ri916's FM15 Youth Academy Challenge

[burtur]

It's been a while, but I may well be back tomorrow (technically today ) for another attempt at this challenge. Last time round was FM12 I believe and I managed to reach the Premier League if I remember correctly. However, I'll most definitely move away from the English leagues and try out Belgium after enjoying a save there last year.

Good luck. Just want to point out that there are some serious issues with the promotion playoffs in Belgium!

[ajt]

Rot-Weiss Essen 2027/28 ~ German Bundesliga

Finances[/b]

Up

We currently occupy 7th position, which is actually a bit disappointing as we have thrown a few leads away. We beat Schalke 2-0 at home in September which was pretty awesome, and also managed a draw away against Dortmund. We've exited the German Cup in the 3rd round after losing to Bayern (once again) via penalties. The result (and match events) is almost identical to last years cup exit – this time Bayern drew level in the 118th minute.

Jonas Traser has developed into a bit of a beast and already has 2 caps for the German National team at age 20. If I can develop another AMC then I will place him on the right wing, as we are stacked at AML already. He is contracted until 2032, but with him already earning £41k a week I imagine he will be sold on before then. I doubt we will be able to afford his salary in the future (he already wants 60k a week). The club won't allow me to offer contract extensions when I negotiate, which is proving to be an absolute nightmare for the wage structure – our salary is already £330k per week.

A special mention goes to Sadio Coulibaly, who has just been voted African Footballer of the Year. He was also the African midfielder of the year and has a place in the African XI! A superb achievement for a club legend.

The Final Countdown

It's now April and we sit in 3rd position, five points ahead of Dortmund in fifth. With five games left in the season we still have to play Leverkusen (1st) and Dortmund (5th). If we can draw these games then we will be in with a shot of a champions league place, and we have been on a terrific run for a while now, winning 8/10 games – and we haven't lost a game since January.

(1st) Leverkusen vs RW Essen (3rd)

15:00 – Martin Bohm (ST) latches onto a Jonas Traser through ball which is reminiscent of the old championship manager games haha!

26:00 – Coulibaly flights a free-kick into the six yard box which is headed home by Basaran Yilmaz.

30:00 – Lars Hansen crosses into the box and Jonas Traser volleys in his 9th goal of the season.

The game ends in a 3-0 victory for us. We played incredibly well, and some tactical marking (AMR/AML marking their 2 centre midfielders) saw us see the game out. Really pleased with the effort shown by the team, particularly the defence. The result sees us stay five points ahead of Dortmund, who we play next!

(3rd) RW Essen vs Borussia Dortmund (5th)

26:00 – Peter Lamotte (our new starting right back) scores his ninth goal of the season.

35:00 – Martin Bohm is taken off injured, replaced by Rene Krautzun (YP06a) who hasn't developed as much as previously hoped.

51:00 – Manfred Kruska scores an equalizer from a long ball pumped into the box.

58:00 – Sadio Coulibaly is taken off injured. We will be lucky to scrape a draw now.

The match ends 1-1, a result I am very happy with. We maintain the gap between us and 5th place. Neither Bohm nor Coulibaly picked up serious injuries, and will be fine for our next games.

(4th) RW Essen vs Stuttgart (5th)

08:00 – Sascha Itter scores from a Peter Lamotte corner.

15:00 – Adrian Correa equalizes from a wide cross.

19:00 – Peter Lamotte scores from a counter attack but is ruled offside.

22:00 – Stuttgart are given a penalty for a push during a corner... Faruk Oner scores from the spot.

74:00 – Coulibaly hits the bar from a freekick... and Martin Bohm scores off the rebound!

76:00 – Pirmin Schefer saves from a point blank blasted shot from Adrian Correa.

What a game! I think Adrian Correa has scored against us virtually every time we have played Stuttgart. The draw sees us stay two points ahead of the new 5th placed Dortmund. We have just one more match to play in our race for a champions league place. Our final match sees us play the mighty... Paderborn! Paderborn are at the bottom of the league and have already been relegated, surely we must be in with a shot of winning?

(18th) Paderborn vs RW Essen (4th)

06:00 – Martin Bohm somehow controls a floated ball on his chest and then bangs it inside the near post.

34:00 – Sadio Coulibaly scores from a free kick, his 10th goal of the season. Almost all of them have come from free kicks. His free kick rating is 11.

56:00 – Mortiz Flottman pulls one back for Paderborn.

67:00 – Jonas Traser latches onto a back pass and slots it away!

88:00 – Georgakopoulos (longest name ever) scores for Paderborn!

The match ends in a 3-2 victory. We finish in 4th position, which means we will be in the champions league playoff match next season. We missed out on 3rd position (automatic qualification) by just two goal difference. We finish ahead of Dortmund, who have (since 2014 season) never failed to qualify for the champions league. Quite an incredible season really, I never thought we would go on a massive winning run after the winter break, and then for us to almost throw it all away in the last four games... that's the Essen way!

It's The End of the World as We Know It

Following the game I demanded the board expand the stadium, and after they denied it I leaked to the press. After a meeting (to which I responded “you will find no one better” - the same option I had selected in a previous season) they have decided to sack me, and thus my tenure at RW Essen comes to an abrupt end. Obviously I could have quite easily not got sacked by selecting a different response (or not even asking/leaking in the first place), but there is a certain spirit in which I play the game and none of the other options were acceptable. I've had a tumultuous time at Essen to put it mildly, but it would have been a good club to continue with (due to the quality of the youth intakes and the potential for expansion).

