New Manager Advice

A group of managers got together and made a small document to help new managers get into the groove of things, including team running and tactic building.

The Biggest Pieces Of Advice

First and foremost, the biggest piece of advice: Make sure you keep in contact with the board. As much as you might think differently, /yourteam/ IS NOT YOUR TEAM. It's a representative of the board, the users of the board, and the content of the board. While you are a user of the board, you only get one vote just like anyone else. Please keep this in mind above all else during your tenure, as it's maybe the most critical thing.

The other most important thing: don't get discouraged. It'll be tough starting out (and even at other points in your career), and especially if you're joining a big market team, they'll be a lot of expectations on you. Mistakes will be magnified buy both your team's fans and the people who just want to see that team fall. In the end, though, like anything else it takes time and experience to git gud. Even being taught about things, you'll only get places if you develop your own style based off this information instead of relying on this info only. Always keep learning (both from your mistakes and from other places), give yourself the chance to grow, and succeess will be achievable. All in all, the biggest thing you need to have any chance of success is the ability to withstand criticism, the fortitude to hold your place even when things are going sour, and the desire to improve.

Inital Setup

Other than that, the first thing I can think of is just to install PES and it's related Data Packs. Make sure to download the save so you can look at the teams everyone else has made. You will need to install the aesthetics pack on the PES 17 page on the wiki in order to get PES to work witrh the save, so make sure to install that too. Some people have trouble getting PES fully upgraded; if you do, don't be afraid to reach out for help, as there's a lot of people willing to assist in getting a new person up and running. Many veteran managers had trouble with 17 as well, so don't be ashamed, either!

Another thing, make sure you get a Skype account, register an IRC name, and if you so desire a Discord account.

-Skype is for rigcam during matches (basically a real-time video stream of the match, which makes managing easier than waiting for the long stream delay).

-IRC is for sending out instructions. The ONLY way to livemanage is through IRC, any instructions sent elsewhere will be ignored. The ONLY exception is for Pastebins for when you're unable to live-manage, those are sent through Skype beforehand.

-Discord is where pretty much all the discussions are nowdays.Check to see if your team has a discord; If they do, be sure to join it! If there isn't one, feel free to crate one, but only post it when necissary; Make a link on your team's wikipage and put it in roster polls/poll threads. Spamming it anywhere else is not only highly discouraged, but can also be a good way of ruining it for it's intended purpose.

• Also, if you need it you'll be able to get into the /aesco/ discord server and request models (or, if you want to learn, learn to make your own). And the official /4cc/ server (and honestly the /vg/l server since there's a lot of talk by 4cc heads there anyway). Basically, while it's not used for direct managing, it's essential for communications between a lot of different areas of the cup, or even people you have direct cup links to. Be sure to take advantage!
  

What to Study

Once you get that done, then try playing around with the different settings in the team building menus. Go back and watch some past matches and see if you can figure out what makes each team "tick", so to speak. Pay attention to what the managers initially run, and to what changed they make. Try to ask yourself "Why did they do this?" and see if you can figure it out. If you can't yet, it's alright, but it's a good habit to get into and a good initial challenge. Eventually, you'll likely be able to at least understand the logic behind them. Basically, just study a bit on what other successful people have done.

Another thing that may help is to learn a bit more about football itself. Play a little PES (even on easy mode is fine) just to get a feel for how things handle themselves. Also, watch some real-world footy to see if you can, again, figure out what makes successfull formations work. Honestly, just knowing basic things like how defensive line depth can affect an entire strategy is important. I'm not saying you'll nessiccarily be able to jump in and figure everything out or anything, but in my experience the more you expose yourself to stuff the better chance you end up learning something anyway. If you're having trouble knowing what to look for, or if you're simply looking for more in-depth analysis, look up blogs that look at football tactics, such as The False Nine, Outside of the Boot, and SBNATION. These are of course ran by people who understand the game to a great depth, so there's a lot to be learned from them!

Also, what I would suggest after other things is to make fake teams. There's a few invitationals coming up, and if you use /vg/ you'll probably be able to test for any team they're running as well. But, honestly, experience is the best teacher, and there's no better way to get experience without risk than a fake team invitational. You can figure out how teambuilding works, how the various 4cc team editing tools work, how the export system works, and a lot of things. It also gives you freedom to try things out without any real risk. If you have trouble doing these, ask me or most anyone else and most people will be willing to help you as long as you're not a jerk to them (there are exceptions, so if you pick someone who IS a jerk to you, please don't get discouraged).

