[FM17] Football, fire and ice: The inside story of Iceland's remarkable rise.

[Jimbokav1971]

Most clean sheets in a season. Aug 2030.

We still have 7 league games to play, plus a domestic Cup FInal, and 2 European games that will hopefully rise to at least 8 European games, (so another 16 games as a minimum assuming we don't get out of the group stage).

[Jimbokav1971]

21 hours ago, Toffle said:

We want the tracker Jimbo

As requested, here is the updated tracker.

 

Edited January 15, 2017 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Ex Youth Players who have left the club. Aug 2030.

The 2nd player on the list, (27b) Viktor (Driven) * is actually a Man City player, but has gone on loan to Braga of Portugal. It's good news for him because I doubt he is near the Man City squad, and if anything I hope that (26b) Páll Stefán (Spirit) joins him out on loan somewhere. 

You might notice that (22a) Jón (M.Pro) (2022) * who is at Rosenborg has agreed to join another club. That club is actually us and we have agreed to sign him on a free in Jan 2031 when his contract expires. Rosenborg paid £2.2M for him 6 seasons ago, however I'm not sure I would be signing him if he wasn't a Model Pro personality. 

[Jimbokav1971]

9 players called up to Senior Icelandic Squad. Aug 2030.

Although we have had more than 21 players called up for INT duty before, the most players we have seen called up to a Senior Squad is 8. These 9 players set a new record and are likely to feature for some time to come because their ages are 19, 19, 20, 22, 21, 25, 21, 19 & 18.

I am in the process of selling right back (21a) Haukur (Sport) (2021) * because although he is a current International, he is actually only our 3rd choice right back as 18 year old (28b) Árni (F.Pro) * will soon become the starting DR for the Senior NT squad for years to come, but also 21 year old (25e) Dagur Þórisson (Pro) will be his under-study once he leaves the U21's. 

[Jimbokav1971]

 Planned Youth Facilities upgrade. Oct 2030.

We really don't need them and things are going well as they are, but we are qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League each season and then by selling a big player every couple of years it means that we have a fair bit of cash rolling in.

Training Facilities are currently at Excellent which is level 18-19.

Youth Facilities are currently at Superb which is level 16-17, (and are being upgraded).

Junior Coaching is currently at Exceptional which is maxed out at level 20.

Youth Recruitment is currently at Well Established which is level 17-18.

I don't know what is needed to make the next level of Youth Recruitment, but I think it's probably a few different things. 

Our club reputation probably needs to pop for start. 

Our finances are looking good and should help towards the reputation pop.    

Our coefficient has been going in the right direction and we should break the top 50 next season.

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Goal-scoring GK watch. Nov 2030.

(24b) Ben Óli (Amb) * is 23 years old and I thought we were going to lose him but we have recently tied him down to a new 4 year contract with an option for 3 more. He has scored 8 goals this season, 7 the previous season and 7 the year before that after only scoring 2 goals in 38 games over 4 seasons at the start of his career. At the current rate, 50 goals is a realistic target. I would love to have an chance at 100, but I would hope that we will have a better option before then. 

(19d) Ívar Örn (Pro) * is now 29 and although he is the best back-up at the club, he also has a significant presence as a tutor. I would like to think that we will get a replacement who will raise the levels of 1st choice keeping at the club over the next 5 or so years, (meaning that the levels might actually increase in about 8-9 years, but there are no guarantees with that. I once waited 10 years just to get an average keeper through the ranks at San Marino. 

[Jimbokav1971]

International call-ups. Nov 2030.

28 is a new record I think.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

International Job Offer. Dec 2030.

Iceland are back again and have offered me the National job for the 2nd time, (after I initially turned it down a year ago).

There is obviously going to be a point in the save where this will interest me, but that point is not now. 
 

[Jimbokav1971]

Transfer Madness. Jan 2031.

First of all this bid came in from Juve for (28b) Árni (F.Pro) * and it was accepted. 

This was a disaster because there was such a big difference between the PA of (28b) Árni (F.Pro) * and the player with the next best PA in that position. 

No sooner had I protested the transfer and had my protest upheld, (at the 2nd attempt), than Arsenal were in for (27d) Snær Jakob (F.Pro) *.

This time there was no opportunity to protest the transfer. While obviously not happy at the sale at all never mind the paltry price, we do at least have more depth in central midfield than we do at right back. He is obviously gone already so I can't do a squad depth chart for central midfield right now, (at least not one that includes (27d) Snær Jakob (F.Pro) *), but I can go back to 6 weeks ago and show it.

Obviously (27d) Snær Jakob (F.Pro) * is one of our best players and will certainly be missed, but even taking into account that we play with 2 central midfielders, (compared to 1 right back), we should still be able to cope with his loss better than we would the loss of right back (28b) Árni (F.Pro) *.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Model Pro OCD update. Jan 2031.

