The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

Padders · July 10, 2021

Season 50 - 2070/71

First season back in VNN

And would you believe it? 2nd!

Lost in Semi Final of Play Offs 2-1 to Cheltenham after going 1-0 up and dominating!

Another takeover and I applied for increase in Junior Coaching

Padders · July 10, 2021

Season 51 - 2072/72

Unbelievable isn't it!

Another 2nd this time with 99 points, 1 point off top...................

Alan Harris scored 70 goals! The team 157 league goals!

BUT this time we did manage to win the Play Offs, beating Braintree 5-3 in the Final

Also won the FA Trophy

Back into VN we go................................................

Brentmeister · July 10, 2021

157 goals is outrageous :lol:

Brentmeister · July 10, 2021

Mirassol Futebol Clube

I took a break from this game but got the itch to finish my save whether successful or not. Here’s my last update from April if anyone wants a recap.

Season 9 review

We again lost 2 players, 1 of which was our current best striker, before the season started. It’s really tough in Brazil because the players constantly want to leave. You have China bidding on everyone in Jan/Feb and then Europe again in July/Aug/Sep, it’s really unsettling and tough to juggle. At least my players don’t want to move to teams in Brazil anymore, otherwise I'd be fighting bids off every week. All part of the challenge though eh!?

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Serie A

Another 6th place finish and another record points haul shows me we’re moving in the right direction despite the constant transfers of any of our players that can kick a ball. 59 goals conceded tells a story and one which I need to remedy.

We qualified for the Copa Libertadores and I was runner-up manager of the year. We exceeded board expectations.

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Sao Paulo State Championship

Runner-up again after a terrible 4-0 defeat at the hands of lower league opposition. Nobody really cares for this cup anyway and I use it as a pre-season tournament and minutes for my kids.

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The Brazilian Cup

Another disappointing 3rd round exit at the hands of lower league opposition, I’m starting to sense a pattern here.

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Copa Libertadores

4 defeats in the group stage to Boca and Internacional and that was the end of that.

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Copa Sudamericana

A quarter final defeat against Brazilian opposition.

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Brazil is an 11 month slog! We literally get 5 weeks off at the end of the season and then we’re away again, without a pre-season. If I ever manage to complete this challenge we’re probably looking at 66 games, and that's if I lost all other cup games. Doing the quadruple will take 75 games.

Performances

Gustavo Lucas Rios was by far our best player and took down the Division 1 player of the year award. I have about 5 world class center backs now and very few attacking players. A disparity which made me change our HOYD.

We also produced our 4th wonderkid, Luis Carlos. He can play CB too!

Youth preview and intake

Another golden generation promised, but I was less excited when they arrived. I think I need to be more realistic with my expectations as the team’s reputation and quality improves.

Top prospect by virtue of a better personality was probably Denis Baldo, another defensive minded player.

I was also falling down with excitement at the potential of Michael Douglas.

Finances, transfers, upgrades and miscellaneous

Rich and getting richer. Everything else is maxed out. No transfers, obviously.

We reached 500 games in management.

We also lead the way in player development in the top flight, producing the most footballers. Which is what this challenge is all about.

Edited July 10, 2021 by Brentmeister

XaW · July 10, 2021

Follo Fotballklubb - Season 2026 (Season 5) Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So about that new tactic I worked on last season? Yeah, as it turns out it didn't work at all. After about 10 matches this season, we were in the relegation zone and with a small gap up. So I guess we are not good enough to play on the front foot on a general basis, so that idea is placed on hiatus. I went back to the more direct 4-4-2 I used before and we started to climb back up again. Towards the end, we had a longshot at a playoff spot, but in the end we failed just short. If the start hadn't been so poor, I think we'd been in the playoff for sure.

Next season I hope we can push for a promotion through playoffs again, because we are good enough for it, if we had a good season.

In Norgesmesterskapet we beat Sotra and Bærum before losing to Stabæk in the 3rd round.

Youth

The preview looked rather poor, but the intake was very good! Lots of good personalities as well.

Kim Støer Hagen 26d is a very promising player, and as a Model Citizen, I have my eye on him.

Statistics:

Spoiler

No new places this season.

2nd team:

They only played friendlies

U19 team:

In the Norwegian U19 Championship Oslo they finished up top and qualified for the promotion playoff. In the semi final they lost to Odd and have to remain in the regional division.

