Scouts can only find players capable of playing at a level lower than my current division

[joshpmilton]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some help with improving the level of players that my scouts are able to find. Note, this isn't a thread about finding wonderkids, but more a battle against reputation. Let me explain.

After an unsuccessful spell at St. Albans City, I took the vacant job at newly promoted Enfield Town. They had no staff, and a handful of particularly terrible players. Over the pre-season I was able to assemble a squad that I thought might manage to meet the criteria of battling bravely against relegation. Using a particularly uncultured brand of football, I find myself at the mid way point just outside of the play-offs in the National League North.

What's this got to do with scouting I here you ask. Well, here's the crux of it - everyone my scout finds appears to be at a Regional Premier Division level i.e. the league below the one I'm in. Whilst I'm delighted we've managed to counter attack our way away from the relegation zone so far this season, I can't help but feel if we're unable to actually recruit footballers deemed to be capable of playing at this level it is only a matter of time before the smash & grabs don't work and this plucky squad finds itself where it belongs in the league below.

So, how do I manage to scout players that are actually more relevant for my division? I appreciate they're probably just looking for players better than my own, but given I'm in the lowest playable division in the country and my players are already worse than that, is it just a case of hoping that we unearth some rough gems until our reputation catches up? Is this just a reputation issue, is my scouting going awry, or both?

[FrazT]

Check that you haven't set a filter of the scouts or have checked "realistic targets only"

[joshpmilton]

1 hour ago, FrazT said:

Check that you haven't set a filter of the scouts or have checked "realistic targets only"

Nope, neither of those things appear to be true.

I did have a player just pop up who was in fact National League North level, so maybe it is just taking time for them to come through.

[LazyEnganche]

Enfield Town will still have the reputation of a level 7 side, your scouts won’t find many National North/South level players willing to sign at first. 

Scouts at that level aren’t always the most accurate either, players not labelled good enough can still turn out to be important players that can win promotion. Physical attributes are very important at the lower levels so use your own judgement. 
 

Trials and loans from a parent club can help increase the quality of your squad in non league
 

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by LazyEnganche

[joshpmilton]

Thanks - unfortunately we didn't have a parent club, nor were the board interested in one, so that wasn't a goer.

It got better at the end of the first season where in pre-season I could at least see people might be interested in a move and were thought to be considerably better than my current players. Just frustrating at the time when you know you're players aren't good enough, but then everyone you're being recommended are at best potentially good enough one day to play at the level you're at.

However, that does explain it, which is that it was just a reputation thing not just the scouts being completely ineffective as such.