I've been on my annual break for a few weeks (but working, not resting). I'm back now and open to discussing the issues in order to find solutions that strike a better balance.
My intention here is to maintain a safe space without any hate and toxic reactions, while ensuring everyone feels welcome to contribute content and talk FM.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Those asking me to ban Josh, it's not a fair request. He's just sharing tactics, same way anyone else can do it. It's not against the rules.
2. Josh makes videos on the FM Scout channel on YouTube primarily to present Knap tactics. It doesn't extend to any special treatment or special rights here. His own tactics go on his channel.
3. I've read complaints about various things, including editor cheating or copying other people's tactics. I still haven't seen proof of that. That would be a valid reason to ban by the way.
4. I've asked Josh to provide more details and screenshots with team stats etc, and also to remove the patreon promo image. He also agreed to decrease the upload frequency to 1 tactic every 2 days.
5. Tactics by YouTube creators will be moved to a sub-category in the tactics section. This will make it possible to add filtering on homepage for example. Having 2 tactic feeds instead of 1 could be an idea.
6. Comments violating the site rules (and the law) will be removed on sight and further moderation action will be taken. I'll also add a disclaimer around the "post comment" form stressing out key posting rules.
7. I'm considering to implement a simple rating system for tactics. Like any rating system, it won't be 100% objective as people can vote based on personal preference and not necessarily after actually testing a tactic.
8. I'll explore the possibility of allowing members to hide download pages by other members, though not sure if it's a good idea. It adds complexity and negativity, when someone could simply skip past a tactic in the feed.
9. Having returned from my break means that I can actively validate and publish at least 1 tactic per day by non-YouTubers. This should help counter the spam feeling of seeing back to back content by video creators who mainly do this for views and subs on their channels.
Let me know what you think.
Good morning, I think you can just ignore it. I don't even open Josh's tactics. The idea of dividing the tactics into two sections might be a good one. My last thought is copying tactics. How many players are there on FM? How many websites and blogs are dedicated to it? There will always be tactics that are the same or very similar, where the difference may be minimal. This doesn't mean it's copied. Otherwise, at least here we make FM an island of serenity and relaxation.
Hello,
1. I don’t agree that Josh should be banned from the community. I would just like him to do more than post a tactic and then disappear until the next tactic is published. I would say answering relevant comments underneath own post should be mandatory.
2. I think the way he presents his background in the tactic description, especially the line “I have … worked on the FMScout YouTube channel for over two years …” is a bit misleading.
3. I don’t agree with his testing methods but I would not go into more details.
That’s why I publish the Game Status windows—to show that I don’t use the editor. I also follow strict saving rules: only save every 4–5 matches or once per in-game month.
4. He has improved the presentation a lot since the comments were made. I think that once others know his posting schedule, it will allow them to adjust their own posts so they can receive attention as well. This would be more fair than the current situation.
5. I want to add some background context. I’m not a content creator myself; I’m just having temporary fun with the game. However, there are content creators who rely on the traffic from this website to grow their audience.
The issue with his approach is that he has been consistently publishing videos for over two years, recently every day. At this point, he has already established a strong presence, while others are still trying to gain visibility. There is only one thumbnail slot for new tactics, and many creators would like the opportunity to appear there as well. By scheduling his publications to always occupy that slot, it limits exposure for others and could understandably frustrate some users.
6. I agree that we got carried away at times.
7. Voting could be misleading, as it can simply be a way to show disapproval of someone’s work. Instead of leaving a negative comment, people just give a thumbs down. I wouldn’t support voting unless it clearly showed who voted, so proper conclusions could be drawn. But there will be always a issue of second/third accounts.
8. I think if he stopped posting tactics every day, it would solve a lot of problems. At times it feels like he is the only one whose content is being promoted.
9. Agree
10. CAN WE MAKE IT FUN AGAIIN.? FORUM IS ALMOST NOT EXISTING.
I have to say I’m disappointed that so few people are commenting. Many of us constantly complain that the admin is unfair and favors Josh over the site rules, but when the issue is addressed publicly, almost nobody speaks up. Apart from me and one other person.
