The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[toshimitzou1]

57 minutes ago, XaW said:

sign them up earlier and on bigger and longer deals

Definitely the way forwards. Any youth candidate with decent potential I try to put on a full-time contract with '3/2/1 year optional contract extension club' clauses in. It usually means you have to quite heavily boost their starting wage, but can lead to some much higher long - term profit margins for players whom will be tied down for 3 years minimum.

[toshimitzou1]

Another one bites the dust! Time to retrain a RB to play RM. Doh.

[JAwtunes]

Anyone else love using tackle harder individual instruction?

[Sn00gle]

30 minutes ago, JAwtunes said:

Anyone else love using tackle harder individual instruction?

I had same issue and just gave up with this...

[_JHTB_]

CSA Steaua Bucuresti - Season 1 Liga II

Table1 -- Table2 -- Transfers -- Squad

 

Season Update

I suspected due to Romania having a viewable but not playable 3^rd tier meant that the size of the squad that I inherited would be a lot more manageable than in other countries to start this off, and I was correct, us having a pretty well balanced starting XI alongside plenty players in reserve to fill the bench and some.

The first action of the save came when our best player got annoyed at me for not selling him, which also annoyed most of the rest of the squad, so I reluctantly sold him which of course annoyed more of our squad for letting a key player go, what do they want from me?

As for the on field side of things, we went well, I adopted a possession based approach which the team seemed to take well to as we set about a successful campaign. With us only playing each team once before the league split we essentially relied on our strong home record to propel us up the league as we managed to secure a 5^th place finish in the opening phase (joint with 7 but for goal difference) and far from what I’d anticipated, were in with a chance at an immediate promotion.

The Champions Playoff sees the top 6 play each other in a mini league home and away so we knew if we could capitalise on our prowess in front of our own fans we might just do it. It wasn’t really our home record that did it in the end, more just us being better than 2 others as we made it to the promotion playoffs which we comfortably won in both the home and away legs to gain promotion at the first time of asking.

I don’t know whether promotion is actually good for us, I was happy enough to remain in the second tier and just build up slow, especially as the boards 5 year plan involved ‘Avoid finishing bottom of the league’ for every season, but perhaps it will bring us extra riches and allow us to more quickly improve the facilities.

We had the highest average attendance in the country this season, but when we’re charging £1 per ticket, it’s not a huge boost to the revenue really.

Youth

A ‘Golden Generation’ expected from the intake preview.

An underwhelming intake when it arrived, a couple of players who maybe will have an impact like Gigel Birsan, who is probably going to end up in the immediate term a back up centre back despite his height being not at all suited to playing there.

Story So Far

 

 

Edited August 19, 2021 by _JHTB_

[libbyshuss]

2047/48 - Season 27

Premier League - 16th

Season Summary

Really disappointing season to be honest, after our lofty position last season.

League - I went into the league with crazy confidence, what with our form at then end of last season and the way we performed in pre-season. I mean, look at our results!

Lovely stuff! so I was very excited to get going. The first three league games were against Leeds, West Ham and Brighton - 3 mid-table teams who we need to be beating if we're going to get to the next level. We lost all three of them and found ourselves bottom of the table. The next five games saw us get some results at last and start climbing the table but then winter hit us hard. We only won 2 out of 17 league games and saw us drawn into a relegation battle.

I got really worried in February when we had a run of games against the three teams in the relegation spots. WBA first, which we won. Arsenal away, which we lost, and then Derby, bottom of the league, at home. Which we lost. By a lot. Suddenly the table looked a lot worse and we were fighting for our lives

We scraped a couple of results together, perfromed brilliantly to beat Liverpool 3-0 at home, and then found ourselves going into the final game of the season needing a result.

We were away at 2nd placed Wolved, Brighton had WBA at home and Arsenal away to mid-table Leeds. We only needed a point and we got it, with a 1-1 draw. In the end we didn't need it as Brighton only drew and Arsenal lost, but still a lot closer than I'd have liked at this stage

FA Cup - yeah, a fourth round exit again! 

Players

Trouble is, too many of the team are still only Championship quality according to my assman. Only 4 are really premier league quality, which isn't enough really

My best XI this season:-

Pierce Considine 43A - the obvious star. He was magnificent and is gonna be a superstar. He's started complaining about wanting continental football already so it'll be a battle to hold on to him. Golden boot winner too and you can see why. look at this goal - like a young Robbie Fowler!

