[FM11] Hogaborgs BK - Academy Project - In Hope of the Next Henrik Larsson

After being inspired by some other users threads such as hrbfcrule's IK Tord, I have decided to pursue my own long term venture into a youth academy only save game. I must admit straight away that i have done extensive research to find the "perfect" club for the challenge, and I have decided that Hogaborgs BK in the lowest tier of Swedish Football will provide the necessary difficulty, foundations and enjoyment for my campaign to potential glory.

Save Description

Patch

11.3

Database

Large

Leagues Loaded

Sweden (Division 2, Fourth Tier)

View Only

All leagues and All nations

Start Date

February 2010

Hogaborgs BK

Club Information

Nation: Sweden

Year Founded: 1927

Status: Professional

Club Colours: Green and Black

Reputation: Regional

Legends: Henrik Larsson

Icons: None

Favoured Personnel: Martin Olsson

Fierce Rivals: Ramlosa Sodra

Other Rivals: None

Stadium: Harlyckans IP

Capacity: 2500 (500 seated)

Rent: £1k per year

Corporate Facilities: Fairly Basic

Training Facilities: Adequate

Youth Facilities: Adequate + Youth Academy

Youth Recruitment: Above Average

Finances: Okay

Average Ticket Price: £7.60

Average Season Ticket Price: £60.90

Season Ticket Holders: 50

Estimated Value: £250k

Club Summary/History

Hogaborgs BK is a Swedish football club from Helsingborg that was founded in 1927. The club is best known for breeding young talented players. The most famous players to start their career playing for Hogaborgs are Henrik Larsson, Mats Magnusson, Martin Olsson and Daniel Nannskog. Since their foundation in 1927 Hogaborgs BK has participated mainly in the middle and lower divisions of the Swedish football league system. The club currently plays in Division 2 Sodra Gotaland which is the fourth tier of Swedish football. They play their home matches at the Harlyckans IP in Helsingborg.

Long Term Aim

Hogaborgs are currently in the fourth tier of Swedish football, my main aim is to drag them up through the leagues and win the Allsvenskan using nothing but Youth Academy players, and eventually compete in the Champions League.

Hogaborgs have produced a few Swedish international players in the past such as the great Henrik Larsson who needs no introduction, Mats Magnusson who won 30 caps and featured in Sven Goran Eriksson's successful Benfica team, Daniel Nannskog who won 7 caps and scored prolifically in his career and for Stabaek in Norway and finally Martin Olssen, the talented left sided young player who plays for Blackburn, currently with 3 caps to date.

Hopefully using Hogaborg's decent facilities and youth recruitment, I can eventually produce a striker worthy of Henrik Larsson to fire the club to successful campaigns in the Champions League and become a regular face in the Swedish International set up. I am very optomistic that I can help develop some solid talent through the club's youth system.

I also aim to get myself alongside Henrik Larsson as a Club Legend, along with a couple of the clubs best future products, potentially. Henrik Larsson is currently trying his hand at management and if he fails and finds himself unemployed in the future, Im hoping I might be able to tempt him into rejoining the club where it all began as my assistant manager.

Competition History

 
Season                  League/Division              Position  

2010             Division 2 Sodra Gotaland             -

To Do List

1) Earn Promotion to Division 1 (Tier 3)

2) Earn Promotion to Superettan (Tier 2)

3) Earn Promotion to Allsvenskan (Tier 1)

4) Win Allsvenskan (Tier 1)

5) Win Svenska Cupen (Domestic FA Cup)

6) Produce a Swedish International

7) Produce a Swedish International Striker

8) Become a Club Legend

9) Academy Product becomes Club Legend

10) Qualify for Champions League Group Stages

11) Win Champions League

12) Recruit Henrik Larsson to my backroom staff

Pre-Season 1

First thing's first, I had to quickly go about terminating the poor regenerated staff I was given and I went about hiring decent replacements, boosting my training ratings upto 2 stars in all categories for senior and youth development. I also hired a pretty good Physio for the level I am currently playing at.

Then came the squad assessment and reshuffling that resulted in me released a very poor goalkeeper that was seemingly on a rolling contract at the club, but the rest of the squad i noticed a huge lack of any quality at all, its going to be a long hard season.

Anyway here is some of the best talent I can initially see that I have at my disposal...

