*** When will you realise...Andorra waits for you *** [FM16 youth challenge]

Hello chums! It's been a while hasn't it? I've, erm, been around lurking and reading and enjoying this part of the forum for a while now and despite a failed attempt earlier this year, I've got the itch to get this going again.

And where better to start than Andorra?

I actually can't remember the last one-club save I've had on FM. I've a feeling it was FM11 with a club called Savona in Italy but I may be a bit out on that, my memory isn't what it once was...

But yes, back to business. I want a one-club save. I want to manage in a terrible league, with terrible facilities, terrible stadiums and terrible football. So Andorra ... COME ON DOWN!

Oh and just to give this an extra twist (and partly because I've never tried it before), I'm going to make it a youth-only challenge. I know.

So let's get the finer details down before I kick things off...

• I've loaded the Andorran league (two divisions, although the second is consisted of six teams so I'll flick that off from season two) - link is HERE
  
• I've also loaded England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Top division only and non-playable just to give the game a bit of extra depth.
  
• I've added players to playable teams, switched off real fixtures and told the game not to add key staff.
  
• Huge database
  

In terms of my manager, to give me some hope, he's a former international footballer with better coaching skill than mental attributes. I also randomised the club choice...which sent me off to:

Futbol Sala la Massana - that's a powerful name to be fair. I'm happy. You happy?

Anyway, I'm not gonna go and pretend I know anything about this lot - all I can say is their badge is excellent and their Facebook page seems to show one of their kids teams playing Barcelona a couple of weeks ago. Good enough for me.

Now then, in terms of how I'll be updating you:

• I'll put the focus on the youth intake as that will obviously be the most important time of the year for this challenge.
  
• I will also give you any other major updates and screenshots of anything you're interested in.
  

And in terms of my plan at the club:

• The plan is to get us to semi-pro status as soon as possible
  
• We'll reassess from there
  

Some HOT TAKES from my first days in the job:

That's the state of the squad. They're all on non-contracts so the good players we do have may well be departing anyway. Essentially, not going to get my hopes up too much.

That said, here's the main man a day after the season-opener. He'll be essential if we can keep him.

And finally, just so you can get an idea of the system I've chosen, here's the set-up for matchday 1. The idea is we stay compact and deep, don't do anything stupid, and try to hit the opposition with direct balls through to the wingers and/or forward. This will be tweaked incessantly, knowing me.

Anyway, Andorra waits for us!

Tell you what I've noticed already - plenty of my promising youngsters are seeing big drops in their determination attribute because 'some of the squad's less than desirable characteristics have unfortunately rubbed off on Player X'

To my knowledge there's nothing I can do about this... So that's good

Good luck!

Good luck!

Thanks mate. Needless to say I've taken a lot of inspiration from your magnificent save!

Thanks mate. Needless to say I've taken a lot of inspiration from your magnificent save!

Thank you, you make me blush

Immediate reaction: not bad at all. Pretty much everyone here has the potential to be a good player at Andorran level (I know, I know...) and we've got a decent left-back in, which is the one position in the starting XI that we're struggling with.

Fairly versatile, good work rate & fitness - key in my tactic and indeed for any midfielder. He's also a bit of free-kick expert at this level so that's a very welcome bonus. To accommodate him (when he's ready for first team football) would probably mean a change of tactic to include an AMC or retraining him to CM. More keen on the first option.

That's some beard he's got at age 14 . I'm not totally convinced in Belmonte but he's got average numbers for the key defensive attributes so that's a base. He doesn't excel in anything though.

I like this guy much more. We badly need a left-back so he'll be going into the first XI as soon as possible. He's also pretty good across the board for this level and he's over six foot. All in all, I think he could be the star of my first youth intake.

Ivan Belmonte looks like he's been mining coal for the last 20 years

Ivan Belmonte looks like he's been mining coal for the last 20 years

He's seen some things in his short time on earth, I can tell ya.

