The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[v1n1akabozo]

3 hours ago, Padders said:

Season Review 2263/64

We have finally qualified for Champions League, first time sine 2212/13!

MIles off top two but happy to finally qualify

Also potentially had one of my best Youth Prospects for decades!

Not had a player worth over £2m as soon as promoted

Usually only £200-£600k

The only reason i keep visiting this thread is to see if you won the challenge, and i'm by no means joking about this.

Edited October 23, 2020 by v1n1akabozo

[libbyshuss]

2041/42

Premier League

Finish: 6th

Season Summary

Our best season for a long time. We were really good in the league and only missed out on the Champions League by four points. i thought this team might need a little more time but they seem to be coming together really well already. The next couple of seasons will hopefully be good ones!

Obviously we were arse in the Cups again. We always are.

Players

Marti Fernandez 40A - the main reason for our great season. he was so good, and an ever present for the season. He was labelled a wonderkid while he was still 18 as well. I'm very excited as to where he can go from here!

Deon Jackman 34A - now 25 in the peak of his powers and an England regular. 4 goals in 8 caps

Juddy Mutombo 30A - The old man of the front 3 at 28 but still performing really well. A little unlucky not to aff to his solitary cap. He's no Francis Jeffers!

Jean Rousetty 33A - A really nice surprise this. He's a real late developer, only broke through to the first team at 21 and wasn't particularly good. But I was short of numbers so he kept getting his chance. 4 seasons later and he's a first team regular and broke into the England team this season. 

Heiko Petrick 36A - First proper decent keeper I've had! Established German international, the main reason my goals against column was so much lower

Keir Christie 41A - Only 6 starts, only 18 and only 3.5 Star potential. And I turned down this offer for him:-

  

 

Youth

Another golden generation promised!

And it looks like another striker! It's getting silly now. If I could play 6 up front I'd be golden.

 

Back in Europ, hopefully we can make the most of it this time!

 

 

 

[Padders]

1 hour ago, v1n1akabozo said:

The only reason i keep visiting this thread is to see if you won the challenge, and i'm by no means joking about this.

Got two weeks to go before FM21. Time is running out................................................

New season (with Champions League) and haven't won a league game in first 3!

[Padders]

Here we go again

Qualify for Champions League and Premier League form is absolutely awful

Gutting start

[metallimuse]

So I've woken up to a disaster this morning. 

I reached the new transfer window and I received this message...

Checked my staff responsibilities and I'm still in control of all signings so I was confused but after a bit of digging I realised that we had another board take over in the winter break that I hadn't noticed and part of it is that the new regime promised signings.

What's the rules surrounding this?

I was powerless to stop the signings.

I kind of feel like this has scuppered the save if I'm honest.

[libbyshuss]

41 minutes ago, metallimuse said:

So I've woken up to a disaster this morning. 

I reached the new transfer window and I received this message...

 

What's the rules surrounding this?

I was powerless to stop the signings.

I kind of feel like this has scuppered the save if I'm honest.

 

I'm sure I read somewhere in this thread where this happened before that as long as you stick them in the reserves, never play them and release them as soon as you can then it's ok

Because it's really not your fault!

[DazRTaylor]

2 hours ago, metallimuse said:

So I've woken up to a disaster this morning. 

I reached the new transfer window and I received this message...

Checked my staff responsibilities and I'm still in control of all signings so I was confused but after a bit of digging I realised that we had another board take over in the winter break that I hadn't noticed and part of it is that the new regime promised signings.

What's the rules surrounding this?

I was powerless to stop the signings.

I kind of feel like this has scuppered the save if I'm honest.

Stick them in the reserves, transfer list them and try to get rid of them.  Do not play them ever.  The board do make signings occasionally so not your fault and won't make your challenge invalid.

[DazRTaylor]

@PaddersSouthampton look to be a powerhouse in your game.  Also, with Chelsea relegated, there are now none of the current "Big Six" in the top flight!

[metallimuse]

36 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

Stick them in the reserves, transfer list them and try to get rid of them.  Do not play them ever.  The board do make signings occasionally so not your fault and won't make your challenge invalid.

So I can sell them aye? Don’t have to release them?

Has this happened to many within the thread? I’m hoping that this doesn’t upset my squad morale or board confidence if things kick off.

[XaW]

49 minutes ago, metallimuse said:

So I can sell them aye? Don’t have to release them?

Has this happened to many within the thread? I’m hoping that this doesn’t upset my squad morale or board confidence if things kick off.

