The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[vikeologist]

7 minutes ago, b101 said:

Giving me real hope ahead of my Palermo intake there @vikeologist! 

 

I think I had a player from my 0 intake, (i.e. the one before I took over) who played a lot of games.  I mean, obviously you won't have the same intake, but the first few seasons should be a good time for you intake wise. They certainly were for me.

Postscript: - Of course, all your top players will be force sold for peanuts to a top division club for whom they'll never play a single first team match, they'll end their career in Australia, they'll father no children and be the subject of folk songs telling of their many cuckoldings, but for a couple of days after each intake, it will be a good time for you.

Edited July 20, 2020 by vikeologist

[b101]

5 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

I think I had a player from my 0 intake, (i.e. the one before I took over) who played a lot of games.  I mean, obviously you won't have the same intake, but the first few seasons should be a good time for you intake wise. They certainly were for me.

Yeah, I have two solid players from that intake. Thankfully they signed everyone and I managed to resign the DM and CB at the start of the save, so all good right now. Just badly need a striker.

[Brentmeister]

After my Spanish debacle, I'm back in Belgium for what feels like my 20th attempt here. Hopefully this one sticks.

Meet Daniel Dupont the generic Belgian and new coach of RAAL Louviéroise. A cool badge is always a bonus.

 

The boring stuff

Season 1 review

League: An inconsistent season with too many draws and not enough goals scored. I really struggled to settle on a tactic. Predicted to come 13th, we defied all expectations to come 11th!

I hate the first season.

Cup: Early rounds in Belgium are super easy which lets you build managerial support quickly. Won 10-0 and 6-1 before losing in 5th round.

 

Key Player: None really, everyone was very inconsistent as you'd expect for this level. Mputu probably takes it.

 

Youth intake preview: Promised a golden generation but with no decent full backs, wing backs, wingers, wide midfielders and attacking midfielders.

Top prospect(s): First impressions aren't good but my top prospect Benjamin Leonard looks excellent and will probably feature next season. I also got a 5'3" RW and 6'5" LW. I signed all of them.

 

Transfers: None, obviously.

 

Finances: Losing around 100k a month, and with no prize money and a mammoth tv revenue of 40k per annum, we need to get promotion or nurture someone we can sell soon.

 

Upgrades: N/A

 

Next season aim: Score a few more goals, improve on 11th and introduce a few youngsters into the first team.

@Cookie147 I nicked your layout, hope you dont mind

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Brentmeister

[Padders]

Don't get many 10's

This kid might be a decent 

Club record

Edited July 20, 2020 by Padders

[XaW]

Season 2030/31 Review - 2. Bundesliga - Germany

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We keep on improving the infrastructure while only trying to survive here in the 2nd tier. And things are going well. I've even managed to get my first coaching licence, so things are certainly on the right trail. We keep being a streak team, as in winning streaks and losing streaks, not the other kind of streaking... This season we finished quite well and in the end we finished in 9th place, so pretty much in the middle. Same next season, please.

In the DFB-Pokal we beat Jena, Ingolstadt and Unterhaching before losing to Hamburg in the quarter final.

Notable players

Fréjus Akognon 29b - He came in and took the stage magnificently. Replaced Franck Touré 22c perfectly.
Gerhard Kleefeldt 25c - Our main striker and top scorer. Still needs to get more goals, but still does very well.
Thorsten Aden 26b - Still probably our best player and bigger teams are hovering around him. Been able to keep him happy so far though.

Youth intake

Youth preview - Another great preview.
Youth intake - Looks like the improvements are helping! One amazing player and another few talents.

Goran Vasilevski 31a - The highest rated potential by the coaches, but not the one I'm most excited about. Still talented.
Eldar Ajanic 31b - Now we're talking! A really good central midfielder. Will pull him up to the main squad as soon as he is old enough.

[manutdfan1999]

Gonna do another double season update either tonight or tomorrow. Think i might take a short break from my save to play a few seasons with Athletic Bilbao. Might make a thread if anyone is interested

[Brentmeister]

This guy has already increased 28 attribute points in 4 months and is my best CB at 17. The vultures are circling though so I hope giving him a real face and a new contract might let us keep him for a while. My stupid board have already accepted a 20k bid once.

