ri916's FM15 Youth Academy Challenge

[druvo]

Jambo98 - Ouch. Good thing there's a second chance for the 10th placed team. That youth intake looks encouraging too.

korvalis & Sanno11 - Good luck!

[druvo]

Lyra - Season 16/17

Transfers

League

A season similar to my previous ones. Mixed results but in the end it wasn't enough to make the playoffs. I think I have focused on the wrong things in this challenge so far. Instead of giving maximum opportunities to the youth players I have often played the seniors who may be better at the moment but don't have the potential to take it to the next level. Instead of going for instant success I'm going to slowly phase out the senior players over the coming seasons so the results probably won't be as good. Oh well, have to remember that this challenge is very long-term.

Cups:

Disappointing year in the Belgian cup. Won one game before going out vs fellow division 3-side UR Namur.

Finances

Well, what can I say? We keep making losses of around 30k each month and the only way to change this is to qualify to the next division or get a lucky cup-draw.

Because of our bad finances I haven't been able to upgrade anything since the first season.

Top players:

1. Alexandre Lanclas: Voted Belgian Third Division player of the year for the third (!) year in a row.

2. Alexandre Lambert: Another stable season from my best central midfielder.

3. Gaetan Lambreghts: First time one of my strikers makes it to the top 3 Lyra players of the year. 21 goals in 34 games is a pretty good record.

Youth intake:

Very happy with this intake. My senior central defenders are getting old (and bad) so 2 new ones with good potential will help a lot. Also a promising striker.

Mohamed Berradi (18A): One of the promising central defenders. He's a bit slow but but positioning (kind of) makes up for it.

Aaron Van Den Eynde (18B): Fast striker with nice dribbling. He will get his chances to impress.

Dries Convalle (18C): An interesting fullback. Now I've got a promising youth fullback on both sides.

Previously tagged youth:

Lahcen Saidi (16A): 15 appearances from him this year and he's developing nicely. Will be first-choice from next year.

Ben Van De Weyer (17A): Competing with Lanclas isn't easy but with my changing approach for the coming seasons he will play much more.

Simon Roger Ndongala (17B): Haven't played any games for the first team yet. As with Van De Weyer, he will get more chances starting next season.

Goals before season:

*Safe mid-table -Success

*Upgrade something - Fail

Next season:

*Safe mid-table while playing more youth players

*Upgrade something

[Braumiller]

druvo, nice season!

Sanno11, korvalis good luck!

[Braumiller]

Dulwich Hamlet - Season 2 Review (2016/17)

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

Competitions

Conference South : 5th - Results 1 | Results 2 - Lost in playoff semi finals

Player of the Year

Easily Alek Przespolewski, scoring 23 league goals and chipping inwith 12 assists in his 44 appearances. Primarily an AMC before I took over, Alek has benefited form 2 years of FC positional training and shone up front throughout our tactical changes

Season Review

If you would have offered me a playoff spot at the beginning of the season I would have bitten your hand off! Again we never really settled on a formation or approach, but we always seemed to just sneak by. A great start to the season saw us in the top 3 regularly and that helped when we stuttered a couple of times later in the year. Eventually it came down to the final day of the season and 6th place us at home against 5th place Dartford for the final playoff spot. A horrific own goal handed us an early lead, which was quickly canceled out. We then won and scored a penalty and held on for a 2-1 win and a back door into the playoffs.

Here we faced highly fancied Bromley. First leg at home and we held them off 0-0 and we missed our first penalty of the year in the 86th minute. The return leg was rough, and just a 3-1 defeat flattered us.

Unexpected, but ultimately disappointing.

Lost in our first game in the FA Cup again and just the one qualifying round win in the FA Trophy.

Youth Intake

A disappointing youth intake, but I do like the look of our sole tagged kid. I would just love to get some pace in the side, but apparently these London kids are not pacy in the slightest!

Terry Harvey (YP 02A) - A handy, versatile kid who can play in 4 positions. Coach reports show a professional personality and he loves the big games! (not that we have many currently...) Came on for 7 substitute appearances late on and will be a part of the first team squad moving forward.

Miscellaneous

Off the field we managed zero upgrades this year Although we did bring in Sir Les Ferdinand in as a coach!

Trophy Cabinet

* Replicate our league form again and aim for a playoff spot

* Settle on an approach (again!) (although I think I have settled on a 4141 set up now)

Trophy Cabinet

empty......

[TWFL]

Right, so I was going to do this big post after my season in France but I didn't quite get that far.

Given a month to turn results around by the board (lost 4 on the trot and slipped into relegation zone) I was sacked two games later.

I'm gonna give this another go. This time though I think I'll head to Portugal. I'll edit this later with manager info etc..

[Shakes]

druvo - Holy DCs, not very balanced but if it's an area of need then it's a great intake.

Braumiller - Huge improvement there, although the 2nd meh youth intake is surprising to me, maybe I was wrong about Dulwich being a strong start.

[v1n1akabozo]

Dulwich Hamlet - Season 2 Review (2016/17)

Nice season Braumiller! I can't stand such an slow player hahaha.

May i ask you the name of the skin? Im re-reading the fm14 topic entirely and pointing out a few tips you guys have been posting. Do you happen to have some advices?

[Braumiller]

Nice season Braumiller! I can't stand such an slow player hahaha.

May i ask you the name of the skin? Im re-reading the fm14 topic entirely and pointing out a few tips you guys have been posting. Do you happen to have some advices?

