The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[Marazola]

Intake day

Another below average intake, but a better one than last year thanks to the top prospect.

This is him: he will immediately go into the first team.

[Marazola]

Season over.

Firstly, I need to mention that my best player is out of contract. Doesn't want to renew. I pray he sticks around on a month to month like Krispin did.

As for the league, we had our best campaign points wise, equal with an earlier season as 53 is the record, but we didn't do as well in the table. Competitive season.

Konstantin gets better per year, 14 assists this time!

Awesome player.

[JLAB]

We sold our best central midfielder to Sassuolo for £1.5M to help with our deteriorating finances, but while his sell was not ideal, we had a good cover waiting for a chance in the first team.

Still though, he had also requested to leave after some bids came in, and I knew that I could make a pretty penny for him, his inconsistency made my desire to sell him all the more reasonable personally. Also, yes, the player that is replacing Cantoro is Conte, who my backroom staff consider to be better than Cantoro at the time we were selling him. Happy days.

[XaW]

Jan Jansen 29b is now considered a wonderkid!

[JLAB]

Was watching this video and some of the testing that was done showed some really interesting things for player development that I felt some of you might want to know about. 

Effectively, high ambition does more damage than good for your player, while professionalism is more important for player development than anything else in the hidden attributes.

Still, would encourage a watch, it's really interesting seeing how much work went into finding out some of this stuff.

Edited February 26, 2021 by JLAB
Adding some more detail to the post.

[Marazola]

1 minute ago, XaW said:

Jan Jansen 29b is now considered a wonderkid!

Wow, awesome player!

[Padders]

5 minutes ago, XaW said:

Jan Jansen 29b is now considered a wonderkid!

Wow! Those stats at 19! Nice!

Edited February 26, 2021 by Padders

[XaW]

4 minutes ago, Marazola said:

Wow, awesome player!

1 minute ago, Padders said:

Wow! Those stats at 19! Nice!

Yeah, he is my best player, currently, I think. I do have some others though, especially this guy:

But for potential, I have a few:

[Orion_]

2 hours ago, djsterry said:

One of my scouts came with a full knowledge of Greece and I've had Greek prospects in my last couple of intakes

I assume you' not playing in Greece? That's interesting. I thought it's all about only HoYD nation knowledge.

 

2 hours ago, vikeologist said:

I mean, I have a chief scout, but he's not bringing anything to the table now that I have enough U18 coaches.

So as I expected. Thank you for answers!

[Brentmeister]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Yeah, he is my best player, currently, I think. I do have some others though, especially this guy:

But for potential, I have a few:

Must be the best Indonesian player ever!?

[Brentmeister]

I've just started in Austria and I could get used to these wage requests!

[Padders]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Yeah, he is my best player, currently, I think. I do have some others though, especially this guy:

But for potential, I have a few:

Out of interest do you do anything special to your players when they come in the intake?

Have some really high stats on these players for 17/18/19 yr old

[XaW]

10 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

Must be the best Indonesian player ever!?

I think this is the highest rated one currently. A guy playing for Utrecht. My guy haven't even played on the national team.

4 minutes ago, Padders said:

Out of interest do you do anything special to your players when they come in the intake?

Have some really high stats on these players for 17/18/19 yr old

I train them in the position they are going to play in from the start, and give them some matches early on, but other than that, not much.

Also, players come through at 15 in the Netherlands, so I have had them for some time already. They are younger than newgens in England at creation.

[vikeologist]

2 hours ago, JLAB said:

Was watching this video and some of the testing that was done showed some really interesting things for player development that I felt some of you might want to know about. 

Effectively, high ambition does more damage than good for your player, while professionalism is more important for player development than anything else in the hidden attributes.

Still, would encourage a watch, it's really interesting seeing how much work went into finding out some of this stuff.

So, as regards this challenge, it's interesting that maybe the increases you get in work rate (from fining for poor performances) are more important than determination. I must admit, I tend to stop fining so much once I get to 15 for determination, so maybe it's work rate I should be paying for attention to.

My squad personality is very determined. I've mentored a high level of professionalism in the squad. At least i think so. I wonder if the squad personality increases the attribute for just one thing (in my case determination) or all the dominant attributes. I hope I'm not blocking my squad developing their professionalism with the determination numbers.