 

[manutdfan1999]

Katwijk 2029/2030 Season

League Table  Youth Intake  Transfers  Squad  Finances 

Another season of survival is all that matters here all though we were much improved on last season

The intake was decent but nothing special.

 

Katwijk 2030/2031 Season

League Table  Youth Intake  Transfers  Squad  Finances 

A slight regression from last season but we may have uncovered an absolute star upfront.

Meet our star player Stelios. I think he is already class and i believe he could become a world class striker one day, hopefully for us

The intake was decent but nothing special.

 

 

Season Divison  Position   Cup         YR            JC           TF         YF         Notes
21/22  KKD      17th       2nd Round   Basic         AVG          Poor       Poor       Survived, got 2 coaching badges, upgrades to JC,TF and YF
22/23  KKD      17th       2nd Round   Basic         AVG          Poor       Poor       Survived
23/24  KKD      19th       2nd Round   Basic         AVG          Adequate   Adequate   Survived
24/25  KKD      17th       1st Round   AVG           Excellent    Adequate   Adequate   Survived and was much better team overall
25/26  KKD      16th       2nd Round   Good          Exceptional  Adequate   Average    Survived, got some upgrades
26/27  KKD      5th        2nd Round   Good          Exceptional  Adequate   Average    Playoff semi final defeat
27/28  KKD      2nd        2nd Round   Exceptional   Exceptional  Adequate   Adequate   Promotion
28/29  ERE      14th       2nd Round   Exceptional   Exceptional  Adequate   Adequate   Survived and upgrades are incoming
29/30  ERE      11th       3rd Round   Exceptional   Exceptional  Adequate   Adequate   Improvement
30/31  ERE      14th       2nd Round   Exceptional   Exceptional  Good       Average    More Survival

 

 

[XaW]

The supertalented kid from my last intake is wanted by big teams... for BIG money...

And still 15 years old!

Now, I'm not selling him unless they offer some silly money. I'm not in financial trouble anymore.

[Brentmeister]

17 minutes ago, XaW said:

The supertalented kid from my last intake is wanted by big teams... for BIG money...

And still 15 years old!

Now, I'm not selling him unless they offer some silly money. I'm not in financial trouble anymore.

He's excellent for 15. You can't play him for 2 seasons though can you?

Edited July 20, 2020 by Brentmeister

[Cookie147]

4 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

@Cookie147 I nicked your layout, hope you dont mind

 

I don't mind. I probably nicked it from someone else. 

Good luck. 

[XaW]

8 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

He's excellent for 15. You can't play him for 2 seasons though can you?

I can't play the season I just started, but the next he should be available, unless I'm unlucky with the dates. It's this before or after January 1st thing. I really can't wait for him to play!

[b101]

Palermo - 2020/21 Season Report

Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2 - Transfers

League

This went well! We got very lucky in that a) Palermo have some good 'real' starting players for Serie C level in key positions and b) that two of our newgens from before I joined were decent. Crucially, I managed to resign everyone who wasn't already leaving as well. Literally zero striking options though, which did cause issues at times. I ended up retraining two wingers to play up front, with some good success. It was pretty much us and Trapani from the start - they have an even better squad than us with four players on upwards of £3k per week (our top wage being £1.6k). We had a little wobble in the middle of the season, letting them take pole position, then they faltered near the end - and a 1-1 draw at their place (slightly undeserved) helped us pip them to the post to win the Serie C/C at first time of asking and avoid that dreaded playoff system. Trapani then fell at their first hurdle, losing to Pro Vercelli in the QF.

League Table

Key Players

More this time than in future years as it's the first one. Sadly, I couldn't persuade Floriano to reconsider his retirement, so we're into Serie B with even fewer strikers...

Edoardo Lancini (CB)
Alessandro Martinelli (CM)
Roberto Floriano (LM turned ST)
Raimondo Lucera (RM turned ST)
Eugenio Buscema (AM)

Youth Intake

Pretty solid but doesn't have the striker we desperately need. Should help fill a few spots in the team a year or so down the line though.

Intake

Nicola Vena (ML)
Riccardo Albertini (MC)
Fabio Massardi (AMLC)
Lorenzo Claps (AMRL/ST)

Facilities and FInance

Had youth facilities planned, but the board scrapped them. Instead bumped up Youth Recruitment one spot. Frustrating though. Finances are ok, with £1m in the bank, but we made a loss of £700k even winning Serie C. Prize money in Italy is poor below the top three in Serie B, it seems.

