Usual Suspects...

Just wondering if any of you find that you sign the same players over a number of different saves or games?

I'm asking because having started off in the conference I found myself signing Vermooten and Callum O'Conner for the third game in a row. As I have gone up the leagues I find myself eyeing up players that I bought in my last successful lower league save (Notts County in FM 2007). I even do it with the big teams - Safe money on Alex Sanchez being brought over (although I do have more options to choose from and I will try different people out).

If the same happens to you why do you think that is? Is it because you feel they are the best players for the job and want to win (and in essence keep playing the same game over and over) or is it because you are not given much choice in the signings to make and they are the ones that will help you achieve your goals quicker?

It depends. If you start lower league games inthe same country over and over again then you probably would, i mean if you have success with the players you are going to be more inclined to sign them again.

I personally try to avoid them as i like to see how they get on without me in another save. I had one striker that was a natural AMC but had the stats of a striker, he was a top premiership stiker in my team but a struggling championship player in another as they had him at AMC

also your last point is a good one, it will depend on how quickly people want to become a top team, i get annoyed if i have a top team within 20 seasons when i start at the bottom, i like the long game

i think for most people, it will be a tried and tested thingy! i sure some people, as i myself have, is to start a new game over, just to get a good player sooner, because they've proved a successful signing!

I personally have a few signings i always bring in over a few seasons. Fabio Coentrao, Elerjo Elia and Aturo Vidal, obviously very good players but seem to fit into my style of play,Id love to know whether there is one stand out player other FMERs buy all the time essentially the most popular tranfer!

Personally no, I play by LLM rules and very rarely sign the sign player twice.

How do you find the players? If you go searching for them you are more likely to sign the same players despite the fact their skills might vary from save to save.

I use scouts and then I use the shortlist which can easily have a couple of thousand players on it after a few seasons. If a player appears on my shortlist that I've signed in a previous save I wouldn't not sign him but I would probably give preference to a different player if they were similar.

I do, kind of.

I manage in the lowest leagues of England, but not by LLM [TM] rules. Throughout FM11 I've had some kids, whom I've made facepacks for that I sign in every campaign. They have low and mostly random [0] attributes, so their abilities differ from save to save, but with their facepacks I feel as if I know them like they're my own.

To be fair, its not really a recipe for success, but then I rarely get more than one promotion per save, so the personal dimension is what keeps me engaged.