 

 

[djsterry]

Season5 End of season Review 25/26

A poor season has seen me finish in 12th place

A lack of goals really hurt me I, 11 goals was my highest scorer this year

 

Star of the season

Begrudgingly I give it to Demirci ( he wont sign a new contract so I hate him ) 

 

Good performance for Rw tbf, no chance of keeping him unfortunately

I did accept a bid of 5m + 50% of the next sale but I pulled out last min 

Really good progress on the facilities improvement

Every request was accepted in the end and I managed to get 2 improvements on most stuff this year

 

7 Newgens now being played as first team regulars but unfortunately the standard isn't that high

An example of the players I'm using now

 

I'm hoping with all the improvements I have made that I get better players coming through and I start to see the benefit 

Or am I being unrealistic expecting better player ?

 

 

 

[AlwaysNalah]

Attempt Number 2 - so after the failure of Blansko I am starting out again. The issue I had there was Poor or basic everything and no way to generate any money to improve anything it was hard to survive in the top 2 divisions of Czhechia. I had 2 good Synot league potential players in 10 Seasons, just was never going to happen. 

 

So on to the next club, I loaded up a fairly big database to give myself some options (most of central/east Europe) plus all players from top teams in Europe to add realism (fm20). I settled on going just over the border to Slovakia, FC Tartan Presov, they have much better facilities, a 30 man squad, a B team and were predicted to finish in the top half of the league (this changed when the 5 loan players from the previous season left). The had been fairly active in the Jan on the holiday year signing 5 players. It was a toss up between these or the Serbian league and went with Slovakia as I expect it to be tough, most of these teams are basically feeder teams to the good old Czech Republic across the border.

 

Another big plus is 2 of the holiday regens look very tasty for this level and I am hoping we can tie them down asap ad top tier teams have already placed bids for both. They have pre arranged deals for there 17th birthday after which I will be instantly offering new deals with options. 

 

Squad personality is not great a lot of balanced, but give it 3-4 years to filter out the low DET and ill have that sorted. 

Made 1 rookie error, cleared out all the staff and whilst hiring the new ones asked for my first badge, when obvs i can't be spared from training, woops.

[keeper#1]

Farnborough 2028 Youth Intake

A good overall group.  Finally, I've got a goalkeeper that I can put in net and feel comfortable.  Our goalkeeping has been pretty poor thus far.  The promising right back is buried in the group.  Hopefully his PA is high to make up for this low starting point.  A pair of good center forwards.  I may need to switch back to a 4-4-2 formation from the 4-2-3-1 that we've been running.

 

[Padders]

Season Review 2114/15

Slightly better season, 9th 

More tweaking with tactics

Lost to Man Utd in Semi Final of FA Cup

Potential of couple of okay player in intake

 

[TheGreatTraveler]

@vikeologistWow. Back to back to back. That's insane, congratulations! 

[ravenation]

Gainsborough Trinity

Season 2038/2039. 5th place Championship - FA cup 4th round - Carabeo 1st round

So we did it! Reached the Premier league after a great season with great squad depth especially in the front - we banged in 86 goals in 46 matches - only Leeds did better with 89.

Clive Lindley, Andy Powell and Rhys Pearson, Ivor Hedges all made more than 10 goals. Our team is in general stable in all positions and great partnerships all over the field - but our left side havent improved as expected and that side of the pitch are our weak part.

Our facilities is now average and board will build new stadium. Lot of interest in my players, but as we are in PL, i will try keep as many as possible of this squad, as it is still very young side.

Goal for next season is again survival! We need stabilize in PL

OurU18 won their league again and all cups they participated in.

Youth intake nothing in particular - we need keep the food chain going and as soon as we got in plus from our current 4 million euro minus, we need invest in facilities!

[Marazola]

Intake day

Its a bad intake but again it's quality over quantity. Got a decent ST and a slightly worse version of Konstantin, which is superb for me.

[Marazola]

Season is over.

Comfortably our best season. We were in promotion contention until we lost to Hapoel Jerusalem in February and from there the aim became getting 60 points. We achieved that!

[Deicide]

https://www.passion4fm.com/football-manager-training-facilities-levels/

 

Does anyone know if the facilities levels in the link above are correct?

