Admin on Top 100

Top 100 has moved

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 23:10:42 +0100

By David Marsden

Update, 9 September 2026: the move is now happening for real.

smtop100.blog is now running on Micro.blog, with more than a decade of Top 100 posts and images carried across from WordPress.

The important stuff already works:

the main smtop100.blog address
the complete post archive
original author credits on old articles
the new homepage and navigation
Stats & History
Tournaments – Youth Cup and future World Club Cup
Awards
Top 100 Regen
the new Top 100 Publishing Desk, where managers can write and submit new articles without needing access to the website itself

The old WordPress site is being frozen as an archive, so managers should now use the Publishing Desk rather than posting there.

Coming soon

There are still a few boxes to unpack.

We’ll be checking old links and redirects, tidying categories and navigation, improving the presentation of the archive and continuing to integrate the different parts of the Top 100 family.

We’ll also be moving existing email subscribers across so people can continue receiving new Top 100 posts.

The bigger aim remains the same: preserve the history, make the site easier to use, and make it much easier for managers to contribute again.

Less WordPress faff, more Top 100.

— David
Top 100 Admin

Written 7 September 2026

After more than a decade of posts, reports, arguments, predictions, match write-ups, announcements, awards and the occasional outbreak of complete nonsense, I’m moving the Top 100 website from WordPress to Micro.blog.

This isn’t a fresh start in the sense of wiping the slate clean. Quite the opposite.

The aim is to preserve the history properly while giving us a much simpler, cleaner platform for what comes next.

All published posts and pages from the current Top 100 site are being carried across, and I’ve also recovered the original author information from the old WordPress archive. That means articles written by other managers will continue to be credited to the people who actually wrote them, rather than everything appearing under my name.

That matters to me. Top 100 has never just been “my website”. A huge part of its history has been written by the managers themselves.

There’s already an early preview of the migrated site at:

smtop100.micro.blog

Don’t judge the furniture yet. The content is there, but the design is still basically the packing boxes stage.

The eventual move will keep smtop100.blog as the main address, so once everything is ready the change should be much less dramatic from the outside than the work going on underneath.

The bigger reason for doing this is that I want the website to become easier for managers to contribute to again.

We’re building a new Top 100 Publishing Desk where managers will be able to write an article, save a draft, add images and submit it directly. Most submissions will then get a light editorial tidy-up and go straight onto the site, with the original manager clearly credited.

In other words: less WordPress faff, more Top 100.

There’s still some work to do before the switch, particularly around the design, navigation and making sure old links behave properly, but the important part is already done: the archive has survived, the images have survived, and the people who wrote it have their names back.

More soon.

— David
Top 100 Admin

Introducing the Youth Cup Tournament App

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:08:15 +0100

The Top 100 Youth Cup now has its own dedicated tournament website:

Visit the new Youth Cup app

What began as an attempt to make the Youth Cup easier to organise has grown into something much more ambitious: a complete tournament platform for managers, organisers and spectators.

The new app brings fixtures, results, tables, knockout draws, rankings, disciplinary records and tournament history together in one place — while also giving every participating manager their own private portal.

And although it has launched with the Youth Cup, the longer-term plan is for it to become the home of future Top 100 competitions too.

A Dedicated Manager Portal

Every participating manager can now log in through the new “Manager Portal”.

From there, managers can see the matches they are responsible for arranging, submit fixture details, report results and keep track of their tournament commitments without having to search through WhatsApp messages or spreadsheets.

The portal is designed to make it immediately obvious:

which matches still need to be arranged;
which results are awaiting submission or confirmation;
what deadlines are approaching;
and whether there are any outstanding tournament actions.

This should make the Youth Cup much easier to run while reducing missed fixtures, duplicated messages and administrative detective work.

Tournament Summary

The “Tournament Summary” gives a quick overview of the current competition.

It brings together the key tournament numbers, including the number of participating teams, matches played, goals scored and the progress of the competition.

It is the quickest way to see where the tournament currently stands without having to navigate through every group and round.

Featured Matches

The “Featured Matches” section highlights some of the biggest or most interesting upcoming fixtures.

These might include heavyweight group matches, qualification deciders, knockout ties or matches with particular significance to the competition.

The aim is to make the tournament feel like an event rather than simply a list of results.

Featured matches can also be supported by previews, manager comments and press conference quotes.

Winners and Tournament Archive

The “Winners section” celebrates the clubs and managers who have won the Youth Cup and Youth Shield.

Past competitions can also be accessed through the tournament archive, creating a permanent historical record rather than allowing each season’s results to disappear into old posts, spreadsheets or Challonge brackets.

Over time, the archive will include:

tournament winners;
runners-up and losing semi-finalists;
group tables;
knockout results;
final rankings;
leading scorers and statistical records;
fair-play records;
and links to the original tournament coverage.

Group Tables

The “Groups section” contains every group table, fixture and result.

Tables update automatically as results are entered, including points, goal difference, goals scored and qualification positions.

This removes the need to calculate tables manually and makes it much easier for managers to understand exactly what they need from their remaining matches.

Knockout Fixtures

Once the group stage is complete, the “Knockout section” follows the competition through every round of the Youth Cup and Youth Shield.

Fixtures, aggregate scores and qualification status can all be viewed from the same page.

The app is also being built to support different knockout formats, including:

single-leg matches;
two-legged ties;
extra time;
penalties;
seeded draws;
and teams dropping from one competition into another.

That gives us much more flexibility when designing future tournaments.

There are no knockout fixtures to show, yet, of course - let’s just hope it all works when the time comes, haha!

Tournament Rankings

The “Rankings section” compares every participating team across the tournament.

Rather than only showing who remains in the competition, the rankings provide a complete picture of performance based on group results and knockout progress.

This means teams can still compete for the highest possible final ranking even after elimination — and it gives us a useful way to compare performances across different groups.

The rankings can also help shape future tournament seedings.

Fair Play

The “Fair Play section” records forfeits, unplayed matches and other tournament compliance issues.

This is not intended simply as a wall of shame. It gives managers a transparent record of whether fixtures were completed properly and allows tournament decisions to be applied consistently.

It will also make it easier to determine eligibility for future prize draws, awards or tournament invitations.

Over time, the fair-play system could develop into a broader manager reliability record, recognising the managers who consistently arrange and complete their matches on time.

Full Tournament Brackets

The “Brackets section” provides a visual overview of the knockout competition.

Managers can follow the route from the opening round to the final, see which teams could meet in later rounds and track both the Youth Cup and Youth Shield without leaving the site.

This replaces the need to rely on a separate external bracket service and means the complete tournament can now be managed and archived within the Top 100 platform.

Brackets will appear, as if by magic, when the group stage finishes, similar to the archived Challonge S27 Youth Cup above.

Press Conferences

One of the more entertaining additions is the introduction of tournament press conferences.

Managers can provide comments before or after matches, respond to questions, make predictions, praise their players, complain about referees, put pressure on their opponents or deliver the usual carefully rehearsed football clichés.

Selected quotes can then appear alongside featured matches and tournament coverage.

It gives managers another way to become involved in the competition and should help create some stories, rivalries and personality around the matches.

Built for More Than the Youth Cup

The Youth Cup is the first competition to use the new platform, but the underlying system is being designed to support a range of different Top 100 tournaments.

Future plans include hosting:

the World Club Cup;
future Regen tournaments;
new Youth Cup seasons;
one-off invitational tournaments;
and other community competitions.

Different tournaments will be able to use different numbers of teams, group formats, knockout structures, seeding systems and fixture rules.

The aim is not to build a single Youth Cup page. It is to create a reusable Top 100 tournament platform.

Tournament Registration

A future registration system will allow managers to enter upcoming competitions directly through the site.

Managers will be able to register their team and receive confirmation once they have been accepted.

Tournament organisers will then be able to review entries, remove duplicates and everyone will be able to see the list of participants before and after registrations close.

More Features Planned

Other ideas being considered include:

automatic fixture reminders;
tournament notifications;
manager and club tournament profiles;
head-to-head records;
live draw generation;
downloadable fixtures and calendar integration;
embedded match reports;
and a central page showing every active and upcoming Top 100 competition.

A Better Way to Run Top 100 Tournaments

The Youth Cup has always relied heavily on managers volunteering their time, arranging matches and reporting results.

The new app will not eliminate every missed deadline, forgotten fixture or confused manager. That would require considerably more advanced technology such as Top 100 AI-powered microchip implants.

But it should make the tournament clearer, easier to follow and much less labour-intensive to administer.

More importantly, it gives Top 100 tournaments a permanent home of their own.

Take a look around:

Explore the Youth Cup app

And managers taking part can access their fixtures and tournament tasks here:

Open the Manager Portal

If you would like to support the ongoing maintenance costs, and all the new development of the Top 100 website and app ecosystem, please consider donating.

You can give anything from a one-off £1 donation or set up a regular amount via Stripe.

If you don't want to, or can't afford to, that's also fine.

Youth Cup Registration

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:43:09 +0100

Want to go down in History? Consider yourself a master scouter? Can you build a strong youth XI alongside your first XI? Can your name be uttered in the same breath as multiple Youth Cup winners Dan Payne, Frank Hirst, Alex McLean, Salvatore Zerbo, Doug Earle and Glen Mullan?!

