[Squad Staleness, and other empire enders]

I absolutely love this idea. Stops AI teams just hoovering up titles with the same squad over a 10 year period too

[[FM22-Derby County] Why manage the Rams? How are you getting on?]

Was a bit late to this challenge, decided to take it on once Derby had gone down irl. Haven't been watching much of the Championship this season so didn't have much idea of what could be learned to try and survive myself. Got a takeover in autumn 2021 but didn't get given anything to spend in January. Sold Ravel Morrison in January because he had barely even picked up tools to begin with, let alone downing them. That gave me a little bit to spend (just the wage budget he left behind mainly) so signed Korey Smith and Nathan Young-Coombes on loan. We were doing well up to that point anyway, we had cut the gap from safety down to 7 points, just needed a couple of bodies in to play closer to the way I wanted to set up. Secured survival with 2 games left and ended up with a 7 point cushion over the drop. Was given 7m to spend in summer which helped me pad out a squad that ended up as the division's overachievers. Main signing was Benteke for 1.1m from relegated Crystal Palace, who agreed to pay 30k p/w of his 42k p/w contract. It's felt like cheating having him in this league, he's scored 15 in 15. We're in 2nd, just 2 points off Sheffield United, the only team that's beaten us so far

[Realistic away followings]

The away following in brackets has been a nice little addition to the game over the years, but it would be nice to see some realism to it. For instance, you tend to see teams who normally take large away followings (Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield Wednesday etc) only half fill away ends on FM, presumably because of their in-game reputation rather than being based on what their away following is like irl. I've also seen teams bring 9000 to Elland Road for big cup games, even though there's categorically no way anyone would ever be given more than the given 3000. I feel like maybe an additional hidden attribute (from using the editor, I know there are a few hidden attributes that profile a club's fans) that may give a more accurate representation of the way away followings behave in real life and further info on a stadium as to the maximum away capacity. Not a massive change by any stretch, but something I'd imagine a club's researcher wouldn't have to go particularly far out of their way to get information on. If we're making it a change that impacts on the way the game is changed as opposed to being just an extra immersive detail, it could have an impact on the lift players get when playing away from home which could be dictated by things such as the pressure hidden attribute.

[[Suggestion] Manager recruitment in advance]

One thing you tend to see a lot of in modern football is managers being approached to discuss a job at a club while the incumbent manager is still there, either as part of a succession plan or as a matter of urgency in the middle of a season when the club needs closure on the next manager straight away.

Of course, this doesn't happen for every managerial appointment, some boards are better at forward planning than others and this also tends to have an effect on who gets the job. I'm not familiar with the hidden attributes off the top of my head so I don't know if there are certain attributes that would affect forward planning or if this would require new attributes. 

My proposal would effectively include the following:

1- Not all boards will look to recruit a manager ahead of parting company with the one currently in charge. Some will either prefer to take a few weeks to find the next guy or some just won't be good enough at forward planning to do this.

2- In cases where managers are recruited 'in advance', the attributes affecting forward planning will have an affect on who comes in. For example, a board that is good at forward planning will appoint not only a successful manager, but a manager that is a close fit to the club vision (i.e. a manager who leans towards tiki-taka been hired by a club that want to play possession football); whereas a board that isn't as good at forward planning will appoint someone who isn't such a good fit.

3- The recruitment process can either consist of the existing interview-staff changes-contract model, or be something more discreet and informal, such as being approached to discuss willingness to move, club vision, whether the manager would like to take charge immediately or at the end of the season and so on.

4- You have the option of enquiring about a job if a manager's job status shows as 'insecure'