Just try to get rid of them as soon as possible, and of course, they can never play a game. Also please don't let them tutor anyone or something like that. Just try to offer them out, even if you have to take a big loss. Just get rid of them asap and you're good.

[metallimuse]

No worries folks, had no intention of doing anything with them and I’ve changed their names to ‘do not use’ so I don’t absent minded lay use the. I will provide evidence when they leave and will mark them with accept any offer.

 

[Padders]

3 hours ago, DazRTaylor said:

@PaddersSouthampton look to be a powerhouse in your game.  Also, with Chelsea relegated, there are now none of the current "Big Six" in the top flight!

Yes they are dominating

Here are some screenshots

[jcoll]

Donegal Celtic

Season 2027/28 Review – Danske Bank Premiership – Northern Ireland

League (9th) – Squad – Transfers – Finances

Top Goalscorer – Kyle McDermott YP7I (11)

Top Average Rating – Kyle McDermott YP7I (7.19)

Most Assists – David Long YP1J (5)

I wasn’t hoping for anything spectacular in our first division in the top flight, but we were never in danger of getting relegated all season, we started off well but fizzled out to a 9^th place finish which I was pleased with particularly due to the amount of first team players that were sold over my head in January. First choice left back Kieran Bradley YP5J, Cameron Taylor YP5K our ball winning midfielder and star man Aled Smith YP5I as well as promising centre back David Mcmeniman YP7H were all sold for a total of £125k and various sell on clauses. It has certainly weakened the team but our finances look a lot better and I think we are close to making enough to upgrade the facilities.

Another good bit of news is that our U18’s won their league which shows we have a relatively good youth set up compared to the rest of the league. The youth intake this year was good compared to last year and we got a couple of promising strikers through as well as a much needed offensively minded midfielder. The goal for next season will be to stay up again, our squad has slightly weakened compared to last year but there are lots of talented players who could develop

Youth Intake

 

Club Progress

[DazRTaylor]

Deleted.

Edited October 24, 2020 by DazRTaylor

[Padders]

Still loved being FM-ed

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Poole Town FC Season 2 Youth Intake

My Youth Intake aint as good as last season but still churned out a great left winger, a good attacking midfielder and a decent right winger and goalie.

Roy Morgan - 16 year old English Left Winger

Xabier Calvo - 16 year old Spanish Attacking Midfielder

Darragh Moran - 16 year old Irish Right Winger

James Flood - 17 year old English GK

Talking of young players Here is the progress of 2 of my players from my youth intake last season.

Archie Scriven(YP1)

Archie has played well. He has scored 6 goals and has 3 assists in 35 games played.

Steven Marshall (YP2)

Marshall has mostly come on from the bench as he don't fit my tactics I use but he has done decent enough playing 18 games and getting 1 goal.

A few others from my youth intake have played a few games or come on off the bench but not made much of an impression so far.

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

History Broken At Poole Town FC

Luke Roberts has just broke the record for the all time leading league goalscorer with 77 goals.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Poole Town FC Season 2 Review

An absolutely terrible season. Just suriving with 40 points and ending up in 17th place. 

I don't feel confident of getting anywhere with this challenge before FM2021 but I will keep trying until FM2021 is released.

Transfer History

Squad

Top Goalscorer - Luke Roberts - 22 goals

On the bright side the board have forked out on improving the Youth Facilities. 

 

Season	|	League              |   Position    |      Cup     |  Continental

20-21             Vanarama South                               14th                              4th Qualifying round         N/A

21-22              Vanarama South                              17th                               4th Qualifying round        N/A

Edited October 24, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[libbyshuss]

2042/43

season 23

Premier League 

Finish: 8th

Season Summary

Definitely a step back from last season. We just couldn't get any sort of run together and ended up stuck in mid-table.

Players

 Curtis Deegan 26C - now 34, he's being a first team stalwart since the National League days. This season was the first season his average rating slipped below 7, with 6.98. Played 690 games for us now. legend!

Mati Fernandez 40A - not as good as last season but still a really important player for us

Youth

another golden generation promised and another 4 star striker promised. I've decided to retrain him as an AML and the other striker as an AMC so that I can play something other than 4-3-3. I keep getting battered by the better teams using it. i need more options!

          

 

 

I might keep updates to every few seasons from here, like Padders. I'm not really getting anywhere at the minute but I'm going to keep plugging away until FM21 comes out. I'm not too far away.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Poole Town Season 3 Youth Intake

Well all I can say about this Youth Intake for this season is nothing special. One decent player and that is it. My Youth Intakes are getting worse for some reason.

