forameuss

I mean...have you watched modern football? Whilst morale is maybe a bigger deal than it could be in the game, it does quite well modelling how childish and temperamental modern footballers are. Although I've yet to see an entire team collectively decide not to perform so they can get someone sacked, and then magically get better afterwards, so maybe they're lacking there.

But that would be position, rather than role. Your example is fair enough, the difference between left back and right back, that's enough to actually have reason to complain about. Left-back or left wing-back...maybe. You could probably make an argument that there's a difference there. But two left-backs playing in slightly different roles...that seems a bit excessive for the reaction we get. I don't really have an issue with the complaints themselves, more the inflexibility of the whole thing. There doesn't appear to be a lot of nuance, just a check-box function where the AI sees that the player isn't playing in specifically that role, and complains without taking anything else into account. If you add more context into that but keep the functionality there, it wouldn't be half as bad. Player playing on opposite flank but well? Still complain. Player playing in the right position, but in a role that's slightly different to agreed, playing badly? Complain. All that but playing well? Maybe a note to the manager, or just nothing. That kind of thing.

No Passports Needed A British and Irish Steel Attempt Chapter 5: Big Belfast Bullies As we start the season, here's an idea of our squad depth. You can clearly see the issues, as we're probably lacking depth in a number of positions, and quality in another few. But of course we have the storied issues with squad registration, so...we'll see. We start out with some business done in the closing months of the previous season. The loan deals for both Jack Caldwell and Conor Gaffney involved future fees, and with their form being so good, and their ages being perfect for the type of team I'm trying to build, it was a no brainer to bring them in. It eats up a chunk of the budget already, but needs must. Last season we picked up Antonello Gatta on loan with a hefty future fee, and I fully expected that we'd make that signing permanent using that. But that would have used up a huge amount of our budget, so I decided against it. However, weirdly Milan were more than happy for me to welch on that optional fee and renew the loan instead. No future fee this time, but I still hold out some hope that we can indoctrinate him so well into what we're doing that he'll eventually be our player permanently. And now on to the not so good but still expected news. In the position we're in, we're almost certainly going to have to bat back interest from clubs for our players, and we'll almost certainly going to lose a lot of battles. This one looked like a given, with last season's ever-present Dag Jansen getting a bid that the board just couldn't resist. I protested, telling them they could get more, and believe it or not, they agreed. This bid was the second (believe the first was around 19m) and not sure I could push it any more. Of course he'll go now, but that 22m will go down very well when I'm trying to... Well isn't this a surprise. Dag rejects the contract offer and stays in Belfast, at least for the time being. Another summer window down, and another one where the theme is very clear. Youth, youth, youth. Only Jan Borek will require registration for any competition (and may even sneak in to them, not sure) so the squad gets a significant boost. Every single one of them is ready to contribute in some form too, so when you add Caldwell and Gaffney to this, it's been a good summer. We also managed to replace the few outgoings we had. Well this is not the script, is it? An uncharacteristically poor start to the season as we stumble through in Europe and taste defeat in the league for the first time in a long time. That whole plan I put into place to progress in Europe almost ended up coming true immediately as Astana pushed us right to the edge of elimination before we won on penalties. It was a bit of a hint about our future, as Dinamo Zagreb absolutely schooled us in the next game. Taking a 4-1 defeat home seemed like it'd be a lost cause, so I went out in the 2nd leg to go scorched earth, fully expecting that it'd end with us going down in flames. But that first half performance was something to behold, absolutely demolishing Zagreb to turn the tie around within 45 minutes. We added another two in the second, and into the Group Stage we went. Unfortunately, Crusaders took advantage of our hangover to land an early blow in the league. Will that prove costly? Just as a note, Lee Wilkinson is not a new player. He was one of my Linfield Youth signings early in my time here, at which point he was loaned back to Coleraine. He was last season's top scorer in the league, and he's certainly picked up where he left off. Speed-running the rest of the year, and it's mostly good, but once again Crusaders get one over on us in the league. It's fine margins at the top, we can have a perfect record elsewhere, but if Crusaders match that, we could end up in 2nd. We also ballsed up the Irish Champions Cup after a heavy first leg defeat. No massive issue as we've already secured the trophy, but it's still annoying. Fortunately, Crusaders might be great at beating us, but they're rubbish at beating everyone else. Despite those two defeats, we're three points clear with two games in hand, so as long as we don't have a complete collapse, we should be good

