FM18 Youth Academy Challenge

[TheWillsy]

I forgot to mention that I want to start tagging my youth players. What’s the format for this? Is it the year they come through and then rank the next from a,b,c etc? It’s not something I’ve done before but looks useful in your guys updates

[Sn00gle]

8 minutes ago, TheWillsy said:

I forgot to mention that I want to start tagging my youth players. What’s the format for this? Is it the year they come through and then rank the next from a,b,c etc? It’s not something I’ve done before but looks useful in your guys updates

There are two ways  you can write (YP01a) where nuber is your intake so far and a is rank for example or you can write (YP15a) where number is the year its up to you

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

5 hours ago, Sn00gle said:

There are two ways  you can write (YP01a) where nuber is your intake so far and a is rank for example or you can write (YP15a) where number is the year its up to you

I just do (01a) with the number of the intake.

[Crowy]

Rimini Calcio 2018/19

 

Manager Profile: Per Lindholm

Facilities: Facilities

Italy Restart Date: 30th June

 

So I was looking through the three leagues for a team to be and I thought I'd go for the team with the "longest" odds in the Season Preview. I decided on Rimini just because the were bottom of the only two teams with a 1000/1 shot over all three leagues. Surprisingly their facilities are quite decent for this level I believe and they have a good size stadium too, so that is a bonus. I would do a quick squad overview etc as well but I have no staff atm and not looked through the squad as of yet so I will do it before the start of season.

If I remember correctly the Italian lower leagues are really confusing. I think play off spots are determined by how many points apart the teams are so you could have up to like eight teams in the play off, I'm not sure though. I think it'll be a long time before I can even consider that anyway.

Edit:

What do I do if they have already agreed future transfers? They have agreed for two players to come in on the 1st July 2018.

 

[Bartrcm]

4 hours ago, Crowy said:

Rimini Calcio 2018/19

 

Manager Profile: Per Lindholm

Facilities: Facilities

Italy Restart Date: 30th June

 

So I was looking through the three leagues for a team to be and I thought I'd go for the team with the "longest" odds in the Season Preview. I decided on Rimini just because the were bottom of the only two teams with a 1000/1 shot over all three leagues. Surprisingly their facilities are quite decent for this level I believe and they have a good size stadium too, so that is a bonus. I would do a quick squad overview etc as well but I have no staff atm and not looked through the squad as of yet so I will do it before the start of season.

If I remember correctly the Italian lower leagues are really confusing. I think play off spots are determined by how many points apart the teams are so you could have up to like eight teams in the play off, I'm not sure though. I think it'll be a long time before I can even consider that anyway.

Edit:

What do I do if they have already agreed future transfers? They have agreed for two players to come in on the 1st July 2019.

 

You can use those players @Crowy. The transfers were done before you became the manager. Good luck with the challenge.

[TheWillsy]

13 hours ago, Sn00gle said:

There are two ways  you can write (YP01a) where nuber is your intake so far and a is rank for example or you can write (YP15a) where number is the year its up to you

Thanks. Gone through and done this for previous players so hopefully my updates will be a bit clearer now

[fairsy]

2nd year of an intake, 2nd so called 'golden generation'....

Currently 7th in the Conference with 12 games left so just hanging on to play off positions 

[fairsy]

Back to back defeats leave me 7th with 1 game to go - hanging on to my play off position by a solitary point.

In hindsight the run to the FA Trophy semi final badly cost me as ended up with so many games I couldn't keep my small squad fit and ended up losing key players to injuries so have been starting 4-5 teenagers week in-week out.

Will leave for home at 4.30pm and play this deciding game - but I don't hold out much hope even if I make the play offs as struggling to get results at the moment, although seem to be playign better against better teams (especially away from home so 7th may work!)

[Gareth Winter]

That is an impressive intake to be fair

Hopefully I will get a decent one when i eventually get that far. Sadly I am unable to upgrade anything at the minute, so I cannot see me getting a good intake

[fairsy]

Dulwich Hamlet are in the football league.....full report to follow

[MikaelS]

Which facilities are most important to focus on when starting?