Thanks!

The skin I am using is Scorpio, found over in the Skinning Hideout http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/407390-FM15-SKIN-Scorpio

I actually ignored my main advice for this challenge in my 2nd season as I was chasing the playoffs.

If a youth product is going to play for you long term, play them as soon and as often as possible (where it doesn't hurt you or them).

[bl0u6344]

Tough start for me in Spain, lost first 7 games on the bounce before a showdown with the other team on zero points. Thankfully won that game but this could be a short game! Doesn't help that out of my 2 CMs and 2 CDs in the squad, one of each are injured. 'Keeper is garbage too, costs me directly 2 goals a game, the rest from crosses/long shots. Managed to improve the crosses situation slightly but really struggling to score many at the other end :/

Good seasons Braumiller and Druvo - hopefully a push for promotion coming up?

[Shakes]

Histon FC - 2016/17 - Vanarama Conference North: 17th

Squad | Transfers

Moving up a couple of spots might not seem a huge improvement, but we managed to consistently be decent throughout the whole year and ended up 15 points clear of relegation, giving us the chance to play kids towards the end of the season. The 3-5-2 worked as an excitement tactic, our games never being short on goals at both ends.

What Worked

• Matty Waters - Continued to impress, topping the chart with 24 goals.
  
• (16a) Adam James - Thought he wouldn't be ready, but was forced into action, giving us 13 goals (second most) and 11 assists (equal most) in a support striker role.
  
• (16d) Aidan Girling - Thrown in the deep end and swam rather than sunk, consistently performing the best of our back three.
  

What Didn't

• Mateusz Kuzimski - A string of injures meant he never really got a good run, but even when he was in the side he was pretty bad. The biggest difference between what he looks like on paper and how he performs that I've ever managed.
  
• Our defense - Second leakiest in the league. I accept it's a bit of a price to pay and it'll improve as our players do but we need to tighten up somehow, ideally without compromising anything else.
  
• Christmas - Went 10 league games without a victory after Christmas - certainly the fixture congestion around this period hurt our fairly thin for quality side, but is it also the weather conditions we need to adjust to?
  

Youth Intake

Another talented bunch, with a whopping 7 players tagged ... getting them all time will be difficult but a problem that's good to have!

• (17a) Luke Marsden - ST/AML - Already a bit of a physical beast for this level. In the interest of team balance I'm retraining him to play ML since we could do with a talented left footer out there. Will need to get his defensive attributes up a bit though.
  
• (17b) Ian Kelly - DC/DR/DL - Standard solid centre back, could free up my current CDs to play elsewhere.
  
• (17c) Danny Mann - DR/DL/DC/MC - Don't need full backs, and way too short to be moved to central defense, so will have to try to make him into a midfielder.
  
• (17d) Oliver Watters - DC/DR/DL - Part two of the just plain solid CD club ... the game is definitely telling me 3 at the back is the way to go!
  
• (17e) Justin Frew - DR/DC/MR - Should be able to be fashioned into a defensively minded MR, although inconsistent and doesn't like big matches are two strikes against him.
  
• (17f) Richard Alhassa - DC/DR/DL/DM - Huge rock who moves about as fast as a rock too. Slow, hates big matches, inconsistent ... he has hurdles to overcome to be a player, but we do need a presence like his.
  
• (17g) Stewart Ayres - ST/AML - Strange attribute distribution, not exactly sure how to train or play this guy, is he a support or lead striker? He's a bit of a hybrid and not in a good way.
  

Really could have done with a few central midfielders, but it seems unreasonable to complain about so much talent. Will just have to retrain and adapt.

Previous Season Goals

• Stay up again - Success, we did it safely.
  
• Work out how to get Kuzimski playing to his ability - Huge fail, he is cursed.
  
• Sneak the kids into games when possible - Success, we made the two brightest prospects part of the first team, and gave several other players a decent taste.
  

Next Season Goals

• Mid-table position
  
• Improve defensive record
  
• Sell Kuzimski and give his games to kids if he doesn't fire early on.
  

[Jambo98]

Good solid season there Shakes and a nice intake to go with it.

Has anyone in the thread even had a single promotion yet this year? It seems insanely hard at the lower levels this year. I am getting caned right left and centre, cannot stop conceding goals. If i could play 6 at the back id give it a try right now.....

[Braumiller]

Very nice season Shakes, some excellent natural challenge progression with the youths coming through!

I failed in that respect in my 2nd season as I got caught up in fighting for points when I should have been nurturing the kids, and as a result I actually feel a little behind the 8-ball. To add to this, I forgot to mention my 40 year old utility substitute hung up his boots during the summer and 3 others who were in my match day 16 have announced there intention to retire at the end of season 3 (my first choice and only senior GK, 1 of my 3 DCs and 1 of my 4 MCs).

Silver lining, I am at least being forced into playing the kids, but I really do not have too many from my first two intakes to promote.

[Shakes]

Jambo98 - I think the hardest bit is pulling out of a tailspin ... when you lack talent and lack morale and the current ME doesn't favour grinding it out (at least at lower level) then I'm not sure what exactly you can do. Watch the losses pile up then post that you got relegation has been my solution thus far.

Braumiller - My kids aren't really ready to play (outside the two I listed), but the old backups aren't really enough better that I could justify keeping them out. The lack of depth in my side forced my hand more than any real plan.