No Passports Needed A British and Irish Steel Attempt Chapter 5: Big Belfast Bullies Transfer window over and it was time to get started with the football again. Speed-running this one, so here's everything up the beginning of April as we move through the usual domination of the domestic game. Just the one single defeat, and even that came in a not-really-domestic competition. The Challenge Cup ended up being the most interesting cup we played in, with those two games throwing up so many moments. Ayr United contributed to a wonderful semi final, 4-4 at full time with us scoring the winner in the 96th minute. However, Dunfermline played the Uno Reverse card to do the same to us in the final. We were a bit threadbare in that final, and Dunfermline deserved the win. Disappointing as always, but it's lessened. by us not really needing the trophy. Champions again as we move into the split. The League isn't what matters though, and it's all about that Irish Cup Final. Win that and we've completed every competition that's available to us at Linfield, aside from the continental competitions. And just like that, we've done it. A bit of a hairy end to things, but that 8th minute goal in the final put us in a position where we could let Crusaders tire themselves out from a position of strength. We weren't at our best by any means, but the trophy is ours. So what's next? I've said before that I'm interested in building a legacy here and maybe trying to push for a continental trophy, and I think I'll stick to that for now at least. However, the big question is how I'm supposed to deal with the new formats of European competitions. In the olden days, we'd almost always be the sort of side that would be in line to finish 3rd in their group and drop down to the lower competition. In that format, we would stand a chance of the Europa League, but with a "bad" season, we could end up dropping into the Conference League, and I'd definitely rate our chances there. But now the only way to reach the Conference League would be to lose in the 3rd Qualifying round of the Champions League, then in the Playoff round for the Europa League at the very least. And to do that, we'd probably need to "throw" games. So the plan for this would be to go full tilt for the next couple of seasons, ideally netting that sweet Champions League cash, then build up our budgets enough to build a side that's capable of winning either the Europa or Conference Leagues. Then we decide whether or not we want to throw games. Or something. Speaking of money, this is what we're given for our 3rd season in charge. Not the biggest amount, but it's definitely going to be enough to improve, particularly as we'll almost certainly be selling players.

If you have to ask "is it not as simple as", invariably it is not as simple as that. If it was, they would have already done it, not, as they said in the post above, still be looking for an optimal solution.

And when the next tech-du-jour comes out that everyone goes mental for, do they invest in that too or is it a one-in-two deal?

No, it's not. It would be a bug if this wasn't working exactly as it is designed to. It's not optimal, obviously, but it makes sense why there's a set date when the season ticks around as computationally that is simpler. So it's working as planned, whether that plan is optimal or not.

But it's not about the agreement being changed, it's about the agreement itself being nonsense to begin with, and the reaction to breaking it being excessive and far too rigid. I'd be far more accepting of it being there if the conversation wasn't so weird. Got a player playing in a role against the agreed and he's having a nightmare? Owning manager should be a bit more bullish and blame that, even if it's a stretch. Playing in a different role but absolutely killing it? There shouldn't even be a complaint, or at the very least he backs down as soon as you point out how well he's playing. And of course there's the eternal problem that the conversation options you're given don't really adequately cover the bases you need covered with this conversation, but that's an issue everywhere.

Yes. You completely deviating from trying to make a point by going deliberately "extreme" went over my head. I was naively thinking you were trying to be sensible and balanced. My mistake. It's replicating what is already present in real life, not inserting ads where they're not. In a sport where clubs and entities are happy to accept bucketfuls of money from betting companies and be bought by despotic regimes, a few ad boards relating to charities and SI themselves is really not that deep.

