One of the things i’ve been doing recently is reviewing the Help in Soccer Manager Worlds as it needs updating. Whilst looking at which articles we currently have and making note of if they’re still relevant and if they need updating, I came across one titled Best Managers. Due to being on the new user interface (UI) I went looking for this list as due to being on Soccer Manager since day one I thought there’s a pretty good chance that I might feature in one of them due to how it is currently setup.
Disappointingly I couldn’t find Best Managers within the new UI but managed to find it hidden away in the old one. I thought to myself I wonder how many members of our community are aware that this exists due to it being hidden away? If you do want to look at it as it makes an interesting read you need to click on Community within the cog icon on the desktop and then the Best Managers tab. For ease you can always click here as a shortcut.
Due to only having one team (as I don’t include the other one as it’s within a test Game World) which is in a Gold Championship I naturally went to the Gold Game World area to see where I am currently ranked. I’m currently sat in 26th place with my Castilla which is in Gold Championship 7 (Game World ID 3065). I’m quite proud of this as there are a lot of good managers around and i’ve managed to get in the Top 50 having taken on a small club and building them to a powerhouse over the years. However, this is where the problem lies.
There are now quite a few Gold Championships and the newest team from those Game Worlds is from Gold Championship 86. That in itself speaks volumes. This is because it uses Manager Points (which you can read about here) and naturally the managers with the most accumulated points will be in the Top 50. It’s good having a list like this but it also means that it’ll be near impossible to enter it due to how it currently works. Yes, you can argue that that is what the Average Points tab is for to see a snapshot of now but something needs to change.
The Best Managers firstly needs to be brought into the new UI. After that it needs to be brought to the fore so that it’s not hidden away in some menu that no one knows about. Lastly it needs to be expanded on so that it also includes a monthly Top 50 that is reset every 30 days as I believe that is something that managers would like to try and be part of.
After visiting the Best Managers it reminded me that there is also a Best Managers for your Game World. Again I believe that this is hidden away and a lot of managers probably aren’t aware of it’s existence. You can access it on the old UI via Game World (the globe icon) ? Overview / History > History > Best Managers. On the new UI via Game World > Overview / History > History > Best Managers. Unfortunately I can’t provide a link this time as it wouldn’t take you to your Game World.
Again I weren’t surprised to see my Castilla in Gold Championship 7 (Game World ID 3065) sat in both the Best Game World Managers of All Time as well as Best Current Game World Managers. This is because just like with the Best Managers it uses Manager Points to work out the Top 10 managers for each list.
It’s very well seeing myself sat in both Top 10s (currently sat in 2nd in both leaderboards) as I took control of my team in the Summer of 2007 but again it’ll be hard for those that haven’t been in the Game World to enter it.
So I know that the same problems that exist with Best Managers also exist with Best Managers for your Game World. I won’t list them all again and also what needs doing as i’ll just be repeating myself.
However, I will state that i’m a strong advocate of the community aspect of the game as I believe that is what Soccer Manager Worlds is all about. So needless to say that the Best Managers is an area that I want to improve going forward as there is nothing better than boasting to your mates that you’re now above them in the Best Game World Managers list whether it is for current managers or a new monthly leaderboard.
This leads me to my next point. It was only when I went to Best Managers within my Game World that I noticed i’d been manager of Castilla for 999 games! That’s some achievement considering you play two league games each week and any additional games are dependent on your success in domestic and SMFA cups.
Even though I played my 1,000th game in the first leg of the SMFA Cup on Monday night it felt like a damp squib. This game could easily have come and gone without me even knowing! It made me think that this achievement wasn’t important. So what, you’ve managed the same club for that many games? Well it is an achievement and i’d be nice to let other managers in your Game World know about it. Never mind other managers, I want to know about it as well so that it just doesn’t pass by like any other game!!!
So it got me thinking that just like with Best Managers we should do more to celebrate milestones that you achieve with your club. This is something you should be made aware of. This is something that you should shout from the rooftops and let other managers know. Needless to say this is an area of the game that i’d like to see improved going forward.
About the author – Steven Gore
Steven is one of the co-founders of Soccer Manager and has been playing SM Worlds since August 2005. He can be found in Gold Championship 7 (Game World ID 3065) managing Castilla if you’d like to join him.