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Youth Cup S26

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 21:56:10 +0100

The Top 100 Season 26 Youth Cup brings together 64 academies across world football in a seeded group stage.

Teams are split into 8 groups of 8, each playing 7 matches.

The top 4 from each group advance to the knockout rounds, where 32 teams battle it out in a single-elimination format until we crown the champion.

All fixtures are scheduled weekly in advance so please send out and accept your friendly requests asap. First matches scheduled for Saturday 20 September.

Youth Cup WhatsApp.

🔗 View Live Tournament Bracket

🔧 Tournament Settings (Top 100 S26 Youth Cup)

Format: Round Robin (Groups of 8) → Top 4 qualify → Single Elimination Knockout

Entrants: 64 (seeded by ratings)

Rounds per group: 7 (one match per week, no home/away duplicates)

Knockout stage: 32-team single elimination (5 rounds to champion)

Schedule: Weekly fixtures every Saturday starting 20 September.

Seed	Team
1	Genoa
2	Espanyol
3	Barcelona
4	CSKA
5	Dortmund
6	Flamengo
7	Hertha Jugend
8	Juventus
9	Leicester City
10	Atletico Madrid
11	Bayern Munich
12	Club Brugge
13	Cruzeiro
14	Levante
15	River Plate
16	São Paulo
17	Tottenham
18	Chelsea
19	Man City
20	Sampdoria
21	Sc internacional
22	Arsenal
23	Aston Villa
24	AC Milan
25	Dynamo Moskva
26	FC Basel
27	Fenerbache
28	Hamburger SV II
29	Independiente
30	Leverkusen
31	Montpellier
32	Real Madrid
33	Roma
34	Shakhtar Donetsk
35	Stoke City
36	Swansea
37	Wolfsburg
38	Besiktas
39	Celtic Youth
40	Manchester United U21
41	Spartak Moscow
42	Sunderland
43	Atalanta
44	Bremen
45	D.K.Y.S.
46	Anderlecht
47	Hoffenheim
48	PSG
49	SEVILLA
50	Udinese
51	AJAX
52	Crystal Palace
53	Dinamo Zagreb
54	Liverpool
55	naples
56	Newcastle
57	PSV
58	Saint Etienne
59	Standard Liege
60	West Brom
61	Olympiacos
62	Villarreal
63	Athletic Club
64	Valencia

How We Picked Freddie for Sporting

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 22:25:22 +0100

The Situation

After Joao got sacked from Sporting for not doing his WCC games and going inactive, we had to find someone new. Twelve managers applied for the job.

Who Applied

We had a mix of people - some big names from D1 clubs, some D3 and D4 managers looking to step up, and others from various divisions. Won’t name everyone but there were definitely some experienced candidates in there.

The Admin Discussion

When we first looked at the list, there was a lot of head-scratching. Some of us thought none of them were good enough for such a massive club. Others worried about giving Sporting to someone who might mess it up.

The main debate was: Do we give it to a proven winner who’s already got a top club, or do we give a chance to someone who’s earned a step up?

The Top 3

After going through everyone, we focused on three candidates:

The Big Name: Top-rated manager with tons of trophies and 1000+ games. Wrote a long application listing all his achievements. Problem was, he’s already got a top D1 club.

The Legend: Our #1 ranked manager who took his current team from D5 to D1. Short application but massive reputation. Again though, already successful where he is.

The Active One: D4 manager who’s spent 1.5 years rebuilding Wolfsburg. Made it clear he follows the rules and stays active. Not the biggest name but definitely earned a chance.

Why Freddie Won

In the end, Fredrik (Wolfsburg) got the job because:

He’s active and follows the rules (which is why Joao got sacked in the first place)
He’s proven he can rebuild a team
It gives him a proper step up rather than just moving sideways
His application showed he actually wanted the job

The Logic

We sacked Joao for being inactive, so we couldn’t then give the job to someone who might have the same issues. We also thought it was better to give a progression opportunity to someone who’s earned it rather than just shuffle the top clubs around.

Fredrik’s done well at Wolfsburg with less resources. Now he gets a chance with a proper squad. If he does well, great. If not, at least we gave someone a fair shot at the big time.

Bottom Line

Sometimes you have to be practical. Fredrik ticked the boxes we needed - active, capable, and ready for the challenge. Not everyone will agree with every decision, but that’s how it went down.

Thanks to the admin team for giving up part of their weekend to get this and the other ten jobs sorted. No easy task!

Apply For Jobs In Top 100

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 20:43:39 +0100

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S25 Manager Reappointments

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 18:34:34 +0100

Division One

Tottenham Hotspur (Pedro Vilar) - reappointed (Youth Cup Final, promoted last season)

Sporting (João Alves) - not reappointed due to inactivity (see below for a full explanation)

Glen Mullan (Espanyol) - reappointed (Top 100’s most active manager)

Division Two

Swansea (Zé Quim) - reappointed (rebuilding after taking over very old overachieving team last season)

Galatasaray (fert dert) - not reappointed (appointed mid-season, but totally inactive)

Schalke (Jamie Alldridge) - not reappointed (second successive relegation, transfer ban and multiple Youth Cup forfeits)

Division Three

Valencia (Golden Bear) - reappointed (appointed midway through season, but this must be a last chance after so many relegations with different clubs)

Shakhtar (Tharani) - reappointed (appointed mid-season)

Basel (John McHugh) - not reappointed (appointed midway, had a few humourous moments on the newsfeed, but finished with more games than points, bad mouthing everyone on the newsfeed - thanks, but no thanks)

Division Four

Celta Vigo (Murilo) - reappointed (second successive relegation albeit in first full season. Poor effort but another chance)

Stuttgart (Norman Little) - not reappointed (rebuilding, but not competitive, World Club Cup forfeits)

Monaco (Tozé Trapattoni) - not reappointed (second successive relegation, one of the worst points totals in Top 100 history, multiple forfeits in World Club Cup)

Division Five

Chievo Verona (Carlos Azevedo) - reappointed (some signs of improvement at the death. Last chance saloon…)

Napoli (Mattia Bertonati) - not reappointed (fourth full season, but it’s been a downward spiral, multiple World Club Cup forfeits)

AZ Alkmaar (Mohammed Ajmal) - reappointed (took over from Golden Bear midway)

Sporting Decision

The decision not to reappoint João Alves (Sporting CP) follows established Top 100 rules and represents the consistent application of activity standards that have been core to our game world since its inception. This post explains the decision-making criteria, process, and how these standards are and will be applied.

Background: A Remarkable Journey

João’s story in Top 100 is genuinely extraordinary. Starting at Rubin Kazan in 2017, he achieved his dream of managing Sporting CP and led them on an incredible journey from Division 3 obscurity to Division 1 prominence. His passion for Sporting and dedication to squad building was evident throughout his tenure, culminating in an elite £431M squad with perfect youth development potential.

However, football management requires more than just squad building excellence.

The Official Criteria: What the Rules State

Per Section 6.3.1 of the Top 100 Rules, managers may be dismissed under two circumstances:

Poor League Performance: Finishing bottom three in any division
Inactivity: Being consistently unresponsive on communication channels, failing to manage their team, or failing to arrange fixtures

Crucially, Section 6.3.2 states that managers demonstrating inactivity “may not be offered their job back or any new club if sacked for other reasons.”

The Decision Criteria Applied

Performance Assessment

João finished 19th in Division 1 with 25 points, triggering automatic relegation and sacking under the performance criterion. João played weakened teams in some league games after failing to change his team for cup matches, which compounded his poor results.

Activity Assessment

The activity evaluation revealed systematic failures across multiple areas:

World Club Cup Non-Participation:

Failed to arrange both required WCC games
WCC participation is mandatory for all managers
The same failure occured in S24, so this is a repeat failure over at least two seasons

Youth Cup Abandonment:

Previously attempted participation but failed to set teams for matches
Abandoned participation entirely rather than learning from mistakes
Squad perfectly suited for youth development (21 average age, 82 rating) left unused

Communication Breakdown:

Unresponsive to official WCC arrangement requests
Limited engagement on WhatsApp and newsfeed despite years of membership
Failed to seek assistance when struggling with tactics/team management/fixtures

The Decision Process

Admin Team Evaluation

The decision underwent thorough admin team review:

Unanimous decision (0/5 admin votes for reappointment)
Evaluated against established criteria, not personal relationships
Compared with other managers facing similar circumstances

Comparative Analysis

The decision gains context when compared to concurrent reappointments:

Pedro (Tottenham) - REAPPOINTED:

Squad value: £173M (vs João’s £431M)
Performance: Also relegated but with maximum community engagement
Youth Cup finalist despite inferior resources
Full WCC participation

Glen (Espanyol) - REAPPOINTED:

Historical “standard bearer for activity”
Strong track record of community contribution

The Broader Standards

Why Activity Standards Matter

Top 100’s identity has always centered on community engagement. The Top 100 About page explicitly states:

“Top 100 thrives on an active community”
“Getting a bigger club depends on activity on the newsfeed/blog”
“Managers deemed inactive may not be offered any job back”

These aren’t recent additions - they’re foundational principles documented since the game world’s creation.

