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I have decided to create a guide to help people venture in the the murky depths of lower league management. As many people would agree, it is more satisfying to start with a lower team and make them great. Without knowing where to start though, it can be very hard. I will be putting together a guide which will (hopefully) ive you a foothold on lower league management. In this guide, I will be using my current Littlehampton save as an example. Littlehampton are a small team who start in the Sussex County Division 2, a level 10 league. To be able to play with teams this low, you will need to download this database here.
1. Starting off
This database is obviously a very large one, and will require a good processor to run the game with any real speed. I would recommend only loading the English leagues, and maybe a small or medium database. If you have a high spec computer, it is worth adding more leagues, I find South American leagues very good.
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This is the set up I went for. I went for a large database. If any of the players I recommend later in the guide are not on your game, this is probably why, sorry. Also notice that I have left Add Key Staff, and Add Players to Playable Teams UN-ticked. This means I can build my club entirely from scratch. I have also un-ticked Enable Attributes masking, but for more realistic game play, feel free to tick it. Next comes the naming of your manager. Again, I cant help with this, use your imagination
Also set your past experience to Automatic, or Sunday League Football, just to make it feel more realistic.
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This is the set up I went for. I went for a large database. If any of the players I recommend later in the guide are not on your game, this is probably why, sorry. Also notice that I have left Add Key Staff, and Add Players to Playable Teams UN-ticked. This means I can build my club entirely from scratch. I have also un-ticked Enable Attributes masking, but for more realistic game play, feel free to tick it. Next comes the naming of your manager. Again, I cant help with this, use your imagination
Also set your past experience to Automatic, or Sunday League Football, just to make it feel more realistic.2. Choosing Your Club
Now comes the hardest choice. Which team do you want to (hopefully) turn into the greatest club ever? This is a choice I can't really help you with. If you starting in the bottom leagues, I am pretty sure all the transfer and wage budgets will be the same. I would recommend either starting with your local team, or to help in the future, the club with the biggest stadium.
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As you can see, I started with Littlehampton (not my local club, unfortunately, Worthing United must have got relegated last season
lol) They have a stadium capacity of 4000 (260 seated) and a media prediction of 6th, not that it means much in the first season. Now choose your season expectations, Winning should be easy with the right players, but if you want to stay safe, choose the lowest one you can.
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As you can see, I started with Littlehampton (not my local club, unfortunately, Worthing United must have got relegated last season
lol) They have a stadium capacity of 4000 (260 seated) and a media prediction of 6th, not that it means much in the first season. Now choose your season expectations, Winning should be easy with the right players, but if you want to stay safe, choose the lowest one you can.3. Choosing Your Staff
If you set it up properly, you should have no staff, and no players. The hardest part will be finding an assistant manager. As I was only able to sign a regen, I will not be able to recommend an assistant manager. The easiest way to find one that will sign though is to have the staff filter set to "Staff Role - Assistant Manager" and "Reputation - Unproven". This should give you a list of staff that would be willing to join your club. I do seem to find though, they always want £10 p/w more than you can offer, which is really annoying. At this stage, any assistant will do, any stats they have will be a bonus.
Once you have signed an assistant manager, it will become much easier to find the rest of your staff and players. You club should let you sign 2 coaches, 1 physio and 2 scouts. At this stage, I would recommend signing coaches with good fitness training, as fitness will be key early on in your save. Having coaches with 10+ in discipline, motivation and determination will be very useful too.
For a Physio, you obviously want one with a high physiotherapy rating, and for scouts, high judging ability and judging potential ability. High motivation is also a bonus for all your staff members. Now comes the good bit, creating your team.
Something I usually forget about is placing adverts for staff. This can be a real time saver, and you also usually get some quite good members of staff applying.
Once you have signed an assistant manager, it will become much easier to find the rest of your staff and players. You club should let you sign 2 coaches, 1 physio and 2 scouts. At this stage, I would recommend signing coaches with good fitness training, as fitness will be key early on in your save. Having coaches with 10+ in discipline, motivation and determination will be very useful too.
For a Physio, you obviously want one with a high physiotherapy rating, and for scouts, high judging ability and judging potential ability. High motivation is also a bonus for all your staff members. Now comes the good bit, creating your team.
Something I usually forget about is placing adverts for staff. This can be a real time saver, and you also usually get some quite good members of staff applying.
4. Signing a team
Ok, this is where the fun part begins. Its time to find your players. Remember, when negotiating with players, always get them as low as possible. Offer defenders big goal bonuses for example, this should help bring their wage demand down, whist there is little risk of them scoring lots of goals (unless you use a corner bug) I will be looking at finances later on in this guide.
Before you start signing players, you should have a rough example of what basic formation you want to play. There is no point in signing players your never going to use.
