Football Manager lets us realise our desire for the power, which is deeply rooted in human psyche. However we have to be aware of the fact that in order to achieve the final success we ought to consider many factors. This guide deals with what to do so that we do not waste the first day at our new team. The earlier you make difficult decisions, the earlier they result in successes of your team.

Straight after we start the adventure with our new team and get to know its history, we have to make the first important decision: what goals we want to achieve in the following season. On one hand if we make an ambitious commitment, more funds for transfers and contracts will be given to us, but on the other hand, our initial minimalism and further achievement of a success will result in contentment of the board of directors and supporters.

 
Of course the first screen that I browse is team squad, but then I browse profiles of my colleagues. Here my actions depend on the level of my team and available funds. If my team is wealthy and coaches are not good enough, I just fire them – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer maybe is the legend of the team, but he lacks of skills (according to the size of the team).

 
If we manage one of the best teams in Europe, we require the best results from our coaches and assistants – every training parameter has to be estimated at the highest number of stars. In order to achieve it, we should attach coaches with a particular attribute value to every kind of a training:

• strength and aerobic – condition
• goalkeeping – coaching goalkeepers
• tactics – tactical
• ball control – technique, mental
• defending – defending, tactical
• attacking – attacking, tactical
• shooting – technique, attacking
• set pieces – mental, technique, attacking

It is good to hire general coaches – they can take care of youth as well as seniors. But, if we want to focus on the youth, our coaches have to have high youth cooperation skills. Our trainers should also keep a good level of discipline. As you can see it is hard to select an ideal staff but after one season many coaches, who meet our requirements, become available.

However, what should we do when our funds are not enough to buy a coach from other teams? Well when I manage clubs with lower reputation and funds, I always set the filter so that it shows me unemployed coaches.  

 
I get pretty long list of names, even when I play with a small database, from which I choose the best available trainers. Then I go to the attributes view and after clicking on the name of the column, I get the list classified from the best to the worst coaches. It turns out that even seven – stared coaches cannot find a job, so we should make them an appropriate offer. 

 
I set filters similarly for scouts and psychotherapists. For the former ones, Judging Player Ability and Potential are key attributes, for the latter Physiotherapy. It is also good when all of our subordinates have high levels of adaptability (especially those who are foreigners) and determination.

However, the most difficult task is to find an appropriate assistant. Their role is very important, because they can prepare a list of players who could be on loan, they can work out opponent's tactic, and point out weak points of our team, they can help us with a motivation speech and a selection of the squad. However, an ideal assistant manager is just a myth, so we have to consider everything what he will help us with. If we want him to talk with the team during a match, he should have a high motivating attribute. If we want him to pick up the first team for us, he has to have a high judging player ability level. If we want him to work out an opponent, he should have a high tactical knowledge – I personally use this option. Do not forget about determination. 

After making offers to particular candidates, I do not wait for their decisions but I set a plan of friendly matches. Some people in the first stage of pre – season organise matches with weak teams, and they play with better ones at the end of it. Others do it inversely, so that they can improve team's morale thanks to wins over weaker teams. I do it in a different way. I plan a dozen or so friendly matches in order to prepare all of my players. They will be “in an excellent condition” during the whole season. Opponents can be even reserve or youth teams. It does not matter the time spent on the pitch is the most important. I let all of my players play till they reach an optimal form. Remember about a rotation – selecting of tired player can result in a severe injury! Let him rest – he does not play today but he will play tomorrow – that is why I organise so many friendly matches. Do not forget about players after injuries – 2 or 3 weeks in reserve team make him well prepared. Now we can start long and hard season. I do not trust condition training before a season – I train my players in the same way for the whole year. In what way? Another guide, prepared by my colleague, will show it to you.

At the end, I would like to mention that it is worth asking a player to start a training of his favourite move at the beginning of a season. This option is available in the player interaction menu. However, we should not choose an option that we like but which is suitable to his abilities. If we have great dribblers, we should convince them to learn crosses instead of shoots from a distance. It is also worth telling players to learn a new position at the beginning of the game. If you pick them up on a new position, they should learn it faster. It will increase our options of selecting the first squad. It is also very important in the prospect of a long and hard season. Good luck!