Thanks to FM, I became a coach in real life. Does anyone have this experience?

[cruise_control]

Thanks to FM, I became a coach in real life, it started in 2010, when I was a 10-year-old boy, saw a CD i with FM 2010 on the counter. I didn’t know what awaited me and expected that there would be something similar to FIFA where I could control the players, at least partially.

At first, when I turned on the game and entered the match, I was upset that there was no player controller function. After a while, the game got me hooked and I started playing for local clubs, probably because they weren’t in FIFA. These were short careers largely due to my age, in some places FIFA and other games outweighed them. but I didn’t stop at FM 10 and continued to acquire FM.

The best version and the longest for me was FM12. For all the time since 2010, I only missed version 13 year, I don’t remember why, but that’s how it is. Every year the interest in football and coaching in general grew. From the age of 10 I played different careers, long and short, I don't remember careers in details, but the most interesting was with Besiktas in FM 12 and my fictional character, a coach from Portugal. Mainly my careers wasn't in top leagues. It was Turkey, Ukraine, Portugal, Slovakia, Poland. In different versions I changed tactics, sometimes I repeated. For a example, in fm12 it was 4-2-3-1, fm15 5-3-2 couterattack, then it was again 4-2-3-1. Last versions I use classic 4-3-3, but in FM24 I open for me 4-4-2 diamond, now it's a perfect for me.

With each version I got more involved and played hours of game, my knowledge expanded and my database of players grew. Slowly I studied the intricacies of the game and noticed something for myself, while simultaneously playing football. As time passed, I wanted to become a coach more and more, it was a dream that was somewhat unrealistic at that time. When I was 18, i started studying to be a coach and graduated. Next step get a UEFA C-license. Soon I started to get it.

So I didn't have much time to play for a few years. Last global versions for me was FM 21. And in december I bought FM24 and enjoying it. When I have free time, i am playing in FM. It's distracting and relaxing in despite of some nasty defeats and situations.

The dream has become reality. It's a start of my real life career and I expect interesting way. Of course I will play in FM in parallel my real life career. I start as a children coach.

Аnd it all started thanks to FM

Edited April 21 by cruise_control

[El Payaso]

I've been coaching for almost ten years now. I retired from playing at the age of 24 and after that was asked to coach some local kids. I'm still on the same road. Don't really have the passion to do anything else than volunteering or coaching kids but anyway. 

[Rikulec]

Thanks for sharing your experience @cruise_control, was a great read. Best of luck in your coaching career! 

I've also been coaching for almost seven years now, and the journey also started with FM - or CM, to be precise. A gaming magazine in Poland came with a full version of CM 4 in 2006, and I got hooked straight away. My knowledge of English helped me a lot, especially in later years when I found these forums and started to read about tactics, expanding my knowledge in areas that not many people in Poland really explore. We're unfortunately a very backwards country in terms of our approach to football, luckily FM pointed the way for me and inspired me to pursue a coaching career and try to do things my own way. I've got the UEFA A licence now, I work as an assistant coach in a semi-pro senior team and if all goes well, I might be able to go fully pro and move abroad in a couple of months. It's been a fantastic and rewarding journey so far, I can't imagine doing anything else for a living!

[cruise_control]

1 час назад, Rikulec сказал:

Спасибо за обмен вашего опыта@круиз-контроль, было отличное чтение. Удачи в тренерской карьере! 

Я также тренирую уже почти семь лет, и мой путь тоже начался с FM – или CM, если быть точным. В 2006 году игровой журнал в Польше выпустил полную версию CM 4, и я сразу зацепился за нее. Мое знание английского очень помогло мне, особенно в последующие годы, когда я нашел эти форумы и начал читать о тактике, расширяя свои знания в областях, которые мало кто в Польше действительно изучает. К сожалению, мы очень отсталая страна с точки зрения нашего подхода к футболу, но, к счастью, FM указал мне путь и вдохновил меня продолжить тренерскую карьеру и попытаться делать все по-своему. Сейчас у меня есть лицензия УЕФА А, я работаю помощником тренера в полупрофессиональной взрослой команде, и если все пойдет хорошо, возможно, через пару месяцев я смогу стать полностью профессиональным игроком и уехать за границу. Это было фантастическое и полезное путешествие, я не могу себе представить, чтобы зарабатывать на жизнь чем-то другим!

