Agree.
If we're just going purely off accolades, I've always leaned towards FOTY over MOTY, as well as #1 P4P fighter over #1 Manager.
It takes years to get #1 P4P fighters. Only takes 6 months to get to #1 manager.
Homegrown > FA Goods
Taking homegrown fighter to #1 is the ultimate achievement in this game because taking someone else's fighter to the top just feels dirty. I've gotten a few FA's in my personal HOF and I'm glad I never got them to #1. Sentimentally they just don't stack up with my homegrown fighters. But everybody has a preference. you can kinda look at FA's like IRL fighters who fire previous manager, but that not my style.
Manager of the Year been overrated imo since the game evolved past early days. It's obviously quite an accomplishment, you gotta kick ass all year and finish on top. A lot of that top manager shit is just superior fighters, hidden farming, or plucking the best FA's off the market and winning a lot more than you lose because of it. Nobody is getting manager of the year with shit hiddens.
LT in 2012 probably closest you get to winning Manager of the Year with majority homegrown roster full of unimpressive hiddens. LT never had a Tonal or Womba until he picked up James Proudstar and arguably Carl Creel. He had just started picking up the top FA's mid to late 2012 and by end of 2013 he was probably 50/50 homegrown and FA pickups. You take #1 slider wizard and give him best FA's and what do you expect? lol was like a 4+ yr run*. Unfortunately LT got bored pissing excellence on all you noobs and stopped creating his own fighters. Too slow of a process for the old GOAT.
* LT even with a roster forged via FA and declining old men, was still ranked top 10 for a long time, up until semi recently iirc.
Personally I think guys like @762x39 are the real managers of the year. Plays on Iron Man Mode. I could name many others but think Joe's probably the most universally recognized in the game for this. Homegrown fighters, takes any and all fights, short notice, etc. I'm way more impressed by shit like that and there's a lot of these guys out there. Now... I will say that Joe's probably being corrupted by the naughty coyote gang clique, but his morale fiber has thus far remained unwavered by the questionable company he keeps.
@Alfred builds (or used to build) fighters how he envisions regardless of most successful meta. Kicks? Brits don't kick! Applaud that. GL getting to #1 but gotta respect the character. I used to be that way. Long gone are the days of <359K ID tho.
Old alliance mate of mine, Tarmo, had a fighter nicknamed "The Nutcracker" Jean Pierre Babin who wasn't allowed to throw leg kicks, and he never did... until LT picked him up and started spamming kicks to the balls.. and rebranded him "The Sterilizer".
You can take losses as the #1 manager and not budge an inch. You take a loss with #1 fighter and their rank drops. Manager pool is like 500 to 1000. Fighter pool has always been 5000+.
One is definitely a lot harder than the other imo. I know I make it look easy, but 🐐 gotta 🐐
sincerely, KO King 👑
Womba was FOTY in 2013 and everybody after LT was carried by fighters that had elite hiddens