[Archived] Football Manager 2008

[RibbleValleyRover]

Has anyone tried these players?

Steven Defour - Centre Mid

Ezequiel Garay - Centre Back

Matias Fernandez - Left Wing

Rafinha - Right Wing Back

Found them all to be quality, value shoots up.

Yep quality players.

[sussexrover]

I am currently the Italy manager in 2013.

My nationality in this game is Thai, so it definitely is possible.

(I am not Thai really, I just like to play with random characters i create, I am called "Thai Sabai" after a restaurant")

It takes into account a number of factors beyond just your reputation - if you have managed in that particular country it tends to help - generally means you speak the language and that your personal knowledge of the country (rather than that of your scouts) is likely to be higher.

[bluebruce]

I am currently the Italy manager in 2013.

My nationality in this game is Thai, so it definitely is possible.

I didn't mean to say it isn't possible. After all, the Czech Republic approached me to be their manager even though I don't speak the language or have Czech nationality. Just appears quite difficult for the major teams if you don't have their nationality etc. But you're three seasons further in than I was when I tried for those posts, so perhaps your rep is higher, or perhaps you've managed in Italy like Sussex said. Maybe no major Italian managers were interested. I dunno! I also wondered whether your 'domestic bias' stat might have some kind of bearing on it. Mine is very low, 2 I think. I do buy English more than any other nationality, but they're still a small portion of my huge stable of players.

[Hughesy]

Iv got Warnock, Defoe and Young in my 1st team squad at current that are english. Have about 5 brazilians in there.

Started my 4th season. Played 4, won 3, drawn 1 (v arsenal let a 3-0 lead slip!) and scored 16 goals. Altidore with 7 of them and 4 in 20 mins against Derby. Defoe and Bojan settling in well and currently playing a 4-2-1-2-1 formation and its working well as im playing 3 strikers and 1 attacking midfielder in the middle.

Currently scouting around the game for anyone who is 17 or younger to add to my u-18's team. And also looking for some younger defenders who could become stars - any tips anyone? Signed Sidnei at the start of the season already. Dont forget im 4 seasons in and wont pay more than £10m on any player.

[bluebruce]

Already given my tip for that. Get as many scouts as you can with judging potential 20 and preferably a high judging ability too (Potential more important though), and if possible high determination (the best scout in the game appears to be Jose Ferrereinha (which I'm probably spelling wrong) who starts the game at Chelsea and never develops much of a reputation it seems, so is quite easy to poach. And just send them on scouting missions in all of the nations with active leagues (and a few choice countries without active leagues- places like Holland, Turkey, Serbia, Belgium all seem to yield good players on mine, and Brazil and Argentina sometimes of course), looking for players aged 23 or younger. Then anyone with 3 or 4 star potential, you get scouted by one of your other super scouts. If they both say 3 or 4 stars, he's going to be quite good. If one of them says less than that, get a third opinion and go with the majority. As I think I've mentioned though, I read they're less accurate with predicting potential on the patched versions. But if you get a few opinions you should rarely go wrong. Also scout certain regions...the best seem to be the European regions if you're playing in Europe, along with South America and, now and again, North America. Asia and Africa hardly ever seem to produce good players unless you've got the leagues active, ridiculously. Although it seems (and I can't be sure) that if you get a feeder club somewhere, that country's clubs seem a bit more likely to produce youngsters.

I have a team of future world beaters...something like 20 of them with 180 potential or more, and about 4 or 5 with 190 or more. Including a young Turk who will reach a phenomenal 197 eventually! On loan at Cercle now though to get a permit. Then I have another big batch who will be in the 170's. Best not to sell anyone til they are near or at their full potential though, as you won't get the best value and you won't know for sure how good they are...sometimes a player with 180 ability isn't that hot, and someone with 170 is exceptional. Depends where the stats grow. I only paid 10 million for one of these players, a left back that will reach 196. The next most expensive was 3 mill I believe (they'll reach 191), and virtually all the rest were under 2 mill. The Turk was free! So I've got someone theoretically destined to be better than Bojan for free.

[Eddie]

How can you see a players potential during the game? Or are you loading the file in the editor to have a look?

[Hughesy]

Not sure myself as I never know a players potential and i cant see mine during the game - Think it must be in the editor he is looking? But isnt that cheating???

I usually just go with my scout reports. I have 7 scouts i think - all top stats on judging potential and potential ability. Always have them searching all over the world for players under 19 usually.

Have 5 feeder clubs, 1 work permit, 1 commercial, 1 uk, 1 ireland and 1 turkey.

[bluebruce]

Not sure myself as I never know a players potential and i cant see mine during the game - Think it must be in the editor he is looking? But isnt that cheating???

I usually just go with my scout reports. I have 7 scouts i think - all top stats on judging potential and potential ability. Always have them searching all over the world for players under 19 usually.

Have 5 feeder clubs, 1 work permit, 1 commercial, 1 uk, 1 ireland and 1 turkey.

Yeh it's kinda cheating, but I usually only look after I've already signed the player, to satisfy my own curiosity...anyone with three or four star potential I sign if they're available at a reasonable price, sometimes two star. An exception would be that left back I was talking about- we were talking a big asking price, so I verified because my scouts had developed a habit of never deeming anyone 5 star once I reached a certain level of success. Irritatingly, once you're a very big force, your scouts start raising their standards a lot, which as I say is fine except that everyone from about 170 upwards is all just classed as four star, whilst when I was less successful I would have been able to tell the difference better. I just consider it a game flaw, so occasionally I use the editor to check around it. I also mentioned previously another game quirk, with negotiating, especially with youngsters. If you bid for example, 200k on a player who has an actual asking price of 300k, you'll probably be told come back with 400k (which is fine) plus a sell on percentage (which isn't particularly, but hey)...if you then come back to them with 400k but a lesser sell-on, they suddenly want 550k and the same sell-on, and this dynamic continues indefinitely. It's completely retarded and unrealistic, so for youngsters I quite often check what their real asking price is and bid a bit over. Because, to use my example, if you bid 300k first time they'll just accept and not ask for a sell-on. Even that doesn't guarantee me I won't get a dumb response though- one player, Juliano, is available at 700k according to both the save game editor and every scout I ask, but can never be bought for less than about 4 million.

