The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[Novafluff]

Season Review & Youth Intake 2030

League|Transfers|Facilities|Finance

Forgot to take any picture of the youth intake but it was an good one getting one 3 ½ star CA midfielder and a lot of potential!

League: Another struggle year were we end up 14th. In relegation playoff we faced BK Forward which beforehand seemed like an easy match up but we got beaten unfairly in the away leg 3-0 so going into home game i went very offensive and it actually paid off we won 3-0 and beat them in the penalty shootout! Another year in superettan and with the latest intake it is time for us to climb!

Transfers: Nothing happened at all

Facilities: Stayed the same as we cant afford better

Finance: Going downhill cause of our youth setup. Need to get more money in

Top Scorer: (09-A)Tommy Nilsson 20 Goals 28(0) Games Avg 7.33

Most Assists: (03-G)Simon Samulesson 5 Assists 27(1) Games Avg 7.10

Best Average: (09-A)Tommy Nilsson 20 Goals 1 Assist 28(0) Games Avg 7.33

Top Prospect: (10-B)Mehmet Akin 3 Goals 2 Assists 22(0) Games Avg 6.87

 

[darren1983]

Season 2030/31 Review Championship

League | FA Cup | League Cup | Transfers | Finances | Squad

 

Well after last season's shock promotion the target was survival. The fact we did is one of my prouder moments in FM. During the season we had a somewhat bad combination of not scoring enough and conceding too many, every single draw, let alone the odd win, was a proper battle for us. I mean most of my team's CA has them as leading national league players and we're in the Championship. We spend 2.5m a tear on wages while Norwich spent 52m! Despite this we were managing to keep ourselves out of the relegation zone but a shocking run of 7 straight defeats (only scoring 3 goals) saw us drop into the bottom 3. With 14 games to go I took a break and played around with our system. I love the 433 (or 41221 wide or whatever the game calls it) so the formation stayed but I played around with some roles and team instructions to try and become very possession heavy side, the theory being that if we can't score goals than by keeping the ball we should at least limit the chances of conceding goals. Didn't really work but the change in roles did mean we got more players in and around the box and actually found form. 1 defeat in 12 (nearly half our total wins for the season came in this run) saw us pull away from the relegation zone and secure our safety. We did lose the final 2 games but in those I did play some fringe players who might be looking at being part of the first team next season so I'm not reading too much into them right now.

In the cups we crashed out at the first round of the league cup and struggled through the 3rd round of the FA Cup against league 2 Southend before losing away to local rivals and league 1 side Salford.

In terms of transfers it didn't look like we were gonna have a sale this season but then Premier League Swansea came in for Rivaldo Woolrey 29B who was my backup RB but someone that I was looking at giving a run in the 2nd half of the season. 6m was way too much to turn down. The fee, as well as the money for playing in the championship, was used to get a training ground upgrade, a youth upgrade to the next level as well as junior coaching and youth recruitment upgrades. Not bad for a player that never played a game for us.

Youth Intake - I quite like this one, some good looking players, not wild about the personalities but we're still growing

Paul Olalekan 31A - we don't use a AM but he's going to be trained to play as a false 9
Richard Litherland 31B - a forward but will be trained to play as an inside forward
Tim Jennings 31C - can never have too many keepers
Paul Smith 31D - nice looking CB, needs work on his technical skills but sound starting points elsewhere

Career Progres

Season		League		Position	Junior Coaching		Youth Recruitment 	Notes
2020/21		VNLS		8th 		Adequate		Fairly Basic
2021/22		NVLS		3rd 		Good			Average			Recruitment and coaching upgrades Lost playoff semi finals	
2022/23		NVLS		14th 		Good			Adequate		Youth Recruitment upgrade, started first coaching badge
2023/24		VNLS		7th 		Excellent		Good			Got first coaching badge. Promotion via playoffs
2024/25		VNL		5th 		Excellent		Good			Won promotion via playoffs. Got Youth facility upgrade
2025/26		League 2	14th 		Excellent		Good
2026/27		League 2	5th 		Excellent		Good			Lost in playoffs semi finals
2027/28		League 2	8th 		Excellent		Good			Finally got 2nd coaching badge
2028/29		League 2	1st 		Excellent		Good			National A Coaching badge
2029/30		League 1	4th 		Excellent		Good			Promotion via playoffs. Continental C coaching badge
2030/31		Championship	18th 		Exceptional		Excellent

Am thinking it might be time to have a overhaul of my coaching staff. Most have been with me for 5+ years now and while they were really good at league two level, it's a different kettle of fish up this high and if I'm upgrading my facilities to get the best out of the players then I should be doing the same for the coaches. Time to go looking I think.

[thomas_e]

What facepack are you using for regens @darren1983? I like it, although 16 year old Richard Litherland looks 50.

[Cookie147]

Anybody seen this, where the Assistant Manager thinks it's wise to play an entire reserve team in a league match? Clearly he's not impressed with our 3 wins from 3 start to the season! (Yes, I tagged the entire youth intake)

[darren1983]

2 hours ago, thomas_e said:

What facepack are you using for regens @darren1983? I like it, although 16 year old Richard Litherland looks 50.

It's from a twitter account called chilled moose. It's a patreon but as I had a load of away games and gigs refunded into my account this week I thought why not add some depth to my save. Trouble is the randomiser has given my some older looking guys too  

There are some free ones knocking about in the same style from the same person (think it's a pack of 50) for people that might just want to add them for their team - here 

[thomas_e]

South Shields FC

Season summary 2037-2038

First top 4 finish

Once again we managed to improve on last year's finish, going from 5th to 4th place. This gives us Champions League next year which is great! 

