ri916's FM15 Youth Academy Challenge

[Braumiller]

Vastra Frolunda IF - Season 7 Review (2021)

League Table | League Positions Graph | Squad Stats | Transfers | Finances

Competitions

First Division South : 8th (Fixtures)

Swedish Cup : progressed to group stages (early next season)

Season Review

MUCh improved over last year!

We finished just inside the top half of the table (8th) and but for 2 defeats at the end of the season it would have been better. With 2 games to go we were only 3 points away from 3rd place and the playoff spot, but we just couldn't push on.

Nonetheless, a very nice season and finally a solid tactical approach with emphasis on our strengths. It still needs tweaking, especially our attacking players outside of the main striker, but it feels good to have confidence in a tactic finally.

Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A) was once again the focal point of the season and from a deeper MC position. With two defensive minded midfielders around him, he has zero defensive concerns and is asked to bomb forward to support the attacks and/or dribble at the defense and cause havoc. And havoc was caused! A seasons average rating of 8.15, he only missed 3 games (2 via injury, 1 via suspension) and scored 13 goals, notched 9 assists and collected another 12 PoM awards. He performances did not go unnoticed either, all the big clubs in England, Italy and France pop on and off his interested list, but as of right now his 15m price tag I have on his head has kept them away.

Youth Intake

Another nice intake, although not up to the last two seasons crazy high standards. The only downside is that it is very defensive oriented and we need some youth strikers to step up. Seven tagged

Jorgen Lindmark (YP 07A) - Another good looking central defender with Premier Division potential. Will try and incorporate into the first team next season as much as possible, without comprimising results

Eric Lindberg (YP 07B) - Our second defender this intake with Premier Division potential, this time at a position which has been on our 'shopping list' for several seasons! If I can bed Eric into a starting role ASAP, this will free up both Henrik Boman (YP 00A) to play in central midfield and Joakim Lagemyr (YP 06A) to play as my covering central defender.

Goran Planic (YP 07C) - To round out the intakes defensive domination, a good looking left back. Will find it hard to get first team action anytime soon, but hoping he will push for places in the coming years

Alex Svensson (YP 07D) - A striker! Decent starting finishing for us (7) but very poor composure (3). Due to our needs at this position, I will try to afford Alex as many chances as possible next season to see if he performs

Christopher Andersson (YP 07E) - The seasonal decent/good goalkeeping prospect. Victor Skoglund is now 31 and starting to decline a little. Perhaps time to start grooming a true succesor....

Per wiklund (YP 07F) - Another left back, but Per has a LOT of improving to do before we can think about the first team

Paul Andersson (YP 07G) - A winger in a team that currently does not play with wingers. Retraining for central midfielder or striker to be done.

"Frolunda Five" - 2019 Edition

Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A) - I have already written more about Niklas than the rest combined. Now rated as a leading Premier Division player

Filip Svedberg (YP 04E) - A fantastic season as the spearhead of an attack. 30 goals in 34 games despite his bad finishing. Yes, he missed a LOT of chances, but we kept feeding him. In the game where he scored early, he often went on to score multiple times due to increased confidence. The pattern was set with him scoring 4 goals in our second game of the year

Niklas Berglund (YP 01D) - Niklas made headlines for a new reason this season, quality performances. He still notched 9 bookings, but this meant only a 3rd place in the league for yellows, losing his most dirty title!

Joakim Lagemyr (YP 06A) - The new kid on the block, Joakim played 22 times at DC and 5 times at DR. Joakim has made nice progression and is becoming the new focal point of our defense.

Robert Smolander - A down year for 'Smo' in terms of average rating, but that is because he is being asked to be a lot more conservative and hang back to allow for Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A) to maraud forward at will. In his new role he played very well and unspectacularly, which is fine by me.

Miscellaneous

Eighth place actually feels a little harsh on us, as we were always within the conversation of 3rd place up until the last two weekends. In fact, if we had won our last two instead of losing them, we would have been in the playoffs.

Starting to feel happy about the direction of the team and squad as a whole. There is now a lot of potential around the club, but most of it is very raw. This all changes of course if/when we have to sell Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A). He has 2 years on his current deal and his demands are (unsurprisingly) way above our means. If nothing changes in the coming season, I may have to contemplate the idea of cashing in on him in order to advance the club as a whole.

Junior coaching is now rated as excellent and costing a fortune. Our finances look ok, but several injections of cash by the chairman are hiding the true losses right now.

Interestingly, our away form was better than our home form this year. This is going to give me pause for thought up to the start of the new season!

Season 7 (2021) Goals

* Improve points total (38) and goal difference (-4) from this year - Achieved

* Solidify tactical approach - Achieved

Season 8 (2022) Targets

* Improve points total (45) and goal difference (+16) from this year

* Challenge for play-off spot

[ajt]

Nice one Braumkiller. Judging by your goal difference you were definitely worth more than 8th. Nicklas looks to be getting a bit crazy attribute wise!

Jorgen has nice determination/bravery, I imagine he'll go far. Infact I would be tempted to start him in every game no matter what.

Not sure if you already do it, but one thing I always do (where possible) is to offer youth players slightly higher wages but for the maximum number of years with a 3 year contract extension on the end.

I find this really helps keep wages down in the long run, and clubs can't poach them so easily.

[Tush]

Season 2019/20

1st - Promotion

Summary:

As you can see below in league table, it has been a very close title race, I am really glad we managed to clinch it in the end, even if by 1 point.

Throughout the season we were constantly in the top 5, and since October we haven't lost a game! Just 3 losses altogether is magnificent.

It goes without saying, that Ventose was top scorer again, like always - 5 times in a row (Third division, 4x Second division top goalscorer)

I made it to the Slovakia Hall of Fame!

