The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[MikaelS]

Youth intake is here

Not the best bunch of boys. I was really hoping for a promising striker.

[schnauzer]

@XaW Jack Birch is going to be some player! He already would have walked into my Whitby team. You could easily get him up to 16 dribbling with 15 pace in a few years!

Great first season too, shame about losing some of your players. Your youth intake is very impressive though. What age would you say is best to start playing the young players so that they develop? Is playing them in first team football at 16/17 actually harming their long term development?

Edited November 6, 2019 by schnauzer

[XaW]

10 minutes ago, schnauzer said:

@XaW Jack Birch is going to be some player! He already would have walked into my Whitby team. You could easily get him up to 16 dribbling with 15 pace in a few years!

Great first season too, shame about losing some of your players. Your youth intake is very impressive though. What age would you say is best to start playing the young players so that they develop? Is playing them in first team football at 16/17 actually harming their long term development?

In FM19 I threw them in, but I'm a bit more cautious now. So I'm giving them some minutes here and there to see how they handle it. Birch scored in his debut though, so that is promising.

[Quacky]

 

Lhasa Urban Contruction Investment FC

Table | Squad | Transfers

A fairly successful up and down season for the first year in Tibet. I initially tried to shoehorn my players into a tactic that I know works (2 x Finnish champions with Rovaniemi) playing Zhou Bingxu on the right wing cutting inside with some early success that found us mid table. At that point confidence was utterly obliterated when the beast of what awaits me came in a 4-1 defeat in the cup to Rafa Benítez's Superleague champions Dalian Yifang as Yannick Carrasco (who is far too good for China) tried to ruin my season. Following this I picked up 2 points from 10 games and tweaked the tactics into playing my only two "good" players up top together even if they hate it leading to a pretty reasonable finish to the year dragging the team back to mid table.

 

Top scorer - Zhou Bingxu

My player of the season - Huang Haoxuan

 

The youth intake is almost entirely 5* potential, I think this actually says something about how bad my first team is rather than it being a great youth year, I scouted a few of the teams in the division and every single player was 5*/5*. Strangely I also got a Brazilian defender in the intake, even though he is rubbish.

 

Top prospect - Chen Yu

My pick - Zhang Xiaotian

 

 Season | League  | Position |   Cup   | Asian CL
--------------------------------------------------
 2021   | 1st Div | 11th     | 4th Rnd | N/A

 

[Diego D10S]

Hey all. I will be starting over after todays hotfix that solves some issues I've had.

Great to see so many of you doing the challenge !

GL all !!  

[thomas_e]

15 hours ago, MikaelS said:

After spending 3 hours trying to pick a team in Norway, @XaW kindly reminded me that I was looking at the wrong tier.

So I spent another 30 minutes contemplating on other teams and I finally settled with Fløy. They are also known as Flekkerøy IF Fotball.

As a Norwegian this will be great to follow! Flekkerøy in the Champions League sometime in the future? Who would have thought!!! 

[OneManSnipez]

Havent been updating the last few seasons but I thought id share this gem of a player I have, just maybe don't say his name out loud 

[keeper#1]

Midway through Season 1 at Fortuna Koln.  Looks like I have decent intake coming.

Very streaky form has put us solidly in the middle of the table.

[Fastbasher]

46 minutes ago, OneManSnipez said:

Havent been updating the last few seasons but I thought id share this gem of a player I have, just maybe don't say his name out loud 

He's definitely a keeper

Quality player there. How much has he developed from when he first came through your youth intake?

Edited November 6, 2019 by Fastbasher

[schnauzer]

1 hour ago, OneManSnipez said:

Havent been updating the last few seasons but I thought id share this gem of a player I have, just maybe don't say his name out loud 

Wow... So so good!

[uroszila]

So, I also decided to participate in YA Challenge with FM20 but not with the full-fat version of the game because this year I won't purchase it. Therefore I will give it a go on the Touch version of the game. I hope that this is not an issue for you guys...

I decided to start in Germany so finally, I ended at the football club TSV Havelse.

My starting profile:

Edited November 6, 2019 by uroszila

[Fastbasher]

Putnok - Hungarian Division II - 2020/21 Season review

 

With a relegation dogfight expected, this season must be considered a success. We started out top of the table after the first round. We gradually slipped down the table and finished 17th out of 20, but never once went into the relegation zone.

Division II Vasas won the Hungarian cup, so there is European football coming to our division. We got knocked out of the cup in extra time of the 1st round by non-league Tiszaújváros after they scored a 90th minute equalizer.