Progression

Season  |  League   |   Pos.  |   Cup    |     Europe     |  Notes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21 |    C/C    |   1st   |  1st rd  |      n/a       |  

Edited July 21, 2020 by b101

[ashton321]

 

Season 2 - FC Gratkorn

 

League - We smashed it this year absolutely amazing all year round. We started off in decent form and never really stopped, the one thing we had above anyone else was goals. We went into every single game knowing we could win. We just could not stop scoring at the back we conceded too many but I do play attacking football so it was to be expected. As we won the league with such ease I brought in a right back from the youth team to play a few games which will help in the long term. 

Cup - Bit of a let down for me this year as we lost on pens to a non league team. We really should have done better

Finances - Looks good but due to the new Stadium being built we are actually in a bit of trouble hoping Premier League money will help

Transfers - Nothing to see here

Youth Intake - Some players with potential which is nice to see

Nikola Jukic - Left back is something I wanted to improve so its good to see one come in

Michael Kunert - Not really a spot of need but with a bit of training could become ok

Kristian Grob - I quite like this lad I think he could become decent at the back for us.

Seasons Stars

Mateo Kasalo - Coming on nicely as a good centre half for us, played a lot more this year and was good

Tamas Szalai - Another good year from my Hungarian right midfielder had a bit of an injury so could have been even better

Next Year - We have moved into the new stadium and wont for another year or two. Part way through the season we were taken over by former Italian Keeper Morgan De Sanctis. I am hoping we can get another coaching upgrade and maybe a few good youngsters but survival is main aim

 

Year       Division      Finish        Cup           Europe
-----------------------------------------------------------
2012/13     1st           4th          1/4 Final      N/A
2013/14     1st           1st          Rnd 2          N/A

 

 

 

 

[b101]

Well, this looks ominous:

[WillHoward42]

Some very inspiring stories in here!

Would love to get going with this challenge.

Could someone answer the following questions so I know what I am doing 

1. Holiday 2 years?

2. I am wanting to do this in England... so I assume once holiday is complete, I take over a newly promoted team in VNN/VNS?

3. I can play the players already within the team?

4. Can I use instant result?

5. Where do people stand on plug and play tactics?

I really enjoy the squad building process with FM, no interest in the tactical or watching games. Hence why I am happy to import a tactic and use IR button. Appreciate if these are outlawed for this challenge!

Also, what database size would you recommend loading for this? I usually run the top 5 leagues in Europe and down to their lowest playable league. I have seen some guys in here over 100 years into a career (which I love the idea of emulating) anyone know if the game will still process okay that far into the future with my limited database set up?

[b101]

20 minutes ago, WillHoward42 said:

Some very inspiring stories in here!

Would love to get going with this challenge.

Could someone answer the following questions so I know what I am doing 

1. Holiday 2 years? Normally one year. As long as team was originally unplayable, absolutely fine.

2. I am wanting to do this in England... so I assume once holiday is complete, I take over a newly promoted team in VNN/VNS? Yep - check OP for when leagues reload then go to Season Preview and it shows which teams were promoted. Rinse and repeat if you're after a specific team.

3. I can play the players already within the team? Absolutely. You'd be dead if not!

4. Can I use instant result? I think so - certain people have done that in past versions of the challenge (I remember someone doing it on FM18), but I haven't been around for the last two versions, so that might have been updated.

5. Where do people stand on plug and play tactics? Personally, I make my own around the team I have, but it's up to you. Part of the fun for me is creating a tactic you might not normally use because you have to work with what's available.

I really enjoy the squad building process with FM, no interest in the tactical or watching games. Hence why I am happy to import a tactic and use IR button. Appreciate if these are outlawed for this challenge!

Also, what database size would you recommend loading for this? I usually run the top 5 leagues in Europe and down to their lowest playable league. I have seen some guys in here over 100 years into a career (which I love the idea of emulating) anyone know if the game will still process okay that far into the future with my limited database set up? Should be fine. I load top league only in other major countries as I think it makes the challenge tougher down the line when competing for the CL. Don't bother with anything below that

My answers in red. Admittedly, a lot of my answers are based on doing this in FM11 (I think) and FM18, so the rules/guidelines may have changed since then. @XaW is your man for final confirmation, I think.

