AI Experiment - what would happen if?

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by Scott1990:

For some unexplainable reason, I see them finishing in the top 4. It's almost as if Kip has tricked us into assuming the Bandits will fail due to the seemingly horrible signings.

Just a thought.

Nothing like beautiful optimism

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by Meitheisman:

I can't wait for another mid-table finish, crappy cup runs and another manager change

Just think though - when that success does finally roll around, how sweet will it taste?

And it will roll around, eventually. At the end of the experiment, I'll enter fast forward mode, and let you know how the Bandits fare over 20-30 years

Success WILL come. (please)

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by CanaryLawn:

Where are Norwich by the way Kip? I'm fairly sure they have yet to meet the Bandits in a competitive fixture, and based on my own game they normally drop down to League 1 or 2 fairly early and then yo-yo between the two.

They've been everywhere from the Championship to the Conference recently, and are currently a mid table League Two side (so behind Welling )

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by AB-forever:

Isn't it a little unrealistic that someone could be THAT stupid and know as little about football players as mr. Hay???!

I mean, WTF??!!

He does make Christian 'Ve vill vork harder' Gross seem like a football genius, I must say.

I swear, if you offered Way a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change.

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by RonnySanchez:

Now to the actual question (it took a while to explain the background stuff ) is there a possibility for you to see how is the AI doing in leagues where is a limit on foreign players? Now given that you are playing only England on full detail it might be difficult to see that but I don’t know, is AI planning about the limitation on foreign players, let say… in the French league? I think that in some future experiment this would be an interesting thing to follow, if there is a difference in the way teams are planning how many foreign players they buy based on the quality of the board and the managers or is this something that Sigames have overlooked?

This is the sort of thing I'll be able to answer in the next experiment, but as others have already said, it's not possible in this one because only England is selected, sorry.

One other thing that interested me was how are the teams with relatively limited resources buying when coming from the championship to the premier league. Now the Bandits are a rich club and they always buy the best thing that their reputation allows but how are the less fortunate clubs acting – how do they spend their limited resources, do they buy one star player for the whole sum or what are they doing?

Generally, they buy a set of players rather than one star - I think reputation restrictions actually prevent them from buying stars so they buy 4-5 players at the top reputation end that they can.

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by VonBlade:

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

But shouldn't reputation play an even bigger role without full detail? It should be even more difficult for a lower league team to win anything.

Absolutely.

However if Kips experiment has proven anything that we already knew, it's that over time the big clubs get smaller and the small clubs get bigger so in the end the gap between a BSN club and a EPL club is quite small, relative to the 8000 rep points it is at the start.

So whilst a lower team still needs a lot of luck in who they draw (hence only Welling doing it so far), at least when the stars align they can do it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It certainly is true that, usually, the gap is smaller, as we keep seeing - clubs plummet or rise quickly, and teams often go from the top three out of the top half entirely - when does that happen in real life?

But actually, at the moment, Sheff Wed have a higher reputation that anyone at the start of the game, although their circumstances are a little freakish!

I guess we'll only be able to tell what difference full detail makes when it gets switched on for real

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by djhdjh:

One thing about this I find highly unrealistic is that staff see their stats drop off towards the end of their careers. As we have seen with managers such as Robson and Ferguson, there is nothing really to suggest that managers necessarily lose it towards the end of their careers like players do IRL. Some do (Brian Clough for example) but many do not, I would even argue that they are more likely to improve as they become more experienced.

Just something for SI to think about.

Actually, that's a very good point.

Having said that, I don't think that CA is the only factor when it comes to the success of a manager - experience does seem to play a major.

Quite a few rubbish ex-Bandit managers (Clayton especially, but there are others), have gone on to have storming finishes to their careers, even though their CAs have plummeted.

Perhaps experience plays too big a part, and CA drop has to compensate?

[VonBlade]

Originally posted by kipfizh:

Definitely one of things I'll be addressing in FM09 - I need to run every remotely important league on full detail, even if it takes a week to run a season.

