Board Confidence feature is a joke.

[..Valhalla..]

Why are the board so pompous and even blasé about remarkable success? I'm in my second stint as manager of Gelsenkirchen and have just finished the season (26/27) unbeaten in the German League (W31, D3, L0), won the German Cup, and the Europa League for a highly unlikely treble. Yet with each competition win they keep saying things like "we always thought we would win it and are pleased you didn't let us down... we also want to impress that celebrations are kept to a minimum in order to focus on future challenges" 

I originally managed the club from 2020 to 2022 where I won consecutive titles and the Champions League in 2022 - their first League title in (if I remember correctly) 62 years at that point, and their first ever Champions League title. We were nowhere near favourites for either the league or the Champions League, yet we won both and the board were still largely unimpressed. Board confidence did increase to around 80% (delighted) briefly, but quickly reset to 60% (very pleased) soon after, for no apparent reason. The club had finished 7th in 2019/20, were without Continental competition and were going nowhere, I brought instant success and a long overdue league title but like I say, the board seemed pretty blasé about the achievement. I left due to elections leaving me without a decent transfer budget and then watched as they finished 3rd, 3rd, 5th and 6th in 2026 when I took the job again and yet again brought immediate success with the aforementioned treble and unbeaten season. The club reputation was World Class when I left in 2022, but slowly lowered over the next 4 seasons, with only 1 cup win achieved by the next couple of managers (including Zidane).

The confidence bar itself is highly temperamental. Before I even won the league in 2027 - 8 games remaining - it was sitting at 92% (doing an absolutely unbelievable job - this is BEFORE I had even won anything). Won my next league game, it dropped to 80%. Won another league game, it dropped again to 72%. Why??? Once the treble was secured, confidence was at 92% again for a little while, but then dropped to 62% at the beginning of the season a week or so later. This despite being reigning champions in 3 competitions, and me having raised the club profile back up from Continental to World Class.

I just think we deserve a little more recognition for our achievements. It's pretty insulting to land a club's first title in over half a century yet get told to "keep a lid on celebrations and focus on future challenges". It's ruining the enthusiasm I have for the game. 

[FrazT]

This, again, is an area of the game that needs work.  The" keeping a lid on celebrations" when you have just won a cup and it is the last game of the season is particularly infuriating.

In previous versions, my most vocal complaint was that the board will tell you in a monthly review that the fans consider some transfer or other as a poor piece of business and then tell you this every monthly report for 6 months.  Or alternatively, you are doing a fabulous job but we are disappointed with the recent draw against Barcelona in Spain ( in the first leg of a 2 leg tie when you won the second leg!)  Or they are disappointed that after winning 13 games in a row, you dropped 2 points in an away game against your nearest rivals!

I could go on, but you get my drift.

[OLLMEISTER1]

I echo everything that has been said in the previous two posts. Complete overhaul of 'Confidence' is needed. Here's hoping moderators can push SI powers that be with our concerns as has been raised by OP and get this sorted for future versions. IIRC this has been the same for many past versions now.

[HUNT3R]

58 minutes ago, OLLMEISTER1 said:

I echo everything that has been said in the previous two posts. Complete overhaul of 'Confidence' is needed. Here's hoping moderators can push SI powers that be with our concerns as has been raised by OP and get this sorted for future versions. IIRC this has been the same for many past versions now.

We don't push anything. If you find an issue in the game, report it properly in the bugs forum. There are bug reporting guidelines that tell you what needs doing.

[HemHat]

I signed some young (20) Danish right back in the summer transfer window as a back up and future first teamer for my Crystal Palace team. Got him for about 1.5 million and I'm paying him 15k a week. Have to give 30% of any future sale to the team I bought him from but other than that there's no other costs.

I'm now in March and I've been told every month so far that the board consider it a poor financial deal for the club. Fair enough if they do, but could they tell me why? Also perhaps only tell me once, not every month for a whole season.

[..Valhalla..]

3 hours ago, FrazT said:

In previous versions, my most vocal complaint was that the board will tell you in a monthly review that the fans consider some transfer or other as a poor piece of business and then tell you this every monthly report for 6 months.

 

1 hour ago, HemHat said:

I signed some young (20) Danish right back in the summer transfer window as a back up and future first teamer for my Crystal Palace team. Got him for about 1.5 million and I'm paying him 15k a week. Have to give 30% of any future sale to the team I bought him from but other than that there's no other costs.

I'm now in March and I've been told every month so far that the board consider it a poor financial deal for the club. Fair enough if they do, but could they tell me why? Also perhaps only tell me once, not every month for a whole season.

 

I'm currently experiencing this in another save. I signed a 17yr old DM from Leverkusen for £25m altogether (I KNOW from personal experience of managing him with Gelsinkerchin in the 2020's that he will be a "world class midfielder"). This was on January 1st 2017, and right away the board said it was a poor financial deal for the club.
He went on to make several appearances in the second half of that season when we won the Premier League, as well as being something of a regular so far this season (it's October 2017). The fans are ecstatic with his signing, yet each and every month the board remind me that it was a poor piece of business - I thought they would forget about it when the new season started, but no. He would already sell for £40m easily, and my coaches rate him as "potentially one of the best players at the club" so I don't know what the board are prattling on about  

[carlmiles1879]

Yeah winning the FA cup in the first season as Sunderland and I get told to keep the celebrations to a minimum makes no sense because its the end of the season now anyway but the press statement along the lines of them believing "we were always capable of winning it" seems daft for a club that hasn't won it  in 44 years. Also really annoying that when you win the press tell you that your club was one of the favorites for the cup when you were not.

