FM15 - The Leaders, Dreamers, and Doers experiment 2015

For those of you who followed or participated in the "Baker's Dozen" of last year, hope you enjoyed it. As it happens, I'm still playing the save in 2039, even though I'm no longer updating the experiment, as all the Baker's Dozen have retired as players and moved on to coaching. Scott Baker, himself, is back for a second tour at Stirling Albion after a 5-year flirtation with Bayern Munich. But never mind about me, this is now 2015...

The LD&D experiment 2015

If you're going to submit a player, I expect at least periodic acknowledgement/feedback/participation. If you don't check back in over the course of the project, I will drop all mention of your player and you will be personally dead to me. (Maybe that'll motivate you, periodic pleas for feedback didn't seem to work last year...)

What we're doing here is creating a player based in a historical category: Writers/Composers, Scientist/Inventors, Philsophers, and Leaders/Generals. This is your opportunity to find out if Socrates can hit a penalty kick, if Shakespeare can anchor the midfield, and if Beethoven is an effective stopper between the sticks.

Creativity is encouraged (but try to keep Hitler out of it).

What you need:

Player name:

Nationality (try to keep their historical one):

Birthdate (all players will start with a birthyear or 1998 or 1999):

Height/Weight:

Footedness (if you care), hair/skin color if applicable

Select 1-2 natural positions (except for goalkeeper)

Each player (depending on their historical category) will be given in the database the following attribute at 18 to start

Writers: Flair

Composers: Composure

Philosophers: Decisions

Scientists: Concentration

Inventors: Vision

Leaders: Leadership

Generals: Aggression

In addition, Goalkeepers may select 1 Goalkeeping attribute and 2 attribute from the other categories (Technical, Mental, Physical) to be set at 15

Outfield players may select 2 attributes from (Technical, Mental, Physical) to be set at 15.

Fatal Flaw: You will need to select 1 of the following "fatal flaws" that will be set at 3 or 17 (whichever is worst for the particular hidden attribute)

Adaptability, Ambition, Controversy, Consistency, Dirtiness, Important Matches, Injury Proneness, Loyalty, Pressure, Professionalism, Sportsmanship, Temperament, Versatility.

(try to be creative in the selection of the fatal flaw in regards to your selected historical personage!)

Also, you may select one PPM, and if you want to add in favorite/hated clubs/persons/etc, try to keep it to 2-3. If you want to select a starting club, you may do that also. Otherwise, player will be added to database as a free-agent and will be signed by who knows who. Obviously, higher-level clubs have better facilities, but 2nd/3rd tier clubs will likely give you more playing time.

Players will be set with a blank/random Potential Ability and other non-selected attributes and likely a Current Ability in the 100 range. I'll load in the top 2 leagues in every country that has a historical player based, and maybe a couple additional major countries (but certainly England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Scotland, US...)

Will leave this open for 7-10 days, will take another 7 days or so to build the database, and then we'll see what's up after that. Not limiting any nation or position, if we have nothing but 20 goalkeepers...it'll be boring, but we'll do it anyway.

Any other ideas/feedback are welcomed, this experient/sign-up is here for your enjoyment and to keep me occupied through the next year. If you have a suggestion for additional historical categories and can make a compelling argument for an applicable high attribute for that category, submit it freely.

Player name: Jozef Pilsudski (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Pi%C5%82sudski)

Nationality: Polish

Birthdate (all players will start with a birthyear or 1998 or 1999): 5 December

Height/Weight: 185cm / 74 kg

Footedness (if you care), hair/skin color if applicable: right footed

Select 1-2 natural positions (except for goalkeeper)" M ©, AM ©

Choosen attributes: Passing, Decisions

Fatal law: Temperament

Club: Free Agent

Category: i think that Leader will be the most suitable

Player name: Jozef Pilsudski (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Pi%C5%82sudski)

Nationality: Polish

Now see, I've learned something historical about someone I've never heard of before today.

Player name: Saddam Hussein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein

Nationality (try to keep their historical one): Iraq

Birthdate (all players will start with a birthyear or 1998 or 1999): 28/04

Height/Weight:186/215

Footedness (if you care), hair/skin color if applicable Right / Black / Olive

Select 1-2 natural positions (except for goalkeeper) MC/AM

He was a General

Need to pick attributes and flaw - yes, even Saddam had flaws, I'm sure.

