Few surggestions from long-time player.

Hi there, before I begin I should I know/assume some of these may have been surggested before, however I searched and didn't find anything. Also, one or 2 may even be in the game, just 2 days ago I found out you could check what contract you had offered players in the transfer center, so you may be able to do one or 2 of these aswell! Hope these make sense Its long, but please give it a chance, even if you skim read some of them. I think they could greatly improve staff and player interaction, whilst keeping it important and realistic Not just change for the sake of change.

Head-to-head records-

First of all I would like to see a few more head-to-head records introduced. Nothing crazy, but a few I would like are competition records, so you can see the history of your games against a team for just cups, europe, league ect. I like how you can see an overall record at the moment, but I'd love to be able to see how I've done historicly against a team in say the FA cup.

Another is managerial records, I'm playing a 2player game in 2019 at the moment, and I've movedon to matlock, whereas my friend is still at bromley. In our game he's been at Bromley the whole time, whereas I#ve been at Boston, Lyon, Nottm Forest and now Matlock. Whilst at Forest it was annoying that when I played Bromley we couldnt see how we'd done against each other, as his claim to fame is beating me in the FA trophy final, however without the head-to-head record I can't prove to him that I've beat him nearly everytime since!

Attribute masking-

This is one I've wanted a LONG time, and I assume this or somthing VERY similar has been bought up before, but hey, nothinbg wrong wth a friendly surggestion. My idea is to have a "potential" player stat rating. By this I mean when scouting players instead of it coming back instantly with say "16" for finishing, it could say "14-18" and then the only way to see what it is is to scout very often, or sign him and have him at your club for a month or longer so you get to know him.

This could work in many ways, for example it would make scouts much more useful, as at the moment any experienced player doesn;'t need to read scout reports much as they know what stats to look for. Again, many things could be done with this in lower leagues when players are very unknown, and scouts are very poor, a scout could watch a player get a hatrick, come back saying between 13-15 finishing, but because he's such a bad scout he actualy just has 9 but had a good game. Or, bad scouts give a wider margin of error, so instead of between 13-15 they say 11-17, making the risk much higher. Again, better the scout, or more well-known the player better chance of getting the stat dead on or better range of error, so just 14-15.

Like I say, this would make it much harder for lower league teams, as you can't just search through unknown players seeing who has decent pace and can finish. It would also make buying foriegn players harder as there less well-known in the country, making the risk of splashing money much higher. At the moment an experienced player can just look at stats and know who's worth what, but with this a player MIGHT be worth a lot of money, but you wouldn;t know for sure. Also, wingers for example, you could tell things like pace, dribbling, the key winger stats, but not until he's at your club could you tell what his tackling is.

Just an idea I've had to make scouts VERY important to the game, and also bring in some more realism. It could also be an option, so at start of game you can choose attribute marking off, normal or advanced.

Club/league records-

Just a small one this time! I'd like to see a few more records, like consectutive games, consectutive games scored in. Just a small feature, but I think it#d be good

Assistant involvement-

This was first thought of by my friend, as we don't watch full games I think you could have your assistant be more involved, just little things like "there winger is tearing our right back apart with his pace" or "our center back is looking poor in the air today" that way it would give you more of an idea what the otherall performace of your team is, not just what they do in key highlights. Again, a poor assistant could be wrong, or panick too quickly.

You could also, under manager options, put what level of interfearance you want from assistant. I know they have an interfearance stat in the editor, so it could make finding the right assistant harder. For example, he has a stat of 1 but you expect him to give you great details every game he hates the pressure of it. Or if his stats high and you ask him to shut-up all game he does;t like it, wants to be more involved ect. Its just a bit more realistic again, and also makes game a little harder, makes assistants more important and gives you a bit more interaction, which I feel is lacking with staff.

Hall of Fame-

Another small one, the option of not including players from other games in hall of fame in a current game. Again, could be a tick option, I dont mind it as much, but it annoys my friend coming to my house and not being in the hall of fame as another 2 Tom Lavelles are keeping him out!

