The Realism Thread

[Junkhead]

Parked my Bordeaux save for a bit and have been messing about with some mods I hadn't tried before. Must say that @davie77 has put together an excellent megapack for those that haven't seen it. Every league in the world playable with real rules. For those of us who like to add leagues, it's a must IMO. Been playing with the leagues from @Daveincid's thread active and it's moving surprisingly fast even with 234 leagues from 125 nations 😳

Playing with fake players and a skin that hides attributes and thoroughly enjoying the challenge to the point where I might skip FM22, particularly at release. We will see though. Am finding signing players both easier and more difficult somehow. Instead of obsessing over one low attribute, I am now taking more chances which I think is more realistic. Training is being guided solely by what my coaches say people should improve on, and I am enjoying that too. Currently playing as Prespa Birlik in the Swedish 4th tier and we look awful. In the unlikely event we cling on and avoid relegation this season, my best player's contracts all expire and we can't hope to sign decent replacements. So a season of survival will simply put off the inevitable. 

Anyone got any ideas in mind for FM22, or are we all starting unemployed?!

[Brother Ben]

1 hour ago, Junkhead said:

Anyone got any ideas in mind for FM22, or are we all starting unemployed?!

 

Guess what I'll be using  

[Junkhead]

10 hours ago, Brother Ben said:

Guess what I'll be using  

SI need to confirm the score with these Spanish and Portuguese leagues so you can get them ready in time 😂

[George_84]

Still enjoying my current FM21 save with Boston United and will wait with getting FM22 until christmas as most of the time they do their first bug fixing of the game (and prices drop by then). 

I haven't tried the mods, but do follow their progress in the threads on this forum. No attributes and fake players is not really for me. As I always start in the lower leagues, all players available are unknown to me except for some old glories sliding down the leagues or youngsters who couldn't cut it in the first team. I also lack the game time to dive any deeper into the game as I would like to, although the one hour drive rule saves a lot of time scrolling through lists of players I'll never sign.

But when FM22 lands here, unemployed, no badges, one hour drive rule is the way to go for me.

[Junkhead]

49 minutes ago, George_84 said:

Still enjoying my current FM21 save with Boston United and will wait with getting FM22 until christmas as most of the time they do their first bug fixing of the game (and prices drop by then). 

I haven't tried the mods, but do follow their progress in the threads on this forum. No attributes and fake players is not really for me. As I always start in the lower leagues, all players available are unknown to me except for some old glories sliding down the leagues or youngsters who couldn't cut it in the first team. I also lack the game time to dive any deeper into the game as I would like to, although the one hour drive rule saves a lot of time scrolling through lists of players I'll never sign.

But when FM22 lands here, unemployed, no badges, one hour drive rule is the way to go for me.

To be honest, not sure no attributes is for me either, for the exact reasons you mentioned. This is the first time I've ever properly tried it and it's not going well at all. Fake players on the other hand keeps things fresh, and I find it more immersive in some ways as everyone I come across is completely new to me.

Still on the fence about when to get FM22, or even if to. I often consider missing a year and then a feature will be announced that will pull me in. That hasn't happened so far.

 

[majesticeternity]

6 hours ago, Junkhead said:

To be honest, not sure no attributes is for me either, for the exact reasons you mentioned. This is the first time I've ever properly tried it and it's not going well at all. Fake players on the other hand keeps things fresh, and I find it more immersive in some ways as everyone I come across is completely new to me.

Still on the fence about when to get FM22, or even if to. I often consider missing a year and then a feature will be announced that will pull me in. That hasn't happened so far.

 

Why isn’t it going well, with no attributes?

I am really enjoying playing with only the graph to know attributes, this way I look more at the way the player plays in match and what style they have, tendencies they have, and it’s wonderfully opened up the world to use players I normally wouldn’t have, in ways I wouldn’t have. It’s also freeing, to enjoy the game and the players, rather than nitpicking attributes or being frustrated that a player should/shouldn’t have done something based on their attributes. 

[Junkhead]

2 hours ago, majesticeternity said:

Why isn’t it going well, with no attributes?

I am really enjoying playing with only the graph to know attributes, this way I look more at the way the player plays in match and what style they have, tendencies they have, and it’s wonderfully opened up the world to use players I normally wouldn’t have, in ways I wouldn’t have. It’s also freeing, to enjoy the game and the players, rather than nitpicking attributes or being frustrated that a player should/shouldn’t have done something based on their attributes. 

Agree with everything you have said, and it improves the game in these ways. It's a time thing for me. I struggle to get time to play at the best of times, and there is no doubt that it takes loads more time without attributes.

Training is also a pain because you have no idea how good your training is and have to measure it by how much people improve.