On the last day we faced Cardiff at home. Chelsea was taking on Man Utd at home and I needed to win and for Chelsea to drop points. Chelsea and Man Utd drew 1-1, but we struggled at creating chances against a stubborn Cardiff side that was already relegated. A magical moment when club icon Bob Sterry came of the bench to make it 1-0 in the 80th minute! Champions League here we come! 

Our defense was good this season and Ryan Hughes is a world class central defender. At 23 he already has 23 games for England and luckily we managed to secure a new contract for him in January without a release clause. He now makes £245k per week which is a lot, but he is worth it! 

We reached the semi final of the Europa League where we got knocked out by Sevilla. 

 

Season Summary

               

 

Top Performers

          

 

Top Talents

          

 

Season	|	League                      |   Position    |    FA Cup     |       League Cup            |   Europe
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21	|	Vanarama Nat. League South  |	  1st       |  1st round    |       2nd Round (FA Trophy) |   N/A
2021/22	|	Vanarama Nat. League        |	  7th       |  3rd round    |       2nd Round (FA Trophy) |   N/A
2022/23	|	Vanarama Nat. League        |	  5th       |  3rd round    |       2nd Round (FA Trophy) |   N/A
2023/24	|	Vanarama Nat. League        |	  7th       |  1st round    |       4th Round (FA Trophy) |   N/A
2024/25	|	Vanarama Nat. League        |	  1st       |  2nd round    |       3rd Round (FA Trophy) |   N/A
2025/26	|	Sky Bet League 2            |	  7th       |  1st round    |       2nd round             |   N/A
2026/27	|	Sky Bet League 2            |	  3rd       |  2nd round    |       1st round             |   N/A
2027/28	|	Sky Bet League 1            |	  13th      |  4th round    |       1st round             |   N/A
2028/29	|	Sky Bet League 1            |	  1st       |  1th round    |       2nd round             |   N/A 
2029/30	|	Championship                |	  20th      |  4th round    |       1st round             |   N/A
2030/31	|	Championship                |	  11th      |  4th round    |       3rd round             |   N/A
2031/32	|	Championship                |	  2nd       |  Qtr final    |       2nd round             |   N/A 
2032/33	|	Premier League              |	  16th      |  4th round    |       3rd round             |   N/A
2033/34	|	Premier League              |	  14th      |  3rd round    |       2nd round             |   N/A
2034/35	|	Premier League              |	  9th       |  5th round    |       Qtr final             |   N/A
2035/36	|	Premier League              |	  6th       |  Semi final   |       Semi final            |   N/A
2036/37	|	Premier League              |	  5th       |  5th round    |       3rd round             |   N/A
2037/38	|	Premier League              |	  4th       |  3rd round    |       3rd round             |   Europa League semi-final

 

[XaW]

While I can't say I have abandoned the Hungary save, I felt I wanted to do something else, so I've started another try in my native Norway with my local club Follo FK. So here is my profile, and since Norway does everything the Norwegian way, I got the youth intake preview the same day I took over the club.

Now, the thing that really pushes me towards Follo, other than the fact I live close to the "stadium" (or patch of grass inside a track for running), is that several of my friends have played for them at one time as well as kind of supporting them myself, though I've not been to many of their matches lately. They are also a club that focuses of youth development in real life, trying to survive by selling players to the bigger clubs around the Oslo area, so they are a perfect fit for this challenge.

[Padders]

Getting some very large bids for Luke WIlson

£143m!!

BIggest bid I've ever received  

[Padders]

Ethan Thompson left on a free

Been a goal scoring machine for me

398 goals in 572 appearances (obviously just league goals)

Broke the record for club record goalscorer which stood in the 2040's so over 100 years

[Cookie147]

I've just come across another weird one. Can you see the Harrogate defender just in front of the D. He's wearing, what I presume, is their away kit, and not the usual home yellow kit that everyone else is wearing. Anyone else seen this?

[Cookie147]

Ever want to throw the laptop out of the window? Another non existent cup run.

[thomas_e]

1 hour ago, Cookie147 said:

I've just come across another weird one. Can you see the Harrogate defender just in front of the D. He's wearing, what I presume, is their away kit, and not the usual home yellow kit that everyone else is wearing. Anyone else seen this?

Yes, this is a known FM20 bug. This has happened to me quite a lot as well, often with 3-5 players on the opposite team wearing wrong colors. 

Edited June 7, 2020 by thomas_e

[XaW]

XaW - Follo FK - 2020

League Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So I'm back home to my native Norway. When I took over the club, it was in surprisingly good order. A lot of talented players, most around 20 years old, and looking at the statistics well good enough for the league I'm in. Now, that's not that surprising for me, seeing as I know the club, but a club from the 4th tier in Norway should not be this good. Except, the club is, in real life as well. A lot of these players could play at a higher level, but most have chosen to stay with the club as they have gone through times of economic issues in real life. That said, the players are not top tier, but a few could play in the 2nd tier, I imagine and the rest is at least tier 3. So I expected to do well, but we did very well, in fact. The main issue for us this season is that we were in the same league as Fredrikstad. Now, this club was in the top tier only a few seasons ago, but had very poor management both on and off the pitch and dropped down in real life, but since it's the "big" club in a medium size Norwegian city, and they have a dedicated fan base, they average over 5k attendances. Compared to my team who have 500, you can see they were destined to win this thing, and they did. However, we did fight a lot, but in the end we couldn't reach the 2nd place playoff spot as Ull/Kisa snatched it a point ahead of us. So a 3rd place is still really good, and with Fredrikstad out of the way, I think we have a shot at promotion next season.

In the Norwegian Cup we beat Førde before getting the hardest draw possible in Rosenborg in the 2nd round. We really gave it our all and held them to a crazy 4-4 draw at full time, in extra time though they scored and held us back and knocked us out. But still a great effort.