To put my demand in perspective we had sold out virtually every game since we upgraded the stadium capacity. We had the highest average attendance by capacity in any of the German divisions. We had also just received £32 million for finishing in fourth position. I sort of feel like going on holiday to see how long it takes until they are relegated but I'm not bitter (honest ).

The Best of Essen

A special "end of the road" version

Martin Bohm - Had a fantastic career scoring consistently in every division.

Sadio Coulibaly - One of my favourite players in any FM/CM, simply played well all the time despite having fairly poor attributes for a CM.

Peter Lamotte - Was on his way to becoming an incredible attacking right back, he was only 17.

Ralf Malchow - A really talented defender (wonderkid 20 years old) who I think would have gone into the National team.

....and last but not least, Pirmin Schefer - incredible goalkeeper who won the club so many games single-handedly.

Performance of the Season

RW Essen 2 - 1 Bayern Munich

Beating Bayern Munich was a good accomplishment.

Youth Intake

No point in uploading individuals, the club had a good youth intake though.

2027/28 goals

Mid table -

Conclusion

This years Best of Essen feels a bit like a wake after a funeral, but I have really enjoyed the rise through the divisions.There were the times we destroyed promotion chases with winless runs, the time we defeated Augsburg in the Bundesliga playoff, and, more importantly, that time we managed to beat Schalke twice in my final season.

The only reason I managed Essen was due to that rivalry and I'm happy that I was able to finish above the mighty "Gelsenkirchen"

I'm not sure if I would have ever managed to win the league, but I had fun, and at least I now have some tested tactics for the next challenge (wherever that may be)! :o

[rferry]

Braumiller: So next match, you're running a 0-10-0 formation or what?

[Joe.]

Man, I'm trying this out and the first season is hard! I've got an OK squad, had a good start to the season but there's a distinct lack of depth at my club. I'm on horrific form currently and just trying to rush through until youth intake day, so at least I have some more players to pick from! If I pick up some form I might start posting about it.

Giving it a go as Nantwich Town, for what that's worth.

[rferry]

Joe, Youth intake day is like Christmas, Easter and Independence Day all in one.

I'm attempting this challenge in Russia so the youth intake comes during a 3-month winter break. The following 10 games to wrap up the league season are always much easier with a clean bill of health and some new hot prospects. Then by August, they're demanding to join the first team and bruising the egos of the preceding year's prospects. Leaving me to find 11 fit, happy people to put on the field. So September-November is like Tax Day, Good Friday and Remembrance Day all in one.

[worrell]

Wow ajt this is brutal. And quite unexpected since you were doing so well, and finally made it into the CL.

I would have caved and waited with another request for the stadium later when/if some more money came in from Europe.

my update: i made it past 1/4f of the French cup!!! Finally!!! Can even make the finals if i beat Lorient (my bogey team) tonight.

[ajt]

Wow ajt this is brutal. And quite unexpected since you were doing so well, and finally made it into the CL.

I would have caved and waited with another request for the stadium later when/if some more money came in from Europe.

my update: i made it past 1/4f of the French cup!!! Finally!!! Can even make the finals if i beat Lorient (my bogey team) tonight.

Yeah I would have done that too but I really hated the board Also Essen felt a bit too easy if I'm honest. I've moved onto Italy now will make a new post.

[Braumiller]

Yeah I would have done that too but I really hated the board Also Essen felt a bit too easy if I'm honest. I've moved onto Italy now will make a new post.

Speechless!

Looking forward to the Italian save, but oh what might (would) have been! Fair play to sticking to your beliefs, but I couldn't have done it! lol

Day off from work feeling like crap here, so going to get some FM play time in Season 11 just wrapped up, but not feeling like a write up atm. Will do it later

[Muggert]

Having stalled in my gundo's challenge I'll dive into this challenge. I hope to learn more about developing young players and the tactical side. I've always considered myself a squad builder. This time I can't do that :-) .. Time will be limited and I will probably never complete it. But i expect it to be fun :-)

Carl Zeiss Jena

[Tush]

ajt - damn you got sacked, we both started playing around the same time and progressed the seasons together, I always enjoyed your stories from the same year as I was in!

Good luck in the next squad

I haven't put much time into FM these days, but I am progressing slowly through the season,

in the meantime I feel that I should let you guys know that I've actually finished 2nd in the CL Group,

after 2 losses against Barca, 2 draws against Dortmund and 2 wins against Shakhtar

At the moment I am in 1st KO Round paired with Arsenal I think this is where the progression ends

[pauladams84]

Amicale Sportive Vitre 3rd Season Review

I'M LOST FOR WORDS!!!... I'm sure I will manage it though!

It could have gone so differently!!

My laptop went on a mad one last weekend, I was so close to having to reinstalling windows! Losing all game play!. Thankfully I figured my RAM was screwed so I had to remove a faulty stick.... all good although laptop is a lot slower.

Looks like I'm back to the old retro style of reading instead of watching the match, well until payday anyway!

