The Mind of the Low-Tier Manager - A Rant/Article

The Mind of a Low-Tier Manager - An Introduction
By Tom Delgado (Red Devils USA - GW Miller)
e-mail: tomdelgado@gmail.com

When there are managers who are blessed with great players, tons of money, immense tactical knowledge, and a huge stadium in which to make even more money on, there will always be the manager who isn’t blessed with any of those. They are the manager who will have to work with everyone else’s rejects, a small stadium, a very tight budget, and . Basically, for all the winning managers, there are losing managers, and for all the losing managers, there is always going to be one that stands out. The one in question, just happens to be the one whose article you are reading right now.

Having just gone out at the first hurdle of all my official comps for the 5th time in 6 seasons, and being winless in Overnight FA competitions this season, I know plenty about losing. I know plenty about being in the helpless position of not being able to afford game-changing players, not being able to come up with a competitive tactic, and rarely having the money to expand the stadium. The frustration of having everything you throw at the game be thrown right back in your face keeps mounting and mounting until you want to just throw the computer out the window. To some, it’s just a game. To those who are always struggling to compete on a regular basis, it’s a game that you play to win.

If you’re one of these managers, you’ve probably already asked for help from people in your GW, and you’ve tried everything they’ve suggested to no success. You’ve probably gone to the SI forums, and gotten some ideas, along with the occasional troll that tells you to “go read a tactical manual and stop begging for help like a sick dog”. You’ve gone to other FML forums where the atmosphere is more friendly and asked for advice there. Then when all else fails, you’ve hit the reset button on your team in the off-season and tried a totally different approach, and had that blow up in your face. That, my friends, is the story of the low-tier manager.

What to do now that we’ve classified you as one of these low-tier managers? Well for one, let’s figure out what your strong points and weak points are. Let’s find a tactic to build on, and let’s dip into the transfer market to find that game-changing player that your team so desperately needs. All the teams that are successful have more than one franchise player, but we’re not worried about that right now. Let’s get just one franchise player and go from there. What do the low-tier managers need to do? They need to roll up their sleeves, get down into the trenches, and get to work. Hard work and simple logic will always win out in the end no matter how overwhelming the odds are. Even when you’re struggling on your new plan, don’t worry. Even when it looks like logic is going to take a backseat to nonsense, stay the course. Eventually, if you make the right decisions, the manager will always get the nose back up on the team, and if nothing else, the team will be more competitive, and you’ll be back on the right track towards enjoying this great game we call Football Manager Live.

In closing, no matter how doom and gloom things look on your team, every dog has their day. One day, you could be like me, a low-tier manager. Next thing you know, you could be winning trophies left and right and attributing your success to simple logic and good decision-making. I believe FML is like a championship boxing match: You could struggle early and get your butt handed to you, but as long as you’re still standing and still breathing, you’ve got a puncher’s chance to steal an upset win no matter the odds. Hang in there, my brethren!