The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[Padders]

Here we go again

Top of the league

Get to October, players are knackered and if play them we lose and we play the reserves we lose

Nothing I can do

Aging squad with 10 years of no decent intakes

[XaW]

Congrats @Padders! Amazing and well deserved! 

[libbyshuss]

not the best season, but not the worst either. We stole a champions laegue spot on the last game of the season and were never really in contention for the title

 

The Champions League was a little more successful. we breezed through the group stage, easily beat Lyon and then did the double over Barcelona in the quarter final. The semi final saw us play Manchester United, who had just hammered us 5-0 in the FA Cup semi-final. they won the first leg 1-0, then we won the second leg 3-2 and they went through on away goals.

Another poor youh intake. 5 in a row now, my luck has finally run out it seems!

 

so once this team runs its course i have nobody waiting to take over...... it's now or never!

[Padders]

27 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

not the best season, but not the worst either. We stole a champions laegue spot on the last game of the season and were never really in contention for the title

 

The Champions League was a little more successful. we breezed through the group stage, easily beat Lyon and then did the double over Barcelona in the quarter final. The semi final saw us play Manchester United, who had just hammered us 5-0 in the FA Cup semi-final. they won the first leg 1-0, then we won the second leg 3-2 and they went through on away goals.

Another poor youh intake. 5 in a row now, my luck has finally run out it seems!

 

so once this team runs its course i have nobody waiting to take over...... it's now or never!

Yeah know how you feel

Based on what is going on in my game I had to win it last season

Once you go through that cycle of awful intakes there is nothing you can do

[v1n1akabozo]

9 hours ago, Padders said:

Season Review 2276/77

BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY! We have done it

Champions League Winners. 

Beating Brighton 3-1 in the FInal.

League form was awful as posted above, so gave up on it after January and played the reserves

 

Special mention to these 4 guys. Been great players for me and coming to late 20s now

 

Youth intake had TWO players over 3 stars!! First time in 10 years

Hell yes, now i can finally stop coming to this post everyday. Congrats Padders, showed great commitment!

[Rosqo]

Won my first ever cup. Been in 3 french cup finals before all lost to PSG lol.

[Padders]

I wonder if I am coming out of the bad cycle of youth intakes

Look at this one!

And look at this guy. Never seen anyone worth that much at 16 straight out of an intake

[libbyshuss]

28 minutes ago, Padders said:

I wonder if I am coming out of the bad cycle of youth intakes

Look at this one!

oh wow, at this stage in the game that's an amazing youth intake. I could really do with one like that!

One thing I've noticed with my youth intakes is that 3 star potentials seem rare as hen's teeth. I can't remember the last time I got one.

[Padders]

9 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

oh wow, at this stage in the game that's an amazing youth intake. I could really do with one like that!

One thing I've noticed with my youth intakes is that 3 star potentials seem rare as hen's teeth. I can't remember the last time I got one.

Genuinely think it works in cycles and when you are towards the top of the league like we are they stop producing

Happened last time I won the Premier League. Took me over 100 years to recover and rebuild 

[KVJ92]

@Padders Congratulations!!! Just in time   But, I'm almost more amazed that you just keep on playing

[-Jef-]

Some time ago I have started this and abandoned for a different save. With FM21 looming I decided to get back to this.

NK Dugopolje

 

History

24/25 Cup run while I was in Druga HNL.

25/26 Euro run while I was still in Druga HNL

 

Current season

Best intake players

Rest are pretty mediocre players.

Latest intake

 

In the summer I will be revamping my whole backroom.

 

Facilities

Edited November 7, 2020 by rosque

[-Jef-]

Takeover

 

 

[-Jef-]

€1.7m for me throw in u19 and release in 6 months

And while not much money was spent, still gonna get released

Edited November 7, 2020 by rosque

[jcoll]

Donegal Celtic

Season 2029/30 Review – Danske Bank Premiership – Northern Ireland

League (9th) – Squad – Transfers – Finances

Top Goalscorer – Ryan Norton YP5M (18)

Top Average Rating – Ryan Norton YP5M (7.08)

Most Assists – Jamie Kelly YP4J (6)

For the third season in a row we finished 9^th in the league, there is a big gap of quality between the top teams in the league and those in the bottom and we can’t seem to bridge the gap. We finished with 6 points more than last season and were never really in danger of being relegated again.

