General
What do I have to do to start playing the game ?
What do I do if I forget my password ?
How often are matches played ?
Club
When can I choose a Club to manage ?
How many Clubs can I manage in a World ?
What if I want to manage more than one Club ?
What if I want to manage a specific Club ?
What if the specific Club I am searching for is not available ?
Are there any advantages to choosing a smaller/less popular Club ?
How does a Club become available ?
Does there have to be demand for all 92 Clubs before a new World is opened ?
Is every Club managed by a person ?
Do AI managed Clubs have an advantage over Clubs managed by real people ?
Player
How large is the Player database ?
Are all of these Players available in each World ?
Why can’t I find a specific Player ?
Why don’t a Player’s characteristics have a numerical value ?
What if I disagree with the description of a Player’s characteristics ?
What is my Player knowledge rating ?
Hints & Tips
GENERAL: What is the game about ?
In short, we believe its the most realistic, football management game around !
As a User, you take on the role of manager at a football club. Over the course of a season, your Club will play league and cup matches against other Clubs in your World with the result of each match determined by our Match Engine.
For each match, you are responsible for selecting the starting 11 plus 5 substitutes, deciding on formation and tactics and making substitutions as you think are needed.
On a day-to-day basis, you are responsible for organizing training for your squad, scouting for new Players, negotiating contracts with your current Players and all transfer market activity (including dealing with your own board of directors).
GENERAL: Where can I play the game ?
Anywhere ! All you need is an internet connection and a web browser.
Nothing is downloaded to your computer because all game information is held on our secure server. Like a personal email account, you can login from any computer and therefore play the game wherever you want: at home, at work or even from an internet café when you’re on holiday.
GENERAL: What do I have to do to start playing the game ?
Sign-up ! This only takes a minute and will help us build a community of like-minded people.
On our website, simply click on the link: Not registered? Sign-up now! All you then need to do is create your Username and Password, provide a few details and you’re set.
GENERAL: What do I do if I forget my password ?
Don’t worry ! You can get it sent to you by clicking on the link: Forgotten your password? and confirming either your Username or email address.
Anytime you want ! However, please note that when matches are being played, no User is able to get access to their Club.
GENERAL: When are matches played ?
Matches take place on the dates set out in your Club’s fixture list.
There's a split of between 12-15 hours between the 1st and 2nd halves of the matches, giving you an opportunity to change tatics at halftime. All matches happen at the same time in a given world, however the times vary between worlds. The home page tells you what times these are.
for example: In World 5 if a match is scheduled for 03 Aug, the 1st half will take place between 0000 and 0020 on 03 Aug with the 2nd half taking place 15 hours later between 1500 and 1520.
GENERAL: How often are matches played ?
Matches are played about once every 2-3 days (all dates on the fixture list are real dates).
It therefore takes about 5 months to complete a full season in the game (or looking at it another way, over the course of a year a User will play about 2.5 seasons in the game).
At launch, a World will be made up of all 92 clubs in the top 4 English divisions. There will be many Worlds (World 1, World 2, World 3 etc), each of which is a self-contained league that is completely independent of all other Worlds and real-life.
for example: in real-life Arsenal might be in Division 1, however in the game they could be in Division 2 in Worlds 1, 2 and 3, Division 3 in Worlds 4, 5 and 6 and Division 4 in World 7. Over the course of many seasons in World 1, Arsenal may get promoted up and/or relegated down the divisions but this has no impact whatsoever on Arsenal in any other World. Similarly, things that happen to Arsenal in real-life like winning a cup competition have no direct effect on Arsenal in any World.
GENERAL: What can I do if I like the game ?
Continue to enjoy playing the game and tell all your friends !
GENERAL: What can I do if I don’t like the game ?
Contact us !
We’re keen to improve the game in as many ways as we can. For that to happen, we need feedback from you (what you don’t like, suggestions for how things could be done better, even things you do like !). As we’re a small, independent team not linked with any of the larger developers like Sega or Eidos, we hope to react more quickly to your comments – but remember, there’s only 3 of us, so we can’t do everything you may want !
CLUB: When can I choose a Club to manage ?
Anytime ! You don’t have to wait until the start or end of a season.
Once you’ve signed-up, you can login immediately to choose a Club and create your manager profile or avatar.
CLUB: Which Clubs can I choose ?
Currently, you are able to manage any of the 92 clubs in the top 4 English divisions.
In the future, and subject to getting the necessary rights, you will be able to manage Clubs from other countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina, etc.
CLUB: How many Clubs can I manage in a World ?
You are only allowed to manage one Club per World.
This minimises the risk of match fixing (if two Clubs were managed by the same User and had a match against each other, the User could try to influence the result by selecting the strongest possible squad, formation and tactics for one Club and the weakest possible squad, formation and tactics for the other).
CLUB: What if I want to manage more than one Club ?
Become the manager of a Club in another World !
Whilst you can only manage one Club per World, you can play in as many Worlds as you want.
for example: a User may choose to be manager of Bolton in World 1, Coventry in World 4, Darlington in World 6 and Everton in Worlds 7, 8 and 10.
