Jimbo's Thread (aka [FM20] Nordicland - The Northener Diaries.)

[Jimbokav1971]

All Star. Nov 2026. 

I'm more proud of the fact that we almost won the league with just 2 good players. 

Talk about beating yourself. 

We played in First Division South last season, and I was asked to manage First Division South, but my 2 players were actually in the First Division North squad and I was in charge of both sides. 

I'm not sure if I won or lost, but both at the same time seems the most likely answer. 

* Bug reported. 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, B.W.G said:

Congrats on winning the playoffs  

Thanks. Was a bit peeved that we didn't win the title, but they beat us in the head to head game and then didn't slip up so can't really complain. 

[hasdgfas]

Wow, there is some WILD stuff going on in the Swedish league structure. I am having trouble wrapping my head around it. From moving around between different second divisions, to the playoff system they seem to have, to this all star thing.

[Jimbokav1971]

54 minutes ago, hasdgfas said:

Wow, there is some WILD stuff going on in the Swedish league structure. I am having trouble wrapping my head around it. From moving around between different second divisions, to the playoff system they seem to have, to this all star thing.

The moving around between different divisions is really not a big thing. Teams move between Conference North/South on a geographical basis. 

The Playoff system was a surprise to me in that I was expecting to play against someone in the same league, when in fact we both played against someone in the league above. It's just another way of doing things. No one way is right. It's just what we are used to. 

The All Star thing only seems to be at that particular level so I'm not sure what that's all about. 

[ManUtd1]

Hey hey hey...LLM in Sweden is delightful, and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar & Apr 2027.

Swedish First Division Elite. A great start, but there seems to be quite a gulf in quality between the best in this league and the worst. 

[ManUtd1]

Yeah, you'll probably need 3 good players to promote again. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Strange decision. May 2027. 

I have applied for the IFK Göteborg job who were struggling down in 10th in the Premier League. Nobody has come in for me after 2 successive promotions which I find a bit strange, and I wonder if it's gone from too easy to get another job to too hard. 

Anyway, I thought I would chance my arm and apply anyway, but it was to prove and unsuccessful application.

Now I didn't mind not getting the job, because it was always a bit of a punt anyway, but the reason they gave for me not making the shortlist and getting an interview is a little strange. 

"This is mainly as a result of your apparent preference for signing players over the age of 30". 

And that ties in with the advert for the role, (which attracted me to sign in the first place). 

Club culture. Do not sign players over the age of 30. 

So like I said, it seemed like a decent fit because this is what I'm known  for. 

I'm in 2027 now in the save and I have signed a total of 80 players. 

Exactly 0 of them have been 30+. (None). 

*Bug reported. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, ManUtd1 said:

Yeah, you'll probably need 3 good players to promote again. 

3? 

I've made 19 signings between promotion and the 1st League game in First Division Elite.  

I have never ever ever ever ever made that many signings in 1 season before. (Total transfer spend? £0.00) 

[ManUtd1]

14 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

3? 

I've made 19 signings between promotion and the 1st League game in First Division Elite.  

I have never ever ever ever ever made that many signings in 1 season before. (Total transfer spend? £0.00) 

I just have extremely fond memories of how utterly, irrevocably awful the competition was, so that once you got rolling you'd just keep on going. Great leagues to play in.

[Jimbokav1971]

Just now, ManUtd1 said:

I just have extremely fond memories of how utterly, irrevocably awful the competition was, so that once you got rolling you'd just keep on going. Great leagues to play in.

Yes, you might possibly be right, but I am planning a bit of a shortcut. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2027. 

Swedish First Division Elite. After a mixed start, we are absolutely flying now and are set-up well for the rest of the season. As I slowly trip the squad and get rid of those who have served us well in the past but who are not up to this never mind the next level we are actually improving. The problem isn't the squad of players, (who are plenty good enough to get us promoted), nor even the league we are in, (because I'm confident that I could get them up), but the fact that we are still Semi-Pro and I'm bored of the struggle, especially now against Pro clubs. I've done Semi-Pr in Sweden and it's time to move on. I might be back down to this level at some point in the future, but if I am it will absolutely be to join a Pro club who is looking to bounce straight back up. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Save Tracker. 

