=============================================================================== FA Premier League Manager 2002 =============================================================================== Game Copyright: EA Sports, an Electronic Arts brand FAQ Version 1.10 (10/06/2003) Copyright 2003 Vadim Deylgat Author: Modena81 E-Mail: Franchises2003@hotmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Contents -------- I. A word from the Author II. Version History III. Tips and hints 1) Tips for use of the database editor 2) Bugs and glitches 3) Transfer Tips 4) Facility Development 5) Stadium Development 6) General Tips 7) Team Management (Coming in through the main gate) 8) Team Management (Starting small) IV. Contact and Contributing ------------------------- I. A word from the author ------------------------- I was shocked to find that no one had written a FAQ for this game. I admit there are some harder soccer managing sims out there, but some tips can't hurt. I have filled this FAQ with my knowledge I gathered from playing this game for over a year. When I discover some new things or I get contributions from other gamers, I'll write an update. This is still a work in progress. For those who want to contribute or comment on this FAQ, see section III at the bottom. Any contributors will get mentioned in a next version of this FAQ. One more thing. English isn't my native language, so there bound to be some gramatical mistakes my spelling corrector didn't pick up. If there are any comments concerning the language or grammar, send me an e-mail and I'll make the proper corrections for the next version. ------------------- II. Version History ------------------- 1.00 (09/05/2003) - First version with my basic knowledge of this game. 1.10 (10/06/2003) - Added a new trigger for the "fast regressing player". - Added a lot of names under "transfer tips" of players with a bright future. - Added a top 5 for most the common positions on the field and for strikers a top 10. - 3 new bugs: "speedy Gonzales", "too young, but too fast" and "no more talent" ------------------- III. Tips and Hints ------------------- 1) Tips for use of the database editor -------------------------------------- - You can change every rating of every player, but be aware that the higher a players rating is, the higher his salary will be at the start of a new game. You need to keep this in mind when improving the ratings of a lower division team. The salary cost might be too high for the team to support. - You can change the starting budget of any managable team, but this holds some risks too. The higher the budget, the higher the expectations will be from your team. When chosing an objective, you also have to achieve a certain bank balance. This will be your starting budget + about 15%. When you change the budget for a division 3 team to 30 million, you'll get say 25 million for achieving your first objective (e.g. winning the current league) and you will need a bank balance of 28 million at the end of that contract. You can not buy top class players and win division AND earn millions. This can get you fired. - What you could do when starting with a lower division team is raising the ratings of one or a few players so you start the game with some 80+ or 90+ players and then sell them for hard currency. Use that money for the 60+ or 70+ players you need to promote to the higher divisions. This way you can bypass the money issues at the end of the season, keep your salary structure healthy and get some decent players. - Increasing the size of your stadium is also an option, but don't bother with giving a Division two team a 75.000 seat stadium, because the starting number of active fans won't be affected and you'll end up with lots of maintenance costs and a small attendance. You could start a game with the team of your choice, have a look at the active supporters and increase the seating to your active supporter number + about 2000 (for away supporters). Then start the game again with a close to optimal stadium size. 2) Bugs and glitches -------------------- My general impression is that the glitches become more frequent after some years of managing, but this is by no means a given fact. - "The instant kill" This bug has hit me almost every time I started a new game. In one of the first games of the season a player will get a serious injury (often knee or thigh) and no matter how fast you try to build a medical centre, this player will see his career ended. This is no fun at all when this happens to your star player (I've lost David Beckham in my first game I started to this bug). Sometimes this doesn't happen, but there is no real way of avoiding this bug. The only advice I can give on this one is