[Jambo98]

Yup the form slumps this year seem impossible to stop. You cant grind your way out, cant attack your way out, cant squad rotate your way out, team meetings dont seem to make any difference.........it just goes on and on

[Braumiller]

Maybe some of you will find this interesting, maybe not

I am by trade and by personality a complete numbers nerd and so I often have accompanying spreadsheets for my FM sessions/saves, especially for this challenge which I believe takes a lot of planning to be sucessful in the long term.

Spreadsheets also allow me to review and dig into my squad and their abilities and training needs while at lunch at work!

Below is a screenshot of my current squad (listed descending by their current JPA star rating) and their % suitability (20's in all of the highlighted important stats for a role = 100, 10s in all stats would =50 etc...) to the roles in my current set-up (the first 7 columns) and 3 roles I am looking to potentially implement either instead of an existing role (in the case of Anchor Man and Defensive Forward) or as an attacking 'chase the game' tactic (for Inside Forward).

Looking at this has been very helpful, as I have discovered information that I have completely missed during the course of the past hectic season.

For example;

** Neil Barrett is 35 yrs old and retiring at the end of next season. His rating at DC is just orange (awkward), but he has the best rating of DCs at the club. I really missed the positional retraining boat here, as he would have been a great addition to the back line

** I left Joe Cole (1A) in the u18s this past season due to playing Alex Przespolewski up front on his own in a Complete Forward role. I am now very much thinking of switching to a Defensive Forward, playing Joe there and having Nickson Roberts (1D) back him up. I can then drop Alex back into midfield and in the CM-Attack role so that he still provides a goal threat.

** Terry Harvey (2A) will get a few looks at playing the right wing role. This would free Max Noble up to play in central midfield as well.

** I had dropped Albert Jarrett to the u21s (he is 33) to see out his contract. I should reintegrate him into the senior squad as a backup at winger (too old to play 1st choice again, I need to give experience to others)

** Despite having good potential at DL and DR, currently they are not very well suited to the Wing Back Attack role. Lots of training needed here!

** Tyler Bryan (2) deserves first team appearance consideration

** I am correct in thinking of letting Harry Ottaway and Ian Daly walk from the club. They offer nothing that a youth couldn't.

** Switching to Anchor Man is probably going to wait. Half Back offers more for now (purely from a stats PoV, maybe not tactically....)

** I will definitely be experimenting with a Defensive Forward (support) role instead of Complete Forward (support) as unsurprisingly my low level players are more suited to it

Now to start digging through the info for training needs......

[XaW]

! And by Bourgeois (YP1a)!

[korvalis]

Braumiller - That looks really helpful for this challenge, looks like my evening plans have now been sorted. A pot of tea and spreadsheets on a cold winter night.

[XaW]

I just can't stop conceding from corners. Currently the most in the division by far (11 in 23 games). But at least I think I know why. I have a grand total of 1 (ONE) player with a jumping reach above 10 and that's one of the regens who are currently the 4th best central defender. While it very annoying conceding all those goals from corners and free kicks, at least i know why. Hopefully the next youth intake will give me some great towering defenders, as I think that's what I need the most. Actually, along with a quick striker who can score some goals.

[Nottingham Forest]

Been attempting to get Ilkeston to come up for over two hours but nothing yet .

[Nottingham Forest]

I've taken over and added a new manager and it's moved me forward to the 26th June. It means I've lost three players and I don't have a profile from the 25th June is that ok?

[Waghlon]

Right then, time for me to boldly attempt a very long (1 season at most) challenge!

Haga - Swedish for "failure"!

Manager Profile 1

Manager Profile 2

This is me. I'm not very good at football. I put all my points motivation because I panicked earlier.

Facilities

This is the facilities. They aren't amazing. We got a mother club currently. While I refuse to play any player they might send me, I will gladly take their money and spend it on backroom staff...

Staff

... because we have NO backroom staff!

Squad

I have 14 players. Of these, only one is a goalkeeper. If he gets hurt, I'll begin crying.

[Shakes]

Braumiller - Hello fellow obsessive! On my FM13 save I had spreadsheets of every single youth player who had played tracking their stats from season to season. First thing I do when I start this challenge is in game take a look at the various player role views in game and see if there's someone for a role I'm interested in that's not an obvious candidate.

XaW - Try putting multiple players on zonally mark the 6 yard box, it makes a huge difference.

Nottingham Forest - That's not a problem.

[Braumiller]

XaW - Try putting multiple players on zonally mark the 6 yard box, it makes a huge difference.

I second that. I have been using my wingers marking each post, my back 4 all zonally marking the 6 yard box and then the other 4 are close down marker, edge of area, go back and stay forward. Feels like it is working nicely for me (if you have a tiny fullback, switch their zonal 6 yard box with a tall midfielder)

[Braumiller]

Good luck Waghlon.

Really missing Sweden this time around (I even have a holiday'd save done and ready to go with them!)

[bl0u6344]

After making a few changes at half time, this felt good!

[Jambo98]

Yup, i think its time to whap out the spreadsheets......... Need to try and dig out one i had a couple of years back where i did my own weightings for key attributes at LLM.

[Shakes]

Histon FC - 2016/17 - Vanarama Conference North: 15th

Squad | Transfers

Well it's certainly going to be a marathon not a sprint.

Two places better on the table but probably a worse season, picked up one less win and the goal differential was 12 worse. The experiments to try to improve the defense were an absolute failure, got hammered by 6 goals three times during the season, including by two teams that ended up being relegated!

