How good do your players have to be?

Hi all.

How good do your players have to be to win the league? Bit of a vague question I know but let me explain.

It's 2019 and I'm Albion Rovers in the SPL. My team, in my opinion, is just a litle worse than Celtic who continually win the league. I've come 2nd the past 3 seasons and am getting a bit peeved at my inability to become SPL champions.

So how good does your team have to be to win the league? Do you have to have the best players?

A second question: How long does it take for a club's reputation to increase? At Albion Rovers the players I can attract are nowehere near the ability of my first teamers meaning I always have to sign a youngster, bring him on for a few years and then punt him to Celtic or West Brom as he feels he is too good for the club . For a change I'd like to be able to buy ready made quality!

Any input is much appreciated.

Hi all.

How good do your players have to be to win the league? Bit of a vague question I know but let me explain.

It's 2019 and I'm Albion Rovers in the SPL. My team, in my opinion, is just a litle worse than Celtic who continually win the league. I've come 2nd the past 3 seasons and am getting a bit peeved at my inability to become SPL champions.

So how good does your team have to be to win the league? Do you have to have the best players?

A second question: How long does it take for a club's reputation to increase? At Albion Rovers the players I can attract are nowehere near the ability of my first teamers meaning I always have to sign a youngster, bring him on for a few years and then punt him to Celtic or West Brom as he feels he is too good for the club . For a change I'd like to be able to buy ready made quality!

Any input is much appreciated.

For your first question, your team needs to be a bit better than the average Coca Cola Div 1 team .

Okay, sorry Scottish folks. Only kidding.

It depends if you consider miniscout cheating or not. Or at least THIS use of miniscout. I often use it just to check the CA of my players, especially ageing ones. I haven't played in Scotland, but in the English Prem I try to keep an average of 160CA amongst my first team. This tends to include some youngsters of around 140 and some superstars around 175-185.

Personally, I see this as a very quick calculator and don't like using it for its intended purpose, ie, scouting (it takes the pleasure out of it when the kid finally makes it), and saves time checking your players' stats. Like the Optra index or something.

In answer to your first question mate, it isn't just about ability. Some other things you should consider when comparing your squad to Celtic are:

-The size and depth of both squads.

-The mental attributes that can have effects not only on matchday, but are crucial during the title run-in.

-The consistency of your team's performance - yours compared to Celtic's. Often, at least in England, the most consistently good team ends up champions.

Hope that helps mate.

Club reputation also is a major factor- if you use any of the editors you will see that the reputation of the Old Firm is much hugher ( due to their European participation ) than the other SPL clubs and until you win anything on a regular basis and do well in Europe, it will be hard to increase your own reputation enough to challenge for the title.

In FM 2005 or 6, I took Gretna to the SPL, could win the Cups and even, as an experiment, after editing the players, I still couldnt win the league.

thanks for the replies so far guys.

Yes as you may have guessed I used mini-scout as a guide to check my team in relation to Celtic's.

So in essence with FM08 you simply have to have the best team to win anything?

Has anyone won the SPL with a third division time?

Oh and backpackant very funny

Also does anyone have a good shut-up shop/ park the bus tactic?

Fed up of Celtic beating me 5-4 after I take a 2 goal lead.