2015 Player Happiness: How to keep your players happy

[Lee-Roy]

Keeping your players happy

Don't take this as patronising, as I know that most of us are FMH veterans and know how to keep a happy squad. This guide is aimed at newer players to the series and if I happen to teach the old guard a new thing or two then that's a bonus. This isn't the first guide on this topic and it won't be the last so I claim no originality.
 

What is the cause of player unhappiness?

More like "what are the causes?"! Keeping a happily balanced squad is easy feat. It requires a lot of pre planning, acting on the spot and fine tuning here and there to manage morale. Some things are just out of your hand and you'll find yourself dealing with the consequences of others actions the best you can. Things to look out for include: game time, new members of your squad, the media, player interaction, training, club form, player form, players falling out, transfer rumours and much more. These will all be addressed in this guide.
 

Training

Training can affect a players happiness in several ways

Problem: Player isn't responding to training well. This may be in the form of the player having a message in his personal screen informing you, or by your ass man letting you know. Not only will this upset the player, but you may find him on the injury list regularly.

Solution: It's time to change his training. Another option would be to try and improve your facilities, but the result of that is out of your hands unfortunately. Go to the training screen and give him something a bit less intense.

In regards to training, there is another factor that will contribute to player unhappiness. On any training schedule there is a motivation slider. Naturally, the more intense the motivational training the better, but it will come at the price of being more to burn your players out.
 

A new arrival/s to the squad

Problem: Depending on the players adaptability and other hidden stats, the player may find himself suffering a bit of depression after moving to a new club. The likelihood of this is increased when the player has moved abroad. It's a great feature but it is massively bugged sadly. Look at it this way - you're managing Barca and you buy Aaron Ramsey. Before long, you may get a message saying he's homesick.

Solution Real easy solution to the Ramsey-Barca theoretical situation. Buy another Welsh player. You will then get a message on the players personal page saying that the presence of [insert name of Welsh player you bought] is helping with the homesickness. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, this feature is completely bugged. Let's say you was managing Real Madrid and you bought Ramsey. Despite Gazza Bale being there already, you may still get the message about Ramsey being homesick. Or you may not. Or you may get the message but find out Gazza's presence is helping with the homesickness. It's not consistent and you don't know what you're going to get. So as far as this solution is concerned, it's hit or miss due to the unstableness of the game.

Club form

Problem: Your club isn't winning as expected/as much as they're used to

Solution: Simple one this - win more!

Contracts

Finicky business contracts. Due to the way this game works you can find certain players asking for new contracts several times each season. Not realistic, probably not intended and a pain in the ass for morale.

Problem: Player wants a new contract for whatever reason. This can be due to winning a trophy, getting called up to a nat squad, scoring an international goal or just cos he thinks he deserves more than the small fortune he's already earning each week

Solution: My personal solution to this depends on the situation. If I feel the player deserves the new deal then I'll make an offer I see fit. Otherwise he can get stuffed and if he complains and wants to move then so be it. That just makes the next transfer window more interesting. But this is a guide on keeping players happy so I'm obliged to tell you to give the greedy git a new deal. That'll shut him up for now.
 

Giving a player feedback

Player feedback can occur in two different ways. Either you'll be responding (or not) to a piece in the media about the player, or making your own positive/negative interaction in the form of a piece in the media or a private conversation. The problem with this is that the outcomes are entirely unpredictable and I tend to stay away from player interactions and go for the cold distant Rafa Benitez approach. If you do play the player interaction lottery then you're possible outcomes are either motivating, criticising or making a player overconfident. This is certainly not a long term solution for morale management
 

Players falling out

Problem: This can occur in a number of different ways, mainly two. For whatever reasons, you can find yourselves with a pair of players who can't stand eachother. The other one, is when a player kicks off about wanting to move and ends up with most of the squad hating on him

Solution: If it's limited to two players, you have the choice of who you sell. If it's most hating on one, you'll have to demote and sell the offender as soon as possible. You don't want these kinds of dysfunctional relationships in your team, it'll do no favours for the clubs morale.

