Emm

I'm managing in N.Ireland and I've recently become aware that my 4 biggest rivals, (Linfield, Glentoran Portadown and Distillery), are all signing up decent young players that are being released by Premiership English clubs.

Now like my team, none of them have yet turned pro, and as such, (if it's the same as FM07), then none of them should be able to scout outside N.Ireland. How then can they be signing players from a Nation within which they are unable to scout?

I stoppes playing in the English structure because of the unrealistic feeder relations of my competitors and although this doesn't cause me the same problems in terms of difficulty, it is annoying nevertheless.

If this is a route that SI have gone down on purpose, then maybe someone who has the ear of the powers at be might want to have a word.

If this is representative of AI transfer policy accross the board then it's a significantly backward step for the LLM game.

Distillery. 8 young players on the books released by Premiership clubs.

Glentoran. 2 young players on the books released by Premiership clubs.

Linfield. 7 young players on the books released by Premiership clubs.

Portadown. 6 young players on the books released by Premiership clubs.

retired_angeliwuoma

Definately agree, I've noticed a similar trend with the Scottish teams in my save with a number of English based players moving to SD3 & SD2 teams after they are released.

Previously I've just accepted it however it is something I think SI should look into particulary as a few of the SI staff have stated they enjoy the challenge of starting in the lower leagues & may therefore have LLM leanings.

KingsbayYHPE

What are the Nationalities of those players, Jim? If they're Irish or Northern Irish then I'd say it was quite reasonable (as they were "coming home").

fatcatbetsy2007

Mostly English, I agree, I see it happen in my N.Ireland game too, far too many young players from English Premiership/Championship sides coming to N.Ireland.

Does my head in sometimes.

:thdn:

arman920

Three of those are Belfast clubs and highly likely to have English connections through staff, which makes it possible.

What year have you reached Jimbo, or was this noticeable from the off?

Emm

Sorry, should have mentioned.

They're English.

I'm also getting a number of experienced pro's joining too.

Ex Coventry/Norwich/Villa/Man Utd Striker come centre-half.

Fat ex Everton left back/centr-half who likes a free-kick and penalties.

Ex Man Utd youngster with a face like a slapped arse.

Experienced Ex England U21 defender with Italian sounding name.

Ex Liverpool centre-half with a name like a cheap Rose, (wine not flower).

Fat & bald Wrexham and Stanley striker who somehow got a couple of Irish senior caps in a raffle.

Creative midfielder ex of Southampton with a name like sporty sunglasses.

Ex Southampton full-back who fl;irted with the England squad a few years ago and looked likely to get a big move but went somewhere like Sunderland and was never heard of again.

Slow ex Blackburn and West Ham centre-half with apenchant for ugly facial hair and miss-timed lunging tackles when the last man.

Dimiuntive ex Sunderland striker who was the little of the little and large combo with Sunderland Chairman.

Ex Sheff Utd striker who always seemed to be on the bench when they were in Premiership.

I haven't included all the N.Irish Internationals that have returned "home" even though they include the likes of the GK who can't spell Mike, the Leicester and Rangers Midfielder and just about everyone else.

Emm

It's Christmas 2014 but it's been happening from the off.

KingsbayYHPE

Are you retaining players from the Nations involved?

Emm

No. No retaining players of any sort.

retired_angeliwuoma

I've just checked the transfers for all of the SD2 teams & about 60% of the free transfer are Scottish nationals with the rest made up of English plus a few Caribbean & surprisingly one Congalese striker.

One thing I did notice was that of the players making the trip north of ther border there was a higher frequency of players who were previously based in the north of England.

Geographically these moves are more than plausible however it does lead onto the oft asked question of why can't I as a manager in Scotland scout the north of England?

Maybe it's time for the scouting system to be revamped to take into account realistic cross border scouting. I appreciate the UK is a rather unique case but I would have thought such scouting happens in mainland Europe aswell, as an examlpe a team such as FC Twente are located virtualy on the Dutch/German* border I'm sure they would scout in the far western region of Germany.

*Apologies if my geography is way out but it has been over 15 years since I've lived outside England & my memory is a tad sketchy.