Rubbish Teams Signing Great Players

It annoys me when you see people say how they got lucky and finished in a good league postion in the first season but with a crap team, then second season they manage to sign really good players that would never come actually come to that team IRL, Let me just say I am not having a go at the game, The game is immense but is there no way to make it harder for these things to happen? Oh and happy newyear

Happens in real life too, Djorkaeff to Bolton for example, Rivaldo to Bundokyor (or whatever) when he could have stayed at Olimpiakos.

seen some good players at average clubs but they dont seem to get better hull always go for big players n never get them

Well the bolton players yes but they was at the end of their career same goes for rivaldo.... Its just sometimes you see people say they finished like 5th or 6th say with blackburn then next season they have signed players like dzeko or players if that ilk....

Happens in real life too, Djorkaeff to Bolton for example, Rivaldo to Bundokyor (or whatever) when he could have stayed at Olimpiakos.

Djorkaeff wanting the premiership, but the Rivaldo one, the amount of cash ripping thru the turkish and greek football systems would amaze you for a country that has little in the way of economy. that has been a deal of cash only, end of his career, cheers, easy money.

Well the bolton players yes but they was at the end of their career same goes for rivaldo.... Its just sometimes you see people say they finished like 5th or 6th say with blackburn then next season they have signed players like dzeko or players if that ilk....

The problem there is the reputation of your "SUPER" EPL, if it wasn't bummed up by everyone and their granny and the EPL board didn't let bored multimillionaire business-men take over the clubs then these alleged great players wouldn't come.

Also the reason the is riddled with debt.

20 teams, 1 winner from 4, 8 mid-table hopefuls, and 8 relegation battlers???????

"Best League In The World"???????

Don't make me laugh.

Djorkaeff wanting the premiership, but the Rivaldo one, the amount of cash ripping thru the turkish and greek football systems would amaze you for a country that has little in the way of economy. that has been a deal of cash only, end of his career, cheers, easy money.

Especially as Rivaldo plays in Uzbekistan, not Greece or Turkey.

PMLF, the resident Brazilian football knowledge God, has also said that Brazilian players are very greedy and money is the only thing that matters to them, which is why you see a lot playing in the Middle East and for very rich Eastern European clubs as the pay there is higher than it is at poorer clubs who play in a better standard of league.

The problem there is the reputation of your "SUPER" EPL, if it wasn't bummed up by everyone and their granny and the EPL board didn't let bored multimillionaire business-men take over the clubs then these alleged great players wouldn't come.

Also the reason the is riddled with debt.

20 teams, 1 winner from 4, 8 mid-table hopefuls, and 8 relegation battlers???????

"Best League In The World"???????

Don't make me laugh.

All of the top leagues are approaching situations like this.

Everton and Aston Villa sign good players in real life Dunno if either would sign Dzeko or not, but money talks and if the bigger Premiership clubs don't want him then it's no surprise if another Premiership club offers big money and he goes there. And anyone else "of his ilk"

Man City

Haha, yeah, I second Man City

And yeah, small clubs can sign great players. Aris in Greece just signed Freddy Adu... oh wait, nevermind. He's rubbish.

Right now Stoke are trying to get Van Nistelrooy.

I signed a 33 year old Henry for West Ham.

Is that too easy?

I also got Mylevski and Bojinov too...and Burdisso and Maxwell.

Then again, it is the EPL I am managing and even Kaka would go to West Ham if I had made an offer bigger than Real Madrid.

In my opinion, we FM fans inflate players reputation by knowing who is good in the game, when In reality they are quite poor. Half the "super stars" I have in my team aren't even famous in real life, but then people tell me I have an unrealistic team of stars because they know they turn out to be good in FM in most games.

All of the top leagues are approaching situations like this.

Only Germany isn't already in that situation. Four teams battling to win the EPL is better then La Liga, where it's only Real Madrid and Barcelona. Serie A is just as bad the EPL. Most the "second tier" European Leagues aren't much better either.

The problem there is the reputation of your "SUPER" EPL, if it wasn't bummed up by everyone and their granny and the EPL board didn't let bored multimillionaire business-men take over the clubs then these alleged great players wouldn't come.

Also the reason the is riddled with debt.

20 teams, 1 winner from 4, 8 mid-table hopefuls, and 8 relegation battlers???????

"Best League In The World"???????

Don't make me laugh.

