By Luke - The Football Manager Addicts and Luke's Stories of An FM Addict.
Hi all! I said a few weeks back that I was going to do a series of blogs for you guys for the next time I was unable to post any FM content for a prolonged period of time. That time has come! Today I'm just going to introduce what this is all about and give you a few quick tips that you must do at the start of any save: weather it be at the biggest club in the world or the smallest!
The three teams that I will be using for the blog are: Manchester City, Real Mallorca and Sydney FC. For our introduction blog I'll be using Manchester City, but the concept would remain the same whatever club you use.
Would you ignore your new boss?
I doubt that anyone on the first day on a new job would ignore there new boss: so why do so many people do it on FM? The best way to start is by going to both meetings and answering the way you want to!
Although I would recommend that you accept the request of a press interview by doing this it'll make your life a lot easier in the long run because it'll please your chairmen, the press and it'll boast your reputation which will help to gain the respect of your players. It's the little things early on that can be the difference between doing a Moyes and not lasting or doing a Sir Alex and who wants to do a Moyes?
Above is how I tend to answer the questions asked by your assistant, again there is no right or wrong answer it depends on how you like to manage! I tend to go through quite slowly, read most of my 'emails' and spend a lot of time getting everything 'perfect': so the above works brilliantly for me!
Be honest to yourself.
Setting yourself an unrealistic target will get you fired. So be honest to yourself! It is human nature to want to win, to be the best, but it'd be naive to be like that on FM! As you will understand a lot can change through the course of a season, so even if you do have by far the best team in the league (like city) do not choose 'Winner'! If you exceed your expectations that will put you in great stead, if you achieve your expectations it's alright but if you fail you are out the door. My tip for you guys when setting targets would be to always take the middle option (or the easy one of the two). This way you aren't being pessimistic; just realistic!
Read your emails!
When at the start of a save you are always bombarded with emails about a wide variety of things, some of which have no relevance to you, it is important that you read them!
Many people will miss vital information at the start of a save because they want to get to the good bit (winning things.) but if you don't know your squad that's never happen. So try to read your emails, you'll get a fairly accurate lay of the land from it!
You don't want to be a loner, do you?
Take a minute or two to make an impression on the players and staff. As you can see below by clicking three buttons fourteen players have reacted well to you! Another way of making a good first impression would be by holding a 'private chat' with some of your senior players, maybe to ask about potential signings, staff additions or tutoring a youth player. Subtle stuff like this will make a huge difference to moral and therefore performances.
Something to think about.
Whenever I start a new save I always play a couple of games with them on FIFA! I understand that they are two completely diffrent games but here me out! The player 'stats' are relatively similar between the two games, so by playing a few games you will be able to build up a clearer idea of your teams strenghts and weakness' because it can be quite hard to read all of the data and make sense of it! I'd recommend playing a few games of FIFA, but it isn't the be all and end all.
See you till next time!
That's all for our introduction blog! Remember everything I mention above should be done at the start of any save, weather you are managing in Spain, Singapore or San Marino.
Before I go. If you want to keep up to date with all things AYO, FM Lord Chris and I: go and like or subscirbe to our other ventures!
