Ajax - When Real Life Meets Football Manager - FM14

[Cleon]

Ajax Youth Development – When The Real World Meets Football Manager

Before I start and explain what this thread is about I'd like to thank some people for allowing me to use certain images, use of certain articles and for providing me links for elsewhere to better answer my questions.

So firstly I'd like to thank everyone at http://www.ecaeurope.com/ and in particular Olivier Jarosz who kindly game me permission to use his detailed ECA report on Youth Academies.

Secondly I'd like to thank the great staff over at https://www.ajaxonlineacademy.com/home/ for answering my questions, use of images and pointing me in the right direction. Without this I wouldn't have got the great insight into what Ajax is all about and what it means to people.

Lastly I'd also like to thank http://english.ajax.nl/Ajax-Experience/Preview.htm for the reasons mentioned above.

Without the above people I'd have not fully understood what Ajax the football club is all about, so a massive thank you to all those mentioned.

[Cleon]

The Aim Of The Thread

You can also find out when I'll be updating this thread via twitter at @Cleon81

For the last few years I've actually took a step back from tactics and have been focusing more and more on player development and the training side of the game. I find this a lot more enjoyable and rewarding and find it a lot more relaxing that writing about and studying tactics. On FM12 I managed to create a very popular thread on youth development and I really enjoyed seeing how players improved and tailoring schedules to suit the player. However this as now changed for FM13 and you can't do it the same was but you can still develop youth players, you just have to do it by other methods now. So that is my aim to show you how you can now develop players using individual focus for specific attributes and individual roles.

I recently read an article about Ajax and how they focus on developing players so I thought it would be very interesting to see if I could implement the ideas I read into FM13.

Some aspects of the youth development aren't able to be transferred into FM13 but I think I can take lots of the elements and apply/adapt them so they do work on some levels. That'll be the aim of this thread. It'll be split into two parts, the first will be a detailed look at the Ajax philosophy and give a real insight into how the club operates in all age groups. The second part of the thread will be about taking all the information and seeing how we can try and translate this into the game.

I understand that there will be limits and restrictions to what I can actually achieve compared to the real life blueprint that is used but I still think it'll make a good read and give a good twist on Football Manager player development.

So with all this in mind it'll make for a better thread and discussion and be really thorough. I've wrote a lot of things up already so it shouldn't be that long after Xmas that I begin to start posting stuff. It'll probably be a new thread though with the opening post added to it. It'll contain things like this;

• Tutoring - I'll explain why I'm tutoring and track the development
  
• Player development - I'll be tracking this really closely as I try and implement the Ajax Philosophy
  
• Re-training - No doubt I'll change a few players positions to suit the tactical framework they'll be playing in
  
• Moulding players - This will focus on creating the types of players you'll need
  
• The tactic - I'll mention this but not in great detail, but I'll outline the basics as it'll make it easier to understand why I train players how I do and re-train them.
  
• Staff Choices - This will include hiring and firing and what attributes to look for to get the best out of the players you have
  

That's just the basic outline as far as I've got atm. It's not been easy trying to stick to the Ajax philosophy and implement the idea's into game. There are some restrictions but I found work arounds. It'll include a lot more than I've mentioned about though, that's just to give you a brief run down on how far I've got.

Why do this again when you did it for FM13?

The thread last year was a great success and was one of the most popular threads ever on this forum. But that's not why I thought I'd do this again this year though. I've had an hard time getting into FM14 because I felt bored with the game and got a lot of things going on in real life. None of this has anything to do with the new changes for FM14 though it's all about me growing bored/tired of playing. So I took a step back for a while and tried various saves but never played more than 2 seasons after getting bored.

Another reason for this was I actually missed my Ajax game from FM13 and felt I still had unfinished business with the old thread. I never got close to adding all the stuff that I would have liked too and while the thread was popular I felt I could do a lot better. So I started a new save with Ajax last week and I slowly began to enjoy playing FM again, I've already played a few seasons with them so I have plenty of stuff to write about. So this is the main reason for revisiting this topic. So hopefully I can deliver on the things I felt I lacked from the last thread. Some of the stuff might seem similiar to the last one but I assure you it'll feel a lot more complete and organised than the last, plus things have been updated to make it relevant for FM14 because a few things chanced.

[Cleon]

So what is the Ajax philosophy?

A Basic Overview

Continuity is particularly important in youth development. Everyone involved needs to be well informed and pulling in the same direction. At Ajax, there is great value placed on the opinion of the chief scout. In principle, an Ajax youth player is only a member for one year. An average of 30 of the 160 youth players drop out after one season. In this context, Ajax has to implement a tough selection procedure. This procedure takes account of numerous opinions, set out in reports.

Communication with parents is also important. An Ajax youth player is already a mini-star in his own environment, even though, in Ajax terms, he still has lot to learn. This means that parents must be kept well informed of what is happening, because otherwise the youngster may find himself listening to two different versions of the same story. It goes without saying that he will always lean toward the more favourable version, and this is usually bad for his development as a soccer player.

A comprehensive report of each young hopeful Ajax player is presented twice a year, in April and December. The report is discussed with both the player and his parents. The soccer elements have been subdivided into a number of categories.

• Ballcontrol -- dribbling, passing, beating an opponent, shooting, speed of action,attacking headers, scoring ability, crosses, speed on the ball
  
• 1 v 1 -- defending, defensive headers, sliding tackles, tackling, attacking the ball
  
• Combination skills -- overview, positional play, adherence to assigned tasks
  
• Athletic personality -- speed off the mark, speed from 0 to 10, from 10 to 30, and above 30 yards, mobility, strength in the tackle, stamina, running skills and jumping power
  
• Charisma -- leadership ability, match mentality, attitude towards others, team-mates, coach, referee, etc, receptivity to coaching, ability to with stand pressure
  
• Other information -- modest, cheeky, creative, plays in the service of others, character player, technical player, right footed, left footed , two footed
  

Analysis

The next step was to prepare a strengths and weaknesses analysis. At Ajax, a lot is done on intuition. This has led to a typical Ajax culture, with a high yield in terms of the number of young players who succeed in making the grade.

Ajax uses the acronym TIPS to describe the strong points of ayoung Ajax player.

T is for Technique. Ajax youth players must be in control of the ball

I is for Insightand Intelligence. The ability too serve and think ahead.

P is for Personality. Must be able to communicate with others, provide leadership, be creative, show flair and daring, be receptive to his fellow players, and be able to work in a disciplined manner.

S is for Speed, which is essential for every Ajax player. Speed off the mark, mobility and speed over long distances.

The Ajax scouts are always on the lookout for I,P and S, because these are very difficult to influence.Technique can always be improved. Ajax youth are technically gifted, soccer wise, interesting personalities, with good basic speed.

