The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[hubwub]

HOW DO I COMPETE WITH THIS SHENANIGANS?! I didn't get a sponsorship bump with my promotion.

I also forgot to take screenshots at the start of the season, so I'll probably do a proper update once I reach the halfway point which is soon.

[Hian]

League Table - Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2

Squad - Youth Intake - Transfers

League Summary

This season started of in the same fashion as the previous one. We started of well, pushing for promotion playoffs, and then as we go in to december the form takes a turn for the worse and we drop to mid table. However, this time we managed to get out of the rot and push for the promotion playoffs again. At the end we finish the season at a respectable 4th position. Something a did not know, until this season, is that the best team out of all 4th placed teams also get in to the playoffs. But as you can see we were someway of that. 4th placed table.

Just a quick note on the squads dip in form. This might be obvious to alot of you, but I had somehow missed that training had a big influence on our bad run in december and january. As soon as we started to drop points and play like crap the complaints about the training started to roll in. So I changed the schedules, "simplified" the tactics somewhat and it seems like it worked.

 

Youth

This years youth intake was pretty decent. There is a few players that I think have a real future, with Vitor P23a, Lara P23b and Jose María P23c being the best of the bunch. There was not alot of good attacking players and only having 2 players in the current squad who can play as strikers I might have to play a strikerless tactic going forward.

 

 

[vikeologist]

@Caning the Days Sorry to add something to the issue. i know you're trying to let it die down.

I wasn't at all offended by your assertion, but as I'm at the top of the hall of fame, I wanted to point out a couple of things.

Why do some people achieve in just over 20 seasons? Well, basically it's luck. It certainly was with me. I was about 5 years removed from my 1 league win, and I won the Champions League. 

If I hadn't won the CL, I probably wouldn't have. Your team doesn't get better year on year. It seems that the nature of your challenge leads to your success being somewhat cyclical.

The second reason that people complete in just over 20 seasons. Because almost nobody plays 40 seasons.

If every single person that's started this challenge were able to play as many seasons as necessary, the average time for completion would probably be about 100 years.

Not many people are able to play for as many seasons as they need to to complete, and the ones that do are mostly just lucky.

There are a lot of people who start this challenge, and since most people get sacked very quickly and immediately start again, there are many hundreds of attempts on this challenge each year. It's like winning the lottery or maybe the (actually nonsense) theory of if you have enough monkeys on a typewriter, eventually one of them will write a Shakespearian sonnet.

A big reason why I completed the challenge was because I chose the club, out of all the playable clubs in the world, that was most likely to be able to complete the challenge. It still needed luck. The first 5 or so times I tried this challenge it was with Piacenza who aren't a million miles away from Palermo in terms of facilities etc, and I was relegated 3 times in the first season. Once I think I survived to the second season, and one time I actually made it briefly to the top division. I chose the absolute easiest option, because after failing many, many times, I wanted to succeed.

That's partly why this time I've chosen the hardest option I think, a small English club. I almost certainly won't succeed, even though my results are very good, because unlike with Palermo, I have no money, no facilities and almost no chance of my players really improving. The joy of having actually completed the challenge is that it doesn't matter. This challenge isn't really about succeeding or completing. Every time you start, even with whatever the FM21 equivalent of Palermo is, you are overwhelmingly likely to fail.

I have to say that after a certain amount of failing, not failing does become attractive.

Lastly the cheating thing. I've been relatively open about the fact that I use downloaded tactics, which I adapt to a certain extent, but not very much. I know others believe that this is 'cheating'. I don't believe it's cheating. It's the way in which I enjoy the game, but I'm aware that it would be kind of silly for me to take the attitude that I'm some great FM manager. I completed the challenge. I enjoyed it, although it's safe to say I didn't enjoy all of it, because some of those latter intakes were honestly like being kicked in the nuts after waiting a whole season for them to come through.

I play a lot of FM, and sometimes you go through spells where you look like the unluckiest dog on the planet, and sometimes you go through spells where you win every trophy you're in for a few seasons, and you think, if I was reading these reports, I'd think it was too good to be true. Except you know it is true. 

Because if enough people play enough FM, eventually unbelievable **** happens.

