FM16 Youth Academy Challenge

[Shakes]

It definitely feels like SI have tinkered with youth development this year, and I like it. Previously it felt like there was very little downside to just tossing the 15 year olds straight into battle the day after they signed their first deal. This year (at least with my small sample size) it feels like they buckle under the pressure a little easier, and they are also a little more inconsistent to begin with. It feels more realistic.

The consistency & big matches attribute has gone up over time for several versions, at least FM13 I remember going back and checking old versions of my save to see it. They might have made it play a bigger role this year? I don't know, I always found I throw youth into the team but it takes a while until they really become reliable - winning the damn Champions League at Real took me so long because I kept getting undone by one bad performance. By the time I won I had a realistically aged squad, with a core of players in their mid to late 20 primes, some veteran 30+ year olds and the younger guys mostly support players.

Or maybe I just was unlucky to continually run into a Barcelona super team and am blaming other parts of the game for it.

Attribute development also feels (correctly) a little slower.

This part has been confirmed over in tactics and training, the development curve has been slowed. It really sucks for me with crappy junior coaching! Getting them in with a higher base is so important now.

[Shakes]

Keep at it Forest and MarcxD, it sometimes feels like you're just drifting then you make the sudden jump one year.

[kccircle]

I'm going to give this a bash

Hope this is the correct screenshot to start

[kccircle]

Scrub the above

The Portuguese lowest league has about 10 leagues that sim concurrently - even with a decent machine each game day is taking 10 minutes to simulate.

Coming back into this with Belgium

[Shakes]

2022/23 - Belfast Telegraph Championship One - 4th

Table | Cups | Squad | Transfers

Happy enough with that season, Ballymena ran away with the league and so we were only playing for the playoffs, which we fell out of on the last day with a loss to Ballymena. I did give plenty of chances to our young players and got a better idea of who has what it takes, as well as made some adjustments to our tactics which I think are working slightly better now. Could possibly challenge for the title next year if it's an even season, if one of the teams that comes down is a strong one then we'll be just hoping for the playoffs. Either way it's going to develop my players since I really only have one older guy left.

Highlight of the season was our first cup win. It's only the Intermediate Cup, which the top tier teams enter their reserves into, so not a big score, but still nice to win something.

Youth Intake

Another intake with a bunch of potential but it's a real lottery what develops. Some of these might play hundreds of games, some zero, wont know for a few years - the tags are as much for tracking as because I have hopes for them.

[23a] Ian Gilmore - AMR/AMC - Low CA and injury prone, would be shocked if he reaches his potential.

[23b] Daniel Tumelty - MC/AMC - Looks like a decent all rounder if he develops, but no stand out attributes.

[23c] Darren Hamilton - AMC/AML/AMR - Best prospect by my eye, could make a good shadow striker.

[23d] Aidan Tuffey - DC/DL - Unambitious is a bit of a problem given my lack of tutors these days.

[23e] Gary Bagnall - DC/DL/DR - Some decent attributes here, I have a few young centre backs cooking so hopefully that can become a strength in the future.

[23f] Darren Warwick - AMR/MR - Very quick but little else, but quickness can be a good start at our level.

[23g] Daniel Heasley - DR - Solid mental attributes are a good start for a defender.

Youth Wrecking it at the Rec

[18a] David Byrne - MC/AMC - Played deeper in the tweaked tactic so not as much on the scoreboard but continues to be our best player. Will inherit the captaincy next year.

[19b] Jordan Maguire - MR/AMC - Still more pace than anything else but getting the job done with the goals and assists.

[22c] Adam McAree - DR/DC - Has won the starting right back spot at just 17 and put in consistent performances there.

[17b] Brian Jennings - AMC/ML/MC - Can't really settle where I want to play this guy, have shifted him multiple times as the balance of other players changes.

Next Season

Development is the name of the game, and if that's good enough to get us promoted as well then that's a bonus.

[Bartrcm]

Scrub the above

The Portuguese lowest league has about 10 leagues that sim concurrently - even with a decent machine each game day is taking 10 minutes to simulate.

Coming back into this with Belgium

I believe you have to have a 2 year holiday in Belgium to have new promoted teams.

[Jambo98]

Jambo98 - Youth Challenge Attempt 2 - C.D Castellón

Season 4 - 2019/20 - Spanish Second Division B3

League Position - 4th - PROMOTED VIA PLAYOFFS! (Final Table) (Past Positions) (Playoff Fixtures)

Cups -3rd round - lot on pens to Nastic

Season Summary

Felt good going into this season. We had bounced back last year, seen more development from our youths and i am reasonably happy with my tactic. We were also not losing any first team players at all for the first time in this career.

We did lose our first game 3 v 2 after being 2 nil up, which gave me a bit of a roll eyes moment, however we then kicked on nicely. We were never challenging Hercules who were streaking clear for auto promotion but we were always there or there abouts in the playoff places. Pleasingly we also had some depth, absorbing a number of injuries without suffering to much. At times we went on streaks which took us into second, other times we still had the odd issue with our younger guys beng inconsistent.

We finished with a bit of a whimper, losing a couple of games to finish 4th but still in the playoffs. We also, worryingly lost 2 players to injury and 2 of my best young players to international duty! Rage does not even cover how i felt about that!

First playoff round saw us take on Alcoron, a narrow first leg 1 v 0 win set us up for a tough away game. A topsey turvey second leg ended 3 v 3 and saw us through! Pleased as we coped without our starting LB and LM (injured on international duty).

Second round pitted us against Marbella and still minus 3 players, we again started with the home leg and we absolutely smashed them. 5 v 1 was a justified result and we felt very confident about it. We did suffer a bit from complacency in the second leg which we lost 1 v 3 but still a comfortable overall result and we were now 2 games away from promotion!

The "final" was against Jaen, which was tough as they looked a strong side. First leg yet again at home, and we edged out a really entertaining game 3 v 2. We also were back to full strength at this stage with our internationals (U20s) now back on the pitch. It set us up nicely for the biggest 90mins so far of this career!

We faced our biggest challenge yet, and we produced probably our best performance of the session. Jose Vicente put us ahead and we were never under threat. A second from one of our latest youths, Andres, put the icing on the cake and we are promoted to the adelente!

The cup was a waste of time........but who cares ;D

Notable performances

Only mentioning one, as most of our players are youths covered in the updates below:

Dario Sourcasse - A perenial backup who had never started more than 7 games in a season (original squad member). Suddenly from nowhere i put him for the 5th game of the season and he scored a hattrick. Had to leave him in and his form was great. Somehow for a below average looking guy, he bangs in 20 goals and fires us to promotion!

Youth Intake

The intake - Pretty good again, without being outstanding. None of these look ready for first team right away, but some potential. At least a striker is somewhat near the top, but still hardly what i need! 2 tags this year:

YP20a - Fran Fernando - Yet another AMC, but with YP16b now attracting a lot of interest and having a £1m release clause its not a bad thing to have quality in depth.

YP20b - Chema Rubio - A quality keeper prospect is overdue as well, so happy to get this guy. Our first team keeper is solid but can start to try and get this guy some time in the B team at first and see if he develops.