Thank you so much, good luck you too. By the way I was reading your career updates, it's very interesting. You have great way and UEFA A is high level. I know how it hard to get this license. Respect

And about football in Poland, unexpectedly hear about backwards your country in football, Poland has a very talented players, i can compare with results of my country(Belarus).

[cruise_control]

2 часа назад, El Payaso сказал:

Я тренирую уже почти десять лет. Я ушел из игры в 24 года, и после этого меня попросили тренировать местных ребят. Я все еще на той же дороге. На самом деле у меня нет страсти заниматься чем-то еще, кроме волонтерства или тренировки детей, но все равно. 

Great, good luck. Don't stop!

[Rikulec]

4 hours ago, cruise_control said:

Thank you so much, good luck you too. By the way I was reading your career updates, it's very interesting. You have great way and UEFA A is high level. I know how it hard to get this license. Respect

And about football in Poland, unexpectedly hear about backwards your country in football, Poland has a very talented players, i can compare with results of my country(Belarus).

Thanks for the kind words, glad you've enjoyed my updates. 

We do have some good players indeed, although in general many coaches (and Polish people in general) have a very peculiar way of thinking and speaking about football. They tend to largely focus on defensive play and generally ignore many trends that can be observed in the biggest European leagues. Maybe my own way is a little bit skewed because of the way I gained my knowledge, but I just can't relate to the typical Polish perception of the game.

[pdmalcolm]

I'm starting with an under 11 team this July. This came about purely due to my wife's pro-active nature and disdain for my FM habit.

[Weed07]

I've been playing FM and its predecessor since the early 90s and I'm also a coach, however FM had no input into coaching as my opportunity came because my daughters at the time u10 team needed help so she volunteered me. Thankfully even though I'm now coaching a bunch of teenage girls there is a lot less squad drama and player interactions are much easier in real life than in this game!

[Jack Sarahs]

Lovely post & thread!

I can't say for sure it was only because of Football Manager, but while very young I decided I wanted to become a Football coach having played Sports Interactive games going back to 2001/2002.

Before joining Sports Interactive in my current role, I was a professional coach having acquired my UEFA B License & had worked as an academy coach at a League Two football club. If not purely because of Football Manager, it at the very least played a huge influential part in my journey and I've now ended up here at the company itself.

[cruise_control]

19 часов назад, Rikulec сказал:

Спасибо за добрые слова, рад, что вам понравились мои обновления. 

У нас действительно есть хорошие игроки, хотя в целом многие тренеры (да и поляки вообще) очень своеобразно думают и говорят о футболе. Они, как правило, сосредотачиваются на оборонительной игре и обычно игнорируют многие тенденции, которые можно наблюдать в крупнейших европейских лигах. Возможно, мой собственный путь немного искажен из-за того, как я получил свои знания, но я просто не могу соответствовать типичному польскому восприятию игры.

Our football has same problems. It is far behind of top countries, but new generation of coaches should correct this.

[cruise_control]

9 часов назад, pdmalcolm сказал:

В июле этого года я начинаю играть за команду до 11 лет. Это произошло исключительно из-за активной натуры моей жены и ее презрения к моей привычке к FM.

I understand you, good luck!

Edited April 23 by cruise_control

[cruise_control]

3 часа назад, Weed07 сказал:

I've been playing FM and its predecessor since the early 90s and I'm also a coach, however FM had no input into coaching as my opportunity came because my daughters at the time u10 team needed help so she volunteered me. Thankfully even though I'm now coaching a bunch of teenage girls there is a lot less squad drama and player interactions are much easier in real life than in this game!

It's true about player interactions. Really you got  interesting opportunity. Good luck and enjoy it!

[cruise_control]

1 час назад, Jack Sarahs сказал:

Прекрасный пост и тема!

Я не могу сказать наверняка, что это произошло только из-за Football Manager, но еще будучи очень молодым, я решил, что хочу стать футбольным тренером, поиграв в игры Sports Interactive еще в 2001/2002 году.

До того, как присоединиться к Sports Interactive на моей нынешней должности, я был профессиональным тренером, получил лицензию УЕФА B и работал тренером академии футбольного клуба второй лиги. Если не только благодаря Football Manager, то, по крайней мере, он сыграл огромную роль в моем путешествии, и теперь я оказался здесь, в самой компании.

Nice to hear, thank you! I think your way is a dream of the most FM players. Most of them want to be a coaches IRL and work at the company. You have great and interesting way. Good luck!