[FM11] Smedby AIS - Rising to the top using only youth products

The challenge is simple (to say, not to do): Take Smedby to the top of the Swedish divisions and to win the Champions League using only players who have come through my youth academy. If I feel that it is attainable, I will attempt to win the World Cup with Sweden which after doing the previous challenge should be a walk in the park.

FM Version:

-FM 11, with 11.3.0 patch

Database:

-Small (want it to run fast in the later years)

Leagues Loaded:

- Sweden - Second Division (It may be called this, but there are actually 4 tiers....explained later)

View Only

- England - League 2

- Spain - La Liga

It is at this point which I would like to give all credit to hrbfcrule for coming up with this challenge/idea. He is currently doing a great job at Tord which you can read by clicking here.

The League System

Okay, so I hope that this makes sense as it will come at you thick and fast. There are four tiers in Sweden. The top tier, the Swedish Premier Division has only one league. The second tier also has one league, the First Division. Then, the tier below is split into North and South with one automatic promotion to the First Division in each league and one playoff promotion. The bottom tier is split into 6 divisions, which all have one promotion place and two automatic relegation places with one relegation playoff (this will become clear soon )

Wikipedia:

Smedby AIS (or SAIS for short) is a football club from southeast Norrköping based in the district of Smedby. The club was founded on 3 October 1929 and played in the third tier of Swedish football for the first time in 1961 and again in 1967-70, 1978, 1980–81 and 2003.

Since their foundation Smedby AIS has participated mainly in the lower divisions of the Swedish football league system. The club currently plays in Division 2 Södra Svealand which is the fourth tier of Swedish football. They play their home matches at the Smedby IP in Norrköping.

Smedby AIS are affiliated to the Östergötlands Fotbollförbund. With an active youth section the club has over 1,500 members and has produced players like Hasan Cetinkaya, Niclas Fredriksson, Linus Hellman and Christos Christoforidis.

My reasoning behind choosing them:

Firstly, I like the name it's simple and easily can be remembered. Also, they are quite an old club yet they have never achieved a lot of success which I hope to change despite them being the worst team in the league. And most importantly, I read the wikipedia about them which can be seen above which mentions that they have an active youth section which is great for this challenge. I only wish that those 1,500 members actually turned up to games....

As a side note, I should add that I have played my first two seasons already as I wished to measure if this save would interest me (it has). Unsure whether I would attempt my first career thread, I didn't take tons of screenshots in season one. Fortunately, as I am solely focusing on youth, I believe I got ample screenshots to provide a good backdrop. Season 1 will be split into a couple of updates and will be up soon.

seems a few of these challenges are popping up latley good luck. Im hoping to achieve the same in Wales.

Thanks, good luck to you as well. I will check out your career. After playing the first two seasons, I have to say that this is one unbelievable challenge and serious credit to those who have got as far as they have got.

Good luck in the challenge

The club and YP's

Just a short introduction regarding the club facilities, background:

These screenshots are from the start of season 3 but nothing has changed as of yet so they are still valid.

Now, onto the more important things...the YP's. Some people focus more on their individual matches giving mini reports during their FM careers but instead I am going to be focusing on the individual youth prospects and how their seasons have gone. I don't have coach reports from season 1 or 2, my apologies (they weren't good fwiw). So, without further ado, let me introduce you to YP1!

YP1 - Player Profile - Erik Jonsson

At 17, Jonsson looks like a decent prospect for the future. He is strong in the primary defensive attributes of marking and tackling. Jumping and heading aren't bad either, both being 8. However, despite his strong defensive abilities at such a young age, I am doubtful that he will ever make it as a first team regular due to his awful physical stats. Nevertheless, his high teamwork will make him a nice squad player. I also like him as he can cover left back nicely.

YP2 - Player Profile - Ludwig Isaksson

Ludwig is probably the most promising from the first season U18 intake (present when you take over but still a newgen). Personally, I see him as more of an AMC than a MC because of his high flair. His physical stats, flair and decent dribbling should make him a good attacking midfielder in the future. Very promising, watch this space.

YP3 - Player Profile - Johannes Lindvall

Scraping the barrel here with this YP. Johannes has very bad defensive stats but good physical stats and a nice long throw. Really hope that he doesn't get much action this season but the lack of a proper LB may mean that he has to start. Unless we see a sharp improvement in defensive stats, then I don't think that he will last long even as a squad player.

YP4 - Player Profile - Emil Lofgren

Okay, so I know that this isn't actually a newgen but he was in the U19 when I took over and I liked the look of him so he got on the list. He has decent all round attacking/physical abilities (most around 9). A little older than the others so he may not improve as much but I believe that he requires less improvement to make him a force to be reckoned with in this league. May see limited oppurtunities in the first season as strikers is not so much an area of concern.

Hope you enjoyed this mini introduction to the youth and let me know what you think of them

Be prepared to play for a ridiculously long time. Good luck.

Those players look rubbish in theory (except perhaps the forward, Lofgren), but then again the standard of the swedish 4th tier should be rubbish, so that's just a matter of how rubbish do you need to be to be good compared to the other rubbish.

Pre-Season and Mid-Season Update

As I explained earlier, the screenshots for the first season are a bit sparse because I didn't know if I was going to make a thread. But anyway:

As you can see, pre-season went reasonably well picking up 6 wins out of 10 which gave me a good measure of who was good in the squad and who wasn't. One negative about the pre-season was the cup loss to Skeljebo who were a team also in the 4th tier but a different division. We never really got into the game and were quickly annihilated. The league however started much more promisingly picking up a 3-0 win against FC Gute. It was at this point that I thought that I was going to romp the league. This thought was further imprinted when we took a good away draw against Torekov. But, this idea of world domination quickly diminished when we lost game after game after game after game.......

And that brings you to the halfway point of season 1 (bar one game), with league results so far standing at:

Played - 10

Won - 1

Drawn -1

Lost - 8

Although, I don't have a screenshot at this point, we were in 11th position out of twelve with the team we beat on day 1, FC Gute propping up the table on 1 point. Ahead of us stood Farsta who were in the dizzying heights of 7 points. Overall, a very poor start to the season.

on a little slump there mate. good luck youl most certainly need it

on a little slump there mate. good luck youl most certainly need it

Cheers, although this is the sort of luck which I received all season:

Difficult to win with 8 men

Although I do think that I made a pretty nice formation with these 8

I'd resign in shame if I only managed to beat 8 men 2-1!!!!On your part though,it was a very gutsy performance considering the disadvantage you had!

First of all good luck.

YP2 looks like he might be a good player for you.

YP4 looks incredible for that level especially considering my strikers have finishing of around 11 or 12, first touch of around 9 or 10 and composure around 9 or 10 and I'm in the Swedish Premier Divison

Good effort in the match where you had only 8 men by the end.

Wow, you got challenged pretty much right out of the box! 8 men indeed. Might want to fine the hotheads.

Good luck! You're in for a LOOOOONG haul.

Cheers, although this is the sort of luck which I received all season:

Difficult to win with 8 men

Although I do think that I made a pretty nice formation with these 8

Come on, it was not that much of a disadvantage. They had a guy with a knock on the pitch.