Example : Tony Daggeroni Career
Game World Setup
We've started a new FM 2013 game world in what I call the 'standard' setup : The top divisions in the 'Big 5' European leagues - England, Spain, Italy, France, and Germany - are all playable.
Finding a Club
The main drawback to starting an FM 2013 game 'unemployed' is the fact that it requires one to spend some time staring at one's computer screen, simulating ahead, until job vacancies open up as under-performing clubs dismiss their managers, during 'sacking season'. The best way to get through this dull period is to 'go on holiday' in the Manager options.
'Sacking Season' opens up around mid to late October in Europe, after clubs have played enough rounds - about ten or so - to assess with some accuracy how the club is likely to do during the current season, based on results up to that point.
Towards the end of October, there are a number of bosses on the verge of getting the sack in various leagues. At this point, we return from vacation only for to set the clause in our 'holiday' option, to apply to 'any club' at which an job opens up within the next few weeks. Being an unknown manager with no resume to recommend us at this point, it makes little sense to be too choosy at the outset in finding a job. Any club with an opening is worth consideration.
Sure enough, about one week later, on the 9th of November, about five managers have been sacked, two in La Liga and Ligue 1, and one each in England and Germany. We will apply to all of these clubs, and see what happens.
German club Stuttgart are the only club interested in the services of Tony Daggeroni, so we investigate the prospects for the club, based on what information they have on the table.
Stuttgart have little in the way of financial muscle at this time, stating that there is but a £245,000 available for buying players (a paltry sum), and they are just £7,000 under their wage bill limit. In other words, they are not able to do much in the way of bringing in new players to improve the club during this season. This is not good, considering that the board's minimum expectations is qualification for European competition. Seeing as the club has already been under-performing after ten matches, how can improvement be expected?
In theory, Stuttgart could improve enough to finish in the top third of the table by season's end; they are 11th currently, but just five points behind fourth-placed Dussseldorf. However, it is discouraging that are in the bottom five in terms of Goals Allowed, and their Goalscoring tally is below average. Stuttgart probably need a player or two to improve their prospects, but will need to sell players to do so. Who can they sell?
Nobody from the defense, that's for sure. As for attacking players, Stuttgart have two forwards upon they rely for goals : Martin Harnik, and Vedad Ibisevic. But with a club that is pretty porous at the back, and mediocre in attack, it makes little sense to sell the only players scoring goals for them at this time. It seems that Stuttgart are between a rock and a hard place, and their board's ambitions are unrealistic. We will pass on this job.
Who Wants This Job?
We are now in the heart of 'Sacking Season', and managers are getting dismissed on an almost daily basis. We are approached by three clubs: Bordeaux, Deportivo la Coruna, and West Ham. Bordeaux and West Ham have no money available for transfers due to being over their wage budgets. Depor has £1.6m available (a pittance), but is right at its wage budget limit, and, along with West Ham, in the relegation zone.
The club in the least trouble, league-table-wise, is Bordeaux. Whenever a club is under-performing, it down to either bad luck - such as injuries - or some glaring inefficiency within the side's player makeup, or tactical deployment. Often times, the club is okay defensively, but deficient in attack, or fine in attack, but porous at the back. The latter condition describes Bordeaux. The club sits fourteenth in Ligue 1, just seven points behind 7th-placed Stade Bretois 29, but are in the bottom three in terms of Goals Allowed.
A leaky defense is the most frustrating of situations a manager can face; it can render a prolific attack useless as a side lose matches by simply being outscored. Putting 4 goals into the net only to allow 5 will drive any manager insane.
On the attacking end, Bordeaux are below average, with 12 goals in 11 matches for just over one goal per match. A glance at their squad 'assist' stats show that they lack a 'playmaker'. The closest thing they have to a playmaker is their left back, Benoit Tremoulinas, who has 3 assists in 9 starts. This is an indication that Bordeaux use their fullbacks to contribute to the attack, which explains in some part the poor goals against tally: they use a high back line.
Equally troubling is the fact that their only reliable source of goals is one player: Yoan Gouffran, who has an impressive 7 goals in 13 games. Of the six other players with a goal to their name, only Cheick Diabate has more than one. Being so heavily reliant on one forward would spell doom for the club if the player were to suffer a long-term injury. With the club's precarious finances, they would be unable to do anything in the January transfer window to bolster the squad, so it is wise to reject this job, and save ourselves the inevitable headache taking the reins here would cause.
As for the other two clubs interested in our services, West Ham and Deportivo, rejecting their offers was simple. Why? A look at the league tables of La Liga and the Premier League tells the story:
Both clubs are in the 'relegation' zone, and are dismal at both scoring, and preventing goals. They have virtually no money to spend to improve the side - West Ham actually has none - and are therefore hoping beyond hope that a miracle of sorts will save their season. This hope is somewhat realistic in the case of the Hammers, whose board expect the club to merely avoid relegation. But Depor is somehow expected to recover and finish mid-table by season's end. It's too much to ask, in Daggeroni's opinion, and he wastes no time in saying 'pass' to both of these jobs.
An Intersting Proposition
Just one day after the talks break down with Depor, we are offered the job at Ligue 1 club AS Saint-Etienne. The club are fighting relegation, and are in shaky financial shape, being just over their wage budget, and having less than £30,000 to spend on players. Yet, we are intrigued by this club's prospects once we take a look at the Ligue 1 table:
At first glance, Saint-Etienne looks rather unimpressive : 19th in the table, 15th in goals allowed, and 13th in goals for. Where is the cause for celebration in any of that? A look at the squad stats will show us.