 

[Bedese]

Is that every personality at the club? If so... 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, Jupjamie said:

Is that every personality at the club? If so... 

No. That's just the Pro personalities.

[Jimbokav1971]

More Transfer woes. Jan 2031.

Another player has gone and I'm powerless to stop it.

Unfortunately it's an important position in the team and he is going to be missed.

If that last transfer was bad, this next transfer is absolutely horrendous. 

He's our best player and we have just let him go for £2.5M when we have £20M in the bank. I just don't understand it. 

 

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Ouch, hopefully this stops soon or it'll be a save ending problem.

[l4nd3r]

SI has to fix this in future games. It's a recurring (and annoying) problem, it shouldn't take club reputation as factor when auto-accepting these deals, just finance.

Edited January 22, 2017 by l4nd3r

[Toffle]

@l4nd3r is right. That would be great if you could report this as a bug Jimbo so we could all benefit from it in future saves.

[Jimbokav1971]

9 hours ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

Ouch, hopefully this stops soon or it'll be a save ending problem.

While really annoying and frustrating, I certainly don't see it as a save ending problem. It is certainly slowing down my progress, but as I will mention in a minute, it's possibly a little bit partly of my own making. 

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, l4nd3r said:

SI has to fix this in future games. It's a recurring (and annoying) problem, it shouldn't take club reputation as factor when auto-accepting these deals, just finance.

Believe it or not, I don't actually agree with you. It shouldn't be just reputation that decides this, nor should it just be financially driven. Like many other aspects of the game it should include both reputation and finance, but not be limited to one or the other or even just both of them. 

The main issue is that for whatever reason, (and I am going back to check on the tracker now so thanks @Tofflefor encouraging me to update it), we popped to F.Good (2.5) reputation in 2024 and now in Feb 2031 we are still stuck at the same reputation level despite appearing every season in first the Group Stages of the Europa Cup and now the Champions League for the last 7 seasons. 

I have been desperate  to pop the reputation to 3.0, but for whatever reason it hasn't happened. I actually thought initially that selling players for reasonable fees would actually assist the development of our Reputation, and while I think it has helped, it hasn't been enough to reach the tipping point, (although I think we are close). 

I also need to take some responsibility for this situation because at my insistence we have recently started work on both Youth Facilities and Training Facilities that come at a combined cost of approx £9.5M. We have also already seen both lots types of upgrade in 2027 and 2029. While it could be argued that this is money well spent in view of the nature of the save, (somewhere approaching £15M), I also have to accept that if I hadn't requested just 1 of the upgrades, then it could have been enough to send us over the tipping point to the next level of reputation. Of course there is no guarantee of this, but the flip side of the coin is that at the very least we would have had £35M in the bank rather than almost £20M, and this might have been enough for the board to not be quite so willing to accept such rubbish deals for such excellent players, (especially with so long left on their contracts). On that note, while the value of the deals is immensely frustrating, by far the most annoying aspect is that each player had so long left on their contract, (3 years+ for each one as a minimum I think). While the acceptance of the deals is annoying, it's actually the acceptance of the deals in line with the length of contract still remaining that is the main issue. Had they sold these players with 18 months or less left on their contract  then that's completely understandable, but I was actually paying over the odds when negotiating contracts with these players at every stage just so that I would have a 3 year option so that this type of thing would not happen. 

The whole area of the game is finely balanced and while it's not quite right, I don't it's a disaster-zone either. 

If we pretend for a minute that this wasn't FM17 and instead was real life, then is it really a million miles away from reality? No, I don't think it is. It's quite reasonable to expect that in real life small clubs sell their players for a profit, (even successful small clubs), and when you add into the mix that the guaranteed income is tiny because we are playing in Iceland rather than England or one of the big structures, then I can certainly see the wisdom. (Just not when the players have so long left on their contracts). 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Toffle said:

@l4nd3r is right. That would be great if you could report this as a bug Jimbo so we could all benefit from it in future saves.

I am certainly going to create a thread in the bugs forum, but I wouldn't specifically call it a bug. Instead I think it's a hugely complicated part of the game which is working well, but where there is room for improvement. 

[Toffle]

I agree with you, it's a bit harsh to call it a bug. Nevertheless, there are a couple things in your save that are worth bringing up on the bug forum.

- When it comes to the board accepting deals for you, it seems highly unrealistic in your situation. If what you achieved happened in real life, you would probably become godlike there and manage a big part of the club (except if your relationship with the board is bad). Therefore, we should ask SI what factors are involved in this situation and what could be done to improve it (probably adding board confidence as an important factor when finances are healthy).

