Pompey_Dan
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A quick search through the Football Manager community returns countless articles and threads dedicated to coaches, scouts and assistant managers, but very little has been written about another significant staff role, the physio.
In real life the physio is a key member of the backroom staff, responsible for the health and wellbeing of the clubs' most prized assets, the players, but few of us fully appreciate how physios are managed in the game.
In this article I aim to redress the balance and show just why a good physio is worth his weight in gold.
INJURIES
Before I explain how I believe the role of physio is employed in Football Manager it is important to understand how injuries work in the game.
There are 83 different types of injury in Football Manager 2011, these range from the fairly innocuous cold to the more serious cruciate ligament damage. Some injuries require specialist treatment but many can be treated by the club physio.
For each injury type scores are given against two key criteria, "minimum days" and "extra days".
Minimum days defines the shortest possible period of time that the player will spend on the sidelines but, depending on the severity of the injury, recovery may take longer than expected and this is governed by extra days.
For example, with a sprained ankle the minimum days is set at 25 and extra days at 20. If a player picks up a sprained ankle then he would be out of action for at least 25 days plus between 0 and 20 extra days. At best a full recovery is made in about 3.5 weeks, in the worst case scenario it is closer to 6 weeks before the player can return to training.
The impact a good physio can have on the outcome of this equation is significant and to help illustrate this I've measured the difference in the recovery time of players when they have access to varying levels of physiotherapy.
COMPARISION 1: NO PHYSIO vs PHYSIO 1
It goes without saying that the key attribute for physios is "physiotherapy", in this comparison Physio 1 has a physiotherapy attribute of 20.
Firstly with no physio employed and then with Physio 1 at the club, I recorded every injury sustained by a first team player over the course of a single season together with the time it took them to make a full recovery (marked by a return to full training). I then set about comparing each injury's recovery time with the maximum possible (minimum days + extra days), and the results were pretty conclusive.
With no phsyio employed the players took, on average, 83% of the maximum period before making a full recovery from injury. Where Physio 1 was employed the average dropped significantly to 55%, a difference of 33%!
In our example of a sprained ankle this is the difference between a recovery period of over five weeks or only four, crucial if you need the player to return to first team action in a hurry.
But is physiotherapy the only important attribute for physios? I have previously read posts that suggest determination, level of discipline and motivating are also key attributes to consider - is this really the case?
COMPARISON 2: PHYSIO 1 vs PHYSIO 2
Next I compared Physio 1's results from the first test with those of Physio 2. If you remember Physio 1 has a physiotherapy attribute of 20 but only 5 in determination, level of discipline and motivating; Physio 2, however, has the highest score possible (20) in all four attributes.
In the first test, injured players treated by Physio 1 were fit to play again after spending an average of 55% of the maximum time recovering. During test two, with Physio 2 employed, an average of 58% was recorded - a difference so insignificant that the only conclusion I can draw is that these "secondary" attributes make little difference to a physio's performance.
But I was still left with one question... if a single physio could make a critical difference to my players' recovery from injury what sort of impact could three have?
COMPARISON 3: ONE PHYSIO v THREE PHYSIOS
For this final experiment I compared the results of physio 2 (from the previous test) with those from a game where 3 similar physios were employed.
And the findings were a little disappointing. Just as in test two, there was very little difference between both sets of results. With three physios in place injured players made a full recovery after 55% of the maximum period (on average), this compares with the 58% average recorded when Physio 2 was employed.
CONCLUSION
We should always be careful when drawing conclusions from a limited data set, however, I think that the four tests run indicate that the physio is an indispensable member of staff and that he could prove to be the difference between your star player being available for that must win match or not. The results indicate to me that, where a physio is employed, the time taken to recover from injuries is greatly reduced and that the game does this by reducing the number of extra days used.
Personally, I can't see that any attributes other than physiotherapy help fulfil the role nor, it seems to me, is it worth employing a team of physios. Therefore, until more evidence can be produced, my advice is simple... employ one physio but make him a good one with the highest possible score in physiotherapy.
