"Ghost" players appearing in my match day squad . . .

[stockwellpete]

I had two players who I never have heard of available for selection yesterday. I had enough players to fill up my subs bench without them as well. Is this normal? Teams will sometimes not name a full roster of substitutes in competitive matches in real life presumably without penalty, Jed Doyle is the other ghost player. What happens if I play them? Do they just disappear before the next match if another player becomes available?

 

 

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Edited July 22, 2023 by stockwellpete

[Johnny Ace]

Grey players, they've been in FM for at least 15 years. They're generic (bad) players to help fill your squad in positions you're short, you can offer them contracts if you want  

[stockwellpete]

1 minute ago, Johnny Ace said:

Grey players, they've been in FM for at least 15 years. They're generic (bad) players to help fill your squad in positions you're short, you can offer them contracts if you want  

 

Ok, thanks. I am relatively new to FM.  So I cannot play them unless I offer them a contract then?

[Johnny Ace]

Just now, stockwellpete said:

 

Ok, thanks. I am relatively new to FM.  So I cannot play them unless I offer them a contract then?

No worries  Yes, you can play them but they're usually awful, like your guy above

You'll see loads of them in teams where you don't have the leagues loaded to populate the squads 

[turnip]

I've always been a little disappointed that SI stopped giving them random attributes, like they did in the first one/two editions after they introduced them.

I remember one guy (probably in a CM3-era save) who I signed and he ended up being a decent Serie B player.

[stockwellpete]

I have to say that I am not convinced that they are really needed in the game. If you have an injury crisis then you need to promote players from your other squads, or maybe go into the transfer market at the next opportunity. That is what would happen in real life. I think I will add "ghost" players to my house rules and not avail myself of them. Part of the challenge of the game should be to keep your squad at a decent size and to hold some money back in case of an emergency.

[Johnny Ace]

1 hour ago, stockwellpete said:

I have to say that I am not convinced that they are really needed in the game. 

They kind of are. They help squads meet the matchday rules, for us and the AI 

We can be caught short with injuries and suspensions and just not having the players on a particular match day to field an eligible XI. The same with unloaded leagues, they might only have 3 or 4 of the higher rep players loaded in, if they need to play a game, they can use the grey players 

If a squad doesn't need them, they just won't be there  

[stockwellpete]

9 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

They kind of are. They help squads meet the matchday rules, for us and the AI 

We can be caught short with injuries and suspensions and just not having the players on a particular match day to field an eligible XI. The same with unloaded leagues, they might only have 3 or 4 of the higher rep players loaded in, if they need to play a game, they can use the grey players 

If a squad doesn't need them, they just won't be there  

OK. But when they appeared in my match day squad, I still had enough players to fill the subs bench without using them. And I had not specifically promoted anyone from the U18's for that match either, even though 2 players had international call-ups. So I didn't end up using them at all. It is not a problem them being in the game for the AI or unloaded leagues - I shall just not be using them if I can help it. I tend to bulk out my squads anyway with players who I describe as "runners". These may be 2, or 1.5, star utility players who can fill gaps for me, particularly when I have a period of fixture congestion. Often, I will have one on the subs bench, but occasionally I will start them in a match against weaker opposition. The supporters are not happy when I sign these sort of players, but then they don't seem to understand squad rotation/squad depth (nor do some of the players).

[Johnny Ace]

Just now, stockwellpete said:

OK. But when they appeared in my match day squad, I still had enough players to fill the subs bench without using them. And I had not specifically promoted anyone from the U18's for that match either, even though 2 players had international call-ups. So I didn't end up using them at all. It is not a problem them being in the game for the AI or unloaded leagues - I shall just not be using them if I can help it. I tend to bulk out my squads anyway with players who I describe as "runners". These may be 2, or 1.5, star utility players who can fill gaps for me, particularly when I have a period of fixture congestion. Often, I will have one on the subs bench, but occasionally I will start them in a match against weaker opposition. The supporters are not happy when I sign these sort of players, but then they don't seem to understand squad rotation/squad depth (nor do some of the players).

I can't tell from your screenshot because the positions aren't showing but if you had two left backs on international duty and another suspended or something then you might get a grey player show up that day to help pad out the position in the squad

In other cases I've had them because in other counties you need players under or over a certain age in the matchday squad and I didn't have enough players to make a bench

Yeah, don't include them if you don't have too, they're usually pretty poor based on the squad ability and are just filler. For AI teams where they might have only a few real players, they'll be of better quality so that the team can compete