- The fact you're loosing board confidence after every election.

Hopefully, improving these two things will make your next adventure (on FM18 ) even better than this one!

[l4nd3r]

On 22/01/2017 at 10:15, Jimbokav1971 said:

I am certainly going to create a thread in the bugs forum, but I wouldn't specifically call it a bug. Instead I think it's a hugely complicated part of the game which is working well, but where there is room for improvement. 

I don't think it's a bug, just a dis-balanced mechanic. The reputation weight shouldn't be this important, it should take your campaign(European) and your control of finances into account. Doesn't make sense to sell your best future players for a third(or even forth) of the profit you could do after a few years, even more when you don't need the money. Clubs like GNK Dinamo relies on selling players to stay afloat, but they don't sell them so cheap. They wait to develop the player to sell.

Also, the way the game take away the control for when accepting the deal is wrong, the only way a Chairman should auto-accept is if they need the money or the player is on the last year of contract.

Edit:
And yeah, to rise your reputation you're going to almost need to win a European Titles, because since your league has a low overall reputation, you don't gain much in winning it, so you rely on Continental Football, yeah it sucks, but what can you do? The game is not really built to improve Nations/Leagues(Until Youth Rating stops being a fixed value i don't this is going to change, which is a bit sad).

Edited January 24, 2017 by l4nd3r

[Carninho]

But you would also expect the player to want to leave for the big club and hand in a transfer request if the move is blocked. I know all the squad are pretty much pro's and model pro's, but if we are saying its unrealistic for the board to accept these offers, surely its unrealistic for an Icelandic player to be happy to stay it this minor club when big clubs come along. 

(I know Jimbokav1971 hasnt raised that as an issue, i'm just adding to the debate  )

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, Carninho said:

But you would also expect the player to want to leave for the big club and hand in a transfer request if the move is blocked. I know all the squad are pretty much pro's and model pro's, but if we are saying its unrealistic for the board to accept these offers, surely its unrealistic for an Icelandic player to be happy to stay it this minor club when big clubs come along. 

(I know Jimbokav1971 hasnt raised that as an issue, i'm just adding to the debate  )

That's a slightly different, (although still very valid), point. 

I actually have a number of unhappy players for this very reason and while it is frustrating to manage, it's also very realistic. My top 2 most valuable players are both classed as "unhappy", and I have a 3rd of the top 10 most valuable players also "unhappy". Of course they want to leave and join better clubs. It's now a balancing act between getting the best out of them in their current unhappy state, and comparing that to slightly poorer but happy players.

[Ceching You Out]

On 1/22/2017 at 07:14, Jimbokav1971 said:

Believe it or not, I don't actually agree with you. It shouldn't be just reputation that decides this, nor should it just be financially driven. Like many other aspects of the game it should include both reputation and finance, but not be limited to one or the other or even just both of them. 

The main issue is that for whatever reason, (and I am going back to check on the tracker now so thanks @Tofflefor encouraging me to update it), we popped to F.Good (2.5) reputation in 2024 and now in Feb 2031 we are still stuck at the same reputation level despite appearing every season in first the Group Stages of the Europa Cup and now the Champions League for the last 7 seasons. 

I have been desperate  to pop the reputation to 3.0, but for whatever reason it hasn't happened. I actually thought initially that selling players for reasonable fees would actually assist the development of our Reputation, and while I think it has helped, it hasn't been enough to reach the tipping point, (although I think we are close). 

I also need to take some responsibility for this situation because at my insistence we have recently started work on both Youth Facilities and Training Facilities that come at a combined cost of approx £9.5M. We have also already seen both lots types of upgrade in 2027 and 2029. While it could be argued that this is money well spent in view of the nature of the save, (somewhere approaching £15M), I also have to accept that if I hadn't requested just 1 of the upgrades, then it could have been enough to send us over the tipping point to the next level of reputation. Of course there is no guarantee of this, but the flip side of the coin is that at the very least we would have had £35M in the bank rather than almost £20M, and this might have been enough for the board to not be quite so willing to accept such rubbish deals for such excellent players, (especially with so long left on their contracts). On that note, while the value of the deals is immensely frustrating, by far the most annoying aspect is that each player had so long left on their contract, (3 years+ for each one as a minimum I think). While the acceptance of the deals is annoying, it's actually the acceptance of the deals in line with the length of contract still remaining that is the main issue. Had they sold these players with 18 months or less left on their contract  then that's completely understandable, but I was actually paying over the odds when negotiating contracts with these players at every stage just so that I would have a 3 year option so that this type of thing would not happen. 

The whole area of the game is finely balanced and while it's not quite right, I don't it's a disaster-zone either. 