And in the Swedish fourth division as a relegation favourite with only 14 games in the season, it's all a bit of a nightmare. When I am (inevitably) relegated and then sacked, I will be looking for a team with more games in their season - there is little time to learn from mistakes in a 14 game sprint!

 

 

[George_84]

Attributes is something I only use to compare players I want to recruit to the players I already have. But when the season get’s going I only look at performances on the pitch. For my AML position I have 2 players: a young talent who came on trial, impressed in pre season and better attributes than the 31 year old who was already at the club and did a good job last season. When the season starter, the young talent was given his chance, but he didn’t deliver, the old one as a substitute did and now he is starting every week. 

[Junkhead]

16 minutes ago, George_84 said:

Attributes is something I only use to compare players I want to recruit to the players I already have. But when the season get’s going I only look at performances on the pitch. For my AML position I have 2 players: a young talent who came on trial, impressed in pre season and better attributes than the 31 year old who was already at the club and did a good job last season. When the season starter, the young talent was given his chance, but he didn’t deliver, the old one as a substitute did and now he is starting every week. 

100% on performance over attributes, and there is little doubt in my mind that no attributes is more realistic. What I think ultimately needs to happen for realisms sake is that the lower end staff in low leagues need to be inaccurate with their summaries of a player and full attributes are shown over time - quicker of your staff are better. There also needs to be some sort of order that attributes become fully accurate in. For example, a speedy winger who dribbles at his opponent multiple times a game should have his pace, acceleration and dribbling become accurate quicker than his penalty taking if he's not taking penalties, or his marking if he stays forward at corners. Natural progression for me, and I know @Platinumsuggested something similar in the feature requests forum at one point.

[George_84]

In real life there is only so much coaches can get really on point. They can time 100m sprints to see who is the quickest, but it is more difficult to see who is the player with the best vision for your passing distribution on midfield. This is more subjective and depending on confidence, moral and technical abilities of the player. Right now you can buy the quickest winger there is, but if he doesn't have a clue how and when to use it, you'll end up with a headless chicken on the field who adds nothing to your squad. Maybe they could alter some off the attributes of a player depending on the scout/coach your asking. The real attribute ratings the game uses to show player movement, etc, could be made unavailable for you (like pa/ca). But the better the staff is looking at the player, the nearer you get to the real attributes. 

I think scouting reports could be more realistic this way, as a scout would only give you information that hints towards certain attributes, but doesn't give the exact rating. Stuff like: lots of pace, great vision, technical skills on point, lazy, ... The attributes could appear slowly when the player joins your team and is training and playing with the rest of your players.

[majesticeternity]

10 hours ago, Junkhead said:

Agree with everything you have said, and it improves the game in these ways. It's a time thing for me. I struggle to get time to play at the best of times, and there is no doubt that it takes loads more time without attributes.

Training is also a pain because you have no idea how good your training is and have to measure it by how much people improve.

And in the Swedish fourth division as a relegation favourite with only 14 games in the season, it's all a bit of a nightmare. When I am (inevitably) relegated and then sacked, I will be looking for a team with more games in their season - there is little time to learn from mistakes in a 14 game sprint!

 

 

Do you have the graph to see attribute spread? Or maybe attributes seen when on the training screen? 
 

I wonder if that would help you balance with time, and reduce the training-related issues. So you could see attributes for training what you want, see how they change, but the majority of the time not know attributes specifically or focus on them when buying, etc

[Junkhead]

1 hour ago, majesticeternity said:

Do you have the graph to see attribute spread? Or maybe attributes seen when on the training screen? 
 

I wonder if that would help you balance with time, and reduce the training-related issues. So you could see attributes for training what you want, see how they change, but the majority of the time not know attributes specifically or focus on them when buying, etc

Getting a job without 60-70 hour weeks would be a start 😂

It's not so much the growth of the players I want to see, but I think there are less opportunities to work out why someone is training badly. Without coach attributes, I cannot see how good my coaches are - qualifications SHOULD make a difference but they don't, even with fake staff when I think they really should. Then when assigning coaches, you cannot see the star values of each coaching assignment. At the moment ALL of my players except two are training badly. It is very difficult to pinpoint why.

I think it's partly my fault for picking a league with only 14 games and a team who are relegation favourites - three games, three defeats and games already running out 😳

 

 

 

[majesticeternity]

1 hour ago, Junkhead said:

Getting a job without 60-70 hour weeks would be a start 😂

It's not so much the growth of the players I want to see, but I think there are less opportunities to work out why someone is training badly. Without coach attributes, I cannot see how good my coaches are - qualifications SHOULD make a difference but they don't, even with fake staff when I think they really should. Then when assigning coaches, you cannot see the star values of each coaching assignment. At the moment ALL of my players except two are training badly. It is very difficult to pinpoint why.