Isaac Perry - 16 year old English GK

After my Youth Intake I asked the board for improved Junior Coaching and Improve the Youth Recruitment and they agreed so hopefully next season's Youth Intake will be better.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Poole Town Season 3 Review

Well I surpassed my expectations by getting 8th place in the league. I was terribly unlucky not to be in the play offs. I drifted off on form near the end of the season but I am more then happy with my teams overall performance for the season and I am hoping to build from this.

I was neck and neck on points with 7th place Ebbsfleet but they had a better goal difference then me.

Squad

Stand out players were Josh Carmicheal, Sam Jackson & Luke Roberts 

Josh Carmicheal

Josh managed to get the best average rating, He got 2 goals and 4 assists. Was very consistent and was my midfield enforcer.

Sam Jackson

Sam was my best player and at times was amazing for me and won me games single handily. He is playing as an Inside Forward which isn't his best role but its a role he has become really good at it with 18 goals and 10 assists. 

Luke Roberts

Luke is my main man up front. He didn't score as many as he did last season but he still scored 15 goals and some important goals and led well up front on his own. 

Finances

Transfer History

Youth Players Progress

Only one player who stands out so far is Archie Scriven who has been a first team regular for 2 seasons now. He played 45 games this season. He got 5 goals and 2 assists.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Padders]

Season Review 2264/65

Unfortunately got knocked out of Champions League at Quarter Finals stage

League form started off poorly, failing to win any of first 5 games. Managed to finish 6th so back into Europa

Got this Brazilian kid in Youth intake. Haven't had many (if any) Brazil kids come through

 

[_JHTB_]

CD Mensajero

2037/2038

LaLiga – 6th

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

League: A pretty middling start to the season, not spectacular but, not really anything too worrying. We soon started looking a lot more promising, with us flirting with the top 4. Any hopes that we did have of potentially securing a top 4 position evaporated with a poor run of form from January saw us gain just 7 points in 9 games which is disappointing considering our form till then. A 5-3 victory over Atletico Madrid ended the run, though the next game was lost 3-0 against their city rivals. We won 5 of our last 6 on the bounce – drawing the final day against bottom of the league which actually saw us salvage a top 6 finish and Europa League Qualification. It seems all the teams around that area didn’t really capitalise on our poor midseason form. We did end up as the divisions second top scorers which is promising.

Cup: Our best run in the cup, though largely we did have some favourable draws but found our way through to the Semi-Final where, we were by far second best – a 12-3 aggregate loss.

Europa League: Our first Europa League game saw us probably the better side, but ultimately losing. Following that, however, we won all our remaining group games to top our group. The knockouts faced us against RC Lens with us drawing the away leg but losing the home leg 4-3, the game falling in the middle of our poor run of form unfortunately.

Squad: Franganillo 10c started the season with an injury so Mauro Garcia 14a found himself getting game time and really did pretty well so actually claimed the spot as his own. Yan Luis Rubio 17a did get a decent chunk of game time this season as well and is developing nicely.

Club Infrastructure: Our training facilities downgraded and the new board wouldn’t initially let me upgrade them again so this season they were lower – though we are upgrading them this summer.

Players of the year

Jose Bonilla 10a: Last season he put in his worst goalscoring return, this season he put in his best whilst still providing plenty assists. 30 goals and 30 assists in all competitions is nothing short of incredible (22G17A in the league)

Nauzet Gutierrez 13c: He’s been improving year on year since coming into the side this season breaking a long standing cub record for league goals in a season managing 23. In all competitions he managed to get 30 and is still improving.  

Armando 11b: Rounding out an identical top 3 to last season is Armando, 8 goals from centre back this season.

Youth Intake

A new HOYD this season as our previous one retired, and he’s not got off to a good start, not a fantastic intake really.

 

Sandro Acedo 18a: An attacking midfielder, so a position I haven’t really used, based on his attributes though, I’m actually going to retrain him as a deep lying playmaker as he does have decent attributes for there.

Yeray Lozaro 18b: Another attacking midfielder – this time will be retrained as a striker as I feel e could develop into an ok option there.

Zonzamas 18c: The first decent right winger we’ve had in well, ever really. He’ll have to develop quite a lot to make me consider using a player in that position, though his finishing is good so he does potentially have a future as a striker.