There's a bitter reply if ever I heard one. I cannot think of any league in the world where all teams are capable of winning the title. By far the greatest league in the world, and I'd go as far to say the Championship would make the top 5. La Liga is the only worthy competitor, with Serie A being as dull as dishwater not to mention corrupt. The Scottish Premier has it's moments, but then that's maybe as I'm quite fond of lower league football... outside of the Old Firm, most of the Scots Prem would struggle in League One. Lukas Jutkiewicz's goals is evidence of this, as is Danny Invincibile's success...

I have no opinion on the matter but do you honestly believe that all the teams in the EPL are capable of winning the title? I just can't see Hull lifting the trophy next year..

i prefer the championship even tho newcastle are running away with it this year. its a close league besides that and unpredictable. I have been to a lot of the grounds and its always a good atmosphere.

back to the subject anyway. im sure many top players have gone to a lower top flight team once they are past their peak. bolton had loads didnt they? these past peak players are still more useful for these clubs than a mid 20s player who wins 3 international caps in his career

I have no opinion on the matter but do you honestly believe that all the teams in the EPL are capable of winning the title? I just can't see Hull lifting the trophy next year..

Of course not, but that's not what I said. I asked for someone to show me the league where there are a large (+5) number of realistic potential winners.

The whole transfer system needs over hauling on my current save Jordan Rhodes just signed for Barcelona he was playing for huddersfield in league 2 for christs sakes! To many players move to unrealistic clubs, especially british players playing for various european clubs when irl that doesn't happen all that often. I also think due to the current financial climate transfers shouldn't be happening on the mass scale they do in the game as irl the transfer windows were not a busy as usual.

The MLS is (quite possibly) the only league in the world with a fair transfer system and market. It's too bad you Europeans think it's so odd, you're all whining about your own but then look at it and scoff, thinking it's Yankee rubbish. Now I'm not proposing it would work in a multi-tier country such as England or Spain or wherever, but I think they're doing things right. And look at this year, my local club Real Salt Lake won the title over the biggest spenders, LA Galaxy. The only thing I don't like are the divisions in the MLS, the playoffs and how they try to dumb down the terminology and gameplay so Americans can relate it to other sports.

Also, the Bundesliga is not too much more diverse or competitive than the EPL. Look at this.

15 years between the EPL and the Bundesliga.

Bundesliga champions

08-09 Wolfsburg

07-08 Bayern Munich

06-07 Stuttgart

05-06 Bayern Munich

04-05 Bayern Munich

03-04 Werder Bremen

02-03 Bayern Munich

01-02 Borussia Dortmund

00-01 Bayern Munich

99-00 Bayern Munich

98-99 Bayern Munich

97-98 Kaiserlautern

96-97 Bayern Munich

95-96 Borussia Dortmund

94-95 Borussia Dortmund

Six different winners. Bayern Munich dominate with eight titles

08-09 Manchester united

07-08 Manchester united

06-07 Manchester united

05-06 Chelsea

04-05 Chelsea

03-04 Arsenal

02-03 Manchester united

01-02 Arsenal

00-01 Manchester united

99-00 Manchester united

97-98 Arsenal

96-97 Manchester united

95-96 Manchester united

94-95 Blackburn Rovers

Four different winners. Manchester United dominate with eight titles.

I don't see which one could be more competitive or "fair," and besides I'd rather watch the EPL as I'm not German and have no interest in their teams or culture.

And in response to Pablo1986, I'm pretty sure there's at least 2-4 teams that could survive in the Championship, namely the Edinburgh derby. A lot of people who don't watch the SPL don't realize that outside of the Old Firm there still is some decent football going on.

nik besagno is a personal hero of mine.

The MLS is (quite possibly) the only league in the world with a fair transfer system and market. It's too bad you Europeans think it's so odd, you're all whining about your own but then look at it and scoff, thinking it's Yankee rubbish. Now I'm not proposing it would work in a multi-tier country such as England or Spain or wherever, but I think they're doing things right. And look at this year, my local club Real Salt Lake won the title over the biggest spenders, LA Galaxy. The only thing I don't like are the divisions in the MLS, the playoffs and how they try to dumb down the terminology and gameplay so Americans can relate it to other sports.

Also, the Bundesliga is not too much more diverse or competitive than the EPL. Look at this.

15 years between the EPL and the Bundesliga.

