I play with Brighton (League One), I'm only in the first year, but my job is already insecure... Why?

I'm doing quite well in the league, the team is 11th, but just after a bad streak. The expectations were low, so the board is delighted with the league performance.

The team was expected to reach the 3rd round of the FA Cup.

It's a terrible, unbelievable mistake from the developers, that the board makes any expectations BEFORE the f**** cup draw is known!!!

In the first round, I had to play at Doncaster, one of the best teams in the League One, being on a great streak that time. Of course, I've lost. I don't think any boards in the world would be angry after that in the real life, but in FM, the board was very disappointed, because I failed to make the 3rd round.

So if I knocked out for ManUtd for example in the 1st round, but lost to Chelsea in the 2nd, the board still would be disappointed.

And I think that cup performances are just as important for the board than the league - you play 46 league games a season and only a few cup games, but still, the board would be disappointed with your overall performance, if you won the league as an underdog, but failed to make the expected rounds in the cups, for example.

What is even a more terrible mistake, is that FM tries to rate signings. How can you expect a software to have opinions???

I signed Lee Boyle, a 20 yo goalie for no more than 1K f*** pounds. He's only my backup goalie and only played 3 games this year. He conceded 3 goals, once he was the MOM and has an avg rating of 6,67. But the fans are not happy with him.

This is not the only case, many other players were judged in a laughable way.

And:

"Overall confidence

[...]
Their main complaint is that the fans believe Lee Boyle to be a very poor signing."

So my job is insecure, because I've lost in the 1st round of the FA Cup away from home against a much better opponent AND because I've bought a backup goalie (a prospect actually, as he's only 20).

To sum up, it's a huuuuuge mistake from SI that the game tries to have its own opinion - because it only says bullsh*t.

It's long known the board confidence is bugged.

yea, the confidence section needs work, but is definitely a great feature.

Sure it's not a big problem, unless you are about to lose your job because of this bug...


Is there a solution? For example, somehow make the game not to ever fire me?

stick with brighton mate
i got them promoted first season...i came second and after 5 years in the chmapionship, i am in the prem and doing average

Board condfidence is a complete write off as far as I'm concerned. Maybe they'll have it working for FM2011?

You get judged pretty much solely on your league position.

I often ignore the cups with lower level sides since you don't make much money from them, as long as I do the business in the league, no one cares.

i dont think its a huge mistake to let the game have its own "opinions"; thats what AI is: the simulation of human decision making process. however, i do agree that there are some really basic flaws in the AI logic. flaws laughable enough to make me wonder why the confidence system was included in this state.

in some of my games, ive had versatile players that dont often crack the starting 11 but frequently come in off the bench. many of these occasions will be a 5 minute spell at the end of the game where they really dont have enough time to make much of an impact, so they get rated a 6. with repeated performances like these, the fans and management are soon up in arms about this players form despite him averaging 5 mins a game. clearly, the AI does not take into account time spent on pitch which i feel is a pretty basic flaw.

and i certainly agree about confidence re: competitions. my first year in an aston villa game i drew man u in the 3rd round (expectation was that i reach the 5th round) and lost. needless to say, the board crucified me though fortunately didnt cost me my job. this is especially worrisome for lower league side... your chance of beating a premier team are really slim and should be reflected in the board expectations. but again, its either lazy programming or not enough time spent fleshing the system out to actually make it useful to the human player.

unlike media, where you can skirt around potentially damaging comments by not commenting, you have little leeway (other than winning everything). its unfortunate b/c the potential is there for some really sophisticated interactions w/in the media system but right now we're communicating (or rather the AI is) at the level of cro-magnon humans scrawling on cave walls.

If you sign a promising youngster and give him five or ten minutes here and there he will be labelled a dud in no time. In actual fact all your trying to do is give him a taste of first team action.

It does iritate me though that I can reach the semi final of the CL and win the Scottish domestic treble yet still be told the board are extremely unhappy that I lost a meaningless game to Celtic (after the league was won) by a couple of goals or so. If I've already won the league I give youngsters a go.

Another problem I find with the confidence concerning signings is that you get no credit for developing youth talent. I've bought some players for next to nothing, they go out on loan for a season or two and then break into the first team and get good ratings but it is as if the AI has forgotten about it. It seems the AI only considers signings within the previous 6 months. Yet, as said in the above posts, if you give that youngster a couple of sub appearances, you get slated for it.