[keeper#1]

Farnborough 2027-28 Season Review

 

Fixtures 1, 2, 3 - Lots of choppy form as we played a lot of matches and have a lot of young players who have a hard time with the grind of the Vanarama National League season

League Table - We played close to middle of the road soccer.  17 wins and 18 losses with 11 draws.  The defense was the weak spot this season as the offense improved.  Got a few more draws than last season which helped both our point total and goal difference.  Solihull Moors was head and shoulders above everyone else in the league.

Playoff Tree - Extra time heartbreak for Swindon as they lose on playoff promotion to Bromley.

FA Cup - We were road warriors in the FA Cup which came to end at Stamford Bridge and a big pay day.

FA Trophy - Swindon knocked us out of the FA Trophy

xG General Performance - The defense was just awful at times this season.  We switched to a younger goalkeeper but that only was part of the problem.  Our defensive line is not fast and watches the opposition run by them.  

xG Expected vs Actual - We overperformed across the board again with 68 goals off an xG of 52.1 and 62 points with an xG of 52.

xG Attacking Efficiency     xG Defensive Efficiency

Player Stats 1     Player Stats 2

Player and Rookie of the Year CF Jamie Loft 26F - 20 goals in all competitions with seven assists.  A nice find to lead the line and a good number of goals for someone who has just a 5 finishing rating

Youth Intake Preview     Youth Intake     Youth Intake DNA    LW Francisco Serna 28A     CF Billy McQuillan 28B    CF Glenn McCabe 28C     GK Carlo Davies 28D     CB Ackenie Caesar 28E

Moments to Remember      Best XI      Accolades

Transfers - Nothing in.  Nothing Out.

Almanac

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by keeper#1

[Marazola]

Intake

If it looks smaller it's because I took this screenshot a few days later when I remembered to make this post. I was distracted. Regardless it was the worst intake yet. I doubt any of these will become first teamers.

[Marazola]

Season over.

[Sanno11]

Nuneaton Borough Season Review 2037/2038

Competitions

EFL Championship - 19th position - League table

FA Cup - lost in 3rd  round

Carabao Cup - lost in 1st  round

Well, we survived out first season in the Championship, so I have to be pleased with that. It was a struggle, but we were rarely totally outclassed. Our defensive record was respectable, but we struggled to match other teams goal scoring ability. We started the season with a great 1-0 win over Bournemouth who had just been relegated from the Premiership. That was a confidence boost, but after 10 games I had seen enough to know we'd be looking down all year. By this point the worst teams appeared to be settled at the bottom.  We never really lost our form completely, we just grabbed wins where we could. Our finishing position might not show it, but with a 13 point cushion to the relegation zone, it wasn't too dramatic. I expect several years of slow progress in this division if we are lucky. 

Playing Squad

We have a well rounded team, but no real superstars at the moment. Our best two players, are Scott Cartwright and Gavin Sawyer, both are wanted by teams from the Premier League. We managed to keep hold of all out talent again this year, which means we at least stand a chance to build on surviving the first season in the Championship. One thing that has been consistent throughout the 17 years is not having a striker with good finishing. Now, more than ever we are desperate for someone clinical. Sawyer, an inside forward, is our current best with 10.

I am hoping next season I am able to get a U23 side to be able to keep the older rotation players match fitness better. Having 10-15 players out on loan each season is a little chaotic, and I lose the control I would like.

 

Youth Intake

In terms of talent, I think the top 4-5 players would have a chance to make it, but the personalities are not ideal. The one stand out is Michael O'Hara (38b), this Jamaican midfielder already has 3 star CA and can go straight into the first team. We've got 4-5 very good midfielders to chose from now, so I can give this lad plenty of time to find his way.

Nick Lager (38a) - Great name alert!

Michael O'Hara (38b)

Jake Mason (38c)

Finances, Facilities and Transfers

With no new stadium, the 6,384 we get at each home game isn't enough to sustain us. As mentioned, there were no big transfer out either, so our finances keep sliding downwards. I won't worry too much about this, our facilities have been upgraded a couple of times recently and the mythical new stadium will hopefully happen in the near future.

[Marazola]

Intake day.

Absolutely shocking intake. By a mile the worst of the save. Nobody even servicable here.