League Table

Fixtures 1

Fixtures 2 - Great league unbeaten run

Transfers

Facilities

Finances

Squad

Come on, my minions, secure us a non-relegation spot in the followint season!

Youth Watch:

Before: Sam Jacobs (YP02a) After: Sam Jacobs (YP02a) - Impressive man, qualities of Pro league player.

Before: Jean-Luc Detry (YP02b) After: Jean-Luc Detry (YP02b) - Great defensive stats!

Before: Pieter-Jan De Moor (YP03b) After: Pieter-Jan De Moor (YP03b) - Glad we have developed another first-team midfielder.

Youth intake

Kinda disappointed with this intake, not much potential, 3 players received a tag.

Here are my 3 tagged players:

Alexander Bauweraerts (YP05a)

Ruben Laenen (YP05b)

Tim Vercammen (YP05c)

Goals from last season:

Promotion, if possible - Success - 1st

Goals for next season:

Survive in the top league!

Seasonal Summary:

Season     Division                       Position     Belgian Cup       Achievements
2015/16    Belgian Third Divison A        1st          Sixth round       Promotion
2016/17    Belgian Second League          11th         Fifth round
2017/18    Belgian Second League          8th          Winners           Belgium Cup - Euro Cup qualification
2018/19    Belgian Second League          2nd          Fourth round      Promotion Playoffs
2019/20    Belgian Second League          1nd          Seventh round     Promotion

[Tush]

WOHOO

New Stadium will be built, can't believe board has agreed to it, as we had only 1M in the bank and 5M loan

Also, Youth Facilities are being improved!

[ajt]

Wow great season Tush and congrats on the new stadium. You seem to be really good at developing youth, can't believe how good Jacobs is already. Tie him into a long term contract!!

I played a long term Anderlecht save last year and from the quality of players I saw I reckon he'll defo be in the Belgium team one day.

[Tush]

Sadly, the quality difference between us and Pro League teams is huge, and when I look at clubs like Brugge and Anderlecht.

As you can look into Club Finances, there are few powerhouses which will be tough to overcome. I really need to rake in some money to finally upgrade facilities, as they suck atm.

I also still can't improve youth recruitment, next thing I desperately need to produce players capable of dealing with top Belgian clubs.

Due to financial reasons, I hope I don't get relegated this season.

[worrell]

Union Sportive Ivry Football

2020/2021

Ligue 2 - 7th

Transfers | Finances | Squad | Past positions | Table

Season:

League - Survive!

Great season. Started strong in Ligue 2! Continued the performances from the last year. We are very dangerous against everyone. By round 8 we were 3rd and even taught we can get a promotion but Saint Etienne kicked us right into reality with a 0-5 loss. But overall very good season, never dropped into the relegation zone. Could not compete with some teams like Saint Etienne so i don't think we are ready for Ligue 1 yet.

French cup - 1/4 finals

Again a great run and again our nemesis PSG! Once again we drew them in the 1/4 finals and once again they were our end. The game went really well and we were 2-0 up by the 13th minute. And went well until the final 10minutes again. They left it late again. In 2 minutes they they equalized and turned around. I was heartbroken. My sole purpose now in this game is to dethrone them from the French throne! Third time now they knocked us out.

Player of the season: Jules Diallo YP19c - It was hard to pick someone since nobody really shined above the rest. Jules already played some games last year as a 15yr old but now he really stepped up. 10g 6a and 6PoM. Overall i don't really have anyone that is exceptionally better than the rest.

Some new players that made it into the 1st team:

Jules Diallo YP19c - a great season for him. Still needs some work to do but was excellent as i mentioned above.

Cheick Ouattara YP18b - did give him some games in the previous seasons but this year he was my 1st pick. Aupic was complaining all the time about lack of game time but since he was performing very poorly when i gave him the chance he was done. Jous wanted to go to a bigger team in the preseason and was not happy since then. So he got only limited game time and is now retiring. Cheick maybe not the best, and probably not my 1st pick in the future but did what i wanted. Will be definitely my first pick next year before i introduce someone new.

Melvin Parmentier YP17a - wanted to give another players some game time and Melvin did great. Still needs some work on his atts in the role i want him to play but is improving.

YOUTH INTAKE

Another great intake! Awesome depth and 9 potential 5* players.

Hicham Azzouzi YP21a - ST - needs to do some work but looks good except his jumping.

Yann Perrot YP21b - MR - has to work on his quickness and needs tutoring.

Thierry Lecroix YP21d - DR - nice physicals but his marking and positioning are awful. I might retrain him for a midfielder.

Rayan Gautier YP21c - ML - needs time in the u19s before his ready.

Youssef Benali YP21e - DL- another full back. This one looks better and probably be ready for the 1st team sooner.

Murat Karadag YP21f - AMC - great looking attacking midfielder. Has some poor mental atts and is really selfish.

Mohamed Sow YP21g - MC - will have to work on his technical attributes but looks promising.

Mark Hammond YP21h - DC - another defender that is not very tall and can't jump.

Chardonie Nsingi YP21i - GK - will have the chance to fight for my keeper spot but needs time.

season	year	league		pos	GF	GA	GD	cup		europe		achievement
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.	15/16	National	18th	45	56	-11	10th		N/A		relegated
2.	16/17	CFA-A           1st	51	23	+28	11th		N/A		promoted
3.	17/18	National        6th	59	48	+11	1/4f		N/A		N/A
4.	18/19	National        5th	60	50	+10	9th		N/A		N/A
5.	19/20	National        1st	64	27	+37	1/4f		N/A		promoted, MotY
6.	20/21	Ligue 2         7th	62	63	-1	1/4f		N/A		N/A

Misc: Finances are looking great. With the Ligue 2 TV money we are not losing money now. There are already some facilities upgrades planned and i want to do more.

