Football Index

Football Index: What is value? It's opinion, not fact

The idea that there is a 'correct' number for what is a player is worth is a total misunderstanding of how the game works

 
10:30am on Friday 28th February 2020
By
Paul Macdonald

PROMOTE THE PRODUCT, NOT YOUR AGENDA

A question gets asked now and then on Football Index, is 'is this player value?'

This question has no factual answer as value is nothing but an opinion. The next time you see someone offering their opinion as fact, feel free to send them a disapproving emoji or two.

Value is not fact. One estate agent may value a house at £220k, and the next may value it at £240k. The owner may end up selling it for £250k. Value is what someone is willing to pay, Nothing more. A pint of milk or a loaf of bread costs what it does as demand - and what people are willing to pay - has driven that price.

There are underlying variables, for example production costs causing an item to sell at a higher price in order to make a profit, but with football players on our little stock market, this doesn’t exist. A player's price is what it is because there are

traders willing to pay at least 1p below it.

Is a youth player value at £4? Maybe. Is this defender value at £2? Maybe. Ask yourself if you’re willing to pay, and then if you think others are too. Will they pay even more in the future?

Now, you may end up being wrong and get burned with a loss or you may be correct and strike oil. Who knows, but isn’t that the point? The index is full of people who are able to dictate what a player’s value is.

19 yrs - D, M (L) - Bayern
94
Defending
Creative
Passing
Attacking
Shooting
Decisive
Aerials
Physical
JavaScript chart by amChartsLDefendingCreativePassingAttackingShootingDecisiveAerialsPhysical10-10-5051015100%
1438
Played matches
19
1
4
Crosses P90
2.69
Dribbles P90
3.69
Touches P90
96.82
Passes P90
61.42

Dividend payouts can be seen as underlying value but even these are not guaranteed. Football players are out of our control. Literally anything can happen, good or bad. They can be dropped, or injured, or move position, or move club. All of these things can influence what traders think of a player and therefore his price.

Value is opinion, not fact.

People can talk about the 'value' of a player's price and that’s fine, and there is no issue with people talking openly about a player 'looking' cheap, as it is a positive thing to talk about and may lead to buys and people making money if it turns out to be a decent shout.

But some seem keen to go out of their way to 'de-pump' or talk down a player’s price to comply with their own worldview. The Football Index community on twitter has some cracking accounts but at times it can be self-fulfilling and self-harming.

Someone once said “promote the product, not your agenda”, and they are right.

We all want the product to do well and continue to grow as it helps us all. We should also be helping each other out and creating a community of positivity.

But becoming annoyed at a player you don’t own because you have seen people 'pump' him on your Twitter timeline and then creating an agenda against that player over his perceived value is one of the most ridiculous things I have witnessed on Football Index twitter.

93
Defending
Creative
Passing
Attacking
Shooting
Decisive
Aerials
Physical
JavaScript chart by amChartsLDefendingCreativePassingAttackingShootingDecisiveAerialsPhysical10-10-5051015100%
2370
Played matches
27
2
12
Crosses P90
10.78
Dribbles P90
0.68
Touches P90
103.75
Passes P90
68.66

I’ve seen it before and continue to see it now. When it comes from influential accounts it leaves you scratching your head. Why would you go out of your way to talk down a player out of spite?

By all means have a discussion or reply to those 'pumping him' on your timeline if you wish, but please don’t create in-depth threads about players that have nothing to do with you as it serves no positive purpose.

There are traders out there that own this player. Decent traders. Ones that don’t deserve their player to be crucified in public which may affect their appeal and price on the market. You are not promoting the product or yourself in a good light, only your negative agenda.

If you don’t like 'pumpers', call them out, not the player they are pumping. If you don’t want to see it, block or unfollow these people so you don’t see it in your timeline.

You may not like 'pumpers' - I don’t - but at least they causes prices to go up. You can’t deny that, no matter how annoying or even shady they may seem. These prices may go on to crash and if so, make a rational judgement as to why and act accordingly.

Your tweets on a player’s price or value is creating a possible dump of a player, which is the very thing we all can’t stand more than anything else! We don’t really hate the pump per se, it’s the dump afterwards that’s the shitty thing to do. So why are you possibly creating such a dump yourself? It makes no sense.

Get annoyed at pumpers if you like, but please refrain from attacking the player involved. There is no need whatsoever and you are only potentially causing trouble for an innocent trader.

You may not like a player’s value and think it’s too high. That’s fine. But it really has nothing to do with you, so if you are going to comment on it at least go about it in the right way. Is that too much to ask? Play the game right.

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