FML Fans and The Future

Rob Cooper, FML developer explains……

“Football is nothing without it’s fans, they provide the support, the passion, the loyalty, and the money a top side needs to be able to continue to compete – without them everything else falls away. In FML this is no different, so it’s about time you got to meet them. .

Every team has a number of fans who will turn up to the games, give their support (or not) and swell the club’s coffers by pouring their hard earned cash into the club. However, in FML, as in real life, not every fan is the same. They each have their own likes, dislikes and things they expect from the club. They also all bring different attributes to the games they turn up for – some fans will cheer and chant from the kick off to the final whistle, whilst others are too busy biting their nails to make much noise at all. Others still are too busy paying out huge amounts of cash for prawn sandwiches and champagne to even notice what is happening on the pitch even though those purchases are paying the players’ wages!

Types of supporter, We have broken down the types of supporters who will attend your team’s games into 6 broad categories which are listed below.

Corporates - Corporate supporters are a mystery to most other fans. They turn up to the games and spend vast sums of money to ’support’ the side but they do not appear to enjoy themselves at all while they are there, offering very little in the way of atmosphere or support to the matches.

Die Hards - Die Hard supporters are known for their extreme level of passion for their team, as well as the incredible loyalty they show to the side. Any side with a high proportion of Die Hard fans at their matches can expect highly vocal support and a fantastic atmosphere at the ground, however these supporters are not known for spending large sums of money and have a reputation for causing trouble.

Devoteds - Devoted supporters are the bread and butter of a team’s supporters and known for their incredible loyalty. Where most people would have pictures of their loved ones, Devoted fans have pictures of their side’s players. Any side with a high proportion of Devoted fans at their matches can expect great support and huge amounts of passion, the only drawback being these supporters do not spend huge sums of money.

Families - Family supporters are important for nurturing the fans of tomorrow. Whilst not as passionate as the Devoted or Die Hard fans they nonetheless make their presence felt (often through use of giant Styrofoam fingers).

Glory Hunters - Glory Hunter supporters are fired up when the team is winning, attending matches, giving vocal support and buying merchandise. However, at the first sign of a drop in the team’s performance, the Glory Hunter supporters vanish.

Sideshows - Sideshow supporters are not content with simply showing up and supporting the side. Instead they don capes, masks, face paint and wigs and generally go crazy greatly increasing the atmosphere at matches.

Club ratings, What each of these types of fans brings to the club is rated in terms of Atmosphere, Loyalty, Passion, Money and Violence, with each supporter type bringing each in different measure.

Of course, every team is unique, so each team in FML will attract a different proportion of each type of fan. A successful, high reputation team will tend to attract Glory Hunters and Corporate fans, whilst a team with a high work rate and loyal players will tend to attract the Devoted fans. Players willing to bend the rules for the team might attract Die Hards but alienate Families whilst a high proportion of Die Hard fans in itself may alienate Corporate fans.

As a result of all these interactions each team will have its own personality which you, as manager will be able to shape by appealing to the types of fans you want your team to be characterized by – Do you want to go down the corporate route, swelling your side’s coffers with all their cash, but risk alienating the fans who provide the passion and support on the terraces? Or perhaps you want to appeal to the devoted fans but risk missing out on all that lovely corporate revenue? The choice is yours!”

The above has been extracted from the Offical FML Blog