The Non-Competitive Problem

Managers who avoid community participation while building elite squads can exploit the system by:

Staying in lower divisions to avoid relegation risk
Asset stripping and youth hoarding without community obligations
Only promoting when guaranteed success
Creating unfair advantages over competitive managers

Division-Based Expectations

While the same basic rules apply to all managers, Top 100 does maintain higher expectations for D1 and D2 managers. This creates a clear progression route for ambitious managers starting in lower divisions.

The Success Model - Doug (Leicester):

Took Leicester to D5 with a clear rebuilding plan
Built elite squad while maintaining maximum community engagement
Won Youth Cup twice and Youth Shield twice
Demonstrated that elite performance AND community participation are possible
Regular blog contributions detailing progress at his club

João’s Path:

Successfully executed the rebuilding strategy (D3→D5→D1)
Built an elite squad comparable to Doug’s achievement
Failed to maintain community engagement that defines D1 expectations
No blog contributions at all

This distinction ensures progression opportunities while maintaining standards at the highest levels.

Application to Other Sacked Managers

The same criteria apply to all relegated managers who demonstrated WCC non-participation:

Stuttgart (Norman): Failed WCC participation - same evaluation standards

Monaco (Tozé): Failed WCC participation - same evaluation standards

Napoli (Mattia): Failed WCC participation - same evaluation standards

Consistent Application: The criteria apply regardless of squad value, historical achievement, or personal relationships with the admin team.

The VAR Standard

Following the Season 23 precedent where decisions took “nearly two days” and caused distress for all involved, we’ve implemented a “VAR standard”:

Reappoint unless there is a clear and obvious error

João’s case presented clear and obvious errors:

Elite squad resources with zero community participation
Mandatory competition non-participation despite capability
Multi-season pattern of declining engagement despite regular updates on newsfeed, blog and social channels

Moving Forward: Clear Expectations

Mandatory Requirements

All Top 100 managers must:

Arrange World Club Cup fixtures when applicable
Maintain basic communication responsiveness
Engage with community platforms and activities
Set teams for competitive matches consistently

Activity Monitoring

The admin team will:

Provide proactive reminders about mandatory competitions
Monitor participation patterns throughout seasons
Offer assistance to managers struggling with requirements
Apply consistent standards regardless of individual circumstances

Communication Improvements

Based on feedback, we will:

Implement clearer mid-season check-ins for struggling managers
Provide explicit guidance on community engagement expectations
Maintain documentation of warnings and support offered

Conclusion

The decision not to reappoint João Alves, while personally difficult given his remarkable journey and gracious response, upholds the community standards that make Top 100 special. These standards apply equally to all managers, with higher expectations naturally accompanying the prestige of managing elite D1 and D2 clubs.

João’s legacy - transforming Sporting from D3 obscurity to D1 prominence - will be remembered alongside Doug’s similar success with Leicester. The difference is that Doug combined elite squad building with exemplary community engagement, setting the standard for what Top 100 expects from its most successful managers.

The criteria are clear, documented, and will be applied consistently to all affected managers. Every manager knows what’s expected, and every manager will be held to the same standards.

João gracefully gave me permission to post his parting statement:

What a journey, guys!

It’s been many years since I joined the T100. It was 2017, and I was getting the job I could get, at Rubin Kazan.

From that day one, I never considered any other team. Sporting was my dream, a team that was broken and unknown to most of you.

One year later, that moment arrived, the dream job arrived, and I managed to take the club of my heart. I started by taking one step back to be able to take two forward, and from that day one, I aimed to become a champion in the first division, something many people laughed.

Step by step, I climbed, until I reached the highest point, but I failed. I failed miserably and was relegated.

After failing i talked with David this morning, he told me I wouldn’t be reapointed because my last season had been disastrous, and I hadn’t participated in the WCC and YC. It was a unanimous decision, and I have to accept it. We already know the rules here exist, but are used in different ways. I know my team is much more interesting today and that there are players who, for me, were untransferable and who will now be very useful on the market.

No problem, my contribution to SM and T100 is done. I’m sure that today all of you know a little more about Sporting Clube de Portugal. And will be easy to find someone to manage “his heart team”.

It’s time to “uninstall” the game and move on. A lot of hours looking for players, scouting and watching game. I missed the part to know how to change tactics in game, and after all, is what matter here.

I will continue to be a soccer fan and closely follow global scouting.

If you need anything from me, this is my contact.

Thank you very much for everything.

João Alves

Top 100 Regen Manager Appointments

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 18:14:39 +0100

All manager appointments and division allocations can be viewed by clicking here or on the image below.

We also need to vote on starting squad cap and transfer rules. All clubs will start with their real life player rosters. Many of the top clubs already have several top class youth talents, and one complaint about Top 100 has always been that the 50 player squad cap is too high. I propose, therefore, a radical 25 player squad cap for D1 clubs, who should still be able to field a competitive senior team AND compete in the Youth Cup. The other divisions could also be a 25 squad cap, or we can have a bigger caps as we go down the divisions, e.g., D2 30, D3 35, D4 40, D5 50.

On starting transfer rules, I propose a block on teams buying from external clubs (including new players) until they are within their squad cap. This will encourage D1 teams to sell to external (and do some internal deals) and give everyone else a chance to compete for the best of the external talent that becomes available to level up.

You can vote on our new Discord server, so please join if you haven't already.

I plan to create the new game world next week.

Overview: Top 100 Regen Manager Appointments

Welcome to the official breakdown of the manager allocation process. To ensure fairness and create an engaging experience for everyone, two separate applications have been developed: one to perform the allocation itself, and one for everyone to view the final results. This document explains what each app does and, most importantly, the exact logic used to assign managers to clubs.

1. The Main Allocation App (The “Admin Tool”)

Purpose: This is the primary tool used by the gw admin to generate the one, official set of manager and club allocations for the season start. Its job is to take the raw data and run the allocation process from start to finish.
Key Features:
- Data Input: Allows for uploading the Opta Team Ranking stat and the Manager Status and Team Preferences data.
- Processing: Contains the core logic that performs the allocation.
- Results Generation: Produces the final, canonical list of 100 manager-club pairings, which is then used to create the public-facing “Results Viewer” app.

The Allocation Logic: A Transparent, Step-by-Step Guide

To ensure fairness, the allocation is performed according to a strict set of rules, processed in the following order:

Step 1: Manager Prioritisation Before any assignments are made, all eligible managers are sorted into a priority queue based on their status. This ensures that managers with a higher status get preference in the allocation rounds. The order is:

Current Top 100/120 managers
Former Top 100/120 managers
New managers

Step 2: Preference Allocation Rounds (Status by Status) The app now tries to assign managers based on their stated club preferences, respecting the priority order from Step 1. It processes all “Current” managers first, then all “Former,” and finally all “New” managers.

For each status group (e.g., for all “Current” managers):

A. Bidding Round: The system initiates a “bidding round.” In this round, every unassigned manager in the current status group looks at their list of preferred clubs (1st, 2nd, 3rd choice) and “bids” for the one they want most that is still available.
B. Resolving Bids:
- No Contest: If a manager is the only one who bids for a particular club in that round, they are immediately assigned that club.
- Tie-Breaking (The Random Element): If multiple managers in the same status group bid for the same club in the same round, a winner is chosen completely at random. This is the key element of randomness that ensures fairness when there are contested clubs. The managers who lost the random tie-break remain unassigned and get to try again in the next round with their next available preference.
C. Repeat: The app repeats these bidding rounds until no more managers in the current status group can be assigned a preferred club (either because their preferences are all taken or they have been assigned). The system then moves to the next status group (e.g., from “Current” to “Former”) and repeats the process.

Step 3: Fallback Allocation (For Managers Without a Preferred Club) Any of the 100 managers who could not be assigned a club through the preference rounds are handled next. To ensure they still get the best possible assignment, they are allocated in their original priority order (Current > Former > New) to the highest Opta-ranked club that is still available.

Step 4: Division Assignment Once all 100 managers have been assigned to a club, the system takes these 100 clubs and sorts them strictly by their Opta Rank. They are then grouped into five divisions of 20 clubs each to create the final league structure.

2. The Github App (The “Results Viewer”)

Purpose: This is the public-facing app that is linked above on the blog. Its only job is to display the final, official allocation results that were generated by the Main Allocation App. This ensures that every manager and viewer sees the exact same, consistent results.
Key Features:
- Pre-loaded Data: The app starts with the final allocation data already embedded. It does not re-run the allocation process.
- Manager Reveal Cards: A fun, one-by-one reveal feature for the livestream, allowing you to announce each manager’s new club individually.
- Search Function: A search bar allowing anyone to quickly find a specific manager or club to see their allocation without having to go through all 100 reveals.
- Full Sorted List: A complete table of all 100 allocations, neatly organized by division and then by club rank.
- Theme & Branding: The app is styled with the official Top 100 logo and includes a theme tune that plays during the reveals to enhance the experience.

