Developing Youth

Firstly let me apologizes if this is the incorrect forum to post this in, as i couldn't find one that seemed appropriate.

Ok so I am currently managing at the BSN level and I've picked up a few rough diamonds and I really want to polish them up in the hope they could player a role in the senior set up some day, but how do I do it.

Do i focus more on developing their mental or technical skills? Do I try and get them to learn PPM's? Also which attributes are the hardest to develop?

I've played the game for many years and the developing of youth at a lower level is something which i've yet to master, i'm well able to manage it at higher levels but then again i am dealing with much better players from the get go.

Generally, with young players (teenagers) you should focus as much as possible on their physical attributes. This is because they can increase best at a young age but then level out around 22 or 23. Technical skills tend to develop later, and mental attributes later still.

Personality attributes are improved through tutoring but unfortunately this appears to be badly bugged or not work in FM11 at the moment.

You'll need to appreciate that at your level the players are likely to be on part-time or youth training schedules with very poor facilities, coaching quality at level of performance, so there is only so much you can achieve.

I love that side of the game so much that what I've done is tinker with the editor to take over a lowest level league side but give myself an underwriter sugar daddy who built top class youth and training facilities and employed excellent backroom staff. I have a squad of 15-16 year olds with single-figure CAs, but good PAs and time for me to nurture them. With crowds under 100, I'm way out of the spotlight!

Playing time is key for any young player, the younger you play them and more games the better.

Tutoring is also a good idea, find a senior player in a similar position (with higher determination) and ask them to tutor the youngster.

While a player is young is also a good time to suggest they learn specific moves - they seem more open to it when young. For example, ask a left winger to dribble down the left, or your promising centre half to dive into tackles etc.

Firstly let me apologizes if this is the incorrect forum to post this in, as i couldn't find one that seemed appropriate.

Ok so I am currently managing at the BSN level and I've picked up a few rough diamonds and I really want to polish them up in the hope they could player a role in the senior set up some day, but how do I do it.

Do i focus more on developing their mental or technical skills? Do I try and get them to learn PPM's? Also which attributes are the hardest to develop?

I've played the game for many years and the developing of youth at a lower level is something which i've yet to master, i'm well able to manage it at higher levels but then again i am dealing with much better players from the get go.

Others have already given good suggestions. My plan for youngsters is usually as follows:

- If under 17 (thus can't be loaned out) or has a bad personality. Then I tutor the hell out of them, and try to give them plenty of play time, usually in U18 or Reserves. They will rarely play more than maybe one otr two games for the First team at that age.

- Once they sign a professional contract, I start looking for ways to give them competitive games. If they are still not good enough to play at least 10-15 games for your first team in a season, then loan them out. While as a BSN team they will most likely only get offers from non-active leagues, I still think it is better for them to go there, than playing in the Reserves. A good idea might be to get a feeder club that can take some of them (max. 3 per season).

- As mentioned, you would want to focus on their physcal stats at that age. Those are rarely any good, and you would want to build that up even at the expense of other stats. Later on you can start concentrating on mental and technical stats, as physical stats get harder to improve with age.

A few things to remember about tutoring:

Even if he is old enough to go on loan, it might be a better idea to let him sit in the reserves for 6 months while he is being tutored if his personality is bad. You would want to get his Determination, Professionalism and Ambition up BEFORE you send him on loan. This is because those three stats are important for the amount of CA (Current Ability) he gains while playing game. So if you send an Unambitious lad on loan, he would not gain as much CA as an Ambitious one would.

Be aware that tutoring is not exclusively a positive thing. You need to make sure that the tutor (older player) has a good personality that will not negatively affect the youngster. The personality (hidden stats) of the youngster will move towards that of the tutor. So if your youngster has good Ambition but low Determination, and you pick a tutor with good Determination (because you want that stat to increase), but who happens to have low Ambition, then you might risk having the youngsters Determination increase, but Ambition decrease.

Playing time is key for any young player, the younger you play them and more games the better.

Not necessarily. You can ruin some young players by playing them too much too soon. For others, what you say is true.

Forget youth development, it's a joke.

Forget youth development, it's a joke.

Care to elaborate? I'm only on my 2nd season so haven't seen much of this side of the game.

It's just not rewarding enough, unless you have an actual wonder kid to go with.

They progress very little, sometimes if at all. You can work some with the mental aspects, but then again, if you use tutor, you have a chance they get angry at each other, or even turn on you. So the risks overwhelm the benefits.