[fairsy]

Season 2019/20 review - Dulwich Hamlet

Our first season in the Vanarama National ended in a quite unlikely promotion for Dulwich - once again goals were scored in great numbers - 118 goals in 49 games including the play offs, unfortunately I had 5 red cards more than anyone.....12 in total including 3 each for both my left backs!

A few facility upgrades means I now have Exceptional Junior coaching, Established youth recruitment and basic training/youth facilities so going in the right direction.

Once again, Faal was player of the season - across all competitions he scored 35 goals and made an incredible 37 assists!

Had another 'Golden Generation' come through, star men where Isaac Mbah, Harvey Lewis, Alan Booth and Martyn Hilton

Here's the League Table

My 2 best youth products so far are Mark Benson and Dean Gibson. Fleetwood keep offering £2k for Gibson, no idea why - although he's signed a new contract with a low minimum fee release clause which is a concern!

Anyway - onwards to league football. I don't think I've got a prayer to be honest - time to consolidate my young team.

Here's overall stats which show how many games I've given to the kids this year - Squad overview

[Ice Ice Gravy]

OFK Belgrade - 2018/19

I decided to take an easier route in my first attempt at this challenge, although it should still be ridiculously tough getting a team from Serbia to win the Champions League. And if the below is anything to go by it should take me a while...

League (12th) - The board wanted to avoid relegation and I duly obliged by the skin of my teeth. We beat Radnicki (P) 3-2 in injury time on the final day of the season to secure a further season at this level. We had a difficult start and I changed my tactics early on as I think my approach was too defensive originally. A more attacking approach paid off and by the mid-season break we were only 3 points off the top of the table.

Fixtures 1

Fixtures 2

The break lasted 3 months and knocked the wind well out of our sails however, and we struggled in the second half of the season. Injuries to key players hurt, but essentially we blew it. We created plenty of chances but struggled to convert and entered the final day 2 points adrift from safety. Hopefully next season will be a little more comfortable.

Fixtures 3

On a side note the new Dynamics system seems a realistic addition to the game, but it has caused me a headache at several points in my first season. For instance, 19 year old youngster wants first team football despite the player ahead of him being better, request declined, squad upset by my treatment of the little beast, several toys out of pram across the squad. To be fair to this 19 year old, he ended the season as my number one.

This is one example but this happened a few times and was pretty annoying, although I have rode the storm and now the squad thinks I'm doing "an average if unspectacular job". Just wondered if anyone knows if this will get better as I gain more experience in the save?

Serbian Cup - 1st round. Not much to say here, beat a few lower league teams in the qualifying rounds before exiting to a Super League team. Not really a priority at the moment.

Squad - Bit of a mixed bag. Decent strength in depth but few outstanding players at this level. It is quite a young squad though so that's a plus at this early stage. However there seems to be a few older players who have been really useful this year who must be close to retirement. Key mentions as follows:

Pavle Radunovic - Joint top scorer (7) with Vasilije Janjic, and also had the most assists (6). Only young so can definitely get better, and probably our best player overall in a disappointing first season.

Novak Martinovic - Highest average rating (7.05) and plays centre half. In his thirties so likely to go on the wane in the next year or two which is unfortunate.

Nemanja Trajkovic - Most MoM awards (3). Centre half partner to Martinovic.

Transfers - Moved on a lot of reserve players who weren't up to scratch and had no potential. Purchased a couple of tasty academy players from Partizan at the back end of the season... Jokes.

Youth Intake - A possible "golden generation" according to my inbox. They look like they have good potential and I signed up all of the tagged players. The pick of the bunch being a right winger who's already getting first team games and has received a call up to the Serbian u19 squad. Not too shabby for a 15 year old so will be interesting to see how he develops. In addition, due to our incompetence in front of goal I wouldn't be surprised if this guy gets a run out within the next year too.

Next Season - To be honest I'll be quite happy with just staying up again and getting a few more decent youngsters in the second youth intake. Towards the end of this season I completed my National C Badge, but the board are unwilling to let me get a further one at this moment in time due to finances.

