More control over preseason

[sdx15]

I'd like to suggest a few things that would improve the way preseason works in FM.

1. The first thing is to give the manager a chance to select when the preseason starts. I know the game sometimes does give you that option, but those dates are fixed and out of context. What I'm suggesting is to always have the option to pick a starting point of your preseason on your own, just like you can set reminders for your notes. This way, the player can enjoy the benefits, or suffer the consequences, of a longer/shorter preseason rather than the game just picking a random date that all too often doesn't give you enough time to prepare for the new season.

It would also be helpful if the inbox item asking us to set the start of our preseason contained the dates when the club's competitions start. Even if you don't implement the first part of this request, it's always useful to know when does the league start and when is your team entering cup and international competitions before the preseason starts rather than having to wait for that information to become available during preseason when the league fixtures are drawn or the game creates the season that's about to start.

2. The second request is the option to control when players on international duty that miss the beginning of preseason join the team. I don't want to see my players a day after they played their last match on an international competition at training, I want an inbox item that notifies me immediately after that match that the player has been knocked out of the competition/has played his last match. That item should also prompt me to manually choose when the player will join the team.

Additionally, if, for example, I choose that one such player joins the team only a few days before the first match of the season, which means that he's missed the whole preseason, I should be able to force the player to undergo an indivudual set of preseason training for a week or two, during which he doesn't participate in the first few matches of a season. This would prevent players that miss the preseason from being too prone to jadedness and fatigue in the new season.

3. And the last thing are training camps. Since training camps aren't only a way of avoiding unfavourable weather conditions during preseason, every club that is at least semi-professional and isn't financially in ruins should have the option of going on a winter/summer training camp. Depending on the money the club has, the player could choose between a number of local, regional, national or foreign resorts. Those camps could also have a star rating of their own. The more stars the resort has, the better the facilities are and, subsequently, the better the clubs are that are available to play friendlies with at that resort. The price of the training camp would also increase with every half a star more the resort has and the amount of players could also influence the total cost of the trip.

Also, just like with the preseason, the player should be able to set the start and end date of the training camp on his own.

It would also be useful if we could ask players on international duty/extended holiday to join the training camp at a later date. If I recall correctly, that wasn't possible on FM20 and that just doesn't make any sense. Another interesting training camp option would be the ability to send a player home to train with the B/youth team if you're unhappy with his conduct. That should, of course, come with the risk of making the player or the rest of the squad concerned/unhappy, but it would be an option that would allow the manager to assert himself and put pressure on the player to drop his concern.

Thanks for considering this request.

[Zachary Whyte]

Thanks for the detailed suggestion, the community have brought up similar ideas. This may be rejected or with further consideration and design end up in a future FM.