Guides

Using Reminders in FM

by Ix Techau on 19 Apr 2010, with 12 Comments

I’ve been using recurring reminders in Football Manager ever since they were introduced, and using them can help your efficiency in the game, as well as keep you more organised. The idea is to use reminders to keep on top of club economy, player progression, player happiness, identify transfer targets, etc.

This article was partly inspired by the Notes in Football Manager post over at the Away Stand. It has also been updated with a very good idea from DeKnegt over at The Dugout.

Transfer Targets

This note is used to have a clear and simple overview of intended transfer targets, instead of having to go by a shortlist. I usually set it up like this:

Scout:
1. Player
2. Player
3. Player
4. Player
5. Player
6. Player

Definite Purchases:
1. Player, Club, Transfer Sum
2. Player, Club, Transfer Sum
3. Player, Club, Transfer Sum

I set this to remind me on December 1st, and then to remind me every 6 months, so that it alerts me a month before every transfer window.

Weekly Reminder

In this note I usually just have a reminder to attend staff meetings and check the next 2-3 fixtures to see if I should rest some important players or not.

Here’s my weekly note:

This is a reminder to:
1. Attend staff meeting
2. Check next couple of fixtures

If you attend staff meetings regularly (instead of just when your assistant manager complains you haven’t attended one in a while), you won’t miss out on some notes that might disappear, keeping you on top of everything your staff has to say.

Monthly Reminder

In the monthly reminder we check the overall confidence levels (very helpful to see the supporters view of your club affairs), check progress on youth, request a team report and overview the tutoring assignments.

Here’s my monthly note:

This is a reminder to:
1. Check board/fans confidence
2. Check progress of youth team
3. Request team report
4. Go over tutoring assignments
5. Update story

Requesting a team report will keep you on top of what your assistant manager feels about the team, and if he feels you need strengthening. The update story point is just for those who are writing a game story while playing the save.

If you’re playing in lower leagues, or with teams in financial distress, adding a check finances entry on the list would probably be a good idea.

Three-monthly Reminder

Every three months we ask for a new feeder club (3 months is the minimum amount of time to ask for feeder clubs), use friendly games to make sure our unused subs gets some match experience, and we also check the training progress of all our players.

Here’s my three-monthly note:

This is a reminder to:
1. Ask board for new feeder club
2. Set up friendly games for unused first team players
3. Check training progress

I usually set up maybe 1-2 friendly games per month, and doing this three months in advance every time should be time enough to attract some decent sides. In these friendlies, I go with lesser used players and hot prospects in my side.

Checking training progress is just a matter of looking through your first team to spot any players unhappy with their schedules.

Six-monthly Reminder

Twice a year we check the progress of our coaching staff (so we can get rid of any coaches that doesn’t improve), and we also go over our scout assignments.

Here’s my six-monthly note:

This is a reminder to:
1. Check progress of coaching staff
2. Reassess scout assignments

This is also a good opportunity to ask for improvements on your facilities, if you’re not playing a top team.

One tip directly from the Notes in Football Manager article is to adjust the budget every six months to trick the board into thinking you’re using your transfer budget, which will make them give you more money.

Regen/Newgen Dates

Another good tip is to put reminders for all the dates where regens (new players) are generated into the game. Here’s what I added to my notes:

Brazilian Youth Academy (January 10th, recurring every year)
Just a reminder for you to take a look at the new youth prospects graduating the Academy in Brazil.

European Youth Academy (July 1st, recurring every year)
Just a reminder for you to take a look at the new youth prospects graduating the Academy in Europe.

Dutch and Spanish Youth Academy (July 15th, recurring every year)
Just a reminder for you to take a look at the new youth prospects graduating the Academy in Holland and Spain.

Argentinian Youth Academy (August 5th, recurring every year)
Just a reminder for you to take a look at the new youth prospects graduating the Academy in Argentina.