I think it's partly my fault for picking a league with only 14 games and a team who are relegation favourites - three games, three defeats and games already running out 😳

 

 

 

I find more training performance has to do with their on pitch performance....players who had a run of good games have great training, those coming off a poor game have poor training. So perhaps your defeats/poor player ratings are the factor here...

yea, I have where I can see my coaches attributes. You’re right qualifications put attributes in too randomly so it’s hard to know anything. 
 

I may have to start a save with the club you’re at, for an actual challenge! Lol. I’d like to just once feel my job was under pressure or I might possibly get sacked. This game is far too easy, even after all the work I’ve done to make it harder, and even added more restrictions. I think it’s majority down to the fact that the AI don’t attack in return...

Sounds fun!

but yes frustrating too, if you don’t know how to fix it.

[Junkhead]

7 hours ago, majesticeternity said:

I find more training performance has to do with their on pitch performance....players who had a run of good games have great training, those coming off a poor game have poor training. So perhaps your defeats/poor player ratings are the factor here...

yea, I have where I can see my coaches attributes. You’re right qualifications put attributes in too randomly so it’s hard to know anything. 
 

I may have to start a save with the club you’re at, for an actual challenge! Lol. I’d like to just once feel my job was under pressure or I might possibly get sacked. This game is far too easy, even after all the work I’ve done to make it harder, and even added more restrictions. I think it’s majority down to the fact that the AI don’t attack in return...

Sounds fun!

but yes frustrating too, if you don’t know how to fix it.

Go for it - I am awful at the game though remember 😂

[Dan_987]

On 18/01/2021 at 01:55, Brother Ben said:

Cheers bazhsw, the timetravel map is a great resource, it's an essential part of LLM for me

There's many schools of thought for LLM, of course there are parts that are non negotiable but things like the one hour rule are things that I like to add to it myself for extra realism.

I think a lot of LLMers are split on expansion leagues and I made the "anonymous llama" as a light hearted nod this

I'm very wary myself but like you say if they are well researched etc then I don't see the problem especially as I'll thoroughly test them on holiday over night to check everything works okay. 

I'm looking forward to either Dan or Messi's English lower league files as they are without doubt the best around and to say they are incompatible with the LLM guidelines is unfair in my mind.  What can be argued of course is how low is realistic.  I would say adding level 7 & 8 to England is realistic as below this the player research isn't there and the attributes bottom out meaning there isn't much difference between a player at level 8 and say level 11/12 and it seems way to easy to have back to back promotions.  But again that's just me and i'd love to hear others thoughts.

It's interesting that you mention the fun aspect of it, that's a really good point.  I think that despite what some think of the LLM "rules" it does in my mind make it far more fun long term, unless your idea of fun is to win back to back champions leagues with a top club of course.

I like your thoughts on recruitment distances a lot, an hour is pretty arbitrary really so adjusting it for amateur players makes a lot of sense

Thanks again it was hard work but worth it.  Big thanks to @Junkhead who contributed and gave me lots of motivation on the way

A little bit late to the party, but having played most of FM21 can agree within the Lower League Tiers. Had a Wakefield AFC save starting Level 11 and North Ferriby Level 10. Back to back promotions up until Regional Div and I normally get sacked pretty quick in Conference North/South saves when I go the newly promoted sides!

 

My youth intake quality and staff recruitment (for our level) felt a bit overpowered until hitting around Level 7/8 when things felt like it evened up a bit.  Got knocked out the Playoff Final in Penalties after being 2-0 up at 80th min, which was actually brilliant after two successful but rather boring seasons.  Also because of the two successful seasons it gave too much of a leg up in terms of board, bank balance and being favoured personnel. Also often the Level 10/11 Teams would be just as dangerous in the Cup competitions. 

 

So thinking for FM22, might either go Dafuge Challenge or Level 8 max.  I'm just hoping they fix the Staff Advertisements part.

 

 

 

[BrightLad5]

Hi guys new to this Thread, just glancing through some of the early posts regarding Player Search screen. Most recently for realisms sake I have been against the Player Search screen as I saw it as basically an Amazon website of all the hundreds of thousands of players that were for sale 

I do understand that since they have introduced the Scout Packages it has added more restrictions to the player search and therefore it could be seen as more realistic to use the player search than to not use it, as a few people counter argued with. Somebody previously even brought up that many clubs have player database packages that they use to filter players based on various stats before they even start scouting. 

However, for myself as the Manager (or Coach depending on your play style) would I be going through these databases of players? Surely I would have staff (scouts, Analysists, DoF) that would be responsible for going through these players and then providing me with their assessments and suggestions for me to then direct them who to scout and provide me with more information on.