GOALS from previous season:

-Stay up - success

-More game time for my tags beyond YP16 - at least 3 players got starting roles and another 3 featured regularly in the rotation.

GOALS for next season:

-improve defensively

-improve facilities. I have to improve a lot here before i am ready for Ligue 1.

[worrell]

Awesome Sanno11 and Tush! Good luck in the big leagues guys.

Nice intake Braumiller. Besides Wikstrom, Lagemyr looks great too!

[Braumiller]

Sanno11, Tush, congrats both on your promotions to your respective top divisions!

worrell, great first season in Ligue 2!

Only 5 league games into my next season, but...... injuries!!! Argh!

I have already lost Joakim Lagemyr (YP 06A) for 3 months and last seasons top scorer Filip Svedberg (YP 04E) for 4 months!

Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A) picked up two niggles during the preseason as well, but finally got him healthy....

[ajt]

Rot-Weiss Essen 2020/21 ~ German Second Division

Season goal: Avoid relegation

Media prediction: 17th

Board expectations: Attempt to avoid relegation

League Table | Stats | Transfers | Finances

Help!

A very poor start saw us lose the first four games in the league. In my naïveté I had continued with the 4-4-1-1 control system with which we won promotion last season.

After this run of games I changed to a 4-1-4-1 counter which gave us a bit of defensive stability. With ten games played we sit in 13th place having taken ten points.

We have just had a massive blow as our striker Böhm is out for up to two months with a hernia injury and our back up striker does not inspire me with confidence.

The cutoff for the relegation playoff spot has been as high as 39 points (recent history) so my first aim will be to pass 40 points. I would be really pleased if we could pick up 30 points before the winter break.

The Long and Winding Road

At the half way stage we sit in 12th place, five points ahead of the relegation playoff place. We've played well recently (apart from a 5-0 demolition by Ingolstadt) and this is without a few of our key players being available.

We have the fewest goals scored in the league, but we have the fourth best defence.

Here Comes The Sun

I can only say that this has been an absolutely bizarre season. We didn't score many goals, didn't concede many goals, and somehow managed to end up in fifth. We had the joint best defence in the league - tied with Werder Bremen. After the winter break we recorded seven clean sheets in fifteen games.

Jan-Moritz Schug broke his leg in April (5 months) which is a real shame as he has played 105 games over the past three seasons.

Sadio Coulibaly made it into the Second Division team of the year.

All I really want to do is establish us as a second division team, as I now look to bring through the second wave of youngsters.

We only got to the second round of the cup this season. In the first round we beat Freiburg of the Bundesliga 2-1 in extra time. The second round saw us up against Bayern Munich, which we lost 0-3. However the players got to play in front of a crowd of 70,000 at the Allianz-Arena so it's not all bad.

We received £6 million in prize money for our league position. This is nearly twice as much in as the prize money from our five seasons of third division football combined.

£3.6 million of this is going straight into youth/training upgrades which will be completed in November. Our Exceptional junior coaching youth setup cost us £4.4 million last season.

Unsurprisingly we have by far the smallest wage bill in the division. We also have plenty of room to grow, I have £60k of spare capacity within the current wage budget. Our most important sponsorships are up for renewal next year so we should see a nice increase in those.

Having taken a look around the game world it seems this is the sort of player we will have to contend with in the future.

The Best of Essen

Martin Böhm (Boom)

He scored 15 goals at age 20 with a team playing a 4-1-4-1 counter attacking tactic. He's already listed as a club legend

He has done pretty well though to be fair.

Performance of the Year

A 2-1 home victory against Dresden after the winter break. It wasn't pretty but typifies the effort of our defence this season. Dresden went on to clinch promotion to the Bundesliga.

Youth Intake

René Krautzun (YP06a)

Ronny Wegner (YP06b)

Krautzun (YP05a) - Model Professional, low unimportant attributes. Best youth prospect so far. Good pace/acceleration. Shadow striker of the future.

Wegner (YP05b) - I already have an abundance of centre mids, but I plan to train this guy to be my new ball winner.

Our youth players are getting pretty good now, I even replaced Cebio Soukou and Tobias Steffen as starters half way through the season. Our starting left back is playing for Germany at the u20 world cup.

2020/21 goals

• Avoid relegation -
  
• Win a German cup match -
  
• Keep hold of all my important players! -
  

2021/22 goals

• Mid table security
  
• Get to the German Cup third round
  

[Braumiller]

Excellent recovery ajt!

We received £6 million in prize money for our league position. This is nearly twice as much in as the prize money from our five seasons of third division football combined.

Holy cow! Prize money for winning the Swedish Premier League is around 850k!!

[ajt]

Yep the prize money in Germany is really good. The main issue I foresee is the vast difference in quality between the Second Division and the Bundesliga.

[Tush]

ajt - great season! awesome money! I am wondering how much is the prize in Belgium, as it isn't written in the Rules tab. Braumiller what was the prize when you played, if you remember?

[Braumiller]

Yep the prize money in Germany is really good. The main issue I foresee is the vast difference in quality between the Second Division and the Bundesliga.

Yeah, that is one of the pieces I really like about this challenge, there are many different routes to the end goal.

In Sweden for example, you build and conqeur domestically first, and then continue building and begin your European challenges.

In Germany for example, your domestic and European challenges can often be simultaneous.

Money is subjective as well. My exceptional junior coaching costs per year are currently at 1.5m.

[Braumiller]

Braumiller what was the prize when you played, if you remember?