Also on that note: Don't be afraid to run fake teams solo, but also be advised that what might work against yourself might not work against everyone. Be sure to take the most promising results and run them against the previous season's solid teams. A good trick to learn a new game is to remake the top four teams of the previous two major events of the last game; the previous two VGLs for VGL managers, the Summer and Autumn cups for 4cc managers, and the most recent VGL alongside the Summer and Autumn cups for the poor souls who do both.

Links for Further Reading

Football Blogs:
The False Nine
Outside of the Boot
SBNATION

These are for PES 15, but these are what I used when I was starting out to help me better understand what I was doing. They may or may not help you, but it can't hurt: http://www.operationsports.com/features/2064/pro-evolution-soccer-2015-offensive-tactics-guide/
http://www.operationsports.com/features/2080/pes-2015-defensive-tactics-guide/
http://klashman69.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/pes-2015-tactic-sliders-tutorial.html

Here's some guides I've used while trying to make the move from past PES to PES 17, these will be much more current to what is going on nowdays but it might be a bit overwhelming for a newbie:
http://pesmastery.com/pes-tactics-formation-tutorial/
http://www.operationsports.com/features/2639/breaking-down-advanced-instructions-in-pes-2017/

Export Making Advice

Step One: The Blueprint

Plan out what you want to do beforehand. This means how you want to defend and how you want to attack. Do you want to play more defensive, or more offensive? Do you want to be counter attacking, or do you want to be more of a slow build up passing team? Do you want to play long foward? This should be the first thing you figure out before you even touch the tactics.

• This is generally where you'll decide what formation your team will run. If you're wanting them to be offensive, you'll play people forward, as if with a 4-3-3 or a 3-4-3. If you want to defend more or play on the counter exclusively, you'll probably try a flat 4-4-2 or a 3-5-2 in order to disrupt the midfield. If you're looking for a balanced team that neither excells nor fails on either side of the pitch, you'll likely try a 4-4-2 with a diamond shape or a T shape in the middle. While "balanced" does sound good to a new manager, you'll likely be better overall if you can learn to take one of the other types of teams and gear them towards covering their weaknesses instead.

Step Two: Positions and their Uses

When placing your players on the pitch, make sure to place them in a way to facilitate this plan. If you're playing wide, place them a little more spaced out. If you're trying for narrow, place them closer together. Likewise, if you're playing longball maybe place the midfielders in a more defensive position and t he attackers in a more advanced position, for example. Don't be afraid to experiment, but always have a reason for things.

• Defense: CBs are your last line of defense. You should have either 2 of them (if 4 at the back) or 3 (if 3ATB) at all times. DO NOT use a LB-CB-RB; those leave huge holes in the middle of the pitch for opponents to strike. LB/RB players are geared towards helping defend outside shots, such as cut-inside players and curling crosses. They also can be modified with skill cards and extra instructions to take a part in the offense, too, which if used wisely can be a large boon for your attack without being a big hindrance for your defense. Do be careful with that, though, since it can backfire if you use it too loosely.
• Midfield: DMFs are near vital in '17. They'll be the one who breaks the majority of enemy attacks either by stealing the ball themselves or by letting the defenders get in position to do it. CMFs are balanced for playing any area of the midfield: they can be used as more mobile defenders, as set-up players for more attacking players, or as general mid-field protectors. While they have flexibility, they do not do as well as dedicated DMFs or AMFs, so try not to play them exclusively as replacements for those players. AMFs are multi-talented as well, in that they can play as either pure set-up men, as crafty play makers looking for the perfect pass, as a shadow striker that surprises the defense, or simply as a last link between the midfield and the forward players. RMF/LMFs are rarely used (many managers consider them inferior to wide CMFs), but they're basically CMFs that play exclusively on the wings. If you're wanting to ONLY play wide up and down the pitch and want your team to play crosses, then they may be worth considering.
• Forwards: CF are Center Fowards, basically the one who will be taking most of the shots in an average formation. They're the one waiting for the ball in front of the net, getting ready to strike at any given moment. They're also prime crossing targets because of this, though on average a defense will try to defend them the most as well. SS are Second Strikers, and as such are the ones who either distract the defense in order to feed the CF the ball to take a shot, or will be one who comes in from a little farther back in order to attack the goal in a way the opponents may not be expecting. These players are very useful, but may be a little tricky; if you load them up on shooting cards they may not pass when they should, and if you load them up on passing cards they may not take easy shots. But, if you're running anything more than a 1 Attacker formation, they should definitely be in your line-up. LWF/RWF are players who play exclusively on the wings, and will either cross the ball in to the center strikers or try to cut inside themselves to score. They're rarely used because generally they're not terribly useful, but there have been times where they've been used successfully.

