Football Manager, Part II

[5_EUROPEAN_CUPS]

IMO this game isn't really suited for online play.

But maybe that's just me being jealous of the fun you guys can have over broadband as I sit here with my 28k dial-up connection :( That's what living in a third world country does for ya.

Oh you have to have broadband no doubt.

[5_EUROPEAN_CUPS]

Argentina are the World Champions!!!

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am Champions League Champion and World Cup Champion in 2010!!!

Well done. Ive won the world cup twice in back 2 back years I won it in Germany with England then I went and won it with Italy in 2010.

Im gonna see if I can't win it with an African, South American and Asian nation and get the set.

[johno]

I've now assembled a team with rediculous attacking depth...

RVN
Berbatov
Rooney
Cassano
Ronaldo
D'Allessandro
Baptista
Downing
Van Bommel

and a great bunch of defenders
Heinze, Evra
Miguel, Van den Borre
Rio, Chivu, Kompany, Brown - (really overrated in this game)

All this and im still in 06-07.

[TheImposter]

Wow, I was wondering why I wasn't getting any notifications of new posts -- I thought the thread had died, as unlikely as that seemed. Come back to find that they split it, starting with my "AA-style" confession of addiction. Talk about cold turkey, the funny thing is I actually haven't played in about 2 weeks now, maybe more, and I really haven't had to fight the impulse. Which leads me to my question....

When do you guys end a game? I'm with Bolton in the fall of 2014. Three years ago I finished 3rd in the Prem, highest ever for the club, and made the CL. The next year I finished 12th, everybody was unhappy, but I won the CL! The next year (last year) I made it to the semis of the CL and won the league (with a board expectation to buy players and "rebuild" a team that was the best in Europe the year before). Now, however, I sit about 9th or 10th, with a board expectation to qualify for Europe, and everybody is unhappy. I think the problem is that I lost several players who were determined to move to "bigger" clubs, and had to bring in new guys -- all big signings, 'cause I had plenty of money between my given budget and the proceeds from sales of the guys who wanted to leave. Now those new guys have yet to "gel". I think my tactics might be getting stale, too. Anyway, the upshot is that I now find that I can't really get into it anymore. I think I almost get bored with having so much money and being able to compete at the top level, and I find myself wondering if it's time to start a new game with a new minnow (this game started with K Bocholt VV in the Belgian 3rd division B). I think I also get a little less enthusiastic when the game is so far into the future that all the players are fictional -- I have Ronaldinho as a coach, and Ruud Van Nistelrooy as a physio (just so I can boss him around and give him demeaning jobs!).

So anyway -- what are your criteria for canning a successful game and going back to the beginning?

[HalfManHalfAmazing]

When the game becomes too easy. There was a point for me in the 1.Bundesliga I was winning the league every year no matter what good team I was. I'm currently in my second season at Tottenham and I've gone from finishing 4th to middling in 9th place and feeling like nothing I can do tacticswise is working. Because I'm having success in the CL (I've made it to the 1st knockout rnd), all of my players are VERY over priced. I'm debating if I should sell my players who have all lost confidence in my ability. I have a FLOCK of worthy youths, many worth multiple millions of dollars at age 16 and 17, but they are 5-6 years off.

[kcscsupporter]

anyone know what the average time is for a player to learn a new position and side? i've had a very young winger that i've been training to be a center forward for well over a year, but he has yet to pick it up. he isn't refusing it either, as the ass-man always says that he's delighted with his training.

[sitati_kituyi]

I think one mistake in this game is how clubs so often let their biggest assets run out of contract, allowing for free transfers. I keep assembling squads of stars even with small transfer budgets. They reject a bid worth 20m for a 15m-rated player in the last 6 months of his contract, who's attracted interest from major European clubs. Then 6 months later they loose him on a free. Not too realistic.

[DutchFootballRulez]

sitati: How many leagues/divisions are you running? and what club are you?

[act smiley]

anyone know what the average time is for a player to learn a new position and side? i've had a very young winger that i've been training to be a center forward for well over a year, but he has yet to pick it up. he isn't refusing it either, as the ass-man always says that he's delighted with his training.

Some players adapt much more easily than others, but generally, about 12-18 months should be more than enough for any player. Generally, the more new bits you make them learn, the harder it is, but really it shouldn't be any more than 18 months.
Also, remember that the game assigns abilities in different positions on the same 1-20 scale as other stats - the only ones to show up in the position text are ones above 15, so its quite possible he's got better, just is still far from an expert at it.

[sitati_kituyi]

sitati: How many leagues/divisions are you running? and what club are you?
Sorry, didn't see this at the time. Currently I'm Man United, with all English leagues from League 2 active, and also the Spanish top flight active. Why, does having leagues active increase the transfer activity of their clubs? Coz clubs like Milan are as active as ever.

[Rewinder]

Sorry, didn't see this at the time. Currently I'm Man United, with all English leagues from League 2 active, and also the Spanish top flight active. Why, does having leagues active increase the transfer activity of their clubs? Coz clubs like Milan are as active as ever.

I think the activity stays the same, but you just find out about it alot more.

