The Football Manager Youth Academy Challenge

[optimusprimal82]

My latest update is very picture heavy so I won't post it in here, but tl;dr version is that the season is still going incredibly well and we have a 9 point lead at the top of the table with just 12 games to play - not long now until my first youth intake too which has me irrationally excited!

[Diego D10S]

Changed my mind again  Sorry for this , found a way to reload but had to do it from the beginning of May.

It took some hours but finally San Marino popped up again. I just cant get myself to leave this impossible project.

Next time you hear from me is when I have finished a seson. I promise 

GL too you all !! 

[Vipertitan]

finally getting around to try this challenge just loaded Italy up and i am new manager of   David Clark is the new manager of  FC Bari 1908  Squad 1/Squad 2 ,

[enigmatic]

On 13/03/2019 at 17:13, tomay said:

Intake:
One good player, left winger, and nobody even to strengthen u-19 team. Disappointing.
[intake] - [Ben Wähling]

Must be annoying to have a 14 year old as good as Wahling and not be allowed to give them match time for three seasons under German rules....

[andershs]

Good luck to all of you. Good to see so many attempts.

On another note. Holy cow! This one just came through.

Realistically, he will not want to sign anything but a youth contract. But he should be a very good player for the duration of that.

Edited March 14, 2019 by andershs

[optimusprimal82]

5 hours ago, andershs said:

Good luck to all of you. Good to see so many attempts.

On another note. Holy cow! This one just came through.

Realistically, he will not want to sign anything but a youth contract. But he should be a very good player for the duration of that.

I'd sell the stadium to sign him up long term!  

[dkouv]

IFK Eskilstuna – Season 9
 

Season 9 – 2027 – First Division Elite (2nd tier)

League: Promotion, at last! As usual, we started off the year without much consistency, but things stabilised faster than usual, and we went on a nice run between May and August (league runs March to October), which saw us enter the promotion race. Also as per usual, we started to tail off towards the end, but a stunning victory 4-0 away to then league leaders IK Sirius saw us enter the automatic promotion slots, and an easy run-in in the last 3 games saw us pick up 9 points out of 9 and win the league.

Cup: Out at group stage this year, through to group stage for next year.

Star players: Eric Hallberg 19a (MC/AMC) had a great season, flourishing in a new tactical set-up which frees him up to play a more attacking role, which saw him finish joint top scorer. Johan Palm 24c (WBR/MR/AMR) had a quiet season by his standards, but still joint-topped the assist rankings, and Henrik Gustafsson 24a (AMLC/ST) agreed to sign a new contract in the summer, 4 months before his deal was due to expire, so I’m happy I didn’t try to offload him earlier.

Youth watch: Anders Alexandersson 26a (DRLC) is miraculously still with us, despite refusing to sign a pro contract. Don’t expect him to stick around for much longer, and his form has been pretty average given his attributes. The full-backs Niclas Jonsson 26c (DL/ML) and Filip Dyplin 26b (DR/MRC) have made the strongest claims for the first team spot, and a surprise find Jens Bernhardsson 25d (MC/AMC/ST) was recalled from loan half way through the season to become a regular at midfield

Youth intake: Not as much talent as the last few years, but Mikael Sjöberg 27a (AMC) looks promising. Ilber Puja 27b (DRLC) and Anders Carlsson 27c (MRLC) could turn out well if I can do something about their personalities.

Finances: making money but the board are being a bit cheap regarding the facility upgrades

Facilities: managed to upgrade youth recruitment; hope I can save some money for a training or youth facility upgrade next year. And we’ve turned pro, finally!

Transfers: nothing of note, despite interest in a number of my players

Next season’s aim: Really, anything other than relegation would be a massive bonus. I’m inserting “relegation wage drop” clauses into all my players’ contracts in case it does happen, though.

Season |  League       | Pos. |   Cup   |     CL      |     EL      |     Top scorer          |  Top assists           |     Top rating            | Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   | Div 2 S. Svea |  3   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (22)          |   Milde (15)           |     Alkoyun (7.7)         |
2020   | Div 2 S. Svea |  1   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (22)          |   Milde + 2 more (10)  |     Milde (7.8)           | Promotion
2021   | Div 1 North   |  1   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (21)          |   Milde (14)           |     Cirak (7.7)           | Promotion
2022   | Div 1 Elite   |  11  |   R2    |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (17)          |   Hallberg 19a (9)     |     Cirak (7.4)           | Survived
2023   | Div 1 Elite   |  9   |   R2    |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (12)     |   Milde (11)           |     Milde (7.1)           |
2024   | Div 1 Elite   |  6   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (20)     |   Milde (9)            |     Östling (7.4)         |
2025   | Div 1 Elite   |  7   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (19)     |   Palm 24c (14)        |     Lundin (7.3)          |
2026   | Div 1 Elite   |  4   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (14)  |   Palm 24c (12)        |     Palm 24c (7.2)        |
2027   | Div 1 Elite   |  1   | ongoing |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (12)  |   Hallberg 19a (6)     |     Hallberg 19a (7.5)    | Promotion!
.
Season |  Finances |  Coaching     |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   |   £23k    |  Fairly Basic |      Basic        |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2020   |   -£9k    |  Average      |  Fairly Basic     |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2021   |   -£6k    |  Average      |  Fairly Basic     |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2022   |   £55k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2023   |   £42k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Basic        |  Poor           |  7800
2024   |   £38k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Basic        |  Poor           |  7800
2025   |   £136k   |  Good         |     Average       |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2026   |   £241k   |  Good         |     Average       |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2027   |   £464k   |  Good         |  Above Average    |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800

Edited March 15, 2019 by dkouv

[andershs]

Scarborough Athletic FC (England)

Season 4 - 2022/23

Promotion as champions! Great season. We started strongly and kept going throughout the season to clinch the title with a game to go. Many of the players from last years intake were already good enough to take over from our older, original players. This increase in quality coupled with a switch to a counter-attacking 4-4-1-1 meant that it was a lot more comfortable, and we won a lot of tight games.
The cups were a disappointment, but it is forgotten with the promotion secured.

League (Results 1 | Results 2 | Results 3 | Cups) - The switch in tactics and the increased player quality meant that we were a lot more competitive. We started strongly and was able to win a lot of tight games over christmas and into january. We clenched the title by beating Boston Utd, a fellow promotion hunter, resoundingly. Good timing.

Team - Many of last years intake players went straight into the team as regulars. John Muirhead - 22C became our topscorer with 20 league goals. Impressive. Dunning - 22E and Davison - 21A were also very good as was Moses James - 22A, Brent Morris - 22D. Connor Green - 22B also got a lot of games and did ok. Alex Greenwood - 23A (at intake | end of season) played all games after joining and reinforced the defense impressively.

Facilities - Another threat in the end of the season after having gained promotion meant that the Junior Coaching was upgraded. It is now Excellent and the Youth Recruitment is Average. Many players in the intakes are now good enough to play in the Vanarama National League North/South or can become good enough relatively quickly. And the best players are able to compete in the Vanarama National League or perhaps League 2. I don't know how big a the gap in quality is between National League and League 2. Moreover, the best ones do not wish to sign contracts with me due to the division we play in or the general quality of the playing squad.
I am hoping that promotion to the Vanarama National League can pursuade Greenwood and Davison to sign contracts. Otherwise, I find myself in the strange situation, that I either need to gain another promotion and hope the best players will sign contracts or hope for players at a slightly lower level qualitywise in the coming intakes who actually wish to play at the current level and with the current squad quality.
However, I do trust that the other players in the intakes are ready to take over and of sufficient quality for us to be competitive in the Vanarama National League North/South at least, if we loose Greenwood and Davison. But there is a mismatch in the quality of our intakes and the level at which we are currently competing.

Youth Intake - Strong. Take a look at Alex Greenwood - 23A, the perfect defender in my eyes. John Hickson - 23B could make up a strong partnership with Muirhead in the coming seasons.

No transfers and the finances are getting worse, as expected.

Goal next season: Survive? I think it would be asking a lot. Realistically, I can hope to tie down my promising intake players for some years and they can get a year with better opposition aiding their development.

Edited March 16, 2019 by andershs

[andershs]

Isn't he on a youth contract? Can anybody just offer contracts to players under youth contract? I was not aware of this.

[andershs]

Apparently they can. Was hoping I could keep him for the entirety of the youth contract.

Actually, I did know this thinking more about it. I have just never used it myself since a compensation fee must be paid.

[Jtomsett11]

Season 2 Update

Having been promoted to Serie B, I was expecting a tough battle, and for the first few months that was certainly the case. However, we managed to keep our heads above water and were mid table midway through the season. The squad was looking good, bar CB where I was using Nannini (LB) and Baldasarre, a 17 year old unambitious, determination 2 youth product! However, including him, some of the youth products originally in the team had made real progress including the following 3:

Proietti

Forti

Ottalenghi

Forti especially I worried about keeping, he had reluctantly signed a 2 year extension but insisted on a £1.3million release clause. 

The second half of the season was up and down, until a sensational patch of form in the last 10 games left me 7th and in the play-offs for promotion!! As you can see, I didn't make it, but serious encouragement for the future!

The youth intake this year was okay, but 4 stand out players rather than a whole bunch. Pick of the bunch was these two:

Naldi - very CM heavy now so will leave in under 20s for now

Fregonese - straight into first team squad!

I'm still lacking CBs, as Mattera retired this year. I now rely on my main LB, Baldaserre and 2 young youths rated 1.5 star each with terrible personalities. I badly need some CBs or some re-trainable players in next years intake...

Other updates

Transfers - none except loans out.

Manager profile - improving nicely with my coaching courses!

Summary so far:

Season	League	Finish	Finances	Youth facilities	Training facilities	Youth recruitment	Junior coaching	Top scorer	Top assists
1	Serie C	1st	£2.8 million	Average	Average	Above average	Average	Simeri (23)	Bollini (11)
2	Serie B	7th (lost in play off semis)	£2.4 million	Good	Good	Established	Adequate	Simeri (11)	Ottalenghi (7)

 

Aims next year:

I think another top half finish is on the cards, maybe a play off place. However, in awful news, Forti's release clause has been triggered by Bologna  Luckily I have Paba from the youth recruitments who can slot in, but it is a considerable loss to an already weak defence. 

