Grey players

This is almost certainly the wrong place but please can grey players appearing in a squad too short of players be disable-able for FM11? I mean, it's fine when the players aren't loaded for obscure teams, but what if I want to have to deal with an injury crisis by playing less than a full complement of subs, for instance? Portsmouth haven't plucked non-existant players out of nowhere and have not had a full bench yet this season - ideally I'd like to see it whereby a team running out of players has to forfeit/postpone games.

Yeah, I see where you are coming from.

It would have to be a major problem before a club is able to field a full team. If most of their first team squad is unavailable through either injury or on international duty then they would just use their reserves\under 18's to make up the numbers. I do agree though that the ability to pospone a game should be included in FM.

Don't agree. My guess is that Portmouth do have players they could call on, U-19s, etc, but choose not too as they aren't ready. It would be nice that if you couldn't make up a side from fit first teamers and reserves then you don't have to fill the bench.

Yeah, top teams will always be able to field a team, but I don't like the random grey players appearing, some of which are pretty good.

Im sure teams that name only 4 subs could have other players to call upon if they really had to. Also it would make the game fall into disrepute if you played a non league team in pre season and you spanked them 50-0 as they only have 7 players. good for morale though!

My guess is that Portmouth do have players they could call on, U-19s, etc, but choose not too as they aren't ready.

Indeed they do, but we suspect that Cotterill is only naming four to make a point about the transfer embargo on players that would take them above a squad of 20.

From memory, the last top flight team to forfeit a game due to injuries got deducted 3 points, which relegated them. I don't think this sort of thing will ever make it into FM. There's also the problem of drawing a small team in a cup who don't have any real players, what would happen then?

I think that was the Boro dafuge due to illness in the squad.

Indeed they do, but we suspect that Cotterill is only naming four to make a point about the transfer embargo on players that would take them above a squad of 20.

From memory, the last top flight team to forfeit a game due to injuries got deducted 3 points, which relegated them. I don't think this sort of thing will ever make it into FM. There's also the problem of drawing a small team in a cup who don't have any real players, what would happen then?

That was Boro yonks ago. The issue of teams too obscure to have players is different IMHO, as they only need to 'exist' as a team for the one match. My issue is with players appearing from nowhere if all of your strikers get injured, for example. It shouldn't happen.

That was Boro yonks ago. The issue of teams too obscure to have players is different IMHO, as they only need to 'exist' as a team for the one match. My issue is with players appearing from nowhere if all of your strikers get injured, for example. It shouldn't happen.

Agreed. Teams in reality have to deal with their injury crises. They have to play players out of position, call up their youth, make use of emergency loans in some cases etc. They don't just magically get some randoms in to fill the team. I think the reason it happens though is because it's difficult to code it any other way. Teams that only have a few real players available in the db must fill their squad somehow and it's not easy to make the grey player generating code work differently in specific cases. It can't 'see' the difference between a team with all players loaded and one with only a few appearing.

It can't be that difficult to code: If number of players in team (including reserves & youth) > 20, then grey players = 0. Then teams that need grey players get them, teams that shouldn't need them, don't.

I guess you will have to be careful about such a feature. The proposed scenario might be valid for English clubs who usually have a league squad, a reserve squad and a youth squad, and nothing else.

But big clubs in Denmark f.x., can have 4, 5, 6 or even 10 senior squads, and many youth teams. So if really desperate they can pick up players from the youth teams or lower-ranking senior teams to fill out the league squad. I know that my local club once had to use the 5th. team goal keeper for several games as the 2 keepers in the League squad got injured, and the other keeprs were either deemed not good enough, or they rejected the opportunity to play.

This situation is very well simulated with the current system. So if this new proposal was implemented, some leagues would then not be represented correctly.

These players can be a god-send for lower league managers. I actually offered a contract to a "greyed-out" player during fm09. I was short of players due to injuries etc and could not field a full team. He was actually (statistically) better than some of my "real" players!

I guess you will have to be careful about such a feature. The proposed scenario might be valid for English clubs who usually have a league squad, a reserve squad and a youth squad, and nothing else.

But big clubs in Denmark f.x., can have 4, 5, 6 or even 10 senior squads, and many youth teams. So if really desperate they can pick up players from the youth teams or lower-ranking senior teams to fill out the league squad. I know that my local club once had to use the 5th. team goal keeper for several games as the 2 keepers in the League squad got injured, and the other keeprs were either deemed not good enough, or they rejected the opportunity to play.

This situation is very well simulated with the current system. So if this new proposal was implemented, some leagues would then not be represented correctly.

This is an extremely important point.

We don't need grey players, if a team doesn't have enough players the game should be cancelled and the opposing team given 3 points. That's what would happen IRL. Besides think of the memory usage that could be saved by them not existing.

We don't need grey players, if a team doesn't have enough players the game should be cancelled and the opposing team given 3 points. That's what would happen IRL. Besides think of the memory usage that could be saved by them not existing.

The problem with that is that we come across teams who do not have a squad full of players because of the database we have loaded. This issue wouldn't occur in the league, it would occur when you draw some obscure team in the early rounds of a cup.

We don't need grey players, if a team doesn't have enough players the game should be cancelled and the opposing team given 3 points. That's what would happen IRL. Besides think of the memory usage that could be saved by them not existing.

Greyed out players are important as they fill the gap where players would exist IF the neccessary databases were loaded. Witgout them this woudl make games against lower leagues teams impossible and managign in the lower leagues would be difficult.

Cannot load all databases. Play as lower league team. Greys are mana from heaven in my game!

Yeah why are players from lower leagues "greyed out"?

I have friends in Aldershot's youth team and in Fleet Town, and i want to sign them for my under 18s. but i cant

Yeah why are players from lower leagues "greyed out"?

I have friends in Aldershot's youth team and in Fleet Town, and i want to sign them for my under 18s. but i cant

It is because of the initial database that you selected. If they are in the database then you will need to load a setup that includes them.

also important for continental competitions as well...

I've noticed that if grey players appear because of injuries, they're usually of inferior quality, so it's not worth playing them ahead of your reserves / youth players. even in major injury crises, I've never had a grey player worth including even on the subs' bench... well, except one time when I was playing in the BSN, I had to use a grey youth team goalkeeper because all the other possibilities were injured. but he was so bad, I might as well have played an outfield player in goal....

also important for continental competitions as well...

I've noticed that if grey players appear because of injuries, they're usually of inferior quality, so it's not worth playing them ahead of your reserves / youth players. even in major injury crises, I've never had a grey player worth including even on the subs' bench... well, except one time when I was playing in the BSN, I had to use a grey youth team goalkeeper because all the other possibilities were injured. but he was so bad, I might as well have played an outfield player in goal....

Yeah, but when reserves played in midweek, and your youth team played on the monday. There aren't enough players available for the first eleven, that aren't knackered

The problem with that is that we come across teams who do not have a squad full of players because of the database we have loaded. This issue wouldn't occur in the league, it would occur when you draw some obscure team in the early rounds of a cup.

This I understand but there could be a way around this. If you load up the Superblademan lv 10 or Kris's Scoland league pack the one thing I have noticed from these is the abundance of newgens, regens, FREDS or whatever they are that seem to be added to the game.

Now I'm not sure of the base mechanics of how that works but it may be a good idea that when you load up whatever database you load it should calculate how many new typs of these players to place in each team if required. This would do away with the need of grey players it would use the same memory though but still save on some for the non use of grey players.