Football Manager 2005 Training Schedules

I take it you are all familiar with the fact you can create your own, customised schedule?

Open Notepad and fill in this template:

version=1
type=
display_name=
description=
Fitness=
Ball control=
Movement=
team work=
Set pieces=
Shot stopping=
Tactics=
Shooting=
Reflexes=

Now it's time to fill in the template.

Under "type", you have three options. Either team, Outfield or Goalkeeping. This value determines for which type of players the exercise can be used.

Under "display name", enter the name of the exercise. This is the in-game name of your new exercise.

Under "description", you can give a short description of your exercise. This is not obligatory.

The other values all represent aspects of the game that can be trained in this particular exercise. Enter a value between 0 and 7 in every field. 0 means no effort is put into a particular aspect, 7 means alot of effort is put into a particular aspect.

When you're done editing, save the file as "File-name.TAT" and move it to the FM Training folder. Start a new game and implement it.

I've created a few of these custom exercises my self, none of which use an exercise with all values set to 7 though.

DOWNLOAD for outfield players

AND

DOWNLOAD for goalkeepers

In order to maximise the effect of the training schedules, I recommend you hire a quality coach for every 4 or 5 players in your squad.

A mere 2 exercises will suffice to create this regime. This means there's plenty of rest for the players, and less chance of injuries. I also let my players rest on match day and the day after a match. Since most teams play twice a week, I had to come up with a regime which offered a full work-out in 3 to 4 days time. Now there a no exercises in the standard database which allow you to make a regime like this, so I made my own exercises.

version=1
type=team
display_name=Foot volley
description=Small sided games on sand pitches. A volleybal match, but players have to use their heads and feet to get the ball across. Players will improve their marking, movement and ability to think more quickly, plus added physique and technique.
Fitness=5
Ball control=7
Movement=5
team work=5
Set pieces=3
Shot stopping=5
Tactics=6
Shooting=6
Reflexes=5

Copy the above template into Notepad, and save it as "Foot Volley.TAT". Remember to save it as "all types". Place this newly created exercise in the same folder as the other exercises.

version=1
type=Outfield
display_name=Triangles
description=Although not fitness intensive, your players will develop a better fluid motion through running, turning and shifting their body weight. This exercise particularly improves vision, balance and coordination. The object of the exercise is to play in triangles as fast and often as possible.
Fitness=2
Ball control=7
Movement=7
team work=7
Set pieces=0
Shot stopping=0
Tactics=7
Shooting=7
Reflexes=7

Copy the above template into Notepad, and save it as "Triangles.TAT". Remember to save it as "all types". Place this newly created exercise in the same folder as the other exercises. My apologies for the dodgy names of both exercises, I couldn't come up with better names.

The values in every training give a maximum effect, without causing too many injuries in training. For this training to be more effective, you will need a good coaching staff, but even with smaller, lower league sides with crap coaching staffs, this regime will help your players to improve faster.