Playing former club-

I'm 99.9% sure this one will have been mentioned before. However, I shal do it again just for fun. I feel the computer should be more selective about who they say this for. For example, I have a player on trial in conferance north, he's there a day, I see his stats, get rid of him. 7 years later I'm playing against him for the 4th time and there STILL asking about him!!! Another one is the guy playing against you for aout the 12th time, do we need to be asked about the same player somtimes 4 or 5 times a season, depending on what competitions you play against them in.

Player problems-

I've been playing this version of the game since it came out, and so far my only bad player problem was 1 guy not turning up on match day and being seen leaving a nightclub the night before. I would love to see more unprofessional doing things like this. Drinking the day before matches, during the week, more late for trainings, back from international duty late ect.

I don;t want it to get silly, I don;t want players arrested for beating up hookers, or crashing cars to there death, stalking the queen ect. but just a few more little things is good. Again, it helps interaction as if you go the hard way with certain players they get unhappy, do it more as they hate you, but then others could accept the hardline and stop compleatly. again, just warning some could be enough, they apologise, never happens again, but ignoring some will make them think they can get away with it and they do it more, gets out of hand ect.

Another is maybe player ego's. I'm not wanting that as a stat, but so many careers have gone down due to there persnal problems and night life. There to concerned with going out and having a good time that their performaces suffer. This could also make there weight go up, natural fitness/stamina/pace ect go down, as at the moment stats tend to stay pretty much where they are.

Ground Improvements-

I'm not 100% sure about this one, so sorry if I'm wrong. However, I have 2 games going, 1 is in 2014, the other 2022, and as far as I can tell clubs still have the same ground size. I'd like to see clubs either moving stadiums, or improveing ground. On 1 game Aldershot made it into the prem(by computer, i'd never seen that before!) and they still have I think 8000 ground, despite there finances being "rich"

Also, clubs should make there grounds all seater, my friend has made his stadium upto about 90000, but only 84000 seats or somthing similar!

Hope some of these are new, or interesting. I'm especially interested to hear what people (both fans and makers ) think of the sttribute masking idea. Although I'm guessing its been discussed to death, but I hope theres somthing new there!

Hi there, before I begin I should I know/assume some of these may have been surggested before, however I searched and didn't find anything. Also, one or 2 may even be in the game, just 2 days ago I found out you could check what contract you had offered players in the transfer center, so you may be able to do one or 2 of these aswell! Hope these make sense Its long, but please give it a chance, even if you skim read some of them. I think they could greatly improve staff and player interaction, whilst keeping it important and realistic Not just change for the sake of change.

Head-to-head records-

First of all I would like to see a few more head-to-head records introduced. Nothing crazy, but a few I would like are competition records, so you can see the history of your games against a team for just cups, europe, league ect. I like how you can see an overall record at the moment, but I'd love to be able to see how I've done historicly against a team in say the FA cup.

Another is managerial records, I'm playing a 2player game in 2019 at the moment, and I've movedon to matlock, whereas my friend is still at bromley. In our game he's been at Bromley the whole time, whereas I#ve been at Boston, Lyon, Nottm Forest and now Matlock. Whilst at Forest it was annoying that when I played Bromley we couldnt see how we'd done against each other, as his claim to fame is beating me in the FA trophy final, however without the head-to-head record I can't prove to him that I've beat him nearly everytime since!

Attribute masking-

This is one I've wanted a LONG time, and I assume this or somthing VERY similar has been bought up before, but hey, nothinbg wrong wth a friendly surggestion. My idea is to have a "potential" player stat rating. By this I mean when scouting players instead of it coming back instantly with say "16" for finishing, it could say "14-18" and then the only way to see what it is is to scout very often, or sign him and have him at your club for a month or longer so you get to know him.

