Football Manager Player Personality Guide: Personalities For Development

This Football Manager player personality guide follows on from our investigation into which attributes stimulate growth and explains how to spot these ‘hidden’ attributes.

Each players personality is made up of nine attributes, three of these attributes are THE most influential factors to their development in Football Manager. A poor personality could fell even the most godly of newgens.

Football Manager Player Personalities Guide

Each players information page features a personality description and media handling style; Combined both are great indicators of a players personality mix and this guide reveals which ones you should target.

I will begin with the contributing attributes to a players personality. I will then list the best personality descriptions for player development, including the attributes they represent. Please note this guide is aimed at player development, other personalities may be preferred in certain scenarios.

Football Manager Player Personality Attributes

Each players personality is made up of nine attributes; two are visible mental attributes (in italics below) and seven are hidden.

• Determination
• Leadership
• Ambition
• Controversy
• Loyalty
• Pressure
• Professionalism
• Sportsmanship
• Temperament

We have already discussed which of these attributes influence player development but in a nutshell Ambition and Determination have a bearing while Professionalism is the holy grail.

Now for the magic factor; which personality description and media handling styles include the most Ambition, Determination and Professionalism?

Best Football Manager Player Personality Descriptions For Development

Below are the best personality descriptions for player development and the attributes they are good for.

This list is ordered by best description first based on my personal interpretation of which attributes aid growth. I have also taken negative attributes into account.

Model Citizen

• Pro’s: Ambition, Determination and  Professionalism
• Bonus: Loyalty, Pressure, Sportsmanship & Temperament

Model Professional

• Pro’s: Professionalism
• Bonus: Temperament

Perfectionist

• Pro’s: Ambition, Determination and Professionalism
• Negatives: Temperamental

Resolute

• Pro’s: Determination and Professionalism
• Negatives: Pressure

Professional

• Pro’s: Professionalism
• Bonus: Temperament

Fairly Professional

• Pro’s: Professionalism
• Negatives: Determination

Driven

• Pro’s: Determination & Ambition

Very Ambitious

• Pro’s: Ambition
• Negatives: Loyalty & Determination

Born Leader

• Pro’s: Determination
• Bonus: Leadership

Determined

• Pro’s: Determination, Ambition

Iron Willed

• Pro’s: Determination
• Bonus: Pressure

Resilient

• Pro’s: Determination
• Bonus: Pressure

Ambitious

• Pro’s: Ambition
• Negatives: Determination & Loyalty

Fairly Determined

• Pro’s: Determination
• Negatives: Pressure

Fairly Ambitious

• Pro’s: Ambition
• Negatives: Determination & Professionalism

Side note: Do not fall into the ‘balanced’ personality trap. Balanced players have fairly good ambition, determination and professionalism at best! It would seem Sports Interactive do not want to ruffle any feathers as many real life players have a balanced personality.

Found this interesting? Try our in-depth investigation into which attributes influence player development in Football Manager

Media Handling Styles For Player Development

Media handling styles are often ignored despite providing excellent insight into your players personality. Below are the best handling styles for player development, again, in descending order.

Not so many here but the top two coupled with a good media description could imply a solid personality. There are many more styles but only the three below influence player development directly.

Evasive

• Pro’s: Professionalism
• Bonus: Pressure

Reserved

• Pro’s: Professionalism

Level-Headed

• Pro’s: Professionalism OR Sportsmanship
• Bonus: Loyalty

In FM logic an evasive, perfectionist is desirable…I wouldn’t take Football Manager’s advice on relationships lads.

How to improve your players personality in Football Manager

Your overall squad personality can have a positive or negative influence on young players. Should your collective squad have high professionalism, ambition, or determination, young prospects could improve in these areas over time. This will affect players with high adaptability for longer, up to a maximum age of 24.

‘Mentoring groups’ can be effective also. Couple young prospects with highly influential players rich in the personality attribute you wish to increase.

That is all for todays guide but we have more planned so follow us on Twitter and Facebook to be notified of new cotent.

Credit: Research from Nocuous written on the official SIGames Forum