Feeling a little hard done by

[marcMCFC1986]

Not sure if I should be feeling harshly treated here, or if it just the programming of the game not being able to look at the bigger picture. Here are the details:

 

• Managing Man City
• Completed 3 Seasons
• Won the PL in first 2 Seasons
• Not won any other cups, but been competitive in them all (Liverpool are my bogey team in finals, unfortunately and keep beating me)
• In Third Season I was top of the league from Matchday 7 through to Matchday 37.
• Going into the final weekend of the season I was on 73 points, Arsenal on 72, Chelsea & Liverpool both on 71.
• I lost 4-3 against Crystal Palace - Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all won, so I finished 4th.
• The Board have dragged me in, given me an 'F' Rating for my performance this season and are disappointed that I only challenged for the title. I was top of the league for about 8 months straight, and only dropped to 4th in the last 10 minutes of the season when Palace went ahead!
• I'm now begging to keep my job, the players are unhappy that I'm not meeting expectations etc.

 

I get it - I did finish 4th, and so I challenged for the title rather than actually winning it. But I feel like the game is programmed to just see "Finished 4th" and not the bigger picture over the season.

 

What do you think?

 

[Nonlondoner]

That's harsh. However, looking at it from the point of view of a Man City fan (which I'm not) the expectation would have been 90 points plus and you've ended with 73 which is nowhere near enough to secure a title these days. So I suspect a few bad results along the way would have dragged your rating down.

As mad as it seems to supporters of less successful teams I can imagine Pep being on a final warning if they ended a season without a trophy and only accrued 73 points in a season.
 

[gunner86]

3 hours ago, Nonlondoner said:

That's harsh. However, looking at it from the point of view of a Man City fan (which I'm not) the expectation would have been 90 points plus and you've ended with 73 which is nowhere near enough to secure a title these days. So I suspect a few bad results along the way would have dragged your rating down.

As mad as it seems to supporters of less successful teams I can imagine Pep being on a final warning if they ended a season without a trophy and only accrued 73 points in a season.
 

I do agree with this.

The other thing that’s worth noting is that they have at least accepted that you challenged for the title. Generally a 4th place finish would be treated as “qualify for the champions league” so they’ve at least acknowledged it’s more than just that.

I would also imagine that City’s board are pretty strict, and that winning the league would be a preference rather than a requirement.

A cup win might have softened the blow a bit too.

[phd_angel]

You picked one of the easiest clubs to manage, so of course the fans' demands are justified!

[FrazT]

No cup wins and finishing 4th in the league would be unacceptable for Man City if they had won the league in the previous 2 seasons.  As was said above though, only 73 points means that there were a lot of other poor results during the season, so it is a culmination of small things.  I personally dont think that you have been treated overly badly.

[madeirabhoy]

I am amazed you weren't sacked tbh. the last time Man City finished 4th they parted company with Pellegrini. Plus overall you have under achieved. just the league is minimum requirement. No cups and you don't even mention Europe so that couldn't be good. 

[fergusq]

Im feeling a bit hard done by also - managing Spurs - expectations are top half and latter stages of FA Cup. Ive been top for most of the time, currently second just behind City....got beaten in 5th round of FA Cup away to Chelsea and the squad are all unhappy that we didnt make the "latter stages" and board going on about how unhappy they are even though my confidence is still A. Complete overreaction

 

[numbas2]

There should be more context from the board. That isn’t built into the game though. Bottom line would be the same result - you’re in trouble - but it would be nice to read the nuance of the situation. But then this is football manager, you’ve always got to use your imagination to fill in the gaps and create your world. 

[gunner86]

1 hour ago, fergusq said:

Im feeling a bit hard done by also - managing Spurs - expectations are top half and latter stages of FA Cup. Ive been top for most of the time, currently second just behind City....got beaten in 5th round of FA Cup away to Chelsea and the squad are all unhappy that we didnt make the "latter stages" and board going on about how unhappy they are even though my confidence is still A. Complete overreaction

 

For what it’s worth. I think the game considers quarter finals onwards the latter stages. But if they still rank your confidence at A you don’t really have much to worry about.

[Freakiie]

2 hours ago, fergusq said:

Im feeling a bit hard done by also - managing Spurs - expectations are top half and latter stages of FA Cup. Ive been top for most of the time, currently second just behind City....got beaten in 5th round of FA Cup away to Chelsea and the squad are all unhappy that we didnt make the "latter stages" and board going on about how unhappy they are even though my confidence is still A. Complete overreaction

 

I mean, are they actually unhappy or is it simply a negative on your overall confidence sheet? Because from the sounds of it, the board and players see it as a negative that you didn't meet expectations for the FA Cup, which makes sense, but are more than happy with how things are going overall as shown by your overall confidence being A.

As for the OP, you took over the most successful English club in recent years, you obviously don't have the credit that a Guardiola would have in that situation and as plenty have pointed out, with only 73 points it sounds like you had a pretty poor season and can count yourself lucky you actually were in the title race until the end. Add to that that you won no extra silverware in any of the cup competitions and it doesn't really come as a surprise to me that the City board would like to have a talk with you.

[fergusq]

The board confidence is ok, but Ive a heap of unhappy players, led by the captain Son (again, wholly unrealistic) who are unhappy about our FA Cup performance and that led to a downturn in form.