Hi,
this is going to be long and maybe overly-detailed suggestion… but I feel one of the best aspects of playing fm and going through the grind of long careers is the world you built and the make-believe relationships you form with the players, staff, media, etc. This is however something I feel can be improved upon. I’d like to detail some aspects I feel are lacking a bit and how they could potentially be made better.
1. media : right now, when players retire they can only become staff members, and media members are a seperate entity linked to a particular and fixed website or periodical. Players sometimes become media members after their playing careers irl however, and that should be something that becomes possible in fm.
-> right now, prominent media members that used to be player or staff are just unemployed and easy to hire. By giving these media members their own personnel screen and highlighting their media careers as ‘media member’ in their career timeline, that would make the system more intricate and realistic, as well as open up the option to have players join the media ranks later and be less likely to accept offers that pay less than their current media jobs.
-> as there are local, regional, national and international media outlets currently in the game, each could be accompanied by a certain salary, making it harder to hire a prominent member or former player with a high reputation away if you can’t pay them the same. You could define them further too along the lines of ‘national/international panelist’ (suggesting tv exposure and thus higher salaries) which would make it more challenging for a small team to suddenly hire a former player with a high reputation as he was offered a media deal.
-> As I said, reputation should play a part in these media jobs. And it would be fun to for example have a player you booted from your club years ago suddenly be a prominent member of the media and having a grudge against you. Existing relationships would then also play a bigger part in growing your and your club’s reputation. This could lead to some other features; for example if you are managing a small team whose reputation is lacking after 10 years but a former player (or even staff) has become a prominent media member, he or she will maybe grant or ask you for an interview and that will help advance your reputation more quickly and to a higher effect depending on their media level.
-> you could potentially add a fourth staff attribute tab along the lines of ‘PR’ with a few attributes like ‘media handling’, ‘social media knowledge’,‘reliability’, ‘charisma’ or others. Media members could climb the ranks without you having any control over it if these attributes are high, former players and current staff that have high rankings in those could be more likely to build a career in media (on top of reputation) without you having any control over it. But it could be fun to have your former local journalist, former player or former staff member be a powerful influential entity after a while. (This suggested 4th tab could also play a role in a suggestion I’ll get to later)
2. agents : same as the media remark; some players become agents later, which isn’t the case in the game. Since agents already have their version of a personnel page in the game, former players should be able to become agents, and their reputation, their JA and JP as well as the potential 4th tab^ could influence their succes, the clients they sign, the money they make, if they stay local agents or move up, and above all; whether they would be likely to join your staff despite their success and former and existing relationship formed with you during their playing days which could impact them steering clients towards or away from your club.
3. The business side of the club: right now, you and your director of football are basically in charge of everything, and the board can be manipulated to do a lot. IRL however, most clubs have a dof and manager handling the athletic side and another ceo under the board handling the business side of the club and operating separately. While not a necessity, implementing this could make you growing your club a bit more challenging.
-> for example: there would be a business staff tab and section of the club you have no control over (until you have done enough for the club board to grant you control over it (can be a board request) but it would take a lot of achievements for you to do that ) that would be a business ceo and a few other jobs. They would set ticket prices, make sponsor/partnerships deals etc and would be a prominent voice when you ask to expand or build a new stadium. (Giving advice and your relationship with them could influence their stance on your board requests) If they have low attributes in what they do they could be a deterrent.
-> Moreover, they could make requests to you that could make your life easier or harder on top of the board. For example, if a player has a great selling jersey but he’s fallen out of your current lineup plans, they could make a fuss over it or ask you to play him more or in specific games, forcing you to occasionally balance keeping the business side and board happy on top of managing the team and players. If the board has an objective to play young players, and you’re not doing it enough, the business side might also ask you to play certain potential-filled youth players so they can promote them. But you may not feel they’re ready.
-> like I said, a potential 4th or even 5th tab with some business attributes could factor into how all this goes, and could open up another minor interesting world-building detail! It could increasing the importance of your pa, pr manager and player liaison officer. They could have personnel tabs and attributes relating to business and media. Low attributes can lead to you not getting news in your inbox as fast. (For example your pa or pr manager has a low social media or reliability attribute and thus you get the news that a player you could sign demanded a transfer a few hours or day later than other clubs and therefore other clubs might have already made an offer and progressed further in negotiations, just spitballing here) and at the same time, you could see them build out careers as well. How cool would be that your former pa, pr or plo from the start of your career be the business ceo years later and because of the relationship you built with them you have easier and better interactions and you’re on the same page to fulfill board objectives?
4. Coaching staff objectives and ambition : right now, it is too easy imo to hire or develop great staff and keep them at their post. This could be remedied by giving them objectives within their jobs at the club and expectations.
-> For example; a coach that has a great attacking stat is expecting to have a say or have his/her suggestions be taken on by you or your assistant manager, or to be in charge of offence in training. Or a coach with ambition expects or demands to be promoted to am after a year or two or will a find a club that will do so. This will cause you to manage that when needed, and for relationships you have with your staff to be optimal. (Or to already be built up when they were players, they would for example remember that you’re the one who suggested this job or convinced the club to pay for their coaching qualifications) Loyalty would obviously also play a factor in interactions.
-> something small that could happen here is for example to have to possibility to have a staff member express dissatisfaction at a current situation or decision in the media like players do. (This of course would be more rare but it’s something that could be explored)
5. academy and youth player swooping: now something completely different. IRL, some big clubs sometimes swoop in and convince academy players from smaller clubs to sign their first professional contract with them, and sometimes academy players from a bigger club sign their first contract with a smaller club because they can more easily get into the first team. That’s something that is non-existent in fm.
-> this could be implemented after the new gens are generated and in the days after you have your ‘pro day’ or the academy players play your U18 as is the case yearly. After the game, you’re always given suggestions on who to sign from your academy and add to your u18. If you have a player with exceptional potential in there, sometimes a big team might be trying to swoop in and sign them before they sign their first contract with you. You would then have to make promises to sign them much like when you convince other players to sign for you.
-> and the reverse could be done as well. You could have scouts focused on ‘other academies or pro days’ and make reports on high potential players you could quickly try to swoop in and convince to sign their first contract with you. This could make it more interesting when you have a year you don’t have new gens in a position you need, as you try to go sign other new gens when generated if your scouting knowledge is high enough.
6. finally (phew almost at the end of my thoughts) there needs to be a bigger emphasis on players with high market value or potential moving to bigger leagues. This is a nitpick I noticed in my last save; I was playing with a Belgian team, building it up, and after 3 years I noticed all of the high market young players of the big clubs were still there (though most of them like Orban, Vermeeren, etc. were sold in the winter window irl because there was no way for the clubs to hang onto them and they had to cash in) that is something that has to be delved in further in future games.
and therein ends my soliloquy. Thanks for reading it and hopefully these are changes the community echoes and responds to as fm remains the standard and our choice of sport simulation.
Thanks!
