Disciplining Problem Players
The trick to maintaining club stability on an amateur club
Disciplining Problem Players
One of the most frustrating parts of Football Manager is dealing with players who perform poorly, and who then get upset at you for calling them out on it.
That very thing happened to me just the other day.
I took a chance and started Han Jong-Sung against the Tafuna Jets. Han Jong-Sung is a 25-year-old South Korean striker who the coaches doesn’t think quite has the talent to play at the same level as the rest of the team.
He had an awful match, squandering multiple chances in the 45 minutes I let him play. We were down 1-0 at halftime, yet were still able to come up with 2 goals to win it in the second half, after I took him out.
I scolded him twice and fined him a week’s wages. Of course, this is an amateur team, which means that the fine was $0.
But he still got really upset:
And that’s where the plan went into action.
Uncooperative
Now, before I go into detail, I want to make it clear that you shouldn’t do this with any old player. This course of action is best reserved for players who perform poorly on multiple occasions — the sort of guys who seem to not care at all due to low levels of professionalism.
You’ll also want to make sure that the player is actually really upset. I gave Han Jong-Sung a chance, and, sadly, his reaction didn’t make things better.
Now, the positive sign you’re looking for here would be accepting the $0 fine. Blaming his teammates is Football Manager’s default way of telling you that he’s upset about what you just did to him. It’s also absolutely infuriating.
And so I took a drastic step.
Termination
I simply terminated Han Jong-Sung’s contract.
This termination costs PanSa East F.C. the grand total of $0.
It was swift and easy. All it required was for me to right click on the player, put my mouse over “Contract,” and choose the “Release On A Free” option:
And now he’s not a problem anymore.
Morale has gone up as a result. We’re down a striker, sure, but we’ve got 4 others ready to take his place.
And, of course, there’s no chance of me accidentally signing him again. This is what my scouts think of his ability:
The moral of this story is to not be afraid to put your foot down — especially if you are in charge of a completely amateur club. Feel free to get rid of those players as you see fit.