As you are likely to have a transfer budget of nothing in your first season, you are going to be wanting to look at free transfers. I would recommend keeping the the free transfer policy for the first 3-4 seasons, even if you get a transfer budget. The players you have to pay for are generally no better than the free transfers, so whats the point in wasting money.
Goalkeeper
Ok, first thing you are going to need is someone solid between this sticks. Having a good goalkeeper is key to a successful campaign. As I will come onto in a later section, you will want a very traditional keeper, nothing fancy, just a good shot stopper. Good Aerial ability and reflexes are a good thing to have. You will probably find that regens are probably your best bet for free transfers, have a look around and see who you can find.
Defenders
Having a good defence will obviously help you goalkeeper out immensely. The key at this level is good Tackling, Marking, Strength and Pace. There are some good defenders out there for this level, so search through the player list and look for them. Some of the players I found good were:
Midfielders
These are the guys that are going to be setting up your goals, and helping your defenders out, so having high Stamina and natural fitness is a bonus here. Passing and tackling are probably the key thing you are looking for here. Long shots will also be another bonus here, as opposition goalkeepers at this level seem to be susceptible to them. Here are some players I found that played well for me:
Strikers
These are obviously the guys that will be getting you most of your goals. Finishing and pace are a huge bonus here. As I mentioned in the Midfielders section, long shots is a very big bonus as goalkeepers seem to dislike them in my experience. Here are some strikers I signed:
The best piece of advice I can give you though, is always, always, always be on the look out for regen players. There will always be a few good ones around that will be willing to join your club. My current best 3 players at the club are regens, two aged 17 and one aged 16. As you can see from the screenshots below, they are all in amazing goal scoring form, and they are really helping me, especially in cup competitions; Which as I will come onto later, is really useful for the clubs finances.
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Your ideal squad size would probably be around 25-30 players, including youth players. Hopefully you will still be under your wage budget. Most clubs should get around 1k for wage budget. If you average £20 p/w, that will be around £600 p/w. Keeping it as low as possible now will always help in the future.
Before you start signing players, you should have a rough example of what basic formation you want to play. There is no point in signing players your never going to use.
As you are likely to have a transfer budget of nothing in your first season, you are going to be wanting to look at free transfers. I would recommend keeping the the free transfer policy for the first 3-4 seasons, even if you get a transfer budget. The players you have to pay for are generally no better than the free transfers, so whats the point in wasting money.
Goalkeeper
Ok, first thing you are going to need is someone solid between this sticks. Having a good goalkeeper is key to a successful campaign. As I will come onto in a later section, you will want a very traditional keeper, nothing fancy, just a good shot stopper. Good Aerial ability and reflexes are a good thing to have. You will probably find that regens are probably your best bet for free transfers, have a look around and see who you can find.
Defenders
Having a good defence will obviously help you goalkeeper out immensely. The key at this level is good Tackling, Marking, Strength and Pace. There are some good defenders out there for this level, so search through the player list and look for them. Some of the players I found good were:
Note: All Screenshots below were taken in the second season, Stats may be different.
Tony Brookes
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Anthony Ashman
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Ashley Thompson
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Tony Brookes
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Anthony Ashman
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Ashley Thompson
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Midfielders
These are the guys that are going to be setting up your goals, and helping your defenders out, so having high Stamina and natural fitness is a bonus here. Passing and tackling are probably the key thing you are looking for here. Long shots will also be another bonus here, as opposition goalkeepers at this level seem to be susceptible to them. Here are some players I found that played well for me:
Note: All Screenshots below were taken in the second season, Stats may be different.
Tony Dinning (Must Buy!)
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Mark McLeod
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Darren Cartwright
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Jimmy Rodgers
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Tony Dinning (Must Buy!)
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Mark McLeod
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Darren Cartwright
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Jimmy Rodgers
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Strikers
These are obviously the guys that will be getting you most of your goals. Finishing and pace are a huge bonus here. As I mentioned in the Midfielders section, long shots is a very big bonus as goalkeepers seem to dislike them in my experience. Here are some strikers I signed:
Note: All Screenshots below were taken in the second season, Stats may be different.
Edwin Ellis (Must Buy. 32 goal in 34 games!)
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David Eaton
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Edwin Ellis (Must Buy. 32 goal in 34 games!)
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David Eaton
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The best piece of advice I can give you though, is always, always, always be on the look out for regen players. There will always be a few good ones around that will be willing to join your club. My current best 3 players at the club are regens, two aged 17 and one aged 16. As you can see from the screenshots below, they are all in amazing goal scoring form, and they are really helping me, especially in cup competitions; Which as I will come onto later, is really useful for the clubs finances.
View attachment 218094 View attachment 218093 View attachment 218095
Your ideal squad size would probably be around 25-30 players, including youth players. Hopefully you will still be under your wage budget. Most clubs should get around 1k for wage budget. If you average £20 p/w, that will be around £600 p/w. Keeping it as low as possible now will always help in the future.