I don't remember, sorry

[Tush]

My adequate junior coaching costs around 200k per year

I received 2.35M for 11th place in Pro League.

[Tush]

Season 2020/21

11th

Summary:

Overall this is a very pleasing finish, as it is our first season in the top league. Hopefully we can improve, the squad for next year should technically be the same.

We received a nice 2.35M for finishing 11th, so our finances are looking stable again, hopefully I can get board to do some upgrades.

Planned youth facility expansion was sadly cancelled before the league ended, because we were over 1M in the red.

League Table

Fixtures

Transfers

Facilities

Finances

Squad

Youth Watch:

Intake stats: Sam Jacobs (YP02a) Now: Sam Jacobs (YP02a)

Intake stats: Jean-Luc Detry (YP02b) Now: Jean-Luc Detry (YP02b)

Intake stats: Pieter-Jan De Moor (YP03b) Now: Pieter-Jan De Moor (YP03b)

Intake stats: Maxim Nys (YP03a) Now: Maxim Nys (YP03a)

Youth intake

As opposed to you guys, my intakes seem to get worse and worse

Here are my 3 tagged players:

Raymond Roelandt (YP06a)

Marcos Costa (YP06b)

Arno Mertens (YP06c)

Goals from last season:

Survive in the top league! - Success - 11th

Goals for next season:

Even better financial position (2M+)

Better league position (10th or higher)

Seasonal Summary:

Season     Division                       Position     Belgian Cup       Achievements
2015/16    Belgian Third Divison A        1st          Sixth round       Promotion
2016/17    Belgian Second League          11th         Fifth round
2017/18    Belgian Second League          8th          Winners           Belgium Cup - Euro Cup qualification
2018/19    Belgian Second League          2nd          Fourth round      Promotion Playoffs
2019/20    Belgian Second League          1nd          Seventh round     Promotion
2020/21    Belgian Pro League             11th         Seventh round     

[ajt]

Rot-Weiss Essen 2021/22 ~ German Second Division

Season goal: Mid table

Media prediction: 15th

Board expectations: Don't be outclassed too often

League Table | Stats | Transfers | Finances

Mr.Brightside

Two weeks before the winter break we faced off in a top of the table clash against league leaders RB Leipzig. Unfortunately Sadio Coulibaly had picked up an injury in November whilst with the Mali national team which mean't he wouldn't be available for selection.

A sloppy performance saw us concede an early goal and the game was over when our central defender Marco Ricken got sent off in the 47th minute. The match finished 1-0 to RBL. I'm not sure we would have drawn even with eleven men on the pitch as we were thoroughly outplayed. It was all the more disappointing given that we had won nine out of our previous twelve league matches.

The next game took us to bottom of the table Frankfurt Erlenbruch. A strong second half mean't we ended the game 2-0. To be fair Frankfurt have been dismal all season and I don't see much hope for them to survive relegation.

This result leaves the team sitting in second position during the winter break. I'm not really aiming for promotion this season and I don't particularly mind if we get promoted or not. It might even be a curse (if my past history with Essens board is anything to go by) and I'm quite happy to stay in the second division for a few years.

I've decided not to renew Max Dombrowka's contract as we have a number of exciting fullbacks making their way into the first team and he is one of our highest wage earners. He has been a great servant to the club and I hope another team picks him up in the summer. This means that the only original first team member remaining in the starting lineup is Cebio Soukou. He's starting to age a bit now but I figure we need to keep at least one older player around the squad.

One of our older players Studtrucker's kept moaning constantly about not getting any football so I decided it would be best to terminate his contract. He had been an important player for us in the past but is no longer required.

Capitulation

A 2-0 loss to third placed Freiburg in early February let them pull one point ahead of us in the promotion race. They took a 1-0 lead through a penalty which was blatantly a wrong decision from the referee (no fine from the German FA).

After the winter break we embarked on a horrible run of results which saw us win just four out of fifteen. I can't really be bothered to write more about the second half of the season as it was pretty depressing.

We aren't doing badly seeing as it's only our second season in the division, but it is disappointing to miss out on the playoff spot by just two points. It didn't help that Pirmin Schefer got injured again either.

We once again had the best defence in the division; the first half of the season we were absolutely unplayable.

We lost in the second round of the German Cup once again.

I upgraded all the coaches this season and we now have 4 stars for every category. Rio Ferdinand is one of them

The Best of Essen

Martin Böhm (Boom)

Second year in a row. He was the leagues top scorer this season. Here's hoping he doesn't pick up any major injuries in the future.

Performance of the Year

A 2-1 victory against Paderborn. We were down 1-0 at half time and it looked like there was no hope. I brought on Sawin (our aging backup striker) to give Bohm a rest for the next game. Sawin then proceeded to score two goals (including a 94 minute winner). Sawin hadn't scored in his last ten matches. It was his second sub appearance of the season.

Youth Intake

Dirk Fuchs (YP07a)

Luka Pusch (YP07b)

Dirk Fuchs (YP07a) - looks really good for a 14 year old.

Luka Pusch (YP07b) - looks like he will compliment Fuchs.

These two players will become my next centre back partnership as soon as they reach age 17.

2021/22 goals

Mid table security -

Get to the German Cup third round -

2022/23 goals

Top 10 finish

German Cup 3rd round

[ajt]

nice season Tush good job on surviving!

[Braumiller]

ajt, nice season there. Hurts to miss out after being so close, but the future looks good!

Tush, first season of survival in the top league under your belt, congrats!

Hmm, starting to give serious thought to potentially selling Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A)..... (Man that hurts just typing it out, lol)

At June 2022 now (10 league games into our season), but obviously all the European leagues are now in close season mode and a transfer window.