The Journey so far. 

We started off in AFK Linköping in Sweden and then travelled the 37.4 km to Åtvidabergs FF, still within Sweden. 

From Åtvidabergs FF I moved West 344 km to IK Oddevold, still in Sweden. 

From IK Oddevold I moved South-East 431 km to FK Karlskrona, again still in Sweden. 

Awards. 

Swedish First Division Manager of the Year 2026. 
Swedish First Division Manager of the Month x2.
Swedish Second Division Manager of the Month x2.

Trophy cabinet. 

Swedish Second Division East Götaland Champions 2025. (FK Karlskrona)
Swedish Rookie All Star Champions 2026. (All Star North).

[ManUtd1]

I genuinely cannot wait to get to Malmö in my save. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Beautiful. May 2027. 

We were flying at FK Karlskrona, but I'm sick of managing a Semi Pro club and want to get my teeth into a "proper" club.

I got turned down by both IFK Göteborg, (didn't even offer me an interview), and IFK Norrköping FK, (invited me to an interview but didn't offer me the position), but strangely the club that offered me an opportunity is above both of them in the league, yet has more modest expectations and this is probably down to their lower reputation. 

Örebro looks an amazingly beautiful City. 

Things are looking pretty decent as far as the league table is concerned. 

We're in 5th with a game in hand on everyone except Malmö FF. I haven't even considered it, but it's possible that we are still in Europe..... No it's not. The European Finals are played about now so depending on where we finished last season, (I think), we might be in line for European competition soon. (We finished 11th last season so no European football for us). 

League Fixtures. We've had a decent start to the league campaign, but losses to Kalmar and Hammarby have sobered the mood slightly. 

Swedish Cup Fixtures. We got the the Semi's and we're not a top 4 club so this is a decent campaign. 

Facilities. Oh come on. You knew the facilities were going to be decent. 

Finances. Well we don't have any money, but qualifying for Europe should fix that. (I'm not sure how many spots they get though). 

Profile. All I want to show you here, (other than the rubbish club colours), is the Pro status and the National 2.5 reputation.

Club vision. The interesting things here are that (1). They have offered me a 2 year deal when all I have had up to now is 1 year deals. (2). Despite inheriting a club in 5th position in the league, I only need to provide a Mid-table finish this season. (2). Even next season and subsequent seasons I only need to meet a Top Half finish target. 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

8 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

I genuinely cannot wait to get to Malmö in my save. 

I know so little about this part of the World that each time I move clubs I wonder if when I put the club name into google maps it will give me a result or not, (because not all clubs are Cities or Towns in England and I wonder if it's the case in Nordicland). 

I must admit that I don't think I have ever noticed Örebro SK before. I've certainly never played against them on FM I don't think. 

I was actually hoping to manage BK Häcken because of their Facilities, but am happy with where I have landed. For a while I was getting itchy feet and pangs of missing Iceland, but managed to hold off moving back. 

[deltablue]

Good work at Karlskrona

[Rikulec]

Looks like a good move.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, deltablue said:

Good work at Karlskrona

It was good actually. It can be frustrating offering 1 year PT contracts and even NC deals to players, but actually I didn't lose a single player because they were poached. Everyone who left either just left on a free when their contracts expired, were sold by me or were released by me. I'm probably correct in saying that I didn't have the best players and that's possibly why nobody came in for them, but either way it didn't happen. 

Momentum and morale seems to be just as key in FM20 as it was in FM19. Once you are on a roll you just steam-roll everyone, but when you are struggling, you are REALLY struggling. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Rikulec said:

Looks like a good move.

It does indeed. We seem a really good fit and the board don't seem very demanding at all. That could be because of financial constraints but not 100% sure so let's have a look. 