Player form

Players have off days. As long as it doesn't last you'll be fine. Other times players go through slumps and this is reflected in his performances

Problem: Player is going through a rough patch. Most of the time you'll have to be paying attention yourself, but sometimes you'll be luck my and your ass man will kindly let you know that the players performances in training have been poor and offer you a solution

Solution: Wether you noticed yourself or the ass man noticed and gave you some advice, the advice rings true either way - leave him out of the first team for a while. If an unhappy player plays, chances are he won't play well. Which will make him unhappier. Which will make him play worse. It's a viscous circle and some time away will do him wonders
 

Being jaded

Problem: sometimes during a season a player will get jaded. It happens in all walks of life Md you'll be hard pushed to find anyone who doesn't get a bit disillusioned with their job at times. Luckily there's a quick fix

Solution: Leave the player out for a few games. Bit fed up of life? Take a break. And it's no different in FMH. A few games out of the limelight and some time to mull over things will do a player wonders. Being jaded can happen frequently with younger players. To stop the problem happening in the first place, be clever about how many games they play. You want them to develop yes, but no to get so much experience in one season that they're fed up of the game.



Thanks for reading guys, hopefully I've helped some people. Feel free to discuss and give feedback. Happy new year all

This post has been promoted to an article

[Ashez]

Amazing work Leroy, really helpful and detailed! This should really help out a large number of users .

[BullensBlue]

It's helped me [emoji481]

[JustM1kePlays]

Great work Leroy! Will help alot of new player's to the site!

[Lee-Roy]

Cheers for the comments and likes guys

[Dec]

This is brilliant, great work Lee.

[BatiGoal]

Great write up.

[BullensBlue]

A couple of my players have started saying something like "Thinks the boss should be more patient with his staff" one of them is a veteran defender and the other is a youth team player just breaking into the first team.. Any ideas?

[Lee-Roy]

A couple of my players have started saying something like "Thinks the boss should be more patient with his staff" one of them is a veteran defender and the other is a youth team player just breaking into the first team.. Any ideas?

It sounds like you've criticised a player, either publicly or in the media. This can include when the media start the story and you're left with the positive reaction, negative reaction it no comment option to make.

[BullensBlue]

?

It sounds like you've criticised a player, either publicly or in the media. This can include when the media start the story and you're left with the positive reaction, negative reaction it no comment option to make.

At the end of last season the press started a story asking if I thought my team were contenders for the title. Later they asked about the future of a player, I answered both in the positive choice. I wonder if they would be it ?

[Lee-Roy]

Not really seeing as that has nothing to do with making a player unhappy.

[BullensBlue]

Not sure then as I've never given negative comments to any players etc only positives after great game performances.

I guess it might be referring to me switching players on like a rotation system. I thought I'd ask here anyway as I thought it might have fit into a players happiness etc.

I'll keep an eye on em [emoji481]

[Lee-Roy]

Naa it's not down to rotation. I rotate all the time never get that message unless I've Actively done something to upset a player. Unless you're not rotating evenly maybe?

Also, we have to remember this game is currently bugged way more than it should be.

[Ashez]

Did you buy then transfer list a player in a short amount of time? That's the only other thing that comes to mind.

[BullensBlue]

Naa it's not down to rotation. I rotate all the time never get that message unless I've Actively done something to upset a player. Unless you're not rotating evenly maybe?

Also, we have to remember this game is currently bugged way more than it should be.

I think I worked it out. I've got a reliable setup for home games but not so great with away fixtures, so here's what I've been doing. After a game if the following fixture is an away game I clear selection then carry on with the week etc.

I had a think about why I was doing this and realised I had started doing it so the squad couldn't accuse me of always picking the same players etc. Then, when it gets to game day I select a formation then choose 'Pick Selection' which I'm guessing would be done by my assistant.. So I'm looking at the team he's picked and swapping a few of the starting 11 and subs. So if these two saying 'Thinks the boss should be more patient with his Staff' they'd be referring to me overruling his squad selection! (Assistant manager)

What do you think?

Just literally noticed myself doing this and thought agh!

Did you buy then transfer list a player in a short amount of time? That's the only other thing that comes to mind.

The closest thing I did to this was to have a player come back from a loan out to another club then I transferred him with few others.. I did notice after this another player was saying he was unhappy with treatment of another player so I'm really not sure if they meant the loan player or one of the others transfer listed.

[raj19]

My winger went about 6 games with 10-rated performances then when I give a positive interaction his morale goes down. Why is that?