With a certain queen song going through my head, I am delighted to report I had a cracking end to the season and WON LIGUE 2 on the final game.... the long time leader lost to the bottom side to open it up for me.

I had rejoiced in promotion success the weekend before!

Player Form!

Guess who - Cyrille Lhuisser turned in with a club record of 29 league goals... just a natural goal scorer!

Guilerme Borne - has been the rock in my defence and deserved to be in team of the year!

Youngster Form

Nic Moal 18yo st - played most games, had a poor spell for a while but he did come good towards end of the season. He seems to love big games!

YP02b Yacine Fournier 16 yo attacking fullback. Gave him a fair few chances of the bench and 6 starts that he did ok in.

Youth Intake

Much improved intake.... previous intakes had 3 or 4 players with 2.5-3.5 stars and only 4 players tagged with the standard YP acknowledgment.

This season I actually went all the way up to YP03j.

YP03a Guénaël Guilloux report

YP03b Steven Autret report

YP03c Samuel Allain report

YP03d Max Le Goff report

I will edit this post tomorrow to include more ...getting late

Yearly Awards & Achievements

Vitre won ligue 2

I won Manager of the season

Lhuisser won top scorer for ligue 2

Guillerme Borne & Killiam Gargam got into the stars team of the season

Next Season

HAHA!! playing average ligue 2/good national league players in ligue 1 just isn't going to work I don't think.

I will be bring through more youth than ever before.

Upgrades

As mentioned in previous post, the upgrades to training were in process, now as I am getting promoted, the board have out more cash in to the improvements. They also injected cash just after the "avoided tax bill" came up. Clever sods. To comply with the top league, my stadium is also getting an expansion

[worrell]

Aww yiiis!!! French cup! /it's the final btw

[Cardiovascular]

My Lotte save wouldn't loaded for some unknown reason, so for the third time, I'm back with another team. This time though I bring a season update! Here's my manager profile.

FSV Zwickau - 2015/16 - 3.Liga

League - Was actually a very good season all things considered. A late run of bad form meant we slipped from ninth to eleventh but considering we were predicted to finish 20th, I'll take it. Also gives us another season at least to develop some youth as I think we could push on with this squad. Annoyingly, I can't seem to register players until they're 17 which means at least 2/3 years for this current crop of youth players we have.

Finances - Oh dear, they look really bad. The £300k we received for finishing ninth was nice, but still not enough to get us in the black. Really need these to not sink any lower but it's going to be tough.

Transfers - None is as you'd expect, a few left prior to me joining. The only person I released was left back Christoph Gobel who was deemed surplus to requirements and moaning about it.

Key Players

Patrick Gobel - Really good season for the 22 year old winger who started mainly on the left. 14 goals and 9 assists was a really solid return from an exciting young player. Hope I can keep him for years to come.

Marc-Philipp Zimmerman - A great name and a great striker, was a tad injury prone but when he started, he was golden. A return of 16 goals meant he was our top scorer throughout the year, need him to remain fit though. We've just three strikers and two of them seem a touch injury prone.

Davy Frick - Gobel's partner on the opposite wing, Frick had a brilliant season. 20 assists was a phenomenal return although he did tail off a bit towards the end of the season. Good stuff.

Youth Intake

The intake was really good actually, some good players we could use here once they're developed. Only problem is the rule that you apparently have to be 17 to be registered to play in the 3.Liga.

Ilias Argitis (YP01a) - Potential to be a solid winger, already been capped by Greece at U19 level. Excited by him.

Hakan Şahin (YP01b) - Good looking full back with some excellent physical attributes.

Artut Jendrossek (YP01c) - Attacking midfielder who shows some promise.

Patrick Stoll (YP01d) - Promising centre back but I may shift him over to left back, at 5'8 he isn't that much of a suitable height for CB.

Dragan Jovanic (YP01e) - Future number one? Possibly.

Next Season

• Improve finances
  
• Hopefully some of the original youth turn 17 this year so I can start giving them games
  

[Bartrcm]

I decided to put my Aachen save on hold, and carry on with my Dafuge challenge. The last 6 intakes I didn't get any decent striker, so this is becoming pretty impossible.

Good luck everyone with this brutal challenge

[ajt]

Was actually a very good season all things considered. A late run of bad form meant we slipped from ninth to eleventh but considering we were predicted to finish 20th, I'll take it. Also gives us another season at least to develop some youth as I think we could push on with this squad. Annoyingly, I can't seem to register players until they're 17 which means at least 2/3 years for this current crop of youth players we have. ]

the worst thing about germany is the (bizarre) youth policy. your finances will improve massively once you get into the second division, good luck for your save

sorry to hear that bartrcm, it's strange when a country that produced Klose & Muller (Gerd) won't give you any strikers at all (I hadn't had a decent striker prospect in my whole save).

[worrell]

Good luck Cardiovascular and mikenevo.

[Cardiovascular]

Thanks guys. It is quite bizarre ajt. Worst bit is the club has literally zero 17-23 players save for about two, meaning I have two U23 grey players on my bench every game without fail.

[Braumiller]

I find the Scottish updates and saves interesting

Currently thinking of either Scotland or Belguim for my FM16 attempt

[ajt]

Pretty sure I'm about to get relegated in my first season as manager of Virtus Verona

Goalkeeper is a 16 year old rated as "decent for Serie D", conceded 73 goals from 27 matches (must be some sort of record).

