The Football Manager Youth Academy Challenge

[thomas_e]

 

Real Jean FC

Season update 2029-2030

After two consecutive years of finishing 8th place, we finally saw some progress. We finished 7th in the table, and even though that is just one place higher, this means a return to Europe. My two best players, Senoussi in midfield and my goalkeeper Naim, refuse to sign new contracts, so hopefully playing in Europe will make that happen. 

Playing wise we didn't really see big progress, but we have some decent talents coming through, and we need to start making changes. We have to many players with a first team spot that does not have any real quality, and I am now trying to phase them out. Our first "star" player, central defender Eugenio, had to start on the bench for the last 4 games, having to give way for 15 year old (!!) Hassan Maher, a very talented centre back that came through the youth intake. Very excited about him, and hopefully he can lead the way forward for a new generation? 

If I lose Senoussi or Naim I am in extremely big trouble, so time is of the essence. We have to step up and start contending (even though we have by far the weakest team in the league). 

I have been able to get farmer clubs in Europe, connecting with 1860 Munchen, FC Twente, Sochaux and CD Santa Clara (Portugal). This gives me some pretty decent talent in the youth intake, and can prove to be very important. 

I started to play a bit more offensive this year, and it paid off. We were able to control more home games than in previous years, and that was important in a year when star winger Jorge Vela didnt really play at his best. I am used to him scoring 10 goals from the wing, this year I think he got three. So moving the whole team more forward as a unit was key. Away we struggle more against the big teams than we used to, and sometimes I can just put the game on key highlights and maximum speed. If we go down early against a big team, there is no coming back...

Goals for next season: Top 7 in the league and advance from the group stage in Europa League

 

General info

 

Key players and best player from youth intake

 

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
2029/30	|   La Liga                  |  7th      |  4th round          |   N/A       |   A return to Europe! 

 

[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 4 - End of Year Review - 2022/23

Competitions

Sky Bet League Two | Board Expectation - Fight Relegation | Media Prediction: 24/24 | Actual Finish: 5/24 (Promoted via playoffs)

Rewind 11 months and you'd be forgiven for fearing the worst heading into this season; losing our opening two fixtures and thne crahsing straight our of the Carabao cup wasn't the confidence-inspiring start we were looking for - but it mattered little in the end as a superb run in the second half of the campaign saw us surge up the table and - given the generous promotion options in this league - into the playoffs where we ultimately prevailed! Coming into the season I was cautiously optimistic - aware that we'd had a great intake last year I was conscious that if they developed as we hoped that we had a real chance of the squad improving by a good margin however at this level that's far from a guarantee with progression in the U18 teams being ponderously slow with our current facilities.

Around Christmas time, sensing that we'd done enough to be safe I started handing out more first team chances to player such as Joe Nolan (22B) - guys who our coaches are adamant are the future of our team (according to team report 'potential' but who were scratching around the fringes of the team, not quite looking ready to step up but obviously too good for reserve football. Against better judgment I played both Joe and Owen WIllis (22C) down the right flank for the rest of the season (fitness & injuries permitting) and whilst their response and improvement is undoubtedly difficult to gauge, their performance improvement (most notable in match ratings) was awesome to see and considering they're both listed to have plenty more room to grow I'm excited to see exactly how much better they can get! I don't normally/wouldn't advocate taking this sort of risk, but with our safety mostly assured I felt we had little to lose and everything to gain with both of these guys rated as 4*+ potential and only 0.5 star CA I wanted to see if I could push us along a little bit quicker and to my mind, the best way for players to develop is if they play - essentially I wanted to turn this;

Squad_potential_ability.jpg

into this!

Squad_current_ability.jpg

The gamble paid off this year but naturally if we had been staring relegation in the face I may have been a little more circumspect! The good thing is that as well as these two individuals we still have plenty more in the squad with a lot of growing to do; we currently have no strikers listed as being of 'great' quality, yet there are 7 on our books if the coaches are to be believed which when coupled with the potential across other positions in the team is very encouraging - the difficult part is obviously extracting it with our poor Training facilities and few number of coaches (it is imo, incredibly noticeable how much slower players develop at low level teams as opposed to big clubs - which plays a bigger part out of the coaches or facilities I'm not entirely sure but what I'm in absolutely no doubt about is that game time is th best way to get them to improve, certainly in their late teens/early 20's. I'm normally loathe to loan anyone around 18-20 out in FM as I'm often concentrating on tutoring/mentoring but for this save I'm less focused on that os I may see if I can get some our other high potential kids out playing football next season to get them making the same sort of strides forward to speed up our charge to the Championship!

 

The table tells a very interesting story - the graph in particular charting our up and downs as our form fluctuated so rapidly. In a bid to overcome a long term weakness, my move to be more attacking this year paid off on the one hand as we finished as top scorers, but we also shipped a lot more goals which upsets the perfectionist part of me and is something that going forward I won't be able to accept - whilst we're still developing and adapting to the league it's something I can handle but longer term I very much want to see the goals again column reading '0' more often than not! Next year will obviously be difficult at both ends of the field as our inexperienced -and probably still weakest area of the team overall - attack will come up against better defenders, and the inverse will be true for youngsters such as Owen Willis (22C) and Lew Brown (22D) who've been so vital this season.

 

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

I feel like I could cut & paste this straight from last year - a nothing competition (tell Portsmouth fans that right now?!) that I'm delighted to get out of as soon as we can - this season being absolutely no exception!

"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."

 

 

English FA Cup | Board Expectation - Reach First Round | Achieved: Third Round Exit (Preston NE)

After last years heroics, this season was always likely to be a little anti-climatic and so it was as we were handed uninspiring away draws all the way to the third round where  a much superior Preston outfit ended our charge with little fuss. We got nowhere near the same level of cash injection as a result but it's be a fools game to rely on that sort of windfall every year and instead I prefer to focus on keeping our costs (youth facilities aside) as low as possible to ensure we try and remain profitable and self sufficient - as our player values increase and teams start sniffing around this will inevitably become easier although offset by the increased wages I expect we'll have to pay in the higher divisions where having such a large overall squad may prove to be very detrimental to a club of our size.

 

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

Not sure why we haven't enjoyed anywhere near the same level of success in the League cup, but may be something to do with how early in the season it crops up, usually when I'm still settling on a formation/best 11 and still experimenting with a few of the youngsters to see if they're ready to step up to the first team? A tough away draw first up is also never going to really help us and sure enough Bradford did their job and killed what futile hopes we may have had in the competition off immediately

 

 

The 'Cup Draw' Table

A season of 'away-only' fixtures in the FA cup alone ensured the gap here went one way - be interesting to see how much this changes as we improve as a team and become more of a force in the cups/enter more rounds;

 

Youth Intake 2023

No one player truly stands out this year, especially when compared to the last few intakes which yielded Meaney (21A) & Brown (22D). The biggest plus point this year was the depth and diversity of the potential with it spreading across a number of positions as opposed to being handed to one or two super gifted individuals - it bring su s to the jack of all trades/master of none argument, but with players ageing we maybe needed this sort of 'unsung' year to give us a few backup options when we face injuries - a lot of these guys may never be full starters but hopefully they'll be there to fill in the gaps during times of need!

 

Transfers

We're facing a struggle to keep hold of Fraser Meaney (21A) as we head into the summer window. He's entering the final year of his contract and has no interest in signing a new one, declaring that he wants to join a bigger club (the promotion doing little to satisfy him; with 18 goals, 12 assists and a rating of 7.28 he was comfortably our best play this year so if we are going to lose him I can only hope those numbers push his value beyond the meagre 47k it is right now (and moving into the higher division should help with that too). If - as expected - we do lose him, obviously it will be a blot but Michael Skelton (22A) is a very similar type of player (albeit with a potentially lower ceiling?) who is just a bit behind Fraser in terms of development - this may be the opportunity he needs to really kick on?

Squad Statistics

Top Scorer - Fraser Meaney 21A (18) | Most Assists - Fraser Meaney/Luke Porritt (12) | Top Rating - Fraser Meaney (7.28)

Better numbers this year undoubtedly as a result of our more attacking approach. It's the first time Morgan James hasn't made the 'top' lists in the save but rest assured he wasn't far off with 12 goals and a 7.21 rating - his assists uncharacteristically low at just 3 this year. Luke Porritt again excelled as a creative force at ML but his lack of a consistent wing partner on the right hand side means there's no real point of comparison - Chris Sutherland started the season in the position but seemed to decline in both performances & quality in a bizaree fashion, such that the coaches now deem him surprlus to requirements and recommend I transfer list him! Emeka Jibrin (20B) had a good run towards the end of the first half of the season at MR but was solid rather than spectacular with 3 goals and a solitary assist encouraging me to give highly rated Joe Nolan (20B) a run in the side. Although his performance ratings were highewr overall, Joe's number's were also a little lacking compared to the left wing output finishing with just a single goal (and WHAT a goal it was in the playoff final!) and five assists from 27 games. The MR position is still very much up for grab s heading into next year with both Jibrin and Nolan having plenty of potential to play with it seems!

