Stackalee

Really well thanks, Collins and Ward are stand outs so far. Struggling to remember how to upload screenshots without them being obnoxiously large - but Collins bagged 18 goals in his first 21 games and Ward is on 16 assists and 6 goals with an average rating of 8.00 after 17 games played.

Oh wow okay sorry, thanks for the update. That makes sense I guess, the ages being so close and I guess me not viewing the word idol the same way they do lead to that not occuring to me as a solution!

@Stuniverse I notice that Jack Thompson idolises Lee Grant's son, True - who is a year older than him. I don't want to assume too much but I'm guessing that's a slight mixup? Sorry this is very late in the cycle, I've not really looked at Derby youth players till this last week.

Started up a new Derby save last week as they gave me one of my favourite saves in recent FM versions. Looking through the top posts - the players lost recently is a bit of a sad read. The squad itself looks good for the league, I recognise a couple guys still here from my (I think it was FM22) save, but the squad in general doesn't look like it has anybody in it that I'll want to stick with long term, which isn't as fun. Decided to play a fairly old school 442, only signings first season were Phil Jagielka on a free, David Watson, from Kilmarknock (who started with I think 18 for long throws) on loan with a £2.4m option to buy and Nathan Lowe, from Stoke in January for £40k. Lowe is fast and good in the air, starting with I believe it was 15 acceleration, 14 pace and 16 for jumping reach. Solid reliable physicals and good set peices are probably going to form the basis of my Derby County side's return to the EPL. I think longer term I would like to bring back a few of the youngsters/wonderkids lost over the past few years - Kellyman, if Villa haven't done anything with him by the time I'm able to afford him, in particular looks interesting. Archie Brown could also be one to look at, but I may not as I've bought him in a few previous saves (he's very good for the money).