CLUB: What if I want to manage a specific Club ?
Search for it with our easy-to-use Search function !
The search covers all Worlds, so you will quickly see if the Club you want is available and if it is, which World or Worlds it is available in.
CLUB: What if the specific Club I am searching for is not available ?
For the most popular Clubs there will always be more Users who want to manage them than there are Worlds where these Clubs are available to be managed.
As we’re just starting up, there are only a few Worlds open and the most popular Clubs will probably already be taken. If this is the case for you, we suggest you pick one of the less popular Clubs to begin with – there are advantages to doing this !
In the future, if the specific Club you want to manage is not available, you will be able to put your name on a Waiting list for that Club. As soon as the Club is available in any World, it will be offered to the User who is first on that Waiting list (with everyone else on the list moving up one in terms of priority).
CLUB: Are there any advantages to choosing a smaller/less popular Club ?
Yes there are.
Firstly, because there is less demand for the smaller/less popular Clubs, a User will probably be able to start managing right away (choosing a larger/more popular Club will probably mean having to wait).
Secondly, smaller/less popular Clubs allow a User to create a stronger manager profile (choosing a larger/more popular Club restricts a User from doing this). A strong manager profile is an advantage because it increases your ability to influence the results of matches through training, squad selection, formation, tactics and substitutions.
Thirdly, because smaller/less popular Clubs tend to be in the lower divisions (where squads are typically smaller and less-skilled) a good manager can usually get excellent results more easily and quickly there than in the higher divisions.
CLUB: How does a Club become available ?
Clubs will become available in one of three ways:
As demand for all Clubs increases, new Worlds will automatically be opened (in each of which, all 92 clubs from the top 4 English divisions will be available). If there is a waiting list for a Club, as soon as a new World opens the Club will automatically be offered to the User who is first on the Waiting list for that Club. If there is no Waiting list for a Club, any User will be able to choose it on a first-come, first-served basis.
Users may voluntarily decide to leave their existing Club so they can take on another Club in the same World (since they are only allowed to manage one Club per World). Alternatively, they may leave their existing Club to take on a Club (either the same as their existing one or a different one) in another World (since that Club will be in another World, the User could of course decide to stick with their existing Club as well).
Finally, any User who does not comply with our Terms & Conditions, runs the risk of having their Club taken away from them.
CLUB: Does there have to be demand for all 92 Clubs before a new World is opened ?
No. On average there needs to be User demand for about 60 of the 92 Clubs in a new World before it can be opened.
CLUB: Is every Club managed by a person ?
No. User demand is likely to result in the most popular Clubs always being managed by a real person. However, this won’t be the case for the less popular Clubs. Where this situation occurs, the AI (Artificial Intelligence) in our game will manage the less popular Club until it is chosen by a real person.
CLUB: Do AI managed Clubs have an advantage over Clubs managed by real people ?
No. The Match Engine treats all Clubs equally, regardless of whether they are managed by the AI or a real person.
The AI will always manage Clubs in a consistent, sensible manner (so a User taking over an AI managed Club will generally have a good, solid foundation which they can then build on). However, AI managed Clubs will not be able to extract the extra percent from a Club that a good manager can, and which are often the difference between winning and losing.
CLUB: Can Clubs from different countries play each other ?
Yes they can but only in our European cup competitions.
As a User cannot currently manage a Club outside of the top 4 English divisions, all European Clubs will be AI managed.
CLUB: How does a Club qualify for a European cup competition ?
A Club qualifies for a European cup competition next season if, at the end of this season it has won one of the English or European cup competitions or it has achieved a high enough position in League 1.
PLAYER: How large is the Player database ?
There are approximately 25,000 Players in the Player database, any of whom you can bid for, sell or manage.
PLAYER: Are all of these Players available in each World ?
Yes. In the same way that all 92 clubs in the top 4 English divisions are available in each World, all 25,000 or so Players in the Player database are available in each World. However, just as there is only one Fulham in each World, there is only one Lionel Messi in each World.
PLAYER: Why can’t I find a specific Player ?
In putting together our Player database we tried to include as many Players as we could think of that Users might want to buy, sell or manage. Although its now a little out-of-date, we hopefully didn’t miss too many Players. In any case, with new Players continually being discovered all over the world, keeping it up-to-date isn’t easy. But that’s where you can help !
If you think a Player should be in the database but isn't (using the Search function in the top right of the screen allows you to quickly find out if a Player is in there or not), let us know. For the moment, you can post in the Global forum under the heading: Missing Players. If other Users agree with you, we'll pull together a list of Players who will be added to the database the next chance we get. In this way you will help to keep the Player database as up-to-date as possible.
In the future, we hope to automate this process which, in addition to speeding up the frequency of database updates, will also allow us to reward you for the suggestions you make by boosting your Player knowledge rating.
PLAYER: Why don’t a Player’s characteristics have a numerical value ?