We've vaguely been having  discussion on the Ultimate Challenge about whether the game 'scripts' things. I hold that the game is totally random, but so many things happen that eventually you see order in the chaos.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by vikeologist

[Braumiller]

6 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

@Caning the Days Sorry to add something to the issue. i know you're trying to let it die down.

I wasn't at all offended by your assertion, but as I'm at the top of the hall of fame, I wanted to point out a couple of things.

Why do some people achieve in just over 20 seasons? Well, basically it's luck. It certainly was with me. I was about 5 years removed from my 1 league win, and I won the Champions League. 

If I hadn't won the CL, I probably wouldn't have. Your team doesn't get better year on year. It seems that the nature of your challenge leads to your success being somewhat cyclical.

The second reason that people complete in just over 20 seasons. Because almost nobody plays 40 seasons.

If every single person that's started this challenge were able to play as many seasons as necessary, the average time for completion would probably be about 100 years.

Not many people are able to play for as many seasons as they need to to complete, and the ones that do are mostly just lucky.

There are a lot of people who start this challenge, and since most people get sacked very quickly and immediately start again, there are many hundreds of attempts on this challenge each year. It's like winning the lottery or maybe the (actually nonsense) theory of if you have enough monkeys on a typewriter, eventually one of them will write a Shakespearian sonnet.

A big reason why I completed the challenge was because I chose the club, out of all the playable clubs in the world, that was most likely to be able to complete the challenge. It still needed luck. The first 5 or so times I tried this challenge it was with Piacenza who aren't a million miles away from Palermo in terms of facilities etc, and I was relegated 3 times in the first season. Once I think I survived to the second season, and one time I actually made it briefly to the top division. I chose the absolute easiest option, because after failing many, many times, I wanted to succeed.

That's partly why this time I've chosen the hardest option I think, a small English club. I almost certainly won't succeed, even though my results are very good, because unlike with Palermo, I have no money, no facilities and almost no chance of my players really improving. The joy of having actually completed the challenge is that it doesn't matter. This challenge isn't really about succeeding or completing. Every time you start, even with whatever the FM21 equivalent of Palermo is, you are overwhelmingly likely to fail.

I have to say that after a certain amount of failing, not failing does become attractive.

Lastly the cheating thing. I've been relatively open about the fact that I use downloaded tactics, which I adapt to a certain extent, but not very much. I know others believe that this is 'cheating'. I don't believe it's cheating. It's the way in which I enjoy the game, but I'm aware that it would be kind of silly for me to take the attitude that I'm some great FM manager. I completed the challenge. I enjoyed it, although it's safe to say I didn't enjoy all of it, because some of those latter intakes were honestly like being kicked in the nuts after waiting a whole season for them to come through.

I play a lot of FM, and sometimes you go through spells where you look like the unluckiest dog on the planet, and sometimes you go through spells where you win every trophy you're in for a few seasons, and you think, if I was reading these reports, I'd think it was too good to be true. Except you know it is true. 

Because if enough people play enough FM, eventually unbelievable **** happens.

We've vaguely been having  discussion on the Ultimate Challenge about whether the game 'scripts' things. I hold that the game is totally random, but so many things happen that eventually you see order in the chaos.

 

 

 

 

 

lol, I'll add to not letting this die   - I also did not take the original question as an accusation, it is a really interesting topic.

I'll happily admit I romanticize the game and the challenge in my own little world.  The cold hard truth is that FM is a game.  It bills itself as a footballing world simulation, which it is, but as soon as you hit CONTINUE for the first time it is a game.  And truthfully, unless any devs lurk in this thread, not geared towards this very specific particular kind of gameplay!

One huge factor is the team spirit, togetherness, bonding (pick a name! lol) factor.  We've all seen in more normal games that you can get adversely affected by bringing in too many players.  Well, we permanently avoid this and I would posit that we receive bonuses in the other direction because of the closeness of our squads and consistency of lineups.

In the real world, would this happen - hell no

But in FM world, with all resources being poured into one very specific focus (and luck!), you can.

I completed it back in the day in Sweden in 29 (or was it 39?) seasons, and starting the save out I never in my wildest dreams thought I could.  But as the save progresses, you slowly become dominant in your league and see the continental money come in and aid improvements you see the game snowball your team (and then slowly your league).

