DontCallItSoccer

Managing HSV in Bundesliga.

I found a good coach with world class rep, Krzystof Dowhan (excuse the spelling), whom I signed from Legia or someplace in Poland as my new Assistant Manager.

Annual salary 250K (euro). Great! Earning much more than previously and promoted from coach to Ass Man.

So Chelsea comes along a year later and offers him a job as goalkeeping coach. Fair enough about wanting to poach my staff, it happens.

I make a counter offer to Dowhan, maxing out the salary at 575K euro and offering him half a mill as a signing bonus.

He rejects the deal, saying the salary is not good enough, but accepts a deal with Chelsea as a GK Coach on 450K euro.

WTF??

I suspect staff signings are based exclusively on club reputation.

Anyone else have something like this happen?

Ched

Sorry to break it to you, but pretty much all signings are based on reputation.

Had situations like this happen regularly, it's particularly annoyig when you've just been promoted and a player leaves you to go and play in the division below, simply because the team has a higher rep.

Something i've moaned about consistently, but SI have no intention (apparently) of changing.

DontCallItSoccer

By basing it solely on club reputation, I can see that it simplifies the coding for the game itself, but such a sledgehammer approach is irritating.

In this particular situation:

+ Dowhan speaks German and Polish, but no English
+ Accepted a demotion from Ass Man to GK coach (I also used him as a GK coach, btw)
+ Claimed my salary offer is too low but accepts a lower salary

There must be some way of generating context in the game, such as basing decisions on multiple variables and calculating a likely outcome, which is then communicated to the player, e.g.

+ Time in current job
+ Loyalty stat
+ Remuneration history
+ status of current club (going up, going down, successful, not successful)
+ Time of year
+ Good relationships with staff and/or players
+ Ambition stat

In the case of players, similar variables might come into play, plus:

+ squad status
+ number of games played
+ good relationships
+ etc
+ etc
+ etc

Each decision can be made on the basis of such a catalogue of variables, and each variable can be (1) weighted and (2) tested against the original proposition, so that a decision is arrived for particular reasons. Each item either passes of fails the check.

If the weighting of the failed check outweigh the weighting of those that passed, the decision goes against you.

Then, calculations complete, the coach might say to you: having weighed up all my options, I'm sorry but I will accept Chelsea's offer, because ... [insert reasons here, based on the failed check in the calculation, above].

Working with Oracle on a daily basis, we program business rules all day long. It doesn't seem that hard to me.

Just Jack

If a manager was offered £100,000 at chesterfield and £50,000 at Chelsea then theres only one place he's going. Chelsea

DontCallItSoccer

Not necessarily, Just Jack. It would depend on the individual. That's my whole point: decisions like that depend on a number of variables.

If, as in your example, the coach is young, he might find dealing with big name stars at Chelsea too daunting and stay with Chesterfield.

If someone is motivated only by money, he would take the 100K on offer at Chesterfield.

If someone is ambitious, they would be more likely to choose the club that matches their ambition. In my example, staying on as AssMan with a view to management in the future would likely appeal more to an ambitious personality than going back to being a GK coach among a whole group of back room staff.

However, they may be unambitious or less able to deal with pressure, so they would be more likely to choose Chelsea.

You can spin this out a huge number of ways, but my idea is to base the decision on a catalogue of variables, then communicate the decision and what it was based on.

I don't mind my AssMan going to Chelsea to be a GK coach again, but I don't want to be told that the salary on offer wasn't good enough when the guy then goes to a job with less status and less money.

Nomis07

It's annoying that every time I take over a new club the world and it's mother trys to sign all of my back room staff.

I don't think it is necessarily based on reputation as Barca came in for two of my coaches, I offered both of them the exact same contract, one stayed and one went. Just as with players and managers it depends on the loyalty etc etc of the coach.

As your Ass Man was brought in he may not have had any particular allegience to the club and so wan't to go to a better league despite the drop in salary and position. In contrast a player who then becomes a coach would show more loyalty imo.

Perhaps the reason the offer wasn't good enough is because it would have taken a hell of a lot of money to stop him from moving but for SI to incorporate this would probably be awkward.

ajcardall

If someone was offered £100,000 at Chesterfield I'd start to wonder when my local team become super-rich