The exponential landslide that is the journey into 'Management Concerns'!!?

[Grey Mouser]

The exponential landslide that is the journey into 'Management Concerns'!!?

Please, put a brake on it. There is a complete lack of balance in the form of 'antidotes'. Too few 'meeting' cards. Inadequate '+ves' from 'Training', results, history.

What's the vision for the game? Players, despite being provided with the means, and necessity, to buy players are being pushed to retain a core squad for 'seasons'?

Three different saves/campaigns, despite different approaches, all run into the herd running into the red. Good results, dropping 'risky' negotiations', selling 'disliked' players.....just slow it to a crawl unless there is a genuine 'offence'.

Please :/

[maestro]

If I understand your concerns, here's a couple of tricks I've worked out that have an impact on player happiness & 'confidence' in your management...

1. Rotating players:
I try to have 3 players on the team at any one time who can play a given position (eg DL): 1 to start, 1 to sub, and 1 to rest (meaning for Ctr positions that need 2-3 players on-field you need more players in the squad). This keeps pressure off and ensures you are never left high & dry by injuries or suspensions. Generally I will make sure that all 3 players for a position are of a similar rating (say within 10 points), so there will never be a particularly weak player. Then what I do game to game is NEVER PLAY THE SAME PLAYER TWICE if it can be avoided (except say for key cup games etc), and this is my approach - say my 3 players are A B & C, for one game I will start A, put B as a sub, and rest C; and the next I will start B, sub C, and rest A; the next game C plays, A subs and B rests. So each position has a constant rotation of available players. This way, while players may not be playing as much as they want, they are all playing reasonable regularly, and so their management concern will never get too high. Personalities do come into the equation, some players are very happy on a rotation like this and some will get upset if they are not in every. single. starting team - so use your transfer windows to get rid of demanding players that can't handle a rotation like that and replace them with ones that can.

2. Don't let yourself get promoted until you are ready
The way NSM seems to go, your first season in the bottom league you kick ass, win all your games (perhaps except the Cup and Continental matches), all your players & other stakeholders are happy, and you easily finish top of the table. Yay, you did great, now you get promoted to the next league - that's good right? NO!!! - that's where the problems start. At this point you have a team that is still basically at bottom-league ability (probably mostly grey players and coaches, and Level 1-2 facilities), and suddenly you've moved up a league against teams that might be mostly bronze or silver - waaaaay above your team, and there's no way you can compete. Suddenly you are losing every single game, you get on a really poor run of form, and by mid-season your players have serious form concerns (which overflows into management concerns - basically 'man we can't win a game, what tf is the boss up to?'), not to mention your board are unimpressed, the fans have given up on you, the press could care less, and your sponsors pull their deals. Because you're not getting much from gate receipts or sponsors' win bonuses your income is really low and you can't afford player/staff contracts or to develop your facilities. By the end of the first season in the upper league all the above problems are compounding with every game you lose, and from my experience you can't come back from that, the team is a write-off. Delete and start a new career!!
The solution is to be strategic about losing games in the lower leagues, to avoid promotion for the first few seasons (maybe 2, maybe 5, depending how you're going and what your upper leagues look like), until you've had a chance to slowly build your team. Use the League info tab to get to know what's happening in the league above you - what kind of level the players are at, and what the team's average ratings are when they play. Determine what team you need to be competitive in this league, and avoid promotion until you get there. The upper league teams might be rated at 40-55 or so, while your current low league might have averages closer to 20-30; in this situation I would be aiming for a team average of at LEAST 45 - this means not only the players in the squad, but equivalent staff & facilities to produce cards at the right level (make sure, if you need bronze cards, that all your facilities have the "Reduce cooldown on bronze cards" upgrade, and that the corresponding staff member has a bronze rating, for example). Until you are where you need to be, lose or draw just enough games through the season to stay below 1st on the league table - and do this throughout the season, to mix up your wins and losses, rather than waiting until the end and having to lose a whole lot in a row to avoid promotion. Games are easy enough to throw away - just kick the ball over the side or pass to the opposition when you get a chance to score, and if it looks like that won't be enough just put it in your own goal! When you think you have a good enough team, then you have a season where you kick ass in the league, win all your games and get the promotion next season.
By 'manipulating' the league like this, your players will probably have minor "Form" and "Management" concerns, as you are only winning some of the time, but they will never get too out of hand, and it means those concerns won't get crazy high when you do get promoted. Does it seem a little counter-intuitive to have to tank games and avoid promotion, maybe. But I think this is a game where patience pays off, and the more you understand how it works the more you can be strategic about how you play.

Sorry for the long reply - but I think these are 2 critical strategies to succeeding in this game, which may not be immediately obvious. Hope it's all helpful! :)

[Bill (New Star Games)]

Football management games are a bit of a strange beast as the game starts hard and gets easier as you go along. The key is patience and taking time to build up a squad that can compete at every level. It's worth having a look at the relative strengths of the teams above you and seeing how far short you are and where you need to strengthen. If you don't strengthen as you go along you will find yourself really struggling as you get promoted.

When strengthening always start from the back and work up. Your Goalkeeper is especially early on, the most important man on the pitch. Your long term goal should be to get a cracking youth team setup as later on this becomes the best way to strengthen your squad. Hope that helps and if you've not already done so might I suggest you have a look at the guide I put together. It actually has some good tips in there. :)

[Grey Mouser]

Thanks guys.

Dropping virtually all 'gambling' on contracts sorts it out...and just buy if they do fail.:)

Still don't quite 'warm' to the idea that contract negotiations....unless we are role playing 'the god of white goods salesman'... d.Levy, should impact upon 'management confidence' across the board.

And yes...from the start...goal keepers were/are gold.