[FM11] Cymru fo am byth! (Prestatyn)

[DSYoungEsq]

I think you won the league a little bit. Good to see the league is improving along with you - though not at quite the same rate. How do you feel about the progression of the quality of young players coming into the league, either through your own youth system, or through the youth systems of other Welsh clubs? Do you think that your progress is sustainable without an increase in quality there?

I'm actually about to do a lengthy analysis of this 10 years into the game; stay tuned for results.

[DSYoungEsq]

A summary of Wales for the last 10 years.

[Matt123456]

Congratulations on the absolutely run away League win, it looks like the other teams may as well stop competing! It's good to say the reputation of the Welsh leagues finally rising. 150th isn't bad at all and it should only get higher. I say that, but the reputation seems to be calculated in a completely nonsensical way. It's good to see Prestatyn is finally getting recognition in Europe. Ish. Next year top 100 .

[AK22]

Another good season, still making forward progress with the league rep too

[DSYoungEsq]

Prestatyn Town FC: A ten-year restrospective

Purpose:

The purpose of this retrospective is to try and provide some idea of how the team have progressed on the way to the stated goal: winning the Champions League. In it, I will be looking at various measures of our progress. They are not the only such measures, nor can we be certain they are the definitive measures. But they should provide a reasonable range of data for reaching at least a good guess.

Results:

A) The Welsh Premier League

Clearly, the results of Prestatyn Town Football Club in the Welsh Premier League show that the team is quantitatively and qualitatively better than it was 10 seasons ago. The progression of results is shown here:

[u]Season[/u]    [u]Position[/u]     [u]Points[/u]     [u]GS[/u]     [u]GA[/u]
2010-1        6th         34       25     36
2011-2        4th         50       44     32
2012-3        1st         68       56     24
2013-4        1st         63       52     30
2014-5        2nd         64       63     27
2015-6        1st         70       57     25
2016-7        1st         79       70     24
2017-8        1st         72       74     35
2018-9        1st         72       62     19
2019-20       1st         81       89     25

Obviously, it's not a linear progression. Thankfully, it's not a linear regression, either. But the results are definitely on a continuing upward trend. The three-year moving averages are consistently upward/downward for points, goals scored, and goals allowed (a couple minor hiccups there). The trouble with this comparison method is that it will soon be difficult to improve on two of the measures (points and goals allowed).

The early improvement, of course, can be considered to be mostly the result of better management of the club's resources: better players brought in, better choices as to who is played, better tactical decisions. To the extent that the players brought in were available right away, they do not represent any improvement in the club's reputation.

However, the continued improvement over the time frame considered means that better players are being attracted to the club, resulting in improved results. Empirically, I know better players are being attracted, because each year, players on my short list who have previously spurned my advances suddenly welcome my offers.

B) Europe

Again, here it is clear that there have been improved results. However, it's questionable that they actually represent better playing ability. In early seasons, the qualifiers were against much higher ranked teams, and results were generally (but not always!) poor. In later seasons, the qualifiers have been against teams ranked lower than we are, and we generally do well. However, that reflects the fact we've continued to participate in Europe and collect points. Indeed, this last season, we dropped away matches to much lower ranked opponents.

The relative paucity of matches in Europe means that it will take a longer time frame to know how we are doing quality-wise. When we reach the point (soon!) where we aren't improving in the standings, we'll see if the results improve against similar quality opponents.

Players:

It's extraordinarily difficult to compare players across years. The fact that the ass. man. recommendations are relative to League and club reputation makes star ratings useless in this endeavor: last decade's 5 star player is this year's ½ star flop. Still, there are some ways to make comparison.

One good way is to run a statistical analysis of the rated characteristics of the team's members. In doing this, I've chosen two sets of numbers: the Physical Attributes (all 8), and 6 of the Technical Attributes (dribble, first touch, marking, passing, tackling, technique). I've ignored the Mental Attributes because although they help make better players, there's no real guarantee they are statistically better for “better” players except in very grossly different levels. The attributes I've chosen are, in my mind, most closely tied to the overall playing quality of a player.

In running the analysis (full results to be posted later), it's clear that the starting 11 from this last year are significantly better than the starting 11 the first season. Not only is the overall median rating for all attributes higher by quite a bit, each individual attribute tested has a higher median value, by a significant degree. So the pictures don't lie: Adam Crawford is decidedly better than Craig Tawton was that first season.

Under the Hood:

Of course, the only real way to tell if progress is being made is to look “under the hood” and see what exactly has happened to the club's reputation. To do that requires peeking with FMRTE. I have resisted doing that to this point, since I prefer to treat this more organically, rather than as a “game” with a programming mechanism (helps me avoid moaning about stupid defender play and such). However, 10 years in, I feel it makes some sense to corroborate my findings.

I'm going to spoiler the results, so anyone who doesn't want to see can simply refuse to look.

Reputation of Prestatyn Town FC in June, 2010: 1250

Reputation of WPL in June, 2010: 35

Reputation of Prestatyn Town FC in June, 2020: 2155

Reputation of WPL in June, 2020: 60

Benchmark Club: Tottenham Hotspur (7th EPL): 7930

Benchmark League: EPL: 185

Conclusion

By result and by player quality, we have to conclude that there is a definite improvement in the quality of the club. Our relative ability compared to the rest of the WPL clubs has so substantially improved that we will soon be able to complete a season in the WPL without even drawing a single game, let alone losing one. Europe's results are more unclear, but we can put that down mostly to two factors: the limited data points and the fact that most of the games are played against teams from non-playable leagues. My players are statistically better, and not by an insignificant amount. Prestatyn Town FC v.2020 could wax Prestatyn Town FC v.2010.

And the League and the club are showing some improvement, though it's going to take quite a while for that improvement to reach a point where we are challenging the top clubs of Europe.

.

Under the circumstances, it seems worthwhile to continue the effort. It's still going to be a long haul effort. I doubt that we stand much chance of winning the UCL before 2040. After that, of course, I'd have to take on the even more daunting task of pulling Wales up the scale. But if it was easy, anyone could play!

Cymru fo am byth!

[hrbfcrule]

Interesting analysis

[Raware]

An excellent restrospective look at your progression over the last ten years DSYoungEsq .

[DSYoungEsq]

Prestatyn Town FC: The Best Eleven (10 Years Worth)

Where they are now.

I've held off talking about the “Best 11” for Prestatyn Town Football Club because, until you have a fair number of seasons in the bank, it's a silly exercise. Having put 10 in the bank, it's time to start having debating fun.

There are two main issues with how these are chosen. The first has to do with formation. Prestatyn have historically played either 4-1-2-2-1, 4-1-2-1-2 (wide diamond) or 4-0-2-2-2, though in Europe in years past, it tended to be something along the lines of 5-1/2-2/1-1-1. The difference between the systems affects the choice of a “best 11” because one system rewards two strikers, while the other systems reward the extra DM used for control. If the “best 11” include two strikers, then that inherently reduces the chance for a player who shined as the DM in the older system to make the team.

