Five Tips for Success In Football Chairman

We often get contacted by users who are either new to the game and need some help, or current users who have just seen their team go bust and want to know where they went wrong.

These five tips below should hopefully give you a good starting point for a long and successful Football Chairman career!


1, Think long-term

One of Football Chairman’s big attractions is the fact that seasons can be completed in just 15-20 minutes, making it the ideal game to pass a few idle minutes on your commute to work or school.

People normally play the game for hundreds, even thousands, of in-game seasons, so there’s no point taking a short-term approach.

In order to succeed you need to think ahead – try to work out a five-year plan for success. For instance if you want to invest in a good youth system it might take a few years to bear fruit… but stick to your plan, be patient, and hopefully your strategy will pay off.


2, Wheel and deal in the transfer market

The best way to keep your in-game bank manager happy is to master the art of wheeling and dealing in the transfer market. Buy players on the cheap (preferably free!) and if they’re under 25 years old, even better.

Then, when your players are just starting to get past their best (late 20s, early 30s) don’t be afraid to sell them on for a profit if a big bid comes in. The fans might not like losing star players, but if you can reinvest the transfer money wisely, you’ll quickly get the supporters back onside.

But although it’s good to snap up some bargains in the transfer market, don’t let your squad size or wage budget spiral out of control. There’s no point in paying a whole load of players to sit in the reserves and do nothing.


3, Don’t overstretch yourself

It can be really tempting to blow a load of money on a big new stand, top-notch training facilities or an expensive youth setup. But don’t try to push your club too fast – there’s no point having a huge expensive stadium if you don’t have enough fans to fill it.

Likewise, there’s no point building the world’s best youth academy or training complex if your team is still in the lower divisions. Try to develop your club slowly and steadily, in line with each division, rather than jumping ahead with expensive developments.


4, Appoint the best manager you can

Some people try to save money by appointing a cheaper manager – but that’s a false economy.

A cheaper, poorer manager will need better players in order to succeed. So you’ll end up spending more money on transfers, and if results start to go wrong, the fans will start to desert you and the gate receipts will drop.

And when the pressure from the fans becomes overwhelming, you’ll need to give him a pay-off in order to sack him.

On the flipside, a good manager will get more from your players, leading to over-achievement on the field, better results, bigger crowds, and ultimately more money in the bank.

If he’s really good, he might get poached by a bigger club – leaving you with compensation in the bank to find an even better replacement!


5, Above all… remember you’re the Chairman, not the Manager

It might sound obvious but the one thing that causes people the most problems is that they try to play the game as though they are the manager of the club, not the chairman.

In a traditional football management sim, results are all that matter. Fail on the pitch and you’ll be sacked. But in Football Chairman, there’s an even bigger pitfall – your club’s financial security.

Although everyone wants to fill their trophy cabinet, keeping your bank account full is actually more important. If you focus on making sure your club stays out of its overdraft, then you’ll have a sound platform for success on the pitch.

Sometimes as chairman you might have to make decisions that you wouldn’t have chosen to make in a football management game – for instance selling a star player, or investing in the stadium instead of buying that new goalkeeper.

But find a solution to those dilemmas and you’ll be a success as a chairman.

Good luck, you'll need it!