We settled into the same pattern as last year - good early start followed by a slump then a recovery to make things look respectable. Struggling to see how I can make a 3-5-2 work with the quality of players I have, I just can't see how it's ever going to defend well enough to feel safe.

Kuzimski finally put in the first decent stint of his career with us, probably heard I wanted to sell him, because after a hot start he went back to being crap. When a team came in for him at the end of the season and he didn't want to renegotiate with me I was happy to see him go. We'll miss leading assist man on the right wing Nick Freeman much more, he wont re-sign either. Just as well I let his experienced backup walk on a free early in the season because I couldn't see the point in keeping a bench player.

Youth Updates

A few players have made themselves regular parts of the first team:

• (16a) Adam James - MC/ST - Converted into a midfielder since that was a position of greater need. Decent performance there, all things considered.
  
• (16d) Aidan Girling - DC/DR/DM/MC - Still chugging away down back, the ass man doesn't think as much of his potential but he performs for now.
  
• (17a) Luke Marsden - ST/ML - 12 goals was a good campaign given he often came off the bench or was pushed out wide. Has shown good improvement in training, and tutoring got him to a model pro personality (the one good thing Kuzimski ever did for us).
  
• (16g) Nigel Ellerbeck - MC/DM/ML - Wasn't originally tagged but has filled in over the past couple of years due to lack of midfielders. Made a lot of substitute appearances so hard to fully assess at this point, but stats are improving well.
  

With only a two year apprenticeship in the under 18s in England the class of 16 are coming to a critical point - they need to start earning their way in the senior team or be left behind now.

Youth Intake

Quality is there for sure, but the distribution ... eek. Not sure I even want to comment.

• (18a) Kenny Hatch - ST/AML
  
• (18b) Justin Dozzell - ST
  
• (18c) Matty Prior - DC/SW
  
• (18d) Steve Gough - AML/ML/AMC
  
• (18e) Adrian Cohen - ST/AML
  

This is getting to be a problem, we really need some genuine midfielders ... at this level you can hope to raise an attribute maybe a point over a couple of years before they need to be ready to at least contribute occasionally to the first team. A bunch of pure attackers/defenders just isn't going to work for us, someone has to hit a pass!

Previous Season Goals

• Mid-table position - Marginal, 15th place.
  
• Improve defensive record - Nope, got worse.
  
• Sell Kuzimski and give his games to kids if he doesn't fire early on - He did fire early on, but then faded and decided to sign elsewhere. I happily packed his bags for him.
  

Next Season Goals

• Try to use the youth without taking a step backwards.
  
• Work out how the hell to play with what we've been given. 3-4-3 seems suicide. Back to 4-3-3 like first season?
  
• Don't throw anything breakable when yet another cross is scored from.
  

[Nottingham Forest]

Another good season there Shakes. I heard you're going to line up 0-2-8 next season . Can't be as bad as me. I have no keeper in my first season at Ilkeston.

[Jpr]

this thread is really making me want to buy FM15..

[Jambo98]

nice season Shakes - slow but steady progress.

Does anyone know what influences the positional spread of the intakes out of interest?

[Braumiller]

Does anyone know what influences the positional spread of the intakes out of interest?

My old man memory fails me again, but I wholeheartedly believe that your current established tactic has an influence. I think I read about that being the case as well, but I know in my last two youth challenges on here, I rarely received players outside of those I used if a tactic was a long term tactic I used (strikers when strikerless, wingers when narrow). Obviously some would appear, but not to the usual degree.

Nothing factual to back that up though

Also, I believe your HOYD's playing style and mentality can play into which players he chooses to promote

[Nottingham Forest]

You're HoYD is the key imo. I think he'll look for more of what he's preferred formation is but he'll also try and find more of his type of personality. My HoYD this season isn't that good but he's fairly professional so I'm hoping he'll bring in some good youngsters. He likes 4-4-2 which is good enough for me.

[Shakes]

Does anyone know what influences the positional spread of the intakes out of interest?

Other than the game's ability to screw you over?

Not really sure, I saw a lot of strikers on the last time I tried England in FM13 which was one of the reasons I abandoned that attempt, but it could be pure coincidence. I did get a message that the HOYD promoted a guy who he thought fit his personality and style of play who was a striker, but I can't see anything in my HOYD that makes me think he should favour strikers: he has a balanced mentality, mental coaching style and was a midfielder as a player! His contract is up so I guess I'll give replacing him a go for next year and see if that helps.

Edit: he also favours 4-3-3 DM Wide, so why he'd bring in so many strikers for a single striker formation if his preferred formation had anything to do with it beats me.

[Braumiller]

Hmm, this is a well timed discussion for me.

Someone I follow on twitter posted their strikerless formation for FM15 and after playing around with it on one of my other saves, it definitely has merits.

Extremely tempted to start using it in season 3 with Dulwich. Now, outside of Alex Prez I do not currently have the personnel suited to it, but I could go on a crazy positional retraining spree.....

My current HOYD is below, his preferred formation is not bad for me, will supply AMCs and FCs who are retrainable.....

Who called out my strikerless addiction earlier in the thread? Damn you!

[druvo]

Lyra - Season 18/19 (4)

Transfers

League

Worst season yet but considering that I played the youth players as much as possible I'm okay with that. A horrible start to the season with 4 losses in a row. Thankfully we managed to turn it around and were never in danger going down.

