Really bad overpaid players with silly stats

Generally browsing round the lower leagues I have been struck by how really thick some AI managers seem to have been in the squads which they have assembled. It's not at all uncommon to find a winger (say) who has no stamina, can't cross, can't dribble, has poor positioning and anticipation and is dead slow earning £200 to £300 per week - you can find LOADS and LOADS of them.

Strikers with a finishing stat of 3 and a heading ability of 2 earning £300 a week, centre backs with a jumping stat of 5 and a tackling stat of 2 on £350 and so on and so on - the lower leagues are brimming over with them. The wages they are earning are a massive slice of one's budget and you cripple the club financially if you boot them out on frees.

Would anybody really give these player 20p a week, let alone 200 quid if they were that bad? Would they ever have been picked for anything other than the local pub side? My grandmother would do a better job then a lot of them.

I actually saw a striker with a stamina stat of 1 in some obscure Welsh club and some insane AI manager was actually interested in getting him on a transfer. He would take one run up the pitch on a hot day and collapse with a coronary in the opposition penalty area.....

I know that there has to be a differentiation between good and not so good players. But, in reality, footballers at semi professional level aren't totally clueless - they are still pretty good compared with the thousands of Sunday morning/pub team/parks players. Shouldn't this be reflected in rather more realistic stats?

In this case 1 for stamina would mean the poorest stamina a footballer at the lowest level in the game can have, rather than a pub team/park player etc.

Ah I see - so he would actually be able to lift his Zimmer frame without collapsing from exhaustion you are suggesting?

Simply, yes.

1 just means poor for a footballer rather than your average Joe Bloggs on the street.

1 means the poorest of all amateur players in some sense and so it may well mean Joe Bloggs.

Post some screenshots, OP. Finishing 3 for a striker may be bad but what if he has Jumping 10 and Strength 10? There may well be some level, even if it's an amateur side, where he would actually be a solid lower-league battering ram up front.

Finishing like this?...

1 means the poorest of all amateur players in some sense and so it may well mean Joe Bloggs.

Post some screenshots, OP. Finishing 3 for a striker may be bad but what if he has Jumping 10 and Strength 10? There may well be some level, even if it's an amateur side, where he would actually be a solid lower-league battering ram up front.

I'm even more of an ignoramus about computers than I am about football so if I tried to post screenshots they would go wrong for sure. In any case, there's no shortage of these really awful players - just have a quick look through the squad lists in the BSS or BSN, especially some of the reserves. You'll find 'em! If you want even worse ones, look through the free transfers/out of contract players whom nobody is chasing.

I first thought you were talking about players from even lower leagues than that, where I've never seen anyone paid that much. But if you meant BSS/BSN, I agree there are lots overpaid players, and the clubs could have paid better players/league rejects, but let's say it's how the game reflect BSN/BSS staffs' low mental stats:). (the assman/scouts judgment stats are unbelievably low. I can tell a Messi from a crap and I know Beckham will suck at left back. Do I deserve 3 for judging ability?)

1 means the poorest of all amateur players in some sense and so it may well mean Joe Bloggs.

Yes but it does not mean poor for your random person on the street.

Otherwise we should just artificially set FM's scale from 11-30 so that 1-10 can mean poor for random non-footballers like the o/p's grandmother.

. Do I deserve 3 for judging ability?)

No you deserve a much higher rating because those are the sorts of judgements that the assmen/scouts I can get hold of for Weston-super-Mare are too thick to be able to make....