I really ought to fire my scout...

Playing as Reading in EPL, i decided that i needed to bring in a player during the january transfer window to get me a few extra goals. I had a good sized transfer budget i had prudently put aside for this occasion AU$61 million and set about my scouts to finding my star striker. They came back with this Brazilian who looked good upon first glance and all mfour scouts told me that he was twice the player my best striker was.

He was an absolute bomb, he (in this order), got red-carded in my first two matches with him, the second time being in the first ten minutes. He had on field disagreements with two players and didn't score a single goal in two months. After the goal drought i looked him up on FMM and he had lower CA and PA than my top three strikers.

For my scouts who have judgement in the high teens this was a pretty big error, i'm just suprised i didn't get sacked for wasting $61 million on an absolute bomb of a player.

P.S. he also broke his leg in march, i managed to sell him off for a grand total of $0, because he took up most of my wage budget, costing me a princely sum of $10 million a match for a total of zero goals.

First of all, you should always get scouts with 18+/18+... they don't really cost much if compared to players, and they're handy

Secondly, you never want to trust scouts much, even if they're 20/20... I mean, yeah, they help, but ultimately I always pick my own players by attributes, and I'm very rarely wrong about them

Just run a customized search and browse from there, you'd be surprised how many awesome players out there get ridiculous grades from scouts, come at bargain prices and end up helping your team a LOT

noh i never trust the scouts eather. i think thay need some work.

Indeed, I wouldnt trust a scout as far as I could throw one (and i picture them to all be fat little buggers!)

I simply use them for their 'de-fogging' abilities and make a call based on what i see, or a player comparison with one of my existing players.

noh i never trust the scouts eather. i think thay need some work.

problem being if you do that it takes away the challenge of the game; if you had a scout giving you a 100% accurate report on a player, you would lose a decent level of realism (and fun)

im sympathetic on the OP's story, but it is realistic IRL. he could go on to be akin to Diego Forlan, and actually be decent for another team.

at least they make you see their stats and give you a rough opinion. I think it is a certain challenge to go for trial and error and it would make the already rather easy game even easier

problem being if you do that it takes away the challenge of the game; if you had a scout giving you a 100% accurate report on a player, you would lose a decent level of realism (and fun)

im sympathetic on the OP's story, but it is realistic IRL. he could go on to be akin to Diego Forlan, and actually be decent for another team.

That is so right, even in real life clubs scouts can make wrong judgements for the team they scout for, but the scouted player can do great in a other competition or club.

I've got Marcel Desailly as a coach, so if a player scores regularly in another league i get old Marcel on the case, he's done well by me everytime so far! I also go through Real, Barca, AC, Inter and Porto's reserves and look for goals scored or average ratings...

Indeed, I wouldnt trust a scout as far as I could throw one (and i picture them to all be fat little buggers!)

I simply use them for their 'de-fogging' abilities and make a call based on what i see, or a player comparison with one of my existing players.

Pretty much what I do.

I use them to see what attributes a player has and then use my own judgement.

Scouts are stupid.

Pretty much what I do.

I use them to see what attributes a player has and then use my own judgement.

Scouts are stupid.

Totally agree, the amount of times I have had a scout or two at an international tournament and they come back with players that would be 'a good signing' that they say will be 'the 4th best (insert any position) at your club'. What a waste of time I want players that are going to imrpove my squad not sit in the reserves for 4 years on a fat wage!

First of all, you should always get scouts with 18+/18+... they don't really cost much if compared to players, and they're handy

Secondly, you never want to trust scouts much, even if they're 20/20... I mean, yeah, they help, but ultimately I always pick my own players by attributes, and I'm very rarely wrong about them

Thirdly he shouldn't be paying $61 million for any player imo. Thank god rediculous fees like this have been altered for FM2009.

but didnt the OP say that it was AU$? therefore not as much as it seems.

Sabotage methinks.

I spent £18m on a 24 year old, he was like my top two strikers together on paper and 6 months later was out the door (luckily for £26m) after he made 3 starts and 2 subs scoring one goal, 2 own goals and getting two red cards. He's now doing wonders in spain but I would guess the EPL just wasn't his cup of tea.

I spent £18m on a 24 year old, he was like my top two strikers together on paper and 6 months later was out the door (luckily for £26m) after he made 3 starts and 2 subs scoring one goal, 2 own goals and getting two red cards. He's now doing wonders in spain but I would guess the EPL just wasn't his cup of tea.

he has 'forlan disease'!

I spent £18m on a 24 year old, he was like my top two strikers together on paper and 6 months later was out the door (luckily for £26m) after he made 3 starts and 2 subs scoring one goal, 2 own goals and getting two red cards. He's now doing wonders in spain but I would guess the EPL just wasn't his cup of tea.

To be fair, ignoring the two red cards it's not like you've given him much time to settle in! The fact that someone else was willing to pay £2M more than you paid for him should let you know that he has talent. However I do accept that some players just don't get on in the premiership (Forlan, Veron, Shevchenko).

I never expect anything from strikers brought in from abroad in Janaury until the following season. I reckon they need those six months to settle in.

I agree the scouts are generally pretty crap, but I also agree that this is a good thing, as it's more realistic. You should really only use them to reveal people's stats anyway, and to see if you can get a clue if they're available at a decent price.

on a plus note, i signed a striker on loan for my PSV team and he became my top scorer and we went on to win the champions league that season. Then he broke his leg a week later so i couldn't sign him

scouts are only useful so that i would get insight into players attributes. final decision i never make based on what scouts say but based on what i think is a better choice. investing in scouts in general i consider to be a poor investment since when i already use them just so i'd get look at the player's attributes i don't need 18+/18+ scouts. i consider investing in coaches to be a wiser investment.