I’m speaking out for some of you who may be younger or don’t yet have the courage to do so. Ignoring the problem doesn’t solve it—it just puts it to sleep. And if we do that, someone else will come along in the future, and we’ll end up feeling jealous or treated unfairly all over again.
The rules can be set now and we can all move on.
I was also expecting more people to provide feedback here, or at least send me a private message. Regardless, it doesn't mean I'm going to stay idle and do nothing.
The issues are pretty much clear to me. Some of the ideas I shared are unnecessary, while others need to be applied. In all honesty, I have no agenda and I genuinely care about the well-being of this place.
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I'll do my part too.
Things have improved somewhat, that's true. But what I personally would like to see is him showing the match engine in both the video and screenshots. That would solve the main problem. On another site, a completely different version of the match engine is listed, and we're playing with version 26.x.x here! That alone will improve things a lot. A screenshot of the engine, and in the video itself, showing him in the options menu with his tactics and current game state, confirming that the match engine is the correct one. And yes, I'm very happy with a tactic every two days; this gives other people the attention they definitely deserve. Regarding the special rules... well, I'm 50/50 on that. Even an employee or helper has to follow rules, specifically the ones we all have to follow. I also agree that he should just be active here. He posts the tactics, and that's it. How many people have contacted him politely and received no response? Users with questions often don't get an answer. For an employee, as you say... it's sad.
That's all from me on this topic. I'm curious to see how things will develop in the future.
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Hi everyone
First of all, thank You Stam to talk about this issue in the forum. I carefully read your post and the comments.
As @TheAvenger2101 also pointed out, there has been some improvement recently, Josh is showing more screenshots about his tactic stats but the match engine issue remains. When I started (around 2 months ago) to read comments on his tactics some users pointed out this issue too, the issue is that in another site where you need to select the match engine you are using when you publish a tactic he wrote 22.1. I also had a look on that site and searched for Josh tactics and it was true. At the beginning I thought it may be only a mistake because in that site when you have to complete so many details (match engine, team you used (searching the team just typing its name in the column does not work , for example when I put Manchester Utd I couldn't find and some strange team names like Manchester United (Lactatunga) come out) and that site tracks, remembers the details you put last time and makes you select one of those so I thought he put the wrong match engine by mistake and I also wrote it in a comment to his tactic here. But as the old latin saying, "Errare humanum est, perseverare autem diabolicum" he repeated the same mistake so many times that I also think he knows what he does. The database 22. 1 or 22.2 or whatever means Football Manager 2022. This is the main issue. So, as @The Avenger2101 said, "A screenshot of the engine, and in the video itself, showing him in the options menu with his tactics and current game state, confirming that the match engine is the correct one." would be a huge improvement. Having that said, I can answer Stam point's 1 by 1.
1. If Josh posts his tactic here and he answers comments or requests of clarification about some points he may (everyone may forget to talk about something) have forgot to explain, nobody including myself will complain about him. There is no need to ban him if he simply does that. Obviously, as I already pointed out many times, he does NOT have any obligation to answer hating , insults, harassments and any type of comments which are not only against the rules of this forum but also of the law and must be censored and those users who posted those comments must be banned. Censorship against hating is right.
2. Here I quote luk4sh31 I think the way he presents his background in the tactic description, especially the line “I have … worked on the FMScout YouTube channel for over two years …” is a bit misleading. Maybe he can change it and nobody will say anything.
3. Again, the match engine issue and yes he could publish the game status window, because if he used FM 26 in-game editor, it will appear in that window as @luk4sh31 said, so nobody can't say anything
Having that said, I would add my opinion about game saving, I think if Josh states he plays 12-14 hours a day Football Manager I guess he should be able to finish one season (for 1 tactic test) in one day, so he does not need to save the game many times. But for example if someone has not much time to play and he plays for example 30 minutes a day of course he saves the game before quitting it or he will have to restart from where he was the day before. So I think the issue "how many times did the guy save his game" is not necessarily a proof he does not cheat. I am of course aware that one can say, if you save the game before an important match, then you can reload the game if you lose that match and you can reload it until you finally win that match. So if you save the game only 2-3 times you should be fair, but only if you continously play the game until you end it without turning your pc off. It's a bit difficult. Let me know what you think. Football Manager is a long game, it's not like FIFA that you do not have any setups, only play.