In the Norwegian U19 Cup they beat Gjøvik-Lyn, Kvik Halden, HamKam, Viking, and Egersund before losing to Strømsgodset in the semi final.

Records broken;

Most overall goals: Ernest Rzepecki - 120
Oldest goalscorer: Ernest Rzepecki - 28 years, 252 days

Trophy cabinet:

PostNord-ligaen Avdeling 2 - 2022

Norwegian U19 Championship Oslo - 2024, 2026

libbyshuss · July 10, 2021

FC Mirassol - Brazil

season 24 - 2045

Serie A - 4th

Season Summary

What a season for what was supposed to be a transition season! The headline news is...

CHALLENGE COMPLETED!

How did we do it? All we needed was the Copa Libertadores, and here's how it went!

Copa Libertadores - An easy group saw us go through without any problems at all. The second round draw was just as nice, putting us against , who we beat 7-0 on aggregate. The quarter-final saw us against our old nemesis Internacional. We scraped the home leg 1-0 which meant we just needed to avoid defeat in the away leg to go through. We managed it, with a hard fought 0-0 draw. The semi-final was against Sao Paulo, who were top of the league and had just beaten us 5-0. We went away in the first leg and put in an extraordinary performance to get a 2-1 win. THe second leg saw them mount a comeback and also win 2-1, sending the game to penalties. Somehow we held our nerve and won!

The final was the easiest game on paper, against Santos who have been really struggling lately. They took a 1-0 lead at half time but our super sub scored twice in the second half and we did it!!!

Finally, the first time I've ever completed this challenge!

The league? It was a good season but again too many draws

Players

So at the start of the season i decided I needed a new team so promoted 6 youth teamers to the first team with the challenge of seeing if they could keep hold of their places over the season. 5 of them did, and it worked pretty well!

Adriano Matias 40A - He was the key promotion. Only 20 he went in midfield as deep lying playmaker. He was phemomonal and quickly got labelled a wonderkid. He got better and better as the season went on. He got 20 assists over the season and finished as easily our most important player. Turned down a 44m offer from Benfica for him - luckily he had no interest in going here, his eyes were on Manchester City.

Bruno Fernandes 43A - I knew he would be good, but not this good this young. I threw him in as midfield partner for Matias at 17 and he was amazing. Together they are easily the best mdifield partnership I had. Once he turned 18 he was labelled a wonderkid, which was nice.

Joao Gabriel 28C - A weird one - he was a really late bloomer for us, not really breaking through the first team until 22/23. He turned 33 this season so I figured he'd be the first one slowlt eased out, but he was phenomonal and made himself undroppable. Easily his best season for us, at 33!

Bibi 34A - A fairly quiet season by his standards, only the 40 goals in his 59 games in all competitions

The final winning team!

So, the final career summary!

I might head over to England and give it another go there now, but it's a much tougher gig there!

Brentmeister · July 10, 2021

Congrats @libbyshuss :applause:

I'm at Mirassol too, hopefully I can join you in the HOF

XaW · July 10, 2021

Grats @libbyshuss! Excellent work in Brazil! :applause:

JLAB · July 10, 2021

Congrats @libbyshuss Really well done in Brazil!

libbyshuss · July 10, 2021

6 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

Congrats @libbyshuss

I'm at Mirassol too, hopefully I can join you in the HOF

I know, I felt a little bad posting directly under you! good luck, I enjoyed my time there, but i'm also kinda glad i can move on now!

Brentmeister · July 10, 2021

6 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

I know, I felt a little bad posting directly under you! good luck, I enjoyed my time there, but i'm also kinda glad i can move on now!

No probs, that was my first update in 7 weeks anyway!

Proffa · July 10, 2021

7 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

157 goals is outrageous

How can you even score that many goals (3.4 / match) and not win the league... :kriss:

Padders · July 10, 2021

38 minutes ago, Proffa said:

How can you even score that many goals (3.4 / match) and not win the league...

Tell me about it!

Padders · July 10, 2021

Season 52 - 2072/73

First season back in VN.

CHAMPIONS!

