What do you think is the best method of rearing youngsters?

Pardon the title folks!

Anywho, I am managing to continually pick up hot prospects in this game and turn them into Francis Jeffers. They look great when I sign them, my coaches rave about them, but they seem to not make it at the top level :confused:

I've downloaded some training schedules from the forums but I'm really wondering what people tend to find is the best way of aiding their development, i.e do you send them out on loan? leave them in the reserves to get games under their belt, or keep them on the fringes of the first team?

For me, first team action. Others have strict programs, but I throw them in at the deep end, and hope they can swim

Build them up gradually. When they're in the U18s, give them one or two reserve/first team matches here and there. When they're too old for the U18 team, loan them out to a smaller club, where they can get first team football, but the media pressure won't be so great. When they get back (I usually do the loan thing until they're 19 or 20), ease them into first team football.

I tend to use the "throw them in at the deep end, and hope they can swim" tactic as well as i lost an excellent player to the Loan bug thingy where the loan move gets all confused and it goes permanent.

I tend to use the "throw them in at the deep end, and hope they can swim" tactic as well as i lost an excellent player to the Loan bug thingy where the loan move gets all confused and it goes permanent.

I (luckily ) only had that once, in my first save on FM10 where I managed to sign Balotelli for way too much money - loaned him out to a PL club for experience but he never returned to me... Waste of money really (about 25+ million euro) cause he never played a match for me or many for the "loanclub" either in 4/5 years (until his contract expired)

BEST thread title, ever.

nice title. personally, i prefer to take them into the reserves straight away, and max out their physical stats as much as possible to push development in this area. after a year ill either move them to the first team on a regular training pattern or loan them to a club who plays them as first choice. if i dont think they are good enough afte rthe first year forthis jump i leave them and repeat year 1 again.

In my team i never buy any1 over 21 unless i need a quality player asap, so generally my youngsters are my back up. My avg squad age is 23

Play them lots, but don't ware them out!

does anyone create a personal training schedule for their star youngster?

It depends on their age for me if I get someone through the youth system i hope to have them first team regualr by 21

Aged 15/16 - U18s/Reserves + cups

17 - cups + first team fringe player

18 - cups (including europe if in it) + first team fringe

19 - playing more regularly

20 - first team player

21 - first team star (hopefully)

first team action. pure n simple

when they are in the U18 squad you cant loan them out, so i just let them play there, make them available for reserve matches too. might also put them on the bench if im playing a game i should win so i can throw them on when im ahead

but most of all, get them out the door and into the first team of any club once they turn 18. i only accept bids by clubs that say that he will be used in the 1st team. id rather have my player getting 1st team action in a lower division, than sending him off to a struggling prem club and have him being used as a sub once every 4 games. loan them out until you want to use them for your own first team.

IMO you dont need special training schedules

Ive noticed once ive played my youngesters around 4 times in the 1st team pretty quickly, their stats shoot up. After this they sometimes get the 'their progress has been booseted by 1st team action' report.

3 times sometimes does it, 2 times barley does it.

Definitely first team action. I remember back in the day before the game stopped you using players aged 15 or less, sticking a 12 year old Freddy Adu in my newcastle squad, he was the best player in the game by the age of 16-17!

When signing a promising youngster I usually make my decision based on two factors:

- Personality - not sure if it is still the same in FM10, but in FM09 you could often sign a very promising player with 'unambitious' in the 'personality' field. 99% of the time they would not improve at all during their career and generally get poor / average match ratings.

- Work rate - seems like a crucial attribute for a hot prospect. Also, I noticed that youngsters with low workrate would underachieve most of the time and never fulfill their PA.

Note: regardless of the above, I always sign promising footballers with crappy personality or work rate. I never put them in my first team but stick them in the reserves and then loan them out for a fee.

1. Buy a young player with good attributes but crap work rate & personality

2. Stick him in the reserves for a season

3. Offer him on loan with a fee

4. ????

5. HUGE profit

As a rule of thumb, unless they're at least 3* PA players, I won't bother to nurture them... They'll be U18 and Reserve material, and will be used just in case of injury crisis, extreme rotation or when a HG slot needs to be filled. And of course they'll be sold at the first club who'll offer 10 quids and a bag of peanuts.

On the other hand, those who actually have potential must PLAY first team football. Be it on loan somewhere (but not at a too low level, otherwise it'll be a useless season of "Big Fish, Small Pond") or on your team, nothing works like a dozen of top-level appearences.

Those who are hard-working and/or very gifted will become valuable first squad members by the age of 19, others will be ok as backups, some others will not develop much after a promising start.

My suggestion is not to flood the youth team with 4* prospects, because in the end you won't have enough tima/matches to develop them all, and unless you're out there to pillage the U18 transfer market in order to harm your opponents rather than to improve your team, there's little point in signing 5 top young strikers...

3 good prospect a year are more than enough to keep you busy

This is something I need to start doing then. Don't normally get far enough in to worry too much about youth but I'm just starting my 3rd season in my save and I've never been more addicted to a save so I might have to start my own youth system.

Some top advice here by the way.

At the end of the season I'll put a series of images of my lastest young strikers development.

He's done quite well for himself if you ask me.

I'll also list how I developed him, my squad structures and such. Basically my whole philisophy when it comes to youth development.

Always breast feed.

Good ol' Bradbury!