4. I hope Josh will show more stats and screenshots and I think 1 tactic every 2 days is a much more realistic way
5. Totally agree with @luk4sh31. Besides, Stam's idea about two tactics feeds, one for youtube creators and the other for those who are not creators is very good, I appreciate it.
6. Again, as I previously told Stam by PM , when I started reading comments I immediately got extremely upset by the insane amount of insults and hating and the first thing I did was to comment "hating, bullying, harassing and mocking online must be censored because are a violation of the law and in my country it leads to jail and a fine up to 5000-10000 euros and then I sent a pm to Stam asking him to remove those bad comments. So my approach to this matter is clear enough. Critics are always ok and are one thing, hating and insults are a completely different thing.
7. Again, I have to agree with @luk4sh31 and quote him "Voting could be misleading, as it can simply be a way to show disapproval of someone’s work. Instead of leaving a negative comment, people just give a thumbs down. I wouldn’t support voting unless it clearly showed who voted, so proper conclusions could be drawn. But there will be always a issue of second/third accounts."
8. like point 7, agree with @luk4sh31 No need to do that, just if Josh avoids to post everyday, even twice a day, other people will not have that feeling that all his tactics are promoted while theirs aren't.
9. Agree with Stam on this point.
About another issue, copying tactics pointed out by @Guido1976.
I agree with him, the possibilty of tactics creations with the game are surely many but not endless, especially if you want to create a tactic that is a bit inspired by some style (tikitaka, gegenpressing, Pep, Klopp, Sarri, etc) or like in my case, if you emulate a single manager's tactic, you can't change too much because it will be not realistic anymore (e.g. Pep's Barcelona famous tikitaka was a 4-3-3 with short passing, low tempo, high defensive line but if you use a 4-2-3-1 and counter attack instead of hold shape that's not Guardiola's tikitaka anymore, so that's difficult to say that someone has copied someone's else tactic.
That's all for now. I hope that other people will comment on this post too and provide their thoughts and new suggestions /advices that can be helfpul.
Thanks everyone
With the new tactic, we're again facing the problem of no screenshot of the match engine. As long as he doesn't change that, there won't be any peace. Isn't he interested in putting an end to all the criticism? I also think he should mention in his comment that he's happy to reply here, but he immediately refers to his social media channels. Other tactic creators reply, so why can't he? Why does he have to have social media? Anyway, I think we can resolve this issue if he provides the match engine version, because it's listed as 22.4.3 on another site! If it's not shown in the video/screenshot, things won't calm down. Some will be quiet, yes, but others won't. Please tell him that only HE can put an end to this.
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I am very mindful of talking on a subject about a fellow "content creator" (god, I loathe that term), but I do have some thoughts to add.
- There are very few rules for what is required to upload a tactic. Generally, I would say this is a good thing. Nobody wants to create unnecessary barriers for users to share their ideas. That knock-on effect is that you are not necessarily going to get consistent standards across all submissions, but that again shouldn't be a problem, because nobody is forced to download every submission. We can look at the upload and decide for ourself whether we want to download it.
- I am a firm believer in leading by example. To me, that means submissions should be a reflection of what I like/want to see - which in the case of recreations involve breaking down the real life tactic and evidencing the throughput into what is created within FM. It is also my responsibility to build up those that I think are also providing quality content. It doesn't, however, mean trying to tear others down.
- A voting system akin to YouTube's much maligned upvote-only approach could be a good way of allowing users to signify submissions they like, and create a useful search filter for users (popularity). Depending on technical capabilities, it could even be used to power a little carousel at the top of the tactics page which could have a mixture of most popular, most recent and editor's choice, which could address anyone's concern about upload times unduly influencing positioning. That may add unnecessary difficulty to your life, though, Stam!
- Alternatively, could there be consideration for "Premium" tactics or some other marketing nonsense. Not hidden behind a paywall, but submissions that meet a more stringent testing-criteria with robust, agreed-upon standards could be highlighted as being of a higher standard. This would reinforce the idea of addressing quality concerns in a positive way as well as provide users with clear ways of identifying those with greater detail.
Okay, that was more than I expected.