John Francis 41B - My superstar keeper just got called up to the England squad for the Euros! still not made his debut but only a matter of time, surely!

Jayden Buckle 37E - was poor. Lucky to play as many games as he did, he stunk the place out a lot

Claudio Barcham-Driver - gotta feel sorry for the lad. Lost his place at the start of the season, won it back again, was playing brilliantly and then broke his leg and was out for 8 months. Only managed 11 games.

Christopher Agyemang 36A - time to say goodbye to the legend that is Agyemang. After scoring for us in the National league, league 2, league 1, the Championship and the premier league he's found the step-up to top flight football a bridge too far. So he's off to Greece. He's still only 27! He's leaving us with 311 goals in 407 games. The last 3 seasons brought his ratio right down though. If I have my way there'll be a statue to the lad outside our new stadium - he dragged us up through the leagues!

Wonderkids

Still the two - Considine 43A and Boga 43B. Both 21 and easily our best two players now

Youth

So, finally a preview with more green text than yellow text! just!

 

The intake was ok, but it looks better than it is. The personalities and determination aren't great, and neither are the physical and mental attributes. Theere's a lot of potential, but also a lot of work needed to bring any through

 

Finances and Upgrades

Almost maxxed out all facilities - training ground should be done in September.

The board are also talking about building another new stadium already!

The next step is getting our reputation up and that needs European football

 

Career

 

[JLAB]

So I've managed to get a link from South America in the form of the Uruguayan team, Defensor Sporting.

Though I think the change of having academy players from Uruguay turning up in my youth intake might be pretty solid, especially if I can also turn this into a merchandising sales thing too.

[toshimitzou1]

18 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

The personalities and determination aren't great

Your right, that is a dodgy bunch of Balotellis!

[toshimitzou1]

Sh*t the bed. So this is where I am at this exact moment in time:

Wow. In our first foray into continental football, we looked like flunking out in the second stage of qualifiers. We got done away in the first leg, 0 - 3, where I foolishly used the flat 4-4-2 in the first half of a European away tie. I cut my losses at half time, shifting to this defensive variant that helped us see out the game without conceding more:

Now chasing a 3 - 0 deficit from thee first leg, I opted to deploy my attacking variant from kick - off and that had got us three first half goals!!! Her it what is being used right now:

Come on the boys!!! I've got 45 mins to grab a goal and complete an epic turn-a-round....

Updated: And we are out. Joke of a second half. Need more quality up top.

Edited August 19, 2021 by toshimitzou1
Full Time Result

[Padders]

Season #89 - 2110/11

Another mid table finish, 10th.

Another mid season slump and we never really got going.

Ageing squad a bit at the moment so really need to have a look at phasing them out.

Jonah Manso was mentioned in the Intake Preview.

He is below, I've got high hopes for him!

 

[the_hdk]

Polonia Warsaw - Season 11

League

League Stats / Transfers / Transfers 2 / Best 11 / League Win

Great season. 3rd Championship and the 5th for the club! We seem to win every 3 years?! Best seaosn so far point wise! 76...one more than our former record. From december we ware leading and didn't give it awat, altough past was only 3 points behind Piast for most of the season. They ware the unexpected contender, having an averege team. Legia and Lech Poznan (champion from last year) ware very disapointing, especially as a their team was on par with ours beginning of the season. We started the seaosn with some though choices. One of team leaders...and Georgian A-International STURUA left for France for a very low fee. He had a big contract and my youngsters surpassed him by more than a star. It was time. 23 Caps and 1 goal for Georgia. 236 league games for Polonia in Ekstraklasa and 3 goals! Club legend. I hope to bring him back to the club after he retires. 2nd  choice to do was to sell KLEPACKI and go all in for 17-year old DABROWSKI as 1st 11 CD. That turned out ok I guess and DABROWSKI still has 1,5 star to grow. Sadly our other A-International BUTKUS choose to leave to M'Gladbach for 1,9mln. He was rotation anyway and I agreed to the bid...to put my ingame son into the team! PRZYBYLSKI had a good rookie season on RB but missed a bit too many games due to injuries. Same applies to MROZEK. my in-game son. Jacques OLISADEBE had a brilliant rookie season. 31 games, 4 goals and 6 assists! But most importantly he's really imporving alot. From 2 stars to 3,5. Sadly his potential is only halve a star more. Still this way he can stay a 1st 11 player for his whole career at Polonia!. I gave the young lad the same number his old man was playing in 2000 at Polonia "11". At attack GROMEK joined first team and is already 4 stars...bringing HALUCH back to only 3!. RUTKOWSKI replaced TOMCZYK who gold sold in winter break to Nijmegen for 2,5mln. We really do not need the money but his salary was high and his contract was ending next season. And RUTKOWSKI was halve a star behind. 