twofold. First, when signing the insurance, take the full package at the start of your first season, include retirements. This way you can compensate for the player's value. Second, save after every game your team played. If a player get's that expected injury, restart from your last save. Do this a few times to make sure the injury will happen over and over in that one game. The moment won't change, but the player that gets injured will change. Only save when it happens to a player you can miss. - Predeterminded games For those of you who have re-loaded a game because they found a result unfair and wanted another chance, the predetermined game won't be new. Some games, no matter how often you play them have the same result and even the same course of events. The most striking example I personally experienced was a game between my first division team versus Manchester City. I replayed that game 15 times and every time the same player scored at exactly the same moment. I changed startegy and field positions, but it wasn't untill I changed some individual orders that the game had a different outcome. You have to make up your own mind if restarting a game is cheating or not, but sometimes the computer decides you just won't win a game and you will never know if you don't restart. Besides the final score of a game, an injury can also be predetermined and no matter how often you simulate a certain game, there will almost always be one player with a serious injury. - Not quite reaching your objectives This is a tricky one. When you have the objective to win the current league and you are not in the Premier League, coming in second is a real pain in the ass. Promoting won't do, you need to win a league, so you either have to win the higher division you promoted to or relegate and win the lower division. Of course, relegating can cost you your job and winning the league you just promoted to in two years isn't a piece of cake. If you feel you won't be able to win the current league, but you can promote, let your team slide back down and try again the next year. Unless you are sure you can win the division above in two years time. - The unsignable player Sometimes when a player's contract comes to an end, there isn't an option to offer a contract and the players stays on the transfer list, waiting for a team. I had it happen once to a player whose contract was coming to an end. I got an e-mail saying his contract was nearly up and asking me to resign him. I answered the e-mail, but the player wouldn't accept my offer, saying that he had already signed for an other team. Yet he stayed on the transfer list, without an option to offer him a contract. And when I say that he stayed on the transfer list, I mean he stayed there for years. - The fast regressing player This bug appears sometimes when you have to play a lot of games in a short time and your players don't get a chance to train. I've seen Buffon go from 94 to 77 in three weeks time once. You can imagine that got me a little worried. Why he went down and my other players didn't, even though they too played two games per week, is a mystery. I've seen the same thing happen to Thierry Henry. He regressed, even after I had him train individually. The difference between these two examples however is that once Buffon had time to train again, he went back to a 94 rating in one week, Henry never recovered and in the end I sold him to a Greek team. The lesson from all of this is not to panic if a player's rating goes down due to a lack of training. Most of the time he will go back to his normal rating once he gets time to train. Another time this bug might appear is when a player is on international duty. Some of them return with a considerable lower rating. - Speedy Gonzales When viewing a match in 3D mode, sometimes a player from the opposition will take off from his own half and race to your goal to score, without ever giving your defenders a chance to tackle him. His speed will be double or three times faster than the average playing speed. - Too young, but too fast This happens after a few years, when you have a lot of youth players. Your youth team manager will send e-mails, asking you to promote some players, but this will not be at the regular time (end of the season), nor will the players be 17 years old, but rather 15 or 16. These are some kids with a lot more room for improvement, but the youth team manager will insist on promoting them to the first team. - No more talent If you promote all your youth players after the first season, there's a big chance that you won't have any new youth players next season and there is also a possibility that you'll never receive any youth players any more. This glitch isn't a certainty, but it happens quite often. 