The VFL Job Centre - What is it? How to take your first Management Job?

[Aaron]

Hello all, you may be new, you may not be new. Regardles, you will be wondering what this new section is...

We've set up this whole new area of the site for this new year of FIFA to centralise all questions, or interest for a managers job. As you all know, this FIFA is a year where sites and leagues around the globe are undergoing a transition period, a period where people will gradually re-appear and find their way back into the groove of Clubs after they either acquire the new console, or get back into normal routine after lockdown ended in the summer. Of course, with management, with VFL, you guys rely on us to provide a clean and effective system, and we rely on you to not burn us, and to do the 4 week commitment of management properly.

With that, this year especially there needs to be a real community spirit and drive. A real big interest to help each other and have each season pass more smoothly than the previous. That's the only way you get through a year like this. I saw it on FIFA 14 with the switch to Xbox One, and we see it again now with Xbox and Playstation. As most from back then will know, some guys may well disappear and not come back after FIFA 21 ended, those guys will use this console switch and transition year to "move on". That is natural and obviously, when people hit a certain age, they no longer want to play competitively or play seriously. The people who are then left behind to make everything light up again is us!

So, feel free to ask questions in this area (not this thread), feel free to advertise yourselves, feel free to do anything which enables you as a manager to be more comfortable and advance through the year. VFL has been a benchmark in the last 9 years for giving people a space when stuff is going on at home, for giving people a competitive space to enjoy Clubs more and more... it's helped so many people, and aided so many people in making friends which they now talk to every day. We MUST keep that going, we MUST have that as an established platform for the next generation who haven't been able to use VFL for the above points yet. It's up to us, as established members, managers, and admins, to give the next-generation of player a home, a home that we've all enjoyed and belonged to.

Beyond that, thank you for reading, hopefully this area/idea bangs, and yeah. God's speed gentlemen.​

 

[Aaron]

Your First Management Job (1/2)

Management is a whirlwind. It can be fantastic, a nightmare, or just alright...... Regardless, it's an experience.

The thing with management is understanding the basic golden rule. The rule is that it's a commitment. Regardless if you're losing every week, winning every week, or have the most inconsistent form known to man, the golden rule is getting through.

If you take management, you MUST produce a team EVERY GAME until the end of the season.

But we'll get back to that point later on. Lets go over the basics that you need for management;

- VFL Experience.... You can't just stroll up on your first day in VFL and manage. You'll be lost.

- A core group of players that you will not let you down regardless of result.

- Maturity. If you can't handle losing, you should not go near management.

- Understanding of the rules.

- The ability to make tough decisions.

- Lastly, and most importantly, being aware enough to ask Admins for help/advice.

Below, lets go through some management tips from @Majson83 , a guy that has been on VFL for years, and taken multiple teams through which he's won FA Cups, and also promotion to the Premier League.​

 

[Aaron]

Your First Management Job (2/2)

There are a lot of new managers taking charge this season and as an Admin we're all too often finding ourselves replacing managers who quit, often for silly reasons.

So as an admin, and as a long term manager who has never in over 10 seasons of manager defaulted a game I thought I could give some tips to help new managers find the role easier:

Don’t oversell yourself

If you have a trialling thread that says “going for title” then you put pressure on yourself and an expectation from trialists that you will be perfect before you start. Be reasonable, I always found it useful to say in the thread that you’d love to go up but the main key is to find the right players and build a team

Have a plan for formation

Don’t just recruit anyone who applies, set yourself a plan on at least 1 or 2 formations you want, what position(s) you need and look to recruit for them, that way you build your side and not build a collective of strikers who don’t want to play DM etc

If you have 6 strikers and 2 spots and ask ppl to play somewhere they dont want to, chances are they will say no, thats your fault not theirs. Most people may help out for a game or two but they joined you for a reason and it's unlikely that rason was to play out of position

Use Skype/Discord

Might sound daft to say this but Skype or some form of group messaging will save you and your team. This is to be used to general conversation sure but ultimately it’s used for people to discuss games, keeps all information in 1 place and makes managing so much eaiser.

Encourage your players to have skype also, they dont have to be massively active but i would suggest they check at least once a day for info on upcoming games etc.