Purely logically, I can see why a manager would want his player to play in a specific way while out on loan, because at the end of the day that player is theirs, and in a lot of cases they'll want to see him return and benefit their own club. However, the way this has been implemented is near farcical with how rigid it is. If someone at SI wants to come and say that they discussed with real managers, and they believe it happens exactly like this, I'll hold my hands up and accept it. I'll still think it's ridiculous, but at least it'd be "realistic" at the same time. But I just can't see it being like this. Roles are essentially a construct brought in to the game, a front-end to settings that feed into the match engine. It's not going to directly mirror real life and the way a real team would be set up (at least not in such simplistic terms. As such, it seems a bit rich that so much is made of the difference between roles. Positions...maaaaybe. Although I'd argue the same applies. But to constantly - and I mean constantly - complain that he's playing in a very slightly different role, despite getting regular football and excelling, seems too much. It might be so bad if there was some leeway and logic in the decisions, but it's basically a random decision on how the opposition manager will react. And I know it's a clause you can remove from a loan, but the reaction to it is just as ridiculous. Don't want to be locked into a particular role? We want 20% more of his wage paid. I refuse to believe that's a realistic part of a negotiation in real life.

Pulling massively hyperbolic examples that don't really compare to the actual thing you're arguing against doesn't really make your point stronger.

No Passports Needed A British and Irish Steel Attempt Chapter 5: Big Belfast Bullies We didn't have to wait too long for the Ballad of Einar to reach its conclusion. As soon as the window opened, Roma, Milan and Napoli expressed their interest. With a happier player, I probably could've held out for more money, but as it was I just wanted rid of him. £2.3m represents a decent enough profit for six months at the club. They also offered me a loan-back, which I promptly rejected. I hope he goes and sits on the bench for years the miserable sod. And he may well do, because what did he do on the eve of this big move? We didn't have to wait too long for the Ballad of Einar to reach its conclusion. As soon as the window opened, Roma, Milan and Napoli expressed their interest. With a happier player, I probably could've held out for more money, but as it was I just wanted rid of him. £2.3m represents a decent enough profit for six months at the club. They also offered me a loan-back, which I promptly rejected. I hope he goes and sits on the bench for years the miserable sod. And he may well do, because what did he do on the eve of this big move? But anyway, on we go with people who do want to be here. Daryl Hanna (not that one) was one I'd happily have let go, but a loan spell may do him some good. He leaves alongside Einar the Terrible, but in far better circumstances. Given we were still pretty well stacked in Einar's position, I wasn't going to do much in the transfer market to bring players in. There weren't any spots available in registration for older players, and there weren't too many attractive options elsewhere. I could have taken Knightbridge out given he likely won't play again this season, but that just creates a problem for the summer. But right at the transfer window was about to close, I bit the bullet and brought in a loan star with a view to the future. Antonello Gatta is already good enough to make a difference off the bat, but there's also an optional fee of £20m in the contract. If he ends up being as good as he could go, that could be a bargain in the summer. Worst case, he sticks around for six months and then returns to Milan. We'll see. Unfortunately that amazing 5-1 win at home to Dortmund came too late to mean anything after the heavy defeat to Liverpool, but still, what a night at Windsor Park. (after this game I realised that not loading anything other than the UK leagues was meaning stuff like this was possible, so I've added top leagues of a few of the major countries. Hopefully European competition can get a bit more balanced now). Outside of that though, we didn't concede a single goal in domestic competition. Because the Scottish Challenge Cup isn't a domestic competition, it's clearly the biggest continental trophy out there. We moved into the semis there anyway, and I'd really love to pick that trophy up again the way we've been playing. Six domestic games played in January, thirty-six goals scored. We even managed a debut goal for Gatta just a day after he arrived. Very much over in the league. Untouchable and fifteen points clear with five games in hand. Crusaders haven't managed to keep up the insane pace they managed last year, so just a matter of time now. In the Champions League we ended up a point shy of a spot in the playoff round. Disappointing, but the money is being counted as we speak.