In terms of goals, Fraser MEaney obviously had a good season despite never really making a specific position his own - he regularly moved between STC and MCL/MCR with me never being fully convinced as to where (and what role) actually suited him best? When paying in a pair during my brief dalliance with a 442 he played possibly the best he has in a Hyde shirt but given the defensive issues playing without a DMC caused us I doubt that'll be something we can try again this year so it'll be interesting to see how he goes. Stephen Wells (20A) had his best ever goal return this year with 14, rewarding the additional starts afforded to him and maybe highlighting the benefits of fitting a role to a player as he finally came to life when played as a Pressing Forward as opposed to the Advanced forward his pace encouraged a test with - let's hope the step up in class isn't too big for him!

 

Sky Bet League 2 Player of The Season: Fraser Meaney (21A)

A well earned reward for our standout player - remains to be seen if he'll wear a Hyde shirt again with teams sniffing around and his contract coming to an end but he gave it his all this year so we can ask no more of him really

 

Sky Bet League Two Top Goalscorer: Ali Al-Hamadi (Southend - 25 goals)

Didn't really see or hear a lot of this guy over the season but he obviously had a good one which is all the more surprising seeing as Southend finished in 13th overall.

 

Sky Bet League 2 Manager of The Season: Jos Luhukay (Rochdale)

Beginning to sense some bias in these awards, they obviously have something against managers in red glasses!

Sky Bet League 2 Team of the year;

 

A team absolutely dominated by Rochdale but our man Fraser still managed to sneak in!

 

Hyde United FC Awards Night: 

 

No real surprise to see the winner from the night, but a kick in the ego for Morgan James as he left empty handed for the first time in my tenure - suspect that the quality of opposition might be getting on top of him for the first time as he's generally been much quieter overall this year which doesn't bode well for next season!

 

Managers Player of The Season: Fraser Meaney

Regular readers will know I'm not easily swayed by goals or 'PotM' awards - I find that FM's rating system is far too skewed in favour of goals and my tactics demand very specific thing sof players so the goalscorers will always be more prevalent. A great year again for our GK with no mistakes that I can recall (sad that's how i measure our GK's performances year in, year out) but even bearing in mind my obstinate appreciation of goalscoring I can't look past Fraser Meaney; time and again he was the match winner and shining light during games that I couldn't see how we may score, let alone steal a victory! His passing and general ball retention is also excellent and his 12 assists were almost as important as his goals as one of the few in my side capable of unlocking packed defences - keeping him may be a real struggle but we'd never have got promoted this year without him so can still be grateful!

 

 

 

In other news

Premier League Winners: Manchester United (4th year in a row)

FA cup Winners: Liverpool

League Cup Winners: Manchester United

Champions League Winners: Real Madrid

Europa League Winners: Chelsea

La Liga Winners: Real Madrid

Bundesliga Winners: Bayern Munich

Serie A Winners: Napoli

 

Board room updates

Having gain an unlikely promotion I thought it only prudent to push my luck with a few boardroom requests and much to my surprise and delight, they acquiesced, granting us improvements across the board (no pun intended - roll on next years intake)!

 

The board are - somewhat unsurprisingly - delighted with how everything is going otherwise!

 

Final Thoughts

Obviously I've written a few times now how much of a surprise this season has been - I didn't expect to be sitting here writing this with a promotion to plan for. Such is the amount of improvement needed to compete at the next level I'm grateful in a lot of ways that I can't recruit as I'd likely otherwise spend what could only be described as an 'obsessive' amount of time scouting and scouring the market, whereas this way my hands are tied and I'll deal with whatever the FM gods throw at us. It'll be tough - and no doubt we'll score less and concede more - but I believe our experiences over the last couple of years - not to mention my tactical learnings from playing against superior opposition consistently - should stand us in great stead!?

 

 

[PukkiParty]

2021/2022 Season Review

 

Performance

My second season in the Conference with Kings Lynn, I literally finished on the same number of points as last year, I was much better defensively however didn't get as many goals. Once again I reached the play off's, this time I lost in the play off final to Kidderminster Harriers which was a tough one to take, however the money from the Play Off final has meant we've upgraded our Youth Recruitment. I really feel that I'm stagnating a little so I really hope some of my young players can develop a lot better this next season and potentially push us on a bit.

League Table 

We were knocked out of the FA Cup by Newport County in the 2nd Round and than knocked out by York City in the FA Trophy in the 4th Round. 

Notable Players

My top scorer was Harry Limb, this time he got 24 League goals in 44 league games. He's still only 22 so hopefully will keep banging them in for a long time. Adam Marriott my previous top goal scorer had a really poor season and only managed to get 8 league goals. 

Luke McCormick was again a standout, he got 9 goals and 14 assists in 43 league games. His stats were not as good as last season but again I think that's due to losing a bit of attacking threat this season.

In terms of the young players who have come through Finley Clampin once again had the best season, he got 7 assists in 36 appearances from right back.

Youth Intake

This youth intake was again described as a 'Golden Generation' (once again), but probably about the same as the second years in terms of quality.

Prospect #1 By a mile, Michael Woodthorpe looks to be the best of the bunch. His finishing stats look decent and I reckon he'll be thrown into the squad next season.

Prospect #2 He's followed by Orrett Gaynor, who looks a good passer of the ball.

Prospect #3 Joe Read is my third best prospect this year, although I have many centre backs ahead of him, so I don't anticipate him playing much next season.

Here is the seasons transfers.

I really want to get out of this division, but I don't think the squad is really improving much. The windfall from Wembley means I have a healthy bank balance, what do people think is the best thing to get upgraded? Junior Coaching, Youth Recruitment or Professional Status?

 

 

 

[thomas_e]

14 hours ago, PukkiParty said:

The windfall from Wembley means I have a healthy bank balance, what do people think is the best thing to get upgraded? Junior Coaching, Youth Recruitment or Professional Status?

My Real Jean team had professional status when I took over, so I can't be certain, but I would think this is the most pressing one? This gives you the opportunity to lock in the one or two talented players that might come through every year which certainly is key. Otherwise, if you for some strange reason find yourself with a really talented player you might lose him straight away. And I would guess that professional status also covers general improvements in the club and gives you a better chance of getting other improvements. Professional status also gives you full time contracts for coaches, which in turn, gives you better training for seniors and youth players. 

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Season 2030 Report

Our goals for this season were to push for the playoffs and hopefully progress from last year. After three straight 8th place finishes, I was hoping for some improvement ideally. You can probably guess what happened though.

Cup- A really pathetic effort saw us knocked out in the first round by lower league Kvik Halden. We definitely need to improve on this next season as that prize money helps keep us afloat, with the difference between 1st and 3rd round knockouts of about 100K.

League- We had an extremely slow start with only 5 points from our first 6 games and despite some improvement we were still pretty inconsistent for the remainder of the season. The only thing we are consistent about is our placing, 8th yet again. 5 points off the playoffs and we felt slightly further off than last year, probably down to the poor start. Anyways, I think we can definitely do better next year as we continue our incredibly slow progress up the Norwegian leagues. We were somewhat affected by injuries as well this year, so with some better luck we may be able to be more consistent.

Best Players-

Top goalscorer: Jens Hurthi 28F (11 goals) Another year of inconsistency from my strikers, but Hurthi did really well with his chances and looks to be leading a new generation of talented strikers.

Most assists: Per Christian Rygh 27J (4 assists) A low total as we had about 5 players end on 3 assists, perhaps due to increased rotation this year. This guy started the season as our backup RB before winning the starting job, playing really well and then getting hit by a long term injury. He looks very promising though and could definitely be our RB of the future.

Highest avg rating: Jens Hurthi 28F (7.10)

Most POM: Jens Hurthi 28F (3)

MVP: Hurthi 28F

Best U23 Player: guess who, Hurthi 28F

Results Results 2 (no) Transfers

 

As far as next season goes, I wouldn't exactly be upset with another 8th place finish, but I really think we can do better. We have some very promising youngsters coming through, especially 16 year old Rytterager 30A from the most recent intake, who I decided to give a starting role to because why not. 

|         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
2030   1st Division       8th      1st Round        -         Furthi(11)        Rygh(4)                 Furthi(7.10)            Mid Table

 

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by Fadedaf

[PukkiParty]

3 hours ago, thomas_e said:

My Real Jean team had professional status when I took over, so I can't be certain, but I would think this is the most pressing one? This gives you the opportunity to lock in the one or two talented players that might come through every year which certainly is key. Otherwise, if you for some strange reason find yourself with a really talented player you might lose him straight away. And I would guess that professional status also covers general improvements in the club and gives you a better chance of getting other improvements. Professional status also gives you full time contracts for coaches, which in turn, gives you better training for seniors and youth players. 