Edited July 21, 2020 by b101

[Padders]

Season Review 2187/88

Promoted back to the Premier League, finishing second with 97 points

I have finally had a new stadium built (this is number 4 I think). Must have been 4/5 attempts at getting planning permission for this latest one.

Capacity is 20,000 less than current stadium

The name,,,,.............................

Stuart Hammond Arena, not even one of the best players over the years. Very odd choice of name

[WillHoward42]

1 hour ago, b101 said:

My answers in red. Admittedly, a lot of my answers are based on doing this in FM11 (I think) and FM18, so the rules/guidelines may have changed since then. @XaW is your man for final confirmation, I think.

Thanks for the response, @XaW could you let me know where I stand on this please? 

[Brentmeister]

@WillHoward42 From the rules on page 1:

"General discussion on tactics is allowed, although people should not refer to downloaded tactics. They are not banned, but I would expect the majority of people to avoid them."

So plug and play tactics are not banned just frowned upon

Edited July 21, 2020 by Brentmeister

[XaW]

2 hours ago, WillHoward42 said:

Some very inspiring stories in here!

Would love to get going with this challenge.

Could someone answer the following questions so I know what I am doing 

1. Holiday 2 years?

2. I am wanting to do this in England... so I assume once holiday is complete, I take over a newly promoted team in VNN/VNS?

3. I can play the players already within the team?

4. Can I use instant result?

5. Where do people stand on plug and play tactics?

I really enjoy the squad building process with FM, no interest in the tactical or watching games. Hence why I am happy to import a tactic and use IR button. Appreciate if these are outlawed for this challenge!

Also, what database size would you recommend loading for this? I usually run the top 5 leagues in Europe and down to their lowest playable league. I have seen some guys in here over 100 years into a career (which I love the idea of emulating) anyone know if the game will still process okay that far into the future with my limited database set up?

1. Holiday 1 season. In some countries (like Holland) you have to do two in order to get teams promoted, but those are the exceptions.

2. Yes. The basis is to take over a previously unplayable team and lead them to the ultimate glory without any loan or transfers other than the youth intakes.

3. Yes, those are your base squad for the first few season before the youngster should be phased into the squad.

4. I don't really know. I don't think we have an specific rules regarding it. I mean, we allow FMT where the IR is by default, so I guess it's ok? @darren1983, thoughts?

5. I'd say it's frown upon, but we don't have any way of controlling it. From the first post iof this thread:

Quote

General discussion on tactics is allowed, although people should not refer to downloaded tactics. They are not banned, but I would expect the majority of people to avoid them.

So, don't use it, but if you are, don't talk to much about. Make of that what you will.

In general, I'm no tactical expert, so I've used the same tactic I built for FM17 with small tweaks for each version and team, and as long as it works I'll stick to it. I mainly do smaller changes just to get it to work. So I can understand what you are referring to. I also love the squad building and squad management more than the tactical battles in each game (this is why I use commentary only for most matches, unless I'm testing tactical changes). The youth training and retraining and using spreadsheets to compare and analyse is more fun for me (as weird as that might sound to some). I'm kind of playing this as I did back in the '90s with the old CMs.

I haven't had issues with bigger database sizes, but I use medium for the most part. I've found that running several leagues is more time consuming, rather than the database size. So I'm using my selected nation ONLY, but when I come close to Europe, I often add more leagues to make the European challenge more real.

Just to add a few things. In general this thread is simply a way of giving small updates to others who also like the idea of youth development and not a competition in of itself. While there are competitive elements, we are here to support and cheer on each other, not to "win over the others". Also, there are no controlling mechanism to know if a player follows the rules, other than a screenshots of the transfer page. So we do trust people to follow the rules set, simply because we don't compete against each other, but to overcome the challenge itself. So, if you think something are a bit unethical based of the spirit of the challenge, then it probably is.

However, we also allow things to happen if they are extraordinary. Like when takeovers suddenly buy a player without the managers consent, then we allow you to keep playing, but the player they brought in is not allowed to play and the manager should try to get rid of him as soon as possible. If loans at the start is not possible to terminate, then leave the player in the reserves and don't play him. And stuff like that.

1 hour ago, b101 said:

My answers in red. Admittedly, a lot of my answers are based on doing this in FM11 (I think) and FM18, so the rules/guidelines may have changed since then. @XaW is your man for final confirmation, I think.