All the football management games we know of rate Player characteristics by giving them numerical values, eg. a Player’s speed might be rated as 65/100 or 7/10. Although we can understand why, we wanted to move away from this idea as we don’t think its very realistic. After all, in real-life are you more likely to say to a friend that Theo Walcott is very quick or that his speed is 9/10 ?
The bars as well as the text which appear when your mouse cursor hovers over a bar, are our way of trying to express these characteristics in a more meaningful way. We appreciate that it may look a little different to begin with but hopefully it makes more sense than using numbers !
PLAYER: What if I disagree with the description of a Player’s characteristics ?
Tell us by clicking on the Rate Player’s real-life ability link !
Unlike other football management games, we want to know what you think about the Players in the database and, just as importantly, we will act on your comments. You can submit your opinion on any Player, any time you like. Based on the opinions received, the Player database will be automatically updated.
By submitting your opinion on a Player’s characteristics, you do 2 things: improve the Player database for everyone and affect your Player knowledge rating.
PLAYER: What is my Player knowledge rating ?
Your Player knowledge rating is based on the quantity and quality of the submissions you make on Players’ real-life abilities.
A high Player knowledge rating is important because the higher it is, the more control your Club board will give you in your transfer market dealings. As the Player database is global (it affects all Worlds), your Player knowledge rating also has a global effect, ie. it affects all of the Clubs you manage.
PLAYER: What does the quality of a User’s opinion mean ?
A good quality opinion is one which is either in line with the majority of Users’ opinions or one which the majority of Users end up agreeing with.
for example: in the Player database, Thierry Henry’s speed may be described as Exceptional (this being the current overall opinion submitted by ourselves and our Users).
If a User submits an opinion saying Henry’s speed is only Very good, that User’s Player knowledge rating will fall (since their opinion is not in line with the majority of Users’ opinions).
If the majority of Users then start to submit opinions saying they also think Henry’s speed is now only Very good, the description in the Player database will reflect this by changing from Exceptional to Very good. At the same time, the User who was first to say that Henry’s speed is only Very good will now see their Player knowledge rating go up (as their opinion is one which the majority of Users have ended up agreeing with).
PLAYER: Why does a Player need a work permit ?
As in real-life, Players are only allowed to play in the UK if they have an EU passport or a work permit. The main thing needed to get a work permit is that a Player regularly plays for their country (either at U21 or full national level). By looking at the Player status panel in a Player’s profile, you can easily see if they’ve played for their country at full national or under 21 level.
As in real-life, we think its better for a manager to start at an average or low profile Club.
With 100 points to ‘spend’ on a combination of picking a Club and creating a manager profile, there are effectively 3 options:
Our reasons for recommending an average or low profile Club are that a manager can usually get good results more easily and more quickly in the lower divisions than the higher ones (where the Players’ physical and skill levels are higher). Also, because an average or low profile Club means you can create a stronger manager profile, your ability to influence the results of matches through training, squad selection, formation, tactics and substitutions is greater.
HINTS & TIPS: Creating a manager profile
The key issues are to decide how you want your Club to play (in terms of formation and style) and your personality as a manager, and then build a strong profile based around them.
for example: if you decide that most of the time your Club will play as a hard-running and hard-tackling 4-4-2 (4 defenders, 4 midfielders, 2 strikers) you should ensure that under Tactical preferences you are Comfortable or Expert at playing with a 4-man defensive line, Flat midfield and 2-striker formation and under Technical skills your Physical training ability is Good or World class. Similarly, if you want to manipulate the media and play mind games with your opponents, it makes sense to choose under Mental characteristics that your Media-friendliness is World Class. If you still have points left over, they can either be used to gain new skills, characteristics and preferences (such as playing with a Target man formation) or strengthen existing ones (being Expert rather than Comfortable at playing with a 4-man defensive line).
HINTS & TIPS: Choosing tactics for a match
The main issue here is consistency with your manager profile (in terms of how you want your Club to play).
for example: if you have decided that most of the time your Club will play as a hard-running and hard-tackling 4-4-2 and you have created a manager profile that is consistent with this, your formation and tactics for most matches should reflect this.
In terms of who should be in your match-day squad of 16 (starting 11 plus 5 substitutes), this should be based on whether a Player is available for the match (they may be injured or suspended), their fitness and recent form as well as their squad status.
After pressing the Save button, you will be asked whether you want to save these tactics as a template. We recommend you do so as the next time you need to choose tactics for a match you can select the saved template and avoid having to input everything from scratch. If you want to make amendments, you can do so and save the new tactics as another named template. In this way, you will build up a set of named templates which you can use again and again without having to make many, or even any, amendments.
HINTS & TIPS: Building a squad of Players
This is probably the most important thing a User needs to do when taking over a Club.
We recommend that you take a long, hard look at the Players in your squad and decide who you want to keep and who you want to put on the Transfer list. Once you know who you are keeping, you should be able to work out what Players you are missing and this should be your ‘shopping list’ when you start to bid for Players in the Transfer market.
The kind of questions you should be asking yourself when building a squad are:
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The great title music is by Rex Ronan