That’s the one I’ve been pushing most because means more time training as well as they’ll be on full time contracts. Unfortunately despite the windfall and a balance sheet of £300k they aren’t interested in turning professional. In fact they’re not budging on any of them which is frustrating.

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Youth Intake 2031

Another pretty solid intake, I managed to get junior coaching upgraded again recently which I believe has paid off, with 3 nice 5 star potential players.

The best of them seems to be a striker, Henanger 31A. He looks pretty nice but we do have about 4 talented young strikers trying to break into the first team at the moment so he may have to wait a couple seasons to move up to the senior team. There is also Heggelund 31B who looks like a really promising fullback although he lacks some determination. The story is the same at RB however so he will also likely wait a little while before breaking into the first team. The third 5* PA player we got is Aasenhus 31C, who is even more raw than the other two.

 

[thomas_e]

A bit of a bragging post I guess, but with all the hardship we go through on this challenge we have to treasure the highlights. 

Finished second in my group in Europa League, behind Liverpool. Drew Ajax in the first stage of the knock out stage, first game at home. 

Everything clicked! We were 3-0 up after 18 minutes, when my striker Santiago Sanchez chiped over the goalkeeper from 10 meters out... 

Our central defender Jose Manuel scored a hat-trick! His first goals of the season! 

With so many frustrating performances I've had over the last few seasons, what a joy this was!!

 

[Fadedaf]

for the first time we have sold a player for actual money!

[XaW]

On 19/02/2019 at 22:04, dkouv said:

@XaW Just saw your completion - congrats! Nice one!  And in England too - that's a pretty hardcore way to do the first challenge completion  Now, Wales........

Bloody hell, you made me do it. I've been thinking about trying it in Wales for a while when I'm playing elsewhere and I just can't get all that into it. So..... here we go.... 

I've taken over Rhyl.

We have a decent squad with some good and some not so good players.

The facilities are pretty bad, but that is to be expected.

So, here we go!

Edited April 4, 2019 by XaW

[XaW]

One of my players retired and turned into the worst staff member in the history of FM!

[dkouv]

@XaW Awesome, I am definitely looking forward to the updates  You can blame me if everything goes down the proverbial drain...

[XaW]

13 minutes ago, dkouv said:

@XaW Awesome, I am definitely looking forward to the updates  You can blame me if everything goes down the proverbial drain...

The blame is on its way...

[dkouv]

51 minutes ago, XaW said:

The blame is on its way...

That is rough... :o I shall have nothing to do with this! 

Although, given how abysmal Aberwystwyth and Newtown are, you still have a shot at survival

[XaW]

57 minutes ago, dkouv said:

That is rough... :o I shall have nothing to do with this! 

Although, given how abysmal Aberwystwyth and Newtown are, you still have a shot at survival

Things are going slightly better... though we almost threw away a 6-0 lead! 

[andershs]

Scarborough Athletic FC (England)

Season 5 - 2023/24

I thought it would be a struggle to survive after our promotion to the Vanarama National League, but it turned out to be a relatively comfortable season. After a period to adjust to the increased quality in the league, we managed to stay midtable all season. What we did lack was consistency. We would win one, loose one, win two, loose three. But considering we are still below level with regard to player quality in this division and most of our players are very young, that is ok.
So a very good season. In the end of the season the club had a change in ownership. I took advantage of this and pushed the intake setup another level. Nice.

League (Results 1 | Results 2 | Results 3 | Cups) - After a period of adjusting, we kept a healthy distance to the relegation places all season. We beat Tranmere, Swindon, Grimsby twice and Barnet on the way. But the most impressive match even though we only managed to draw, was this against Fylde. We were 0-2 down after just three minutes, but managed to turn the match around going 4-2 up just after half time. Fylde then scored two quick goals with ten minutes to go, but getting a draw in this match was impressive. Cups... Well, we participated.

Team - After this season, we will loose Mel Davison who has refused to sign a new contract. Next year, we will loose John Muirhead as well for the same reason. This would not be good loosing our entire attack, if we did not have players ready to take over. John Hickson and Henry Bower might not be quite as good, but they will suffice on this level and have already played much. Henry Bower surprised me. I had not paid any notice of him at intake day last year, but he was highlighted by our coaching staff and turned out to be good already and quite promising. Connor Green also had a breakthrough season.
All in all, my team is now heavily dominated by our extremely good 22-intake. We have solid players on most positions, but could really use a central defender or two in the coming intakes after we lost Alex Greenwood to Boston Utd. Moreover, at some point i will also have to switch our goalkeeper.
Satisfyingly, I was able to extend the contracts of my most promising players during this season with of course the exception of Davison and Muirhead. But they are too good to play at this level, so it is ok.

Facilities - After the takeover, I put my job on the line and managed to upgrade our Junior Coaching and Youth Intake again. This means, that the best players coming through should be at least on level
with the Vanarama National League and be able to go more or less straight into the team. Great. We received another dispensation to play at our current stadium in Goole some 80 kilometres from Scarborough.

Youth Intake - Another quite strong intake. Darren Powell already looks like a very strong central midfielder. Jonny Gregory is another good attacker and Daniel O'Neill looks like my coming left full back.

No transfers and the finances are ok.

Goal next season: Another midtable finish would be nice.

Edited April 6, 2019 by andershs

[andershs]

Davison ended up at West Bromwich at a monthly wage I can only dream of matching. Too bad, but to be honest he was too good to play at our level.

Edited April 6, 2019 by andershs

[XaW]

Youth intake 2020

We just had our first youth intake here in Wales. And, not surprisingly, pretty much everyone have a lot of talent compared to the team. I'll most likely keep everyone this year around. This will allow me to get rid of some of the horrible, HORRIBLE players I've kept as backup currently.

There are a lot of talents here, the ones who have stood out to me so far are Brett Burrows-Griffiths 20m:

Very decent stats all over, though being "unambitious" isn't the best.

Nathan Thomas 20h is a lethal finisher, but have some serious issues with other attributes.

 

Ricky Levitt 20j isn't the best in stats, but he is a Model Citizen and that could (should?) mean he will improve more than the others.

[XaW]

 XaW - Rhyl FC - 2019/20

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So Wales, huh? How hard can it be, I thought. Oh boy, the players are really not good. I mean, really not good at all! I tried to create a version of my beloved 4-5-1/4-3-3 with inside forwards out wide. Let's just say that didn't work, not at all. We are just too poor to play anything resembling "pretty football", so I changed to a more basic tactical approach. A 4-1-4-1 with a defensive midfielder give us a solid defensive shape, and then I can give the wide midfielders more freedom to go forward and support the lone striker. The changed seemed to work as we crawled up from the bottom of the table going into the league split. Here are examples of what happened before and after the tactical change:

A much improved form, and when we got the youth intake I put a couple of them straight into the main squad and got some good result right away. Brett Burrows-Griffiths 20m went straight into the playmaker role and hit the ground running. 2 goals and 3 assists from his 6 games for us is amazing. I've found that the players are so very poor here, that I don't miss much when throwing players straight into the fray. 4 of the youth players have gotten their debuts so far, and can see more of them becoming part of the team for next season. In the end we finished quite comfortably over the relegation spots, even if Newtown also had a much improved second part of the season. Llandudno and Aberystwyth Town went down in the end.

In the Welsh Cup we lost to Cardiff Met Uni in the 3rd round. In the Welsh League Cup we beat Airbus UK Broughton and Taffs Well before losing to Cefn Druids in the quarter final. Oh, and for @optimusprimal82, my score for away draws are 2-2 as of yet.

[XaW]

[dkouv]

IFK Eskilstuna – Season 11
 

Season 11 – 2029 – Swedish Premier Division

League: Midtable again. Happy with that. I think overall we were a bit better than last season, going up as high as 2nd in July. But the usual end-of-season dip in form, and our rivals winning their games in hand saw us slump down the table and eventually comfortably finish 8^th. 

Overall, the team is quite stable now and not improving too much, there also doesn’t seem that much talent in the youth intakes – so I hope I can improve on the tactical side a bit next season to squeeze out a bit more from these guys. But given my track record, that is somewhat unlikely…

Cup: Finally, out of the group! The joy didn’t last long though, as we lost to second-tier IF Brommapojkarna in the quarters.

Star players:  Same as last year, with Eric Hallberg 19a (MC) and Oscar Claesson 26d (ML) being the pick of the lot.

Youth watch: Not too much happening here, with Niclas Sundberg 26h (ST) developing surprisingly well, and Haris Hodzic 28b (DC) looking like the next one likely to break into the first team.

Youth intake: Golden generation my ***. Two more goalkeeper propects, and not the best personalities. Erik Hägg 29a (ML) and Johan Axvret 29b (GK) are both rated as 5* prospects, but both are still very raw. In the bigger picture, the lack of young striker prospects is becoming a bit of an issue.