You have the top group of clubs who all earn £1M+ per year in sponsorship, (Malmö FF are killing it and didn't realise that Kalmar FF were such a big club). 

Then we have the next group of clubs, (of which we are top), who all earn -£1M a year in sponsorship.

The salary per anum gives us an indication of where we really should be. 

I wouldn't be top of net transfer spend, even if I was managing Malmo.

Average Attendance is another good indicator of where we should be. 

So although we're not one of the big boys, we do have good facilities and seem to have been very well done. I'm surprised that the position became available and I suspect that the old Manager has moved on to a bigger club, but let's just check. 

His win record of only 14 of 33 games at 42% suggests that he did as expected last season but then significantly over-performed this season is confirmed by the fact that he has now been appointed the Manager of IFK Göteborg. As far as I'm concerned there will be a little rivalry between myself and Mr Per Mathias Høgmo. Bring it on my man! 

[AK22]

This is a great tale so far! An eclectic mix of agony and ecstasy in very proportionate measures. 

Will be interesting to see whether your youth intakes improve at a bigger club. KUTGW!

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, AK22 said:

This is a great tale so far! An eclectic mix of agony and ecstasy in very proportionate measures. 

Will be interesting to see whether your youth intakes improve at a bigger club. KUTGW!

Thanks. I have to admit, that the Youth Intakes were a big part in me wanting to jump ship. Things were going great with FK Karlskrona but I was just really frustrated with the Youth Intakes. Everything seems to be in place at Örebro SK to change that immediately. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad strength. Initial impressions. May 2027. 

I'been slowly going through the squad setting training, (and nicknames), and the like, and trying to work out where we are weak, where we are strong, and can I play the brand of football I want immediately. 

3 youngsters with 5.0 PA isn't great, but I think that speaks more about the fact that we do actually have some quality in terms of CA at the club. 
2 decent GK's.
2 decent DL's, (and 1 of the 3 youngsters is a DL).
1 decent DR, (so possibly need to find one from somewhere). 
2 decent DC's, (and 1 of the youngsters is a DC). 
We have a few different MC's, but more playmakers than grafters, so will have to balance that. (The 3rd youngster is a playmaker). 
The best ML we have is actually a "righty", and so is the 2nd best. (ML is definitely an area of concern).
We have 1 decent striker, but the rest appear to be a little short of quality. 

All of the above is a complete guess because I don't think I have ever managed at this level in Sweden before. We will just have to see how it goes. As I've mentioned previously, there isn't a lot of money at the club, and there is very little wage budget available, (£1,131) but a decent transfer kitty of £385K.

 

There are probably 3 players that I would consider serious saleable assets. There are others who could be off-loaded for more nominal fees. All 3 are "starters", but depending on how good we are with them, I might be inclined to try to see how we get on without them. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sweden in Europe. Jun 2027. 

This is a little strange. 

It says that Sweden have 2 Champions League places, (yes), and that we have 1 EURO Cup place, (check), but it also says that we have 2 EURO Cup places, (not check). I guess it's off to the bugs forum for me again. 

[Edit]

This is what we had before by the way. So basically we have swapped 1 EURO Cup spot for a 3rd Champions League spot. 

[Edit2]

That's even without mentioning the fact that what the hell is the EURO Cup II? 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

First game. May 2027. 

Swedish Premier Division. Malmö FF are the reigning Champions but that's their first league title since the game started and they have only finished in the top 3 on 3 occasions. They are SERIOUSLY under-performing. To put this into some context, we only really have 3 senior strikers and the best of them, (Schylström), was about less than 80% fitness so I started him on the bench and his replacement was on 89% fitness I think, (certainly below 90% anyway), and I wouldn't usually play players at that fitness level. For us to turn them over on the actual day that I joined the club, before I had even been introduced to the press, is astonishing. Malmö FF are the Swedish big-boys and while the likes of @ManUtd1may be keen to manage them, beating them, (and the likes of Hammarby IF), gives me immense pleasure. 