General consensus: this was a fine season for us. We finished 5th in the league, nine places above our predicted position, so that in itself was a success. For a time we were riding high at the top but it quickly became apparent that FK Santa Coloma were streaks ahead of us and indeed, the rest of the division. Lusitanos are the other big side in the league and I'd say we've got a long way to go until we match or overtake them.

Despite that, we made the semi-finals of the cup and generally built solid foundations. The board increased our junior coaching budget and although the chairman is looking to sell up I feel like we made good progress in our first season. I'll be releasing a few of our back-up players in the summer and promoting a few of our youth intake as they're already good enough to make an impression on the first team squad.

NEXT SEASON: Match or better 5th place in the league.

ANDORRANS IN EUROPE: FK Santa Coloma lost 4-1 on aggregate to HJK Helsinki in the Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round. Sant Julia lost 2-1 in the Europa League 1st Qualifying Round to St Pat's Athletic. Lusitanos lost 4-0 to Brondby in the Europa League 1st Qualifying Round.

Borrowed from JupJamie (thanks!):

Not much to see here...

Oh my goodness! I'll take youth intakes like this every season please! Not only do we have Jose Sarrio coming in to massively boost our options up front, we've also been handed a new DM, which was another problem position for us. Huge result.

So here he is, the lone Spaniard, Jose Sarrio. At 14 years of age he's already the best player at the club and you can see why! I mean, I'd genuinely be happy with him if he came through at a Premier League club! He's quick and a great, composed finisher. I'll work on his off the ball movement but I've got no complaints at all. The difficulty will be in keeping him at the club now though. We can offer part-time contracts to 15 year olds so that's the next step in January. For now he'll hopefully be able to come in firing and shoot us into Europe

'The Cutlass' as he'll be known in future. Adrian Cutillas brings a bit of quality to the DM position - something we've sorely lacked (the current incumbent is a 0.5* ability DM). His passing is excellent for this level, he's aggressive, fit and works hard. The rest can be worked on but he looks like an excellent prospect too.

Tiago Tavares is the best of the rest. Decent passing, decisions and technique - all attributes I look for in a midfielder so he'll be one to keep an eye on.

Excellent progress in the Andorran Cup means we're one win away from qualifying for the Europa League...

Sarrio looks insane for this level.

Goal and an assist in his first two games. I genuinely can't believe how good he is for this level, absolutely remarkable

Easy! Easy! Easy! (Is that still a thing?)... Anyway, wonderful end to our second season and we're WAY ahead of schedule already, qualifying for the Europa League. As you can see from the match result screenshot, the wonderkid Jose Sarrio netted FOUR in one of the most dominant cup finals I've had on FM. The first leg 0-0 helped lay the foundations for this win and we're heading on a European tour!

Sarrio

Congratulations on Europe!

General consensus: Well we did what I asked in the league by maintaining our league position of 5th. In truth I think we're slightly better than that but I'm ok with us showing some consistency as we bed in the best of the youngsters. And what a group we've got now. The two above, Sarrio and Cutillas are superb additions and for as long as I can hold onto them, should be mainstays for years.

It was quite the result to win the Andorran Cup too - sending us into Europe for the first time in the club's history. Onwards and upwards! I was also buoyed by the league winners Encamp who came from 12th last year to win the thing this year. Gives us all hope, especially as it was at the expense of Lusitanos and FK Santa Coloma.

NEXT SEASON: Enjoy Europe, finish higher than 5th and hopefully retain the Cup again.

ANDORRANS IN EUROPE: FK Santa Coloma lost 7-0 to Red Bull Salzburg in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. Lusitanos lost 5-0 to Knattspyrnufelag KR in the Europa League 1st qualifying round. UE Santa Coloma lost 5-0 to FC Vaduz at the same stage.

Sarrio

Congratulations on Europe!

Cheers mate! He's so good. Hopefully I can keep him at the club for a few years before he inevitably leaves us. He already refuses to sign a new contract because he 'doesn't believe the squad is strong enough to play at a level matching his ambitions.'