Transfers: nothing of note, thankfully

Finances: Breaking even, and making a bit of money

Facilities: board are refusing upgrades, even though I keep asking for youth coaching improvement. A training facility upgrade has been completed, however.

Next season’s aim: a slow crawl up towards the European places

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   |   QF    |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (19)  |   Claesson 26d (13)    |     Claesson 26d (7.3)    |
2029   | Premier       |  7   | ongoing |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Juhlin 20b (14)      |   Claesson 26d (13)    |     Sundberg 26h (7.2)    |
.
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
2029   |   £491k   |  Good         |  Well established |  Below Average |  Basic          |  7800

[dkouv]

@XaW see, it was a good idea to try Wales after all  Good luck for the rest of season 2, hope the boys from Rhyl can keep up their early season promise!

Edit: just saw the 6-5 match... Classic FM moment there :o Good that it ended well, otherwise your laptop would have been in grave danger

Edited April 9, 2019 by dkouv

[XaW]

15 minutes ago, dkouv said:

@XaW see, it was a good idea to try Wales after all  Good luck for the rest of season 2, hope the boys from Rhyl can keep up their early season promise!

Edit: just saw the 6-5 match... Classic FM moment there :o Good that it ended well, otherwise your laptop would have been in grave danger

Yeah, well don't worry, I won't win it this time TNS seems to have discovered they are a full time professional team while the rest of us are playing whilst working as janitors, electricians, or garbage collectors and trying to keep fit for the matches.

My laptop would not have survived a 6 goal lead wasted, that's for sure.

Looks like you are doing well in Sweden. The improved training facilities should come in handy, and you are only a couple of good prospects and some years away from reaching Europe, I think. Could even happen next year with a bit of luck!

[thomas_e]

 

Real Jean FC

Season update 2030-2031

After a 7th place finish last season we returned to Europe. Last time we saw European action we really struggled with the additional fixtures and I feared the same this year. But we had our best season yet! A really strong 4th place league finish will give us Champions League football next year. We also did really well in the Europa League. After beating Ajax 9-0 we faced Chelsea in the second knockout stage. That was unfortaunately our last stop, losing 5-3 over two games, but we gave everything we got. 

In the league we were overall stronger both in offense and defense. We were able to dominate games to a lot bigger extent than earlier, and it makes me optimistic about the future. 

But! There are problems lurking in the distance. Our by far (!!) best player, Badr Senoussi, is entering the last year of his contract. He seemes set on not renewing and that would be a massive blow to the overall quality of the team. Senoussi had 9 goals and 6 assists from central midfield, and he is our dynamo in every attack against an estabelished defense that we have. I am trying everything I can to renew his contract, but I fear that we are reaching a "post-Senoussi" era... 

Our youth intake was not good this year, but I cant complain really. We have been really lucky over the last few seasons. We have plenty of affiliated clubs that gives us some extra players in the youth intake, lets hope that gives us more talents next season! 

 

 

 

 

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
2029/30	|   La Liga                  |  7th      |  4th round    |         N/A             |   A return to Europe! 
2030/31	|   La Liga                  |  4th      |  4th round    |  EL knock out 2nd round |   Great year, finsihed 4th

 

[XaW]

Youth intake 2021

A pretty good youth intake, but then again, the first youth intakes are usually quite good since I have mostly crap players. 2 players do stand out.

Marc Worrall 21c is a good right winger and that is a role I need a player.

Mathew Hunter 21e is a talented striker. Not that a striker is the position I need the most, but I'll take him anyway.

I'll keep most of them, but a few will not be offered a contract. I do think about changing HoYD in the summer though, since I get a lot of "Unambitious" players.

[XaW]

 XaW - Rhyl FC - 2020/21

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

With the good season last time around and some more time for the youngsters to improve, I were cautiously optimistic about this season. And we actually started pretty well and were top after 8 games, as I showed earlier. However, we didn't keep that spot for long. TNS and Cefn Druids pulled a bit away from the rest of us, but at least we kept up with Cardiff Met Uni and Bangor City who were following them closest. When it came to the league split we were part of the top half. At that point we started to struggle a bit and even had some tough losses to TNS and Cefn Druids. Going into the final game we were in 3rd, but would lose it if we lost at home to Cardiff Met Uni. And we did lose, 1-2 to be precise and 4th were our final position.

We did go into the playoff for European spots and got Bangor City in the semi final. A hard fought match, but we edged it 1-0. In the playoff final we met Cardiff Met Uni again, and this time we got our revenge as we beat them 4-1. I think this means we go into the Europa League next season, and it says so in the table, but I haven't gotten any messages about it yet. So we will see.

In the Welsh Cup we beat Queens Park (WXM), Bangor City, Llanelli Town and Barry to reach the final. We tried our best, but lost 0-2 to TNS. In the Welsh League Cup we beat Llanuwchllyn, Llangefni and Prestatyn Town before losing to Cefn Druids in the semi final.

@optimusprimal82: My score for home/away draws are 5-7.

[optimusprimal82]

10 hours ago, XaW said:

 

@optimusprimal82: My score for home/away draws are 5-7.

Thank you sir! Every time I feel that the gap is closing I get a few dodgy away games to shore things up again;

Be interesting in a few seasons to see if your ratio changes. So Rhyl to win the Champions League in the next 3-4 years? That's the type of demand prediction you like working to right? Do we get a season review in Welsh if you achieve it?  

[XaW]

1 hour ago, optimusprimal82 said:

So Rhyl to win the Champions League in the next 3-4 years? That's the type of demand prediction you like working to right? Do we get a season review in Welsh if you achieve it?  

Haha, if I win it in 3-4 years, I'll learn Welsh and type it myself! I'm struggling to beat TNS and Cefn Druids. So Real Madrid, Barcelona and the like are almost a different sport at the moment!

I do hope I can win the league within that time though. TNS are the only professional squad in the league, but they haven't won either season I've played here. Last year was won by Bala Town and this year Cefn Druids won it after TNS lost 4 of their last 5 games! The one they won were a 6-1 win over us....

But the youngsters are getting better and better. Burrows-Griffiths are a mainstay in the team already and there are several of the youth players that are regulars on the bench and as rotational options. I do lack central midfielders though, and while I have a couple with potential, they are quite far from first team yet. The problem is that I might need to play them since some of the players have started to retire...

[Jtomsett11]

SSC Bari Season 4 update

So, our third season in Serie B and fourth in total started extremely well, we won 5 out of the first 6 and having changed formation to 4-2-3-1 (very attacking considering the strength of our team) I was delighted! However, this was just the start of extreme inconsistency which plagued our season. We then failed to win in 7, before winning a few on a trot again! Not good for my mental health!

Half way through the season we were back up to second and in the promotion places despite our inconsistency. Honestly, from then on it was a huge rollercoaster of a ride. After 30 odd games, we were 13 points clear of third, before went on another horrendous run! The table after 34, 35 and 36 games shows us literally limping over the finishing line. I've never seen a team promoted on such few points!! I thought we were going to throw it all away in our second to last game, and we really tried but Palermo lost their last game on a day when we didn't even play. It meant we could lose our last game without losing second place. So, incredibly we are promoted to Serie A! 

The squad is mostly fine, here it is in two screenshots, a and b. 4.5* Fregonese and Proietti are the only Serie A quality players, but I'm happy that we have good enough players in most positions to at least give it a good shot at staying up. At the very least we will be rolling in the money by the end of the season due to our extremely low wage budget and obviously the zero transfer expenditure. 

We've been boosted in defence again with some very good youth prospects, most of them with reasonable personalities unlike the 'unambitious' players I've had to mentor the hell out of in the last few intakes. 

Aims for next season:

Survival would be amazing! I also want to renew contracts of a few of my young stars - the two mentioned above have been particularly resistant to contract offers, but hopefully Serie A football might tempt them. A lot of mine are also requesting stupidly low non-negotiable release clauses which I cannot agree to otherwise I will instantly lose them. Hopefully will be able to sign up the ones I can and prepare for life without the ones who won't sign without reasonable release clauses/ non at all.

I also hope to get all my facilities upgraded now the money is going to pour in.

Other news:

Transfer or lack of them. Shipped a few players out and will look to do so again in the summer.

I achieved a record! This is not one to boast about haha!

I am still struggling for a prolific striker, although that might be due to the quality of my forwards! Rossi hit 11 this season, but 4 or 5 were extremely lucky rebounds etc. Fingers crossed for progress next season!

Other comments:

Although I haven't commented on any other players journey, I must say I regularly view this post during the low moments of my seasons to remind myself of what can be achieved over time. Thanks to all that update with their progress, fantastic reads and inspiration for my own project here with Bari!

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)
4	Serie B	2nd (promoted)	£7 million	Great	Great	Established	Exceptional	Rossi (11)	Margagliotti 20C (9)

Edited April 11, 2019 by Jaketomsett
Forgot part of post!

[XaW]

Now, I just need to learn how to pronounce it....

