PaulHartman71 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 The Academy, formed in 2000, is a club based in London that have just been promoted to the Blue Square South. The club has one main advantage to their rivals in the Blue Square South - they have state of the art youth facilities as well as training facilities. This is obviously a massive advantage and despite having similar finances and stadium size to the clubs around them, the training facilities and youth facilities that have been provided for them are clearly a massive help. However there is one disadvantage that they have - they cannot and will not ever sign a player. The club will forever operate using only players that have come through their world class youth academy - a revolutionary concept. The club is a brand new radical experiment in football to see if focusing purely on bringing players through an academy can lead to success, as well as production of top class players. Inspired primarily by the success of Barcelona in Spain, the brains behind the idea hope to achieve similar success to the Catalan club in the long term. Since 2000, primarily behind closed doors the club have been training promising talent and have now found themselves promoted to the 6th tier of the English system. Whilst they have been primarily very quiet about the players they've already brought through the system, one thing can be said of all of them - they have no experience at this or any higher level. Critics have claimed that despite the fact some of the players in their squad are in their late 20's, none of them have the real experience needed to compete at this level. They've been tipped for relegation by the majority of pundits and bookies - many stating that it was a no brainer due to the fact the playing staff and back-room staff have no experience at this level. A few brave pundits have however tipped them for success, stating that they could possibly provide decent competition for some of the teams in the Blue Square South, especially those that have also just been promoted to the division. Survival is not impossible for The Academy, perhaps promotion isn't either - but until we've had a good look at their players in action it's very hard to imagine that this team of nobodies could ever play a game of league football. Notes - Playing on FM10 patched up. Created a new team for the Blue Square South, they have average finances, reputation etc for the Blue Square South/North but have 20 training and youth facilities as well as an academy. I'm no tactical genius so don't expect me to have won the quadruple within 10 seasons or anything quite that spectacular. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dejay Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Interesting save it would seem. Good luck with this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 The Team This is the facilities page for anyone interested. A first look at the squad shows that whilst there are a few good players in there, there's a big lacking depth. I've taken screenshots of the players who will most likely feature this season, anyone with less than 1 and a half star rating I haven't bothered as it's unlikely bar an Arsenal-esque injury crisis that they'll feature. The reserve and U18 squad both look bleak, perhaps 1 or 2 games here and there for some of the players in an emergency but I doubt any of those players will ever do much for us. The team report suggests we'll be relying heavily on Barry Fox our goalkeeper, as well as midfielder Kenny Mwape and main striker Rigoberto Fonseca. The fact I've only given screen-shots of 14 players shows the thinness of our squad, but we have a few players who could potentially do very well in this league so hopefully they'll carry us to a decent finish. We're predicted to finish 21st but can hopefully do better than that. Danny Holmes has been appointed captain with Rigoberto Fonseca acting as his deputy. Barry Fox - He will no doubt be first choice Goalkeeper. The 26 year old from Watford is a lot better than our 2nd choice, Chris Ferguson (no screenshot for him, he's not great at all and will hopefully never have to play for the club), and looks to be a pretty good player for this level. A few stats are slightly worrying but hopefully he should do okay. Spyros Arganis - The 21 year old from Hereford, born to Greek parents, looks like our backup defender for the middle and potentially our main main on the right hand side. He's not great at all but with a wing-back crisis that Arsene Wenger would be proud of, he will probably feature a lot more than I'd like him to this year. Ged Saunders - One of the best defenders at the club, the 27 year old from Hereford should feature heavily this season. He wont offer much going forward but looks like he could be reasonable at the back. Peter Serrant - Not a player I want to be shoving into the first team, but the 16 year old left back has great potential and with a shortage of left backs at the club he could well see more than a few first team games this year. Vasilis Drakopoulos - Another defender who shares dual Greek nationality, the 23 year old from London looks to be slightly better than Ged Saunders. He will probably be the key to our defence along with Saunders. Kenny Mwape - A Zambian immigrant, Mwape is our second choice central midfield player. The 25 year old should feature in a lot of games and I hope Zambia have a few decent central midfielder players because losing him every other January, at least right now could be quite inconvenient. Danny Holmes - First choice central midfielder and one of the best players at the club. The 27 year old from London is going to very important this season. Giorgos Papanikolaou - Yet another part Greek player at the club, the 27 year old London lad is a versatile wide midfielder who will at worst be a rotated part of our midfield. Frank Abubakari - The 25 year old from Ghana is a right winger who will be first choice on the right hand side this season. Jamie Harris - The 25 year old Irish left winger will most likely be first choice on the left this season. He's not amazing but is better than any other player that could play on the left at the club. Samuel Nwachukwu - The half Nigerian, half English, 26 year old attacking midfielder will be our backup to Holmes and Mwape. He should features in more than a few games this season. Dave Dolman - The 25 year old is our third choice striker and really isn't great at all. He's got a few substitute goals in friendlies so far but