Well this one is 18 months old and has only just hit season 50. So a season a week would actually be speedier before FM-X. *cheeky grin*

More seriously, I agree that this experiment has pretty much run it's course. The initial limitations didn't seem problematic when we had the original players to follow, and wasn't quite as bad when the Bandits were pushing for success. But we seem to have hit the plateau in which the limitations of the experiments conditions have become glaringly apparent.

Mind you, knowing the Bandits luck the FM09 experiment that starts with a fantastic young chairman will have a takeover after two seasons and we'll be back to this again lol.

VB

[kipfizh]

European Championships Preview - 2056

Hosts: Denmark

Holders: Spain

Pre-tournament predictions

England and France have the most number of stars, but Spain are the holders and Italy have Bucci ready to fire one more time.

France look unbeatable though to me. Seven stars, and a keeper who doesn’t concede goals makes them by tip for the tournament. In fact, they are the only country with a world beater in there.

Italy have a former one though in Bucci, and I predict them to lose in the final, with England making the semis. As a dark horse, watch for Scotland.

World beaters

Only France have representatives this time

Juan Perez (Real Madrid/Mexico, 26, 194/194, Winger: 79.53%) – did not enter

Guillaume Charton (Lyon/France, 29, 193/194, Goalkeeper: 76.04%)

Mathieu Adam (Real Madrid/France, 26, 192/192, Goalkeeper: 76.60%)

Ones to watch

France may have the only world stars, but former greats Strand, Abdulkadir and Bucci are still around too.

Bjorn Strand (West Ham/Norway, 33, 156/193, Target Striker: 77.33%)

Umit Abdulkadir (Real Madrid/Turkey, 31, 170/199, Target Striker: 75.99%)

Leonardo (Barcelona/Brazil, 29, 172/185, Target Striker: 74.90%) – did not enter

Peter Schulz (Bayern Munich/Germany, 31, 172/188, Target Striker: 70.11%)

Fabrizio Bucci (Inter/Italy, 30, 179/199, Target Striker: 76.25%)

Aaron Lomas (Tottenham/England, 27, 185/198, Target Striker: 79.27%)

Graham Thomas (Liverpool/England, 25, 188/198, Centre Back: 76.13%)

Andre Luis (Valencia/Brazil, 25, 187/198, Attacking Midfielder: 73.05%) – did not enter

Raymond van Dijk (Chelsea/Holland, 24, 185/195, Full Back: 79.63%)

Roberio (Marseille/Brazil, 22, 182/198, Winger: 73.53%) – did not enter

Olivier Texier (Sheff Wed/France, 23, 182/199, Winger: 79.69%)

Robert Wojcik (Sheff Wed/Poland, 18, 156/194, Target Striker: 74.69%)

Juan Carlos Gimenez (San Lorenzo/Argentina, 19, 166/199, Midfielder: 75.32%) – did not enter

Gregory Bertin (Bordeaux/France, 18, 133/199, Winger: 57.66%) – not selected

Bjorn Zimmerman (Bayern Munich/Germany, 16, 116/195, Centre Back: 55.53%) – not selected

[Meitheisman]

Originally posted by purefun:

Excellent thread i've been reading this for days now and finally made it to the (current) end. Now i hope i've learned something.

And a big hello to Meitheisman!! Long time no see mate. Sure miss you at the "Les Gones".

As I started to read Kipfizh's update I saw my user name in bold in the middle a post and wondered what the hell I did to the Bandits

Actually not playing as Lyon on this FM version was actually a good thing since we've won the double in real life

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by VonBlade:

Let's hope one of the options Graham Thomas thinks about is the Bandits.

I'll be honest, I'm not convinced about that one, I think he's overrated even though he's performing well at the moment. I'd rather have Gimenez, he looks the biz.

With the way the manager is, ahem, managing I can't see us lodging a bid for Gimenez either. Knowing our luck we'll sell Rubio and bid 50m for Strand. Meh.