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndwllllantysilio.... I'm especially concerned how to do with the 4(!) l's in a row...

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Season 2031 Report

After four straight 8th place finishes in Norway's second division, I was looking for some improved consistency as we hopefully pushed towards the playoffs. With plenty of promising youngsters coming through and some of the players from our first intakes now being experienced and in their prime, it was bound to be an exciting season, hopefully we had the quality to finish above 8th this time.

Cup- Started with a pretty routine 3-0 win over lower league Fana before a tough draw against Lyn from our league in the second round. These guys are kind of our bogey team and we unfortunately lost a close one 2-1. 2nd round is not very good as i've set my target as 3rd round minimum for the last few years so this was a bit disappointing.

League- We started off with a great 5-0 win over Sandnes Ulf, then lost 3-2 to our bogey team Lyn. This was followed by a 9 match unbeaten run and only a single loss in 16 league games, meaning we were surprisingly topping the table. Some inconsistency then set in, as we seemed to alternate between wins and losses every other game, however we still hovered around the automatic promotion places. With two games to go, the table looked like this:

Three teams tied on points at the top, with 4th place just 1 point back. We then had to play Fredrikstad, where we pulled off a solid win, however everyone else had similar heroics:

At the end of our game we were alone at the top and I thought we would top the table heading into the final day, however then Sandnes Ulf scored a 93rd minute winner and Kristiansund scored a 92nd minute equalizer AND a 96th minute winner to leave us in essentially the same position with 1 game to go. And we were playing 1st place Kristiansund away from home, winner takes all for the title. A draw meant likely neither of us would win, so we went in hoping for a miracle away win. We were unfortunately soundly beaten 4-0 and sank all the way down to 4th place to finish the season. I still felt confident however as we had played well all season. My players activated playoff mode and smashed Kongsvinger 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs. We then faced Sandnes Ulf and a stroke of luck saw them receive a red card less than 10 minutes into the match. We took full advantage and obliterated them 6-0, with 6 different goalscorers. This meant we had a two legged tie against Sandefjord for a place in the Premier division next year. The first leg was at home and was pretty even however we created the better chances and ended with a solid 3-0 win. I was still a bit worried for the second leg however 2 minutes in, centre mid Magnus Berg 22A grabbed a great interception, took a few dribbles forward and smashed it in the top left corner to give us an early lead. They pulled one back and it was 1-1 at half time. I then told my players to play on the counter and they did fantastically, as while Sandefjord pinged tons of shots from outside the box we stayed solid and were vicious on the break. Club Legend, record goalscorer and appearance maker Pål Langåker 19A, from our first intake, grabbed two excellent goals in 2 minutes to put the game to bed. Promotion secured!

 

Best Players-

Top goalscorer: Pål Langåker 19A and Jens Hurthi 28F (15 goals) One of the biggest improvements this season was consistency by our strikers, as both starters combined for 30 goals, 13 assists and 10 POM awards. Our third choice striker Torjus Krogstad 25A chipped in with another 10 goals, 3 assists and 2 POM awards.

Most assists: Glenn Hoel (9 assists) Our untagged LB had a great season and held down the starting spot despite pressure from some great upcoming talents.

Highest avg rating: Glenn Hoel (7.23)

Most POM: Pål Langåker 19A (7)

MVP: Jens Hurthi 28F

Best U23 Player: Jens Hurthi 28F

Results Results 2 (no) Transfers

 

One negative is that we had one of our most promising youngsters, Jan Henanger 31A poached by Premier division Rosenborg as he refused to sign a professional contract. Its a shame because he already looks really good but oh well. This was an excellent season and we've finally made some more progress! Goals for next season are pretty simple, survive! 

|         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
2030   1st Division       8th      1st Round        -         Furthi(11)          Rygh(4)                 Furthi(7.10)            Mid Table
2031   1st Division       4th      2nd Round        -         Langåker/Furthi(15) Hoel(9)                 Hoel(7.23)              PROMOTION

 

 

 

[optimusprimal82]

Season 5 - End of Year Review - 2023/24

Competitions

Sky Bet League One | Board Expectation - Fight Relegation | Media Prediction: 24/24 | Actual Finish: 2/24 (Promoted)

Well what a strange old season that was... If you'd asked me around the Christmas period where we'd have finished I could have given you an answer anywhere between 4th and 22nd I reckon? What was interesting this year is that our early season form wasn't as robust as it has been in seasons prior; normally keen to get points on the board quickly we tend to play it safe and go from there, this year however - I believe maybe as a result of me rotating in kids too much - we struggled a little early on as I tried in vain to find the sweet spot between defending and attacking that suited our side and circumvented the overall ability gap between us and the other teams. Gradually we improved before really finding our groove in February when a tactical switch sent us on an unbeaten run to close the season out and snatch the last automatic space. Whilst our form was good, what was more important over this period was Hull's decline in form - they lost 12 games in the league all season, 9 of which came in the second half of the season - something we were well placed to capitalise on!

What was immediately obvious this season is the increased lethality of opposition teams and how they needed fewer chances to score a goal. Considering the number of goals we conceded this year this is something we'll have to be incredibly mindful of next year as we'll likely face much more clinical finishers - having Lewis Brown (22D - a player the board forced us to sell) would definitely have been a bonus in this regard!

Overall, any season in which you get promoted can't be classed as a bad one, but the gap between us and first place (Colchester demolished us when we played them, as did Hull) highlights perfectly my feelings that was an incredibly lucky promotion more down to other teams (in this case, Hull) failings rather than as a result of our team being better than the rest. With some of our newer youngsters stepping up, I definitely feel that we were a better side than the year before, but I'd love to have seen what would have happened with another year (whether we could have bridged the gap and won the league) - but to flip that on it's head could we really have expected to keep Meaney (21A) or Kenyon (24A) for another year if we hadn't have gone up?

 

Checkatrade Trophy | Board Expectation - Group Stage | Achieved: Second Round Exit (Burton Albion)

Standard Checkatrade nonsense; we did qualify from the group this time (our kids did a great job) but Burton were a step too far and I wasn't prepared to risk my first team on a trophy I could care less about. I believe that's the last time we'll play in it now so some may regard it as a missed opportunity, but I see little renown in winning it - can anyone name the winners from real life for the past 5 years as an example?

 

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

A slightly disappointing year in our favourite cup this season as a winnable draw against Wrexham turned into a much trickier replay. Whilst disappointing to go out to a team from a lower division, Wrexham won League 2 quite comfortably and my teams strength is consistency rather than overall ability so it could be argued that on paper they actually have a stronger 11 than us? Irrespective it meant that we missed out on a decent payday which I believe was a big contributor to this years financial shortfall. At least the media thought we did well though - because we care what they think?

 

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

Another year, another away draw and another early exit in the Carabao as we were drawn away to an Oldham team that salary and value wise are well above us, but who've just dropped out of the football league, finishing bottom in League Two. Disappointing in that sense but our time will come - I think perhaps the 1st round of this always comes as we're settling into a rhythm and I don't pay it enough attention so may prioritise it a little more next year - obviously league results depending. Our first game has already been drawn for next season as I write this, we've been pitched at Home (for a change!), but against a very decent looking Blackburn Rovers side that finished 6th in the Championship last year. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing (yet) but we actually play them two games earlier in the first game of the league season so that should be a good opportunity to get a look at them and see in greater detail how they play etc.

 

The 'Cup Draw' Table

A lot more away games this year, with a solitary 'home'addition (the extra home game coming from the above mentioned Carabao draw for the coming season);

 

Youth Intake 2024

A great intake overall with Jared Kenyon (24A) being particularly remarkable as he's rated as our best player already and has already been subject of transfer bids that will shatter our sales record! Jared aside, I'm excited about Shaquille Smith (24B) as we've needed a natural finisher for a long time and whilst his stat is only 11, it's better than anything else we have/have had. Our main two strikers (Wells & Allinson - I don't count Meaney in this group) finished with 22 goals between them which certainly isn't too shabby but I'm not confident they'll be able to cope all that well with the step up in class so my hope is that Shaq can develop quickly and hit the ground running else I'm back to my yearly finger crossing for a new striking starlet! James Bush (24D) is the other guy to keep an eye on (and might finally be the guy to push Roberts out of the team), but his personality type of 'Mercenary' has more than my eyebrow raised in his direction and he'll be shipped out at even the first sign of trouble - there's no way we'll avoid relegation with an unhappy camp!

 

Transfers

We've had the usual rollercoaster with Fraser Meaney (21A) demanding to leave for a bigger club, but right towards the end of the season he decided he's happy here. He's got 2 years left on his contract but is again being courted, but anyone wanting him will have to submit an offer that's seriously above his £130k value to tempt me, they may just have to match it to tempt my board however... I mentioned in my last post that Jared Kenyon (24A) is also the subject of intense interest with some decent bids already submitted - I actually expect that he'll leave before the season starts such is the willingness of the AI teams to negotiate/pay over the odds. £575k is the highest I've been able to attract so far but if we can get over a million I'll be delighted given that he's never played a game - I'd prefer he stay with us for a season or two but obviously that money could help us get more Kenyon's in the next intake so it's a double edged sword. 