This could work in many ways, for example it would make scouts much more useful, as at the moment any experienced player doesn;'t need to read scout reports much as they know what stats to look for. Again, many things could be done with this in lower leagues when players are very unknown, and scouts are very poor, a scout could watch a player get a hatrick, come back saying between 13-15 finishing, but because he's such a bad scout he actualy just has 9 but had a good game. Or, bad scouts give a wider margin of error, so instead of between 13-15 they say 11-17, making the risk much higher. Again, better the scout, or more well-known the player better chance of getting the stat dead on or better range of error, so just 14-15.

Like I say, this would make it much harder for lower league teams, as you can't just search through unknown players seeing who has decent pace and can finish. It would also make buying foriegn players harder as there less well-known in the country, making the risk of splashing money much higher. At the moment an experienced player can just look at stats and know who's worth what, but with this a player MIGHT be worth a lot of money, but you wouldn;t know for sure. Also, wingers for example, you could tell things like pace, dribbling, the key winger stats, but not until he's at your club could you tell what his tackling is.

Just an idea I've had to make scouts VERY important to the game, and also bring in some more realism. It could also be an option, so at start of game you can choose attribute marking off, normal or advanced.

Club/league records-

Just a small one this time! I'd like to see a few more records, like consectutive games, consectutive games scored in. Just a small feature, but I think it#d be good

Assistant involvement-

This was first thought of by my friend, as we don't watch full games I think you could have your assistant be more involved, just little things like "there winger is tearing our right back apart with his pace" or "our center back is looking poor in the air today" that way it would give you more of an idea what the otherall performace of your team is, not just what they do in key highlights. Again, a poor assistant could be wrong, or panick too quickly.

You could also, under manager options, put what level of interfearance you want from assistant. I know they have an interfearance stat in the editor, so it could make finding the right assistant harder. For example, he has a stat of 1 but you expect him to give you great details every game he hates the pressure of it. Or if his stats high and you ask him to shut-up all game he does;t like it, wants to be more involved ect. Its just a bit more realistic again, and also makes game a little harder, makes assistants more important and gives you a bit more interaction, which I feel is lacking with staff.

Hall of Fame-

Another small one, the option of not including players from other games in hall of fame in a current game. Again, could be a tick option, I dont mind it as much, but it annoys my friend coming to my house and not being in the hall of fame as another 2 Tom Lavelles are keeping him out!

Playing former club-

I'm 99.9% sure this one will have been mentioned before. However, I shal do it again just for fun. I feel the computer should be more selective about who they say this for. For example, I have a player on trial in conferance north, he's there a day, I see his stats, get rid of him. 7 years later I'm playing against him for the 4th time and there STILL asking about him!!! Another one is the guy playing against you for aout the 12th time, do we need to be asked about the same player somtimes 4 or 5 times a season, depending on what competitions you play against them in.

Player problems-

I've been playing this version of the game since it came out, and so far my only bad player problem was 1 guy not turning up on match day and being seen leaving a nightclub the night before. I would love to see more unprofessional doing things like this. Drinking the day before matches, during the week, more late for trainings, back from international duty late ect.

I don;t want it to get silly, I don;t want players arrested for beating up hookers, or crashing cars to there death, stalking the queen ect. but just a few more little things is good. Again, it helps interaction as if you go the hard way with certain players they get unhappy, do it more as they hate you, but then others could accept the hardline and stop compleatly. again, just warning some could be enough, they apologise, never happens again, but ignoring some will make them think they can get away with it and they do it more, gets out of hand ect.

Another is maybe player ego's. I'm not wanting that as a stat, but so many careers have gone down due to there persnal problems and night life. There to concerned with going out and having a good time that their performaces suffer. This could also make there weight go up, natural fitness/stamina/pace ect go down, as at the moment stats tend to stay pretty much where they are.

Ground Improvements-

I'm not 100% sure about this one, so sorry if I'm wrong. However, I have 2 games going, 1 is in 2014, the other 2022, and as far as I can tell clubs still have the same ground size. I'd like to see clubs either moving stadiums, or improveing ground. On 1 game Aldershot made it into the prem(by computer, i'd never seen that before!) and they still have I think 8000 ground, despite there finances being "rich"

Also, clubs should make there grounds all seater, my friend has made his stadium upto about 90000, but only 84000 seats or somthing similar!