18 months left on Wikstroms current deal, he will talk about a new contract, but is after 2,700p/w and I can offer 950p/w max. So I currently have zero chance of a new deal.

All big English and French clubs are interested. How much of his potential sale value do you think he would lose if I waited until the end of my season and he is down to 12 months left on his deal?

I figure my options are;

A - Sell now for max value, obviously suffer results-wise in the short term

B - Finish the season, hoping for a push for promotion. If promoted, always a chance I could re-sign him. If not promoted, sell him then.

C - Forget about selling, play him until his last day, while always trying to get him to sign a new contract.

[Shakes]

Braumiller: Even if promoted I doubt you can re-sign him, you're too far away from a deal. His demands will probably go up more than your wage budget. I'd sell if you can get enough money for him for a facilities upgrade. Drop the price tag from him and see what bids come in.

[Braumiller]

Here he is currently - Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A)

Still internally debating this! :confused:

What ball park do you think I could get?......

[ajt]

If you are in with a good chance of getting promoted this season then keep him, otherwise sell him and make sure to slap a 50% sell on fee percentage.

[Braumiller]

If you are in with a good chance of getting promoted this season then keep him, otherwise sell him and make sure to slap a 50% sell on fee percentage.

50% of next sale is always a locked in definite

Only 10 games into our 30 game season, but currently in the promotion conversation. That evaporates if Wikstrom gets injured (or I sell him), I presume.

[ajt]

Have you got anyone that you can bring in from the youth team to train up in his place?

btw how many players do you have in your youth squad? I have a feeling mine is too big and I may need to cull some players

[Shakes]

50% of next sale is such a lottery, so often players get free transfers anyway. If you get a big bid come in, I wouldn't risk them backing out over the clause. Better to use it only if you're forced to sell somewhat cheaply (ie you decide to keep him, get promoted, and are still miles apart so have to desperation sell him).

Not sure how much promotion is worth to you in Sweden, I definitely remember in Portugal that making the top league still didn't mean huge profits, so I'm not sure how worthwhile pushing for promotion is if it means you lose your window to sell him. Unless you think you can ride him to promotion this year and European football next year, which seems a huge gamble. But if you're up for it I'd like to see you try that path!

[ajt]

If you sell to the right club then 50% of the next sale isn't really a lottery at all. As long as you don't sell to one of the divisions top clubs (where he will either stay for years or get released) then it's normally fine.

I would offer him out for sale with the 50% clause included, and international apps. Also I doubt many clubs would release Wikstrom, just pick a club that use a 4-2-3-1. His attributes are pretty good.

[Shakes]

The problem is you will probably have to pro-actively ask for the 50% clause ... if you try to slap it on someone who comes calling for him you'll risk that you'll lose the sale. And if you offer him out, you'll get less for him than if you let the bids come in.

If I'm going to sell him I take the bird in the hand rather than chase the two in the bush. The facility upgrade now is worth more than maybe getting one 5 years down the road if the AI clubs act rationally and don't release him.

Just my opinion, Braumiller is probably chasing promotion because it's his player and it's much easier for us to say sell him. If he was mine I'd probably hope against hope too.

[rferry]

Brau: I'd go with B/C. The challenge is reach the top with your own. A player that was so critical to your rise and able to play in the premier leagues should given the chance to help you there.

Brau, paula, ajt: I like the seasonal goals idea. It adds a little guidance in your path to the top.

I finished year 2 in Russia. We're moving up the table. Result come much easier. It's the suffering through financial and squad management issues. Revenue are down, debts up, and management questioning my decisions. We lost our youth training plans and the huge check from our senior affiliate. Meanwhile the good players are pushing out older players. I've pissed off our former target man trying to sell him, but the rumored teams won't bite. And my star winger and I aren't on speaking terms after I sold our Y0b and Y0c midfielders. We still have our top Y0a midfield prospect and two from the second year intake, but really I share his concerns. I wish I didn't have to balance the books so soon.

[Shakes]

Histon FC - 2038/39 - Sky Bet Championship: 4th

Squad | Transfers

Started out very well, with an early season run of 14 games unbeaten. Didn't really bang in the goals though, so was having a real problem with only getting draws. Some ups and downs after that, but the season was so close up and down the table, we managed to pull into second position after a 5-0 win with about 2/3 of the season to go and we could dare to dream of automatic promotion!

Of course we immediately got brought back to earth with three losses, the last two by a 4-0 scoreline, to basically leave us playing for the playoff spots only. We managed that with a couple of games to go, then took the foot off the pedal to ease to a couple of losses, not great form but we were completely healthy, so maybe this could be the year we finally did something in a playoff?

Nope, no way, no how. Went 1-0 up on the away leg, let them level, then gave away a penalty. But a late goal had us dreaming of the playoff final, all we needed was a 1-1 draw or better at home.

Nope, give away the first goal, score to level it up, then give away two more to slump to a 5-3 defeat. Really terrible to just collapse like that, we don't handle playoffs at all well.

I'd certainly have taken 4th before the season started though, so got to look on the bright side!

Finances

Board injected a bunch of money to ensure we're FFP safe, and with the payment for being in the Championship to come we should be very healthy financially. Not as healthy as if we'd won the playoff, but what can you do.

Key Players

(35d) Seb Bowditch and (36c) Adrian Kennedy made great strides as our centre back pairing. A couple of teenagers there might sound like a recipe for disaster but they were mostly solid and should hopefully get better over the next couple of years.

(27a) Calvin Cole keeps on going as our midfield general, one of the first guys picked when fit.

(23a) Aidan Potter is in his 30s now but still finds the net, including all 3 we scored in the playoffs. Passed the 250 total goal mark early in the season and is now our leading league goal scorer of all time. Going to need to find a replacement somehow soon!