Cups:

A nice run. Won in the first two rounds against lower league teams and then beat a second division-side on penalties. After that we were drawn against Pro league-team Oostende and lost 0-4.

Finances

The away draw to Oostende helped a bit but not much. That projected balance looks scary...

Top players:

1. Alexandre Lambert: Veteran midfielder. Has helped many youth players with tutoring.

2. Cedric Obbers: My right-back. I like to have my fullbacks running up and down the flanks delivering crosses and he's perfect for that.

3. Rik Van Herck: Youth-player from the 2017 crop. Despite not even half a gold star in CA according to assistant he's been playing very well. Has been retrained to MC.

Youth intake:

One intake I had 8 keepers and another I had 3 very promising central defenders. Now it's time for MCs. That's fine with me as my current CMs are getting a bit old.

Ali Hajji (19A): A fast central midfielder with good passing. Love the determination.

Léon Dierckx(19B): The brightest star of this intake. Also good determination.

Murphy Mulumba (19C): Not so sure about Mulumba so he will have to prove me wrong. Putting 6 strength, 2 marking and 1 tackling in CM sounds risky to say the least (not playing with AMCs).

Previously tagged youth:

Lahcen Saidi (16A): Developing very nicely. One of my best players already. Played every league game and it helped his development massively. Wish I could give longer contracts than 2 years.

Ben Van De Weyer (17A): Not getting many chances so naturally he hasn't developed. And when he gets chances he gets injured.

Simon Roger Ndongala (17B): Played 16 games and netted 5 times. Slow developer but will get more chances next year.

Mohamed Berradi (18A): Already first-choice defender and his attribute changes shows how much he's benefitting from that.

Aaron Van Den Eynde (18B): Assistant thinks he has a very high potential. He got some games but he keeps getting injured which is worrying.

Dries Convalle (18C): Decent player. Will have to compete with Obbers for a place.

Goals before season:

*Safe mid-table while playing more youth players -Success

*Upgrade something - Fail

Next season:

*Safe mid-table

*Upgrade something

[XaW]

XaW - Liège - Derde Klasse A - 2016/17

Table | Past positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

As the new season were about to start we got our first blow; our best striker wouldn't sign a new contract and left on a free transfer. This created a rather awkward situation regarding our strikers, since we now only had 2 senior strikers and none of them were as good as I would have wanted. We started the season quite anonymously, but found our form after a couple of early losses. Towards the small winter break we were in a decent position mid-table and just after the break we got the news we were qualified for the playoffs! We had won the second period and that gave us a confidence boost as we went on a little streak to challenge for the title. Unfortunately we couldn't keep our composure and we lost a couple of poor matches which left us finishing in 5th. A very respectable placement, but since we were so close I almost wanted more. Still, we were ready for the playoffs and in quarter final we got drawn against Kemlis of Derde Klasse B. A 3-2 win at home and a 1-1 away made sure we got through to the semi-final. Here we got Kapellen, another Derde Klasse B team. They showed they had better quality than us and beat us 3-1 in both matches, before they also won the final and secured their promotion. I'm very happy with our progression this season and I'm hopeful for the next season as I think we might have enough quality to get promoted given we get a little bit lucky.

In the Cofidis Cup we started in the 3rd round. We beat out Bas-Oha, Tongeren and Waasland-Beveren before losing to Antwerp in the 6th round.

Financially we are still losing money and I don't think it's going to change. I'm way below my wage budget and naturally I don't use my transfer budget, so I'm not sure how the board think we are going to make money.

Youth players:

This years youth intake was quite good, and I got some reasonable players for positions I need.

New Players:

Francois Hamon (YP2a) - A very talented striker. A very needed player I have high hopes for. Scored on his debut.

Aurélien Garreau (YP2b) - Promising left midfielder. Should come in handy.

Christophe Muller (YP2c) - Another talented striker. A little work on his composure and he'll do fine.

Saïd Azzouzi (YP2d) - Right winger with some talent.

First Intake:

Jean-Yves Bourgeois (YP1a) - A solid season from the youngster. Already a first choice in midfield.

Geoffrey Texier (YP1b) - Some improvement and got some matches this season.

Danko Tasic (YP1c) - Got a couple of matches, but not improving much.

Jaud Kalenga (former YP1d) - Declined all over the place this season. Lost his tag.

Nathan Gillet (YP1e) - Got more matches than I intended, but mostly because we needed strikers.

Season	|     League	      |     Position	|    Europe	|    Top scorer   	|    Achievments
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16	|  Derde Klasse A     |	     5th	|      N/A	|  Moussa Diallo (23)	|   Solid first season
2016/17	|  Derde Klasse A     |	     5th	|      N/A	|  François Henke (11)	|   Lost in the playoffs

[v1n1akabozo]

Maybe some of you will find this interesting, maybe not

....

Now to start digging through the info for training needs......

Braumiller THIS is the kind of advice i was talking about mate hahaha. I'm **** at math since high school (used to went to the bar instead of studying and i regret it enormously) but i do enjoy this analytical side. Maybe that's why i'm so authistic about FM. Will prepare my sheets soon. Thanks for the inspiration

[Braumiller]

Nice season druvo! I like the look of that youth intake

Very nice XaW. REALLY like the look of Garreau, that pace, acceleration and dribbling are fantastic for a young wide man!