If you're name is not on the full list then I'm sorry that you haven't been chosen on this occasion. We had 120 managers for 100 clubs. However, you will be on my standby list of managers to step in to replace managers who drop out, or don't take their club, or who quit later on. Make sure you are registered on the Top 100 Game Worlds Discord community server or on our FB or WhatsApp channels.

I hope to create the game world next week.

Secure Your Club in Top 100 Regen: Act Now!

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 18:21:04 +0100

We have 79 managers registered so far for the new Top 100 Regen gw. We need just 21 more to have a full house and be ready to get started. Actually, it would be good to have a few more in case of drop outs and uncontactable new managers - if you're a new manager and you've registered, please message David Marsden in-game, or via our social channels (Facebook, WhatsApp, Discord), where you saw the gw advertised.

I'm also thinking it would be good to get the gw started sooner rather than later. I don't really want a new gw starting at the same time as Top 100's season ends in August, as I originally planned. Plus with all the interest it's best to keep the momentum going. So as soon as I have 100+ managers I'll do the draw for allocating teams and create the gw. Hopefully later this month!

In the meantime , I ran a simulation of team allocations using AI, based on priority to current Top 100/120 managers over former and new managers, and order of preferences. Unless you choose less popular 2nd and 3rd preference teams, almost half of you are likely to be allocated a team you didn't choose at random. And it won't necessarily be the same managers listed here in this test simulation.

This is just a test and not the actual allocation. Its purpose is to highlight what might happen and why it’s better to choose your preferred clubs wisely. If you want to resubmit your preferences, you can do so here.

Based on the specified hierarchy of manager status and preference round, with timestamps used as the tie-breaker, the clubs for the “Top 100 Regen” game world have been allocated.

The allocation process was conducted by processing nine priority groups in sequence, starting with the first preferences of current managers and ending with the third preferences of new managers.

Managers Allocated a Club

The following 49 managers have been successfully allocated a club:

Manager Name	Manager Status	Allocated Club	Allocation Group
David Marsden	Current	Watford	Current - 1st Pref
James mckenzie	Current	Real Madrid	Current - 1st Pref
Chris Meida	Current	New England Revolution	Current - 1st Pref
Steve Allington	Current	Liverpool	Current - 1st Pref
Marco G	Current	Paris Saint-Germain	Current - 1st Pref
dynamitedave	Current	Club Brugge	Current - 1st Pref
Neil Frankland	Current	Burnley	Current - 1st Pref
Chris Taylor	Current	Manchester United	Current - 1st Pref
Glen Mullan	Current	Chelsea	Current - 1st Pref
Carl Martin	Current	Newcastle United	Current - 1st Pref
⚽ The FM ⚽	Current	Arsenal	Current - 1st Pref
Alessandro Ioli	Current	Barcelona	Current - 1st Pref
David Inglis	Current	Aston Villa	Current - 1st Pref
Carlos Azevedo	Current	SL Benfica	Current - 1st Pref
Pedro vilar	Current	FC Porto	Current - 1st Pref
Walter Gogh	Current	Borussia Dortmund	Current - 1st Pref
Nuno Marques	Current	Sporting CP	Current - 1st Pref
Landucci	Current	Juventus	Current - 1st Pref
Regan Thompson	Current	Athletic Bilbao	Current - 1st Pref
Paul Rimmer	Current	Manchester City	Current - 1st Pref
RJ Alston	Current	Everton	Current - 1st Pref
Bharath Raj	Current	AC Milan	Current - 1st Pref
Bojan H	Current	Bayern Munich	Current - 1st Pref
Robert Ryan	Current	Napoli	Current - 1st Pref
Marc Ques	Current	RB Leipzig	Current - 1st Pref
Gianluca Ghio	Current	Nottingham Forest	Current - 1st Pref
Ricardo Alexandre	Current	Brighton	Current - 1st Pref
Zé Quim	Current	Nice	Current - 1st Pref
Tozé Trapattoni	Current	Feyenoord	Current - 1st Pref
Lee Reynolds	Former	Crystal Palace	Former - 1st Pref
Bozzfordy	New	Bristol Rovers	New - 1st Pref
Mohammed Ajmal	New	Tottenham Hotspur	New - 1st Pref
Chris Buchan	New	Rangers	New - 1st Pref
Carl Richardson	New	Eintracht Frankfurt	New - 1st Pref
Pedro Oliveira	New	Sporting de Braga	New - 1st Pref
Okeeno Grant	New	Inter Milan	New - 1st Pref
Paul Stuart	New	Celtic	New - 1st Pref
Armando Pierone	New	Bologna	New - 1st Pref
Carlos Miranda	Current	Palmeiras	Current - 2nd Pref
Chris Baggio	Current	Lazio	Current - 2nd Pref
Patrick Dunn	Current	Atletico Madrid	Current - 2nd Pref
Simon Thomas	Current	Bournemouth	Current - 2nd Pref
Ash L	Current	Monaco	Current - 2nd Pref
Anthony Guardiola	Current	River Plate	Current - 2nd Pref
Sirgrumps	New	Sunderland	New - 2nd Pref
Thomas Askew	New	Como	New - 2nd Pref
Patrik Breznický	Current	Ajax	Current - 3rd Pref
Attilio Bonnici	Current	Roma	Current - 3rd Pref
unstabledave	New	Leyton Orient	New - 3rd Pref

Managers Without a Club

The following 30 managers were not allocated a club as their preferences were taken by others with higher priority.

Current Managers:

Adam
André Guerra
Andrew Kelly
Beddows
Chris East
Chris Mackenzie
Dan Wallace
Dave Oz Osborne
Feargal A Hickey
Golden bear
Heath Brown
Hugo Costa
João Alves
Jonathan Raine
Kevin mcgregor
MISTER TRX
Mike Scallotti
Paul Masters
Pedro Martínez
Ricardo Ferreira
Salvatore Zerbo
Sampson Gyekye
Scott Mckenzie
Shashi P
The Strongest
Yamil mc02

Former Managers:

Joe Pound
Pharaoh Atem
Pane Trifunov

New Managers:

Jonesy

Fifty Managers Needed For Top 100 Regen

Tue, 27 May 2025 10:26:17 +0100

[googleapps domain=“docs” dir=“forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf34EZGlMZfZ6fK9ma85g-hnqQ2Y4_rQIuD-Fb3iyu6B0VCIA/viewform” query=“embedded=true” width=“640” height=“1763” /]

Barcelona is the most frequently chosen club so far, appearing 10 times across all preferences.

Bayern Munich and Arsenal are tied for the second most popular clubs, each chosen 6 times.

Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund follow closely, each selected 5 times.

I would strongly advise choosing less obviously popular clubs, certainly as second or third preferences. You can edit your choices if you still have the form in your browser, or submit a new form - we'll use your latest submission only.

Where more than one manager wants the same club we'll have a public random draw to decide who gets allocated to these jobs. If you miss out you'll move to your second preference and so on, but remember that someone who has your second or third preference as their first preference will get priority over you.

We we will also prioritise current managers over former and new managers.

In the interests of transparency, here's the form responses spreadsheet.

[googleapps domain=“docs” dir=“spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTfGV6MfpqvK8z46V8CFWQh2Fw8si5Luh8mnrknQCyGuuZIZoXS4E30n2oqs0sAgch9sLRg1NihornU/pubhtml” query=“widget=true&headers=false” /]

We need another fifty or so managers , so please share and invite any managers who are interested or you recommend.

Welcome to Top 100!

Sun, 11 May 2025 06:29:00 +0100

Probably the best custom Game World in Soccer Manager Worlds...

About Top 100

Top 100 is a long-running, elite Soccer Manager game world with 100 top clubs from Europe and South America in 5 competitive divisions. Founded in 2015 by Frank Hirst, and currently owned by David Marsden since 2023, it’s known for its skilled managers, strict rules, and dynamic structure—promotion, relegation, sackings, and fair play all play a part. Alongside league play, there are multiple friendly cup competitions and a strong online community.

Learn more

Join Top 100 / Top 100 Regen

Top 100 is in its tenth year and 25th season and it's always full. The best way to get involved is to join our feeder game world Top ~~120~~ 100 Regen where we also have 100 active managers, some of whom are waiting for a vacancy in Top 100. If you're a returning Top 100 manager we know and trust you may be able to fast track your return directly. Just contact game world owner David Marsden in-game.

More New Player Prizes for Managers? Community Says No!

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 14:00:17 +0100

Every season we have a random prize draw for three lucky managers who arranged all their friendly fixtures and set their teams correctly every match day in the Youth Cup and Shield. The draw winners get a free pick of any new player added to the database throughout the following season.

Should we roll this out for full participants in the World Club Cup (and Shield), and winners of each division and the Top 100 Cup and Shield?

Please vote below!

New player prizes for division winners?

Direct link to poll

New player prizes for playoff winners?

Direct link to poll

New player prizes for Top 100 Cup and Shield winners?

Direct link to poll

New player random prize draw for World Club Cup full participants?

(i.e., managers who arrange all their fixtures)

Direct link to poll

Outcome of the Player Concerns Vote Revealed

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 00:01:32 +0100

The Player Concerns Vote was a close one.

Here on our blog, it was 50:50.

[poll.fm/15260858](https://poll.fm/15260858)

On Facebook it was the same.

