Youngsters at poor clubs.

Has anyone actually had a world class player come through the ranks at a lower league team? Or someone with huge potential that all big clubs want?

When I started lower leagues and still pretty much now I just get rubbish youngsters coming through and scouts/coaches tell me to get rid.

Surely there should be once in a while someone awesome come through? You see people like Smalling who was playing lower league few years ago and then now he's first team for Manchester United.

I feel there isn't enough decent youngsters to come through. There are terrible youth setups at certain clubs yet sometimes they always have a diamond come through. I would like to see an increase in this!

I have found top players at smaller clubs before, but rarely do i get top players when playing as smaller clubs, but then its easier to find one to sign because you have thousands to choose from. I sold a player who has now gone on to be a world class left winger, he came from Oxford i think in the second season. But i have also done a game with Luton taking them to the prem and not had one player come through my ranks near that level, a few good back ups but thats it.

Picked up a decent youngster from Pro Vercelli in Italy, he's apparently got great potential. Other than that I've occasionally picked up great youngsters from smaller clubs in England, but that's it really, most of my regens come from top division clubs.

I wish there were more good players at small clubs because it would be more realistic and it is so cool to find and buy potentially good players from little clubs.

I keep finding plenty from the african clubs, if they count as poor clubs.

I(Banik Ostrava) signed a guy from Heartland for 825k and then 4 seasons on he went to Rangers for £25m and is now at Man City.

Another i got for 300k from FH in Iceland and he went for £13.25m and is now playing for CSKA Moscow.

A few others too, seriously scout Africa, some really good players coming through for me, and no african leagues loaded.

I think there should be more players with legaue potential adrift in non league. Aside from genuine world class players like Ian Wright, each season sees the odd one make the transition from the Dog n Duck FC to a league club. DJ Campbell, Luke Varney, Geoff Horsfield, Jermain Beckford, Craig Mackail-Smith all came from non league clubs and had decent league careers. Doesn't seem to happen that much in FM.

I've managed to find a few youngsters elsewhere in the world but never when I'm in control of my own club does one seem to come through.

When you see players tearing up the lower leagues, they're never bought by higher clubs. Reputation seems to take too long to change.. theres really high goalscorers sitting in the lower leagues all their career when no bigger team takes a chance on them. They should be able to see their form more rather than off their CA/PA.

I've managed to find a few youngsters elsewhere in the world but never when I'm in control of my own club does one seem to come through.

When you see players tearing up the lower leagues, they're never bought by higher clubs. Reputation seems to take too long to change.. theres really high goalscorers sitting in the lower leagues all their career when no bigger team takes a chance on them. They should be able to see their form more rather than off their CA/PA.

Agreed, it breaks the realism to see in form players ignored whereas a kid with a high PA will attract attention regardless of how he is performing.

I think its something we would equally be as guilty off, if you were Everton in the game would you sign a player from league 1 no matter how many goals he had scored? Not unless his stats were well above the division, or he was very very young and had a good chance of progressing.

I think its something we would equally be as guilty off, if you were Everton in the game would you sign a player from league 1 no matter how many goals he had scored? Not unless his stats were well above the division, or he was very very young and had a good chance of progressing.

Yeah, would be crazy if they signed a league 1 striker like Jermain Beckford..

I just want a slight improvement. I'm in 2026 with Havant and Waterlooville, past few years we have been slowly getting our youth devlopment up etc and I'm still yet to have a player who has come through and made the grade... in any of the divisions.

I've managed to find a few youngsters elsewhere in the world but never when I'm in control of my own club does one seem to come through.

When you see players tearing up the lower leagues, they're never bought by higher clubs. Reputation seems to take too long to change.. theres really high goalscorers sitting in the lower leagues all their career when no bigger team takes a chance on them. They should be able to see their form more rather than off their CA/PA.

That would be like real life, wouldn't it?

While I don't have intimate knowledge of english lower league football, at least here in Norway it's very rare for someone dominating lower leagues to get picked up by clubs in leagues above.

Nope, there is players such as Nugent, Beckford and others I can't think of from the top of my head but larger clubs have all took a risk of signing them. They might not work out but still there are teams making these signings to see if they can play at a higher standard. Take a look at Blackpool, loaning players from the lower leagues that aren't even playing for the first team in those lower divisions. All these players, not getting bought because the FM system is more towards CA/PA. If a player is on form but doesn't have the correct PA then the AI will just completely ignore them.

Thats a bit off the point of the youngsters but its still in the same way the same thing. Youngsters not being good enough, teams not taking risks.