[Muttley84]

Reading almost daily about this gives me such an urge to get back in the challenge... just not sure I have enough time for such a long term one... Good luck to all of you!

[optimusprimal82]

Only 1 match played since my last update, a 5-0 home win against Nuneaton Boro which saw my fourth player reach double figures for goals this season (My MR) which is testament to how we've reduced the goalscoring burden on my MC Mezzala - the fact my ML is now only 1 goal behind said top scorer providing further evidence! There's now 9 games to go and we still hold a 12 point lead over second place with a playoff place confirmed so it's looking (very) good;

 

Analysing the analysis...

So obviously I gave a quick overview of the youth intake last time out, since then I've gone a little more in-depth on them and put each of them under the proverbial microscope; the sad conclusion is that ordinarily I wouldn't sign any of these guys as they all have at least one flaw that would fail my (probably unnecessary) recruitment checklist. The closest to making the cut under said guidelines would be Ian Burns (20D) who - bravery aside - ticked all of my other boxes until I read his medical report which sadly shows he's quite liable to an injury (or ten);

Does this mean I won't sign him? Absolutely not! This is my first academy challenge so I'm forcing myself to step a little out of my comfort zone - I literally cannot afford to overlook anyone at this stage anyway such is our need for bodies with an ageing squad and a promotion on the horizon. I have serious, serious concerns about one or two with poor personalities and such but as has been proven this year with people like Morgan James (our current top scorer), it doesn't mean they can't perform, just that perhaps that they're a little more volatile and form may fluctuate a little more - if I could go out and buy new players obviously my opinion would be different but I can't so I have to force myself to like these guys. Except the Mercenary (Neil Gibbons) - he's really going to have to impress to get anything more than the default fiver a week youth contract!

Now the eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that I've already added these guys to my main player spreadsheet? Whilst that alone is the opposite of interesting, the reasons do extend beyond my desire to keep a record of my yearly intakes going forward, namely that the CA/PA stars on the squad screen seem to be inconsistent (NB:  thought I'd read/seen somewhere that you could specifically define this somewhere but can't find it now). I'm not sure exactly what causes it to update (whether it's always your Ass Man and his opinion changes or if it's using another coach - regardless I couldn't definitely confirm how it works) but as a quick basic example;

Screen of the top 3 players when we first received the intake;

Screen now  - note the difference in Thomson/Adkins;

Using Thomson as an example, note the changes as I shift between three of my coaches, starting with my worst judge to my best;

Interesting to note that the worst judge of CA rates him the same as the best, yet the man in the middle - my Ass Man - see's it differently? That's what lends me to think that maybe the stars on the squad screen maybe are the AM's opinion and his just changed after the initial youth vs U18 game? That's something I'll come to in more detail shortly, but long story short, I'm just not comfortable trusting the squad screen stars for now and have drilled down to make sure my best man (or woman) is the one doing the judging!

 

Judging the judges...

Now is this next bit necessary? Absolutely, one hundred percent not. But in the whole spirit of this being my first academy run and taking things far (far) too seriously, let's run with it! Whilst obviously in other saves I've given my youth team a good look and kept the few guys I thought had a chance, this time out I realise a fair few of these lads may have to play now and then whether I want them to or not. Now I'm really hopeful that this intake will only be 1-2 season placeholders as we'll hopefully improve/get promoted further and our future intakes will render them obsolete, but on the off-chance we get decimated next year and mainly because we can, I thought i'd look at the staff stats just a little more whilst we're in the doldrums because after all, I've only known them for 6 months so can I really trust them?

So my best coach has a 'Judging Potential' stat of 12 which isn't to be sneezed at down at this level, but whilst it's obviously a relative high number, it's still only 60% of the maximum value. Now i don't think that this is how the game calculates the star ratings at all, but given how often the coaches/scouts can (and do!) get their ratings wrong, I wanted to at least apply a little 'logical failsafe' to ensure I don't keep every player every year out of fear of missing out, and I at least have some way - albeit only very approximate (and likely incorrect) - of guesstimating the variance in coach calculations. Going forward this is the sort of thing I'll be using when assessing my coach ratings;

Now obviously as I get promoted I'll hopefully be able to improve on my current guys, but until then this is what I've got and using this (incredibly simple) calc it basically suggests that my coaches ratings are a good guideline, but the potential for error is large enough that discarding a 2 star prospect could be altogether foolish. My golden rule would be ordinarily anyone with <3 stars is expendable/not worth signing, but with a potential 2 start variance I'm making 1 star my current cut-off which naturally opens the door up to (almost) anyone!! Naturally this 2 star swing works both ways and could mean my top rated prospect is actually my worst, but it's only a potential maximum margin of error (and again, this likely isn't how the game calculates this, just my theory based on absolutely NO factual data), with the likely amount varying to whatever degree in-between. One other thing I'll be curious about going forward will be whether coaches judging accuracy is affected not just by their own stats but also things such as how far a player is from their potential maximum, as in the greater the gap, the greater the inaccuracy? Far too early/difficult to say now, but interesting nonetheless - would be interested to hear other peoples ideas on this too of course!

 

New Kids On The (Chopping) Block...

So as mentioned, overall I'm a teeny bit disappointed with some of the stats of my guys, bravery in particular is dreadful across the board and not what I was looking for with relegation battles likely to be a part of our future but alas, I'll have to work with what I've got. I'm not sure if bravery can increase by much - it's a stat I would expect to be largely static as it's not exactly something you can truly teach (I'll avoid anyone with a low bravery stat for most positions when buying etc as an example). Work rate is disappointing too, don't know if that's linked in any way to the ambition score but that's something I'll monitor going forward, as with my other staff, the hope is as we move up the divisions, we can improve on our HOYD (I'm happy with our guy for this level as proven by the high level of professionalism with these guys, but obviously we can improve on the ambition part).

All rated, sorted, tagged and character-assassinated, this is how they're looking;

Doing the math, to sign all these guys is only £80 p/w which will be covered alone by one retiree in the summer so I've decided to go for it. There are definite question marks (not least over Kelner (20N), Gibbons (20M), Cookson (20P) & Wilson (20H - 3 Determination coupled with 3 for Bravery and 1 for work rate has me crying inside), but they'll all be easily discarded from Youth contracts so it's far from binding and more importantly, I'd like to see - if we do get promoted - if I can bring in a better judge quickly to assess them at the higher level and maybe make a better, more informed cut from there.

Phew! With all that being sorted, I reckon it's time to get back to playing some actual games!  

Edited March 17, 2019 by optimusprimal82

[XaW]

On 16/03/2019 at 15:23, andershs said:

Apparently they can. Was hoping I could keep him for the entirety of the youth contract.

Actually, I did know this thinking more about it. I have just never used it myself since a compensation fee must be paid.

Really annoying when that happens. When someone tried to poach players on youth contracts, you sometimes can get more by offering them out for a bigger fee (and % of next sale). It doesn't always do anything, but sometimes you can control it a bit better.

[PukkiParty]

Okay, another attempt at this.

This challenge is really interesting, so I've followed the instructions and I've taken over at Kings Lynn. Big catchment area so hopefully can get some good intakes, also seemed to have a fairly balanced squad although they only currently have one goalkeeper so here's to praying he doesn't get any injuries. 

I've attached the screenshot below as per the instructions in the opening post. I look forward to keeping you updated.

Edited March 18, 2019 by PukkiParty

[tomay]

FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt
Season 2043/2045

Erfurt news:
- manager contract extended to 30.06.2048
- stadium 54 638, average attendance 53 104, by capacity 97%, 8 stadium sellouts
- finances: balance +809M
- tactic: 4-4-2
- european ranking: 10th, european reputation: 14th, domestic reputation: 4th
---
Transfers: [Transfers]
Due to old age and changed tactic i sold my two AMC:
+  3,3M AMC. Fabian Wähling 275/62 - club star! 29yo
+  0,5M AMC. Tino Shau 374/107 - club star! 33yo
---
League: rules - players under 17yo not allowed to play
predicted 9th - odds 96    .00
position 5th [table] - Europa League qualification

Switched tactic to 4-4-2.
Again we are too weak for top 4 but too good for the rest teams. But these time was close, 3 pts more and we would be 2nd placed.
Great season for our two new strikers, they were better than old guard. Maybe should introduce them earlier, but they don't had a better stats or ratings.
---
Cup: Winners!
1st r. - won A[7-0] with FC Nöttingen (non-league)
2nd r. - won A[1-0] FC Augsburg (Bundesliga)
3rd r. - won H[3-2]with Bayer 04 (Bundesliga)
QF - won H[3-1] with SC Freiburg (Bundesliga)
SF - won H[3-0] with RB Leipzig (Bundesliga)
F - won N[3-2] with FC Bayern (Bundesliga) - [match details] Won after extra time. They were better but we started game well and we were winning 2-0 at first half. In second half they scored 2 goals in 1 minute. I was frustrated again and prayed to survive until penalties. In extra time we scored from counter attack, didn't believe we could keep the result for 25m but we did it.

Europa League: 2nd round
Group stage:  all games won with: LOSC, Zenit, FCSB
1st r. - won A[3-0], H[2-0] with Legia
2nd r. - lost A[0-2], H[0-0] with Liverpool
---
Intake:
Another crappy intake. Best rated AMC and when i resigned from this postion in tactic and another goalie which i didn't even signed.
[intake] - [Leon Biehler]
---
Stats:
Top goalscorer: Ole Aey (FC)  - 27 goals - 19yo - club record!
Most assists: Haris Silajdzija (MR) - 17 assists - 26o
Highest average rating: Haris Silajdzija (MR) - 7,46 - 26yo
Most POM: Stefan Schultz (ML)  - 5 - 20yo

Season

League

Pos

Cup

Int.Cup

Top scorer

Top assists

Highest avg. rat.

TF

YF

JC

YR

Notes

2041/42

1.st

4th

QF

CL 1st r.