Tagged Youth Updates

YP17a - Jose Vicente - Still a model of consistency on the left side of our midfield, i believe he can handle the step up next year and be a key man.

YP17b - Jaume Gutierrez - 10 goals, 15 assists. Cant ask for any more from this guy. Have had to carefully manage a few conversations as he has wanted to move to bigger clubs, but so far managed to fend them off.

YP18a - Diego Cordon - Another who has become a consistent and solid performer, rarely misses a game or puts in a poor performance. Attributes have gone up nicely too.

YP18b - Jose Carlos Moreno- Tried to give him more game time, but in 9 starts he performed really poorly. His attributes are actually looking ok, other than his lack of pace, but his performances make it difficult to put trust in him at a higher level. Might look to loan him out.

YP18c - Vincenzo Bucciarelli - The Italian Stalion found himself an oft used sub this year. Not developed much but probably partly down to a lack of starts. His versatility will keep him on our bench likely, although the move to 7 subs might actually hurt his chances of game time

YP19a - Andres - Graduated to first team at the midseason point and did not look out of place, even scoring in the playoff final. Looks to give us a great option in the middle of the park.

YP19b - Jordi Olcina - Deployed exclusively in our "b" team to try and develop and has not really kicked on much. Need to decide whether to chuck him on, or more likely try to loan out for proper first team action.

YP19c - Jose Carlos Gimeno - Our dearth of strikers meant he actually started the season in the team, but Sourcasse soon pushed him out. Still a respectable haul of 7 goals in part time action. Doesnt look to have the quality overall but in the absence of other options, we might need to keep trying him.

Facilities

No change as at the end of the season, but we did get asked by the board if we wanted to expand our scouting range. My first instinct was to say "no" and save the cash, since we dont scout anyway in this challenge, however i believe scouting range also impact the youth intakes, so i went with "yes"

Club facilities -

Transfers

Ultimate stability - No one in, no one out.......

[ManUtd1]

Nice work, smp20! I've been too busy with work to truly nail down my tactics and start up a save in here, but am getting very close (tactically) and tempted.

I've been reviewing my options, and have narrowed it down to: (1) a return to Sweden (even though IFK Malmo isn't available this year, with whom I completed the challenge in 15); (2) a return to Greece, to finish what I started in 15 with Aris (but abandoned due to a lack of time); or (3) a tougher challenge with a club I've always thought about trying this challenge with.

I'm leaning towards #1, and even have a team picked out. That being said, I'm a bit torn up at not being able to use IFK Malmo...I had WAY too much fun with them, and it was a save that renewed my passion for this game.

I should have a save started this weekend...and may even start holidaying/reloading today while I work in another window...

[yugular]

I will give this a try! Im starting the game in Finland and chose KPV as my team (happens to be my local team where I coach 7 years old girls IRL). The reset date for Finland is November 25th!

Do I need to post some specific screenshots in the beginning? Here is one from my profile: http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n474/yugular/KPV/s1%20profile.png

[Bartrcm]

Lusitania Açores - National Division F - Season 2016-2017

Prediction: 5000-1

First Phase: 7th

Relegation Phase: 4th

I finally found my team, and it's a team of the Azores. Our team is from a very small isle, and there aren't a lot of people who plays football. When I took a look at my scouting page, there were only 54 players on it.

We started the challenge with only 11 players, and none of them were AMC or ST. I also couldn't attrack a scout or head of youth devellopment until 3 games before the end of the season. The youth intake was done by our assistent manager.

We had very hard start of the season, and only had 1 win in the first round of first phase. The second round was allready beter and we finished in a decent 7th place.

So we entered the relegation phase, and our only goal was to not finish in the bottom 3. Bottom 2 relegate immediatly, and the team in 3th last position has to play a play-off. We started the phase very good with a couple of wins, and were actually never in any relegation battle. In the last 7 games I played a lot of new youngsters, and they didn't play that bad. Finishing 4th in this relegation phase is a hugh achievement, and I'm looking forward to next season.

Games

Cup: Second round. Didn't care about the cup

My team: like you can see I allready gave a lot of youngsters playing time.

Youth intake: It looks like an amazing intake, but I'm not sure about those ratings. Or these players are potential very good players, or my older players are crap.

Luis Taborda (YP1a): GK with 5 golden stars at the intake. Never got that before. Straight into the starting 11, and could become a very good player.

Rui Menezes (YP1b): DC, also straight into the starting 11

Paulo Raimundo (YP1c): AML, back-up next season

Hugo Gomez (YP1d): MC, straight into the starting 11

David Serpa (YP1e): ST, first and only striker at the team. Scored on his debut, and a starter from intake.

Antonio Mendonça (YP1f): AMC, and also straight into the starting 11

Fabio Menezes (YP1g): ML, U19 next season and retrain as AML.

Ricardo Castro (YP1h): DL, back-up next season.

Fabio Raposo (YP1i): MC, back-up

João Monteiro (YP1j): DC, back up

Nuno Sá (YP1k): AMR, will balance between starter and back-up

Transfers: None of course

Finances: Red, and it doesn't lok that it will change in a short period

Goals next season:

Top-6 in the regular competition

Play at least 6 youngsters on a regular base.

[Bartrcm]

Nice season MarcxD and Shakes.

Congrats with the promotion Jambo98.

Unlucky with your computer crash smp20.

[Dibond]

Giving this a shot!

Background

Club Information

Profile Part 1

Christopher Thonnes (YP00)

Starting this in 2017, as Belgium has a league restructuring in 2016 which prevents new clubs from coming up. Looks to be a good start, as the youth facilities are great compared to other clubs in the division. Have 18 players in the squad to start, one being a decent looking initial youth prospect. We'll see how it goes!

[kccircle]

I believe you have to have a 2 year holiday in Belgium to have new promoted teams.

Seems you are right - thanks for the heads up as I would have been looking for quite some time

[kccircle]

New start in Belgium

[Sanno11]

Tonbridge Angels – Season 1 Review (2016-2017)

Table | Squad | Finances | Transfers

We started the season playing with a classic 4-4-2, focusing on direct wing play. I couldn’t have asked for a better start, winning 5 out 5 games and sitting top of the league. Then unfortunately a squad short of depth couldn’t maintain this early form and we settled a run of poor performances. Tactical tweaks were made whilst staying true to the 4-4-2, playing a little more conservatively. This seemed to revitalise the team. Again we had another purple patch winning 7 out of 8 games in early 2017. This form saw us climb back up the league into 5^th position and the last playoff spot. With 12 games to it was all to play for. Then the poor form returned. We only recorded another 2 wins in those 12 games and inevitably fell down the league ladder into our finishing position of 14^th place.

We finished 5^th top goal scorers in the league and if you had offered me 14^th before the start of the season I would have been very happy. However football manager is cruel and I was full of hope and optimism at two points in the season and it is disappointing we couldn’t have done more.

We managed to get our junior coaching upgraded once and I completed my first coaching badge.

Youth Intake

The quality in the current squad makes this intake look quite weak. There are some highlights, but frustratingly no good centre backs.

