Interest in International cricket

[boscorp]

A recent topic was about how much interest in National sides there is in FTP. I don't expect much of a response as the site isn't that active but I am interested in other managers perspectives.
There is currently 38 National managers and a further 81 assistants currently involved. Thats 119 managers from a pool of about 1150 managers. Approx 10%
Then there is the managers who train the players selected in National squads and have them in their club squads, they may or may not support a country but they likely have an extra interest in their selected players development and performance. Each National squad of 30 has a decent turnover of players during a season and I wouldn't have a clue how many extra managers that involves but I do believe there is a decent number of managers who aspire to have a player in a National squad.
I think the numbers are healthy with room to grow and that there is a growing interest in comparison to 10 seasons ago.
What are your thoughts? Please keep the comments respectful. How much interest is there and how much should there be?

[Basto111]

I probably wouldn't play the game without international cricket, I have much more interest in trying to create players for a small nation and making them better.

Being an international manager I always ask people about players training and work with them to try and get the best player for them, 99% respond respectfully and if they say they arent interested then thats fine. I have sent over 100 mails this season and only had 2 responses of people who are not interested. that is 98 against 2 so from that small sample size, I would say people are interested. If I get any rude responses then I just reply with tongue in cheek comments haha.

Running a national team takes some time and commitment which is probably the issue with getting people involved. FTP in my view would be a lot worse off without the international team scene. Although I would say it needs a shake up, and I have to admit, I do beleive the compensation for selected players should be hire.

[GA-James018]

Speaking primarily as a user here, not as an admin.

I can pipe up here as someone who isn't really involved in the international game. (I have helped out before because I was asked to and had the spare time, but it's never been my thing.)

To me it's nothing to do with rules, structures or anything preventing me from getting into it. I just don't want to. The attraction of FTP for me is being able to manage my own side, develop my own players, make decisions about my own squad and so on. The whole concept of managing or contributing to an international side just doesn't really interest me - it's not why I signed up to play the game.

There are people (Basto, for example) who are the opposite - it's the international game they're interested in and they wouldn't play the game if it was just club management. That's fine - that's great, in fact, for the health of FTP that different people have different reasons to enjoy it. I feel like the majority of users probably are like me, though, in that their club takes priority and internationals are just something that happens off to the side that they're not very interested in. FTP, after all, is advertised and marketed as a game where you manage your own club. That's what people come into the game wanting and expecting.

If there's anything that would raise the profile of international cricket in FTP, I'd say, it might be making it explicitly a part of the game's marketing. The front page already says, "National teams, with human management - will your youth recruit be good enough to make the International level?" Maybe that could be changed or something else could be added along the lines of "will you win the election and lead your nation to World Cup glory?" That might get the idea of international management as a goal/aspiration into the minds of starting users rather than just relying on word of mouth.

But meanwhile, I think we also have to accept that out of everyone who plays FTP, a percentage of the community will just not be interested in the national side - and that's fine.

[casperj]

I think part of the issue with getting managers involved in the national side of things is the additional work involved. The 'normal' team game has a regular schedule, and if you aren't needing to use the TM very much, the actual amount of work you have to put in to keep your side(s) going is relatively minimal.

In contrast the NAT team schedule is irregular, meaning you have to keep on top of when your games are. You also have to be constantly searhcing the player database for potential players / removing ones that are getting too old, contacting managers to alter training etc. You also have to appoint assistants and play friendlies, neither of which are required in the normal game. To get the most out of it you might have to do some comms to try and encourage teams to pull/develop players of your nationality. This makes it quite a lot of extra work for a relatively small number of extra games.

Another thing for me is the timing of the matches. I'm an assistant with Scotland U20s, but the timing of the games mean I'm very rarely on line when the au20 team are playing. In contrast the timing of the 'normal' team matches suit me a lot better.

[Jacko]

Never really been interested in getting involved in the national team but it adds an interesting element to the game making players unavailable, getting a bit of money back,etc.

Probably my biggest interest in the game is squad building and development as well as the influence you can have over results with orders, squad rotations and pitch conditions. Which is far more satisfying over several seasons rather than a season stint as international coach.

Would be happy if it was possible for international squad selection, orders, etc. to be programmed and remove the need for managers if there aren't enough people interested.

[MOD-MrMoose]

I agree with quite a lot of the points already raised.

Personally I probably wouldn’t play FTP without the international aspect. I’ve set both my squads up with the primary focus of producing the best UAE players (with a particular focus on youths). Personally this is more motivating than club level success (I know this isn’t a common mentality).

