9. Your Salary Means Nothing
There comes a time on FM where after virtual years and often real months on the one side of the negotiation table mediating stars' demands for upped wages, bigger signing-on fees and a stuffed dragon, that you finally get to play the prima donna yourself with the board. You've spent much of your (virtual) managing life thrashing out deals, so you think it might be cool to see it from the other side of the coin. Yet despite FM coming on leaps and bounds over the years, there's still very little point to your wage negotiations. I get what they're trying to do by making you turn up to your own contract hearings they're trying to add a touch of realism. However, they're accidentally compounding the problem there's nothing riding on these talks, as any expanded wage packet won't alter gameplay in the slightest. In fact, it used to be another way to cheat before SI put a stop to it, you could ask to be paid a quid a week and use the freed-up wage budget to sign in another player. Really, SI need to come up with a way to make the wages you earn count beyond that arbitrary 'career earnings' counter. I don't know how they'd do it, but as it stands, one of the most important parts of the managerial experience actually making sure you remain in paid employment is tragically underdeveloped.