So unless his an obvious talent, I wouldn't even consider it.

Just to clear out, I used to do this a lot in the early days. ( when they actually did progress. ) At some point a few years back I just shelved it.

My definition of an obvious talent: 2-4 points below expected stats ( at an age pre 21. ). Having the mental stats you need. ( scout ) That would be the core of his natural abilities for that certain position. A winger ( crosses, pace, acceleration...etc. )

I remember while managing Salisbury(blue square n or s) on FM08, signed 17yo striker on free(wasnt wonderkid or anything, nothing special really), to my surprise he started score goals like crazy, assman told me every month how good he trained, skills went up and two seasons later I sold him to Wolwes for 10mil. (i was in league two at the time). So just keep trying, get best coaches available, do everything you can to improve training facilities - you might get lucky. everything is possible, even in blue square

How do I tell if a player is ambitious?

The only way I can think of seeing it, is in the personality section but all i can ever see is Determined or something else but no ambitious?

How do I tell if a player is ambitious?

The only way I can think of seeing it, is in the personality section but all i can ever see is Determined or something else but no ambitious?

Sadly all you really have to determine at least some of his hidden attributes are his Personality and Media-Handling type. But it is rare that these two will give you a full picture, so either guess work or having to sit and analyze his behaviour on and off pitch.

You can find a list o the different personalities here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/213536-Tutoring-results-test

Sadly all you really have to determine at least some of his hidden attributes are his Personality and Media-Handling type. But it is rare that these two will give you a full picture, so either guess work or having to sit and analyze his behaviour on and off pitch.

You can find a list o the different personalities here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/213536-Tutoring-results-test

Cheers that link seems like a must read cheers

Keep in mind that guide seems to be for FM10 and FM11 tutoring changed quite a bit... at least for simply being able to pair up 2 players, not sure about results after the fact.

Why is it that players sometimes say when they have been loaned out that they think it was a waste of time? I have sent players out that are currently rated as a decent championship player to championship sides where they have played every game and yet when they come back the player will say it was a waste.

My guess is that the player seemed to think the level was below his own skills. Might be connected to high ambition and low professionalism? ...

Why is it that players sometimes say when they have been loaned out that they think it was a waste of time? I have sent players out that are currently rated as a decent championship player to championship sides where they have played every game and yet when they come back the player will say it was a waste.

It's because they're idiots. Same as when they say they didn't benefit from tutoring. If you check their attributes, you see that they certainly have!

I've worked a lot with 6th tier clubs in England, used to play it with LLM way, so i want to benfite from every part in the game, i picked 'Stafford' Twice at FM10, and now in FM11, prefered them as it was good challenge to take poor team with no youth Facilities ( no youths/fixture in U18 team ) ..

i brought the best available coaches ( who applied for jobs ) and some of them were good/very good for that tier, someone rated 16/17 in fitness, yet there aren't that much difference, they improved +1 during around 12 months, and some lost +1 rate due to injuries, and even thought i tried to keep fitness for old players, it's seem Inevitable they are losing a lot of attributes.

i give some 'Gray' kids, with decent attributies, some were 15 year old with decent positions, tried to improve them, I picked some of them in cups or easy games, they did useful jobs and i've a young defender who toutered by good and experienced defender, he scored goal last season and now in my second season, but still yet to improve in attributes and now he lost some !! and no-one of them improved more than 'half star rate' and tried to get them even for 'one star' but they failed.

i pick training, individual training focus, touting, coaches & every thing careful, it's seem that's very touch in lower leagues, be aware that i broguht some of 17-18 year old players with good potential 'Full time' contracts, same with some experienced players as i hate to work with them in part time ( same with coaches ) but still nothing.

I remember once, i picked Tottenham, worked with their young GK Oscar Jansson, all coaches suggested he would improve to decent/good player for League one, with touting, training, and some games as backup for Gomes, he improved to decent EPL player. so i think in top flight level, could work easily, but lower devisions ? i've yet to change things.

now i've started to sell 10-15 in jan. ( 2nd season ) and bring new 10-15 players from abroad to achive quicker promotion, as we struggled last year after finanicial tourble and started with -10 points LOL. it's the third time i thought it's waste of time to develop youths there and more important to get quality players, even if they are olds and take a bit larger wages, but they achieve your aim in short time, and youth players don't achieve any thing even in long time.