I was a little worried about contracts this season but Way has managed to convince a few to sign new ones. No-one of note runs out in the next two years, and as Rubio signed a contract only a month ago (a five year deal covering age 27-32), he must actually be happy. The nutcase.

Definitely showing the lack of depth we've got though. I was hoping in the last couple of seasons, with the Premiership looking quite open, the Bandits would spend big and cement their position in the elite.

Yeah, mid-60s points wise gives you second, only Sheff Wed are running away.

Trouble is, as the manager slowly kills the team the expectations fall, then the likelyhood of his underachievement getting him the boot falls too. I'd be interested to see what a serious interfering chairman could do with all our cash. Doesn't look like the manager is going to spend any of it on anyone useful...

Ah, see that's where I think Robbie Way will come unstuck. Last season, they were expected to come fourth, and they're now fourth in reputation, third in ability - I think the expectations will stay high for next season at least. And to match them he'll need to spend more wisely, especially with Europe coming up again.

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by VonBlade:

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

Definitely one of things I'll be addressing in FM09 - I need to run every remotely important league on full detail, even if it takes a week to run a season.

Well this one is 18 months old and has only just hit season 50. So a season a week would actually be speedier before FM-X. *cheeky grin* </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good point that! What am I averaging? Report every week and a half? And that's slowed down too - in the beginning the reports were much shorter!

More seriously, I agree that this experiment has pretty much run it's course. The initial limitations didn't seem problematic when we had the original players to follow, and wasn't quite as bad when the Bandits were pushing for success. But we seem to have hit the plateau in which the limitations of the experiments conditions have become glaringly apparent.

I agree. I'm getting frustrated with the fact that I keep thinking 'if it were on full detail, something different might happen'. The example is the international qualifiers - it's the same countries every time at the moment. On full detail, that probably wouldn't be the case.

[VonBlade]

Hmmm. Well it came up quite a number of seasons ago now, but how about running the official Bandits v1 to the end of the season, then running as much as you can on full-detail until FM09 gets released?

It would, of course, render previous records and successes null, but we'd have 50 seasons to think over for that part of the experiment, and it would give us a short period of time in which we can see how much different things might be in Banditsv2 (albeit with England only), and make it more fun for both you to report on and us to cheer on.

Hell you could even spend the last few (three?) months managing them and see how far a human manager could take them .

Maybe those World Beaters just can't be convinced to come to the sunny climes of Fisher and the previous incumbents did the best they could?

Just a thought. See how the 50th season goes I guess, but it's at least two options to do something different before the Behemoth that will be Bandits v2 Multi-league (with Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Holland, England, Belgium (for permits), Brazil, Portugal and Sweden).

VB

[kipfizh]

European Championships Review - 2056

Group Stage

Germany and Spain waltzed through Group A, and the Bandits’ star striker Rubio even managed a couple of goals for Spain in the meantime. Bjorn Strand was left helpless as Norway went home without a point or a goal, while the Czech Republic joined them.

Group B saw dark horses Scotland win all three games without conceding, including a win over Italy, who finished second after comfortable wins over Poland and Turkey. Abdulkadir and Bucci contributed very little to their nations, in fact the only goal either scored was Bucci getting Italy’s fourth against the Turks. Poland finished bottom after being fairly woeful.

Group C saw Holland cruise to top spot with three wins, and were joined in the knockout stages by France, who were looking a little more vulnerable at the back after preferring Adam to Charton in goal, a surprising choice. Belgium went out despite a 4-0 win over group whipping boys Romania at the end.

Finally, Group D was all about the dominance of Portugal, who won all three games. England lost 3-0 to them, but recovered to finish second ahead of Denmark and Sweden, who laboured in their games.

Quarter Finals

The French were still it, so Adam was the world beater of choice having ousted Charton from the team, while of the ones to watch, Strand, Abdulkadir and Wojcik had already gone home, and only Lomas, with three goals to his name had impressed to this point.

