Are scout reports gospel?

Should we take them as 100% accurate?

For example, if my scout says player x is potentially a 3-star player, but currently 1-star, is there any chance that with 7 star training in most areas he could actually become a 4 star or 5 star player?

Sorry for all the stars - I must be seeing stars! It's just a question I've wondered many times over and never asked.

That depends on how good your scout is at judging potential i guess, if he's good then i would say yes.

Scouts can and do get it wrong both in the game and IRL.

You're best scouting a player several times, especially in matches, for your scout to get the most accurate report possible.

But that all depends on how good your scout is, and even if he's the best there is (judging CA/PA both 20) he can STILL get it wrong.

even if your scout has 20/20 for judging skills, he can still be incredibly wrong in his assesment

a scout report is a "most likely" scenario, accept as gospel at your peril.

Well on the unpatched version of the game, the scouts were Gods.

The scouts are god awful and I never listen to them, I only have one scout and I use him to unmask attributes, then make my own decision about the player.

Like others have said it's really down to how good your scouts are and even then you can't take it is complete truth. But if you give him enough games and maybe send him out on loan you may be able to make him a lot better.

Brilliant - just the sort of answers I was hoping for tbh. I was beginning to think there was a distinct lack of quality coming though as FRED's.

Brilliant - just the sort of answers I was hoping for tbh. I was beginning to think there was a distinct lack of quality coming though as FRED's.

What is FREDS?

What is FREDS?

I was led to believe it is the new term for 'regens' or 'newgens'

If scout reports were always gospel then quality of scouts would be irrelevent and you could just send any old pleb out to scout a player!

What I'm not sure though is whether the bit where the scout says whether a player would be interested in joining my club (more specifically when he says the player would have no interest) is always correct or not. I can't recall any situation where I managed to entice such a player to my club immediately after the scout report.

Simple answer, definitely not! At least with my crappy scouts- despite apparently being an 18 on future potential. Swines.

Would you say it's better then to have a scout with a continental or world class rating and judging player potential / ability around 12, than a scout with national / regional rating and stats of 18/19/20 for judging potential / ability?

But you can compare all your scouts report on the same player.

If 6 of your scouts rate him star 5+, then he cant be bad.

To find a good scout in FM is very tricky, as even with 20/20 judgement, he dont mean to be good.

A better way to check if your scout is good [aka have higher CA, as hidden attributes], send him to scout a player. If in the first attempt he already give you the info of the minimum and meximum asking price, he is pretty much with a high CA like 160+.

If a scout can only give you that info on his second attempt on a player, he is pretty much poor although he might have 20/20 in judge.

To find a good scout in FM is very tricky, as even with 20/20 judgement, he dont mean to be good.

A better way to check if your scout is good [aka have higher CA, as hidden attributes], send him to scout a player. If in the first attempt he already give you the info of the minimum and meximum asking price, he is pretty much with a high CA like 160+.

If a scout can only give you that info on his second attempt on a player, he is pretty much poor although he might have 20/20 in judge.

I never realised that some scouts could do this at the first time of asking. They usually take 3 games to get a full report like that for me

Yea, more likely the scouts of "Worldclass" reputation are those with really high CA, although they might not have the best attributes in judging.

No Scout will ever get his players 100% correct, he will recomend to you what he believes this player current or/and future ability is, some times he will get it right and it's a huge success and you get all the credit, but some times he will get it wrong and the fans will then judge you for the poor signing you make .

Pretty much evens it self out.

Brilliant - just the sort of answers I was hoping for tbh. I was beginning to think there was a distinct lack of quality coming though as FRED's.

I'm quite far into my game and I pretty much never get a highly recommended player anymore tbh. In my opinion, the regens/FRED players tend to be pretty poor in comparison to the orignal players in the database.

I'm quite far into my game and I pretty much never get a highly recommended player anymore tbh. In my opinion, the regens/FRED players tend to be pretty poor in comparison to the orignal players in the database.

Thats not the case as the regen in FM08 do provide players with very high PA.

The reason why your scout no longer provide highly recommended player to you is simply because they are just as good as your "best" player in the same position, in terms of PA.

For example, if you have a ST with PA 200 in your team, even your scout spot a PA 200 regen ST, he can only give a 4 star rating as he is "NOT" better then the player in your squad.

I'm in agreement with one of the other previous posters. I find scouts a complete waste of time, I only employ them to unmask attributes.

Granted, they are better in 08 than in previous versions, but more often than not they will tell me that a wonder kid I have found is a waste of time, only to tell me thay are godlike players a few years down the line.

If I do employs scouts, I find myself sending them on scouting trips for no other reason than to justify their wages. I never take a shread of notice of any reports they make.

It's a shame that I am not able to send myself to a match, to watch players in, that I am interested in. This way, I could unlock the attributes myself and do away with any scouts; should I wish to do so.

I find scouts really useful, i can only assume some people are maybe wanting them to always come back with wonderkids or world class players, scouts nearly always underestimate potential on the first look.

i think generally you have to scout a player with 3 scouts and take the majority opinion from them. Scouts can often pick out youngsters with poor stats which have a high pa.

At the end of the day you have to judge it yourself as the manager, after all players with high ca/pa and great attributes don't always work for you, in my experience some of my most consistant players are often the ones the coaches/scouts think i should be dumping.

if your scout is fantastic then he is probably right- but most will not be right all the time!

Would you say it's better then to have a scout with a continental or world class rating and judging player potential / ability around 12, than a scout with national / regional rating and stats of 18/19/20 for judging potential / ability?

Definately the high jca/jpa scout. Rep means nothing for staff.

However, some people (like Rickoo) may consider other aspects of the scout report more important, so they'll go for scouts with other attributes which are high.

I rely much more on coach assessments than scouting reports on players, only thing I use scouts for is for regional knowledge, so I keep a staff full of poor scouts from different regions of the world.