If we pretend for a minute that this wasn't FM17 and instead was real life, then is it really a million miles away from reality? No, I don't think it is. It's quite reasonable to expect that in real life small clubs sell their players for a profit, (even successful small clubs), and when you add into the mix that the guaranteed income is tiny because we are playing in Iceland rather than England or one of the big structures, then I can certainly see the wisdom. (Just not when the players have so long left on their contracts). 

 

Having similarly monitored club reputation and read up on it where possible, I think it accrues much, much slower than we realize. While individual matches have an impact, the biggest increases by far come from winning reputable trophies. That's much more difficult in smaller countries when we're not going to win the EL or CL. We're left with the league and the challenge there is that the league reputation is in turn a limiter on club reputation. It's like walking up a hill with a ball and chain shackled to your ankle; even as you make progress it's periodically going to trip you up.

With that said, I wonder whether we or SI are placing the same value on reaching the Group Stages, especially CL. To me (and most FM players it seems), consistent appearances there are a sign that a club has "made it". In recent CL editions that's described teams like BATE, Basel, Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk; I tend to think of them not as "big" clubs, but fairly reputable. Without my experiences with FM, I doubt I'd be able to name another team in their respective leagues. In other words, I think I substitute recognition for reputation in this context. 

That doesn't appear to be how FM handles reputation. If my Avenir Beggen club or your Icelandic club were finding the same consistent European appearances in real life, I'd consider them roughly on par with the better teams in most 2nd divisions from major countries. That's not what you'll find if you compare their reputations in game. That points to a discrepancy, albeit one I'm not able to neatly solve. Does our club's reputation not rise enough based on those appearances or do we overrate recognition too much in real life? Does that international recognition equate to a significant reputation difference within their respective leagues?

[PaulHartman71]

You've been absolutely raided there. Unlucky, fingers crossed the lesser players can improve and get to grips with first team football sooner rather than later.

[noikeee]

18 hours ago, Ceching You Out said:

Having similarly monitored club reputation and read up on it where possible, I think it accrues much, much slower than we realize. While individual matches have an impact, the biggest increases by far come from winning reputable trophies. That's much more difficult in smaller countries when we're not going to win the EL or CL. We're left with the league and the challenge there is that the league reputation is in turn a limiter on club reputation. It's like walking up a hill with a ball and chain shackled to your ankle; even as you make progress it's periodically going to trip you up.

With that said, I wonder whether we or SI are placing the same value on reaching the Group Stages, especially CL. To me (and most FM players it seems), consistent appearances there are a sign that a club has "made it". In recent CL editions that's described teams like BATE, Basel, Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk; I tend to think of them not as "big" clubs, but fairly reputable. Without my experiences with FM, I doubt I'd be able to name another team in their respective leagues. In other words, I think I substitute recognition for reputation in this context. 

That doesn't appear to be how FM handles reputation. If my Avenir Beggen club or your Icelandic club were finding the same consistent European appearances in real life, I'd consider them roughly on par with the better teams in most 2nd divisions from major countries. That's not what you'll find if you compare their reputations in game. That points to a discrepancy, albeit one I'm not able to neatly solve. Does our club's reputation not rise enough based on those appearances or do we overrate recognition too much in real life? Does that international recognition equate to a significant reputation difference within their respective leagues?

I agree consistency of continental competition performances is what REALLY builds a club reputation in real life, particularly in that step when a club from a lower league makes it. However a one-off can be seen as a fluke. Apoel from Cyprus reached the quarter-finals of the CL a few years ago. Are they seen as a big club now? No, because they haven't remotely approached it since and don't consistently make the group stages. However a lot like BATE Borisov are probably seen as slightly bigger because they make it year after year, despite having never broke past the group stages.

I agree this isn't properly represented in FM where competition wins are the holy grail of reputation and little else seems to matter. It could and should improve. However, I can also imagine this being impossibly hard to code. Don't forget that the module for improving club reputation isn't specific for the Champions League... or any particular stages of any competition. It needs to work for the Europa League... for South America... for Asia... for Africa... and don't forget that in the database you have a "competition reputation" but not a "stage reputation"... there's nothing to tell the game that reaching the CL group stages is a huge landmark. It's a truly tricky thing for coders, but it definitely should place more weight on CONTINUED performances as a reputation booster.

We should probably take this discussion to somewhere SI will read it. Bugs forum? 

[Ceching You Out]

@noikeee, good points plus reputation changes from continental competitions can't destabilize domestic league balance. It's likely a tightrope to walk, hence why I wouldn't call it a defect without understanding the reasoning. Maybe not a bug, more of a... extended, single topic "Ask SI" thread? Not that that's a thing anymore.

