Getting Started in FM2008
Average Rating: 4/10 Hits: 1011 Submitted: Nov 9, 2007
Are you just starting out in Football Manager 2008? If so then this is the place for you, it'll run through all the basics for getting started in your career in FM2008.
Football Manager is the most indepth, well researched and finely tuned football simulator in the world that is available to the public from Tesco's for £24.99. Which is why it is so popular, fans of all leagues and countries can pick up the game and play with whomever they choose. You may be an avid Halifax Town supporter with an undying love for Nick Gray (seek help if thats the case), or you may be a regular visitor to De Adelaarshorst to watch Go Ahead Eagles week in week out. Whatever the club you can take them to the top, employ smart budget controls and prove yourself as a tactful wheeler dealer. Then as the seasons pass by and time moves on you can finally achieve what you've always dreamt of, whether that be winning the Premier League or going abroad to lift the Champions League trophy. THAT is Football Manager.
However, not everyone has the patience of a saint or the keen interest in lower leagues to watch players you've never heard of lump the ball into the oppositions penalty box hoping for Kevin Davies's cousin or someone to whack it in from a yard out. No. There is another way, it's called the "Lazy yet sometimes rather fun to do when bored to death" way. There are several steps and measures you must take, whilst bearing in mind that the moment your brain is forced to work hard you've done it wrong. After all, hard work is bad and it's bad enough being under pressure to finish your Maths coursework let alone having to decide whether Omar Esparza would be best deployed as a left back or holding midfielder.
First things first, choosing a club. Remember, the better the club and the more transfer funds that are available to you the better. However ideally you can take charge of a club that is so awesome that it does not need any players buying for it, however you want to have some fun so whether you take charge of Barcelona or not is up to you. However bear in mind that if you are one of those guys/girls that gets really…really angry after losing a match to the point where you switch off the game, claim it's down to some form of bug or bad design fault when really your just balls then Barcelona may be a good team to choose. Ronaldinho and Messi on the wings with Henry and Eto'o in attack. I won my first 19 La Liga games by doing this without restarting once and I felt so guilty for it being so easy that I had to stop. Other good teams to choose include Chelsea (lots of dosh to spend I need not tell you), ManU, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. Or if you prefer something unusual, the dominant teams in other leagues such as, Lyon, Ajax/PSV, Rosenborg, Porto/Benfica etc. etc.
Now you've chosen a team you will want to get your settings right, so you don't spend time doing all the boring tasks which don't include you winning the domestic and european leagues. A good start is to get the assistant to take charge of the friendly matches. After all, you don't need to see your team beat Al-Ittihad 7-0 but you do need to see your team beat Manchester United 2-0. Remember, the players you need to choose are the ones with the highest stats and an adequate condition. Be the rebel and refuse to take notice of player age, morale, form and nationality as we have to keep our brain processing to as little as possible remember. So Stats+Condition with Big Numbers = Good.
Also, remember to let your assistant take care of contract renewals for the A and B teams, most of the time they will renew the contracts of those you want to keep and forget about those you don't really want which are just rotting away in the reserves. The fact is that nobody cares if Matthew Connolly's contract is due to expire in 6 months as the chances are he will never quite be a Kolo Toure and so as the lazy manager you are it is important you are not troubled with trivial matters like this.
Buying players is always a risky and important aspect to the game. Especially in Football Manager 08 where the board and fans actually comment on every signing you have made. So don't think of buying a solid backup player who never plays but always acts as a nice backup because the fans simply don't understand this. Mostly because they are fickle and secondly because it's a slight oversight from SI that you need to buy players who will not particularly play. So think big and assuming you picked one of the big clubs, think very big. Remember to follow the simple rule of "Big Numbers = Good", exluding age however, where a lower number is generally better. Ideally you can try find a way to get your hands on Zlatan Ibrahimovic who im pretty sure has slept with half the Sports Interactive production team, since there is being overrated and there is being what Zlatan is on this game.