D.Alhaier [12]

H.Engelke [15]

H.Engelke [7.40]

State of art

State of art

Exceptional

Extensive

won Euro SuperCup!

2042/43

1.st

5th

SF

CL QF

C.Matera [19]

S.Schultz [12]

C.Matera [7.26]

State of art

State of art

Exceptional

Extensive

EL qualification

2043/44

1.st

5th

Won

EL 2nd r.

O.Aey [27]

H.Silajdzija [17]

H.Silajdzija [7.46]

State of art

State of art

Exceptional

Extensive

won DFB Pokal, EL qual.

[optimusprimal82]

 

PLEASE NOTE: This post has been edited (by me at no-ones prompting) to remove supporting images in conjunction with the thread rules etc - to see it as the FM gods intended then please head over here! What are you waiting for? Go, go, go!!

 

Season 1 - End of Year Review - 2019/20

Competitions

Vanarama National League North | Board Expectation - Avoid Relegation | Media Prediction: 22/22 | Actual Finish: 1/22

What was expected to be a tough season became one of the more straightforward seasons you're likely to enjoy as - a few wobbles aside - the team raced to the top of the division after the 3rd game and never looked back from there, losing just 3 games in total across the 42 game schedule. Some mid-game tinkering definitely saved our bacon on occasion and there were certainly games that ability wise we should have lost too, but overall we were largely in control for the majority, finishing the season with no one standout player and illustrating what a team effort it was overall.

 

English FA Trophy | Board Expectation - First Round | Achieved: First Round Exit (Tranmere Rovers)

I'd be lying if I said I cared even a little bit about this ten pence trophy and was delighted to be knocked out to reduce fixture congestion and keep my players healthy. One thing definitely at the back of my mind (and swiftly moving forward) is just how easily Tranmere were able to dispatch us in this match; they finished 3rd in the division we're moving up to which doesn't bode particularly well for the coming season!

 

English FA Cup | Board Expectation - Fourth Qualifying Round | Achieved: Third Qualifying Round Exit (Chester City)

The scene of maybe my biggest mistake this season, fielding half a side instead of either playing my first XI or rotating completely - it left us with a replay that was scheduled for the most ridiculous date and the knock-on ran rampant with fatigue and injuries causing an early season blip that I was incredibly grateful to recover from! I was pretty irritated to be knocked out by Chester in the end and looking back we should have gone further with the hope of landing a potentially lucrative tie, but at the time I was just relieved to be out of all the cups and able to focus solely on the league

 

Youth Intake 2020

Described by my HoyD as 'wonderfully talented' with 'the makings of a potential golden generation', my own analysis would be better headlined as 'Solid but unspectacular'. Obviously it's early days, but whilst there is definitely something to work with, there isn't anyone from the group who really stands out as exceptional. Stephen Wells (20A) is our brightest prospect at 3 (+1 black) stars potential and he did manage to help himself to a couple of goal from his 3 performances towards season end. He is much quicker than my main option up front but similarly lacks both strength and physical presence, not to mention bravery, work rate & teamwork which I'd consider pretty important for a Pressing Forward & would have been a help at this level. Not writing him off yet of course but it'll definitely be interesting to see how he gets on.

There are another three that round out the highest rated (3+ star) group, for my money Ian Burns is the pick of the bunch; his injury susceptibility isn't ideal but it may still be something we can manage going forward.

 

Transfers

Somewhat unsurprisingly there wasn't much (read: any) movement on this front. We did have a couple of offers around December but I don't feel in a position to sell anyone right now and - so far at least - there don't seem to be any vultures circling. We do have 6 players over 30 now, two of which are retiring, with another who's considering it. Of the other 3, two are my backup strikers of which I'd like to keep one for cover, with another set to go on a free - I won't be looking to move anyone on otherwise for at least the next season whilst I try and bridge the PA gap with some of the younger players.

 

Squad Statistics

Top Scorer - Morgan James (20) | Most Assists - Morgan James, Kyle Harrison, Chris Sutherland, Keenan Quansah, Kyle Brownhill (9) | Top Rating - Morgan James (7.43)

A successful season overall means that naturally all of our numbers are pretty impressive. Most encouraging was the way we managed to share both the goalscoring & assist burden around the team having relied on Morgan James for much of the early campaign. Having five different players with 9 assists from all over the park is incredibly satisfying, particularly with the other two midfielders just one behind on 8 each and the MC backups just behind again. 

My strikers managed 25 goals between them plus 4 assists which certainly isn't a bad return at face value; already identified as the weak link in my starting XI though I'll be looking for Wells (20A) to give Pratt a run for his money and maybe help spread those numbers out a little more consistently as opposed to the bunches they tended to arrive in this season. Naturally I expect we'll be scoring a lot less overall next season, but i'd trade the 2-3 goal hauls in place of a few solitary & clinical strikes as that's something we were definitely missing this year which ultimately contributed to a lot of our drawn games.

Vanarama National League North Player of The Season: Morgan James

 

Vanarama National League North Top Goalscorer: Morgan James (20 goals)

 

Vanarama National League North Manager of The Season: Optimus Prime

 

Hyde United FC Awards Night: please head over here!

 

Managers Player of The Season: Grant Roberts

Overlooked by everyone mainly because the awards are all tied to ratings, but the first name on my teamsheet as Mr Consistency; his rating may be the lowest of the starting 5 midfielders but he has by far the most restricted role so it's no real surprise that his rating doesn't get as much of a 'goals inflation'. As the guy tasked with getting around the field and linking defence, midfield and attack he also finished 6th in the league overall for chances created is something I'd be happy with from my playmaker, let alone a Carrilero whose main focus is defending if not supplying the nails for the Mezzalas hammer - just a shame someone didn't tell the trophy makers that there's already one like that out in the world kicking around somewhere!

 

In other news

Premier League Winners: Manchester United

FA cup Winners: Bournemouth

League Cup Winners: Manchester City

Champions League Winners: Manchester City

Europa League Winners: Schalke

La Liga Winners: Barcelona

Bundesliga Winners: Bayern Munich

Serie A Winners: Juventus

Vanarama National League North Playoff Winner: Blyth Spartans (finished 16 points behind York, the team they beat in the final)

 

Final Thoughts

Obviously a great first season in the sense that we got promoted when everyone and his dog suggested we'd do well to even stay in the division! Next year will be tough, not least considering that our youth intake has seemingly added numbers as opposed to any quality. With the number of old players and retirees that's not the end of the world and I'm confident that we can do enough to avoid the drop, but with no money in the bank and little in the way of value it's hard to see where facility improvements will come from so we're relying on our HoyD to at least find a few Zirconias next year!

We're set to lose maybe 4 players over the summer and naturally I'll promote a few up from the youth squad; there is a CA gap that needs bridging between the young lads and the first team and I expect the gap to the next divisions first teams to be even bigger still so it may be a baptism of fire for the young lads at certain points, but hopefully playing at the higher level will help them develop a little more quickly.

Predictions for next season: Narrowly avoid relegation whilst enjoying dreadful cup runs/early exits

[PukkiParty]

Season 2019/20 Review

As per my previous post I took the Kings Lynn job, this was for several reasons. I'm a Norwich fan, so doing it with another Norfolk team was good, I think there is a big catchment area available which is with little competition. I also think that Kings Lynn probably had the best squad although it was light at the back, I think getting goals is the key to getting out the division and Kings Lynn had a lot of strikers. 

Performance

So I've finished my first season now and as you can see in the link below I won the title! It was pretty tight and I'd thought it was gone at one point as Spennymoor Town went on a crazy run, thankfully they dropped some points in the last few games which allowed us to steal it at the death. 

League Table 

Nothing of note in the cup competitions, unfortunately I was embarrassingly knocked out of the FA Cup by Banbury in the 3rd qualifying round and the FA Trophy by Maidstone United in the 2nd Round. Much to improve upon in this department.

Notable Players

Kings Lynn had a pretty big squad so being able to rotate really helped me when the fixtures starting coming in thick and fast. I also had a set piece specialist who seemed to get me out of a hole several times. Sam Rents  got some huge goals and assists from set pieces. He's getting on a bit now but long may he continue. 

My top scorer was Adam Marriott, he got 17 league goals from 30 games. Although he got some goals for me, the he only played 30 games is because I'm quite well stocked in the striker department so found myself rotating if they were out of form. 

Youth Intake

I got lucky break here, this youth intake was described as a 'Golden Generation' and I think it may turn out that way.

Prospect #1 Finley Clampin has a great name and he's the best prospect by far, his current ability is already 2.5* so he's slotted straight into the first team at 15 years old and truth be told he's my best rightback already. I lucked out on Clampin because right back was my weakest position in the squad. 

Prospect #2 Jack Ashton is the second best prospect with a potential rating of 5*, his current is 1*. He's a centreback and as I said previously I'm quite light in defence so I imagine he may get a couple of outings next year. 

Prospect #3 Rob Edwards is following these two, another potential rating of 5*. I'll see how he gets on this year but I'm sure I'll throw him in some of the cup games. 

The rest of the intake are pretty solid, generally the potential for most players is over 2.5*. The issue will be upgrading the recruitment and coaching as in all honesty the club are skint! I've managed to drop the wage bill slightly whilst keeping all the players on for another year and I will be releasing two players at the end of the season, so maybe the balance might start improving and we can get out of the red. 

As requested here are the seasons transfers.

Will keep you guys posted!

 

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by PukkiParty

[Diego D10S]

            Season 2019 / 20                 Table     Transfers

          

A great first season for my boys. Had a bad start with my two strikers having only 1 goal between them in the first 16 matches. 

Second half of the season was very good with some strong results , making me optimistic for the next season.

Didnt have any high hopes for the promotion playoff and got knocked out in the first round.

For me its all about building my squad now, so I dont have any clear weak spots in the team. Atleast a couple of youth intakes before I'm there.