Step Three: Cards and Player Styles

3. This also applies when dealing out cards. If you want your DMF to steal the ball back and pass immediately, give them the appropriate cards. Again, everything should have a purpose behind it. One thing I do suggest is to use the in-game PES editor when you're assigning cards. It has descriptions on what each card does, and for playing styles even which positions they are usable with. Don't be afraid to experiment once you're comfortable with things!

• Keepers: There's only one GK card, which is GK Long Throw. No reason not to use it, as it makes the passes after saved shots more accurate. There's two GK playstyles: Offensive GK will cause your GK to come out for long passes that they can beat the striker on, while Defensive GK will mean they stay back and let the striker come to them to shoot. Defensive GK is virtually worthless, as giving strikers that kind of opportunity will eventually just result in goals.
• Defense: Generally, you'll see a lot of CBs with some combination of Weighted Pass (for arcing long passes), Acrobatic Clearance (so they can better defend against more troublesome shots), and/or Long Range Pass (for close to the ground long passes). LB/RB players will generally be the same, but if you want them to play foward towards the offense you may give them a crossing card like Pinpoint Crossing.
  • There aren't a ton of worthwhile play styles (and some managers may even leave them styleless, which is legitimate), but Build Up is your best option for CBs and LB/RBs will either be Offensive Fullbacks or Defensive Fullbacks depending on how you want them to play.
• Midfield: There's a ton of options here. The farther back the player is, the more likely you'll want Weighted Pass on them, as it'll help DMFs move the ball up in cases where they get swarmed by attackers easily. On the other hand, you may opt for the Man Marking card if you want them to be more aggressive in fighting for the ball (Note that you do not have to use man marking itself for the Man Marking card to activate). Crossing cards on wide playing CMFs are an option, as are Low Lofted Pass on virtually any player here. Track Back will usually be used here as well, as these players are expected to cover most of the field anyway, them moving back to intercept opposing players usually doesn't muck things up too much. AMFs will be where you start to blend in Striker cards; while you mostly don't want to set them up as pure faux Fowards, giving them something like Long Range Drive isn't out of the question depending on your setup. Other options include giving them Trick cards (Cards 1-6 and 9) in order to shred defenses and get the ball to main strikers, or load up on passing cards with maybe one offensive card in order to make sure they don't waste open passing lanes or deny Fowards good chances.
  • DMFs will usually have either Anchor Man or Destroyer as their playstyles. Destroyer was populat in '16 since it caused players to be very aggressive in fighting for the ball, but with the number of cards '17 is willing to give it's fallen out of favor. Anchor Man tells them to stay back and basically be a guardian to your team's third of the pitch without the egregious tackling of Destroyer. CMFs can also be those two things, and it's not a bad idea. Box-to-Box CMFs are very good as well, but it tires them out fast so only use them if they're Medal players or if you have subs for them. If you want them to be pure passers you'll give them Classic No. 10 (which when combined with One Touch Pass can make your player a great passer). AMFs have the most options for playstyles here; They can also be Box-to-Box (not reccommended) or Classic No. 10 (situational), but they also have other uses. If you want them to annoy defenes you'll want them to be Dummy Runners, while if you want them to try to run in and be unexpected attackers, Hole player would be your likely choice. RMF/LMF can be Box to Box (if you want them to be more defensive and pass-heavy) as well as Hole Players (if you want them to cut inside and help more on offense).
• Forwards:These are likely the most important card setups on your team. While you may be able to survive if you give them mediocre cards, giving them bad cards will doom your team vastly more often than not. CFs should be geared towards scoring almost exclusively with cards like First Time Shot, Long Range Drive, Acrobatic Finishing or Rabona. You can also give them Trick cards in order to try and get them to style around defenses or cards like Mazing Run or Speeding Bullet to help them get through tougher defenses. Be careful with giving them passing cards; while it can be useful by telling them to pass if there's not a clear shot, it can also backfire by making them pass when there's a clear shot. SSs can be set up in many more ways. You can make them deeper playing CFs with Trick/Run cards, you can make them snipers with cards like Long Range Drive + Long Ranger to give them accuracy from farther out, you can make them pure setup with One Touch Pass and something like Heel Trick to let them pass the ball in, or even use them out wide to either cut in or create crosses while still having the chance to muddle up the defense in other ways. LWF/RWF would be used to either cut in from the sides and score on unsuspecting teams or to cross balls in for other players to shoot.
  • CFs will likely be Target Men or Goal Poachers; Target Man means the rest of the team will funnel the ball to him more often than not, while Goal Poacher is someone who hangs around waiting for their chance while also teasing the defense to try and get them out of position. Fox in the Box is also an option, but it's not as good as it once was. It'll cause your striker to stay in the general area of the keeper (while still being onsides, of course) but outside of certain setups it's generally easier to defend against than other kinds of strikers. SSs again are more flexible; they can be set up as Goal Poachers as well to give the offense extra threats, as a Dummy Runner to distract the defense and create space for the others, or as a Creative Playmaker to try and scramble their way through the defense to make an opening for either themselves or their teammates. LMF/RMFs can also be Creative Playmakers, but they will focus more on trying to create crossing lanes. Prolific Winger is the other option for them, and is what you want if you're looking for players to cut inside.
    