Tom Lowe (YP01a) Has the makings of a decent playmaker at this level. He is being tutored by a senior squad member already. He will benefit immediately from the lack of squad depth.

Simon Curtis (YP01b) Highest rated youth player. We do not use an AMC, so I need to decide where this kids opportunity will come from.

Jamie Barnett (YP01c) Is a very ordinary looking full back who lacks pace, however he will still get his share of first team action next season

Key Players

Nathan Elder – The teams target man. He contributed 20 goals and was the focal point of many attacks.

Charlie Webster – Was a surprise package. He started the season in great form with 14 goals in 14 games. Injuries and patches of bad form affected him.

Ellis Brown – Another who started brilliantly but faded away. Still 14 assists is a good contribution from the right winger.

Next Season

I am aiming for a top half finish and believe the playoffs are within our reach. We are capable of beating anyone in the league and if I can get a steady tactic in place I think the squad has enough quality.

[MarcxD]

Season 5 - 2020/2021 - Segunda B3 - 1st (Promoted/Won Play-Offs)

League Table Play-Offs Overall best Eleven Team of the Year End of season awards/stats Season review Squad Manager profile Transfers

Yes! A great season, obviously. We looked comfortable at the top of the table all season, and when Llagostera failed to win a couple of games in a row we were 8 points ahead, which proved to be enough to win the Segunda B3 title. In the play-offs we were very lucky against Cadiz who were the better team to be honest, but against Racing we dominated and I would've been furious if we lost, even though we conceded 5 in two games. In the cup we made it to the fourth round, where we drew FC Barcelona, which went about the way you expect such a game to go , which prompted the players to offer to pay the fans back. Heh. It was great that we got FC Barcelona though, because we made about a million € from those two games alone, which helped our financial situation a lot, and made it finally possible to increase the junior coaching budget and for me to get the national C licence. New contracts for a couple of players were signed as well. In the end I've even managed to have the highest score for a Segunda B3 season so far, not that leaderboards count for much, but still nice to see.

Youth update 2021 was one of the better ones. A couple of decent to good defenders and an AML, which is very good for the balance in the squad. Just hoping for a better GK and striker next year.

YP5a-Edu del Valle, DC Looks very decent, although a couple of his stats obviously need improving.

YP5b-Fran Cucurella, AML Last year we already got a decent AML who is currently back-up, so I don't see him getting much time in the 1st team soon, but definitely one to watch.

YP5c-Javi Bueno, DL Not amazing obviously but a DL with decent potential is certainly something I wanted.

YP5d-David, DC Another defender and while he is not as good as some of the other prospects there, we might need him a year or two from now.

Best youth players in the season:

YP0a-Sergi Castillo, DM [DC,MC] Another okay season. Because of the incoming DC's he will play more at his natural position, DM, next season. Would love to see him progress some more next season.

YP0b-Lluis Masó, SC He's had a much better season than last, scoring 15 goals (he also scored in the play-offs). Just like all the other players, I am very curious to see how he will manage against the tougher opponents of the Liga Adelante.

YP1b-Josep Maese, DM [DC, MC] He's in much the same boat as Castillo. In the end they will have to fight for the DM position (of which I currently use one, and the tactic obviously seems to be working for now, so I'm not about to change it!). Was a good player for me though.

YP1e-Carles Burgos, MC has very obviously become my main MC, and performed very well this season, scoring a couple of goals and assisting as well. One of the main players I'm building the team around for the foreseeable future.

YP2a-Francesc, DM/MC A back-up for either Burgos or the DM position, but a very good talent as well. The midfield positions are well-stocked.

YP3b-Gerardo Delgado DRLC Would love to have him progressed a bit more, but has performed very decently for an 18-year old, had much less bad games than the year before. The 1st choice right-back and can also play at DC and DL.

Somehow forgot to screenshot YP1d-Josep Lardin's profile, who was the fan's player of the year and top-goalscorer (21 goals). (see squad/end of season stats screenshots above). He was the main man behind our success this season.

Another player to mention is a regen who I have not mentioned before, but has actually become a mainstay in the first team: Joel Castro, DLC who I'm going to call YP1x in future updates. He has stepped up to become more or less the best DC at the club and back-up for the DL position (which is actual natural position).

Next season I'm obviously going for anything but relegation. The board has about doubled our wage budget and (spoilers...) I've gotten almost 2M in TV money from the liga adelante in the next season. On the financial front we're definitely looking up. It's going to be interesting to see how my (still quite young) players will do against the liga adelante teams like Sporting Gijon, Barcelona B(our rivals!) etc. So far the results for every season have exceeded my expectations so I hope that's going to keep up!

[Kazushi80]

After discovering this challenge here, reading a lot of texts. I decided to try it myself. I am in germany. After holidaying the first season, there were three Teams available: Wolfsburg II (for obvious reasons not to be selected), Nordhausen and Homburg. I choose the third team, because they have a big tradition and even played in the Bundesliga in my early youth... So welcome to my take at the youth challenge:

Youth Academy Challenge: FC 08 Homburg (Germany)

The creation of a new manager

The Manager // The Club // The Facilities // The Squad

First step will be to get some staff. The team has only a bad Director of Football and a mediocre U19-Manager. No coaches. After that there will be the challenge to stay up. As you can see in the squad overview, three players are leaving us before the begin of the season. Two are retiring, one has signed for another club. Or Squad is very thin, especially in Central Midfield with only one player who is a natural in this position. The media doesn't think we can achieve our goal: We are predicted to finish 19th. Unfortunately our board is not very fond of the idea of developing player with the club youth system. So i don't expect much support from them.

A problem will be that parts of the squad are very old, but we need them for at least two seasons, because it will take extra time to bring youth players in the team: in the third germany division it's not allowed to use very young players in the first team.

We've good goalkeepers and defenders, so our focus will be not conced too many goals. We'll try to play a very slow, secured, possession based style of football. The agenda is: If we have the ball, the others can't score.

Key Players:

Florian Fromlowitz: The former promising Bundesliga keeper is now with the age of 30 in the best years for a goalkeeper. He should save us some points.

André Kilian: The captain is our only central midfielder, so i hope he'll have no big injuries.

Patrick Schmidt: He's the person who needs to deliver goals.

I hope you'll enjoy my updates and there will be many more of them (not only „I've been sacked.“or „We got relegated.“)

[Bartrcm]

Seems you are right - thanks for the heads up as I would have been looking for quite some time

No problem. I'm from Belgium, so I knew about these ridiculous changes. The positive thing is that normally I can do this challenge with my own team, RC Mechelen in FM17, because they will relegate this season.

[Forest]

Friska Viljor FC - Season 2022 Review (Season 7)

End of Season Awards l Season Review l Fixtures l League Table l League Position Graph l Squad Stats l Transfers l Finance

Competitions

Second Division North : 1st

Swedish Cup : /

Season Review

Finally done this year after 7 seven years spending in the swedish nowheres. It was a very good season for us, not perfect but was good. We got promotion on the last day. We played Pitea and got 3 points, whilst Halmia only draw at Härnösand. I´m very pleased we reached our first promotion. I hope the First Division (3rd tier) gives some more money. I also hope we can increase our stadium attendance.