I posted the youth preview earlier, and it didn't look that good, but since I have a good squad to start with, I didn't expect much. The youth intake itself actually turned out pretty good. Now, we didn't get a lot of great players, but we did get a few with Oscar Ødegård 20a as the highest rated one. None of the youngster have done anything for the first team yet, so not much more to say about them yet.

[Chileris]

Hitchin 2038/2039 season:

 

 

A mixed bag this year. A very young squad and a lack of options in midfield made it a struggle at times.

 

Upgrades galore this season, and more on their way

First team:

Best positions (first image) - Current formation score (second image)

 - 

Some improvement here, still a long way to go.

Youth Intake:

 

Quite a few of this intake are ready for the first team already!

Transfers:

Other:

The Discipline attribute has worked its way above 20 again on my stats...maybe I should ease off on the fines!

Edited June 8, 2020 by Chileris

[Chileris]

 

Well there goes my money for the next 3-4 seasons!

[Cookie147]

SOUTH SHIELDS FOOTBALL CLUB

SEASON 2 - 2021/2022

MIDSEASON UPDATE / YOUTH INTAKE PREVIEW

I thought I'd start to share the latest league table, as well as the youth intake preview each season, so here it is:

So far, the league form has been less consistent than last season, despite winning the first three matches, we went on a bit of a downward spiral for a while. However, things have picked up recently and we're currently just inside the playoffs.

Here is the youth intake preview. Hopefully the goalkeeper turns out to be true, as mine is now 36. I would really like to develop a tactic including a defensive midfielder, but I don't have a single one at the club, and nothing coming this year apparently....

[XaW]

XaW - Follo FK - 2021

League Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Ah, lovely short seasons here in Norway that just flies by. We didn't lose any players I'd like to keep, so I went into the new season with high spirit. And we started pretty well, and got off to a bit of a lead. However, we had a really poor stint, but we didn't lose any! What we did, was draw 6 matches in a row. In a 26 match league, that is a considerate amount of points lost. So we got caught up by a few teams. Interestingly, not Ull/Kisa, the team that snuffed us from the playoff spot last season and then failed to get promoted from there. The teams that did catch up were Hødd, Arendal and Stjørdals-Blink. We did turn it around and tried to catch up in the end, but we fell a bit short. So a 4th place is not bad, and we were only 5 points behind the champions Hødd. Perhaps next season.

In the Norwegian Cup we beat Ullern before losing to Sarpsborg 08 on pens in the 2nd round.

The youth preview this season looked pretty good, boasting about a potential "golden generation", so my hopes were high. Then I had this crappy intake, and I was really disappointed. Who was that central defender that "had caught the eye"? The best central defender have a 1 star rating. I don't mind that, but make up your mind, guy! So the intake was very poor, and the best of a bad bunch is Simen Reenskaug 31a. Since I haven't had any fantastic players yet, there's not much to say about the youth players yet. I did bring Oscar Ødegård 20a up to main squad though, mainly because I lack a left sided winger in my squad. And he even got his debut because of injuries. He didn't exactly set the world ablaze, but at least the debut is out of the way.

[grff]

NK Zadar: 2072/73 season review

A disappointing season as we finished without a trophy. Our CL campaign saw us meet Liverpool again in the first knockouts. Another defeat.

Squad stats.

Youth intake saw a couple of promising strikers coming through. Forgot to take a pic though.

Transfers.

[ravenation]

Gosport Borough Football Club

Season 2023/24 | Vanorama National| 19th

Half way through the season i was sure we would get relegated again. We had 12 points up, but we then hit a nice streak.

10 victories, 19 draws and just 38 scored goals was enough to stay up. 

We had the let go of many players again - some didnt develop as expected and we just need to cut down our expences - even for players with high potential. We just need players that are sure to get playing time.

I believe next season will give at least a midtable finish - our defensive formation is stable and we are hard to beat!

[dkouv]

Scarborough Athletic - Season 21 (2040/41)

English Premier League

League / Europe: A season of two halves, but the opposite of usual: instead of our typical first-half surge and second-half slump, we were terrible in the first couple months of the season but then picked up great form in winter to surge up the table into Champions League places. We never really had a shot at the title but top 4 was secured with several games to go, and we managed to get into 3^rd place on the final day which secured CL football regardless of the outcome of the CL final (since 6^th placed Chelsea were one of the finalists).

In Europe, we finished a comfortable 2^nd in the group behind Bayern and got a decent draw of Ateltico Madrid in the 1^st KO. We thrashed them 4-0 at home but almost blew it in the away leg, scraping by 5-4 on aggregate. Chelsea, who are a bit of a bogey team for us, beat us in the quarters after a couple of close games. They also beat us in the League cup final, and the FA cup saw a quarter final exit to Liverpool.

   

Players: Nick Harmon 13b (AML/ST) is by far our most important player – whenever he’s injured our form tends to dip quite a bit; and despite a few injuries this season he still managed to hit 30 goals. No other standouts this season but Anthony Harris (DRC) had a great year, claiming a starting place at center back despite his modest attributes, and Harry Steele 17a (DM/MC) was very solid in defensive midfield.

   

Youth intake: Even worse than last year, a talented goalkeeper Walid Nefzi 21a who we don’t really need, and literally nothing else. I look forward to some better intakes over the next few years, it can’t get that much worse (though watch this space).