Confidence is weird as well get predicted to go out in the 4th round and instead you win it and you get about 80%, why? what more could you have possibly achieved surely if that is the rating for your performance in that competition and you won it, it should be full as you overachieved everything possible.

 

[OLLMEISTER1]

55 minutes ago, ..Valhalla.. said:

 

 

I'm currently experiencing this in another save. I signed a 17yr old DM from Leverkusen for £25m altogether (I KNOW from personal experience of managing him with Gelsinkerchin in the 2020's that he will be a "world class midfielder"). This was on January 1st 2017, and right away the board said it was a poor financial deal for the club.
He went on to make several appearances in the second half of that season when we won the Premier League, as well as being something of a regular so far this season (it's October 2017). The fans are ecstatic with his signing, yet each and every month the board remind me that it was a poor piece of business - I thought they would forget about it when the new season started, but no. He would already sell for £40m easily, and my coaches rate him as "potentially one of the best players at the club" so I don't know what the board are prattling on about  

I'm smelling either Akkaynak or Havertz  

Currently managing Akkaynak with Stuttgart after stealing him away for £15m January first season transfer window. Quite possibly the best young talent I've managed on the game. Model professional attitude at such a young age. Dream to manage.

[puffascruffowitz]

Yea, the "poor piece of business" stuff has got to stop. I was one CL final away from doing the quadruple and still the main gripe from the board was me selling Takuma Asano, which....really?? Sold him for 1.5 mill, a very very mediocre player who would've never even made the bench. It just breaks immersion a bit when the board happiness logic doesn't make much sense.

[..Valhalla..]

6 hours ago, OLLMEISTER1 said:

I'm smelling either Akkaynak or Havertz  

Currently managing Akkaynak with Stuttgart after stealing him away for £15m January first season transfer window. Quite possibly the best young talent I've managed on the game. Model professional attitude at such a young age. Dream to manage.

Indeed, Akkaynak. I didn't want to say his name as I think player naming is kinda frowned upon here. But you've already done that now
If the board feel a player either in or out of the club would be a poor piece of business, they should say so before you complete the deal. You could then have an option to present to the board as to why you are making said deal, for example: 

1. I want his wages off the books.
2. He played 2 games last season and is of no use.
3. He is fading fast and I want to sign a younger replacement.
4. I believe he will become a top class player.
5. We have 3 right defenders, so one of them has to be sold to balance the squad.
6. etc etc....

That would add an entirely new level of immersion to the game.

@carlmiles1879 - agreed. As said earlier, I won EVERYTHING in a single season with Gelsenkirchen; League undefeated, German Cup, Europa League. I lost a single game all season; a 1st leg 2-1 reverse against FCP, but we won the second leg 2-0 to go through.
My confidence peaked at 92% for a couple of days and then started to drop for no reason, before settling on 62% as the new season began. Talk about a slap in the face. Board confidence for any manager achieving what I did would be 100% in the real world. I would be knighted (or the German equivalent), honoured, exulted. Arsene Wenger won the league undefeated back in 2004 and was immediately told by the board he had the job for life. They were (and clearly still are) 100% behind him. We wouldn't get anything like that support in FM, and if we won every single game in a season we would still be told to keep a lid on celebrations and focus on future challenges 

PLEASE SI FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CHANGE THIS 

 

@puffascruffowitz - the fans are just as bad. "The fans are disappointed in the sale of mediocre player A because he was a useful rotation option" is the biggest pile of garbage you'll ever read. Common place in FM.

[fmFutbolManager]

I did the league and league cup double with Chelsea and lost in the FA Cup final to Man United and the fans were still angry about a 2-2 draw with Leicester. 

[Praetor Meles]

It's not just the board/fans confidence.  I spent seven seasons at Tranmere and when I resigned for pastures new (having gotten them into the Championship via the playoffs), the assessment did the whole "total hero" blurb before bringing up...some random 1-1 draw from four seasons ago as a major negative.

[Preveza]

Just say Shalke. Is it that hard?

[..Valhalla..]

@Preveza - I'm aware of the strict rules about licensing and don't want to use official names which SI aren't licensed to use. Threads are usually locked when someone asks about circumventing licensing restrictions, so I'm playing it safe by using in-game names where possible

[nextqprmanager]

Maybe the game is realistic - many boards / directors` don`t know anything about football !

Just ignore them

[fabioke]

This is still one of the weakest aspects of the game. 