Start of the season was very good with 4 wins out of the first 5 games. It gaves us confidence, because the media tipped us 6 in the season preview. We had no clear favorite in our league. Halmia, Skelleftea, Morön competed very good until the end. But it was different like othr years, where you got teams that did a solo in the league.

In therms of tactics I experimented the whole season. Always a 4-2-3-1 wide but sometimes with direct counter football, sometimes with possesion type short passing. We have to see how we can do in a different league.

A lot of players developed really good, like Hansson, Stenberg, Larsson and Jacobsson. I´m pretty sure it has to do with our good coaching staff, which is the best in the league by far.

Friska players of the season

Peter Hansson (YP05b) - Fantastic season from the big black man in the defence. Did a very good job and I hope he can continue like this next year.

Kim Stenberg (YP03f) - Constant performances from the centre midfield, voted as PotS, gives the stability in the centre.

Per Jacobsson (YP05a) - Cleary our best player this season. With 10 goals, 6 assists and 7 Player of the match, the right winger did everything perfect.

Robin Larsson (YP04a) - Robin is our brightest talent, and he starts to deliver constancy. Last year he was very good, but had a lot of games where he was not fully on the pitch. This year he showed, that he can constanly deliver the best.

Youth Intake

Not the best Youth Intake, but at least one major talent.

Daniel Andersson (YP07a) - Fanstatic stats for this young guy. Looking forward when he´s playing in the centre midfield together with Kim Stenberg

Ali Hoffman (YP07b) - Well, not the best one, neither talented, but probably the best out of the rest.

Niklas Persson (YP07c) - Same as above.

Off the field

Again a lot of money spended by our chairman. In the 7 years where I´m at Frsika, they board provided already somewhat over 850.000Euro into the club, to provide bankrupcy. That´s something which is very unrealistic and SI should look about it.

Coaching courses is still impossible after 7 years, youth facilities also. But hopefully that change next year.

[kccircle]

Season 2016/17

In our debut season I didn't really know what to expect. Aim was to not get relegated. We started the season in the Top 3 but with a small squad which was top heavy with strikers we plummeted towards the end with some heavy defeats

Table

Squad

Transfers

Note - there was one transfer in, but I can only presume it was already agreed prior to me starting the challenge

Fingers crossed we get a couple of defensive minded youth team players

[kccircle]

In another game this would have been a welcome message in the inbox

[kccircle]

And finally, had my intake of youth team players including one with 3.5 star potential

[Andrew K]

I love that Homburg badge.

[Kazushi80]

I love that Homburg badge.

I hope i can show it a lot more in this thread, because that means the challenge won't be over to soon

[Kazushi80]

Youth Academy Challenge: FC 08 Homburg (Germany)

The Manager // The Club // The Facilities // The Squad // The Youth Squad // No Transfers

First Season: 3. Liga, 12th place // League Table

Season Review: What a season! We totally overachieved, had after a bad start, some decent runs and were in a close competition never really in danger of relegation. An important factor was that our two key players could play every game. We had a few injury problems but most of the times for players we could replace. But this league is really hard. Erfurt was at one time, 21 points clear at the top of the table, from the last 12 games they lost 11 and finished only 3rd (but got promoted through playoffs). For a lot of teams it was a rollercoaster ride, so i am happy that we were really stable the whole time. But next season will be harder...

Season Preview: Because of age restriction rules in germany, not one of our youth intake players will be eligible to play next season. With one player retiring, we've only 3 goalkeepers and 15 outfield players for the next season. So injurys will be a big problem and SPOILER ALERT! one of our key players will miss the first half of the season. No Surprise: The media thinks we'll finish last. The newly promoted teams are hard competition. Bayern Munich II has of course a lot of top talents, Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a club with a lot of tradition and they have some really good players in the squad and finally there's Saarbrücken our fierce rivals. So: DERBY TIME! But at the moment i don''t know how we should stay up and i fear this challenge will be over to soon.

The Youth: Unfortunately the players can't help us next season, so we need to fight one more year until there's really something to say in this category

First Youth Intake: Very disappointing, only two players who i think will help us in the long run.

Key Players:

Florian Fromlowitz: The former promising Bundesliga keeper didn't have as much clean sheets as i hoped, but he did a good job and was second best in the league in saves parried.

Patrick Schmidt: He played every game, delivered a lot of goals and was our only offensive weapon. He was even the top goalscorer in the whole league. But: SPOILER ALERT: He got injured in the first pre-season friendly and will miss more than five (!) months.

Azur Velagic: The surprise of the season. The bosnian should be no more as a back up player, but because of his versatility he played every week, delivered 3 goals, 7 assists and was 4 times man of the match. He even got in the team of the season - as a Central Defender, the position he played the fewest games in.

Hot Prospects:

İdris Han [YP 17a]: A versatile offensive player who has the potential to be better than all our current players. So he's a gem. Don't know yet, in which position i'll use him, because or current tactic has no offensive wingers. Training him at the moment as a right mightfielder, but maybe our tactic will be different at the time he'll be allowed to play in the first team.

Noel Dörfel [YP 17b]: Okay, „hot“ is an exaggeration, but he's the second best of the intakes, wears a cool mohawk and has with his leadership the potential to be a future captain and maybe a solid defender.

[Andrew K]

Anybody know the reset dates for Denmark or Norway?

[yugular]

@Andrew K

Denmark - 29th June

Norway - 13th January

Finland - 25th November

Those should be correct but are missing from the OP

[Braumiller]

Fraserburgh FC - Season 7 Review (2022/23)

League Table | League Positions Graph | Squad Stats | Transfers | End of Season Awards | Season Review |

Injury Report

Competitions

Championship : 5th (Fixtures (1 2)

Scottish Cup : 5th Round

Scottish League Cup : 2n Round

League Challenge Cup : 1st Round

Season Review

Oof, that was close! We ended up missing out on the playoffs on goal difference. It finally feels like we belong in the league and we are not always on a knife edge of going on a horror run and facing relegation.

We actually started the league off with 5 straight wins, which put us initially top and kept us right up there through the first half of the season. All 5 wins were by a single goal and we certainly rode our luck in those games (two games had the opposition finishing with 9 men!), so we knew it was not a true reflection of the season ahead.

For the second half of the year we played like a mid table team, never really getting on a run. The game that cost us a playoff chance was our penultimate game, away at Stenhousemuir. We got steamrollered 4-0, and that 8 goal swing was crucial as Stenhousemuir ended up beating us on goal difference to the playoff spot.

Tactically we were more solid as well. Even though I had three formations ready to play (4411, 442 and 41221), and we played them all in patches, it was not in desperation as has often been the case in recent seasons. I have not settled on a main formation yet, but I would like to soon.

"Fraserburgh Five"

William Clark (YP 05C) - A very happy surprise this season was the emergence of Clark and his performances. The coaches still do not rate him very highly currently, but he played well! He is technically 4th in the pecking order in central midfield, but he is making me think!