[Padders]

17 minutes ago, Marazola said:

Intake day.

Absolutely shocking intake. By a mile the worst of the save. Nobody even servicable here.

Ouch 😣 

[JLAB]

We had our youth intake, and the defender that was meant to be really good ended up being really rubbish. Which is a shame. Got another goalkeeper, but we also got an attacking midfielder and left-back who could be decent. So it's not the end of the world I suppose.

[Marazola]

Season done.

[vikeologist]

I think you can just never tell with intakes. They can surprise you, although my current team is reasonably according to initial promise

As - 4

B - 2

C- 1

D -1

E - 1

F - 1

J - 1 (I didn't even tag him when he first arrived, so honestly he could be anywhere from J to P or something).

 

What are the breakdowns of others' all-regen teams?

Edited February 27, 2021 by vikeologist

[Brentmeister]

@Sanno11 Michael O'Hara looks excellent

[Brentmeister]

1 hour ago, vikeologist said:

I think you can just never tell with intakes. They can surprise you, although my current team is reasonably according to initial promise

As - 4

B - 2

C- 1

D -1

E - 1

F - 1

J - 1 (I didn't even tag him when he first arrived, so honestly he could be anywhere from J to P or something).

 

What are the breakdowns of others' all-regen teams?

Has anything of note made 'J' progress to the first team? Personality? Determination? Teamwork? Workrate? Experience on loan? Thrown into 1st team duty earlier than usual?

I'd be interested to know if it was luck or if he had at least a decent attribute/personality to begin with.

 

[djsterry]

Season 6 End Of season review 26/27

 

Fantastic Season For Cottbus End with the Bundesliga 2. Title

 

 

It was a record low points total for a winning team but I don't care I'm into the top League !!

 

 

Eric Cami Emerged as the star performer this year and looks a great prospect

 unfortunately my best player has left on a free to Napoli  (demerci)

Also my HOYD ha decided to retire

 

Will probably do a early season update in the Bundesliga as I'm expecting to get completely outclassed

 

Lots of work to do pre season to hire more coaches etc and hopefully get some better staff for the under 18s

 

 

 

 

 

 

[djsterry]

2 hours ago, vikeologist said:

I think you can just never tell with intakes. They can surprise you, although my current team is reasonably according to initial promise

As - 4

B - 2

C- 1

D -1

E - 1

F - 1

J - 1 (I didn't even tag him when he first arrived, so honestly he could be anywhere from J to P or something).

 

What are the breakdowns of others' all-regen teams?

How do you decide these ratings? Ive not done the nicknames on my players as I didn't really understand how you were doing it

[Gbrexiton]

8 minutes ago, djsterry said:

How do you decide these ratings? Ive not done the nicknames on my players as I didn't really understand how you were doing it

The number = the year of the intake

The letter = the ranking based on PA when they first arrive

For Example:

Say you have 2 5 star PA players, a 4.5 star PA player, and a 4 star PA player come through in your 3rd intake. The 4.5 star PA player would be named 03c

 

[Gbrexiton]

2 hours ago, vikeologist said:

I think you can just never tell with intakes. They can surprise you, although my current team is reasonably according to initial promise

As - 4

B - 2

C- 1

D -1

E - 1

F - 1

J - 1 (I didn't even tag him when he first arrived, so honestly he could be anywhere from J to P or something).

 

What are the breakdowns of others' all-regen teams?

A - 4

B - 2

C - 1

D - 2

E - 2

[vikeologist]

The ratings are based on the initial reports, with 'a' being, usually, the one who's singled out, and then in order of potential and then current ability, but I don't spend too much time worrying about it.

Well, here's the report from when he arrived. He's Tre Mills.

 

 

As you can see he had good CA. It's just that my HoYD only gave him 3.5 star potential. My HoYD is a Model Professional, but has no coaching , working with youngsters or Judging ability or potential ability, so I take his reports with a pinch of salt anyway.

My best judging coach rates him now as 2 star CA and 3 star PA, so it's not like the report was wildly wrong anyway.

He is in my 1st XI, but he's probably the player whose place is the shakiest.

He had a F Pro personality, and although determination isn't all that important, it maybe is important that it's at least 10. He now has a Resolute personality. His media handling style is level headed, so I think it's safe to assume he has a good hidden pressure stat.