• Other cards include Malicia (basically makes your player dive in order to win the ball back through the ref's whistle, doesn't work a lot but it can help turn the tide of a match when it does), Fighting Spirit (Helps your players lose stamina slower, but stamina loss in '17 is generally so slow this is useless unless you're planning on Gegenpress or using a Box-to-Box playstyle on a Non-medal), Super-Sub (when coming off the bench in the second half, they play better than their stats suggest, mostp eople think it activates after 65' but nobody knows for sure), and Captaincy (which can improve the team's overall morale when the player is doing well, but bring it down if the player is not doign well). They can be used generally anywhere.

Step Four: The Player Settings Menu and Man Marking

These screens are ones that are easy to forget, but they play a huge role in your team (especially with how prevalent corner goals are in 17). Here's a quick breakdown of the screen:

• Select Captain: Rather obvious, this will select your team's captain. Pick the player that you want to have the biggest role on the team, whether it's your striker, a very influential setup man, or something else. This player can affect your team in the same way the captaincy card does (especially since they get that card for free).
• Long FK Taker: Who will take Free Kicks when you're far away from the goal. Typically you'll want a silver CMF/DMF to take these, or someone farther back on your own pitch. This way players aren't dragged out of position in order to take these kicks.
• Short FK Taker: Who will take Free Kicks when you're close to the goal, but not in a Penalty kick situation. Typically a silver AMF or SS, so that they can take a direct shot and have a decent chance to make it or set it up for another medal forward.
• FK Taker 2: This is a player that will be close to the FK taker in certain situations, and may take the kick instead in order to fool the defense. While this may not happen often if ever in AI vs AI PES, it doesn't hurt to set it up anyway. One option is to use the same player as the Long FK Taker is in order to secure that only one person is doing it, or maybe set up someone who is in the same position as the Long FK taker as FK Taker 2 so that, again, players aren't dragged horribly out of position.
• Left CK Taker: This is who will take corner kicks on the left side of the goal (from the GK's point of view). Put a silver forward here, as they will likely have the best accuracy to place the ball in a position where it can be headed in for a goal without taking away the firepower you'd lose if you put a gold out there. If you don't have your silver playing in the center, make sure to use the one on the left side of the pitch so that they can quickly get back into position after taking the corner kick.
• Right CK Taker: This is who will take corner kicks on the right side of the goal (from the GK's point of view). Put a silver forward here, as they will likely have the best accuracy to place the ball in a position where it can be headed in for a goal without taking away the firepower you'd lose if you put a gold out there. If you don't have your silver playing in the center, make sure to use the one on the right side of the pitch so that they can quickly get back into position after taking the corner kick.
• PK Taker: Penalty kick taker. Use your best striker, since this is right in the center of the pitch anyway they won't have to worry about getting into position upon the rare failed PK. You also want the highest rated striker because, naturally, they'll have the biggest chance of beating the keeper here.
• Players to join Attack: These are defensive players who will move up when your team has the ball. This is used in order to get extra men foward in order to beat the defense with pure numbers. Be careful, though, since this will weaken your defense by moving players out of their normal positions temporarily. If the other team gets the ball back quick or in a good spot, it's an easy punish.