 

Transfers: nothing of note

Season    |  League        | Pos. |     Europe     |     Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   | Vanarama North |  7   |     n/a        | Lost in playoff semi final. FA cup first round
2021/22   | Vanarama North |  2   |     n/a        | Promotion through playoffs 
2022/23   | Vanarama Nat.  |  16  |     n/a        |
2023/24   | Vanarama Nat.  |  8   |     n/a        |
2024/25   | Vanarama Nat.  |  3   |     n/a        | Lost in playoff semi final
2025/26   | Vanarama Nat.  |  6   |     n/a        | Lost in playof final. FA cup 4th round
2026/27   | Vanarama Nat.  |  1   |     n/a        | Promotion
2027/28   | League 2       |  3   |     n/a        | Promotion
2028/29   | League 1       |  5   |     n/a        | Promotion through playoffs
2029/30   | Championship   |  5   |     n/a        | Lost in playoff final, in extra time
2030/31   | Championship   |  4   |     n/a        | Lost in playoff final
2031/32   | Championship   |  1   |     n/a        | Promoted. League cup semi.
2032/33   | Premiership    |  6   |     n/a        | Qualified for Europa League
2033/34   | Premiership    |  8   |   Europa Q/F   |
2034/35   | Premiership    |  6   |     n/a        |
2035/36   | Premiership    |  7   |   Europa Q/F   |
2036/37   | Premiership    |  7   |     n/a        | Qualified for Europa Conference
2037/38   | Premiership    |  6   | Won Euro Conf  |
2038/39   | Premiership    |  4   |  Europa 2nd KO | Qualified for Champions League
2039/40   | Premiership    |  3   |   ECL 1st KO   | FA cup winners
2040/41   | Premiership    |  3   |     ECL QF     | League cup runners up
.
Season    |  Coaching     |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   |  Adequate     |  Fairly Basic     | Below average  |  Basic          |  3208
2021/22   |  Excellent    |  Average          | Below average  |  Basic          |  3208
2022/23   |  Excellent    |  Average          | Below average  |  Below average  |  4000
2023/24   |  Excellent    |  Average          | Below average  |  Below average  |  4000
2024/25   |  Excellent    |  Average          | Below average  |  Below average  |  4000
2025/26   |  Excellent    |  Good             | Below average  |  Adequate       |  4000
2026/27   |  Exceptional  |  Good             | Adequate       |  Adequate       |  4000
2027/28   |  Exceptional  |  Good             | Adequate       |  Below average  |  5500
2028/29   |  Exceptional  |  Good             | Adequate       |  Adequate       |  5500
2029/30   |  Exceptional  |  Good             | Adequate       |  Adequate       |  5500
2030/31   |  Exceptional  |  Excellent        | Average        |  Average        |  8250
2031/32   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | Good           |  Good           |  8250
2032/33   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | Good           |  Good           |  leasing Hull's ground
2033/34   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | Great          |  Great          |  17323
2034/35   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | Excellent      |  Excellent      |  leasing Boro's ground
2035/36   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | Superb         |  Superb         |  35099
2036/37   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | State of Art   |  State of Art   |  35099
.....

@thomas_e Congrats on making the CL! Will be interesting to see if English teams are as dominant in your save as they are in mine, makes the whole thing a bit less exciting:

I loaded up the Spanish league to try even things out but it doesn't seem to have changed things much so far.

[XaW]

XaW - Follo FK - 2022

League Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

I really enjoy being back in Norway. I have all the letters on my keyboard without having to copy o's with lines above, or a million different accents on vowels. Just brilliant. Now we have a few umlauts (like ö), but not many! I'm even going to use the ÆØÅ's for team and player names! Lovely indeed. Now, over to sports, we had a great start to the season as we usually do, but we didn't get much a space down this time around. Skeid, HamKam and Bryne were all around us at any given time this season. Towards the final part though Skeid and we were the two teams most likely to get the title and the playoff spot. In the end we got it ahead of them to get promoted into the 2nd tier. It was quite nice though, to battle Skeid, since they also have a major focus on youth development. I do hope they are promoted through the playoffs and join us next season.

In the Norwegian Cup we beat Spjelkavik, Aalesund and KFUM Oslo before losing to Strømmen after extra time in the 4th round.

The youth preview this season looked grim. A lot of negatives and the only good ones were that there are a lot of a few positions. I didn't expect much, so when the actual intake came around I was pleasantly surprised. Now, not many of those are good players, but it wasn't as bad as the preview hinted at. Still, I doubt any will be around for a long time, but the one I think looks most promising is Sondre Næss 22b. Oscar Ødegård 20a is the only one from the intakes who have gotten any first team action yet, and he got two more matches this season around. However, Said Yondani 20j, a player my coaches didn't rate at the time, but got kept on because of his professional personality, have became better and are not far off the first team squad at this point. The coaches have also started to rate the potential of Jacob Talstad 20d, but I'm struggling to see where I would play him. I mean, he has good physicals and can dribble, but neither shooting, nor crossing... I don't know. Perhaps as a backup...

[Cookie147]

Well, my fortunes have certainly changed - going from play-off contenders after 22 games, to our form falling off a cliff. Literally missing open goals, and conceding from 30 yards on a regular basis. I have no idea why this has changed, but I'm struggling to stop this decline as we plummet towards the bottom 4 with consecutive heavy defeats. Hopefully I can save our season somehow!

[XaW]

XaW - Follo FK - 2023

League Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Now that I'm up to the 2nd tier in Norway, things are going to get interesting. There's about half-and-half between professional team and semi-pro, but the gap is still not big. To give an example of this. Fredrikstad, the team that beat me to promotion the first season in the 3rd tier, won this tier in their first season and got promoted to the top tier. Yeah, and AI double promotion. Granted, they were relegated back into this tier before the season, but it shows how close the tiers are. So I figured we'd have a good chance of survival. I mostly stuck to the same 4-5-1/4-3-3 I've used all along, and things worked out great again. We did struggle in a few matches against the best teams like Kristiansund and Viking, but against the rest we had a fair shot. For most of the season we hovered in and around the playoff spots, and in the end we finished in a very good 5th place and we headed into the playoff.