[Jimbokav1971]

My understanding is that the SI testing team keep a little eye on both the Challenge forum and the Careers forum so that they can look for info on long-term threads of a particular type. Just because we might not see them posting or even reading does not suggest that they are not keeping an eye on these things. I know I would were I in there position. Both forums are a wealth of info which they would be naive to ignore, and I don't think they are naive.

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Day 2031. 

No 5.0 PA player, (or even a 4.5 PA player), but a (BRA), (albeit a rubbish one), and some decent players and some Pro personalities. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

European Campaign 2030.

Apologies but I forgot to take a picture of the Champions League Group stage. It's not hard to work out that we finished bottom of the group with just 1 point. 

The early stages of qualifying were a little lacklustre if I'm honest, but I have been chasing a "perfect" domestic season and as a result have been prioritising league games ahead of early qualifying. Our target each season at this stage of the save if the Group Stages of the Champions League so I'm not worried at all about the relatively poor performance in Europe. Just to get as far as we did is still good long-term progress. I would obviously like to be more competitive and be in with a chance of playing in the Knockout stages of at least the Europa League, but as long as we keep taking little steps forward I'm ok to be patient. 

[Jimbokav1971]

European Campaign 2031.

We still finished bottom of the league, but this time we managed to get a win and were reasonably competitive at least in the other 2 home games. The 3 away games were harder and I will probably look to develop an away tactic to try and eke out some draws away from home. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Updated Tracker 2031. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

We've been stuck on F.Good (2.5) club reputation for a while now and it was really important to "pop" it to Good (3.0). It felt like a really long time in terms of the save, but after checking we had only been at that level since 2024 so although that's long, it's not a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things. 

The only negative here is the 1 place drop in club ranking. I expect us to bounce back next season, and then for the next 2 seasons too, but in 4 season time I expect to take a hit again when we lose the coefficient for 2029/30 where we gained 5 points in the Group Stage after a perfect qualifying campaign gained us a record season coefficient of 9.025.

I would expect/hope to get to the knockout staged of something in the next few seasons, (3 more I think is realistic), and I'm also hoping that the recent facility improvements will start to pay dividends in terms of Youth quality and also the rate at which it develops. 

[Jimbokav1971]

U19 Champions League 2031.

We've been making steady progress in the U19 version of the Champions League, but frustratingly all non-U19 league fixtures vanish 

I know that this competition isn't huge in the grand scheme of things, and I'm not even in control of U19 squad selection never mind about managing the games, but because of the way that I am playing this save, winning this trophy is certainly higher on the list of my priorities than it otherwise might be. 

The season is sort of split up into a few different stages now. 

1. Pre-season starts from when the players return from holiday, (early January) and takes us up to the time when the League Cup starts, (mid February).
2. The League Cup period starts in Mid February and goes onto early May and also includes the Champions Cup, (aka the Charity Shield).
3. The League campaign starts in early May and we can focus on this until late August when we play the Champions League Playoff. 
4. The Champions League Playoff in late August signifies the start of the Champions League campaign, (I'm ignoring the earlier qualifying games), and this takes us through to mid-December. 
5. We then have a break between mid-December and early January when pre-season starts again. 

The only problem with this is that as we are developing as a club, the Senior squad is now on the verge of staying in European competition past the start of pre-season of the following year and in fact this is already taking it's toll on the Youth Team. We have qualified from the Group stages of the U19's Champions League for the 2nd time now, (I think, because the fixtures still frustratingly vanish), and it means that the youngsters are now being asked to play Champions League knockout football at the same time as they are playing 2 friendlies in a week against the huge Senior squad in an attempt to get everyone fit. We lost to a Russian team last season I think, (again, I can't check because the fixtures vanish), but It's only now that I realise that the youngsters must have been knackered. 

I'm trying to not make the same mistakes again so I am looking at it in advance at the Fixtures for the late Feb 2032 early Mar 2032 period. 

Senior Fixtures. 

U19 Fixtures. 

You can see why I might have missed the U19's Fixture congestion last season, (and previously). Although there are friendlies created between the U19's and the Senior Squad when we do not have competitive games, for some reason they don't appear on the U19 Fixture list. I'm sure they used to previously and I can't really understand why they don't now. 

The bottom pic suggests that the U19's have no fixtures between the last group game on 9th December 2031 and the single-legged 1st knockout round on 24th February 2032 when in fact they play on 3 occasions against the Senior squad. As it would happen, these games are on the following dates. 

27th Jan 2032

3rd Feb 2032

18th Feb 2032

That actually seems quite reasonable and gives them a 6 day break before the knockout game against Ludogorets of Bulgaria.