SEASON-BY-SEASON PROGRESS

Season    League         Pos     Europe         Serbian Cup         Notes & Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19   First League   12th	 N/A		1st Round	    Avoided relegation on final day of season


OFF-FIELD PROGRESS

Season   Finances  Balance Sheet  Reputation  Av. Att  Capacity  Stadium  Pitch    Corporate  Training Facs.  Youth Facs.  Jnr Coaching  Youth Rec.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19  Okay      (£106k)        National    440      19,100    Average  Perfect  Adequate   Average         Good         Adequate      Above average

 

[fabreth]

I've seen the term "golden generation" in almost all of the intakes here...

[darren1983]

3 hours ago, MikaelS said:

Which facilities are most important to focus on when starting?

I tend to alternate between Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment in the first couple of years, till I can really afford the training ground and youth facilities upgrades. 

Junior coaching effects the CA of the in intakes and recruitment the PA so I try to improve them to the same level as in my head it'll mean I have more chance of getting guys with strong CA so I can play them as soon as I feel they're ready while also increasing the chances of them having high PA. I have no idea if them progressing at similar rate is the "right way" to do it but it works for me, others will probably have different ideas,

[darren1983]

3 minutes ago, fabreth said:

I've seen the term "golden generation" in almost all of the intakes here...

I assume in the first few seasons before we've built our youth and first team squads up we'll see it lots more times. Further on we go I imagine we'll see it less and less.

[Muttley84]

Dnipr - Season 2022-2023

We continued to build on the good performance from last season, and this one we finished the League in 3rd! We are still no match to Shaktar (who are totally bossing the league and got us out of the Cup quarter-finals) and Dynamo. Actually, they are beating us quite convincingly, but other than the two of them we can now beat anyone in the League. Finishing 3rd means that next season we gonna be in Europa League (and straight to the group stages it would seem), so a nice addition to the budget. Hopefully that won't ruin our form in the league to much.

Our young players gaining lots of matches this season. The Brazilian regen is proving quite interesting, with 9 goals in 10 appearances, but he couldn't get more game time considering how good Shevchenko was.  Season Awards screen a bit messed up with players in the wrong positions in the team of the season. Another good Youth Intake this season with good potential, and Yakovlev being top of the bunch. The quality of our youths is confirmed by the fact that we have 3 players called to the final stages of the Euro U-21 Championship.

Transferred out just a couple of players who didn't made the cut anymore. Another good news is that the board agreed to upgrade both the training facilities and improve the youth development budget. We had three talks of takeovers this season, but neither of that finalized. 

We are excited for our first European season and hope we can build on that.

[MikaelS]

8 hours ago, darren1983 said:

I tend to alternate between Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment in the first couple of years, till I can really afford the training ground and youth facilities upgrades. 

Junior coaching effects the CA of the in intakes and recruitment the PA so I try to improve them to the same level as in my head it'll mean I have more chance of getting guys with strong CA so I can play them as soon as I feel they're ready while also increasing the chances of them having high PA. I have no idea if them progressing at similar rate is the "right way" to do it but it works for me, others will probably have different ideas,

I found this helpful guide https://www.passion4fm.com/football-manager-training-facilities-levels/

[OneManSnipez]

Just now, MikaelS said:

I found this helpful guide https://www.passion4fm.com/football-manager-training-facilities-levels/

Thanks mate

[darren1983]

2 hours ago, MikaelS said:

I found this helpful guide https://www.passion4fm.com/football-manager-training-facilities-levels/

That was a good read, cheers for that. There's some good stuff out there to read about training and youth. 

[OneManSnipez]

Anyone trying this in ENGLAND? I am trying with billerclay but it aint easy, struggle in the national league for the past 2 seasons...

[andershs]

Lørenskog IF - Season 1

Well, not much hospitality from our brothers in Norway.

First season turned out to also be the last, as I was shown the door. Rosenborg will for now stay the main power in Norway.

Can't really say, that I blame the board, and the club. We almost certainly finish last. And we have been in that position for the most of the season.

I am really struggling finding a usable tactic - as in all the previous installments of FM. With Lørenskog we got caught in breaks all the time with only two man left behind. It seems to happen a lot on both attacking throw ins and attacking corners. I am not enough into the possibilities in the tactics area of FM18 to know where to take counter measures for that.

