Scouting - by region, country or competition?

[^Goose^]

Pretty much as title really, I've never figured what produces more results when assigning scouts. 

[fc.cadoni]

It depends:

1. If you have load the nation and league.
2. If your scouter has a knowledge level of X country.
3. Scouter attributes.
4. Scouting Package.

Region requires a scouter to have some knowledge level of countries inside that region. It's not worth, it's big land and will travel more rather than scouting. By country for me it's best, because I can hire a native German to scout German without the need to build a knowledge level (and it can be setup as Ongoing). When a scouter does not have a knowledge level of X country you send him as Until Finished.

[^Goose^]

9 minutes ago, fc.cadoni said:

It depends:

1. If you have load the nation and league.
2. If your scouter has a knowledge level of X country.
3. Scouter attributes.
4. Scouting Package.

Region requires a scouter to have some knowledge level of countries inside that region. It's not worth, it's big land and will travel more rather than scouting. By country for me it's best, because I can hire a native German to scout German without the need to build a knowledge level (and it can be setup as Ongoing). When a scouter does not have a knowledge level of X country you send him as Until Finished.

So you never scout by competition? For example, scouting the Premier League rather than scouting England?

Also, do you ever assign one scout to multiple countries at the same time, France and Belgium for instance?

[fc.cadoni]

34 minutes ago, ^Goose^ said:

So you never scout by competition? For example, scouting the Premier League rather than scouting England?

Also, do you ever assign one scout to multiple countries at the same time, France and Belgium for instance?

One scouter for each country. German goes to Germany, scouting for 15 until 21 with Determination 11 - equal or above and that's all. Usually I am scouting the top 20 countries which have:

- Game Importance
- Economic Factor
- FA Financial Power
- State of Development
- Youth Rating

Higher above numbers, than any other country, for newgens (the nation factors). For Competition you have to set up Until Finished

====

Make sure in assignment to add Transfer Budget and not leave it "automatic".

Edited October 17, 2022 by fc.cadoni

[DMVian]

5 hours ago, fc.cadoni said:

One scouter for each country. German goes to Germany, scouting for 15 until 21 with Determination 11 - equal or above and that's all. Usually I am scouting the top 20 countries which have:

- Game Importance
- Economic Factor
- FA Financial Power
- State of Development
- Youth Rating

Higher above numbers, than any other country, for newgens (the nation factors). For Competition you have to set up Until Finished

====

[b]Make sure in assignment to add Transfer Budget and not leave it "automatic".[/b]

Will you explain this? I always kept it automatic. Should I be adding what I'm willing to spend? My current budget? What?

Additionally, if I'm an English Championship club scouting Scotland, I don't want to have my scout checking out League 1 games when top flight is the players I need. But I also want my scout to check out Scottish Cup and the National Team. Would assigning my scout the country [i]and[/i] cinch Premiership help? He'll stick to mostly top flight but also do some national team and cup competitions? Or is this too complicated for the system?
 

This question would probably go for any nation, including Germany, with multiple flights loaded.

[fc.cadoni]

12 minutes ago, DMVian said:

Will you explain this? I always kept it automatic. Should I be adding what I'm willing to spend? My current budget? What?

Additionally, if I'm an English Championship club scouting Scotland, I don't want to have my scout checking out League 1 games when top flight is the players I need. But I also want my scout to check out Scottish Cup and the National Team. Would assigning my scout the country [i]and[/i] cinch Premiership help? He'll stick to mostly top flight but also do some national team and cup competitions? Or is this too complicated for the system?
 

This question would probably go for any nation, including Germany, with multiple flights loaded.

I found that setting a transfer budget to highest (234 mil. euros), getting more results (reports) in FM22. Most reports I was getting was based on my league rep, league av. CA and club rep. kind realistic I would say. Automatic, scouter will take your current transfer budget (what left) and will struggle to find a player for X level. It's filter, so it's better to not restrict. Don't be afraid, scouter will not recommend to you a 234 mil player for League 1

Edited October 17, 2022 by fc.cadoni

[DMVian]

Good info on transfer budget. 
 

On competition, Is my scout taking in a leisurely Annan-East Fife game not taking away time he could be scouting a game at Aberdeen finding some overpowered players?

Or would judgement have them stick mostly to games with players my level?

I know there is no perfect answer.

[BrightLad5]

Check out Zealand's many many videos on this, testing and simulating multiple different scenarios and circumstances . Short answer: Nation scouting is best on FM22.

[ryanlion28]

Nation scouting is all well and good to scout countries like Brazil, Germany, France etc. But with that system, how would you find a wonderkid from say Slovenia for example? Or Morocco, 2 countries that can produce great footballers.

 

You can't have an unlimited number of scouts so is the only way to do this changing the nation for each scout every few weeks or so? Or is there a better way

[mikcheck]

I leave scouting to the chief scout, that makes the game more realistic for me. 