Bundesliga champions

08-09 Wolfsburg

07-08 Bayern Munich

06-07 Stuttgart

05-06 Bayern Munich

04-05 Bayern Munich

03-04 Werder Bremen

02-03 Bayern Munich

01-02 Borussia Dortmund

00-01 Bayern Munich

99-00 Bayern Munich

98-99 Bayern Munich

97-98 Kaiserlautern

96-97 Bayern Munich

95-96 Borussia Dortmund

94-95 Borussia Dortmund

Six different winners. Bayern Munich dominate with eight titles

08-09 Manchester united

07-08 Manchester united

06-07 Manchester united

05-06 Chelsea

04-05 Chelsea

03-04 Arsenal

02-03 Manchester united

01-02 Arsenal

00-01 Manchester united

99-00 Manchester united

97-98 Arsenal

96-97 Manchester united

95-96 Manchester united

94-95 Blackburn Rovers

Four different winners. Manchester United dominate with eight titles.

I don't see which one could be more competitive or "fair," and besides I'd rather watch the EPL as I'm not German and have no interest in their teams or culture.

And in response to Pablo1986, I'm pretty sure there's at least 2-4 teams that could survive in the Championship, namely the Edinburgh derby. A lot of people who don't watch the SPL don't realize that outside of the Old Firm there still is some decent football going on.

Your time frame for the Bundesliga is misleading.

The Premiership could be seen as the great shift in English attitudes towards top division football. Certainly a shift in such attitudes.

In Germany the collapse of the (Kirch?) Media Empire, the Bundesliga's Sky basically, all teh teams had massive financial difficulties, etc. As such the Germans have come back with a model based on spending within your means, etc. That's a more recent development.

Given last season's extraordinarily competitive title run in Germany, it seems to have made for an entertaining league.

I don't see which one could be more competitive or "fair," and besides I'd rather watch the EPL as I'm not German and have no interest in their teams or culture.

As Scath has said the last two years have seen a big change in German football. Bayern are still the biggest club, but financially the teams are much much closer then any other European league I can think of. At the start of the season I'd of said there were 4-5 teams that could win the title, but it's not impossible for an outsider to win the Bundesliga unlike La Liga, Serie A or Premiership. Just last season the gap between 5th (the final European qualification place) was 9 points, in England it was 27 points to 5th, and 37 to the final European place.

The problem there is the reputation of your "SUPER" EPL, if it wasn't bummed up by everyone and their granny and the EPL board didn't let bored multimillionaire business-men take over the clubs then these alleged great players wouldn't come.

Also the reason the is riddled with debt.

20 teams, 1 winner from 4, 8 mid-table hopefuls, and 8 relegation battlers???????

"Best League In The World"???????

Don't make me laugh.

Hate to go so off topic but, and the SPL is what exactly? Celtic and Rangers would struggle in the Championship let alone the EPL. You have 2 potential winners, have done for years and will do forever.

On topic the EPL is, whatever you think of it, very attractive and therefore not too surprising to see a certain level of player go to what may be classed as mid table outfits. Who'd have ever imagined Tevez and Mascherano going to Wet Spam?

Admittedly at this stage in his career, Dzeko to Blackburn would be immensely surprising.

Had a friend sign De Rossi for Everton who finished 8th, with Roma in the CL and him having 20 for loyalty. He's turned down inter and the rest of the world... enough said.

The MLS is (quite possibly) the only league in the world with a fair transfer system and market. It's too bad you Europeans think it's so odd, you're all whining about your own but then look at it and scoff, thinking it's Yankee rubbish. Now I'm not proposing it would work in a multi-tier country such as England or Spain or wherever, but I think they're doing things right. And look at this year, my local club Real Salt Lake won the title over the biggest spenders, LA Galaxy. The only thing I don't like are the divisions in the MLS, the playoffs and how they try to dumb down the terminology and gameplay so Americans can relate it to other sports.

Also, the Bundesliga is not too much more diverse or competitive than the EPL. Look at this.

15 years between the EPL and the Bundesliga.