The second has to do with ratings creep. As your team gets better over time, its ratings creep upward. This is especially true once you hit the top tier for your country. But just because a player gets better ratings doesn't mean he should be considered “better” than an earlier player. It's probably true that he is objectively better, but this discounts the impact that the earlier player had on the team. On the other hand, it's hard to ignore the fact that higher ratings mean better relative ability compared to contemporaries.

Of course, it's the perceptions one has of these two issues that often fuel the debates among fans on questions of who belongs in a “best 11”. A cumulative Hall of Fame allows players to enter judged solely on the merits of what they did at their own time. But the “Best 11”, restricted in size to 11 players and the the sub bench, forces cross-era comparisons. In short, it's more fun.

In my opinion, the collection above is mostly “correct” in my mind. There are some switches I would make between subs and starters, and there are a couple omissions I would correct. But the announced group is not a bad first-approximation. My thoughts follow:

'Keeper:

There's no real dispute here. Personally, I think Martin Morris Y1 would have been the better 'keeper, had we had proper training facilities and coaches from the start of his career. He and Aaron Evans Y2 remain the only two youth players whose intake recommendation was more than 3 stars. He's still between the pipes at Llanelli. I loved him because he was quick off his line to come out and help the defense, a trait I prefer in my keepers. However, Matty Long has been consistently better for us in his five years. Neither 'keeper has turned out to be as good as I had hoped, but they are both keepers as 'keepers.

Central Backs:

My first dispute with the chosen 11 comes here. There's no doubt about Byron Anthony's credentials. But the other starter should be Craig Tawton. In his day, he was as effective as Anthony was, and his average rating is much more impressive because he often was the only player on the team who would manage a 5-game moving average rating of more than 7. He was also versatile, able to play the DM or DR spots in a pinch.

By comparison, Josh Kay's average ratings are inflated through his tendency to score headers off of corners. He has a nasty tendency to let attackers get by him by attempting tackles he can't pull off. Further, his ratings the last two years have been inflated by the fact that he doesn't start against the top teams, as his spot was taken by Niall McDonald. His spot goes to Tawton.

Outer Backs/Wingers:

Gareth Tait has made the DR/WBR spot his. Kieron Freeman was good in his day, but Tait has made the spot his. No contest there.

Left back is tricky. Frankly, we've never had a left back who truly claimed the spot. I don't think we've had any left back who stayed the starter for more than three years. Gary Law was probably the best I've had in the spot, but he lasted one year before being cherry-picked by Forest Green (I forgot to nail down his renewal, IIRC), where he spent a year before being sold on to Palace for $600K. Last season, they sold him to Hull for $75K, so that was an astute signing on their part.

All-in-all, James Bloom deserves it as much as anyone. I'm hoping that Stephan Bergsma claims the spot as his soon.

Central Midfield:

For the moment, we'll ignore the DM dispute. As I currently line up, the MCL is handed the more defensive responsibility, while the MCR is the more attacking, tempo-controlling midfielder. By picking Owain Tudur-Jones, the Supporters Club have probably made the dispute irrelevant. Tudur-Jones, it could be argued, has been the best player the club has ever had; certainly he's had the most impact upon our play. He and Anthony arrived at the same time (the 2013 season), and it is no surprise that the club's first WPL title arrived that same season. His versatility meant he could play any of a number of midfield roles assigned to him. His stats may not be the flashiest, but he was the backbone of the team through the crucial years.

The choice of Thomas Gregg Lopes da Silva for a midfield slot is a bit of a “cheat.” Yes, for two to three of his seasons with us, he tended to be slotted into an AMC role (I used a wide diamond midfield specifically to keep him in the lineup). He is, however, properly thought of as a striker, and even when technically playing as an AMC, I usually set his role to either inside forward or trequartista. His placement in an AMC role artificially reduced both his scoring and rating stats. He should be considered one of our strikers.

However, there isn't really a good choice for second midfielder besides him. Mark Bradley has played an awful lot of the position for us, but he was never as dominant as his midfield partner, Tudur-Jones. He also spent two seasons patrolling the right wing, doing a serviceable job, but hardly burning down barns. Since he doesn't clearly overtake Lopes da Silva, I'll leave the latter in the second midfield slot, and Bradley will have to take consideration as a sub.

Wide players

There's not real dispute here. Eventually, Kevin Irvine will take the Right Wing spot, and Kieran Djilali will go back to the Left Wing spot, and Jack Compton will have to come off the bench. But I refuse to consider someone for the team who hasn't been with the club at least three years (which will have impact in a minute), so for now, the Compton – Djilali combo will have to do.

Earlier combinations in these slots (whether AML/AMR or ML/MR) did not manage as much as these two. Indeed, prior to arrival of Djilali, the whole winger thing tended to be quite makeshift. Often, the position went to people like Bradley: MC's who make the mistake of displaying some speed and the ability to cross the ball.

Strikers

This is where the supporters get it wrong. All wrong, really. Alex Nimely doesn't qualify, by the above time criterion. He was only here for 2.2 seasons. He may well have been the best striker we've had (and his 26 goals in 36 appearances for League 1 Hull last season argue he was), but he needed to put in more time here to be part of our proud traditions. Further, Adam Crawford can only be considered the second-best striker if Thomas Gregg Lopes da Silva is limited to being a midfielder. The supporters should have put Lopes da Silva in his proper role, and then gone hunting for a decent second midfielder, and left Crawford on the bench.

The best striker Prestatyn Town have had is Stuart Fleetwood. Not only is he the club's scoring leader for the 10-year period, he often had better goals per minutes ratios than the other strikers. Perhaps Nimely or Crawford would do better than him in a head-to-head competition, but in terms of relative impact, there's no doubt who was our best. The strikers on the team should be Fleetwood and Lopes da Silva; if we prefer Lopes da Silva as an AMC, then it is Fleetwood/Crawford.

Subs:

Here, I will try to follow my usual pattern of a sub bench: 1. GK, 2. FB (preferably a versatile one), 3. Midfielder (preferably one who can play left and right), 4. DM, 5. ST. In Cup matches, the GK and the DM are set aside, since we are allowed only three. In Europe, we get seven, so I add: 6. Fullback (usually one who can cover whatever position #2 can't) and 7. Offensive person (often an MC). So we aren't going to just find the next best 7 players; they have to fit the criteria.

1. GK – Martin Morris Y1. Nice to have one of the youth players on the Best 11.

2. DR/C/L – Dan Wylde. Dan has been in the S2 role for the last four years here. He can fill in the DC or DR slot with no trouble, and in a pinch is a capable MR or DM as well. He's played 49 WPL games the last two seasons and averaged a rating of over 7.25.