I will consider where to next try this challenge again.

[darren1983]

3 hours ago, OneManSnipez said:

Anyone trying this in ENGLAND? I am trying with billerclay but it aint easy, struggle in the national league for the past 2 seasons...

There's a handful of us trying it yeah. It's a real slog. In the past I find the hardest leagues to get out of are the Championship and National League, just need that 1 season where it clicks and you get up. 

[Errol Grootjen]

On ‎29‎-‎10‎-‎2017 at 18:13, darren1983 said:

Welcome back everyone!!

This is the 2018 incarnation of the Youth Academy Challenge started by ri916 and continued last year by Braumiller

The Aim
To win your chosen countries' top division and win the Champions League with a previously unplayable club using only your academy as a way of acquiring new players.

The Available Countries
Previously any Country in Europe is eligible as long as you can get a previously unplayable side promoted from Holidaying, however for this version we're happy to extended it to the rest of the world as well as long as the team meets the criteria of being previously unplayable. 

 

The Reset Dates
(Dates will appear when they have been confirmed for FM18)

• Austria - June 14th
• Belarus
• Belgium 
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark - June 30th (but save a couple weeks before to reload teams as seems lower leagues end earlier)
• England - June 25th
• Finland
• France  - June 20th
• Germany - June 19th
• Holland 
• Iceland
• Italy 
• Northern Ireland 
• Norway - January 13th
• Portugal
• Russia
• Scotland - June 25th (but save on April 28th as that is when where they decide who is in the play off games)
• Serbia - June 16th
• Spain - July 10th 
• Switzerland
• Turkey

Database Settings

Mandatory

• Only load the Nation you’re managing in
• Database size can be small, medium or large
• Advanced Options have to be as shown here --> 

 

Optional

 

• Any additional settings in the ‘Advanced Database Setup’ – Due to us not being allowed to buy players, adding extra players just adds to the realism of your game and potentially slightly increases difficulty. NOTE – It is highly recommended you add the highest unplayable leagues for your country, as this will help make sure the promoted teams (you will be taking control of) have players. As an example, this is what I loaded for England - 
• Players from Top Clubs in Europe is also recommended

• Steps When Getting Started

• Add yourself as an unemployed manager. Call him holiday man if you want.
• Go on holiday until the reset date of your nation or the day before if you’re planning on reloading.
• Retire the manager
• Add a new manager with your chosen nationality and the lowest possible reputation and qualifications
• Choose the newly promoted club of your choice

• Rules for the Challenge

• No loans or transfers in are allowed but you can sell and loan players out.
• If you are sacked, sorry, you have to start again.
• No save game editors are allowed. Only cosmetic database edits are allowed. (Team/competition names/logos)
• No international management until completion of challenge.
• Signing backroom staff is allowed. Signing players on trial or signing grey players isn't allowed.

• Rules for this Thread

• Player naming is allowed.

• Season Update

• Youth Candidates
• All Tagged Players Attribute page
• Transfers (to prove that you haven’t signed any players)
• Squad
• League Table

• Anything else is optional.

  Also, some people like to nickname/tag their best players from each youth intake in chronological order. For example, you could nickname your best player in the intake in season 1 as *their name* YP01a, and so on. But this is not compulsory if you don't wish to.

   

  I have copied and pasted last years starting post to get the ball rolling, I will update with necessary information as we get going (let me know dates for leagues so I can add them)

   

  Good luck to all!

• General discussion on tactics is allowed, although people should not refer to downloaded tactics. They are not banned, but I would expect the majority of people to avoid them.
• Screenshots for anything are encouraged but please post links to your pictures, don't post them as images as it makes the pages slower to load.
• When you join the challenge, could you post a screenshot of your manager's profile on the league reset date.
• Progress of your club should be documented using this thread. The beauty of these challenge threads is to share your story and to read others. Please keep us updated, even if you are not performing as you may wish.

I think it's time to add a new rule to this beautifull challenge.