Player name: Saddam Hussein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein

Nationality (try to keep their historical one): Iraq

Birthdate (all players will start with a birthyear or 1998 or 1999): 28/04

Height/Weight:186/215

Footedness (if you care), hair/skin color if applicable Right / Black / Olive

Select 1-2 natural positions (except for goalkeeper) AM/ST

2 Attributes Long Shots Heading

PPM: Moves into Channels

Fatal Flaw - Temperament well he did kind of have a temper

Starting Club Swindon Town

Hated Clubs Bayern Man Utd Barcelona

He was a General

Player Name: Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche

Nationality: German

Birthdate: October 15

Height/Weight: 1.75m/70kg

foot: left/brown/pale

position: AMR/ST

attributes: decision- 18

crossing, vision - 15

fatal flaw: controversy

PPM: shoots with power

starting club: RB Leipzig

hated clubs: FC St Pauli, Bayern Munchen

hated personnel: Pep Guardiola, Franck Ribery

Player Name: Samuel Beckett, Writer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett

Nationality: Irish

Second Nationality: French

Birthdate: April 15

Height/Weight: 1.80m/70kg

foot: right/whitey grey/pale

position: CM (BBM)/DM (Reg)

Attributes: technique, vision - 15

fatal flaw: composure

PPM: argues with officials

starting club: Bohemians (Ireland)

Favourite Clubs: FCM Aubervilliers

Hated clubs: Shamrock, Shelbourne, St Pats, UCD

Player Name: Samuel Beckett, Writer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett

Nationality: Irish

Second Nationality: French

Birthdate: April 15

Height/Weight: 1.80m/70kg

foot: right/whitey grey/pale

position: CM (BBM)/DM (Reg)

Attributes: technique, vision - 15

fatal flaw: composure

PPM: argues with officials

starting club: Bohemians (Ireland)

Favourite Clubs: FCM Aubervilliers

Hated clubs: Shamrock, Shelbourne, St Pats, UCD

a defensive mid, lacking composure who argues with officials...that'll be entertaining!

I was trying to be as honest to his character as possible. Typical writer some might say.

Player Name: Nelson Mandela, Leader

Nationality: South African

Birthdate: July 18

Height/Weight: 193 cm/88 kg

Foot: Right, Hair/skin: grey, dark

Position: D (LC)

Attributes: Strength, Bravery

Fatal Flaw: Consistency

Player name: Stephen Decatur

Nationality: USA (With French and Irish second nationalities)

Birthdate: January 5, 1999 (he was born in 1779, so making his birth year 1999 just makes sense to me)

Height/Weight: No idea. I guess make him average?

Hair/skin: Dark brown/he was definitely white

Foot: Right, I guess.

Position: AMC/DMC

Key attributes: Composure, Bravery

Fatal flaw: Controversy

Starting club: Philadelphia Union

I suppose Decatur would count as a general?

Player Name: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Leader

Nationality: Bangladeshi

Birthdate: March 17

Height/Weight: 5 feet 10 inch/ 73 kg

Foot: Right

Hair: Black

Position: M©, AM©

Attributes: Passing, Creativity

Fatal Flaw: Adaptability

PPM: Dictates Tempo

Starting Club: Blackpool FC

Hope you don't mind me adding a second:

Player Name: Konstantin Stanislavski Writer

Nationality: Russian

Birthdate: January 7th

Height/Weight: Dealers choice. He was quite tall and wiry though

foot: left/brown

position: LB/CD

Attributes: passing, creativity

fatal flaw: aggression

PPM: tries to play out of trouble.

starting club: CSKA Moscow

Hated clubs: dynamo, spartak, lokomtiv, torpedo

Player name: Aneurin Bevan Leader

Nationality (try to keep their historical one): Welsh

Birthdate (all players will start with a birthyear or 1998 or 1999): 15 November 98

Height/Weight: Random

Footedness (if you care), Left Only

Select 1-2 natural positions (except for goalkeeper) AM L, M L

Attributes: Teamwork, Determination

fatal flaw: Controversy

PPM: Runs with ball down left

starting club: Newport

Hated clubs: Chelsea, Man City, AC Milan

Player Name: David ben Yishai

Nationality: Israeli

Birthdate: January 17

Height/Weight: 6 foot 0, 180

Hair: Red

Position: GK

Attributes: One on Ones, Determination, and Passing

Fatal Flaw: Controversy

PPM: Attempts to Develop Weaker Foot

48-hour heads up before I start inputting, get your historically-relevant persons in soon...