3. MR/L – Matthew Harris. I agree with the supporters here. He played ML/MC and in a pinch MR for four vital years as we went from also-rans to regular winners. During that time, he never averaged less than 7.0 for a season. Excellent at tempo control. Now at Carmarthen.

4. DM – Aaron Evans Y2. The DM slot, when I used it from 2011 to 2017, was held down by Tudur-Jones. If it wasn't Tudur-Jones, by choice it was Bradley. But I'll take care of Bradley later. During 4 seasons from 2014 to 2017, Aaron Evans Y2 was the regular S4, and he played quite well as a sub. He also managed to do well when called upon to start due to injury. His ratings were often on average a 7.0 for a season's worth of work. Not bad for one of my early youth program products.

5. ST – Elliott Chamberlain. After Fleetwood, Lopes da Silva, and Crawford, the most prolific striker we had. Was sold on to Newport Co. when he became surplus to requirements, Crawford, Taylor and Carr having joined the squad. Never quite sure that was really an improvement on our part. Scored 16 in 33 for Newport, who promptly sent him to Airbus on a free. Spent last season sitting the pine for Airbus.

6. FB – Josh Kay. The defender with the best ratings ever for us. Scores a few each season; lets a few in each season, too, thanks to his all-or-nothing approach to tackling. Still, there haven't been enough defensive players who have been with us long enough to nudge him off the team entirely. I'm hoping Cornelius Payne manages that eventually.

7. MF – Mark Bradley. Too good to ignore on this team. For a long period of time, the Anthony/Tudur-Jones/Bradley team made the center of the field so solid, I never had to worry about losing control in the middle of the park. And he's played DM/MC/MR for us without complaint as needed.

Also worthy of consideration:

Steve Rowland – DR Perhaps the only original PTFC player (besides Tawton) worthy of consideration. Retired out of the game.

Kieron Freeman – DR Ran the right side for a while prior to Tait arriving. Supporters think he's worthy; perhaps he is. Retired out of the game.

Andrew Williams – DC/DM Played beside Anthony and did a good job of it. Was on the Best 11 until this year's additions knocked him off. Migrated to Aberystwyth last season, after a long spell at non-League Caerleon.

Alex Lawless – MRC Real midfield workhorse. Spent a number of years in the S3 slot, since he was versatile. Was also on this team until just recently. Retired; wants to scout.

Players who would be on the team except for time of service constraints:

Alex Nimely – ST Easily the best player we ever signed. Was clearly a cut above; I should have locked him up in a huge long contract very quickly; learned my lesson there, I did.

Gary Law – DL Wish I could have kept him. But when I had him, it simply wasn't cost-effective to hold onto players who wanted up and out. Both he and Nimely are at Hull, now.

[iseemonsters1]

Really enjoying the deep ten year analysis!

If memory serves, it eems like Wales have been overperforming a bit on the international level during your career so far - do you think that has to do just with Wales being one of the few leagues you have fully loaded, does it have to do with the improvement in the Welsh league producing better Welsh players, or do you think it's caused by something else?

[RavingLibDem]

Really impressed with your progress, and analysis of the ten years, and am following this with a renewed interest, as on my own journeyman file, entering its second season I was handed a job at newly promoted Afan Lido, so can appreciate how difficult it can be to assemble a team!

[DSYoungEsq]

Really enjoying the deep ten year analysis!

If memory serves, it eems like Wales have been overperforming a bit on the international level during your career so far - do you think that has to do just with Wales being one of the few leagues you have fully loaded, does it have to do with the improvement in the Welsh league producing better Welsh players, or do you think it's caused by something else?

I doubt it is related to the fact that the WPL is the only playable league, since there isn't a Welsh MNT player within miles of the WPL; they are all in England or across the Channel. And if they were getting a relative boost from being involved in view-only leagues (as opposed to, say, Switzerland which isn't being run at all), you'd expect England's team to be outproducing others as well. Instead, England are producing precisely the sort of tepid display that appears common with an AI England in FM11.

So I put it down more to Wales simply having performed overly well for a decent manager than anything else. We'll see what happens if/when the game runs out of existing Welsh players through retirement, and is required to use nothing but generated players for Wales instead.

[DSYoungEsq]

Really impressed with your progress, and analysis of the ten years, and am following this with a renewed interest, as on my own journeyman file, entering its second season I was handed a job at newly promoted Afan Lido, so can appreciate how difficult it can be to assemble a team!

As you can see in my game, Afan Lido are capable of doing well, if they simply have good management. It's not like you took on Goytre.

[DSYoungEsq]

Prestatyn Town FC: Youth Player Project – 10 Years of Youth

Well, not really; we've only had nine years of intakes, since I didn't count the youth on the team when I arrived (couldn't be sure where they had come from). But it's still part of the 10-year retrospective entries.

Everyone in the Project is a player who either started out with at least 1.5 stars (IIRC), or who demonstrated within two years of the intake they had at least 1.0 star potential. A player who is top of his intake is designated Y#. A player who was tracked from the year of their intake, but not top of class, is designated Y#a/b/c/... A player who was tracked starting some year after the intake is designated with a nuber of “x”s after the normal YPP designation equal to the number of years after the intake they were identified and tagged.

Thus, Martin Morris Y1 was the top of the first intake. Stuart Hillier Y3a was the second from top player in the 3rd intake. Ben Jones Y7a xx was the second-best of his class (intake 7), but wasn't identified as worth tracking until after two years in the youth squad had finished. There was no top player for the 6th intake class identified; two subsequently identified players were given Y6a/b x designations.

The members of the project are:

Y1  Martin Morris         GK     [url=http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/1864/martinmorrisy1initattri.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5304/20yppy1morris.png]History[/url]
  Y1a   Stuart Edwards   ML/C   [url=http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/1201/stuartedwardsy1ainitatt.png]Then[/url]   Ret
  Y1b   Anthony Davies   ML     [url=http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/668/anthonydaviesy1binitatt.png]Then[/url]   Ret
  Y1dx  Daniel Pritchard DC     [url=http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4074/danielpritchardy1dxinit.png]Then[/url]   Ret
  Y1ex  Michael Holloway ML     [url=http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1725/michaelhollowayy1exinit.png]Then[/url]   Ret
Y2  Aaron Evans           DM/MC  [url=http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/6383/aaronevansy2initattribu.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/725/20yppy2evans.png]History[/url]
  Y2ax  Tom Thomas       ST     [url=http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/4524/tomthomasy2axinitattrib.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/672/20yppy2axthomas.png]History[/url]
  Y2bx  Rhys Morgan      DC     [url=http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/4374/rhysmorgany2bxinitattri.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6899/20yppy2bxmorgan.png]History[/url]
  Y2cxx Paul Higgins     DL     [url=http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2619/paulhigginsy2cxxinitatt.png]Then[/url]   Ret
Y3  Ian Roberts           DC     [url=http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8374/ianrobertsy3initattribu.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1369/20yppy3roberts.png]History[/url]
  Y3a   Stuart Hillier   ST     [url=http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4117/stuarthilliery3ainitatt.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2752/20yppy3ahillier.png]History[/url]
Y4  John Hunter           ST     [url=http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/627/johnhuntery4initattribu.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/33/20yppy4hunter.png]History[/url]
  Y4a   Thomas Walsh     DC     [url=http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1243/thomaswalshy4ainitattri.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3908/20yppy4awalsh.png]History[/url]
Y5  Joe Morris            AMC    [url=http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/839/joemorrisy5initattribut.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8092/20yppy5morris.png]History[/url]
  Y5a   Huw Evans        MC     [url=http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/4100/huwevansy5ainitattribut.png]Then[/url]   Ret
  Y5b   Kyle Allen       AMC    [url=http://img602.imageshack.us/img602/4783/kylealleny5binitattribu.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/1941/20yppy5ballen.png]History[/url]
Y6  N/A
  Y6ax  Ian Evans        MC     [url=http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6000/ianevansy6axinitattribu.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8031/20yppy6axevans.png]History[/url]
  Y6bx  Anthony James    GK     [url=http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/7953/anthonyjamesy6bxinitatt.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/3937/20yppy6bxjames.png]History[/url]
Y7  Phil Morris           ST     [url=http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1770/philmorrisy7initattribu.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/606/20yppy7morris.png]History[/url]
  Y7axx Ben Jones        ST     [url=http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4493/benjonesy7axxinitattrib.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/9881/20yppy7axxjones.png]History[/url]
Y8  Darren Andrews        DM/MC  [url=http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/7423/darrenandrewsy8initattr.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4972/20yppy8andrews.png]History[/url]
Y9  Nathan Passmore       GK     [url=http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/7186/nathanpassmorey9initatt.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/9559/20yppy9passmore.png]History[/url]
  Y9a   Scott Evans      AMC    [url=http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9825/scottevansy9ainitattrib.png]Then[/url]   [url=http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/7856/20attributes.png]Now[/url]   [url=http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/6489/20yppy9aevans.png]History[/url]

First, let's discuss whether or not these players represent a trend regarding youth at Prestatyn Town FC. Keep in mind that it wasn't until 2016 mid-season that we had upgraded youth facilities, and mid-season 2018 finally saw the Academy completed. So we've only had 3 classes of intake with new facilities and one class of intake after Academy completion.

I subjected the 8 top of class players to much the same statistical review I did the players on the squad. Specifically, in the case of the youth, for each top player, I determined their median Physical Attribute score, their median Mental Attribute score, and their median Technical Skills Attribute score (counting GK Attributes as the same as outfield players technical skills). Here are the results, along with the three-year moving averages for each:

[u]Player[/u]   [u]Phys[/u]   [u]MA  [/u]   [u]Ment[/u]   [u]MA  [/u]   [u]Tech[/u]   [u]MA  [/u] 
Y1        9.0           6.5           7.0
Y2        9.0           7.5           6.5
Y3        8.0   8.7     6.0   6.7     2.5   5.3
Y4       10.0   9.0     7.5   7.0     5.0   4.7
Y5        8.5   8.8     7.5   7.0     7.0   4.8
Y7        8.5   9.0     7.5   7.5     3.0   5.0
Y8        9.0   8.7     7.5   7.5     7.0   5.7
Y9        5.5   7.7     5.5   6.8     7.5   5.8

As you can see, the physical stats are flat, the mental stats were rising marginally before last year, and the Technical stats are slowly improving, though how much of that is due solely to the unfortunate rating of Y3 Ian Roberts is not easy to say. Under the circumstances, with regard to the notion that the youth are getting better, to quote a famous philosopher, “I'm disinclined to agree.”

It should be noted, too, that of the players taken in, only two (Martin Morris Y1 and Aaron Evans Y2) have had significant playing time in the first squad. A couple others have spent time on the bench, or coming in as subs semi-regularly, primarily because the League requires that I field 3 U-19 players in the 11+5 man squads for gameday. Joe Morris Y5 is perhaps the most used of these, but his usefulness ended when he turned 19, and he's on the transfer list. Nathan Passmore is currently being used in this regard as backup 'keeper. But neither Morris Y1 or Evans Y2 could keep up with the improving squad, and ended up released/sold, and no player since them has had the ability to break into the squad past the age of 19 and their usefulness in meeting the Play-Your-Youth requirement.

As far as the players themselves go, as the links show, most are still participating in Welsh Football. Of the listed players, only 6 are out of football entirely. Three (Morris Y1, Morgan Y2bx, and Allen Y5b) are still playing for WPL teams. Seven are in lower leagues, and seven (Y2 Evans, Y5 Morris, and Y7-Y9a) are still with Prestatyn Town FC. A few of the ones who moved on have had some success with other teams (Morris Y1 is always decent between the pipes for Llanelli). Three of the players are together at Gap Connah's Quay, which I find amusing.

From this point forward, I'll update each intake to see if the moving averages of median attribute scores change in any significant way. Hopefully, the continued presence in Europe, combined with the Academy, will encourage better players to come shine for Prestatyn. There's no real point, however, to trying to keep track of their exploits, since they basically don't play much beyond the limited time off the bench resulting from the WPL rule. As such, I won't be offering any added information to the FM11 YPP.

Editor's Note: I should point out that using the “star” system to rank recruits is a bit erratic when it comes to accuracy. It's so dependent upon individual preference of the Ass. Man., as well as on the relative merit of the squad and the League, that it's almost useless from a comparison standpoint.

[hrbfcrule]

You're improving too quickly, your youth players just can't keep up

[RavingLibDem]

Can you give me a league placing history for Afan Lido? And their cups etc, just interested to see if I can match it :-)

[DSYoungEsq]

Can you give me a league placing history for Afan Lido? And their cups etc, just interested to see if I can match it :-)

Gladly!

Afan Lido were the League Yo-Yos for the first few years. Promoted for the 2011-2 season, they were promptly sent back down (2-2-28, GD -63). They came right back up for 2013-4, and were booted back down immediately again (7-7-18, GD -25), only three points behind Bangor City. This time, they waited two years to return, coming back up for the 2016-7 season, and have stayed up ever since. Their records have been:

2016-7 11th place 8-8-16, GS 32, GA 48, GD -16, 32 pts (6 pts safe)

2017-8 10th place 8-13-11, GS 31, GA 44, GD -13, 37 pts (plenty ahead of 11th, let alone 12th)

2018-9 7th place 12-10-10, GS 37, GA 31, GD +6, 46 pts (beat Aberystwyth, but then lost to Neath in the European place playoff)

2019-20 3rd place 13-10-9, GS 49, GA 40, GD +9, 49 pts (tied in points with 2nd place Airbus and 4th place Neath, but lost the automatic spot to Airbus by -6 in the GD; lost playoff semifinal to Carmarthen)

They have steadily done better and better. No other team not in the WPL at the start of 2010 season has been as consistent in its results (only Goytre have managed to stick around more than one year, and this year was the first year Goytre managed to stay up for a second successive year).