New record in the cup! 3rd round!!! (technically ecualised our record) still horrible. The cup games come at really bad point inbetween champions league and many league games. (excuses excuses)

 

Biggest sale of the season. Tomczyk for 2,5mln.

Champions League

Crazy...just crazy! we passed on to 1st knockout round!. We eleminated winners of last year AC Milan!. We lost twice to Man U. Won at home from Milan last away. equalised M'Gladbach at home and won in legandary game away 0-1!.

In knockout round we played Real Madrid. That was really a level too high. Lost at home 0-1 and 1-3 away. Still a brilliant run! I truly believe I finally have a team that can dominate Poland for the next seasons. The next step is to have some youngsters that can give us a regular CL run. 

Season Stats

3rd Championship!. Best result in CL so far. We need to enlarge our stadium!

Affiliates

Alot of changes this season. We lost 3 teams adn replaced them with Diosgyor in Hungary, Wisla Plock in 2nd level for loans and Cornella for hopefully some talented spanish youngsters!.

Youth

Predicted Youth intake

Could be better for a GG. Three players who could make 1st 11. Disapointing no foriegn kids.

Can JAKUBIAK replace SARNOWSKi in the future? He seems to have more potential!.

The other is a hard needed CB!. Its right now our worst part of the team. He needs to work on his heading! Not very high work rate so im unsure if he's going to make it.

Alot of youngsters from Warszawa (7) this year. Nothing unusual.

Job Offers

Job offer Ol. Lyon / AS Roma

Roma really wants me. Third job offer. Lyon with their first.

[Sn00gle]

What I noticed its realy hard to get youth from affiliates in Poland it usually goes after 10 seasons od european games ... Compare o other countries.

[the_hdk]

22 minutes ago, Sn00gle said:

What I noticed its realy hard to get youth from affiliates in Poland it usually goes after 10 seasons od european games ... Compare o other countries.

2 years to go than

[Sn00gle]

2 hours ago, the_hdk said:

2 years to go than

In one FM I did test as I had 5 clubs and never get note on intake that there is any player from them. After some roles Ive got it but I think its less then 10%. In best role I've got 4 guys from Montenegro and one from Austria + random newgen. But to archive it you have to be on top 4 clubs from Poland + a lot of european reputation. I was 2 times on European League semis but never won Polish league at last got cup few times 🤣 Randomly from game you get one foreign player in 2-3 years.

[XaW]

Ok, I have a fantastic HoYD in Declan Rice, but I'm still thinking about switching him out. I have two great options... Any thoughts?

[Winski]

I would go for Steve Cook! Model Citizen, fantastic attributes, and I like his tactical style and preffered formation. But it's a close call with Lewis Thomas. If I was in your position, I would hire Cook

[OlivierL]

Player poached

The 4th player .. the first by a foreign club.

 

[libbyshuss]

39 minutes ago, XaW said:

I have two great options... Any thoughts?

depends on formations i guess? I use 433 predominantly so probably thomas. Lovely problem to have though, i haven't found any model citizen HoyD yet. Still stuck with my professional one from 20 seasons ago!

[JLAB]

So officially my 3rd wonderkid to come through the Siena academy has finally been confirmed. Given that my other two wonderkids have both found themselves at Real Madrid for a combined fee of £296M, he has some big boots to fill.

[Padders]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Ok, I have a fantastic HoYD in Declan Rice, but I'm still thinking about switching him out. I have two great options... Any thoughts?

Thomas for me but only just over Cook

The motivating stat the decider for me

[XaW]

1 hour ago, Winski said:

I would go for Steve Cook! Model Citizen, fantastic attributes, and I like his tactical style and preffered formation. But it's a close call with Lewis Thomas. If I was in your position, I would hire Cook

25 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

depends on formations i guess? I use 433 predominantly so probably thomas. Lovely problem to have though, i haven't found any model citizen HoyD yet. Still stuck with my professional one from 20 seasons ago!