[busngabb]

2 hours ago, mikcheck said:

I leave scouting to the chief scout, that makes the game more realistic for me. 

The Chief Scout will be briefed on what to focus on. The scouting in FM is very unrealistic at present I feel, it's possibly 10 years out of date.

English clubs these days will have a mix of things:

• Youth/talent spotters - Many of them, focusing on 5-13 year old players, some focused on in and outside of academies, mainly domestically but also abroad. These are assumed to be in FM but obviously hidden within the youth development quality ratings as players don't appear till 15.
• Senior Regional scouts - Focusing on the main professional leagues across Europe and South America, maintaining lists of players by position, age, characteristics etc. This needs to be in FM, rather than just 'scout'. Senior scouts are usually hired to do a specific job in a specific region they live or work in, they are not piling up air miles. E.g FM should have staff titles of 'Senior European Scout, Senior South American Scout' etc, which can be full time or part time roles. I know a lad from Uni who worked in Australia in a University sports coaching setup, but also worked for City in scouting Australia pre their Melbourne City deal.
• Recruitment/Data analysts - FM has this well covered
• Regional scouting managers - The big clubs will have regional scouting managers looking after local talent spotters, even to the point of having academy setups outside of the clubs geographic region. I know a lad who was signed by Fulham, but trained with Fulham in Manchester until he was 17. This isn't in FM at all either, unless it's hidden and assumed like the talent spotters. The role of regional scouting manager could be a thing though and the better one you get the better the players you get from that region are likely to be etc, although the majority will go to the biggest clubs in that region.

The idea that clubs just ping their scouts around the world to look at certain players in this day and age seems unlikely. A lot of research will be done through contacts and references and watching video. The senior scouts will likely be living in the region they are assigned to and won't just be seconded to Guinea Bissau randomly to get that countries knowledge rating up. Another thing the game should have is recommendations from former players, coaches etc. Clubs will get calls from former employees all the time telling them to look at a certain player. E.g if Duncan Ferguson spots an absolute diamond in Scotland when he's retired, he'll be telling Everton about that.

 

[BrightLad5]

On 18/10/2022 at 21:03, ryanlion28 said:

Nation scouting is all well and good to scout countries like Brazil, Germany, France etc. But with that system, how would you find a wonderkid from say Slovenia for example? Or Morocco, 2 countries that can produce great footballers.

 

You can't have an unlimited number of scouts so is the only way to do this changing the nation for each scout every few weeks or so? Or is there a better way

Set each scout to 3 or 4 countries. They will cycle through them if you set assignment to "ongoing". For wonderkid hunting Set the criteria to Under 23 years old, potential of at least 4 star. Ideally have the countries boarding each other and from the same region (you can check the countries region in their general info tab) so they arent jetting all over the globe which slows it down. Having your scout speak the language of the county they are scouting helps. Of course if they are from said country they likely have higher existing knowledge too which makes it quicker.

If you have say 10 scouts including your chief scout you can scout up to 35 countries in the assignments and leave one scout free to do other assignments (scouting U21 tournaments or scouting contract expiring players etc) 

This is all based on the FM22 scouting system though and through the tests and simulations we have had over the course of the FM22 cycle. Regional used to be better but Nation is better now.

[busngabb]

On 20/10/2022 at 09:10, BrightLad5 said:

Set each scout to 3 or 4 countries. They will cycle through them if you set assignment to "ongoing". For wonderkid hunting Set the criteria to Under 23 years old, potential of at least 4 star. Ideally have the countries boarding each other and from the same region (you can check the countries region in their general info tab) so they arent jetting all over the globe which slows it down. Having your scout speak the language of the county they are scouting helps. Of course if they are from said country they likely have higher existing knowledge too which makes it quicker.

If you have say 10 scouts including your chief scout you can scout up to 35 countries in the assignments and leave one scout free to do other assignments (scouting U21 tournaments or scouting contract expiring players etc) 

This is all based on the FM22 scouting system though and through the tests and simulations we have had over the course of the FM22 cycle. Regional used to be better but Nation is better now.

I'm not sure it is you know. I've tried doing what Zealand says in his videos, which is what you've put above and it doesn't work. The scouts just don't do anything. For example I've had a scout doing Wales and Northern Ireland for six months. If you click on the assignment, he hasn't watched a single game. Likewise in several other countries. A few of the scouts come back with reports and one or two of them watch multiple games, but only around 10 in 6 months. They're all high adaptability and highly rated, most I hired with scouting knowledge of the countries involved too, quite a few from the country itself. Still don't watch any games or improve their knowledge there. I had a theory it was because there is a sea between the countries, so I tried focusing on just countries directly next to each other and it doesn't improve anything. My world knowledge has gone up to 42%, but that's just the combined knowledge of the hired scouts, it's not going up now I've hired them all.