A team to be proud you are in charge of.

[DSYoungEsq]

Definitely true. If I was tackling this game like you are, using the youth system, I probably would be just now beginning to consistently finish in the top two places. I think that taking your approach here would have put me at least 7 years behind where I am. Interesting question would be to determine if I would have progressed faster using youth players, thus providing an impetus for the youth program to do better.

[Deisler26]

Wow. Fantastic 10 year analysis. Really interesting to read.

[CoachFlu]

Been catching up on this career over the past week or so (inbetween my own playing sessions, obviously.)

Great career, great progress, great read!

I'll be following this with interest. And for the record: I don't mind the amount of detail and length of the posts. (I wouldn't worry too much about that; those with shorter attention spans can easily spot the important highlights in the posts and skip to those parts, heheh.)

You're at an interesting stage now. As you mentioned yourself, the fast rise up the Euro ranks will soon be over. Patient consistency will be the order of business for the next decade, I think, until the other Welsh teams caught up a little bit. You'll be the biggest and strongest horse pulling the wagon for a long while yet, but as the hill gets steeper, the other horses will have to start chipping in a little bit.

Is there just the three U19 player rule in the Welsh league, or is there some sort of foreigner rule as well? If not, that should make it a bit easier on the other Welsh teams to get results in Europe, once the league reputation rises a bit more.

[RavingLibDem]

Gladly!

Afan Lido were the League Yo-Yos for the first few years. Promoted for the 2011-2 season, they were promptly sent back down (2-2-28, GD -63). They came right back up for 2013-4, and were booted back down immediately again (7-7-18, GD -25), only three points behind Bangor City. This time, they waited two years to return, coming back up for the 2016-7 season, and have stayed up ever since. Their records have been:

2016-7 11th place 8-8-16, GS 32, GA 48, GD -16, 32 pts (6 pts safe)

2017-8 10th place 8-13-11, GS 31, GA 44, GD -13, 37 pts (plenty ahead of 11th, let alone 12th)

2018-9 7th place 12-10-10, GS 37, GA 31, GD +6, 46 pts (beat Aberystwyth, but then lost to Neath in the European place playoff)

2019-20 3rd place 13-10-9, GS 49, GA 40, GD +9, 49 pts (tied in points with 2nd place Airbus and 4th place Neath, but lost the automatic spot to Airbus by -6 in the GD; lost playoff semifinal to Carmarthen)

They have steadily done better and better. No other team not in the WPL at the start of 2010 season has been as consistent in its results (only Goytre have managed to stick around more than one year, and this year was the first year Goytre managed to stay up for a second successive year).

A team to be proud you are in charge of.

Thanks! It's looking good in my first season, already 5 points clear of Carmathrean(sp..?) and into the semi-finals of the league cup, as I focused on youth signings to get us this far the future should be bright!

[RichG]

are you still playing or having a break while you do this 10 year review?

[DSYoungEsq]

Wow. Fantastic 10 year analysis. Really interesting to read.

Thanks. I wanted to really know where I was and have some idea what was needed going forward.

Been catching up on this career over the past week or so (inbetween my own playing sessions, obviously.)

Great career, great progress, great read!

I'll be following this with interest. And for the record: I don't mind the amount of detail and length of the posts. (I wouldn't worry too much about that; those with shorter attention spans can easily spot the important highlights in the posts and skip to those parts, heheh.)

Thanks for the compliments. I only worry about the worditity because I know I'm fond of being overly verbose, a habit from my old days of being an attorney (you know, before I bought the soul at Wal-Mart).

You're at an interesting stage now. As you mentioned yourself, the fast rise up the Euro ranks will soon be over. Patient consistency will be the order of business for the next decade, I think, until the other Welsh teams caught up a little bit. You'll be the biggest and strongest horse pulling the wagon for a long while yet, but as the hill gets steeper, the other horses will have to start chipping in a little bit.

Is there just the three U19 player rule in the Welsh league, or is there some sort of foreigner rule as well? If not, that should make it a bit easier on the other Welsh teams to get results in Europe, once the league reputation rises a bit more.

Thankfully, in the WPL the only rule I have to meet is the three-U-19s on the 11+5 roster. The cup games don't even have that, though they do limit the subs bench to only three people! Of course, there is the usual rule for the European games that, if I want to expand the roster from 21 players over the age of 20, I have to do so with at most 4 home-trained players. So yes, I'm hoping that the other Welsh clubs can "catch up" as it were, by signing my cast-offs if nothing else.

Thanks! It's looking good in my first season, already 5 points clear of Carmathrean(sp..?) and into the semi-finals of the league cup, as I focused on youth signings to get us this far the future should be bright!

Carmarthen, and yes, that does sound a good start! Best of luck with the youth.

are you still playing or having a break while you do this 10 year review?

I'm not standing still, but I've been slowed down by the leg-work for the review. Updates coming very soon.

[DSYoungEsq]

Onwards and Upwards - 2020 Initial Report

As usual these days, first place is the only option for the Board. They have a hefty budget to help make that a reality.

The 2020 Season Squad. Some upgrades: see below.

The "reserves." For the most part, people who are on the way out, if I can get someone to take them.

The youth team. We have not much new here.

The next several years will follow much the same pattern, I imagine. We will dominate our league, we will win our cups, we will qualify for one or the other of the group phases in Europe, we will lose most of our games, and be done in Europe by Dec. Then we will try to strengthen the team in May and June, and do it all over again.

My goal is to progress out of the group phase into Spring Europe footie by 2030. That would mean finishing either 2nd in a EURO Cup group, or 3rd in a UCL group. I figure they are both about equally unlikely to happen soon. Meanwhile, slowly but surely, the quality of the squad will improve.

We didn't make any major signings. I'm satisfied with the squad, for the most part. But I wanted to shore up some spots where we don't have good back-up. Here are the new signings:

Liam Mason – AMC/MR:

He has glowing recommendation from my scouts. He'll be a good back-up for Irvine on the right wing, and he can be a good AMC in formations where we use that.

Thomas Andersen – DR:

Back-up for Gareth Tait. Young and fresh-faced. My scouts canvasing Europe have been finding nice players like this, which has helped.

Tom Williamson – DC:

Was on loan for us at end of last season. Am hoping that he makes Josh Kay unneeded even as a backup.

Vladimir Djuricic – GK:

New backup 'keeper. Brought in from Croatia. Can't rely on Passmore at the highest level, yet, and don't want to run the risk of another Matty Long injury during a Europe phase.