Overview/Looking Ahead

Really all told a good season for us, but I do worry that even as our attack is improving our defense is still pretty low quality 2^nd best attack, 2^nd worse defense. I am probably a little disappointing with out Europa League exit – I don’t think we were good enough to win it but felt we could have gone a bit further.

Next season we need to try and improve our defense though I’d take another 6^th place finish any day.

The story so far

Youth Record Holders

[libbyshuss]

1 hour ago, _JHTB_ said:

A new HOYD this season as our previous one retired, and he’s not got off to a good start, not a fantastic intake really.

looks pretty good to me, i'd be happy with that!

[Diego D10S]

                                                 

                                                                                                    Season 2032 / 2033 - 2nd in Serie A - CL Finalist

                      After leauge win last season I got as close as you can get finishing the challenge. Lost CL Final 2 -3 after extra time against Guardiola and Man United.

                      Annoying ofc but I'm really proud of the boys and what we have achieved so far. Hopefully I can finish one or two more seasons but real life are ruining my FM time atm. 

                                                       

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Diego D10S

[Padders]

Season Review 2265/66

I've got to be the unluckiest manager ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lost final of Europa by conceding an own goal in the 93rd minute! The most ridiculous own goal

 

Lose my final league game (I was 4th vs 5th) and finish 6th

So no Champions League again

I have had this guy (another Brazilian) from latest Youth Intake

 

[metallimuse]

The boards signings have gone on free's in the winter window having not played any games.

[DazRTaylor]

Ok, so I am bored waiting for FM21 so am looking for something to get my teeth into.

Is there any club that is eligible for this challenge that already have a really good academy?  Any ideas?

[XaW]

Just now, DazRTaylor said:

Ok, so I am bored waiting for FM21 so am looking for something to get my teeth into.

Is there any club that is eligible for this challenge that already have a really good academy?  Any ideas?

Isn't there an Italian big club that's possible to use? I can't for the life of me remember who, but it's one of those who were dropped because of non-sporting issues I believe...

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

Ok, so I am bored waiting for FM21 so am looking for something to get my teeth into.

Is there any club that is eligible for this challenge that already have a really good academy?  Any ideas?

I think CS Sedan have awesome youth facilities or youth academy. I can't remember which one but they are a good option to do the challenge.

[DazRTaylor]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

Isn't there an Italian big club that's possible to use? I can't for the life of me remember who, but it's one of those who were dropped because of non-sporting issues I believe...

Haha forgot about Palermo.  I have played in Italy for years so somewhere else would be good...

[DazRTaylor]

1 minute ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I think CS Sedan have awesome youth facilities or youth academy. I can't remember which one but they are a good option to do the challenge.

Ty.

[XaW]

Just now, DazRTaylor said:

Haha forgot about Palermo.  I have played in Italy for years so somewhere else would be good...

Ah, yes, that's the one. It was the only one I remembered, so I thought I'd mention it!

[_JHTB_]

6 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

looks pretty good to me, i'd be happy with that!

You're probably right, and me too harsh, but I feel it didn't really live up to the preview and the good players are largely in positions (or retrained positions) that already have the most depth

[Ronaldo Beckham]

After getting frustrated with Poole Town FC I have decided to start again so I will post who I will be managing soon. I am aiming to try the challenge in France or Italy.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I looked on the first page on here and it doesn't have a reset date. Any idea what it is @XaW or @darren1983?

Also if I decide to go with Italy would I have to start in a team promoted to Italian Seria C ?

[XaW]

30 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I looked on the first page on here and it doesn't have a reset date. Any idea what it is @XaW or @darren1983?

Also if I decide to go with Italy would I have to start in a team promoted to Italian Seria C ?

No, but if you find out when, tag darren so he can update. It's always a team promoted to the lowest tier possible to take over a team in.

[darren1983]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I looked on the first page on here and it doesn't have a reset date. Any idea what it is @XaW or @darren1983?

Also if I decide to go with Italy would I have to start in a team promoted to Italian Seria C ?

No one tagged me with a date for France which is why it doesn't have a date.

With Italy yeah you start with a side that gets promoted to Serie C 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, darren1983 said:

No one tagged me with a date for France which is why it doesn't have a date.

With Italy yeah you start with a side that gets promoted to Serie C 

Ok cheers. I was hoping to take over Palermo but they are already in Seria C which is annoying lol.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

40 minutes ago, XaW said:

No, but if you find out when, tag darren so he can update. It's always a team promoted to the lowest tier possible to take over a team in.