1 minute ago, Padders said:

Thomas for me but only just over Cook

The motivating stat the decider for me

Thanks for the input, lads. As much as I love a Model Citizen, a Perfectionist is not far off on my level of personalities. For context:

Spoiler

Model Citizen:

Professionalism: 15-20
Determination: 14-20
Ambition: 12-20
Loyalty: 15-20
Sportsmanship: 15-20
Pressure: 14-20
Temperament: 15-20

Perfectionist:

Professionalism: 14-20
Determination: 14-20
Ambition: 14-20
Temperament: 1-9

So for the main things (Pro, Det, Amb), the Perfectionist is about equal to the Model Citizen.

I've leaned back and forth, but in the end, I think I will go for Cook. It's really close though!

[JLAB]

This is a stage I wasn't sure I'd ever reach, but here we are now.

[XaW]

I've started to make a lot of money on young players, and not even keeping them for long. Like this kid:

He came through in March, and I just sold him to Brentford for a nice sum. He is not a bad player, but not one I think would ever make it here (a bit basic! ) . If I hadn't the PL money, this would allow me to continue having a high youth cost for a while.

[libbyshuss]

18 minutes ago, XaW said:

I've started to make a lot of money on young players, and not even keeping them for long. Like this kid:

yeah, i've started the same. It's funny, cos they're players I'd have killed for in the first 4 or 5 seasons. 

Most of the time I send them out on loan first, get their valuation up a little!

[Muttley84]

 

Season 3 - 2023-2024

Competitions
In the 2. Bundesliga table we finished in 13th which is pretty much the same as last season. No notable improvements there. In the DFB-Pokal we were knocked out in the third round by Bayern, but the money from that run helped a bit. No significant improvements in the competitions this season and we are turning into a boring mid-table club. It is indicative that I attracted an offer from Karlsruhe, so my profile in-game has not grow a lot really.

Players
Yet again not a lot of rotation in our squad, with the main players getting over 30+ games. Still only Toksoz managed to break in the team of the season (he was also our top goalscorer with 11), while Oguzhan Aydogan was again the main man in creating chances (10 assists). Dustin Zahnen remains player of the season for our fans for the second year in a row. 

Facilities
The board refused to improve any of the youth or transfer facilities, so we are left with the same old. We only attracted around 35% of the stadium (average 10870 spectators) and therefore no signs of improvement there either. Instead the board decided we needed another affiliate club and developed a 45k partnership with Memmingen (which are a Regionalliga club). 

Finances
This is the healthiest our finances have been since the beginning. Of course, we are still losing money each month but that is easily compensated by the around 10M we get in prize money from our league positions. In also helps that our Annual Revenues were going up on all levels compared to last season. We were given a wage budget of around 6M and 2M for transfers next season, which is an improvement over last season, to bad I have nothing to spend them on.

Transfers
Of course no players in, but 3 players on Transfers out. Nothing I should cry about anyways, they were surplus to requirements. 

Youth
The Youth Intake Preview predicted another golden generation for our club, but in the end it was again reduced in numbers, as we only got 5 players. Starting to get a bit annoying that each season one of the top 3 prospects is a GK, is not like I can play with more than one or could retrain them into a striker. The top prospect this intake is Enes Ekinci (aka Ekinci 24a from now on) which looks pretty decent. Him and Rohr will get rotational chances in first team next season, while Fojcik, Cenic and Epstein will move straight into the Reserves (who are now finishing in mid-table mediocrity their Reserves League 2). Wonder what would it take to get 7-8 players in each intake so I can have a bit of variety and compensate the natural losses. 

 

[Sn00gle]

@the_hdk you are playing on fan database as you are going with Polonia which is in 3 league lvl in Poland and there is no way to get it?

[JAwtunes]

Season 6 (2025-26) Review

On the pitch

Starting 11:

Spoiler

Domestic:  We managed to win the league despite a late drop in form that saw us lose our last three games of the season.  Quarter finalists of the cup but this remains a low priority.

Spoiler

Cup

Europe: Amazing season that saw us reach the group stage of the Europa League (Via the Champions League qualification round) and then saw us slip into the Conference League after failing to get out of our Europa League Group.  So, we played in all three competitions this season!