In the playoff semi final we beat Fredrikstad 1-0 to get to the final. Here we lost on pens to Hødd. Now, I had forgotten about the playoffs here in Norway, but even the winner of the playoffs have to play another playoff against the 3rd to last team from the top tier, and the winner is playing in the top tier the next season, the loser in the 2nd tier. So even if we had beaten Hødd we were not guaranteed promotion.

In the Norwegian Cup we beat Mosjøen, Levanger and Ranheim before losing to Raufoss in the 4th round.

Look at this youth preview. All red and gloom and doom. So when we got this intake, I was quite happy. Not an amazing intake, but one great talent and a decent talented Model Citizen (thanks Rosenborg legend Roar Strand) was much more than I had expected! Vullnet Rushiti 23a is the player the coaches rates the highest and I tend to agree. Since he came through he have already played 4 times for the Albanian U21s, so I think I might have a good player there.

Jacob Talstad 20d got a few matches this season and surprisingly scored in both! Said Yondani 20j have had a few matches as well, and did great, the same goes for Oscar Ødegård 20a. So the youngsters have started to get into the first team squad. Since I started with a good and young team though, I am introducing them slower than I usually do in this challenge.

[Chileris]

Hitchin 2039/2040 season:

So last season we had good games but with a young squad keeping morale high with a sluggish start was a real problem. Turns out the key is to get off to a good start and keep everyone happy, because then this happens!!!

 

 

What a season! Very defensive play style and a run of games at the end to rise from 5th to 2nd was not too dissimilar to a certain Sir Gary Megson snatching promotion from Wo1ve5 in 01/02!

 

More upgrades and a new stadium on the way.

First team:

Best positions (first image) - Current formation score (second image)

 - 

Next season  could be a bit of a battering...

Youth Intake:

 

A very very good intake most likely influenced by the last set of upgrades. Looking forward to some more like it!

Transfers:

 

[Armeniar]

  

S6 – Liga II Ledman (1st) – Taça de Portugal Placard (Final) – Taça da Liga CTT (3rd Phase) - Squad (U19) - Transfers

Transfers

Another summer of difficult decisions. First of all, some players who ran out of their youth contracts were released. Barbosa, A. Carvalho, Pereira and Mendes only got a handful of games in the senior squad and were clearly far off first team level. Reis on the contrary was our left back for over 50 games, he never really disappointed. However we’ve got some talented defenders in the pipeline so he was released. Same goes for Edson Tavares, almost playing a 100 games for the club in which he scored over 20 times as a winger.

Secondly, we parted ways with two key players in the first four seasons. Rui Tavares, who has the most league appearances ever for our club (169), was just not good enough for the Liga II Ledman. His game time drastically decreased last season, it’s probably for the best that his contract wasn’t renewed. Central defender Eric Furtado was allowed a free transfer to third division club AD Oliveirense. Although he has been with us from the first season and played more than decent, I chose to release him so some of the younger players can take his place. Apart from Tito, they were the last original players of the squad. Thanks for all the incredible work here, guys.

We also loaned out Santana, Santos and Soares to clubs in the third division. They all came at an age where match experience becomes extremely important, something I couldn’t guarantee them. Elton Santos was allowed a permanent deal to Amarante for free, I prefer him playing there rather than just releasing him after this season. Our third goalie Fernandes was also loaned out to a third divisioner at the end of september, they were at the bottom of their league and in need of a new goalie. Figured it would be a good learning school for him, which it turned out to be as he played all games and really improved.

Season review

After our solid debut season in the Liga II Ledman last year, I was curious whether we would be able to confirm this by having another worriless season. Not having to worry about relegation to the third tier was very unexpected and really gave us the possibility to experiment as much as we wanted. With some new talented kids coming in, we should stay out of trouble again was my humble thought...

During pre-season we had the pleasure to participate in the Taça da Liga CTT again, I actually start liking this cup because it adds another, more competitive dimension to our preparation. We actually managed to win the 2^nd phase against Liga NOS side Moreirense, with POTM Fortes being the star of the show. He scored once and assisted another via, you wouldn’t guess it looking at his stats, a free kick. This kid already showed at that time that he will definitely be playing a lot of games this season, he’s a very strong addition to our squad. The 3^rd phase of this cup appeared to be a group stage. We were handed quite a though group with the likes of Porto and Braga. My expectations were zero in this cup, these games are only good for some match experience against bigger sides, and more importantly provide money! In the first game CD Tondela underestimated us and thought they could leave some of their best players of the pitch, but their arrogance didn’t last for too long: 3-0 victory! Good win, because Porto and Braga were obviously too strong for us to grab any points.

Off to the competition. Our performances in the Taça da Liga CTT didn’t seem to be that extraordinary. I couldn’t believe it, but we just kept on going. We didn’t just have a good start, we had an amazing season overall. The team played like a well-oiled machine, ripping every single one of our opponents apart. My hopes for a nice, quiet mid-table finish quickly changed to the very unexpected dream of getting a chance of promotion. As the season progressed, this dream became more and more vivid. I assumed we would have our “annual” breakdown in the cold winter months, but that was nowhere near the case. We secured promotion with still 3 games to go and even clinched the title after a 5-1 win at home against the 3^rd in the table, Belenenses. After such a performance, I guess you can say we deserve that title. Also broke some records: Duarte got the most clean sheets (19) ever in the league, Rui Carvalho the most goals (23).

Now, to spice things up even a little more, the “real” cup in Portugal. We were extremely lucky in the first cup round against a 4^th tier team, only winning after extra time and penalties. They scored their one and only shot in the first 90 minutes, we had a goal disallowed, a penalty missed, four times woodwork and an insane amount of good chances thrown away. Next round we drew Liga NOS side Portimonense, already for the 3^rd time in six years we feature them in the Taça. As they say, 3^rd time’s the charm: they got send home with a 2-0 loss! After that, we had three games against 3^rd division teams which we won quite easily. And, all of the sudden, we saw ourselves featuring in the semi-finals Famalicao, one of the solid teams behind Porto & Benfica, were our opponents. Never thought this would happen, but the boys exceeded their form ones again and qualified us for the final after two 1-1 draws… Incredible!

