Playing as Man Utd - Do I scout regions, countries or the world?

Hi, already used the search couldn't find anything of much use.

When managing a very low level team, the board says something like "the board will only pay for scouting missions within this nation (England)". This would suggest that at a lower league club, they should scout nations. So if lower league clubs scout nations, higher league clubs should scout several regions and the world. Is this true? For example say my United board let me have around 10-12 scouts. If i'm scouting 10 nations, say England, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, etc. etc. There is 5 of my scouts used up already and I haven't even explored out of Western and Central Europe! So my thinking is, if the Man Utd board are letting me (which they are), scout anywhere in the WORLD, then surely I should get most of my scouts to scout regions, whilst setting maybe one or two scouts to scout the whole world, and hence try to uncover the whole world to find a youngster in the far reaches of the globe where maybe no other team can find him, except for his little club in his home country. So I won't have any competition for his signature.

If people agree with me on this, you will understand the ADVANTAGE of scouting regions, because it doesn't waste scouts not scouting several countries and only staying in one country, but what is the DISADVANTAGE.

And lastly, which regions are the best? I know Uk & Ireland, Central Europe, South America, possibly Scandinavia, and i've heard of African countries being good as well. Does anyone have a list from best to worst where to scout at?

Thanks.

Scouting a smaller area ( i.e a nation ) will produce more results to your set specifications. However scouting regions willas you say help increase you knowledge and also pick up one or two players that wouldnt have come onto you radar otherwise.

As man utd I would suggest something along the lines of 1 scout world, 8 scout nations and 3 scout regions. Also south america is one of the best regions to search in terms of no of players found and their ability.

I always scout regions with United. I do use the world option now in FM09 as well.

Regions I find imperative to scout for United:

UK and Ireland

Central Europe

South America

They are without doubt the 3 most important for a team like United in my opinion.

I do scout the others as well though but it will depend on the size database you have loaded and so on.

Regions I find imperative to scout for United:

UK and Ireland

Central Europe

South America

They are without doubt the 3 most important for a team like United in my opinion.

These are definitely the 3 most important, but don't overlook the rest of the world, make sure you have a good rotation of scouts all scouting different places to cover the fact that a world beating regen can potentially pop up anywhere

I have an idea I think.

1) First set 1 scout to the region of UK & Ireland PERMANANTLY. Set another scout to the region of Central Europe PERMANANTLY. Then set a third scout to the region of South America PERMANANTLY.

2) Get 2 scouts to scout WORLD.

3) Rotate my last 5-7 scouts around EVERY OTHER REGION, (obviously except Uk & Ireland, Central Europe, and South America, as I already have these covered), so regions like Western Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, etc. Them type of regions.

How does this sound? Or can I increase the number of 'World' scout from 2 to say, 4? Should I also have someone scouting the U18s in England? **If the scout that is scouting the UK & Ireland Region also scouts the U18s, then I DEFINATELY don't want to do this, as it is another waste of a scout**.

Thanks again.

I have an idea I think.

1) First set 1 scout to the region of UK & Ireland PERMANANTLY. Set another scout to the region of Central Europe PERMANANTLY. Then set a third scout to the region of South America PERMANANTLY.

2) Get 2 scouts to scout WORLD.

3) Rotate my last 5-7 scouts around EVERY OTHER REGION, (obviously except Uk & Ireland, Central Europe, and South America, as I already have these covered), so regions like Western Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, etc. Them type of regions.

How does this sound? Or can I increase the number of 'World' scout from 2 to say, 4? Should I also have someone scouting the U18s in England? **If the scout that is scouting the UK & Ireland Region also scouts the U18s, then I DEFINATELY don't want to do this, as it is another waste of a scout**.

Thanks again.

It is up to you how you want to organise them but I what I tend to do is something like that but I also have scouts scouting other regions permanently basically as many as possible.

