Getting you started

There's very little point in having your club side languishing in the third tier producing rank rotten newgens every year and generally just being a waste of space. Before you have the reputation or finance to bring in domestic players of the required quality, a hand-picked foreigner or two that can give you that extra momentum to gain promotion, qualify for Europe or make the Champions League groups. Successful club sides with domestic players playing at the highest level can only benefit the national team; just don't put out 11 Brazilians every week.

Cash cows

Something I do quite often is bring in a potential star for pennies with the sole aim of selling him on for millions in a couple of years. The extra finance could come in very handy for improving your facilities, signing young domestic players or even a new stadium. It can be difficult to let go of particularly talented foreigners but it has to be done and they can bring you bucketloads of cash if you spot them early enough.

Nationalisation

Each country has a set amount of time that, if a player stays in the country for that duration, they will be able to assume citizenship of that country and thereby be able to turn out for the national team. This can be hugely useful where your own youth systems have failed to develop a goalkeeper for example. If you spot these problem areas early enough, then you can attempt to nationalise a foreign alternative.

There are risks here. You could spend 4 years hoarding a player with the aim of nationalising him, only for his parent country to swoop in at the last minute and cap him; thereby making him ineligible for you even if he does take second nationality. Also, some players may refuse to take the second passport as they simply don't want to play for you; a particular risk for low reputation nations.



Other than that, signing foreigners is just taking up space that could be used by, albeit inferior, domestic talent. I'll say it again but the club side always comes second to the national team.

Make use of the national pool

Very handy tool and saves you running a bunch of shortlists. The first thing I do with a new game is clear out all the dross from the national pool and get it down to the players I will currently use or those that are worth keeping an eye on.

If you can keep it organised then it can also be a good tool for spotting deficiencies in the talent you have as early as possible. It will enable you to see, a few years in advance, that you are going to be short of a left-back once the current guy retires and you really need to do something about that. Much better than suddenly realising it when he actually quits.

Make use of friendlies

In "normal" games, I get a bit bored of friendlies and just let my assistant take over. In C&C games, however, they can be incredibly useful for trying out new formations and fringe players - particularly for the national side.

Not only that but you can cap promising youngsters early to make you their favoured personnel or ensure that dual nationality youngsters don't get stolen by another country.

Spot problem areas early

The biggest problem you are likely to have is that you are at the mercy of the newgen system. Let's pretend that you are in charge of Switzerland 10 years in. For years you've had the ever-reliable Diego Benaglio in goal for both club and country; and everything has been just peachy. But Benaglio has just announced his retirement and you suddenly realise that you have no back-up 'keeper worth mentioning, you start leaking goals all over the place and lose your job.

If you'd spotted this 5 years ago, you could have done something about it: perhaps sold Benaglio for your club and tried to blood some youth 'keepers and aid their development. Perhaps tried to nationalise a couple of Brazilian 'keepers (although I think Switzerland's nationalisation period is ridiculously long). For other positions, you can retrain someone with suitable attributes into that position, i.e. a central midfielder has become my starting left-back for Austria.

Either way, a quick assessment of the squad and developing players a couple of times a year is a must. The national pool and a perusal of your U-21 and U-19 squads will help you do this. Some players might even choose to control the U-21 side along with the national team. Not something I do but I can see the benefits.


And that, I think, is that. Using the methods above, you should be able to avoid the more common mistakes made by C&Cers. Of course, you're going to need some luck, particularly with newgen creation. But then it wouldn't be a challenge if it was easy and it wouldn't be so enjoyable when you actually get towards the top of the game would it?

For me, there's nothing more satisfying in this game than taking a small unfashionable club or national side and making them the best in the world. This method of playing adds an additional level of challenge, both on and off the pitch. It can take a fair few seasons until you finally get moving in the right direction but it's incredibly satisfying when it happens and, for me, is much more enjoyable than just taking over a big club and buying in ready-made stars from all over the world.

If you like the sound of it and fancy the challenge, then why not update on your game in the Club and Country - Your Game thread, where players attempting similar challenges share updates on their saves and advise each other on the best way forward. If nothing else, it makes for a great read.