Silly Season In Football Manager

This is one of those times bi-annual events that drives headlines like no other. The silly season aka. the transfer window. Clubs like Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid look to break transfer records twice a year signing the best of the best without too much concern about whether or not these players fit into their game plan. Other clubs have more limited budgets and will simply try to get through the window strengthening their squad as much as their budget affords. Or at least without losing too many of their best players.

How do you go through the transfer window in football manager? Here are a couple of strategies that I've used in the past.

Championship Manager 2001/2002 Transfer Strategy
Still one of my favourite iterations of the football simulation game created by Sports Interactive. In this game scouting the next opponent meant getting a star rating on each of the players in the team. What I did was take a closer look at all 4 or 5 star players. Those I deemed would fit my criteria would be scouted again and if they looked good, added to my shortlist. Whenever a player who was on my shortlist was able to leave the club via Bosman I would sign him up. My squad had a huge turnover every season, and I did have to prune the shortlist every couple of seasons.

Application in FM2011: Although you don't get as comprehensive reports on players from the opposing team you could send your scouts to check out any players highlighted in scout reports or pre-match backroom meeting. This could be a good way to find your transfer targets and you could probably also get some decent Bosman signings along the way.

Assistant Advice
At any time you can check the advice from your assistant manager. Ask for a team report and he will tell you about your teams strengths and weaknesses from his perspective. He will also often suggest some players he believes you should take a look at.
I have done this more than once. I will send my scouts and if the player looks good I will start negotiations with his club.

Recommendations From Players
You can at any time ask one of your players to recommend a player he thinks you should sign. This is useful if you have a player who isn't blending into the squad very well. He is likely to recommend a player he has played with in the past he likes and believes is good enough for the team. The downside is that he may consider it unprofessional of you to ask advice about signings from players. Use with caution.

Trial Days
In many leagues they have trial days where players who have been released from their clubs gets a second chance to prove themselves to other clubs. This is mostly useful for smaller clubs who might find a player or two who can be an upgrade on what they've already got. It's not the place for big clubs like Barca, Inter or Liverpool to find players to bolster their squads.

International Competitions
After every World Cup, European Championship, Copa America etc. you can bet the big clubs will be on the best performers like a shoal of piranhas on a feeding frenzy. It happens every time. Sometimes the players will do well at their new clubs, but there are also many examples of players signed this way who fail to impress in their new surroundings. If you do this and sign a player from an exotic country it maybe worth while signing a good friend of his as well to keep him company.

Good Old-Fashioned Scouting
If it aint broke don't fix it some would say. This is the old school way of finding transfer targets. Sending your scouts around the world or around your country as your budget allows is a tried and tested way to find fresh meat for the grinder. Some players will fail others will succeed. That's where you need to step in and do your job to make sure you sign the right man for the job.

These are some of the many ways you can approach finding transfer targets for your club. Tomorrow I'll look into another important detail about the transfer season. The working title is "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" and the post will discuss how big the turnover of players in your squad should be. Or at least the consquences of different player turnover strategies.