Help required from new members

Afternoon all,

Our new journalist, Lefty, has challenged me to create some articles for new managers.

Now, its been quite some time since I was a new manager and this is where you come in. If you've been in BR for 4 seasons or less I want to hear from you. I want to know what has worked well in BR for you, what's been dull, what you would do differently and anything and everything else you can think of.

My aim will be to translate all the information you give me interest some guides that will make BR more engaging for a new member and ultimately more fun.

Flozilla

This is my 4th season I believe. I registered 2012 anyway. Might be 5th season.

Anyway my 2 top tips.

1. Join the offsite and ask LOTS of questions.
2. Get a plan and STICK TO IT

Good feedback, but I need more! Cast your mind back to when you first started - what was your league like? Any real managers or all bots? Did you have one clickers? Was that first season fun or a bit dull?

It was interesting, learning the ropes. I've still got both of my first transfers, starting for me now in Div4.

They were mostly bots, easy. I'd suggest using your 1st season to build a base for a successful club. Expanding your stadium, hiring coaches, etc etc. Div4 is also pretty hard to be relegated from, my league has 8 teams, 4 of them are bots.

I don't know what one clickers are.

the season wasn't dull, I got loads of offsite advice and was winning games very comfortably after only a few weeks.

i will add some info here after doing the rest of the stuff on my current BR to do list

i have 2 affiliates so can add some fresh experience to this aswell as my main clubs

Play the whole season, not just the next game.  Work out what you are doing.  Survival? Find your two targets and make sure you beat them home and away (each game against them can be anything up to a 10 point swing). Don't be afraid to have a crack at higher teams if energy allows, since even a LBP could help.

Don't buy young players who aren't guaranteed starters for a few seasons (i.e. with a bit of TT they'll be OK in the next division up).  If you buy an old guy, remember to check his transfer history, there's a slim chance you'll see what his CSR is doing*.  I'd suggest not buying too many old guys, BR is a long term game (especially with facilities), so a young guy can grow with you, old guys you'll be chasing to replace.

* Or if the sale goes over a Tuesday, see what his csr is before and after.

Don't do what I did...

- Start and immediately get excited at the seeming ease with which you can upgrade your crap initial squad on the transfer market. Fritter money away on those oh-so-cheap 24 and 25 year olds with a CSR of maybe 10k more than the useless starters you already have.

- Focus solely on CSR - definitely ignore those intangibles, and their height and weight.

- Stadium expansion? Finances? Hah - rubbish.

- Why would I want to play with next week in mind? I want my team out there working their Bottom off EVERY WEEK, NO EXCUSES. Why worry about energy?

- Never bother watching a match, you can learn everything you need to know from the statistics.

- Train 20 different players in one skill each to try to improve your whole squad at once.

- But definitely don't invest in a decent training and scouting setup, it's really easy to just buy consistently better players.

- Youth setup? That's going to take years to bring any benefit. Sod that, too.

That's how I spent my first two seasons. Then I all but went bankrupt before I came here and started asking a lot of questions. Then I wrote some of this, which in fairness, I should have added more to...

https://brengland.forumotion.com/t932-a-newbie-guide

Hope that helps...

I am six season in. Ive made some good calls and Ive wasted money too.

Invest in trainers and facilities rather than expensive players. - play the long game.

If you invest in a youth set up, which I highly recommend. Fight temptation to spend your stars until you have a lvl 3 set up. I wasted so many stars scouting players while I only had lvl 2. They will be worth the wait.

Be the accountant. work out your fiances for a season or two. Can you afford the weekly wage bill? Ive had two teams in my league go bankrupt last season trying to chase the top spots.

Okay you need a little fun, splash the cash on a couple of guys on the transfer market. Just dont go mental.

Good call.

I've just checked my history and realised I'm now in my tenth season. Eeek. Can't really claim to be a novice any more...

I took 3 seasons to get out of division V (the shame) before realising that indeed, it's a long game.

Once I'd sorted out my stadium, I realised I could make more headway with an academy, too, and it suited the way I wanted to play.

Next week, my average squad CSR will go past 100 for the first time, and of the 25 players in my squad 21 of them will be home grown. I've got an absolute bumper crop of youngsters still to bring through to strengthen that, too - and that's despite being desperately unfortunate with height and weight in my pulls.

So it's good fun, although it's been a lot of work!