Man marking can be useful when done right, or it can make you look foolish when done wrong. The idea behind man marking is to shut down a specific player on the other team by making one player on your team cover them closely. Any time that player comes close to your player, your player will cover them to prevent him from receiving (or being targeted for) passes, or if he has the ball to take the ball away from him (or at least disrupt him enough to where he's ineffective). When you're considering how to mark someone, choose someone who plays close to the position of the player you want to mark. Marking someone far away means the mark will never take effect. Marking someone a medium distance away means that the mark won't always take effect, but when it does it'll drag your player out of position leaving a gap in your team that can be easily exploited. In my experience, it's more effective to mark setup men in order to shut down entire attacks, but if there's too many setup men and only a single main striker, you'll be better off trying to stop him instead of marking each setup man.

• As a bit of a tl;dr, the key is to weaken their team without hobbling your own in the process. Don't let them drag your player too far out of position, but make sure when their player comes into your player's region, his life will become much more difficult.

Step Five: Contingency Planning and Alternate Tactics

Try to think of ways your plan could fail and use preset 2 and 3 to prevent those. What if you run into a wide playing team when you're set up to be narrow? Maybe you should use P2 to make a team that spreads out more. Flexability isn't so important that you should waste bench spots on long-odd possibiliti9es, but having extra backs and midfielders so you can move between, say, a 4-4-2 into a 3-4-3 into a 5-3-2 is a solid idea.

• Your subs should be set up so that they can replace important non-medal players on the field. They are the ones who will get tired, and you'll want to sub in players who can perform the same function in the formation that the starters do. Once you do that, you should use the rest of the positions to have players who you can sub on in order to change how your formation plays. This way if your original plan isn't working, you can pull out a plan B. Any leftover spots, you can either give to one of the two other categories or you could give them to players who will only be subbed in if you're radically changing things. If you're running, say, a 4-4-2 with two medal strikers, having a CF/SS sub doesn't make sense UNLESS you want to be able to sub them in and switch to a 3-striker attack. One other thing to decide is on how many GKs you want. Most teams generally have 2 (or only have 2 they use if they have 3), but a third is sometimes added in order to have someone who can be subbed in on a very unlucky condition roll..
  • An example is this: Starter CMF is set up to be a pure passer. You'll want at least one player that is also a pure passer in order to have someone who can do that same job once the starter's gassed, but you may also want a CMF who can defend better if you notice the Starter making bad passes or if your opponent is overwhelming you in the midfield. A SS is on the bench too, who you can sub in for the CMF, then move into position and have him attempt to add firepower to your offence.

Step Six: Pre-cup and Mid-Cup Testing and Tactical Thinking

6.1. For pre-cup tests: If you have time (which you should if you start testing early), do testing in waves. The first few tests you should focus on making sure every player is performing well in their role. Don't worry about wins or losses yet, just make sure there isn't someone specific making bad passes, being beaten by opposing attackers, or constantly flubbing shots. Don't rely on a single test, or only test against a single team, either. Play 3-4 games against 3-4 different teams if you can in order to try and see patterns but also to test your team against different kinds of opposition. This is the only chance you get to tweak individual players, so make sure to pay special attention to them.

• While there's endless options, it's important to see WHAT is going wrong and and HOW it's going wrong in order to determine WHY it's going wrong. If your DMF is constantly trying to slot the ball into bad places, you can either try to give them more accuracy with more passing cards, or take passing cards away to discourage them from passing and instead focus on working the ball around themselves. If the wingers aren't cutting inside and you want them to, tweak their cards and playstyles. If the strikers are missing open nets, look and see if you can change their cards in any way to make them more accurate or change their footedness to see if maybe the other foot will give them a more accurate strike. These are simply vague examples, so don't be afraid to try different things!

• Also, this is the main reason I want you to have a plan going in: You'll know what to look for from each player, and you'll have a better chance to identify what's going wrong when things do go wrong. You'll also have more of a clue on how to fix it.
  

