target man) and wingers to look for space.

Here's a general overview:

[mdornukgi]

Great thread heathxxx, i've been following it closely and it has helped me alot along with others comments in this thread to get consecutive promotions with Havant and Waterlooville to league 2.

I just wanted to put a potential tip out there to those climbing the division from the bottom that i had trouble with. I was due to get a training facilities upgrade and youth facilities moving into pre-season of my promotion to league two. A few weeks before they were due to be complete the board cancelled the plans citing lack of funds. When i had asked the board i was around 1.5mil in the black and when they cancelled i was around 600k in the black. It might be wise if your in the lower divisions to ask for one upgrade a season until there is alot more money so this problem doesn't occur to others. This season i have asked for the training facilities only in hope that i can attract better players next season.

Any one else had similar probs?

KUTGW.

[heathxxx]

Great thread heathxxx, i've been following it closely and it has helped me alot along with others comments in this thread to get consecutive promotions with Havant and Waterlooville to league 2.

I just wanted to put a potential tip out there to those climbing the division from the bottom that i had trouble with. I was due to get a training facilities upgrade and youth facilities moving into pre-season of my promotion to league two. A few weeks before they were due to be complete the board cancelled the plans citing lack of funds. When i had asked the board i was around 1.5mil in the black and when they cancelled i was around 600k in the black. It might be wise if your in the lower divisions to ask for one upgrade a season until there is alot more money so this problem doesn't occur to others. This season i have asked for the training facilities only in hope that i can attract better players next season.

Any one else had similar probs?

KUTGW.

Certainly I think it's important to try and maintain levels of finance, especially if you've made a board request for facilities. Having made a request at a certain level of finance, it's quite reasonable to assume that dropping below those levels can realistically put a planned project in jeopardy. As for getting improvements and requests approved in the first place, along with the financial health of the club, I believe the character and type of chairman plays its part too.

It's no coincidence that along with keeping a healthy level of finances, my chairman "Loves the club" and has approved almost every request I've made, even if I've had to give him a nudge after refusing my request at the first time of asking. This is probably the biggest reason people will get different responses when making their requests, from different "character" chairmen. I also don't tend to ask for facility improvements unless we have funds in the bank though.

If you have what I like to refer to as a "hobby" chairman, then sometimes your requests might fall on deaf ears, simply because they're not very ambitious.

Meanwhile...

Although moving slowly through pre-season, things are going much better than I had hoped.

I released my entire crop of youth team players, as neither their reported potential was up to much and their attribute distribution was poor and not worth the effort of trying to shape. Certainly I've looked at an incredible amount of players, scouted players and had players on trial. I've been trying to get some decent younger players to the club and so far, have signed nine players who are 21 or younger. I don't think any of them will exactly set the footballing world on fire of course, but within a year or so, they may be up to League One standard or better with a little luck and some playing experience.

I did spend a club record 130k on MC/AMC Jazz Richards from Swansea City. His technical abilities aren't great, but they'll develop over time as he's only 21. He does have pretty decent mental attributes for this level and also important, his physical attributes are good. He's already dovetailed well into the central midfield Advanced Playmaker "support" role, performing very well in my first couple of friendly matches.

I managed to pull of a good deal for another powerful striker, who's on a par with my Slovakian hitman Peter Styvar. He's a Brazilian with Portuguese second nationality called Anderson Costa. He was unhappy at Brazilian Série B leaders Santo André, but had a good goals to games ratio when he had played, including a loan at Cypriot side AE Limassol. The best part about the deal was that I managed to get him for free, as the club didn't demand a fee.

Given he's a similar and powerful type of forward as Peter Styvar, this gives me some interesting possibilities up front. I can use either as target men or advanced forwards, which are the two roles I'll be going with this season. It'll also give me the option to instruct them to swap position in matches, if one or the other is struggling against a marker, because there's enough subtle differences in their attributes for them to pose a different threat to opponents.

I've got Georgian international Georgi Popkhadze on trial and have successfully offered him a contract. Just now keeping my fingers crossed for a work-permit approval. He's a left full-back/wing-back and at 25 will be a great signing if everything goes through, as although decent, my current left-backs are getting a little long in the tooth.

Other than those, I'm still trawling for players. Indeed, I never stop looking for players and advise anyone to keep their eyes peeled. Player circumstances at clubs can change on a weekly basis, so it's always worth looking for opportunities to sign players that might otherwise not be interested. I've also got a lot of players on four week trials at the club and have set up two four match tours for my reserve team, so I can have a good look at them.

Overall, I've been trying to sign players with stronger physical attributes. Whilst I've been able to get away with technical and mental attributes overcoming physical deficiencies in the BSN and BSP, I'm concious that I need more physically strong players to see out games for the full 90 minutes and last the course of the season.

Finally, I will have to trim my squad, for a number of reasons. Although I do rotate players often to maintain good condition and match fitness levels, I also want to keep players happy and keep running a tight ship financially. Personally, I'm happy with a first team squad of around twenty players, because I've always got players capable of playing in more than one position or role. I am going to populate my reserve team more though and providing I can sign players who's wage demands aren't prohibitive, I'll be getting players that I can either develop for the first team, loan out for match experience, or even consider as investments that I can sell on in the future.