Player wanting "fair increase in playing time" - failed promise

[ThinkZebras]

Hi,

I have a player who is set as a "regular starter" and he came to me a while back that he wants more playing time. I made a promise to him because I didn't want to have to sell him below price and ever since he started in every game but 2, where he came on during the 2nd half as a substitute. After the last few games I checked the promise and it said "player happy with the playing time" or something like that. Now the promise is due and suddenly the indicator turned from green to orange saying "was expecting more playing time by now" - there were no games to be played between now and the last match after which it was still green 5 days ago.

Now he is coming to me again that I didn't keep my promise (he played in every single match, although not always for 90 minutes) and that he wants to be sold.

1) What could I have done differently? I even changed the tactic so that he would fit into every match I played, but he is still not satisfied. 

2) Why did the promise indicator show green after the last match before the promise was due, but the promise was still failed?

Just to be clear, the agreed playing time is "regular" and the actual playing time shows "important", but he still accuses me of sabotaging his career. Is that just a crappy personality? Was it ever possible for me to have succeeded with my promise, i.e does it mean that if players want more playing time, they expect to start it every match from then on and play the full 90 minutes?

Thanks for replies.

[ThinkZebras]

So, I replayed the last match and let the player play for the whole match (instead of putting him on in the 60th minute), now he thinks the promise is fulfilled. Apparently then, if a player asks for more playing time, he means to start in all the future matches..?

[Peter Morgan]

I think I read somewhere on here that 'playing time' is linked to starting matches. So coming on as sub isn't viewed by the player as actual playing time.

[cris182]

37 minutes ago, ThinkZebras said:

So, I replayed the last match and let the player play for the whole match (instead of putting him on in the 60th minute), now he thinks the promise is fulfilled. Apparently then, if a player asks for more playing time, he means to start in all the future matches..?

I always assumed it meant more starts i must admit, Never even considered it may mean coming off the bench

[GianniM]

1 hour ago, ThinkZebras said:

Apparently then, if a player asks for more playing time, he means to start in all the future matches..?

Yeah I never promise that anymore, you'll always fail except when you play him almost every match

[ThinkZebras]

Well, it's not like I have other options - either I agree to let him go or I can promise him more playing time. I would love to have an option "start performing better in training and I will let you play", because it's always those with 6.6 training rating that complain about their playing time.