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FA Premier League Manager 2002

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Game Copyright: EA Sports, an Electronic Arts brand
FAQ Version 1.10 (10/06/2003)
Copyright 2003 Vadim Deylgat
Author: Modena81
E-Mail: Franchises2003@hotmail.com

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This FAQ may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other
web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright.
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Contents
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I. A word from the Author

II. Version History

III. Tips and hints

1) Tips for use of the database editor
2) Bugs and glitches
3) Transfer Tips
4) Facility Development
5) Stadium Development
6) General Tips
7) Team Management (Coming in through the main gate)
8) Team Management (Starting small)

IV. Contact and Contributing



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I. A word from the author
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I was shocked to find that no one had written a FAQ for this game. I admit
there are some harder soccer managing sims out there, but some tips can't hurt.
I have filled this FAQ with my knowledge I gathered from playing this game for
over a year. When I discover some new things or I get contributions from other
gamers, I'll write an update.
This is still a work in progress. For those who want to contribute or comment
on this FAQ, see section III at the bottom. Any contributors will get
mentioned in a next version of this FAQ.
One more thing. English isn't my native language, so there bound to be some
gramatical mistakes my spelling corrector didn't pick up. If there are any
comments concerning the language or grammar, send me an e-mail and I'll make
the proper corrections for the next version.



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II. Version History
-------------------

1.00 (09/05/2003)
- First version with my basic knowledge of this game.

1.10 (10/06/2003)
- Added a new trigger for the "fast regressing player".
- Added a lot of names under "transfer tips" of players with a bright future.
- Added a top 5 for most the common positions on the field and for strikers
a top 10.
- 3 new bugs: "speedy Gonzales", "too young, but too fast" and "no more
talent"



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III. Tips and Hints
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1) Tips for use of the database editor
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- You can change every rating of every player, but be aware that the higher a
players rating is, the higher his salary will be at the start of a new game.
You need to keep this in mind when improving the ratings of a lower division
team. The salary cost might be too high for the team to support.

- You can change the starting budget of any managable team, but this holds some
risks too. The higher the budget, the higher the expectations will be from
your team. When chosing an objective, you also have to achieve a certain
bank balance. This will be your starting budget + about 15%. When you change
the budget for a division 3 team to 30 million, you'll get say 25 million
for achieving your first objective (e.g. winning the current league) and
you will need a bank balance of 28 million at the end of that contract.
You can not buy top class players and win division AND earn millions. This
can get you fired.

- What you could do when starting with a lower division team is raising the
ratings of one or a few players so you start the game with some 80+ or 90+
players and then sell them for hard currency. Use that money for the 60+ or
70+ players you need to promote to the higher divisions. This way you can
bypass the money issues at the end of the season, keep your salary structure
healthy and get some decent players.

- Increasing the size of your stadium is also an option, but don't bother with
giving a Division two team a 75.000 seat stadium, because the starting
number of active fans won't be affected and you'll end up with lots of
maintenance costs and a small attendance. You could start a game with the
team of your choice, have a look at the active supporters and increase the
seating to your active supporter number + about 2000 (for away supporters).
Then start the game again with a close to optimal stadium size.



2) Bugs and glitches
--------------------

My general impression is that the glitches become more frequent after some
years of managing, but this is by no means a given fact.

- "The instant kill"
This bug has hit me almost every time I started a new game. In one of the
first games of the season a player will get a serious injury (often knee or
thigh) and no matter how fast you try to build a medical centre, this
player will see his career ended. This is no fun at all when this happens
to your star player (I've lost David Beckham in my first game I started to
this bug). Sometimes this doesn't happen, but there is no real way of
avoiding this bug. The only advice I can give on this one is twofold. First,
when signing the insurance, take the full package at the start of your first
season, include retirements. This way you can compensate for the player's
value. Second, save after every game your team played. If a player get's
that expected injury, restart from your last save. Do this a few times to
make sure the injury will happen over and over in that one game. The moment
won't change, but the player that gets injured will change. Only save when
it happens to a player you can miss.