5. Tactics
Before I start this section, I would like to say I am in no way a tactics expert. I usually use downloaded tactics, but for this save, I decided to do them all myself. Okay then, as all your players are not of a very good standard, it would be best to stick to the principle of K.I.S.S, Keep It Simple Stupid. Sticking with a basic 4-4-2 is probably your best bet to start with.
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This is the tactic I went for in my first season. It worked very well for me, and won me the league scoring 82 goals and conceded 22 in the process. I think the most important thing is to not mess around with passing. Get the ball up to your strikers, and let them bang it home. It may not be the most exciting style of play, but we want to be winning, and at this level, I would say it is the best way to.
I would recommend not to play offsides. Playing offsides requires lots of communication and good leadership, which you are unlikely to have at this stage. You will find if you play it, it will often get broken, and you will end up with lots of one on one situations against your goalkeeper.
Your philosophy I would recommend starting with it on rigid for the first few months, while your team is still gelling. After time, and if you feel comfortable with if, change it to fluid.
View attachment 218096
This is the tactic I went for in my first season. It worked very well for me, and won me the league scoring 82 goals and conceded 22 in the process. I think the most important thing is to not mess around with passing. Get the ball up to your strikers, and let them bang it home. It may not be the most exciting style of play, but we want to be winning, and at this level, I would say it is the best way to.
I would recommend not to play offsides. Playing offsides requires lots of communication and good leadership, which you are unlikely to have at this stage. You will find if you play it, it will often get broken, and you will end up with lots of one on one situations against your goalkeeper.
Your philosophy I would recommend starting with it on rigid for the first few months, while your team is still gelling. After time, and if you feel comfortable with if, change it to fluid.
6. Finances
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Right, This is where things start to get a little bit hard. You not only need to be a Football Manager, but also a business man. Every decision you make, you must think, how will this affect my clubs future finances. What is the point of having an excellent first first seasons, only to end up becoming bankrupt and end up in administration.
Expenditure
Your main source of outgoings will obviously be your players wages (unless you have any outstanding loans). I briefly touched on this earlier in the players section, but you want to keep these as low as possible. Always negotiate a contract lower. Offer bonuses, especially to rotational player, and ones that are unlikely to score or make team of the year. Not only does it help with finances, but this will also help your board confidence. I am in my second season now, and I am spending £900 p/w on wages, and I have a total budget of £1.5k p/w. Staying around 20% below your overall wage budget is a good place to be.
When you are offering contracts, try offer them for as long as possible, especially for your younger better players. Every time you need to offer them a new contract, they will always want more money, and it can be hard to negotiate them down. Also, beware of Promotion and yearly increases, as this can be a killer at the end of a season.Other than this, you will have no real control on your expenditure. You wont see much go out on other things though. Maybe a few hundred a month on maintenance and taxes etc.
Income
You will need a good source of income to help keep your club financially stable, and the best way to do that is simply by winning. Long cup runs are vital to help bring in prize money. I now have £1.5 million sitting in my bank, and nearly all of that has come from prize money. Make sure you play your strongest team for these cup games. As you probably wont get very large attendances to start with, (I have averaged around 300 so far) you will not make much money from gate receipts. As you go up the pyramid, you should get larger attendances.
Right, This is where things start to get a little bit hard. You not only need to be a Football Manager, but also a business man. Every decision you make, you must think, how will this affect my clubs future finances. What is the point of having an excellent first first seasons, only to end up becoming bankrupt and end up in administration.
Expenditure
Your main source of outgoings will obviously be your players wages (unless you have any outstanding loans). I briefly touched on this earlier in the players section, but you want to keep these as low as possible. Always negotiate a contract lower. Offer bonuses, especially to rotational player, and ones that are unlikely to score or make team of the year. Not only does it help with finances, but this will also help your board confidence. I am in my second season now, and I am spending £900 p/w on wages, and I have a total budget of £1.5k p/w. Staying around 20% below your overall wage budget is a good place to be.
When you are offering contracts, try offer them for as long as possible, especially for your younger better players. Every time you need to offer them a new contract, they will always want more money, and it can be hard to negotiate them down. Also, beware of Promotion and yearly increases, as this can be a killer at the end of a season.Other than this, you will have no real control on your expenditure. You wont see much go out on other things though. Maybe a few hundred a month on maintenance and taxes etc.
Income
You will need a good source of income to help keep your club financially stable, and the best way to do that is simply by winning. Long cup runs are vital to help bring in prize money. I now have £1.5 million sitting in my bank, and nearly all of that has come from prize money. Make sure you play your strongest team for these cup games. As you probably wont get very large attendances to start with, (I have averaged around 300 so far) you will not make much money from gate receipts. As you go up the pyramid, you should get larger attendances.