Youth Intake

Two high potential prospects from the intake.

(39a) Henry Jacobs - AMC/MC - High potential but not much there at the moment (so underwhelming I forgot to take a pic initially!). Is being trained to be an inside forward rather than central mid.

(39b) JJ Wareham - GK - A very nice keeper prospect, already better in some areas than my current first choice. Want to push him to take over ASAP.

Previous Season Goals

• Avoid relegation. - Success
  
• Improve youth facilities to push for youth grade 2. - Should happen once the money comes in.
  

Next Season Goals

I think we snuck into the playoffs in a weak season, I'd be happy with just the same points total even if it means we drop a few places.

[ajt]

Nice season Shakes shame about the playoffs. Have you already got a replacement for Aidan Potter lined up?

[Braumiller]

Very nice season Shakes!

Wikstrom update, I decided to hedge my bets and hold off selling for now.

I checked my fixture list, and the main European transfer deadline hits just after my 23rd league game (of our 30 game league), so I decided I would keep rolling as-is and step back and think about it again at that point. I can then either sell then, or if we are still in the thick of the promotion hunt then I could hold onto him until the end of the season.

As it stands right now, 18 games in, definitely in the promotion hunt, Wikstrom has come to me asking to move to AS Monaco due to their reported high wages they will offer. I placated him for now, but it is listed as a slight concern for him. He also is described as feeling the pressure from the interest being shown (and his performances are down from last year, but still our best player by a mile!).

[Forest]

Hey guys, I´m in the challenge. I choose Sweden because I think it´s the most difficult challenge.

The team will be FK Derby Linköping. The spent one season in their history in the Swedish Allvenskan, in 1977. I will try to bring them back.

The current team is something like a big disaster. I onley got 12 players in the whole club, all the rest, U21 and U19 included are grey players. The next thing is, I got no staff. So this is very very difficult.

Although at the start, I choose player to playble teams, and loaded every Swedish player, so don´t know why they only got 12 players.

I have the only goal to avoid relegation. I´m by far the weakest team in the division, so this is already a big challenge. Oh yes, I forgot, the youth academie and recruitment is a disaster too. Both at the worst level

General Club Info

Current Players

Facilities

Manager Profile

[Tush]

If I had to choose a club again, and had to choose from several clubs, only thing I want is for a club to have nice name. Like my current club starts with Beer... if more have reasonable name, I tend to choose the weakest.

Every achievement you get with your team - the happiness for it is multiplied by how weak you were at the start. At least for me.

So Forest - nice club you've chosen, best of luck!

[Tush]

Haha, I didn't know it actually worked, but I suggested to board that we expand Youth Facilities, and they said no.

After their disagreement with my view, I "Leaked it to press", said that I think it sets the club back, and instantly received a message about planned youth facilities work!

[ajt]

Rot-Weiss Essen 2022/23 ~ German Second Division

Season goal: Top 10

Media prediction: 15th

Board expectations: Avoid automatic relegation

League Table | Stats | Transfers | Finances

A New Hope

We've started really well and after ten games sit in 2nd place. Our next match is away from home against league leaders Ingolstadt.

The match itself was poor, but in the end we edged it 1-0 after a Martin Bohm goal in the 75th minute.

This means that with eleven games played we currently lead the league.

So Solid Crew

We had a dodgy spell in November and picked up just two points from a possible nine. It coincided with Martin Bohm going through a bit of a barren patch which probably didn't help.

Nonetheless we finish the first half of the season in second position, six points ahead of fourth.

February: Sadio Coulibaly has just torn a calf muscle in one of our winter friendlies and will almost certainly miss the rest of the season. We aren't a one man team, but he has played in every single victory we've had this season. As we are safe from relegation I've decided to start more of my youth in the first team to improve squad depth for future seasons.

A False Dawn

The season can be summed up via two screenshots.

First half of season.

Second half of season.

The division was very tight this year and despite our terrible run of results we finish the season in 8th position, seven points off second place. My main objective remains to develop players so that we have a deep enough squad to stay in the Bundesliga once we get promoted.

Martin Böhm went ten games without scoring a single goal. Next season I will rotate him with René Krautzun (YP06a).

Here is Antonin Tsetiroklis, who is next seasons replacement for Sadio Coulibaly. I feel as if Sadio has fully developed, and it's now time for younger players to get their chance in the team. Hopefully this will limit his injuries too.

In happier news we finally reached the 3rd round of the cup, but we lost against Leverkusen.

The Best of Essen

Martin Böhm (Boom)

He wasn't great this season but the whole squad underperformed so it was difficult to pick anyone really.

Performance of the Year

The win against Ingolstadt, we went downhill after that.

Youth Intake

Jonas Traser (YP08a) - pretty excited about this one

Max Lohe (YP08b) - yet another fullback, should develop into a starter for years to come.

Ralf Malchow (YP08c) - currently a fullback but is being retrained as a DC.

The youth intakes are definitely improving, I just wish we could find a proper striker!

2022/23 goals

Top 10 finish -

German Cup 3rd round -

2023/24 goals

Top 5 finish

German cup 4th round

[Tush]

ajt - good season mate! what annoys me is that you're friendlying against teams from my division and getting better results than me I am 2 seasonal updates behind you now, I hope I can get better results by that time!

[ajt]

To be fair though the German youth intakes are really good, I'm sure your team will dominate Anderlecht one day

[Shakes]

Nice season Shakes shame about the playoffs. Have you already got a replacement for Aidan Potter lined up?