Development Plan

Every Ajax youth eleven has 16 players. There are 2 goalkeepers. Four righ tfooted players are selected for positions 2, 6, and 7 (right back, right midfield, right wing fwd), Four left footed players for positions 5, 8 and 11 (left back, left midfield, left forward), Three players for 3 and 4 (central defenders) and finally three players for 9 and 10 (striker and shadow striker). This applies from the Under 10 team up to the first eleven. During the players’ development, therefore, they play in the two or three positions within the team for which they have been selected.

When a 7 year old has passed the strict selection procedure and is allowed to wear his Ajax shirt at last, his first period will be devoted to learning the basic skills. He first needs to master various techniques if he is later to make the right choices in the various positions within the Ajax system. For this reason the drills developed by Wiel Coerver are used extensively for the 8 to 10 and 10 to 12 age groups. According to the coaching staff, these drills help children not only to use their feet more skilfully, but also to improve their balance, speed up their rhythm, pull away to the right and left, and use every part of their feet. The 8 to 10 year olds learn the rudiments of the Ajax system in a fun way.

Recognizing genuine talent at such an early age is a difficult tasks even for expert Ajax scouts. Even in the 8 to 10 age group, Ajax takes note of how well a talented youngster runs. During the two week test period, each young candidate is assessed on six different activities by the coordination coach.

Another problem involved in selecting 8 to 10 year olds is the difference in mental development encountered in this age group. If you join Ajax, you have to be coachable and be able to understand instructions. The child’s environment is also considered. What sort of support is provided by the parents ? How does he behave ? If adequate attention is paid to the initial selection, there will be no need to make any further subsequent adjustments further up the age range. It is typical for the 8 to 10 age group that each child plays for himself rather than combining with the others. In addition, children move towards the ball and not away from it, and are inclined to play the ball forward and not to the side or backwards. Ajax starts at the beginning by formulating the requirements for the 8 to 12 age group. Then the 12 to 14, the 14 to 16, and the 16 to 20 age groups.

Ajaxlooks at eight different areas:

1-- Technique, 2 -- tactics, 3 -- know-how, 4 -- running and strength training,

5-- personality formation, 6 -- coaching situations, 7 -- training, 8– matches.

Technique is most important for the 8 to 12 age group. They have to learn to control the ball with every part of both feet and in all directions.These are the objectives that the players must have achieved by the time they move up to the 12 to 14 age group:

Technical demands in the first phase include: combining ball controland speed in complicated situations where there is an element of resistance;

• Ability to use both feet to side-foot and semi—side-foot the ball and kick it with the instep, both along the ground and through the air, over short distances
  
• Taking and cushioning the ball with all parts of the body
  
• Juggling the ball with every part of the body except the arms
  
• Passing accurately from a standing position and while on the move
  
• Accurately shooting on goal
  
• Working on various crosses
  
• Learning the basic heading technique, without resistance
  
• Developing and stimulating body swerves and feints
  
• Learning techniques for taking a ball past an opponent
  
• Learning to shield the ball
  
• The throw in
  
• Learning to take a penalty
  

As far as tactics the following principles apply to the youngest group:

• Running into space to receive the ball
  
• Positions in the length and breadth of the field
  
• Linking up, linking back
  
• Taking up positions to receive the ball
  
• Playing from your own position
  
• Taking over the position of another player
  
• Learning to play in another position
  
• Looking beyond the ball
  
• Deciding the moment of choice between passing and making an individual run
  
• Learning to shield the ball when dribbling and passing
  
• Covering on the inside
  
• Covering the most dangerous opponent
  

In the field of soccer know-how, the first targets are:

• Learning the rules of the game
  
• Learning to keep their boots in good condition
  
• Learning to recognize the Ajax system of play
  
• Learning to look after their bodies
  
• Acquiring knowledge of diet in the context of matches and training
  
• Learning knowledge of the rules of soccer and Ajax’s own specific culture
  

Running and strength training involves:

• Learning the principles of good running technique
  
• Coordinated running
  
• Learning to jump by taking off from one leg and from two legs
  
• Maintaining and improving suppleness
  
• Learning to use the body during duels
  
• Strength training by making use of the player’s own bodyweight
  
• Learning to avoid an opponent, sliding tackle or tackle
  
• Sprinting in all directions
  
• Learning to use a shoulder charge
  

Personality formation -- Ajax makes high demands on even the youngest players:

• Learning a sporting attitude, in which respect for the opponent is central
  
• Learning to communicate with team-mates, coaches and team support staff
  
• Learning to be open to the opinions ofothers
  
• Accepting leadership
  
• Learning to accept the referee’sdecisions
  
• Learning to be critical of their own achievements
  
• Learning to analyse their own game
  
• Learning to conform to the Ajax rules
  
• Learning to listen to the coach
  
• Learning that soccer is a team sport
  
• Experiencing the rudiments of teambuilding
  
• Learning to concentrate
  
• Learning to be responsible for equipment
  
• Learning to avoid injury
  
• Learning to listen to their bodies
  

Twice each year, all the players are assessed on forty elements. These assessments result in one of three recommendations:

A– stay

B– doubtful (B/A doubtful/stay)

C– go ( B/C doubtful/go )

Once the Ajax youth players have reached the age of 12, they enter the second stage of training in the 12 to 14 age group. This is the age at which many of the young players are faced with accelerated physical growth. This is also a significant age group, because actual matches play a larger role. Boys of 13 and 14 already have more strength and speed, and are able to move the ball over long distances.

From the Under 14s upward, Ajax training sessions are geared towards competitive games.

Youngsters in the 12 to 14 age group have already under gone four years of Ajax training. In an enjoyable way, they have already learned a great deal about making choices during a game. The most stringent criteria are applied to the players in the second year of the Under 14 level.

Observation by the coaches, and the intuitive feeling that this player will fit the Ajax pattern, and that one will not, remain the most important criteria, but you must be able to support intuition with facts.

To compensate for the loss of street soccer in the busy city of Amsterdam, we have developed a soccer play ground for the youngest Ajax players. Twice a week the 8 to 12 year olds can enjoy themselves there, playing soccer tennis, header volleyball, keeping the ball in the air, or small sided games. Ajax believes that young players cannot spend too much time with the ball.

As far as the Ajax board is concerned, the coach for the 8 to 10 yearolds is just as important as the coach for the 16 to 18 year olds. In the Ajax philosophy, it is unthinkable that an Under 10 team coach should have the ambition to coach the Under 18 Team in a few years time, or that an older coach should feel he could “take it easy” by coaching the 8 to 10 year olds.

Every youth coach has a limited amount of freedom of action within the Ajax system. First of all, he must always think of the whole picture. The point of departure is the match, and the basis is the Ajax system of play, which runs like a thread through the entire club. At Ajax the youth coaches and players know from the start exactly how the finished structure should look: the desired system of play is totally familiar.