Obviously we lost Lewis Brown (22D) in January this year which for a pittance (£145k) but which was a forced transfer that left a bad taste given he's by far an away our best defensive prospect and good central defenders seem much rarer than strikers/midfielders? He's already valued now at £1.8 million despite never having played a game for his new club (Sheffield Weds) so it shows the short-sightedness of the board yet again and has me wondering how much we could have got with another year or two under his belt - I'm convinced he was/is good enough for the Premier League but it's questionable if he'll make it now given he's rotting in Wednesday's reserve team - perhaps he'll make his debut this year against us just to rub my nose in it? James Hodges (our backup GK) left on a free to Halifax which was fair enough, I also let quite a few youngsters leave this year who just weren't going to make it; Owen O'Keefe (22G) was constantly listed as having high PA but just never developed, Tom Pratt & Alhaji Salgado were other notable departures, both having played a decent part in our earlier seasons but coming to the end of their contracts;

 

Squad Statistics

Top Scorer - Fraser Meaney 21A (15) | Most Assists - Luke Porritt (10) | Top Rating - Fraser Meaney (7.18)

A very interesting year numbers wise but no real surprise seeing who's at the top of the pile, yes golden balls himself takes the plaudits once more, although I'll reserve special praise for Stephen Wells (20A) who got into double figures for the second season in succession, and also Gary Allinson (23A) who scored 9 in his first full season with us. I expect both players to struggle a little more this season, and they'll have competition from Shaq (24B) perhaps if he can make the step up! Meaney scored a lot of his goals from an MC Mezzala position early in the season before our tactical switch saw him deployed more often as a DLF as part of a front 2. Luke Porritt again did well in terms of assists and it's been a strange season as the coaches have really gone off him, deeming him 'surplus to requirements' despite a lack of real alternatives.Luke Madden (23L) plays in the same position and has reasonable potential (currently 2.5 stars) but he's got a way to go, may never make it and provided just 2 assists in comparison so not sure what my Ass Man & Co are smoking? Do we need an ML/AML upgrade? Yes. Do we have a clear one right now that means we should discard Porritt? Heck no!

I mentioned that Morgan James' powers may be on the wane last year and it certainly seems to be the case with his return this year of 9 goals being his lowest so far. Given the license he has in our stock 4141 setup it's very surprising that he was outscored by his MC partner Grant Roberts who got 12 (plus 6 assists) from his favoured Carrilero role (although he was the player sacrificed for the additional striker as part of our promotion winning tactical tweak so even more impressive given he played less games overall!).

 

Sky Bet League 2 Player of The Season: Perry Moss (Walsall)

A midfielder with 22 goals and 5 assists sounds a pretty good choice for player of the year? I don't remember seeing his name crop up too much throughout the season but that doesn't mean he didn't play well, his 7.21 rating being higher than anyone in my side.

 

Sky Bet League Two Top Goalscorer: Ross Morgan (Exeter- 28 goals)

You know if you're beating the 'mighty Will Grigg' in the scoring charts you're doing something right! Exeter finished as second top scorers overall thank in no small part to this lad. Bristol Rovers actually took the top scorer prize overall (we fell away due to our shocking performances over the last 3-4 games) but had no-one in the top 20 players for goals scored (we had Meaney at joint 18th)

 

Sky Bet League 2 Manager of The Season: Optimus Primal (Hyde United)

I've heard some good things about this guy, definitely someone you should just give money/beer to if you ever come across him!

Sky Bet League 2 Team of the year;

Biggest surprise is the absence of Meaney (21A) but Roberts'inclusion was enough to win him a new contract and delighted to see Quansah get some recognition as he's been one of the unsung heroes of our charge up the table!

 

Hyde United FC Awards Night: 

A huge big dose of 'not surprised' following our awards night, Morgan James is fast becoming the forgotten man though - at 75k it might be worth offloading him if we can get close to that as it's clear that we may now be above his level?

 

Managers Player of The Season: Fraser Meaney

Well who else could it be really? Sir limelight himself had to win it else it would become something of a mockery? Not happy with just being the best player, he's also often the best trainer along with top scorer and most assists. Some fans were unhappy with him for asking to be transferred, but his climb down towards the end of the season coupled with his goals and play in general ensure the fans favourite is also the managers choice for a second year. I'll quickly follow that up by again stating that he's not a favourite and nor do I expect him to become one now... Despite every post I write containing his name maybe 3-4 times, he hasn't been anywhere near as integral to our promotion climb as a few guys in my previous save or some other legendary players over the (far too) many FM years (he's no Mark Smith/James Flood/Ian Moore is what I'm trying to say!)

 

In other news

Premier League Winners: Manchester United (5th year in a row)

FA cup Winners: Liverpool

League Cup Winners: Chelsea

Champions League Winners: Manchester United (4th time in 6 years!)

Europa League Winners: Milan

La Liga Winners: Barcelona

Bundesliga Winners: Schalke (First time since 1958!)

Serie A Winners: Milan

 

Board room updates

Whilst we've been performing miracles on the pitch it's safe to say that off the pitch the club is a mess. Takeover talks have been on and off for months with the owner looking to move on but the situation seems to yo-yo almost daily with no-one really knowing what's going on.

We've managed to squeeze a few more facility improvements from their sweaty paws, but the state of our finances susggests an element of financial mismanagement. We're not buying any players and have been around 50% of our wage budget for the past 3 seasons yet we lose money consistently. some of the blame must lie with me for keep asking/manipulating them into improving our youth setup, but that doesn't tell the whole story, especially when they forced me to sell one of our best prospects for an absymal 145k!?

The board are - somewhat unsurprisingly - delighted with how everything is going otherwise!

 

Final Thoughts

I've written a fair bit over the last few posts which reading back sounds almost churlish? Need to be clear that I don't resent the fact we've got promoted - not at all, just that perhaps the Man City FA cup money helped us more than it appeared by speeding up our facility improvements and getting us better prospects sooner, but there's no guarantee that's the case! What have I really missed regardless? An extra few seasons (and the hours of clicking that would entail!) shouting obscenities at players as we languished in mid table obscurity potentially watching our best players leave having grown impatient waiting for the team to improve! I definitely think this season is one of the luckiest promotions/achievements in my CM/FM career - there looked to be no chance of automatic promotion, but Hull's run was a thing of nightmares that we were extremely lucky to capitalise on! I'll stop moaning about it from here on in, we've got a big and exciting relegation battle to come next year up in the Championship - one of my favourite leagues to play in - and I can't wait to get started! Catch you all soon for the season preview!

 

[optimusprimal82]

NB: Quick follow up to the above; I normally cut out all of the images and post a link to my main career thread for those that would like to see it with full images etc - was suggested to me that as others are ok now to post pictures that it shouldn't be an issue, but if putting all of my stuff in that one post upsets anyone/causes them issues (such as slow loading) then by all means please speak up and I can come back and edit it!

Good luck all with the challenge otherwise - love seeing that people are still progressing; if you're anything like me you're desperate to see Xaw's 'fluent welsh' update too!  

[XaW]

Youth intake 2022

Another good intake for us. Some very talented youngsters and I'm very happy to see some good ratings for ability as well!

Josh Roberts 22d is a natural mezzala, a role I use and he should fit right in.

Huw Retout 22e is a talented goalkeeper, and are pretty much the second best we have already.

I did change my HoYD during the summer, but we still got loads of "Unambitious" players... Quite strange, since my HoYD is "Fairly Ambitious", but it might change with time. I am looking for a better HoYD, but the staff willing to join us aren't very good.

[XaW]

 XaW - Rhyl FC - 2021/22

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

4th last season, and I hoped I could improve on that this year. With another year for the youngsters to improve, and maybe some more in. We started great and took an early lead just ahead of surprise package Llangdudno, who got promoted into the Premier League this season. Cefn Druids, TNS and Gap Connah's Quay were not far behind though. As the split happened we were top, just ahead of Llangdudno. Then we hit the worst form I've had in a long time. This bad:

Yeah, that bad. After the split we won 1 game, and drew another. Other than that only losses. Now, to be fair, we didn't deserve to lose all those games, but we struggled in defence. And seeing as we play a very defensive 4-1-4-1, I'm thinking we might need to change it up. Maybe we are playing too defensively, but I'm hesitant to change something that worked wonders for most of the season. I'm unsure just yet. So, of course we got caught by most of the teams and ended in 5th. In the playoff for the Euro spots we lost in the first game to Gap Connah's Quay.

In the Welsh Cup we beat Llanelli Town, Barry and Carmarthen Town before losing to Penybont in the semi final. In the Welsh League Cup we beat Haverfordwest and Llanelli Town before losing to Cefn Druids in the semi final.

