YKW Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Some of my favourite FM things are elements like the shirt sales roundup, the favoured personnel system, and the fan confidence bars, particularly the comments about transfers. I feel like there could be some really cool opportunities to give the fans a greater role in game, both in terms of feedback and (in)direct interactions. Here are some of the things I have been thinking. 1. Fan promises? From feedback I have seen on here, it appears that answers to press conferences can result in promises being made to players. I am definitely behind this change, especially in terms of the press conferences being made more relevant and interesting, but I do think it would make more sense if it was the fans that relied on and were affected by the media in this way. For example "There is no way he will be sold, X should look elsewhere" I would like to see this result in a promise which becomes broken if the player leaves soon after. Other promises could relate to things like: Strengthening the squad or specific positions, Taking a certain competition seriously, Changing tactics after bad form, Dropping players after a poor performance, Trying to score more or concede less goals, and Finishing in a certain position in the league. Completing the promises leads on to idea 2, and breaking them leads on to idea 3. 2. More detailed fan confidence? At any given time how happy are the fans with the Board, Manager and Players? I would like to see these three ratings varying quite a lot to reflect who the fans give credit to for success, and who they blame for failure. Again, press conferences could be key to this, with my answers to questions influencing the fans perceptions of events, for example saying that the chairman hasn't provided the funds for the deal to go through, or that a club icon began acting petulantly to force through his transfer. Hopefully saying these things will at least sustain my popularity with the fans, while potentially lowering it for the chairman in the first example. Of course, the media may contact my now departed club icon and use his comments that I "froze him out," leaving the fans angry with me. "The fans are devastated that a real club icon has been forced out of the club." Other examples could be "The fans are furious at the humiliating 6-0 defeat to X." (for the manager) "The fans are furious at the players performances during the humiliating 6-0 defeat to X." (manager may not be blamed) "The fans are furious at [Chairman]'s running of the club, and feel the humiliating 6-0 defeat to X is a sign of things to come." "The fans are angry that the manager has failed to strengthen the squad despite his promise." "The fans are angry that the chairman has not given the manager the funds to strengthen the squad" (Maybe as a result of my deflecting media comments) "The fans are disappointed that the players are not giving their all for the manager." "The fans are concerned that the manager cannot properly motivate the players." "The fans are angry at what they view as poor transfers by the manager." "The fans are concerned that the chairman's budgets are leaving the team with bargain basement signings." "The fans are unhappy that the manager does not have full control over transfers." (unhappiness with board) 3. Fan backlash? Basically the idea would be to increase the rewards for having happy fans, and increase the costs for having angry ones. For the manager: Fans are happy - greater job security, more respect from players, more favourable perception of events by fans in the future, news about fans praising you. Fans are unhappy - the opposite of above. Include fan signs saying "get manager X out!" and reports of fans saying how useless you are. For the board: Fans are happy - Greater attendances, more merchandising, more loyalty during tough times. Fans are unhappy - opposite of above, chance of boycotts and demonstrations. Possible attendance increase at nearest lower league club? For the players: Fans are happy - better atmosphere, more chants for players, more favoured personnel, less pressure and more confidence. Fans are unhappy - Tense atmosphere, more booing of players, more disliked personnel, much more pressure and much less confidence. 4. More merchandising and PR info? It would be nice to have more regular access to the shirt sales. This could be in the form of a comparison of the total volume of sales over time, but also in terms of which regions around the world the sales came. For instance seeing that my Japanese star sells a phenomenal amount of shirts in Japan, but hardly any in England. This info could tie in with plans to tour or do training camps, or when signing players. Perhaps an element of chairman control could come in here. This international element leads on to idea 5. During bad times, especially if the fans are annoyed with the chairman, suitable negative effects could be seen. 5. Supporter groups and worldwide popularity. I think it would be cool to have a world map, in similar style to the scouting knowledge one, that displayed estimated fan numbers around the world. It could be changed via a drop down to show merchandising value, ticket sales, or awareness, again in the same style of the scouting knowledge map. Little dots could show the locations of supporter groups and/or club shops. At the higher levels of football, it is likely that this element will be more significant, with the overall strategy likely being decided by the board. This could mean choices being made for you in terms of pre season, transfers and perhaps which players to play. The main effects would be financial, and ego. 6. Competition and World fans? It would be interesting if there was some kind of fans page for each competition, to represent the memories of the people who have followed that competition all their lives. For example, take the Premiership. Could it be possible to list favoured personnel, icons and legends for this? For example Sir Alex, Mourinho and Arsene Wenger would perhaps all be legends. Could there be a way of having the same system but for teams? For example Arsenal 03/04 being a legendary team, Newcastle 95/96 an iconic one, and Wimbledon (whatever year the Crazy Gang was) being