phnompenhandy Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 I've played as a lower league manager for years, but this is my first time managing a fully amateur club. Any tips guys? I find my players don't train enough to be match fit, and they never become familiar with my tactics. Signing muppets who are slightly better than my inherited muppets is easy, but if anyone shows the slightest promise they get poached for thirty squid a week within a fortnight. Hence there's a constant turnover of players. This is absolutely NOT a complaint; I love the frustrating realism of the thing. I'm just asking for any ideas for getting the best out of a potless amateur club (nb I'm managing at level 14 of an edited file) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
XaW Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 I have no idea what the other reply is, but here's my two cents: - Look for the best muppets you can get. And physical stats are key. A pacey striker with a hint of finishing can score loads in amateur leagues. For some versions ago I played in a very low English league and had a rather quick striker with horrible finishing. Even though his shots could go anywhere, he still scored more than one a game, just because he had the pace to out run everyone else. - If someone tries to poach your players, attempt to give the players a new amateur contract. Surprisingly often they will accept. - Accept that you will lose your best players. They will leave as soon as someone slightly more reputable comes along (and sometimes they leave to worse teams), and there's not much you can do about it. - Keep the tactics simple. No "Raumdeuters" or "Complete Strikers" at this level. "Central midfield" they understand while "Roaming playmaker" is not something that will help out. Of course, you might be a tactical genius and get it to work, but in general I've had more luck with simple tactics. I'm guessing much more can be said, but that's my impression of managing amateur teams. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phnompenhandy Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Cheers XaW. It fits with what I'm experiencing. My basic tactics are a direct lump it up the pitch, but the players think so ponderously it's not very effective. I'm finding the attributes numbers not at all helpful; for example my striker with 14 finishing and 15 jumping can't do either, whilst my midget with finishing 4 is top scorer! But yeh, if I can find any striker, winger or central defender with a bit of speed about them I'll snap them up. In theory I could fill my reserves and U19s with every player who wants to come since the total wage bill is zilch, but that would be unrealistic so I keep a total squad of around 30. Despite our slow start, it seems most of the players are happy enough; every time an offer comes in I offer a new contract and most accept (I think I've given some players 3 0-quid contracts in three months!). I've 'solved' the chronic fatigue problem by resting all first teamers for 3 days every week! They'll never improve, but at least I can put out a semi-consistent team. Anyway, I've got my first league victory under my belt now - here's to an exciting slog up to mid-table ;-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
XaW Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 No problem, happy to help! I had some success with a standard 4-4-2 with a big lump of a striker as a target man and a speedy poacher/advanced forward next to him. My general tactic was pump the ball up to the big guy and hope that he can flick it on to the pacey one. It worked for me, at least as long as I kept improving my squad. I would add though, that the hardest season I had as an amateur club was the first seasons when you start playing against semi-pro sides. Since the semi-pro clubs will often try to poach any player you have with a hint of talent. And they then give a semi-pro contract and that's not something you can match. Oh, and if you finally go semi-pro at some point, be prepared to lose a lot of money! My biggest error when I reached semi-pro was to sign up everyone I wanted to keep on semi-pro deals. Only do that with your best players, and keep the backups and fringe players on amateur contracts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phnompenhandy Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Duly noted! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phnompenhandy Posted July 23, 2016 Author Share Posted July 23, 2016 Actually, I think you cracked it. I got in a pair of strikers who are fast but with no technical attributes to speak of. They get 20 chances a match, at least 18 of which they spurn, but it gets the job done. The squad is starting to settle - I'll never achieve tactical familiarity due to the turnover, but I'm starting to see a semblance of football amidst the aimless hoofing, as are my dozen loyal fans. Good stuff! I'm about 5 leagues away from semi-pro issues, so I'll tuck that one away for now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirajzl Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Yes, XaW is right. In fact, pace and acceleration have always been literally the only thing to look at in lower leagues in any CM/FM. It may be a bit gamey since the AI doesn't do that and signs players on reputation, but that's not our fault. Sure, you can succeed by looking at other attributes as well, but if you focus on those two you really can't go wrong, even with a flawed tactic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
YOUNGSTEVE Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Yes, XaW is right. In fact, pace and acceleration have always been literally the only thing to look at in lower leagues in any CM/FM. It may be a bit gamey since the AI doesn't do that and signs players on reputation, but that's not our fault. Sure, you can succeed by looking at other attributes as well, but if you focus on those two you really can't go wrong, even with a flawed tactic. That is why I like playing with the attributes blanked out, so I sign or play players on reputation or how they play for you. Makes for a very interesting game, & am playing an equal game with the AI. Obviously this is quite an extreme way to play, & not for most people, but I like playing like this, & gives a nice challenging game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phnompenhandy Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 Yeh, I do like to play semi-realistically, which is why I never employ downloaded tactics or corner exploits and suchlike. However, I have player masking off so I guess in my imagination my scout is simply asking around who are the speediest players on the (free) market. Basically at amateur level when you're not offering wages, it's easy to just sign anyone and start them in the reserves - pretty much like trialists. If they don't impress you just release them after a few weeks. That's not a 'cheat' because they AI does the same to you. Last night I lost my top striker to a semi-pro outfit lining his pocket with 90 smackers a week. Tactically, quite an interesting pattern is developing. There's a bit of a 'Leicester thing' going on. Because I'm predicted to finish 23rd out of 24 my default tactic is counter-attacking hoof it up the pitch. Against other weaker teams who do the same we tend to grind out dull 0-0s. The stronger teams come out and attack us, thus we stand a better chance of scoring, especially with nippy strikers. Now if only I could recruit wingers with better atts than crossing 3 to supply them ;-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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