How to improve morale quickly on Football Manager (and keep morale high)

One of the most important things in Football Manager is… morale. When your morale is high, it feels like you could compete against 2009 Barcelona. When it’s low, you struggle to score against Southampton. Obviously, it’s a vicious cycle. Start losing, morale drops, and suddenly you’re more likely to lose the next game too. When you’ve lost a few in a row and morale’s in the gutter, it can feel like you’re in a bottomless pit, with no end to the misery in sight.

But are there ways to increase morale when you’re trapped in these corners? Winning obviously gets your team happy and motivated again, but are there any little hacks that can give you the jump start you desperately need? Let’s look into it.

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Arrange a Friendly Against a Low-Reputation Team

Seriously, you have to do it. Not only do you earn a bit of money and boost your squad players’ fitness, but it can be a genuine lifesaver for morale. If I’m ever on a losing run, I’ll schedule a friendly against a semi-pro or amateur team. Then I’ll watch my side batter them 12-1. And even though the game might be against some local cleaners, the players’ morale will go up.

I’m not sure if the increase in morale is any less than from a proper league match, but I’ve never noticed a difference (this should probably be patched… it’s wildly unrealistic). Although, to be fair, even if you are a professional footballer, scoring a double hat-trick in any game is probably going to cheer you up.

This is one of my favourite little hacks, and in some seasons I’ve nearly played a league’s worth of friendlies against smaller sides. I do have to take this moment to apologise to AFC Darwen fans, though. Over the years, I must have scored hundreds of goals against them because of this.

Praise Training

If a player gets over a 7.5 rating in training, go and praise them. Be cautious though, only praise players who are genuinely performing well, or they’ll get annoyed. But making sure you’re encouraging players who deserve it (and warning those who don’t) is an easy way to boost morale.

I know we all joke about how unrealistic the AI interactions are in Football Manager, but it does seem like the players do like a bit of attention, you just need to pick the right option. And this doesn’t just apply to training, by the way. You should also praise players after standout individual performances.

Little tip: Instead of manually clicking into each player to check if you can praise them for training, just head to the Training tab and go into the “Individual” section. There you can easily see everyone’s training ratings and praise the ones that deserve it.

Keep Your Promises (And Don’t Make Too Many)

The bane of my life in my last save was promises. I promised far too much, and when I couldn’t keep them all, it became a huge hassle. The players became unhappy, which then affected the rest of the team. So, make sure any promises you make are realistic, or don’t make them at all.

Failing to keep promises also means the AI starts to doubt you, making it harder to negotiate contracts or convince players to stay. A lot of the promises are related to playing time, so don’t go signing five players and promising them all they’re going to be ‘Star Players’… that will definitely backfire.

Always Be as Positive as You Can in Team Talks

When you’ve just lost a match, it’s so tempting to be negative in the team talk. If your team has just conceded two goals in extra time thanks to your keeper’s mistakes, all you want to do is lob a water bottle at the striker who finished with a 5.9.

But from experience, I’ve learned that reacting negatively rarely helps. The players just get downbeat, even when the criticism is justified. And then, next week, one of them will inevitably show up in your office to complain about it.

So, try to give a positive team talk, but make sure it still makes sense. If you draw, say they were unlucky. If you’ve been thrashed, you can say you’re disappointed, but don’t go nuclear. Maybe that’s just the way modern football is headed. The Fergie hairdryer wouldn’t be nearly as effective in 2025. As some would say: the game’s gone soft.

Other Things You Can Do:

• Monitor training to make sure the players are happy with their schedule, don’t overwork them, and make sure you’ve got all the right coaches in place.
• Team meetings can be helpful, but be careful, they can backfire if not timed well

Final Thoughts

Playing matches and winning is obviously the number one way to improve morale. But hopefully these little tips and hacks will help you get back to those winning ways. Because even though the morale spiral can feel negative and endless, it also works the other way. Once the wins start coming, they just don’t stop.

Got your own tricks for boosting morale? Drop them in the comments, I’d love to steal them.