Over the course of the season we brought in a huge £325k in transfer fees which meant that my first choice N.I U21 keeper was sold in pre-season. The two highlighted youth players from last intake also were sold in January, with Ron Connell YP9E being sold for a club record fee of £125k. This has obviously weakened our squad but the big news is that I was finally able to afford upgrades to training and youth facilities ! Both of which are due to be completed in September.

The youth intake wasn’t great in terms of ability but I’m hoping with these upgraded facilities we can develop our players better as currently player development is limited by the basic facilities. I think we’ll be in a similar position at the end of next season but long term the facilities upgrades will be great for us.

Youth Intake

Club Progress

[Padders]

Season Review 2277/78

Poor league form, as posted above, couldn't win in October - December

Finished 3rd in Champions League group

Got to final of Euro Cup

Lost to Brighton (keep playing them in every final!!!!!) on penalties, after been down to 10 men very early on. Gutting

[_JHTB_]

A sad day 

Offered him a new contract but, sadly he decided the grass was greener

[Padders]

£150m!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[_JHTB_]

27 minutes ago, Padders said:

£150m!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was only their 3rd bid so I reckon if not for his release fee they'd have gone even higher (88m, 128m the other two) - that's my highest ever sale on any Football Manager though

Does make the side a lot weaker though unfortunately

Edited November 7, 2020 by _JHTB_

[libbyshuss]

Season 2050/51

well, I just had a really really devatatingly awful end to what should have been a good season for us

we started really well and up til christmas we were in a 2 horse race with Arsenal, while Man United floundered for once. We breezed through our champions League group and everything was looking really positive. And then......

our league form started slipping and Arsenal got a big gap. And then the teams behind us started catching up. Even with 5 games left to play we looked fairly safe to finish in the top 4 and qualify for the champions league but going into the finall game of the season we'd won 2 of the last 11 and found ourselves 6th, 3 points behind the team in 4th. The teams above us were all in ridiculously good form and over took us. We won the final game 2-1 and finished 5th on goal difference to Newcastle, Who beat us 3-1 the week before.

Check out our season positions!

And somehow Man bloomin Utd managed to win!

With so little time left before FM21 and so little time left with this team we really needed that Champions League place. That might be it for us......

Champions League was similarly disappointing. After breezing through the group we were drawn against Inter Milan. A good 3-1 home win was followed up by a 2-1 defeat away, taking us through on away goals. The quarter finals saw us play Bayern Munich. We lost the fisrt home leg 1-0 and were pretty poor. The next match, as we prepared to go to germany, saw us lose 6-1 away to mid-table Leeds. Against the odds, we went to bayern and won 3-2 to go through on away goals

The semi final saw us play West Ham, giving us an ideal chance to make the final! Game before the first leg our best striker did his cruciate ligament. That, coupled with our appalling form made it a bridge too far.......

 

 

I really really want to splash all my money on this fella as well!

[-Jef-]

 

 

Future Transfer arranged

 

Aaaaand this makes me mad

 

[darren1983]

@Padders mate, well done 

That was some ride for all of us I think, what great timing too. Have added you to the HoF as well. 

[ArsenalGord]

On 06/11/2020 at 06:43, Padders said:

Season Review 2276/77

BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats Padders! 

Edited November 8, 2020 by ArsenalGord

[darren1983]

So with the Beta dropping in next few days what do people prefer - a new thread or renaming this one or even a new thread but just call it the youth academy challenge thread where we start from FM21 and allow people to post from whatever FM they're playing? 

@XaW @Padders @DazRTaylor you 3 are the top active posters so thought I'd tag you to get your views but views from all are welcome

[XaW]

16 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

So with the Beta dropping in next few days what do people prefer - a new thread or renaming this one or even a new thread but just call it the youth academy challenge thread where we start from FM21 and allow people to post from whatever FM they're playing? 