3) Transfer Tips ---------------- - There are some golden nuggets out there and lot's of gamers have found these by themselves. Two well-known gems are: - Marco Bergani, Striker - Dimitar Balabonov, Central Defender Just type in their names in player search screen if you haven't heard from them yet and you'll know why they are made of pure gold. You do need lots of money to buy them, but after a few years they tend to pop up under a Bosman opening and you could offer them a contract. - Other tips when using the default rosters: a) Goalkeepers: - Sebastien Frey, Parma - Mickael Landreau, Nantes - Iker Casillas, Real Madrid - Paul Robinson, Leeds United b) Defenders: - Tadas Grazhunas, CD/SW, Rostselmash - Ledley King, CD/SW, Tottenham - Chris Doig, CD/RB, Nottingham Forest - Gabriel Milito, RB/LB/CD, Bu. Aires c) Midfielders: - Dejan Bojinov, CM, Dobrich - Seth Johnson, LM/LWB/DM, Derby - Paul Ivanov, DM/RM, Belasitsa - Massimo Donati, CM/RM, Milan - Antonio Cassano, AM/RW/ST d) Attackers: - Allan Delon, CF/ST/AM, Vitoria - Mark Burchill, ST/CF, Celtic - Hassan Ahamada, ST/LW/RW, SPVGG U'Haching - Dimitri Kirichenko, ST/CF, Rostselmash - Roman Adamov, ST/CF, Rostselmash - Alberto Gilardino, ST/CF, Verona - Laurent Silva Da Cruz, ST, Monaco (More to come in updates of this FAQ, send me your tips too!) - The absolutely superb players (the top 5 players for the most common positions on the field and a top 10 for strikers). Name, team, rating and age. If you start with a big team, here are the best players money can buy. The further you progress in the game, the more this list will become obselete and other stars will emerge. A) Goalkeepers - Buffon, Juventus, 90, 23 - Barthez, Man Utd, 89, 30 - Kahn, Bayern Munchen, 86, 32 - Martyn, Leeds Utd, 85, 34 - Nigmatullin, Lokomotiv, 83, 26 B) Central Defenders I placed Balabonov on top, but he's almost impossible to buy, way too expensive for almost any team at the beginning of the game. Most of the time he does appear under a Bosman ruling after about 4 years. - Balabonov, Dobrich, 99, 22 - Hyypia, Liverpool, 88, 27 - Stam, Man Utd, 87, 28 - Campbell, Arsenal, 85, 26 - Nesta, Lazio, 83, 25 C) Right backs - Babbel, Liverpool, 87, 28 - Cafu, Roma, 86, 31 - Thuram, Juventus, 85, 29 - Zanetti, Inter, 83, 27 - Gary Neville, Man Utd, 81, 26 D) Left Backs - Roberto Carlos, Real Madrid, 84, 28 - Iuliano, Juventus, 83, 27 - cannavaro, Parma, 82, 27 - Silvinho, Arsenal, 81, 27 - Hreidarson, Ipswich, 80, 26 E) Centre Midfielders - Zidane, Real Madrid, 92, 28 - Nedved, Juventus, 85, 28 - Seedorf, Inter, 84, 25 - Titov, S. Moscow, 84, 25 - Hamann, Liverpool, 84, 27 F) Right Midfielders - Figo, Real Madrid, 92, 28 - Beckham, Man Utd, 87, 26 - Luis Enrique, Barcelona, 81, 31 - Conceicao, Inter, 80, 26 - Gattuso, Milan, 79, 22 G) Left Midfielders - Giggs, Man Utd, 84, 27 - Overmars, Barcelona, 82, 28 - Gronkjaer, Chelsea, 80, 23 - Coco, Milan, 80, 24 - Zambrotta, Juventus, 79, 24 H) Attacking Midfielders - Rui Costa, Milan, 87, 29 - Denilson, Betis, 86, 24 - Totti, Roma, 85, 24 - Scholes, Man Utd, 85, 26 - Nakata, Parma, 83, 24 I) Attackers Ronaldo and Raul are in the game, but under a different name. It's easy to modify the names of these players. Ronaldo is with Inter Milan and Raul with Real Madrid of course. The will be the unknown strikers with very high ratings. - Ronaldo, Inter, 89, 24 - Vieri, Inter, 87, 27 - Henry, Arsenal, 86, 23 - Raul, Real Madrid, 86, 24 - Kluivert, Barcelona, 86, 25 - Larson, celtic, 86, 28 - Bergani, Cobreloa, 85, 20 - Owen, Liverpool, 85, 21 - Shevchenko, Milan, 85, 24 - Van Nistelrooy, Man Utd, 85, 25 - Keep an eye on the Eufa Cup and the Champions League. Be on the lookout for unlikely teams. When you spot a team that you wouldn't expect, take a look at their roster, they might have a few players you can use. - If you buy a non-EU player and you play him regularly for three years, he will get EU status. - Bringing a non-EU player to England will increase his value just because he will be playing in a thougher competition. In any case' you should be able to get a nice profit when you sell the player. - Do not loan a player you intend on buying during the next transfer period. Why not? If you loan that player, his ratings will go up in case you have a training facility (which you should have very early on!). That player will thus become more expensive for you to buy. - The Bosman ruling really kicks in at the third year. Lots of players will hit the market that are available without a transfer fee. However, plan carefully. You have to pay the signing fees before a new finnacial period starts. If You have to cough up 7 million in signing fees and you only have 4 million over the financial target, you will end you financial year with a big hole in the budget. Not reaching your financial objective will get you an angry e-mail from the chairman. Falling millions short can get you fired. - Beware of players on the transfer list who are injured for a long time. (Longer than 10 weeks) If you have a medical centre and a doctor, you will be warned for risky transfers, but if you do not have a doctor to give you advice, then you might be better off buying the lower rated player who does have a good condition. 