 

First youth intake was better than expected, signed 3 players. Mirco Burzigotti, Nicola Toccaceli and Antonino Dossena

 

Finances :  £ 12K  Projected end of 2020/21 :  £ 263K

 

League		Season		Pos		Goals			Assist			Rating			Training		Youth			Recruitment			Stadium

Serie C		2019/20		7th		Spadafora 13		Spadafora 6		Battistini 7.08		Average			Below Average		Fairly Basic			5500 ( 871 )					

 

Goal for next season will be promotion playoff again and crossing my fingers for a good youth intake.

 

GL too you all !!

Edited March 19, 2019 by Diego D10S

[TrickyTree91]

Kettering Town 2039/40

League Table   Squad 1/Squad 2   Overall Best XI

Season Review

Much improved this time around in the Premier League. We were challenging for a Euro Cup spot for most of the season but a 13 game winless streak towards the end saw us plummet down the table. Finishing in 12th with 46 points (W11 D13 L14), another disappointing performance in the cups. Karl Nicholson 36c managed 10 league goals which is massive, given how we've struggled to get goals in recent seasons. Chris McGuire 35a is the standout performer and at just 20 should be a mainstay at the heart of defence for years to come. 

Youth Intake - Great intake this year, a number of positions covered. Really like the look of Michael Appiah an attacking left back. Nick Hendey is a right mid who could bring some much needed flair to the squad, seems to be something that I've found difficult to get from academy graduates, along with penalty taking. Jack Blake may become a useful player as he can play in a few positions.

New stadium plans have been scrapped unfortunately, will persevere and hope for a change in fortunes in the future.

Edited March 20, 2019 by TrickyTree91

[metallimuse]

On ‎19‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 08:36, darren1983 said:

 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

Also from now on I will allow people to load more than 1 league in their starting database to add a bit more immersion into their saves. You don't have to add any more than the country you are playing in (my laptop is awful so I most likely won't be) but the option is there for people that want to.

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question or covered somewhere in the 23 pages but do I need to download some edited file or something to get these extra leagues?

[Diego D10S]

21 minutes ago, metallimuse said:

Sorry if this is a dumb question or covered somewhere in the 23 pages but do I need to download some edited file or something to get these extra leagues?

You just do it under Advanced setup when you start your career. You can also go advanced under custom database to load extra players from the lower leauges in the nation you start in. So you get more players when you eventually pick a team. Hope that was a helpful answer

Edited March 20, 2019 by Diego D10S

[metallimuse]

3 minutes ago, Diego D10S said:

You just do it under Advanced setup when you start your career. You can also go advanced under custom database to load extra players from the lower leauges in the nation you start in. So you get more players when you eventually pick a team. Hope that was a helpful answer

Shut the front door. So the actual game datebase has all those lower leagues available to play like in the original picture? That isn't a customized datebase?

Edited March 20, 2019 by metallimuse
grammer

[darren1983]

5 minutes ago, metallimuse said:

Shut the front door. So the actual game datebase has all those lower leagues available to play like in the original picture? That isn't a customized datebase?

You can't play as the sides but you can load the players from the sides in the lower leagues so that you have a full squad of players (or as near as possible) when taking over a side.

[metallimuse]

6 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

You can't play as the sides but you can load the players from the sides in the lower leagues so that you have a full squad of players (or as near as possible) when taking over a side.

Sorry sorry, I'm sounding like such a noob here but, so what playable league does the regular game database go down to? What league would I be starting in if I started in England doing this challenge? Vanarama South/North isn't it? Or can I go lower?

[darren1983]

12 minutes ago, metallimuse said:

Sorry sorry, I'm sounding like such a noob here but, so what playable league does the regular game database go down to? What league would I be starting in if I started in England doing this challenge? Vanarama South/North isn't it? Or can I go lower?

It's cool mate, can take a bit of getting used to but, to use England as the example, lowest we can manage is the National South, what the extra stuff does is load player from the league below, without loading the league, so that when they get promoted we have a squad to real players and not fake players to manage and start the challenge with.

[metallimuse]

8 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

It's cool mate, can take a bit of getting used to but, to use England as the example, lowest we can manage is the National South, what the extra stuff does is load player from the league below, without loading the league, so that when they get promoted we have a squad to real players and not fake players to manage and start the challenge with.

Ahhhh got ya!

Oh, that’s disappointing as I would like to manage lower than National South but I’m rubbish with all this custom database and stuff and always worried I’d break the game somehow lol.

[PukkiParty]

2020/2021 Season Review

 

Performance

So second season down, an incredible performance as we finished 5th in the table and therefore in the play off's. This was largely down to a superb start to the season, which I assume is probably the continuity of no transfers, it tailed off a little in the second half of the season but managed to cling on to play off's. Unfortunately it wasn't to be promotion as Wycombe knocked us out in the second round of the play off's, they outclassed us to be honest and beat us 3-1. Generally pretty chuffed to finish 5th though. 

League Table

Again a pretty disappointing performance in the cup competitions, largely due to us getting more difficult draws. We were knocked out of the FA Cup by Wycombe in the 1st Round and than knocked out by Dover in the FA Trophy in the 4th Round. Coincidentally, the two teams I played in the play off's.

Notable Players

My top scorer was Adam Marriott (again), this time he got a stunning 36 League goals in 47 league games. Pretty chuffed with him and it was needed as two of my other strikers Ryan Jarvis and Michael Gash have seriously declined this year.

On the right wing Luke McCormick had a standout season, he got 12 goals and 21 assists in 43 league games. It was looking difficult to tie him down and his contract was running low but thankfully I've just managed to get him signed on for another couple of years. 

I mentioned in my previous season that Finley Clampin was my best prospect in last season's intake. He played a lot for me this season and is a real consistent performer, I think that's he's going to be a big player next season.

Youth Intake

This youth intake was again described as a 'Golden Generation', unfortunately it wasn't as good as last years though.

Prospect #1 It's pretty tight as to who is the best prospect, I'd personally go for Zac Edinburgh, he seems like he'll be a good player in the future but probably a long way off taking Luke McCormick's shirt.

Prospect #2 The next best prospect is Taylor Cotterell, his potential is only 4*, but his current ability is at 2*. Based on the fact my defence is a real weakness I can envisage him playing quite a bit next year. 

Prospect #3 Zac Rich is the 3rd best prospect, he looks pretty good and with a CA of 1.5* I can see him playing a little next season as my second left winger. 

The rest of the intake are pretty average in all honesty, I also messed up and didn't offer a contract to a potential 3.5* striker which was a bit of lost opportunity, it completely passed me by. 

Here is the seasons transfers.

I'd love to get promoted next year, but the conference seems a tricky league to get out of. I'm going to let a couple of big wages go who are reserve options and have declined in the last year. Hopefully freeing up these wages will mean the clubs finances can improve and we can push the coaching/recruitment upwards. 

 

 

[optimusprimal82]

Youth Intake 2021

Putting our horrific, horrific form to one side for a minute, we've had our second youth intake and our HoyD is excited if nothing else!

Digging into the stats as is my norm, it seems that there was good reason to be at least a little excited, with Fraser Meaney (21A) standing out potential wise. The main issue with him is his natural position being an AMC. I don't play AMC's at present (despite my love of them) so it'll be hard to give him much needed minutes there, however he is competent as a Striker (which we're badly in need of) although his acceleration and physical stats aren't particularly special. At 2 stars ability already he may well be in a position to feature straight away so I'll try him out in a few places and see where he plays best, but lord knows our forward line needs all the help it can get, and the only fully fledged striker in the group (Jamie Parr - 21H) doesn't look like he'll be ready for a while if ever at all!

Some other decent looking prospects in the group; Ged O'Neill looking like a potential backup/replacement should Morgan James get injured/lured away and Sam Guest maybe freeing Quansah up a little.

Mental stats are a little up and down as always, but whilst I'd like 4-5 players a year, let's face it, even with the best facilities I'd be being very optimistic, let alone with the sheds we use as changing rooms!

NB: Full write-up and further details can be found here.

[thomas_e]

Real Jean FC 

Season Update 2028-2029

Our second 8th place finish in a row, and as last year, we are one point shy of Europe. But in many ways we played better, we were more solid and were able to control more games than we did last year and to be fair, this is probably the first season when I would say we were a little bit unlucky. We drew a lot of games we should have won. 

But considering that last year we were in the Champions League (where we had no business being in at all) we should have done better! 

Our last game, home to Real Madrid, we took the lead, but unfortunately ended up losing 1-2. But all in all, it was a pretty decent year, although I am getting a little bit impatient, there are not exactly tons of talent coming up. Maybe I am too focused on sending players out on loan? They get plenty of games, but dont end up with great progress. 

There were not any spesific stages of our campaign, we were decent overall without having any really good our really bad periods. We struggle away against most teams, and our lack of a really good central defensive midfielder is getting clearer each day. Unfortunately we did not get anything in that department in our youth intake, but a decent striker in 15 year old Diego (scored on his debut) as well as a dynamic all around midfielder in Samuel Jimenez. 

Our best player, Badr Senoussi, does not want to renew his contract. But he is not going anywhere, as his 6 week injury showed how essential he is for our creativity. Jorge Vela on the right wing keeps being our point/assist king, even after turing 32. He has been with me from the start, and is a club legend by now. 

We get another expansion of our stadium and training facilities. Our stadium, built a couple of years ago, will then reach 56 875 capacity. 

Goals for next season: Top 7

 

 

 

Season	|   League                   |  Position |  Copa Del Rey       |   Europe    |   Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20	|   Segunda Division B       |  9th      |  2ns round          |   N/A	     |   Okay start up season
2020/21	|   Segunda Division B       |  2nd      |  3rd round          |   N/A	     |   Promoted through play off
2021/22	|   La Liga 123              |  7th      |  3rd round          |   N/A	     |   Promoted through play off, back-to-back
2022/23	|   La Liga                  |  10th     |  2nd round          |   N/A	     |   Great first season, finishing mid table
2023/24	|   La Liga                  |  14th     |  2nd round          |   N/A	     |   No progress to speak of, managed to get worse
2024/25	|   La Liga                  |  8th      |  5th round          |   N/A	     |   Solid season, finished 8th
2025/26	|   La Liga                  |  11th     |  4th round          |   N/A	     |   Decent season, good club progress if not so much on the pitch
2026/27	|   La Liga                  |  4th      |  4th round          |   N/A	     |   Amazing year, predicted 20th, finished 4th! 
2027/28	|   La Liga                  |  8th      |  5th round          | Group Stage |   Pretty good year, tough start to CL
2028/29	|   La Liga                  |  8th      |  4th round          |   N/A       |   Decent progress, but unconsistent

 

[optimusprimal82]

PLEASE NOTE: This post has been edited (by me at no-ones prompting) to remove supporting images in conjunction with the thread rules etc - to see it as the FM gods intended then please head over here! What are you waiting for? Go, go, go!!