Bundesliga champions

08-09 Wolfsburg

07-08 Bayern Munich

06-07 Stuttgart

05-06 Bayern Munich

04-05 Bayern Munich

03-04 Werder Bremen

02-03 Bayern Munich

01-02 Borussia Dortmund

00-01 Bayern Munich

99-00 Bayern Munich

98-99 Bayern Munich

97-98 Kaiserlautern

96-97 Bayern Munich

95-96 Borussia Dortmund

94-95 Borussia Dortmund

Six different winners. Bayern Munich dominate with eight titles

08-09 Manchester united

07-08 Manchester united

06-07 Manchester united

05-06 Chelsea

04-05 Chelsea

03-04 Arsenal

02-03 Manchester united

01-02 Arsenal

00-01 Manchester united

99-00 Manchester united

97-98 Arsenal

96-97 Manchester united

95-96 Manchester united

94-95 Blackburn Rovers

Four different winners. Manchester United dominate with eight titles.

I don't see which one could be more competitive or "fair," and besides I'd rather watch the EPL as I'm not German and have no interest in their teams or culture.

And in response to Pablo1986, I'm pretty sure there's at least 2-4 teams that could survive in the Championship, namely the Edinburgh derby. A lot of people who don't watch the SPL don't realize that outside of the Old Firm there still is some decent football going on.

Passing around the title every few years hardly makes it a good transfer system. Man Utd are still up there because they have consistently made good decisions and performed well because of them.

Yes it does, it means all teams can compete on an equal footing. I love the american system its a great idea, unfortunately as he said, it would just never work in a multi tier system. But in a country where there is only 1 league, it works superbly and means that no one team has the chance to dominate.

Im english and personally i dont think the premiership is the best league in the world. Id much rather go watch La Liga, mind you with the best players starting to go there, give it 3 years and people will say La Liga is the best, this thing tends to go in cycles as to which league is the best.

And to agree with everyone else, the SPL is a joke, i do think Celtic and Rangers would struggle in the championship.

Actually the most competitive league is France or Germany depending how you see it. Russia is up there too. The amount of clubs that finish in the top of the league in France has always been changing even though Lyon dominated (probably the reason why). Germany has been in the same situation although it has had the most difference in the Champions as well. You cannot just take the Champions of a league into consideration because sometimes they win because a game went there way, because they won by one point, by goals or just one their last game and they got them the title.

Although I must say the Bundesliga is only profitable now and stable because its period of debt has passed it and now its stable enough to keep paying it off. The major clubs all went into debt to build new stadiums or expand which is positive debt. Reason why the Bundesliga isn't more popular is one, its Germany and you know its history some people just are ignorant like that, and other reason is many people don't know the language. La Liga and Serie A have tons of Brazilians and are languages the Americas can follow. German is only close to English.

Also Germany is very socialist/corpartist/centralized in the way its run, either by the league or by the country in terms of TV revenue and TV distribution. Also the break in the winter and the time the its played during the day definitely makes affects it. Also the lack of German clubs competing ni

France has many of the same problems as stated but worst. Its France. Even less money. Even more socialist/centralized (thus affecting how TV revenue is distributed). And the stadiums are not as large and football has not been as popular in France as it has been now and the lack of stability in many of the other clubs besides Lyon has led to Lyon just keep winning. Bundesliga is true competition especially as Bayern is struggling now. And the Bundesliga has the highest average attendance in the world in terms of football.

Personally I'm a Bordeaux and HSV fan but I cannot watch them as I don't get Ligue 1 here and the Bundesliga is way too early to watch at times and La Liga has preference over Bundesliga on ESPN Espanol.

I follow the EPL closer because I have a lot of Irish and British friends and the language just makes it easier to understand the players and commentary. Plus being in the US the focus is on anything English (ESPN, FSC (with Sky), etc.) Although Serie A and La Liga I follow closely too as they are languages I know (my parents are Brazilian) and show on FSC and ESPN.

In short what makes a league great is competition or lack of (depends what you want). But its really money. Money comes from TV rights. TV rights come from demand. Demand comes from exposure and language is a huge factor. The Americas are English, Spanish and Portuguese so you will be getting La Liga, Serie A and EPL mostly here because of the tons of Brazilians over there and the language issue and exposure.

If these other leagues want to become popular, they need to start translating not only the matches but also the news and get sports channels to talk about them. And the closer to being free the better. Gol TV and Sententa does not help.

And now answering the topic. Rubbish teams sign great players because rubbish teams in great leagues have money and have the demand. Top clubs are less likely to sign old but still good players. So they either go to the bottom of the table in the league or they go a top club in a lower league.

