Looking to the future – How to achieve a successful game - FMFormation.net - Football Manager

**Fedorico Roma Fan** · 13-02-08, 06:14 PM

Recently I’ve been reading a few topics around the scene where people have been declaring themselves bored of Football Manager. With the game only being a mere 4 months old I found this news quite disturbing. In my opinion this years edition has been the most addictive version of SI’s masterpiece to date…well, once that nasty skin has been changed anyway. I for one am far from bored of Football Manager 2008; in fact I can’t stop playing it at the moment. So, I hear you ask, what is my secret? To put it simply the best way to enjoy Football Manager is to have a long term game. Let me explain:

First things first; make sure you load all the leagues which take your fancy (computer permitting of course). The more leagues you have loaded the less likely the need to start a new game to manage in a league you had not previously loaded. I recommend that you load at least 2 tiers of about 5 or 6 nations to give yourself options for when you tire of a club. I also suggest starting with a club that you really want to; maybe a club with good young prospects who require you to build for the future. I would however advise that you do not start with a club like Barcelona, AC Milan, Chelsea or alike. Starting with a developing club allows you to have something to aim for, something to build towards. When it comes to setting your past experience there are two options. If you set it at Sunday League Footballer it gives you something to aim at but also limits which clubs will hire you if you get bored within a season or two. Setting it at International Footballer, as I did, means that if you get bored of the club you are currently managing at it is easy to get another job, even at the highest level.

Having a long term game is guaranteed to help you keep playing Football Manager for a long time. In my experience I have found it to be thoroughly enjoyable. In little over 10 years of game time (thats 9 days, 4 hours and 43 minutes of "real time") I have managed at 12 clubs and 4 nations so you could call me a bit of a “journeyman” manager but that is what has helped me to continue playing this game. It’s the variation that has kept me going. I’ve tried different teams in different countries and if I ever feel like one particular job is getting boring I immediately look for a new one elsewhere.

So that’s just a quick guide on how to achieve a game that you can enjoy for a long time to come. No need to keep restarting games every couple of weeks, just begin a game that you know will keep you entertained. If you want my advice start with a club like Salzburg of Austria, as I did. Winning the league is simple enough, keeping you happy and therefore making you want to continue playing the game, but the real challenge comes in Europe. Trying to achieve any significant ground in the Champions League is a brilliant challenge and will make you want to try again season after season. I’ll leave you with this: The key to managerial greatness is persistence, perseverance and playing so much that your fingerprints start to wear off!

leachy-boi91 · 13-02-08, 09:09 PM

i agree with ya feddo..
on my newcastle game i loaded up so many leagues coz the laptop was quick as hell...
i done alright with newcastle and kept getting better im addicted to the game too mate ..
if you start a game like barcelona madrid etc.. you will probably have that saved game for about a season then thats it ,,

currently im derby hardest team ive been really im normaly tottenham or toon ,,
but ill be entertained even ifi do go down :)

thanks for the forum m8..
least im not the only one whos addicted

Blinker91 · 14-02-08, 11:33 AM

I agree with u man...
But, starting with big club like barca, chelsea, etc... is going to be fun too.... especially when you get win all the nights, hehe....
Actually, I never find playing FM, so far, is boring....
I always enjoy it, hahahhaha....

lpool beast · 19-02-08, 03:48 PM

very good idea i'll give it a go

adamjigey · 26-02-08, 03:06 PM

wow it took me 3 hours of real time to complete one season with aston villa is your PC really fast PM message me plz

bric999 · 26-02-08, 05:24 PM

This is my philosophy for years as well. I rarely pick teams as ManUtd. In the current versions of FM I mostly play HSV, because of the history and the great potential this club has, and most importantly great core of young players - De Jong, Kompany, van der Vaart and so on. I lasted longest with Benfica on FM 2005 till year 2025 bwaaaaa... It was fantastic to see my club legends players I transformed into top players to retire at my club and also getting a staff role sometimes.

I have to agree with Fedorico, FM 2008 is the most addictive FM till now, you just need to set yourself some goals to keep you busy for a while.

**Hartynips** · 27-02-08, 07:26 AM

Im currently playing with Hearts, and I have to say since managing a lesser known, financially bereft club Ive become hopelessly addicted to FM08 in a way I never did with FM07.
It sounds really sad, but I find myself mulling over my game when driving to work, or worrying about my upcoming derby clash with hibs over dinner!!!!! I worry about Rangers trying to steal my star players....and ive currently got the biggest headache ever trying to find a decent left back. So I cant understand why people are getting bored with the game already. I think if you start low and work your way up you do get a sense of acheivement, but starting at the Madrids, Barca or top flight premiership "Big Four" you are nerver really going to be tested.