Adam Preston (YP 04C) - Another good midfield performer this year, Adam played at MC and DM this year.

Steve Taylor (YP 01A) - Our defensive rock put in another good year. No set piece goals this year, but that is nit-picking.

Scott McLean (YP 03A) - A very nice showing from Scott this year from a variety of attacking midfield roles, with 9 goals.

Dean Lawrence (YP 04I) - Dean was perhaps the biggest benefactor from my decision to play the kids over the older squad players where possible. Taking over the MR/AMR role from Dylan Honeyman, he put in some really nice performances and used his pace and crossing well.

Youth Intake

The intake trend continues. Another large intake of potential (and again, presumably based on our lower end ability and current overachievement). Abbreviated tagged descriptions.

Kyle Mackie (YP 07A) - A good looking central defender.

Dean Duff (YP 07B) - A second central defender and another good looking kid.

Paul Lee (YP 07C) - Defensive minded intake!? Can play anywhere along the backline, hoping this proves very helpful

Alex Watt (YP 07D) - Wide midfielder with nice pace and crossing

Michael MacPhee (YP 07E) - Big target man type forward. Will try and develop a more rounded game

Kyle Mackie (YP 07F) - Left winger

Dean Considine (YP 07G) - Right midfielder

Brian Henderson (YP 07H) - Yearly GK

Darren West (YP 07I) - Another defender who can play anywhere across the back. Needs a lot of developing though.

Scott Cameron (YP 07J) - Another winger

Fraser Duncan (YP 07K) - Good looking central midfielder.

Miscellaneous

It feels like our first 3-4 youth intakes are now almost fully 'bedded in' and are the core of the club now, and that makes me very happy! I still have a couple of positions which are trouble spots for play youths (DL and FC are the main ones right now, DR I have options but they have not fully worked yet), but things are moving along.

Off the pitch we got our first facility upgrade in a quite a while, a Junior Coaching improvement, which took us from Good to Excellent!

What I really like though, is after at least 5 years of playing on a terrible pitch, the board finally approved the laying of a new pitch this off season! We get to see grass again at home, and not just mud!

Facility Update

Training - Basic

Youth Training - Basic

Junior Coaching - Excellent - (Finally got another upgrade here!)

Youth Recruitment - Fairly Basic

Season 7 (2022/23) Goals

* Regroup and settle back into the league - Achieved

Season 8 (2023/24) Goals

* Challenge for a playoff spot

* Continue towards 100% youth matchday squads.

[Shakes]

Arg, relegated. Just could not score, we seem to periodically go through a season where we just can not kick it into the net no matter how many chances we create. Think I'm taking a break.

[Andrew K]

@Andrew K

Denmark - 29th June

Norway - 13th January

Finland - 25th November

Those should be correct but are missing from the OP

Thanks! That's a serious odd one for Finland. Makes me kinda interested.

[Bartrcm]

Lusitania Açores - National Division F - Season 2017-2018

First Phase: 5th

Relegation Phase: 2nd

We had a good start of the season with winning our first 2 games. After that it was a little bit a struggle but we played much better than last season and gain more points. We played every game with at least 7 youngsters from last year intake, and these youngsters were the reason for this improvement. We ended the first phase in 5th position, but I had the feeling that we could have done a bit better.

So for the second year we enterend the relegation phase. We won our first 3 games in this phase and from that point we were almost sure to stay up another year. We played some good football and increased the amount of youngsters in the first team, and they played very well. We ended the relegation phase in 2nd position, and this was our best position ever.

Games:

Cup: again, we were kicked out in the second round

Squad:

Youth intake: not so good as last year, but still very decent.

Bruno Teófilio (YP2a): AMR, straight into the starting 11

Gonçalo Furtado (YP2b): Promising ST, scored on his debut.

Carlos Moniz (YP2c): DC, started allready a couple of games. Starter next season.

Joao Mendonça (YP2d): DC, DL, back up next season or U19. Not sure yet.

Vitor Valadao (YP2e): AMC, U19 next season.

Victor Novotryasov (YP2f): AML, back up next season

Joao Diogo (YP2g): AMR, U19 next season.

Our U19 are a bunche of very good players. They won there league, so we could have a lot of potential. The future is looking good for us.

We allready have our first international player. Our very promosing GK from last years intake has allready played 3 games for the Portugese U19

Transfers: None of course

Finances: Looking terrible. Due to this our wage budget is almost cut in half. We have only €3k wage budget next season. I think we have to gain promotion in at least 2/3 season to stay alive.

Goals this season:

Top-6 in the regular competition: SUCCES

Play at least 6 youngsters on a regular base.: SUCCES, with 7 youngsters on a regular base in the starting 11 . Last games we played with 9 youngsters, and we will start next season with those youngsters on the field.

Goals next season:

Promotion play-offs

A cup run, because we can use te money.

[dan_simmonds]

Start of season two - 2017/18

First Team Squad

We haven't lost anyone that we didn't mind losing. There's a batch of youngsters in place now, all of whom will be looking to make their impact on the team, but the core of the team remain. The issue is that some of the senior first team members are all coming to the end of their contracts, and key players including Schulmeister and Ofori won't consider signing a new deal yet.

Transfers

No transfers as part of my challenge.

Key Players

1. Jan Schulmeister - MR - He was crucial last season on the right hand side. I'm hoping he improves his assist total in our second season though.

2. Petr Wojnar - MC - The engine in the engine room. He keeps us ticking over and he's fantastic in all facets of the game.

3. Zybnek Musiol - ST - When he was fit, he looked like he'd finally got used to the way we played. Then he got injured, again and again. Zemanek will have chances if Musiol can't stay fit.

This season's objectives

Board Objectives

Fotbalová Národní Liga - Avoid relegation

Ceská pošta Cup - 2nd Round

This season's objectives

Fotbalová Národní Liga - Avoid relegation - I expect us to do better than this but all the board care about is staying up. I'm ok with that, but I want our players to give it a much better go.

Ceská pošta Cup - 2nd Round - I expect us to make the third round considering the draw that has been made.

Invest in the youth facilities at some point.

[MarcxD]

Season 6 - 2021/2022 - Liga Adelante - 13th

League Table Overall Best Eleven End of season stats Team of the year Season review Transfers Manager profile Squad

A decent first season in the 2nd tier of Spanish football, but actually quite disappointing as well. This League Graph and these results will show you why. For most of the season the league was a very tense one, with pretty much positions #3/4-13/14 being within mere points of each other. In the last two months or so we totally screwed up and finished much lower than we could've. I'm very happy that we were never in danger of relegating though, and some of the players really stepped their game up. The financial troubles seem to be behind us. In the cup once again we made it to the fourth round, but the Liga BBVA side Celta de Vigo was much too strong for us. Maybe I should be glad that we didn't make it to the play-offs, because promotion right now would probably result in us getting absolutely battered by most of the teams in that league. Oh and by the way, there's one thing at this club that's kind of an annoyance, namely the fact that we don't have a reserve team! Most Spanish teams either have a normal reserve team or a reserve club playing in a lower division, but we have neither, just the main squad and the u19's. This means that all players who are 19 or older with potential but aren't quite ready for the first team yet, don't play any games. That's why I've started loaning players out.