 

Season 2 - End of Year Review - 2020/21

Competitions

Vanarama National League | Board Expectation - Fight Relegation | Media Prediction: 24/24 | Actual Finish: 2/24 (promoted via playoffs)

Think back over your (likely) many years of playing FM/CM and which of the saves/season tend to live longest in the memory? Yes champions league and top division wins are nice, but rarely - at least for me - do they carry with them the same level of satisfaction as from a season such as this. Written off by everyone (again), we achieved my second (and Hyde's third) promotion in as many years. It was plain sailing at the halfway point as teams had casually turned up thinking they could run us over, only to watch on as we counter attacked them to death. Sadly, word got out and a combination of factors ensured we wouldn't have everything our own way - teams started playing slightly more defensively against us & our Semi-professional status (one of just 5 teams in the division) caused us problems as match sharpness and fitness became serious issues as the fixtures piled up and we endured a horrendous run of form. With other teams (notably Crewe and Leyton Orient) putting together quite astonishing runs it's to my guys credit that we managed to stop the rot and finish the regulation season unbeaten in six, fighting back to 2nd place overall, just 1 point behind 1st.

Suffering through the disappointment of missing automatic promotion - something that had appeared to be within our grasp for so long - our attention turned to the playoffs, and with old foes Billericay dispatched in a close game, we came up against a Crewe side that had bested us previously both home and away. In a move that would make a Mourinho purr, we channelled our inner 'National Express', killed the game (and likely a few supporters) stone dead and snuck back up north with a 'free kick powered' 1-0 win and promotion in our bag! It's been an emotional rollercoaster that I could well have done without but what a way to finish, and I can certainly see this being one of those seasons I'll still be reminiscing about/referencing in ten years time!

 

English FA Trophy | Board Expectation - Second Round | Achieved: Third Round Exit (Bromley)

Another season, another year I give close to zero cares about the FA Trophy! As the only thing more laughable than the prize money for this cup is the state of our club finances, this little run actually did yield some reward, but given the state of our squad around the Christmas period it may actually have been a false-positive. As it is I played a fully changed side in the third round and we went out to a Bromley team we'd more than matched in the league. No real surprise that Port Vale won the thing, player for player they had a great squad, they were just abysmal in the league for ages until they changed manager late on (which inspired a mini-revival).

 

English FA Cup | Board Expectation - Reach First Round | Achieved: Second Round Exit (Oldham Athletic)

We were just one round away from the potential 'money zone', but yet again we were handed an away game, this time against Oldham having knocked out Coventry on their own patch in the previous round. Sadly the gulf in class was too much but we did at least make some money out of it, with our finances bumped back towards the 100k mark. It's not Man City lottery levels but very welcome nonetheless!

 

The 'Cup Draw' Table

Regular readers will have spotted me mentioning this throughout the season; we - the players - perceive a lot of things as we play the game with (understandably) a fair degree of bias. Now a lot of people have been suspicious/paranoid about just how random cup draws are for a long time. I largely haven't cared all that much, but I did notice on a previous save how frequently I seem to get handed an away fixture - a trend that seems to have carried forward to this game. To either prove myself wrong or lend support to a theory, I've been keeping a running total of how the draws have gone down - maybe I'm just the unluckiest manager around, maybe if we all start taking note we'll spot a trend - who knows - but it's a bit of fun and irrespective; to be the best you have to beat the best!

 

Youth Intake 2021

A very different group this year; whilst my first year was a long list of 'average to fairly good' players, I'd say this years intake was lower overall on quality in depth, but with the benefit of having a couple of diamonds sat on top. Fraser Meaney (21A) looks very much like a star in the making and is almost good enough for the first team already. Bit of a conundrum with him because he's naturally an AMC but competent at both MC and STC. Ordinarily I think his stats befit an MC more, but we have a serious problem with quality up front that is upsetting our better players, so needs must for now and this young un' will be tasked with doing what our existing strikers struggle so much with, namely putting the ball in the net!

Ged O'Neill (21B) is also very much worth keeping an eye on, as is Sam Guest (21C) although the latter's personality makes him a potentially dangerous proposition (temperamental, volatile & confrontational) with morale being so important/precious.

 

Transfers

Another year of 'not a lot happening' for us, but Janni Lipka agreed a pre-contract deal so will leave us this summer; he's 31 now and doesn't play all that often, but he's been a solid backup player in my short time here so I wish him well! Some crazy (crazy!) numbers in the league overall with Aldershot signing 38 players and selling/releasing just 1? Tranmere wren't far behind with their 36/2 total too - absolutely nuts!

 

Squad Statistics

Top Scorer - Morgan James (14) | Most Assists - Luke Porritt (15) | Top Rating - Morgan James (7.25)

Lower numbers across the board this year highlight the fact that although still a successful season, we were not the same force as the year previous and probably overachieved given the squads overall level of quality. Morgan James was again our top scorer, but such is his role in the side that - striker aside - it should always likely be the case. As for the strikers, obviously spend enough time on the forum and you'll notice people mentioning that strikers are maybe not scoring enough as a whole in this years vintage. That may be afflicting us a touch, but on the whole I'd say we'd be better looking closer to home for now as it's clear our current strikers are short of the level required and it's only going to get worse next year as we go up another level! Hopefully Fraser Meaney (21A) can adapt quickly and get amongst the goals sufficiently to keep us safe, otherwise we might still be relying on Tom Pratt - with 13 goals this year he wasn't terrible but he still has a horrible tendency to miss important chances and score the 3rd/4th goal.

 

Vanarama National League Player of The Season: Macauley Bonne (Leyton Orient)

With 35 goals in 38 appearances, Leyton Orient certainly weren't having striker issues! It'd be wrong to suggest they were a one-man team, but this fellas goals were a huge reason behind their surge up the table in the second half of the season! It'll be interesting to see if they can keep him as they move up a division.

 

Vanarama National League Top Goalscorer: Macauley Bonne (33 goals)

Yep, no real surprises here, Macauley ran away with the award with 2nd and 3rd way behind on 23 goals apiece. Our top league scorer (Morgan James) was equal 16th with 13

 

Vanarama National League Manager of The Season: Optimus Prime

Second year in a row - thank you very much!

 

Hyde United FC Awards Night: 

 

Managers Player of The Season: Grant Roberts

Second time in succession but this is about more than just his promotion winning free kick! It's noticeable that our terrible run of form coincided with him being injured for 6 weeks (and then waiting another 2 for him to regain full fitness/match sharpness). An absolutely vital cog in our midfield, he's the guy that let's the other play and with 10 goals himself, 6 assists and 7 'PoM' awards this year he's yet again had a great season. My biggest concern is obviously that at his age (30) he's as good as he'll ever be which may not quite be enough for next year and there's no-one yet ready to step into his boots.

Special mention for our goalkeeper - probably the most important position on the field yet the fact I've not mentioned him (I don't think?) throughout this entire thread speaks volumes of how ell he's done and flown under the radar. He has the odd mistake in him, but who doesn't at this level - myself included - and he's been great for us so far and would again be another difficult player to replace - luckily at 27 he's got a few years left yet, let's hope that League two isn't a bridge too far for him though!

 

In other news

Premier League Winners: Manchester United

FA cup Winners: Manchester City

League Cup Winners: Manchester United

Champions League Winners: Manchester United

Europa League Winners: Arsenal

La Liga Winners: Real Madrid

Bundesliga Winners: Bayern Munich

Serie A Winners: Juventus

 

Board room updates

Just a few days after gaining promotion the board surprised me by suggesting that we turn professional - now I don't know if it's mandatory for League Two or not, but nevertheless it's very welcome and should help us with fitness enormously - can't wait to renegotiate all those contracts!

Even more shocking was this landing in my inbox the day after;

Now this must be mandatory as our average attendance was only around 30% of capacity. The worst part besides the fact we didn't need it otherwise is the cost and even more so as it seems to have put us at financial risk with our status now listed as 'Insecure' for the first time;

We're in the black right now, but the upcoming loan repayments of 9k per month have added a fairly large burden, can only hope the increased revenue covers it off!

Final Thoughts

Obviously having gained promotion my complaints should be minor but that was a tough old season. We overachieved tremendously and it'll be interesting to see whether it comes back to bite us next year as -with no capacity to improve - I suspect the CA ceiling will hit us hard! We were already punching well above our weight, and the disparity between teams such as ourselves & Crewe highlighted the level of team we will likely face next year. Yes we beat them in the final, but it was largely down to luck as we set out to spoil, rather than beat them and they dispatched us comfortably in both league games. Seems odd to be so pessimistic on the back of another success, but we really struggled to score goals this year despite the healthy 'for' stat, with many of them coming in clutches. I mentioned in my early season updates how we had been so so lucky with teams missing penalties and whatnot and that turned around further in as we found the going much tougher. 

Predictions for next season: Narrowly avoid relegation whilst enjoying dreadful cup runs/early exits

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Season 2029 Report

Another season in the books, as we tried yet again to stabilise in the Norwegian First Division and push for the playoffs while slowly introducing the talented prospects from the last few intakes.

Cup- Scraped past lower league Follo 2-1 in the first round, smashed even lower league Grovfjord 5-0 in the second round before putting in an awful performance in the third round, against yet another lower league team in Lørenskog IF. We went down 2-0 early and couldn't pull one back until the 90th minute when it was too late. 3rd round is the minimum I wanted for this year so despite the disappointing exit it's not the end of the world.

