Micky Pain
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Alright, so I got a few saves running currently, and i tend to find a ton of great players that I never even heard of before.
Mostly inspired by my first long-running story, I started spending a lot of time finding players, and now decided to share some of those tricks.
it will take some time to find players, no doubt, but it can be very rewarding, and once the game gets populated by more and more regens, not even the best shortlist will help you anymore.
The following tricks are geared towards lower league teams operating on a budget.
Successes since using these scouting tactics:
Playing lower league teams is challenging, but when your system can handle it I strongly advise you to load as many countries and leagues as you can.
There is unbelievable talent in Eastern Europe and South America free for the taking.
When playing any team from within the European Union, there's very little to keep you from signing them, but even playing as an English club can benefit from a large database - many South American players have dual nationalities with some other European country, allowing you to avoid any work permit requirements for signing them.
In most of my saves I have around 100.000 players loaded, in as many as 50 leagues, and it helps immensely.
Not the fastest playing experience, I admit, but if you can handle it you won't be disappointed with the talent pool.
The Scouts:
Unsurprisingly, the most important men to get your team to the next level.
Playing at lower levels, you won't be allowed a lot of scouts, and will be severely limited in where you can send them, so it's vital to make the best with what you have at your disposal.
Assuming you don't have any scouts yet, or can sign more, here's a few tips:
Almost as important as the scouts is your assistant.
He can also scout players for you, if you want him to, so the same I mentioned about scouts with different knowledge applies to your second-in-command as well.
One very neat feature of your assistant is the feedback he gives you on the contract-offer page.
Assuming you find a player who you are not allowed to scout but who looks promising, watch out for his comment:
he may say a "fantastic signing" or a "no-brainer" or "definite purchase", which - if you trust this guy - is all you need to know.
The Process of Scouting:
Following are a few tricks I used to get some great talent for my various saves.
The obvious:
Now, this is where it gets interesting.
It's basically an add-on to the player search to filter out the undesired targets.
To start, use the player search function to select all the criteria you want (e.g. Fullback left, under 24, English, Unattached, etc) and ask your ***-Man to filter out unrealistic targets.
You might find some that are worth-while, but chances are you won't so let's assume that all you find is ****.
With that in mind, select all of the players and get scout reports on them.
Now all of them are tagged yellow in the search screen - good.
Now, edit your filter and UNCHECK the unrealistic target function and search again.
All the previous results are now standing out with their yellow tags, so you know who to avoid.
Now all that's left is to apply the scouting approaches mentioned earlier and hope for the best.
The reason for this is that quite often your assistant will filter out targets that would still sign for you, and there's a much higher chance of finding a good signing by eliminating the ones that your ***-Man finds suitable.
As an addition to the previous approach, you can select a player from a few leagues higher and create search filter from him. Search and apply the ideas of the previous approach.
If you don't find someone, either lower the attributes one at a time or select 3/4 attributes to match etc until you get lucky.
Final Thoughts:
If your club isn't completely debt-ridden, it is a good practice to offer less wages than the player asks for and compensate with a nice signing-bonus.
That way you will keep the wage budget low to sign more, since the bonus won't come out of your budget. Keep it realistic, though, or you will find yourself looking for a new job sooner than you think.
I know there's tons more that you CAN do to get good players, but that has been done to death in numerous threads, so I limited myself to pointing out some of the more uncommon ideas that helped me so far.
If it helps you, great, if it doesn't, don't flame.
- Micky
Mostly inspired by my first long-running story, I started spending a lot of time finding players, and now decided to share some of those tricks.
it will take some time to find players, no doubt, but it can be very rewarding, and once the game gets populated by more and more regens, not even the best shortlist will help you anymore.
The following tricks are geared towards lower league teams operating on a budget.
Successes since using these scouting tactics:
- Bayreuth (Germany)
from tier 5 leagues to multiple Bundesliga and Champions League titles - Extremadura (Spain)
three consecutive promotions to Liga Adelante, currently ongoing - Teramo (Italy)
won the Eccelenca by 37 points(!) with amateur players (Save abandoned due to db issues, namely a defunct youth squad) - Boston Utd (England)
Two consecutive promotions and league titles, currently playing in third season in BSP
Playing lower league teams is challenging, but when your system can handle it I strongly advise you to load as many countries and leagues as you can.
There is unbelievable talent in Eastern Europe and South America free for the taking.
When playing any team from within the European Union, there's very little to keep you from signing them, but even playing as an English club can benefit from a large database - many South American players have dual nationalities with some other European country, allowing you to avoid any work permit requirements for signing them.
In most of my saves I have around 100.000 players loaded, in as many as 50 leagues, and it helps immensely.
Not the fastest playing experience, I admit, but if you can handle it you won't be disappointed with the talent pool.
The Scouts:
Unsurprisingly, the most important men to get your team to the next level.
Playing at lower levels, you won't be allowed a lot of scouts, and will be severely limited in where you can send them, so it's vital to make the best with what you have at your disposal.