The Ajax philosophy is as follows: you can learn a brilliant book of coaching drills by heart, but the ability to act at the right moment, to make an accurate analysis and to show how things should be done, is much more important. That is the heartof the matter !

The constant will to improve. This is the principle of Ajax and the Ajax youth development scheme.

[Cleon]

Let's take a look at what drills Ajax use;

[Cleon]

More Drills;

[Cleon]

More drills;

[Cleon]

More drills;

You can now see how the drills are linked to what I posted in post 3 of this thread. It's a lot for a young player to take in, in my opinion. It's very demanding and highly technical, you can see how the drills focus on the technical side of the game. Something which is important for the Ajax philosophy.

[Cleon]

Infrastructure

The main goal of Ajax is simple, have three players make the first team every two seasons. It seems quite reasonable doesn't it?!. But why is there such a great need for this to happen. Well, again this is rather simple, they need the money to fund the first teams salaries. The more players they have make the first team as soon as possible the sooner they'll be able to sell them on for what is hopefully a big transfer fee. This is the main reason why they are so demanding and seem almost cruel in their selection process. Throughout the time at the academy a player learns both the technical and mental aspects of the game.

I think this part will be easily recreated in FM, maybe not the having three good players who are able to be sold but selling players shouldn't be an issue really.

So how does all this fit into FM then I hear you ask.

Well it's going to be a struggle to begin with as I have to reshape the club to how I want it to be run. This will include hiring the correct type of staff. Sorting through the current players at the club and deciding who can/cannot make it. While at the same time trying to get good enough results so I keep my job and don't get fired.

As you'll have read from the development bit slightly further up, I will be applying the same logic as the youth team in terms of players. So I'll be following this;

Every Ajax youth eleven has 16 players. There are 2 goalkeepers. Four righ tfooted players are selected for positions 2, 6, and 7 (right back, right midfield, right wing fwd), Four left footed players for positions 5, 8 and 11 (left back, left midfield, left forward), Three players for 3 and 4 (central defenders) and finally three players for 9 and 10 (striker and shadow striker). This applies from the Under 10 team up to the first eleven. During the players’ development, therefore, they play in the two or three positions within the team for which they have been selected.

While Ajax might be considered a big club, in FM terms they have a very young squad which is rather average to begin with. So trying to adapt the Ajax way into the saved game will be difficult and take a lot of planning.

I can't just take over the club and expect everything to fall into place the way I want it to. There must be some kind of transitional period that allows me to bring in new coaches, scouts, players and tutors. If not then I'll fail and probably be sacked. With this in mind I've given myself three seasons to bring in enough quality staff and older players to use as tutors.

I also need to set up a large scouting network so I can scour the globe for players aged between 14-17 who I think might make a good addition to the youth teams. At first I wasn't going to bring anyone in but it seems like Ajax do this a lot so I thought I'd do the same. That doesn't mean I'll be going mad and buying everyone though, I have to set myself some limits. So I've decided I can't buy anyone over the age of 17 and I can't spend more than £2 million on a single player.

The idea behind brining tutors into the club is to help develop the youth I have at the club and try and give them a certain type of personality. I think this alone will be the biggest challenge I face as the turn over of these types of players that I bring into the club will be quite large. They'll not be available to play for the first team though, I'm brining them in with the sole purpose of just been tutors and nothing more.

I'm hoping that spending time in these first few seasons will build a great foundation for what I am trying to achieve. So by the start of the fourth season, I expect everything to be in place for how I want to shape the club and take them forward.

Some of you might think this is an excessive amount of time but hopefully as the thread develops you'll see why I went to the lengths I have and understand it a little better.

[Cleon]

​Training Facilities Info

Some of these ratings have changed since FM13 but I believe this is all correct info and relevant for FM14 after checking it all thoroughly.

Corporate Attribute

Basic 1-2

Fairly Basic 3-5

Adequate 6-9

Average 10-12

Good 13-15

Top 16-20

Training Facilities

1-3 poor

4-5 Basic

6-7 below average

8-9 adequate

10-11 average

12-13 good

14-15 great

16-17 superb

18-19 excellent

20 Top

Youth Facilities

Basic 1-3

Poor 4-5

Below Average 6-7

Adequate 8-9

Average 10-11

Good 12-13

Great 14-15

Superb 16-17

Excellent 18-19

Top 20

Junior Co. Attribute

Minimal 1-2

Basic 3-5

Adequate 6-9

Average 10-13

Good 14-16

Excellent 17-19

Exceptional 20

Youth Rec. Attribute

Limited 1-2

Basic 3-5

Fairly Basic 6-8

Average 9-11

Above Av. 13-14

Established 15-16

Well Estab. 17-18

Extensive ​19-20

Youth recruitment rating is not only tied to finances, but it is also dependent on club location and nationality as these will affect the recruitment possibilities in the nearby regions. Having all the money in the world will not suddenly make the local talent pool amazing or even much better than it has been previously, but having more money and better facilities means you can make the most out of the talent that you can recruit to your youth system.

Look at it this way (an extreme example I know), if you took the richest team in the world with the best facilities and coaching staff and placed the team into Greenland, would you expect them to churn out golden generations of newgens all the time ?

The quote above is from Riz who is responsible for the training side of the game in Football Manager.

The next quote from The Hand Of God explains how all these options work and how the effect the type of regens you get and create.

Youth Recruitment = Increases likelihood of recruiting high PA youth and increasing how far your youth recruitment network will reach (low recruitment means you will probably only get local players who aren't recruited by bigger clubs, high recruitment means you will get top talent from all over the world). Youth recruitment, however, is also affected by your club's reputation.

Youth Facilities = The quality of the training facilities used by the players currently in your youth team. Good youth facilities will help your youth players improve more.

Junior Coaching = The quality of the coaching of the lower levels of your youth system. Basically, this represents coaching of youth players before they're generated as 14/15 year-olds. In terms of game mechanics, high junior coaching will increase the average ability of your youth players when they're first generated.

So in short it's;

Recruitment = Regen PA

Junior Coaching = Regen CA

Youth Facilities = Rate of youth player CA improvement

[Cleon]

Training

In this part I'll touch upon General and Match training because they cause a bit of confusion at times.