To those who are wondering why I am playing so many fixtures against the U19's in pre/early season, well it's simply down to how many players we have at the club. Because of the nature of the save, I am signing every single player that comes through the academy onto a Youth contract, and then when they turn 17 I am signing every single Youth Player onto a Youth contract that is 3 years in length and has an option for 3 more years. That means that I can either sell players aged 22 for a profit, or release them on a free aged 23). To my mind I should have got these players developed to such an extent that I can see if they are going to make it or not and there seems very little chance of even a reasonable player slipping through the net or under the radar. Yes the board can and do regularly throw a spanner in the works by selling good players with many seasons left on their contract. but that's the nature of the beast I'm afraid and as mentioned before I think I have to take responsibility for at least some of that as a result of me spending cash on upgrading facilities. Recently for example, we turned down bids for players to the value of £6.5M & £6.0M and had our balance been closer to £20M than £40M as it is now, I think either or both of these bids would have been accepted.

In case you are wondering why I am playing games against the U19's rather than friendlies against other clubs, then it's simply because of the number of young players who wouldn't feature for the senior team, (even in a friendly).

16 years old. 6 players.

The above players are in the U19's squad and are only eligible for U19 games. The only exception to this are specific high PA players who are "fast-tracked" into the Senior squad in order to get them u and running earlier than would normally be the case. 

17 years old. 15 players.

18 years old. 14 players.

19 years old.  21 players.

All the above players are in the Senior squad, but are also made available for the U19 squad. This is partly to strengthen the U19 squad while giving them the time to benefit from training full-time with the senior squad. 

20 years old. 14 players. 

21 years old. 10 players. 

22 years old.  10 players. 

23 years old. 3 players. 

24 years old. 4 players. 

25 years old. 6 players. 

26 years old. 4 players. 

27 years old. 2 players. 

28 years old. 3 players. 

29 years old. 4 players. 

30 years old. 2 players. 

That covers all the players that have come through our academy, and on top of that we have 1 34 year old Model Pro non-playing tutor who is in his 9th season at the club without ever playing a competitive game. 

That means that there are a total of 109 players at the club. Yes many of these will be out on loan, (particularly those who have already been tutored to a desired personality but who are between 19 and 24 meaning that they are too old for the Youth Team, but too young to be used as a tutor. The 2 friendlies a week might give an opportunity to give the Senior players some early season match fitness, but not 100+ of them and certainly not the youngsters at the bottom of the pile. Playing many friendlies, (sometimes 2 per week), against the U19's allows the fringe players in each squad to also get match time. There are 56 players eligible for the U19's, (and probably more if my admin is backed up and 20 years olds are still registered for the U19's), so this is a perfect way to get exactly the sort of players playing football who really need it. Remember. I don't care what the score is in these games, (not even a little bit), and in most cases I don't even look at the match or the result. I occasionally look at the result of drawn games, (because all draws go to penalties), and I am just a little curious as to how the penalties might go. The sportsman in me screams that the more players take penalties, (even in friendlies), then the better their penalty taking will become, however the FM gamer in me has come to the conclusion that this isn't actually the case however much I might will it. 

I have at least worked out, (in the 10-11 win on penalties over Ludogorets after a 1-1 draw), that I am able to select the starting line-up for U19 games by virtue of the U19 squad page. The U19 manager still runs the team, but he has to start the game with my selected squad and the selected starting line-up, although he could make early substitutions if he wanted to. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

U19 Champions League Mar 2032.

We were unlucky to come up against Barca at this stage and they were just too good for us. 

There were mitigating circumstances however as of the 32 players from the 2030 and 2031 intakes, (which are the only players eligible), no less than 10 of them were on International duty for Iceland U19's. 

In hindsight I should have withdrawn these players from International duty, but as they were for competitive games, (EURO U19 Championship Qualifying), my understanding is that they would be ineligible for me during this period if I were to withdraw them. I am not 100% about this however so it is something I am going to have to test. 

In any case, getting to the 2nd Knockout Round is decent for the time being and they they are progressing out of the Group Stages, (ahead of the Senior squad), means that I should relax about their progress because they are ahead of schedule. I'm personally of the opinion that we would have given Barca U19's a doing with all players available so as long as I can recall players in this situation in future, then we should be looking good. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2032 Kriss watch.

(Yes, I know they are not called Kriss anymore, but I don't know what to call them so I think I'll keep calling them Kriss'). 

If anyone wants to know why Kriss' are called Kriss, then please read here. 

Kriss 1. (16a) Darri (Bal) (2016) *.