6.2. Once you've seen that there's nobody consistently messing up, then you can move on to tweaking the full team composition. When things go wrong in this phase of testing, the most important thing is to identify why by looking at what YOUR team did wrong, rather than what they did right. Sometimes your team did nothing wrong and it's simply being outplayed. See if you can change sliders in order to adjust your team to better fight against their team, or try a different formation that may be a better counter to their tactics.

6.2.1. Once the full save is out, don't be afraid to look at your opponent's team. See what cards they have and their formation setup, try to think of how they're set up to play, and then how you can disrupt it, such as man-marking a major midfielder who is constantly playing the ball up to the offense. Also look at how they play their defense, and see if there's any way to exploit it or if there's anything that it's weak to. Don't assume that the sliders in their initial save are legit if they look at all strange, since many managers will use mindgame sliders for the initial export. One option is to imagine what you would use in their shoes with their setup, and test against that. This is one skill in particular that builds with time and experience, so don't get too frustrated with it early on in your career. It may even be a good idea to not change things in your first cup until you're more familiar with how sliders work, as well, so don't feel that it's absolutely necessary to try and emulate another team's approach.

• When you change your tactics, don't think you have to do radical things or move players. Sometimes all it takes is a slider change. If they're playing short and not trying for many through balls, you can move the defensive line up a little, whereas if they're going long more often than not dropping it back is the way to go. If they're putting a lot of pressure on you, you can change to a more Aggressive set with Front Line Pressuring, and if they're building up on your or beating you with short passes the better idea will be to go to a Defensive All Out Defense in order to build a wall between their attack and the goal. Play more compact against teams who drive the middle to take pot shots and play wider against teams who run up the wings and pass a lot before shooting. This advice works in reverse often as well, so if the opponent is playing a high defensive line, you my want to take advantage with a Long Ball setup. If you're wanting to control the ball, though, and their defense is staying back, you'll probably try to play a more posession-heavy short-pass counter attack. Of course, when you go between passing styles, adjust your support range accordingly; spread your team out more for long passes and bring them closer for shorter passes.
  

5.3. When you're livemanaging, you'll want to be looking at what their team is doing right instead. You'll have to try and think of how you can counter them (or at least prevent them from doing what they're doing) by changing your tactics. Try to see what they're doing well, then think of a way to prevent them from doing that either as well or at all. Watch their screen in the tactical menus to see as many of their sliders as you can, and look at their general formation to see if there's any way this can be exploited.

• • A good rule of thumb when adjusting your team between tests is: "Focus more on individual performance when designing players/formations, focus on team movement when designing sliders". If you see a specific player playing poorly, adjust their individual stuff or maybe move them around in the formation. If you notice an entire area of your team is weak (or if multiple players perform poorly in the same area), then you'll try to adjust things via slider changes and bigger formation switches.

Step Seven: Nightlies

7. When modifying your team in a nightly, the best thing you can do to start out is to go to the Klaxa archive and download any past game(s) from the current tournament for your next opponent. A lot of the same concepts from 5.3 apply here as well, but you'll have more time to look them over and think about what to do. You can often glean info on what the opposition actually ran from the pause menus and other screens in-game, especially if they change sliders. Pay attention any time the tactical screen shows up and note down everything you can, from sliders to the general formation(s) used. Later in the game also note down what was changed for that team. If you know what they run that closely is a big advantage in building your nightly export to counter them, and if you know what kind of changes they're likely to make you'll be able to plan out strategies to counter those changes before the match instead of on-the-fly while live managing.

Other Advice

6. Do be aware that after all this is a game. Weird stuff can still happen, even though you have a solid gameplan in testing it can still fail because of PES being PES. Don't rely too much on a single test, but also don't over-test to the point where you're getting garbage data or tweaking things to "perfection". Usually that ends up being over-calibration that will just make your team weaker. Always keep your initial plan in mind, and find ways to strengthen it, or switch to a new plan if need be. Personally, I try to run around 6 tests per permutation of the game (Preset 1 vs Preset 1, Preset 1 vs Preset 2, Preset 1 vs Preset 3, then Preset 2 vs Preset 1, etc etc) to see what's working and what isn't.