The quarter finals began with a tie between Germany and Italy, and once again Bucci failed to fire, the match ending goalless. But the Germans, having lost the World Cup on penalties two years ago, now seem to have a mental block, and missed three from four to be knocked out. Reiner Helbig played, but the useless lump of hopelessness didn’t take a penalty this time. Bucci remains, even though he has contributed practically nothing so far.

In the second match, Scotland continued their fine form, beating Spain 1-0 to move into the semi finals. My pick as dark horses certainly seem to be firing, and they haven’t conceded a goal yet. Rubio’s dream is over for another two years.

England played out a 1-1 draw with Holland, and star striker Aaron Lomas went off injured. The game went to penalties, and eventually it fell to man of the match, Bandits midfielder Birchall, to fire home the winning penalty and sent England into the semis. He did, making him the third Bandit scorer in the shootout after Kyle Cox and Said Dompig (for Holland).

The final match saw Portugal pitted against favourites France, and once again it went to penalties after a 1-1 draw. Cruelly, it was one to watch Olivier Texier who missed the crucial kick, and France were out.

Semi Finals

The world beaters are all gone, and only Bucci, Lomas and Thomas remain of the one to watch. But quietly, former Bandit Pacheco is captaining Portugal to success, while Cox and Birchall are proving their worth to England.

The last of the former world beaters was knocked out in the first semi, Bucci’s Italy defeated 1-0 by Portugal, who were looking ominous. But the attention was on the second semi, the Battle of Britain between England and Scotland. Previous meetings had favoured the Scots, and with Aaron Lomas’s tournament over through injury, goals had to come from somewhere else.

But no-one scored, and the goalless borefest went to penalties. The quality of the spot kicks weren’t up to much either, Scotland eventually triumphing 2-1 after England missed four of five. The only Bandit to take one for England was Kyle Cox, and he was the only scorer, although on the flip side Christie took one for Scotland and missed.

Final

So it is final between Portugal and Scotland. Former Bandit Pacheco is looking to lift the trophy as captain of Portugal, while I am hoping to finally get a tip right having labelled Scotland as dark horses.

In another boring game, the final went to extra time, goalless, and in the extra minutes Scotland finally conceded their first goal of the tournament, and with Portugal equally strong at the back there was no way back.

Portugal are the European Champions, Pacheco lifted the cup, and no world beater or one to watch had a tournament to remember. This one’s forgettable.

[The Lambs]

Fantastic update as usual, I check this thread every day for an update, which must tell you a little bit about how entertaining your writing is.

Lets keep our fingers crossed that our illustrious manager is working on a 2 year plan, this season he will buy all the star wide players to make it a truly complete team, then again that is as likely as monkeys flying out of my butt.

[VonBlade]

Hell you could even spend the last few (three?) months before the release of FM09 managing them and see how far a human manager could take them

[5ergio]

Well both the season and the EUROs are forgettable. Nothing so fancy in both, especially the season. We are not going to get anything good if we will rely on 4-5 names. Totally agreeing with The Lambs. Let's hope that the manager, by any chance possible, is working on a 2-3 year plan so that we can see some silverware. Or else, what we all want is a board & manager revamp.

Boring update in terms of content, top notch as always in terms of quality Kip.

[mattpiulton]

Anyone noticed, in the world beaters top 3, there is two goalkeepers, and there stats are not outstanding at all.

16 for handling? Thats terrible.

[mattpiulton]

Also!!!!!!

YAY Burnley!

I go to loads of there games at Turf Moor am a big fan.

Burnley for the title!

Kip can you tell me there stadium capacity?

[Mravac Kid]

Way, way too many penalty shootouts. And way, way too many penalty shootout misses. :-/

[JRHaggs]

Slightly less miserable season than many of us predicted, but, still, pretty forgettable. Perhaps the excitement surrounding our semicentennial season will spur the boys into a high-flying performance. Somehow I am slightly more optimistic this year than last. It would take a real knuckleheaded boss to overlook the obvious depth-related issues threatening the upcoming season's success.