Spoiler

Champions League Qualification

Europa League

Europa Conference League

 

Off the pitch

Youth intake: Described by HoYD as a golden generation

Spoiler

Players:

Spoiler

Top players

 

Spoiler

Top 2026 youth intake

 

Sale: The board sold our top prospect to Inter Milan.  I protested but the offer was apparently too good to turn down.  I have managed to force thorugha few board requests with the money that sale brought in (and the European money).

Spoiler

SUMMARY

Around the world (UCL = PSG; Copa Lib. = Palmeiras; Balon d'Or = K Mbappe (4); World Cup = France(4))

Spoiler

UEFA Champions League - nice to see Ajax, Rangers and Benfica make it to the first KO round.

Copa Libertadores

Balon d'Or

FIFA World Cup 2026 (USA, Canada, Mexico) = France winners for the 3rd consecutive tournament!

 

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by JAwtunes

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 36th Folkestone Intake Report and 32nd Intake Review 

There’s a few potentially good players here. None of my recent right backs have threatened my long time starter who’s 30 now, and my top prospect is too short for me to use him in the centre, so let’s see how he gets on.

Darius Westwood 36a  - Not sure that his PPM of running down the left will be too helpful in a right back, and Light-Hearted personalities tell me nothing about their professionalism. Maybe when his det of 14 increases by one he’ll turn out to have good hidden attributes.

Osei Naiwo 36b – Is fast and has high physical attributes for quite a few of the things important for a right winger. On the other hand, he’s tiny and stupid. The low determination is easily fixed, unless he's too stupid to realise what a fine is.

YP32 Review

This was my last intake before I gave up on the challenge for a while, and the 2 things were probably at least somewhat related.

Here’s what I wrote;

Quote

 

With yet another golden generation promised, and improved facilities, I dreamed that this would be the one that actually deliver a wonderkid, or maybe just someone good from the go.

Instead I got an absolute stinker. My worst ever? Well, some of the previous 31 weren’t great, and it will take a few years to be certain, but this looks like it’s certainly going to be down there.

 

 

Aidan Crossan 32a – He was a goalkeeper with low determination, and I couldn’t increase it through fines or mentoring. In the end I sold him this season for £500k plus lots of clauses. Hopefully will make some more money from him eventually.

David Bevan 32b – A short central defender. Has never played a first team game, and almost certainly never will. Reasonable potential. Hopefully someone will buy him as I will now try to flog him.

Leighton Llewellyn 32c – Sold for peanuts, and not even worth the peanuts.

Lloyd Wynne 32d – The only player from the entire intake to ever play in our first team, but currently out on loan, and I’m only going to keep him for his Resolute personality, probably as an U18 mentor.

There’s no point going on. There’s a couple of players who may find their level in a lower league, but basically, it’s at the very least my joint worst intake. Absolutely nobody of any use, other than Lloyd future mentor Wynne.

[libbyshuss]

6 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

The low determination is easily fixed, unless he's too stupid to realise what a fine is

lol, I've had a few like that. First U18 game, first fine and they throw their toys out the pram. One of them was so stupid he's been on loan for the past 6 seasons, i don't even want to see his face!

Valued at 12.5m now, might have to sell his idiot ass...

[the_hdk]

1 hour ago, Sn00gle said:

@the_hdk you are playing on fan database as you are going with Polonia which is in 3 league lvl in Poland and there is no way to get it?

nope. play with original database. I just waited 2 seasons for them to promote. first save the first year and see they are promoted to II liga. Save...wait another seaosn...and get a bit lucky to see them promote again. took me only 5 re-runs

[hyrule_king]

Meh

Youth Intake Preview - 9th Intake

Edited August 20, 2021 by hyrule_king

[Muttley84]

Renegotiated the contract of Y. Toksoz 22c this summer, as he was the main threat upfront of us. However big I put the wage I couldn't not get rid of the Agent Minimum Release fee. A month later and clubs started throwing offers at us for him, until Freiburg matched the release fee, and off he goes. Looking back I think I was stupid not to negotiate better an offer - like I could have gotten maybe 1.5M and also get him to stay with us for another season. I won't make that mistake again, and when it will be obvious I cannot retain a player at the club I will negotiate the best offer and let him go - as much as it hurts me. Now we are left with a couple of poor options as CA upfront, but we will have to make do. Silver lining is that with 2M coming into the club the board has finally decided to accept an upgrade for the youth facilities. It is going to be a hard fought season. 

