Complete Control
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Daunting, aren't they? I mean, it's fairly easy
to get into SWOS for a quick game or two but if you really want
to make the most of the new aspects of the game you've got some
serious figuring out to do. What with transfers, tactics, money,
playing, managing - it's all-encompassing, and you need to know
what's what if you're going to take your team of no-hopers on
to great things. Now, rather than giving you a list of endless
snippety tips (as I like to call them), I've broken down all
the new sections of SWOS and gone through each of them with
a fine toothed comb. Remember though, that this isn't a game
about putting the right guy in the right place at the right
time (although that plays a major part, obviously). There's
luck, skill and your own gameplaying talent to take into account.
After all, the game wouldn't be anything if it wasn't possible
for Plymouth Argyle to beat Manchester Utd in the FA Cup final..
It probably won't happen, but it's possible.
MANAGER OR PLAYER/MANAGER?
So what advantages does a player manager have
over being just a manager? The most important aspect is the
ability to take a good player and turn him into a valuable commodity.
Say your striker is valued at £1.5million. Adjust your
formation with the tactics editor, use your amazing Sensi skills,
score somthing like 40 goals in a season (if you're really good)
and you might find yourself with a player worth something like
£2.5million or even £3million. Now you can sell him
off and buy a £3million player and carry on like that.
TRANSFERS
If you're going to get anywhere with your team,
you're going to have to dabble in the transfer market. Even
teams such as Manchester Utd aren't as strong as they could
be - personally I'd like to see Chris Sutton up front. But you
can't just keep on spending and spending. You need to analyse
your squad, and decide what players you need to sell. Then you
need to decide, from your tactics editor, what special skills,
if any, your new player will need. Once you've figured all that
out, you then just need to buy him.
Don't forget though, that you don't have to attempt to buy a
player who's up for sale - you can poach from any team, but
unless you make an offer substantially higher than he's actually
worth, you probably won't persuade the team to sell him. Also,
don't stick with the domestic market. There are plenty of foreign
markets to try, and although you may not be aware of the player,
you can use the game to see whether he'l fit into your grand
scheme of things. In fact, I picked up a great Italian goalie
I'd never even heard of before. So don't be scared.
YOUTH TEAM/RESERVE PLAYERS
After getting rid of most of your players on the
transfer market, you'll notice that poorly-valued players start
appearing in your squad. These are either reserve or youth team
players taking gaps in your squad. You must have at least 16
players in your squad so if you sell a player when you've only
got 16, a youth team/reserve player will appear to make up the
numbers. This isn't that much of a bad thing though, because
you can either cultivate these players by giving them the odd
game (your team strength shouldn't alter that much), allowing
you to find a new talent or even improve on one and sell him
off, or you can sell them off straight away if you need to obtain
a bit of cash. You'll sometimes find that other teams will try
and buy these players.
CLUB BUSINESS
A tricky part of the game this, because you can't
directly alter what's going on, you can only view it. The only
way to accrue money is to sell off players or play at home,
but in the beginning you won't need to worry about this too
much. It's only after you start improving your squad (and as
such start paying them more money) or even when you play abroad,
either as a manager of a foreign side, or in a European competition,
that you start to notice the money disappearing from your account.
Win a few competitions, get a lengthy cup run going and even
win something and you'll reap the rewards. Just don't spend
it all at once, or you'll end up in financial trouble (and with
costs running at something like £1 million a week in Italian
Serie A, that's not hard). In fact, at one point my chairman
sold off one of my players without telling me. Good job it wasn't
anyone important.
Stay in debt too long, and you'll either get the club shut down
or get the sack. And you don't really want that to happen.
JOB OFFERS
So you're good, are you? Been offered any top
jobs? The FA screaming at you to become national manager? It's
a fact that as soon as you start to look even remotely impressive
(eg get to the fifth round of the FA Cup, or even simply put
together an impressive run of games), job offers will start
pouring in. True, most of them aren't that glamourous (for some
reason Port Vale ust won't take no for an answer), but after
an impressive season of taking Leicester City to the top of
the premier league, winning the FA Cup and European Cup Winners
Cup, Sampdoria made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and the chance
to play with a forward line-up rated at something like £14million
doesn't happen every day. A couple more successful seasons and
that national manager's job is mine. And then I finally get
my hands on that World Cup.
Anyway, when a job offer presents itself, don't make a decision
straight away. Take a look at the squad, check out theplayers,
look at the league position and see hoe much money will be available
to you, and then if you still can't make up your mind, play
a few more games and have another look.
Or, like me, you can ignore the best offers, and stick with
the silly dream of making your favourite team (Leicester City
in my case ) the best in the world.
PLAYING THE GAME
Personally I get the most out of SWOS by aactually
playing and controlling the action. Although there are some
management options, it's not truly a mnagement sim like Premier
Manager or Championship Manager. By following the above advice
you should be able to get on with the management section of
the game. but you will still have to put up with statistically
poor teams. Whereas if you play the game yourself, you can have
more influence on the game. Better still, play two seperate
games - one as manager and one as player manager.
And if you still can't get anywhere, practice youe Sensi skills
some more.
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