Season 1. 1st Part-Season. 3 appearances before getting injured.
Season 2. 19(5) appearances including 1 goal and 3 assists. 
Season 3. 13(3) appearances including 1 goal and 1 assist.
Season 4. 18(1) appearances including 2 goals and 3 assists. 
Season 5. 6(17) appearances including 3 assists. 
Season 6. 12(6) appearances including 1 goal. 
Season 7. 21(10) appearances including 3 goals and 7 assists. 
Season 8. 11(4) appearances including 5 assists.
Season 9. 18(11) appearances including 5 goals and 9 assists.
Season 10. 21(13) appearances including 3 goals and 10 assists.
Season 11. 16(11) appearances including 4 goals and 3 assists.
Season 12. 16(6) appearances including 2 goals and 12 assists. 
Season 13. 1(8) appearances. 
Transfer to Legia in Poland for £42.5k.
Season 14. 25 appearances including 1 goal and 5 assists. (non-playable league).
Season 15. 25 appearances including 5 assists. (non-playable league). 
Season 16. 23(2) appearances including 2 assists. (non-playable league). 
Transfer to Znicz Pruskow for free.
Season 17. 7(3) appearances including 2 assists and 2 goals. (Season still on-going).

Summary. (16a) Darri (Bal) (2016) * was a key player in the early years, despite not really producing startling results in terms of goals and assists. Better players came and went, but he wasn't good enough to earn a move abroad so that allowed for 13 seasons at HK before I decided that I really didn't need him anymore and let him move. Although he was better than we had a lot of the time, I didn't particularly like his attribute balance so despite him playing in what was a key position and being the best player in the 1st intake, he was never a favourite of mine, (even in that 1st year).

Edited January 30, 2017 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Kriss 2. (17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) *.

Season 1. 1st Part-Season. 1 appearance.
Season 2. 16(6) appearances including 1 goal and 8 assists. 
Season 3. 22(6) appearances including 7 goals and 4 assists.
Season 4. 21 appearances including 10 goals and 6 assists.
Season 5. 17(9) appearances including 13 goals and 5 assists. 
Season 6. 21(3) appearances consisting of 8 goals and 9 assists.
Season 7. 14(9) appearances including 5 goals and 6 assists.
Season 8. 12(12) appearances including 3 goals and 7 assists.
Season 9. 10(18) appearances including 3 goals and 11 assists.
Season 10. 21(4) appearances including 12 goals and 19 assists.
Season 11. 22(12) appearances including 14 goals and 14 assists.
Season 12. 19(9) appearances including 10 goals and 18 assists. 
Season 13. 16(15) appearances including 6 goals and 7 assists. 
Season 14. 12(8) appearances including 1 goal and 5 assists.
Transfer to Kalmar FF of Sweden for £105,000.
Season 15. 28 appearances including 1 assist. 
Season 16. 2 appearances, (season on-going). 

Summary. (17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) * was and still is all about pace and acceleration and I absolutely loved him. He was a hugely consistent performer for us not just in the early years, (where he scored more than he created), but also later on when he produced assist after glorious assist. I tried and failed to get him to forget the PPM "looks for pass rather than attempting to score", but it didn't seem to trouble him much, (although I do wonder how he might have performed without it). I let him go to Sweden for a nominal fee because He had given his best years to us and now I had better options I didn't want to stand in his way. Had he been a (M.Pro) personality I would have kept him regardless, (there is no room for sentiment where Model Pro's are concerned), but a (F.Pro) personality was easy to replace so I was happy to send him on his way.

Edited January 30, 2017 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Kriss 3. (18a) Arnar (Unamb) (2018) *.

Season 1. 1st Part-Season. 4 appearances including 1 assist.
Season 2. 5(1) appearances including 1 assist. 
Season 3. 1(6) appearances.
Season 4. 10(1) appearances including 4 assists. 
Season 5. 11(7) appearances including 3 goals and 8 assists.
Season 6. 12(6) appearances including 4 goals and 1 assist.
Season 7. 11(6) appearances including 5 goals and 2 assists.
Season 8. 17(6) appearances including 7 goals and 11 assists. 
Season 9. 12(12) appearances including 9 goals and 16 assists.
Season 10. 10(2) appearances including 3 goals and 5 assists.
Season 11. 10(2) appearances including 4 goals and 3 assists.
Season 12. 3(3) appearances including 2 goals and 5 assists.
Season 13. 3 appearances.
Season 14. 0(1) appearance.
Season 15. 1 appearance.

Summary. (18a) Arnar (Unamb) (2018) * has had a decent career, but he has always been in the shadow of  (17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) * and it's a shame that the best players from 2 consecutive intakes both played in the same positions. On the plus side, his extra bit of professionalism always caught my eye and while I know that he never performed to the same level as Baldur, he was still a terrific option to bring in when I wanted to rotate players with a big game coming up. 9 goals and 16 assists from 12(12) appearances was his best return in 2026 and to be honest, he probably somehow out-performed Baldur who's return of 12 goals and 19 assists from 21(4) appearances is actually slightly less fantastic. You can tell by the amount of playing time I gave him that he was a favourite of mine, (yes, that is probably linked to his personality), and that's certainly while he is still at the club and still making the odd appearance now and again.