Board Relations

It's very important to remember that, while you are the manager of the team, the team is the original board's property. They're the ones who decide who goes on the team, who comes off, which music plays normally, and other such things. Therefore, polls are one of the most important parts of managing. There's multiple ways to do a poll, but the most popular way is to use a Google Form.

Make a list of player names both current, past, and potentially future. Give each name a option to either put them on the team or not. There's multiple ways to handle medal voting. You can either list a "medal" option with the previous options, make a drop down box for each medal position, or just choose the players who rank 1-4 in the poll. Don't forget to leave a Suggestion text box for people to leave suggestions. Include those votes, because there may be enough to put them on the team, though if not then you can also use those names for future polls. After that, poll for your goalhorn(s) and anthem, possibly giving alternate options (and a suggestion box). Also, if there's any other team issues that need to be discussed (i.e. a new logo, or a trade/loan offer), put them in too. Finally, put in a set of verification questions. This will help you weed out illegitimate votes from people who don't use your board. These are usually rather simple (i.e. identify this board meme, why is (image) board related, etc), but specific enough to mean you'll need inside knowledge in order to answer correctly. Don't be afraid to throw out votes that are obviously illegitimate, too, such as someone who votes everyone Remove or such things.NEVER EVER POST YOUR POLL IN THE /vg/ THREAD. I would also advise against posting it on the team wiki page, but some people have successfully done that.

The big obstacle to this is that the cup is banned on most boards. Now, if you're on /mlp/, /sp/, or /vg/, you'll not run this risk because threads are allowed on those boards. Odds are, though, you will have to get around this. Some mods are diligent about it and delete it quickly, while some are lax and allow threads as long as they're also about a board-related topic (/d/ is like this, so as an example, a cup thread that can also be used as a Succubus thread during and after the polling time/roster announcement). Very few boards will have mods that let the thread stay alive indefinitely, and they're mostly exclusive to smaller boards. What many managers do is post something board related (such as a screencap from a soccer anime for /a/ or maybe a album of football songs for /mu/) and use it as a stealth thread. While the mods will mostly likely eventually delete it, it'll take longer to get discovered and therefore let you gather more data for more time. When it's deleted, don't spam another thread up. Wait for a while, (maybe half a day, maybe a while day, maybe more) then post another thread wit ha similar OP image and tagline. The mods will eventually catch on if you use the same image or heading post every time, so mix it up sometimes. You'll likely eventually be banned for a few days at some point, so be aware of that risk. It seems most mods will stick to just deleting the thread (especially if you don't spam them), but there are some who feel the need to lay down the law in a big way, or maybe a dormant or new mod will be looking to (re)assert their power. In short, be careful, know the risks, and don't raise a fuss if/when it happens, it'll just make things worse for everyone.

If your team has a Discord server (or if you make them one), it's a good place to get in direct touch with fans. Make sure to post your roster poll in there to get feedback from them, but do remember one key thing: YOUR TEAM DISCORD IS NOT YOUR BOARD. While most likely the server will be filled with fans of your team, it will also probably have non-board users too. It also cannot be considered a truly representative sample of your board, because it is NOT your board. It is at best a splinter community, and even if they all use the board every day and are on top of the latest memes, you're still only catering to that splinter instead of the board as a hole if you only use the discord. It's a great way to contact fans and discuss ideas, but it's also dangerous if you rely on it too much. Do be careful.

Lastly, any time you make contact with your board, make sure to let everyone know that you're looking for more help (if you indeed are). A lot of times, they'll be a prospective co-manager or tester out there, but they'll either be too shy to contact the team management, or they'll assume there's already enough manpower behind the scenes and not ask about it. If you want more testers, mention it in any relevant thread that pops up, in your team Discord, in the roster poll intro/outro, anywhere you think it'll fit in. While you may not get any takers, you DEFINITELY won't get any if you don't put anything out there. Don't forget to mention your contact info (or the Contact Info page on the wiki, where your info should be).

Custom Tools

Roster Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet
Here's a spreadsheet I use to keep track of my team, their cards, their heights, and other things. There's boxes to count heights in both number of people in each tier and overall height, so it will be easier to track whether your team is legal. You can also use this to track which cards are on which players. I also use this for testing, so it's multi-use. If you find this useful, please feel free to use it!
Note: I left some old data in as example data to show the way it's used, please overwrite it when you go to use it yourself.