That’s just what I’ve focused on. If you want to add your own countries and specifics, go by this list:

1 January Chile
2 January Brazil
5 January Iceland
5 January Ireland
7 January Finland
10 January Columbia
15 January Ivory Coast
15 January Tunisia
15 January Algeria
15 January Morocco
15 January Cameroon
15 January Senegal
15 January Nigeria
15 January Egypt
20 January Norway
28 January Peru

14 February Belarus
7 June Bosnia
7 June Montenegro
7 June New Zealand
20 June Northern Ireland
20 June Israel
20 June Croatia
20 June Switzerland
20 June Ukraine
20 June Wales
20 June Greece
20 June Hungary
20 June Turkey
20 June France
20 June Germany
20 June Portugal
20 June Australia
20 June Scotland
25 June England
25 June Austria
29 June Slovakia
30 June Czech Republic
30 June Poland
30 June Belgium
30 June Ital

1 July Bulgaria
1 July Slovenia
1 July Roumania
7 July Denmark
7 July Holland
10 July Serbia
10 July Spain
15 July South Africa
20 July Mexico

1 August Uruguay
1 August Argentina
19 September Barbados
19 September Trinidad & Tobago
19 September Paraguay
19 September Ecuador
19 September Bolivia
9 December Japan
26 December U.S.A
27 December Sweden
27 December Russia
27 December China

List taken from this thread at The Dugout.

Other Suggestions

The notes in this article is just the notes I personally use, but you can add several other entries in those lists to help you with efficiency. Like:

1. Check squad morale (weekly or monthly)
2. Check weather forecast (weekly)
3. Reassess player contracts (monthly or three-monthly)
4. Check finances (monthly or three-monthly)
5. Upgrade facilities (six-monthly)
6. Ask to relay the pitch (yearly)
7. Check finances (monthly or three-monthly)
8. Overlook training regimes (yearly)
9. Expand stadium (yearly)

If you come up with any other good ideas for reminder entries, let me know in the comments section!

  • Ivo

    I loved some of the tips in here, especially the dates of new players generated.

    Btw, I relocate my scouts every three months – you think that is too soon?

    Also, what exactly do you mean by “adjusting your budget”?

    Splendid article!

  • http://www.mantralux.com mantralux

    Basically, you adjust the budget to get more money for wages, fooling the board into thinking you’ve spent your transfer budget. If you don’t spend your transfer budget, the board won’t really give you that much more money, but if you put some of the money in wages, you will get a new transfer budget on top of having a big budget for wages.

  • nickel

    hi, wondering about the youth prospects. how do you check the various academies?
    I’m using arsenal, so you can see how I found this site :P
    but yes, how do I access the youth academies, or is it referring to the prospects recommended by the club scouts in the board meetings?

  • http://www.mantralux.com Ix Techau

    I just wrote it like that, there is no way of checking specific youth academies. Instead, I just search for the nationalities and put an age limit of 18 in the search panel. Then I look for regens. It’s a lot of work, but it’s great when you find that rough diamond. ;)

  • http://easybargains.ath.cx/ Alicia

    I loved some of the tips in here, especially the dates of new players generated.

    Btw, I relocate my scouts every three months – you think that is too soon?

    Also, what exactly do you mean by “adjusting your budget”?

    Splendid article!

  • Joss

    Basically, you adjust the budget to get more money for wages, fooling the board into thinking you’ve spent your transfer budget. If you don’t spend your transfer budget, the board won’t really give you that much more money, but if you put some of the money in wages, you will get a new transfer budget on top of having a big budget for wages.

  • http://www.fm-base.co.uk StuW

    Great stuff mate, very useful to keep your game and team in order.

  • Arsenal Fan

    Brilliant work and thank you for sharing. May i ask you if i do not add the particular league from a country into my game, will i be able to see the regens from that country?

  • http://www.mantralux.com mantralux

    You’d see regens (I think), but not all of them.

  • Ryan

    Great post. Will definitely use some of the recommended.

  • Lorro

    I appreciate that this is an older article now, and FM2011 is out, but I have a couple of questions-

    How do you check your staff are improving /not?

    And for checking the players responses to their training- where do you check for this? Is it the player training tab, or they become unhappy because of it/ staff feedback, or all three?

    Really like your site design and articles.

  • http://www.mantralux.com mantralux

    Staff: it’s a matter of remembering their attributes, which could be a hassle. What I do is to write down all the attributes of my staff on a sticky note, so that I can compare as the game progress.

    Players: it’s a matter of checking their training panels to see if the right attributes are being increased, and also about happiness and the training graph (which shows you if they’re on the right schedule/workload or not). It’s also a general “feel” if they are improving on the pitch, and so on. A little bit of instinct and a little bit of training panel should give you a good indication as to whether or not the player is responding well to his training.