 

Players

Left wing Gábor Illés was our best performing player, playing every league game, adding 10 goals and 3 assists.

Bence Katona was the top scorer with 13 goals. I'm risking keeping him as a non contract player at present because he demands 350 quid a week in wages, when my highest earner is currently on 120 quid a week.

Krisztián Rácz YP21a was the cream of the crop from this years' youth intake.

I wasn't too fond of Tamás Simon YP21e. But my staff said he has the most potential of all the youth intake. I intend to loan him out and see what happens.

Three other players were signed because I think they can add depth to the squad.

 

I'm really happy with my backroom staff team who are the best in the division.

Finances are in good shape. We get 275k gbp a year to compete in Div II, which takes us up to around 400k in the bank.

I also managed to complete a coaching course this season to qualify for my National C License.

 

Transfers

[streety]

So im giving this ago. and decided to shoot myself in the foot before starting and picking Sweden. From what i can make out is that the season Ends Div 2 28th September 2019.. then the playoffs happen and then the new teams will become avaliable 14 October This might need confirming though ... Now just need to pick a team and hope for the best 

[Hess]

"a previously unplayable club": may someone explain what does this mean?

I understand that I must simulate it to the reset day and add a manager to this kind of club, but I don't get what would be available teams...
I was thinking on starting in Brazil or Uruguay.

[streety]

1 hour ago, Hess said:

"a previously unplayable club": may someone explain what does this mean?

I understand that I must simulate it to the reset day and add a manager to this kind of club, but I don't get what would be available teams...
I was thinking on starting in Brazil or Uruguay.

the teams that are promoted into the lowest league in your selected country..so if you want to start in Brazil then the teams that are promoted into the lowest league in the database in the second season

Edited November 6, 2019 by streety

[Hess]

15 minutes ago, streety said:

the teams that are promoted into the lowest league in your selected country..so if you want to start in Brazil then the teams that are promoted into the lowest league in the database in the second season

Thanks. So, if I start in Brazilian first division, it will be any team that was promoted from second and so on.
I was thinking about starting in the lowest division, but I'm not sure if the teams are renewed... I'll check though.

Thank you very much

[streety]

no you need to start in the second division with clubs that have been newley promoted to it

[streety]

So the testing to see when the Swedish season ended proved a disaster. First i took over a team that had not been promoted and then took over another team that barely had any players. Then took over a team that bought somebody. So i gave up but will revisit this tommorow...

[Muttley84]

7 hours ago, Hess said:

Thanks. So, if I start in Brazilian first division, it will be any team that was promoted from second and so on.
I was thinking about starting in the lowest division, but I'm not sure if the teams are renewed... I'll check though.

Thank you very much

You need to start in Serie C in Brazil (think that ia the lowest league available in game), simulate an entire season and pick one of the newly promoted teams at the start of the 2nd season.

It's not a choice where to start, whatever country you play with you have to start in the lowest available league. Imagine me starting in Premier League and getting clubs like Leeds or West Brom to play with, wouldnt be fair at all.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Muttley84

[XaW]

9 hours ago, Hess said:

Thanks. So, if I start in Brazilian first division, it will be any team that was promoted from second and so on.
I was thinking about starting in the lowest division, but I'm not sure if the teams are renewed... I'll check though.

Thank you very much

1 hour ago, Muttley84 said:

You need to start in Serie C in Brazil (think that ia the lowest league available in game), simulate an entire season and pick one of the newly promoted teams at the start of the 2nd season.

It's not a choice where to start, whatever country you play with you have to start in the lowest available league. Imagine me starting in Premier League and getting clubs like Leeds or West Brom to play with, wouldnt be fair at all.

Muttley is right. You pick a nation and add all available leagues, then holiday a season and take over a team that were promoted into the lowest tier league.

[XaW]

Youth intake 2022

Not an amazing intake, but a clear standout talent.

The highest rated talent this time is Matthew Fogarty 22a. Just a great defender that will be part of the main squad asap.

Danny Preston 22c is a talented left back, and I'm really happy with that since I pretty much only a one who are any good.

[MikaelS]

20 hours ago, thomas_e said:

As a Norwegian this will be great to follow! Flekkerøy in the Champions League sometime in the future? Who would have thought!!! 

Honestly, let's see how it goes. So far I am not having the best time with senior star players not wanting to extend contract

[MikaelS]

12 hours ago, streety said:

So the testing to see when the Swedish season ended proved a disaster. First i took over a team that had not been promoted and then took over another team that barely had any players. Then took over a team that bought somebody. So i gave up but will revisit this tommorow...

