Tazskool

MEDIA IMPROVEMENTS



So, what else has improved in the media then?



Well, you can expect a lot more variation, due to the extra post match stats, player and team bio information being used in news items, and in their own panels as part of the Flexion skin.



There's news items for retiring managers and those quitting their jobs, live group draws for cup competitions, and transfer rumours, including false ones put out by agents alongside leaked news items from clubs and agents on bids that have been put in.



You can also expect more pre & post match interview questions based around player form, team form and your chances in the match ahead as well as the previously mentioned controversial refereeing decisions.



Oh, and when clubs are bidding to take your player on loan, they'll tell you what kind of role the player is likely to have in the squad.



Lots of other nice touches have been added to the media module on top to inrease the feel of being in a real football world.but this is an area where we really want people to see surprising new things whilst playing, so I'm going to shut up about it now!





Miscellaneous



There are a few changes in the finance area of the game, with an overhaul of player contracts, values, sale values, the aforementioned "unrefusable transfer offers" where your chairman will accept a bid over your head, win bonuses, a real implementation of the Bosman rule (so no more waiting until January and bidding for all the players in your own league whose contracts are running out) and a new global finance screen, a bit like a "rich list". A few changes in the international area as well with world rankings graphs and squad numbers for international competitions where appropriate.



With training, well, coaches actually. You now have separate youth team, first team and fitness coaches to go with your general coaches. Your board does limit these, but it makes it easier to tweak those training schedules to perfection, and have dedicated staff looking after fitness to model the ever increasing coaching facilities of the big clubs.



And then there's "past experience" on setup (choose whether you used to be a pro footballer or an ex international, for example), a great new "end of season round-up" screen which comes, err, at the end of the season, and acts as a useful guide to how it all ended up. And the ability to move a player to the reserve or u19 squad until they are fit when they get injured. And so much more besides that you can find out once the demo is released, and some that you won't see til the game is released.



So, there's some things to get your appetitie whet. I hope you enjoy the game as much as we've enjoyed making it!

So what are we going to do blogwise after this point? Over the coming weeks, we'll be providing info on Football Manager Handheld 2007 on PSP, info on FM2007 on Xbox 360, some of the dev team and test team at SI's "5 favourite features" which I expect will reveal info about some of the new stuff that I've avoided talking about in the blogs, some indepth guides to certain parts of the game by the people who designed them, news of a brand new SI football based game which will be released this year, and lots more besides!