[XaW]

Poor start to the new season, I just can't score! Might going to have to play with the tactics agian. Still, it worked well last season so I don't know why I'm struggling as bad as I am at the moment. The weird thing is that I'm doing great in the cup, as we've already beat a team from a tier above us. We need a win real soon to try to get our bearings in the league though, or I'm going to have a relegation battle this season.

[Rhoden]

Clachnacuddin Season Review 2015-2016

Clachnacuddin wisnae built in day.

Well that's the first season in the bag for the bold Clachnacuddin. And boy was it a howler. A season filled with early promise all too quickly turned into an absolute abomination. But this year and quite possibly the next 4 or 5 are not about success. They are about survival and building foundations. Well at least that's what I tell myself. Hence the Clachnacuddin wisnae built in a day mantra, because at times that was all me and the boys had to cling to. But anyway, enough of the guff, here's how it went down.

League

In the words of Mike Skinner, "It was supposed to be so easy". Well at least I thought so anyway. My first major game of the season didn't actually come in the league. However I took it as a signal of things to come. The boys took on league rivals Stenhousemuir in the Challenge Cup away from home. A tough test i'm sure you'll agree but somehow the boys managed to do this. Instantly I thought I was gonna make waves, cause a bit of stir. I had visions of challenging the top teams in the league and maybe a causing a cup upset. Honestly, I thought I was God, a special one. And this didn't subside as for my first league game of the season the lads pulled this oot the bag, We couldn't be stopped. This was followed by two battling draws and I was feelinG like a boss.... It was supposed to be so easy.

Then the tide turned and the Clach had an absolute Chernobyl. The next time the Clach managed to pick up 3 points in the league was March 19th 2016, AYE MARCH!!! We were horrific. Injuries plagued us and at times we could only name 2 subs on the bench. But another major factor besides injuries was the harsh reality that my team is guff. From the end of September I knew the season and save would be riding on the relegation playoff. One year removed from our glorious ascension to the heights of Scottish Football we would be back again playing for our lives. And let me tell you, I had THE FEAR.....

Final League Table

However we finished the season surprisingly strong and when we drew Brora Rangers I felt a bit confident that we could survive. To say it was an epic affair would under sell it. We managed to secure a 1-1 draw in the 1st Leg @Brora. It was a tough game, Brora dominated us for the majority of the match but we dug out a result and the tie was poised on a knife edge. But I could have never foreseen how hard the return leg would be. The 2nd Leg @TheClach would turn out to be an epic clash that made the entire season worth it. The lads dug deep after leading 3-2 and suffering an 8 minute collapse that seen us fall behind 4-2 with about 12 minutes to play. We instantly struck back to level the tie after going down to pull ourselves to our feet after what I honestly thought was the knockout blow. Extra timed loomed and when it came it was a shambles, both teams were running on empty when Ryan Watson popped up with a goal 2 minutes from time to put us in front and by that time Brora were broken. It was like the when Gandalf took on the The Balrog. And I am now lying on the floor, my grey tracksuit trouser and grey hoodie have turned white. I am wiser now and will live to fight again. On to next season....

Cups

We had a decent time in the cups. After horsing Stenhousemuir 6-0 in the 1st round of the Challenge cup we went out to Brechin in a 5-3 thriller. Hearts, which are up in the Scottish Premiership, killed our dreams in the League Cup 1st round making easy work of us winning 3-0. It was a lesson. However in The Scottish Cup we managed to get put a run together, largely due to drawing only teams from The Highland Leagues in the 2nd & 3rd rounds. We bagged ourselves a tie against Dundee Utd, a wee money spinner. However the game was a home tie so we could not maximise the financial opportunity. But it certainly helped. We got hammered 5-1 in the game but the boys gave a good display.

Cup Runs

Players of the Year

Fraser Robertson - He deserves to play with a better team than us. Boy was wonderful at times this year.

Kyle White - lead the line, finished top goal scorer, arguably our best player..... Refusing to sign a new deal and more than likely to leave in the summer.

Ryan Watson - LM who also stood out this season. He like Fras Robertson chipped in with a good few goals and stand out performances. Scored the 118th min winner to keep us up so he will forever be a legend.

Cameron Kerr - Best CM at the club at makes us tick through the middle. Was hampered by injuries on a couple of occasion which probably cost us but when he plays we play. But like Kyle White he is refusing to sign a new deal.

Off The Pitch

We received a largely underwhelming youth intake. But given the lack of facilities and resources I wasn't surprised most of the kids had very little ability. But they are all very welcome additions who I think may see an amount of game time here and there. It at least allows for the covering of injuries and a full bench every week, which is always a bonus. My plan over season 2 is to see if any of them can make an impact but now they are hardly worth naming.

Finances are looking in decent shape. My board certainly love me for it. We have seen them go down over the year but we finish up in the black so all is good. I can only hope some of this funnels its way down to me in order to improve the club setup. Here is the transfer history to prove that it’s clean, Transfer Activity. All of the activity you can see on this front was done before I arrived.

But alas we are one to the next one. I am hoping to find some time over the weekend and put a dent in Season 2 hopefully aiming to get an update on at the beginning of next week.

I am targeting trying to use some of the kids this season to see how they hold up. I'm again not bothered about league position, it is all about survival. Hopefully I can improve some facilities and start to build the future. It will take time but as I said.... Clachnacuddin wisnae built in a day.

[druvo]

Interesting discussion about the HoYD above. I may have to find a new one...

XaW - Nice season. Qualifying through the belgian playoff is a pain.