Youth intake 2022 Not a great one, let's be honest.

YP6a-Javi Pagés, AMCLR can play in all attacking-midfield positions and seems to be a certain squad-member in the future. His attributes, especially his technical ones, obviously need much improving though.

YP6b-Joel Ruiz, MC could be quite good, but the competition for the MC position is already fierce. It won't be easy for him to get into the team in the near future.

Regen updates:

YP0a-Sergi Castillo, DM [DC/MC] played most of the games once again. Has developed okay, but his performances aren't always quite what I would like. Will play more and more at his natural DM position, which will hopefully help on that front. Already on 223 games at age 21!

YP0b-Lluis Masó, SC This guy had an amazing season. On average he scored a little bit more than 1 goal per three matches in the Segunda B, but somehow he managed to score 25 goals in his first season in the Liga Adelante! In the final period of the season he scored a lot less and that was a big factor in our drop on the league table. A very important player for the club for sure. He will be my 1st choice striker for a long time, it seems, because there are no other strikers who come even close.

YP1b-Josep Maese, DM [DC/MC] is really the twin of Sergi Castillo, just a year younger, and seems to perform a little bit better. It seems they will compete with each other for the DM spot for years to come! Good season. Played his 150th game for the club.

YP1d-Josep Lardín, AMR had a decent to good season, certainly a very important player for the team. Couldn't quite perform the same way he did last year, although I really shouldn't complain about a player scoring 9 goals and assisting 15.

YP1e-Carles Burgos, MC had a very bad season, because of a very severe injury which made him unavailable for most of the season. Last update I said I was going to build the team around him, I shouldn't have jinxed him! Now he's not the best MC anymore....

YP2a-Francesc, MC/DM ... because this guy has taken his spot. Good season and now he seems to be the guy to build the team around! (please don't get injured...) Of all the young players he might just be the one who has the least amound of bad games. Not really sure why actually, but I'm not going to complain.

YP3b-Gerardo Delgado, DRLC has played most of the season, but sadly it looks like he's not going to develop into a great player. Still though, a player who can play at all defensive positions is very welcome.

YP4a-Vicente Conde, AMC has become the 1st choice AMC, and for good reason. I have faith in him, and I certainly hope he won't let me down!

YP1x-Joel Castro, DLC also a good season for this defender. Should be the 1st choice DL in the near future (My only foreigner, a Serb who is also one of two 30+'s left, fulfills that position right now).

In the end of the season I noticed another player who I didn't tag, Alejandro Bartomeu, DR , but he is looking very decent and is developing very fast right now. In the contention to be a 1st choice DR very soon. I'm going to call him YP5x from now on.

As far as next season is concerned, the only real aim I have is a better league position at the end. A top 10 finish would be nice. Also, the owner seems to be wanting to get rid of the club, so I'm definitely curious to see what's going to happen with that! Otherwise I'm just going to continue as I have up to now, hoping the players develop. The media once again think we'll get relegated but they're idiots.

[Kazushi80]

Youth Academy Challenge: FC 08 Homburg (Germany)

The Manager // The Club // The Facilities // The Squad // The Youth Squad // No Transfers

Season 2017 / 2018 3. Liga, 13rd place // League Table // Season Positions

Season Review: I don't wanna sound whinny, but i need to start with this picture: THE INJURY REPORT!. As you'll see my best two players and my best central defender and my only left midfielder missed over 30 percent of the games. How did i stay up? I don't know. I included the Season positions the first time and as you can see we were bottom very early in the season. At this stage i thought we'll go down for sure. But at the beginning of November Patrick Schmidt came back from his first big injury, much earlier than expected. He scored in each of his first three games and helped us to get three wins in a row. We had another bad run around matchday 30, but we had luck. Players who shouldn't be good enough for this division (as my staff constantly reminds me) stepped up and scored at the right time. Our backup goalkeeper Tobias Trautner saved us two wins we didn't deserve. We won a few games thanks to early red cards for opponentes. And our tactic worked wonders. Again the aim was to keep the ball as long as possible and to play as slow as possible. And most of the games we had possession stats from 65%+. We didn't create that much chances, but we were lethal in front of the goals. We had quite a few games we scored 3 or 4 goals with 4 or 5 shots on target. And even with the small squad, fitness worked in our favor. With a lot of fitness training and player resting, we had most of the time a higher fitness than our opponents.

Season Preview: First of all. I am really happy that i can write a preview, because i thought the series will end. After the relegation battle there was another issue: My contract was running out. In february, after a good run with 5 games unbeaten, i asked for a new contract. The board said: Sure, you'll hear from us pretty soon. But i didn't. I feared there was some sort of bug... But a few days after the end of the season, they came and i signed a new one-year-contract (couldn't even negotatiate that). Unfortunately the board (which has changed during the season) is still no fan, of the idea of developing youth players. So I could't add that philosophy. Instead they would love me to sign high profile players what it's ridiculous – and not because of the rules of this challenge, but because we are in debt. We're losing 2 millionen euros per season, but the board injects new cash every few months (don't know where that's coming from). Without money we unfortunately can't get coaching badges or improve our youth facilites. But most important: After a ridiculous hight wage budget last season (which helped because they always praised my tight management of that budget), they cut that to the sum we are already spending. I do understand that, but all contract negotiations will be tough. Next season will be a relegation battle again. But i am quite optimistic. Two players (Clément Halet & Thierry Steimetz) are retired and they had both some good games this season, but they are normally not good enough for this league. Our first youth players are coming through and give our squad more depth (more about that in the next paragraph). One intersting tidbit: We are moving in a new (smaller) stadium. Was already planned before the start of the game. Media Prediction: 19th

The Youth: About the last season is not much to say here, because no youth player was allowed to play in the first team. But: This changes now. It will be our first season with youth players. Unfortunately the first intake wasn't that great (see last season review) so we haven't that many who makes us better. Idris Han [YP 17a] is good enough. Not sure yet, where to play him. Matthias Deisinger [YP 17e] is the only other player who has enough quality. Improved a lot in his first season and will be my backup full back. The rest gives us depth and we hopefully don't need to fill our bench with grey players any more.

New Youth Intake: Better than the first one. That's a good sign and I hope we can improve here from season to season. Very happy about the striker, because of the injury problems with Patrick Schmidt we need more options in this position. For more about some of the players see Hot Prospects.

Key Players:

André Kilian: Our captain was a sensation. The player with the highest average rating in the whole league was very important for our offense and our defense. 10 assists are one number, but similar important is for me his very good pass completion rate. One of two players from our club in the team of the year.

Patrick Schmidt: Our top striker missed two many games, but in the games he played, he scored. He is our life insurance and i hope he'll stay fit most of the time in the new season. But with him again injured in the first friendly for the new season, i fear he's injury prone.