I still feel that for realisms sake, it is more realistic to not use the player search feature at all, but that is just me. 

[Brother Ben]

6 minutes ago, BrightLad5 said:

Hi guys new to this Thread, just glancing through some of the early posts regarding Player Search screen. Most recently for realisms sake I have been against the Player Search screen as I saw it as basically an Amazon website of all the hundreds of thousands of players that were for sale 

I do understand that since they have introduced the Scout Packages it has added more restrictions to the player search and therefore it could be seen as more realistic to use the player search than to not use it, as a few people counter argued with. Somebody previously even brought up that many clubs have player database packages that they use to filter players based on various stats before they even start scouting. 

However, for myself as the Manager (or Coach depending on your play style) would I be going through these databases of players? Surely I would have staff (scouts, Analysists, DoF) that would be responsible for going through these players and then providing me with their assessments and suggestions for me to then direct them who to scout and provide me with more information on.

I still feel that for realisms sake, it is more realistic to not use the player search feature at all, but that is just me. 

Completely agree.  It's one of the oldest LLM arguments.  I've been playing this way for nearly two decades now so I don't really know what player search does anymore but I don't feel like I'm missing out.

I've got scouts, there are news articles in-game, I play against players I like the look of etc  There are multiple ways to come across players.

[BrightLad5]

3 minutes ago, Brother Ben said:

Completely agree.  It's one of the oldest LLM arguments.  I've been playing this way for nearly two decades now so I don't really know what player search does anymore but I don't feel like I'm missing out.

I've got scouts, there are news articles in-game, I play against players I like the look of etc  There are multiple ways to come across players.

This is it, organically coming across players is all part of the immersion of LLM. At high levels I feel we have more "creative freedom" to make our transfer moves. From a realism POV, I would feel comfortable in pinpointing a start player at a big club for my scouts and analysts to go off and assess, without any prior prompts from them. This is because I would expect my in game self to know these players already (as would the rest of the world ) so it could be realistic for me to ask a scout to focus on a big name player

[Brother Ben]

On 08/10/2021 at 20:40, Junkhead said:

SI need to confirm the score with these Spanish and Portuguese leagues so you can get them ready in time 😂

Just working through the leagues for the overviews now doing the team maps and a few other bits that I can do before full release and there's quite a few new systems going on, Greece has a new North/South second tier and I'm sure there will be a lot more.

Adding tier 7&8 for England or Cyprus officially would be great.  Doubt any leagues will be added but they did sneak Wales in under the radar so you never know

Edited October 11, 2021 by Brother Ben

[Junkhead]

48 minutes ago, Brother Ben said:

Just working through the leagues for the overviews now doing the team maps and a few other bits that I can do before full release and there's quite a few new systems going on, Greece has a new North/South second tier and I'm sure there will be a lot more.

Adding tier 7&8 for England or Cyprus officially would be great.  Doubt any leagues will be added but they did sneak Wales in under the radar so you never know

Lets hope so.  The more the better.  They also snuck Canada in, remember.... 

[majesticeternity]

4 hours ago, BrightLad5 said:

Hi guys new to this Thread, just glancing through some of the early posts regarding Player Search screen. Most recently for realisms sake I have been against the Player Search screen as I saw it as basically an Amazon website of all the hundreds of thousands of players that were for sale 

I do understand that since they have introduced the Scout Packages it has added more restrictions to the player search and therefore it could be seen as more realistic to use the player search than to not use it, as a few people counter argued with. Somebody previously even brought up that many clubs have player database packages that they use to filter players based on various stats before they even start scouting. 

However, for myself as the Manager (or Coach depending on your play style) would I be going through these databases of players? Surely I would have staff (scouts, Analysists, DoF) that would be responsible for going through these players and then providing me with their assessments and suggestions for me to then direct them who to scout and provide me with more information on.

I still feel that for realisms sake, it is more realistic to not use the player search feature at all, but that is just me. 

Yes, I agree too. 

It may be realistic to have a player database, but it’s not realistic to know exactly the attributes of each player.

player search may be ok, if it wasn’t so unrealistically easy to sign almost any player you want(especially at top clubs). So you can pick out the best player from the list, that ai likely won’t be bidding for. If they are bidding, you can likely offer better contract due to better-than-ai financial management. There are so many reasons player search makes it far too unrealistic. 
 

even then, I’ve lately started to reduce the number of scout player recommendations. There are, IMO, too many, so after just 1 month at a top club, there are 80 players to look at. At a small club, 20 or so. Stay at the club for one season, and you’ll have had a treasure trove of hot prospects with good potential, good players on a free that the ai didn’t pick up, cheap transfer listed players, etc.

now I go to preferences in the scouting center and X out options like hot prospects, other players found on assignment, expiring contract, transfer listed, etc. so the 80 a month becomes 30. The 20 a month becomes 5. Really makes it more difficult, makes the recruitment meetings actually useful and necessary!!, makes the trial days actually useful!!, and makes it more exciting when you DO come across a cheaper player, or a top prospect, as they are more rare. 
 

overall it’s more fulfilling, and realistic, in that the squad building you now do is more organic/not overpowered, and gives the AI time to pick up a few more good players in the meantime. 