The UK and Ireland scout will scout the U18s as well but if he is scouting the whole region he may not find as many players in the U18s as he would if he was just scouting that. I think you can give him U18s and UK and Ireland as 2 separate assignements though if you want to.

Which regions do you scout permanantly and which do you rotate? How many do you have scouting the world?

Nice one.

It depends on the amount of leagues I have loaded and the size of the database. So for example, I generally have scouts scouting UK and Ireland, South Europe, Central Europe, Scandinavia, South America, Eastern Europe, and I think thats it. Then I generally have other scouts scouting groups of regions like 1 scout could scout North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The same with Africa and Asia and Oceania. I then assign any scouts I have left over to the World. That is what I do when managing Man United.

Eastern Europe and Scandinavia are as important as Central Europe IMO.

To illustrate my point, in the third season Champions League Final, there are four Scandinavian regens and a couple of Eastern European regens in the two squads.

Cheers mate. When you are scouting regions of regions, like North America, Central America, and Caribbean, 1) Do you set roaming or does it have to be set off roaming so that they will go to the next region? and 2) How do I find out which 'region of regions' are the cloest together? Or do you just have to be good at Geography to know which regions are close to each other?

Thanks.

Cheers mate. When you are scouting regions of regions, like North America, Central America, and Caribbean, 1) Do you set roaming or does it have to be set off roaming so that they will go to the next region? and 2) How do I find out which 'region of regions' are the cloest together? Or do you just have to be good at Geography to know which regions are close to each other?

Thanks.

I just leave it the way it is and let them scout one region at the time.

I'm good at geography.

Here is a basic example.

One scout scouts North America, Central America and Caribbean.

So the only regions left I think are Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Depending on how many scouts I have left, I give the ones with Africa in name to one or two, like wise with Asia and Oceania which I combine. They tell you in their name whey they are except the Middle East which is Asia.

A theory, if you'll indulge me...I usually play LLM footie so never get to scout regions.

I have found out that if you scout a nation, it gives scouting reports much faster than if you scout a region.

So, if you are in a pinch, scout only the nations which have the leagues with the highest reputations (found in the editor) of the world with your best quality scouts who also speak the languages of those nations in which they are scouting. Allow the teams in those most reputable leagues use their own quality scouts to look for you.

Once that is done, send scouts with high adapatability scores and decent CA or PA attributes (depending on your team's needs) to scour the regions of the world which are less reputable for leagues and see if you turn up some decent players. Then, you can always send one of your better scouts to scout that specific player as a second opinion for the highly adaptable scout.

Yeah, I hate scouting regions. I sent a scout to look for talent in South America, and he spent ages in Colombia finding nothing and then went to Ecuador to do exactly the same thing. It's better to target your scouts at somewhere they will have a chance of finding something. I changed my scout to focus on Argentina and sent another one out to Brazil.

There is one annoying thing about scouting nations though which is they come back and say they are finished. I was managing in China and I wanted my scout to scout China. 3 days later he finds 3 players and reports that he is finished.

So is Middle East AND Oceania Asia then? Sorry i'm rubbish. I wrote down the list of ALL 20 regions, and am coming up with a plan to get all my scouts working across the world. So far the list looks like this:

1 - UK & Ireland

2 - South America

3 - Central Europe

4 - Eastern Europe

5 - Scandinavia

6 - South Europe

7a, b, c - Central America, North America, Caribbean

Now I just have all the African parts and the Asian parts, plus the Middle East and Oceania.

I want to scout regions and the world because I am Man Utd, and a team like Man Utd need to search in all corners of the globe to find the best hidden talent. Thanks for the suggestions of scouting nations, I appreciate the input, but to find anyone and everyone, I must scout regions and the world.

I want to scout regions and the world because I am Man Utd, and a team like Man Utd need to search in all corners of the globe to find the best hidden talent. Thanks for the suggestions of scouting nations, I appreciate the input, but to find anyone and everyone, I must scout regions and the world.

Just be prepared to be very patient.

