diff --git a/scripts/sold-staging-seed-squad.py b/scripts/sold-staging-seed-squad.py
index 0e4cae4..f9b060b 100755
--- a/scripts/sold-staging-seed-squad.py
+++ b/scripts/sold-staging-seed-squad.py
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ LINEUP = ["GK", "RB", "CB", "CB", "LB", "CM", "CM", "CM", "RW", "ST", "LW"]
 FORMATION = "f433"
 SQUAD_TYPE = "REGULAR_SQUAD"
 CHEMISTRY = 50
+# Production's squad-manager reference, mirrored verbatim; it resolves to nothing in
+# production either (absent from its own /club/staff listing), which is exactly why
+# copying it is safe.
+PRODUCTION_MANAGER_REF = 100000427
 # Production's opaque 33-int tactics array. Never parsed server-side; reused because
 # only the shape (a JSON-encoded int array, not null) matters to the client.
 CUSTOM = ("[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,"
@@ -120,11 +124,20 @@ def build_put(chosen):
         # Production carries five, all pointing at one player. Mirrored so the
         # array is populated rather than empty.
         "kicktakers": [{"index": i, "id": captain, "dream": False} for i in range(5)],
-        # Left empty deliberately: production references an owned staff instance
-        # (100000427) and the staging club holds 11 players and zero staff, so
-        # there is no manager to point at. Inventing an id would reference a
-        # non-existent item. This is the one remaining shape difference.
-        "manager": [],
+        # Mirrors production's manager reference verbatim, including the fact that
+        # the id resolves to nothing.
+        #
+        # This looked unfixable at first: production points at instance 100000427
+        # while the staging club holds 11 players and zero staff, so there was
+        # apparently no manager to reference. Then checking production properly
+        # showed 100000427 is absent from its OWN club listing too --
+        # /club/staff returns 1975 items spanning ids 100000001..100004826 and
+        # 100000427 is not one of them. Production's manager reference is dangling
+        # and the client accepts that squad regardless, which proves the client does
+        # not validate the manager id against the club. Only a populated array
+        # matters, so replicating the known-good state exactly is both faithful and
+        # sufficient -- and it beats pointing the manager slot at a player.
+        "manager": [{"id": PRODUCTION_MANAGER_REF, "dream": False}],
     }