You can take a max of 4 extra players a season: 1) 1 GK

                                                                                      2) 1 DEF

                                                                                      3)  1 MID

                                                                                      4) 1 ATT

You can only take extra players by the official rules from the Journeyman Challenge, so only from your scouts.

No 3 ATT or 4 MID, no...just 1 of each, so that's 4 extra players a season, or maybe 2 of 2 position.

Reason? Yess I have one...simply the fact that not all promoted clubs, wich you truly want to manage have players for a position, or just have one, with greyed out players...cathing my drift?

I think it would be a good rule...what do you think?

 

All the best.

[OneManSnipez]

19 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

There's a handful of us trying it yeah. It's a real slog. In the past I find the hardest leagues to get out of are the Championship and National League, just need that 1 season where it clicks and you get up. 

Got any tips for the national league?

[MikaelS]

Ungmennafélag Njarðvíkur

 

After a disappointing sacking from Danish Club Holbæk, I have spent a lot of time playing other games while considering where I should try next. After some long hours and considerations, I turned to our Northern fellow Scandinavians in Iceland. With all the success they recently have had in the Euros and now with a qualification to the World Cup, I am sure they will provide me with all the success that I need.

Reloading meant I came across Ungmennafélag Njarðvíkur. It's impossible to pronounce but luckily they are also called Njarðvík.

Unaware about my poor managerial skills, they decided to hire me - Profile.

Club information:

Profile
General
Facilities - awesome facilities in regards to youth. I hope it will help me out next season.
Background
Team - not a huge squad and I hope my GK will stay free of injury. He's the only one I have. NO reserve/U19 team.
Player Helgi  - Decent youth already at the club.

 

[darren1983]

31 minutes ago, Errol Grootjen said:

I think it's time to add a new rule to this beautifull challenge.

You can take a max of 4 extra players a season: 1) 1 GK

                                                                                      2) 1 DEF

                                                                                      3)  1 MID

                                                                                      4) 1 ATT

You can only take extra players by the official rules from the Journeyman Challenge, so only from your scouts.

No 3 ATT or 4 MID, no...just 1 of each, so that's 4 extra players a season, or maybe 2 of 2 position.

Reason? Yess I have one...simply the fact that not all promoted clubs, wich you truly want to manage have players for a position, or just have one, with greyed out players...cathing my drift?

I think it would be a good rule...what do you think?

 

All the best.

I think adding that rule would change the nature of this challenge. When setting up the save adding players from the highest possible unplayable league is a must in order to get as close to a full squad as you can. If in that first season it's a struggle to get match day squad then yes, it's frustrating but adds something to the challenge I think. 

[darren1983]

25 minutes ago, OneManSnipez said:

Got any tips for the national league?

It took me 4 or 5 seasons last year and I'm not really doing that well in it this year so I'm probably not the person to ask!  However what I try is come up with a system that gets the best out of my best players and hope it clicks (think last year I only went up via playoffs and never looked like winning the league) @fairsy has done back to back promotions to the football league so maybe he has some advice?

[andershs]

A quick question: If a club has 'Limited youth recruitment', which I guess is the lowest Youth Recruitment Level, will there even be a (quite poor) Youth Intake each year?

[MikaelS]

23 minutes ago, andershs said:

A quick question: If a club has 'Limited youth recruitment', which I guess is the lowest Youth Recruitment Level, will there even be a (quite poor) Youth Intake each year?

I'm sure you will have a youth intake. It's just not very good.

 

https://www.passion4fm.com/football-manager-training-facilities-levels/

Quote

YOUTH RECRUITMENT – ITS INFLUENCE ON POTENTIAL ABILITY

The Football Manager youth recruitment can be described as the level of scouting network range – aka how many players it reaches and the quality of these players. The clubs youth recruitment system are very much tied to its reputation. Better reputation will not only make it more likely that better regens will like to join your training academy, but also that players from all over the world will look to it as the main option to reach world class standard.

A low youth recruitment will not only limit the regens to “unwanted” local regens but also make it more likely to get regens with less potential in the annual youth intake. This can be compared to the network and reputation of the Spanish Barcelona, who have many youth academies, scouts and coaches around the world, who is constantly trying to develop and find top talents for the La Masia academy – the final step for all young players before being able to compete for a place in the first team.