Back to back promotions and finally into the Football League

Also defended FA Trophy

Small stadium expansion by 1,500 seats to 5,750

Edited July 10, 2021 by Padders

dkouv · July 10, 2021

@libbyshuss congrats!! great to see you complete, from your updates it felt like you were getting closer and closer for a while now ))

scarp · July 10, 2021

Brora Rangers 2043/44

Europa League Group Stage | Europa League KO Stage

What an amazing season once more... We were playing around top three for the entire season but in my wildest dreams I did not imagine us actually lifting the trophy. What really helps us is that Celtic got substantially worse so all we have to do is fight Rangers, although Aberdeen had a great season aswell. Almost no changes to our team from last season as we are still getting carried by the Fox - Thomson - Miller trifecta supported with Mike Fyffe who scored 17 goals from CB and Sean Wilson who broke the record with 21 assists. This time we did not do that well in Cups but it does not matter. In Europa League we played fantastic in group stage and only lost to Tottenham in quarterfinals. First place in league also means we go straight into CL groups so we gonna get insane cash out of this! I honestly do not think we can repeat this and win the title again next season but lets see how it goes.

Transfers | Youth In-take

Key players: Gerard Fox, Paul Thomson & James Miller

Youth watch: Sean McWilliams, Stuart Doig & Jim Ure

XaW · July 11, 2021

Follo Fotballklubb - Season 2027 (Season 6) Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

The tactical change worked, there can be no doubt about! It's not exactly the same tactic I used before, but a variant that I tweaked throughout the season. We almost scored as much as we did a few seasons ago, but I've also managed to get us conceding less than a goal a game. Most of our losses were also marginal, with two matches where we lost with two goals, and three with one goal. So I'm very happy with how the tactical side of things are going and when we also have good intakes then I can't really complain. The biggest issue I have currently is that the youngsters are getting more attention now, and I'm fending off bids. So far I haven't had much issue with happiness or the board, but things can change fast.

Since we managed to get promoted after finishing 2nd place, I hope that will also keep the players happy and wanting to stay. The biggest issue is that we are still semi-professional and we don't have much money. I do hope we go professional no matter, but I'm afraid we'll have to try to survive as a semi-pro team next season...

In Norgesmesterskapet we beat Faaberg before we lost to Tromsø in the 2nd round.

Youth

I'm more than happy with this intake. Some nice talents overall.

Henrik Aune 27g looks very tasty out on the right wing!

Statistics:

Spoiler

Two very different countries added in the Faroe Islands and Colombia.

2nd team:

They only played friendlies

U19 team:

In the Norwegian U19 Championship Oslo they finished up top and qualified for the promotion playoff. In the semi final they beat Sandefjord before beating Haugesund in the final and being promoted to the national U19 league.

In the Norwegian U19 Cup they beat Brumunddal, Kvik Halden, and Bærum before losing to Start in the 4th round.

Records broken;

Most goals in a match: Erik Arnesen 25h - 4
Most goals in a league match: Erik Arnesen 25h - 4
Most league goals overall: Ernest Rzepecki - 128
Oldest goalscorer: Ernest Rzepecki - 29 years, 125 days

Trophy cabinet:

PostNord-ligaen Avdeling 2 - 2022

Norwegian U19 Championship Oslo - 2024, 2026, 2027

darren1983 · July 11, 2021

9 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

FC Mirassol - Brazil

season 24 - 2045

Serie A - 4th

Season Summary

What a season for what was supposed to be a transition season! The headline news is...

CHALLENGE COMPLETED!

How did we do it? All we needed was the Copa Libertadores, and here's how it went!

Copa Libertadores - An easy group saw us go through without any problems at all. The second round draw was just as nice, putting us against , who we beat 7-0 on aggregate. The quarter-final saw us against our old nemesis Internacional. We scraped the home leg 1-0 which meant we just needed to avoid defeat in the away leg to go through. We managed it, with a hard fought 0-0 draw. The semi-final was against Sao Paulo, who were top of the league and had just beaten us 5-0. We went away in the first leg and put in an extraordinary performance to get a 2-1 win. THe second leg saw them mount a comeback and also win 2-1, sending the game to penalties. Somehow we held our nerve and won!

The final was the easiest game on paper, against Santos who have been really struggling lately. They took a 1-0 lead at half time but our super sub scored twice in the second half and we did it!!!

Finally, the first time I've ever completed this challenge!

The league? It was a good season but again too many draws

Players

So at the start of the season i decided I needed a new team so promoted 6 youth teamers to the first team with the challenge of seeing if they could keep hold of their places over the season. 5 of them did, and it worked pretty well!