No Passports Needed A British and Irish Steel Attempt Chapter 5: Big Belfast Bullies As we moved towards the end of the year we got the chance to pick up a couple of trophies and develop our domination everywhere else. Unfortunately, we couldn't really follow up that great result against Spurs with...well, anything. We were well beaten at Celtic Park (a club that offered me a job the previous summer), then in Hannover too. We managed a point against Shelbourne, but we really should have gotten the three. Not much chance at all of making the next stage, so just a matter of keeping things respectable now. We progressed well in the cups, reaching the County Antrim and league cup finals, but it was the Irish Champions Cup we really wanted. We were well beaten last year by Shelbourne, but Dundalk didn't put up the same fight. Well, at least not in the first leg. We ran out easy 2-0 winners there, then just had to go away and not stink the place out in the 2nd. Despite Dundalk going down to 9 men in the second half, they dominated the game and were probably unlucky not to level the tie. We hung on, and secured the one trophy we were still missing. We now have nothing left to win that Linfield are eligible for, but there's still unfinished business here. One of those bits of unfinished business is an unbeaten league season, and we're well on our way to that. Unfortunately those European games have put us behind in games played, but we still have such a cushion that it shouldn't matter. We have the resources to rotate now. No slip-ups. Unfortunately, sometimes when you're absolutely flying, some people just have to try and ruin it for everyone else. Welcome to the new section of this story called "FFS Einar". Turns out the young Norwegian isn't just a huffy wee teenager, he's also one that likes his clubbing. Still unhappy, and now acting out. It's a shame he's doing so well as I'd really like to just bomb him out the club. Particularly when he starts hitting out with stuff like this. Complaining about not playing in a particular role when he's been so incredibly effective in the same position, if not role, scoring eight and assisting seventeen times so far. He was told not to be such a baby, and as you can imagine, he disagreed with that. So what happened next? Bar time! So starting to very much look like he'll be gone at the first opportunity. As long as he's still performing for me he'll play, because I know that'll annoy him far more than just letting him go. But first chance I get a decent bid, he can **** off. And another big question for January is what we do about this. Zack Knightbridge is hardly our only option up front, but given things are about to get pretty hectic with fixtures in spring, can we afford to go one light. From the player's perspective though, I hope this isn't the end for him. An incredible career with Linfield, just about approaching a decade. 270 goals in that time. 155 league goals in 285 league appearances too. If it is to be the end for him, we'll not exactly struggle, but let's hope not.