Saint-Etienne lack a clear playmaker, a player through which the side regularly launch attacks. As a rule, for a player to be considered a 'playmaker' he needs to have one assist per 3 matches. This is what we at FM Tipz™ call the 'One-in-Three' rule. It is an effective way to quickly assess a player's contribution to his side in one of the two most ways.
There is just one player in the Saint-Etienne side who qualifies as a playmaker candidate on these grounds : right back Francois Clerc. Clerc has just two assists - no more than any other Saint-Etienne player - but he's gotten them in just four starts. The other three players in the side with two assists have no fewer than 9 starts. Perhaps the outgoing manager discovered Clerc's usefulness after tinkering with his lineup before being sacked. It's something to keep in mind.
Up front, Saint-Etienne have gotten ten of their thirteen goals from two players: striker Patrick Aubameyang, and experienced Brazilian Brandao. The pair have 5 goals apiece, and both pass the one-in-three rule. Aubameyang has 5 goals in 12 starts, and Brandao an even more impressive 5 in 2. The Gabonese's tally is no fluke. In the previous season, Aubameyang notched an impressive 16 goals 36 games for Saint-Etienne, after being bought from AC Milan for £875,000.
An added plus is Aubameyang's age: 23. The youngster shows signs of perhaps being a star - in Ligue 1 at the very least - and is certainly of more value for transfer than he was one season ago. As for Bradao, the Brazilian journeyman's best years were during his time in the Ukraine at Shakhtar. He has not been as effective since then, but has shown himself to be an able goal contributor at whichever club he turns out for.
So, Saint-Etienne have a few positives working for them, despite their current league position. By starting unemployed, almost every club that approaches us will be in some sort of trouble; that's to be expected. The important thing is whether or not it possesses the tools by which to climb from out of its crisis. Saint-Etienne is looking like such a club.
Poker
We decide that Saint-Etienne is a promising club at which to begin our managerial career. But, with a number of clubs potentially on the verge of sacking their current managers - hence more job opportunities - we want some time to consider our options.
One week later, no new opportunities have opened up, and the French club once again await our decision. We delay our decision once again; one more week, please.
On the 29th of November - two weeks after their initial approach - Saint-Etienne will be put off no more; they demand that we either accept or reject the job now. A decision must be made, so we consider our options.
There have been no further sackings since the middle of November. There are seven clubs - 5 in Serie A, one each in La Liga and Ligue 1 - whose managers are in 'very insecure' positions at their clubs. However, it is almost December, and we have to determine whether turning down a promising job offer, only for to wait and see who - if anyone - is sacked within the next couple of weeks - and hoping to be offered the vacancy - is worth the risk. The question we must answer is this: is there a club who would be better to manage at this point than Saint-Etienne?
We honestly don't want to manage shaky clubs in either Italy or Spain. Why? Because those two leagues contain 'super' clubs, like Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid, and Barcelona. Add to this the fact that three of the five Serie A clubs are 'reputable' ones - Inter, Lazio, and Udinese - less likely to hire a newbie, plus the fact that just one of them is described as being financially secure. Those five jobs do not represent a better opportunity than our current one. Ditto for La Liga side, Real Betis.
There is another potential opportunity in Ligue 1, however : Stade Rennais. An opening at this club could be more attractive than the Saint-Etienne offer. We conduct a bit of reasearch to bear out whether this is true or not.
Stade Rennais are inferior to Saint-Etienne is all of the major categories : league position, goals for, and individual stats. The club is slightly better than Saint-Etienne in goals-against, but just barely, having allowed 18 instead of 20 goals. There is no reason to forsake the job on offer for Les Verts to wait on a potential Stade Rennais opening.
An interesting development during the two week Saint-Etienne courtship of Tony Daggeroni happened: the club improved. The club climbed out from the relegation zone to sit 13th in the table, while tightening-up the back line, and vastly improving in the attack. This is shown in the individual stats of the squad:
Left-sided midfielder Jonathan Brison has emerged to top the squad's 'assist' statistics. His tally of four in fourteen games does not pass the 'one-in-three' rule, but is close. An assist in his next start would put the player into the black as far as that goes. It is nevertheless encouraging that Les Verts are showing signs of life - despite being without a permanent manager - as their stats two weeks prior suggested they could.
Up front, the outlook is even better. Aubameyang and Brandao continue their excellent form, with the Gabonese netting three times in his last two matches, and the Brazilian twice more, despite apparently being used mostly off the bench.
At this point, it seems that there in but one choice for Mr. Tony Daggeroni to make: take the Saint-Etienne job, and hope for the best.
Conclusion
Starting an FM game unemployed is a way to ensure that an FM player knows what he or she is 'getting into' before committing oneself to any club. Choosing a club from the outset is a crapshoot. The player will either succeed or fail, but will have no idea which outcome is more likely. Every FM™ player players dream of managing a 'big club'. Veterans of the FM series, however, know the pitfalls that can await when one attempts to take the reins of a reputable club before their created manager is him/herself also reputable.
It must be remembered that Football Manager ™ is a management simulation that happens to be set in the world of football. It is not an arcade game like FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer, which one plays so as to live vicariously through their favorite clubs and footballers. The goal of the FM™ simulation is to become a successful manager, perhaps good enough to be inducted into the 'Hall of Fame'. To do this, care must be taken by a player to make the right moves, and take the right jobs at the right time, for to enhance one's resume within the game world. The beauty of FM™ is that there are ample analytical tools available to aid the player in making the most logical and sensible decisions in choosing clubs to manage. All one has to do is utilize them......
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