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Thought I would jump in as I post similar content to Josh.
I am not here to defend him as I don't know him personally but only heard positive things from someone I get on with. I am not here to complain, just give an opinion. I have seen the comments and as I said on one of my tactics I think we all, including Josh want this to be a positive place for FM.
I also mentioned before mental health is important so hopefully this can all get sorted with Stam providing a place for everyone to discuss without just hammering posts with negativity.
1. Those asking me to ban Josh, it's not a fair request. He's just sharing tactics, same way anyone else can do it. It's not against the rules.
I agree he hasn't done anything wrong to be banned
2. Josh makes videos on the FM Scout channel on YouTube primarily to present Knap tactics. It doesn't extend to any special treatment or special rights here. His own tactics go on his channel.
Facts
3. I've read complaints about various things, including editor cheating or copying other people's tactics. I still haven't seen proof of that. That would be a valid reason to ban by the way.
As you said unless there is proof no reason for a ban.
4. I've asked Josh to provide more details and screenshots with team stats etc, and also to remove the patreon promo image. He also agreed to decrease the upload frequency to 1 tactic every 2 days.
Fair enough and you asked me to remove my patreon link too which I have.
5. Tactics by YouTube creators will be moved to a sub-category in the tactics section. This will make it possible to add filtering on homepage for example. Having 2 tactic feeds instead of 1 could be an idea.
Good Idea
6. Comments violating the site rules (and the law) will be removed on sight and further moderation action will be taken. I'll also add a disclaimer around the "post comment" form stressing out key posting rules.
Completely fair.
7. I'm considering to implement a simple rating system for tactics. Like any rating system, it won't be 100% objective as people can vote based on personal preference and not necessarily after actually testing a tactic.
Interesting idea
8. I'll explore the possibility of allowing members to hide download pages by other members, though not sure if it's a good idea. It adds complexity and negativity, when someone could simply skip past a tactic in the feed.
I have said with myself and josh the titles/thumbnails are consistent so you can tell it's ours before clicking so if someone didn't want to see one of mine for example I think its easy to avoid.
9. Having returned from my break means that I can actively validate and publish at least 1 tactic per day by non-YouTubers. This should help counter the spam feeling of seeing back to back content by video creators who mainly do this for views and subs on their channels.
Great to see as many people as possible sharing tactics.
I think it says alot about how much you care about the site to open this chat up and try and put an end to it. It cant be nice for Josh getting the comments when he is working hard on tactics and videos.
I understand why people might feel the tactics are alot and I have been guilty of over planning around the homepage previously myself so apologies for that it isn't the right mentality to have for posting on this website.
FMSCOUT is a great site in my opinion. While I think everyone is doing things with the intention of having the best FM space possible I think people should either air their opinion in here constructively now or let things go and move on.
Firstly, I'd like to clarify that english is not my first language, but I will try to make my points clear. Also, I feel like it's important to say that even though this account is brand new, I've been using this site for years, but I just created it for commenting on this discussion.
Personally, my problem is not the "tactics spam", because I love visiting the tactics index everyday to see new posts, for me the "new tactic every 2 days" rule would be fine to give other creators some visibility though. My problem is that Josh's tactic posts feel inauthentic. No match engine is showed (in other forums it's even stated that he still uses an old ME, which is not ok in my opinion) and some things just doesn't add up. I've personally tested some of them (holidaying + only manually playing big matches, as he says he does) and the results were nowhere near his. You can tell me that "it's just luck", but I can't believe that he can create a new OP tactic and also have a miracle run in his simulations EVERYDAY.
I remember that once he did a Brighton recreation (very far from reality in my opinion) where he won the league with 100 points and only showed the league table and the data hub for a few statistics. Under that post, fellow users posted their own simulations with the same tactic+team and, surprise, the could only achieve half of Josh's points. Again, it could also been luck, so I tested it myself (a month ago, when the tactic was published) and also had terrible results for a misleading "BROKEN 4231 MASTERCLASS".