@XaW @Padders @DazRTaylor you 3 are the top active posters so thought I'd tag you to get your views but views from all are welcome

I personally favour a new thread, but I won't stop posting if we continue.

[Padders]

44 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

So with the Beta dropping in next few days what do people prefer - a new thread or renaming this one or even a new thread but just call it the youth academy challenge thread where we start from FM21 and allow people to post from whatever FM they're playing? 

@XaW @Padders @DazRTaylor you 3 are the top active posters so thought I'd tag you to get your views but views from all are welcome

Agreed new thread for me with FM21 as a title

 

 

[DazRTaylor]

New thread for me.  But like above, I will post anyway.

[_JHTB_]

CD Mensajero

2042/2043

LaLiga – 4th

Fixtures (1) -- Fixtures (2) – Fixtures (3) -- Stats -- Awards -- Season Review -- Transfer -- Overall Best XI -- Key Player -- Hot Prospect -- Finances

League: After a bit of a shaky start we showed some promising early season form keeping pace with the top teams in and comfortably sitting in the top 4. One of the big positives this season was even on games that we were losing we weren’t conceding as much as in previous years. We were looking well set for a very good season by all accounts until our big sale in January saw our form take a dip though it did coincide with our toughest run of fixtures. Unfortunately, we did have to change formation due to the aforementioned transfer which made us look less impressive and struggle to keep hold of our top 4 spot. It wasn’t guaranteed even onto the last game where we lost 3-0 but results elsewhere saw us back to back 4^th place finishes.

Cup: A very disappointing loss to 3^rd tier side in the 3^rd round, though we were in the Supercopa which we lost in the final to Barcelona.

Champions League/Europa Leauge: As I thought we were not close to progressing from our group losing 4 of our games but a win and a draw in the others at least allowed us to drop to the Europa League.

We breezed through our first knockout round before finally managing to progress past the 2^nd knockout round with a good victory over Lyon. We also found our way past Inter before we lost 2-0 in the second leg of our semi-final against Saint Etienne as they overcame a one goal deficit from the first leg.

Squad: Martin Djidda 20a got himself into the first team which is promising for the future at centre back. Jose Bonilla 10a managed to surpass both 200 goals and assists for the club in all competitions which is a very nice accomplishment.

Players of the year

Jose Bonilla 10a: Our best player for 6 of the last 7 seasons again with a good season this time, 21 goals and 18 assists to his name.

Nauzet Gutierrez 13c: An opposite season to last time, got off to a fantastic start before ending the season poorly. Still managed an impressive 31 goals in all competitions though.

Daniel Abal 13d: Still a very good performer for us whilst providing little in direct contributions – 3 goals and 3 assists. 

Youth Intake

The HOYD from last season retired after just one year at the club, this years intake was middling really.

Janusz Wawrzyniak 23a: A decent looking option in the centre of midfield either footed and already a decent personality.

Alexandre Vasconcelos 23b: Another decent looking player on the outset, an attacking midfielder which isn’t really utilised by me but some nice mentals to start off.

Ayoze Segura 23c: Looks to have some decent attributes for a striker, though lacks pace.

Overview/Looking Ahead

To be honest, with FM21 beta imminent it’s probably a case of one more season really and I’m not sure we’ve got what it takes to both win the league and champions league, but that’s what I’ve got to aim for really.

The story so far

Youth Record Holders

[thomas_e]

@darren1983 Fine with me to have a new thread, but maybe have a HoF that includes every version? 

[Padders]

5 hours ago, thomas_e said:

@darren1983 Fine with me to have a new thread, but maybe have a HoF that includes every version? 

that's not a bad idea, now that I am on it 

[darren1983]

1 hour ago, Padders said:

that's not a bad idea, now that I am on it 

I quite like it to even though I've never made it on  

Think I'll start a new thread and do a HoF from some previous years all in one. Think it works much better. 

[DazRTaylor]

Yeah I agree.  So start with the same opening post as this thread has and the second one is the Hall of Fame post.  List all previous completions.