We played Benfica in the final, gave our best but obviously lost the game because we are nowhere near their talent. They even secured the quadruple against us, after winning the Supercup, Liga NOS and the Taça da Liga CTT as well. What a cup run for us tho, so special being able to play the final as a Liga II Ledman team although we had quite a few rather fortunate draws!

Internationals

Rui Carvalho picked up his first international goals against Zimbabwe and is becoming a regular in the national team. Goalie Duarte was called op one more time, but weirdly enough decided to change his ‘primary’ nationality to Portuguese halfway the season. He must be upset that he wasn’t given any game time and might want to fancy his chances for the Portuguese (youth) teams…

Right back Silva and Baessa also received a call up for the game against Eq. Guinea, Baessa even made his debut. Also some new U20 call ups: next to Cabral this season also Santana, Fernandes (both loaned out), Santos, Almeida and Garcia.

Class of 2025 - Best prospects

Fortes – Incredible player, no words  He immediately performed, making sure I had to start him. He became one of our key players in no time, his free kicks are a real weapon as well. In January FC Porto made an offer the board accepted, but because I protested he didn’t go there after all. Immediately set his asking price to 20M, clubs stayed away since then for now. However, I feel like we will probably be losing him next season though I really hope we can keep him here for a very long time. Fortes is pure gold, best player at the club.

Sousa – As I had hoped, he turned out to be developing in our much needed ball playing defender. Got slightly more time than Fortes to jump into the first team, but he followed Fortes’ lead and exceeded expectations. Even scored quite a few goals as a centre back. Also massively improved this year, he’s our best defender already. This guy will be the heart of our defence the coming seasons, at least if other teams stay away. He’s wanted by SC Braga & Vitoria de Guimaraes…

Youth intake

New HOYD, Danielson, a Brazilian who played in the Liga NOS in his prime days. He earns quite a lot for our standards, I expected something in return…

Spoiler

Joke’s on me, worst intake we have had so far. Is this what happens if you decide to trade your HOYD who earns 55 p/w for one who gets 850 p/w? Signed Gomes, Mendes, Furtado, Varela and dos Reis. Gomes looks like a decent addition to the squad if he could improve a little, will become our back-up left back. As if it was part of the bigger plan, he broke his foot just after a few weeks… Things just couldn’t get any better.

[Cookie147]

SOUTH SHIELDS FOOTBALL CLUB

SEASON 2 - 2021/22

YOUTH INTAKE

Somehow, I'm still in a job, as I am in utter freefall. There are 5 games left, and I am 8 points clear of relegation which sounds fine, but my league form from 26thDecember is W1 D2 L15. I was in the playoffs at the beginning of that run!

Anyway, in case I survive, I'll have a decent youth intake to work with:

Edited June 9, 2020 by Cookie147

[Cookie147]

SOUTH SHIELDS FOOTBALL CLUB

SEASON 2 - 2021/2022

SEASON REVIEW

Phew! I was already packing my bags, and planning on departing the North East of England for a trip to somewhere is Eastern Europe, as going from a mid-season play off position, to needing to get a result in my final fixture to stay up, I thought we were doomed. Luckily, our last game was at home to the team routed at the bottom, Hitchin Town, and we escaped with a 2-0 victory. This was only my second win during 2022! 

Strangely, throughout this poor run I was offered interviews at Carlisle United, Wrexham and Northampton Town.

I hopeful that this season was a learning curve, and not a sign of things to come, as now my players and me have a chance to recharge our batteries for a new season, which we all hope is less tense.

So, here is the final table:

  

Our top three performers for the season:

....and our transfers (or lack of):

I have cause for hope, with the latest crop of youth players to emerge, and out intake for this season shows some promise:

On a final note, hopefully our new crop of players don't behave like Danny Duxbury. A total party animal, and when this happened for the second time, he was promptly shown the door. Unacceptable.

Next season: I really don't want to be repeating the second half of this season, to much stress on a work day!

 

[darren1983]

Season 2021/32 Review Championship

League | FA Cup | League Cup | Transfers | Squad | Finances

 

Once again this season was a real struggle. Every game felt like a battle and every point won was a point earned. Part of that is on me for trying to play a total football type of game but it's the way I like to play so it;s going to stay, it's also because we only really have 2 or 3 players good enough to play at this level, most of our starting 11 are good league two players so we really are punching above our weight in the championship. At our best we play some lovely stuff and can take teams apart, the trouble is those days are few and far between. Often long runs of poor form before a win or 2. We ended this season 3 points and 1 place worse than last season but did score more and conceded less so I think that's progress? We are finally moving up a level at youth level to level 3 and my recruitment of coaches last summer has been good. The only way we're going to improve is through our coaching.

No sales this season as we did turn down some big bids for a couple of our young players that are on the fringes but I want to keep hold of them for now. The cups were nothing to really mention with early exists to Premier League clubs.

So yeah, I'm not sure what to make of this season or where we go next year.