Murat Bildirici: Our playmaker stepped up during the time Patrick Schmidt was injured. Because our second striker was no goalscoring threat at all, i played him a few times upfront even though his finishing is not good. But he made enough goals. Btw: He's the first player who another club wants to buy and he's a little bit angry now, that we declined an offer from FC St. Pauli (now 2. Bundesliga). But 100k is not enough for an important player. Wouldn't even help us with our debts...

Hot Prospects:

Idris Han [YP 17a]: is physical on the right way, but his technical attributes didn't improve that much. But my assistant believes in him, so do i. Looking foward to his first games with the big guys.

Noel Dörfel [YP 17b]: is developing in the right way and i love my little „Travis Bickle“ more every day. Unfortunately it seems he does not only look like the Taxi Driver, he has part of his character, too. 5 Red cards !!!

Marc Dietz [YP 18a]: The poacher is our highest ranked new youngster according to my assistant. He could already play a role in my squad, but unfortunately he's too young to be allowed to play. I hope we get his concentration up soon and his passing worries me a little bit, too, regarding the style of football we play at the moment.

Patrick Rudolph [YP18b] With his pace a potential shadow striker (my favorite role on this years fm) and another mohawk. Another player i would love to have in my first team, today. But again: Age!

Jan-Philipp Füllkrug [YP 18c] Another new youth player i like already. Looks like a very good full back. Love that all attributes are 6+ (except leadership), so no shocking weakness. If he can improve we will have a lot of fun with him. Because he's already so tall with 15 and has this jumping reach i for one hope he doesn't quit and follows Dennis Schroeder and Dirk Nowitzki to the NBA and i think about retraining him as a central defender. Problem: have not a lot of success with retraining on fm16 and i have more options on central defenders as on full back at the moment.

[2481]

NK Varazdin - 2016/17 Season 1 Update



League Position: 5th

Cup: knocked out in 2nd Round

League Table | Fixtures | Transfers | Finances | Squad 1 / Squad 2 | Manager Profile

Season Summary

A solid first season for the squad in what turned out to be a highly competitive league. There was only 17 points between 1st place and the final relegation place, highlighting the fact that the league was tight all through the season. Going into the final set of fixtures it looked as if we may push for promotion, but a patch of stale form and some extremely underwhelming performances had us battling the likes of Dubrava, Solin and Sibenik to stay up. Two wins in the final two weeks of the season secured our safety and had us finally positioned in a respectable 5th place.

Key Players

Dalibor Vugrinec - the young winger was undoubtedly the star of the season, finishing up with 18 goals from the left wing as well as winning the Top Goalscorer and Player of The Year awards for the Division. It was a struggle to keep him at the club over the course of the season, as clubs such as Rijeka and Dinamo were vying for his signature. At first he was unhappy to not be allowed to move to a bigger club, but 2 new contracts in one season later (!) and he's happy to keep going at Varazdin.

There were other notable performances from Academy products Jaros and Besenic who were both regulars in the first team all season. Besenic is developing into a top defender and is now a key player for the team and an Under-19s internationalist. Captain Nikolic and striker Ivanovic both had solid seasons, though playmaker Jalusic under-performed. Right-back Zeleznjak had a great season and will continue at the club this year. Strikers Melnjak and Knezevic had rather quiet seasons but will hopefully step up next season.

Youth Intake Prospects

A fantastic youth intake just over half-way through the season provided the squad with much needed depth and cover. I hoped the clubs's Above Average Youth Recruitment would provide some new talent and I was not disappointed. From the first youth intake, several players found themselves in and around the first team as a result of injuries, poor form and suspension:

Kevin Shaw

Dalibor Liber

Zeljko Petkovic

Dragan Menegati

Striker Daniel Micic, left back Robert Drozdjek and wide midfielder Dalibor Novinic also had their first taste of first-team action and will feature heavily next season.

In other news, veteran midfielder Ivan Rezic retired at the end of the season but was added to the club staff as a scout.

[Dibond]

KV Turnhout - Season 1 Review (2017/2018)

League Table | League Playoff Table | Squad Stats | Transfers | End of Season Awards | League Positions Graph

Competitions

Derde Klasse : 3rd

Cofidis Cup : 4th Round

Season Review

Shockingly the season started off fairly well, considering I lost my star striker (leaving me with only one striker) due to free agency. This also left me with only 16 players. However, the first friendly was a strong win against Stade de Reims. We would go on to start the season strong, going on a couple of convincing unbeaten runs. We closed out the first stage of the season with 4 wins in a row to help us make it into the playoffs. However, we just didn't have what it took against the top sides in this round to make it through. One of our fellow newcomers to the league RWDM had it out for us in particular, beating us 4 times in as many meetings through the season (including the playoff round). They did not get promoted either (only one side per year does ) so I have a feeling this will be a strong rivalry for us. All in all, we were incredibly lucky with injuries and quite a few results, so I'm really hoping just to stay in the top half again next season while we wait for youth to get some experience.

Players of the Season

Daniel Owusu - Definitely our player of the year. Provided much needed stability in the midfield with passing and tackling. Also supplied 1 goal and 8 assists.

Michiel Clyncke - Our star wideman, provided 14 goals and 21 assists.

Rawley Rozendaal - Our other wideman, provided 7 goals and 16 assists.

Youth Intake

Pretty impressed with the quality, should provide some good cover, and have some good looking players for the future. However, not overly impressed with the look of any strikers, which is where I definitely need a good replacement.

Hannes Ceulemans (YP01a) - Wow, this midfielder has some great overall starting stats, looking forward to playing him and seeing him improve next season.

Danny Eekman (YP01b) - A pacy winger with a good personality, have a feeling he will be a starter within a season or two. Will get a decent number of appearances next season.

Mohammed Bah (YP01c) - Nice starting stats on this GK. Will slot into the starting role next season, as he already looks on par with my current starter.

Mathias Devos (YP01d) - First AMC in the squad, hoping to start him some next season in my preferred 4-2-3-1 (couldn't run it this season due to no AMC).

Jens Segers (YP01e) - Fast and defensively strong RB. A position I've already got some depth in, but looks to be an incredibly promising player.

Christopher Thonnes (YP00) - My 1 initial youth prospect has grown leaps and bounds since the start, has just about cemented his place in the starting lineup already, and looks like he will continue to grow.

Season 2 (2018/19) Goals

* Top-half finish

* Begin to give our first batch of youth players first team action

[Andrew K]

For France, do you just start with a club promoted to National as it appears you can't select a CFA club? Also, I can confirm the reset date for France is still June 19th.

[Shakes]

CFA isn't a playable league, so yes.

[Andrew K]

Thanks. I think I'm going to look elsewhere as the clubs promoted to National have a large number of players. Sort of takes the fun out of the challenge.

[Jimbokav1971]

Hi guys. I have a question that I would like your opinion on, (irrespective of position), if you don't mind.

I am currently doing a "Youth Only" version of the San Marino challenge after a failed Youth Only Germany challenge and I was finding it a struggle. As a result I decided to allow myself to re-sign players who had previously come through our academy.

I don't mean players who had just been at the club or players who had spent time in the Youth Squad. Simply and only players who's 1st club in their history line was San Marino.

I would like your thoughts on this, (whatever they may be), and how it impacts on my save.