No Passports Needed A British and Irish Steel Attempt Chapter 5: Big Belfast Bullies All in all, quite an abrupt and disappointing end to what had been a great season. We were so incredibly dominant for most of it, but the squad just could not handle the amount of football that was thrown at us in the latter parts of the season. I can accept a crumble in the league late on, as we were never realistically going to lose out there, but the cup defeat was pretty galling. So what do we do about that? Well, if I'm going to be sticking around here long-term, we need a far better approach to squad-building than "oooh, he looks good". We need to start phasing out older players that are just good enough and try and replace them with younger players who can still deliver right now. Obviously that's easier said than done, but it's something that's sorely needed. It's no use trying to manage your tiny squad of ancient players through fixture congestion when you could have young, hungry players ready to step in in far greater numbers. So the initial plan was to do a proper plan of the squad, making sure we had at least two senior players for most positions in the pitch, and then supplement those with youth options who wouldn't need to be registered. This would give me a squad of 20 we could use, and backups. Foolproof! Only it isn't, because that 20-man squad we have to register for the league must include 8 home-grown players. Given our youth system has been largely barren, we have no-one to really put in those spots, so we're realistically looking at 12 senior players we can register, bringing it down to one in every position on the pitch, then your supplementary youth. Which is a bit of a record-scratch. So the strategy now becomes about shifting on as many senior players as we can, and basically become a kind of creche to talented youngsters. It might be a bit of a mess for a few years while we adjust, but if we can start filtering in some youth players, hopefully in five years or so the team starts to look a lot more balanced, and a lot easier to register. The work started early, before the new season had even kicked off. No screenshots I'm afraid, as I completely forgot, but these are very much reinforcements going forward. Lee Wilkinson is an out and out striker, and he'll return to Coleraine for the coming season to further develop, as we don't really have a proper space for him just yet. Should be a good signing for the future though. Conor Gaffney and Jack Caldwell both arrive on fee-paying loans, but as wide forwards who can play both on the flanks and up front, we'll have a good degree of flexibility there. Both of them have optional future fees, so if they turn out well we'll likely make those signings permanent. Maybe. So here's the first summer under the new plan, and it's exciting times. Departures first, and we managed to get rid of a number of players who had been clogging up the team for a while. Godfrey Daniel had spent most of the previous year complaining that he wasn't registered for European competition, so he was earmarked to leave first. We even got a fee for him. Doumbouya was in the same boat. Niall Graham wasn't someone we really wanted to leave, but this new strategy means that we'll get rid of pretty much anyone as long as we get a reasonable price, then go into the market to replace him with someone younger, fitter, and probably more handsome. It's science. First up in the brave new world, we headed to Scandinavia to pick up highly rated youngster Einar Kornelius Kapskarmo. A mouthful of a name and hopefully a handful of a winger. Can play on both sides too, which could be absolutely crucial. Get used to that 2-to-3 star current ability and near maxed out potential ability, as that's basically been the format for most of these signings. Second was the big, big signing of the window, and hopefully one that we don't come to regret. Another Norwegian, but one a little further along the development curve than Einar. He cost a sizeable amount of our budget, but even though he has bags of room to improve, he's ready to slot straight in. And to partner Big Dag, we have Almost as Big Matt. Shouldn't be struggling from crosses this year with the two giants at the back. Another under 21, and hopefully another who can spend a lot of time improving with us. Continuing the defensive reinforcements, another youngster, Nicky Newton. Graduate of Old Trafford's youth system, but didn't actually end up playing a game for them. Bags of potential if anyone would actually let him play, so we'll take a punt. And to round it out to a nice new back 4, here's Jake White for the left. We're extremely light in that position, so we'll likely need further work, but I'd be happy to have Jake a sfirst choice through that. Again, fits the mould of ready to play now, but also ready to really, really improve. But if one position is going to cause us trouble, it's goalkeeper. We currently have Dave Mooney, who is absolutely not letting us down, but the problem is we have absolutely nothing else. It's constantly brought up by players we bid for, coaches, everyone really. But given Mooney's just coming into his peak goalkeeping years, I'm reticent to bring anyone in that probably isn't going to play. So what did I decide to do? Bring in a loan player who will almost certainly come back to complain to me in a few months that he isn't being played in the exactly correct square of the pitch of course! I did try to build a deal where we could make the signing permanent at a later date, but they wanted a ridiculous amount of money. I'm taking a punt here, and will hopefully give him enough appearances that he stays happy enough to maybe be brought in permanently at a later date. Or he returns to Old Trafford with a similar hatred to most loan players we bring in. Two chances. More backup at right back with Marc Nelson coming in, and should give a nice bit of competition with his relative ability to Nicky Newton. Jared Broadley gives us more depth in midfield too, although is maybe slightly behind in terms of ability from where we need him to be. Still only 18 though. And finally for the summer, I couldn't resist going back to the tried and tested bucket. Enric Miravent was available on a free transfer, and he's exactly the sort of old head to hopefully guide the young ones around the pitch. He's a graduate of La Masia, spending 9 years with Barcelona. He didn't quite make the grade, spending most of his time with their B team, but secured a move to city rivals Espanyol where he finally became a La Liga ever-present. Two seasons for Middlesbrough after a £5.75m move, then two at Norwich after a £9m move. Wouldn't have expected to get him for a free, but here we are. Obviously weird amounts of overlap with signings, but by the time we got to the end of August, we'd made our traditional strong start. The three league wins now seem so normal that they're barely worth mentioning, but what is definitely worth talking about is our Champions League exploits. Shelbourne denied us Group Stage football at the last hurdle last year, but Slavia Prague couldn't do the same this time. 6-3 on aggregate, and we're in the groups. Regardless of what happens, this will be a nice little boost to the coffers. But as the transfer window slammed shut, a problem emerged. So turns out when I was making my moves in the transfer market, I had promised both Big Dag and Kapskarmo that I'd strengthen the goalkeeping position. Apparently us having a very good keeper in Mooney and bringing in an understudy wasn't enough, because both of them were absolutely raging. I told them both the same thing, but they were adamant that I'd basically spat on their legacy and both wanted to leave. Time will tell how that develops, because there's no chance they're going anywhere. Anyway, on with the show, and into September and October. Largely uneventful except our meeting with Tottenham. We'd been unrepentedly unremarkable in the Champions League up to then. Two games played, two games lost, all going very much to plan. But that 1-0 win at a bouncing Windsor Park makes us wonder whether we can do something in the competition after all. And the £2.4m we get for winning won't be too bad either. Outside of that, it's all going swimmingly. Defensively we're maybe not quite as mean as last year, but still pretty good. And going forward we're a complete nightmare to anyone we come up against. It could be either Anto Conway, Lee Jackson, Zack Knightbridge or Lewys Eldershaw to score against you, but it almost certainly will be one of them...unless it's one of the inside forwards behind them, Kapskarmo, Caldwell, Gaffney, take your pick. They are going to score, so just accept it. A little under a third of the way into the season, and we're sitting pretty. Also good to see we're not lagging behind with games in hand, as we've made an effort not to postpone games if we can avoid it. Hopefully this keeps up and we don't end up with a load of games in February and March like last year.