[Sn00gle]

2 hours ago, the_hdk said:

nope. play with original database. I just waited 2 seasons for them to promote. first save the first year and see they are promoted to II liga. Save...wait another seaosn...and get a bit lucky to see them promote again. took me only 5 re-runs

You are the the Boss here 😁

[JLAB]

ACN Siena 1904 - Season 24 - 2044/45 Youth Intake

Alright, my youth intake has arrived and the promised three amazing midfielders have come to the club, which is nice. Just got to hope I can actually develop them.

The midfielder who is expected to have the biggest potential is Luca Franzese, and he is the only midfielder that I can say that outright matches the positions that we currently play right now. He's got some room to grow, but hopefully his potential is not a glass ceiling that he will be stuck under.

Walter Vannuncci is a midfielder who is also apparently a winger who likes to play on the left side of the pitch a lot. He's good to have since we are lacking in the left-footed central midfielders as of late.

Just like Walter Vannucci, his first name is Walter and he can also play as a winger. Unlike Vannucci, Disegni likes to run through the centre of the pitch, which is good.

Andreas Vesternbæk is a Danish centre-back who came to the club through our affiliation with Vejle BK, he's an exciting young talent and hopefully will be as good as Paulino currently is. It's a nice dream to have.

[libbyshuss]

1 hour ago, Muttley84 said:

However big I put the wage I couldn't not get rid of the Agent Minimum Release fee.

I lost a few players like that as well, it's really annoying. No matter what, the agent insisted on some crappy release fee and off they go, usually to rot in some teams reserves for years on end

drives me nuts!

[toshimitzou1]

Hmm, not quite what I expected at the half way stage!

[streety]

regarding this challange. In italy do you have to accept the lowest team in Seria C/C or can you take any newly promoted team from any of the 3 italian C leagues?

[libbyshuss]

6 hours ago, streety said:

regarding this challange. In italy do you have to accept the lowest team in Seria C/C or can you take any newly promoted team from any of the 3 italian C leagues?

any of the newly promoted teams into the lowest playable league

[Muttley84]

6 hours ago, streety said:

regarding this challange. In italy do you have to accept the lowest team in Seria C/C or can you take any newly promoted team from any of the 3 italian C leagues?

Given that Serie C is the lowest playable league, after you simulate 1 year you can take any of the 9 clubs promoted from Serie D into Serie C. You can find them either in Italy > Season Overview or by going into each series Table > Season Preview and see who has a P next to them.

[hyrule_king]

Portugal is such a grind, you win your group and then have to play another set of games.

[OlivierL]

Youth intake preview - Class 2025

Looks good but again nothing about a striker we really need.

[OlivierL]

22 hours ago, Winski said:

I would go for Steve Cook! Model Citizen, fantastic attributes, and I like his tactical style and preffered formation. But it's a close call with Lewis Thomas. If I was in your position, I would hire Cook

i agree with Winski @XaW Cook is the best (but his determination is lower as your current Model Cit. hoyd.

[Padders]

Season #90 - 2111/12

Another midtable finish

Just can't get that consistency going. Highly frustrating.

New stadium opened

Not much else to report really. Intake average. 

Sean Carey is 29 yrs old now, so will start to decline very soon. Still another great season with 51 goals

 

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2056/57 Folkestone Season Report

Like the last 4 seasons, it came down to the final match of the regular season, but this time, instead of contending for a playoff place (which we failed to obtain all 4 seasons in case you’ve missed my tales of woe), we were fighting for automatic promotion, and indeed for the title.

With one match to go, these were the standings.

Norwich                93 points

Folkestone           91

Crystal Palace     89

However, we have by far the toughest final match against Notts Forest in 5^th place. On the other hand, our goal difference means we only need a point. Surely we can’t cock it up again.

So, in a dramatic final match…

Spoiler

 

Folkestone 0-0    Notts Forest

I was lying about it being dramatic. It was one of the  most uneventful matches I’ve ever managed, and Crystal Palace were getting hammered, so there was no stress. I brought on my promising youngsters and went for the match late on to try and secure the title, but the entire match was just a stalemate, with the emphasis very much on stale.

Still, never mind. We’re promoted.

 

 

At the start of the season, with the aforementioned 4 successive failures on the last day to even make the playoffs, I knew I had to change something. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result and all that.

