gunner4eva's Transfer Embargo.

Well, this is a challenge i thought of recently and i thought i'd share it with you.

Basically the idea is that you pick your club (in my case Arsenal) and your not aloud to sign anyone over the age of 17 and you rely solely on your training and youth academy to try and bring a club to be the best team in the world.

Now there are various ways you could go about this. You could start off playing various youth players to try and make them amazing in the future however this is at the risk of poor results and being sacked or you could go down the more traditional route of natural progression. It's an exciting project for me as ive never really seen youth come through before as when one of my players get too old i just buy someone else already good enough.

With the release of FM10 coming up this will probably be my last save on FM09 and i'd love to go out with a bang with this challenge.

Rules

No players are allowed to be bought that are over the age of 17. If they are 17 then that is fine.

Strictly NO Genie Scout can be used as that would make the challenge a lot easier.

No Changing Clubs at any point.

No messing around with the data editor. Using a weegie update or official patch is absolutely fine but no messing with ca's and pa's

Apologies if this idea has been said before but i hadnt really seen it anywhere and if its successful then i will look forward to starting it up again for FM10.

Finally if there are lots of players then i will work out a points system so we can see how good people are at this and i will be posting up my progress each season.

This is basically a very slightly easier version of another challenge on here will edit and link when I find it

EDIT: here we go

I will be taking this on shortly but have not decided between Leyton Orient or Chelsea... am getting dragged towards orient as i believe it would be fun to see this from a league one perspective.

ah i see Icelander. Im sorry about it being similar but there are some dramatic differences between the two so hopefully enough people will take this on

Seems like a good 'topical' challenge, I'm up for it. But undecided on what team.

Started this with Tottenham. I take it you can sign under 17 players

might give this a go, although I am a fan of the other challenge mentioned here where you can't sign anyone. This does sound slightly easier thou. Will have a think.

yeah you can sign under 17 players.

Ok poor start for me 3 games in.

Ok well ive just ended my first season of the challenge as Arsenal so i thought i'd share my challenge so far.

(i would upload a screenie but ive been uploading for ages and imageshack wont take it)

Premier League: 5th

Unfortunately i could only manage a Europa League spot but thats all that i was expected to do by the board so they are happy. I had far too many draws (15). The positives are that i only lost 5 games which was the 2nd best in the league and im not conceding that many.

The final table looked like this

1. Man City - 86pnts

2. Chelsea - 85 (they would have won the league but i beat them 2-1 on the last day of the season!)

3. Man Utd - 83

4. Liverpool - 70

5. Arsenal (me) - 69 (just 1 point off Liverpool, damn)

6. Spurs - 63

7. Everton - 63

Champions League: Quarter Finals

After easily getting through my group unbeaten and as winners i faced Atletico Madrid in the Knockout round in which i beat them 4-3 on aggregate. For the quarter finals i was happy with the draw as i had Lyon and i thought i could maybe get past them. I draw the first leg 1-1 at the Emirates and then narrowly lost 2-1 at the Stade de Gerland, a game in which i damn well dominated as well.

FA Cup: Semi Finals

3rd Round: Beat Rotherham away 4-1

4th Round: Beat Portsmouth at home 3-0

5th Round: Beat Blackburn away 2-1

6th Round: Beat Liverpool at home 1-0

Semis: Lost 2-1 to Spurs. arrrrgggghhhhh. It was an extremely even game and it was a quality strike from Modric than won it for them. Nevertheless the board were not best pleased

Carling Cup: Semi Finals

3rd Round: Beat Tottenham away 3-2

4th Round: Beat Liverpool at home 1-0 (lol the Liverpool fans must be sick as a pig after two 1-0 home defeats to Arsenal in both domestic cups0

Quarter Final: Beat Blackburn at home 1-0

Semi Final: Lost 5-4 on aggregate to Man Utd (we deserved to go out in fairness but it was a thrilling 2 legs)

Individual Stats

English Footballer of the Year: Samir Nasri

English Young Football of the Year Runner Up: Theo Walcott

Arsenal players in Team of the Year: Samir Nasri, Andrey Arshavin

Top Goalscorer: Eduardo (18)

Top League Goalscorer: Eduardo (14)

Most Assists: Andrey Arshavin (12)

Personal Awards

My Player of the Season: Samir Nasri

My Young Player of the Season: Carlos Vela

Most Improved Player: Carlos Vela

Most Disappointing Player of the Season: Robin Van Persie

Appearance King: Gael Clichy

For extra brownie points, do this challenge with Athletic Bilbao.

gunner4eva: Did you sign anyone this season?

Good challenge, sadly I'm trying to advance the most in my current save games before FM10. It would be nice to try it then.

nope i didnt sign anyone. season 2 has started badly

Well, I decided I was going to give it a try with the Irish side Shelbourne since I'm reading James Joyce's Ulysses. The team look great with a lot of youth highly regarded for my Assistant Manager.

Also, let's make it clear. What about signing coachs and scouts?

I think we should allow it. A good staff is key to the success of your kids.

Shelbourne Update

08/09 Mid-season

So far I'm doing well in the league, fighting the first place with local rival Fingal and Athlone Town. The squad has quality and I had succeed in getting a lot of first team players to sign Full time contracts.