Adriano Matias 40A - He was the key promotion. Only 20 he went in midfield as deep lying playmaker. He was phemomonal and quickly got labelled a wonderkid. He got better and better as the season went on. He got 20 assists over the season and finished as easily our most important player. Turned down a 44m offer from Benfica for him - luckily he had no interest in going here, his eyes were on Manchester City.

Bruno Fernandes 43A - I knew he would be good, but not this good this young. I threw him in as midfield partner for Matias at 17 and he was amazing. Together they are easily the best mdifield partnership I had. Once he turned 18 he was labelled a wonderkid, which was nice.

Joao Gabriel 28C - A weird one - he was a really late bloomer for us, not really breaking through the first team until 22/23. He turned 33 this season so I figured he'd be the first one slowlt eased out, but he was phenomonal and made himself undroppable. Easily his best season for us, at 33!

Bibi 34A - A fairly quiet season by his standards, only the 40 goals in his 59 games in all competitions

The final winning team!

So, the final career summary!

I might head over to England and give it another go there now, but it's a much tougher gig there!

Congrats mate :applause:

Have added your name to the HoF

libbyshuss · July 11, 2021

Cheers guys, this challenge is so addictive I've jumped straight back in. So now i'm manager at....

They were founded in 2001, a fan owned breakaway club from Enfield FC after they were driven to the brink of extenction by an awful chairman.

The stadium is actually a really cool old art deco athletics stadium that was just altered for football use in 2011. The first task is to stay up - we have a good squad but they are generally on the old side so we might have a tricky first few seasons. We're bumping along the bottom with facilities as well so it's gonna be a long haul this time.

XaW · July 11, 2021

2 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

this challenge is so addictive

This thread summarised, really!

scarp · July 11, 2021

Brora Rangers 2044/45

Champions League Group Stage | Europa League KO Stage

All in all I am very happy with this season - 2nd place in league and two finals in both domestic cups. I knew last year was a fluke and that we will not repeat the title but I am happy how it went overall. In Europe we did well and once more got beaten by Spurs. We managed to again upgrade our facilities and bring in fantastic model citizen assistant manager in Joao Moutinho. Regarding team it's mostly the same with an exception of Gibb and Campbell making it into starting eleven. As our key players remain the same I will show the new generation of youngsters that I feel will help us progress even further very soon.

Transfers | Youth In-take

Upcoming players: Callum Gibb, Tom Campbell & Alex Maclean

Youth watch: Nabil Chaoui, Billel Brahmia & Craig Reid

darren1983 · July 11, 2021

Season 2041/42 Review - Premier League

League - This was a real struggle this year. No idea what went on with the team but our usually solid defence just fell apart (3rd or 4th most conceded goals) as all of our team just started making mistakes (missing headers, poor passes back, own goals etc) and felt the best way to deal with was to start kicking people as we had 7 red cards in the league (with 2 more in the cups) which is more than the last 4 seasons combined. I need a real think on what I plan to do next from a tactical view but also wonder if playing in Europe was a issue as our 11 are ok for this level but so many games meant players were tired and out of form

Europa League - despite losing our first 2 games we topped the group and made it all the way to the semi finals but Chelsea were too good for us

FA Cup - good run to the quarter finals (we always seem to fall here) but the 3-2 score makes it seem much closer than it was

League Cup - poor in this as usual

Transfers - usual loans out, I need to make a call on many of these to either sell now or not

Squad - we're in that tricky spot after 4 seasons, much like when spending time in the Championship, where by the better players that got us there have peaked and are just about able to keep our heads above water but the young players that will be better are not ready to 20+ games just yet. It's frustrating but part of the challenge.

Finances - the only good thing about the Premier League right now is the money, we will soon have the facilities maxed out as well

Youth Intake - Not great but better than the past 2. We did have 3 model citizens come through though which is a first for me

Don Roper 42A - young attacker can play wide or through the middle
Liam Dennis 42B - AMC but with his passing and vision will likely play deeper, needs work on his strength though
Joo Jung-Hyung 42C - 2 reasons for tagging this guy - first was that he was the best rated of our model citizens and second was because it was the first player to come through thanks to our link up with Suwon in South Korea (I am trying to get affiliates with great academies from all over the world)