Am doing a write up as I play but won't bother posting it. My only decent defender is out for the remainder of the season and I am currently 11 points off 19th position.

There are loads of big clubs available in Italy (Siena, Triestina, Padova), I don't think I'm good enough at the game to save Virtus Verona lol.

edit: 8 games to go and a 12 point between us and the relegation playoff. Lost 10 out of the last 11 games. Doomed

edit 2: Just got relegated (and sacked) with 4 games left. We only managed one clean sheet throughout the WHOLE SEASON?!?!?!

edit 3: will re-use my original save (promotion date) to try a second time. I really want to play as Virtus because we would have derbies against Chievo Verona & Hellas Verona. The club has an 800 seater stadium. The reason the team sucks so much is because the club lets so many players leave on my join date.

[burtur]

Pretty sure I'm about to get relegated in my first season as manager of Virtus Verona

Goalkeeper is a 16 year old rated as "decent for Serie D", conceded 73 goals from 27 matches (must be some sort of record).

Am doing a write up as I play but won't bother posting it. My only decent defender is out for the remainder of the season and I am currently 11 points off 19th position.

There are loads of big clubs available in Italy (Siena, Triestina, Padova), I don't think I'm good enough at the game to save Virtus Verona lol.

edit: 8 games to go and a 12 point between us and the relegation playoff. Lost 10 out of the last 11 games. Doomed

edit 2: Just got relegated (and sacked) with 4 games left. We only managed one clean sheet throughout the WHOLE SEASON?!?!?!

edit 3: will re-use my original save (promotion date) to try a second time. I really want to play as Virtus because we would have derbies against Chievo Verona & Hellas Verona. The club has an 800 seater stadium. The reason the team sucks so much is because the club lets so many players leave on my join date.

Keep at it bro

Great start mikenevo

[Tush]

In case it matters to anyone, I played in Belgian second division playoffs and they worked fine...haven't experienced the Third division playoffs, but it might also be a one-time bug that playoffs were messed up for that 1 team, I don't think it is wrong for every team

[Mattphillips]

I've taken over Nairn County in Scotland, will update with Screenshots soon.. started off with just 13 players, then 1 retired and one was on a future transfer, so 11 players I will play with, already got knocked out of the first two cups in the 1st round, and lost twice in the league..

Think this is going to be quite the challenge...

[Mattphillips]

Best of luck Matt, what's their stadium like?

2250, 250 seated..

[ajt]

The tactic I developed towards the end of my first attempt definitely suits the team better. Our goalkeeper is still shocking and is liable to get beaten from absolutely anywhere on the pitch, but the defensive line is pushed up so far that the opposition are creating far fewer chances (and seeing as strikers cannot beat a keeper 1v1 its a pretty good chance they'll miss anyway).

Just beat Pro Patria 5-2 and followed it up with another 5-2 victory over Padova. two wins three losses from the first five games. If we can keep playing like this for the rest of the season (and not get too many serious injuries) then we might do it.

[MADA]

interesting that people have said they've struggled to get strikers through their youth intake. i did a similar challenge with coventry (so not eligible for the thread) and got fed up of having to retrain amazing AMCs to play upfront. Only got 1 passable striker in about 10 years, with constant world class midfielders coming through eventually, even with a few different HOYDs.

[ajt]

interesting that people have said they've struggled to get strikers through their youth intake. i did a similar challenge with coventry (so not eligible for the thread) and got fed up of having to retrain amazing AMCs to play upfront. Only got 1 passable striker in about 10 years, with constant world class midfielders coming through eventually, even with a few different HOYDs.

In 13 seasons with Essen I had only one striker above 2 stars, and he was a member of the youth team before I arrived. My HOYD would consistently find incredible right/left backs, and loads of CMs too. Didn't matter what my HOYD coaching/playing style was either, I hired a new one every other season to try to get a striker but none ever materialised. If the same thing happens with Virtus (if I don't get relegated) then I will go back to FM 2014.

[toonbalmy87]

In 13 seasons with Essen I had only one striker above 2 stars, and he was a member of the youth team before I arrived. My HOYD would consistently find incredible right/left backs, and loads of CMs too. Didn't matter what my HOYD coaching/playing style was either, I hired a new one every other season to try to get a striker but none ever materialised. If the same thing happens with Virtus (if I don't get relegated) then I will go back to FM 2014.

tbh i found germany and england easiest to produce superstars sold a championship player to a prem team for 37 mil when i completed it ..... hence why i do it in Sweden now

[Tush]

In Belgium I have had only one striker come through, luckily incredibly good. But that is like 12-13 seasons for one player.

Constantly getting great DL,DC,ML,MC ... my only MR is almost retiring and this intake I got one young MR with 1,5star potential...well he will have to play

[ajt]

tbh i found germany and england easiest to produce superstars sold a championship player to a prem team for 37 mil when i completed it ..... hence why i do it in Sweden now

But I'm not talking about producing superstars. I'm also not interested in selling any of my players. I would have simply been happy to receive one decent young striker. Any striker that entered was also an AMC/AMRL. Infact I can name all of the strikers I recruited during the save. There were three.