favoured. There isn't much of an effect of this, but it would be nice to feel like you had written your name into the history of a certain competition, be it by going unbeaten or dramatically escaping relegation. Especially if the database could come with a history of these things going back in time. For world fans, this would be a way of representing that elite few players that are worldwide names. For instance the World fan section would list Legends, Icons etc, with the top one only being filled by names such as Pele, Maradonna, and depending on your opinion, Messi and Ronaldo. It would be fairly likely that at least one name would be added to the Legends every generation. Having this potentially expansive list being filterable by years would be a good idea. If press conferences were expanded around these sorts of things, I think they could provide an interesting foundation for "playing the media." Obviously your comments could result in promises to the fans, but also they would continually contribute to the fans perception of and happiness with the chairman, manager and players. Playing this balance to your advantage, although risky, could be very fun in my opinion. Would you be a manager more like Harry Redknapp, who never takes the blame for anything, even making his club and players look bad, or a manager more like Wenger, who seems overly reluctant to criticise under performing players or boards, instead taking all the criticism himself? Would you have the legend to sustain such an approach? Any thoughts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrw072 Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 I think you've raised some good points! I would like to see more interaction with the fans too. One thing that could be a good idea would be to hold 'fans forums' where the manager has to answer questions posed by the fans about events at the club. I think that if this was introduced it would provide some variation to the press conferences at the moment. It could also be a way for a manager to gain more confidence with fans during tricky times when his job is under threat. Which in turn could lead to greater job security. And on the other side of the coin, he could lose confidence with the fans. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Absolutely yes! And this makes even more sense in fan-owned clubs... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancmalaga Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Some class ideas on here for me too. Especially the fan support/backlash. I know not every club would sack a manager if he was unpopular with fans but there are certain clubs out there with fans who would put so much pressure on the board that it would make the managers position untenable, and that would certainly add an extra dimension to the game Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
YKW Posted December 17, 2015 Author Share Posted December 17, 2015 I think you've raised some good points! I would like to see more interaction with the fans too. One thing that could be a good idea would be to hold 'fans forums' where the manager has to answer questions posed by the fans about events at the club. I think that if this was introduced it would provide some variation to the press conferences at the moment. It could also be a way for a manager to gain more confidence with fans during tricky times when his job is under threat. Which in turn could lead to greater job security. And on the other side of the coin, he could lose confidence with the fans. Fan forums are a great idea! Some class ideas on here for me too. Especially the fan support/backlash. I know not every club would sack a manager if he was unpopular with fans but there are certain clubs out there with fans who would put so much pressure on the board that it would make the managers position untenable, and that would certainly add an extra dimension to the game Yes it's a tough one to really put your finger on. I do think that simply being disliked by the fans isn't enough to cost a manager his job, but the knock on effects of these, such as a hostile atmosphere leading to bad results, decreasing attendances, and perhaps a decline in merchandising revenue definitely are. Club fan personality attributes could come into play here. I recently had my board accept an offer for a player that I didn't want to sell. He left and the fans were pretty devastated about it in the confidence. Now of course, coming out in the press and blaming the board may make my job a little less secure, however it would rightly leave the blame at the door of the chairman, which would hopefully isolate the ire of the fans to being directed at the board. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATP2311 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Fantastic ideas well done Sir Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasp Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Love these ideas, they'd really bring the game more to life. Also like the merchandise / commercial ideas, I would love to have more information and control over this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuskalHerria Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 On board with all these ideas. They sound great and have always wanted more fan involvement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1985 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Love it. Especially 4 and 5. We all know how powerful the Ultras can be in some countries Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OLLMEISTER1 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Great ideas and something I would love to see implemented into future versions, sadly I think this would take a few years for SI to implement to a level where it would work effectively. IMO they have only just got to an acceptable level with press conferences and interviews IMO. Would take a hell of a lot of work and tweaks to make it effective but like I say would take maybe 2 or 3 versions of the game for it to become effective and implemented correctly without it having flaws on other areas of the game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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