Darren is the one in charge, but I'll consider myself one of the veterans here so I think I can answer a few questions.

[XaW]

11 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

So plug and play tactics are not banned just frowned upon

Just now, XaW said:

I'd say it's frown upon

Beat me to it!

[WillHoward42]

Thanks for the updates everyone.

I just like the idea of implementing the youth only aspect of a save.

Honestly, not too fussed with the 'challenge' aspect in regards to completing it and being on a leader board of some kind.

More than happy to still update my progress in here though 

[b101]

7 minutes ago, WillHoward42 said:

Thanks for the updates everyone.

I just like the idea of implementing the youth only aspect of a save.

Honestly, not too fussed with the 'challenge' aspect in regards to completing it and being on a leader board of some kind.

More than happy to still update my progress in here though 

That's pretty much why we're all here. Far more about the journey than actually completing it (corny though that sounds)

[darren1983]

2 hours ago, WillHoward42 said:

Some very inspiring stories in here!

Would love to get going with this challenge.

Could someone answer the following questions so I know what I am doing 

1. Holiday 2 years?

2. I am wanting to do this in England... so I assume once holiday is complete, I take over a newly promoted team in VNN/VNS?

3. I can play the players already within the team?

4. Can I use instant result?

5. Where do people stand on plug and play tactics?

I really enjoy the squad building process with FM, no interest in the tactical or watching games. Hence why I am happy to import a tactic and use IR button. Appreciate if these are outlawed for this challenge!

Also, what database size would you recommend loading for this? I usually run the top 5 leagues in Europe and down to their lowest playable league. I have seen some guys in here over 100 years into a career (which I love the idea of emulating) anyone know if the game will still process okay that far into the future with my limited database set up?

I'll add my answers even though most have been covered

1 - some countries have no relegation in season 1 so need to holiday 2 seasons

2 - yeah, holiday for the first season then add new manager to any of the newly promoted sides

3 - any current players can be played and you can renew their contracts as often as you like

4 - yeah IR is fine, we allow FMT which uses it so no issue here

5 - the controversial one!  as @Brentmeister and @XaW have said it's not against the rules but frowned upon, basically the idea is that some people struggle with tactics and we didn't want to limited the numbers of people playing by banning them. I'm no expert but have found over the years this challenge is great for learning more because you're almost forced into it by the players you produce as opposed to having a plug and play tactic and just buying better players to suit it each season.

As for database size - whatever you think your PC can handle really, found that as long as you keep to what your PC can handle (mine for example is around 60k players with top leagues of Europe and Brazil/Argentina) that is still fine so far nearly 20 season's in. Like I say, whatever suits you is best 

Hope some of that helps and welcome aboard - should warn you though that once you get into this type of save it's tough going back  

12 minutes ago, XaW said:

Darren is the one in charge, but I'll consider myself one of the veterans here so I think I can answer a few questions.

I prefer to think of us as community, we discuss things then add them (or not) and I'm prone to disappear for days on end (especially right now with my mind very heavy on Brentford's promotion (or lack of )) so you're at least joint in charge  

[WillHoward42]

Well... looks like I am on board then!!

The thing I like about a plug and play tactic, is then focusing on training players to fit that tactic.

I get a lot of joy out of identifying young players whose attributes could be suited elsewhere on the pitch and honing them to potentially excel.

But no experience of this type of save really... so 20 years down the line I may be faced with having to adapt a tactic anyway!

[XaW]

1 minute ago, darren1983 said:

I prefer to think of us as community, we discuss things then add them (or not) and I'm prone to disappear for days on end (especially right now with my mind very heavy on Brentford's promotion (or lack of )) so you're at least joint in charge  

Yeah, I think we've played this for a long time now, so let's say that!

Good luck with Brentford though! You still have a couple of outs. If QPR takes points of West Brom and you guys beat Barnsley (as you should do!) on Wednesday, then you are up. Otherwise you still have the playoffs.

[darren1983]

21 minutes ago, XaW said:

Yeah, I think we've played this for a long time now, so let's say that!

Good luck with Brentford though! You still have a couple of outs. If QPR takes points of West Brom and you guys beat Barnsley (as you should do!) on Wednesday, then you are up. Otherwise you still have the playoffs.