Ok thanks for clearing that for me. I wish I could be Palermo. I am trying to think of a sleeping giant in the lower divisions of a country that I could take over.

[darren1983]

23 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Ok cheers. I was hoping to take over Palermo but they are already in Seria C which is annoying lol.

They shouldn't be unless you're using an updated database. They were in Serie D in 2019/20. I've used them in this FM myself.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

5 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

They shouldn't be unless you're using an updated database. They were in Serie D in 2019/20. I've used them in this FM myself.

Oh ok well I tried initially with the Pro1 data update and when I loaded up a season they had Palermo who finished 12th Seria C and then when I tried it without any data files Palermo were in Seria B.

I have just loaded up Germany and come up with a few good options but will try Italy one more time.

Edited October 26, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

@darren1983 I just tried and apparently Palermo ended 11th in Seria B last season but somehow find themselves in Seria C. I have no extra data files. Any idea what has happened?

[darren1983]

4 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

@darren1983 I just tried and apparently Palermo ended 11th in Seria B last season but somehow find themselves in Seria C. I have no extra data files. Any idea what has happened?

 

In real life they finished 11th in B but were relegated to D due to finances so when you start the game they should be in D but will always get promoted to C first season because of their rep. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

 

Just now, darren1983 said:

In real life they finished 11th in B but were relegated to D due to finances so when you start the game they should be in D but will always get promoted to C first season because of their rep. 

Any idea what I have done wrong then ?

[darren1983]

Just now, Ronaldo Beckham said:

 

Any idea what I have done wrong then ?

No idea tbh mate, I know in real life they won promotion so will be in C in FM21 and I guess all updated databases but in the game they should b in C first season. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, darren1983 said:

No idea tbh mate, I know in real life they won promotion so will be in C in FM21 and I guess all updated databases but in the game they should b in C first season. 

I will look into it tomorrow night. Cheers for the help.

[metallimuse]

1. Fotbal Club Gloria Bistrița, Liga II, Romania

2028/29

League / Review / Performance / Awards / Finances / Squad View / Intake

Manager of the Year / Team of the Year / Golden Boot

An incredible year for us as for the 5th year running we were asked by the board to fight bravely against relegation but we rose to fight it out amongst chasing promotion back and achieve promotion! As a result I won Manager of the Year, we had players in the league team of the year and Cosmin Platon won the league's golden boot. A brilliant, magical year.

The stars seemed to align for us this year after we had a shocking pre-season. We didn't win one game but we were playing tougher opposition. When the fixtures were released I looked and thought we had a nice run at the start against teams who are normally around the bottom half and that was the case as we started really strongly and morale shot right up and we managed to keep that going the whole season. We were top of the league around October through to the start of March but due to the winter break March is a fixture packed month with two games every week and we dropped points due to having to rotate the squad. We dropped to second but we were too strong to drop any further and we wrapped up automatic promotion by finishing there with 3 games left.

We haemorrhaged money this year and we have just  dropped into the red, this was due to renegotiating a lot of contracts and even though there is no one on silly money we're still turning a loss. Hopefully the prize fund is triple figures in the top league.

The intake was solid this year and we've got a right winger who could jump straight into the first team already so that's a bonus as we're quite stacked there so I might look to move someone one to bring in a cash injection.

Despite our cash problems I managed to get the board to improve our youth recruitment this year so now junior coaching and youth recruitment are at exceptional. I can't get them to increase our facilities at all.

I'm hoping this summer I can manage to get approval to go on a coaching course as this is something I keep forgetting to do so I still have very basic badges.

I'm really looking forward to next season and mixing it with the big boys of Romanian football.

 

[libbyshuss]

10 hours ago, _JHTB_ said:

You're probably right, and me too harsh, but I feel it didn't really live up to the preview and the good players are largely in positions (or retrained positions) that already have the most depth

yeah, i hear that. The amount of 4 star strikers I have at the minute is crazy

I just had a DC who was a 2.5* potential in my original intake labelled a wonderkid when he hit 20, so all those 3 star potentials suddenly looked a lot more attractive.

[metallimuse]

Sooooooooooooooooooooo….

Do any of you guys have experience of managing in leagues with big winter breaks?

The reason I ask is that I've just tried to go on a coaching course and the board have told me it's not possible as they need me due to training/fixtures. I've looked and I actually agree with them as there is less than a month between my last league fixture and my first friendly and after two weeks we're now back in pre-season training.

So, for leagues like this, do I ask to go on a coaching course in the winter break you think?