League- We didn't really do anything special in the league this year, pretty much serving up mediocre, 'mid-table' form all year. Not great but not terrible. We were technically in the running for the playoffs right until the final day though, although we needed to win and have several results go our way. We did win, but so did both teams above us sadly. We seem to really like that 8th spot as this is the third year running we have finished there!

Best Players-

Top goalscorer: Torjus Krogstad 25A (11 goals) All of my strikers were very inconsistent this year, with plenty of scoring droughts. Young Torjus is developing pretty well though and ended up scoring more than anyone else.

Most assists: Jørgen Solvang Nilsen and Glenn Hoel (7 assists) Impressive from Nilsen considering I gave up his starting spot to the younger Magnus Berg, but at the age of 33 and being the only player remaining from when I took over, he is still class. Glenn Hoel meanwhile has developed into an excellent attacking fullback, and I am left wondering how I didn't even tag him when he came through the intake.

Highest avg rating: Glenn Hoel (7.09)

Most POM: Glenn Hoel and Vegard Dyvik 25F (3)

MVP: This year I'm giving it to Glenn Hoel.

Best U23 Player: Kenneth Kristiansen 27F. This guy grabbed one of the starting CB spots and did really well all season, ending up with 4 goals and an average rating of 7.04. We now have at least 4 incredibly talented CBs, making it quite a strength for us, which is surprising because 4-5 seasons ago it was our biggest weakness.

Results Results 2 (no) Transfers

 

The goals for next season are pretty much the same, but I think we have a solid chance to get into the playoffs, or at least perform a bit more consistently. There are some incredible youngsters coming through, and they may be needed as some bigger clubs are sniffing around at a few of my stars. 

|         League        | Pos.  |   Cup       |  Europe    |  Top scorer     |  Top assists          |  Highest avg rating|     Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   2nd Division       3rd      2nd Round        -         Bransdal(22)      Bransdal(8)             Bright-Taylor(7.41)     PROMOTION
2020   1st Division      11th      1st Round        -         Langåker(11)      Östman/Nilsen(7)        Bright-Taylor(7.06)     Survived
2021   1st Division       9th      3rd Round        -         Langåker(14)      Rosendal/Nilsen(6)      Kristiansen(7.20)       Mid Table
2022   1st Division       9th      2nd Round        -         Langåker(18)      Rosendal/Paulsberg(6)   Bright-Taylor(7.07)     Mid Table
2023   1st Division      14th      1st Round        -         Bransdal(9)       Nilsen(5)               Nilsen(7.08)            Relegated
2024   2nd Division       2nd      3rd Round        -         Langåker(17)      Nilsen(9)               Bright-Taylor(7.51)     PROMOTION
2025   1st Division      15th      2nd Round        -         Langåker(10)      Harviken(7)             Nilsen(7.14)            Relegated
2026   2nd Division       2nd      1st Round        -         Langåker(17)      Harviken(11)            Granhaug(7.58)          PROMOTION
2027   1st Division       8th      3rd Round        -         Langåker(9)       Nilsen(7)               Nilsen(7.21)            Mid Table
2028   1st Division       8th      4th Round        -         Langåker(17)      Nilsen(7)               Nilsen(7.23)            Mid Table
2029   1st Division       8th      3rd Round        -         Krogstad(11)      Nilsen/Hoel(7)          Hoel(7.09)              Mid Table

 

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Youth Intake 2030

We've had a few years of good intakes now and our investments finally seem to be paying off. This year's is very top heavy, I only signed about 7 players which is pretty low for me. The top two prospects look very promising however.

Here is the most promising player Rytterager 30A, who I think I will train as a LM as we are somewhat overloaded with CMs at the moment. he could be the backup LM as soon as next season though as he looks quality already.

Here is the other 5* potential player, who is much more raw and will need a few years of development before hitting the first team:

[optimusprimal82]

Youth Intake  - Season 3 (2021/22)

My latest intake just landed - and not a moment too soon! Full details - as ever - can be found over here in my career thread, otherwise these are the top level highlights;

Thread has gone a bit quiet of late - hope everyone is still struggling on - we can do this, don't give up!!  

[thomas_e]

This save is great fun and is probably one of the most exciting challenges I've played. And really enjoyable (and often funny) to read about other peoples progress,

 

This challenge really brings another dimension to FM, and depending on which country you start in the challenge is so different. 

 

But jesus, it tests my patience!! Our 9th season in La Liga, and its so difficult to make progress. The talents that our coming up are just not near good enough La Liga level. We are predicted 20th every year, even though we keep finishing on the upper half of the table. I need to take a couple of big steps forward soon, otherwise I might try the challenge somewhere else. 

But then again, its such a fun save! 

[thomas_e]

Do you guys have any general guidelines you follow for player development? Is it better to keep players under the age of 18 at the club for best development? 

[optimusprimal82]

1 hour ago, thomas_e said:

Do you guys have any general guidelines you follow for player development? Is it better to keep players under the age of 18 at the club for best development? 

My facilities are so bad I'd actually prefer it if i could loan them out i think, quite surprising how little my U18's have developed in a couple of years - although it's not all down to facilities and may be because... well, because they're rubbish!  

Joking aside, I do notice a big difference between leaving players to develop in the U18's and actually playing them in the first team; they develop much (much!) faster if i give them minutes (unsurprisingly) so suspect that would be the case if they went on loan and got minutes - but then with the super young guys not being allowed out on loan & my club being so lowly and players themselves having such low reps there doesn't exactly seem to be much interest from other teams in borrowing the others so it's a bit of a circle.... Not such a problem lower down the footballing pyramid where the gap between developing and developed players is much lower, but I know in other saves i've had to loan players out to get them up to speed as they weren't even remotely good enough for my first team.

Guess the golden promised land is when they come through with their CA sufficiently close to their PA (through facility upgrades) and when your training facilities/coaches number enough that they progress that bit quicker!

 

[optimusprimal82]

PLEASE NOTE: This post has been edited (by me at no-ones prompting) to remove supporting images in conjunction with the thread rules etc - to see it as the FM gods intended then please head over here! What are you waiting for? Go, go, go!!

Season 3 - End of Year Review - 2021/22

Competitions

Sky Bet League Two | Board Expectation - Fight Relegation | Media Prediction: 24/24 | Actual Finish: 19/24

Well what a season that was! It's no fun getting beaten almost every week, but the fact we had (just about) enough of a fighting chance made for an incredibly enjoyable ride! Would I be saying the same thing if we'd gone down? I think it's safe to say I'd not be as annoyingly chirpy, but this year has been as important as much for the success off the pitch as on it and it's there that I take great satisfaction  - the improvements made will hopefully accelerate our progression over the next few years, our intake this year possibly being a good demonstration of that with the quality in general seeming a cut above the previous years!

I could go through the season and list our problems on the football side, easy examples being we concede too many and don't score enough - but what team finishing 19th doesn't have those issues, they're pretty fundamental after all?! In a lot of ways I think we've worked miracles to stay up when looking at the team report comparisons - we're still so far behind the rest of the league in so many categories that you could actually argue that this is again a year of over-achievement?

I'm cautiously optimistic heading into next year, obviously we were lucky in some respects that there were two teams comfortably - at least in a playing sense - worse than us (although we did struggle still when playing them both) but we don't know if that will be the case next year and I'd much prefer we focus on ourselves in any case. The concern is obviously stopping the bad runs when they crop up as there were two instances this year where it didn't look as if we'd be able to buy a win - when our side is in great spirits we miss too many chances, when we're miserable we struggle to understand what a chance even is! October and January were key months for us, collecting 13 and 12 points respectively and if we can, I'd like to maybe stagger those over the season a little more as I'm not sure it's sustainable to rely on 4-5 game winning bursts to dig us out of trouble, especially when we've proved that 8 game streaks without winning are our speciality!

With four good quality additions from the intake the hope is we can push on a little with senior stalwarts like Grant Roberts & Matty Hughes now in their 30's and on the slippery slope of decline; next season may be a little too soon for them to have a huge impact - taking the super-talented Fraser Meaney (21A) from the year before as an example, it wasn't until the final third of the season that he really started to show what he can do - so we'll need to have patience, but the squad overall feels stronger heading into next year so we don't really have anything to fear (unless the board set ridiculous expectations of course!).

 

Checkatrade Trophy | Board Expectation - Group Stage | Achieved: Group Stage Exit

A cup I absolutely could care less about, whatever genius decided having a midweek competition with groups and associated fixtures needs their head examined - how clubs at this level can fulfil all their obligations is beyond me, the amount of fixtures would have a premier league manager crying! For some reason the board expectations for this competition have disappeared from my competitions/confidence screens but I recall that they expected us to go out in the group stages and I was more than happy to oblige, playing kids in every game. As it happens we had an incredibly tough group anyway with Shrewsbury - who led the league for the majority of the season - going through comfortably.

 

English FA Cup | Board Expectation - Reach First Round | Achieved: Fourth Round Exit (Manchester City)

The story of our season! To pour a little cold water on my 'every cup game is away' theory we were handed a few generous home draws early in the competition before an incredibly tough looking away fixture to Fleetwood came out of the hat in the third round. With the potential riches of the fourth round just a stones throw away I was a little gutted as with our league form I couldn't sensibly suggest that we had any chance of winning away to a team from a higher division (especially as they'd beaten us emphatically in the Checkatrade already this season!) but win we did, the game setting us up for a great little run of form.

To my immediate delight and then disappointment, we drew Man City in the next round, but as the penny dropped that we'd be the home side I started to count the lost thousands of pounds we could have got from an away fixture. Going into the game with nought but a fools hope, we had the most ridiculous luck I think I've witnessed with City getting a red card for a challenge that was questionable just as a foul, and then scoring from a chance presented by a tackle that Vinny Jones would have been proud of! In the end it doesn't matter, we got the unthinkable draw which means we got our away day in the sun and the riches that go with it!