7. Parent Clubs
Parent clubs can be very helpful for the finances at your club. There are different types of parent clubs you can have, but they will all pay your club a yearly fee. Im not sure if there are any club links set up for the lower leagues, so you will have to ask your board to create one. There are two types of parent club you can ask for, one to send players on loan to the club, and one to help gain extra income.
I would recommend to ask for a club to help out with loans, as this can really save you money on wages. The other you can ask for will involve both clubs arranging a friendly every season, and your club will keep all the gate receipts. I found in the first season I was unable to get a parent club. This may, or may not happen to you. If it does though, keep asking. Eventually they will find the right club to be affiliated with.
I would recommend to ask for a club to help out with loans, as this can really save you money on wages. The other you can ask for will involve both clubs arranging a friendly every season, and your club will keep all the gate receipts. I found in the first season I was unable to get a parent club. This may, or may not happen to you. If it does though, keep asking. Eventually they will find the right club to be affiliated with.
8. Training
Again, I am not an expert with training, so I wont be able to provide you with an uber amazing training schedule. I can give you some advice though. I would keep training fairly light if possible. This is because you will probably be playing 2-3 games a week if you do well in the cup competitions. You dont want to be tiring your players out by over training them and risk injuring them. Going on long cup runs can be tough of the players, but it is worth it in the end.
Most of you player will probably have a fairly low PA also, which means they will hardly improve. Ones who you believe have some improvement in them, you should put on a slightly more intensive schedule. Giving your players game time is a massive bonus at this level, and I find this improves their stats a lot.
I would create 4 general schedules, one for goalkeepers, one for defenders, one for midfielders and one for strikers. I would them create a few individual schedules for your key players and hot prospects. This way you can get them to focus on the stats you want them to improve.
Remember to review your schedules every season, and change or tweak them depending on your players, tactics and league.
Most of you player will probably have a fairly low PA also, which means they will hardly improve. Ones who you believe have some improvement in them, you should put on a slightly more intensive schedule. Giving your players game time is a massive bonus at this level, and I find this improves their stats a lot.
I would create 4 general schedules, one for goalkeepers, one for defenders, one for midfielders and one for strikers. I would them create a few individual schedules for your key players and hot prospects. This way you can get them to focus on the stats you want them to improve.
Remember to review your schedules every season, and change or tweak them depending on your players, tactics and league.
9. Fixtures/Competitions
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Assuming you have started in the lowest league, it would take you 10 seasons of successive promotions to reach the Premiership. This in my opinion is fairly unrealistic, and maybe 15-20 season is a more realistic aim, depending on your FMing ability. There are also many cup competitions that you will be entered into while you are in the lower leagues. I was entered into 4 cups, this may be different for you, depending on what club you are.
I would advice that you check all the rules and prize money from the competitions you have been entered in. Some of them have large winning bonuses, and it would be best to play your strongest team in these competitions. You are also going to need to be good at rotating your squad, as some weeks you may have up to 3 games. Always check how many game you have, as you might want to save you better players for another game or competition.
In the first season, you should realistically win your league and probably one cup competition. I managed to win the league with games to spare. I want able to win a cup, but I did come close. Poor squad rotation let me down.
Assuming you have started in the lowest league, it would take you 10 seasons of successive promotions to reach the Premiership. This in my opinion is fairly unrealistic, and maybe 15-20 season is a more realistic aim, depending on your FMing ability. There are also many cup competitions that you will be entered into while you are in the lower leagues. I was entered into 4 cups, this may be different for you, depending on what club you are.
I would advice that you check all the rules and prize money from the competitions you have been entered in. Some of them have large winning bonuses, and it would be best to play your strongest team in these competitions. You are also going to need to be good at rotating your squad, as some weeks you may have up to 3 games. Always check how many game you have, as you might want to save you better players for another game or competition.
In the first season, you should realistically win your league and probably one cup competition. I managed to win the league with games to spare. I want able to win a cup, but I did come close. Poor squad rotation let me down.
10. End of Season 1
So, now you have reached the end of the first season, and if all has gone accordingly to plan, you should be sitting at the top of the league with a nice C on the left hand side by your team. Now you can start planning for life in the next league. You will hopefully have around £300k-£800k sitting in your bank. If you have any more, then it is an excellent financial position to be in.
Now would be the time to think about renewing any contracts, or releasing any player you feel are not worth keeping in your team.
Also, I would try requesting for a parent team again, if your previous request was rejected. I have just finished my second season, and my board has still been unable to find a suitable link.
Now would be the time to think about renewing any contracts, or releasing any player you feel are not worth keeping in your team.
Also, I would try requesting for a parent team again, if your previous request was rejected. I have just finished my second season, and my board has still been unable to find a suitable link.
To be expanded:
11. Start of Season 2 (friendlies, finances, expectations, etc)
12. Reviewing your squad
13. New Signings
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