The best case would be (IMO), if you didn't know any attributes of lower league players first. You can only go by stats. Then you scout a player once and your scout will return with, say half the attributes. However they wouldn't be accurate but maybe like this: Heading 11-15, Marking 15-18, Tackling 13-16. The more/longer you scout a player and the more matches the player plays, the more attributes you know and the more accurate they would be. If a player has a good run of form, the scout may overrate him and vice versa. At the end of the scouting process (half a year?), a scout would even be able to make a guess at a player's personality and character traits (like it is now). If you buy a player at this stage, his attributes would be almost exact, maybe differing 1 point in a few attributes when he arrives at the club. On top of this, AI clubs should do the same and buy players according to scout reports instead of splashing the cash on some high-PA 18-year-old from Guyana who never played a single match.

Right now, you only have to scout a player once and know all his exact attributes even if the scout didn't see him play. It's far too easy.

That would be like real life, wouldn't it?

While I don't have intimate knowledge of english lower league football, at least here in Norway it's very rare for someone dominating lower leagues to get picked up by clubs in leagues above.

I mentioned 5 in my post... you could also add Lee Hughes, Alan Smith & Paul Furlong (from a few years ago) Aaron McLean and Michael Kightly - all kicked off in non league or thereabouts

well like i said, would you guys sign the top scorer in league 1 if you were managing a prem team, or even from a lower league? Or would you sign players based on the attributes avaliable, ie CA/PA?

I think there should be more players with legaue potential adrift in non league. Aside from genuine world class players like Ian Wright, each season sees the odd one make the transition from the Dog n Duck FC to a league club. DJ Campbell, Luke Varney, Geoff Horsfield, Jermain Beckford, Craig Mackail-Smith all came from non league clubs and had decent league careers. Doesn't seem to happen that much in FM.

Don't forget Chris Smalling as well, 3 years ago playing for Maidstone United (Ryman Premier League), Signed for Fulham now starting in Manchester Uniteds First XI

well like i said, would you guys sign the top scorer in league 1 if you were managing a prem team, or even from a lower league? Or would you sign players based on the attributes avaliable, ie CA/PA?

ive got a scout looking at the football league in my game hes found one player who sat in ressies for 3 years before i sold him so yes i would

I have noticed lots of very good newgens who come through youth ranks in Spain, but almost none in lower-level English teams (including the Championship).

I'm managing Bromley and haven't had too much in the way of great talent come through. But I don't think that's unrealistic, I quite like the fact that if I do ever get a good youngster through the ranks it'll be something out of the blue. I've got 1 youth product in my first team, came through when we were in the Blue Square South and is currently squad rotation for me in League 1 and worth £250k.

I find that plenty of young players start their careers in the lower leagues. Non-league is rarer, but then Smalling and Campbell are the only Premier League quality players who came through there IRL (I think it is stretching it a bit to call players like Kitson, who is in the Championship, and Beckford, who is completely unproven in the top two tiers, Premier League quality). Maybe you could add Kightley if he plays well when he is fit. There are a handful of players who played for non-league clubs, but the problem is that FM doesn't have double page spread interviews or anything like that, so you don't know that the midfielder who just scored against you to knock you out of the FA Cup used to play for Blyth Spartans, or that the newly-promoted side's top scorer played for Hyde.

As examples: my right back in one of my saves came through at Halifax, and one of my back up midfielders was a Weymouth player.

I mentioned 5 in my post... you could also add Lee Hughes, Alan Smith & Paul Furlong (from a few years ago) Aaron McLean and Michael Kightly - all kicked off in non league or thereabouts

Which Alan Smith?

You forgot about Grant Holt too, since cant believe we sold him to Sheff Wed for £10,000 :<

I've had one from Sligo Rovers in the second tier or Irish football but not sure if that would class a lower league club... A regen goalie called Eogan Byrne.

One of my scouts informed me of the lad when he was 15 but didn't have terrific stats nor a great star potential (only 2 and a half) and seeing as i'm not someone who judges someone solely on their 'stars' and the 2 GK's generated into my u18's that season were utter poop, i signed him for a measly 45k thinking he'd at least do a better job and help my u18's to win more games...

By 20 he had beaten out my previous number 1, Matej (who was around 30 odd at the time and one of the best GK in the game) and was the best young goalie in the world...went on to win several personal accolades and just under 100 international caps before i stopped playing the save when he was around 28/30.

Once i'd had enough with the save i went on FMRTE to examine my achievements and it turned out he had a PA of 196 and his CA was at 190 so didn't even reach his full potential!