[Dan_987]

10 hours ago, Junkhead said:

Lets hope so.  The more the better.  They also snuck Canada in, remember.... 

I'd even be happy if they officially added Tier 7 in England. Suddenly a lot more starting teams to choose from out of the box.

[Junkhead]

On 12/10/2021 at 03:33, Dan_987 said:

I'd even be happy if they officially added Tier 7 in England. Suddenly a lot more starting teams to choose from out of the box.

Agreed, 100%. Stafford Rangers don't agree though, they can see me coming a mile off. 

[bobbyb12345]

I think when I'm doing a super-LLM save (e.g. part-time teams) the only time I use player search is to search for people born in the area!

I am glad they added a function at non-league level where players wouldn't be willing to relocate but it'd be nice if there was an easier way of working out who wouldn't have the need to relocate beyond just looking at nearby teams.

Suspect that won't be a priority for the devs, though!

[Dan_987]

8 hours ago, Junkhead said:

Agreed, 100%. Stafford Rangers don't agree though, they can see me coming a mile off. 

Haha just holiday for a year until they are playable in Conference North.

Looking at my One-Save options for FM22, not bad Home Kit and decent sized Stadium Capacity. Low # of Season Ticket Holders and Attendance looks a fun challenge though  

[Junkhead]

59 minutes ago, Dan_987 said:

Haha just holiday for a year until they are playable in Conference North.

May do so in FM22 if I get it. Like to be the team closest to me and sick to death of it always being Kidderminster 

[BrightLad5]

Something I also try to do for added realism;

If I am starting out managing abroad, I try to hire English coaching staff as that is my nationality. It can be very hard if you start a career in bottom Division Finland for example to attract the English coaches but you do sometimes get 1 or two. Once I have them, I then look to stick with these throughout my career, at the expense of having the best coaching staff, Id prefer to have the realism of "MY coaching team" that follow me to different clubs much like in real life where managers bring their close team with them, even if they may not be the Best of the Best. They would become my friends, my colleagues, and I would have loyalty to them in real life

[Junkhead]

3 hours ago, BrightLad5 said:

Something I also try to do for added realism;

If I am starting out managing abroad, I try to hire English coaching staff as that is my nationality. It can be very hard if you start a career in bottom Division Finland for example to attract the English coaches but you do sometimes get 1 or two. Once I have them, I then look to stick with these throughout my career, at the expense of having the best coaching staff, Id prefer to have the realism of "MY coaching team" that follow me to different clubs much like in real life where managers bring their close team with them, even if they may not be the Best of the Best. They would become my friends, my colleagues, and I would have loyalty to them in real life

I do something similar, but with languages rather than nationality. I would look for an English/Finnish speaker in your example for ass manager, Head Physio & Chief Scout.

On a side note, hopeful that FM22 has better delegation options. I want my chief scout to build my scouting team, not the chairman. 

[Dan_987]

9 hours ago, BrightLad5 said:

Once I have them, I then look to stick with these throughout my career, at the expense of having the best coaching staff, Id prefer to have the realism of "MY coaching team" that follow me to different clubs much like in real life where managers bring their close team with them, even if they may not be the Best of the Best. They would become my friends, my colleagues, and I would have loyalty to them in real life

Just started doing this myself. No longer using the Staff Search and retaining my staff over the years. Rather than constantly upgrading each year.

Finished my FM21 save and was nice to see Assistant Manager, HOYD and 2 coaches leave at same time. Most of them were a bit younger and did a number of courses over the save.

Those courses do cost a fortune as a lower league club. Had a few poached to become Level 10 Managers too.

[George_84]

1 hour ago, Dan_987 said:

Just started doing this myself. No longer using the Staff Search and retaining my staff over the years. Rather than constantly upgrading each year.

Finished my FM21 save and was nice to see Assistant Manager, HOYD and 2 coaches leave at same time. Most of them were a bit younger and did a number of courses over the save.

Those courses do cost a fortune as a lower league club. Had a few poached to become Level 10 Managers too.