I must add that in order to get San Marino promoted I had to holiday for 2 full seasons, (they never seem to get promoted the 1st season), so some of these players were at the club when the game started but were subsequently released over the following 2 seasons.

The reason I ask is not really for myself, (I am happy with how I am playing), but others are interested and it's just a general discussion that is on-going.

On the plus side, all 5 players that I have signed over the course of my save have San Marino listed as the 1st club in their history, (so are most certainly products of the clubs Youth Academy).

On the negative side, they are indeed 5 incoming transfers.

With a longer term view, I have already released 1 player that I would be very keen to re-sign.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[kccircle]

R White Daring Molenbeek - Season 2 2018/19

Table

Finances

Club Information Screen

Squad

Transfers

Youth Intake

My second season was one of struggle. We flirted with the bottom three all season and only avoided being in the relegation group on the fact that the table is sorted by points / wins / goal difference. We had one more win than the team who finished one place below

Year 1 Youth Intake

Panuwat Piamphongsarn Just 1.5 star potential

Robin David Possible 2.5 star potential but as a GK I have better in the club already so he hasn't been used much

Yorgan Lebrun Some ok mentals and phyicals but just nothing in his Technical Stats which suggest he will develop much

Alban Charpentier My scouts don't see a future for him at the club

Maxence Le Calvez Some decent physicals and think he has a future. Will need to give him more game time next season

Brice Mafuta In terms of potential this guy is the best rated. Needs a season where he plays 10-15 games to see how he develops, but one for next season

Aim for next season is to not have to flirt with relegation and get one or more of the above into first team contention

[toonbalmy87]

I will be starting my Managerial career here i liked the badge and never tried Finland before so i thought id give it a whirl

[Andrew K]

I can confirm a couple of reset dates for leagues not listed on the OP>

Austria June 6th

Hungary June 19th

[Alokarin]

Hello all. This is my second year with FM, and my first attempt at a Youth Academy challenge. I will be managing the Ilkeston FC Robins:

The oldest player on the main squad is 23. But first, to hire some staff!

[ManUtd1]

Győri ETO FC

2016/17 Pre-Season

After a substantial amount of deliberation, including multiple times where I changed my mind (mainly due to a strong desire to return to Sweden or Greece, coupled with immense frustration that IFK Malmo is not available this year) … meet the new manager of Győri ETO FC, in the Hungarian second tier (aka the Merkantil Bank Hungary NB II).

Győr have a fair bit of history, having won the OTP Bank Liga four times (1963, 1982, 1983 and 2013), and the Magyar Kupa on four occasions (1965-1967 and 1979). Győr also won the Borsodi Szuperkupa in 2013. Győr also have history in Europe, playing in the Champions League as recently as 2013-14 (losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2nd qualifying round), and even reached the 1964-65 European Cup semi-finals, where they lost 4-1 (agg) to Eusébio’s Benfica. Győr also reached the quarterfinals of the Cup Winner’s Cup in 1966-67.

However, after finishing 8th in the OTP Bank Liga in 2015, Győr were relegated administratively when the club’s ownership group went bankrupt.

The mission is thus three-fold: (1) return the glory days of the Aranycsapat (the Golden Team, aka the Magnificent Magyars); (2) play attacking, attractive football; and (3) focus exclusively on youth development, to ensure that the financial mishaps of the past do not recur. Not too much to ask, is it? (Yes, I do like having a narrative in my head for these saves!)

A long road lies ahead for this unknown, inexperienced American manager. With the media predicting a 14th place finish, and only 167 season ticket holders, at least if we crash and burn it won't be completely unexpected. I have a relatively complete squad, with 2 incoming free transfers signed by prior management. Our facilities are in excellent shape for this challenge, given our fallen giant status. ETO Park is a beauty, with not only the primary stadium, but also multiple outdoor and indoor practice pitches (Photo1; Photo 2; Photo3).

[yugular]

I will be starting my Managerial career here i liked the badge and never tried Finland before so i thought id give it a whirl

Good luck! Im also trying out this challenge in Finland with KPV.

[MarcxD]

An interesting development....

Tycoon take-over

[bg0123]

Hi everyone. Unfortunately, my career at Gimnastica in Spain (post here) was short lived. Two games after the youth intake, the board decided to let me go. 13th position (out of 20) was not up to their expectations.

I will continue this save and take over a newly promoted team in the summer. From what I understand from previous posts, I can continue as long as the team I choose was not playable for the 2015/2016 season.

The seasons in Spain are pretty long, 38 matches in the Second Division, 42 in the second tier and 38 in La Liga. If I don't succeed this time I may look elsewhere.

[brettney1980]

Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Parma Calcio 1913

(Or just Parma);

My Profile.



Club Background.

Season 2 - 2017/18

I would of been happy with us battling well and finishing just outside of the relegation zone after the step up in divisions, but to be close to the top 4-6 for a huge portion of the season was a huge achievement. We dropped off a little towards the end of the season but a solid mid table finish was excellent and hopefully we can do the same next year.

Squad|Transfers|League Table|Finances|Season Review|Awards

We got a few awards/came close.

Daniele Melandri - 2nd top scorer in Serie B.

Francesco Corapi - Serie B player of Season.

Yves Baraye - Serie B Midfielder of the Year.

Class of 2018 - Youth Candidates;

Norman Dovico YP 2a - CM/AMC - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Gianluigi Guidotti YP2b - CB - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Stefano Salomone YP2c - GK - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Maurizio Malasomma YP2d - LB - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Yuri Brugger YP2e - CM/LM - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Matteo Nardi YP2f - CB/LB - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Mauro Fusco YP1a - CM/DMC - Initial Profile|Coach Report - Season 1. - Sold to Lazio £1m.

Daniele Leonardi YP1b - CB/LB - Initial Profile|Coach Report - Season 1.

Michele Valiante YP1c - GK - Initial Profile|Coach Report - Season 1.

Retirements;

Miglietta|Guazzo

[Braumiller]

Hi guys. I have a question that I would like your opinion on, (irrespective of position), if you don't mind.

I am currently doing a "Youth Only" version of the San Marino challenge after a failed Youth Only Germany challenge and I was finding it a struggle. As a result I decided to allow myself to re-sign players who had previously come through our academy.

I don't mean players who had just been at the club or players who had spent time in the Youth Squad. Simply and only players who's 1st club in their history line was San Marino.

I would like your thoughts on this, (whatever they may be), and how it impacts on my save.

I must add that in order to get San Marino promoted I had to holiday for 2 full seasons, (they never seem to get promoted the 1st season), so some of these players were at the club when the game started but were subsequently released over the following 2 seasons.

The reason I ask is not really for myself, (I am happy with how I am playing), but others are interested and it's just a general discussion that is on-going.

On the plus side, all 5 players that I have signed over the course of my save have San Marino listed as the 1st club in their history, (so are most certainly products of the clubs Youth Academy).

On the negative side, they are indeed 5 incoming transfers.

With a longer term view, I have already released 1 player that I would be very keen to re-sign.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Hey Jimbo. For the purposes of this challenge, there can be zero signings , period