If the transfer was made/agreed before you took over, it is ok. If you get the option to cancel the transfer, then do so. And then you are ok

[XaW]

XaW - Stratford Town - 2021/22

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Going into the second season I can clearly see that this will be harder than Kettering last year. The level of youth intakes are far worse, and the base level of players I started with are poorer as well. But with a good season last year, I hope we can keep the spot a few more years and get in some talented youngsters to help us up the leagues. The season started quite poorly and we dropped in and out of the relegation zone. But as the season kept going we established ourselves as a team just above the relegation spots. Towards the end of the season we even started a good run and climbed a bit up to finish well clear of the relegation spots. Even thought 16th is a bit behind last year, I still think it's pretty good. I got to introduce more youngsters to the first team, and a couple of them are even fighting for a starting spot already. So things are looking good, and I hope we can push on next season and continue improving.

In the FA Cup we beat Atherton Collieries and Tamworth before losing to Notts County in the 4th qualifying round. In the FA Trophy we beat Gateshead, Boston United and Chorley before losing to FC United in extra time after a replay in the 3rd round.

We had a decent youth intake where the highest rated youngster is Matthew Fogarty 22a.

The leading players this season have been Nabil Shariff, Mitchell Glover and Steve Ross.

And somehow our academy coaching and youth recruitment have improved. No idea how or why, I haven't asked for it since we don't have money, and I don't think I've gotten any inbox messages of it. I'll take it though!

[Ross Ingersoll]

Portugal date is June 29th

[Braumiller]

Has anyone else noticed that the youth intake 'preview' is fluid and changes over time?  I took screenshots of mine last night and will post them when back on my home laptop later.

I have the Decembers initial news item, two checks of the dev center between January and March and then the actual intake in April.  The descriptions and quantities all evolve as (presumably) kids develop or not.  Very cool.

[MikaelS]

Warning, warning. warning!

Be careful doing this - its a trap!

 

I did it to a player and now I have half a squad being angry at me because I changed his proposed playing time.

[XaW]

7 minutes ago, Braumiller said:

Has anyone else noticed that the youth intake 'preview' is fluid and changes over time?  I took screenshots of mine last night and will post them when back on my home laptop later.

I have the Decembers initial news item, two checks of the dev center between January and March and then the actual intake in April.  The descriptions and quantities all evolve as (presumably) kids develop or not.  Very cool.

Yes, I expect this is because the HoYD get more familiar with the players and changes his perceived impression of the players.

[jstu9]

Koninklijke Voetbal Klub Tienen-Hageland

Ok, I'm managing Tienen and have played through two seasons. I believe I am supposed to have posted some other screenshots but considering I wasn't sure how long I'd play this save, I haven't. If you want anything, let me know. I believe I've followed the rules.

I finished 3rd in my first season. At this level in Belgium, the top 4 teams go into a promotion playoff. You get half of your accrued points and you play each of the other teams twice (so 6 additional games). I didn't come close to promoting as only one team does and the 1st place team dominated. The youth pull was...

So 2nd season rolls around. Finished 4th this season as I tried to incorporate the young players into the squad. Somehow made it into the Quarter Finals of the Cup too. My leading scorer got poached but it didn't really hurt us much. Schmitz (21a) started most of the season at MR and De Cock (21b) started most of the year at ML. De Schrijver (21d) played the last half season as my CM(d) and De Wit (21e) the same at CD. Willems (21c) played as a backup to Schmitz most of the last half of the season. This is what the youths look like for '22.

Another 3-4 players that look to have some promise. They will start to get incorporated into the squad this next season.

 

 

[XaW]

4 minutes ago, jstu9 said:

If you want anything, let me know. I believe I've followed the rules.

The only "demand" we have are simply to post your transfer history per year to verify no transfers in. Other than that, we usually like to see the table and the intake (that you already posted) as well as some pics of the best youth prospects if you have any. Something like a yearly review are a usual way to do it. Kind of like the ones @Quacky or @Diego D10S have done.

[schnauzer]

I dont suppose that anybody reloading the English start date has come across Harrow Borough? I've been trying to load them up for ages but no joy! 

[Scab]

12 minutes ago, schnauzer said:

I dont suppose that anybody reloading the English start date has come across Harrow Borough? I've been trying to load them up for ages but no joy! 

I have. They're one of the rarest teams from the Southern Premier South. If you've seen Tiverton or Hayes & Yeading, they have roughly the same reputation.

Here's a Harrow save if you'd prefer it over reloading more (34K player db (England with dafuge requirements + Players from top clubs in Europe)).