There are eight levels of youth recruitment:

• Limited
• Basic
• Fairly Basic
• Average
• Above Average
• Established
• Well Established
• Extensive

Youth recruitment is the decisive factor of the regens / youth candidates level of potential ability – how good they can become and where they are from (Brazilian, Moroccan or even Norwegian).

 

[Errol Grootjen]

1 hour ago, darren1983 said:

I think adding that rule would change the nature of this challenge. When setting up the save adding players from the highest possible unplayable league is a must in order to get as close to a full squad as you can. If in that first season it's a struggle to get match day squad then yes, it's frustrating but adds something to the challenge I think. 

Playing with Kettering or other good facility level isnt also a challenge, or playing with a promoted club with high potential players Like Faal. Sorry...in my opinion this isnt a challenge and easy to do. My opinion. If you want a challenge, then take the lowest facility recruitment...thats a challenge. 

[OneManSnipez]

4 minutes ago, Errol Grootjen said:

Playing with Kettering or other good facility level isnt also a challenge, or playing with a promoted club with high potential players Like Faal. Sorry...in my opinion this isnt a challenge and easy to do. My opinion. If you want a challenge, then take the lowest facility recruitment...thats a challenge. 

I dont think anyone has completed this challenge.... So i dunno how you can say this is easy to do...

[darren1983]

15 minutes ago, Errol Grootjen said:

Playing with Kettering or other good facility level isnt also a challenge, or playing with a promoted club with high potential players Like Faal. Sorry...in my opinion this isnt a challenge and easy to do. My opinion. If you want a challenge, then take the lowest facility recruitment...thats a challenge. 

The point is - it's a youth only challenge so signing any players goes against that. I'm pretty sure you're in small minority that thinks this is an easy challenge but if that's what you think, cool. Feel free to start a new challenge with whatever rules you like, this one is a continuation of a challenge from the past few versions so any changes to the rules will be minimal (such as opening up to sides outside of Europe) 

[TheWillsy]

Hereford Season 4: 2021-22  -   5th in Vanarama North (promoted through play offs)

Competitions: We started the season fairly well, and when I switched up the tactic to go two up top we went on a really good run of form. We ran out of steam a bit towards the end but still ended up in the play offs again, in 5th place this time out. Only one place above last season but we amassed more points and were a lot closer to top of the league, only losing 7 games as well.  Heading into the play offs, we started at home to Guiseley, a team who finished level on points with us. We went 1-0 down in the second half and I feared the worst, but we rallied round and 16 year old Adam Freeman 3A scored twice late on to send us through. We faced Boston next, and were 3-2 until the 92nd when Phil Bale 2E saved us with a back post header. In extra time he managed to tuck away the winner, and we ended with 9 men due to injuries but we were able to cling on. We faced FC United in the final, and we were able to come away with a narrow 1-0 victory and WE WERE PROMOTED!! 

In the FA cup we made it to the first round, where we faced top of league 1 Walsall but were narrowly beaten.

Finances: Forgot to screenshot again, but we made it to about 400k balance before the board agreed to upgrade the training facilities for 400k.

Upgrades: Just the training facilities this season.

Youth intake: A couple of decent players in there. Tagged five players; Mark Millar 4A, Kyle Richards 4B, Robbie Bush 4C, Rob Bullock 4D, Martin Sockett 4E. Bullock 4D broke into the first team at the end of the season due to our lack of a decent keeper. I have high hopes for A and B too.

Transfers: none.

Overall: Very happy that we've finally gone up. Im hoping the extended time spent in this league has given us a solid foundation for the squad, and given us time to improve the youth recruitment and junior coaching enough. The squad currently has about 5/6 starting home grown players, so I'm hoping these guys can step up to the higher level. We're also phasing out a lot of the previous players and most of my fringe players/subs are all academy graduates now.

We are receiving lots of bids for our best prospects, Charlie Hughes 2A has developed brilliantly but won't sign a new contract, and neither will Phil Bale 2E. We rejected some huge bids for Adam Freeman 3A who i have high hopes for next season. I also was approached by Peterborough and Rochdale this season. 

