So...who actually turned out a star from the Championship/Football Manager series?

Younited.7

Excuse me if this is in the wrong forum, i was finding it hard to define.

So then, who have been the major success stories of the SI scouting system?

Does it have some validity in rating players?

From the early games...right up until now.

I remember when i used to be hard-hardcore (like a grimey Scooter gig) addicted between 97-01 there used to be some very strange players that were absolutely quality.

Peter Prospar was one of my favourites.

They seemed to have a lot of the River players nailed on, Saviola was awesome as was D'Alessandro (unfufilled potential). Ronaldinho was amazing on 01-02, and true to form, he came good after his move.

I am racking my brains...

Kevin Hofland, was quality, where is he now? Germany last time i heard.

Mark Kerr, was amazing, never materialised in real life.

Chadwick, was amazing as well, never materialised.

Mauricio Pinilla was unbelievable in one of the games, did not happen.

Anybody know some real success stories or is it really just a pile of shite (give some reasons)?

KGBhoy

Long time ago when the game first appeared, they had a young player called Emile Heskey. He was not a known game then, but turned out to be ok.

There is a lot of randomness that goes on in the game, so one time you play Hofland will be awesome and other times he'll be average.

I used to have this guy called Tonton Zola Mokouko, who was terrific and won player of the year all the time :-)

Top

A lot of the clubs are actually using Football Manager in scouting players. I read a Norwegian article with a video included where they said that Chelsea among others use Football Manager.
The video also included an interview with the creator of Football Manager who said that they frequently get calls from managers/directors who has bought players who they had initially found through the massive database in FM.

CrazyBelgian

Saviola, Robinho, Ronaldinho. Those are the ones on top of my head that I knew in CM/FM before they were really famous. You can argue if they all got to the potential they had in CM/FM

Younited.7

Interesting.

It is actually the only scouting resource that we have, apart from youtube or watching the match ourselves. Funny that, considering it is a game or simufuckinglation.

Brwned

Bollocks. You do know that people use scouts. The creator may well get calls regularly for this very reason, but from Chelsea?

Top

I didn't say that they got calls from Chelsea - the article just mentioned Chelsea among the clubs which has used Football Manager in one way or another.

The calls/mails they are getting are most likely from clubs a couple of divisions lower.
Sure the clubs have scouts, but if you're not a top club then you can't afford an entire scouting network, and it's therefore not unreasonable to think that some lower league clubs are sending out scouts to watch a specific player based on Football Manager - in fact it's quite possible seeing as the creator of FM said so.

Clubs also send out scouts to watch a player based on one person's recommendation, not far from using FM as recommendations.

Stick

I think it could be the other way around. FM uses scouts to ask about possible talented players. They also ask clubs to name players with more potential. Its just a game though....not real

vuc

Wasn't it said that Barcelona used CM/FM to scout Saviola?

Younited.7

Might have been more to do with his outstanding show at the under 20's world cup.

Top

I'm not making stuff up here, I'm simply forwarding the information from the video made by a Norwegian website.

Sounds like I'll have to find the video - it's a while since I watched it.

vuc

Who knows, im just quoting what I read years ago. I'll try and google it.

Top

Here you go:
http://atvs.vg.no/player/index.php?id=15863

Miles Jacobsen (One of the creators of FM): "Chelsea's chief scout admitted in an interview that he's used the database in the past."

Oh and I remembered wrong, it wasn't calls from managers and directors, but a lot of stories about clubs checking a player in FM and then later sent a scout to watch him.
The point still stands though.

vuc

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/ar..._for_real.html

Not the saviola one but similar.. lol at Strachan if true

Stick

Ah sure dont bother. I believe there is a video out there that says that but I think it's daft to believe it. I mean would you seriously use a database of names and numbers compiled by a guy who made Bristol Rovers players unbeatable in some games? To contribute to the topic though Simon Davies and Matthew Etherington turned out ok.

Top

I don't think it's that far fetched.
Football Manager's player database is quite impressive and accurate.
It's not unthinkable that some clubs take the opportunity to look closer at a player after having noticed him in the FM database.

Say a club has sent a scout down to South Africa to watch a player based on the recommendation of a former player. Then it's not unlikely that they'd also watch a match where a good "FM-player" is playing if they are already in the area.

Football Manager has thousands of scouts/researchers all around the world. Looking at a player based on FM would be like looking at a player based on the recommendations from a group of people who had watched that player.

Stick

I hardly think they employ fulltime scouts. That would cost a fortune and its just a game!!

Top

Of course they don't, but you don't have to be a fulltime scout to know a lot about say Liverpool's academy players. A lot of fans follow their clubs youth teams very closely and would be able to make a report on a specific player.

And it's people like that who are being used as researchers by SI - as Miles Jacobsen mentions in the interview: They've got a lot of researches all over the world - even if they are not full time.

Stick

Yeah and those researchers are used by the clubs I'd say. The clubs would have first hand knowledge on the information and then the game might get some small bites for the game.

vanthaman

Joe Cole was well known in CM before he became famous.

i used to always buy Cristiano Ronaldo when he was like 16 on the game.

Paz

liar

Brwned

It's called a publicity stunt, there is no chance that any team in the top leagues would do that.

Shrek

so did I mate, and the twat always wanted to leave and join Madrid !! Funny how true to life CM/FM is - they must have excellent scouts

vanthaman

it was Quaresma and Ronaldo on the wings for me and Carlton Cole up front on his own, my Inter Milan team was unstoppable

FortBoyard

Leave it out he has quoted the article Mr. Big Bollocks. IT may seem far-fetched but it doesn't seem entirely impossible, SI send people to most countries to compile stats on the good young players in those countries, now why wouldn't you have a look at a database containing these stats for even a slight indication of how other people rate a player?

It doesn't mean that people just sign player because they are good on FM, but can be used as a second opinion from another scouting network.

FortBoyard

Tevez was awesome on one as like a 19 year old. Kiegan Parker (whom now plys his trade with the mighty Blackpool.)

Younited.7

On the other foot...

The game is very lucrative for SI, there might be faults with accuracy but still i am sure they have a wider scouting base (though not as extensive) than most of the clubs in the world.

It is not that unbelievable that some clubs use the database, its about £20, why not use it for reference?

What they would not do is sign a player just because of his PA in the game, that is highly unlikely.

The original ridiculing wasnt really warranted, i know you didnt do it but...

Younited.7

Exactly.

Its a very cheap option to get some idea of how highly rate a player is, not illogical to use it as a resource.