Jack cork was an AML/ST and crap (regional division rated), Ze was an ST/AMRL but scored some goals due to his innate speed (third division rated), and my other guy Rene AMC/st never developed and was barely ever fit/would get injured when played in a first team game.

The only reason my Essen save went well at all was due to having Martin Bohm already in the youth team. By contrast my defence continued to improve and was consistently amongst the lowest GA in every division I played. Even my wingers & midfield were good.

Essen isn't a small city (550k~ pop) so to get only one striker of any quality (Martin Bohm) is ludicrous. It's not like I was in a bad area for recruitment.

edit: not saying that it's not in tune with real life (proliferation of south american/african strikers) but for so few strikers to even show up in the youth intake, no matter how good/bad they were...

[Cuddlefish]

Going to give this a go with Edinburgh University in Scotland. Wish me luck!

[ajt]

Haha what a random team! good luck

[Cuddlefish]

Thanks guys

Starting with a grand total of 13 white players... Playing a standard 5-4-1 with MCs moved up as AMCs :confused:

[burtur]

In case it matters to anyone, I played in Belgian second division playoffs and they worked fine...haven't experienced the Third division playoffs, but it might also be a one-time bug that playoffs were messed up for that 1 team, I don't think it is wrong for every team

1. I noticed that others had posted the same problem in the bugs forum.

2. It happened also for the AI the following season (didn't check the 2nd division playoffs).

[Braumiller]

What the *&^*&^

The actual offer was around 15m, with the rest as add-ons....

[ajt]

Do you have your clause on him?

[pauladams84]

I said on last post I would edit it to add more but as there has been so many posts since last night I might aswell add it here.

Youth Form:

YP01a Stanislas Ngoyi... mainly from bench but played about 25.

More from youth intake :

YP03e Samuel Toure / report

YP03f Reda Aarab / report

YP03g Karim Berrabeh / report

YP03h Mathieu Gautier / report

YP03i Didier Le Meur / report

YP03j Gilles Lemaire / report

Apart from the one that I had from the start. I haven't had a st yet either.

Braumiller - he must be a beast of a regen.

[Braumiller]

Do you have your clause on him?

Yeah, 50% of profit (as I screwed up, meant 50% of next sale..... - he was sold for ~6.5m)

[ajt]

Virtus Verona 2015/16 ~ Italian Serie C

Season goal: 19th

Media prediction: 20th

Board expectations: Attempt to avoid relegation

League Table | Stats | Transfers | Finances

The First Cut is the Deepest

After totally failing in my first attempt with Virtus I have decided to have another go. It's hard to see how we can play any worse than the first time around. I have never felt so terrified at seeing a highlight pop up with any other team. Our goalkeeper is ready and willing to concede when given any (and I really do mean any) opportunity to do so. We lost so many games last time from shots that were entirely savable. On the other hand we have a good strike force (including a random Brazilian hero) and as we are based in Verona the youth intakes should (hopefully) be decent, even if our youth recruitment is basic. I think Virtus is more in the spirit of the youth challenge than Essen since the facilities are atrocious.

It's now early January and we have been on a terrific little run of results, winning three out of the past five matches whilst only conceding two goals! The team is definitely playing better than last season and we currently sit in 15th position. My goal is to not finish in 20th position, as we will then at least have a chance to survive via the relegation playout.

Unfortunately our best right back Andrea Cosner is out for two months and I'm now regularly having to bring on grey's during matches. Youth intake will be in March, so hopefully I won't pick up too many more injuries in the mean time.

A couple of weeks later and our top scorer Francesco Lonardoni has just injured himself (2 months sprained ankle) in a 3-2 loss to Pordenone who leapfrog us in the process. The best thing we can hope for is that Padova keep playing so terribly that they don't catch us.

(17th) Virtus Verona vs Biancoscudati Padova (20th)

23:00 – Matteo Scapini scores from a cross! : 1-0 Virtus

25:00 – Bortoluz scores after we don't clear a free kick. But the goal is disallowed!

60:00 – Ciaramitaro equalises for Padova. : 1-1

61:00 – Our best DC Caratozzolo is forced off with an injury. I'm certain we will now lose the game.

77:00 – Dene scores : 2-1 Padova

82:00 – Petrilli scores from a freekick : 3-1 Padova

End: Virtus 1 – 3 Padova

Well we've lost the most important game of the season so far. Padova are now only ten points behind us. Caratazollo is out for three weeks. Lost last four matches in a row. Complete waste of time.

If only I could sign a ****ing goalkeeper, I ****ing hate this 17 year old **** ****. He's started letting in goals from crosses. And I don't mean headers, I mean the ****ing crosses themselves. He is such a ****ing ****.

Having to play a grey at DC due to injuries.

My second best striker (Matteo Scarpini) has just torn his hamstring during a 1-1 draw at Lumezzane and will be out for four months. Beginning to hate the game in general. I currently have five players injured which is 28% of my squad. The only chance the team has is to outscore the oppositions (invevitable) goals each match. With our two best strikers now out this is looking increasingly unlikely. Hopefully 23 points will be enough to avoid 20th position as I can't seeing us getting any more at the rate things are going. To make matters worse I have some ****ing **** winger called Santuari moaning about how he wants to play for a bigger club. I can't get rid of him though because we don't have enough players to fill the subs bench as it is. He's contracted to 2017 but IF I survive I will sell the ****ing **** at the end of the season and play a grey in his place.