4) Facility Development ----------------------- General advice: - Don't build to close to your stadium, so you have room to upgrade your stadium. A friend of mine surrounded his stadium with facilities and found himself boxed in when he wanted to expand his stadium. - Start with a medical centre, so you can hire a doctor. This greatly reduces the risk of a career ending injury. - Your second priority is a training centre. Now you can hire a good coach to get your players'ratings up. Facilities: a) Medical Centre: A first priority for long-term management. Speeds recovery of injured players and reduces the risk of career ending injuries. Upgrade this falility when you can afford it or really need it. b) Training Centre: A second priority and essential if you want to develop your players. Upgrade this facility as soon as possible when you have the resources. And be sure to get the best coach out there to train your guys. c) School of Excellence: To improve the quality of your own youth players. A pretty good investment, but very much on the long term. If you can spare the money, upgrade the School as quickly as possible to get the maximum out of the local talent. d) Clubhouse: Cheap, only one level and attracts more active fans. Put it as close to the stadium as possible, without hindering future stadium development. Not quite necessary for big clubs, but a great help for the little teams. e) Sports Shop: Increases income from merchandising. Is well worth the investment, but it all depends on the number of supporters that attend the matches. f) Car Park: If your stadium is packed for every home game, you don't need it. Only interesting if you can't seem to fill your stadium. g) Hotel: Consider building a Hotel only when you are a regular contender in European competitions. Attracts more away supporters when the visiting team is from abroad. Even for big clubs this is the lowest priority facility. 5) Stadium Development ---------------------- - When an upgrade to your stadium is complete, go to tickets and change the visiting team seats a bit. If you do not do this, the upgrade of the stadium will not affect the attendance. If you do a major upgrade, you'll have to allocate more seats for the visiting team (about 1/7th of the full stadium capacity) - Take a look at your teams info page before you decide to expand your Stadium. How many active fans do you have? This number goes up slowly if your team performs well, but there's no need to have a 60.000 seat stadium when you only have 30.000 active fans. - When you have decided to expand the stadium, take a look at the calendar and see when your last home game of the season is. Start construction right after that last home game, thus limiting the number of matches you have to miss that part of the stadium. Of course, this does not apply when you build a new stand where there was none before (e.g. in corners with only lights). - Expand the stadium in little steps, increasing the seats by a few thousand at a time. Expanding the stadium by 15.000 seats at a time might leave you with 10.000 empty seats during home games. Even when you play every home game for a full stadium, upgrade in small steps. 6) General Tips --------------- - Do not try to rush things. If it takes you two seasons to get your team into the higher division, so be it. If you try to rush things by buying players like mad, you will create some major money issues down the road. - Don't be cheap on support staff. Sign the best trainer, doctor or scout there is, these investments pay off in the long term. - If you do not use the auto-training option, check on the training settings at least once every two weeks. Players returning from injury won't resume training if you don't put them back on the training shedule. Auto-training takes some workload of your back, but the downside is that your players keep training on the same skills week after week. - If you put aggression all the way down, your players will hardly get any cards, but it shouldn't affect the performance of your defense. (This is a tip I received from another Gamefaqs member and I haven't tried it out yet, so I can't confirm if your defense doesn't give up more goals this way.) 7) Team