One of these days I will go full Trapattoni with the board

 

[zebec]

Valhalla, you raise an excellent topic here.  Muchos gracias for that.   And your opener to this thread is spot-on well worded.  This odd inability of the "Club Board" (for whatever club or national team that one manages) to more accurately assess with praise or critique is indeed a glaring FM game weakness.   I mention here national side because it ought to be warmly welcomed by a national side's board when a manager lifts this national side's worldwide ranking from around 55 - 60 to within the top 15 best in the world within a two year period.   This ought to reflect more precisely in the wording of how the board views what the manager has or hasn't accomplished. 

My only concern is that this thread will morph from your original focus of overall team & season performance assessment and feedback of the board to, yes, those individual player buy/sell assessments.   Don't get me wrong, I find the player assessments (hires or sell/releases) to also be more than a bit daft.  For example, when I purchase a promising 18 year old where I, as the manager, have in my mind this lad on a  4 to 5 year projected trajectory until he is ready to lace on his boots for the club's first team.  Right now?  He's a capable Youth U18 or U19 lad.    No more, no less.   Yet there he is in the "players" assessment where the fans are only giving his acquisition an "okay" rating or that they are reserving judgement. Let's be honest here.  Most fans of really big clubs are only vaguely aware  at best of the movement in and out of the club of those aged only 16 - 19.  (Unless a really big wonderkind sort of name) 

Granted perhaps the SI game creation staff have purposely let these board and club's fans expectations & assessments lag to keep us busy-as-beavers managers always working to move that assessment bar up a notch or two.  Is that the aim of these woeful, under-stated assessments and matching bar codes?

Overall, Valhalla, you raise an excellent topic.  I state this because the game's poor ability to better/more accurately assess a manager's  match, half season and full season accomplishments or underperforming has featured since I got to know this SI FM game series in 2011.  Over six years is a long time to have a key feature of the game like this lagging, uncorrected, and, as someone above mentioned, robbing the game of its potential real-life authenticity.

Might I ask then, do others find that there ought to be more specific wording as to how secure a manager's status is (as club or national manager)?    I refer here to that one or two words that feature on one's home page for club and/or country as "job security."  I would welcome a better range with more phrases or wording to offer a more precise, current overall assessment of where the manager stands vis a vis the board's expectations.   This rating for job security ought to be well in line with these  match, competition and overall player development board assessments as viewed against expectations. 

As for Gelsenkirchen, Valhalla, I agree with you.  Maybe you want to call them the Ruhrpott Jungs?    Or simply "Die Knappen?"   For what it is worth, your win with them did represent the first Salateller (salad plate - the nickname for the Bundesliga trophy due to its shape like an oversized platter) in well over a half century.  Thus, with a triple win season, you'd normally have a statue erected in your honor in downtown Gelsenkirchen.   (See what Kaisterslautern did for Otto Rehagle and Karl-Heiz Feldkamp).  Also for what it is worth, I watched one of S04's epic fails live at at away match in Stuttgart during a much too warm May Saturday afternoon.  Back then club legend Rudi Assauer was the president and Charly Neumann was still part of the staff (both now deceased).  The iconic Rudi Assauer (of cigar chomping fame) had a lot of explaining to do as did GK "Pannen" Oli Reck after an abysmal 0-1 loss to VfB on an absolute last second distant goal strike by Bulgarian Balakov.  If S04 had won on the day (against a tired, yes blase, and completely uninspired VfB) they'd have been in the driver's seat to win at home the following Saturday on match day 34.   The agony of decades of no Pott in the Pott would come to an end.  However, no points -- where 1 point at least could have been achieved by a U18 side versus VfB --  on that match day 33 completely gifted the BL title away. You can check out which season I mean.  It really was uncanny.  Epic fail when the entire S04 Community really felt they had finally won the BL title.  They had to settle  for the fake "Herzensmeister" title once more.   Now?  Now the Blue-White Ruhr faithful have you at the helm.  Gluck Auf!    Have you nickhamed your  Europ(e)a Leage winners the new "Eurofighters?"

The above paragraph to say, as others have above, when a cup win  or even presence in a final finally occurs after 40+ years, or a long coveted Europe crown (like the first in a club's history or in a generation), or, yes, a league championship, this ought to reflect better in this SI FM game.  How about presence in a semi-final?   Finishing 2,3,4 or more levels  in the table above one's club's fiercest rivals ought also to merit more accolades or at least mention.    Or having achieved a coveted European competition slot for the coming season when one's rival clubs will be idly sitting at home on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights watching on the telly.    The Board ought to smile more on such things.   Surely the SI creators can add 9 - 10 additional comments and get them to marry up with how the club has progressed -- or underperformed, as the case may be.

Fabioke's reference above to Giovanni Trapattoni's legendary remarks are, yes, I would also say warranted here.  A video well worth seeing.   The phrase "Was machen Strunz!? (a reference to a player) and the Italian use of this word strunz is now for this topic/was then apropos.   That is indeed an all-time classic. 

I write the above in the sincere hope that this aspect of the game is swiftly measurably improved.  This should not really require much software attention and adjustment.  The better realism will win more fans and players to the game.  And keep those who are playing it now from simply quitting and moving on to something more worthy.

For now, a la Trapattoni, "Ich habe fertig."