I signed my first three players, all of them found by scouting net in the Irish U20s league.

(since all are regens, I'm "players naming")

Simon Nightingale, 16 years old, DL from St. Pat's Athletic for $1K

Lindsay Savage, 16 years old, DC from Bohemians on a free transfer. (Current value of $24K)

Jason Wood, 16 years old, DR/L from St. Pat's Athletic on a free transfer. (Current value of $22K)

All of the have the potential to be key members of the first team. So far, they're going to be playing in the U20s.

I still have $2K to spend in some promising kids.

Shelbourne Update

08/09 End of season

With one game left we were second in the table, three points from the leader Fingal. They had a small advantage in goal difference. But I praised their rival team and they started winning the game. The problem was that we where losing 0-1 against Athlone Town.

Thankfully we got a comeback and, five minutes to go, we scored the 2-1 that gave us the league and relegation.

Hearth-braking final.

I was choosen Manager of the Year and my players got several awards as well.

I let you know who's coming for the Irish Premier Division.

Going to start this again, probably with a lower league team, but not sure any suggestions?

@m1234566778: Try Cortulua en the Colombian Second Division, or Nimes en France.

Shelbourne Update

09/10 Season's start

Being in the Irish Premier Division gave us a little more money to work with. So far we haven't sold any player of the team. The kids are still a couple seasons away to be in the first team plans and we need to stay in the IPD.

Craig King, 16 years old, MC from Drogheda for $1K. (Decent guy that's going to be playing in the Reserves).

Some 17 years old, AM R and FW from Mervue Utd as a free transfer. (Good potential, also would be playing for the Reserves).

And some 17 years old, AM CR from Bohemians for $7K. (Great guy, ready to be in the first team.)

We also got 9 really promising kids from the Youth Academy.

Some of them

Adam Phillips, ST. He looks like the next Shelbourne legend.

Yueng Siu Fung, AM RC, ST. A Chinese Irish promise.

Shelbourne Update

09/10 End of the season.

The media prediction for this season was 7th, just one place above relegation battle. We wanted to stay. Following promotion the mentality of the group couldn't be higher and that gave us a good start on the league. Nothing impressive, but enough to keep ourselves in a safe position.

It's clear that the IPD has two different levels: the tittle chaser like Bohemians and Cork City and then us, far from them, trying to grasp points on the road.

As far as the signing the 17 years old AM CR that we signed from Bohemians, let's call him Tom was doing great in the first team, getting good reviews from the media and the others team's managers.

At mid season we were 7th, with a nice advantage of points from the feared 8th position. We got a good great promise, Sam Hooper, a central defense for $35K (Drogheda Utd). He's an excellent player, ready to make impact on the team, but I'm sad to say that he is an as*. The fans complained immediately upon is arrival and he stated that we were just a small step in his search for world domination. Later in the season he failed to showed up to training and media reported he was in a club with seven blonds and one brunette.

Again, we snatched a great kid from Bohemians: Nick Byrne. He is a promising AMC with talent to make an immediate impact on the team, but I rather wait because he is just 16.

We also got a Japanese/Irish player from Longford. Not only is going to be part of our anti racism campaign, but he's also a good MC ready to get some minutes of play.

With this new players we were ready to show our fans that there wasn't anything to be afraid and that Shelbourne will stay in the IPD. And well, we did.

We finished 7th. We belong to the IPD and there is no way we're leaving!

Shelbourne were the best team in Ireland till a couple of years ago, good job with them you're doing there.

Shelbourne were the best team in Ireland till a couple of years ago, good job with them you're doing there.

Sadly they extremely poor in a poor league. Prize money is a joke and attendance as well. But the kids are stepping up to the challenge.

Yeah it's true. In real life the finances of nearly every club are in bits, but there are loads of promising youngsters coming through now (the game reflects this, some of the youth academys are great). Hopefully Irish football will get bigger, because the standards have definitely improved thus far.

How are Shamrock Rovers doing in your game?

I'm just about to start as Arsenal because they bring a lot of good youth players through.

How are Shamrock Rovers doing in your game?

The got relegated in the 08/09 season, but won the First Division on 09/10, so they're back in the Premier, looking safe so far.

Bad and good to hear

Do you know about our league? At the moment in real life Bohemians are 1st, Rovers are 2nd (1 point behind) and they still have to play each other, could be a cracking finish.

Shelbourne Update

10/11 End of the season

According the media we should finish 8th this season. Our kids are still kids and we don't seem to have a squad to get anywhere in the middle of the table.

First the signings:

I got two free transfers: Paul King, talented MC and David McGregor, a promising DR. Both were intended to serve as backup and get some experience playing a few minutes here and there.

The first half of the season was a nightmare, we were at the end of the table, 10th, and were getting a lot of goals and no scoring enough.

That's why I brought to Jim Phillips, a striker from Waterford (1K), ready to make first team impact, and also a striker for the future Greame Salt.

Also, thinking on the future, I got Bob Stevens, a superb GK.

Phillips gave us a little more edge on the attack and last season signings Hooper and Hosaka, now a regular on Japan National Team, found a place in our starting eleventh playing superb.

We got our relegation zone and we hit a good form at the very end of the season pushing us all the way to the 6th position and giving us the "Overachievers" tag for the media.

Next season I'm aiming for Europe.