Of course we had no chance in the reverse leg, going down 3-0 and with the subsequent morale drop sending our league form off a cliff, but the cash injection we received has already been put to good use with multiple facility upgrades in the works which bodes incredibly well for the next few seasons! Naturally we can't rely on cup runs like this every year, but whilst we're down in these divisions if we can get one say every 4-5 years then it could make all the difference in terms of timeline and progression so it's certainly worth maybe prioritising the FA cup whenever possible!

 

Carabao Cup | Board Expectation - Reach First Round | Achieved: First Round Exit (Scunthorpe)

Another one where the board expectations have disappeared but again, they had set minimum requirements; If the draw had been at home instead of away then we may have had more of a chance, as it was I suspected we would struggle to beat 'The Iron' so rested accordingly to save our players for the league and the game reached it's natural conclusion.

 

The 'Cup Draw' Table

The scoreboard swung back towards the home side a little this year but it was still a pretty close run thing overall - will definitely be hoping for more home draws to help us get a bit further in the cups next year, just please FM gods, away games for any premier league team fixtures?

 

Youth Intake 2022

The first year where I've gotten really excited. Obviously by now you'll all have seen me wax lyrical about Fraser Meaney (21A) but one man alone - as good as he is - won't make all that much difference. Two years ago we had average quality but a deep pool, last year we had a very shallow pool with good quality, this year we seemed to get the best of both worlds with four players seemingly set to improve our starting XI (depending on how they develop) which is more than anyone can realistically expect?

Lewis Brown (22D) is the pick of the bunch for me, a very solid looking defender (albeit with a few caveats which is natural at this level) that if he develops like I hope & we can keep with us should be a rock in the team we can build around. Michael Skelton (22A) also looks talented and brings some much needed quality to our forward line (although nailing down his best position and role is a little tricky), with Joe Nolan (22B) & Owen Willis (22C) rounding out our potentially awesome foursome!

With the improvements we've made and the ones still happening I'm pretty hopeful that next year will see a similar yield with hopefully another 3-4 who can really push us on and get us fighting at the top end of the table (and hopefully have enough to keep us up afterwards!)

 

Transfers

Nice and quiet - the way I like it (at least in this save) with our first, one and only departure being Janni Lipka - an ageing MC - leaving on a free. Janni's played 38 times this year for his new club so the move was clearly good for him as I doubt he'd have got much game time with the amount of young lads coming though in MC. Noticed that the League two window doesn't actually capture his departure, not sure why that is, maybe a slight miss in timings of his contract ending/the English transfer window opening?

Not transfers as such, but with spiralling youth wage costs I've set a lot of the U18's for release this summer which saddens me but sadly w're not a charity and these lads either don't have the potential or lack the work ethic to realise it. I always think twice before hitting release because when developing youngsters there's no guarantees and a decision may come back to haunt you, but for every additional face there's both a financial & physical cost (facilities and coaches etc) so it makes sense and I hope a lot of them find new clubs and make it in the game, albeit at a lower level - would love to see my 'tags' infecting the leagues for years to come!

 

Squad Statistics

Top Scorer - Fraser Meaney 21A (14) | Most Assists - Luke Porritt (9) | Top Rating - Morgan James (7.05)

Lower numbers across the board again this year perfectly highlighting our struggles in this division. The story may well have been different had Morgan James - top scorer in the previous two seasons - not downed tools for half the season over an apparent unkept promise; he finally snapped out of it a good few months into the season whilst on 0 goals yet finished with 11 which shows his importance still to our side. He'd actually have taken the top scorer award for the third consecutive year had it not been for a sudden burst of form from Fraser Meaney (21A) in the final two games; Fraser had a slow start to the season, still being just below the level of others in the team, yet frequent appearances in the cups/from the bench helped his development along and he's now comfortably part of the first XI. Like the other strikers he was having issues finding the net, but only when played as an STC, let's hope the tactical tweaks that inspired the end of season goal haul are the answer to our goalscoring prayers and he can carry that form throughout next year!

Another good season for Luke Porritt, the worlds worst trainer; I've had reservations about him since the very first season yet he's constantly put good numbers up and finished third overall in the league for assists which for a team finishing 19th isn't too shabby at all. His wing partner Chris Sutherland however had a nightmare, missing over 5 months of the season due to injury, meaning we were using makeshifts there all year which undoubtedly did our cause serious harm. Joe Nolan (22B) is a new right winger with bags of potential so the hope is he can develop and bring to the right hand side what Luke has to the left - fingers crossed!

 

Sky Bet League 2 Player of The Season: Gareth Bye (Swindon)

The first season that Hyde United had no nominee's; the creative force behind Swindon's successful promotion charge, Gareth scored 15 goals and registered 10 assists with an average rating of 7.29, impressive numbers showing why he was a worthy winner overall.

 

Sky Bet League Two Top Goalscorer: Marcus Sheldon (Northampton - 26 goals)

Yep, no real surprises here, Macauley ran away with the award with 2nd and 3rd way behind on 23 goals apiece. Our top league scorer (Morgan James) was equal 16th with 13

 

Sky Bet League 2 Manager of The Season: Steven Pressley (Swindon)

Hmph. Reckon they need a shake up in the voting.

 

Hyde United FC Awards Night: 

See here

Shortly to be renamed the 'Morgan James' award, his third win in three years - be interesting to see if he has competition next year (or if he's still around to receive it having just asked to leave!), specifically from Fraser Meaney (21A)

 

Managers Player of The Season: Keenan Quansah

An absolute rock at DMC, this guy has hardly missed a game and has had his work cut out as we've been constantly put under pressure by teams that are just simply better than us. With none of the drama from someone like Morgan James, this guy just gets on with it and kicks up little fuss - like this;

Comfortable at both DMC & DC, I'd actually like to play him in the backline a little more often, but such is his quality that he leaves impossible boots to fill in that key midfield anchor position. With age very much on his side, I expect him to a fixture of the side for a while yet!

 

In other news

Premier League Winners: Manchester United (3rd year in a row)

FA cup Winners: Liverpool

League Cup Winners: West Ham

Champions League Winners: Manchester United (3rd win in 4 years)

Europa League Winners: Tottenham Hotspur

La Liga Winners: Barcelona

Bundesliga Winners: Borussia Dortmund

Serie A Winners: Napoli

 

Board room updates

A little odd to find this in my inbox considering that we already had works in the pipeline - I hope that it means they're increasing the improvement level and that it's not some weird bug where we get to pay twice for the privilege of a very average upgrade?  

As soon as this (youth recruitment improvement) became an option again I asked the question and fluttered my eyelashes accordingly - improvements, improvements everywhere!

 

Depressingly low numbers but more money is better than less!

New sponsorship!

 

My stock has fallen slightly with the board but overall they're still pretty pleased; so long as they don't raise expectations unrealistically and we don't have a disaster of a season I should be ok next year?

 

Final Thoughts

Obviously in a new league and having overachieved for two years we were bound to hit a wall at some point and this was that year. A year of consolidation whilst we maintained our status and awaited much needed new blood. The concern last season with just one player standing out from the intake is that it could be a very slow process progressing and the concern as to whether the board and fans would be ok with that - following this years intake though things are definitely looking up, not least due to the impressive amount of improvements we've been able to make off the back of an incredible cup run. there's no guarantees that next years intake will be half as good, but the improvements should average out at least over the next few years and supply us with the tools needed to move up a division (or two!). People told me before I started this challenge that the first 2-3 years would be the hardest whilst you wait for even the first years intake to develop and in some ways we've bucked that trend, but now those chickens are coming home to roost as with a two division jump it's clear that almost all of the first years intake are below the current standard.

Predictions for next season: Same as this year, a struggle against relegation with players developing whilst enjoying dreadful cup runs/early exits; we finished 19th this year so i'll be happy with 18th!

 

[dkouv]

IFK Eskilstuna – Season 10

Season 10 – 2028 – Swedish Premier Division

League: Solid. I thought we’d, at best, be scraping against relegation at the bottom of the table, but we finished in the solid middle instead. A great start to the season took us to the giddy heights of European qualification slots, but things quickly normalized in the second half of the season, as we ended the season with 4 straight defeats, last one being 7 – 2 away to league winners AIK, but still ended up mid-table.

Cup: Almost made it out of the group stage, losing out by 1 goal difference to IFK Gothenburg. We go again next year, I guess.

Star players: The usual rota of Eric Hallberg (MC), Johan Palm 24c (MR) and Henrik Gustafsson 24a (ST) were complemented by the left wing and wing back Niclas Jonsson 26c (DL) and Oscar Claesson 26d (ML), one of whom even made it to the team of the year.

Youth watch: I focused on staying up and didn’t blood many youngsters, but Mikael Sjöberg 27a (MC) from last year’s intake got a few games at MC.

Squad: Here’s how it looks 10 years in – we got good players in the first team for most positions, not much depth, with striker options being the thinnest of the lot, and keeper options having the lowest quality across the board.

Youth intake: They say it’s a golden generation, but looks a bit meh to me. I guess Edvard Arvidsson 28a (GK) could be our future No. 1 keeper, and Haris Hodzic 28b (DC) and Filip Qvist 28c (MR) could turn out useful, but I could really do with some strikers at some point.

Transfers: Anders Alexandersson 26a (DRLC) was snapped up by Hammarby for compensation of £500k as long as he turned 18. Not too shabby, but I wish I tried to offer him out for more money before this.

Finances: The transfer and tv income allowed us to start an upgrade of the training facilities for a princely £750k

Facilities: a youth recruitment upgrade

Next season’s aim: We can do it again – midtable!