[darren1983]

Whilst I've got the chance, many thanks to all that have participated in this challenge over the last year, FM20 has been the busiest time or this challenge where we usually get between 20 and 30 pages so to get over 100 pages is great so yeah. Cheers all 

[thomas_e]

FC Energie Cottbus

Season Summary 2032 - 2033

Bundesliga champions, domestic cup winners and... Champions League winners!!

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

 

With FM21 just around the corner I figured I had one, maybe two seasons to get the Champions League thophy. And what a season we had! I decided to keep more players in the first team this year, not sending so many out on loan, to give the squad more depth. This gave me the opportunity to rotate a bit more and with a new wonderkid in the starting eleven we had the best season I have ever had on this challenge. 

We won the Bundesliga with 18 points! We lost a couple of games early on, but when we picked up the pace we never looked back. We've had a bad habit of getting on a terrible run of form in the spring, but this year we kept our high level throughout the campaign. We smashed Bayern 4-0 away in the last league game, emphasizing our domestic dominance! This was our fourth Bundesliga title in the last five years, but after a couple of shaky seasons it was good to win comfortably. 

In the Champions League we won the group for the first time in a couple of seasons. We had a pretty easy group with Napoli, RB Salzburg and PSV Eindhoven and it was expected that we finish first. In the first knock out stage we drew Osasuna, easily the best team we could get. 1-1 in Spain and 2-0 win at home saw us through. Next up it was Eintracht Frankfurt who had a pretty decent season in the Bundesliga, sitting in third. A convincing 5-2 win at home gave us a great result for the return leg. We ended up losing the next game 0-2 and i was really nervous throughout the game as the goals came in the first 20 minutes! 

The last two seasons have seen us getting knocked out in the semi finals and with PSG being the opposition I feared the worst! We won 1-0 at home and not conceding an away goal was good enough for me! The return leg in Paris started in the worst way possible when PSG scored 1-0 after only eight minutes. In the 21st minute they made it 2-0 and things were not looking great. Kevin Wittkowski, our left winger, is the most experienced player in the first team at 28, and of course he was the one who pulled us back into the game with a fantastic goal in the 67th minute. PSG never really looked like they were gonna score after that and we nervously advanced to the final on away goals. 

Before the final against Liverpool we beat Bayern 4-0 away in the league and beat Dortmund 3-2 in the DFB Pokal final so I was really confident. We didn't dissapoint and we actually beat Liverpool comfortably 2-0. Eirik Rønes, our Norwegian wonderkid striker scored both goals and to be honest if could have been more! A fantastic game to end a fantastic campaign. This starting eleven is by far the strongest I've had on this challenge and I think we could have gone on to win many more trophies. 

Really, really happy to complete the Youth Academy Challenge twice this year. And right at the finish line! 

@darren1983

 

Season Summary

               

 

Key Players

               

 

          

 

Season	|	League              |   Position    |      Cup     |  Continental
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21	|	3rd Bundesliga      |	  2nd       |      N/A     |     N/A
2021/22	|	2nd Bundesliga      |	  7th       |   1st round  |     N/A
2022/23	|	2nd Bundesliga      | 3rd (promoted |   3rd round  |     N/A
2023/24	|	Bundesliga          |     13th      |   2nd round  |     N/A
2024/25	|	Bundesliga          |     14th      |   3rd round  |     N/A
2025/26	|	Bundesliga          |     7th       |   2nd round  |     N/A
2026/27	|	Bundesliga          |     8th       |   3rd round  |     N/A
2027/28	|	Bundesliga          |     3rd       |  DFB-winners |     N/A
2028/29	|	Bundesliga          |     1st       |   3rd round  |     First CL knockout stage
2029/30	|	Bundesliga          |     1st       |   Qtr final  |     CL Qtr final
2030/31	|	Bundesliga          |     2nd       |   2nd round  |     CL Semifinal
2031/32	|	Bundesliga          |     1st       |  DFB-winners |     CL Semifinal
2032/33	|	Bundesliga          |     1st       |  DFB-winners |     CL Winners

 

[XaW]

Wow, another one! Congrats @thomas_e!