One suggestion for Mr. Way: How about poaching Sean Ross, relegated Newcastle's right wing back. Only 22! Who wants to play for Newcastle in the Championship?

Good to be back in Europe. With some added depth (please, please, please!), success might not be out of the question.

It looks like Welling is probably never to be heard from again, eh? Stuck in League 2 for eternity, I predict. Fun while it lasted, though.

The world rankings are different than I expected. Hindsight being what it is, however; VonBlade's observations regarding the tendencies toward mediocrity (of both big and small sides) seems to have applied to the world rankings, too (Algeria?!?! Jamaica?!?!).

To come out of a boring, poorly managed season with a place in Europe is great. It looks like we have something to build on. We just need some youth and some backups.

Note to Mr. Way: At times, young players can be useful backups. Two birds and all...

At least Rubio is locked up. Messner and him are enough to put fear in the hearts of any opponent on any day. Really, they are the horses to which I'm hitching my wagon, at this point. Imagine the havoc they might wreak with some decent supply from the wings.

OK. That's enough. I'm fairly encouraged by season 49. Perhaps season 50 will be just what we've all been waiting for for so long.

C'mon the Bandits!

and still to be heard, but slightly less enthusiastically: 'sack the board, sack the board, sack the board...'

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by JRHaggs:

OK. That's enough. I'm fairly encouraged by season 49. Perhaps season 50 will be just what we've all been waiting for for so long.

*nudge* That was season 50 FM2007 starts in the summer of 2006....

[Poyplemonkeys]

semicentennial

Bicentennial Not that it's relevant as we just passed it.

Awesome work kip, doubt you remember me posting way back when the original bandits were still alive and kicking.

Just caught up with the whole thread.

I have to say the coming season can't possibly be as bad as the last. It would take a real numbskull not to realise that a left back is required. Unfortunately, it seems that is exactly what Way is so far. Here's hoping he proves me wrong.

Also, could you possibly give me a little bit of a Brighton story? Just a tiny paragraph summarising how they've done, highs and lows style, over the 50 years. Cheers.

[canvey!!]

Originally posted by Poyplemonkeys:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">semicentennial

Bicentennial </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually, JRHaggs is correct with semicentennial - bicentennial is 200 years.

[AB-forever]

How could the media seriously expect The Bandits to finish 5th with that squad?

Not a worthy way to mark The Bandits' 50 year anniversary

Who has the worst player record for The Bandits since Hudson didn't break it with 5.53?

Originally posted by kipfizh:

European Championships Preview - 2056

Hosts: Denmark

Seriously? we don't even have the room for 16 times 23 players in our little country

[JRHaggs]

Originally posted by Poyplemonkeys:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">semicentennial

Bicentennial Not that it's relevant as we just passed it.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

True, I missed by a year. Oops.

However, bicentennial refers to 200 year cycles or anniversaries. Semicentennial refers to 50 cycles or anniversaries. Of that I'm quite sure. You get half credit for your correction.

[JRHaggs]

Originally posted by canvey!!:

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

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">semicentennial

Bicentennial </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually, JRHaggs is correct with semicentennial - bicentennial is 200 years. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oops. I guess I should read all relevant postings. My redundancy is not confidence inspiring, I'm sure.

Thanks, canvey!!!

[Mravac Kid]

Originally posted by JRHaggs:

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

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">semicentennial

Bicentennial Not that it's relevant as we just passed it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>True, I missed by a year. Oops.

However, bicentennial refers to 200 year cycles or anniversaries. Semicentennial refers to 50 cycles or anniversaries. Of that I'm quite sure. You get half credit for your correction. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I prefer the alternate... "quinquagenary"

In any case, the first 50 years of the bandits has been quite a trip, and as their original fans are by now well into retirement age, it's up to the new generations to take up the old chant:

Sack the board, sack the board...

[JRHaggs]

Oooooooohhhh.....