[Edit]

After playing this game on 29th May, we don't have another game until 3rd July. Does anyone know what that's all about? 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Rikulec]

23 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

[Edit]

After playing this game on 29th May, we don't have another game until 3rd July. Does anyone know what that's all about? 

Summer break.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, Rikulec said:

Summer break.

The purpose of which is what? 

[ManUtd1]

41 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

The purpose of which is what? 

Frolicking in the sun with pretty Swedish ladies, of course.

 

[Mbasnett6]

Honestly, your careers are one of the few reasons I stay with this forum. Brilliant.

Could I ask - Whats your general approach to tactics? Regardless of which version, or which formation, you seem to be relatively successful - what are the building blocks of your approach?

Regardless, thanks for these saves/updates, and KUTGW.

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul 2027.

Swedish Premier Division. 4 wins and 2 draws from of my 6 games in charge is a decent start, but it could and should have been better. We relinquished a 2 goal lead against Jönköpings Södra IF, conceding 2 goals from corners in the last 2 minutes of the game. Then we went and absolutely hammered IFK Göteborg but Mr Per Mathias Høgmo got lucky and somehow escaped with a 0-0 draw. Interestingly, that's the only points that IFK Göteborg have dropped this month, and since we beat Malmö FF, they have won 7 games and drawn 2 games, so it certainly suggests that we are competing against clubs in good form. Where we already struggle is when we are asked to play twice a week. We just don't have the squad for it yet. 

[Jimbokav1971]

13 minutes ago, Mbasnett6 said:

Honestly, your careers are one of the few reasons I stay with this forum. Brilliant.

Could I ask - Whats your general approach to tactics? Regardless of which version, or which formation, you seem to be relatively successful - what are the building blocks of your approach?

Regardless, thanks for these saves/updates, and KUTGW.

Thanks very much. It's very nice of you to say that. 

I'm not that great at tactics if I'm honest. There are guys in here who are amazing and I'm not in their league at all. I tend to find something that I like and that works and then stick with it. Using an IR button means that it's quite hard to adapt tactics because it has to be done VERY gradually. The tactic that I am using here is actually based on the 442 that I used to great effect in FM19. Because I'm not hugely into tactics, the idea of spending ages on it really isn't appealing. 

In terms of how I go about creating a tactic in the first place, I think of how I want us to set-up, how I want us to play with the ball and how I want us to defend without the ball and I go from there. If things aren't working I look to others for inspiration/answers and especially what partnerships work well together, but at the same time, I'm not afraid to fly in the face of generally regarded wisdom, (double AF's as an example). I often look at someone else's tactic and what jumps out at me are the bits I don't like, (inverted everything), so I think to myself what would happen if I un-inverted it and where would be the attacking space be and how would I fill the defensive gaps. 

I certainly don't have a super-tactic, but I do pay reasonable attention to set-pieces when I'm not letting my GK waste them. PPM's are important and as much as winning, playing football and scoring goals that I like watching is pretty important. At the beginning of this save we were scoring lots of goals over the top but also conceding the same type of goals. I've managed to reduce both, but importantly also created new goal-scoring opportunity types. 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Mbasnett6]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I like the idea of tactics being generally uncomplicated, and this forum generally gives the opposite impression. You have shown, by being succesful with an IR button, that it is possible to be successful without, as you say, a super-tactic, but a thought-out, solid, balanced approach. Thanks again.

[rodesire]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

That's even without mentioning the fact that what the hell is the EURO Cup II?

That's poor man's Europa League. Same principle and structure. After group stage you get 3rd placed Europa League teams to join. Winning Europa League II gives you a Europa League group stage spot

[Jimbokav1971]

Home advantage. Aug 2027.

I know that @deltabluewas interested in the "buying home advantage" feature of the Swedish Cup, (and so am I), and now I get to view it from the other perspective. 