I’d basically used two tactics for this entire save. Tactic 1 had seen us stay in the VNL South for the first 16 seasons of the save. Tactic 2 had secured 3 successive promotions and allowed us one season in the Premier League. I honestly didn’t think my tactics were really the problem, but instead were doing a good job compensating for the failings of my players.

However I adopted a tactic that is a mixture of tactics 1 and 2, which to be fair are very similar anyway. And less attacking, which is ironic because we scored slightly more goals than usual.

And it worked. I mean, I was terrified the whole season as my previous tactic had also worked, until near the end when our form plummeted off a cliff every single season.

I dare say the tactics did work, but also, a couple of our players have really improved. We have our first wonderkid, and after a few promising goalies who broke their promise, we finally had someone good between the sticks again.

Will we survive in the Premier League this time. I think we will. We are much better than the season we reached the top through the playoffs. The only worry is that 4 of my first team will be over 30 when next season starts and they’re 3 of my best players. It really was a golden generation. However, below them is an ocean of promising youngsters. Apart from one crap central defender, the next oldest first teamer is 23. The next golden generation looks to be in place.

Top Goalscorer – Dominic Riley 29a – 32

We finally had a player score over 30 goals again. We used to regularly have both our starters achieve this, but I never appreciated what I had,

Veteran striker Dave Jackson 21b scored 26 despite being injured for much of the season. His starting spot is under threat though. I have only one promising young striker, who did very well in Jackson’s injury absence, so I kind of need to give him playing time to ensure he develops. Jackson is 31 now, and will doubtless decline soon.

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Dominic Riley 29a – 7.26

 

Man of The Match – Dominic Riley 29a – 11

 

Most Valuable Player– Mohamed Kargbo 33a

Hell, no, it’s not Riley.

Kargbo is by a mile the best player to ever come through the ranks, and my first and only wonderkid. Still only 18 years old, I am a little worried that someone will stump up for his £32.5 million release clause. If we get relegated from the Premier League, the clause goes down to 19.5, and he’d almost certainly be gone then.

Immediately after promotion, he said he wants to leave, so now I have an unhappy wonderkid on my hands.

Most Appearances (Regens) – Jason ‘Nepotism’ Ramsay 1a – 719

34 year-old central defender Pete Larkin 18d is now on 668. He’s one of three central defenders who are equally bad, but I have a very promising youngster immediately behind them, and my plan at the moment is to put Larkin out to pasture next season. He’s in steep decline now. He has 3 years left on his contract, and hopefully he’ll stick around for all of them because he’s a Model Pro and useful as a mentor.

I don’t think any of the earlier golden generation mentioned above will make it.

 

Most Goals (Regens) – Michael Morgan 9a – 463

Dave Jackson at 31 is on 376. Another record that will probably never be broken.

 

Barry Ramsay 29k (Son) Update

There’s just nothing to say. I kept him at the club this season rather than sending him out on loan to Halifax again. Nobody else wants him on loan. Nobody has expressed an interest in buying him outright. Tried to send him on loan to a new Czech affiliate club, but he didn’t want to go. He’s 23 now, and maybe I need to consider trying to sell him. I’ve promoted him to the first team to try to improve his unambitious personality. He’s the one player I’d actually like to be ambitious. Get the fork out of my house and find a new job, you lazy sod.