The General training focuses you can train are:

• Balanced
  
• Fitness
  
• Tactics
  
• Ball Control
  
• Defending
  
• Attacking
  
• Team Cohesion
  

All of the above focus on sets of attributes so lets break them down and take a look;

• Fitness : Acceleration, Agility,Balance, Jumping, Natural Fitness, Pace, Stamina, Strength, Workrate
  
• Tactics: Anticipation, Composure, Concentration, Decisions, Teamwork
  
• Ball Control: Dribbling, First Touch, Heading, Technique, Flair
  
• Defending: Marking, Tackling, Positioning
  
• Attacking: Crossing, Finishing, Long Shots, Passing, Creativity, Off the ball
  

So if you choose a focus this means the emphasis on the attributes listed above will be much greater than normal. You'll notice I left off balanced from the list, the reason for this is because it's like a default setting and make sure all attributes have the same focus on all attributes with no preference. The general training module is great if you want all players to train a specific way for something you are creating and take a more generic approach.

Scheduling

On this part of the bar you can select to allow players to have a rest before/after a game. The bar also moves and the furthest left you go the more time is spent on match training. The further right you go the less time is spent on match training. There is 5 different settings in total and each move either increases or decreses by 10%. So if you had the bar to the far left it would be 50% meaning training between General and Match is split evenly. All the way to the right would mean 100% General training with no match training.

Match training

• Tactics Only
  
• Teamwork
  
• Defensive Positioning
  
• Attacking Movement
  
• Defending Set Pieces
  
• Attacking Set Pieces
  

These give you a slight boost for the next game. So for example if you are having issues with conceding goals from set pieces then you might want to work on this for the next game if you think the opposition pose a real threat from them. Or if you wanted to work on tactic familiarity then you'd choose'tactics' as the focus.

[Cleon]

Individual Training

This is the part of training that I enjoy the most and always spent the most time setting up. You have the choice to either focus on an individual role or an individual attribute. The role choice all depends on the positions the player can play in. For individual attributes though you can train;

• Corners
  
• Crossing
  
• Dribbling
  
• Finishing
  
• First Touch
  
• Free Kicks
  
• Heading
  
• Long Shots
  
• Long Throws
  
• Marking
  
• Passing
  
• Penalties
  
• Tackling
  
• Technique
  
• Composure
  
• Off the Ball
  
• Positioning
  
• Agility
  
• Balance
  
• Jumping
  
• Quickness
  
• Stamina
  
• Strength
  

Some of these might be unavailable for some people because they are dependent on your training facilities. So better the facilities the more of the above options you should have to choose from.

You can train a Focus, Position and Preferred Move if you wish to, but they will eat into each other's time, rather than into general training. Individual training does NOT come out of general training - it is added together to create an overall workload

[Cleon]

Players Preferred Moves

These add a different dimension to the player and depending on what PPM's he has will instruct him to do certain traits like dictate tempo, curl ball, shoots with power and so on. So when creating a tactic and choosing a role for a player you really should take these into consideration because they may affect how he plays the role you've give him. For example – you wouldn't want an anchor man with the PPM gets forward when possible, as his job is to stay deep and protect the back four. Having that kind of PPM for that kind of role can stop him doing it effectively and efficiently and could make him get caught out of position. So you need to be aware of the PPM's a player has before deciding what you want him to do in the system you are creating.

There is a total of 44 PPM's that are available by either tutoring or learning a player the move. Of these 44 different kinds of PPM's 7 of them are available by tutoring only. On FM13 there was only 43 PPM's the new one for FM14 is attempts to develop weaker foot.

The full list of PPM's can be seen in the screenshots below. I used the player search screen as it was easier to show you them all without missing any out.

Below are a list of PPM's that can only be obtained via tutoring;

• Curls ball
  
• Stays back at all times
  
• Dwells on ball
  
• Tries to play way out of trouble
  
• Gets into oppositions area
  
• Arrives late in oppositions area
  
• Argues with officials
  

If you'd like your players to learn any of those then you'll have to find a player with them already in the game and try and buy the player. Then you can try and get it transferred to one of your players by having him tutor someone. These will always be in the game but they'll be hard to find like they are currently. So if you want to use these then you really need to find someone with them early on and try and get them transffered to one of your players.

[Cleon]

Player Personality & Tutoring

A players personality is made up from hidden attributes;

• Adaptability
  
• Ambition
  
• Controversy
  
• Loyalty
  
• Pressure
  
• Professionalism
  
• Sportsmanship
  
• Temperament
  

Sometimes some of the descriptions which will be described further down this post will also be made up of;

• Determination
  
• Influence
  

You might also notice sometimes in a scout/coach report that they give you an indication of the other hideen attributes I've yet to mention. Not all the time mind you but sometimes you might come across them. They would be;

• Consistency
  
• Dirtiness
  
• Important Matches
  
• Injury Proneness
  
• Versatility
  

Player personalities are a vital part of Football Manager and sometimes are overlooked by people but they can tell you quite a lot about the player and how he'll deal with certain things like team talks, chats, off the field events, on the field events and so on.

Another big part of player personalities is the media handling, its quite clever and intricate how they all link and work. It's a lot to get your head around and very complicated so I'm just going to link you to two threads that go into detail and explain the workings out and how they all link together;

http://community.sigames.com/showthr...Handling-Guide

http://community.sigames.com/showthr...onal-youngster

Smac as actually uploaded a spreadsheet in the second link above that makes it all easier to understand if someone wants to delve deeper into this side of the game.

Below are all the types of personalities that you can find, some are harder to find than others but I think this is the complete list. If I've missed any I do apologise but feel free to add more if you've found some I've missed

Newgens

• Model Citizen Pro 18-20, Det 18-20, Pre 18-20, Amb 18-20, Loy 18-20, Spo 18-20, Tem 18-20
  
• Model Professional Pro 20, Tem 10-20
  
• Professional Pro 18-19, Tem 10-20
  
• Perfectionist Pro 18-20, Det 18-20, Amb 18-20, Tem 1-9
  
• Resolute Pro 15-20, Det 15-20, Pre 1-16 Spo 5-20
  
• Temperamental Tem 1-4, Pro 1-10
  
• Driven Det 20, Amb 10-20
  
• Determined Det 18-19, Amb 10-20
  
• Slack Pro 1, Det 1-9, Tem 5-20
  
• Casual Pro 2-4, Det 1-9, Tem 5-20
  
• Very Ambitious Amb 20, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17
  
• Amibitous Amb 16-19, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17
  
• Unambitious Amb 1-5, Loy 11-20
  
• Honest Spo 20, Det 1-9, Pro 5-20
  
• Sporting Spo 18-19, Det 1-9, Pro 5-20
  
• Easily Discouraged Det 1, Amb 1-9, Spo 1-17, Pro 5-20
  
• Low Determination Det 2-5, Amb 1-9, Spo 1-17, Pro 5-20
  
• Unsporting Spo 1, Det 11-20
  
• Realist Spo 2-4, Det 11-20
  
• Very Loyal Loy 20, Amb 6-7, Det 6-20
  
• Loyal Loy 18-19, Amb 6-7, Det 6-20
  
• Iron Willed Pre 20, Det 15-20, Spo 5-20
  
• Resilient Pre 17-19, Det 15-20, Spo 5-20
  
• Spineless Pre 1, Det 1-9, Pro 5-20, Spo 1-17
  
• Low Self-Belief Pre 2-3, Det 1-9, Pro 5-20, Spo 1-17
  
• Light-Hearted Pre 15-20, Spo 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 1-17
  