Edited January 30, 2017 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

I really need to sort our attacking corners out. 

If I could sort it out we could take over the World. 

[Jellico73]

ZDoes putting a minimum fee on a player prevent the board from letting them go?  IE you put a clause in a players contract saying you won't let them go for less than "X Amount", is the board also beholden to that amount?

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, Jellico73 said:

ZDoes putting a minimum fee on a player prevent the board from letting them go?  IE you put a clause in a players contract saying you won't let them go for less than "X Amount", is the board also beholden to that amount?

I'm not 100% sure if I'm honest. My initial reaction is no, because it certainly hasn't worked that way in previous issues of the game. I suppose I will have to test it. Maybe if I add a min fee release clause of £50M to all Youth Players when offering their 1st Pro contract I can check,. 

[Steel Eagle]

No, I tried it in an English lower league save to keep off the vultures, clubs still bid lower than the release clause, and the board still accept, whether it slowed it or stopped some clubs from being interested I'm not sure.

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation. May 2032. 

We popped to Good (3.0) reputation in the close-season, (I think), It's been a while coming and I was really pleased when it happened. Unfortunately, the expected knock-on effects have not really materialised. I expected quite an influx of both Ass Men and HoYD from foreign countries, but all that happened was actually..... nothing.

[LPQR]

just caught up a bit, great progress Jimbo quite amazing to see that on average we kind of have the same pace, I'm also in 2032-33 with Sparta and I think we both started at a similar time

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, LPQR said:

just caught up a bit, great progress Jimbo quite amazing to see that on average we kind of have the same pace, I'm also in 2032-33 with Sparta and I think we both started at a similar time

I go through stages of playing quite quickly, but also go weeks where I hardly progress at all. 

For the next week or so I plan on playing a fair bit and really just updating the history on all the Kriss' all the way through. I didn't realise how long it had been since I did it. (3 down and 13 to go). By the time I get to 16 there will probably be a 17th by then. 

I need to catch up on yours actually. 

If I could just sort out attacking corners I think we would get out of the Group Stages and have an opportunity to progress further in the Champions League. I really need to sit down and not play at all and just look at corners. #boring. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Kriss 4. (19a) Ágúst (Unamb) (2019).

Season 1. 0 appearances.
Season 2. 0(1) appearances.
Season 3. 6 appearances including 1 goal and 1 assist. 
Season 4. On loan at AEgir in Icelandic First Division. 21 appearances including 2 goals. 
Season 5. 14 appearances including 6 assists.
Season 6. 17 appearances including 3 assists.
Season 7. 18 appearances including 3 assists.
Season 8. 17 appearances including 4 assists.
Season 9. 11 appearances including 1 goal and 3 assists.
Season 10. 13 appearances including 3 assists.
Season 11. 3 appearances including 1 assist,
Season 12. On loan at Fram in Icelandic Premier Division. 19 appearances including 1 assist.
Season 13. On loan at  Þór in Icelandic Premier Division. 20(1) appearances.
Free Transfer to Grindavik in Icelandic Premier Division.
Season 14. 6 appearances including 1 assist. (Season on-going).

Summary. (19a) Ágúst (Unamb) (2019) was a little unlucky in that I inherited a 16yp DR who was better than him, and in seasons after he arrived, we produced 2 more right-backs who were better than him quite quickly. As a result, despite his "Kriss" status, he was squeezed from both sides and this obviously limited his appearances. He did ok, but I'm not sure if he was ever the apple of my eye at right back. There was always someone who was either better than him right now, or more often someone who was going to be better than him in the future. When he made just 3 appearances in 2029 I knew it was time to let him go. He wasn't a suitable tutor due to his Unambitious personality and while his determination is in double figures, it's not worth shouting about. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

European Rankings Jun 2032.

[Jimbokav1971]

International Job Offer. July 2032.

Interesting....... 

[Jimbokav1971]

New achievement. July 2032.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake. Aug 2032.

This is a REALLY good intake and I don't say that lightly at all. 5.0 PA stars is all well and good, but we actually have some better than decent players at the club now so the standard against which they are being judged is at least significant. More than that though, we didn't just get a 5.0 player and then the rest were dross. In addition to the 1x 5.0 player. we were also rewarded with 2x 4.5 players and 1x 4.0 player.

It doesn't stop there though. Oh no. We got a 2nd Nationality, (I love a 2nd Nationality), there were some decent personalities that came through, (including a "Kriss" who is Resolute), better than decent determination across the board and the best set of workrate attributes that I have ever produced. 

"Kriss" (32a) Arnar þór (Res) (2032) *.

Edited February 3, 2017 by Jimbokav1971