#163 · Former players · round 1: the way in, and what he looks like once he has gone
Ross: "players that played for us at one stage but not currently, it could be that they were on loan or with us permanently" - and "going forward we are going to track shortlists of future transfer targets as well so we do not want them showing up in here either". A former player is reached from Player evolution's rail, and his four tabs work as for anyone, up to the day he went.
What to look at, round 1
The way in: a Former players chip on the rail, beside the squads, with how many there are. On its own it lists them by the season they left, newest first, each with when he went; with a squad chip on too, they follow the squad as their own block. The search finds them by name.
Who counts: anyone who was in one of our squads at a squad capture and is not now - bought, released, his contract run out, or a loanee gone back (Gonçalo Ramos). A shortlisted target, when shortlists come, never has a squad spell here, so never shows; a league sample's players are not players of ours at all.
The header bar says he has gone - a grey pill, Left the club · Jan 26, or for a loanee Back at Paris SG · Jun 26 - and until Jan 26 ends its second line. No ⓘ: the card cannot say anything true about a player who has left (#192), and the rail's circle is gone for him too.
His four tabs as for anyone, read from what was captured while he was ours. History ends with how he went, where the save can tell: when his contract ran out, while on loan at St Mirren, Went back to Paris SG, when his loan ended - otherwise plain Left the club. The season he left says Until he left on its readings line.
A player who comes back is one of the squad again, not a former player, and his History carries both spells: Left the club, then Rejoined the club. The last button below.
Player comparison has no Former chip - it compares the squad you have.
Real, illustrative, and what building it found
Real: the 85 players of the December save, their squads, positions and loans, and 25/26's squad spells behind each History. Illustrative: every departure, and all of 26/27 - nobody has left in the save yet. The page is set at the start of 26/27, six players gone.
Found:the live save has no former players yet - all 85 have an open squad spell, and the squad has been captured twice, 1 September and 1 October. The chip reads (0) until a squad capture finds somebody gone and he is marked Transferred out: the second button below. A loanee who goes back keeps his "here on loan" open: marking him gone closes his squad spell and any loan out, but not a loan in - the build closes that too. And the save never knows who bought him - only that the capture found him gone - so History says where it can tell, and nothing it cannot.
#163's open questions: a save that holds more than one team shows the former players of the team being viewed, as the rail shows its squad; and one who comes back is a current player again, with one History of two spells.