Assuming you don't have any scouts yet, or can sign more, here's a few tips:
- For the most part, scouts that are willing to sign for you will be very average, with little difference between their JCA and JPA.
What I try to do is sign scouts with a very high number in one and a low number in the other main stat.
By that I mean, instead of getting a scout that's 10 JCA and 10 JPA I go for one that has, say, 15 JCA and only 5 JPA and then sign another one with reversed stats.
That way I can go double-scouting players and get a fairly accurate picture of players instead of very vague assessment from "regular" scouts. - Try to get scouts with OUTSIDE experience.
By that I mean if you play in England, for example, you will be allowed to scout the UK and MAYBE France, if you're lucky.
This really limits the players you will find early on.
Instead of taking that as a given, try to sign scouts from other parts of the world.
By doing that, you will get all of their previous scouting knowledge for free.
As an example, if you sign a German scout with knowledge in Germany, Holland and Austria you will get a lot of players that the scout already knows in your player search.
You won't be able to scout these players specifically, but if your scout isn't a complete screw-up, you will get a number of key attributes of those players that should give you an idea if you are willing to make a move. - Always keep them working.
It's a no-brainer, I know, but just to emphasize the point, an unassigned scout is money wasted.
Have as many scouts as you are allowed to employ and always keep them moving.
Almost as important as the scouts is your assistant.
He can also scout players for you, if you want him to, so the same I mentioned about scouts with different knowledge applies to your second-in-command as well.
One very neat feature of your assistant is the feedback he gives you on the contract-offer page.
Assuming you find a player who you are not allowed to scout but who looks promising, watch out for his comment:
he may say a "fantastic signing" or a "no-brainer" or "definite purchase", which - if you trust this guy - is all you need to know.
The Process of Scouting:
Following are a few tricks I used to get some great talent for my various saves.
The obvious:
- Use the player search.
D'uh. - Watch the news and announcements about unhappy players etc
- Keep an eye on players at the end of their contract and comment positively on them, creating a good relationship with them for future signings.
Don't get discouraged if they show no interest in signing yet:
oftentimes, the interest you show will lead them to leave the club anyway and can be signed a lot easier as free agents at the end of the season. - Unhappy players make cheap transfers. Another "D'uh"...
- Scan the national teams of "lesser" nations.
There's some great players out there to be had. - Keep your shortlist up-to-date.
You may find players that are out of your league, but that doesn't mean they will be in another years or so.
Likewise, there might be players that once were great for your team but you have since surpassed their usefulness.
So, keep a comprehensive shortlist, but make sure to remove any players that simply aren't up to standard anymore or otherwise unavailable.
- Be aware of other leagues.
By that I mean, different countries have different schedules, and end at different times.
Scandinavian leagues, for example, conclude at the end of the year, and there's many a bargain being had by swooping in and grabbing talent from recently relegated teams (or deadwood from promoted teams, for that matter). - The same goes for every other team on the way up or down:
teams might not be able to afford a players wages after they were relegated, or players might not be up to the standard of a higher league (but up to yours), so approaching them BEFORE their respective manager sends out the transfer proposal might make all the difference. - To add to the "Keep an eye on players at the end of their contract" idea from earlier:
be especially aware of players with long-term injuries. If they aren't completely fragile and likely to get injured all the time, these players are a lot more likely to agree to sign for you if they are worried about their future.
Now, this is where it gets interesting.
It's basically an add-on to the player search to filter out the undesired targets.
To start, use the player search function to select all the criteria you want (e.g. Fullback left, under 24, English, Unattached, etc) and ask your ***-Man to filter out unrealistic targets.
You might find some that are worth-while, but chances are you won't so let's assume that all you find is ****.
With that in mind, select all of the players and get scout reports on them.
Now all of them are tagged yellow in the search screen - good.
Now, edit your filter and UNCHECK the unrealistic target function and search again.
All the previous results are now standing out with their yellow tags, so you know who to avoid.
Now all that's left is to apply the scouting approaches mentioned earlier and hope for the best.
The reason for this is that quite often your assistant will filter out targets that would still sign for you, and there's a much higher chance of finding a good signing by eliminating the ones that your ***-Man finds suitable.
As an addition to the previous approach, you can select a player from a few leagues higher and create search filter from him. Search and apply the ideas of the previous approach.
If you don't find someone, either lower the attributes one at a time or select 3/4 attributes to match etc until you get lucky.
Final Thoughts:
If your club isn't completely debt-ridden, it is a good practice to offer less wages than the player asks for and compensate with a nice signing-bonus.
That way you will keep the wage budget low to sign more, since the bonus won't come out of your budget. Keep it realistic, though, or you will find yourself looking for a new job sooner than you think.
I know there's tons more that you CAN do to get good players, but that has been done to death in numerous threads, so I limited myself to pointing out some of the more uncommon ideas that helped me so far.
If it helps you, great, if it doesn't, don't flame.
- Micky
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