'Quinquagenary'! Outstanding!

[Poyplemonkeys]

Also, does anyone else find it strange that we've had some outstanding regens. Probably in double figures now for people with a PA of 199 alone, but aside from the Bandits, we've never had a player with a PA of 200?

[Guest arrogantio]

Originally posted by kipfizh:

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

One thing about this I find highly unrealistic is that staff see their stats drop off towards the end of their careers. As we have seen with managers such as Robson and Ferguson, there is nothing really to suggest that managers necessarily lose it towards the end of their careers like players do IRL. Some do (Brian Clough for example) but many do not, I would even argue that they are more likely to improve as they become more experienced.

Just something for SI to think about.

Actually, that's a very good point.

Having said that, I don't think that CA is the only factor when it comes to the success of a manager - experience does seem to play a major.

Quite a few rubbish ex-Bandit managers (Clayton especially, but there are others), have gone on to have storming finishes to their careers, even though their CAs have plummeted.

Perhaps experience plays too big a part, and CA drop has to compensate? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I strongly suspect that CA is only very loosely correlated with managerial success, since as well as encompassing the player judgement ratings (pretty important, as we've seen) it also includes coaching attibutes not particularly relevant to the overall team performance, and judging by the regen managers we've seen, tactical knowledge is pretty appalling for most FM07 newgens.

The other factor which would affect success is preferred tactical setup vs the teams relative strengths and weaknesses, which I suspect this is more or less wholly unrelated to actual ability.

I'm guessing the main factors are the calibre of the squad at their disposal and luck. I'm pretty sure clubs hire managers on reputation rather than anything linked to CA, and winning stuff by virtue of having a good squad boosts reputation which gains jobs at better clubs...hence the overachieving Bandits managers have found their way to big clubs in higher divisions, and won more stuff by virtue of being at a giant like Sheffield Wednesday

One area in which experience might come into play is if the managers' tactical preference attributes gradually change over time, gradually ironing out weaknesses

[FlownCanary]

What does Quinquagenary mean?

[magicmastermind124]

Quinquagenary is the 50th anniversary.

IMO, this experiment is already over half of it's lifetime. I am already looking forward to the next experiment. There is already an amazing Experiment with Birth of a Nation which I reckon is the next generation of experiments.

However I get the feeling that kip will not only top that with the next eperiment, but will also find purpose in the experiment once it has passed its Quinquagenary.

[outlaw640]

blooming heck, took me 4 days but i am finally at the end of reading this thread. Let me just say that i have followed the bandits through everything and even dreamt of what could happen to them in the next season! Kip, you are a true legend for creating this thread and having the determination to see this through to where it is now. As for the bandits now, I can concur with other people's comments that the database seems to have petered out, and nothing new is happening. The bandits seem to have settled in a constant 6th/5th position in the premiership. I think, as this is the 50th season and the experiment seems to have completed with all the ex-bandits retiring and the bandits not likely to gain europe success or win the premiership, you should run the games on full detail for the fun of it, who knows the bandits might even win the champions league?

[FlownCanary]

I think to celebrate 50 years of this experiment going on, we should vote on a cult hero player for the Bandits, every club has one, and now I think the Bandits should have one too!

What do you guys think?

[TPA]

Originally posted by FlownCanary:

I think to celebrate 50 years of this experiment going on, we should vote on a cult hero player for the Bandits, every club has one, and now I think the Bandits should have one too!

What do you guys think?

Great idea

My vote goes to... Tom Finley

[Ascanius]

Originally posted by FlownCanary:

I think to celebrate 50 years of this experiment going on, we should vote on a cult hero player for the Bandits, every club has one, and now I think the Bandits should have one too!

What do you guys think?

Strange, I was thinking the same thing as I was reading at the top of the page.

My vote would have to be Tom Finlay or Mensah-Omari Kinch.

Kip, would it be possible to upload a screenie of the Bandits records page?