Yeah, I will be patient, as it's a whole region and not just a country. But the assignment is always ongoing and never finishes, so it's not too bad.

So is Middle East AND Oceania Asia then? Sorry i'm rubbish. I wrote down the list of ALL 20 regions, and am coming up with a plan to get all my scouts working across the world. So far the list looks like this:

1 - UK & Ireland

2 - South America

3 - Central Europe

4 - Eastern Europe

5 - Scandinavia

6 - South Europe

7a, b, c - Central America, North America, Caribbean

Now I just have all the African parts and the Asian parts, plus the Middle East and Oceania.

The Middle East is part of Asia. It is the part nearest Europe. Oceania is a separate continent where Australia is but I combine them with Asia.

1 - UK & Ireland

2 - South America

3 - Central Europe

4 - Eastern Europe

5 - Scandinavia

6 - South Europe

7a, b, c - Central America, North America, Caribbean

8a, b, c, d, e - Central Africa, East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, Western Africa

9a, b, c, d, e, f - Central Asia, East Asia, Middle East, Oceania, South Asia, Southeast Asia

So there's my list of all 20 regions covered across the globe. Does it matter much that one scout has the whole Africa continent to scout and another has the largest continent in the world, and also the Middle East and Ocenia?

Yeah, I will be patient, as it's a whole region and not just a country. But the assignment is always ongoing and never finishes, so it's not too bad.

Honestly, I would consider targeting your scouts at places where you stand a chance of finding talent. Unless you load all players from certain countries, your scouts will be wasting a lot of their time searching whole regions.

Honestly, I would consider targeting your scouts at places where you stand a chance of finding talent. Unless you load all players from certain countries, your scouts will be wasting a lot of their time searching whole regions.

Yeah this is true. As I said further up it does depend on what leagues and players loaded as well.

Again it depends on how many scouts you have but if I had more I would split up the ones with Africa, Asia and Oceania.

But have you loaded leagues and/or players from those continents?

Personally, I have Brazil and Argentina loaded. Focusing on them made sense. As I said, spending whole months in Colombia and Ecuador was a total waste of my scouts' time.

Remember, if you scout a region, you're best to make sure your scout has a decent amount of knowledge on this region.

Eg/ Don't set a scout to search Scandanavia, if he is only equipped with knowledge from Sweden. Make sure he knows something about Norway and Finland.

For Central Europe, make sure he knows of France, Italy AND Germany.

Only one would be useless.

Scouting regions will also produce less results, and depending on the region itself, it could also be a lot of poor results, and only a handful, which could be a set country in the first place.

It all depends on your scouts.

But the only way a scout can gain knowledge of a certain country is for them to scout it first! So it's a viscious cycle, if scout with no knowledge, they won't gain many results, but if you reject a country where he has no knowledge, he won't gain any more knowledge for him to be able to scout it in the future!

I'd rather just scout the regions regardless of his knowledge so in a couple of seasons time he will have the knowledge and so I can use that in the future. Right?

But the only way a scout can gain knowledge of a certain country is for them to scout it first! So it's a viscious cycle, if scout with no knowledge, they won't gain many results, but if you reject a country where he has no knowledge, he won't gain any more knowledge for him to be able to scout it in the future!

I'd rather just scout the regions regardless of his knowledge so in a couple of seasons time he will have the knowledge and so I can use that in the future. Right?

Yeah, that's true but you will not find many players if any initially. And remember scouts can lose knowledge as well. So your scouts that are scouting several regions may lose the knowlege they gained in previous scouting regions.

all my pllayers scouted are rest of world but only found highly recomedned players in italy so far

I would say it would have to do with what players, database and leages you have loaded as I only had all English and Scottish leagues loaded and large database and sent my scout round the world and after 3 seasons scouting the world somewhere remote like Africa not 1 player after 3 seasons of scouting.

He got paid and got a 3 year holliday to Africa not bad eh, so I would say try and scout the places that you have loaded in ther game.