This guide explains what to look for in an assistant manager in Football Manager.
The Assistant Manager is considered to be the right hand of a football manager. They are the ones you trust the most, the ones that will follow you in every step you take, backing every decision you take in the search of succes.
In Football Manager that is no different. The Assistant Manager has been given a prominent role in your backroom staff and can be given various duties. In this Guide we will discuss those different responsibilities for you Assistant Manager and the attributes that are needed for those duties.
Essential assistant manager attributes
If we look at the highlighted attributes in Football Manager, the game suggests we look at three attributes when signing an assistant. These attributes are:
- Man Management
- Judging Player Ability
- Judging Player Potential
Ok, these attributes are the standard attributes you look for in an assistant, but these will only cover the most standard areas an assistant can do for you. With the ability and potential attributes your assistant will be able to tell you which players are good enough for the first team or which ones suck and need to be sold. The man management attribute will help him get along with your players.
BUT; the attributes above are good enough if you want your assistant manager to act like you in-house scout that will only look at your own players. But we all know you don’t want that. You want someone that can assist you on more than one level. There are multiple responsibilities that can be given to your assistant and those responsibilities could aks different sets of attributes.
We will discuss some of these responsibilities and the additional attributes that are needed.
Extra Coach
If you work at a club with a sufficient budget, you should be able to sign enough coaches for every training category. But, not all clubs in Football Manager are allowed 15 first team coaches. In that case your assistant could be taking over one of the categories.
When using your assistant as a field coach too, look for:
- Determination
- Level of Discipline
- Motivating
- A high attribute for the category he will cover (defending, attacking, tactical, technique etc.)
Team Talks & Press conferences
Two of the more repetitive areas of Football Manager are the Team Talks and Press conferences. Although we would always recommend to keep on doing these yourself, it is possible to have your assistant taking these from you.
Use the responsibilities area in Football Manager to hand these areas to the assistant manager of your liking (if you have more than one for example).
IMPORTANT!
It is very important to realize that an assistant manager without the proper attributes could really damage your squad morale, but also your reputation as a manager. Only give away the responsibility if your assistent score 15 or higher on these attributes. Also look for the same tactical preferences, playing style and personality. These will influence his communication towards players and media as well.
Attributes which are vital in this position are:
- Determination
- Level of Discipline
- Motivating
- Man Management
Setting opposition instructions
Setting opposition instructions is an area in Football Manager that is seriously underrated. It looks dead simple, but could really mean the difference between winning or losing. We would recommend to set opposition instructions yourself, but it is also an option to ask an assistant or even a coach. He will then decide which opposition players will be marked closely or will be tackled hard.
An additional attribute to look for in an assistant that you want to set opposition instructions is Tactical Knowledge.
Reserves or Youth Manager
If you manage a big team, you will probably have a manager for your reserve team or youth team(s). But, as we said earlier on; not all clubs are filthy rich. That is why you can set your assistent as the manager of those teams. That way he will be having a good and close look at your talents, which will give him a good feeling of the quality and potential.
Attributes he will need as a manager are:
- Determination
- Level of Discipline
- Motivating
- Tactical Knowledge
To Close
As you can see the assistant manager can do a lot more for you than just ‘assist’ you. He can be a vital part of your team and he can definitely help you with the tasks you are asked to do. At the end of the day you will have to be very selective with choosing the correct Assistant. Make sure he has the right attributes for the job you have in mind, so he won’t do anything weird.