Rhoden - Wow, Scotland sounds tough. Nice writeup.

[Sanno11]

Maidstone United 2015/16

Season Outcome: RELEGATED

I shall not go into too much detail or dwell on what happened. The season started well and we looked competitive, scoring quite freely. After 15 games we were safely in mid table. The wins, turned to draws and then the squad started voicing the concerns on our under achieving. We had a terrible run of draws and losses from Christmas onwards and never truly recovered. We finally dipped into the relegation places and despite a spirited fight in the final three games, other results went against us.

Oh and I have to add this, cheers Roy

I was never that invested in Maidstone, so I think before I start again I need to find a team that I care about.

Watch this space.

[Shakes]

druvo and XaW - Seems like Belgium is at least giving people some relative success, the race is between you two for the first promotion for sure.

Rhoden - Good write up, sounds a familiar story to me except I went down by a goal in extra time rather than vice versa. Glad someone got the luck with the number of relegations we're seeing!

Sanno11 - Ouch, even when you play well to start you're never safe, tough to pull out of a slump isn't it? Good luck with your next attempt.

Also good to see everyone in lower leagues are still bankrupt. I've managed to cost my board about 500k over my three years, while being well below wage budget. The numbers just never add up, but maybe that's realistic and every lower league team in the world is a basket case? Some of them are supporter owned so the books would be public I think, would be interesting to look at some time.

[Jambo98]

Lots of great write ups and progress over the last day or so, Belgium does indeed seem to be where the best progress is being made! Good work druvo and Xaw over there.

Rhoden - Scotland is seeming pretty brutal to me as well, but at least your still alive!

About to write up season 4 for me, and its a record breaker i think.........

[Jambo98]

Jambo 98 - Youth Challenge Attempt 1 - Scotland - Cove Rangers

Season 4 - 2018/19

Manager Profile

The Competitions

Division - Scottish League 2

Final Position - 9th

Past Postions - Link

Challenge Cup - Knocked out round 2 by Hamilton (entered at Round 1)

League Cup - Knocked out round 1 by Falkirk

Scottish Cup - Knocked out round 2 by Annan (entered at Round 2)

The Season Summary

League

Well, if it was better than last season it was marginal.......but at least this year we avoided having to go into the relegation playoff. We actually only gathered one more point than the previous year, but were helped by Nairn being even worse. In truth we spent large parts of the season routed to the bottom, but at least were never adrift and bounced between 9th and 10th a few times. A crucial win over Nairn with 3 games to go pretty much kept us up.

We managed to concede over 100 goals in the league alone. It is insane how bad we are at the back. Players just walk though, shots go right through our keeper. No tactic that i tried seemed to make any difference. Unless i can figure out a way to improve this, we will never progress

Its not even like we have any really ageing players. We did lose our first choice keeper as he wouldnt renew his contract, but our backup wasnt actually that much weaker than him. At the end of this season we are also losing our first choice left back who wouldnt renew, but we have depth to cover that i think.

I really chopped and changed tactics and team selection way to much trying to break out of slumps, meaning some of the youth probably hasnt developed. I also have a log jam up front with a bunch of similar looking prospects plus 2 experienced players. Need to settle on a tactic and best 11. Spreadsheet work is underway.

Cups

Moving swiftly onwards.......

POTY (top 3 chosen arbitrarily by me)

After a season like that, again i can only pick out one.

Patrick Martin - Same man as last year, this time 21 goals in a very poor team. Has 69 career goals for me now.

The Youths

The Intake

Youth Intake Season 4 - I cant really complain about the quality of my intakes, unless my Ass Man is just rubbish at judging........A couple this team actually do look like they could contribute, although i am slightly disagreeing with the Ass Man on who are the best ones, based on individually reviewing each player (including personality types)

The New Tags

YP04a - Darren MacDonald - Given our defensive disasters, an upgrade in goal wouldnt hurt and this lad looks a good prospect. I might even throw him right in next year. On a attibutes comparison he is pretty even with our current starer

YP04b - Fraser McRae - A little confusing in that the Ass Man didnt rate him the highest of the intake in JPA stars, but when i go to his report he is rated as potential for a good prem striker! Hoping that report is right!

The Tag Updates

YP01a - Jamie Campbell - Got some more starts, but we played with one striker for parts of the season and Martin is clearly our first choice. His attributes arent really growing unfortunately.

YP01b - Jamie Scott - Became first choice but was very poor, looks a complete liability and might lose his place to other untagged prospects.

YP02a - Danny Gilmour - Another who saw plenty of game time but was pretty bad, being part of the worst defence i have ever seen. Will get another chance as first choice next year due to lack of options

YP02b - Fraser Ward - Missed some time with injuries and this first choice in his position was one of our better players, so Ward ended up a super sub, and actually did very well. I missed a trick in not starting him more in hindsight.

YP03a - Steven O'Neil - HE was in and out of the team as we tried to find a midfield shape that worked, and he also had 3 spells out injured. Did ok, not much progression and i need to find a system to fit him into.

YP03b - Michael Scott - Another caught in our logjam of strikers, but had a few chances to start and actually knocked in a couple of goals. Makes it even more of a headache to choice my striker partnership!

The State of the Club

Finances

End of season picture - Not good. We had a mid season take over by a local business man, who took out a small loan which put us marginally back in the black, but we just drifted back into the red month by month. Im not convinced finances are right in FM15 for LLM

Facilities

Current facilities picture

Changes from last year - Despite the woeful finances, i somehow managed to secure a Junior Coaching upgrade, taking us to "good" which is pretty high for our level.

