New to lower leagues, need help finding players

[sheixt]

So this is my first post so apologies if I'm naive to some of the rules or have missed a similar thread.

I've played a few FMs over the years but I've typically reached for managing my team Arsenal and instead this year I'm keen to take my old local club, AFC Wimbledon to the top.

I feel like I'm trapped in a bit of a circle. The club are skint (that challenge I was looking forward to) but I'm finding it hard to source players on a low wage (we have ~£2kp/w for the bigger earners). I thought to bring in some young talent from South America on the cheap but after finding some suitable players, the work permit is an issue (as they never have enough international experience).

So I could do with a little guidance:

1. Am I basically restricted to players who are already based in England? Or can you get around the work permits some how?

2. Is there a way to find players that have previously been released by the big clubs youth systems? I thought this could be another avenue to find players.

3. Aside from asking the Director of Football or other existing staff, what's the best way to find appropriate players for my budget & permit restrictions

4. Any player recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

[Murtiniiii]

For loanees there's a little trick that was posted on Twitter last night on how to get any player on loan for free (he has to be interested in joining you)
 

 

[sheixt]

10 hours ago, Murtiniiii said:

For loanees there's a little trick that was posted on Twitter last night on how to get any player on loan for free (he has to be interested in joining you)
 

 

Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to reply 😊

I am aware of this, but it feels too much like a cheat for me. I'm keen to work with the constraints (or I could have stayed managing big clubs)...

I'm most interested in getting a better understanding of the work permits (as I see some peole sigining unknow players from abroad) and knowing how to find players that can be signed/loaned legitimately.

Not looking down on anyone taking advantage of that, just how I want to play...

[180SG]

Firstly, look for "Unattached" players in the player search, there are some good players ready for you right now. Meanwhile sell those players who you believe are not important and will not grow any further.

Get some scouts in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland straight away. There will be new-gens that you can easily buy once you're in the championship. I remember bringing such a striker from Crusaders for £100k and was not only top goal scorer in League One, but was capped by Northern Ireland 6 months later.

(And no, you're not just restricted to England, you can buy players from British nations, and Ireland. Also you can go to settings in the player search, look for "Work Permit Required" and toggle it to "No", or toggle "Work Permit Chance" to "Likely.")

Edited January 2, 2022 by 180SG

[yey]

You're not alone. I've been playing FM (or CM back in the days) for close to 20 years. And I've always started my save with Arsenal. This year however, I decided to take over Ipswich and try to bring the club to EPL and eventually winning the league or Europa/UCL. I'm in season 2024/2025 now. I managed to outperform my initial expectation. Finished as a Champion of League One and Championship, back to back and finished 11th in the EPL in our first season.

With the transfers, I mostly get players loaned rom big EPL clubs cause they normally have very good youngsters that they want to loan out. I also got few players on free (mostly older players from mid-table or lower clubs from EPL), cause they have good experience. During the early years, I do not rely too much on my scouts and I didnt ask my scouts to venture too far from England as I didnt really trust their judgement yet, and I didnt want to spend a lot of money on scouting. Another reason that I prefer players from England (EPL/Championship/League) is because I didnt have to worry about work permit.

 

As for which players to suggest, let me know what position are you looking for, maybe I can see how they do in my save. Few players I really like are Keinan Davis (ST from Aston Villa), Tarique Fosu (AMRL/AMC from Brentford), Conor Hourihane (MC/DM from Sheffield Utd), Rodrigo Muniz (ST from Fulham), Leif Davis (DCL from Leeds), Dujon Sterling (DRL from Chelsea), Macauley Bonne (ST/AMRL from QPR), Hayden Coulson (WBL/AML from Middlesborugh), Louie Barry (ST/AMRL from Aston Villa). I put the screenshots too below. 

 

Good luck for your journey mate!

[gooner01]

First thing I always do is ask the board for a senior affiliate & grab players from them on loan 

Here's how I go about finding players who have been released from PL clubs:

1. Add a new column to the player search screen for 'Last Club'

2. Only search for unattached/expired players 

3. Filter the 'Last Club' column alphabetically 

4. Scroll through & offer anyone who was at a PL club a trial 

Edited January 7, 2022 by gooner01

[Rub Me]

I'm doing an extreme LLM in the North West Counties. What is the best way to find players? Also, what is the best way for staff? Ie, should I employ scouts etc?

[shadowraiden90]

On 21/03/2022 at 17:23, Rub Me said:

I'm doing an extreme LLM in the North West Counties. What is the best way to find players? Also, what is the best way for staff? Ie, should I employ scouts etc?

staff at that level just advertise the job and pick the best option as you arent going to bring in much better.

best way to find players is to look at free players and loans. for pretty much all low league management saves you dont need to spend a single bit of money on transfers to get promotions upto your top league as there are countless free transfers that will get you where you want.

in extremely low quality leagues physical attributes matter 100000x more then anything else. a fast player will dominate even if he has 5 finishing. so look for good physical players.

generally just playersearch free players and then get some loans in to help give that bit of extra quality in area's.

try to keep your tactic simple and you should have an easy time with promotions.