• Spirited Pre 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 11-17, Spo 1-14
  
• Jovial Pre 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 1-10, Spo 1-14
  
• Fairly Professional Pro 15-20, Det 1-14
  
• Fairly Determined Det 15-20, Pro 1-14, Spo 5-20, Pre 1-16
  
• Fairly Amibitous Amb 15-20, Pro 1-14, Det 1-14
  
• Fairly Loyal Loy 15-20, Pro 1-14, Det 1-14, Amb 6-14
  
• Fairly Sporting Spo 15-20, Pro & Det & Amb & Loy all 1-14
  
• Balanced Pro 1-14, Det 1-14, Amb 1-14, Loy & Spo 1-14
  
• Born Leader Inf 20 & Det 20. Age needs to be 23+ (if age requirement not met, he would be Driven).
  
• Devoted Loy 20 & Amb 6-7
  
• Leader Inf 19 or Inf 20 & Det < 20
  

None Newgen's

• Model Citizen Pro 18-20, Det 18-20, Pre 18-20, Amb 18-20, Loy 18-20, Spo 18-20, Tem 18-20
  
• Model Professional Pro 20, Tem 10-20
  
• Professional Pro 18-19, Tem 10-20
  
• Perfectionist Pro 18-20, Det 18-20, Amb 18-20, Tem 1-9
  
• Driven Det 20, Amb 10-20
  
• Determined Det 18-19, Amb 10-20
  
• Very Ambitious Amb 20, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17
  
• Amibitous Amb 16-19, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17
  
• Honest Spo 20, Det 1-9
  
• Sporting Spo 18-19, Det 1-9
  
• Very Loyal Loy 20, Amb 6-7
  
• Loyal Loy 18-19, Amb 6-7
  
• Iron Willed Pre 20, Det 15-20
  
• Resilient Pre 17-19, Det 15-20
  
• Light-Hearted Pre 15-20, Spo 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 1-17
  
• Spirited Pre 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 11-17, Spo 1-14
  
• Jovial Pre 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 1-10, Spo 1-14
  
• Resolute Pro 15-20, Det 15-20, Pre 1-16
  
• Fairly Professional Pro 15-20, Det 1-14
  
• Fairly Determined Det 15-20, Pro 1-14, Pre 1-16
  
• Fairly Amibitous Amb 15-20, Pro 1-14, Det 1-14
  
• Fairly Loyal Loy 15-20, Pro 1-14, Det 1-14, Amb 1-14
  
• Fairly Sporting Spo 15-20, Pro & Det & Amb & Loy all 1-14
  
• Balanced Pro 1-14, Det 1-14, Amb 1-14, Loy & Spo 1-14
  
• Born Leader Inf 20 & Det 20. Age needs to be 23+ (if age requirement not met, he would be Driven).
  
• Devoted Loy 20 & Amb 6-7
  
• Leader Inf 19 or Inf 20 & Det < 20
  

As I'm focusing on youth development with the aim of developing/buying cheap and selling for (hopefully) big money then player personality is a big part of what I'm trying to achieve. So for this I need players who I know will train hard and give it their all. What determines this is not determination, that is a misconception amongst the community, what you need to look for in a player is an indication of the hidden attribute professionalism. Ambition wouldn't hurt either but ultimately it is professionalism that determines how well a player applies himself in training.

So with this in mind these are the personalities I'll be trying to give my players;

Model Citizen – This would be the best one to have but they are limited and in really short reply. In fact so far in all my saves I have only managed to find two players who have this personality.

Resolute – This is one of my favourite personalities due to high level of professionalism and determination. While I don't class determination as a vital attribute that players must have there is no hard in having players who do have good determination. It will help with on field events and make me stronger tactically.

Perfectionist – Again this shows a player to have high determination, ambition and professionalism but does highlight low temperament.

Spirited – Decent temperament, good pressure and professionalism

Model Professional/Professional/Fairly Professional – Good professionalism and decent temperament

There are other personalities that I could possibly use but for the purpose of pure youth development I find these 5 to be key for how I play and what I want to achieve. Others might prefer to do it a different way and that's fine its just this way works for me

This should give you an idea of what kind of tutors I'll be trying to bring into the club. Some tutors though might be brought in purely for PPM training though, I'll go into this more specifically a little later in the thread.

Tutoring FAQ's

Some people put a lot of thought and effort into picking tutors for their players and like to choose similar personality types. For me this isn't the case and seems to go against what I am wanting to create. So I will try and tutor people even if they have a total mismatch of personalities, after all for me this is what tutoring is all about. I don't expect to always be successful in this approach but the benefits from when it is successful should out gain the times it fails. At least in theory anyway and is something I will try and keep track of.

People always ask a few common questions so I'll try and answer them now;

Q - How long do I have to wait to be able to tutor again with the same tutor? A - It is 1 month and should be fixed in a patch. If this still isn't working for you even after the next update then please report it in the bugs forum.

Q - What are the requirements for a player to be able to tutor? A - The tutor must have a better squad status than the person being tutored. He also needs to be of a higher rep. They need to both have a similar position in common. You can't tutor and learn a PPM at the same time.

Q - The person I want to tutor has lower determination but a better personality type than the person being tutored, will the lose of determination hard him development? A - No. Determination isn't linked to player development that is Ambition and Professionalism. All that matters is the player has a better personality type. You can check out what personality types are positive/negative further up the thread.

Q - What's the difference between the 2 tutoring options? A - The top option allows possible transfer of PPM's and personality. The bottom option is just the personality part of tutoring without the risk of the player picking up a PPM.

On FM14 on the players development tab > training tab it will now tell you why someone doesn't have a tutoring options if none are available so be sure to check this out.

There is also a myth that some believe that if you tutor a player then the mental attributes will rise if the tutor has better mental attributes than the person being tutored. This is not correct at all. The only visible attribute that is influenced by tutoring is determination. All the other attributes that change via tutoring and all hidden ones.

[Cleon]

Preseason

Pre-season is one of the most important times at the club because if you get this right you can start the season in the right frame of mind and hit the ground running. The majority of my success on FM is down to how I approach pre-season as I believe I set up the best I possibly can for me and my club and the style I play. So why is it important? Well let me show you how I approach it and then you can see why

I break preseason down to;

• Morale
  
• Fitness
  
• Tactic Familarity
  
• Team Cohesion
  

The above is what I class as really important and are all the things that will make the biggest difference over the season especially at the beginning.