Last season targets: Finish in the playoffs again - tick, decent keeper from youth intake - fingers crossed Bullock 4D will be good enough.

Next season targets: Just try and stay up

[Sn00gle]

3 hours ago, darren1983 said:

The point is - it's a youth only challenge so signing any players goes against that. I'm pretty sure you're in small minority that thinks this is an easy challenge but if that's what you think, cool. Feel free to start a new challenge with whatever rules you like, this one is a continuation of a challenge from the past few versions so any changes to the rules will be minimal (such as opening up to sides outside of Europe) 

Agree If you want go like that you should start your own Challenge on your rules

[Braumiller]

I was unsure if I was going to attempt the challenge this year, but after reading @darren1983's opening post, one very interesting line drew me in.

"Previously any Country in Europe is eligible as long as you can get a previously unplayable side promoted from Holidaying, however for this version we're happy to extended it to the rest of the world as well as long as the team meets the criteria of being previously unplayable"

I have never managed in South America in any iteration of Football Manager, so after a bunch of reading and checking in game, I have decided to manage in Argentina.

Several teams stood out, but I have decided upon Barracas Central!

Barracas Central are one of 27 teams within Buenos Aires, so there will be a massive fight for any and all youth intake kids!

I will be setting myself a bunch of targets outside of the main challenge targets (winning the Argentine Premier Division and the Copa Libertadores) and will get them written down and posted soon.

A couple of housekeeping links before the adventure begins.

My starting profile

The clubs background

Transfers completed before I joined

 

My working 'title' for this save is 'The Wrong Side of the Tracks'.  Why?

In checking out Barracas Central before choosing them, I checked out their ground on Google Maps and this is what I see.

Our ground is at the bottom of this image (3,000 capacity) and approximately 800 feet away just the other side of the train tracks is the 48,314 capacity stadium of Premier Division Huracan!

[darren1983]

@TheWillsy congrats on promotion. Freeman looks good for these levels, that pace will help. 

@Braumiller Welcome back, nice to see someone taking up the option of outside of Europe. Best of luck. 

[Crowy]

 

Varde IF 2018/19

 

Manager Profile: Per Lindholm

Star Players: Steffen Andersen - Jakob Andreasen - Jeppe Juhl Jensen - Morten Smidt

Hot Prospects: Jonas Mikkelsen - Joachim Puggaard

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I decided to change my mind and start in Denmark as Varde IF. I've once again gone for the team favourite to go down. I'm really not sure what to expect, I've never managed in these leagues before. Thankfully there has been no transfers already agreed in this save!

Season      League      Country      Position      FA Cup      Champs League      Finances      Training Facilities      Youth Facilities      Junior Coaching      Youth Recruitment       
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2018/19      Div2       Denmark          -            -              -              Okay               Basic                    Poor               Minimal                Basic
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I decided to make myself some kits for this save as well:

 

[darren1983]

@Crowy Nice kits. Good luck in Denmark.

[MikaelS]

@CrowyGood luck. Remember that you only have 14 games to decide if you are going for promotion playoff or relegation playoffs. It's not much

[Gareth Winter]

On 18/11/2017 at 10:41, OneManSnipez said:

Anyone trying this in ENGLAND? I am trying with billerclay but it aint easy, struggle in the national league for the past 2 seasons...

I am on my 4th attempt with Billericay. Got fired first 3 times without even getting into the NL.

Now got the team firing so hopefully be better this time

[Dan BHTFC]

My 5th season at Flint has been the toughest, just cannot find any form at all.

[Bartrcm]

21 hours ago, Errol Grootjen said:

I think it's time to add a new rule to this beautifull challenge.

You can take a max of 4 extra players a season: 1) 1 GK

                                                                                      2) 1 DEF

                                                                                      3)  1 MID

                                                                                      4) 1 ATT

You can only take extra players by the official rules from the Journeyman Challenge, so only from your scouts.

No 3 ATT or 4 MID, no...just 1 of each, so that's 4 extra players a season, or maybe 2 of 2 position.