We've just had the youth intake and would you ****ing believe it, a goalkeeper! Marco Grassi may only be 15 years old but he is resolute and lets face it he can't be any worse than Julian “The Villain of Verona” Lleshi. He's going straight into the first team (along with a few of the other youths) and I'm so happy we've gotten rid of ****ing Julian that I've decided to instantly release him on a free. Our first game with the colossal Marco in goal culminates in a 1-0 win over Alto Adige, our only victory in eleven games!

The regular season has ended and we have avoided automatic relegation by eight points. We will have to play against Pordenone in the playout first leg. I've never taken part in this relegation playout before so I have no idea what happens if we lose.

The Relegation Playout

Virtus Verona vs Pordenone

90:00 - absolutely nothing happens! 0-0

Pordenone vs Virtus Verona

20:00 – Londardoni scores his twelfth goal of the season after a wonderful passing move!

65:00- Dimas Goncalves de Oliveira (our Brazilian superstar) scores a low volley from a corner! My tactic of trying to kill the opposition is working well as Pordenone have a number of injured players on the pitch.

The match ends in a 2-0 victory for Virtus.

Apparently winning that match means we have avoided relegation!

The council won't allow us to upgrade our 800 seater stadium which is currently in violation of the league rules. Hope we don't get fined or something. Our average attendance was only 412 anyway so it doesn't bother me. I've managed to get a junior coaching upgrade. I forgot to take a screenshot at the start of the game but here's my manager profile after one season. Here's our competition history too which I forgot to take. Not sure where the club went during 2014/15, possibly bankrupt? Please excuse my poor banner, there isn't very much on google images regarding Virtus. I do think the rubbish quality represents the club well however

The Virtuous Veronan

Dimas

No idea where the club discovered this guy but what a player! He has plans to become a HOYD when he retires so maybe he will become a member of staff

Performance of the Season

Alto Adige 0 - 1 Virtus Verona

The only victory we recorded after January 6th, and one of the few clean sheets.

Youth Intake

Marco Parisi (YP01a) AML - Has the potential to be a good left winger. I don't currently play a formation that includes wingers but might use one next season!

Filippo Gargano (YP01b) AMC - Already rotated in the first team.

Marco Grassi (YP01c) GK - Already playing as my starting goalkeeper.

Matteo Fortunato (YP01d) DL - I have a good left back already (Peroni) but will bring him off the bench.

2016/17 goals

Win the relegation playoff again!

[Bartrcm]

interesting that people have said they've struggled to get strikers through their youth intake. i did a similar challenge with coventry (so not eligible for the thread) and got fed up of having to retrain amazing AMCs to play upfront. Only got 1 passable striker in about 10 years, with constant world class midfielders coming through eventually, even with a few different HOYDs.

The lack of strikers in my intakes is the reason I've put this save on hold. Didn't got any decent striker in the last 6 intakes.

Went back to my Dafuge challenge and finally found back my desire to play FM15

[ajt]

The lack of strikers in my intakes is the reason I've put this save on hold. Didn't got any decent striker in the last 6 intakes.

Went back to my Dafuge challenge and finally found back my desire to play FM15

Is that the one where you can take over any team and develop youth? Or can you sign players too

[pauladams84]

It might be frustrating but that's life. This challenge isn't designed to be easy

[Shakes]

I had too many forwards for the longest time and no midfielders. Then I got a batch of midfielders and lacked defenders. Now my youth team is stacked with defenders. Have to ride with it, make do with what you do get, and retrain if it gets you through.

To take the long view, this challenge can take decades, half a dozen intakes is a drop in the bucket. Nobody from my first half dozen intakes is even still at the club, and I'm far from completion, not even being in the top league. Who gives a crap if they were strikers or not at this point?

[brugi82]

But I'm not talking about producing superstars. I'm also not interested in selling any of my players. I would have simply been happy to receive one decent young striker. Any striker that entered was also an AMC/AMRL. Infact I can name all of the strikers I recruited during the save. There were three.

Jack cork was an AML/ST and crap (regional division rated), Ze was an ST/AMRL but scored some goals due to his innate speed (third division rated), and my other guy Rene AMC/st never developed and was barely ever fit/would get injured when played in a first team game.

The only reason my Essen save went well at all was due to having Martin Bohm already in the youth team. By contrast my defence continued to improve and was consistently amongst the lowest GA in every division I played. Even my wingers & midfield were good.

Essen isn't a small city (550k~ pop) so to get only one striker of any quality (Martin Bohm) is ludicrous. It's not like I was in a bad area for recruitment.

edit: not saying that it's not in tune with real life (proliferation of south american/african strikers) but for so few strikers to even show up in the youth intake, no matter how good/bad they were...