The online game sounds great, will be good to test our wits against other real people. Shouldnt we restrict players like bierofka etc. like maybe allow only the 2 smallest teams to vie for him

[johno]

I just crushed the Arse in the CL Semis first round match at home 5-0 and then play Totenham away and go down 2-0 and then 3-1 the league was all but sewn up but I was still pissed, que comeback... we win at a canter 5-3 with the match commentator going nuts... saying crap like "The streak lives" (I've won 34 matches in the prem in a row now) and "Can they be beaten?"

Now I get to humiliate the Arse by playing a U-23 side against them in the Library and still defeating them!

[Cannon]

I just crushed the Arse in the CL Semis first round match at home 5-0 and then play Totenham away and go down 2-0 and then 3-1 the league was all but sewn up but I was still pissed, que comeback... we win at a canter 5-3 with the match commentator going nuts... saying crap like "The streak lives" (I've won 34 matches in the prem in a row now) and "Can they be beaten?"

Now I get to humiliate the Arse by playing a U-23 side against them in the Library and still defeating them!

Wait until the next FM. Arsenal's kids getting the right ratings. ManU with massive debts and strikers unable to score. Board rejecting Fergie's transfers. Required preseason friendlies in Florida. Should be fun. :p

[sitati_kituyi]

Wait until the next FM. Arsenal's kids getting the right ratings. ManU with massive debts and strikers unable to score. Board rejecting Fergie's transfers. Required preseason friendlies in Florida. Should be fun. :p
If they're going that realistic, they'll have to include Pires getting the cold from repeatedly diving on the rainy water-logger Library pitch, Ashely Cole begging Chavski to come get him, and eventually the reality that Henry leaves the club if you fail to win the CL in 05/06.

[Solid444]

I Have heard nothing but great things about this game, only one problem.........

I cant find it anywhere!!!!! I live in the US (Houston, TX) and I cant find the game anywhere, does anyone in the US know of a place where I can get it? I also have a question..... Is the Mexican League in the game? I hate it that they get ignored by games like WE and Fifa. Are some of the more unknown players that do not play in Europe also in the game? Thnx in advance.

[ibreak4coffee]

I Have heard nothing but great things about this game, only one problem.........

I cant find it anywhere!!!!! I live in the US (Houston, TX) and I cant find the game anywhere, does anyone in the US know of a place where I can get it? I also have a question..... Is the Mexican League in the game? I hate it that they get ignored by games like WE and Fifa. Are some of the more unknown players that do not play in Europe also in the game? Thnx in advance.

Yes to almost all your questions... you can play in the Mexican league, and play in some pretty obscure leagues too. There is a ridiculous database of players you've never heard of.

Gamespot is your best bet for the game, but you will probably have to order it online.

[Bonji]

I Have heard nothing but great things about this game, only one problem.........

I cant find it anywhere!!!!! I live in the US (Houston, TX) and I cant find the game anywhere, does anyone in the US know of a place where I can get it? I also have a question..... Is the Mexican League in the game? I hate it that they get ignored by games like WE and Fifa. Are some of the more unknown players that do not play in Europe also in the game? Thnx in advance.
Check out their website: http://www.sigames.com/

The game is called Football Manager 2005 in the rest of the world and Worldwide Soccer Manager 2005 in the US. The games are identical. Gamestop.com used to sell it however I don't see it now. Look on eBay for Football Manager 2005. Make sure you buy a copy in an English language box.

PSV? Italy? Accrington Stanley? With more than playable 5,000 teams from over 50 countries to work with, you’ll have more choice than ever. Each player boasts more than 100 attributes, including "preferred moves" that have star players flaunting the skills that made them famous. Sports Interactive has had a 2,500-strong global research team massing stats on a quarter of a million players and staff - no footy management game has ever been so complete.

[kcscsupporter]

Gamespot is your best bet for the game, but you will probably have to order it online.

just make sure you're not looking for "football manager." here in the states it's called "worldwide soccer manager."

[sitati_kituyi]

About the Database: on 'Huge' setting, you'll have Denis Oliech, Maurice Sunguti, John Muriuri, Mike Okoth, Musa Otieno and Ake but to name a few from Kenya. How's that for detail.

The database is amazing, really. So often you bump into someone online who has a friend in semi-pro football who's in the FM database.

And the depth of the game is quite amazing. You can be any type of manager: spend millions on Galacticos in their prime each season, sign 'rejects' towards the end of their careers and suck the last of their prime out of them, or go for youngsters and bring them up into stars... the most fantastic thing in this game is that there's no 'right' or 'wrong' ways of doing things, any style of play can work wonders if given utmost attention and devotion.

It's a gaming world milestone, a ground-breaking series. There's only two things wrong with it:
1) It can get EXTREMELY frustrating
2) It can make you sit infront of a screen overnight, easy.

Buy it, man.

[DutchFootballRulez]

What gets ridiculous is when Clubs actually make Transfer moves in real life that you see in the Game first. In Football Manager (Champ. Manager) Barca bought Ronaldinho a year before it happened. Chelsea bought Peter Cech and Wayne Bridge before it happened. Man Utd signed Tim Howard, Heinze, even Cristiano Ronaldo before they happened in real life. I would swear that some of those Higher-ups MUST play Football Manager. I suspect Abramovich's Advisors do. Because Chelsea bought Carvalho, Makelele, Duff, and Cech as I said. All before it happened in real-life.