Hope some of these are new, or interesting. I'm especially interested to hear what people (both fans and makers ) think of the sttribute masking idea. Although I'm guessing its been discussed to death, but I hope theres somthing new there!

I believe "War and Peace" was shorter than this post! No, seriously, you've put a lot of effort into it so I must act accordingly. A few comments:

Head-to-head and other records: I'm a stats nerd. You can never have too many stats in FM. Fact.

Attribute masking: I see your point. I hope SI will make it more of a challenge to find the really good prospects. Taking players on trial will instantly determine their ability. IRL there is more to it, I suspect.

Assistant involvement: YES! I've argued this many time before. Why listen to the inane chatter of the commentator? The real information should flow from the assman. It would make so much more sense. And be more insightful, too.

Meeting former players: Terrible new feature to '08. Every insignificant trialist or loanee you've ever taken on will pop up at regular intervals. It should be much more discriminant. Yes, give me the question ONCE when I face a former club legend. The rest is just a waste of my time.

Player problems: I like it. Over the years, the players in FM have become much less controversial, it seems. There was a time when maladjusted types just stayed away, went home, slagged you off. This added realism.

Some good ideas. Kudos to you. Take note, SI.

Some great points in your post, Mchowat.

Head to Head Records - Yes. In general, as you've noted with "club/league" records, there is a lot more potential for records here. I've had a few discussions with a few of the more active members of the forum, and we came up with a whole bunch of new records. I jotted them all down on "notepad" - and didn't save, about 30 minutes later, my computer crashed - So I no longer have them, nor can be bothered yet to think about them all again in the detail I had them before.

Records though, are a must improvement for me.

Attribute Masking - While in principle, I do like the idea you've put forward, in practice, I don't think its viable. You'd have to rely TOO MUCH on your scouts, and would create such a massive bias in the game for clubs with good scouts, that eventually it would become unplayable. the idea of seeing "14-17" next to an attribute description would baffle a lot of people too, especially new players to the game.

That brings me to a point I feel very strongly about, when it comes to player development, but I'm not going to get into it in the detail I have done in the past. Personally, I hate the player development system, and the attributes of a player should be shaped in the young years he has, not the day he is "born" as a player in FM.

with regards to scouts, I think you should need to scout a player over a period of time to get the true reading of his stats, just like IRL (I know a scout, and he goes on long trips following around a good prospect or two) - but on the other hand, for established players, I don't think you need a scout report at all. I think some players are just widely enough known that you don't have many, or even any of the attributes masked, or wrong. People like Henry / Ferdinand / Raul / Villa / Scholes / Becham etc etc - These players are in the public eye due to the footballing world, so to mask attributes of these players is ludicrous. The fact they are in the public eye also allows me to think that you would have some general idea of the players character.

Assistant Involvement - yes. yes. yes. Great idea. Would love to see "Player A just can't cope with the power of Player X" . That way, you take him off, and put a stronger player on, or maybe even something as simple as switching him with a player already on the field.

At the same time I like this idea, I do thinks the stats are there for you to make this decision on your own. In game, if a player doesn't win many headers / tackles, who ever he is up against, is clearly getting the better of him.

Hall of Fame - I think its fine the way it is. The HoF is a separate application to FM itself, so even deleting a save game wont take names out of it, but you should have the option to "clear" or "delete" the HoF and or single players. I like the idea of names staying in there, because not much unlike yourself, I dedicate myself to a few long term games per version, and like to see how I did in both in the HoF rankings.

Playing Former Club - - try being in 2038. The amount of players I "trialed" and released was in the hundreds. The fact I was playing in N. Ireland meant there was little scope for the number of clubs the players could go to, meaning nigh on every single game, I got this message.

Player Problems - Not a big fan here. the odd news article is fine, but I think it detracts away from the way we need to perceive the game. If we begin adding things like this in the game, its going to be part of the game in the eyes of younger players, and thats not exactly a good thing.

Ground Improvements - Do happen. At least in my experience.

