“Football
Chairman” has been one of the top-selling games in the UK app store for over
three years, and to celebrate there’s a new FREE version of the game available now for the 2016/17 season. It’s
called – imaginatively enough – Football Chairman Free.
If
you’re new to the Football Chairman series, here are three key tips to get your
chairman career heading in the right direction:
1. Appoint the right manager for the job
One
of the first tasks you’ll need to carry out as chairman is to find a manager
for your club. Managers have skill
ratings based on three key areas: Matches (M), Coaching (C) and Transfers (T).
A
manager with a high “Matches” rating will be able to get the best out of his players
on matchday – perhaps with his motivational ability, or tactical nous. This can be a critical skill if your team is
likely to be struggling near the bottom of the table and you need a boss whocan help a poor squad to over-perform.
A
manager with a high “Coaching” rating will be able to work with his players on
the training field to help them improve.
A boss like this is often a good long-term investment, especially if
your club can’t afford big-money signings.
A
manager with a high “Transfers” rating will be able to find and attract better
players in the transfer market. If
you’ve got some cash to spend and want to improve your squad as quickly as
possible, this is the guy to go for.
In
an ideal world you’ll find a candidate who is strong in all three of those
areas. But if the perfect man isn’t
available, think about which of the skill areas your club needs to prioritise.
2. Don’t improve your club’s facilities too
quickly
At
the start of the game a lot of people think “Right, I’m going to give my club a
fantastic new stadium and great training facilities”. But overspending on facilities is the easiest
way to send your club’s finances spiralling out of control.
Remember,
you start the game as a tiny non-league club in the seventh tier of English
football. You’ve only got a few hundred
fans, so there’s no point in giving them a big stadium to sit in.
Likewise
your players at the start are a hardworking but pretty talentless bunch. What do you expect when they’re being paid a
tenner a week? Even the world’s best
training facilities aren’t going to make a lot of difference when half your
players lack the basic skills to kick the ball straight.
Just
improve your club’s facilities slowly and steadily as your team moves up the
divisions, and hopefully you’ll reap the rewards in the end.
3. You’re not the manager - but you are the
boss!
Being
a chairman is very different to being a manager, and that’s a point that quite
a lot of people miss when they first start playing the game.
For
one thing, managing the club’s finances off the field is just as important as
achieving success on the pitch. Making sure you don’t overspend on the club’s
facilities, as mentioned above, is crucial.
But
perhaps even more important is keeping control of the transfer activity. Although the manager will find potential
signings, it’s your job to negotiate transfer fees and wages.
The
manager won’t always get it right – sometimes he’ll suggest a player who you
might not think is worth signing. He
might be too old, too expensive, not good enough, or play in a position in
which you’ve already got plenty of good players.
In
those circumstances, remember, you’re the boss!
Don’t buy players unless you want to – even if it upsets the manager
when you ignore his recommendations. At
the end of the day it’s your club… and if the manager gets stroppy, you’ll
always be able to find a replacement!
If
you remember the tips above, you’ll have a much better chance of building a
successful, sustainable club. In thefree app you’ve got 30 seasons to reach the top, and with a lot of shrewd
planning and a little bit of luck, hopefully you’ll see your club lifting the
Prem trophy before you retire!