Management (Coming in through the main gate) ---------------------------------------------------- What I mean by "coming through the main gate" is starting with a team like Manchester United, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Juventus or Bayern Munich. There is no great challenge in coaching Man United to a Champions League win in this game. You start with world class players, a ton of money, a big stadium and lot's of loyal supporters. However, there are some guidelines you should keep in mind. - You have lot's of money, but don't spend it all at once. Don't start by buying Ronaldo, just because you want him. Do you need him? Are you prepared to sell another player later on to achieve your financial objective? If you start a game with a big team, go training first, then you can go shopping. - If you really want a great player, check out the list of top 5 players in the transfer section of this guide. Keep in mind that some of these players aren't that young anymore, so when building a team for the future, buy the mid 20's rather than the late 20's players. - Start by building facilities and pitch upgrades, you can afford them and your team will benefit greatly. - Try to find a balance between young talent and more mature effeciency. You could theoretically build a team with only 90+ rating players, but these players will be in their late twenties and early thirties. Do not forget to plan for the future by giving your youth players playing time or skimming the market for the next Ronaldo. - If you are a genuine contender for the championship or a European cup, don't put a lot of effort in the domestic cup(s). Don't tire your best players in a chase for yet another trophy, you could be left with no trophy at all at the end of the season. Play the domestic cup(s) with your reserves and younger players so that they get a chance to show their potential. This advice is not relevant when your objective is to win a domestic cup or to do a "double" or "treble". 8) Team Management (Starting small) ----------------------------------- Starting small, here's the real challenge, get a 3rd division team in the Premiership and then win it. Or try to win the Champions League with an Italian second division team. You start with less supporters, average (or just plain bad) players, and a real tight budget. If you want to try this, here's some tips. - If you have players of similar quality, but one is younger, start the youth. There is more room for progression with the young players (well, duh!) and they could carry your team for more years to come. Starting at the bottom of the ladder means long term planning is a necessity. - There are some real bargains to be made in Eastern Europe, and later on you can either sell them with a nice profit or take them with you on your way up. - After three to four years there are a lot of Bosman bargains. Here's a cheap way of getting some middle class players that can help you enter the Premier League or form the basis to avoid relegation the first year at the top. Be aware however that signing players under a Bosman ruling is like shopping with a credit card. You can buy lots of guys and you only have to pay at the end of the season. Make sure you have a surplus at the end of the year to pay for all the signing fees of your new players. - When you reach the Premier League, you will get a lot more offers for your star players. Don't be tempted into selling the foundations of your team. What good does a 40 million account do when you have only mediocre players left? You can sell some top players and try to replace them by home grown talent or buy some lower rated players. - Cup competitions are a good source of extra money if you can get far or draw a big team, but they also put an extra load on your players. Sometimes it just isn't worth tiring your players in an attempt to upset for instance Arsenal in the F.A. cup. "Winning a domestic cup" can be an interesting objective to pursue, this is especially true when coaching in England. Almost every division has a cup competition and almost every team has a chance to win a cup. The Conference cup should be doable for every conference team. The Challenge Shield can be won by any third or second division team. First division teams should focus on the League cup or if they are really talented, try for the F.A. Cup. ---------------------------- IV. Contact and Contributing ---------------------------- For questions, comments or contributions, there's only one address: Franchises2003@hotmail.com If you make a valuable addition to this FAQ, you'll get your name in it. The people that have made a significant contribution to this FAQ are (in gamefaqs user names): -hendrikf -ASF -Lee Jing