While I see where you're coming from, and that's perhaps logical, I'd disagree. If something is literally ruining the experience of one user, and it's compared against something making 50% of the player base slightly miffed, then the latter will always win in prioritisation. That's pretty rubbish for that one person, but SI - and any other developer in any other industry, where you're big enough that you're having to look at the macro level - will look at it differently. There's also the possibility that if something is demonstrably affecting a small number of people, then it can often be down to being intermittent, or an extremely narrow set of cases, and thus be very difficult to pin down and actually fix.

The whole point of Gegenpress is you're applying a lot of pressure and getting, for want of a better phrase, intaethum. Even if you're doing that with the best players, that's going to lead to more fouls, and that's likely going to lead to more bookings. I've seen similar things on occasion with my save, but I always wrote it off as using poorer players making more mistakes. Guess it would depend on exactly how the bookings are happening. If they're all for innocuous reasons totally unrelated to the system, and they're not happening under other systems, then you may have something.

I'd argue that the graphical argument is weaker now than it was previously. A few years ago you'd probably be right, as every developer basically started from a point where they wanted to make more realistic visuals, and then building from there. That's not really the case now, with the gaming landscape having never really been more varied. And for FM specifically, focusing on graphics should absolutely never be the priority unless the gameplay around it is absolutely watertight. It never has been, and arguably never will be. If you took FM23's shell and put a fancy graphical representation on it, you'd still be sitting with the same problems, and the same complaints.

Yeah, that's the game. They should just toughen up, because it's totally normal to expect abuse over a video game, and not, you know, expect people to be able to converse like normal human beings over something that's supposed to be entertainment. It doesn't matter what other developers do. SI choose to do it this way. I don't entirely agree, but can see why they do it. If only there was some way for you to express your displeasure and not keep supporting a company that sells a product if you dislike the direction it goes in...if only. I gave pretty specific examples of why the survey was skewed, and explained why it'd probably be difficult to have a truly balanced one without needing a million questions. Most of the questions are fairly standard, albeit vague at some points. But as soon as it starts to touch on features, it reads exactly like a lot of the more negative comments addressed at the game. There's a focus on the new features and how you've received them, and when it comes to "the future" section, again there's a weirdly heavy emphasis on both the graphics and the competition argument. Both of those latter things are common points of discussion and the questions are written in the usual tone that people use when they're sitting at a more negative standpoint. Ditto with the specific calling out of women's football. That's probably entirely innocent, and I'm not levelling anything at the survey, but it's another hot button issue, and taken with all the other things in the survey, it suggests it's trying to further pick holes in SI's strategy, which isn't really something a supposedly impartial survey should be doing. And generally, I think the specific modules listed as selectable to be improved are poorly chosen. I couldn't really encapsulate the things I think are really wrong with the game through them, and I've got no option to provide anything else. In fact, as a wider point, I have no option at any point in the survey to provide an extra opinion or explain choices. The former also suggests that it's trying to push people towards agreeing with an opinion, rather than providing their own. If you're wanting to make the survey more neutral, I would ditch any question that specifically focuses on one feature, and ignores others. No questions specifically around competition or graphical improvements if you're not going to also ask similar things around AI, interfaces etc. At the very least offer an "other" option with means to explain. But Ultimately, like I said in the previous post, I'm not sure there is a way to get a properly useful survey out of something like this. Even if it was better balanced than this one.

