When you first log in after creating a team in ManagerLeague, everything can seem a bit overwhelming, and to help you understand the basics and start having fun, we put together a helping guide. These are some tips from several managers who wrote down things they wish they knew when they first started playing ManagerLeague. Before you start reading, we want you to know that there are other good guides as well, and we recommend reading through the Transfer Tutorial and Bulldog's ML Help Guide.

 

 

 

 

1. Read all these tips, trust me; you will not regret!

 

2. First thing to do when you start up a team; finish as many achievements as possible. You can find all the beginner achievements

on the General page. This is a good way to earn some cash in the start! 

 

3. The most important thing to build your team is to play friendlies. It is impossible to get a good team without playing friendlies. 

You can get 100 free friendlies per season from the open challenges. The max no. of friendlies per season is 200.

 

We see a lot of new managers come in, try tactics and all, and then complain about their team not getting better, when all the while they play only 5 to 10 friendlies each season.. Don't be that manager.

 

4. When you get your team, it is filled by really bad players. Anyone under Q65 is really not worth keeping and is unsellable, so its 

better to sack them upfront and get the cash (you get 40% of a players value when you sack him).

 

5. There is a difference between normal Q (quality) and playing Q. The playing Q of the team you put out also depends on the fitness of players, just like in real life; the more "tired" the players are, the worse they will play. 

 

6. For the first couple of seasons don't be too concerned with promotion. The best way is to concentrate on improving your team with as many friendlies as possible per season. That way when you are promoted you have a better chance of survival in the higher league.

 

7. If you can, try to find some weekend cups to enter that are ran for the benefit of new players.  You can easily tell these as they have a low max Q set some are even credit free. It may cost you to enter but you will get the money back from the game and anything else is pure profit, plus your players have additional chances to make gains.

 

8. Your team WILL lose games to opponents that seem like a weaker team through out your career. Out of all the thousands of games being played every day, some of these turn out somewhat random! This happens in real life football as well. Do your best in setting your team up against your opponent; look at their weak and strong team stats, the quality of players in different parts of the team (defense, mid, att), and look at the playing style of the team in other games.

 

9. All defenders, midfielders, attackers and goalkeepers have different main stats. You can find out the value of each stat on the Attribute Values page.

 

10. Use the forum and the chat. If there is anything you need help with, there will always be other managers to help you in there. 

 

11. The schedule is always shown on the General page. Learn it, it doesn't change much from season to season, and when a season is over, a new one is started shortly afterwards, so questions like "When does next season begin?" is always answered with "When this one is over. See the schedule!"

12. All players on all teams go on a vacation between seasons. No, yours are NOT vegetarian! This means they lose attribute-points and need to train a while to catch up again. Your team-stats also go down between seasons, and needs to be trained a bit to get back.

13. Since you have a team, you have chosen a league. If you have chosen the International League, you can chose to MOVE to a national league under Options / Preferences. This move will happen between this and the next season.

14. ManagerLeague is available in multiple languages. You can change the language under Options / Preferences.

15. ManagerLeague has a set of rules you all agreed to when signing up. These rules can be found at http://www.managerleague.com/rules.html, and not reading them is not a valid excuse for violating them. 1 person, 1 account, no more, regardless.

16. What is the best tactic / formation / setting?
There is no tactic that is "the best". You need to pick one that suits your team and if it doesn't work, try to change it. Try to apply some common sense and logic, and you will come a long way. It is not very logical to play 5-3-2 attacking, or 3-3-4 defending for instance, nor is it always advisable to play continental versus a defending style, to give you a few pointers.

17. If nobody wants to buy your players, it is probably because they simply are not good enough. Either train them more, or sack them, to make some fast cash.

18. There are very few players over 30 that should be expected to gain a lot of attribute-points over a season. They can gain of course, but it is logical that a younger player can learn more.

19. Do not expect miracles from very young players, they have much to learn.

20. ManagerLeague is "always under development" and continues to be improved every season. It is important that you read the announcements that are done between seasons, and you can find them on the portal front-page.

21. The most important part of ManagerLeague is to have fun. (And to win!)

22. ManagerLeague takes time to learn and a lot of time to master. Do not expect to understand it all during your first season, but give it time, and you will be rewarded.

 

 

(11-22 are Spinner's tips)