[thomas_e]

Thanks @XaW! 

[thomas_e]

5 hours ago, darren1983 said:

Whilst I've got the chance, many thanks to all that have participated in this challenge over the last year, FM20 has been the busiest time or this challenge where we usually get between 20 and 30 pages so to get over 100 pages is great so yeah. Cheers all 

Thanks for organizing a great challenge! Hopefully even more people will join on FM21! 

[Padders]

wow that was quick @thomas_e congrats

[thomas_e]

Thanks @Padders. A lot quicker than I expected, but I had such a great team compared to the teams I had when I completed the challenge with South Shields and Real Jean (FM20). With those saves I relied on a few key players, but this time I've had so much luck with the intakes it's crazy. Several national team players and no real weak links. Crazy luck! 

[darren1983]

12 minutes ago, thomas_e said:

Thanks for organizing a great challenge! Hopefully even more people will join on FM21! 

I'd love to take credit but I'm just carrying on others work,. Congrats on the completion though. Quickest time this year I think (I just had the HoF open and have already forgot )

 

[Basschaapje.2]

On 06/11/2020 at 13:43, Padders said:

Season Review 2276/77

BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY! We have done it

Champions League Winners. 

Beating Brighton 3-1 in the FInal.

League form was awful as posted above, so gave up on it after January and played the reserves

 

Special mention to these 4 guys. Been great players for me and coming to late 20s now

 

Youth intake had TWO players over 3 stars!! First time in 10 years

Congrats well deserved

[_JHTB_]

On 08/11/2020 at 21:29, _JHTB_ said:

To be honest, with FM21 beta imminent it’s probably a case of one more season really and I’m not sure we’ve got what it takes to both win the league and champions league, but that’s what I’ve got to aim for really.

Not even managed to get through half a season, and with the beta dropping tonight I'm not going to go through the season. It was looking likely to be a poor season from us anyway with us winning just one of our opening 7 league games already finding ourselves 14 points away from top of the league. We were unbeaten so far in Europe after FMing PSG and Manchester City mind but oh well.

 

I'll probably attempt this again later in the FM21 cycle rather than from the onset, but I'll aim to start at a time where I'll actually have enough time to finish (or a good attempt at finishing) before the next iteration is out. 

[Padders]

With FM21 launching tonight here is my final screenshots from my game

What a save and some great numbers in there

Think I won every major trophy expect Club World Championships

 

[thomas_e]

Padders, is it me misunderstanding something or does the second screenshot show you buying a player from Man City for £83 028 000? 

[Gbrexiton]

6 minutes ago, thomas_e said:

Padders, is it me misunderstanding something or does the second screenshot show you buying a player from Man City for £83 028 000? 

The board bought some players

[thomas_e]

4 minutes ago, Gbrexiton said:

The board bought some players

Why cant I have a board like that, only selling them!! Seems realistic though as I guess would do that IRL and are we allowed to use them if it happens? 

Edited November 10, 2020 by thomas_e

[XaW]

@darren1983! Get on it and make a new thread!

[DazRTaylor]

Tomorrow morning I shall begin in the beta.  Won’t be FC United yet as may wait until the full game for that, but as stated above, @darren1983get on with it man!  😂

[DazRTaylor]

35 minutes ago, thomas_e said:

Why cant I have a board like that, only selling them!! Seems realistic though as I guess would do that IRL and are we allowed to use them if it happens? 

Nope.  You do what @Padders did and move them to the reserves and sell them as soon as possible. Under no circumstances do you play them.

[darren1983]

3 minutes ago, XaW said:

@darren1983! Get on it and make a new thread!

 

1 minute ago, DazRTaylor said:

Tomorrow morning I shall begin in the beta.  Won’t be FC United yet as may wait until the full game for that, but as stated above, @darren1983get on with it man!  😂

Games not out for another 2 weeks - I got loads of time  

[thomas_e]

2 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

Nope.  You do what @Padders did and move them to the reserves and sell them as soon as possible. Under no circumstances do you play them.

I figured. Never happened to me though, so hasn't been an issue. 

Edited November 10, 2020 by thomas_e