Honestly, I'll be surprised if we keep him for more than a season.

Positive news for Andorran football - in particular the extra team in the Europa League.

Surprising one. We were taken over this time last year but he's already looking to sell up! Result if we get a tycoon in

Ferencvaros in our first European adventure. I'll be happy to keep this under 10 goals tbh; just about the hardest draw we could have got at this stage.

Yep. That's REAL MADRID'S Florentino Perez ! No idea what brought him to Andorra but the former head honcho at the Bernabeu has bought the club and injected some cash. Not sure I've ever seen something like this before. Love it!

This is the outcome of him coming in. Now, obviously I won't be spending a penny of that, being a youth-only challenge, but that's promising. If he's pumping money into the club already, we'll hopefully have an easier time of getting the facilities improved further down the line. May even turn pro at some stage

Good to see you back Iacovone a good first season! What Andorran League are you using? It looks like Sangue Blu's but I'm not definite, are you using it because you'll get more games than usual in Andorra and that could help with player growth I'm guessing.

Hey Makoto, thanks for stopping by. You know, I'd love to say yes that's the reason I went with Sangue Blu's Andorran league but I didn't research it that much so we'll call it fortune. I didn't realise there was another with a smaller league structure (claassen?) but either way I'm happy with how it's turned out so far. I do like a longer season, purely for the reason you've mentioned. All about the extra games

Not too bad at all really. We lost 3-0 in Hungary but we hit the post and had 68% of the ball. At home a late penalty gave us a morale-boosting draw.

And this is what makes it all worth it. That's bumped our bank balance up to £600k

Its all very easy for you here isn't it mate.

Well done so far, there has been a couple of decent intakes thus far

The first bid has come in for Sarrio

Athletic Bilbao were the club to make the move but he's got another 10 Spanish clubs trailing him too so he'll be off sooner rather than later. I'm trying to insert a 50% of future sale clause in the deal in the hope that'll generate some decent money a few years down the line. Sad to see him leaving so soon though - not even been here a year

Result. Sarrio doesn't move for another year-and-a-half so we'll make the most of that and hope another quality forward comes through the academy. We got a great deal too - half a million and a 50% sell-on clause. Happy with that. We'll be tracking his career when he does move too, he's great.

That 50% clause could be very, very profitable in the future. 500k upfront isn't bad either

Bet its a bit of a step down for Perez to be involved with transfers such as this and not the big ones that he was used to with Madrid

That 50% clause could be very, very profitable in the future. 500k upfront isn't bad either

I thought demanding £500k might put them off but they came back immediately with it. Could be a genuine wonderkid :o. Hopefully he'll develop nicely there and a Barca or Real Madrid will snap him up. That's the dream anyway

Bet its a bit of a step down for Perez to be involved with transfers such as this and not the big ones that he was used to with Madrid

Haha I know, but I suppose he's old now, that heart of his can't cope with Galactico negotiations anymore

Can't complain with this intake at all, although I'm probably going to be eternally frustrated after the Sarrio's emergence in 2017! Unusually, I've picked out SEVEN players who have piqued my interest in this intake - much more than usual but that's because there's a couple who aren't necessarily going to be stars for us but definitely fill gaps in the squad and should push on a couple of first-teamers.

We still don't use an AMC so I'm not sure where Parcero will fit in. Going by his description he's seen as a striker and with his acceleration and preference to beat the offside trap I think that's where his future lies.

Munoz really isn't up to much but he gives us competition at LB where we lack a bit of quality. He'll never amount to much of an attacking force but could be a good option if we're trying to hold a lead.

He's not that highly rated and you can see why - aside from his defensive attributes he's pretty poor. But he is strong in all the key attributes for a centre-back, has great determination and he's tall so he may become useful to us.

