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Football Manager: Why You NEED Older Players and How To Use Them

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Football Manager: How Do You Make The Most Of Older Players?


To build a good squad on football manager you need older players.

Why?
  • You can use them to tutor your younger players.
  • They are experienced and generally have good mental attributes.
Question:

How do you make the most of older players on football manager?

Lets find out.

If you cast your mind back to the last few seasons of Sir Alex Ferguson's time at Manchester United, he kept Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand in the squad.

Why did he do this?

He knew they had been there, done it and got the tshirts.

United had players in their squad such as Rafael, who was 22 during the 2012/2013 season and Danny Welbeck who was also the same age.


To have players with vast experience playing in the same squad as younger players is golden. You can keep a cycle of young players learning from older players and eventually the younger players turn into more experienced players so they can tutor the next generation.

What do I do with my older players on football manager?

I will use them to tutor younger players.


Tutoring younger players on football manager can take two forms. Either the younger player will just pick up the personality of the older player and an increase of determination. The other route is that the younger player picks up all the previously mentioned plus the older players preferred moves.

Why is this a good thing?

Having a better personality will make your younger players develop much quicker. It can also take years for youth players to pick up a number of different PPMs, so if he can pick up a number of PPMs in a shorter span of time from being tutored, this is a good thing.

You should also think about having older players on the bench or starting them.

Think of an example.

You are winning a match 2-1 with 10 mins to go. You look at the players you have on the bench and you have an experienced player to call upon who can help you see out the game. This is a fantastic option to have.

Being able to call upon the experience of older players is vital and something you do need to have in your squad.

If one of your players is unavailable for selection, who better to bring in than an experienced player?

How else can you use older players?

I do also like to have older players in my team as potential coaches. I do like the thought of having a player that have been in my squad for a while and then when it comes to him retiring, having him move to a coaching role.

I am not too sure if it makes a difference, but I like to take a look at people who are listed as legends of my clubs and check if I can get them as coaches. Sometimes they make good coaches and I would have thought this can only be a good thing for your club.

Football Manager List of Club Legends
Garry Wood - Club Legend For Montrose
Think of the future...

If you can bring in some experience to your team you will have the benefit of having younger players with better personalities (which will be good in the long run for your team). You should always be thinking about the churn of older players tutoring young players and passing on knowledge.

Garry Wood Football Manager Coach
Garry Wood - Football Coach and Montrose Legend
The next time you go to release an experienced player.

You need to think:

How can I make the most out of him to benefit my club in the short term and the long term?
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