Finally, you need to get your tactics right, without actually doing anything. To achieve this is quite simple. Under "Standard Tactics" select "4-4-2 Normal" and put arrows on wingers into the AMR and AML positions. Then you have a normal solid tactic whereby as long as all your players have unfairly better stats than the opposition you should walk over every team.
So there you have it, if you suck at the game and can't be arsed to put any effort into anything in your life then now you need worry no more this article covers everything you need.
However, not everyone has the patience of a saint or the keen interest in lower leagues to watch players you've never heard of lump the ball into the oppositions penalty box hoping for Kevin Davies's cousin or someone to whack it in from a yard out. No. There is another way, it's called the "Lazy yet sometimes rather fun to do when bored to death" way. There are several steps and measures you must take, whilst bearing in mind that the moment your brain is forced to work hard you've done it wrong. After all, hard work is bad and it's bad enough being under pressure to finish your Maths coursework let alone having to decide whether Omar Esparza would be best deployed as a left back or holding midfielder.
First things first, choosing a club. Remember, the better the club and the more transfer funds that are available to you the better. However ideally you can take charge of a club that is so awesome that it does not need any players buying for it, however you want to have some fun so whether you take charge of Barcelona or not is up to you. However bear in mind that if you are one of those guys/girls that gets really…really angry after losing a match to the point where you switch off the game, claim it's down to some form of bug or bad design fault when really your just balls then Barcelona may be a good team to choose. Ronaldinho and Messi on the wings with Henry and Eto'o in attack. I won my first 19 La Liga games by doing this without restarting once and I felt so guilty for it being so easy that I had to stop. Other good teams to choose include Chelsea (lots of dosh to spend I need not tell you), ManU, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. Or if you prefer something unusual, the dominant teams in other leagues such as, Lyon, Ajax/PSV, Rosenborg, Porto/Benfica etc. etc.
Now you've chosen a team you will want to get your settings right, so you don't spend time doing all the boring tasks which don't include you winning the domestic and european leagues. A good start is to get the assistant to take charge of the friendly matches. After all, you don't need to see your team beat Al-Ittihad 7-0 but you do need to see your team beat Manchester United 2-0. Remember, the players you need to choose are the ones with the highest stats and an adequate condition. Be the rebel and refuse to take notice of player age, morale, form and nationality as we have to keep our brain processing to as little as possible remember. So Stats+Condition with Big Numbers = Good.
Also, remember to let your assistant take care of contract renewals for the A and B teams, most of the time they will renew the contracts of those you want to keep and forget about those you don't really want which are just rotting away in the reserves. The fact is that nobody cares if Matthew Connolly's contract is due to expire in 6 months as the chances are he will never quite be a Kolo Toure and so as the lazy manager you are it is important you are not troubled with trivial matters like this.
Buying players is always a risky and important aspect to the game. Especially in Football Manager 08 where the board and fans actually comment on every signing you have made. So don't think of buying a solid backup player who never plays but always acts as a nice backup because the fans simply don't understand this. Mostly because they are fickle and secondly because it's a slight oversight from SI that you need to buy players who will not particularly play. So think big and assuming you picked one of the big clubs, think very big. Remember to follow the simple rule of "Big Numbers = Good", exluding age however, where a lower number is generally better. Ideally you can try find a way to get your hands on Zlatan Ibrahimovic who im pretty sure has slept with half the Sports Interactive production team, since there is being overrated and there is being what Zlatan is on this game.
Finally, you need to get your tactics right, without actually doing anything. To achieve this is quite simple. Under "Standard Tactics" select "4-4-2 Normal" and put arrows on wingers into the AMR and AML positions. Then you have a normal solid tactic whereby as long as all your players have unfairly better stats than the opposition you should walk over every team.
So there you have it, if you suck at the game and can't be arsed to put any effort into anything in your life then now you need worry no more this article covers everything you need.