I'm doing something similar myself. No staff search, but only adverts and I like to keep my staff together for as long as possible instead of changing every year. A few things I keep in mind to not extend a contract for a staff member is when a number of players start complaining about poor staff in training, players not improving in training, youth intake that keeps to be bad, scouts not giving you decent suggestions to look at, ... I try to see if my staff can keep up with the team progression and If it feels they are punching above their weight, I'm looking for someone else when their contract expires.

[Dan_987]

46 minutes ago, George_84 said:

A few things I keep in mind to not extend a contract for a staff member is when a number of players start complaining about poor staff in training, players not improving in training, youth intake that keeps to be bad, scouts not giving you decent suggestions to look at, ...

I end up going other direction and try give 2/3 year contract, as it hurts too much when I put them through 2-3 courses.. only to get poached for $1-2k compensation 😂

Had a wonderful HOYD on paper, Professional personality, Pref 4-4-2, Working with Youth, Judging Potential, still got awful intakes. My Youth Training, Recruitment, Academy all poor.

Unfortunately doubt will be able to improve facilities without a Cup run. 200 attendance only enough to break even. Half of the fun & satisfaction of a LLM save.

[George_84]

2 hours ago, Dan_987 said:

I end up going other direction and try give 2/3 year contract, as it hurts too much when I put them through 2-3 courses.. only to get poached for $1-2k compensation 😂

Had a wonderful HOYD on paper, Professional personality, Pref 4-4-2, Working with Youth, Judging Potential, still got awful intakes. My Youth Training, Recruitment, Academy all poor.

Unfortunately doubt will be able to improve facilities without a Cup run. 200 attendance only enough to break even. Half of the fun & satisfaction of a LLM save.

I don’t mind putting them through courses to improve them. When they get poached by bigger clubs I even feel proud that I did a good job with my personnel. I do beg them to stay, but it’s a cold hearted money run world out there and you can only do so much to guide your staff towards the light!

[Dan_987]

2 hours ago, George_84 said:

When they get poached by bigger clubs I even feel proud that I did a good job with my personnel. 

True! My fav coach landed a mid-season appointment as Level 10 Manager and took them to promotion. Was hoping to play them in a Cup sometime in the future or get the club as an affiliate.

[Samelders]

I'm using some of your tips in FMTouch. But what do you think of this? I always play with sunday league experience and attribute masking on, waiting to all the jobs are filled, and then when a LLM gets sacked I jump on the bandwagon. Usually in the lowest division of England.

I always use google maps to find the city and stadium and to decide what would be a realistic area to attract players from.

I ask my DOF for potential signings and I always look where they are born and what the last club is where they played (it has to be within the area (like 1,5 hour from the club I'm managing).

Asking the DOF is imo realistic because he should have some connections and knowhow of players. 

 

Because of the attribute masking, it's always a nice suprise what the quality of my signing is..

 

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Samelders

[BrightLad5]

18 hours ago, Junkhead said:

I do something similar, but with languages rather than nationality. I would look for an English/Finnish speaker in your example for ass manager, Head Physio & Chief Scout.

On a side note, hopeful that FM22 has better delegation options. I want my chief scout to build my scouting team, not the chairman. 

Yes that works!

A also used to want to completely control all aspects of training and scouting. I wanted to be all over everything, but again, I don't think that is realistic for a manager. 

Yes, I would instruct the staff what I want to happen with coaching and scouting, but I (as a manager more than a head coach) wouldn't realistically sit and create training schedules, I would leave that to my coaching team and would have the final say on it each week.

For me this is something I really struggle to let go of (cause Real life me is much better at it than AI staff) but I think in FM22 I am going to try my best to not intervene too much with the specific training schedules and only make an occasion change here and there.

Does anyone else struggle with letting go of these types of responsibilities?

 

[George_84]

7 hours ago, BrightLad5 said:

Yes that works!

A also used to want to completely control all aspects of training and scouting. I wanted to be all over everything, but again, I don't think that is realistic for a manager. 

Yes, I would instruct the staff what I want to happen with coaching and scouting, but I (as a manager more than a head coach) wouldn't realistically sit and create training schedules, I would leave that to my coaching team and would have the final say on it each week.

For me this is something I really struggle to let go of (cause Real life me is much better at it than AI staff) but I think in FM22 I am going to try my best to not intervene too much with the specific training schedules and only make an occasion change here and there.

Does anyone else struggle with letting go of these types of responsibilities?

 

I can’t be bothered with training. That’s the assistants job. I do however sometimes interfere for specific attributes training (wingers who can’t cross).
Youth is also something I delegate to head of youth and director of football. It’s a world of it’s own. I do keep an eye on development to see if a youth teamplayer is ready for 1st team football. 

my head of scout is responsable for the scout assignmets. I do order scout reports from every team within an hours drive (with semipro club) and give short term assignments. This makes the recruitment meeting An essential tool to strengthen the team for the next season.

tactics and everything concerning the matchday are for me, as are unsettled players, contract negotiations, press conferences, … are for me.

a lot of delegating tasks, but more realistic I guess, apart from the training  maybe. 

