Thoughts on FM2009: How to improve players

As you all know, in my Football Manager 2009 game I have started a so-called "ultimate challenge" with an underdog Italian team, Andria Bat. I have noticed - like everybody else who starts with a team in the lowest divisions, that the coaching staff completely lacks quality.

Usually (and hopefully) this staff will agree with a mutual termination which will not cost you too much, but it rarely happens in lower divisions, and since money are also a problem, you must stick to keeping them. Generally this means a very poor number of stars in your training schedule, which further means that your football players won't improve their stats too much, even if they have a big potential.

Right now there are not lots of things you could do. However, you should take the time to set particular training schedules and also make sure that the coaches train players in the areas they are the best: when the game starts, coaches are selected to train all categories, and this results in a lower number of training stars.

If the workloads are high and your team doesn't have the money to purchase another coach, or if the board simply won't allow it, you could do a little trick: let your worst coach train all categories (in order to decrease the general workload) and then set your coaches to their best positions.

However, you should do your best to offload your coaches as soon as possible and the best moment to do so would be the second season of the game. That is because a lot of newly generated coaches will get promoted in Football Manager 2009 - usually with very low reputation (therefore likely to accept any offer) and great skills. So go ahead and sign a few young coaches with good stats (which can also get better) and try to get rid of the dead weight.

Indeed, it is costly to wait one season to get good coaches to improve players, but especially for teams in lower divisions, this is the best call, since they save lots of cash. Good luck!

Andria Challenge: Transfers for a New Season

Continuing my Andria Challenge, I had to make a couple of changes to my squad. I clearly need a bunch of stronger players, but unfortunately finances for my C1/B team are not the strong point and there are few things I can do.

However, just as always, I'm keeping my eyes on the transfer market and this year, just like it happened in my previous season, I managed to grab a couple of players I'm really proud of.

First, I got myself a solid new striker, Marco Di Matteo, a 23 years old football player that should become a leading star in my Football Manager 2009 underdog team. Hopefully he will score a lot of goals this season and help me remain in the C1/B division.
The second player who comes to strengthen my defense this time is Vincent Beduer, an incredible leftback coming from France. He only agreed for a one-year contract with a Non-promotion clause, which means Andria will only have him for a season (unless we get promoted again, which I really doubt) but still he is a really good find and potentially a solid player.
I also had to offload some of the dead weight - player who were just eating up from the already low salary cap or ones who simply were not good enough for the C1/B division. I'm still searching for players to strengthen my midfield but I do believe that I have a pretty solid team right now and we'll stay in the new division. I'll keep you updated!

Side-challenge for Andria challenge launched

It's been a while since I last posted about my Football Manager challenge and I will try to make it up these days and update you with my progress. Until then, I must announce that I started a side-challenge for my Andria team in Football Manager 2009.

It's not about gaining anything, it's just for pure fun and progress watch: every time my assistant manager considers a promoted youth "one of the best which ever was promoted", I will keep an eye on him, help him progress, offer him first team chances and finally check him until he ends his career.

I consider this very fun because, most important of all, will allow us all to see just how acurrate are our assistant's predictions.

Therefore, I have already started with Armando Carnevali, a central defender which got promoted at the beginning of the second season with Andria. He does not look too bad, unfortunately he did not record a rise in stats because I have some very poor coaches (which I plan to change in my third season, since I am in a better division).
I have also instructed Carnevali to learn a new position and become a right fullback, even though he doesn't necessary have the required stats, but this will grant him even more first team chances.

So this is my FM2009 side-quest related to the main Andria challenge. I am really curious what will become of him...

Win prizes by voting in Football Manager Polls!

Here are a few results of polls from Sports Interactive for FM 2009 players:

Q. If you were the England manager, would you pick Michael Owen in your next England squad?
A. The jury was nearly out, with it almost going fifty fifty, but then the 'Yes' vote edged it.

Q. Who do you think will win the English Premier League this season?
A. Manchester United slightly edged out Liverpool here.

Q. Who Will Win the FIFA World Player of the Year Award?
A. Cristiano Ronaldo the somewhat unsurprising and resounding winner!

Q. Who do you think will be the top scorer in the Champions League this season?
A. Lionel Messi is still in front, but this poll has a few more days to go!

The interesting thing is that you can also cast your vote in these polls and be eligible to win goodies related to Football Manager 2009. Visit the game's official website for all details!

The Big Football Manager 2009 Giveaway

If you fancied Top Trumps when you were little, that's exactly what you can win now, but not any of them: Football Manager Top Trumps! Sega and Sports Interactive are offering them. You can see an example to the left and read an excerpt below:

For your chance of winning one of our 50 limited edition Football Manager Top Trump packs all you have to do is tell us the correct answers to these 3 questions:

1. With which club did Jose Mourinho win the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League?

2. Which current Premiership manager previously managed Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich, Leicester and Celtic?

3. Which national team is Sven Goran Eriksson currently in charge of?

Email your answers, with the title Top Trumps Competition and your postal address, to: competitions@soe.sega.co.uk.

All entries must be received by midnight on 20 February 2009. All correct entries will be submitted into a prize draw. The winning entries will be the first 50 entries drawn at random after the closing date and the winners will be notified by email before February 25th.

For complete details and rules of this Football Manager 2009 giveaway, visit the official website.