Picking the team

This one is important, in your Skype/Messaging group put a roll-call out for the upcoming game/weekend.​

• you do this BEFORE the day, so if the games start Friday put in the group on WEDNESDAY a roll call​
• Do not assume that people are always free, if you assume this you will default games​

I find it best to say “Friday – 7:30pm start – League game” and then ask who is free: you can also ask via your loungue and/or Skype for availability for the entire upcoming weekend, then the players confirm if free, you list them and keep updating that list when players say free, it'd look like the below:

View attachment 10819

As you can see, people are saying who is free and some are saying when they aren’t, gives you a chance to plan for the upcoming games - as you can see even I said "friday is looking griim" in the end we had 9 players on because people were constantly remidned of the game and time and nearer the time they became free

I REPEAT - DO NOT EXPECT THAT JUST COS YOU HAVE A ROSTER THEY WILL BE FREE FOR EVERY GAME

If you are not organised, how can you expect your team to be?

Roster size
​

• I would always suggest having a roster of 14 or more​
• Know that of that roster you will have 5 or 6 who will be on 90% of games​
• 3 or 4 who will be on a lot until you cant win anything​
• 1 or 2 who will only be on part of the time and never tell you​
• 1 or 2 will just never turn up despite telling you they’re available all the time​
• and another 1 or 2 who simply want things their own way and will cause trouble until you “give in”​
• A larger roster size means less chance of low numbers in games​

Player Power​

• A lot of new managers can be intimidated by some players – especially those with big mouths​
• You are the manager, you’re in charge so if you have 7 or 8 reliable and 2 or 3 mouthy guys bringing the team down don’t be afraid to make the big calls and drop them – yes it may cost some results but it may save your team from imploding.​
• Said angry players then always moan and demand you play them, ignore them. Message them when you are ready – they want to play at the end of the day so either they play ball or they enjoy the bench​
• You have to give people the chance to play 4 games, most people want to play so will do so but again, if they're trouble makers and demanding then its your call but there's nothing wrong in sitting them out for a weekend and seeing if they have calmed down the weekend after.​

You’re the manager, you’re the leader so lead. Don’t be ego maniac and power mad as people wont enjoy their time with you, but equally don’t let players dictate everything, know your plan, stick to it but be open with the team, you’ll learn who’s worth keeping and who’s not.

Be able to take a loss
​

• It’s a game of fifa, so we know sometimes no matter how well you may play no matter what happens you’ll lose some games, sometimes by fluke, sometimes just cos the other team was better – you may even get hammered. Accept that fact​
• This doesn’t mean the end of the day, no-one likes to lose but ultimately it is only 3 points and there’s plenty of games in the season, so it didn’t go to plan, figure out why and try to fix it – quitting fixes nothing​
• Most leagues are quite tight, i've seen teams be 17th halfway into the season and still get promoted - it's only a failure if you give up.​

Trials​

• If you’re doing 4 or 5 hour session you’re going to struggle, not just for people but for games​
• Try to get as close to 11 on as you can – but also know that there’ll be 1 or 2 trialists who let you down or simply wont show despite agreeing to​
• set yourself 1 set slot, say 6- 8pm or 7 – 9pm on the day you want and then you ask people to come in on those set times only – means you can also organise friendlies with other VFL teams – nothing worse than doing a 2 hour trial and getting just 2 games or playing with 5 men – it doesn’t reflect a season and gives a bad impression and the people you trial are unlikely to want to sign for you​
• Don’t just look for ability – the way people are can also be a big factor in whether they’ll stay through a bad result or not, again know what you want and be looking for that in the trials.​

Questions to Admins​

• We Admins will do what we can to help and support you throughout the season, but in your club loungues are a lot of the questions we get asked. - so check there before asking​
• We are busy people so be patient - we're doing this for free and many of us manage aswell so there's nothing worse than bugging your Admin - once we get a chance to look at the question we will - if you've waited more than 1 day then by all means ask if there's any update​
• Support tickets are your friend - this is where most questions should be asked via Xbox or in an Xbox party etc is not something we'll do - we just dont have the time​

Friendlies Chat

When it is on trial nights it's much easier to find games when you have 9-11 people in the team, and it doesnt affect your record. I also gives you a good chance of really seeing what people can do. Just ask your league admin and they can get you in

In short guys if you are organised, if you have a plan and are clear with what you want then it’ll be much easier to do, if you’re leaving it until the last minute and don’t know who to play where and just don’t bother saying then how can you expect the team to respond.

Teams respond to good management and cant be bothered if they feel their manager isn’t​