Morale

Having players with high morale is always a bonus and its a really good idea to get it as high as possible straight away. To achieve this as soon as possible what I do is make sure any friendlies I play are against extremely weaker opposition. The reasons behind this is I want the team to score a lot of goals. I don’t see the point in playing hard friendlies and risking affecting a players morale. So setting up the correct friendlies is vital for me to allow me to build on morale. the more goals you score in pre-season the better imo.

Fitness

Every player at the club must be match fit before the season starts. If not then you’ll find they tire more quickly and increase the risk of picking up injuries or little niggles from games. I can do without this so I ensure everyone is fit all the time. By getting everyone match fit it means you can throw them into the first team should you suffer injuries/suspensions early on in the season and don’t have to worry that they aren’t fit. It also becomes easier to maintain throughout the season

Tactic Familiarity

Probably the most important thing to concentrate on for me. The sooner everything is fluid the better because it means your tactic will play better and the players are used to every aspect of it. You can get tactic familiarity fluid before the start of the first game of the season if you play properly. It takes around 12 friendlies to do this and while this might seem like an excessive amount of games to play, it isn’t really. Remember that I am picking very weak opponents to play so this means it doesn’t matter if I have to play my youths or not. No matter what side I put out I should win. I tie this in with getting everyone at the club match fit. So I tend to play a game every 3 days to get both fitness and tactic familiarity up.

I’ve seen people post saying they set general training focus to tactics to get familiarity levels up however that doesn’t actually work despite the misleading name. What you have to do is set the match training focus to tactics. This is what gets tactic familiarity up.

If you are one of the lucky clubs who gets to go to training camps then while these are on you gain tactic familiairty/fitness a lot quicker.

To build tactics familiarity the best you can you need to ensure you have;

• Set up around 12 friendlies.
  
• Do not allow rest before or after a game.
  
• Make sure you have someone taking control of the 'tactics' catergory in training.
  
• Signing new players will reduce tactic familiarity, so the more signings you make the longer time you need to become fluid in all areas.
  
• You must set the scheduling bar in the training section all the way to the left so its set on 50%. The end of the bar is 50% and not the middle like some assume.
  
• When you've set up the friendlies check on the training calendar to make sure you have a training day before each game. If not cancel the game because its pointless.
  
• Changing team instructions also makes familiarity go slower.
  

If all this criteria is met and you've done it correctly then you should have almost full tactical familiarity. In the first season though it can be hard to achieve in some leagues due to the dates of when the game starts. It's much easier to achieve from the 2nd season onward.Team Cohesion

If I’ve promoted players from my youth/reserves team into the first team or bought any new players then I focus on this heavily as the general focus once my players are fit. It helps them settle into the team quickly and get an understanding. This is vital because it helps with language barriers if you have foreign players who might not understand the language of the country you play in and his team mates.

Friendlies

I like to set up very easy friendlies against very weak sides. This means my team should win them easily and winning builds morale, so if I can beat a non league or amateur side 10-0 then this is what I'll do. I want to ease the players into the new season while building confidence. I don't see the point of playing against sides who I might lose against and lose morale, so rather I'd focus on building this up during preseason.

[Cleon]

Staff

Signing staff who have similar personality types is a very wise idea because there is a chance these will get passed on to any newgens you get at the club. So make sure you get a head of Youth Development with the kind of personality you'd like your newgen players to have because there is a chance that they spawn with the desired personality. This can save you a lot of tutoring time.

Over the last few years there has been a change at Ajax and how the club is run with regards to training players and how the teach players. They still use the T.I.P.S system but it now runs even deeper than that. To explain further how it works I direct everyone to give this article a read and see exactly what I'm talking about, its a great piece about how its changed and what Ajax's goals now are and when they are recruiting ex-players to be part of the staff;

http://whitehouseaddress.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/cruyff-ajaxs-way-forward.html

As for my staff;

Assistant

Reserves Manager

Reserves Assistant

Under 19's Manager

Under 19's Assistant

Head of Youth Development

Coaches

Fitness Coaches

Goalkeeper Coach

U19 Goalkeeper Coach

Not all of these staff are good, in fact majority are quite poor. However to keep with the Ajax traditions I will be keeping most of them and hope they improve and if I can try and strengthen the coaching side with retired players from season 2 onwards.

[Cleon]

Tactics

The tactics that I'll be using are fairly simple and fit into how I'll be developing players, so its important I let you know how I'm playing. That way it'll make more sense when I talk about how and why I'm developing players a certain way. I'm actually basing my whole approach on one particular game - The 3-1 win against Manchester City in the Champions League. To better understand what game I'm talking about I recommend you reading this brilliant article;

http://11tegen11.net/2012/10/24/ajax-3-1-manchester-city-smart-tactical-move-helps-ajax-win-first-champions-league-points/

To make this viable in FM I have made some slight adjustments;

I've gone for the advanced playmaker on the right of my central pairing instead of the left. This offers me much better balance in Football Manager because I need the attacking midfielder left to be an attacking inside forward. If I also had the central midfielder as attacking this would upset the balance and make me more likely to be one dimensional or make it easier to defend against. So changing this role slightly it also allows me to be a threat down the right side and not only the left side.

If you've read the article I linked then you'll understand why I have chosen the team instructions that I did. Basically that's it, everything is covered now in terms of the settings and shape I use. I might touch upon the tactics in a lot more depth later on in the project though.

[Cleon]

Player Development

I'll give every player here his own reply, that way its easier for me to update as I go along and can keep all the relevant posts in one place so its easier for the user to track development rather than searching through the thread to find the posts. Developing players is the only reason I still play the game and for me is the most enjoyable thing about FM. So as me seasons progress this section of the guide should highlight how I train and develop players with their role in my tactic in my mind. This will include tutors, PPM's and any training I give them.

Remember that because I am focusing on individual attributes or roles that I set general training slider to match training 20% or less and give the players heavy focus for their role. It's also important I leave it on balanced due to the reasons explained in the training section of this thread.

Mickey Van Der Hart

First up is my goalkeeper and its pretty straight forward here tbh because there isn't much you can do with keepers.

Start of the season

End of Season One

Year 1 - The first thing I did was get him tutored with someone with a good personality type. So for this I choose my first team goalkeeper Vermeer who was resolute. I also decided that I would put him on the sweeper keeper schedule because I felt that would be better than individual focus for this player as he isn't actually that bad already and with first team games should improve.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - I did the exact same as I did the first year and had him tutored by the same player again. The first tutoring session went well that's why I decided to do it again. I also kept him on the same schedule that I had selected for him as I felt he was improving in all the areas I wanted him too.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - ​I put him on the sweeper keeper schedule.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Still the same as above

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Still the sweeper keeper schedule

[Cleon]

Kenny Tete

This is my rightback.