So, he obviously didn't get a lot of first team action early on, but maybe that was why he developed. The more promising central midfielders from the intake (17b and 17g) spent a lot of time on the bench and wanted to go out on loan as a condition of signing new contracts when we went pro, which opened up the door for Tre who had gone unnoticed by me at first because he was only the 3rd best at that position in this one intake. (Edit, and actually wasn't because he's supposedly a right winger. But being able to play 2 positions helped him get on the sub's bench when players were injured or suspended).

So, I guess it's easy to see why he did develop (professionalism), but I still don't know why some other players don't. I'm talking about the 'a' in this intake.  Kim Min-Ki 17a. Or maybe it's not. He was unambitious (with good pressure stat) when he arrived, but that told me nothing about his professionalism. Now he's light-hearted, which still only tells me the 'pro' is between 1-17. All I know is that he has very high sportsmanship and pressure. And that he is consistently poor when he plays. Whereas Tre actually plays better than his rivals with the same CA.

Edited February 27, 2021 by vikeologist

[djsterry]

14 minutes ago, Gbrexiton said:

The number = the year of the intake

The letter = the ranking based on PA when they first arrive

For Example:

Say you have 2 5 star PA players, a 4.5 star PA player, and a 4 star PA player come through in your 3rd intake. The 4.5 star PA player would be named 03c

 

Thanks I get it now

[Raffen]

Table | Squad | Finances | Transfers

Solid league form, ending 4th. Completely outplayed in the play off 1/2-final against Worcester, so we'll keep plugging away down here. Managed to get to the first round of the FA cup again, losing 1-0 to National League side Stockport.

Decent enough general team performance, Tyler Williams 27c standing out. Threw Scott Collins 34a in, and he developed nicely during the season. Hoping he'll keep developing. Daniel Richards 30b finally made the right wing spot his own.

Youth preview | Youth intake

After upgrading everything youth related in the last season, I basically tagged the lot of the players from the intake. I have high hopes a lot of them will be the spine of the team in a couple of seasons. No guarantees though that they will come good, but surely a lot of them must be better than what I've gotten before. Duncan Trotter 37a maybe the best of the bunch, considering we really need forwards. 

Upgrades galore after the previous seasons FA cup windfall. Average attendance increased by about 100 as well.

 

[keeper#1]

4 hours ago, vikeologist said:

I think you can just never tell with intakes. They can surprise you, although my current team is reasonably according to initial promise

As - 4

B - 2

C- 1

D -1

E - 1

F - 1

J - 1 (I didn't even tag him when he first arrived, so honestly he could be anywhere from J to P or something).

 

What are the breakdowns of others' all-regen teams?

My 2028-29 Farnborough Roster

Original Players - 0

A - 2

B - 3

C - 2

D - 4

E - 4

F - 2

G - 2

H - 1

I - 1

J - 2

[Padders]

Haven't had more than 4 green lines for decades

Don't take much notice from the preview but lets hope this one is decent

[djsterry]

Had a few issues with my Cottbus save so here we go

 

 

 

 

 

[TheGreatTraveler]

6 hours ago, vikeologist said:

I think you can just never tell with intakes. They can surprise you, although my current team is reasonably according to initial promise

As - 4

B - 2

C- 1

D -1

E - 1

F - 1

J - 1 (I didn't even tag him when he first arrived, so honestly he could be anywhere from J to P or something).

 

What are the breakdowns of others' all-regen teams?

A - 1

B - 2

C - 2

D - 2

K - 1

Untagged (E-K or something) - 3

 

A's for years 1, 5, and 6 would definitely still be on the side if they hadn't left the club. K is the club captain, club all-time leading scorer, and a club legend. 

[Marazola]

Its been many years, however...

[Marazola]

Intake.

Believe this one isn't impacted yet by the new junior coaching budget, but it's another poor intake. Not as bad as last year but still very underwhelming.

[Marazola]

Season done.

Finished 4th but wasn't even close to going up.

