To Do Or Not To Do

[Internomad]

Over the years I have watched 100's of videos and read many forum posts about Football Manager.  In some of these I have seen people say that we should ignore various aspects of the game, like Staff recommendation's, Additional Focus in training and other spurious stuff.  Can anyone give me a clear indication as to which stuff to ignore because it has no proven effect on players or tactics etc?

[SergeiG]

Definitely ignore staff recommendations, they are all idiots.

[FrazT]

There can never be a definitive list like this because all the suggestions are just a user's opinion.  You are the manager so, as in real life, it is your job to evaluate input and decide for yourself what is relevant.

[Internomad]

I think you are missing the point, what I am asking is what information that we see in the game does actually have the effect on a player as stated?  Forgive me if I am not making my point very clearly, I am 77 years old and the mind doesn't work as well as it did when I started playing Championship Manager all those years ago in 1993.

[phd_angel]

If you are a micro-manager, then everything is prone to have some impact even if infinitesimal.

For example, many gamers delegate press interviews but these might affect some player’s morale. 

Most staff’s recommendations are rubbish (and thus ignored by many) but occasionally staff have a point…

Some gamers tinker with training a lot, others do not…

It’s much about how deeply involved you want to get.

I’d say that, if you are not interested in micro-managing everything, then listen a bit to staff recommendations and take a look on data stats, but trust your instincts on what are the players’ actual fitness and morale levels before each match.

[Left right out]

Probably best to flip your question to 'what should you pay attention to?'

I'd say 2 main things, tactics and player quality. You get those right and you'll win everything.

Player quality can be done wholly by yourself (without listening to anyone) simply by buying players who are stronger than the last one you had in key attributes.

Tactics is about making sure you do about as well as you can with the cattle you have. A good tactic can be the difference between mid-table and promotion so it has the greatest effect of all components of the game. It is also the difference between winning the CL with a $3m wage squad vs $6m wage squad so it will keep you financially afloat in the top leagues.

Of lesser concern but still worth your time is finances and contract negotiation of key players at the right time.

I have relied wholly on those strategies to take the worst clubs from the depths of conference to be European Champions. All else is just window dressing you can immerse yourself in if you wish to have a deeper game experience.