This seems like a no-brainer. If I pay them £11k, then they also get £22.5k extra in gate receipts and we get £22.5k - £11k so still make a £11.5k profit. The only circumstances where you wouldn;t do this is if you were the smaller club and you thought you had a decent chance of beating the big club so wanted to keep home advantage, or you were the club in the higher league and were going to make a significant loss by swapping, (which is highly unlikely). 

I do notice that I am only "making an offer" at this stage though so it's possible that they will decline, but as already discussed, why on Earth would they? 

Good decision for them. Really shouldn't make a difference either way for us. 

[Jimbokav1971]

28 minutes ago, Mbasnett6 said:

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I like the idea of tactics being generally uncomplicated, and this forum generally gives the opposite impression. You have shown, by being succesful with an IR button, that it is possible to be successful without, as you say, a super-tactic, but a thought-out, solid, balanced approach. Thanks again.

When I do start looking at tactics in more depth, (because I always do at some point in order to fix an under-performing player or to try and fit an unusual player in or just to try and fix an area of weakness), then I will mention it in here and talk you through my thinking. 

I know for a fact that I'm interested in "inverted wingers" because they are new, (even though inverted should be a swear-word). I'm also interested in swapping 1 of my AF's to something else so when that happens I will talk you through it. If and when I get a starlet through an Academy, (whether here or somewhere else), then you also might see me introduce new roles/duties and I will talk through them too. a lot of it is me asking myself questions that I think I know the answer to, but just want to check that my understanding is correct and that they game actually still works like that, (because often it doesn't).

I've already mentioned that we were conceding too many goals over the top early in the save and while I think that was tweaked in the updates, I also think me dropping my defensive line had an impact, (of course it did), but at the same time I had to be aware that the ground/distance between my defensive line and my attacking line was going to be bigger now, so the not very physical but gifted playmaker in my squad was going to still be great on the ball, but was likely to now be a complete liability off it. I could only really still play him, (can't remember who it was or where I was playing), if I dropped one of the AF's into a deeper role to fill the gaps, (and I was adamant that I didn't want to do that). The end result was that I just listed the player for loan and stuck him in the Reserves. He never played for me again. I didn't need to see what would happen if I left him in there. I knew it. As long as you try and think ahead and make very small steps and importantly for me, make single steps at a time so you can work out of you have been successful or not, then tweaking tactics can be done at a really leisurely pace and is not as involved as some would make out. 

What's wrong? 
How do I fix that? 
If I do that is it likely to create new problems? 
How do I fix the new problems? 

It's almost a constant process. 

[Jimbokav1971]

35 minutes ago, rodesire said:

That's poor man's Europa League. Same principle and structure. After group stage you get 3rd placed Europa League teams to join. Winning Europa League II gives you a Europa League group stage spot

Thanks. I guessed it was a 3rd Tier trophy, but didn't know that it was connected in the same way as the others. I quite like that. Must win it now. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Facegen. Aug 2027.

I've been really critical of the backwards steps in this area over the years so let's have a look at what they have produced now, (because I have a new group of players that I don't know). 

  Ljungberg is my 2nd-choice GK, but the other bloke is a real player. 

 Jönsson is my 1st choice DR.

  Sandström was not featuring regularly but we haven;t got huge quality in this area and I liked the fact that he is 6'6" with Jumping of 17. He has rewarded me with 2 goals in 5 starts. 

 Skipper Brorsson is a real player, so instead I have shown you prospect (25) Pauly * who I have just promoted to the Senior Squad. 

 (26) Angergård * is our prospect DL who has already made his senior debut. 

 Both my left sided midfielders are real players as well as inverted so I have shown you attacking midfield prospect (24) Herbertsson * instead. 

 Utility Wahlqvist, (no, that's not his real forename), isn't a regular starter in midfield, but those that are, are all real players so..... here he is. 

  Svensson is another who doesn't feature regularly, but we have some real players starting in the middle of the pitch. 

 Hallin is 1st choice in the right flank. 

