Regen Philosophies

Okay, so we've all seen the regens that get bought for 30 million pounds. But my question is this - How do you "raise" your regen to the level of superstar? I'm sure everyone will have their own certain techniques and what not, but I'm curious. Is it a steady under 18 diet until they are too old and then a loan out and then a run in the reserves with some small time cup matches mixed in? If anyone has a "plan" for the re-gens that come back in the scouting reports that say:

"Isn't far from having the required potential to be better than..."

"has the potential to be a leading star in your league."

I'd love to hear it.

If your asking how I blood my young regens then I give them at least 10 games a season between 16-18 (if they are good enough). Im convinced keeping them on a player specific training programme at a good club but them getting very little competative football is better the going on loan to a club with 'general' training and poor facilities with lots of first team football, so loaning is a no no.

19 is crunch time for my youngsters, I usally give them a good 20 starts a season. Thats when I decide if they are first team, back up or heading out the door. I try and tutor them as early as possible but it never works out the way I plan it

One of my regens is an objectivist. I sometimes have issues convincing him to pass or sit on the bench as he feels it goes against his rational self-interest. He doesn't regard me as a prime-mover and wants to move to a bigger club to fulfull his lofty aspirations. He is mad at my refusal, stating that he has an instrinsic right to act as his judgement decides.

Another one of my strikers is a skeptic. He's not sure that he truly exists. My Rene Descartes-following centerback told him that because he thinks he may not exist, he therefore does exist. The skeptical striker, however, has no trust in his senses (he could be dreaming or insane!). This caused me some problems when he refused to score on an emtpy net because he wasn't sure if the situation was really happening.

Then my nihilistic goalkeeper decided the cup final didn't really matter and let in 5 goals.

My team has some issues.

I really struggle with this myself...I take chances with my regens. I put them straight into my first team at 16 if it says they could end up amazing and none of them get sad or feel under-pressure or anything...but I haven't had any 5/6 star players develop sadly, despite my obvious faith in them and them getting playing time AND tutoring by the best players I have.

I don't know how other teams do it, I'd love to know...Arsenal and Sunderland both have fantastic regens at the age of 19 tearing up the league, but my team has regens at 20 who still have the potential to be great, but who I can see hitting 22 still being 3 stars...

u19s with generic training schedule until they're 17, then I put them in the reserves with "available to loan" and put them on appropriate full-time training schedule (attack, defence etc.)

If nobody tries to loan them and they aren't wonderkids (based on coach report) I'll loan them out to a feeder club in the January Transfer window. I'll then shuffle between reserve games (and league cup games) and feeder loans until they're 21 where I decide if they should be cut loose or put into the first team.

It's a general rule of thumb, but obviously every case is different.

One of my regens is an objectivist. I sometimes have issues convincing him to pass or sit on the bench as he feels it goes against his rational self-interest. He doesn't regard me as a prime-mover and wants to move to a bigger club to fulfull his lofty aspirations. He is mad at my refusal, stating that he has an instrinsic right to act as his judgement decides.

Another one of my strikers is a skeptic. He's not sure that he truly exists. My Rene Descartes-following centerback told him that because he thinks he may not exist, he therefore does exist. The skeptical striker, however, has no trust in his senses (he could be dreaming or insane!). This caused me some problems when he refused to score on an emtpy net because he wasn't sure if the situation was really happening.

Then my nihilistic goalkeeper decided the cup final didn't really matter and let in 5 goals.

My team has some issues.

Excellent.

Loan is often a waste of time and in some cases even the kiss of death for the potential career as Top Player... Or as a regular in a bog club.

I had 4/5 stars 18years olders loaned out in a lower division and they came back complaining about learning nothing, and, hear hear, with a reduced potential (in terms of stars).

On the other hand, yet another season kicking asses in the Youth team won't make wonders either, just like a backup role in the first team.

Basically, I think the game has painted ourselves in a corner: a youngster MUST play regularly, not just Cup matches and the odd "filler" league matches. That's, AFAICT, the one and only way to get a promising regen (or ANY regen) to get near his full potential.

Slight problema is: not even a Top Club can afford to field many 3 stars CA 17 years old kids. Sure, they'll eventually get better and it'll all pay off when (if?) they'll reach 5-6-7 stars, but until then it's an handicap.

I think the positive effects of actual FIRST TEAM play, although not in a world class club, should be more relevant than just sitting on their ass in a Top Club.

Facilities and coaches can help, but nothing should be better than playing 40 games from start to finish.

The way I see it it should be something like:

*16-17: youth team

*18-19: loan to feeder club for regular football

*19-21: loan to same-league clubs as key player. Or careful rotation at the parent club

*22+: one/two seasons as semi-regular, then it'll be evident what he can (or can't) do.

