So, you wanna be a manager, huh?
Hey Managers,
Since we did a revision of the Tutorial that all fresh managers go through when they first establish their clubs, we thought that it would be great to follow that revision with a forum mini-guide.
Here we will talk about the main tools with which you, as a Manager, will be able to operate your Club. We will make note of specific things that you should be mindful of when you're just starting your career.
In other words this is your your Starter guide.
After all, you can learn how the interface operates and how things work but the rest is experience.
So, lets give, you fresh green managers, an experience boost then huh?
I. The "Home" screen and the Assistant
At this point you've noticed that there are a lot of menus in the game, some of which - The Finances menu, the Squad menu, the Transfers menu, and especially the Home Screen, where you'll usually start off from. Which is also the menu where you will find your Assistant who's providing lots of relevant information on what's going on in the rest of the Club (Menus).
The assistant will notify you about the following topics:
1) Gifts - Sending and Claiming gifts.
2) Squad - Expiring player contracts; Player injuries; Penalty cards.
3) Transfers - Tells you if the scout found new players; What players you've transferred to and from your team.
4) Finances - Club debt; TV Rights contracts; Sponsorship contracts.
5) Ground - What's being built and how long till it's finished, as well as how long till you get boosters and youth players from their respective facilities. More on this in the Ground section below.
Additionally the Home screen provides info about: The upcoming match, the previous match, which day of the season is and what's your standing in each of the competitions (Both are under the Assistant button).
Now, you've noticed that you have started with a good amount of Tokens, cash and boosters. Don't squander these, Manager! Don't rush in to the game but rather, get your bearings, play and observe a few matches and most of all, if you are looking for winning strategies you better stay here in the forum and discuss the game with the rest of your fellow managers. Lots of good tips, strategies and tactics discussions are going on in the Tutorials and Guides forum.
But the question of "How exactly would I overspend my starting resources anyway?" hangs.
II. Transfers
Well, you will start off with a club that has a decent starting line-up of players, good enough to keep you afloat and even beat the competition as you learn and get used with everything. But you would eventually want to try and find some new star players for your team, some fresh talent. If so then you should think about hitting the Auctions. But be warned - You will most likely face other managers on the Auction. A lot of times auctions can prove a cheap way to acquire new talent for your Squad, but you may also end up against a very persistent manager, too. And that may be costly.
When you find a player who's up to par with your requirements, you select his name and his profile will popup. Here you can find further details about the player such as Stats, Skills, etc. From the Offer's tab you will be able to place a bid. You can find out if anyone else has placed a bid for the Player. Who ever has the highest bid for the player after the 4 Minute timer runs out takes the player. Also keep in mind that you won't lose your tokens if you lose the auction.
Two other options await you in the Transfers - The Scout list and the Negotiations.
Meet the Scout - This list updates 14 times per season and will always offer players that are 6* (Or 100% and more capability for the level of your club). At 120% the player will gain a 7th star. The most expensive players in this list will be around 4% away from reaching this 120% mark.
The Scout list players are pretty good for you, if you just have to fill out that gap in your squad, or if you simply want to get a big boost to your team and outfitting it with several of these players.
Negotiations - This list is populated with players who are 1% away from gaining their 6th Star. Placing an offer for any of these players will cost an entry fee that you can check from the list it self. (These tokens plus any additional you offer to the other manager will be refunded to you if your offer is rejected or the other manager makes no decision on your offer in the next 24 hours)
NOTE: Chose your initial offer carefully. If you wish to increase your offer after this, 1 token will be deducted from your balance - These tokens are not refunded!
Overall you should be picky about the players you try to acquire. Other than the obvious things such as: number of roles, type of ability, cost in cash and tokens for the players, you should also be mindful of their age.
Long time managers in Top 11 have started to devide players in to Young and Old.
These young and old players (relatively speaking) and each have their own perks and drawbacks depending on your strategy for the season or the next several seasons.
Young players (18 years till their early 20s) are fresh and ripe for learning and you can shape them the way you want through training. They are a long-time investment basically.
Old players (In their mid-20s and older) have lots of experience in the sport and even though with the passing of the years (Seasons) they slow down in their development, they are good professionals and some carry huge potential still. Many times they also have expertise in more than a single role and even come with an ability to boot!
Depending on the Manager's style of play and strategizing, old players may either be: A short-term fix or the actual backbone of the team.
III. Squad
We should have talked about the Squad menu before the Transfers but because a lot of new managers tend to dive head-first in to the Auction, Scout and Negotiations I thought we would do well to change the priorities a bit.
So with that out of the way - The Squad.
Think of this menu as your command center. From here you will get full details about anything that has something to do with your players, your line up, your tactics and strategy. Not to mention that from here you can check out each player's personal profile, and that's something that has a lot of weight on your decision making when doing transfers!
