Attracting better players during "Youth Intake"

Hi all. I've been managing Bolton for about 4 seasons, and have led them to a number of top 6 finishes, a league cup win, and a UEFA Cup win. Still, I'm not getting great youth prospects . . . best I've seen was a couple of keepers who could be "good premier league players." Is there anything one can do to get better young players? In real life Bolton is handicapped in this area by the geographical proximity to bigger clubs, but can I do anything about it in FM? Thanks!

Hope I'm not stating the obvious here, but have you checked your youth facilities, that might help.

Also getting in scouts and coaches from different countries may help as you will have a wider area of choice, and you may get a few foreign players.

Often too a young player who looks bad now will turn out to be top class, due to a large difference of PA>CA and some good training.

Indeed Brian, I think youth facilities must have something to do with it. I've upgraded them two years in a row, and my crop of youth players this year at Bolton is better than every other team in the league. I've got three kids who could be "quality" players. I also have a small army of scouts (14 I think) but I didn't notice any players from outside England.

even with the best facilities and the highest rep you won't get too many good players through each year, in fact you would be lucky to get one good prem player per year (ie 150+ PA).

for an example of what you can expect from a club like that, have a look in the challenges forum for the regen thread where someone has shown the regens generated at blackburn over the years which is a similar size club

Even irl a club won't produce many top class players every season. In fact, the really good ones are usually scouted in the lower leagues and get tought at the club from the age of 15 or 16, sometimes even later.

Youth facilities are important, but many good scouts are at least as important.

The reputation of your club is also a huge factor on the quality of your youth. So if you manage to be very successful you'll also see an improvement.

Does the country you're in limit the regen levels?

Like I'm in Scotland at the moment and will that stop me from seeing world class players come through, ever.

dont think so

on my game Scotland are giants!

While you can maximize your chances of good regens with good facilities and reputation, even the top clubs will not be bringing world class players every year. After you become one of the top clubs, getting one 4-star player a year would be considered a good group.

ive noticed in this version of fm and past ones that you tend to get MUCH better regens from your youth intake if you have a relatively thin squad and lack ability in areas.

anyone else ever noticed this?

I've tried clearing out the no-hopers before the new intake but I always got the same standard of numpties. I suppose it could just have been down to luck.

no i dont mean the youth squad.

i mean your youth intake is reactive to your FIRST TEAM.

like if your first team lacks ability and players in some areas the youth intake will be better.

i noticed it in fm07 and now in this version aswell.

bear in mind that i am in 2026 in the prem title challenge consistently with barnet

It's certainly plausible. I might try an experiment with an old saved game later to see if there is a noticeable difference to the intake.

how you gonna conduct the experiment?

Scientific method. I'll need a machine that goes 'ping'.

Here's a scientific method approach to prove/disprove that specific theory:

Take a save-game to two days before youth intake.

Trial 1: Move all first-teamers to Reserve team, leaving First Team empty.

Trial 2: Free Transfer all players from First Team, Reserve team, and Under-19s.

Trial 3: Promote all contracted 17-year-olds to Reserve team; Free Transfer all under-17s or youth players who have not signed a full-time contract.

Trial 4: (Control) Leave as-is, with the "correct" players at U-19, Reserve, and First Team levels

"Continue" through the save-game date twice with each Trial.

Compare and contrast.

Trial 2: Free Transfer all players from First Team, Reserve team, and Under-19s.

Your board would never let you do this surely? You'd have to cheat somehow with an editor

Scientific method. I'll need a machine that goes 'ping'.

It would have to be the most expensive machine around though. May I recommend you sell it then lease it back to save money

Oh, silly me..

Using an editor to do an experiment isn't cheating, there's no other way to test it.

It would have to be the most expensive machine around though. May I recommend you sell it then lease it back to save money

or perhaps buy it second hand depending on condition and avalibility of parts and specalists to fix it if it should break

Does it not also matter about the reputation of the city the club is from? No offence but Bolton isn't the nicest, most attractive place i've been to