Just look at Michael Owen. If he was at a lower ranked club, he would get a lot more playing time.

Just look at Michael Owen. If he was at a lower ranked club, he would get a lot more playing time.

yeah if he signed for Hull City, instead of snubbing us and going to United, he'd be playing every minute and scoring bags of goals too, we need a goalscorer like him

Passing around the title every few years hardly makes it a good transfer system. Man Utd are still up there because they have consistently made good decisions and performed well because of them.

Man Utd are still up there because they came to prominence at the start of the superclub era where only the richest prevail. As for the Bundesliga remember Germany has only been a complete country since the late 80's!

Happens in real life too, Djorkaeff to Bolton for example, Rivaldo to Bundokyor (or whatever) when he could have stayed at Olimpiakos.

His last team was AEK Athens.

Tbh my issue is with great teams signing rubbish players.

Just look at the champions league in recent years. Which country has had the most teams left in the latter stages? England. Therefore, they have better quality players, there is better quality football and as a result is a better league.

The German and French League is awful by comparison if you go outside the top 3-4 teams where as I can still enjoy Stoke v Burnley.

`stoke or burnley would be relegation battlers in the bundesliga , so dont come up with those crappy teams and compare them to decent german 1st divison teams

`stoke or burnley would be relegation battlers in the bundesliga , so dont come up with those crappy teams and compare them to decent german 1st divison teams

What Stoke are you watching?!

They've got a very capable team and a good style of play.

ok, i delete the word "crappy" , sorry for that

good style of play maybe, but it doesnt change them being potential relegation battlers in germany

The problem there is the reputation of your "SUPER" EPL, if it wasn't bummed up by everyone and their granny and the EPL board didn't let bored multimillionaire business-men take over the clubs then these alleged great players wouldn't come.

Also the reason the is riddled with debt.

20 teams, 1 winner from 4, 8 mid-table hopefuls, and 8 relegation battlers???????

"Best League In The World"???????

Don't make me laugh.

and from the name on the post says it all really

jockstein a scottish league with only ever 2 possible winners and others further behind

premiership is the best league for a reason

yes another scottish person who cant handle england having the talent and money

lets face it scottish league is 2nd rate and thats why rangers and celtic want to come south.

I signed a 33 year old Henry for West Ham.

Is that too easy?

I also got Mylevski and Bojinov too...and Burdisso and Maxwell.

Then again, it is the EPL I am managing and even Kaka would go to West Ham if I had made an offer bigger than Real Madrid.

In my opinion, we FM fans inflate players reputation by knowing who is good in the game, when In reality they are quite poor. Half the "super stars" I have in my team aren't even famous in real life, but then people tell me I have an unrealistic team of stars because they know they turn out to be good in FM in most games.

Well he wouldn't go to man city after a c.£200million bid so thats untrue. Not having a go, just saying some great players end up at mid table prem teams, some don't. Di canio might have been considered too good for west ham back in the day.

Only Germany isn't already in that situation. Four teams battling to win the EPL is better then La Liga, where it's only Real Madrid and Barcelona. Serie A is just as bad the EPL. Most the "second tier" European Leagues aren't much better either.

Serie A is the worst, only Inter Milan will win Serie A after they have decimated all other teams... 3rd place team won the league while the 5th team place gets the second automatic CL spot...

I cant see AC Milan chasing Inter Milan this season, or next season, let alone other teams...

EPL is quite good this season, I wish that either Man City, Spurs and Aston Villa to break top 4 this season..

I have just seen Pato moving to Genoa. Milan aren't doing that well in 2015, sitting 5th and Genoa are 2nd in Serie A, but still Genoa cannot be compared to Genoa in terms of reputation, quality etc.

Serie A is the worst, only Inter Milan will win Serie A after they have decimated all other teams... 3rd place team won the league while the 5th team place gets the second automatic CL spot...

I cant see AC Milan chasing Inter Milan this season, or next season, let alone other teams...

EPL is quite good this season, I wish that either Man City, Spurs and Aston Villa to break top 4 this season..

I don't know whether you watch Serie A regularly or not, but i have to disagree with this. Just because they had a bad form in the beginning of the season, it doesn't mean they cannot challenge for the title. They have beaten Genoa 5-2 and Juventus 3-0, meanwhile Inter have struggled with Siena beating them 4-3 in a last minute goal. Sorry for being off-topic.