The Importance of Morale (and how to improve it)

Morale has become a key part of the game in FM2010 and yet most people still do not know how to increase the levels of morale in their own squads or the benefits it actually confers. It’s time to break down the morale system in the game and explain it piece by piece.

How important is it?
A good place to start is with the importance of having good morale in your side. Ever wondered why your team can win two games in a row and then start playing some great football, or how a team at the top can turn into relegation candidates very quickly if they lose a couple of games – the answer in both cases is simply morale.

A team full of confident, happy players will normally outperform another team of jaded, upset players even if the second players have better players. This is reflected in FM2010 quite well by the morale system and has just as important a role to play in transfer policy, training regimes, and squad/team selections.

How do you increase morale?
Luckily there are a number of options in FM2010 that allow you to boost (and reduce if you really want to) the morale of your players. I’ll go over the ‘twelve steps to success’ here and discuss the merits of each.

1. Playing games: This is probably the most important way of increasing morale. Every professional footballer would like to play in every game they can and so giving them a game can work well to increasing their morale. Substitute appearances help, but it’s much better to give them a starting berth or even a run of games over a few weeks.
2. Winning games: Whilst every professional wants to play, they also want to win. This can usually be coupled with the above if the result goes your way, and the benefits from a win are not to be ignored. String a few wins together and you can probably expect to see the morale of your squad rising to much healthier levels.
3. Team talks: An encouraging or praising team talk can go a long way to boost the morale and confidence for that match and helps in achieving the above mentioned win. If you are unsure on how to best use these talks then it may be best to hire an assistant that is a good motivator and set him to assign team talks until you get a better idea.
4. Press conferences: Nothing feels better than your manager appreciating your work in the press and this is one of the simplest things you can do that most people overlook due to the repetitive nature of these events. Praising good form (when deserved) is an easy way to boost a players confidence, and even saying how disappointed you are with a players poor performance (again, if deserved) can be enough to kick-start a better attitude and run of form from him.
5. League position: If your club’s reputation (or that of your players) is such that your players expect to be in a certain position then it’ll hurt morale if you are below their expectations. The boost from this is coupled with that from gaining wins and can make the difference between rising and falling in the league table.
6. New contracts: They may love the game, but it is also a job – so you can expect players who have had a pay rise to be happier about things. It’s especially important to settle any key player’s contracts before they go to the press about it or you will find the rest of the squad losing morale that such an important member of the squad is unhappy.
7. Player/Staff Recommendations: Everyone appreciates being asked their opinions so if you are looking for a new staff member or player it may prove useful to ask members of your squad for recommendations. If you sign the person they suggest then expect your relationship with you to improve and their morale too as a direct result.
8. Keeping promises: Players believe what you tell them – so those signed as a Key Player are expecting to be in the first XI for every game they are available. It’s important to correctly offer squad-roles when signing a player and also to adjust their role when it no longer fits – otherwise you will certainly see unhappy players. Also it’s a sad fact that sometimes no matter how much you micro-manage things you will end up with a player that is unhappy and demanding something (new contract, transfer, or maybe more playing time). In your response you are making a promise to the player and he will remember! If you fail to abide by your promise then he will be understandably upset.
9. Culling the troublemakers: Nothing lowers morale like troublemaker in the dressing room, and nothing raises it like booting them out of the club. Certain players may have a poor attitude which can rub off on the more impressionable (and normally younger) members of the squad, so as soon as they are identified you should be looking to get rid of them before too much damage can occur.10) Tutoring: Sometimes young players need a guiding hand of experience to help them develop in the right way, whilst an older pro can be eager to pass on his knowledge to the younger generation before he retires. Tutoring is a good way of boosting short-term morale and long-term team relationships.
10. Playing in preferred positions: No striker will be happy about playing left-back each week, so it’s important to try to play your players in their favoured positions to keep them happy and get the best performances out of them. The more unknown the position is to them the more nervous you can expect them to be – which will affect the result and long-term morale.
11. Happiness of friends/leaders: It’s important to keep your Captain’s happy, not just for their sake but for the squad’s morale too. You will struggle to motivate the players if their on-pitch leader isn’t fired up, so it’s far better to keep him happy and then let his influence spread throughout the squad. It’s also important to keep an eye on player relationships as one unhappy friend could see another team-mate getting upset too. Conversely if an unhappy player has a friend who is doing well, he could very well start to cheer up with a little work by you.

How can I monitor squad morale?

So now you know how important high morale is and also how to get it there, you need to keep an eye on squad morale to head off any potential problems. The first way to do this is simply in the main squad screen – there are a number of places to see the squad morale including the selection view (press F3 to access your first team squad and then select ‘Selection’ from the ‘Views’ drop-down menu). This will give you an overview of each player in your squad including their current morale levels ranging from Very Poor to Superb.

You can also get good information from your Assistant by asking about your team talks (select Team Talk Feedback from the Assistant Advice drop-down menu in your main squad screen). On this screen provide information on your squad’s morale and also on how well they are getting along. This information (plus a little more,  including any language problems unsettling players) is also available during a match on the Assistant-name Feedback screen. Which can help you to see which players are playing better than others and also inform you of any changes that may need to be made.

FMScout has a good download that can put a summary of your assistant’s reports on the Stats screen during a match. This will tell you which of your players are confident and which are buckling under the pressure, which is a great help in figuring out substitutions or why your formation/tactics are not working. You can find the xml file and instructions for it’s installation here: FMScout Player Motivation Tool.

The theory in play

I have had great success in past games by following the above tips and tool. In my latest game as Swansea City I had possibly the best results due to team morale where I took a young (average age of 19) squad of regens to the Premiership and Champions League titles. My Assistant was hand-picked for his motivational and man-management skills and was invaluable to our success. Click here to see how he rated my team’s bonding at the start of that legendary season and here for just one of our fantastic performances!

So now you have the tools at your disposal to keep your squad happy get out there and get them excited about playing for you. Just remember that success builds success.