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
2030/31		League One	1st 		Good 			Exceptional		Promoted as champions. Completed all coaching badges
2031/32		Championship	18th 		Excellent		Exceptional
2032/33		Championship	8th 		Excellent		Exceptional
2033/34		Championship	7th 		Excellent		Exceptional		Training ground upgrade, Academy up level 3, new ground announced
2034/35		Championship	6th 		Excellent		Exceptional		Lost in playoff semi finals
2035/36		Championship	9th 		Excellent		Exceptional 
2036/37		Championship	11th 		Excellent		Exceptional		Moved into new stadium
2037/38		Championship	3rd 		Excellent		Exceptional		Promotion via playoffs
2038/39		Premier League	16th 		Excellent		Exceptional		Youth Academy rating from level 3 to level 2
2039/40		Premier League	7th		Excellent		Exceptional 
2040/41		Premier League	5th 		Excellent		Exceptional		Youth Academy now Cat 1
2041/42		Premier League	14th 		Excellent		Exceptional

XaW · July 11, 2021

Just had our first youngster have a full international!

Yeah, it's for the Faroe Islands, but still, a cap is a cap!

scarp · July 11, 2021

@XaW Is it just me or this lad looks super good for 17 years old Faroese?

XaW · July 11, 2021

21 minutes ago, scarp said:

@XaW Is it just me or this lad looks super good for 17 years old Faroese?

Yeah, and that is why he is one of my best players already! He is born here in Nordre Follo though, so his Faroese parent must live around here somewhere!

XaW · July 11, 2021

Oh, and he also got his first national goal for the Faroese team. His 2nd match and a 3-3 friendly draw against Armenia.

scarp · July 11, 2021

Brora Rangers 2045/46

Champions League Group Stage | Europa League KO Stage

What a fantastic season! We were 1st in domestic league ever since round three and managed to sweep the title for second time in three years. To add onto Rangers' misery, we managed to beat them in Scottish Cup finals aswell and celebrate double! In Champions League we were handed pretty tough group but played well and almost advanced. In the end we went on to play Europa League where we beat Leicester and PAOK but lose to Barcelona in quarterfinals. Miller still remains our best player but Thomson may be replaced by Doig very soon. Fox is not as good as he used to be but he's still our number one. Gibb (20 years), Campbell (19) and McMahon (16) became important parts of our team aswell. Maclean also our number one CB at the moment and he can substitute Wilson as DM if Sean gets injured or suspended.

Transfers | Youth In-take

Key players: James Miller, Stuart Doig & Callum Gibb

Youth watch: Cammy Milne, Johnny Smith & Martin Mitring

LazyBandit · July 11, 2021

Alexandroupoli FC Season 1 (2022/23)

After some time with FC Locarno in Switzerland I've decided to move on. My newest venture takes me to Alexandroupoli FC in Greece. Located in the Eastern part of Greece, just across the border from Turkey, we start the save in the Greek Football League South, the 4th tier of Greece.

League Table

We started this save with only 12 players available to choose from, so I knew this season would be a difficult one. The league structure is interesting, with only the champion gaining promotion immediately. Positions 2-4 go into the promotion playoff and 5-10 go into relegation playoffs. Luckily we're allowed to carry over our point totals, and the Football League North has some pretty bad teams, so I'm confident we'll be able to avoid relegation.

Relegation Playoffs

Sure enough we were able to avoid relegation. Finishing 8th here looks bad, but we were 11 points clear of relegation. We did get our intake during the playoffs but we weren't allowed to register any of them. Hopefully we finish better next year.

Youth Intake Preview

Some promising signs, and I'm not complaining about getting new players in.

Youth Intake

Really only one player that can make an immediate impact on the first team, but lots of potential and some decent personalities. All players were signed, simply for depth. Would've loved to have gotten a decent striker, that's the position we most desperately need.

Thomas Zarogiannis - Charalampos Gotovos - Alexis Mandilaris

Progress

For our first season, with only 1 player available off the bench, it wasn't bad. Now that we've got more players available to us I hope the next season goes well.

Intake Map

We only added Greece and Albania in this years intake

Nations: 2/227 (0.88%)

LazyBandit · July 11, 2021

Pretty much immediately after the season ended I received messages that the club's president was retiring and that a Brazilian-based investor was looking to takeover the club. Needless to say I'm pretty excited about what this could bring going forward.

XaW · July 11, 2021

Follo Fotballklubb - Season 2028 (Season 7) Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So we are finally at the top tier in Norway. Being the only semi-professional team does make it much harder than I'd like, but we managed to show we could fight along side at least the lower rated teams anyway. In the end we finished mid-table, and I'm very happy with this as our debut season here. It started great as we won our first two matches, but then had a bit of a snag and lost the next 4. We settled in after that and slowly picked up points regularly. We were never really in danger of relegation, and that was the main goal for this whole season.