Haha cheers, depending on the time of day I'm either wildly optimistic about tomorrow night or have just given up the idea of promotion - my own struggles this season on my save have not helped me either  

[b101]

With all of the posts above in mind, I've just spent a really entertaining hour trying to work out what tactic I need to set up now that my second striker has left. So, we're now into the murky world of using a shadow striker (which I've never tried) and a cautious mentality (which I've also never used). I'd forgotten how much fun it is to try the jigsaw puzzle approach without simply leaping out and buying what you need. Ah the freedom of zero expectations for this season

Edited July 21, 2020 by b101

[XaW]

Season 2031/32 Review - 2. Bundesliga - Germany

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Wow, how on earth did we do this...? An unbelievable promotion for us, and I quite frankly didn't see this coming at all! We started the season quite well and were along the 7th-10th position for the start as I expected, though we had a bit of a run just before the winter break to set us just outside the promotion spots. And everything was fine, then we had a bit of a blimp when we came back into it where we didn't win for 6 matches. After that though, something just clicked into place. And the finish to the season was simply amazing as we won the last 6 matches. When the other teams fighting for promotion, behind dominant eventual winner Hamburg, struggled we overshot teams like Mainz, Darmstadt and Ingolstadt to clinch the 2nd place and promotion to the Bundesliga! Wow...just, wow! I do fear we'll come straight back down though, since I don't think the squad is anywhere near Bundesliga material. But even if we do, I think I should be able to keep the job and most of the players. The next season will be really exciting, we are going to face Bayern and Dortmund (And surprise winners the last season, Hertha and Schalke!) next season!

In the DFB-Pokal we beat Rehden before losing to Heidenheim in the 2nd round.

Notable players

Fréjus Akognon 29b - He has been amazing in the DM role this season, stopping so many attacks and also contributing going forward. Really surprised his 2nd nationality Benin have not tried to cap him yet!
Igor Vidovic 29a - I've played him as the attacking of the two CM's this season, and he did great! Lots of assists and a few goals as well. Capped 4 times for Bosnia Herzegovina and scored twice.
Darko Dejanovic 26a - His attributes isn't amazing, but he always finds space. Scored quite a few from a wide position as well as assisted.
Abdelhak Saidi 22b - One of our longest serving players now, and still first choice in defence. The big tower in our defensive unit and very reliable.

Youth intake

Youth preview - The first time I've not seen the "golden generation".
Youth intake - Now this is a good intake. Why is it better with "excellent" rather than "golden generation"? Who knows....?

Michal Nemec 32a - A really promising goalkeeper. I think he would be 2nd choice if he was old enough.
Pawel Dudek 32b - Ohh, a very talented wide player. I think this kid could be the real deal!
Cemal Güner 32c - A promising striker, but he struggles with finishing...
Jakob Hanser 32d - Very balanced central midfielder, should come in handy.
Roberto Marletta 32e - Another well balanced player. Could be a utility player if I can have him play on the other wing as well.

[b101]

Dudek is the sort of player to build a team around. Congrats on the promotion as well!

[Constantine]

Currently on 20something page of this thread (just started this challenge myself), didn't see this question pop up so i have to ask.

I have no goalkeepers in my game. Got a player per position in defense, three midfielders and ******** of wingers and strikers. But no goalies. Should i sign two gray ones or just use them when they appear before each game?

[TheRailwaymen]

Should have a double update tonight. 

 

Spoiler: nothing happens. 

 

Still expected to finish last, still grinding out results. Danish 2nd Division is brutally hard. 

 

Replaced my HOYD and increased my junior recruitment again. Finances look a bit ropey. 

 

Tempted to start over. Think I'm on season 6 and still no where near promotion. 

[Brentmeister]

18 minutes ago, Constantine said:

Currently on 20something page of this thread (just started this challenge myself), didn't see this question pop up so i have to ask.

I have no goalkeepers in my game. Got a player per position in defense, three midfielders and ******** of wingers and strikers. But no goalies. Should i sign two gray ones or just use them when they appear before each game?

No tranfers at all. You can play the greyed out 'keepers as and when they appear. Good luck.

[ashton321]

  

Season 3- FC Gratkorn

 

League - It was basically 3 teams at the bottom and we were one of them. With only one going down I knew we had a chance at staying up. It was very tight all year and we went through stages where we lost 6 on the bounce. We always managed to keep in touch with the teams above us and a good run after the winter break put us out of the drop zone and we remained there. We did just enough to hold every one off including a 2-0 away win against the 8th place team with the third to last game. We are safe for another year.