To be honest, if the intentions behind it are noble, it probably wouldn't take a huge amount of effort to move it to be more neutral. Most sections of it are, even if they are just general questions that don't mean much on their own. But then I'd also add that it's difficult to boil down something truly useful from giving ranges of 1 to 5 on very fixed topics. I could probably write pages and pages on what was wrong with the game and what could get improved, and end up with it needing a long discussion to distill into something useful. Me assigning a value of 4 to how important the match engine is to improve is so horrifically vague that it becomes almost pointless. I was going to try and go into it and maybe outline how I (personally, so ymmv) would neutralise it slightly, but I'm not sure it's entirely possible without providing a million questions that would very quickly become tedious. And FM_Grasshopper kind of hits on a similar thing to what I mentioned. If this was a content creator putting out a survey to see how they could grow their own channel, I think that's a perfectly valid thing. But I'm not sure it's being sold as that. The original tweet says "useful for the community and for future conversations with SI". Which I'd vehemently disagree with, but that's probably just me.

But if this survey isn't for SI, then what is it for? If this was something gathering specific datapoints that SI perhaps don't gather, in an unbiased way, with as big a reach as to actually tell you something, then I could understand, but from the above post you seem to be not caring if SI see it or not. So what's the point? Is it more to mould your own content in a particular way? Not trying to "discredit you" or whatever some people think, genuinely curious. As for your last point and the uno reverse card you're playing...nah. I'm saying how it reads. Had it read like a balanced and unbiased survey, I'd be saying that. It doesn't. It reads exactly like the usual talking points of the loudest voices that dislike the game, right down to the emphasis on talking about graphics, and boiling future focuses down to vague boxes that don't even begin to cover what's wrong with the game at its core. Probably because neither of them are remotely credible in any meaningful way. They're both biased to varying degrees.

Just from looking at the posts about the survey, it's clear it's going to be pitched in a specific direction. Wasn't going to fill it in, but now I will just out of curiosity to see if I'm right. First impressions, I can see why certain questions are asked, but they don't seem to be asking it in the right way. Like asking your first FM - what is that telling you? Seems to be trying to see how long-tenured a fan is, but there's no difference in that question between someone who bought FM05, then left the series for almost two decades, and someone who has bought every edition. Maybe I'm missing what the question intended, but given there's no other questions around that...it's also asking the sort of basic stuff that SI probably have in far greater detail and, crucially, in far larger numbers. What's the point if you're ultimately wanting this to go to SI and help? What use is you telling them that 200 pissed off people on twitter manage at a lower level when they have metrics that tell them what every single one of their millions of users have done with their careers in great detail? Outside of that, the next section is basically another big pinata shaped like the feature announcement that they're inviting people to beat to death. The "How you play football manager" section lacks detail (but again, SI will know all this in the detail they'd need). I manage different levels of team. How many seasons isn't something you can usually just put a single numerical answer on. Hell, the whole section seems incredibly pointless to anyone that can actually do something with it. The Do you Install pack seems pointless too given that SI can't really be seen to have much to do with that. Speaking generally, that survey just reads like it was written by an AI bot that had been exclusively trained by people who dislike the game. If you also dislike the game, you'll probably think it's great. Personally I struggle to see much use for it at all.

What exactly does "long-term contributors on the forum" mean, and why does it matter in this context? I have a lot of posts and apparently I've been a member for approaching thirteen years now. My opinion matters no more or less than someone who devotes a huge amount of time to this game but doesn't visit the forum at all. And they also matter the same amount as any hypothetical YouTuber or content creator does too. After all, if (completely made up) YouTuber Johnny Managerface decides the game isn't for him anymore, but sales and critical reviews remain at the usual levels, then they're not exactly going to run around like they sky's falling just because one person doesn't like the way they're going. I'm just struggling to see what you're actually advocating for. I don't want "PR moves". I don't want them to come out and rhyme off all these things they'd like to do, only for most of them not to appear (because, amazingly, plans and priorities change very regularly in software development). I want them to go away and make the best possible product they can, and then let me decide for myself whether I think it's worth my money.