Great post though.

War and peace wasn;t as log or as entertaining, if I'd have wrote it I'd have put in a few car chases and nudey pictures(anyone know where thats a quote from )

I noticed today that a club was getting there ground improved so I was wrong on that way, atleast I said they may be one or 2 I'm wrong about, lol.

My attribute masking one wasn't perfect, I'll be the first to admit it, but I dofeel somthing needs to be done to make it harder to find out about unknown players. I don't want that happening with well known, or as much with kinda known players, but it is more for unknown ones and youngsters. Theres needs to be a medium I guess between rely fully on scouts and just being able to see stats right away. Like I say, I just think its a bit unrealistic where you can be playing anywhere in the world, but an hour into a job in conference north and you can see all players full stats/morale ect. I guess I just crave the game to be a bit harder, its very rare now I buy a complete flop, yet in real life it happens a lot! Trust me, as a Forest fan i see it happen regularly!

I know it may effect people who han;'t played it as much, which is why I was hoping for 3 options about attribute masking. Same with hall of fame, just a tick option of not having managers from other games, its not a big deal just would be nice

Even though you don't want player problems as it detracts away from the way we need to perceive the game, I still think, as its somthing that does happen, it should be in. I see where your coming from, but look at today for example, Reading suspended 2 players as they refused to play in the reserves. It happens, and although noones happy it does, this is a game that to me is the most realistic managment game of all time, therefore it should add real life situations, good and bad. (Things like death, drink driving, arrests ect. excluded.

Oh-Remembered another surggestion(I can hear you moaning!) Injuries-again, may be just me, but in my whole time playing this series I have only once had a player retire from injury, I believe it was 97/98, but it may have been CM3. I just think major injuries should be added. At moment I never really see anyone get regular patrick burger/robbie fowler style injuries where there out almost all the time. Again, I may have just got lucky but it seems reaccuring injuries are rare?

Assistant involvement-I know stats are there for you to make that judgement, but in real life a manager knows his players but that doesn;t shut the assistants up, lol. Again, you can choice to ask him to remain silent, or rarely speak ect. so if you don;t want him babbling on then thats fine. I guess I just feel that staff are just names and numbers, they don't feel real like the players, if that makes sense?

(sorry to double post, just want to add I know my typing is terrible! So please excuse any mistakes, such as log instead of long, which I just noticed! Apologise to anyone who this annoys, I am trying!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mchowat:

War and peace wasn;t as log or as entertaining, if I'd have wrote it I'd have put in a few car chases and nudey pictures(anyone know where thats a quote from )

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

"Bottom" series 3, episode 4.

I really think SI should employ you as i think you will make future games even more addicting. Very nice idea about the asst manager involvement. Indeed it is difficult to know whats going on unless we watch full match or a least extended match but its really time consuming so not all of us do that all the time.

A change to attribute masking would definetley make the game more realistic, but personally, I feel what has been suggested would be taking it a little bit too far.

Personally, I would rather see it that the scout needed to see the player more times before unmasking his attrubites, so after seeing a player 3 times, he may only have revealed about half his attributes. It should also be changed that when you play against the opposition, their attributes aren't revealed either. Thats just stupid.

LOL, if SI want to employ me to play FM all day and tell them what I think I'm up for that! It'll always be the dream to get payed to play football manager, lol

The few people I spoke to about my attribute idea are torn, some love it, some hate. Personally I love it, hence why i said it, but I'm also first to admit its not perfect. I still like the idea of getting a general idea of stats before an exact one though!

One thing I did kinda consider, but again, not so sure, is to have say the key stats

for the position he plays found, tackling/positioning ect, for defenders, not not his out of position stats, like finishing. That way you still atleast can;t see some of the stats, I mean how can you tell exactly what a center backs finishing is if he does;t have shots. Same for strikers really, maybe seeing there stats should also go on how they did, if a players makes 0 attempts at dribbling you shouldn't reveal what his dribbling is ec. But I think that may be a bit hard to code(at a complete guess as I have no idea how to code anything!)