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 -Had him tutored with Daley Blind due to Tete being a balanced personality type which is just useless, so l decided he needed something more useful. I also decided that I would focus on quickness for his individual attribute focused due to me needing a fast right wingback. So on a 3 month rotation I focused on positioning and quickness.

End of Season Two

Year 2 -Tutored him with the same player again. For his individual focus I decided that working on his crossing and dribbling would be worthwhile as its something he needs to be able to do for his role.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - I began to train him as a fullback.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Same as above.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Still the same

[Cleon]

Stefano Denswil

Central Defender

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - He started the game with a balanced personality so I asked Moisander my defender to tutor him who has a resolute personality. I also gave him an individual focus for quickness and strength. I need one centre back at least who is very quick because I'll be playing with a high defensive line, so if he makes a mistake he should stand more of a chance in recovering if he has the pace and acceleration to match. So I gave him a 3 month rotation on quickness and strength.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - Pretty much the same as above in terms of tutor. For his individual focus I put him on the same as above but also added positioning into the mix and changed it from a 3 month rotation to a 2 month one.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - Started training him as a central defender

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Still the same.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Still the same.

[Cleon]

Mike Van Der Hoorn

Central defender.

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - I just put him on a defender schedule because I felt he didn't need to focus on a specific attribute for now.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - Exactly the same as above.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - Still same.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Still same.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Still same.

[Cleon]

Jairo Riedewald

Central defender.

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - I don't have many tutors so I was unable to get him tutored the first season. For his individual training I worked on quickness and positioning on a 3 month rotation.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - I was able to get him tutored by Boilesen. His individual focus did change though and I worked on strength and marking along with quickness on a 2 month rotation.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - I put him on a central defender schedule

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Same as above

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Still the same

[Cleon]

Richedly Bazoer

Central defender

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 -I had him tutored by Poulsen. His individual focus was set to quickness and strength on a 3 month rotation.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - I changed his focus to stamina, strength and quickness on a 2 month rotation.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - I carried on the above for 6 months, then I changed him to a central defender schedule.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Still the defender schedule.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Same as above

[Cleon]

Nicolai Boilesen

Left back.

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - I put him on the fullback individual focus.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - Kept the same as above but I am currently thinking of changing from that to an individual attribute focus for the next season.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - I ended up keeping him on the same schedule above.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Same as above.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Same as above.

[Cleon]

Branco Van Den Boomen

Defensive Midfielder.

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - I put him on the deep lying playmaker individual focus.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - Still the same but I am currently thinking about tailoring him via attribute focus now instead.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - Same as above.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Same as above.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Still the same.

[Cleon]

Abdelhak Nouri

Advanced Playmaker.

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - This is the player I'm most excited about at the club, he's a really great prospect in real life and hopefully will go onto big things in the next couple of years. So the first thing I did here was get him tutored by Schone who had a better personality type. For his training I gave him a 2 month rotation of passing, off the ball, stamina and quickness.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - I had him tutored by the club captain De Jong. I also kept his individual focus as it was too as I felt he was improving nicely.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - I decided he was improving along nicely so I put him on the Treq schedule to concentrate on those attributes.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Still same.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Still same.

Nouri is having a lot of clubs currently chase him, the latest one is Milan who tabled an offer of £42.75 million for him. I declined.

[Cleon]

Markus Bay

Advanced Playmaker.

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - This players attributes aren't great so due to this I know he will develop more slowly that the other players as he lacks any real stand out attributes and is weak across the board. I also lack tutors so was unable to tutor him and I actually couldn't give him any first team games due to already giving other youths game time. So none of this will have helped his development and will have stalled somewhat due to the lack of tutoring and game time. I gave him the advanced playmaker individual focus.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - The same as above.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - Same as above.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Still the same.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Still the same.

He wasn't really getting games for me so towards the end of season five I sold him for £4 million and 25% future fee.

[Cleon]

Viktor Fischer

Inside Forward

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - He already has the resolute personality so doesn't need tutoring. I put him on the inside forward schedule.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - Same as above.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - Same as above.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Same as above.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Same.

I decided to cash in on him seeing as I have a few regens who can play this position, so he is joining Monaco for £35 million.

[Cleon]

Lucas Andersen

Winger

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - Despite him being more a playmaker I decided to put him on the wingers individual schedule so I could work on the attributes this role covers.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - The same as above.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - I changed him to an advanced playmaker.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Same as above and learnt a new PPM.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Same as above and a new PPM.

[Cleon]

Ricardo Kishna

Winger

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - I had him tutored by De Jong. The issue with Kishna is he is very injury prone so its hard to give him a run of games and it stalls his training when he's injured. He doesn't get long term injuries but he gets a lot of knocks almost every week he gets injured. It's listed as a weakness in his coach report. I just put him on a wingers schedule.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - Same as above and his injury proneness is stalling his development badly.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - Still the same.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Still the same.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Still the same.

[Cleon]

Óttar Magnús Karlsson

False Nine

Start of Season

End of Season One

Year 1 - I didn't have a tutor due to Ajax squad being short of them and it being a youthful squad. I put him on a complete forward schedule so I could work on more attributes at once and this schedule covers more than the others.

End of Season Two

Year 2 - Same as above.

End of Season Three

Year 3 - Same as above.

End of Season Four

Year 4 - Same as above.

End of Season Five

Year 5 - Same as above.

He never really got any games for me due to an awesome youth I had come through the ranks. So sold him for £4 million.

[Cleon]

Notes

People always ask me how I keep track of changes or remember who has been tutored by who and so on. Well the answer is very simple, I use the notes feature in the game which is a great tool.

Let’s take a look at one of my players;

This is the notes page for one of my current players. As you can see he has a few of them. I believe this page and this feature is important if you like player development because it allows you to keep track of things and even set reminders. Not only that but you can create categories too.

If you click on a note like I currently have in the screenshot above then in the bottom right you are presented with a few options. Those options are;

Reminder date - This allows you to specify a date on which you’d like to be reminded about the note. So on whatever date you select you get a news item in your inbox giving you a reminder about the note.

Reminder occurrence - In this part it allows you to specify how often you want to be prompted about the note in your inbox. The options here are;

• Once
  
• Once a day
  
• Every week
  
• Every month
  
• Every 3 months
  
• Every 6 months
  
• Every year
  

So for my training methods when I specify certain attributes in a 2 month rotation I first create a note then on this part I select every month if its a 2 month rotation so I don’t miss out and I select the 3 month option if its a 3 month rotation obviously.

So that is how I easily keep track of what’s happening in terms of player development etc. It’s not really time consuming either even though it may look that way. It takes seconds to make a quick note.

