No Stars No Problem

Stars are the first thing you see on Football Manager. They are the welcoming equivalent of an overall rating as you wade into the very deep pool of being addicted to FM. Then over time, you should learn a very valuable lesson. The stars lie to you. The stars deceive you. Potential ability is what your eyes and attributes tell you it should be, not some random staff member.

I had a consummate example of this on my team with Taunton Town. A legend named Nick McCootie. A player who was never regarded highly in his star rating given by my staff, but a player who fit my tactic perfectly and performed insanely well given the situations Football Manager threw at him.

Much Love,
FM Senpai

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[nj]

This happens in real life too like Graham Arnold sticking with Mitch Duke in the World Cup for his work rate and physicality despite having two more prolific goalscorers in the Australia squad.

[kidnamedfinger]

It's just so satisfying when you get a player like that, you feel like a true manager discovering a hidden gem. In my Leicester career, I signed Ladislav Almási from the Czech more or less midtable side Baník Ostrava, because I liked that he's extremely tall but still kinda technical. The board and fans both gave me an F for the transfer, but he ended up turning into Jan Koller 2.0 and became a two-time Champions League top goalscorer 😂 Just like you said, the most important thing with strikers is simply if they fit your tactics and vision, both in fm and in real life.

[ChesterRGC]

I remember me in FM19 VNLS signing a free agent 36 yo left back called Kieran Nicholson. He had 2.5 stars in his position, he was slow af, but what amazed me was his +15 free kicks, penalties, long throws and crossing attributes. At some point his star rating even dropped to 2 stars. I stayed with him being the starter LB in defense role and he ended season with 7 goals and 11 assists in league being our best player, nearly getting us promoted. I begged him to stay, but he retired next season, always being remember by me

[pwalmsley]

Totally get this. Arran Muir was regarded as "a decent league two" player in my Championship team. He scored 23 goals and helped us to promotion. His stats aren't amazing (especially for that level) but the guy can finish better than most and it's all we need him to do.

[TheRadPlayer]

Should also be mentioned that current form can massively impact your player's star rating. I've had plenty situations where a player on good form goes into bad form, and loses a star in like 2 months - despite attributes not changing at all.

I had a similar thing with my Cliftonville save in 22, sticking with Ryan Curran and Joe Gormley despite having better alternatives, because they were such clutch goalscorers in spite of their below-average attributes. Those two dragged a semi-professional side to a Europa League round of 32.

[absurdist]

Nick McCootie was the star of my very first FM game ever with Bath FC.

Carried me up two divisions and kept scoring for me even then.

[EastwoodInnit]

This video has really made me look at players differently. Which is great because im mad new lmao. Thank you for this !

[brother]

Jake Young was a player I bought in my Wrexham game, never got more than 3-ish stars and hovered closer to 2 for a majority of the play through. He just captained my championship side through promotion and is my favorite signing of all time at $54k from forest green. Just makes the game so much more fun with these hidden gems

[Cian_RH]

Similar point - I won the champions League with Michael Obafemi from Swansea up front in my save, just because he had the work rate, pace and composure that I wanted from my advanced forward

[thegreathadoken]

I'm sick of telling people that stars don't mean what they think they mean.

EDIT: This was a supremely good video teaching things that people absolutely don't typically think about. I shared it in a group I'm in.

[deeznoots]

Nick Mccootie is cracked in FM, even in FM2019 he easily gets top scorer in the league

[kingjamestres]

Something similar happened to me with Daniel James on a Manchester United in FM 20. For the entire time he was on the team he never got higher than a 3-star rating but he was the leading goal scorer for the team multiple times.

[Pvrge.]

I'm currently playing with Besiktas, and in 2024, my 19 year old striker (Semih Kilicsoy) who spent his last year on loan in the 4th Turkish division and had a CA of 105 at the time, ended up scoring 65 goals across all leagues, and 42 in the Turkish süperlig, breaking the Turkish all time record and winning him the European golden boot ahead of Mbappé and Haaland. That's the most crazy thing I've ever seen. Two years later he's still my best player even though his CA is still much lower than anybody's in the entire squad and his value is barely 10 milion euros.

[Christian_Bagger]

This reminds me, when I wanted to go from the lowest English League to Premier League with Bath, I had a player whom was 5 stars in the beginning, but once we hit premier league he was like a half star… yet, he was my highest performing player. So I let him keep playing, until he got a long term injury, and I gave him a fair shot of coming back into the lineup but alas, the dust had worn off. That’s what I love about FM. Sometimes it’s a matter on how the player just synergies with the team, tactics, management, etc. that just clicks and then they just perform… despite FM doesn’t change a huge ton annually, it still has significant depth and nuance to the game and a shitton under the hood. It’s amazing.

[FaraazAhmad]

Todd Boehly would dump 100M on McCootie if he saw that goals comp

[stevenpillivant]

Taunton is my non league to legend save as I live in Devon. McCootie was my back up striker in season 1 to Martell Taylor-Crossdale. MTC scored 29 in 34. McCootie got 21 in 18, including two hatricks and one against Torquay in the league above. Sims-Burgess also has bad ratings yet got 15 assists and 14 goals as an inverted winger.
I’ve found the lower rated players often out perform 4-5 star players, this was true of my Blackburn save too.

[DarceG-jhik]

Thanks Z, I think this is the best video you’ve made when it comes to explaining how to think in an FM way!!!

[drjfmiller]

Had the same in FM2020 with Tonbridge Angels. Jayden Antwi was the lowest star forward in the team, but had to play due to injuries. He just wouldn't stop scoring. He then tallied up 38 goals in 49 games, after which the Assistant Manager said I shouldn't renew his contract as he's not good enough! Obviously I ignored that. Funnily enough - and I hadn't noticed this before - he also has SHOOTS WITH

[hohydrox]

This reminds me of one of my CM 03-04 saves. I was managing Farnborough Town. We had one player upfront who probably would've been 5th choice, if he wasn't banging in a couple of goals every game. Won the league with him.

I start the following pre-season with some friendlies against non-league opponents/easy wins at home to keep morale up. Playing against Marine, and their striker tears us apart. Well, I didn't know who he was, and he didn't seem that special. But he didn't miss a shot, and I'd learnt once already to trust my gut, so I sign him on the cheap. The pair of them together were unstoppable, bagging 30 goals a season each, as they fired us all the way to the PL. To this day, I'll maintain that Potter and Somerville were the best strike pairing I've ever had, and any time I go back to the game, they're the first two players I sign.

[KingofWolvesii]

can we just say what a marvelous tactic Zealand has rather than a typical formation