There were two semi-decent youth players:

Iwan Nash Y10 – MC:

Rates 2.5 stars. Not a bad result; we'll see if he can eventually slot into the sub bench. Not very skilled, but great physical ability.

Matthew Davey Y10a – ST:

Barely worth mentioning at 1.0 stars. We'll see just how far he gets.

We had some notable exits. Byron Anthony decided to retire. And, not to be outdone, Owain Tudur-Jones is moving to TNS.

We've had mild staff turnover, mostly scouts. I'm experiencing a weird pattern of scouts who work for me for a year, and then won't negotiate to extend the contract. So now I'm tying them down for three years instead. We also have a new youth coach, no one special. The staff has the ability to expand significantly, so I'll mull doing that, especially if we manage to luck into a $10M payday for a UCL group.

Our attendance last year was our best ever. We hope to continue that trend. We're getting $166K of money for the WPL TV rights this year, much more than it used to be.

Board Overview.

Finances.

[DSYoungEsq]

European Championship Finals 2020 (Italy) Results:

Wales once again qualify, though England do them one better.

France defend the Championship. Wales crash out at first asking to Serbia, England do the same to Portugal in a thriller.

[DSYoungEsq]

Lunch with the Big Boys – Qualifying Phase report - 2020/1

Position Graph

My squad.

The “Youth”; the statistics are from whatever Saturday Night friendlies they got into.

An explanation: In the past, I have stopped for a report after the pre-season friendlies are done and the League games are about to start. However, for several seasons, that has meant interrupting the flow of the European group qualifying effort. Since Europe is our main goal, and we are fairly well assured of participating in it each year, I'm going to shift the reporting points to mirror what is happening in Europe, rather than in Wales.

Thus, the reports will come in late June (Initial), late August (Pre-Group), late December (Group Results), and late May (End of Season). Should I ever reach a point of making it into the Knockout phases in Europe, I'll add a report when we are knocked out. WPL updates will simply show whats going on at the parallel times, but will no longer be the focus of the report.

Europe:

We outdid ourselves! Once again, we have earned the privilege of being stomped on by the best. Our efforts were quite good in the process. The lads have been brilliant, with little room for doubt.

The results against Carrick were excellent, though I'd have preferred a clean sheet away. It had been billed by the newsies as likely to be close, so they trumpeted our pick-6 whitewash. The followup against Sherriff was even better, though they were hanging with us just fine in the second game. With the score knotted at 1-1, 2-2 agg, and headed to extra time, they had a man sent off for a professional foul in min. 75, after which the floodgates broke and it became a laugher. The newsies loved that scoreline as well.

By all rights, Kalmar are a team we should stand no chance against. Their players are very good. But we jumped all over them at home, they handed us two late goals, and we defended like daemons. The away draw was really satisfying, and was done without dusting off the bus and bringing it along with us. Winning that was particularly satisfying. When the seedings for the playoff draw had been set, Kalmar were one of two teams I said I didn't want to be paired with, and of course it happened. Fortunately, it worked out.

Our reward for this cheekiness of getting through to the UCL groups? We were handed this draw. Milan will stomp us, and we already know what will happen with PSG. So the only hope is to catch Galatasaray napping. Live and learn, that's how we have to look at it, as we skip to the bank with our $10M.

Home Front:

The WPL starts tamely, with two relatively easy wins. I'm putting out squads that feature the reserve and youth teams prominently, in order to save the strength of the top players for Europe. It's not making any difference. I predict we may go without any loss this season, and might well go with only one or two drawn games. We're in second by the slimmest of margins: we've scored one less goal than the team in first.

Before we got the League going, though, we managed the most famous Prestatyn Town FC win ever in a friendly: Prestatyn 2 – 1 Newcastle! Newcastle are in the EPL, so they are not a “soft” team at all.

In other news, I was offered a new contract, which I extended out into a five-year deal. The per year cost has gone from a tame $1K per week to a lovely $3.6K per week. I guess they like me well enough.

Our only exit of note at this point is Aaron Evans Y2, who left on a free transfer for BSP side Hereford. We say a sad goodbye to one of our most helpful youth players, and wish him luck in the BSP.

Club overview.

Financials. The $10M this season isn't showing on the graph, yet.

[HunterKiller]

Wow, that is one nightmare of a group Great going DSYoungEsq, I for one welcome the verbosity of the updates!

[RichG]

ouch. those attendances are not keeping up with your success. That must make it hard to turn a profit from gate reciepts

[AK22]

Good luck with that CL Group! Unfortunately, I don't fancy your chances tbh!

[hrbfcrule]

Good luck with that group

Also lol at a Swedish team getting anywhere near the Champions League Group stages

[Raware]

A nice healthy bank balance there DSYoungEsq! Tough luck in the CL group draw, but you never know. I'm surprised that Tampere made it to the groups. Out of interest, are they ranked higher or lower than you?

[Matt123456]

Loving the 10 year analysis, it really shows the progression of the Welsh Leagues. I can't believe Prestatyn's reputation is so low though. After I read this I was tempted to check for myself, and found that the reputation of my Wexford side is a practically titanic, in comparison, figure of 3777. Hopefully this figure will continue to rise.

Good luck up at mixing it up with the big boys in the Champions League. Hopefully you can get a point this time . Congrats on the incredible win over Newcastle as well. Considering the relative strengths of your squad that is quite an incredible achievement.

[rancer890]

Hope you score at least 1 goal in the group stages and give up less than 30 DSYoungEsq. And maybe score a point like Neath did against Chelsea.

[DSYoungEsq]

I did just a hair better than that.

We have been doing well, losing games, but managing to make the opponents work to beat us. Then this happened. We break the duck in the UCL, and can bask in the glow of a famous win, even if it was aided in large measure by the red card given at the time of the penalty award for goal #2.

Of course, now we have a trip to the San Siro to finish things off. That's going to be some fun...

[DSYoungEsq]

Breakthrough Effort – Europe Group report - 2020/1

Position Graph

My squad.

Reserves, including youth playing up.

The “Youth”.

For the first time ever, Prestatyn have had success in the UCL group phase. Sadly, it wasn't quite enough to see us to Spring European footie, but it was enough to make the supporters ecstatic. A sweet feeling, especially given how poorly our chances were rated.

Europe:

The effort in our tough group was quite good. I knew fourth was most likely to be our result, but never would have thought we would have had a chance on match day 6 to steal a third place finish. So to have that chance, however miniscule, was a very good result indeed.

We started the group off serving notice that we were no pushovers in going into Istanbul and pushing Galatasaray to within mere moments of a drawn result. Then, after holding the Rossoneri to a 0-2 win at Bastion Gardens, we marched into the Parc des Princes and scared Paris St.-Germain. Facing home games against the two teams we had done well against on the road, I was hopeful we could pounce on one of them for a draw, to earn our first point in the UCL groups.

