Additional new features for Football Manager™ 2009

Player progression – Improvement to the player progression module, to give more

realistic player development, more variation in the player learning curves,
wonderkids starting as better players to ensure that clubs realise their worth and
more effect to the attribute development based on the training schedules that are
set.

In-Depth Player Ratings – Player ratings now out have a decimal point, for more in-
depth analysis on how a player has performed. For example, instead of your player
receiving a simple 6 or 8 out of 10, they can now have a 6.8 or an 8.2.

Position viewer – On the tactics screen, you now have an indication on how good a
player is in a specific position using a traffic light system, so if a player can play as
right back but it's not his best position, it might be an orange/yellow colour, red if
he's rubbish in that position, and green if it's his best position.

Injury time scorers – Game now shows injury time goals with “+x” rather than all
goals being scored in the 90th minute.

AI team trials – AI managers can now sign players on trial.

Trial days – This is a scoutable and viewable match where players released by their
club play against each other arranged by the players union.

Enquire to loan a player – You can send a virtual fax out to all clubs to see which
players they would be prepared to loan you. This can also be done per individual
club.

Feeder club improvements – The ability, once your board trusts you, to ask for a
specific feeder club/parent club.

Holiday job returning options – Option added to apply only for jobs in specific
divisions, such as the top playable division, bottom playable division, lower division
jobs, and as per usual any job.

Distance run – A new stat that shows how far a player has run per match.

Team report improvements – Team report now suggests new players for weak areas
of the team.

Awards – Team awards now have a history rather than just showing the last winner.
Like the best XI, they can be combined into an overall team for all the years stored.

Average ratings – Players who play less than 10 minutes no longer get a match rating
so they don’t get their average rating dragged down by not having enough time on
the pitch to impress.

B Teams – Are now treated are affiliate clubs, rather than reserve teams for teams in
countries where a team might have two teams in different first team leagues (Spain /
Barcelona, for example).
Stadium expansion – Now starts after last home game of the season, so stadium
expansions are built quicker.

Age and transfer rules – Age rules for different competitions are now displayed for
each competition as are transfer rules, such as the French “Joker” rule.

New sound – Added new sound effects to the match engine.

Referee watch – Pundits comment on ref’s performance in the post-match screen.

Reject all loan offers – Option to reject all loan offers when a bid comes in, rather
than having to go through each bid individually.

Retired squad numbers – Squad numbers that are retired in real life are retired in the
game. Manager can retire squad numbers after they've been at a club after many
years of service.

Inactive team improvements – Ensuring that inactive teams play enough matches, so
that players on loan get full first team seasons.

Improvements to player nationality module – Players now gain nationality after x

years and become eligible to play for nations after y years (depending on individual
rules in countries).

Pre-game injury history – Players now have past injuries from pre-game in their
histories.
International "national pool" improvements – For those who like to manage
international teams in the game, this will save you lots of time, as the multi-select
actions on the national pool window have been improved to make moving players
around national squads easier.

Generated players – These players can now have second nationalities, so you’ll find
more Argentinian youngsters with Italian parents, and more players in the future
having to decide which national they want to represent on the international stage.

Team records – improvements have been made to the team records history in the
game, including the addition of a fastest goal statistic.
MLS specific new features:

Designated player rule added to ensure that the teams with more financial backing
are able to sign one player outside the designated wage fund, or two by gaining
another designated player slot in a trade. You can also offer your designated player
slot to other clubs.

Allocation funds can also be offered to other MLS clubs in a trade, with $1 of the
Allocation fund being worth $5 in transfers between MLS teams.

Transfer budgets now only change when an allocation is awarded – these are
awarded in 2 ways in FM09, if a team fails to make the play-offs, and if a MLS team
sells a player (the former is $300,000 and the latter limited to $500k).