 Strandberg is a pretty average 24yo product of our Academy who has never been 1st choice at the club. He has scored 4 goals in 5 games for me. 

 I've just signed Jonas Jensen (DEN) on a free to give us some much needed depth up front. 

I think you would agree that this is a HUGE step back in the right direction, but..... there are 2 pairs of players who at 1st glance appear pretty similar so let's compare them side by side and see if they really are similar. 

First of all let's compare (25) Pauly * and Strandberg.   Actually when you put them together like that they are similar, but not even close to the same. 

Now let's compare  (26) Angergård * and Jonas Jensen (DEN).   These two are probably more similar, bit there are still marked differences. I wouldn't want to see 3 of these in the same squad though. When you consider that these players are even from different countries, (albeit both Nordic;s), then it's even more surprising and possibly identifies that there is still work to do in this area. 

[ManUtd1]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks. I guessed it was a 3rd Tier trophy, but didn't know that it was connected in the same way as the others. I quite like that. Must win it now. 

I'm the same way.  Once I saw that one, I knew I had to play in it...

...something even more hipster/random than the EL?!

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Absolutely furious! Aug 2027. 

Swedish Premier Division. We were flying and in top form, so sub-consciously I must have decided to blow things up. After the Cup debacle, (see below), I went back to a full strength side against Kalmar FF, but I forgot that young left winger Nygren who played in the Cup match is a lefty so I played him as a left winger and Bark, who is my 1st choice inverted left winger is obviously a righty and I forgot to swap back from W(s) to IW(s). The result? We lost 1-0.  That's the end of our unbeaten run in the league. 

Swedish Cup. What was it that I said in my previous post @deltablue? There is no down-side to this home advantage thing?  I fielded a significantly weakened team, giving debut's to 5 players, only for us to concede a goal and then eventually lose on penalties. I'm such an arse sometimes. 

Edited November 16, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

35 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

I'm the same way.  Once I saw that one, I knew I had to play in it...

...something even more hipster/random than the EL?!

 

The only problem I have now is finishing low enough down the table to qualify for it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

How many? Youth Intake. Sep 2027.

For years now, a youth intake in full fat FM has been 16 players. Not usually 16 players but sometimes only 15 and sometimes 17. Always 16. Every single time without fail. 16. How many players did I get through this years intake? 17. 

(27a) Sjöberg (2027) *.

In the past, what I would have done is dissect the Youth Intake and tell you what we have got and how pleased or unhappy I am with the intake. What's done is done though so who cares about the past. I want to keep us moving forward, and with that in mind I'm going to look at where I can improve the Youth Intake between now and next season. I haven't done this before and haven't really given it any thought until now so let's see how this goes. 

This info is correct for FM19..... Oh hang on. I think we have a problem.

The problem is that our Youth Recruitment is classed as Exceptional, and Exceptional was not a level in FM19 sowe know that the system has had an overhaul. I can't even guess as to what this would equate to in old money. Let's have a quick look at the big Swedish clubs and see what they've got. 

Youth Recruitment. 

Level 1. Limited. 
Level 2. Limited. 
Level 3. Basic.
Level 4. Basic.
Level 5. Basic.
Level 6. Fairly Basic
Level 7. Fairly Basic.
Level 8. Fairly Basic.
Level 9. Average.
Level 10. Average.
Level 11. Average.
Level 12. Above Average.
Level 13. Above Average.
Level 14. Above Average.
Level 15. Established.
Level 16. Established.
Level 17. Well Established. 
Level 18. Well Established. 
Level 19. Extensive. 
Level 20. Extensive. 

Youth Facilities. 

Level 1.
Level 2. 
Level 3.
Level 4.
Level 5.
Level 6. 
Level 7. 
Level 8. 
Level 9.
Level 10.
Level 11.
Level 12.
Level 13.
Level 14.
Level 15.
Level 16. 
Level 17.
Level 18.
Level 19.
Level 20.

Junior Coaching. 

