What are the reasons you sign old players ?

[Mike_Cardinal]

I don't think that I'd sign a Backup player over 26 generally, as thats just likely to be a waste of wages when a player of a similar of quality would be more cost-effective... However, I am not quite as set in my ways as some people seem to be in terms of only buying players I can make a profit on: I have no absolute age limit for players I would buy. If a player is of sufficient quality, and is available for reasonable wages on a short contract and a good price for that age, I have absolutely no problem in buying players in their 30s to benefit the first team, even if its only for a year or so. Its not all that often that old players meet all the right criteria, though as its been said, they can be especially helpful in lower leagues, or as tutors, though I don't sign players merely to tutor, as I think this is unrealistic. I will keep on players I've had at a club for ages to stay as tutors and then coach, however.

[M4G1C1977]

I don't buy players over 28, but recently I have been scouting "oldies" with coaching stats, sign them as player/coach on 1 year deals then offer them coaching contracts the following year. I'ts a good way to get around the limited staff quota at LLM.

[bigdanio]

dont buy anyone over 28, sell most players at 29/30 as thats when you get best profit.

buy young, loan out if you need to, and sell them before they hit their peak - like fergie does.

its awful to have a guy whos worth £20m and great 1 minute then before you know it hes worth £2m and he doesnt play and his wages are a pain.

[SuperSaints]

I buy them mainly to tutor younger players and coz they have experience

also I sometimes keep them so they can become a coach at my team as i love having past players as my background staff

[TacticalJosh]

Well as west ham i used oldies to make my team a european superhouse i could sign 3 or more good oldies and throw them away after a season instead of spending 60m+ on transfers and then invested my transfer budget in regens

[sm1979]

I don't buy players over 28, but recently I have been scouting "oldies" with coaching stats, sign them as player/coach on 1 year deals then offer them coaching contracts the following year. I'ts a good way to get around the limited staff quota at LLM.

That's a good idea! I'm with Leyton Orient in League One just now and could do with another couple of coaches. How would I know who'd be interested in coming in as Player / Coach? I'd be very interested to know mate! Cheers.

[ivanro]

I signed Beckham in my Liverpool game, in 2011, he was 35. Acceleration and Pace were all below 10, but he had excellent Natural Fitness, and his technical skills were still there.

I imagined if this happened in real life there would be publicity boost and celebrity spotlight circling 24/7 on my club. I never planned for him to start every other game, and he was content enough to be a back-up with decent salary.

The Board didn't agree with me, fans didn't say a word, he scored on his debut as a sub

[Vermundr]

Becks is pure gold, in FM09 I always bought him for MR and managed to squeeze 1-2 great seasons out of him. Especially the free-kicks were match winners a lot of times.

[jlawlor91]

If the player is a legend, that you still feel could do a job in a lower league, e.g. Solano in the Championship

[TimCahill]

Never underestimate the uses of signing old players especially if they are cheap and demand little wages. Old experience players who are famous in their youngers years and also have great attitute will rub it off on your younger members. Buy a few of them cheap and use them to tutor ur young players and watch them develop.

Some young players are gd but just lack the attitute...if tutoring them could make them driven,leader,resolute or model professional or so on could be a boost to their performance and training. Furthermore tutoring ur best youngs players with great old players will help their stats to improve much faster and learn ideal prefer moves easily.

[solstar]

Id say the idea is possibly marketing and nothing else. Old players with good reps are usually bankable in terms of merchandise, more ticket sales and shirt sales, etc. Whether FM acknowledges this is another matter but having say Beckham or Ronaldo in your team would focus interest on your team and therefore increase revenues. True this is the case irl, not sure how or if FM acknowledges this though.

[matt_forest]

Id say the idea is possibly marketing and nothing else. Old players with good reps are usually bankable in terms of merchandise, more ticket sales and shirt sales, etc. Whether FM acknowledges this is another matter but having say Beckham or Ronaldo in your team would focus interest on your team and therefore increase revenues. True this is the case irl, not sure how or if FM acknowledges this though.

That has been a big factor in a few signings I've made in the past - get an old big name 'duffer' in who can at least play a couple of games a month and you will see your season tickets sky/ shirt sales sky rocket. Combine this with the players tutoring (if he has any skill moves to pass on that is) and the potential of him becoming a coach then its a win win situation.

I can't understand why people would restrict themselves to only signing players who are below a certain age. The players attributes always come first for me so if they are quite old then I'd only offer a 1 year deal

[grep]

I never sign players above 23/24.

I always sell them not later than 30.

[SOYNEGRO]

In one of my games as Notts County I signed Drogba (35 years at this moment) and he is having a great performance being the top scorer of my team in Premier. Old players give experience and are way too cheap than the other ones.

[ChrisDowns22]

I mainly do it so I can say that I had him in my team, and I usually give them a decent run before they retire at a top team! I like to think I am doing them a favour by letting them end their careers at a top club:) I;m nice like that! I currently have Beckham in my team and he is 37 and I have Robbie Fowler at 37 that is just because I wanted him I aint going to use him! Unless I really have too!!

