Please allow me a bit of a long-winded philosophical rant early on a Monday morning. Read it to your morning coffee or skip it entirely if youd rather spend your time doing something useful ;) Its now been exactly one month since I first started blogging about Sheldonopolis FC. Looking back, it already feels like my club has grown a great deal. My initial squad was indeed pitiful, the club was really no more than an empty shell. Since then weve not only made a bunch of important decisions and growing in stature, weve developed a persona, an identity. Ive come to feel more and more like the club and myself form an entity, like were reflections of each other. I can already pinpoint a few things that Ive done wrong. For starters, I hired a keeper whose five keeping balls, it transpired, made him pretty worthless. Secondly, when I had a chance to sign a proper keeper instead, I pulled out because I didnt like how short he was (knowing full well that it makes no difference whatsoever in the game). I then spent weeks trying to correct THAT mistake without finding anyone that fit the bill. I also think Ive underestimated the value of stamina in this game. When signing players, Ive looked primarily at the Speed attribute paired with one role specific attribute (for instance Tackling for defenders). I think as a new manager just starting out, that kind of approach is probably not a bad one, but really, the stamina attribute should have been in there too. Not only are my players short on stamina balls, most of them are maxed out too, meaning I will need to look for replacements. If not for division five, then certainly for division four. Lack of form continues to be a worry for me. I recently purchased the Form Package as a way to boost my players so they have enough strength to finish the season. But each week they are dropping. The main problem is lack of squad depth. While I do have a few subs but putting them into action just seems like a waste of time, since they are too poor to ever develop into anything nice. What I need to do, starting next season, is expand my Youth Academy until I have enough Youths (minus those that are away at Camp), to give me a full second eleven. This means I can utilize them for friendly games and give my first squad a bit of a rest. My formation isnt optimal and I realize that. Going forward I will start becoming a lot more proactive. Problem is, my knowledge of the game isnt deep enough to really make any significant improvement. Trying things, analyzing and evaluating is the way forward. On a positive note, Ive taken charge of my team. I realized quickly I had to win all remaining matches in order to keep promotion hopes alive and weve adapted to this reality by getting good players in, fast. Ive also started up my Academy with five fresh Youths, as a way for myself to sandbox the whole concept a little. I already knew its one of the most exciting parts of ManagerZone, but I didnt realize how addictive it was to log in every day and check whether theyve earned any new balls in training. And speaking of training, I feel like Ive mastered the Training Field now as well, we have the right coaching staff for now and my key players are evolving. Finally, I realized my stadium was under-capacitated and after developing it a lot, I get almost 50% higher weekly revenues now and that does mean a lot! In spite of my spending spree, SFCs finances are healthy and making a profit each week. The money it generates will come very handy a couple of seasons from now. I think this is very good news, since club management is always two-fold: the short term need to win matches and the long-term need for growth. Im glad Ive been able to balance these two needs so far. Something tells me itll only get harder from here...
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 09:19:40 +0000
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