We're badly in need of a new keeper and Tavares may be what I'm after. If I focus solely on training his handling I think he'll become better than our current No.1 (just a 2*)

Santos will immediately become our back-up AML as we're extremely short there. I know he's not exactly a world-beater but I do like his workrate and teamwork.

I'll always compare our forwards to Sarrio so most will fall short, including Delgado, but I see a good future for him at Massana. Sure, he needs to improve his finishing but he's got good mentals and a good base to work from. He'll probably be Sarrio's understudy.

Plenty of potential here but Carrasco will be backing up YP5 for now.

2017-18 Season Review

Lliga Grup Becier: 2nd

- Table & Stats

Europa League - 1st Qualifying Round

Copa Constitucio: Quarter-finals

- Tree

Supercopa Andorrana de Futbol: WINNERS

- Confirmation



Top Goalscorer: Jose Sarrio (Played: 44, Goals: 22)

Fans' Player of the Year & Highest Rating: Yuri Peixoto (Played: 44, POTM: 12, Av Rat: 7.57)



Notable Impact: Florentino Lleches (Played 47, Goals 16, Assists: 16, Av Rat: 7.26)

Squad | Facilities | Overall Statistics | Finances | End of Season Awards

GENERAL CONSENSUS: Another good season kept us on our upward trajectory in Andorra. Our 4-1 defeat in Europe to Ferencvaros was far better than I expected and that ushered in a season that saw us push the top teams to the wire on the domestic front. Sadly we couldn't retain the Andorran Cup, losing to eventual runners-up FK Santa Coloma on penalties but we did beat FC Encamp in the Super Cup (bizarrely played at the end of the season) to add more silverware to the trophy cabinet.

OTHER BUSINESS: I released 10 players at the end of the season - a mix of first team squad members and young no-hopers. The reason is because my squad 'displays less than desirable characteristics' and this is rubbing off on my youth intake. ie. those with <5 determination are having an impact on the youth and pulling their determination down too. It's a bit of a problem so I took the step to get rid of anyone non-essential with <5 determination. Hopefully that'll be the end of that little crisis.

NEXT SEASON: All about winning the league and reaching the Champions League qualifiers. This is also Sarrio's last six months before he leaves for Bilbao

ANDORRANS IN EUROPE: Champions FC Encamp lost 4-1 to Maltese outfit Hibernians Paola. FK Santa Coloma made it past Bala Town before falling to FC Luzern 6-0 on aggregate in the Europa League 2nd Qualfiying Round. And, as you know, we lost 4-1 to Ferencvaros in the 1st Qualifying Round.

Big rise in the competition rankings and a nice push for the club too. The TV money has almost doubled too.

This is a blessing in disguise to be honest. I've got no idea how much it would have cost us but I don't really want to find out, not for a while anyway. We fill two thirds of the current capacity so there's no pressing need for it. Oddly enough there's EIGHT teams in our division sharing this stadium. Comunal by name, communal by nature

We're off to Hungary again...

How do you get 14 year old players?? In my Sevilla FC save I only get 16 and rarely 15 year old players.

How do you get 14 year old players?? In my Sevilla FC save I only get 16 and rarely 15 year old players.

I would guess it's the rules on the custom league download I've used. Might be that they differ from creator to creator?

How long does it take time to finish a single season in real life?? Do you watch all matches or you just use Instant Result Button.

Might be some time until this record's broken. Brilliant for Sarrio and huge for us. This is what's possible when you completely luck out and get a 5 star forward in a youth intake!

Could have been MUCH worse. Dare I say it... but we might have a chance here...

Crikey. I really didn't expect this to happen but I'm starting to think I've underestimated how good Sarrio is. We created 8 clear cut chances to their 1 so this was a well deserved win. Sarrio netting a hattrick was the icing on the cake. We *should* see this through.

Bit disappointed to ship three goals but the damage was done in the first game. The adventure continues!

Ah. Well it's been fun guys

Insane early progress, hope you can keep it up.

We got battered but somehow kept it to just two goals. Very proud!