Level 1.
Level 2. 
Level 3.
Level 4.
Level 5.
Level 6. 
Level 7. 
Level 8. 
Level 9.
Level 10.
Level 11.
Level 12.
Level 13.
Level 14.
Level 15.
Level 16. 
Level 17.
Level 18.
Level 19.
Level 20.

Club Reputation. 

Prom my post on page 4, this is what we are told influences the production of youngsters. In order to work out where we are going to be in the Swedish Newgen pecking order, I need to know what we are up against elsewhere. 

Ok. So I have had to scrap the above bit because the system has changed from FM19 to FM20. Instead, what we have is this. 

Table A.

The above table shows the Swedish Premier league clubs and lists them by reputation. 

We don't want them listed by reputation though. We want them listed 1st by Youth Recruitment and then by Reputation. (Like the table below). The problem I have is that although I can work out the ranking in most of the adjectives, I don't think it possible to accurately make a decision about Average - Adequate. The definitions are just not comparable. I guess when we get access to the fill game it will give us more info on stuff like this. So anyway, I have to decide what is higher between the two so I'm going to go for...... Adequate being better than Average, (just for the sake of this table). 

Table B.

Some of you are probably looking at this thinking to yourself, "well it's really pretty and all that, but what the hell is he talking about? What does it actually show us?" Well let me explain. 

So just for a minute pretend that I haven't just had 17 players promoted in my Youth Intake and instead imagine that it was 16. And every club in Sweden got 16 players through their Youth Intake and then the AI managing them had to decide how many of them it was going to keep. So the game knows the total number of players that it has to produce. What determines how good these players can be, (the maximum), is the National Youth Rating and the Game Importance of Sweden. Using FM19 I can tell you the following information. 

National Youth Rating. 88. This is higher than I was expecting, but then again I don't know any other Nations Youth ratings so I don't really know what 88 actually means. 
Game Importance. I can't find this in the FM19 editor. I'm not very au fait with the editor and I'm afraid this is beyond me. As far as I'm aware both are static anyway within the game, (although I think National Youth Rating should be fluid, but only just fluid). 

So a National Youth Rating of 88 tells the game that the game should produce [insert number] of players of [insert quality] each season and this is not an exact figure. Once the game has decided how many Swedish players will be created, it has to determine which clubs they will be generated at. If we assume just for a minute that all Swedish players will be produced at Swedish clubs and no non Swedes will be produced at Swedish clubs, then all we have to do is divvy up the best players and what this little exercise is about is how that is done. Now nothng is set in stone here. You know, (at least I hope you do), that the likes of Kim Källström, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson can all be generated at any Swedish club in any league, but the chances of players of this quality, (yes i know that Källström wasn't as good as the others in real life but he is an FM legend so on here it counts), being produced at a club depends first on Youth Recruitment and then on Reputation. We have already clarified that no Swedes are going to be generated at foreign clubs, (I'm just making that up to make it easier). 

So now we know that the ranking in Table B tells us the pecking order in terms of where the best players are likely to be produced and why. We are 5th on the list and the only way we can improve is to either make our Youth Recruitment better than everyone else in the Country, or make sure that is equal to the best in the Country AND that we have the highest reputation of clubs in the Country. That makes sense to me. We know the number of and quality of players produced. Now we just have to decide where they go and we do that by Youth Recruitment, (well what else is it for?), and when that is equal we use reputation as a decider. (That seems pretty reasonable and sensible to me). No I know what to do to get to the front of the queue, all I have to do is go and do it. (Easier said than done). 

The 1st question I have is.... Is Exceptional the best Youth Recruitment rank you can get? The truth is that i don't know, but let's go and have a look at the clubs who have the best reputation for producing stars and see what theirs is rated as. 

Ajax. Exceptional, Superb, Excellent. 

Man Utd. Excellent, State of the Art, Excellent. 

Barcelona. Exceptional, State of the Art, Excellent.

Sporting Lisbon. Exceptional, State of the Art, Excellent.