[chopper99]

Originally posted by Ascanius:

Kip, would it be possible to upload a screenie of the Bandits records page?

If only they'd had the 'All Time Best 11' feature in FM07. Ah well, something to look forward to for when we're 50 years into the next experiment.

It would be good to have a look at the records page though.

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by VonBlade:

Hmmm. Well it came up quite a number of seasons ago now, but how about running the official Bandits v1 to the end of the season, then running as much as you can on full-detail until FM09 gets released?

It would, of course, render previous records and successes null, but we'd have 50 seasons to think over for that part of the experiment, and it would give us a short period of time in which we can see how much different things might be in Banditsv2 (albeit with England only), and make it more fun for both you to report on and us to cheer on.

I'm tempted, but I might resist to increase the allure of the FM09 version, so that we truly have no idea what will happen

This one has some life in it yet, even if I have to go into fast forward mode!

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by mattpiulton:

Anyone noticed, in the world beaters top 3, there is two goalkeepers, and there stats are not outstanding at all.

16 for handling? Thats terrible.

Oh, I dunno - that's the worst of Charton's stats, and the rest are pretty spectacular - he might parry more than he should but his reflexes are such that he'll be up to save the second attempt in a flash.

[WolvesBestEvaManager]

KUTGW Kip.

Would you mind telling what division Wolves are in

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by JRHaggs:

One suggestion for Mr. Way: How about poaching Sean Ross, relegated Newcastle's right wing back. Only 22! Who wants to play for Newcastle in the Championship?

Not a bad plan that, they need some youth, and badly.

It looks like Welling is probably never to be heard from again, eh? Stuck in League 2 for eternity, I predict. Fun while it lasted, though.

Having zipped on another year, they actually bounce straight back up to League One

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by AB-forever:

How could the media seriously expect The Bandits to finish 5th with that squad?

Well, the media are stupid. This is the same media that predicted Spurs would become a Champions League squad last season

[/obligatory Spurs jibe]

Who has the worst player record for The Bandits since Hudson didn't break it with 5.53?

He is actually the worst, but the records page doesn't have a worst player so officially there was no record to break.

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by Poyplemonkeys:

Also, does anyone else find it strange that we've had some outstanding regens. Probably in double figures now for people with a PA of 199 alone, but aside from the Bandits, we've never had a player with a PA of 200?

I don't think PA 200 is possible in FM07, I;ve certainly never seen it (and didn't in FM05 either, for that matter). Wonder if it is possible now?

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by magicmastermind124:

There is already an amazing Experiment with Birth of a Nation which I reckon is the next generation of experiments.

Seconded. There are quite a lot of experiments out there now, but Wegason's is outstanding, not least because of the effort setting up a new nation complete with competitions and teams takes.

Seriously, try editing that much data - you'll give up in agonised frustration.

Linkage

[kipfizh]

Originally posted by FlownCanary:

I think to celebrate 50 years of this experiment going on, we should vote on a cult hero player for the Bandits, every club has one, and now I think the Bandits should have one too!

What do you guys think?

Like it!

Mensah Omari-Kinch still holds great memories for me, but he probably doesn't count as cult because he's the club's all time top scorer as well as appearing more than anyone.

Tom Finley is a legend, while Liam Johnstone has now been in goal for nearly fifteen years.

It's Finley for me.

[Scott1990]

I've always liked David Schweinsteiger for some reason!

[VonBlade]

It's definitely Kinch. If we're taking the modern meaning of Cult to just be the fans favourite. Without him we'd never have got high enough for the Finley/Morley/etcs to appear in the first place.

If, however, we're taking the actual definition, then it's probably Fatih. Wasn't around forever but was a complete rock at the heart of the defense during our most successful era.

[Mravac Kid]

I think GK 1 is a hero too... he stayed onboard for more than 2 years back at the beginning.

[FlownCanary]

Glad you all liked my idea!

Tom Finley gets my vote too. I always liked him, how about letting the voting run for a bit longer and then adding up the votes for an official result?