We also had a shot in Europe this season since we qualified for the Europa League last season. We started in the 1st qualifying round and drew FCI Levadia of Estonia. A great 4-2 win away were followed by a 4-1 win at home. In the 2nd qualifying round we got Speranţa N. of Moldova. We beat them 2-0 at home and managed to hold on to a 1-0 loss away to go through. In the 3rd qualifying round we drew the (comparatively) huge team Stade Rennais of France. We actually played quite well against them and narrowly lost 2-1 in France before heroically trying to fight back at home, but lost 0-1 and got knocked out. A great run and some much needed cash got into the coffers. Thanks to this we are improving facilities in the summer.

@optimusprimal82: My score for home/away draws are 10-9.

[optimusprimal82]

12 hours ago, XaW said:

Youth intake 2022

Josh Roberts 22d is a natural mezzala, a role I use and he should fit right in.

I did change my HoYD during the summer, but we still got loads of "Unambitious" players... Quite strange, since my HoYD is "Fairly Ambitious", but it might change with time. I am looking for a better HoYD, but the staff willing to join us aren't very good.

With Roberts having good Teamwork and work rate and also being a natural Carrilero it's xmas time! My preferred role alongside a Mezzala (obviously depending on the rest of team shape but sure you've read enough from me on that elsewhere) is the carrilero,  and this boy can play either role well by the looks of it! Personality and Determination suck but as I've learned with my guys, doesn't mean they can't still be awesome in the right circumstances!

I've been bitten by the 'unambitious' plague a lot this year too - seems to be pretty widespread across saves to the point I'm wondering if it's HoyD influenced or something else? Do we know if young players have any overriding influences to their mental stats based on country of birth etc? Would be a bold move in an ever increasing PC world but a distant bell is ringing in that I've maybe heard of this being done in previous years (think it was for Brazilian players if memory serves/I didn't dream this up?)... One easy example there have been accusations/fingers pointed at young English players for a while now (suggestions that they lack the work ethic/hunger/ambition of players from abroad) so I could see why they'd consider it?

Nice to see that it's you balancing out all of my away draws too! 

Edited April 14, 2019 by optimusprimal82

[XaW]

2 hours ago, optimusprimal82 said:

With Roberts having good Teamwork and work rate and also being a natural Carrilero it's xmas time! My preferred role alongside a Mezzala (obviously depending on the rest of team shape but sure you've read enough from me on that elsewhere) is the carrilero,  and this boy can play either role well by the looks of it! Personality and Determination suck but as I've learned with my guys, doesn't mean they can't still be awesome in the right circumstances!

Yeah, he is already in contention for starting spot and did notice how he could fit into a Carrilero role, but I don't use that at the moment. But, as I wrote in the other post, I'm doing some tactical testing and I might try the Carrilero role...

2 hours ago, optimusprimal82 said:

I've been bitten by the 'unambitious' plague a lot this year too - seems to be pretty widespread across saves to the point I'm wondering if it's HoyD influenced or something else? Do we know if young players have any overriding influences to their mental stats based on country of birth etc? Would be a bold move in an ever increasing PC world but a distant bell is ringing in that I've maybe heard of this being done in previous years (think it was for Brazilian players if memory serves/I didn't dream this up?)... One easy example there have been accusations/fingers pointed at young English players for a while now (suggestions that they lack the work ethic/hunger/ambition of players from abroad) so I could see why they'd consider it?

I actually think it is in the game already. All newgens have some sort of "template" they follow, albeit loosely to allow for variation. I don't quite know for certain, but I think this also includes the hidden attributes. When I managed in the Balkans in another game I saw a lot of volatile players, and that would, if we are talking about stereotypes, fit. So maybe there is something about lack of ambition in Britain?

3 hours ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Nice to see that it's you balancing out all of my away draws too! 

[optimusprimal82]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Yeah, he is already in contention for starting spot and did notice how he could fit into a Carrilero role, but I don't use that at the moment. But, as I wrote in the other post, I'm doing some tactical testing and I might try the Carrilero role...

I actually think it is in the game already. All newgens have some sort of "template" they follow, albeit loosely to allow for variation. I don't quite know for certain, but I think this also includes the hidden attributes. When I managed in the Balkans in another game I saw a lot of volatile players, and that would, if we are talking about stereotypes, fit. So maybe there is something about lack of ambition in Britain?

For sure - don't let me sway you tactically or otherwise - I love the Carrilero/Mezzala combo but that doesn't mean it'll work for every side (especially without cover etc!)  

The other stuff about mental templates backs up the gut feel I had/have, might have to do some digging - just noticed that quite a few people are being bombarded with unambitious players and we're all - possibly incorrectly - pointing the finger at our respective HoyD's!

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Youth Intake 2032

Our promotion to the Premier division has meant we moved to a bigger stadium and also that we are now fully professional! Whatever happens this season, that is already a big step forward. The intake this year is encouraging again, with a few interesting prospects:

Two players stand out, the first being Sortevik 32A:

This guy looks good apart from some low determination, however I am excited because I think with a bit of retraining he could be a perfect false 9, which I ideally want to transition our tactic to include. Our new professional status could help some of our players to realise what a false nine actually is. The second standout this year is Jakhelln 32B who i'll train as a wide midfielder:

 He's a bit raw and probably won't see the first team for a few years but he definitely looks promising.

[yipster1986]

I'm a little late to the party. However I've got a question:

I know one of the rules says you can't use custom databases to be eligible with this challenge. But I really want to start all the way from the bottom in Italy so I'm going to use a custom database from Fusion DB over at https://fmsiamonoi.forumcommunity.net/ 

What are some basic tips to get this to a good start? Do you guys sign all players from your Youth Intake when starting or do you only sign top CA/PA prospects? Also, for example, you have no DR; Do you sign the 3silver/3gold prospect or do you cut him lose?

I'm currently at work, boring night-shift, and reading through the whole thread. It amazes me how good some people are in this game

[optimusprimal82]

6 hours ago, yipster1986 said:

I'm a little late to the party. However I've got a question:

I know one of the rules says you can't use custom databases to be eligible with this challenge. But I really want to start all the way from the bottom in Italy so I'm going to use a custom database from Fusion DB over at https://fmsiamonoi.forumcommunity.net/ 

What are some basic tips to get this to a good start? Do you guys sign all players from your Youth Intake when starting or do you only sign top CA/PA prospects? Also, for example, you have no DR; Do you sign the 3silver/3gold prospect or do you cut him lose?

I'm currently at work, boring night-shift, and reading through the whole thread. It amazes me how good some people are in this game

I don't know anything about the database rules I'm sorry, I'll leave that to someone better placed to answer, otherwise it's the first time I've ever taken on the challenge so I'm certainly no expert having experience of just the one save however things I noted/did;

• Try and get a decent staff member for judging both  ability & potential as soon as you can - you won't (or will be unlikely) be able to get 20's for both so there will obviously be some variance (and the values are ever changing) but it saves you spending time/money developing players who just won't ever make it (the differences in ratings from a  guy with an 8 or a 14 for example are very noticeable)
• Get a HoyD (and staff in general) with a good personality to help shape the personality types of your youth intake - they can have max PA but if they're slack/casual/mercenary with low ambition/determination they're unlikely to ever reach even half of their potential - you (presumably) want Lampards (who make the most of what they've got) as opposed to Morrisons.
• The first few years are the hardest - or they were for me - the recruits you get are dependent on your facilities and they'll likely suck at most teams you start with. I was super dependent on the players already at my club for the first 3-4 years as even when we got a few decent recruits it took a long time for them to develop to the point they were ready for the first team (with terrible facilities they don't develop anywhere near as fast without first team football, which can be tricky if you're a rubbish team!)
• Keep an open mind tactically - I usually (as I expect most people do) play the game by recruiting to fit a specific shape/system/formation I want to play/favour - with your hands tied in a recruitment sense it's better to swim with the tide than against - remember your HoyD's preferred formations/systems also influences the positions/roles brought through in the intake (so I believe - certainly seems to be the case for me). Whilst you can't say "get me a dominant DC', it's best not to get a talented AMC through if you never use them although
• Take a good look at the attributes of all your youngsters when you get your intake, if ever you're going to retrain a position (and radically) they're at the right time and age for it - STC's in my experience often retrain well as IF's for example, but if the attributes fit (which let's face it isn't as big of a deal in the lower leagues anyway) you can turn anyone into anything?

Hope that helps, sorry if I'm telling you anything obvious/stuff you already know - best of all, good luck! It's been difficult at times (especially when the board force a sale) but overall I've had a great time and it's freshened the game up enormously by taking away my lower league safety blanket that is the loan market!  