[Vermundr]

Collecting them though starts to get really annoying when they begin to bitch about first-team football and eventually upset the harmony in the team.

[Buttgammon]

I like to have a mix of youth and experience in my side, so I find that having a few older players in the squad helps as they can lead the younger ones and act as a tutor when I feel it would work.

Signing older players isn't something I've done much of on my current save as my QPR side has a few oldies in it from before I arrived, but I did recently sign a 34 year old Wes Brown on a free. He's been an absolute rock in the centre of defence.

[Edle]

I buy them as they are cheap and give experience and tutoring.

[x42bn6]

1) Often they're really good players still as long as they stand still

2) Cheap backup

3) Several of my former old players I have nothing bad to say about them - so they're there for tutoring

For example, I once had an 34-year-old AM RLC, F C who had 18-20 in every single important attribute in all those positions except Acceleration, Pace, Stamina, Balance and Jumping (1 and 2 respectively) - so all he did was stand in the hole and smack the ball from distance. Scored an absolute bucketload if I created enough space for him - double-figures too! Couldn't last 90 minutes to save his life though, even without running around. Sometimes I stuck him out on the wing where he kept out of trouble, before taking a set-piece or lurking on the edge of the area during a corner (so he could blast them in).

Best of all I signed him from rivals Arsenal (added through an editor) for a pittance. Arsenal struggled that season.

I always seem to snap up my former players as long as their wages aren't obscene, for backup and tutoring as well as convincing them to become managers which helps me too because I'm usually on their favoured personnel list. The current Serie A managerial roster has 5-6 former players of mine.

[TonyW1978]

I've noticed something on this front which kinda bugs me:

In real life players who hit their 30's often leave the big teams and sign for a smaller top flight team where they stand out as one of the best players in the squad for a few more years.

I could name loads from the likes of Saha to Everton, Salgado to Blackburn, Van Nist to HSV and Viera to Man City (the list could be endless)

However in FM10 it would seem that many over 30's are instantly over the hill for the start of the second season.

For example I played as Bolton and in the 2nd season Kevin Davies went from being one of the best players in the squad to one of the worst in both reports and performances. Jussi went from being one of the best keepers in the league to a squad player and i signed Clarence Seedorf for about 500K from AC Milan and Juan Román Riquelme on a free and seemingly within 5 minutes both were struggling to get a place on the bench due to consistant poor performances.

When i then took over at Wigan in the Championship i picked up David Beckham on a free and even in that league he is regarded as average with poor reports and ratings. Sol Campbell, Sylvinho and De La Pena were also embarassed in the Championship and i was repeatedly offered Patrick Viera for £250K who is transfer listed and in the reserves at MC.

Now these are just a few examples but the majority of players in the top flight who are 30-33 will be just as good for their teams next year (and probably the year after) as they are this year.

Not only should many of these written off players still be playing in their respective first teams in 10/11 season but in 11/12 they would be able to walk into any smaller top flight/ top 2nd tier team and be a stand out for a year or so before retiring.

Not only that but their arrival should cause a huge media buzz and shirt sales to go through the roof!

Beckham to go from LA, AC Milan, and World Cup to Wigan('s bench) on a free in the Championship would tend to get noticed!

[Oypus]

I have a self-imposed limit of 30. No signing players over 30. Age or price. I only break the age limit to bring in tutors and fringe players, and even then they're usually on frees/outrageously cheap. Deco, for example, was 500k. I figure I can find a younger player who will perform just as well, and only get better as they get older. I have never broken 30M for a price. Came dangerously close in FM09 when I got Fazio for 29M.

I'm also considering re-signing Torres to come retire at Atletico Madrid once he gets too old for Liverpool, which should be soon, as they have Lukaku. Just for the sentimental value.

[ozzymanborn]

I'm signing too many old players mostly in the lower leagues usually I'm using for experience with my loanee army like 6 loanee too young person and 5 experienced player...

[Almondo]

I really only sign Older players if I need someone desperately for that position and there's no decent younger players in my price range. That being said I will sign some of the older players for the opportunity to start coaching afterwards. Two of my backroom staff were retiring so as soon as the message came up about them setting retirement dates I signed them up as coaches.

[Bradmonk]

Normally, I NEVER sign older players. 27 - 28 is normally my limit in order to get a good few seasons out of them. Although I did re-sign Van Nistelrooy in my Man U save. 1.4Mil. Although I did think that the £78k a week may have been a little excessive for a 33 year old, he has chipped in with a fair amount of goals!

[Llew_Arshavin23]

I buy them on short notice as back up cos theyre experienced and in many cases, Quite good!

[SteveDM]

I'm probably responsible for more old players retiring due to not getting any game time than anyone else in the history of CM/FM

Just don't like them, don't play them. Would rather focus on youth and just keep the older players around for tutoring.

[Cometdude]

I will usually have two or three "experienced" players in and around my squad, usually they don't play a big part in matches, but are fantastic tutors for the youth team. Sometimes though they will spring a surprise and become an integral part of the first team. I remember a 38 year Vieri blasting his way to the top of the championship scoring charts after only playing as cover for injury.