CREATING YOUR CLUB

CREATING YOUR CLUB

Football Manager Live’s uniqueness is born out of the fact that it confers the user with the ability to create their own team. The game contains teams created from scratch by the managers. So instead of people managing real life teams like Liverpool and Manchester United, teams are totally distinctive. This gives the game a sense of individuality as the team you create will be the only one bearing that name. It creates an attachment that is palpable as the team is essentially your baby. Once created it is up to you to bring that team success. You can customise your club in a number of ways, and these are described in more detail below.

TEAM NAME

One of the first things you will be required to do when signing up for Football Manager Live is name your Club. This is one of the most crucial decisions you will make so endeavour to take your time. The name you choose will be your club name for the duration of your subscription. It is also one of the most fun parts of the process. During the beta testing a litany of team names emerged ranging from variations on users' favourite club, where they live, and even named after famous football players or cultural icons. Some sample BETA names include: FrootLoops FC, Brixton Wanderers, Strugglers FC, Web Spinners FC, Solskjaer FC, Bethlehem Ninja Pigs, Victorious Secrets, Presley City, [Reload the] Mode, GIGIADZE!!!!, Vidal Baboon, Ultra.., Legless Ends FC and Superstar Tradesmen to name but a few.

A team name can give your side an instant identity, so why not go for something original and make a name for yourself. Once you have chosen your team name, no other manager can use that throughout all Football Manager Live Gameworlds. Your team name will in essence be an extension of your personality, it can get your team noticed in the Gameworld and will be the name your fans chant during matches.

PITCH SIZE

Does size matter? The answer is in the affirmative when it comes to choosing the dimensions of your pitch. When Arsenal enjoyed success under George Graham in the 1990’s Highbury had the narrowest pitch in the top flight. And when Gerrard Houllier arrived at Anfield the first thing he did was to narrow the pitch as his favoured formation did not include wingers and in order to stifle those teams with wide players he reduced the pitch size slightly every season. That philosophy was one of the few policies kept when Rafa Benitez took over the managerial reins. So like the real world managers setting the length and width of your pitch will be dictated by the footballing philosophy you intend to pursue. If you have a narrow formation without wingers, you could set your pitch nice and narrow, or width would be prudent if you like to play with touchline hugging wingers to give them space and help stretch the opposition defence. The same principles apply for Length. If you have a speedy forward who likes to run on to the ball he will benefit from playing on a long pitch with plenty of space to run into. If you are lucky enough to have a good hold up striker like Emile Heskey or the legendary Mark Hughes who brings in your midfield players into the attack, setting it shorter might aid them to get up into attack quicker.

You can also select the way the grass is cut on your pitch. Will your groundsman be instructed to cut the grass with Length Stipes, Width Stripes, Circular Stripes or a combination of all 3? Only you can decide!

To set these options go to 'FM Live' -> 'Preferences' -> 'Club' -> 'Stadium'.

KIT COLOURS

The style of kit used to remain pretty much the same up to the 1980’s. Then sponsorship and the need of the fans to wear a stylish representation of the team they loved emerged. So after picking your team name and setting up your stadium, the next objective is kit choice. Perhaps you will duplicate the colours of your favourite team? Or carry on the original aspect of the game and choose your own style. Do you have a lucky colour? Perhaps you know your football history and will emulate legendary managers like Don Revie and Bill Shankly, whose choice of kit was psychological. Shankly believed the colour red struck fear into teams and changed his sides kit to all red while Revie changed Leeds kit to reflect the great Real Madrid side. You select both your Home and Away kit from 35 kits which you can customise with your own colours. Your team colours will also show on your profile page; Colour 1 as the background and Colour 2 as the text. Thus this option will affect the whole image of your team.

'FM Live' -> 'Preferences' -> 'Club' will take you to the correct place.

As well as your first team your team can also have a number of other squads. If the Wenger principle of grooming an established youth team appeals then it will be imperative you invest in a solid youth structure. You may also deem a reserve side crucial to help build up your squad players and keep them match fit. Football Manager allows for all options as your team can have as many as 5 squads, reserves, U21, U20, U19, U18 or U17. You can name all 5 squads to suit your needs, and you don’t have to have them as playing squads. You could use a squad to list any players you may be tempted to part with even though you have not put them up for auction. Many people also have humourous squad names, like 'the hospital' for injured players, or 'the creche' for youth. Serious or silly, the choice is utterly yours!

You can add up to a maximum of 5 squad names, and are able to do this via the 'FM Live' -> 'Preferences' -> 'Club' -> 'Squads' menu.

BADGE

There is a space on your team profile page for you to upload a customised team badge. These can be a jpeg or png file. This is one of the areas where the distinctiveness of the games excels. People have embraced this concept immensely and there are a number of expert graphics experts who can create your teams badge to the exact definition you require. Some of the badges created would put professional designers to shame and a number surpass the design and personality of many real life team badges. If you are adept at Photoshop you can make one yourself. To those that have created their own it is a real labour of love. The game will automatically resize the badge created and show it alongside your team name when playing a match. 'Club' -> 'Profile' -> 'Change Badge' will allow you to upload badges from wherever they are stored.

YOUR OWN PROFILE

Every manager has their own in-game profile via which they can tell the world a bit about themsevles and/or their team via the presonal 'Statement' section. Use this to say hi to the gameworld, or to show off your team and post links to your best players and their goal clips. What you use this section for is entirely up to you.

Alot of managers, meanwhile, add humorous addendums to their names. One famous moderator, Si Evans, recently changed his name to Si 'I do not work for SI!' Evans. Can you be as funny, or do you think you're funnier? Finally, note you can put in a picture of yourself for all the world to see. Are you brave enough?

All these options are accessed from the 'Manager' -> 'Options' menubar and the 'Change Profile' and 'Change Photo buttons respectively.

BLOGS/FANSITES

During BETA hundreds of Blogs and Team website sprung up all over the internet. It is a great way to showcase your team to other managers both in your Gameworld and other live gameworlds. A good example of a blog is here: http://hamptonharriers.blogspot.com/. The Football Manager Live official site has a fan kit section to aid you in this department and you can also advertise your club site/blog on the offical website, www.fmlive.co.uk.

As this brief explanation hopefully shows, FML is all about YOU. We hope you take the opportunity to create a team that the whole world will soon be talking about.