At the end we got a nice payout as well to put us back in a positive balance for the first time in a few years, so I hope we can save some money and push for the transition to fully professionals soon enough.

In Norgesmesterskapet we beat Klepp and Levanger before we lost to Rosenborg in the 3rd round.

Youth

More good intakes, and I really need them to improve the squad.

Nikolai Omoijuanfo 28e is a very nice and versatile player, but I mostly see him as a midfielder.

Statistics:

Spoiler

Very nice as we added Bosnia Herzegovina, Lithuania, and Iran to the map. Surprised we haven't had any Swedes yet though!

2nd team:

They only played friendlies

U19 team:

In the Norwegian National U19 Championship they finished in a very nice 8th place in their first season at the top tier.

In the Norwegian U19 Cup they beat Ull/Kisa and Kongsvinger before they lost to Lillestrøm in the 3rd round.

Records broken;

None

Trophy cabinet:

PostNord-ligaen Avdeling 2 - 2022

Norwegian U19 Championship Oslo - 2024, 2026, 2027

JAwtunes · July 12, 2021

Congrats @libbyshuss :applause:

XaW · July 12, 2021

21 hours ago, XaW said:

Oh, and he also got his first national goal for the Faroese team. His 2nd match and a 3-3 friendly draw against Armenia.

Both his matches for the Faroese national team was friendlies, and he has now gotten capped for Norway U19s so I think he has switched sides!

scarp · July 12, 2021

@XaW that's a pity. He had potential to become the best faroese ever

Edited July 12, 2021 by scarp

Padders · July 12, 2021

Season 53 - 2073/74

First season in SBL2

Great season, finishing 5th

And getting to the Play Off Final

Unfortunately we lost to Exeter 0-3

Edited July 12, 2021 by Padders

XaW · July 12, 2021

12 minutes ago, scarp said:

@XaW that's a pity. He had potential to become the best faroese ever

I agree, I had such hopes for him! I do hope he changes his mind again though....

$Flashman\'s School Days$ · July 12, 2021

Stafford Rangers - Season 2023/24 Review

Manager Profile - Transfers - Fixtures 1 - 2 - 3

National League North - 1st (Champions!)

An incredible season! Starting off strongly for the third season in a row we managed to really maintain it this year instead of the drop offs we've had previously. Even when losing we were able to steady to the ship quickly but Spennymoor battled us all the way until the end of the season. We swapped first and second place quite regularly and it all came down to playing each other in the penultimate game of the season, with them only a point behind us after we had both had a couple of bad results. Fortunately we managed to avenge the earlier season defeat to them as we scored a 90th minute winner to win the game and the league title.

In the FA Cup we again managed a 1st Round appearance. The first couple of games were against lower league opposition and easy wins but then we had newly relegated (into our league!) Bolton away from home. This was not only great for our bank balance due to sharing the gate receipts of an almost 9k crowd but we also smashed them 6-1 to set up a home game against League One Bradford CIty. I didn't fancy our chances whatsoever but we played amazingly and were 3-2 up at half time, they scored an equaliser and peppered the goal but I thought we had held out for a brilliant replay, 4 minutes of stoppage time was added and they scored the winner on 94:40 which was a real kick in the teeth, we had played brilliantly though.

The FA Trophy ended in the third round to a team from the league above again. This time it was King's Lynn, we had managed to get 4-2 up with 20 mins still to go and ended up losing 5-4 after extra time despite having a much better xG, hopefully it's a good sign that we can score plenty of goals next season though.

Squad

Of the senior players last season two departed, one signed for a team in Wales and the other wouldn't sign a contract extension then left on a free then has spent all season without a club. These departures were both in defence so allowed three youth players to get a lot of game time although the two fullbacks didn't put in great average performances. Mark Fairclough 22f though had a really good season with the best average rating of any defender. Craig Hawley 22h continues to completely outperform his ability chipping in with 24 goal contributions. Mitch Candlin had a good return in goals and assists but he went from 14 goals in 16 league games to 19 in 45 which is a ridiculous drop off in goalscoring, luckily he still played well and kept the assists coming.

Jamie Sleigh was the pick of the players, contributing the most goals and scoring some important goals including the one to win us the league.