Player name: John Stuart Mill Philospher

Nationality (try to keep their historical one): English

Birthdate (all players will start with a birthyear or 1998 or 1999): 20/05

Height/Weight: 172/ 60

Footedness (if you care), hair/skin color if applicable: right, grey

Select 1-2 natural positions (except for goalkeeper) DM/MC

Attributes: Composure, Passing

Fatal Flaw: Controversy

Starting Club: Arles Avignon

PPM: Dictates Tempo

Player: Isaac Newton - Scientist

Nationality: English

Birthdate: 4th January

Height/Weight: 5'6" (this is apparently how tall he actually was!)/8st

Footedness/hair/skin: Don't really mind

Positions: DC, DM

Attributes: Tackling, Marking

Fatal flaw: Dirtiness

Starting club: AFC Wimbledon

PPM: Argues with officials

Hope I made it in time! Keeping it as close to home as possible for this one.

Player Name: Leonardo da Vinci - Inventor

Nationality: Italian

Birthdate: April 15

Height/Weight: 194 cm/81 kg

Foot: Left, Hair/skin: Grey, White

Position: M (LC)

Attributes: Passing, Creativity

PPM: Dictates Tempo

Fatal Flaw: Dirtiness

Starting Team: ACF Fiorentina

Still open while I wait for a solution to my mysterious "mouse disappears in the editor" issue.

...and since it's apparently not something SI has any knowledge of or inclination to fix, I'm probably just going to run this under FM14, because the FM14 editor DOES work (except it keeps changing countries and languages to Albania). But I should have everyone submitted in the database by the weekend.

Two left to input - last chance for submissions, I'll close it off Saturday afternoon when I wake up.

That's kind of funny - I created the database, loaded it up, and I believe in SI's cultural wisdom they've blocked a couple of names from the database, because Mandela and Nietzsche don't come up as players...but Saddam is evidently okay. If you Google FM prohibited names, evidently there's a fairly interesting list of people FM doesn't want appearing in the game (including some names that sound like things you might do with your naughty bits.) So, I re-edited a couple names, and we'll see if we can sneak them past the game censors. I mean, really, this is the 21st century, if you want Josef Stalin to play center back for Arsenal...smh.

I'm sure there are a fair few people out there with the name Mandela too. Good luck getting past the censorship, looking forward to the save!

Regrettably, I am unable to get Nietzsche and Mandela to come into the database, after repeated tries, so I'm just starting it up with the remaining players. I've shortlisted them, taken screen shots of their opening stats, and I'm now running 3 months at a time to see if we can catch any interesting news, although the players are only 14-15, so it might be some time before they start racking up awards.

That's a shame. I thought you might be able to alter the name slightly, like Nelson Mendala? Change the vowels around, or maybe even give a name like Player 8 and just Nickname them.

Oh well. Good to hear its up and running through!

Aw...I was really excited for my first FM signup game.

Aw...I was really excited for my first FM signup game.

Well, this one will only run a few weeks (and I'm hopeful for an eventual resolution with my FM 15 editor problem). I'm tempted to hook up my old desktop, install 15 and the editor, create the file and then move it back to my laptop. I can't see any reason why Mandela would inflame political passions to a point SI would ban him from the game. I actually had this problem last year, I'm wondering if I put him on a South African team he might kick over.

John Stuart Mill

Constantin Stanislavski

Stephen Decatur

Aneurin Bevan

Sheik Mujibur Rahman

Leonardo Da Vinci

Isaac Newton

Samuel Beckett

Saddam Hussein

David

Josef Pilsudski

Awesome first shots podunkboy

I hate to criticise but wasn't Bevan Welsh?

I hate to criticise but wasn't Bevan Welsh?

He was indeed.

Looking forward to this. Let's see how they get on.