Cup - Again poor, I used the youth team for the two games and they didnt do a lot really. 

Finances - Very good this year again as our new stadium opened we filled it pretty much most weeks. We now away the youth facilities being built.

Transfers - Nothing to see here

Youth Intake - Not to bad

Jurgen Holscher - I think we will see a lot more of him looks decent

Marcus Schuster - Perhaps the pick of the bunch and looks good

Hans-Wilheim Zobler - Not sure about him but looks ok

Seasons Stars

Markus Gsellmen - Doesnt get enough credit for the good work he does

Andrasz Baljec - Our best defender and has been superb once again this year

Next Year - I would like to get a little further in the cup if possible. I would also not like to be going to late in the season still with the drop over our shoulder. Some of my squad players will be leaving in the summer so the young lads will get more game time

 

Year       Division      Finish        Cup           Europe
-----------------------------------------------------------
2012/13     1st           4th          1/4 Final      N/A
2013/14     1st           1st          Rnd 2          N/A
2014/15     Prem          9th          Rnd 2          N/A

 

 

 

[darren1983]

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

 

Safe to say this was our biggest struggle so far. We actually started not too badly with 2 wins and 2 defeats but then we had the Chelsea game. A 10-0 defeat. My worst ever I think, as our team fell apart. This started an awful run of just 2 points from 10 games which included 1 6-1 loss at Spurs and 3 4-0 defeats against Arsenal and Palace. I had to stop for a few days and come back to it, so I looked at the tactics I had been using and had to make some changes, we improved enough to get 27 points from 24 games ans secure our safety with a couple of games to spare. Take away that 10 game run though and we did ok. Trouble is that 10 game run was 3 months and that's pretty big chunk of the season  

Despite that run we were only in the bottom 3 for 2 games and never even had the worst defensive record, we were saved this season by having much worse teams than us just as much as the tactical changes. Last 2 games of the season when we were safe though were back to the bad days as we lost 3-0 away to Leeds and 4-2 at home to Chelsea with 4 of those 7 coming from corners or freekicks so still much work to do here.

The cups were a right off this season as all I cared about was staying up, shipped a couple older players on too. Finances looking great and we're building the facilities now and will have a massive 20k stadium next season as we continue to improve our ground. Just need to sort the training facilities now but for some reason they never show up on my board request despite only being adequate.

Youth Intake - it's OK I think but with 2 stand out players

Han de Jong 39A - what a player to get, labelled as "could be the best of his generation" has me very excited. He could be the striker I've waited years for
Ollie Murrall 39B - looks a good wide player, we've been waiting on someone to come through that could play on the left and cut and he looks like the fella

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Junior Coaching		Youth Recruitment 	Notes
2020/21		VNLN		8th 		Adequate		Fairly Basic
2021/22		NVLN		3rd 		Good			Average			Recruitment and coaching upgrades Lost playoff semi finals	
2022/23		NVLN		14th 		Good			Adequate		Youth Recruitment upgrade, started first coaching badge
2023/24		VNLN		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
2032/33		Championship	4th 		Exceptional		Exceptional		Lost in playoff semi final, moved from youth level 4 to 3
2033/34		Championship	5th 		Exceptional		Exceptional		Lost in playoff semi finals
2034/35		Championship	5th 		Exceptional		Exceptional		Lost in playoff final, completed coaching badges
2035/36		Championship	1st 		Exceptional		Exceptional
2036/37		Premiership	10th 		Exceptional		Exceptional 
2037/38		Premiership	14th 		Exceptional		Exceptional
2038/39		Premiership	16th 		Exceptional		Exceptional

 

[XaW]

38 minutes ago, b101 said:

Dudek is the sort of player to build a team around. Congrats on the promotion as well!

Thanks! Afraid we might go straight down, but I'll take an unexpected promotion any day! Yeah, I'm thinking on AP on the left or an IF there. Really excited about him!

28 minutes ago, Constantine said:

Currently on 20something page of this thread (just started this challenge myself), didn't see this question pop up so i have to ask.

I have no goalkeepers in my game. Got a player per position in defense, three midfielders and ******** of wingers and strikers. But no goalies. Should i sign two gray ones or just use them when they appear before each game?