Youth Intake

A fantastic youth intake again this season and it's exciting to see even the lowest rated players are still pretty good. I just need to start trusting some of them in more key positions as the first team players are getting older.

The pick of the players are as follows

Youth Intake Map

Spoiler

Finances

We made amazing progress with our finances this season, owing to the brilliant fixtures we had in the cup run but also in the early part of the season where the games are twice a week we seem to make money really easily because of all the home games we get in.

I got Youth Recruitment upgraded during the season, but I'm not sure if anyone else has had this but I got Junior Coaching upgrades agreed twice this season and both times it said that it had gone from "average" to "good" but it was already "good" at the start of the season. I don't know whether there is something stopping it properly upgrading or if it'll be a real killer of a bug.

Next Season

Hopefully survive but I would also like to go pro sooner rather than later to get the most out of the potential we have in the youth players.

Padders · July 12, 2021

Season 54 - 2074/75

Promoted as Champions of SBL2

Not a over competitive division with only needing 88 points!

Padders · July 12, 2021

Anyone else experiencing issues when uploading pictures? Saying its failed but when you post they are showing?

Proffa · July 12, 2021

Padders, is your club status professional? Didn't notice it from the updates.

Anyway, keep up the good work!

Padders · July 12, 2021

14 minutes ago, Proffa said:

Padders, is your club status professional? Didn't notice it from the updates.

Anyway, keep up the good work!

Yes went professional when promoted to SBL2

Edited July 12, 2021 by Padders

Padders · July 12, 2021

Season 55 - 2075/76

First season in SBL1 was a very good one

Finished 4th but unfortunately lost in the play offs

Intake looks good

First new stadium announced.

scarp · July 12, 2021

@Padders Great form last few seasons! Can you show your best players?

Padders · July 12, 2021

Season 56 - 2076/77

After a storming first season in SBL1, throw in a dreadful season and relegated back to SBL2

Edited July 12, 2021 by Padders

Padders · July 12, 2021

1 minute ago, scarp said:

@Padders Great form last few seasons! Can you show your best players?

This is a from a few weeks ago so they are not at the club anymore, sorry

Padders · July 12, 2021

Season 57 - 2077/78

Promoted straight back to SBL1

Champions with 97 points

libbyshuss · July 12, 2021

Season 1 - 2021/22

Vanarama National League South

Position: 3rd

Season Summary

A really good first season. I would have been happy with survival but we put together some really good runs and came really close to automatic promotion.

As it was, we had to settle for the play-offs. We won the semi-final 1-0 against Havant and Waterlooville to set up a home tie against Slough for the final.

We were favourites, having finished 4 places and 13 points higher but these things don't always work out like that.

Agonisingly close on our first season!

Players

So Enfield had a pretty decent squad for a newly promoted team. A really strong defence and keeper really helped us. A few too many 30+ players but what can you do?

Here's the team of the year:-

Shaun Okojie - good quality striker for this level. Nice and consistent, he'll be important over the next couple of seasons

Jeremiah Gyebie - Quality defender, mountain at the back all season long and only 22 as well. I might struggle to keep hold of him.

Youth

Not the greatest of previews, but to be honest I couldn't really expect any better either

It looks good but i think its more a reflection of how poor my squad is currently. A couple of nice personalities thanks to my HoYD. His stats are rubbish, but he has a fairly proffessional personality. None of the intake really stand out but some will no doubt play in the first team soon.

Finances and Upgrades

So our facilities are terrible and our cash flow isn't great. We need a cup run! The board did agree to this though:-

and then announced this

Edited July 12, 2021 by libbyshuss

Padders · July 12, 2021

Happens all the time!!!

9 league wins in a row!

Lose to bottom of the league......................................

XaW · July 13, 2021

Follo Fotballklubb - Season 2029 (Season 8) Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well this was a surprising season! I mean, we didn't play much better this season than the last, but we finished a fair few places higher. So we are heading into Europe next season, and we have started to make some money! The main goal for the coming seasons is to make enough to finally go professional. The intakes are very good, and the team plays good, but we are not developing good enough until we can go full time. I keep pestering the board, but they have said we can't afford it for some time. So I'm not asking for any improvements until that is secured. Bring on Europe!

In Norgesmesterskapet we beat Tynset and Skarbøvik before we lost to Stabæk in the 3rd round.

Youth

A good intake with some very solid abilities, but I am starting to notice less potential. I think it's due to the level of the first team is getting higher overall.