retired_eiyana

Yep Houllier was particulary good at that.

creative36

If my memory serves me, one of Bolton's forwards moved clubs soon after he was part of a decent FA Cup run for a (then) Div 2 team - possibly Chesterfield. Granted he's actually useful now, but for years after moving he was hopeless.

retired_arthur2882

Yeah he signed for Southampton where he was pretty decent in his first spell there. Although Southampton are more than happy to play people without ever having seen them go near a football pitch. Like when they brought on that fella who falsely claimed to be related to the former World Player of the Year from Liberia.

retired_jsammut

Er, I'm with you, Kostis. I'd wait on the scout report. One games doesn't make a great player.

retired_sara maria

I'm not sure anyone was saying they made a great player, but if you see enough that you think, maybe I'll take a shot on the kid, I don't see any problem with it. Especially as, if we're honest, there's a good chance our scouts might've only watched him in 1 game before they send their report, yet we sign plenty of those players.

retired_tye1234

I disagree but a discussion on this would probably have to move to a diffrent forum :eek:. Suffice to say that I like my players in confident mood before the first fixture.

retired_jsammut

Valid point, but I do see a difference in that with a scout report any masked attributes become visible. However, the attributes don't become visible just because a player has a game against you (after all, you - as a manager - would be more intent on making sure your players were doing their jobs than keeping an eye on possible talent in the other team) meaning that you really haven't scouted the player to make an opinion.

retired_jsammut

My post was in reply to Devon, btw...

retired_sara maria

A quality manager would notice if an opposing player were having a good match against them. If he kept popping up and making key plays or something, surely the manager would be aware.

No, he wouldn't have all the stats unmasked, I agree, but he'd notice certain things about him.

I should also state, if I didn't above, that this is a case where someone else came in to make a bid for him. If there's no bid in this case, the scout will come back with a report, obviously.

Sometimes quick decisions need to be made and if he really saw something in that player in that 1 match and wants to take a chance on him, I don't see any "ethical LLM issue." IF he really watched the match and didn't just look at and see a 10 rating or something, I should add.

bodymassindicator

Typical grey area if you ask me. To me it would all depend on the circumstances, i.e. how desperately do I need a player in this position, how hard have I tried before and failed, how likely is it to find another player before the end of the transfer window, etc. I certainly wouldn't sign him at the start of a new game, because I'd be fairly confident I will have time to properly scout a different player, but given the right set of circumstances I might be willing to take a gamble.