Not really, my first choice AML/ST/AMR are 33, 31 and 28, so really need to get some generational change in. But the three reserves have never really hit it off - they all started their careers as wingers not strikers, and haven't ever developed into real goal threats. So I've retrained (33b) Kristian Rice from MC to ST, and although the first season of that experiment went OK I don't think he's a true replacement. Going to have to be a youth product I think ... got a few that look promising but until they play games it's hard to tell if they'll be any good.

Can be a real problem with a youth challenge - you get guys who lock down spots then you don't really want to take your best players off the pitch unless you're sure the youth you're developing is going to make it ... decline through age is going to start forcing my hand soon.

[ajt]

Yeah I've decided to put off promotion for my next season and just focus on starting more young players and developing some new tactics. I come up with something good and then stick with the same style of play. Would probably help to have various formations.

I'm in the position now where I'm pretty comfortable in the division so I can rotate the squad more.

It's a little annoying when you have a HOYD who says he is attacking minded yet mostly finds defenders

[Shakes]

It goes through cycles. Seems just when you start complaining about having nothing in an area you then get a boom with several years in a row of good players in the position, creating the opposite problem.

[worrell]

Good season ajt, the German intakes look much better than mine in terms of quality. In my intakes it seems all about quantity, plenty of cover everywhere but no real super-talent!

Good luck Forest.

[Braumiller]

Nice season ajt!

Welcome aboard Forest

Season 8 is in the books, but I cannot do screenshots etc. while stuck at work.

I will give a "blast-from-the-thread-past" hint.............. Orkun Deniz

[Tush]

Season 2021/22

16th

Summary:

Terrible performance overall, very little points for us, 19 losses and just 4 wins from 30 games is very poor. Seems our squad strength is also very poor compared to the rest of teams.

Hopefully we can finish higher next season, as we received just less than 700k for our last place, at least we were not relegated, as we managed to overcome RMP, and second league teams in playoffs.

In Cup we traditionally get eliminated in 7th round, maybe we can push for more eventually, but I need to make the youngsters first-teamers as the original squad players when I took charge of the club

are getting older and older, for example our leading striker Ventose should be 32 this year, which in my opinion is still fine as he is deep-lying so he doesn't run around as much, but we have only one

viable replacement, that being Nys, who is priority AMC player.

League Table - poor performance compared to last season

Fixtures 1 Red sea there

Fixtures 2

Transfers - I once signed full youth intake, it was time to release the poor souls.

Facilities - advancement in junior coaching. Stadium is being built and is projected to be finished next year (october 2023). Youth+Training facilities are also being improved.

Finances - tough times coming as we don't have much cash (1M is low because we lose 300k/month)

Squad - Maxim Nys has overcame Schaessens on AMC position, so they will rotate together hopefully every game if possible. New defender De Vos is also developing nicely.

Youth Watch:

Intake stats: Sam Jacobs (YP02a) Now: Sam Jacobs (YP02a) - his value is nice!

Intake stats: Jean-Luc Detry (YP02b) Now: Jean-Luc Detry (YP02b)

Intake stats: Pieter-Jan De Moor (YP03b) Now: Pieter-Jan De Moor (YP03b)

Intake stats: Maxim Nys (YP03a) Now: Maxim Nys (YP03a)

Intake stats: Werner De Vos (YP04d) Now: Werner De Vos (YP04d)

Youth intake

Decent intake, we got goalkeeper with potential finally, as ours is getting old and no viable replacement has been "born" in past seasons through intake.

Here are my 3 tagged players:

Seppe Dermaut (YP07a)

Vasile Săndulescu (YP07b)

Alex Cuypers (YP07c)

Goals from last season:

Even better financial position (2M+) - Failed - just +900k

Better league position (10th or higher) - Failed - 16th

Goals for next season:

Finish 14th or higher (to avoid relegation playoffs)

Seasonal Summary:

Season     Division                       Position     Belgian Cup       Achievements
2015/16    Belgian Third Divison A        1st          Sixth round       Promotion
2016/17    Belgian Second League          11th         Fifth round
2017/18    Belgian Second League          8th          Winners           Belgium Cup - Euro Cup qualification
2018/19    Belgian Second League          2nd          Fourth round      Promotion Playoffs
2019/20    Belgian Second League          1nd          Seventh round     Promotion
2020/21    Belgian Pro League             11th         Seventh round     
2021/22    Belgian Pro League             16th         Seventh round     Relegation playoffs survival

[Braumiller]

Rough season there Tush, we have all been there at some point or another (and/or will be there again for sure).

Your players seems to be progressing nicely though.

I really like the look of Sam Jacobs (YP02a) out on the left and Pieter-Jan De Moor (YP03b) sitting centrally!

Good luck in season 8!

[Tush]

Braumiller - thanks for the heads up! I am happy youth is developing nicely, more and more spots in 1st team are becoming filled with tagged players

A change of tactics has seen us score a lot more goals and with that our last 7 matches ended with 5 wins and 1 draw and 1 loss - we now have more wins than last season total

[Braumiller]

Vastra Frolunda IF - Season 8 Review (2022)

League Table | League Positions Graph | Squad Stats | Transfers | Finances

Competitions

First Division South : 1st (Fixtures)

Swedish Cup : progressed to group stages next season

Season Review

A fantastic season!

Also, very satisfying as I continued my tactical approach from last year, but tweaked my supporting forwards (back in love with defensive forwards) and also changed my mentality approach to home and away games.

We started off in good shape with our Swedish Cup group games. We lost the first one away at Premier Division Helsignborg 2-3 and only at the final whistle realized I had kept my youth keeper in the squad from the last friendly! (he actually played ok though). We then beat Premier Division Mjalby 2-0 at home (our first ever win against Premier opponents) and then put 6 past Assyriska who are a division below us. We then started off the league in great form as well, winning 6 of our first 9 games. We had a minor blip mid-season, losing back to back games, but then we strung together a 10 game unbeaten streak which solidified us at the top of the table.