Transfers

Transfer History - having signed up too many of the first 3 intakes, i had to have a big squad review and clear out to get the numbers down and keep wages down.

Career Summary

[b][u]Season          Division                    Final Position           Cups                    Achievements[/u][/b]
  1             Scottish league 2              9th                     Nowt                   Avoided Relegation
  2             Scottish league 2              6th                     Scot cup Rd5         Avoided Relegation
  3             Scottish league 2              10th                   Nowt                    Avoid Relegation (just)
  4             Scottish league 2              9th                     Nowt                    Avoided Relegation

[Braumiller]

I agree with Jambo98, the write ups going on are fantastic

Whether it is tweaking SI have done to areas affecting our challenge (truth be told, they were probably overdue in making this more impossible), or just ME or gameplay issues adversely affecting us, this is (sadistically enjoyably) rough so far this year!

Sanno11, unlucky

Rhoden, great escape and great season review!

XaW good luck on turning around that slow start!

Jambo98 progress at least. Scotland is sounding rough!

[Jambo98]

Arrgh. Just lost 2 of my young strikers to Kilmarnock (Including YP03b) for just 6 grand compensation each. Of course it had to happen about a week after i pruned my squad for the seaosn ahead and released 3 other strikers...............suddenly from a log jam i am back to only 4 strikers at the club in total!

[Shakes]

Histon FC - 2018/19 - Vanarama Conference North: 16th

Squad | Transfers

We finished a place lower on the table but definitely headed in the right direction - goal difference only in the single figure negatives, claimed some good scalps, didn't get take any 6 goal thrashings and even made a run to the 4th round of the FA Trophy.

Decided to go back to 4-3-3/4-5-1, and it certainly helped a huge amount defensively. We're still a work in progress on that front - need a better keeper and some players who can concentrate for the full 90 minutes, but there were at least fewer crosses to deal with. If we could only stop leaking from corners (I think the setup is fine, players just keep missing headers) and long shots I'd be happy with what we have.

Still a ways to go here, but we're very gradually moving in the right direction. I feel like in a season or two things will click and we'll take a big jump (or maybe that's just wishful thinking).

The choice I face now is whether to extend Matty Waters' contract or not. He topped the scoring the previous 3 years, and would have again this year if not for injury. At age 24 he is probably what he is, which isn't that impressive on paper ... but he has banged in the goals for us. I should have multiple youth products capable of doing his job so I lean towards letting him leave. Unusual not to hold onto someone with such a knack for scoring, but it's also unusual to have so many strikers in the youth intakes!

Development Updates

• (16a) Adam James - ST/MC - Continues to be used mainly in the midfield, as last year started really strong but faded towards the end. Needs to push on because the competition is nipping at his heels.
  
• (16d) Aidan Girling - DC/DM/MC/DR - Playing right back because somebody has to. Good hold the fort player for us over the last few years, but probably hitting his ceiling.
  
• (16f) Drew Cross - AMR/ST - Would have struggled to get games if Nick Freeman didn't leave, instead topped the goal scoring with 18 as well as 9 assists.
  
• (16g) Nigel Ellerbeck - MC/DM - Doesn't really demand a game but also doesn't really make me not want to pick him. A solid rotation player.
  
• (17a) Luke Marsden - AML/ST - 14 assists and 16 goals to go with them was just brilliant playing on the left wing.
  
• (18b) Justin Dozzell - ST/MC - Only a handful of appearances, mostly in the cups, but made a strong case for greater inclusion next year.
  

A couple of the defenders from the class of 17 also made several appearances and will definitely be in the mix for more games next year.

Youth Intake

About the best possible intake I could have wished for!

• (19a) Simon Barker - MC/DM/DC - Either footed midfielder who is ready to play right away, and so he got a few games. Given one of our midfield options is 37, much needed.
  
• (19b) Zac Radley - MR/AMR/MC - Quick either footed winger, he'll be trained to play on the left as well for versatility. Should give us a different option.
  
• (19c) Nigel Kirby - AMR/MR - Wrong footed winger, but his stats look like he could be turned into a central player anyway.
  
• (19d) Michael Thomas - MC/DM/DC/DR - Not as far along as some, but I think he can make a decent grunt worker in the middle with some development.
  
• (19e) Ian Johnson - DR/DC/MR - Definitely needed a true full back like this guy.
  
• (19f) Marcus Corrigan - DC/DL - A central defender with some nice stats in the right areas. Being a lefty who can fill in at left back doesn't hurt either, at least until we unearth a true left back prospect.
  

Very happy with this lot, I think we have the raw material we need now.

Previous Season Goals

• Try to use the youth without taking a step backwards - Success, we improved while continuing to give more and more games to the kids.
  
• Work out how the hell to play with what we've been given - Success, 4-3-3 fits and our new intake helps balance the side for it.
  
• Don't throw anything breakable when yet another cross is scored from - Success, crosses reduced.
  

Next Season Goals

• Fine tune tactical approach, especially for away games
  
• Positive goal difference
  
• Win more games than we lose
  

[officiallydeej]

Planning to have a much better go at this than I did in FM2014, just holidaying season one now with plans to start in England.

[Sanno11]

Great write up Shakes, it feels like you could be on the cusp of a really positive season. Zac Radley, looks really useful at that level, bags of pace!Good luck next season mate.