[schnauzer]

2 minutes ago, Scab said:

I have. They're one of the rarest teams from the Southern Premier South. If you've seen Tiverton or Hayes & Yeading, they have roughly the same reputation.

Here's a Harrow save if you'd prefer it over reloading more (34K player db (England with dafuge requirements + Players from top clubs in Europe)).

Ah my friend that is really good of you but unfortunately the 34k player db would kill my laptop! 

At least I know it is possible to load it! I've loaded Tiverton about 3 times now so I can't be too far away. I appreciate that though mate!

[Scab]

8 minutes ago, schnauzer said:

I've loaded Tiverton about 3 times now so I can't be too far away.

Yup. Should just be a matter of time/patience then. 

[schnauzer]

59 minutes ago, Scab said:

Yup. Should just be a matter of time/patience then. 

I'll keep going. For some reason the Met. Police get promoted so often and they don't have decent players at all... I don't really understand how it works. Not seen other teams like AFC Rushden and Diamonds, Hartley Wintney, Hayes and Yeading etc. at all yet either  

Edited November 7, 2019 by schnauzer

[darren1983]

Season 2021/22 Vanarama National League South

 

League - an odd season. After 17 games we were 4th on 32 points, just 3 off the top. We then lost 9 of our next 10 to really fall away, in fact after our win over Boreham Wood on October 9th we only won 3 more league games all season. Only Gosport let in more than us which shows our main problem. I tried everything I could to turn it around but we just kept letting shots and goals rain down on us. We lost 2 games 6-5! I got a new deal but not sure if this save will finish a 3rd season.

FA Cup - lost to a non playable side when we really could have used a run

FA Trophy - our only non league win in the whole season before losing first round proper

Squad - tiny squad and getting smaller with players not wanting to resign with us, means I'll likely be playing 3 or 4 17 year olds next season - time to sink or swim

Transfers - none in and only 1 out

Youth Intake - again not a great one, not a single 5* PA not even a 4* one which is a worry considering how poor my squad is

Alfie Faith YP02A - another left winger, we seem to love them here
Martin Douglas YP02B -  a left back for a change (but can play left wing of course) an area we need 
Martin Smith YP02C - guess what? another left winger! 

Career Update

Season		League		Position	Coaching		Recruitment		Notes

2020/21		VNLS		4th 		Fairly basic		Basic			Lost in promotion semi final	
2021/22		VNLS		18th 		Fairly Basic		Basic

 

[streety]

6 hours ago, MikaelS said:

If the transfer was made/agreed before you took over, it is ok. If you get the option to cancel the transfer, then do so. And then you are ok

Yeah it was late yesterday and clicked on transfers and thought **** then closed the game and went bed. dont know how good he was so will load the gamer up in a mo and begin 

[Rizz0therat]

Season 2 - Vanarama National League North - 19th Position 

Transfers - League Table - Youth Intake

Season started so well, was hovering around the the 6th/7th mark for  half the season then basically lost 20 out of the last 25 games. I've been getting lots of job offers from Championship and League One teams which I don't remember getting so early in previous versions, maybe its because I made my manager a tiny lady with Ana de Armas' face.

Debt is getting worse and my best player doesn't want to sign a new contract, to be fair the last manager was his dad Steve Chettle. I am in his favourite personel though so I will keep trying, I'm his new daddy now.

We're being loaned Coronation Park next season, which is 5500 capacity as our stadium is too **** for the league and we can't afford an expansion. I also got another coaching qualification somehow, even though we are in massive debt.

Youth intake was slightly better.

 Carl Glover is probably better than my existing options (which isn't saying a lot).

Sam Jackson (soon to be renamed Samuel L Jackson) has semi decent physicals and might get some playing time at right back, as mine are getting on a bit.

Kelvin Perkins is another lad with great determination, and some okay physicals and passing at left wing.

Sam Simmonds, a much needed left back cover.

I'd say I have a 50% chance of making it through next season alive.

[streety]

The New Manager of Nybro IF 

[Ross Ingersoll]

thinking of going with tour, game says they are newly promoted in france but seems like that isnt right, not sure. trying to find out. this is them, its ok to be them, correct, looks like they start in nat 3 to begin the game

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Ross Ingersoll

[Quacky]

I finished another surviving season in China but I think it will be the last.

 

 

In the first season the club paid out nearly £1M in end of seasons bonuses, they dropped them massively this season to £200K but its just not even close to sustainable. I didn't think clubs ever agreed to pay bonuses that would bankrupt them. With the level of players/money in the league I just can't see any way to recoup this sort of amount of money to ever invest in anything. Its a shame because some of the youth players are just starting to look like footballers and given another couple of seasons maybe I would have something to raise up the table.