Youth Intake - an OK one really, not great but some prospects

Mark Barker 32A - wide or through the middle. Will likely use out wide and retrain to cut in from the right with his decent dribbling, nice passing and teamwork and work rate
Matt Armstrong 32B - AMC which we don't use so will retrain to be a false 9
Noel Newall 32C - can play either wing, needs lots of work though

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Junior Coaching		Youth Recruitment 	Notes
2020/21		VNLS		8th 		Adequate		Fairly Basic
2021/22		NVLS		3rd 		Good			Average			Recruitment and coaching upgrades Lost playoff semi finals	
2022/23		NVLS		14th 		Good			Adequate		Youth Recruitment upgrade, started first coaching badge
2023/24		VNLS		7th 		Excellent		Good			Got first coaching badge. Promotion via playoffs
2024/25		VNL		5th 		Excellent		Good			Won promotion via playoffs. Got Youth facility upgrade
2025/26		League 2	14th 		Excellent		Good
2026/27		League 2	5th 		Excellent		Good			Lost in playoffs semi finals
2027/28		League 2	8th 		Excellent		Good			Finally got 2nd coaching badge
2028/29		League 2	1st 		Excellent		Good			National A Coaching badge
2029/30		League 1	4th 		Excellent		Good			Promotion via playoffs. Continental C coaching badge
2030/31		Championship	18th 		Exceptional		Excellent
2031/32		Championship	19th 		Exceptional		Exceptional

 

[Padders]

Season Review 2148/49

Our highest finish since 2114/15 season (3rd) just missing out on Champions League

Had a really good second half of the season so I am really hoping for a better season next season

[XaW]

XaW - Follo FK - 2024

League Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

The seasons really fly by here in Norway, and I'm really enjoying trying to take my local club to new hights. This season really started quite poor for us, and we struggled to get together anything resembling a run of form. We lost quite a few matches and I was wondering if the great season last time was a fluke. After the short two week break in July, we did get ourselves back together and started to win more games. As we slowly climbed up the table we entered the fight for the playoff spots towards the latter third of the season. Arendal had ran away with things from an early stage, but the fight for the other promotion spot were hard, as were the battle for the playoff spots. Recently relegated Sandnes Ulf were a bit ahead of the rest of the pack, but we were in a big pile along Sogndal, Fredrikstad, Mjøndalen, Kongsvinger and Hødd. In the end we had a good finish and our final position were 4th, one spot above last year, but at the same points total.

In the playoff semi final we beat Fredrikstad, just like last season to into another playoff final. Here we narrowly beat Mjøndalen after extra time. Now, normally, winning the playoffs means you are promoted, but not in Norway. You have only won the right to have another playoff against the 3rd last team in the top tier. So we had a two legged tie against Stabæk. We started at home, but could only manage a 1-1 draw, however in the away leg we held them at bay and countered in two late goals to win it and clinch promotion to the top tier!

In the Norwegian Cup we beat Bardufoss and Åssiden before losing to Bodø/Glimt in the 3rd round.

The youth preview looked much more promising this time around, especially after the "red only" last season. And when the intake came around it looked really great! Guðni Þór Jónsson 24a looks like a talented midfielder, and Granit Thaqi 24c is going to be our 2nd choice goalkeeper already.

Now, the in take happened before the season, so there were one surprise to me, and that was how good Eirik Wang 24b progressed through the season for the 2nd team. I thought about getting a screenshot of him when the intake came around, but he didn't look as good as the other two. But his progress were really good and he got a few matches for us. Stefan Fagereng 24e as well looked good, and with a few injuries he were suddenly part of the main squad. Jacob Talstad 20d is a main part of the squad now, and scored quite a bit and Arnar Þór Ingason 22c is our 2nd choice right back.

[thomas_e]

Great progress @XaW! Being Norwegian myself it's extra exciting to follow your progress. The geographical location in Follo and a history for youth development it should be possible to do really well in this challenge, at least domestically. 

But i abandoned my NK Zadar (Croatia) save after winning the league, as for me it was impossible to win the CL. Hopefully @grff will prove me wrong on that one, but with a Norwegian club using only homegrown players? Now that's a challenge!! 

[Padders]

Just when I hoped to push for top 4 place my best player is injured for most of the season 

[XaW]

51 minutes ago, thomas_e said:

Great progress @XaW! Being Norwegian myself it's extra exciting to follow your progress. The geographical location in Follo and a history for youth development it should be possible to do really well in this challenge, at least domestically. 

Thanks! Yeah, I live in (Nordre) Follo myself, so that part of why I jumped back at trying them again. Now, I can't swoop up all the youngster from the teams around Ski, as Follo do in real life (since I'm not buying anyone), but I'm figuring that that already happened before the intake happens and that my players come from Langhus, Ski, Kolbotn, Ås, Nordby and the others at youth level before the intake.

Also, now that they fixed the registration issues, it's much better than before!

Edited June 10, 2020 by XaW

[wicksyFM]

Time to give this a go. Been wanting to do it for years. My laptop is slowing down now and cant handle the big big saves im used to doing so this seems like a good challenge. Any tips for a first time player of this challenge. Im on Holiday right now. Looking to get Truro up

[Cookie147]

So my South Shields save carried on in the new season, as I finished the previous. Just defeat after defeat, and nothing I tried appeared to make any difference. I guess I got found out tactically, as I couldn't seem to make anything work.

I need to try again, but in a different country. Either Slovenia or Wales, can't decide. Any suggestions?

[Padders]

Luke Wilson makes his comeback after 7 months out by scoring a goal

Then gets injured again with dislocated shoulder for 2-3 months

[wicksyFM]

 

So. It begins. Mark Powell becomes the manager of Truro City. See you at the end of the season 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thomas_e]

1 hour ago, Cookie147 said:

So my South Shields save carried on in the new season, as I finished the previous. Just defeat after defeat, and nothing I tried appeared to make any difference. I guess I got found out tactically, as I couldn't seem to make anything work.

I need to try again, but in a different country. Either Slovenia or Wales, can't decide. Any suggestions?

How about Holland? 

[Cookie147]

23 minutes ago, thomas_e said:

How about Holland? 

I like that sound of that too, I'm going to load up the save dates for a few countries and see what happens. I also fancy a Scandi adventure, maybe Iceland.