Yeah, play the grays in goal and hope for a decent goalkeeper in the intake!

@ashton430 - Any time you survive after a promotion is a good season! Schuster looks like a really good defender. Just need some better mentals and he is golden. And luckily, those improve a lot with age.

@darren1983 - You are swimming in cash, mate! Great to see you keep surviving in the PL, it can be a real step up from the Championship the first seasons. De Han looks amazing, and almost PL ready from the start. The "best of his generation" tag is exactly what you want. Could become an FM legend for you!

[uroszila]

TSV Havelse | Table | Squad| Transfers | Season 2030/31 (12th Season)

Season Review:

We made some improvements in consideration to the previous season as we finished safely in the 13th place. The start of the season was promising and with a few wins and draws we had a decent amount of points in our account. After the winter break, we started playing badly and we had a streak of 10 games without winning a single match. None of these losses was big as we lost nearly every match with one goal difference but anyway it was frustrating. With seven matches to go, we were sitting on the brink of the relegation zone thus I decided to change the tactic. After the change we've managed to win four and draw two in the last seven which saw us finishing the season without any struggles.

We competed also in the DFB-Pokal and we finished it already in the 1st Round against Borussia Dortmund. They beat us only after the extra time as the regular time ended with 0:0. I hope that the cup draw in the next season will go more in our favor so we will be able to go a bit further.

The best player of this season was defender Jörg Ruhani. He led our defense well and he also scored 5 goals. I feel he didn't reach his full potential yet and I hope that he will continue to develop. The additional two players that marked this season and I need to mention are Jörg Kleinsorge and Christoph Barth. Both of them scored and assisted a few so I'm happy with their's outcome.

The financial situation of the club is getting better as we nearly paid our loans. Although we are still losing approx. 650k€ per month the situation is not so bad anymore as it was in the previous season. The Board also accepted my request to improve the training facilities at the start of the next season so things are going forward slowly. Let's hope that the next upgrade will be the youth facilities.

Youth Academy:

The best three players from this season's youth intake were:

• Maximilian Borgmann, well rounded GK with the potential to become No. 1 between the stick in the future
• Garrit Michelbrink, defensive winger which I will try to retrain to be a box-to-box midfielder
• Rudi Cossmann, winger with nice pysical and technical skills

Overview:

[darren1983]

53 minutes ago, XaW said:

 

@darren1983 - You are swimming in cash, mate! Great to see you keep surviving in the PL, it can be a real step up from the Championship the first seasons. De Han looks amazing, and almost PL ready from the start. The "best of his generation" tag is exactly what you want. Could become an FM legend for you!

Yeah the money is lovely to be fair, not having to worry about that is a dream these days! Very excited about de Jong, sadly picked up a couple injuries (hope this isn't recurring) so only had a brief run out so far but will probably be a first teamer sooner than later that's for sure  

[ashton321]

Cheers @XaW yeah he does look decent I am just trying to get him some football this year. Hoping next year will go a little easier

[XaW]

Just got the fixture list. First game of the season? Away to Bayern... thanks for the welcome! 

[XaW]

Lost to Bayern, but the rest of the matches so far have been quite uneventful...

[b101]

The first game with the Shadow Striker tactic. Love it when a plan comes together

[Padders]

 

The first wonderkid I've had for years, gone 

 

[b101]

1 minute ago, Padders said:

 

The first wonderkid I've had for years, gone 

 

Damn  - great money, but I imagine that's no longer an issue for you

[TheRailwaymen]

Any reason Bulgaria isn't in the list of nations, I kinda started over there! 

[XaW]

3 minutes ago, TheRailwaymen said:

Any reason Bulgaria isn't in the list of nations, I kinda started over there! 

Don't think so, unless it doesn't have relegation in the lowest tier or something like that?

[TheRailwaymen]

It does

 

I tried Greece first, which didn't! 

[XaW]

Ok, I've made a call that is either fantastic or horrible and please give some feedback on what you think.

That great youngster I have... I might have made him into a defender.

Hear me out! I mean, as a ball playing defender...? Looks really tasty, and I have too many good midfielder and too few good defenders. Thoughts?

[XaW]

1 minute ago, TheRailwaymen said:

It does

I tried Greece first, which didn't! 

Then I don't see any reason to not play there. Tag Darren when you know the reset date, he can add it to the opening post.