My advice is to try a team you would never dream of picking. Set yourself a goal, stick to it, and suddenly several days of your life have completely disappeared!!! You'll be exhausted, but it is worth it.

**Bozza** · 27-02-08, 10:58 AM

Looking good Feddo and I totally agree with you. FM is interesting when you play a long-term game with a smaller club. In order to achieve that, you need to load a lot of leagues from different countries. This will make sure you can move clubs whenever you are bored with your current club or the competition you are in.

I would also recommend to load all players from a lot of countries, especially South American countries but also leagues in Europe you might not select like Sweden, Czech Republic, Russia, Turkey etc. etc.

In my eyes, those are the main things to make a game interested and to make sure it could become a long-term game.

thedeeb · 22-04-08, 02:35 PM

Great thread, fedders old boy. I've just set up a massive game with loads of leagues and am now determined to give it a good go. Thought I'd try with Salzburg first as well. Haven't seen any guides to the Austrian league so we'll see how it goes.

I've also read many of your posts and have recently been studying the team talks one. Really good advice, cheers mate!!

woodsy · 22-04-08, 02:51 PM

Nice guide there, I never actually have a really long term game the highest year i've got to is 2011 i dont really like managing low league teams (League 2 downwards)

Ill be trying this :D

Wednesdayboy · 22-04-08, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hartynips

Im currently playing with Hearts, and I have to say since managing a lesser known, financially bereft club Ive become hopelessly addicted to FM08 in a way I never did with FM07.
It sounds really sad, but I find myself mulling over my game when driving to work, or worrying about my upcoming derby clash with hibs over dinner!!!!! I worry about Rangers trying to steal my star players....and ive currently got the biggest headache ever trying to find a decent left back. So I cant understand why people are getting bored with the game already. I think if you start low and work your way up you do get a sense of acheivement, but starting at the Madrids, Barca or top flight premiership "Big Four" you are nerver really going to be tested.

My advice is to try a team you would never dream of picking. Set yourself a goal, stick to it, and suddenly several days of your life have completely disappeared!!! You'll be exhausted, but it is worth it.

Hearts lesser known, finacially troubled team lol, there in the SPL and get 1000's coming to there games, try being a team like Workington, They were 70k in debt when I took them over and were getting a full 600 people coming to my matches. I've only managed to take 10k off the debt after a whole season and thats after selling about 15+ players for 3k overall.

Check out the challenge and join in.

AL.s FM CHALLENGE

bakhit · 24-06-08, 04:53 AM

managing lower league is fun..
i managed to get my oxford team to premier division..
currently in year 2012.

barosanu · 24-06-08, 01:04 PM

if you ever get bored of fm try to play with a club from welsh league.and try to reach at least champions league group stage.

**liveru** · 27-06-08, 11:59 AM

I tend to get bored if I don't do well with the club I'm playing with. Well, that's not entirely true.

If I'm a fairly big club and I'm not doing well that's when I get bored. But trying to change a small club from lower league strugglers to Premier League contenders tend to keep me fixed to the game.

And I totally agree with you Fed. That default skin is absolutely horrid.

**Hartynips** · 30-06-08, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wednesdayboy

Hearts lesser known, finacially troubled team lol, there in the SPL and get 1000's coming to there games, try being a team like Workington, They were 70k in debt when I took them over and were getting a full 600 people coming to my matches. I've only managed to take 10k off the debt after a whole season and thats after selling about 15+ players for 3k overall.

Check out the challenge and join in.

AL.s FM CHALLENGE

Yeah but you love your real lower league teams mate. In all my manager games on any platform, I only ever managed a Scots team once, that was Celtic on LMA Manager about 5 or 6 years ago!

Lets face it Hearts arent likely to challenge for the SPL title ny time in the near future, but until my game crashed I was really enjoying taking them on the up.

Personally on FM08 Ive never managed any british side below league 2. The smallest club Ive ever managed was Spartak Ryazan and to be honest I dont enjoy the challenge of managing teams that small.

Anyway the point of the thread was to find a game that gets you hooked

**Jonners71** · 30-06-08, 11:55 AM

There is something to be said for starting as a big team - it can be fun working out how to spend your transfer budget and testing your team in Europe. I loved managing Liverpool simply because it let me make changes to my squad that I wish would happen for real.

But I totally agree with you Fed, the secret is a long term game. I've had games on FM07 that have crossed continents and different levels of ability and it kept me hooked for 15 seasons (I only stopped because FM08 came out). There is something to be said that once the last of the real players have retired and it's just re-gens that it becomes less enjoyable, maybe that's just me.

I'm not sure how people can claim to be bored of a game where you can manage almost anyone, anywhere - it even helps you learn about football in other countries that you may not have known much about. And anyway, for £20, bored or not, no-one can say that they don't get value for money.