I'm not posting an updates anymore, but I'm in my 23rd season in Portugal now (I started this save about a year ago in FM14)... So far I had 1 ok striker (who retired last season) and 2 meh-ish ones... On the other hand, I have some very good midfielders, wingers and full backs. Oh, yeah and I had 2 very good keepers and both are playing for Portugal (one was sold when he was 20ish). But yeah, good stiker - no show for me too...

p.s. When I was picking Portugal for this challenge I thought that it will be pretty easy to establish domestic domination after some time, but nope... Ok, I managed to win league 5 times in last 10 years BUT Portugese Premier league is now rated as no1 national competition in Europe. Not only that I have to fight Porto, Benfica and Sporting every year, but Maritimo was bought by tycoon and they became Man City instead of Man City (they bought super team and they are now top 3 team in the world). My youth products can't compete anymore with that many superstars... They only chance I have to complete this challenge is to be very lucky in CL draw and avoid all this teams until Final AND then get lucky in that game...

[MADA]

I had too many forwards for the longest time and no midfielders. Then I got a batch of midfielders and lacked defenders. Now my youth team is stacked with defenders. Have to ride with it, make do with what you do get, and retrain if it gets you through.

To take the long view, this challenge can take decades, half a dozen intakes is a drop in the bucket. Nobody from my first half dozen intakes is even still at the club, and I'm far from completion, not even being in the top league. Who gives a crap if they were strikers or not at this point?

nobody's saying it should be easy, they're just saying that there might be a disproportionate lack of strikers being produced in a lot of games. certainly looks like several in this thread have noticed it.

[ajt]

but Maritimo was bought by tycoon and they became Man City instead of Man City (they bought super team and they are now top 3 team in the world). My youth products can't compete anymore with that many superstars... They only chance I have to complete this challenge is to be very lucky in CL draw and avoid all this teams until Final AND then get lucky in that game...

Haha that's amazing! I'd say your development of the Portuguese league (and Martitimo) is a great accomplishment anyway.

[Braumiller]

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this challenge for me is the retraining of kids. So rewarding to have them flourish is positions they originally could not play.

My favorite player from any of my years of playing this challenge is Serge N'Simba (YP 22B) (I think I his name and tag are right, but it was a couple of years ago.....). Came in as an MC, retrained to a DM, retrained to a WBR and then eventually to a DR. Excelled in all of the roles he played in for me and could be counted on in every game, regardless of where I played him.

For the record, my strikers via the intake this year have been below par for sure as well. Currently rocking with a vastly improved rare natural striker and two retrained midfielders

[Shakes]

nobody's saying it should be easy, they're just saying that there might be a disproportionate lack of strikers being produced in a lot of games. certainly looks like several in this thread have noticed it.

That the individual intakes can have stupid balance (like they can come through with 10 defenders and zero strikers or vice versa) is IMO a bug and one I've reported in multiple versions of FM. But even if that bug didn't exist you'd still have the luck of the draw as to who in the intake has high or low star rating.

The only way around it is to play long enough for it to even out. This challenge is really one of patience and not rage quitting, which I don't always succeed at either. Ironically I quit my last England attempt (in FM13) partly because I was getting too many strikers!

I had so many strikers at the start of the challenge I was playing them in midfield. My best is nearing 300 goals for the club, and had three others reached 200+ before retiring. Strikers have undoubtedly been the strength of my intakes. But now there's been a reversal and I'm playing a retrained MC there because that's the ebb and flow of the challenge. In a previous edition my favourite player was a guy who was anonymous at DM for a year or two before becoming an absolute champion once retrained to be a target man striker. I now use his player picture as my manager picture. If I'd not had a hole at striker maybe he's just a boring DM who never achieves great things. Just have to see lack of strikers as an opportunity to create a great story. Or fail miserably, but that's fine too, failing miserably is a big part of what we do in this challenge, it's what sets it apart from the other challenges which are boring success-fests!

[ajt]

Virtus Verona 2016/17 ~ Italian Serie C/A

Season goal: Win the relegation playout

Media prediction: 20th

Board expectations: Attempt to avoid relegation

League Table | Stats | Transfers | Finances

Brave New World

We are conceding lots of goals but are also the highest scorers in the division so far, currently averaging 3.2 goals per game! The target for the first half of the season is to collect over twenty points. This is the average points required to not finish in last place. 50 points would see us finish well clear of 15th place (relegation playout cutoff) and is the overall (if slightly unrealistic) aim for the rest of the season.

Grassi is performing so much better than Julian was last season (we're down from an average of 3 to 2 goals conceded per game – he also makes some ridiculous Schefer-esque saves). What we could use is a young striker to replace the ageing Matteo Scapini (32) and a ball winning centre mid to replace Alessio Allegrini (33) who is basically our Gattuso, with the bookings to match.

On the staff front I have had to sack loads of people including four physios. Our fitness is terrible and I think it's more important to have a dedicated fitness coach as up until now the players regularly finish on 50-60% each match. I've had to employ some 34 year old joker of an assistant manager as a proxy att/def/tac coach.

1984

We have 17 points after twenty games. We still aren't the worst team in the division though, and if we can pick up a couple of victories between now and the end of the season then we will avoid automatic relegation. I'm going back to the golden rule of attack being our only form of defence.

We have just drawn 4-4 with Vicenza (6th) in the first match after the winter break. We were up 4-1 by the 51st minute. Vicenza scored a penalty in the 92nd minute (+2 minutes added on time). We drop down to 18th, only seven points ahead of Lecco.

Our final match ends in a draw and we finish the regular season in 17th. The playout draw has now taken place and we have got Mantova. I'm fuming because Mantova weren't even in the relegation places for most of the season and only landed in it due to injuries... players that will return for their matches against us. The team has really improved in the past month though so we have a chance. Maybe.