The age categories can vary depending on the potential, ie. more talented can skip some phases or go through them at an early age.

Less talented ones will take longer, or will leave before even making it to the first squad.

In long term games, I will occasionally add managers to clubs in different leagues, and run them effectively as feeder clubs.

e.g if you are a premiere league club, add a manager in spain and holland. and loan them your promising youngsters.

it will work best if you effectively totally strip their teams of their pre-existing players first.

be aware that the the higher rep/higher pa guys, may turn down the chance to go to go to a club if they if they dont think it is good enough for them.

You can then either:

play every game for each club ( as i do)

or

set the team and tactics and holiday - this means your players should still be getting the 1st team experience.

I have had my 3 managers each winning the league in the same season with this approach. (successful "feeder clubs" = easier to pursuade players to accept loan.)

it gives you a chance to experiment with things without having to abandon a favorite save.

One of my regens is an objectivist. I sometimes have issues convincing him to pass or sit on the bench as he feels it goes against his rational self-interest. He doesn't regard me as a prime-mover and wants to move to a bigger club to fulfull his lofty aspirations. He is mad at my refusal, stating that he has an instrinsic right to act as his judgement decides.

Another one of my strikers is a skeptic. He's not sure that he truly exists. My Rene Descartes-following centerback told him that because he thinks he may not exist, he therefore does exist. The skeptical striker, however, has no trust in his senses (he could be dreaming or insane!). This caused me some problems when he refused to score on an emtpy net because he wasn't sure if the situation was really happening.

Then my nihilistic goalkeeper decided the cup final didn't really matter and let in 5 goals.

My team has some issues.

Genius

"Everything I know about morality and obligation, I learned from football"

Albert Camus, Ex-existentialist philosopher and Algerian international goalkeeper.

I have a bit different view. At first when you get new batch of youngsters you take a look to their stats and training report. I'm playing with Ajax, so usually I find somthing like 3-5 regens with potential 4-5 stars at age 16 from each batch.

I concentrate my efforts to them. Guys with potential 2-3 stars will play in youth team until age 19 and won't be offered professional contract.

So, back to young talents - at first, you have to tutor them. Otherwise you can't get the best out of them, never. So tutoring is a MUST.

Secondly, I usually get them playing for youth team for age 16-18 and/or reserves. I try to rotate youth teams so that everybody are match fit all the time.

As far as I understand there's not much difference whether he plays for U-19 or reserves because it will count as "non competitive" either way. In reserve league you just have better opponents on the pitch, so you can see if your talented young striker can still score against Eredivisie fullbacks and GK.

In age 19 I start to include him to my first team plans. At first it means playing in cup games and coming in as a sub, but later on he's role will get more important. In age of 20 I decide will he be good enough for first team or no. It's the turning point for me.

I try to keep my first team down to 25 men, it means that I've got 2 players for each position and I won't sell anybody unless I have a solid young talent coming from my system.

I never loan out player younger than 20, as it has ruined many of them. I loan out only the ones who are failures and they have like one season left of their contract, it's easy to send them to some of your feeder clubs. In very rare cases loaning has been successful, but player has always been older than 20. In my previous save I loaned out Stanton Lewis to De Graaschap and he became their top scorer, hitting like almost 20 goals for the nearly-relegated team and he's value on the paper increased to £2,2m. But that's more like exception, not the rule.

I am in League 1 with a Regen that is 16 and has good stats, I'm playing him almost every game... is this wrong?

I am in League 1 with a Regen that is 16 and has good stats, I'm playing him almost every game... is this wrong?

You should give him a rest when he is tired but as long as his development is not disturbed by the hype around him, i see no problems.

I don't get rid of players just because they haven't reached their PA by 20 or so. Even at 22/23 if they can't get a spot in my team but they have good PA I'll send them to a feeder where I know they'll play. A player can easily improve his attributes at 22/23 with one good season and get closer to his PA.

I think the key is to check whether his attributes are increasing or not. If you have an 18 year old in your U19 team banging goals for fun and improving while his at it, then by all means leave him there.

Good average ratings and competitive games have far more impact on attribute gain than specific training regimes IMHO.

Of course, your facilities quality plays a big part, I think. I noticed a big change in how fast promising regens improve once I got a youth academy and state-of-the-art youth facilities. But, if your facilities are behind the curve, perhaps loan that youngster to a feeder with a better youth system?

Also, I imagine that loaning someone to a league that isn't fully simulated in the game is an absolute waste, right?

Also, I imagine that loaning someone to a league that isn't fully simulated in the game is an absolute waste, right?

No, iirc this was fixed in one of the patches. It works just as well now (well, you can't get match reports from them).

Oh, okay. That's good to know.