On WhatsApp there was a clear majority in favour of scrapping the rule.

However several managers voted in both the FB and WA polls. Taking those votes into account, the vote is still just in favour scrapping the rule, 16 to 12.

36 managers voted anonymously on the blog.

26 managers voted publicly on FB.

39 managers voted publicly on WA.

11 managers voted on both FB and WA polls.

Removing their duplicate votes still leaves 36+26+39-11=90 maximum number of unique votes. Minimum 26+39-11=54 votes (assuming all blog votes are duplicates). It's likely that the true number of unique votes is in between 54 and 90, probably around 70.

The other factor to take into account now is the concerns bug which has seen players developing concerns despite playing all matches. SM issued a fix today, but we likely won't see if this fix works until turn 12 of next season.

UPDATE: SM posted more on this in their April update:

...the cause of these issues was related to the changes we made to the transfer ban. A fix was put in place off the back of this work and we are continuing to monitor the system to make sure the desired effect was achieved.

Therefore, we will scrap the L3 concerns rules with immediate effect and keep the L5 concerns settings as normal.

Vote on Player Concerns Rule

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 12:41:28 +0100

[poll.fm/15260858](https://poll.fm/15260858)

Manager Reappointments: Key Decisions for Each Division

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 08:57:20 +0100

Division One

Schalke: promoted last season against the odds, this season was always going to be a struggle. Jay has begun a radical rebuild and he deserves a chance to see it through.

Benfica: it's been a steady decline resulting in relegation under Gregg, but he has been rebuilding. Not as active as I would like, but there are similarities with Atletico's situation last season. Gregg will stay this time and is expected to do better on and off the pitch.

Leverkusen: Marco has done well to keep Leverkusen in D1 in the previous couple of seasons, but couldn't quite repeat the feat this time around. He's got some good assets which I'm sure a number of managers are hoping to get their hands on with a change of manager. In the interests of the club, Marco stays to realise them.

Division Two

Anderlecht: According to the stats, Walter was expected to be relegated and he duly delivered, finishing bottom to boot. When he took over from Neil, Anderlecht were comfortably mid-table as predicted, so something happened in the week or so between Walter's appointment and when Malcolm produced his stats for the season. All that said, Walt is super-active, and still has some good assets some of whom could well still find their way to sunny Spain. Walter stays.

Liverpool: Chris has tried hard to improve his team, and was successful last season finishing in the playoffs. This season he was predicted to repeat that performance, but his transfer strategy has come at the cost of an ageing and rapidly declining team. Performance has dropped accordingly, and we feel it's time for a new manager to rebuild while trying to remain competitive in D3. Chris will not be reappointed.

Division Three

Monaco: Toze hasn't been very active, but it was always going to be a tough task in his first season in Top 100 after promotion last time. Toze reappointed.

Celta Vigo: Murilo took over midway through the season so he is reappointed.

Celtic: a double relegation for Hugo. Hard to justify his reappointment on that basis alone, although others have suffered double relegations in the past and survived, albeit under different circumstances. Hugo's active, tried to improve his team and arguably done so, but results have just not happened for him this season. He took Celtic up from D4 to D2 against the odds, so he deserves a chance to repeat that trick or decide his own fate when he chooses. Hugo reappointed.

Division Four

Atalanta: Chris has struggled in D4 after promotion and being nominated for Manager of the Season last time out. Reappointed.

Bordeaux: Another team promoted last season. Cameron is inactive and didn't respond to repeated requests on the newsfeed for managers to lt me know if they wanted to stay or not. Not reappointed.

Santos: Paulo looked like he might avoid the bottom three for much of the season, is active and tried to improve his team. Reappointed.

Division Five

Chievo: Carlos hasn't been able to improve results for Chievo and we did think a change of manager/club might be in order. Our Manager Assistant Decision-making system (MAD) decrees that not reappointing Carlos at this time would be a clear and obvious error, so he is reappointed.

PSV: a similar story at PSV, MAD decision: Chris reappointed.

Lazio: Nuno has been active and improved his team, and even looked like he was going to escape the bottom three, but got dragged back in. Nuno reappointed.

Vote: External Transfer Rule

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 09:53:10 +0100

Last night I did a couple of polls on WhatsApp and Facebook to confirm what I thought we already knew: that we want to keep the new player rule, and change the temporary external player rule.

This was confirmed.

So now we will vote here for a new external player rule.

[poll.fm/14607677](https://poll.fm/14607677)

S23 Sackings and Re-appointments

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 20:36:21 +0100

After the manager turnover following the SM worlds 2.0 updates in August, this end of season was always going to be a little different to our usual end of season chum. With such a big movement of managers in and out we've got fewer managers looking for a move, and fewer managers lined up to replace any that quit or who are not reappointed or who don't take another club.

In many ways, that makes the Admin Team's job a lot easier. In the end, I think there was only one manager we didn't reappoint. In the interests of transparency, here's how it went.

D5

Athletic Club: Wayne reappointed. Predicted to finish in last place and failed to improve, but he's active and clearly building. Another decent run in the Youth Cup.

Chievo Verona: Carlos re appointed. Started mid-season.

Villarreal: Rob reappointed. Closest to the boot as he didn't ask to be reappointed until after he was sacked, but no one was asking me for his job.

D4

Napoli: Mattia reappointed. Poor season after a couple of decent seasons, Mattia asked to stay.

Olympiacos: Ricardo reappointed. Started mid- season.

Rubin Kazan. Frank re-appointed. Promoted last season.

D3

Crystal Palace: Ricardo reappointed. Very poor Just season, but no one else wanted them when he got the job, and I couldn't see that being any different now.

Werder Bremen: Kristaps only just joined so he wasn't even sacked.

Lille: Ross reappointed after promotion last season.

D2

Valencia: Giuseppe reappointed. Started mid- season. Double relegation for Valencia, so hopefully Beppe has a plan to prevent an unwanted treble.

Celtic: Hugo reappointed. Made a good effort to stay up and avoid the sack, just failed on the last day of the season.

Udinese: Mark NOT reappointed. Poor season, zero activity seen, and Mark is the only manager who didn't ask to be reappointed.

D1

Hertha Berlin: Regan reappointed. Promotion last season, but third relegation in seven seasons. No signings that could have helped to stay up or avoid the bottom three. I have to say I was in two minds about this one, and as an Admin Team it took us nearly two days to come to a decision. That was no fun for anyone involved, least of all Regan. So apologies for that. Maybe we need a VAR for these decisions - reappoint unless there is a clear and obvious error.

Atletico Madrid: Gav reappointed following his Youth Shield triumph. Gav's doing a rebuild after too many seasons propping up mid-table. He possibly should have done it sooner and more gradually, as the rebuild is almost certainly what got him relegated. But Gav is hyper-active in Top 100 and the life and soul of the party, even if he isn't everyone's Cup of tea. I'm sure he is keen to avoid a double relegation.

Genoa. Frank reappointed. for those of you who don't know, Frank founded Top 100 and ran it for nine seasons. When he handed over to me we agreed he has a job for life.

Available Clubs

That all means that just Udinese became available as a result of sackings. Neil won that job.

Andrew quit Milan as he's quitting SM, so they were available, too. Simon go that one.

And Monaco are available after Jena left to take PSG, along with (as I write) Fenerbahce and Anderlecht.

Selection Criteria for Jobs

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 14:40:08 +0100

Following on from yesterday's post about the turnover in managers in Top 100 since the SM Worlds 2.0 update, I want to address the criteria we use to select managers to replace those that leave their clubs.

Firstly, unmanaged are offered out to any interested managers already in Top 100 primarily via the newsfeed. If it's a big job, which we think a lot of managers will be interested in applying for, we sometimes advertise in the WhatsApp and FB groups, too.

Interested managers are asked to send me a private message stating their interest. If you want to add a few lines about why you would make the best choice, that's up to you and certainly can't hurt your chances, especially if you haven't won anything recently, or you're not particularly active on the newsfeed or in the transfer market with other managers.

For example, you might be focussed on building a team for the future, so tell me what you have done to show this. It's also worth posting occasional updates here on the blog, FB or on the newsfeed to the same effect. It helps to get your work noticed, or at least so that it doesn't get missed.

We like to give enough time for everyone to login and see any vacancies available, especially for a big job, but there are time constraints. In-game, unmanaged clubs sooner or later start buying and selling players from and to external clubs, which is annoying and often puts clubs over the 50 player squad limit.

Usually, we put caretaker managers in to avoid this scenario, but after the SM Worlds 2.0 update this wasn't a practical option due to the login/logout problems, and the number of managers quitting in a relatively short space of time.

However, I personally feel strongly that Top 100 is such a competitive and active game world that the better and bigger clubs need managers who login most days, and who make a point to read the newsfeed to keep up to date with what's happening in the game world, and who check and respond to messages in a timely and helpful manner.

It's a bit of self-selection - the managers most likely to be a good appointment to a better job will be active enough to see jobs advertised even if it's only for a day.

I also try to make a point of asking managers who have previously applied for other clubs unsuccessfully if they are interested in any new vacancies, and sometimes message managers who I think would be a good fit for a move, although I have to say this very rarely results in any interest.