Great to see John Stuart Mill worth so much at such a young age!

I hate to criticise but wasn't Bevan Welsh?

I don't know HOW he became English overnight - His birthplace is entered as "Wales", I put in as languages Welsh and English, the only thing I can figure is he's declared as English for the U19s, but maybe will switch to Wales at 23? (I've had Scottish players with a second nationality who played for Scotland as U19s and then switched to the other nationality as a senior player.) Makes it look bad as he's apparently STRONGLY Welsh historically. Also, John Stuart Mill is entered as English nationality, but I gave him French as a secondary language (since he's playing in France), and now it seems like he's declared for France U19's. Well, it makes it more interesting that they're not apparently tied to their home sod.

Funny that David would start at Bethlehem...

these young teens are picking up some major injuries, even in pre-season.

Pilsudski gets a squad.

racking up some "youngest player" records.

and some people have got itchy feet one year into their career...

first season overall stats - some players haven't seen any action yet, but not surprising at their ages.

Good to see da Vinci get off the mark in the Serie A as a 15 year old!

Beckett bubbling up nicely. He'll be on the move soon.

Uh, what about Bethlehem for David, the club is Beitar Jerusalem, one of the top clubs in Israel, and the Israeli club I support.

Uh, what about Bethlehem for David, the club is Beitar Jerusalem, one of the top clubs in Israel, and the Israeli club I support.

I'm not sure what the amusing thing was now...sometimes I paste the picture link without actually seeing the picture I've posted...perhaps I mixed up Bethlehem with Jerusalem, they're nearby, aren't they?

7 miles, so yeah somewhat close, but one is Israeli and one is Palestinian.

Beckett's moving up to the big time already.

Stanislavski's staying put with a fairly nice raise.

Rahman makes his first run-on with Blackpool.

Isaac Newton inks with Watford.

Bevan signs with Sunderland on a loan-back deal...all the kids are leaving home.

Stephen Decatur crossing the Atlantic to PSG.

Pilsudski notches a "youngest ever" record for his club.

and Isaac Newton faces questions about his performance.

In other news, the rest of the players had negligible impact for their home squads or were injured. Da Vinci and David had a series of minor injuries, Hussein...I don't think he's looking at a long-term career as a footballer. Swindon's not even giving him the occasional run. mostly because he's constantly breaking down in training...he must have a lousy random injury-proneness.

I'll post some more shots tomorrow.

Sorry, but Sheik Mujibur Rahman is listed as "English" :/

Sorry, but Sheik Mujibur Rahman is listed as "English" :/

There is apparently something messed up somewhere - All the players were input with correct birthplace and language (I checked specific cities on wikipedia), but apparently those players not playing in their home country are flipping or playing for that's country's U19 team. I'm going to have another look at their "personal information" page and see if their home country is still listed as "eligible for".

Oddly enough, when I did my "Baker's Dozen" with FM14 last year, the players listed with dual citizenship in most cases DID move on to their national team of birth, but some did play for Scotland as U-19s. And in this save, the players aren't given dual citizenship, but if they're playing in England, I did give them English as a second language (or in the case of John Stewart Mill, French since he started out at a French club).

Beckett to Everton makes sense. Hopefully we'll start to see that temper of his come through. Notice he's declared for France as well. Typical Samuel.

I'm quite suprised that Warsaw-born Pilsudski accepted Zaglebie Lubin's offer instead of Legia Warsaw. Especially that Legia is a club with military descent, what would make sense for a future polish marshal

My boy Decatur going to France! Interesting...

7 miles, so yeah somewhat close, but one is Israeli and one is Palestinian.

Pretty sure he was using a reference to Bethlehem being the birthplace to King David, hence ironic that David moved to that club.

Pretty sure he was using a reference to Bethlehem being the birthplace to King David, hence ironic that David moved to that club.

The joke always falls flat when you flunk Bible school geography. I'm a Jedi Druid now, ask me about the Tree Force.

Playing these kids too hard, they're breaking down...

Making some "pro"gress.

So far, Decatur seem likes the front-runner for a long-term career.

Saddam...looking for work, probably end up running the match-day falafel stand.

Newton could have made a move...

Shortest career in history for Saddam