With 4 games to go we had a 5 point lead, and then we wobbled. Again losing 2 on the bounce, before a big win against local rivals GAIS in our penultimate game won us promotion!

Our last game of the season against relegated Degerfors saw us needing a point to go up as Champions, and a very low key 0-0 game gave us exactly that!

Youth Intake

Slightly shallower intake than recently, but I really like the top two prospects.

Gustav Kristoffersson (YP 08A) - A good looking Premier Division potential GK. Got his debut in the last game of the season, will have chances to make the first team in the upcoming 12 months

Olle Danielsson (YP 08B) - A striker with finishing! Granted, his composure is terrible, but I have waited 8 years for a finisher, so I cannot complain too loudly. If I can manage to double his composure to 8, I will be happy. Had 7 starts and a sub appearance and scored 4 times. Never once gained a good rating, but he is young and I am willing to cut my first decent potential FC a lot of slack!

Jacob Dahlin (YP 08C) - Technically lacking central midfielder, but has a chance to play.

Goran Lindmark (YP 08D) - Another central midfielder, but has a lot more training ahead of him

Emil Lindberg (YP 08E) - A right winger, in a team with no wingers. I do not fancy his chances.

Omar Jabbar (YP 08F) - And a left winger, in a team with no wingers. Retraining ahead for Omar.

"Frolunda Five" - 2022 Edition

Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A) - Another 11 goals and 11 assists from the middle of the park.

Robert Smolander - Did not miss a single minute of the season! Not bad for a 31 year old! Improved over last season.

Joakim Lagemyr (YP 06A) - Missed the first half of the league season due to a torn hamstring suffered during the Swedish Cup group matches in the preseason. Came back and provided quality at the back.

Niklas Berglund (YP 01D) - Began the season in a dogfight for his position with a couple of high potential youths, but he made the position his own for the season.

Joel Perkhed - Top scorer this season with 14 goals. Played all across the front 3 as the season went on and long term injuries returned and new youth prospects emerged. Now 30, he will soon find his opportunities dwindle.

Miscellaneous

There was a constant subtext throughout the whole season, the contract status of club icon Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A). I had decided to wait my time during the season as we were in the promotion hunt and not cash in on him. Once promotion was secured we received details from the boardroom of our new (much bigger!) wage and transfer budgets for next season. Suddenly we could offer something in the range of what Niklas was after! He is now looking for around 4.2k p/w, and we can stretch to 3.3k p/w, but offer a clause for 3.8k p/w on getting his first cap. Sadly, he and his agent are absolutely insistent about a Minimum Fee Release Clause and a Relegation Fee Release Clause. I could live with the gamble of keeping the Relegation clause, as I do not plan on getting relegated The Minimum Fee clause is a huge issue though, especially as they would not budge from a paltry 1m figure! There is no way I will sign him to a new deal and then at anytime have someone grab him for 1m. Add to that it could easily be another Swedish team and I have not only weakened myself, but strengthened a rival. So.......

I offered him out for 15m and had no interest. I repeated the offer, but for 10m, and nothing again.

Another offer, 8m this time and when no-one jumps this time I am starting to get worried. I try again at 7m and suddenly 9 clubs begin negotiations.

I do not think I have ever negotiated with so many clubs at the same time. I started with the smaller clubs and used them as 'feelers' for what I could ask for and how the negotiations ebbed and flowed. Once everyone had submitted their final non-negotiable offer or had walked away (4 clubs I think), I was left with AC Milan and Chelsea to chose from.

We ended up opting for Chelsea and on January 1st 2023 Niklas Wikstrom (YP 05A) will move to England.

The final fee;

2.8m up front

0.8m in installments (12 months)

51k per appearance (max of 20 apps)

2.5m after 1 international appearance

For a total possible fee of 7.12m! (plus the boom-or-bust 50% of next sale clause which is also in place).

For as weak as this deal will make us, especially entering our first season in the Premier Division, I am very happy with the (potential) fee we got for him.

To compare, our total income for this 2022 season was 3.29m and total expenditure was 3.06m

So his sale will help cover club costs for ~2 years

Once this cash hits our books in January I will be heading directly into the boardroom to demand facility upgrades.

So, next season should prove to be 'interesting' to say the least. Our wonderkid (my description, the game never called him that) is gone, he has left a large pile of cash in his wake, which we will be looking to upgrade the club to improve our long term outlook.

I need to fill out my attacking central midfielder spot. I have 16 year olds now challenging for my main attacking spearhead role and 1st team GK.

Bad timing for those key positions? Time will tell.

The one good thing about 'the sale'. There are 30-40 other players at the club who I might type about again!

Season 8 (2022) Goals

* Improve points total (45) and goal difference (+16) from this year - Achieved!

* Challenge for play-off spot - Achieved!

Season 9 (2023) Goals

* Survive

[ajt]

Good job on staying in the division Tush, and great news on promotion Braumiller. That's a good price, far more than I've been offered for any of my players to date! Good luck for next season guys.

[Shakes]

Solid pay day there Braumiller, his PA must be pretty damn good if he's going for 7 million with you being the initiator of the transfer. Oh and congrats on promotion too, hopefully the crazy increase in "non-football costs" that can come up with a higher level don't eat away at the money!

[Braumiller]

Yeah, very happy with the money.

I have a screenshot of the initial offers I received on my PC. I'll upload it when back home. Going off of memory, they ranged from 1.8ish to 3.5ish. All negotiations stayed lowish until the 3rd or 4th back and forth (unless I got too aggressive and scared them off early)