[Cleon]

SPOILERS

USE SPOILER TAGS IF ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS PART OF THE THREAD.

TO USE SPOILER TAGS YOU USE THE FOLLOWING;

[spoiler.]Insert the spoiler text here blah blah[./SPOILER] (without the dots)

I’ve got some regens that I want to take a closer look at and track the hidden attributes and the values they change by from tutoring and first team appearances. I’ve chosen regens for a reason so that if someone accidentally looks at the values it won't spoil it because it’s not a real player on their own games.

However I will still be putting any values inside spoiler tags because not everyone wants to know them. So please if you reply asking questions on this part of the guide then USE SPOILER TAGS please. Any comments not in spoiler tags will be deleted.

As my game develops and the further I get the more examples I’ll be able to provide and examine to track the attributes. A lot already know what hidden attributes change but it’ll be good to show a wide range of examples and the values so people get a better understanding of what’s happened behind the scenes.

First up is this player;

He came with the ‘Best of his generation’ tag, so you can assume without even knowing any other details that its likely he has an high potential ability.

CA&PA spoilers

His current CA is 99 and his PA is 186

Hidden Attribute spoilers;

Adaptability 15

Ambition 13

Loyalty 12

Pressure 13

Professionalism 15

Sportsmanship 12

Controversy 14

Consistency 17

Dirtiness 10

Important Matches 8

Injury Proneness 5

Versatility 17

As the game progresses and the seasons pass by I’ll be updating this section quite regular so we can check out which attributes have changed and see if we can see why. I’ll also be putting other players up to view too.

The above player will never be tutored so any changes he sees will be from getting older/playing time. (The above player came through the youth ranks in the second season, so future updates will start from season 3 onwards)

Season Three Update

His hidden attributes are now;

• Adaptability 15
  
• Ambition 13
  
• Loyalty 12
  
• Pressure 13
  
• Professionalism 15
  
• Sportsmanship 12
  
• Controversy 14
  
• Consistency 17
  
• Dirtiness 10
  
• Important Matches 8
  
• Injury Proneness 5
  
• Versatility 17
  

His CA is now 121.

So we’ve seen a 22 point rise in his CA but his hidden attributes are all still the same.

Season Four Update

His hidden attributes are now;

• Adaptability 15
  
• Ambition 13
  
• Loyalty 12
  
• Pressure 13
  
• Professionalism 15
  
• Sportsmanship 12
  
• Controversy 14
  
• Consistency 17
  
• Dirtiness 10
  
• Important Matches 9
  
• Injury Proneness 5
  
• Versatility 17
  

His CA is now 131.

So we’ve seen a 10 point rise in his CA.

We’ve also seen his important matches rating rise by 1 point. He didn’t score any goals in the big games but in the Champions League final he did get an assist.

Season Five Update

His hidden attributes are now;

• Adaptability 15
  
• Ambition 13
  
• Loyalty 12
  
• Pressure 13
  
• Professionalism 15
  
• Sportsmanship 12
  
• Controversy 14
  
• Consistency 17
  
• Dirtiness 10
  
• Important Matches 9
  
• Injury Proneness 5
  
• Versatility 17
  

His CA is now 148.

So we’ve seen a 17 point rise in his CA.

None of his hidden ones changed again not even important matches and he played in the big games but failed to score or get an assist.

Season Six Update

His hidden attributes are now;

• Adaptability 15
  
• Ambition 13
  
• Loyalty 12
  
• Pressure 13
  
• Professionalism 15
  
• Sportsmanship 12
  
• Controversy 14
  
• Consistency 17
  
• Dirtiness 10
  
• Important Matches 9
  
• Injury Proneness 5
  
• Versatility 17
  

His CA is now 165

So we’ve seen a 17 point rise in his CA again.

None of the hidden attributes changed.

[Cleon]

Reserved

[Cleon]

reserved 1

[Cleon]

reserved 2

[Cleon]

reserved 3

[Cleon]

reserved 4

[Cleon]

reserved 5

[Cleon]

reserved 6

[Cleon]

This is just the basics of the thread, I've still to add lots more details to the actual player sections and add the details about PPM training, why I've trained the players I have and how it all fits together tactically. This will take some time though but thought I'd post it now as there is more than enough to discuss

Hope you all enjoy!

[jaycar]

Amazing read

[Connor136]

Looking forward to following this again in 2014. Excellent work Cleon.

[briz_lad]

Fantastic thread once again looking forward to reading more of this Cleon. Player development is something I've taken more seriously in recent FM's I love to have a full squad of players who I have trained myself.

[Cleon]

Looking forward to following this again in 2014. Excellent work Cleon.

Fantastic thread once again looking forward to reading more of this Cleon. Player development is something I've taken more seriously in recent FM's I love to have a full squad of players who I have trained myself.

Amazing read

Thanks

I've just added some more stuff to post 33

[eadadi]

amazing thread. well done

[DamianJMcGrath]

You haven't mentioned if you've seen improvements in playing style, performances or results since your players improved their personalities. If this is simply real life simulation as an experiment, then fine, but seeing the impact on the pitch, compared to not doing any of this, would be interesting.

[Cleon]

You haven't mentioned if you've seen improvements in playing style, performances or results since your players improved their personalities. If this is simply real life simulation as an experiment, then fine, but seeing the impact on the pitch, compared to not doing any of this, would be interesting.

I've mentioned that how I develop players for the actual tactical side is still to be added if you read the thread Personality won't make them play different though because that's not what personality is in FM terms. Personality is more how the player develops, he handles the media etc.

The thread is about tailoring each individual player towards a certain style and to get them to be able to play a certain way

[Touristas3]

Excellent thread Cleon,well done Sir!!!

You could have a look in this,if you haven't already...it's the Youth Development Plan from Ajax CT based on the 3-4-3 of the 90s and it's a very comprehensive analysis of the club visions,the training drills and the individual characteristics for each position

http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/document/0034/9446/Ajax_Youth_Development_Plan.pdf

[Welsh Wizard]

Player Development has become the main thing I do in FM in recent years. I think this is going to be one of the best threads ever with the new things getting added from last year. Great work Cleon

[Cleon]

Excellent thread Cleon,well done Sir!!!

You could have a look in this,if you haven't already...it's the Youth Development Plan from Ajax CT based on the 3-4-3 of the 90s and it's a very comprehensive analysis of the club visions,the training drills and the individual characteristics for each position

http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/document/0034/9446/Ajax_Youth_Development_Plan.pdf

I've read it before yeah

I have loads of youth development links, PDF's, Videos etc for certain clubs. It's become quite an hobby over the last few years

Player Development has become the main thing I do in FM in recent years. I think this is going to be one of the best threads ever with the new things getting added from last year. Great work Cleon

Thanks