Will older players be able to have longer careers?

A thing that really bugged me in FM08 and made the game less enjoyable were older players being useless. Their stats would drop alot. I love the idea of having a club legend that can play a squad role till 32-35. In 08 you had to realistically sell them before turning 30 in order to have the best squad. I want to be able to keep a Gary Neville or Pavel Nedved in the squad (quality players that can still play good when older). I get enjoyment out of repaying their loyalty to the club as well.

Almost all of the things I wanted in 09 are being delivered... I hope this is imoved also.

ive asked the same question, hopefully we find out soon probably in a blog.

In FML players attributes do not drop as fast as in FM08 - I guess they use same system for FM09 .

I have a few older players in my Juventus team and granted their stats are dropping a little they still play superbly well for me.

Acceleration and pace are the stats that start dropping rapidly first,usually to 1-5... However,I hope that is fixed...

I, too, am curious about this. I am a lower league manager and so this hugely impacts my games as I often look to ex-internationals who are past their prime for experience. I get a lot of enjoyment out of playing older players as loyalty plays a big part in my games.

I hope in the next coming days we will see something related to this in the blogs for FM 09.

In FM 2008, once players get to 30 then their CA plummets like a brick. To me that really needs looking at and hopefully it will be. Anyone who reaches 28 in my squad is immediately sold before their value does likewise.

It really shouldnt be so predictable. There should be much more variety in when players start to decline rapidly, and i dont mean this in one direction only. Always missed the Teddy Sheringham who could play long after FM would have allowed him to do, but also the odd player who has his prime with 20 and gets basically useless after that. We know these players but have never seen them in a football manager game. i think soemtihng like this would give FM another edge over competitors.

As long as I can keep Dean Windass playing until he's 45 I'll be happy.

Dean Windass will never stop playing. Hes like Chuck Norris. Dean Windass doesn't retire from football.... ahh i can't think of anything.

Like Duffy said in the sticky thread, there has been a lot of work done on the regen system as well as player progression, which kind of go hand in hand. All the main issues raised about these modules by the testers and on these forums have been reviewed and one of the issues looked at specifically has been the progression of the older players. So yes, it is being improved upon.

What about new youngsters coming in. Will they have decent starting stats or will they be lacking in physical attributes as usually? I just hate seeing a world class player with god awful Physical stats. AlsoI'm hoping there will be more prospects that become world beaters as there careers progress.