What are the advantages of controlling your Youth team(s)?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of controlling your Youth team(s)?

I only ask because other than the odd game I never do it.

What like actually taking control of the matches? Very little if you go by a time/value ratio as you would get only a little more insight into how good the players were, whereas you could do the same by simply looking at the players match ratings after each game. I think overall it would just make the game extremely slow and unenjoyable for a tiny advantage.

depends on how much you want to get involved

sometimes i do it sometimes i dont depends how much i want to put into that club.

also to the post above me you say you get little advantage i have to disagree you get a much better look at the team your bringing up and also you actualy play players you want to play ive noticed everytime my ass man is in control alot of greyed out players get played instead of my under 18's even though i could have 20 players all eligible to play so im not sure if this is a glitch/bug or just bad choice on my ass man so i feel if you are really looking at going the whole produce the world super stars instead of just buying them then you want to put as much time into them as possible and so this involves controlling the under 18's and having a good mindset in how you handle your youths.

alot go for loan out as soon as possible but i feel them learning from you players till there a level where they could atleast fight with your back ups for a place (cup matches level usualy) and i dont always mean on there attributes but there actual ratings as ive had countless players who dont look the greatest make some massive contributions and then go and kick out big name players simply cause there doing much better in that role.

What like actually taking control of the matches? Very little if you go by a time/value ratio as you would get only a little more insight into how good the players were, whereas you could do the same by simply looking at the players match ratings after each game. I think overall it would just make the game extremely slow and unenjoyable for a tiny advantage.

have you actually done it? I find it well worth the amount of time spent, preety much agree with Shadow Brewster

I occasionally take control of the youth team for a match or two over the course of the season, mostly just for fun, but also to see if the match play reveals any strengths or weaknesses that aren't evident from the assistant and match reports. Agree that controlling for every youth match would slow the game down too much, for little benefit.

What shadow said.

I like being able to play the lads I want to play.

depends on how much you want to get involved

sometimes i do it sometimes i dont depends how much i want to put into that club.

also to the post above me you say you get little advantage i have to disagree you get a much better look at the team your bringing up and also you actualy play players you want to play ive noticed everytime my ass man is in control alot of greyed out players get played instead of my under 18's even though i could have 20 players all eligible to play so im not sure if this is a glitch/bug or just bad choice on my ass man so i feel if you are really looking at going the whole produce the world super stars instead of just buying them then you want to put as much time into them as possible and so this involves controlling the under 18's and having a good mindset in how you handle your youths.

alot go for loan out as soon as possible but i feel them learning from you players till there a level where they could atleast fight with your back ups for a place (cup matches level usualy) and i dont always mean on there attributes but there actual ratings as ive had countless players who dont look the greatest make some massive contributions and then go and kick out big name players simply cause there doing much better in that role.

In FM2005 I think it was I used to run the Reserves and the Under 18's as my FM policy/strategy has always been to sign the best up and coming young players and see if it was possible to bring them right through the system over say a decade and eventually have a side of 20 somethings who had played together for ten years and growing. I noticed as you did that if you left it to the assman or a specific coach then a lot of my future stars weren't being played and therefore come the seasons end their CA had not risen by more than 1-2 points. So I started to control these teams as well and was very successfull but found out that the game/match engine doesn't really like you to do this and will end up altering your fixture lists so that you end up having to play 3 matches right after each other which no matter how much I love playing FM gets tiresome after a while. What I found out after that and what I do now is that during the pre-season I arrange friendlies for both my first team and the reserves and take control of these matches temporarily moving the best reserve team players into the first team squad and using the best youth players in the reserve squad. After the pre-season friendlies are over and I know who is who I set up the tactic I want the Reserves and Under18 teams to play and pick the first choice players for each position. I then play the first one or maybe two games of each team while in control then I choose a coach/assman with good atributes in spotting talent, working with youth, motivation and tactical knowledge and put them in charge of their respective team ticking the box for use current tactics and leaving the chosen players in position ie don't clear the team selection for the reserves and youth teams. This works as you will notice from the reports on their results that these players are always chosen when fit and the CA will rise more than if you had just left them to it so to speak.

I don't manage youth teams myself, but surely it would give you a much better feel for how the players are getting on than just looking at the match rating?? Also a possibility to try out different tactics that you might not do with your first team.

I have just started taking over my reserves recently, as my assistant doesn't play the players I want him to, and I would like to throw in some of my youngsters and try out some different formations with them.

Also I imagine it would increase your hands on approach stat, if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Surely doing this is completely unrealistic? Your WAG wouldn't be happy with you spending another night out as well.

What you should be able to do is give your ass man instructions. For example play Owen for half an hour each game, start with this template eleven, only picking players over 95% condition.

Surely doing this is completely unrealistic? Your WAG wouldn't be happy with you spending another night out as well.

What you should be able to do is give your ass man instructions. For example play Owen for half an hour each game, start with this template eleven, only picking players over 95% condition.

I'll tell W I'm with G, and vice versa. They won't be happy, but that's not my problem since they aren't real!

I often take control of the ressie's, especially if i'm starting to get a big squad and the regens are filtering into it. Means you can manage things exactly how you like, knowing your first team fixture list and who will be starting those matches can lead to giving the rest of your first team 90 minutes in the reserves.

Simple ticking them as available for the reserve team i've found as pretty terrifying, as the players always seem to come back in much worse condition (around the 80% mark), whereas under your guiding hand they'll easily be able to slot in to your first team again fit and healthy.

Though what I like to do, and it seems so much easier with the amount of experienced released players in this years version, is to plump up the reserve side with some old-timers (currently have the likes of Joe Cole, Paul Konchesky, Angel Palombo and Tomas Oravec on low wage deals), because the experience will help to achieve and whats better than being in a winning team for your young superstar regen.

Note that obviously it will increase the amount of time it takes to get through a season and auto-selecting your squad registration will mean some of the experienced ressies may crawl their way into the first team (so double check that before you submit). Apart from that it gives you greater involvement in the club and a better handle on having control of the whole club.

Except for accelerating position training I can't see any

I actually take control of all matches, from the first team (obviously) right through to my youth team. I play the the youth team matches on Extended Highlights only though not Full Match. I control them all pretty much because I am a bit of a control freak and want even my youths to win

The main benefits I see in doing this is that I like to see what is coming through my youth system though first hand as I can see for myself who is playing well and who has potential and who I can get rid of. Since doing this there are a good few players that I have seen beginning to play well and that I will more than likely want to keep and have seen ones that I will probably loan out to get match experience in hoping that they get better or just selling altogether.

It does take up a bit of time though yeh but I enjoy being involved this way and I like the hands on approach for all parts.