Reason? Yess I have one...simply the fact that not all promoted clubs, wich you truly want to manage have players for a position, or just have one, with greyed out players...cathing my drift?

I think it would be a good rule...what do you think?

 

All the best.

I don't agree. No tranfers, not even in the first season.

[Bartrcm]

Munich 1860 - Bundesliga - Season 2021-2022

Predicted: 18th

Final position: 7th

 

This first season in the bundesliga would be a struggle, but starting the season against Bayern and Dortmund was terrible. Only loosing both games 2-0 was maybe a sign that I wasn't that bad as I thought. And that was correct, as we then had a run of 12 uinbeaten games. We were around 9th place at the half way stage, and almost pretty sure of surviving. Never thought this would happen. We kept our good form until game 30. At that point I was battling with Hamburg and Bayern (yes they had an awful season) for 5th place. But not winning in the last 4 games of the season, made we "only" finished 7th. At that point I still wasn't sure that this was enough for a place in Europe as Bayern and 8th place Köln had to play the final of the cup. For once we hoped that our rivals Bayern would win, and they did. After the final I received next message. We qualified for Europe. A massive achievement.

The highlight of the season was definitly our win against Bayern.

 

Games 1

Games 2

Cup: Again we failed to get through the third round, but we held our fierce rivals Bayern to a 0-0, and we only lost after the lottery of panlty kicks.

 

Youth intake: all in all this was our worst intake since the start of the challenge. But I'm still happy with the intake with 6 players with 5* potential

Eddie Howe (YP4a): ST, very welcome striker. I just hope that my chairman won't sell him.

Hans Hörnig (YP4b): DL

Raphael Wähling (YP4c): DR

Dennis Dietrich (YP4d): ST, has a lot of work to do before even have a change in the first team.

Nurullah Aras (YP4e): DR

Maik Schmitt (YP4f): DC

 

Transfers: My chaiman has sold our best 4 players from last intake for peanuts. The problem is the he is re-elected for another 3 years. If he keeps selling our players, I don't think I will keep playing this save. 

Finances: Very good after the 56M end of season money. After that we could upgrade training and youth facilities for a combined fee of 10M

 

Goals last season:

Survive: SUCCES

Keep all our youth players: FAILURE

 

Goals next season:

Keep all of our youth players

Reach group stage in Europe

Reach Europe

[Eljayem]

Hello fans of football manager, I have a question about the game start date.

Is it allowed to load a date from south america in 2016? So you can pick a promoted club from 2017, instead of 2018?

Tnx:)

[Crowy]

3 hours ago, MikaelS said:

@CrowyGood luck. Remember that you only have 14 games to decide if you are going for promotion playoff or relegation playoffs. It's not much

Yeah, I actually like the format of this league.  It's a good way of getting in 36 games, only problem is 4 of the 12 teams get relegated, YIKES!

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

58 minutes ago, Eljayem said:

Hello fans of football manager, I have a question about the game start date.

Is it allowed to load a date from south america in 2016? So you can pick a promoted club from 2017, instead of 2018?

Tnx:)

Since we've never done outside of Europe, there's no precedent. I'd say the only reason you couldn't do that is if the team is unplayable in 2016, but then it's playable if you load up the 2017 date.

[Eljayem]

1 minute ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

Since we've never done outside of Europe, there's no precedent. I'd say the only reason you couldn't do that is if the team is unplayable in 2016, but then it's playable if you load up the 2017 date.

Well I want to pick a club in England, but a game start date from brasil (22-11-2017) and vieuw only, no players loaded. Just curious if its allowed to do so to pick a promoted team in lowest league england 2017.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

1 hour ago, Eljayem said:

Well I want to pick a club in England, but a game start date from brasil (22-11-2017) and vieuw only, no players loaded. Just curious if its allowed to do so to pick a promoted team in lowest league england 2017.

I assume so, as long as you pick a team that was unplayable at the start it should be fine

 

[Eljayem]

3 minutes ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

I assume so, as long as you pick a team that was unplayable at the start it should be fine

 

Awsome...so if Havant & Waterloo get a promotion I can take this team and do the challenge?