So will Arsene Wenger get fired if he doesn't win the league or Champions League?

[Scott1990]

In FM, he would. I'm disregarding the fact that he's failed the long term expectation of winning the league within 2 years as Arsenal haven't won for the last 3.

Make it to FA Cup final: No
Make it to league cup final: No

This represents a serious fundemental problem in FM. You can fired for doing very little wrong. Lets say Man U pip Arsenal for the title (quite possible) and Arsenal eventually lose in the Champions League (more than possible), would you really think the Arsenal board would fire Arsene Wenger?

I think, that even if you only satisfy one board expectation, if you're pretty good otherwise and definitely improving, the board have no grounds to fire you. I got fired from my 8.01 Valencia game because I didn't make it to the Spanish Cup Final or the Champions League Finals and lost the Super Cup (all due to Barcelona...). I managed to win the league, but I did not get a new contract. Do you think any manager would EVER get fired after they win the League?

I think FM needs to:

A. Either make board more patient or make there be an unsackable option.
B. Add "focuses" to the game. You can choose to focus on one target (IE, FA Cup, League, CL, etc). and the expectations will be higher for that, but not as high for the non-focuses. It can easily be implemented and work like when you can switch the squad bonuses, budgets around.
C. This would be hard to code, but have the board take HOW you didn't achieve your expectations into consideration. If half my squad gets injured and I lose in the early rounds of the Spanish Cup to Barcelona, should the board be THAT unhappy? Obviously not, but they don't take that into consideration. Also, the first season Barcelona finished with over 100 points... but I managed to win the second season to not get fired (what I said before did not happen until a few seasons later). Real Madrid's manager got fired even though they had 90 or so points. I felt bad for him!

I was really hoping this would be fixed in the patch. I'll give you an example of the playability differences between 07 & 08. In 07, I never had to reload, while in 08, I need to save before every match so I can satisfy board expectations.

Cmon, SI. You know it's a problem!

PS Patch 8.02 gameplay is MUCH better, especially the Super Keeper issue. Good job on that!

[megafan2005]

fabio cappello got fired after winning the league so **** happens...

[mocko666]

Do you think any manager would EVER get fired after they win the League?

Ermmm im not sure if im entirely correct but didnt the real madrid manager get fired last year despite winning the league

I agree with the opinion that there are problems with the confidence system however i believe that it would be better if we could interact with the board if they have any problems within within the confidence in our management for example if we dont reach some long term goal we could have responses
1. We have improved slightly and will continue to improve over the next years
2. Promise the title next season or whatever the expectation was or slightly better
3. Apologise and ask for more time
4. An excuse of some sort e.g. injuries, bad luck
5. Resign on the spot with your tail between your legs admitting defeat

This could work in any terms of board confidence for example when we sign a player we could state to the board if they are one for the future and also if the board dont agree with a signing we could give reasons why hes not performing e.g. needs time to settle or something along those lines. Also, of course the board would react depending on their hidden attributes whether they were patient etc...

I dunno how this would work or if it would throw up more problems than good. Just my two cents.

Cheers

[Scott1990]

I'm definitely in agreement with you mocko!

[spoonguardreturns]

I'm not really sure what the solution is, to be honest. There's a lot wrong with the board confidence, and most of it is because you now have expectations for each cup you enter, at an appropriate level to the status of your club.

The problem is, if, as in the case of the OP, you are Valencia, there are good quality teams from England, Spain, Italy, and possibly Germany and France, who will all be expected to win their respective leages, and reach the final of the Champions League. It's impossible for this to happen.

If, however, it was set so that a club was expected to be competitive in the Champions League (basically a reduction of the expectations), it would be an improvement. It's difficult, really, because you need to get into the mindset of a RL chairman, and consider what they would want.

Take Manchester United as an example. What would it take for Fergie to be fired? A lot. If he lost in the group stages of the Champions League, that would not be fireable. Neither would a loss in the third round of the FA Cup, or the League Cup, or the Charity Shield. If, however, all these were combined, it would make a more likely situation (ignoring, for a minute, the loyalty factor). If he won the league with all those losses, he would not be anywhere near sacked. If, however, he only achieved mid-table, he would be fired. Similarly, if he had a mid-table finish, but won all the cups, he would be safe. If he won just the League Cup, he would probably be fired.

Essentially, I think that, in order for the confidence to be fair, the league needs to be weighted the heaviest, but it would need to be more considerate of the circumstances. If Man U were to get a top four finish, challenging for the title, the job would be safe, even if that was the case for four or five years. Yet, in FM, if there was no title victory in those years, you would be fired. If you won it one year, and came 4th the next, you would not be fired IRL, but you would in FM. And therein lies the problem.

I think, in conclusion, that if the expectations were tuned down for every competition, that would lead to less sackings, and a more realistic game as a result.

And, just because Real Madrid fired a title-winning manager, doesn't mean it should happen regularly. One case (probably very few more in the history of football) should not merit regular inclusion in the game.

(P.S. - Apologies to all who read this post. It's extremely rambly, and I'm not even sure whether I have a point. Just consider it as a collection of ideas, which I wrote as they occurred to me, as oppose to a structured argument)