retired_sandra

Another thing... he's quick to update us about his Alfreton progress, but he's been very slow on the uptake of being asked to tell us how he got to sign so many ex Championship players, instead going all defensive.

To me that shows he is using non LLM means.

Unless of course Jenninga is going to proove me and others wrong...

retired_datheman034

Apologies for the lack of quick response. Not been online for a bit.

I am more than happy to answer any questions. As far as I am aware I have abided by all the rules.

It's difficult as player naming isn't allowed but I'll try and explain. In the past I have played with Basingstoke, Lewes, Alfreton, Stalybridgem Blyth ... I am aware some clubs can't even loan players from other Conference North / South clubs. I don't know if Stalybridge have an unusually high reputation or whatever but I seem to do okay getting players on loan.

I had about 1100 free in the wage budget so I added to my scouting set up. I could only offer £40 per week but I was able to get in a scout who it said wanted £220 a week. I offered £40 til the end of the season and he accepted. This was after an advert on the jobs page for a scout. I could only scout England and have set him various parameters to go out and search and he's found a few decent players.

Mainly though I have relied on my own knowledge. Is there a rule in LLM saying only sign recommended players from scouts?

I am an Ipswich fan so know the Championship intimately. I know which players from Ipswich are likely to head out on loan at this level. I didn't get a few of them for various reasons ... no desire to go there ... insufficient wage contribution in others as I don't tend to offer anything first off. However I have got a couple of gems.

Looking at their stats they don't look like world beaters but they only need say a 7 for finishing and 8 for composer or whatever and they can bang goals in at Alfreton's level with the right service / moral / tactics.

I wouldn't use the player search screeen. What's the point. You can put in 15 for finishing and worth under £5k and it'll find someone. A 'real' manager can't do this so I tend not to. If I did I'm sure I could get promotion every year as you could pinpoint down to the last detail. This would make FM07 no fun at all.

I can't loan 'Championship Pedegree' youngsters. These are not people like the young striker England took to the last World Cup despite no premier league starts. These are guys who won't make the grade in the CCC or CCL1 / L2 and will end up in the Conference sometime soon.

Any further questions? Happy to oblige gents.

retired_datheman034

Oh and I would also like to make other point ...

I know that signing 'known' players is a big no no - according to the LLM rules. However, it states known players as in players that you have signed before and know will perform well.

NONE of the players I have loaned this time round have played for me in other saves.

As Alfreton boss it seems a lot easier to get players from say Nottm Forest, Notts County, Leicester, Coventry, maybe even Derby?

I've found it easier to get a reserve player from a local Championship club than say a League 2 club the other end of the country. Assume this is a part-time club thing?

I also got a number of players say no to a season long loan or 3 month deal but then I gave them a month and they were only too happy
to renew. One player was on loan for 3 months and then signed again saying I was 'one of his favourite clubs'.

Just to prove it is not impossible Workington (in Conf North) have a 19 goal striker (current season is at Christmas time) who is on loan from Barnsley who are still a Championship club. In fact Barnsley are 4th in Championship.

As far as I know their reputation is a lot lower than mine was when I started out in Conf North as Workington have been near bottom every season!

retired_datheman034

So the point being (and if you guys ALL agree I'll refrain in future LLM saves) that I have signed some players I 'know' from real life (as you would do if you were a LLM manager who still knows a bit about life further up the ladder) and some of these players have been brought to my attention as subs in pre-season games (signed a good midfielder from Mansfield who scored against me in a friendly).

Also I assume that having a feeder club IS allowed? I haven't had one due to part-time status and financial situation but I assume this is allowed if the club say turns pro?

retired_lauriekeith

Yep.

From the Rules and Guidelines Stickies:

I know you've mentioned this but I think you are diliberately missing or twisting the "outside influences" bit.

retired_lauriekeith

Oh, you may want to refrain from the tipping there and no UK club can be a feeder to another team (at least not in the way FM presents it) - someone else might be able to explain that better.

retired_datheman034

I see I see.

I wouldn't deliberately twist. This is obviously tricky though as surely it has to factor into your thinking. I have an enormous knowledge of football right down to lower leagues and even in other countries to a certain extent.

Say my scout highlights a Tranmere youngster and then says he'd make a good signing. I might well disgaree with him as it might be that I don't need another quick striker or whatever. Maybe I need a target man.

If I am then playing a pre-season game and I see say a Forest winger tearing me to bits and then I later ask my scout to scout him (which presumably is fair as not a player I have searched for but one I have seen with my own eyes and made my own call on) and the scout says this guys is rubbish and I am 50/50, the fact I know a little about him in 'real life' may just swing it.

It's a case of where do you draw the line.

I'll be honest for those in doubt. I never manage Premiership clubs or big foreign sides. Never been in European competition ever. I hate big squads.

I like a little club in debt with no players and a load of untried youth. That way you get to build the club up and feel a sense of achievement when you do get out of the division or find a gem of a player etc.

I am keen to play under LLM rules, so if I have misinterpreted what the rest of you guys do please inform me so I can try and stay on the same lines.

retired_datheman034

I meant Parent Club to me. I would be the Feeder Club. For example Stalybridge have a link with Oldham and Coventry with Nuneaton I think.

retired_bj1fabre

Feeder arrangements so common in the rest of the world are not allowed between teams in any of the UK's Home Nations (Eng, Scot, Wales, NI) under the rules of the respective FAs (AFAIK). Teams in the UK are perfectly allowed to have feeder arrangements with clubs outside the UK - see Man Utd and Antwerp, for instance. The limit on 'official' links is - I believe - arranging an annual friendly. No loan deals, first refusals, annual fees etc.

There are, however, widely rumoured to be unofficial arrangements between larger and smaller clubs (I seem to remember that for a while 7-8 years ago, the aforementioned Man U had something brewing with either Bury or Burnley, for instance; Plymouth and Chelsea (IIRC) or Birmingham and Arsenal last season would also be contenders) which, to an extent, function similarly to formal feeder arrangements, though not usually as rampant as the official versions.

These are not modeled by the game, however, and until they are, LLM ethics largely say no-no to feeder deals between UK clubs as, in the game, they're only of the official kind.

retired_datheman034

Thanks for clearing that up. Like I say I've not yet managed to have one as the board refused due to my part time status I think. Although it was back in the first season so it may have been due to the finances. Not 100% on that.

Why does FM2007 promote what seems to be 'official' links then if these are not allowed by the FA?