Approaching non-league football

[goonergez]

Hello everyone. I don't want this to seem like I am hunting for cheats or for anyone to give me ways to play the game at all, although I can understand if people see it in that way. Basically I am after advice, not specific players or plug and play tactics etc.

Basically I have spent the majority of my time on this edition taking on the daFuge challenge deep within non-league football. In a number of attempts I have managed minimal success, basically converting Morpeth Town, Lancaster City and Warrington Town into perennial mid-table sides within the Conference North. I've watched in the thread as numerous people manage to fly themselves up the leagues and towards the pinnacle of English football. Some quickly, some less quickly. I've never claimed to be particularly good at the game, but I can't help but watch on wondering what on earth I am doing so wrong to fall so short.

I'm therefore looking at building a sort of guide to what to do when managing in these non-league realms. Due to my lack of ability in playing I was therefore wondering what help I could gather from other players of the game, not necessarily just those playing in these leagues or challenges. Hopefully this will prove of a personal benefit to me, but also a benefit to others who may not have approached anything like this before. If I can put something together that may help even the most simplistic of players (i.e myself), maybe that would be of benefit to other players who may want to get involved in said challenge or challenges of a similar nature.

I guess I am looking for input basically.

-Tactics and roles (or lack of) etc to use and avoid
-individual instructions for players and opposition
-what to look for attribute and personality wise in each available position
-how to approach staffing. both pre-existing and recruiting
-what to look for in staff members both attributes and personalities
-how to approach the transfer market
-affiliations.... hit or miss and why? what to look for?
-what to do throughout pre-season. friendlies, training etc
-how to approach training etc
-what to do week by week etc
-any other activity that people may or may not do

My overall plan is to put together a guide that may be of use to newbies and inexperienced players, before then partaking in a brand new save aiming to implement things from said guide to see if I can make it work for me, an average quality player.

Does anybody think this is a good idea? And does anybody think that they could help. I've had some interesting discussions with a number of people from this forum which have proven somewhat beneficent. Hopefully we can 

[Herolover]

I haven't thought of doing so much of a guide as a list of tips for LLM.

I do notice that most of the tips and advice are not for LL saves.

[Tikka Mezzala]

@Rashidi's thread on LLM is the best place to start. I've applied his recruitment principles to my Clapton Community side, and the results are a clear affirmation of Rashidi's approach. 

 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

 

 

This is the tactic I am using. I often adjust it to the opposition, but I've tried to keep it pretty simple. Ignore some of the player names. I often give nicknames to players so I can kind of remember what their best attributes are. I hate looking at my bench and seeing a bunch of players I don't know. Naming them after famous players brings to mind what kind of player they are. 

[goonergez]

I just think it’s a good idea to put together a sort of how to guide regarding everything for the basic player. I need help and I think perhaps building a sort of guide could prove helpful. It’s not a plea for a plug and play tactic or a list of player names, just an opportunity to piece together a helping guide.

[Falahk]

21 hours ago, Herolover said:

I haven't thought of doing so much of a guide as a list of tips for LLM.

I do notice that most of the tips and advice are not for LL saves.

As far as tactics goes it's littraly the same thing, the only thing that's different is that setpice specialists are way more effective in llm, so you should pay more attention to your routines 

Other then that: 

-don't sign players to long contracts, if you get promoted they might not be good enough for the step up, its also hard to ofload players for any kind of money until you get promoted to a professional league, personally I only retain my first choice 11 from season to season and build from there 

-don't spend any energy on youth development until you are in a professional league and even then wait until your facilities are of an acceptable level

[warlock]

On 20/01/2021 at 11:53, goonergez said:

I'm therefore looking at building a sort of guide to what to do when managing in these non-league realms

Try this one first - it's a bit old now but the principles are the same:

https://www.fmscout.com/a-lower-league-management-guide.html

Some useful tips here:

https://fminside.net/guides/basic-guides/31-guide-to-lower-league-management

And there's solid information in this old guide to the Dafuge Challenge:

Some of my own thoughts:

* You don't need a DoF even if there's a spot for one. Save the money and get the best chief scout you can find and a couple of dogsbodies who can be out and about looking for prospects. If you find someone interesting, get your chief scout to look them over - he's probably got the best judgment.

* When looking for scouts, all you care about is judging current ability. Potential is irrelevant because you're not interested in how good they'll be 2-5 years from now.

* Abuse the trial system - have as many triallists as you can. And keep trialling all through the season.

* Training doesn't much matter - you'll only be training twice a week, or once if you have a midweek game. Training is all about fitness and tactical familiarity. So...

* Prioritise a good fitness coach.

* Similarly, focus on physical attributes - big strong defenders, fast wide players, etc. It doesn't matter if your man has amazing first touch if he never reaches the ball before the opponent.

* Fitness and stamina matter. Your physios are rubbish, pitches are like ploughed fields - you need players who can survive the rigours of the season.

* You'll lose players to injury anyway, but you likely won't have 11 good understudies waiting in the wings. So look for versatile players who can cover multiple positions.

* Work out what attributes matter for different positions. I always look for heading, tackling and strength for CBs; reflexes, concentration and agility for GKs; pace, dribbling and crossing for wingers, etc. In the VNN and VNS, I want 9s or 10s for those key attributes.

* Be miserly with contracts, and don't agree to more than one-year deals. Yes, your non-contract players can be poached but there's probably 100 alternatives who are just as good.

* Be Scrooge-like with all your financial matters. A rubbish season on the pitch will get you fired, but threatening the club with bankruptcy will get you fired quicker.