Season |  League       | Pos. |   Cup   |     CL      |     EL      |     Top scorer          |  Top assists           |     Top rating            | Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   | Div 2 S. Svea |  3   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (22)          |   Milde (15)           |     Alkoyun (7.7)         |
2020   | Div 2 S. Svea |  1   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (22)          |   Milde + 2 more (10)  |     Milde (7.8)           | Promotion
2021   | Div 1 North   |  1   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (21)          |   Milde (14)           |     Cirak (7.7)           | Promotion
2022   | Div 1 Elite   |  11  |   R2    |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (17)          |   Hallberg 19a (9)     |     Cirak (7.4)           | Survived
2023   | Div 1 Elite   |  9   |   R2    |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (12)     |   Milde (11)           |     Milde (7.1)           |
2024   | Div 1 Elite   |  6   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (20)     |   Milde (9)            |     Östling (7.4)         |
2025   | Div 1 Elite   |  7   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (19)     |   Palm 24c (14)        |     Lundin (7.3)          |
2026   | Div 1 Elite   |  4   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (14)  |   Palm 24c (12)        |     Palm 24c (7.2)        |
2027   | Div 1 Elite   |  1   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (12)  |   Hallberg 19a (6)     |     Hallberg 19a (7.5)    | Promotion!
2028   | Premier       |  8   | ongoing |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (19)  |   Claesson 26d (13)    |     Claesson 26d (7.3)    |
.
Season |  Finances |  Coaching     |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   |   £23k    |  Fairly Basic |      Basic        |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2020   |   -£9k    |  Average      |  Fairly Basic     |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2021   |   -£6k    |  Average      |  Fairly Basic     |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2022   |   £55k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2023   |   £42k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Basic        |  Poor           |  7800
2024   |   £38k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Basic        |  Poor           |  7800
2025   |   £136k   |  Good         |     Average       |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2026   |   £241k   |  Good         |     Average       |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2027   |   £464k   |  Good         |  Above Average    |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2028   |   £464k   |  Good         |  Well established |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800

[dkouv]

@thomas_e I think progress before 18 depends more on facilities / training, after 18 more on first team appearances. So I usually send them out before 18 only if I have a feeder club with better training facilities than the ones I have (which I do in this save). I also try to look for clubs with "Professional" squad personality to loan youngsters to. But to be honest, usually if someone is good enough they start featuring in my first team pretty soon anyway, although a few of the loanees have come back and started to feature regularly.

I would try to max out junior coaching if I were you - this affects both CA and PA of regens from what I can remember, so having it on fairly basic probably means your youth intakes aren't as strong as they could be...

I'm struggling a bit to turn round the bad personalities in my team, had a few intakes with low det / casual players etc, and now looks like there's enough of them so that the squad personality isn't improving their personalities any more. Any tips on how to better this would be appreciated - I tried to hire good personality coaches and promoting youngsters to the first team to mentor them, but it's not working that great so far.

[saintrainhard]

Really want to do this challenge...

[andershs]

Good to see the progress being made. Good job, @dkouv, @optimusprimal82 and @Fadedaf.

A quick update from me. We are finding life in the National League tough. The increased tempo and the increased quality in passes and finishes are taking its toll, and it is not uncommon that we are down 0-1 within the first few minutes and 0-2 or even 0-3 within the first 20-30 minutes effectively ending the match prematurely.

Currently however, we have hit a streak of three fortuitous wins lifting us to a much needed 11th place. But I wonder if this will last. 

[thomas_e]

@saintrainhard, looking forward to following you

[thomas_e]

21 hours ago, dkouv said:

@thomas_e I think progress before 18 depends more on facilities / training, after 18 more on first team appearances. So I usually send them out before 18 only if I have a feeder club with better training facilities than the ones I have (which I do in this save). I also try to look for clubs with "Professional" squad personality to loan youngsters to. But to be honest, usually if someone is good enough they start featuring in my first team pretty soon anyway, although a few of the loanees have come back and started to feature regularly.

I would try to max out junior coaching if I were you - this affects both CA and PA of regens from what I can remember, so having it on fairly basic probably means your youth intakes aren't as strong as they could be...

I'm struggling a bit to turn round the bad personalities in my team, had a few intakes with low det / casual players etc, and now looks like there's enough of them so that the squad personality isn't improving their personalities any more. Any tips on how to better this would be appreciated - I tried to hire good personality coaches and promoting youngsters to the first team to mentor them, but it's not working that great so far.

Good points you mention here @dkouv, and I agree. I think I have been too focused on loaning out players, without getting anything in return in terms of improvement. I have state of the art training facilities both for seniors and juniors, as well as pretty good junior coaching. 

And I shouldnt be too greedy either probably, after all I am in La Liga, so shouldn't expect to get top class players every year from the academy. 

But will definitely look at keeping more players in my U19 team rather than loaning them out. But you can now add players from U19 to train with the first team. Any thoughts on that? It sounds like a really good idea, considering my first team coaches also have good attributes on junior coaching. But I expect there is a downside. 

[saintrainhard]

1 hour ago, thomas_e said:

@saintrainhard, looking forward to following you

Already started using Rimini. will reporting soon

[dkouv]

@thomas_e Re first team training - not really sure about this one myself. I've been promoting two types of players - a). those which are good enough to feature in the first team, even if it is through sub appearances, and b). those with poor personalities to add them to mentoring units. The rest I leave in U19 and reserves. Not sure how much this matters - but what I've noticed is that if I promote too many and they don't get into the first team, they have v poor match fitness at some point, so they somehow don't get selected much for U19 even if you make them available for selection through one of those options, which is probably not too good. So I guess one should keep some kind of balance there... And yes, your facilities look pretty awesome in general; mine are still a fair way off, think I'll have to wait till I qualify for Europe until any further upgrades, but who knows...

 

[tomay]

FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt
Season 2044/204

Erfurt news:
- manager contract extended to 30.06.2048
- stadium 54 638, average attendance 53 182, by capacity 97%, 9 stadium sellouts
- finances: balance +845M
- tactic: 4-4-2
- european ranking: 12th, european reputation: 24th, domestic reputation: 6th
---
Transfers: [Transfers]
Nothing interesting to write.

---
League: rules - players under 17yo not allowed to play
predicted 8th - odds 101.00
position 6th [table] - Europa League qualification

---
Cup: 2nd round
1st r. - won A[5-1] with DSC Arminia Bielefeld (3.Bundesliga)
2nd r. - lost A[2-0] with Bayer 04 (Bundesliga)

DFL-Supercup: lost
F - lost H[2-5] with FC Bayern München

Europa League: Final
Group stage:  1.Erfurt 16p 2.Rijeka 3.Olexandriya 7p 4.Ajax 4p
1st r. - won A[2-1], H[6-1] with EA Guingamp
2nd r. - won A[3-1], H[3-2] with Juventus
QF - won H[4-2], A[3-1] with Arsenal
SF - won H[1-1], A[2-2] with Borussia Dortmund
F - lost N[3-3] 0-3 in penalties with Liverpool
---
Intake:
And again another year with big disappointment.
[intake] - [Michales Stapelfeld] - [Stefan Dietl]
---
Stats:
Top goalscorer: David Röppnack (FC)  - 20 goals - 28yo
Most assists: Stefan Schultz (ML) - 24 assists - 21yo - club record!
Highest average rating: Stefan Schultz (ML) - 7,61 - 21yo
Most POM: Stefan Schultz (ML)  - 9 - 21yo - club record!

Season

League

Pos

Cup

Int.Cup

Top scorer

Top assists

Highest avg. rat.

TF

YF

JC

YR

Notes

2042/43

1.st

5th

SF

CL QF

C.Matera [19]

S.Schultz [12]

C.Matera [7.26]

State of art

State of art

Exceptional

Extensive

EL qualification

2043/44

1.st

5th

Won

EL 2nd r.

O.Aey [27]

H.Silajdzija [17]

H.Silajdzija [7.46]

State of art

State of art

Exceptional

Extensive

won DFB Pokal, EL qual.

2044/45

1.st

6th

2nd .r

EL F

D.Röppnack [20]

S.Schultz [24]

S.Schultz [7.61]

State of art

State of art

Exceptional

Extensive

EL qualification

 

[Fadedaf]

When all of your best young players end up being right backs:

[Jtomsett11]

SSC Bari Season 3 update

When I last left off, my talented right back had just had his release fee triggered. This was not a good start to pre-season, and it was made worse on deadline day when our left winger Ottalenghi left for £2.4million which the board accepted over my head. I had resigned myself to losing Forti, but to lose Ottalenghi left me feeling we would really struggle to improve upon our 7th place finish in Serie B in season 2.

Still, the first half of the season was a huge success. Half way through we lay in 5th place, a good way off automatic promotion spots but a huge success nonetheless! However, the second half of the season was tough. At one point, we just couldn't win. We went on a run of conceding goals in the last 15 minutes. We drew 3-3, 2-2, 1-1 etc. having been 2-0, 3-1 and 1-0 up. In the end we couldn't keep up our early season form and ended up in 9th place, just outside the play off places. 

As you can see from that screenshot, our top scorer had 7 this season and this is, along with the conceding of late goals, my main concern about the team. I am going to place more emphasis on the youth CBs and CFs next season in an attempt to improve them enough to give me more options at both ends. I am also changing tactics slightly to the 4-2-3-1 we won promotion with. It is very attacking but I'm going to give it a go to start with. 

In terms of the youth, another good intake, and crucially two CBs with good potential! The LB would not sign professional terms and has now left for compensation  However, the growth in depth means I can be a little more fussy and start to get rid of some of the low potential, crap personality youth players. 

Meanwhile, the board has approved another upgrade to the youth facilities. I have been very lucky as you can see below with upgrades and from the youth coming through and the progress made by my players, it is having a large impact on the squad. 

Next season

Finally, I am not predicted to come in last place, just 17th!! I am hoping to match my first Serie B season and get into the play offs. I am also hoping to develop my youth as I said above, with the hope that I can improve the late goal conceding habit and score a few more goals!

Other updates

Transfers

Manager profile (how on earth do you get discipline up?!!)

Job offers 1, 2 and 3!

Season	League	Finish	Finances	Youth facilities	Training facilities	Youth recruitment	Junior coaching	Top scorer	Top assists
1	Serie C	1st	£2.8 million	Average	Average	Above average	Average	Simeri (23)	Bollini (11)
2	Serie B	7th (lost in play off semis)	£2.4 million	Good	Good	Established	Adequate	Simeri (11)	Ottalenghi (7)
3	Serie B	9th	£2.95 million	Good	Great	Established	Exceptional	Simeri (7)	Paba 21D (7)

 

[saintrainhard]

Too bad the intake are hijack by AC Milan

Edited March 31, 2019 by saintrainhard