[schnauzer]

After ages trying to load Harrow Borough I eventually gave in and took on Folkestone Invicta who hail from Kent and play in the Vanarama South.

Very happy with the squad I have inherited and barring our best player Finn O'Mara (who still is contracted until 2021 so hopefully I can change his mind) everyone seems willing to discuss new terms!

As the screenshot shows below there is a good core of talent in this squad that should hopefully carry us for a few seasons until the youngsters kick in.

We only inherited the one youth player from the holiday season, Graham Phillips (see below), and although he doesn't look like a world beater I think I can train him into a solid DM along with being a backup CB.

We have great depth in attack and on the wings but look bare in defence (one left back) and in midfield (just 3 CMs).

Finance projection looks a bit dodgy but it did at Whitby but in the end wasn't so bad.

Up the Invicta, second time lucky!! 

[Quacky]

With the issues in China I'm going to move to Switzerland with Étoile Carouge FC.

 

The team is based in Carouge just out Geneva and features a decent stadium (if not many ticket holders) and a very impressive youth system although not the that I saw for eligible Swiss clubs though. The reset date is at the latest 20th June, could be a couple of days before, I used a save on 20th May to spin a couple of times until this club came up but I don't know if thats really needed.

 

Edited November 8, 2019 by Quacky

[Brother Ben]

1 hour ago, streety said:

The New Manager of Nybro IF 

Whats the rest date there?

[schnauzer]

After a great start to the season we've gone top! Loving this team so far

[Scab]

St. Ives 2021/22 Season Review

League Table    Youth Intake    Squad    Transfers

Stability setting in. I'm no longer worried about relegation, but we ain't challenging for promotion anytime soon either. Which is fine. Got a couple of decent players from the youth intake in Jeffrey Adu and Ali Austin. Adu did really well in the starts I gave him and Austin isn't much worse than my starting GK. I give it a couple of seasons before they're both first team regulars.

From last year's intake, James, Knight, and Burton-Jones are starting to make their way into the team, albeit with some careful game management. I know this is just the VNN, but they've all been surprisingly reliable. On top of them, Turner is basically my first choice left back. His slowness is a concern, but until players remember how to convert one-on-ones again he'll probably keep getting away with getting left in the dust. 🤷‍♂️

Down in the U18's, Hickey is scoring for fun. I don't know how, considering he doesn't look to be able to hit the broad side of a barn, but if this continues I'll have to test him against better opposition at some point.

Season    League              Finish   Notes
2021/22   Vanarama North      9th      -
2020/21   Vanarama North      15th     -

 

[SpS_Zen]

Il y a 8 heures, Ross Ingersoll a dit :

thinking of going with tour, game says they are newly promoted in france but seems like that isnt right, not sure. trying to find out. this is them, its ok to be them, correct, looks like they start in nat 3 to begin the game

 

Tours was still in ligue 2 in 2017/2018, they got relegated to the third tier, then relegated again due to a debt too big.

Nationale 3 is the 5th tier in France, and we can only play until the third tier in France.  Are you using a modified database?

[vikeologist]

7 hours ago, schnauzer said:

After ages trying to load Harrow Borough I eventually gave in and took on Folkestone Invicta who hail from Kent and play in the Vanarama South.

 

 

 

Wildly overconfident after my very successful test season (with Bradford City), I was torn between doing this challenge with Folkestone, or just going the easy option with Palermo.

I opted for Folkestone, but after much fruitless reloading, I've given up and am currently holiday managing in Italy. (I presume Palermo will pop up a bit quicker).

Honestly, if I'd seen your post, it would have saved me a lot of time, because that Folkestone squad would not fit my tactics AT ALL!

I'll have to do my Folkestone career vicariously through you, so good luck.

Incidentally, my successful Bradford test save did have just 1 negative element; the Youth Intake. Not one of them could even be considered for a contract. Maybe the most promising had a ceiling of 2.5 stars.

So, albeit based in just 1 outcome, I am commencing this challenge with a tiny bit of trepidation.

Edited November 8, 2019 by vikeologist

[OneManSnipez]

My youth intakes are finally starting to come to fruition

[Forest]

A question of mine. When we got a team, which is in 5th tier and only 3rd tier is possible to play. Can we then holiday for 2 years insteat of holidaying one year? So thatthe team got the chance to promote first to 4rd tier and next year then to 3rd?