Edited April 15, 2019 by optimusprimal82

[XaW]

7 hours ago, yipster1986 said:

I'm a little late to the party. However I've got a question:

I know one of the rules says you can't use custom databases to be eligible with this challenge. But I really want to start all the way from the bottom in Italy so I'm going to use a custom database from Fusion DB over at https://fmsiamonoi.forumcommunity.net/ 

What are some basic tips to get this to a good start? Do you guys sign all players from your Youth Intake when starting or do you only sign top CA/PA prospects? Also, for example, you have no DR; Do you sign the 3silver/3gold prospect or do you cut him lose?

I'm currently at work, boring night-shift, and reading through the whole thread. It amazes me how good some people are in this game

Welcome! I think we don't allow custom leagues, but there have been talk about it earlier. I've wanted to have a go at some strange countries earlier (Andorra, Gibraltar, etc), and will do so if the rules are changed some time in the future. @darren1983 is the current runner of the challenge, and the one who decides the rule we use.

Here are my tips for this challenge:

• Lower your expectations!
  • This is a challenge for longevity
  • Staying in a tier for 10-15 seasons is not unheard of
  • Relegations isn't the end of the world, only another year for the youth to develop
  • Be patient and enjoy the ride
• Be prepared to change tactics
  • Since you start with a squad that will be the core of your team the next few seasons it's not easy to fit players into your favourite tactic
  • With each intake revise the tactic and see how the new ones might fit in
• Keep a notepad up to take notes
  • To detail individual training
  • Some (me and @optimusprimal82 at least) even use spreadsheets to keep track of player improvement
• Early on, simply focus on staying up and allowing time to flow
  • Survival the first few season while the youngster improve
  • Then focus on development and don't worry about the results (so long as you survive)
• Focus on the young ones with talent.
  • Give them as much game time as your results allow
  • Depending on the country, your facilities might be horrible, so playing matches is the only way the players will improve much.
• Sign all and everyone with high determination or a good personality
  • An outdated, but still somewhat usable overview of personalities can be found here. It is outdated and cannot be used as gospel, but the general information is still valid.
  • This causes an improved squad personality that will slightly change the personality of all players and if it's good then everyone gets better
• Professionalism, Determination and Ambition
  • Those three stats impacts how the players train and improve their stats so get everyone as high as possible through mentoring
  • Recruit staff with as high as possible attributes of these types, they will influence the intakes
• Try to get improvements as often as possible (and is financially viable)
  • Remember that your U19s use the TRAINING facilites, NOT youth facilities
  • Youth facilities only impacts the level of newgens you get
  • Youth coaching will also improve how good they are
  • Youth recruitment will allow players from further areas as well as the level of the players in the intakes
  • So ONLY training facilities will impact the players in your squads (and game time and coaches and all that jazz, of course)
• Don't take the star ratings as facts!
  • The poorer ones might be the best and don't let them slip.
  • The rating fluctuates as the coaches reassess their assumption all the time, so 2 stars might mean 4 stars!
  • Look at all the players before making a decision
  • Semi-talented players with great personalities and attribute distribution might be a hidden gem!

Have I forgotten anything? Most likely, but those are some of my own preferences when doing this.

[XaW]

Youth intake 2023

Once again a great intake, and one player really stands out! Though, we now have too many good central midfielders...

Ben Ward 23a is just a super talent. Already the best player at the club by a mile. Hopefully his loyalty will keep him here for a while!

Ryan Thurnham 23e will complement our current strikers nicely. Quick, good movement and clinical finishing are all great skills for this level.

Not as many "unambitious" players as earlier, and even a "fairly ambitious" one, so maybe it's something that is worked in slowly? I don't know, but I think I'll keep the same one for another year and see if it keeps improving. Unless a great one shows up, that is.

[enigmatic]

On 14/04/2019 at 06:04, optimusprimal82 said:

I've been bitten by the 'unambitious' plague a lot this year too - seems to be pretty widespread across saves to the point I'm wondering if it's HoyD influenced or something else? Do we know if young players have any overriding influences to their mental stats based on country of birth etc? Would be a bold move in an ever increasing PC world but a distant bell is ringing in that I've maybe heard of this being done in previous years (think it was for Brazilian players if memory serves/I didn't dream this up?)... One easy example there have been accusations/fingers pointed at young English players for a while now (suggestions that they lack the work ethic/hunger/ambition of players from abroad) so I could see why they'd consider it?

Nice to see that it's you balancing out all of my away draws too! 

Until recent patches the nation settings in the editor included personality templates built in biases towards certain attribute ranges which I assumed were still used for FM19 although they seem to have disappeared (maybe more to hide it than anything else, especially if it's got more complicated under the hood). Perhaps unsurprisingly, German newgens were biased towards being mentally strong, Brazilians to being basket cases, suspect Welsh newgens were in the middle for ambition.

But I also think they've set it up in FM19 so poor starting personalities are much more common and there's a bias towards improvement rather than personalities which don't change much unless radically transformed by a tutor. Which is why my German side with the likes of Park Ji Sung attending to the youth setup still has quite a few dubious personalities on youth intake day.

SI have also confirmed that other staff with responsibility for training youngsters affect players' personalities (just half as much as the HOYD) so if the rest of them are unambitious that might drag your stars down.

And unambitious personalities aren't that terrible if they've got solid professionalism and determination to make up for it. At least they're not as likely to want to leave...

Edited April 15, 2019 by enigmatic

[XaW]

 XaW - Rhyl FC - 2022/23

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So, a new season and a new possibility. I did some tactical changes and went for a more traditional 4-4-2 where I regularly tweaked and changed the mentality based on the opposition. And it seemed to be working! After 15 games we were unbeaten in the league and with only a single draw. Unfortunately, we were still in 2nd place, behind a TNS who had started playing as well as they could. 5 games later we were far ahead them when TNS lost 5 games in a row and fell back into the pack chasing after us. After the split we controlled the league quite comfortably, though we lost a few games as I tried to blood a few more of the youngsters, in addition to give more of the squad game time. The title were secured with several games to go. Our first title! And, we are heading into the Champions League next season!

In the Welsh Cup we beat Newtown before losing to Llandudno on pens in the 4th round. In the Welsh League Cup we beat TNS, Queens Park (WXM) and Newton before losing to Cardiff Met Uni in the final after extra time. We also played in the Irn-Bru cup this season. I don't know how the qualifiers for this cup is, so I have no idea how often I might be entered into it. We did lose in the first match against Shamrock Rovers on pens.

The main players I would like to mention this season are:

• Brett Burrows-Griffiths 20m - A fantastic season from the midfielder who both scored and assisted a lot. Now our vice-captain as well.
• Mathew Hunter 21e - Were a promising backup last season, but had a breakthrough this season and scored a lot.
• Aaron Hassall - One of the original players and still one of the best in our team. The main reason I'm experimenting with inverted wing-backs.

I got improvements to our facilities and both youth coaching and youth recruitment, but it got into our finances. CL next season should hopefully give us some more money though. Oh, and our youth team won their 4th league title in a row.

@optimusprimal82: My score for home/away draws are 13-12.

Edited April 15, 2019 by XaW

[yipster1986]

Thank you @XaW and @optimusprimal82 for the advice.

I'm currently simming my way through the first season and then I'll add a post which team I've chosen to give this challenge a try

[yipster1986]

After about 30 reloads to get Lupa Roma I decided to pick another club.

Manager Profile | Game Status

Media prediction puts us dead last. It's going to be a struggle. Here goes nothing..

[benroscrow]

Hi everyone,

 

I took some time last night to holiday in Portugal and reloaded until a team from the Algarve appeared. Once one finally did (C.D.R. Quarteirense) I noticed that they had less than 11 actual players. No goalkeepers in either squad either. Is this normal for this challenge?

 

Thanks.

[XaW]

5 hours ago, benroscrow said:

Hi everyone,

I took some time last night to holiday in Portugal and reloaded until a team from the Algarve appeared. Once one finally did (C.D.R. Quarteirense) I noticed that they had less than 11 actual players. No goalkeepers in either squad either. Is this normal for this challenge?

Thanks.

That does happen sometime, and I would advise you not to chose them, since it's pretty much impossible to do so. Did you chose "add players to playable teams" when you created the game? That should fill out teams more than if you didn't mark it.

[XaW]

Youth intake 2024

It seemed like a fantastic intake when looking at the stars, but upon further inspections I'm not that impressed... Quite a lot of them are decent talents, but I couldn't help to be a bit let down when I looked at the majority of them. That said, there are some in there I think might be good for us.

Steve Thomas 24b will fit nicely into my squad. A left footed right back when I'm using inverted wing backs? Nice! Will most likely be part of the main squad the rest of the season due to our very poor selection of right backs.

Dewi Colbert 24f is a talented goalkeeper and will most likely be 2nd choice next season. Some horrible stats here and there, but still not bad for our level.

I think I need to change HoYD again and see if I can get someone with more professionalism. We need to get a higher professionalism throughout the squad and intakes is pretty much our only choice.