The reality is that most managers who quit Top 100 leave clubs who no one else in Top 100 is interested in managing.

Of the eleven clubs vacated, just three garnered any serious interest from managers already in Top 100. Eight clubs, no one had any interest in.

In which case, they are offered to managers waiting to join Top 100. Usually this means managers in our feeder game world Top 120. Alternatively, it could be a manager we know very well (e.g., a former Top 100 manager who wants to return), or who comes highly recommended by other Top 100 managers from other game worlds.

Once we have a list of managers interested in a job, we shortlist (assuming there's more than one applicant). It's usually pretty obvious that there are two, three or four managers who a clearly more experienced, better qualified and more deserving of a move to a better club than others.

By more experienced, I mean number of seasons in Top 100 (this doesn't always mean that the longer you have been in Top 100 the more likely you are to get a job, but it helps to establish a manager's other credentials below).

By qualified, I mean a proven track record of success on the pitch, particularly with current club (improvement in league position over seasons, promotions, trophies, youth scouting and development), and activity off it (transfer market, newsfeed, blog, WhatsApp, FB, responding to private messages, login frequency).

By deserving, I mean how long have they been at their current club? How many clubs have they had in Top 100 already? How many top clubs have they had, if any (this can be a positive or a negative)? Are they troublemakers? On a transfer ban? Regularly fail to set teams for the Youth Cup, or the League after a Youth Cup game?

Generally, we don't shortlist managers who haven't been at their current club for more than one full season.

All of the above is not an exact science - we don't monitor or track managers' activity on a spreadsheet, but we do keep a record of managers' success, club record and in-season development.

Ultimately the final choice is a subjective one made by the admin team. It's not always unanimous, and sometimes there can be very strong disagreements.

But the criteria above are the same criteria we have used in Top 100 since the beginning.

if you don't believe me, head over to the old Top 100 blog.

As for recent job changes, for the sake of openness and transparency, here's a summary of how the selection process worked:

Valencia: Two candidates. Only one manager had been at his current club for more than one full season, and was appointed.

Manchester United: Two candidates. One had already had several clubs, including big clubs, in Top 100. Although a strong candidate, we felt the other manager was clearly stronger all round and a better fit for United at this time, and that's who we appointed.

Stoke City: Eight candidates. Four shortlisted. Non-shortlisted managers had been at their current clubs for fewer seasons and/or been less successful. Of the four shortlisted, three had had several clubs in Top 100 previously. All three are very strong managers, but we appointed the manager who had the most success with his current club (two divisional titles), whose club was currently in the best position in the league, and who we felt was most deserving (only two clubs in Top 100, no big clubs, and the longest time at his current club).

Updated below (forgot to add City, Schalke and Olympiacos jobs):

Manchester City: Similar to Stoke, six applicants, four shortlisted, appointed manager who had achieved most at his current club, been there longest and not had other clubs.

Schalke: Three candidates, one then non-Gold, one not at his current club for more than one full season.

Olympiacos: One applicant who had been at his current club for several seasons.

I think that's a reasonably realistic way to do things, and it's the way we've always tried to do it in Top 100.

How Top 100 Survived a Mass Extinction Event

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:38:00 +0100

We knew the SM Worlds ~~asteroid~~update was coming since June and we were expecting it to hit Top 100 in September. We'd prepared the ground in Top 100, as much as possible. We had 48 Gold managers, and after messaging all non-Gold managers we knew that we would lose five and probably a few more who were undecided about whether they would pay to play or not.

Somewhat out of the blue, the update was launched on the evening of Friday 24 August, the start of a Bank Holiday three day weekend in the UK. I won't go into the details of the update or the chaos that ensued in logging into the game, playing the game, etc. That's for another post.

What I want to focus on here is the impact on Top 100.

Of the five managers who told me they would leave when the update arrived, three weeks on and all five have now left. Two of the undecideds quit.

We also lost four managers who I had expected to stay. They all saw the changes the update brought and decided they didn't like it enough to quit SM.

So we lost eleven managers in total.

We brought back five former Top 100 managers, and promoted six Top 120 managers new to Top 100.

Of the eleven clubs vacated, just three garnered any serious interest from managers already in Top 100. Eight clubs, no one had any interest in.

Not related to the SM update, we had three managers quit just prior for other reasons. That brought in another three Top 120 managers (including one returning former Top 100 manager).

So in the last month or so we've had fourteen clubs lose their managers, and replaced them with six returning former Top 100 managers, and eight Top 120 managers new to Top 100.

It's been a hectic and chaotic few weeks, but the most important thing is that Top 100 is full, as always, and we're all Gold except for one* renegade (who just happens to eleven points clear in D1...)

*Well, two, but the other has told me he paid for Gold but as happened to many of us it wasn't added yet.

IMPORTANT: Change to Transfer Limits in Top 100

Sat, 24 Aug 2024 10:10:32 +0100

SM Worlds 2.0

SM introduced - and almost immediately rolled back due to so many bugs - their much vaunted SM Worlds 2.0 yesterday evening.

I guess we can expect to see it again maybe late next week, unless the Gores like paying overtime to their developers to work on the Bank Holiday Weekend.

Implications for Top 100

A couple of immediate ramifications for Top 100 - firstly, one of our longstanding managers Mark Deadman quit Valencia, and I expect a few more to follow suit once the new update is live and the 7 days free Gold membership expires, if not before.

Secondly, the update includes a new £1 billion upper transfer fee limit, as opposed to the old limit which was two times the minimum player value (except for free agents, which was higher).

New Player Rule and Player Concerns Rule

Yesterday, I agreed with the admin team to introduce an immediate temporary change to our rules for signing new players added to the database, and players who were sold due to Level Three concerns.

Previously, the rule stated that managers can only bid the no higher than the first maximum bid for new players, and bids on players sold as a result of concerns have the same in-game limit.

The new rules are that managers can only bid the MINIMUM value, and not higher.

What are Other Game Worlds Doing?

It's my understanding that this rule already works fine in other game worlds, and that the reason we brought in the maximum bid rule for new players - that some players' values increased overnight putting managers in different timezones at a total disadvantage when it came to adjusting their bids - no longer applies (bids made before any value change are accepted and completed and/or values no longer change).

Fair Play

Changing from maximum to minimum bids, therefore, retains the fairness of bidding for everyone, and in a game world where cash has always been worthless, makes no material difference to clubs' finances or competitiveness.

Landucci at Lokomotiv Moskva asked if we can also have a cap on transfer fees for all external players (i.e., including players who are not newly added, not sold as a result of the concerns rule).

Newsfeed Discussion on £1bn Upper Transfer Limit

This provoked a long discussion on the newsfeed. The main point being that some clubs have billions in the bank while most have only a few hundred million, putting them at a distinct disadvantage when bidding on external players with a new £1 billion offer limit. The new £1 billion limit is obviously much, much higher than the previous two times value limit, which kept everything fair in a game world where cash has never had any value.

The other side of the argument is that 1) there are very few players at external clubs who are not newly added, or who are not sold as a result of the concerns rule that anyone wants to buy - they are at external clubs for a reason! There are, of course, occasional exceptions - Samuel Mbangula being one very recent exception. 2) Having a new £1 billion upper limit on transfer bids for all players could enliven the market and create new strategy options for managers.

The counter-argument being that its possible (if not likely) that this scenario would firstly give the rich clubs an immediate unfair advantage, and secondly in the longer term perhaps create a situation too realistic where all the wealth and talent is owned by a few super rich clubs.

New Rule for Offers on ALL External and Free Agent Players

I think, therefore, that at least until the end of this season, we will adopt the precautionary principle approach whereby we keep the transfer limits in Top 100 as they always have been (or as close to), in order to minimise any perceived unfairness and to limit any further disruption midway through the season.

So, from today, ALL TRANSFER OFFERS FOR EXTERNAL OR FREE AGENT PLAYERS must be at the MINIMUM value allowed and no higher, and disclosed (i.e, public so we everyone can see the bid).

This change keeps things pretty much as they were and makes no material difference to anyone because cash has no value in Top 100.

Whether we want to change that in the future will depend on further discussion and/or a vote at the end of this season or later.

SM Worlds 2.0 Announced

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 11:43:32 +0100

SM have announced the launch of SM Worlds 2.0 next month (September). This follows on from previous announcements in May and June.

In short, what this means is that you will have to upgrade to Gold membership in order to continue to play SM Worlds as you do now - and with the promise of new features and improvements in the months and years to come (assuming the transition is successful financially for SM).

SM announced some incentives to do so (although I don't yet see the new features, and the announcement isn't yet linked on the SM Worlds main page when you login, so presumably this isn't live, but soon will be):

Everyone who logs in throughout August, will receive 7 days free Gold Management (existing GM as well) to try the new features – mainly around transfers. We are also giving a 25% discount to all members on the 12 month Gold Management option for a limited period, bringing the cost down to just over £1/$1.50 a month.

A few weeks ago I messaged all non-Gold managers in Top 100 asking what they planned to do when the updates kick in.

30 said they would definitely upgrade top Gold membership.

8 said they would probably upgrade.

5 were undecided.