Mantova vs Virtus Verona

00:52 – Mantova score within the first minute of the game.

07:00 – Lonardoni hits the bar.

16:00 – Dimas equalises. Great off the ball movement. He has carried us in a few games this season, lets hope he does it again.

30:00 – Dimas scores again from outside the box.

38:00 – Lonardoni has a shot acrobatically saved.

49:00 – Marco Grassi makes a great save from close range.

50:00 – Marco Grassi makes yet another save, this time 1v1 from a through ball.

53:00 – Lonardoni scores from the edge of the area. But the goal is ruled out for offside.

54:00 – Mantova equalise.

58:00 – One of our central defenders Albanese heads against the post from a corner.

The first leg ends 2-2. I'm a little disappointed not to have won, but the two away goals could be vital. The team is playing well so we should do alright at home. Mantova finished 12th last season, and 5th in 2014/15. They were in Serie B in 2009/10.

Virtus Verona vs Mantova

00:22 – Dimas has a shot parried off the line.

13:00 – Dimas puts the ball wide from a counter attack. I am worried he has not scored already.

25:00 – Dimas heads onto the bar, and in the ensuing scramble Lonardoni pops up at the far post and puts it in! We have had 64% posession so far and four clear cut chances. Mantova haven't had a shot yet.

30:00 – Lonardoni scores yet again. His 18th goal of the season.

37:00 – Gaggiotti hits the bar from a freekick.

45:00 – Dimas scores from a long ball after one of their defenders misses the header. The half ends with complete domination from our team. Mantova will require an absolute miracle now due to our away goals.

46:00 – Olivieri hits the post.

49:00 – Gaggiotti hits the bar (again) this time from a header.

54:00 – Mantova pull a goal back. From their first shot on goal.

57:00 – Gaggiotti finally scores!

78:00 – Dimas is taken off injured.

79:00 – Marco Grassi makes a great save.

The match ends 4-1, 6-3 on aggregate. What a performance! I'm proud to have relegated Mantova and their manager is immediately sacked.

The council have once again blocked us expanding the stadium, which is once again good news, our average attendance was even lower this year, with only 400 people coming to see us play! Our lowest attendance was just 64 people. The fanatics that turned up on that day are to be feared and admired in equal measure. I'm interested to see which teams will enter the division next season since Mantova and Triestina were pretty big clubs (in the past at least). Hopefully there will be some really poor teams promoted. Dimas was named in the team of the year

The Virtuous Veronan

Francesco Lonardoni

16 goals & 14 assists, played well and should be a good player for years to come. Have just signed him up to a long term contract (2023) which will keep him at the club until he is at least twenty-nine. With our other strikers on their way out he will be a key figure in any success we have.

Performance of the Season

Our 4-0 away win against Lecco was very important for us, either that or the second leg of the Mantova playout.

Youth Intake

Not looking great, no one worth tagging, no one really worth signing at all. That said they beat my current youth team 4-1 so they can join. With a bit of game time who knows what might happen. Who knew managing the smallest club in Italy would pose such a challenge. It was supposed to be a time of merriment filled with Maldini & Del Piero regens. I still hold out hope that Cannavaro relocates to the area to enjoy the culture of the ruined amphitheatre and accidentally enrols his sons in our academy... if we have one that is. We don't have any money so won't be upgrading the facilities for a while.

2016/17 goals

Win the relegation playout again! -

2017/18 goals

Win the relegation playout again!

[rferry]

FC KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny

2017/2018

Table | Results (continued) | Statistics (continued) | Transfers | Youth Intake

(2015 | 2015/2016 | 2016/2017 )

Last year saw our first youth, M© Y0a Morozov, break into the starting lineup. This year I expected D(LC) Y1a Korotaev, D(L) Y0d Budylin, M/AM/DM© Y0c Golubtsov and others joining him. Maybe even D® Y0f Denis Gusarov who earned his own tag. However, in hope of providing a quick fix to the financial problems, and maybe get our training facilities upgrade back, I tried selling at least one two of them. Then I got an incredible offer likely worth over $600K for Golubtsov. And it still wasn't enough. We're leaking money and I still can't trace exactly why. The annual profits/losses don't add up to the growing negative balances. And it appears Austria didn't pay much for using our stadium during the World Cup. Oh well.

M© Y0a Morozov and D(LC) Y1a Korotaev stepped up into the starting lineup. And the veteran top 4 of Volkov, Sapozhkov, Sotnikov and Gaziev continued to keep us afloat with lots and lots of goals. Volkov became our first added to an international squad, representing the Russia U19s. (Y0a Morozov later joined him.) Volkov was a contender for an award meanwhile Sapozhkov was a strong candidate for a player's choice award..

By the end of the year, we found ourselves in the middle of the table. And our youth winning the cup. Next year, I envision upgrading rhe defense with D(LC) Y1a Korotaev, D® Y0f Gusarov and D(L) Y1f Timur Lavrov.

[burtur]

ajt Great job avoiding relegation. That team sure looks a challenge! On a side note though, what skin are you using. It looks awesome.

rferry Can you fix the link to the "Table" screenshot. It doesn't work.