PSG disappointed us, though we made a creditable effort. With Galatasaray our only real hope, I eschewed all caution, and played our familiar 4-0-2-2-2 from the league. After giving away an early penalty (thanks a lot, Josh Kay!), we shook off the fears and proceeded to put the opposition down with a memorable effort. And I was not listening to anyone who said it was due to the unfortunate red card their defender received, or the luck of two penalties being awarded to us. I point to the fact that Djilali had evened the score before the card gave us the advantage, and the card and the penalties were the result of very aggressive attacking play on our part. Galatasaray simply failed to cope.

This left us in an amazing position, as we headed to the San Siro for the last group game. Galatasaray were on 4 points, but with a very poor goal differential. We were on 3 points, with superior GD. If we could manage to hold Milan at their home to a 0-0 or 1-1 draw (allowing them to score twice and still draw would be impossible), we would be left in third place if Galatasaray lost their final game to PSG. Sadly, though we played well, AC Milan did just enough, teasing us before dispatching us. As it turns out, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Still, the final table is quite a good result!

The UCL Team Stats to date. Note our goal-scoring prowess!

The UCL Player Stats to date. Note the appearance on the list of PTFC names!

UCL Groups E – H. Note that we did better than 6 4th placed teams.

Home Front:

The WPL has been interesting. We've done less well than I had hoped, though we lead by a decent margin. However, in looking at the standings, please keep in mind that we've played almost all 15 League games with what is essentially a Reserve team! I've used the top squad for mid-week encounters (Europe and the League Cup), so with the exception of about 4 games, we're beating up on the rest of the league with players who are my second choice for each position. Clearly, my squad is light years ahead of the rest of the League.

Now that the European adventure is over, I'll be turning the top players loose on the League. I may also try to arrange some mid-week friendlies with good quality squads to give players who aren't playing on the weekend a chance to flex their muscles. My financial position being what it is, I can afford to have a deep squad now, and not worry so much about the cost of that.

The WPL Team Stats to date. I only show this to brag about our ever-increasing attendance.

The WPL Player Stats to date. Note the presence of the PTFC players.

I did add to the squad in one notable acquisition:

Ben Brook – GK:

Ben will be the goalkeeper of the future. I've been looking for a replacement for the relatively mediocre Matty Long for some time, and this kid looks the real deal. He's antsy, wanting to start already, having experienced life at Everton. Now that the UCL campaign is through, I'll be putting him into the top slot. At $35K, he's a steal. Meanwhile, Long can finally be sold to one of the larger clubs that have been sniffing around for him for a couple years. Win-win situation.

I should also mention that I've given in to the inevitable and promoted Josh Kay back to a spot in the top lineup, demoting Niall McDonald. I still think Kay gets too much press for his ability to score, and not enough criticism for his tendency to make bad decisions when defending one-on-one (e.g.: the penalty he gave up to Galatasaray). But he's definitely doing better than he was, his performances in the WPL have been excellent, and Niall McDonald has been over-matched by the UCL. Even I can be wrong, from time to time.

In other news, I managed to get the Board to agree to a youth facilities upgrade. I've figured out that the way to deal with the Board is to hit them when they are flush with new European cash, and push for all you can get. They are going to re-lay the pitch over the summer, too.

Club overview.

Financials. This was definitely helped by the .

Boardroom Overview.

[Matt123456]

I feel upstaged . Congrats on the fantastic win though, Galatasaray are a huge team, especially since they managed to qualify from the group! I'm barely able to comprehend your dominance of the Welsh leagues. Opening up a 5 point lead just using your reserves is absurd!

[DSYoungEsq]

I feel upstaged . Congrats on the fantastic win though, Galatasaray are a huge team, especially since they managed to qualify from the group! I'm barely able to comprehend your dominance of the Welsh leagues. Opening up a 5 point lead just using your reserves is absurd!

Galatasaray proceeded to smash their way to the quarterfinals, stomping all over Celtic on the way (8-2 aggregate), before "FC Bayern" thrashed them 0-11 to send them home weeping. I found it quite satisfying that I had managed to beat the 2nd place finishers in the group.

Season ending update later in the day; at the end of it all, we smashed to a 25 point win in the League, though we had a few games in there with the full squad; we finished with 7 clean sheets in a row in all competitions. It's getting scary how good we can be.

[RavingLibDem]

Glad to see Afan Lido doing well, hope they kept it up to the end of the season! I did however make it to the league cup final on my file, in their first year in the WPL, so take that AI

[Nobby_McDonald]

This is somewhere else where SI have failed realism... there is no way any team would be allowed to play Champions League group games in a 700 capacity stadium.

[Flamers]

I don't think SI expected him to do this well so quickly

Flamers

[DSYoungEsq]

Would that I could bootstrap a new stadium for this reason!

The good news is, with attendance picking up, I'll probably get an expansion soon.

[DSYoungEsq]

And on, and on, and on... - The 2020-1 End of Season Report

The Position Graph.

The Welsh Cup (last four rounds)

The League Cup

The Squad.

The Squad's stats (combined).

The Reserves. These are mostly people on the way out.

The Youth Rated.

From December to the end of the season was pretty much according to Hoyle. We did not lose another game after the 26 Sept. Airbus defeat, a run of 35 games in all Welsh competitions. Our record isn't as good as last year, despite having only one loss, because we had a tendency to let the opposition draw with us. We were, however, tighter at the back, allowing only 17 goals this season in the League. If you want to know how truly impressive we are defensively: we haven't allowed a goal in the League Cup now in over three years (13 games).

After Europe was done, I did allow my top flight team to play in the WPL, not that it mattered too much. They weren't tremendously better than the second flight, though the last two drawn games were with the second flight in, the top flight playing the Saturday Cup Finals right after each of them. I think if I ever played the top flight for 32 games, I might actually manage no losses or ties, and possibly even no goals allowed, if I set the tactics right, and didn't have any significant injuries. If we were this good in real life, we'd petition to leave the Welsh League and join the English Football League, like Cardiff and Swansea and Wrexham did.

The Welsh Cup and the League Cup were each a piece of cake. We now have taken the League Cup five times running, and the Welsh Cup is ours for the eighth time running. Ho hum.

Oh, and as usual these days, we had the lion's share of players on the PoY ballot. I expect it will go to Kevin Irvine, who is averaging a 7.5 rating.

We did add a couple new players before the end of the season:

Albert de Lange – ST/MC:

This guy spent over a year ignoring my interest in him, including this whole year when he was out of a job (released by FC Groningen). I pounced just as soon as I could near the end of the season; for some reason, players like this are often willing to listen to offers in late April that they weren't taking from me in March. He's rated by the scouts better than the Ass. Man. rates him, but that's no shock, so it didn't deter me.