To this day, probably one of my favourite ever regens, just the way i brought him in just to fill a gap but ended up developing him from what i can only guess as a rubbish starting CA because as i mentioned, his stats at the beginning were less than good!

Oh, and in my two long term saves with York City and Havant and Waterlooville, i did not once get a regen come through my academy worthy of even putting on footy boots until i reached around Championship level and improved my network considerably...

Not a moan though, IRL if very rarely happens and when they do happen to get a talented youngster in they normally get snatched up straight away anyway!

Remember that unless your coaching staff is very good at judging player potential a youth player with average CA but high PA will get a low amount of potential ability stars.

I think there should be more players with legaue potential adrift in non league. Aside from genuine world class players like Ian Wright, each season sees the odd one make the transition from the Dog n Duck FC to a league club. DJ Campbell, Luke Varney, Geoff Horsfield, Jermain Beckford, Craig Mackail-Smith all came from non league clubs and had decent league careers. Doesn't seem to happen that much in FM.

That's because the potential of players is hidden far better in real life than it is in FM

Jermaine Beckford was a scholar at Chelsea. Stretching it a bit to call them a small club!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jermaine_Beckford

DJ Campbell was a scholar at Villa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._J._Campbell

I have problem getting good swedish regen players. Played for five seasons now an not a single have a value over 200k euro... My best youth player has a one star potential and his highest attributes are a couple of 10's... I've just lost the quarters in Champ. League so my rep. isn't the greatest in the world but I must buy very young foreigners now to get homegrown status...

I currently have a player that was a newgen for Toronto FC's Academy squad (rep is under 2,000 and plays in the Canadian Soccer League, which has to be edited to be made playable) that is currently attracting interest from Chievo and Zaragosa. His PA is in the 150 range (I've been using FMRTE to try and work around an MLS bug that prevents him from being classified as a homegrown player for my Toronto FC squad, but no luck.)

So reading this I believe I'm not the only one. Only a few players mentioned coming through. We need more potential top class players at Lower League clubs! 1 or 2 every few years that will break into the squad. Lower league teams in real life kind of rely on this. Taking on youngsters. Most teams in real life there will generally be one player who has come through the ranks and is playing regular first team football. I just don't believe this is happening alot on FM.

I recently signed a 16 year-old from the conference (can't remember whether premier or regional) who my scouts and back room staff (at least those with high JPA) assure me has the potential to be a good Premiership player. He definitely looks like has the potential to be a class act even at this early age, with decent atrributes in the right places and hopefully lots of potential to improve. He cost me the princely sum of 5k.

Jermaine Beckford was a scholar at Chelsea. Stretching it a bit to call them a small club!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jermaine_Beckford

DJ Campbell was a scholar at Villa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._J._Campbell

First line from wiki for campbell "Campbell's early career was in non-League football, between 2000 and 2005..."

Beckford - spent 3 years at Wealdstone after being released by Chelsea.

They might have had been in youth teams at top clubs but it was non league were they properly started there careers.

Anyway, came on to post about that Geordie kid Michael Richardson who got picked up from Walker Central in the Northern Premier Alliance Division.

Chance of that happening on FM?!

Definitely is a massive gap for regens at lower league clubs.

Would really like a revamped regen system for FM 12. Or at least serious investment and time put into improving the current system. Just get the entire department to work on regens for like 2 months or something, nothing but the regen system, and they'd probably improve it tenfold.

You forgot about Grant Holt too, since cant believe we sold him to Sheff Wed for £10,000 :<

Cant believe he couldnt hit water if he fell out of a boat for us!!!

Definitely is a massive gap for regens at lower league clubs.

Would really like a revamped regen system for FM 12. Or at least serious investment and time put into improving the current system. Just get the entire department to work on regens for like 2 months or something, nothing but the regen system, and they'd probably improve it tenfold.

reading this says they spend a lot of time and effort working on the regens

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/256539-Will-11.3-address-regens?highlight=regens

it must be a very very difficult thing to get right but the regens in FM11 are a lot better than previous versions.

darlingtons youth theres 2 full backs, (however their position and status change every new game) on my new save, Anthony Snook, is a Right Back, whos got excellent stats and would fit in some championship sides, however soon as he gets a few mental improvements would be superb, and the exact same with my Left Back Phil Gray, they both 17 and ive had a loan offer for each of them, they now both play for "brighton and bournmouth" on loan from me, with a £5k upfront and 100% of their £90 wage a week paid by them. they both also played 24 games out of 27 so far this season, and their value is now something like £76k which for a non league team is huge

I have a Championship potential, 16-year-old midfielder come through my Conference side just this summer, but i edited them to start with a Youth Academy so...