5 said they will quit Top 100 and/or SM.

1 said he couldn't afford to buy more than 1 month per year.

1 didn't respond and has since quit Top 100 (replaced by a Gold manager).

The bottom line is that if you don't upgrade to Gold you will not be able to conduct any transfers, effectively becoming a zombie manager.

S21 Manager Sackings and New Jobs

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 13:10:39 +0100

Thursday (tomorrow) night sees the final round of matches in another exciting season in Top 100. Shortly after 8:00pm UK time, we will know for sure (barring any River Plate/Dinamo Zagreb level on points, goal difference and goals scored shenanigans) who has won and lost, and who will be automatically sacked within the next few hours or days.

When Frank founded Top 100, and as far as I know, he made decisions about who got reappointed, who got offered a new club, and who stayed sacked. Later, if there was lots of interest in a club, he asked a secret panel of trusted managers to decide who got the job. When I took over ownership of Top 100 from Frank in S9, I inherited his secret panel, and we've used it more and more ever since, including in recent seasons under Beddows' stewardship, to decide who should be reappointed or not.

There are some known problems with using a secret panel of managers.

It's a LOT of extra work - something that Beddows was particularly good at, I have to say.
It takes a lot longer to do.
While we always tried to select managers based on their perceived trustworthiness, impartiality and wisdom, it's arguable that it just comes down to being a popularity contest.
Less popular, but arguably more deserving managers often get repeatedly overlooked.
People always complain about the panel decisions, particularly when it comes to taking into account managers' achievements and activity.

I'm always interested in doing less work, quicker, and in making decisions that are provably fair and justified, and based on our Top 100 Rules that have been (mostly) unchanged and on the blog since S1.

Screenshot of the Top 100 Rules section on Sackings

This season, we're going to decide who stays sacked, who gets reappointed, and who gets offered a new club using the following criteria (from the Top 100 Rules on Manager Sackings, and Malcolm's Stats - which show where a club was expected to finish at the start of the season):

Has the manager indicated that they wish to stay?
Were they appointed mid-season?
Was the club promoted last season?
Was the team expected to finish in the relegation places?
Is the manager a real life fan of the club?
Are they active in the game world (newsfeed, transfers, responding to messages, socials, blog)?

We'll also check the manager's individual record of achievement in the game world, whether there is interest in their job from other managers, and any other mitigating factors (e.g., personal issues, managers on waiting list, etc.).

Hopefully, this will make a simpler, quicker and fairer decision making process, although at the end of the day it will still come down to the decision of the Admin Team.

Two things I would say about this seasons sackings - we've had quite a few managerial changes during the season already, and not many managers waiting or ready to join now from Top 120 or elsewhere, so don't expect a bloodbath. And as this is a new way of doing it (even if it's based on the rules that have been there since the beginning), I think it's only fair to go a little easier on managers this time around. Next season could be different!

For any big new jobs, and/or jobs where there is a lot of interest, I do intend to consult the Managers' Panel (so sign up, if you haven't already, if you want to be part of that), but the final decision will still be made by the Admin Team.

Admin Diary 3

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 14:21:45 +0100

Firstly, an apology from me. I've not been as active in the last couple of months as I am normally, or as I intended to be. Most obviously (to me), I stopped doing the Back Page headlines after each matchday. I went away for a week at half-term in October, and just couldn't get back into it. I'm not sure why, exactly. It was quite a bit of extra work to do, maybe too much. But I think it's more than that.

A few managers have contacted me privately to apologise for their own lack of activity. And some mentioned that, like me, they have been affected by the horrific events unfolding in Israel and Palestine. So, just to say, it's ok, I understand. And if anyone has personal issues, or anything else that's affecting their activity (and you're worried about getting sacked at the end of the season), let me know.

Tharani joins Admin Team

In other news, I should also have said earlier that Tharani has replaced Beddows on the Admin Team. He's been doing a great job with the World Club Shield, and I'm hoping he may be willing to take on the World Club Cup as well next season, as Gav is taking a break after the culmination of this season's competition.

End of season

The season is drawing to an exciting end for many of us fighting for cups, league titles, promotion, playoffs, survival, or to avoid the sack.

Congratulations already to Andrew at Milan on their Top 100 Cup victory last night against hot favourites and two time winners Juventus. Last season, Milan won the Top 100 Shield and the World Club Cup, so are becoming the cup specialists Juve under DP 91 used to be.
Juve's title push this season has long faded, and their fans will be forgiven for wondering if they were better off winning an occasional cup here and there....

Only Hellas, again, can stop Chelsea it seems. James has turned around his season after a slow start, as has Andre in Verona. On current form, you wouldn't bet against Porto finishing third, another Andre, and another top team finishing strongly after a poor start.

At the bottom of D1, Southampton and Everton look doomed to return to D2, while West Brom will be favourites to join them, although they have found some good form recently. Leicester are in the quick sand currently, while Manchester City, Valencia and Aston Villa will all be looking over their shoulders over the next few games at least.

In D2, it's been a tough old battle at the top, with current leaders Espanyol and second placed Sao Paulo pulling away slightly, leaving Levante, Internacional, Liverpool, Celtic, Manchester United and Udinese fighting for the final promotion and playoff places.

It's squeaky bum time at the bottom, with six points separating Celta Vigo, Hoffenheim, Fenerbahce, Sporting, my Hamburger, Liege and Spurs.

It doesn't look like anyone can stop Koln (also in the Top 100 Shield Final next week) winning D3, although all of the top 3 are currently in poor form. The chasing pack down to 10th place, are all in great form, so there might still be a surprise or two.

Zenit, undergoing a rebuild, look doomed, while Gladbach, Wolfsburg, Ajax, Sampdoria and Swansea all look to be fighting for the other three relegation places.

Flamengo continue to dominate D4, pursued by Malaga, Augsburg and Stuttgart. There's a seven point gap between 7th and 8th place, so it already looks like Montpellier, Dnipro and Fiorentina may already be feeling confident of playoff places.

Things look fairly cut and dried at the other end of D4, too, with AZ looking out of it all together, and Feyenoord (another rebuild) looking too far gone at this stage. That said, all the teams from Torino in 12th down are in poor shape from-wise, so if one of Dynamo or Bordeaux can put a run of results together they could still save themselves.

Santos have pegged back PSV at the top of D5, while Brugge, Napoli, Newcastle and Boca will all fancy grabbing the final promotion place. Marseille, Athletic Club, Chievo and Rubin look set to battle it out for the final playoff place.

Shakhtar are rock bottom with Lyon not far above them trying to replicate their real life league position. Basel, Lazio and Besiktas are all hoping to avoid the final sack spot. A poor league season for Independiente in 15th, but they have a Top 100 Shield Final to look forward to next week.

In the World Club Cup and Shield, and the Youth Cup and Shield, we have semi-finals starting this week. Hats off to Glen at Espanyol, who, as well as leading D2, is in the semis of both the WCC and YC (again).

Good luck to all for the run-in!

New rules next season

Finally, a reminder that from the start of next season, we have two new rules coming into play:

Player Concerns: all players on Level Three (or higher) concerns must be sold immediately to an external club. No bidding by the selling club on the player when he becomes available.
No loans in the Youth Cup.

Player Loans Vote Results

Sat, 30 Sep 2023 09:55:46 +0100

Player loans vote results (see explainer and my maths at the bottom):

A clear majority (44 - 5) voted TO BAN NEW LOANS for the PLAYOFFS.

A majority (29 - 20) voted to BAN ALL LOANS for the YOUTH CUP AND SHIELD.

The smallest possible majority (25 - 24) voted AGAINST banning ALL loans (i.e., including loans for the first team for the regular league season).

40 managers signed up to be part of the Managers' Panel.

I had another 29 email addresses from blog author/subscription sign-ups, or other personal correspondence, which I also (somewhat presumptuously) included.

The vote was sent, therefore to a total of 69 out of 100 managers.

Response rate is 49 out of 69. I don't know how many responded from the Panel as I didn't collect emails on this occasion (which ensures a private, anonymous, but still "one manager, one vote".

I could ask for and collect emails in future votes, but then managers' votes would be visible to me (and anyone else with vote form editor permissions).

Anyway, these are the results.

24 managers voted to ban ALL loans. 25 managers voted against that idea.

Of the 25 who voted against banning ALL loans, 20 voted against banning ALL Youth Cup and Shield loans.

Of the 25 who voted against banning ALL loans, 20 voted in favour of banning NEW loans for the end of season promotion playoffs.

Adding in the 24 who voted to ban ALL loans:

24 + 5 = 29 managers voted to ban ALL Youth Cup and Shield loans, against 20 who voted to keep loans for the Youth Cup and Shield.

24 + 20 = 44 managers voted to ban NEW playoff loans, against 5 who voted to keep them.

Admin Diary 2

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:38:18 +0100

It was a busy few days earlier this month.

New Player Concerns Rule

We had the Player Concerns vote, in which 92 out of 100 managers voted within two days, surely a record turnout.

We used a new voting service called Strawpoll, recommended by Beddows. One of the features of Strawpoll is that you can set it up so that you are guaranteed "one manger, one vote", and that it's anonymous (i.e., a secret ballot). True direct democracy!