- Predeterminded games
For those of you who have re-loaded a game because they found a result
unfair and wanted another chance, the predetermined game won't be new.
Some games, no matter how often you play them have the same result and even
the same course of events. The most striking example I personally
experienced was a game between my first division team versus Manchester
City. I replayed that game 15 times and every time the same player scored at
exactly the same moment. I changed startegy and field positions, but it
wasn't untill I changed some individual orders that the game had a different
outcome. You have to make up your own mind if restarting a game is cheating
or not, but sometimes the computer decides you just won't win a game and
you will never know if you don't restart. Besides the final score of a game,
an injury can also be predetermined and no matter how often you simulate a
certain game, there will almost always be one player with a serious injury.

- Not quite reaching your objectives
This is a tricky one. When you have the objective to win the current league
and you are not in the Premier League, coming in second is a real pain in
the ass. Promoting won't do, you need to win a league, so you either have to
win the higher division you promoted to or relegate and win the lower
division. Of course, relegating can cost you your job and winning the league
you just promoted to in two years isn't a piece of cake. If you feel you
won't be able to win the current league, but you can promote, let your team
slide back down and try again the next year. Unless you are sure you can win
the division above in two years time.

- The unsignable player
Sometimes when a player's contract comes to an end, there isn't an option to
offer a contract and the players stays on the transfer list, waiting for a
team. I had it happen once to a player whose contract was coming to an end.
I got an e-mail saying his contract was nearly up and asking me to resign
him. I answered the e-mail, but the player wouldn't accept my offer,
saying that he had already signed for an other team. Yet he stayed on the
transfer list, without an option to offer him a contract. And when I say
that he stayed on the transfer list, I mean he stayed there for years.

- The fast regressing player
This bug appears sometimes when you have to play a lot of games in a short
time and your players don't get a chance to train. I've seen Buffon go from
94 to 77 in three weeks time once. You can imagine that got me a little
worried. Why he went down and my other players didn't, even though they too
played two games per week, is a mystery. I've seen the same thing happen to
Thierry Henry. He regressed, even after I had him train individually. The
difference between these two examples however is that once Buffon had time
to train again, he went back to a 94 rating in one week, Henry never
recovered and in the end I sold him to a Greek team.
The lesson from all of this is not to panic if a player's rating goes down
due to a lack of training. Most of the time he will go back to his normal
rating once he gets time to train.
Another time this bug might appear is when a player is on international
duty. Some of them return with a considerable lower rating.

- Speedy Gonzales
When viewing a match in 3D mode, sometimes a player from the opposition
will take off from his own half and race to your goal to score, without
ever giving your defenders a chance to tackle him. His speed will be double
or three times faster than the average playing speed.

- Too young, but too fast
This happens after a few years, when you have a lot of youth players. Your
youth team manager will send e-mails, asking you to promote some players,
but this will not be at the regular time (end of the season), nor will the
players be 17 years old, but rather 15 or 16. These are some kids with a
lot more room for improvement, but the youth team manager will insist on
promoting them to the first team.

- No more talent
If you promote all your youth players after the first season, there's a big
chance that you won't have any new youth players next season and there is
also a possibility that you'll never receive any youth players any more.
This glitch isn't a certainty, but it happens quite often.



3) Transfer Tips
----------------

- There are some golden nuggets out there and lot's of gamers have found these
by themselves. Two well-known gems are:
- Marco Bergani, Striker
- Dimitar Balabonov, Central Defender
Just type in their names in player search screen if you haven't heard from
them yet and you'll know why they are made of pure gold. You do need lots
of money to buy them, but after a few years they tend to pop up under a
Bosman opening and you could offer them a contract.

- Other tips when using the default rosters:

a) Goalkeepers:
- Sebastien Frey, Parma
- Mickael Landreau, Nantes
- Iker Casillas, Real Madrid
- Paul Robinson, Leeds United

b) Defenders:
- Tadas Grazhunas, CD/SW, Rostselmash
- Ledley King, CD/SW, Tottenham
- Chris Doig, CD/RB, Nottingham Forest
- Gabriel Milito, RB/LB/CD, Bu. Aires

c) Midfielders:
- Dejan Bojinov, CM, Dobrich
- Seth Johnson, LM/LWB/DM, Derby
- Paul Ivanov, DM/RM, Belasitsa