[phd_angel]

Enjoyed reading the tips and suggestions here.

Bottom line rule for realism when confronting all of FM game features, systems and options is:

if it feels like cheating, don't do it...

[BrightLad5]

1 hour ago, phd_angel said:

Enjoyed reading the tips and suggestions here.

Bottom line rule for realism when confronting all of FM game features, systems and options is:

if it feels like cheating, don't do it...

Yup spot on. 

There are counter arguments to everything though, one managers realism is anothers unrealism (is that a word??) 

Training for example, some could justify that you as a manager doing every aspect of training is realistic (if you are taking on a coach persona) but on the flip side, if you are that "head coach" training tracksuit manage ttype, then maybe for realisms sake you should be leaving all transfer target dealings to your Director of Football and not get involved with that stuff. There are few football managers IRL that would likely get involved with all aspects of training to that level of detail AND all aspects of making and negotiating signings.

But again, it all comes down to the level of realism you want and enjoy. Everyone should play the game exactly how they want to and how they feel comfortable playing it 

 

Edited October 16, 2021 by BrightLad5

[Platinum]

On 15/10/2021 at 14:23, BrightLad5 said:

Yes that works!

A also used to want to completely control all aspects of training and scouting. I wanted to be all over everything, but again, I don't think that is realistic for a manager. 

Yes, I would instruct the staff what I want to happen with coaching and scouting, but I (as a manager more than a head coach) wouldn't realistically sit and create training schedules, I would leave that to my coaching team and would have the final say on it each week.

For me this is something I really struggle to let go of (cause Real life me is much better at it than AI staff) but I think in FM22 I am going to try my best to not intervene too much with the specific training schedules and only make an occasion change here and there.

Does anyone else struggle with letting go of these types of responsibilities?

 

Im heavily involved in training and I think its realistic tbh. Lots of managers such as the one in my display picture (Arteta) are heavily involved in curating their training schedules and even take part in them. Then obviously there are some managers that don't do this.

[BrightLad5]

4 minutes ago, Platinum said:

Im heavily involved in training and I think its realistic tbh. Lots of managers such as the one in my display picture (Arteta) are heavily involved in curating their training schedules and even take part in them. Then obviously there are some managers that don't do this.

Spot on. However would Arteta get as involved in the transfer negotiating side of running and managing Arsenal? Its realistic to do the training inside and out, but then if you are a tracksuit manager or Head Coach, how realistic is it to also do all of that other side of running the club?

I do it all, just saying, if we are simply talking what is realistic then maybe its a one or the other kind of choice if we wanted to be uber realistic. Either leave training to the coaches, or leave transfer negotiations to the DoF

[Platinum]

11 minutes ago, BrightLad5 said:

Spot on. However would Arteta get as involved in the transfer negotiating side of running and managing Arsenal? Its realistic to do the training inside and out, but then if you are a tracksuit manager or Head Coach, how realistic is it to also do all of that other side of running the club?

I do it all, just saying, if we are simply talking what is realistic then maybe its a one or the other kind of choice if we wanted to be uber realistic. Either leave training to the coaches, or leave transfer negotiations to the DoF

Yeah I agree with that. For this reason I have my DoF deal with signing players and staff. The only staff I hire is the first team coaching staff as they work directly under me. I dont choose scouting assignments either. Also for transfers I give the DoF my transfer targets and let him get on with it instead of him just signing random players without consulting me (this would be unrealistic too). 

With FM22 this will be even better as with the data hub I can truly concentrate and put a lot of effort into preparing the team for the matches.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Platinum

[Platinum]

On 08/10/2021 at 08:55, Junkhead said:

Parked my Bordeaux save for a bit and have been messing about with some mods I hadn't tried before. Must say that @davie77 has put together an excellent megapack for those that haven't seen it. Every league in the world playable with real rules. For those of us who like to add leagues, it's a must IMO. Been playing with the leagues from @Daveincid's thread active and it's moving surprisingly fast even with 234 leagues from 125 nations 😳

Playing with fake players and a skin that hides attributes and thoroughly enjoying the challenge to the point where I might skip FM22, particularly at release. We will see though. Am finding signing players both easier and more difficult somehow. Instead of obsessing over one low attribute, I am now taking more chances which I think is more realistic. Training is being guided solely by what my coaches say people should improve on, and I am enjoying that too. Currently playing as Prespa Birlik in the Swedish 4th tier and we look awful. In the unlikely event we cling on and avoid relegation this season, my best player's contracts all expire and we can't hope to sign decent replacements. So a season of survival will simply put off the inevitable. 