I'm not expecting too much from him. Craig Coates - The 23 year old is our second choice striker and whilst being slightly better than Dolman, he's not particularly impressive either so a lot of hope is on our first choice striker. Rigoberto Fonseca - The 28 year old born in England to Costa Rican parents looks to be a real hope for us upfront. He looks like the kind of player who could get 15/20 goals at this level and hopefully he can avoid injury and win us games with some important goals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Youth Academy, Season 1, 2009-10, Blue Square South League Table - In what turned out to be a surprisingly easy campaign, we managed to win the league by 20 points with a pretty outrageous point score and goal difference. Only slipping up a total of 10 times, 5 losses and 5 draws, we broke the 100 point barrier in our last game of the season. Frank Abubakari won the Blue Square South Player of the Year and I was awarded the Blue Square South Manager of the Year. F.A Cup - After making hard work of an easy 2nd qualifying round tie against Wingate & Finchley, we went on to thrash Witham Abbey but ultimately failed to make the 1st round after a disappointing defeat away to Dover. F.A Trophy - A spectacular run which saw us thrash AFC Telford, defeat Histon, dispose of Crawley after two legs, luckily knock out Workington, thrash Thurrock, then relatively comfortably beat Hayes & Yeading in a two legged semi before bettering Blue Square Premier side Stevenage in the final to win the club another piece of silverware. The Squad Goalkeeper Barry Fox was our first choice and bar about 2 games he played pretty much ever match this season. 32 clean sheets says a lot about this season and despite not having an amazing defence in front of him Fox did well. Defence As I said in the initial update, the choice of right and left backs at the club was terrible. Two players that aren't too great for this level in 17 year old Max Phelan and 28 year old Kossi Bougonou were rotated at right back with neither particularly impressing me. Spyros Arganis was rotated between the right and center of defence and did decently. The hot young prospect at left back, Peter Serrant, started quite a few games at left back and looked quite good for how young and raw he was at the start of the season, Ged Saunders played some games at left back whilst also being rotated in the middle of the defence and he did quite well. Vasilis Drakopoulos was another who featured quite heavily in the middle of the defence and he did reasonably well. Steve Stevens is a 17 year old who despite not being that great or even really acknowledged in the first update was used when necessary and started more games than I'd have expected. Midfield Frank Abubakari our right winger of Ghanaian heritage did a very good job and was awarded BSS player of the year as previously mentioned, Giorgos Papanikolaou was rotated on the right and left but primarily the left side of midfield and played decently getting 11 assists and 3 goals. Irishman Jamie Harris acted as our main man on the left side of midfield and did well scoring 11 and getting 7 assists, Des Driver, another guy from the U18 side I didn't think I'd need was called upon a few times when necessary. The captain Danny Holmes had a fantastic season in the middle of midfield, scoring 12 and assisting 14 as well as boasting a fantastic passing percent rate, he had the second most assists in the league and was the second most successful passer in the league. Kenny Mwape, our resident Zambian international was the man responsible for Holmes being second in both of those categories, having a great season himself which saw him earn 3 caps for Zambia - he would have been called up for the African Nations if he hadn't been injured at the time. Samuel Nwachukwu was rotated around central midfield and had a decent time there totalling 14 assists in all competitions. Alex Craddock was another guy drafted in from the U18 side every now and then when need be. Attack I didn't have particularly high hopes for Craig Coates but he surprised me and ended up joint top scorer, scoring 27 in all competitions and also assisting 11. In another surprise he didn't share top scorer with who you'd expect, it was with Dave Dolman, who achieved the same amount of goals and assists in all competitions. Rigoberto Fonseca was slightly injury prone throughout the season, but still managed a respectable 24 goals and 10 assists in all competitions - he also became our second international, gaining a cap for Costa Rica. He has been in the majority of their squads and has received a call up to play in the upcoming World Cup. Dave and Rigoberto finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Blue Square South Top Scorer award. Season League Position Achievements --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2008/09 Blue Square South 1st League and FA Trophy winners Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iHeadHunta x Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Fantastic first season mate! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Dejay - just seen your comment, thanks although it seems your luck wasn't really needed iHeadHunta x - thanks, in my test run I achieved similar success in my first season although the team I started with in my test run seemed better at the start of the season. Under-estimating them might have been down to my poor judgement of players as well as my initial assistant's poor CA and PA judging skills! Unsurprisingly Frank Abubakari won the fans player of the year. This is our best eleven after our first season. In the Youth input day I was hoping for a really good right back to come through, this didn't happen though. The first player to show is Liam Taylor, a versatile player who can player on the left and the middle, he has the potential to be a good player at BSP level. Jamie Reece, a wing back and left sided midfielder, annoying because he can't play DL at all, he has the potential like Taylor to be a good BSP player. The only other guy worth mention, and definitely the star of this years input was Ray Bond, a central defender who is a very exciting prospect who could probably slot right into the first team, has the potential to being a good CCL1 player. Ultimately a successful input due to the presence of Ray Bond, but it is quite annoying because it means our full back crisis will probably continue. It is somewhat tempting to play 3 central defenders in our first season in the BSP, but I think I'll end up sticking to the 4-4-2, with the emergence of Bond I can hopefully stick Ged Saunders at left back. Rigoberto Fonseca featured in Costa Rica's opening World Cup game against Brazil, where they lost 2-0, he disappointed and failed to feature in either of their other 2 games in the competition - still a great experience for a non league player though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Welcome back to FMCU, Paul! Loved your Libourne save! Great start as well! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dejay Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Great start Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Brilliant first season,Bond looks like he can do a job straight away Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotChocolate Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Cracking first season! Good luck with this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iHeadHunta x Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 What was the youth candidates like this year!? Can I have a screenie of youth team please? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Deisler26 - thanks I loved that save as well! Dejay - thanks B.W.G - thanks he will definitely be in the first team this season bar an unfortunate injury HotChocolate - thanks iHeadHunta x - Aside from the 3 that I put screenshots of they weren't that great really, but here is a screenshot of my current U18 side bar the fast-tracked Danny Bond. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 BSP will be a bit of a challenge I expect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Youth Academy, Season 2, 2010-11, Blue Square Premier League Table - In a very surprising season we actually took on the next step up relatively well. It looked at one point like we would win the league but after a poor run of games we slipped to a still impressive third place which gave us a place in the play-offs. The two legged semi final gave me hope that we could actually get promoted as bested Crawley both home and away. Rushden were a better team than us all season so I guess based on that you could say they deserved to go up, it was still annoying to miss out on back to back promotion by one game and one goal though. Hopefully we can gain continue this form next season and challenge for promotion yet again, it was promising as all 3 of our main strikers ended the season with 20 or more goals, which is fantastic given the step up. F.A Cup - An impressive F.A Cup run saw us dispose of Forest Green in the 4th Qualifying Round to make the First Round proper, the furthest we've ever been in the competition. After impressively taking the scalps of League 2's Macclesfield and Morecambe in the first and second round respectively, we were given a very unromantic draw in League 1's Tranmere, who beat us 2-1 at their ground. F.A Trophy - Another fantastic season for the club in the F.A Trophy. After thrashing Basingstoke in our first game we went on to knock-out Oxford and Hampton & Richmond, before bettering promotion rivals Crawley 4-2 in the 4th round. We met Mansfield in the semi's, who despite winning the league and the first leg were defeated after we destroyed them 4-0 at home in the second leg. We drew another promotion rival in the final in Wrexham, we beat them 4-0 to retain the F.A Trophy. The Squad Goalkeeper Barry Fox had another decent season as first choice Goalkeeper. Defence Max Phelan was drafted in to play right back quite a bit, he's not great but hopefully the experience will help him progress as a player. Spyros Arganis was rotated between right back and the middle of defence, he did okay, not the best disciplinary record though. Ged Saunders was shifted to first choice left back this season and did a pretty good job to be fair to him. Peter Serrant got a few games at left back, he doesn't seem to have improved much from last season. Steve Stevens was another guy from the U18 team that ended up playing some games in the middle and on the right. Vasilis Drakopoulos was one of the guys who played in the most games for us this year, pretty much all of these bar a couple were in the middle of defence. Ray Bond, 16 year old in his first season at the club did a good job and looked pretty comfortable in the middle of defence. Midfield Star of last season and first choice on the right of midfield again was Frank Abubakari, he did suffer a few injuries though which lead to Giorgos Papanikolaou getting a lot more first team action than he would have expected, they both had good seasons. Jamie Harris, the Irishman who is first choice on the left of midfield, like Abubakari picked up a few injuries which lead to him missing quite a bit of first team action, this lead to Giorgos as well as U18 guy Des Driver filling in for him quite a bit. It was a great season for the captain Danny Holmes who barely missed a game this season, his efforts lead to him winning the fans player of the year award at the end of the season. Everyone's favourite Zambian, Kenny Mwape, had another great season in the middle of midfield which lead to him earning more caps for his country. Samuel Nwachukwu filled in the middle of defence and occasionally either side of midfield, an okay season for him. Attack Rigoberto Fonseca lead the attack this season and was our top-scorer, ending up with 27 goals and 10 assists. He also gained another cap for Costa Rica and has been called up to the upcoming North American Gold Cup, hopefully he will score his first goal for them soon. Craig Coates had another decent season scoring 20 goals and getting 6 assists. Dave Dolman faired slightly better than his compatriot Coates as he scored 22 and gained 8 assists. Youth Intake A pretty terrible second intake day for us. Goalkeeper Scott Parker was the only one that looks like he could be first team material in the future, he apparently has the potential to be a good BSP player. This is a current screen-shot of our U18 side including the new intake. All Time Best XI History Season League Position Achievements --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2008/09 Blue Square South 1st League and FA Trophy winners 2009/10 Blue Square Premier 3rd Play-off finalists and FA Trophy winners Trophy Cabinet Blue Square South x1 - 2008/09 FA Trophy x2 - 2008/09 & 2009/10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Well, I was slightly right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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