Let's check out the interface - Three tabs at the top: Overview | Lineup | Tactics
General (+ Stats & Skills)This tab shows details such as: Player position; Name; Age; Contract length; Wage; and others. If you select the drop down menu "General" you'll be able to switch to "Stats & Skills". There you'll find info such as: How many matches each one has played; How many goals they've scored, etc.
NOTE: You'll find all of the above mentioned stats by opening up specific player profiles and switching to Stats
Lineup Here you can check out the formation of your team, each player's Morale and Condition rating and how many stars their quality is worth in regards to the level of your Club. You'll see if any of your players has a penalty card. Formation can be changed by selecting+holding a player's jersey on the pitch and dropping the jersey on the preferred role box.
Tactics After you've decided what formation to use for the upcoming match you can spice up your strategy by going to this tab. You have four options for Attack and four options for Defence. There is synergy to be had between formation and tactics so test out the waters and try to mix things up and see how your team performs. You'll find a lot of strategic assistance here in the forum so share you thoughts and questions with your fellow managers!
NOTE: Select the button next to each tactic for some details.
IV. Finances
So we spoke about players, transfers and generally things that will cost your club Cash. So it's time to say something about keeping all of that spending in check.
Keeping track of your Club's treasury, is of utmost importance - If you neglect this aspect of the game and go all out spending, you may find your self in a debt.
But hey, the Finances overview also informs you of all the earnings your Club does!
The following activities will generate revenue for your Club:
1) Player transfers - Selling your own players - Directly, through Auction or if any other manager places an offer for them.
2) Ticket sales - When you are the Home team you play at your own stadium and visitors have to pay for entry.
3) Selling merchandise - The Utilities building in the Ground menu will be the place where visitors of your home matches will be able to buy club merchandise.
4) Sponsorships - These are contracts you sign with sponsorship partners. They reward you with cash.
5) Winning in the competitions - You can check how much you will earn per win by going to any specific competition's menu and opening the blue Rule book in the top right.
Other tabs:
TV Rights - Here you can sign contracts that will generate Tokens for your Club for free. Additional contracts will unlock as you level-up. Each contract has a different rule set so read them carefully - It costs tokens to cancel a contract before it expires.
Sponsorship - Here you can sign contracts that will generate Cash for your Club, again for free. Additional ones will unlock as you level-up and just like the TV Rights, each contract has its own rule set. Read carefully!
Tickets & Bonuses - This panel lets you decide how much you'll be charging for Tickets when fans visit your stadium for home games. Additionally you can decide if you would like to offer a cash bonus to your team in the case that you win the match - This is basically a way to incentivize them to push them selves even harder during the match as you will divide the cash prize among the main 11.
There is a separate bonus for each competition. The Friendly and F.A. matches share the same bonus.
V. Ground
From here not only can you build a stadium for your club but then you'll be able to upgrade the various modules of said stadium.
But that's not all - There are additional buildings that can help your professional football club. Those are:
1) Training - This building generates Rest boosters for your club. Zooming in on the building will tell you how long till the next batch.
2) Medical - This building generates Treatment boosters. Zoom in to check when will you get your next batch of red boosters.
3) Utilities - As we already spoke in the Finances section - This building sells merchandise to fans who visit your home games. Upgrade it to increase it's output.
4) Parking - This building is tightly intertwined with the seat capacity of your stadium. Your stadium might have 100000 seats but if people have no where to park their cars, they won't be able to come and enjoy the game. Keep this place upgraded adequately for your Stadium's capacity!
5) Youth Academy- This is the facility in which young and aspiring players train. After a certain period of time (The higher the upgrade, the less days it takes for the next 2 youths to arrive), 2 youths will appear in your Squad. Your assistant will notify you of this in the home screen.
One of these players is free of charge while the other will cost tokens when you sign his contract - Keep that in mind.
The segments of the game that we covered here are your toolset with which you can manage every important aspect of your Club, with which to assure that your Club will last and maybe even achieve some accolades!
You are the person in charge, Manager. Your players and the fans of your Club are looking up to you to make sure that they can continue to enjoy this great sport and live out a successful and fulfilling career! Do your best.
Still, you are not alone out there. This very place, the Top Eleven Forum, is one of the riches sources of information you will find out there. Take this to your advantage.
Just in case though, we have an online F.A.Q. website from which you can find answers to almost any question related to the game. Even if it's about some technical issue. And while on the matter of tech. issues, know that you can reach our support team at any time via this specific link in the F.A.Q. (Read it and click the "...from here..." button at the bottom. Then simply fill out the support form.)
By the way you can also reach support through the mobile app - Open Top 11 and then tap the Home button in the top left. Then tap the "?" button in the bottom left.
Finally, take a look at these other educational threads we've posted:
And with all this said...
GOOD LUCK IN THE COMPETITIONS EVERYONE!