Season	Division		Position	Notes							MVP										
21/22	VNL South		18th		Steered clear of relegaton thanks to good start.	Callum Davies
22/23	VNL South		16th		Only 2 places better, but a lot more points.		Henry Newcombe
23/24	VNL South		18th		Big step backwards in points.				David Smith
24/25	VNL South		15th		Consistently mediocre.					David Smith
25/26	VNL South		14th		Just outside playoffs for most of the season.		David Smith
26/27	VNL South		16th		Otherwise known as the year 1AD (After Discipline)	Ellis Andrews 2c
27/28	VNL South		19th		Narrowly avoided relegation places all season		David Smith
28/29	VNL South		15th		Tried different tactics. Didn't find a magic bean.	David Smith
29/30	VNL South		7th		Lost playoff semifinal, but a great improvement.	Ellis Andrews 2c
30/31	VNL South		12th		Second half slump into mid-table disappointment		David Smith
31/32	VNL South		7th		Lost in S/F of playoff					Ellis Andrews 2c
32/33	VNL South		9th		Didn't threaten playoffs				Ellis Drake 10a
33/34	VNL South		2nd		Lost last 2 matches of season and 1st playoff game.	Michael Morgan 9a
34/35	VNL South		4th		Knocked out Playoffs 1st round on penalties		Michael Morgan 9a
35/36	VNL South		6th		Knocked out in Playoff semifinal			Michael Morgan 9a
36/37	VNL South		5th		Knocked out in Playoff semifinal			Giorgos Kragiopoulos 11a
37/38	VNL South		1st		Won the league by a mile. 17th time lucky.		Michael Morgan 9a 
38/39	VNL National		1st		Back to back comfortable promotions			Jack Collett 13a 
39/40	League 2		2nd		Won last 5 matches securing automatic promotion.	Jack Collett 13a 
40/41	League 1		11th		Pushing for promotion most of the season		Jack Collett 13a 
41/42	League 1		5th		Lost in playoffs semifinal				Michael Morgan 9a 
42/43	League 1		8th		Losing streak, winning streak and then injuries		Kevin Spencer 17d
43/44	League 1		7th		One place outside playoffs.				Kevin Spencer 17d
44/45	League 1		12th		Outside playoffs all season. New stadium.		Pete Larkin 18d
45/46	League 1		2nd		Promoted last day of the season. 			Dave Jackson 21b 
46/47	Championship		20th		Plummetted near to relegation zone			Dave Jackson 21b 
47/48	Championship		15th		Terrible start but mid table safety after that.		Steven 'Shamrock' Larkin 21d 
48/49	Championship		14th		Good start but dropped away from playoffs.		Liam Carter 25d 
49/50	Championship		15th		Boring & disappointing season				Dave Jackson 21b 
50/51	Championship		4th		Promoted through playoffs.				Ross Gethins 22c
51/52	Premier League		20th		Won once in 2nd half of season and relegated.		Dave Jackson 21b
52/53	Championship		8th		Typical second half of the season collapse.		Dave Jackson 21b 
53/54	Championship		7th		Missed out on playoffs in final match injury time	Dan Jones 27e
54/55	Championship		7th		Missed playoffs on final day for 3rd season in a row.	Dave Jackson 21b
55/56	Championship		7th		Missed playoffs on final day for 4th season in a row.	Alex Taylor 21e
56/57	Championship		2nd		Promoted on final day of the season. 			Mohamed Kargbo 33a

 

[Muttley84]

After an FM-all-nighter (remembering me of my teenage days) we have come to this end of the season. I think I need a break and concentrate so this is not over to soon.

[JAwtunes]

14 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

I lost a few players like that as well, it's really annoying. No matter what, the agent insisted on some crappy release fee and off they go, usually to rot in some teams reserves for years on end

drives me nuts!

Yep, same here.  My star player wants a new contract but every time I check the agent puts a non-negotiable buy out clause in there.  I've been trying to offer him a contract for about 12 months and his current deal runs out in 12 months... so time is quickly running out!

Spoiler

 

[vikeologist]

If you let a player get near the end of his contract, you're handing all the power to the agent.

I guess contracts you can offer may differ by nation, but for instance with my unhappy wonderkid, Kargbo, in effect he still has 6 years left on his contract. When he came through I didn't stint on the money, but made sure he had an optional extension in there, and then have renegotiated every season. His minimum release clause did come down last time, it was in the 40 millions before, but if they're good, it's best to show them the money from the start for as long a contract as you can get.

Also best to keep on the good side of agents.

Anyway, Kargbo still won't sign a new contract, but the captain has talked him out of his immediate happiness, and maybe once we're in the Premier league officially he'll be a bit happier.

[toshimitzou1]

2 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

When he came through I didn't stint on the money, but made sure he had an optional extension in there

Ditto. I do the same as much as possible.

[vikeologist]

13 minutes ago, toshimitzou1 said:

Ditto. I do the same as much as possible.

Its annoying when only pretty good regens ask for lots of money. The 36b from my latest intake asked for an extortionate amount of money, and I haven't forgotten. If he wants us to pony up now, he better be a MF stallion the next time I notice him.

Edited August 21, 2021 by vikeologist

[toshimitzou1]

1 minute ago, vikeologist said:

pretty good regens

Sometimes that can be a case of your coach reports not accurately assessing potential. I find if a regen asks for extortionate amounts then more often than not they have more potential than initially is shown by the coach reports. I wouldn't be surprised if he was indeed a, '

 

4 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

MF stallion

, next time his negotiations are up. I hope so anyway.