Transfers – Splash the Cash or Nurture the Gems

How do you bring in players? Do you spend hours looking through the lower leagues, obscure leagues from abroad and youth academies to find that player that could make all the difference or do you dive straight in and buy the most expensive one from the top of the player search list, whatever the price?

I think you can be a bit of both, but some, even if they are the Manchester Cities or Arsenals will still choose to never buy a player over 18 or never spend over 5 million one. If your managing Havant & Waterloo Ville this is pretty much the way you have to play, searching through the lists of unattached players to find that one central midfielder that could be the next Frank Lampard, however unlikely it is, there are certainly players that have the potential. I for one, often loose my patience with lower league management due to the time it takes to build a good team. I tend to just scout the top 5 players on the filter list and try to get the best one but often this isn’t the way forward. But if your are the type of person who doesn’t frustrate themselves by scrolling through lists full of wasters and the occasional gem, then you will probably have a much more fun career game than starting at Barcelona and buying so and so for 70 million; the fun and appeal of the latter quickly wears off after a few trophies. With a club like Barcelona and the all-star set of players that come with managing them, it means that tactics can be as simple as ever and still give u constant victories. But the real shrewd tacticians, can bring success or improvement to any club, whatever their financial position or whatever players are at their disposal. But what I really want to be talking about is transfers. It gives the ultimate footie manager satisfaction when you’ve found a player that no has ever heard of and turn in into a Premier League superstar. Very much the sort of thing Arsenal Wenger has so often done with players like Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas and Gael Clichy. Despite being told more than once that he has the full financial support to bring in pretty much any player he wants, he still would rather spend 10 million a season than a hundred.

But if like me, your patience wears thin when no players that are placed straight in front of you will sign, then you would rather dive straight in with one of Europe’s best and go for the ultimate glory and pretty much, guaranteed success unless your really very bad. I, especially, will be one of the many that will install Football Manager 2009 and head straight to the City of Manchester Stadium; to find a nice, fat cheque book and a trio of superb Brazilians. I enjoyed Man City on 08, despite being a Man United fan. The 60 million pound budget, likely to be just a fraction of their 09 budget, allowed me to bring in talent such as Klaus-Jan Huntelaar, Jean Makoun and Hugo Lloris. It’s definitely the easier and more accessible way to play, if you want to be guaranteed results and don’t like to fiddle with training and tactic, then this is probably your preferred way to play. It’s not always that great taking over a small team and thinking, I’m going to be in the premiership in 5 years with a shoestring budget and my 1000 seated stadium. Starting as a team in debt and with a squad of non-league, part-time players can be very frustrating as literally no-one will sign, whether they are 16 or 46. The club is going absolutely no where, and wouldn’t be even if Scolari or the like took over, so what’s the point, wasting hours and hours in the blue square when you could be spending 60 million on David Silva or David Villa, surely the fun is there, where trophies can come through sheer spending power.

Football Manager 2009 is certainly shaping up to be the best version yet, especially with the 3d pitch looking fantastic and the improved media system seeming as realistic as ever. Another thing Sports Interactive is announced is that the ‘codes’ for the transfer system have been ‘rewritten’. This basically means that the transfer market will be much more realistic and lifelike, hopefully. Football Manager 08 often had some peculiar transfer fees and especially unnecessary moves when the club already had two top players in that position and they go and blow their whole budget on one more. One that comes to mind first, is when Portsmouth sub in 2010, Niko Kranjcar, moves to Inter for 43 million, despite his average rating being below 6.5 and making only 20 appearances in the previous season. He went on to play only cup games for Inter before moving to Palermo for a subtle 11 million a year later. These situations never happen in real life and make the real life transfer market look like a load of cheap skates. Another thing that annoys players of the game is that there is a list of set transfers that happen nearly every save. A noticeable one being Diego to Chelsea, where he goes on to play as a sub despite the 25 million fee. With Football Manager 2009 coming closer and closer, will you choose to take a dig at the lower leagues with Luton or Thurrock, or will you go for glory with Man City, Chelsea or even Hull City.