Carl Mansson - A noticable lack in physical attributes, But im hoping his decent technical and mental attributes make up for it, either way he appears to be the best DC I have on paper.

Marcus Krmpotic - Not sure how to pronounce his surname but that doesnt matter as he seems to be one of the most talented players that I possess, im confident he will be able to help me "control" matches in the middle of the pitch.

Fahrudin Karisik - The only foreign player that I own, but has Swedish second nationality. Another of my most talented players in the squad, and Im hoping he and Krmpotic and for a strong partnership at centre midfield.

Linus Persson - A left winger with ability it seems and hopefully lots of end product, I will be looking to him to provide a number of assists.

Christer Nordin - With a distinct lack of striker quality at the club to begin with, my goalscoring hopes lie with this guy. But I think I will struggle for goals in the forthcoming season.

My squad was looking thin in specific areas, so I have promoted 4 fresh youth products to the first team squad for the coming season.

Nabil Bergqvist YP1 - A decent looking young goal keeper that will get his chance during the pre-season friendlies and if he impresses will go into the league season as my number 1!

Niclas Bjork YP2 - One of the more exciting looking youth products I have been given to start off with, there are a lot of DC's at the club and im hoping if he can score a few corners that might be enough for him to become a regular starter.

Erik Viklund YP3 - My squad lacks in fullback cover so i promoted this kid, has lots of key attributes rated at 6-9, and if he has some potential to improve can become a solid consistent fullback in the future.

Johan Hallberg YP4 - A lack of strong right winger forced my hand in promoting this lad, he doesnt look great, but I do like having the option of a "wrong footed" winger, and his 14 flair might turn him into a match winner.

Now to see if my squad is any good during these friendlies over the coming weeks, and figure out my strongest 11.

Good luck! Will be watching this.

End of Pre-Season

After a worrying start to the pre-season, things really picked up in the final friendlies, although i faced the tougher teams early on, and the final matches where against non league sides. But i was encouraged by some of the football I began to play, and my tactic familiarity levels are still not maxxed out, so im expecting a slow start to the league and hopefully a very strong finish.

The board expect me to finish in a respectable league position, and my media prediction is a surprising 3rd, given that I believe my squad to be really poor. So as long as i stay in the league I will be fine, but ill be looking for a strong finish to the season to take into my second year in charge.

Good Luck, a very decent pre season there. Let's hope it continues into the league.

sounds interesting, i'll be following!

@dune297 and hrbfcrule - Thanks guys

Season 1 Halfway Report

Here are the results for the first half of my first league season in charge of Hogaborg.

I got off to a flying start with a shocking 5-0 away win, I was literally left speechless, so much so that I might of actually forgotten to give a team talk at the end of the match, lol!

Then the reality of my situation sank in, with lots of home draws and away defeats, but i was continuely finding the net in every match and I saw that as a MASSIVE positive. That 3-4 away defeat to Halmia was the first time I truely began to have faith in my players, we fought to the final seconds to try and grab a point from that, and then the following match vs Hollviken we were unlucky not to come away with 3 points.

So I guess I wasnt too surprised by the run of matches after that up until the midway point of the league, I had a feeling results where going to go my way any second now and they have, 5 consectutive wins with goals from all over the pitch(thats a lie, struggling to get strikers to score )

But this recent run of form leaves the league table looking like this...

Currently sitting in 3rd position, funnily enough my media prediction that I dismissed I was capable of at the start of the season. But there is still another 11 matches to go, anything could happen, and with a huge lack of goals upfront, im not sure if my midfield can keep it up. At times I do feel like im really lucky with the results of matches and then there is times when I feel unlucky not to win 6-0. Thats the thing with these lower league matches of such poor quality, they are so open and so inconsistant. Anyway I just hope that my good form as of right now can continue for as long as possible.

I had to post the result of my first match of the second half of the season...it was epic!

1-3 down at home, 5 minutes to go...ended 4-3! Proof of how good things are going for me at the moment, the annoying thing is that I dont know if a comeback like that is signs of potential greatness in my team, or whether it was a pure fluke.

By the way, Trstena is my striker, after saying I lack goals upfront, he scores twice. In my squad analysis I said that Nordin was my best striker but Im getting better performances out of him on the right wing so he is contributing to my midfield scoring a lot and the lack talent upfront, but Trstena might have found some great form after that performance and he is still only 16 years old.