[darren1983]

Just had my board sell one of my better players. Annoyed but can't really moan about that fee can I? 

[XaW]

13 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

Just had my board sell one of my better players. Annoyed but can't really moan about that fee can I? 

A good midfielder, for sure, but almost 10 million? I think you got the better end of the deal there, even if you can't buy a replacement, that will at least give you a couple of facility improvements!

[darren1983]

9 minutes ago, XaW said:

A good midfielder, for sure, but almost 10 million? I think you got the better end of the deal there, even if you can't buy a replacement, that will at least give you a couple of facility improvements!

Yeah that's my thinking too. Gonna use the money to build the club. 

[Armeniar]

Well, I don't think they really wanted us to be part of the Liga NOS... What a way to start the season  At least we're done with the biggest teams for now, lol. 

On a more positive note: our U23 squad now finally plays in a league after our promotion. After six seasons of arranging friendlies for my youth squads by myself, that's just awesome news.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Armeniar

[Cookie147]

SEASON 1 - 2020/2021

JD CYMRU (North)

After spending the evening scouting Europe for a new challenge, I decided to make a journey to North Wales, to the town of Wrexham to accept the role as manager of Brickfield Rangers, plying their trade in the JD Cymru (north) division after gaining promotion from the Welsh National League. Their youth system has a former reputation of producing English Premier League legends such as Robbie Savage, but since then the youth production line has dried up. Can I find the next Savage?!

Before that happens though, the facilities may need a little maintenance:

My profile at league reset date:

[grff]

NK Zadar: 2073/74 season review

A very poor season as we laboured to a 3rd place position as well as losing the cup final. Our CL journey ended in the group stage before we dropped into the Europa and lost to Bayern in the S/F.

The squad stats reflected the poor season we had. We are currently at a stage where our keys players are declining and good enough replacements just aren't there.

Youth intake saw a couple of promising players come through.

Transfers.

[darren1983]

6 hours ago, darren1983 said:

Just had my board sell one of my better players. Annoyed but can't really moan about that fee can I? 

Board sells another one. Good money (7.5m raising to 8.5) but still annoying

 

[XaW]

7 hours ago, darren1983 said:

Board sells another one. Good money (7.5m raising to 8.5) but still annoying

Yeah, it's really annoying. Just hope they don't start selling everyone for pennies. A few versions ago, when I had a go in Finland, my board sold everyone for anything. Sold my best prospect for £3.5k and I remember I was livid!

[XaW]

XaW - Follo FK - 2025

League Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

The pinnacle of Norwegian football, and here we are. Now, I'm guessing it's going to take some time to get up the table, but at least, for this season, we survived! Being the only semi-professional team in the league really doesn't help. And even with a million in the bank, the board claims we can't afford it. But hopefully, I can ask again during the off-season. We actually started quite well being mid-table for the first part of the season. We had a worse 2nd part, but were never in any real danger of relegation, even with the poor form. Sandnes Ulf were way of the rest, and above them Tromsø, Haugesund and Arendal were the ones fighting to avoid going down. And a bit over them we could be found along Brann for the most of the season. Brann got a bit away from us towards the end, but we still finished in a very decent 12th place our first season up top.

In the Norwegian Cup we beat Nardo and Jerv before losing to Mjøndalen in the 3rd round.

The youth preview said we were going to get a golden generation, so I had high hopes. And the intake didn't disappoint. A lot of promising players and especially Andreas Amundsen 25c. Now, we didn't exactly need another goalkeeper, but I'll take any talent we can get.

So, over to the youth players who got a lot of playing time. Eirik Wang 24b is coming along nicely in midfield, while Stefan Fagereng 24e got a few matches in the defence. Granit Thaqi 24c has gotten youth caps for both Norway and Kosovo, and even played a few cup matches for us.

[Sn00gle]

   Arkonia Szczecin 2025/26

Squad - League - Transfers - Facilities - Finances - Intake

Great season with fighting to the end. Around 3-4 games to the end we managed to jump into 1st place and we didn't turned back. We were runing straight forward to the finish. At the end of last season I build new tactic 4-4-2 which worked great this season. Promotion giving us few privileges. First of all and the best we turning professional. Second one is that Polish II League is very hmm specific. It's fulled by second teams from top polish league which actually can't play higher so basicly you can get straight promotion even from place e.g. 6 or play in play-offs from place 11. So it's big chance to get easy promotion to I League. Bigest lost in this season was Chodyna 05d which decided in half of season leaving us for ŁKS Łódź where he landed in second team... Of course Chairman decided to sell him for magic value of 10K with some benefits after I start arguing... From last intake one more player has been tagged Tloczek 05g MC which with is right now our main engine and lead us to the wins. Intake was decent. Nwachukwu 06d random half Nigerian player joined Tloczek 05g to my middlefield. We still don't have good striker and Gora 06h won't fix the problem right now. GK Kwiatowski 06c join to my every season GK group. 2 great defenders joined straight first squad DC Skrob 06b and DL Kowalski 06a. One big suprise is first  NT call from Poland U-19 for Czubak 05b. Next season main goal is to survive + if it's possible get to playoffs. And of course HOLD The players! 

Season    |  League           | Pos  |   Europe  |     Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   | Liga Okręgowa     |  1st |   n/a     | Winners
2021/22   | IV League         |  2nd |   n/a     | Top 4
2022/23   | IV League         |  1st |   n/a     | Winners
2023/24   | III League        | 10th |   n/a     | Survive
2024/25   | III League        |  9th |   n/a     | Survive
2025/26   | III League        |  1st |   n/a     | Winners

 

 

[Cookie147]

Brickfield Rangers update: After two friendlies I am not feeling confident about a long stay here. I have 9 outfield players, and the only contract I can offer is non- contract. Further to that, the 9 outfield players are horrendous