The result was 51 managers in favour of a new rule from next season whereby any players reaching Level 3 concerns MUST be sold to an external club. 41 voted against. One manager abstained from voting (he couldn't decide). One manager quit (Partizan). One manager was sick and hadn't been able to login. Of the remaining five, four later told me they would also have voted in favour of the new rule. Only one manager I didn't get a final response from despite repeated efforts.

The result caused quite a bit of controversy. A few people feel very strongly one way or the other. There was a 100 plus comment thread on the newsfeed, although by my reckoning there were contributions from just 12 managers.

At the end of the day, the new rule simply brings forward by two levels the time by which managers need to either start playing unhappy players, or sell them. Which is exactly how player concerns are designed to work, and very similar to how things work in real life football management.

We'll see how it goes next season. If it proves to be controversial in practice, then we can have a second vote at the end of Season 22 to see if we want to continue with this new rule.

New Manager Appointments

While all this was going on, Dan W quit as manager of Barcelona, which also stirred up a lot of controversy. As well as the small matter of appointing a new manager to one of the biggest and the most successful club in Top 100 history. And the knock-on effect of appointing new managers to the clubs that became available after that. Mike T also quit Internacional.

In the end, it was Adam who left Villa to take the Barcelona job. It was a very close vote between Adam and two other managers. Jamie H quit Manchester City shortly after, which meant that we were able to appoint two real life fans to Villa and City - King Kev to Villa and Alex, returning for what must surely be his final chance at City. Paul M left Celta Vigo for Internacional, and Attila left Atalanta for Galatasaray. We appointed three returning Top 100 managers from Top 120 to the vacant posts at Celta, Atalanta and Crystal Palace - welcome back to Walter, Feargal and Greg.

Future Votes

I hope to run more polls with Strawpoll. It's pretty easy to set up. But to use the "one manager, one vote", secure anonymous voting feature really requires me to have every manager's email address, so that I can paste them all into the Strawpoll settings and then it automatically emails everyone with each individual vote. That's why I've asked people to complete a from to be included in what is in effect a new Top 100 Managers' Panel. You don't have to be on it, but if you want a vote on new rules, changes to rules, manager awards, etc. then you need to be.

Back Page Headlines

The last week or so, everyone seems to have settled into the new season, and I for one am loving all the match previews and manager reactions after the results come in on Thursday and Sunday nights (or Friday and Sunday mornings). If you haven't seen it already, I've been using some of these to compile Back Page headlines for each matchday. So keep them coming.

New Blog Updates

Finally, I'm trying to revamp the blog a bit to keep it up to date, lively, and to make it more user friendly and easier to find what you're looking for. And big thanks to Gav for redesigning the Top 100 logo and banner on the blog and on our Facebook page. It will take a while. Any suggestions and contributions are always welcome.

The Clubcall feature is pretty neat. It's like a blog for each team. You can check out updates and history of many (but not all) Top 100 clubs there (e.g., Espanyol). If your club isn't there, or there's not much to see, get posting (and if you need help posting, please ask for help - like most things, it's easy enough when you know how to do it).

Top 100 Managers' Panel

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 13:00:31 +0100

[googleapps domain=“docs” dir=“forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVq8z47WNYPVNfrVKBH7dH-o5Nn6TnAsS1qI0uwPPoE8BKQw/viewform” query=“embedded=true” width=“640” height=“1521” /]

Admin Diary

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 10:14:41 +0100

Day 1

Enter the office at Top 100 Towers.

Looks like the old admin team left in a hurry.

Lots of still soggy tissues, what looks like ripped up betting slips, some XXX-rated VHS tapes marked "JMcK - for Gav's eyes only", crates of empty beer bottles and empty bourbon bottles stacked against the walls, and a note scrawled in green crayon on the desk which says simply:

"Who ate all the pies?"

Day 2

Have finished tidying up. Notice a door that was previously hidden behind the crates of booze, but it's jammed shut. Something blocking it on the other side. Give it a few more shoves against something solid and then hear a groaning noise.

"48. 49. 51.... Coming! ready or not!"

"Beddows?"

"Stopping pushing that door against my head!"

"What are you doing in there?"

"Eh? Let me out!"

The door opens and a pale, haggard Beddows staggers out clutching handfuls of what look like toy bingo balls.

"What happened?"

Beddows collapses, his tiny numbered balls bouncing all over the place.

Day 3

"I went into the bathroom to do a practice draw for the Youth Cup," Beddows says when he comes round the next day.

"The next thing I remember is waking up next to a tin of Fray Bentos. There was a note attached to it which said, 'When'sa your Dolmio day?".

----------------------------

Ok, Ok. All of this may or may not be true, but it's not why we're here.

What Really Happened

Beddows handed ownership of the game world back to me (David M).
The old admin team - Mike T, Gav, Dan - have stepped down, by mutual agreement.
Gav has agreed to continue running the World Club Cup in his own inimitable style. Hurrah!
Beddows will continue to run the Youth Cup. Hurrah!
Beddows will continue as part of the new admin team in an advisory capacity (as he has done throughout Top 100's twenty season history). Haha!
The new Admin Team is Gyan, Chris M and Hugo, and me.
Chris M has taken ownership of Top 120 (our main recruitment source for new managers to Top 100) and will run that with Beddows.

We've got a list of suggestions and issues to look at and we're working our way through those.

So far, we've looked at some issues from our Suggestion Box:

how to improve the process of new appointments, and sackings, and the role of the "secret panel". We want to look at how we can use some more objective achievement and activity criteria to help make decisions on who gets jobs, and who gets sacked. But also to be kinder to those who want to stay with their club.
the possibility of changes to the squad cap.
the possibility of new rules to govern loans (for the Youth Cup, Playoffs, and more generally, and in realation to the squad cap).
the possibility of a new rule for selling players on level three concerns.

We haven't yet really talked about contracts, and I think, for now at least, there's no plan to bring them back in any form.

A couple of things we do want to try to do:

Be more transparent about any decision-making process. This won't always be possible.
Have a vote on any big changes.

With the above in mind, here's what we've already done, decided or propose to do:

Malaga, Fenerbahce and Gladbach jobs

We dispensed with the secret panel for these appointments. I wanted to trial using the admin team to discuss the merits of each applicant, using some objective criteria as well as more subjective criteria, too. Also, it was the end of the season and a bank holiday weekend (in the UK), and a brand new admin team.

Beddows had spent hours collating applications and emailing secret panels over the previous several days. He facilitated what certainly felt like the largest turnover of managers I can remember. It's a lot of extra work. No wonder he was looking tired.

In the past, especially when we've got to the last few jobs, we've often got to the stage where there are only one or two managers left who wanted a new job but didn't get one yet. And so we've just appointed whover was left and wanted it. So it's nothing new.

Anyway, we had four very strong applicants, plus one possible returning manager we considered. We chose Mike because he has the best track record by far of winning promotion. We felt Simon deserved a new club, too, and he was happy to take Mike's old job at Fenerbahce.

This meant that we didn't advertise the Fenerbahce job. I apologise to any managers who would have applied had we done so (and thanks to one who messaged me privately to point this out). That said, I don't think it would have changed our decision.

As a result of that, we needed someone to take Simon's old job at Gladbach. Eventually, it went to Ken, who was next in line from Top 120.

Squad Cap and Loans

We propose to have another vote on changes to the squad cap at the end of this season (S21).

Currently, we have a rule that prohibits managers from loaning new players for the knockout stages of the Youth Cup and Shield. I know there are some suggestions to ban loans all together (except to cover injuries, suspensions, youth goalkeepers or other specialist positions) or to ban new loans for the playoffs.

We also count all loan players twice as far as the squad cap goes - so club loaning out the players still counts them as part of its squad, as does the club loaning the players in.

Loans are a normal part of football, and getting the best players you can in on loan, agreeing to loan back a player you've sold, or loaning out players you want to prevent getting concerns, are all part of good management. It's also much harder now than it's ever been, it seems to me, to loan higher rated players, so any impact loaned players have is generally insignificant (and saying that, I know there have been one or two exceptions).

At this time, therefore, on balance, I don't see any reason to change or introduce any new loan rules.

Player Concerns

We propose to hold a vote on introducing a new rule:

Players on Level 3 concerns must be sold to an external club.

If this rule was voted in, then it would not come into force until the start of S22 at the earliest.

Youth Cup and Shield

There will be a new rule from this season (S21):

Any team playing an obviously and deliberately weakened team (e.g., to drop into the Shield) will be disqualified.

S20 winners will receive their free new player prizes as promised, and they will be able to choose a new player added to the database from 1 - 15 September, inclusive. This is half the amount of time usually given.

Sadly, it's become apparent that the offer of this kind of prize has contributed to managers exploiting loopholes in the game world rules to gain an unfair advantage.

There will be, therefore, no more free new player prizes for winning the youth competitions from S21.

If Beddows has a record of which managers arranged and played all their fixtures with eligible players, we will organise a random draw to choose one for a prize of a free new player.

We will expand the number of prizes given out to managers chosen at random who arrange and play all their fixtures with eligible players.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or you can message me privately.