Each player has feelings which will depend on certain factors. These feelings affect their morale and can also affect the morale of team mates. A player's mood and morale can also have an effect on their performances. A happy player is more likely to play well and a distressed player is more likely to perform badly. Managing each player's morale is a difficult thing and requires good man management skills.
Morale[]
A player's morale is set into different categories:
- Superb
- Very good
- Good
- Average
- Poor
- Very poor
- Abysmal
A player's morale will affect their performance and the squad as whole. A happy player/squad is likely to play well and perform above capabilities and a sad player/squad is likely to do not so well. Here are examples:
A happy squad top of the league.
A distraught squad bottom of the league.
Bochum youth's morale is mainly very poor resulting in poor performance and are at the bottom of their league while Bochum is all Superb and are top of the league.
Morale also affects training. Players with low morale don't feel like putting their weight in and this could result in less improvements and even drops. Players with high morale will train well and increases in attributes are more likely and more rapid.
Factor's Affecting Morale[]
There are a few factors that will affect the morale of your players:
Personality[]
Depending on your players' personalities, each will react to different things. For example, a player with an ambitious career personality, not getting in big signings or letting players go or not increasing the club's reputation will make his morale drop more than a normal player would, and would also create a few issues in his player mood.
Club Performance[]
If your club is playing well, getting in a string of good results and doing well in the league your players will be happier and enjoying their football resulting in a general increase in morale (even for players that aren't playing). Vice versa, bad performance in the league and bad results will create a drop in general morale.
Team talks[]
Your team talks also have an effect in morale. The most important ones are the post match ones as the half-time and pre-match just affect their morale while the game is played. Praising wins and good performance (especially using Passionate) will make your player's happier after a game but they do not take criticism too kindly, especially when they feel it is undeserved.
Player Mood[]
The issues a player has also affect morale. The more good issues they have the more happier they will be and the more bad the lower their morale. Each issue has a certain amount of weight as well, something like 'Not playing enough games to match his squad role' is a bigger issue than 'Wants training facilities to be improved' and will therefore create a bigger drop in morale. You can find a players mood and personality in their "Status" screen as well as an overall view of their happiness.
Man Management[]
Man management is the term given to how a manager interacts with his players and how well he keeps them happy. This is one of the most important parts of being a football manager is a must to get right because as we have seen earlier, morale can impact a lot of things.
The Status Screen[]
The status screen is the main tool that needs to be used if you want to be good at man management. It gives us an overview of his personality and how happy he is. It also shows us the issues the player has, there are both good and bad. Making more good ones and or more major good ones and reducing the amount of bad issues will increase morale. It also shows us any promises we have made to the player that are yet to be fulfilled. Not fulfilling them will make the issue worse and lower morale.
Issues and Solving Them[]
There are lots of different issues that will appear but only the ones in the bad column can be removed, although good performances in competitions, playing regularly and a few other things will add more to the good column.
To solve an issue requires using the right options available. First, click on the talk button next to an issue (some bad issues can't be smoothed over by talking). This will bring up a set of options for you to choose from. Select an option and click confirm. You will nearly always get a message in your inbox telling you of the player's reaction (unless you offer a contract). Common issues include:
- Dropped from side against... - Recommended solution: Tell him he needed a rest or Dropped because of a change in formation
- Not playing enough to match squad role - Recommended solution: If he continues to train well...
- Not been offered a new contract/Deserves more competitive salary - Recommended solution: Offer contract or promise to. If you don't want him leave him but it may have affects on the squad.
- Unhappy at the sale of... - Recommended solution: Tell him money will be put towards signing a replacement (requires you to buy players).
After making a promise it will appear in the promises box. If you get a good reaction the issue should disappear (with the exception of contracts until they accept one). Failing to fulfil the promise will make the issue worse resulting in a morale drop. Angry players may create the issue "Unsettled by bad vibes in dressing room" which you do not want as that creates further problems.
Some problems can't be solved by talking and only by action. Some of them will require you to do something although most of these issues are minor. For example: "Wants training facilities to be improved" will require you to successfully ask the board to improve the training facilities, but this is an extremely minor issue and won't affect much (unless the player has gone from state of the art to absolutely woeful training facilities).