[darren1983]

South Shields Season 2029/30 Season Review - League One

League - a very good season in the end, started a little slowly and were very inconsistent which I guess is part of having such a young team. The aim was to get to 50 as soon as I could and then again was going to play players planning for next season but as we got to 50 we were playing really well and pushing up the table so instead I actually tried to go for it and we only lost 1 of our last 15 games and only missed out on the playoffs due to goal difference - just look at the result on the final day that cost us. Heartbreaking. To be fair the result that actually cost us was a few games before the end as we went to then bottom of the league Crewe and had a real stinker of a 0-0 draw where we didn't even have a shot on target. Really bad from us and the worst time to put in a stinker, we even beat Wimbledon away and drew with Walsall away in the run in but we struggled all season against the bottom placed sides. Oh well, we go again next season.

League Cup - Not great, Hull too good.

EFL Trophy - Starting to get some little runs in this which is quite nice for giving fringe players minutes

FA Cup - we actually made the 3rd round for the first time ever. And we got Ipswich away. Gave a nice account of ourselves though.

Squad - Getting bloated again, could really do with a U23 squad but we can't afford one. Nice spread of goals with 2 players getting double figures (no idea how our CB scored 15, we were only 4th for goals from corners) but a few getting close

Transfers - No big sales this year (kinda) but lots of loans out

Finances - Looking bad but some bright news coming in the form of a couple of sales. Both Frake & Azeez are leaving for the Premier League in a few days (Watford and Brentford) but I took a little less money in order to have both stay for the season. Both going for 1m straight up and another 1m in instalments for each just to give me some money coming in over the course of the season which I'm hoping will help with our cashflow

Youth Intake - Once again it's decent looking but again no real world beaters coming through. Still the same HOYD I've had since I took over, I look each year but he's still the best for what I want out of one

Nathan Wilson 30A - A nice looking CM that needs some work in key areas
Taylor Morgan 30B - we haven't really done much in terms of producing a DM, got a couple that are OK but this guy could be the best we have
Maleik Copeland 30C - can never hurt to have wide players, also a new nationality for us which is always a bonus
Jimmy Hulse 30D - yet another wide option
Anwar Achahbar 30E - a new option at RB, we need to start producing better full backs than we have so far, he's not brilliant but could end up solid. 
Phil Savage 30F - option on the left hand side, as above not brilliant but could turn out solid

Player Nationalities 

Spoiler

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Youth Recruitment	Youth Coaching		Notes & Achievements 

2021/22		VNLN		5th 		Adequate		Adequate		First coaching badge
2022/23		VNLN		2nd 		Adequate		Good			Promoted via playoffs, FA Trophy runners up
2023/24		VNL		16th 		Average			Excellent 		2nd coaching badge
2024/25		VNL		12th 		Average			Excellent		3rd coaching badge
2025/26		VNL		6th 		Average			Excellent		Promotion via playoffs
2026/27		League Two	1st 		Good			Exceptional		Promotion as champions
2027/28		League One	11th 		Good			Exceptional
2028/29		League One	14th 		Good			Exceptional
2029/30		League One	7th 		Good			Exceptional

 

[AlwaysNalah]

The first season is going far better than expected, whilst the lads struggled with my tactics for the first 5 games (none of the front 3 scored), we seem to have clicked and making massive progress. Looking at the league table we are a very deserved 2nd place and 8 unbeaten, near the top of possession, chances created and goals conceded. The only concern is that my best player is a 35 year old right back, with great crossing and set pieces who we will struggle to replace next year. Initially we started with a 16 year old GK from the holiday year as an u21 has to start every game, but he has kept 7 clean sheets so keeps his place. The other 2 16 year olds have started plenty of games, but mentoring is making zero impact on both of their unambitious personalities, both have had top tier bids so must have potential but will likley struggle to hit it with that. Feels so much better than the struggle as Blansko to be able to put out a team to attack every now and again

 

  

All 3 versions of this tactic have been used, and are interchangeable but still need a bit of tweaking as we struggle to get out striker into play in some game, Duda has a 'get forward' trait and has scored 3 screamers already from a BWM role, plus he is our team leader in key passes. Our 2 wide players are not creating many chances per 90 but the WBs are which sounds about right. Whilst we are creating chances, converting them could be improved. Having a Poacher in this tactic is a bit of an aberration I will look to correct in future years, but none of our players in that forward line can press, pass or tackle so its better to just have them on the end of crosses for now.

 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by AlwaysNalah