I would too. The game is an incredibly complex beast, and a lot of the discussion points that come up here would be ended pretty quickly if those that actually had access to the answers felt like they could communicate them without getting abuse. But I won't hold that against them, because to expect anyone to face abuse while at work - particularly when it's over something as relatively harmless as games development - is ridiculous. It's just a case of "this is why we can't have nice things". But that's the thing. You aren't suggesting it, but as others have said, the community isn't one homogenous blob all thinking the same thing. There will be some people who find it all really interesting, and take it in the right spirit. But for every one of those, there's likely 10 that would use it as a stick to beat SI with. Let's develop this though. You want it to be a discussion on how the game can be improved. SI have their view on that. They put that forward in a video, but you disagree with it. What has this video gotten you then? They already give you a forum to make suggestions, but ultimately the roadmap is the roadmap. Not to mention that it wouldn't be at all possible for SI to build the product that everyone wants, that'd be a logical impossibility.

Some people will only be happy when everyone at SI personally comes around their house and apologises to them. They - quite rightly in my opinion, no matter how disappointing - decide not to get too involved in these forums because of the abuse they get, so what makes you think they'd believe having some kind of public blood-letting would be a worthwhile task? Particularly when it wouldn't matter in the slightest what was actually covered, as people would draw their own conclusions to match their own preconceptions. SI know exactly what the direction is for their own game. Is that the right direction? That's a matter of opinion, but that's exactly it - an opinion. And one that ultimately doesn't matter because it's unlikely to change the course of where the developers want the game to go. But the power you do have as a consumer is to decide whether or not to buy. If you disagree with the direction, you're welcome to send a message by not buying, or at the very least providing feedback. But there's no divine right to change anything just because there's been complaints.

No Passports Needed A British and Irish Steel Attempt Chapter 5: Big Belfast Bullies Before we cover March and the inevitable death of a number of first team players, I'll give a window into the challenges I'm going to have with this team. A stinking youth intake, and if I am going to build a legacy here, I'm almost certainly going to have to do it without relying on the youth team. Where to start... I guess we'll get the cup game out of the way first. Probably our biggest wobble we've had domestically as Ballnamallard push us to the absolute maximum before ultimately falling short. We probably should have lost this, and I wouldn't have had too many complaints if we did. We went behind, got a late equaliser and then finished them off in extra-time. I'd say our superior fitness told, but...well, I think this was the 632nd game this squad had played so far this season, so I've no idea. But then the season kind of skidded off into the barrier and burst into flames. In the first leg of our Europa League Round of 16 game, Windsor Park saw one of those crazy nights. We absolutely demolished Stoke 3-0, and although it seemed to mean another two games to play, it was proper dream stuff. A proper dream that turned into a proper nightmare a week later. We took the lead to go into a 4-0 aggregate lead, so Stoke decided the only recourse was to score ten without reply. A result that came out of nowhere, and one that sent us into a bit of a loop. Two days later our battered side let slip another four goals without reply against Crusaders, handing our nearest challengers a bit of a boost. Of course we were still way too far ahead for it to actually matter, but still, that hurt. We weren't exactly comfortable in the next match (two days later, naturally) against Coleraine, but still managed to just about secure the three points, and put ourselves back on an even keel. Where we stayed until Crusaders won 4-0 again at the end of the month. Again, it wasn't going to matter unless we completely collapsed, but it's such a shame to take what was such a great season and see it end like this. What a season Crusaders are having. It's just a shame for them that we've been so good everywhere else. They hold an aggregate lead over us, but consistency against everyone else has been their issue. You just can't fight against 30 wins in 30, even if you are boasting as good a defence as we've managed. We'll secure the title with two more wins all being well, although knowing Crusaders, they're probably going to beat us heavily again. And since this season has kind of petered out, here's how it ended. We secured the title as expected, keeping up our spotless record against everyone else as we moved into a blissfully quiet April. We booked another cup final appearance, then secured the title with wins against Cliftonville and Warrenpoint. With Crusaders waiting in the cup final, we could finish off April by getting back some of our heat. We completely failed, only managed a 2-2 draw, then followed it up with a tepid 1-1 draw to ruin our perfect "everyone else" record too. But with one game left in the season, could we top it all off by finally putting Crusaders back in their box? You have no idea how angry this makes me. We dominated the match, but just couldn't find a way to score. Then they got that 87th minute winner. Gutting. I mean, we were always going to be here next year to right those wrongs, but after a long, hard season, and so many games, this is a bit of a slap in the face. We need to improve next year. As a final note, the record league season both for us and the league itself was...104 points. Had we won our final league game, we'd have set the record. Harrumph. We'll see what next season brings.