On the flip side, I am not convinced that the current interested manager level is sustainable for 18 (now 20 nations). Not only do you need two teams of 2-4 managers/assistants, you also need a community of dedicated manages with strong academies supporting those nations. Even as a small but relatively dedicated nation, we have really struggled to keep assistants who are able to dedicate the extra time that national duties require.

[AlexD]

QUOTE
There is currently 38 National managers and a further 81 assistants currently involved. Thats 119 managers from a pool of about 1150 managers. Approx 10%

WOW amazing stats Boscorp where did you get these from ? and why on earth are you posting this topic after I posted mine .

Was this because it showed a complete lack of interest by these 119 players as only 2 responded ! ?

I asked for the topic to be closed down down .as wolfberries and his unpleasant comments were getting out of hand , and most definitely portrayed International managers in a bad light.

[MOD-MrMoose]

The previous forum was only up for 3 days, I know I personally didn’t see it until it was shut down.

The various forms of communication required (discord, forums, in game mails) is another huge time commitment for national mangers. I used to do full game write ups “press conferences” that would take me 30+ minutes to write each.

[KarlWepener]

The previous forum was only up for 3 days, I know I personally didn’t see it until it was shut down.

And this topic has been up for similar time and attracted 7 post !
Seems like a bit of a recovery process with Mods and international managers recruited .

[boscorp]

QUOTE
There is currently 38 National managers and a further 81 assistants currently involved. Thats 119 managers from a pool of about 1150 managers. Approx 10%

WOW amazing stats Boscorp where did you get these from ? and why on earth are you posting this topic after I posted mine .

Was this because it showed a complete lack of interest by these 119 players as only 2 responded ! ?

I asked for the topic to be closed down down .as wolfberries and his unpleasant comments were getting out of hand , and most definitely portrayed International managers in a bad light.

It was a decent topic that quickly got out of hand, I've reposted a similar topic in the hopes of continuing the discussion without the personal attacks. The stats I mentioned are the numbers from the game.
If this post gets out of hand it will be closed down, if not it will remain open for people to add their views.
My personal opinion is that having representative sides adds an extra element to the game for those wishing to expand the experience outside of their club. A lot of managers don't have the time or interest and that's very understandable. There is a small number though who are interested and have the time, a number that has grown in recent years and likely to grow a little bit more.

[Cottonball]

I saw the other topic while it was open but could see it getting a bit spicy so didn't engage aha

I am super into the international space and massively enjoy it. If the stats are correct of 10% of managers being involved as international managers/assistants, I actually think that is a massive percentage of the playing community.

I think the aspect of players being removed for a week for representational commitments is something that makes the game more realistic to real life cricket and creates an extra element for managers to consider. Even before I got into the nat scene, I was eager for my players to be selected for international matches just to get the validation of the player being 'world class' which was exciting.

I don't really have any negatives to say about the nat scene. I think there are enough people involved. I don't necessarily think it desperately needs more involvement and I don't necessarily think other managers that aren't involved need to necessarily care about it beyond "oh my player scored a hundred in the World Cup Final - nice".

Just my thoughts though and understand if other people see it differently

[AlexD]

This topic is somewhat contrived to negate my previous topic .
Suggest that it is closed down as is appears that Discord is the place to be as suggested by MOD-MrMoose , and crowfan65 to me .
Take it there > I will not be there so you will be safe .

[MOD-MrMoose]

I don’t think the discussion needs to be moved. As long as everyone is respectful, it is an important topic to discuss and should be open to opinions from everyone (and not everyone is on the discord).

I feel the 10% figure is possibly diminishing those who have an active interest in the nat scene without a formal role. There are plenty of “silent” national supporters who recruit and train national standard players and care about their success at Nat level. These managers are crucial to the National communities as there simply wouldn’t be the talent pool without them.

[GM-crowfan65]

If anyone is interested in my opinion, Nats are here to stay in one form or another. A couple of petulant managers won't change my mind.
We can improve things somewhat, but increasing compensation isn't one of them. We essentially doubled that when we took over, and there is no need to change that again, in my opinion.

[GM-crowfan65]

I don’t think the discussion needs to be moved. As long as everyone is respectful, it is an important topic to discuss and should be open to opinions from everyone (and not everyone is on the discord).

I feel the 10% figure is possibly diminishing those who have an active interest in the nat scene without a formal role. There are plenty of “silent” national supporters who recruit and train national standard players and care about their success at Nat level. These managers are crucial to the National communities as there simply wouldn’t be the talent pool without them.

10% is 113 managers currently, with 38 teams soon to be 40, which is about 3 per team. I think those with active interest would be about right