Bayern Munich. Excellent, Superb, Good. 

Schalke 05. Good, Excellent, Good. 

Southampton. Excellent, Superb, Good.

Anderlecht. Exceptional, Superb, Good.

Dinamo Zagreb. Exceptional, Great, Excellent.

Lyon. Exceptional, Superb, Good. 

So this suggests to me that Exceptional is the highest rating for Youth Recruitment, State of the Art if the highest rating for Youth Facilities and Excellent is the highest rating for Junior Coaching. 

So with that in mind, I can't exceed Exceptional Youth recruitment, so the only way to get to the front of the queue is to beat them on reputation. So that's the plan. My aim is to become make Örebro SK into the club with the highest reputation in Sweden, see what happens to the Youth Intake during that time, have at least 1 Pre-Intake whole we have the highest rep and follow it through, and then consider moving on.

[Edit]

I subsequently found out that this is the order for ratings for Youth Facilities. (Taken from the Staff - Responsibilities - Offer to clubs - Facilities tab).

Edited November 17, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Well done Mr Chairman.  Sep 2027. 

He's just signed this bloke as Technical Director. The only real problem is that I don't know what a TD does. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2027. 

Swedish Premier Division. How on Earth can we beat the top of the table and then lose to bottom of the table who have won only once all season before beating us? 

[anagain]

Late to this thread, but as I was sitting the launderette I thought I'd have a read. What a wild ride. 

I spent some time in an FM with Nybro and grew to like the Swedish leagues almost as much as Norway.

You deserved a crack at the top league. Nice to see you do so well when you got there. 

[Jimbokav1971]

28 minutes ago, anagain said:

Late to this thread, but as I was sitting the launderette I thought I'd have a read. What a wild ride. 

I spent some time in an FM with Nybro and grew to like the Swedish leagues almost as much as Norway.

You deserved a crack at the top league. Nice to see you do so well when you got there. 

Thanks. I'm really enjoying it. I'm going to give the Swedish Premier League a right good go before moving on to somewhere else. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct & Nov 2027. 

Swedish First Division. We lost to Malmo after playing most of the game with 10 men and then didn't win the following game despite battering them. We were struggling with injuries for the mid-week game against Djurgårdens IF so I played a very young team on purpose, giving all the high PA kids a run. It didn't well but I did the maths and decided to stick with the same strategy for the last 2 games, safe in the knowledge that we couldn't be over-taken for 5th. The late-season games didn't go well, but the experience gained by the kids will prove invaluable in the future. 

Finances are obviously an issue, but I just have to suck it up and get on with it. European football should fix our finances. Whether it's this season, next season or at some future point. We just need to tighten our belt and get on with it in the short term. The problem with this is that our squad is just so short on quality. I'm going to be looking for some cheap young talent over the close season with a view to the kids playing in Europe, because our priority will always have to be the league because this is our avenue into Europe the following season. 

It wasn't all plain sailing though, 

[JWVG]

I watch so little football these days, I did not even know about Euro Cup II...

[rodesire]

Unfortunate end to a season but very very good overall!

Bit of a side-step, what does Lichtenstein's European allocation look like in fm20? Is it still just the cup winners going to europa league/league II?

[Mr_Demus]

9 minutes ago, rodesire said:

Unfortunate end to a season but very very good overall!

Bit of a side-step, what does Lichtenstein's European allocation look like in fm20? Is it still just the cup winners going to europa league/league II?

I am pretty sure it's hardcoded, so that they will only ever have one team going to the EL

[rodesire]

54 minutes ago, Mr_Demus said:

I am pretty sure it's hardcoded, so that they will only ever have one team going to the EL

Wiki suggests Lichtenstein gonna get demoted to a single Europa Conference League slot, wanted to check

If so, Lichtenstein challenge could be very fun this year, win the Lichtenstein cup, then win EL II to go to europa league, win it to get a shot at CL..

 

Edited November 16, 2019 by rodesire
Completely hijacking the thread