Michal Bortnik – M/AMR:

Wasn't happy with Liam Mason as backup on the right side. This guy has more speed, so I think he's going to do a better job in the AMR role when Irvine or Djilali are unavailable. Not shockingly, he had trouble at the start fitting in (my only Pole!), but was happy once I promised to try and sign someone he recommended. Of course, that player had no intention of leaving the natural beauty that is Poland in winter to come to the rainy place that is Wales, so oh well.

And I've completed the plan regarding my GK position. Matty Long has been transferred to Cardiff for $20K. I promptly handed the reigns over to the young purchase Ben Brook, who settled in nicely, keeping 17 clean out of 25 played, and averaging slightly better than Long usually did. He's already shown tremendous improvement, and at 18, will only get better.

As will Prestatyn Town FC!

Club Overview. Would love to spend some of that money, someday.

Boardroom overview. Can't wait for the new youth training facilities.

Finances. Decidedly helped by the year.

Oh, and in some final news:

I was in charge for game # 500 at PTFC, the Welsh Cup semi-final win over Carmarthen. 500 games in 11 years, I expect then I'll finish the save with around 1500 or so in charge.

[DSYoungEsq]

Glad to see Afan Lido doing well, hope they kept it up to the end of the season! I did however make it to the league cup final on my file, in their first year in the WPL, so take that AI

You will be happy to see that Afan Lido managed to ensure a place in Europe this season. And, if I'm very much not mistaken, they should be getting the spot that is in the 3rd Qualifying Phase for their position, since we won the Welsh Cup (the usual top EURO Cup spot), and the losing Welsh Cup side were non-League, meaning the top spot should go to the 2nd place in League.

[DSYoungEsq]

The Year End Summary - 2020/1

Results:

WPL: 1st 23 pts. ahead of Afan Lido

WC: Winner 3-0 v. Berriew (non-league)

LC: Winner 2-0 v. Haverfordwest

Europe: Won 1st tie v. Carrick Rangers FC (NIR) 11-2 2nd Qual Phase UCL (Champions)

Won 2nd tie v. FC Sherriff Tiraspol (MDV) 6-2 3rd Qual Phase UCL (Champions)

Lost 3rd tie v. Kalmar FF (SWE) 4-1 Qual Playoff UCL (Champions)

Finished 4th UCL Group D W1 D0 L5 Pts 3

1-0-1 v Galatasaray SK (TUR) 1-2 A, 3-1 H

0-0-2 v AC Milan (ITA) 0-2 H, 0-2 A

0-0-2 v Paris Saint-Germain FC (FRA) 1-2 A, 0-1 H

Prestatyn Town FC Honors

Wales Young Player of the Year (2020):

Phil Morris Y7, who spent this season on loan to Newtown, where he muddled along.

WPL Player of the Year:

Kevin Irvine

WPL Young Player of the Year:

Adam Carr

WPL Team of the Season: Only eight this year: – Ben Brook, Thomas Andersen(!), Josh Kay, Cornelius Payne, Paul Dummet(!), Kevin Irvine, Jack Compton(!), Gary Carr(!). The presence of Andersen, Dummet, Compton and Carr can be laid to the fact I played the “reserve” team in more League games, and they are part of that crew.

Fan's Player of the Year: Josh Kay.

The ship has righted, and all is well with the world, as I'm the WPL Manager of the Year again, finally.

News for Prestatyn Town FC:

Prestatyn are now 94th in Europe. That puts us just under Ajax(!!), and above some healthy competition. We will definitely be top seed in all the draws for the qualifying phases, and we could even potentially be a 3rd seed for a group, especially a EURO Cup group if we slip to that competition. And next season, we'll improve on that again, in all likelihood (replacing 1 rating point with at least 4), meaning I expect we'll be around 75th place, equivalent with Napoli, and ahead of a number of English clubs.

The Wales Season Summary. A good year for Prestatyn Town FC.

We've had record attendance again. Indeed, we're averaging 20% of capacity at WPL games. We also set a defensive record, finishing the season with 8 shutouts.

The club's profits haven't been declared, yet. They paid out a dividend of over $2M

News about Wales and the World:

Wales Overview 6/2021. A new feature here, this screen summarizes all sorts of stuff happening with Wales, including the national team, the clubs, the main Welsh players. Note that we are 17th in the current FIFA world rankings.

The WPL makes a move up in Europe to 116th. That's just ahead of the Spanish Second Division B leagues, and just behind the Romanian Second League.

Wales has some different European slots. In the 2022-3 season, Wales will have a team seeded into the 3rd Qualifying Phase of the EURO Cup, to go with one each in Round 2 and Round 1. UCL spots stay the same. We are only 11 places away from gaining a fifth team in Europe; I predict that will take about five years, because my progress up the ladder will slow after next season.

The current status of Welsh Premier League Club financial values. It's like a man among ants.

In other news of the world:

In a unique “double”, the UCL Final was contested between English clubs, and the EURO Cup final was also contested between English clubs. Pretty weird.

Note in the UCL tree what Galatasaray did to Celtic, then what “FC Bayern” did to Galatasaray. Yikes.

[DSYoungEsq]

This year's inductees into the Prestatyn Town FC Best 11: Kevin Irvine, Dan Wylde, Cornelius Payne. Out: Kieron Freeman, Matthew Harris, Gareth Tait (who is still with the club).

Best 11 Lineup. I cannot fault adding Irvine; Djilali/Irvine is an improvement over Compton/Djilali. Cornelius Payne no real surprise, and he's added not at the expense of Anthony or Tawton, but rather Kieron Freeman, with which I agree. Dan Wylde is a shock, for although he has been the super sub for us for a while, that's not usually enough to make it in, but he displaces (probably momentarily at best) Gareth Tait.

Where they all are now. Some changes in those still on the list, notably the move of Chamberlain to AFC Wimbledon.

[rancer890]

Good work DSYoungEsq.

Surprised at how horrible Ajax are though...and France lost a Champions League spot.

Make the Champions League group stages again.

[AK22]

Those UCL knockout results are insane!

Still making good progress with Prestatyn. Your bank balance is very healthy now too (the joys of European football), your board could buy out all the other teams in Wales!

[greenwhitearmy]

Could you put up a table for the Northern Irish League, it's interesteing to see that carrick got European football

[RichG]

lol can you post the 11-0 Bayern v Galatasary games and also celtic's 8-2 defeats in the ECL.

That's some crazy first knockout stages in the ECL. some big scores

[DSYoungEsq]

Galatasaray 6-1 Celtic

Celtic 1-2 Galatasaray

"FC Bayern" 8-0 Galatasaray

Galatasaray 0-3 "FC Bayern"

Yeah, insane results.

Mighty Carrick win the NIR Premier Division for 2019-20. Crusaders were 6th!

2020-21 and all is right with the world. I'll probably get drawn against Crusaders, again. I've been drawn three times already against the NIR contestant, IIRC.

[crouchaldinho]

Just catching up with this. Very impressive work in Europe!