definitely got to find 'hidden gems' when in lower league management but it is so much more satisifying when you achieve success. i play as torquay united who start in the english blue square premier by the way.

i find that aswell...its keeps u playin for way longer, i started with bury and its great when you go up and up

depends on how successful/which league i am in whilst at crewe. if can have the money to splash then i will otherwise obviously i can't.

i much prefer lower league management

i find the game too easy starting with any premiership or top flight team

I never search a player like either of those ways.

I look for a player who is correct for my system and i try to get under 23 but if not then i wont lose sleep over it and go for the youngest avalible.

I like a creative side with a goal scorer and a good defensive pairing at the back. So thats what i look for in players. Dont care what anyone thinks of my signings, they usually do a good job.

I enjoy unearthing 'hidden' gems no matter what level I play at. Granted at a lower level you hhave little choice, having to scrape around for an unrecognised future legend. But even when Im Tottenham (whom I usually am) I take great satisfaction in promoting youth players or having a successful team that has been built on a shoe string.

My last save saw me make no real signings for 2 years. I then splashed out 60m on 3 established players in europe annd this made me a big hitter. I won the league that season. however I pplayed into 2017 and didnt spend more than 10m in any of these seasons. Instead I tried bringing through players and searching for bosman bargains or starlets. It mmakes it more appealing as I soon lose interest if I have a team of players all brought for 40m. I just dont think you can ever get real value for money on a player that you pay over 25m for.

i find i'm stick to much to coach and scout reports and dont really judge them myself.

Im tryin to play more on my desicions tho from now on.

Both - i try to find youth players, but occasionally a couple haven't developed properly and i'm left with a gap, which i fill usually with the best available under 25.

I always try to nuture the youngsters, however I always have a silly habit of buying so many players I don't need.

I always try to nuture the youngsters, however I always have a silly habit of buying so many players I don't need.

I do the same... and end up with basically two lineups worth of players, all the same quality, but none greater. I sometimes forget to take quality players on loan, or promote younger players, to act as bench/subs or in the rotation.

youth is definetley the way foward...especially the way old players get bad soo quickly on fm08

In FM games , i rarely splash the cash , i prefer bringing through youth players , or snapping players up on frees , Regardles of which team i am.

I never really play with a top tier team but I will usually play with mid to low table teams in the top divisions. Then you can get the best of both worlds. Have enough budget to splash the cash on a big signing but then your forced to fill in gaps with players on the cheap.

I spent three seasons splashing the cash which brought me plenty of trophies but I had an epiphany and decided to bring in some wonderkids. So far I have signed 11 players who look extremely promising and are under 22. All for less than 10 million

Bit of both and you can do both at the same time. In the past 3 seasons I have spent £56 m on an attacking midfielder and just spent £104 mil on a Centre Forward I was in desperate need of. However in the same time period I have signed around 30 teenagers all for around £30 mil combined maybe even less.

No reason why cant have a bit of both and be successful.

I do both! as Rangers Manager i scour the world for quality youth players, Buying about 8 or 9. i will then spend a huge whack on two super stars(10 - 15 million apeice)e.g akinfeev & requelme to give the fans something to cheer about!

I've always liked to go down the youth development route, however in 08 it's extremely hard to do as the really good regen players are rare and so few of the youngsters get anywhere near their potential. It was too easy in 07 though, by 2020's I always had a reserve team full of quality youngsters (mostly Scottish, Irish and Welsh) bought for next to nothing, all of whom would either make it at my team or go on to be sold for huge amount of money. I hope the balance is finally right in 09.

I like the mix. at the begining you sign both, youth going into the youth, reserves or out on loan and the quality players into the 1st team, then slowly bring them through when there ready and if the youth dont seem to get good enough fast enought ill spend up to 20mil to sort out the position.