Frown on it if you want, I just spend far too much time playing that game as it is without having to be fannied around by dumbass game faults.

[Hughesy]

Yeah the sell-on clause thing always happen. What i tend to do is offer them a deal and they then come back and say we will have th 400k + 40% rather than say 5%. I usually then cancel the negotiaton. Start again and go back with say 500k + 5% + friendly game and make it un-negotiable. It usually works if you add that bit extra on seperate negotiations and get tough with them.

[bluebruce]

Yeah the sell-on clause thing always happen. What i tend to do is offer them a deal and they then come back and say we will have th 400k + 40% rather than say 5%. I usually then cancel the negotiaton. Start again and go back with say 500k + 5% + friendly game and make it un-negotiable. It usually works if you add that bit extra on seperate negotiations and get tough with them.

That doesn't work (on mine at least) unless you wait a couple of weeks after the initial negotiations, at which point they magically forget they were grabbing gits a couple of weeks ago. And I don't have time to wait two weeks all the time. Anyway I hate sell on clauses on players I own, and there's always an offer you can make where they won't insist on one.

Hadn't thought of the un-negotiable thing though, a feature I don't really use...I may see if that helps.

[awhom111]

May our future be this bright...

[Tango]

May our future be this bright...

Somebody's got a lot of patience with this game!!!

[bellamy11]

May York City's future be that bright!

[awhom111]

Somebody's got a lot of patience with this game!!!

This is actually just a holiday game. I let it run for a season and then use Genie Scout to analyze the nationalities of the regens and Blackburn's chances. It was awesome to see the computer actually creating these results for Rovers. Ewood is now up to 78884 seats.

[Mc Love]

Holy crap, what year are you in?!?!

[dellinsert]

This is actually just a holiday game. I let it run for a season and then use Genie Scout to analyze the nationalities of the regens and Blackburn's chances. It was awesome to see the computer actually creating these results for Rovers. Ewood is now up to 78884 seats.

Genie Scout?

[awhom111]

Genie Scout?

It's a program that can be used to find all sorts of hidden values on players, staff, and teams. Mostly used by people who cheat to find hidden gems, but very useful for these holiday games. Just check genie.fm to get the newest version.

The game has reached the year 2122 and the Rovers have chosen the recently sacked England coach for the past two times with only one title resulting. Maybe we shouldn't go for McClaren...

[Cocker]

So let me get this right. You put this 'cheat' in and then let the game play its self and you just watch to see whats going on?

Even if you did the cheat to find the best players and played it yourself its pointless if you ask me because its a manager game and your meant to do this on your own.

I will be staying clear of this genie

[ally]

has anyone found the bug with stadiums, my stadium keeps getting increased by 8,000 or so seats but when its completed its still at 31,000 instead of 38,000?!

[Eddie]

Had Rovers relegated whilst in charge for the first time last night. Just had a horrible time with injuries and the fact that Santa Cruz and Benni seemed unable to score one on one's. "Rovers made to rue missed chances" was a headline I must have seen 15 times, so to then go down by 4 points was a bit annoying. Should hopefully keep most of the squad as it's young and bounce right back up, could even be good for their development as I can just play all of my youngsters now, but still a shame. As it is a multiplayer game though my friends enjoyed it.

[Dunnfc]

has anyone found the bug with stadiums, my stadium keeps getting increased by 8,000 or so seats but when its completed its still at 31,000 instead of 38,000?!

I know my maths aint the best but 31,000 + 8,000 = 39,000 .

[Billy Castell]

Has anyone else made their own team?

I created Heywood Athletic FC, whose nickname is The Murderers. I put Capello in charge, lobbed in players like Oumar Konde, Darren Anderton, Alan Mahon etc. and put them in the Blue Square North division. Oh, and they play at Maine Road, and have a reputation of about 5000. On one game, they got promoted, but when I took control on another game, they won all but 2 of their league games, which were draws, and got beaten by Bradford in the 2nd round of the FA Cup.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Started a new save and doing a "british player challenge game". Set myself the target of only buying british players and staff.

I will keep my exisiting foreign players but eventually phase them out. It usually provides me a good challenge as british players tend to cost a lot more than their foreign counterparts. Plus its going to be hard to resist the urge not to buy some of those great foreign bargains.

I'm expecting it to be hard at the start as the budget isn't great, but if i can get some of my current squad playing well and sell them on for a good fee it should get a bit easier.

[Hughesy]

Yeah its a bug mate. As soon as you save the game, your stadium drops back down. There is a patch available to fix this and it doesnt require you to re-start so its worth getting.

has anyone found the bug with stadiums, my stadium keeps getting increased by 8,000 or so seats but when its completed its still at 31,000 instead of 38,000?!

[LeChuck]

FM Weegie have released a data update with all the promotions/relegations from across Europe (plus transfers etc.) included, it was released today and should be bang up to date. Download here or alternatively here if you want it.

I have found that Bowen, Eddie N and Hitchcock are all still contracted to us, so change them across to City if you're wanting full Rovers realism. Tugay is included as a player/coach now though, which is nice.