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Handling the press
One of the hardest aspects of FM for newcomers to the game is how to approach handling the media and when to use it to your advantage.
We will break this aspect of the game down into individual components and hopefully clarify some of the reasoning behind how this operates.
Manager Mind Games
Generally, when making personal style comments, your professional players will want you to act in a professional manner, whilst your not so professional players (when making degrading/disrespectful comments) will be thankful that they have got a manager who thinks on the same wavelength and is therefore more willing to work harder for him. So it's a matter of judging the make-up, personality wise of your squad, to achieve the best possible response from your squad.
Player reaction in fact reveals elements of their hidden stats and personality. For example, following a test case where Alex Ferguson condemned Southampton as relegation candidates, while Beattie and Phillips were determined to prove Ferguson's claims that the team were relegation fodder incorrect, Fernandes was unsure and felt that Ferguson might be right. To explain further, Beattie and Phillips have shown a reaction typical to player's who have strong character traits such as a high determination level, being able to handle pressure well and having a good ambition level. If when dealing with the media you react in this manner you will generally get the best out of these type of players (results permitting of course). However, Fernandes has shown a level of insecurity which makes him prone to doubt himself, the manager and the club as a whole. It can be a tricky situation and the best way to deal with players of this nature is not to pile too much pressure on him, always play down your chances, don't provoke other managers or players and generally try to stay out of the limelight. Players such as Fernandes will flourish in a less pressurised atmosphere.
In terms of how a player who has been affected by a mind-game will play on the pitch, it is much harder to predict. There are so many factors involved in determining whether a player will perform on the day of match; including morale, happiness level, tactics, opponent on pitch, opponents tactics as well as off-the-pitch topics such as transfer or contract activity regarding the player. These are just some of the factor's involved. What we can definitely say is that if a player reacts positively to a manager comment it will definitely have some positive impact on that player in terms of his match performance, although how much is down to the other factors as stated above. This is also the case in terms of a negative reaction.
As with much of the media both in real life and in FM 2007 it can be a fine balancing act between pleasing one group of players but maybe upsetting others or vice versa. This makes analysing your squad's personality traits essential to the success of the team.
Release Media Story
At present there are a couple of restrictions upon this feature, the first being that this option will not appear on the player profile unless he has played at least four games. You will also be restricted to praising or criticizing one player a week. These restrictions are in place simply to prevent managers from over-using this option on inappropriate players.
As in real-life, players love to be praised by their manager and aren’t fond of criticism. However remember some players while disliking criticism will be inspired by it and attempt to prove their manager wrong, also some players will become complacent if praised and so may perform worse than otherwise.
It is (as always) your job as manager to decide how to go about motivating each individual in your squad. As a guideline we would recommend avoiding criticising youngsters or people who are known to be highly strung.
Responding to transfer speculation
If one of your players has been linked with another club you will be asked for a comment by the press. The options you are presented with vary from issuing a hands off warning to declaring that you might have to sell the player to ease the club’s financial plight.
How you respond normally depends on whether you actually want to sell the player in question. However sometimes you might want to spread seeds of doubt about your willingness to sell a player (if for example the player in question is popular with the fans) until you actually do so, as admitting to even considering such an act can turn fans against a manager unless results are going the right way.
Its a 10-article series that covers everything your asking about. I'm not affiliated with the site, but I found it very useful. Hope it helps settle some of these questions for you.
I find the teamtalk feature a bit silly and time consuming but it's part the game and we must live with it.
Personally I take the Juande Ramos approach and bring in an assistant manager with very high Motivation stats and leave it to him.
Occasionally I will override his opinion and give poorly performing players a good ass whipping and so far I've had nothing but success with all the teams I've managed.
Great link Amaroq!
When i finish reading it I will post a feedback here!
That link should be at the official site!!
I mean, i see so many ppl complaining that their strikers cant score and most of the time its because they need some talking done
Thnx!
[quote]Originally posted by Amaroq:
Luiz, it sounds like you're looking for the "Communication and Psychological Warfare" article from fm-britain.
QUOTE]
I tend to avoid team talks when possible.
I know what should work from a psychology point of view, but the principles don't often hold in FM, hence i try and sign an ass man with Motivating 20 and Man management 20 and let him do it
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