This is the post that I'm talking about and the tests by other users are on the comments of that post:
https://www.fmscout.com/c-fm26-tactics.html?id=13277
What I mean is that every of his tactics is like this, they only seem to work for him. I get that he has to sell it like a "NEW OP TACTIC" everytime for clicks, he lives off that, but at least I want this forum with actual tactics, and no fake/low-effort posts (I'm not even going to talk about most of them being almost the same tactic) that look more like a cash-grab than actual interest in the FM Scout community. Obviously, at some point, people like me who have been playing the game for years, will start to think that something is not right. Either it is that he save-scums (which I don't think) or that he uses the In-Game Editor for boosting the player stats, but both possibilities are not good. Users have told him to show more things like the Game Status window or the players profiles, but he never answer that kind of things. He only responds to comments that are direct attacks against him (I don't think it's right to attack him, let's be clear) but it's with the typical almost AI-like response of "talk to me on my other social media to chat". He had a lot of time to start showing this kind of IMPORTANT things for people to believe in him, but he didn't do it.
Again, I apologize if anything is poorly written, and I hope you understood what I meant. I only want what's best for this forum that I use every day.
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We're not the only ones who think this way about him. There are tons of posts on Reddit criticizing him and calling him a cheat, and it's been proven right there. If I were criticized like this, I'd just make a video showing the engine. But he doesn't do that, and why? Because then his whole YouTube house of cards would collapse. If @Stam wants some peace and quiet, he should show the match engine in his videos and screenshots. It's that simple.
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Like someone else pointed out, my main issue with Josh's posts is that its extremely clear hes not being honest with his tests. You can download his tactics, simulate AND manually play a full season ten different times with the same teams as his posts and I guarantee you'll never get the results he got. Idk if hes save-scumming or boosting player stats, frankly I dont care, but its a shame because its disingenuous and low effort content which radically lowers this site's quality.
Another issue I have is that whenever he uploads a tactic emulating some real manager, the tactic plays nothing like how the actual teams set up in real life. In fact, if you download five random tactics of his from the past month, and check the instructions and such... youll realise they are all pretty much the same with some small, insignificant changes here and there. His posts just scream low effort and recycled material.
All of these + the click-baity titles lead to believe hes being purposely misleading in order to get views and donations in his youtube channel, which again, significatly lowers the quality of this forum.
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Thanks everyone for providing feedback on this.
Some posts (by Tikitaka Master and GYRFM) were initially picked up by our spam filter and had to find them and approve before they could show up.
The issue that lucas1684 is raising about users not getting the advertised results and similarly about manager emulations not being on point, I can't think of a good solution.
I mean users are allowed to title tactics however they want. What kind of realistic measure I could apply for improved naming accuracy? An idea could be a list of blacklisted words, but not sure that's good.
2026-01-20 11:02#309193 Stam :
Thanks everyone for providing feedback on this.
Some posts (by Tikitaka Master and GYRFM) were initially picked up by our spam filter and had to find them and approve before they could show up.
The issue that lucas1684 is raising about users not getting the advertised results and similarly about manager emulations not being on point, I can't think of a good solution.
I mean users are allowed to title tactics however they want. What kind of realistic measure I could apply for improved naming accuracy? An idea could be a list of blacklisted words, but not sure that's good.
Thanks for replying, Stam. I agree that things like naming accuracy or how “realistic” a recreation feels are subjective, and I don’t think those are problems that can or should be tightly regulated.
I think where there’s a bit of a disconnect is that most people aren’t actually asking you to police outcomes, titles, or opinions. The frustration seems to come from verification rather than judgement.
A very simple and realistic solution could be standardised transparency around testing conditions. For example, asking tactic creators (especially high-output ones) to briefly show the Game Status screen and match engine version in their screenshots or videos. Even 15–20 seconds in a video showing:
- the current match engine version
- that the in-game editor is disabled
- basic game status (save count, etc.)
would go a long way toward restoring trust. It doesn’t prove a tactic is “good” or guarantee others will replicate results, but it does confirm that everyone is at least playing under the same conditions.
That feels like a small amount of effort compared to the amount of controversy it would prevent. It also protects creators as much as users, because it shifts discussion away from accusations and back toward actual testing and analysis.
I don’t think most people want conflict or restrictions. They just want confidence that what’s being presented is tested in a transparent, comparable environment. If that baseline is clear, a lot of the tension would naturally disappear.