Anyone got any ideas in mind for FM22, or are we all starting unemployed?!

 

I might just start with Oxford City. I really didnt play FM21 much, I think the bad start to the game with all the bugs put me off and I always had a preference to wait for FM22 in the back of my mind. 

Now with FM22 having the datahub thats basically been solidified that I'll wait as I operate as mainly a first team coach where I mainly focus on preparing the team for the matches and leave all financial stuff including transfers (apart from giving transfer targets) to the DoF, so the datahub is a complete game changer for me.

I had a decent FM21 save though, got the best player Ive ever got through my youth intake. Sold him to West Brom for 25k too, hes 17.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Platinum

[Junkhead]

6 hours ago, Platinum said:

I might just start with Oxford City. I really didnt play FM21 much, I think the bad start to the game with all the bugs put me off and I always had a preference to wait for FM22 in the back of my mind. 

Now with FM22 having the datahub thats basically been solidified that I'll wait as I operate as mainly a first team coach where I mainly focus on preparing the team for the matches and leave all financial stuff including transfers (apart from giving transfer targets) to the DoF, so the datahub is a complete game changer for me.

I had a decent FM21 save though, got the best player Ive ever got through my youth intake. Sold him to West Brom for 25k too, hes 17.

I am not convinced about the data hub from a LLM perspective. Of course I might be wrong, but my assumption is that no data analyst = no data hub... How long until Oxford City's board lets you have a data analyst?

[Dan_987]

45 minutes ago, Junkhead said:

I am not convinced about the data hub from a LLM perspective. Of course I might be wrong, but my assumption is that no data analyst = no data hub... How long until Oxford City's board lets you have a data analyst?

Yeah unfortunately all the FM22 videos have been large clubs or are on wonderkids comparisons etc.

Keen to see how the Data Hub & other new features would work for say a Southport or Blyth Spartans save. 

[Platinum]

3 hours ago, Junkhead said:

I am not convinced about the data hub from a LLM perspective. Of course I might be wrong, but my assumption is that no data analyst = no data hub... How long until Oxford City's board lets you have a data analyst?

I plan on having this save for at least 1 year and probably longer, which means I would really hope im not the lower leagues anymore during this tome. But to answer your question I'm pretty sure I was able to hire an analyst straight away. 

Also I believe your assumption about no data analyst = no data hub is correct. I'm really thinking of starting in Northen Ireland and then eventually moving to England though so I'm not sure if N.I. teams arent able to get analysts? 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Platinum

[Junkhead]

23 minutes ago, Platinum said:

I plan on having this save for at least 1 year and probably longer, which means I would really hope im not the lower leagues anymore during this tome. But to answer your question I'm pretty sure I was able to hire an analyst straight away. 

Also I believe your assumption about no data analyst = no data hub is correct. I'm really thinking of starting in Northen Ireland and then eventually moving to England though so I'm not sure if N.I. teams arent able to get analysts? 

Tobermore aren't, but they are the smallest club available at the start of the game.  One of the bigger clubs in the bottom league might be able to, but I doubt it.

[BrightLad5]

13 hours ago, Platinum said:

Yeah I agree with that. For this reason I have my DoF deal with signing players and staff. The only staff I hire is the first team coaching staff as they work directly under me. I dont choose scouting assignments either. Also for transfers I give the DoF my transfer targets and let him get on with it instead of him just signing random players without consulting me (this would be unrealistic too). 

With FM22 this will be even better as with the data hub I can truly concentrate and put a lot of effort into preparing the team for the matches.

This is great. I havent really encountered many FM players that are purposely that hands off in terms of transfer negotiations. Its great for the type of save you have which is very hands on coaching.

I'm at a cross roads though. I love delving into the transfer market and negotiating and also getting stuck into the ins and outs of training!  

I think for my long term save I will be more of the suit manager type, more hands off on training (which will be hard for me!) and keep being hand on with the squad building and business side of things, We'll see though haha!

[Junkhead]

Change the thread title the other day, all. Feel free to post any FM22 realism related stuff in here! 

I am sticking with FM21, at least for the moment, have finally settled on a decent long term save. Would love to hear how you guys are getting on and any info on how the new features impact the way we play!

[Platinum]

Yeah once the full game is released I will start my LLM save and keep you updated and do a thread in the stories forum too.

Might go for a start in Northern Ireland too.

[Junkhead]

Likely going to purchase later on now anyway as I will have a fair bit of play time over the next couple of weeks. Will likely begin my annual failure in Turkey or try out the Spanish or Portuguese 4th tiers