Matchday Events and Press: Touchline Calls, Team Talks and the Back Page
In Dynasty and Career a matchday is more than ninety minutes. Before kick-off a rival manager may have something to say, the big games call for a team talk, the matches you watch stop for touchline calls, and reporters want your words before and after. Every one of these moments is a real choice with a real effect on your squad, the press, the fans or the match itself.
They happen in the matches you play, not when you simulate ahead in bulk, and your very first season keeps things simple, so they arrive once you have found your feet. Your assistant manager, who has a name and a voice of his own, reads the opponent before each match and asks the questions on the touchline.
War of words
Before a derby or a title clash, the rival manager may go to the press. Each club has its own made-up manager, and he will say your side bottles the big days, that the title is theirs to lose, or that one of your players goes down too easily. You answer, usually with three options:
- Ignore it. Not a word. Your players notice you are not rattled.
- Hit back. The fans love it and the squad is fired up, but the match can turn wild.
- A softer line. Wish him luck, or let them carry the pressure, and the heat drops.
Team talks
Before the big league matches you give a team talk. It comes up on derby day, in a top-of-the-table clash between two of the top three, and in the run-in, the last five matches, when you are fighting at the top or at the bottom. You pick one of three, and it lasts that match only:
- Stay focused. A small all-round edge, the safe choice.
- Fire them up. Go for the throat: you attack more, but leave gaps.
- Hold firm. Lock the back: hard to break down, blunter going forward.
Touchline calls
In a match you watch, the clock holds once in the second half, at the hour or with fifteen minutes to go, and now and then a second time later on, even in added time. Your assistant asks a question that fits the moment: one goal up with fifteen to go, level at the hour, a goal behind, down to ten men, a roaring derby crowd, heavy weather, a free kick in added time. You get two or three options, and the first is always Leave it as it is.
Every option changes the rest of the match. Throwing everything forward raises your chances of scoring and theirs; killing the game lowers both. "Kill the game: everyone behind the ball" protects a lead, "Go for the second" chases the result, "Park the bus" holds out with ten men. If you do not answer, the call settles on Leave it as it is after a few seconds, so the match never stalls.
Press conferences
Every few matchdays, and after derbies and heavy results, you face the press. Two or three questions come from named reporters at made-up papers such as The Daily Dugout: is this side the real deal, has the board given you enough money, is your system too predictable. Your answers move the press meter, and they can lift or dent your squad and your fans along the way.
The back page
The day after a press conference, the papers have their say. The headline depends on how your answers landed: win over the press room and you are the hero, clash with the reporters and you are the villain, give little away and it is business as usual. The latest back page sits at the top of your News page.
Flash interviews
After a watched match with a story, a reporter catches you at pitchside with one question. It only happens when something happened: a late winner or a late equaliser, an early red card, a comeback, a hat-trick, an upset either way, a winning or losing run, or a big win. You answer in one of four tones, and the effect depends on the result:
- Humble keeps the press on side, and after a defeat it calms the board too.
- Bold lifts morale and the fans, but after a defeat the press turns on you.
- Deflect gives nothing away and changes little.
- Blame the referee rallies the squad, at a cost with the press and the board. Some questions offer a joke instead.
Then three fan posts react to what you said.
Midweek invitations
From time to time an invitation lands between matches: a late-night football show wants you on the sofa, a big podcast asks for an hour with no topic off limits, or a local school asks you to hand out the prizes at its sports day. Going on the show wins over the press, and presenting the prizes wins over the town, but both cost a little focus on the training ground. The podcast is a gamble: an hour of great stories that wins over the press and the fans, or one careless line that becomes the headline.
Honours for your matchday
- Touchline Tactician. Win 10 matches after making a touchline call.
- War of Words. Hit back at a rival manager and win the match, 3 times.
- Microphone Regular. Give 25 flash interviews.
- Never the Referee. Give at least 8 flash interviews in a season without blaming the referee once.
- Back Page Hero and Tabloid Villain. Make the back page for the right, or the wrong, reasons 5 times.
More: decisions, morale and form · Career mode · tactics and trade-offs. Start a career →
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