Hidden Attribute Scouting

I figured I'd use this thread to engage a debate about the merits of being able to see certain attributes that are currently denied us in-game.

Recently I downloaded some additional files that enabled me to choose to see players' hidden attributes both in the squad screens and in the player search function. Now, I'm well aware this may be contentious, as of course it is technically cheating - we aren't given this data for a reason, thus viewing it is kind of against the spirit of the game. With this in mind, those of you who are most zealous in haranguing people about doing such things will be delighted to know that I found it was, in some ways, seriously detrimental to my gaming experience. I only used it for a few seasons on what I thought would be my second long-term save, but I found the ability to search by PA was far too tempting (no matter how vehemently I promised myself I wouldn't use it), and sapped the fun from finding one's own gifted youngsters.

However, it is the 'some ways' that is key. I naturally found that being able to see a player's injury proneness, ambition, and important matches attributes incredibly useful in deciding between signings. Seeing CA was nice (without comparing it to PA and the useful consequences of such a comparison), but the availability of PA was damaging.

My point is that surely, if as a manager we can supposedly attribute a player a numerical rating for finishing (for example) compared to his teammates - through a knowledge that is assumed we enter the game with - we should be able to (perhaps gradually, if not immediately) assess other attributes such as their injury proneness. It seems nonsensical that a manager in real life, knowing how his players compare at heading, should not be able to compare them for their ambition - he trains with them every day and knows all the intricacies of their personalities.

Therefore I would propose a change to the way scouting and knowledge of one's squad is currently operating. One should, when managing a team, be able to see these attributes, and rank one's players accordingly. I'm not saying immediately, but rather like a new assistant manager takes time to gain knowledge of his new squad, so should the player. Therefore I think we should be able to see some of these attributes in the style of an ever-narrowing range. So we may arrive at a team and may be told our striker has an injury proneness of 45-65, and as we get to know them on the pitch and at the training ground it becomes ever more accurate: 45-65, 54-62, 58-60, 59, etc....I think this should be allowed with CA too, but never with PA, as that is too detrimental to the realistic playing of the game.

In terms of scouting, we should not initially see any of these attributes for players outside of our squads. However, with extensive scouting (perhaps with a new 'scout for whole season' function - as such scouting no doubt exists in real life) these attributes could be assessed by the scout and relayed to us on a monthly basis, in a similarly, ever-narrowing fashion (although never becoming truly exact due to a player never being truly understood unless one actually works with them). If such a report being numerical is too precise, why not put it in a star-system similar to the one we have currently.

Hopefully you can offer your opinions on the subject.

Oh, and I've deleted my cheat files for the new patch...

I don't see why ambition can't be incorporated in the contract negotiations. A player would surely want to know what your ambitions are before he signs for you, so why not have another drop down box on contract screen under squad status for you to say we're going to challenge for promotion or we'll be happy to avoid relegation. If the player doesn't want to be involved in a relegation fight he could then turn you down to move to a team with bigger ambitions. Also if you tell a player you're pushing for promotion and then don't sign other players to achieve this or don't live up to those ambitions you could find that the star player you signed in July wants to leave in January.

This could perhaps affect your reputation in the game. If you keep lying to players to get them to sign others may be less willing to sign for you in the future. But if you're honest and then overachieve you can get a reputation as someone who gets the best out of players, and so some other players in the future may be willing to sign for you rather than other clubs with the same level of ambition.

Injury proneness you can get some idea of through the injury report but a mention on the scout report would be nice. But I do agree that we should have that information on our own players. The physio report could be a bit more detailed in this regard. Physio could say player x has had a number of hamstring injuries in this year, you might consider giving him a prolonged rest or ease him back into action when he has finshed rehab.