I haven't been able to give the game enough attention the past few years to have a proper run at the challenge, but with the 'recent' changes to player interactions and similar it appears a little harder than when I did it.

Tactics also play a big part.  I am not a great tactic manager and 90% of the time I will use slightly modified versions of popular tactics (it seems 99% of tactics out there are attacking, with full on press, pushing all the way up and offsides - a death sentence for my part-time miners and bricklayers in Wales! lol).  They can get your team punching above their weight as well.

[thomas_e]

23 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

Lastly the cheating thing. I've been relatively open about the fact that I use downloaded tactics, which I adapt to a certain extent, but not very much. I know others believe that this is 'cheating'. I don't believe it's cheating.

I personally don't use downloaded tactics, I enjoy making them too much, but I don't consider it cheating in any way. I think we all get inspired by other peoples tactics (FM and IRL) so downloading them or copying someone else's idea isn't that big of a difference. 

It's as you say, just a game. And an advanced game like FM isn't real life, which is good, as it wouldn't be a single name on that leaderboard ever!!  

Some versions of FM favores different tactical approaches and I personally adjust my way of playing to that. On FM20 playing with a low block with low pressing is tactical suicide. Nothing wrong with using the community to make your team better. 

[Braumiller]

Also worth noting, no FM has ever represented other teams well in the transfer market in my opinion.

In my currently very short save with Monmouth, can you imagine a 17 year old scoring 50 goals in a season, on 5 pound a week and not one team from anywhere in the world sniffing around?

Even if scouts don't rate him highly, I would hazard a guess that lower league teams in England would be lining up to give him 20-50 pound a week just to see if they could catch lightning in a bottle!

[thomas_e]

Just now, Braumiller said:

Also worth noting, no FM has ever represented other teams well in the transfer market in my opinion.

In my currently very short save with Monmouth, can you imagine a 17 year old scoring 50 goals in a season, on 5 pound a week and not one team from anywhere in the world sniffing around?

Even if scouts don't rate him highly, I would hazard a guess that lower league teams in England would be lining up to give him 20-50 pound a week just to see if they could catch lightning in a bottle!

Good point! 

[Padders]

Relegated/sacked again

Absolutely gutted as had a potentially really decent player

[danielclouston1]

1 hour ago, vikeologist said:

@Caning the Days 

I play a lot of FM, and sometimes you go through spells where you look like the unluckiest dog on the planet, and sometimes you go through spells where you win every trophy you're in for a few seasons, and you think, if I was reading these reports, I'd think it was too good to be true. Except you know it is true.

 

 

 

 

 

To touch on this, I got Nigeria to the WC 2022 semi finals, beating Argentina along the way. Completely unrealistic irl but it happens in the game.

 

On cheating, I have no doubt there will be people who reload title deciders or cup finals, but so what. Its unrealistic to think people are reloading entire seasons, it would take too long, but if someone gets a little satisfaction from reloading a cup final or what not, then let them bash on. I wouldn't do it, it takes the fun out the game tbh but each to their own.

[thomas_e]

I previously posted on the development of my left back, Gabriel Dezotti. Turns out he's not alone on developing at a great pace. My 18 year old offensive midfielder Sergio Soto has really stepped up and has taken over the no. 10 role in the team. He was always a talented player, but he's exceeded the expectations we had for him when he came through the academy two years ago.

He only has 13 in determination and a "Fairly Professional" personality, so I guess the trick here is talent! 

Soto and Dezotti are priced assets that can fix our economy, but I would rather keep them! 

 

Soto in november 2022 (intake date)                                                                Soto in september 2024

                       

 

[jmonfu]

and my best player from the first intake gone, without even adding a 50% clause.  I am so tempted to press the Resign button!

[Steveh171]

35 minutes ago, Padders said:

Relegated/sacked again

Absolutely gutted as had a potentially really decent player

There just comes a time when you seem to get found out as a smaller team, i can't quite describe it.

 

I've just taken a look at some of the other teams that get promoted, and there players are insane compared to stourbridge! i imagine its the same for Witton.

[darren1983]

Well that's a depressing one for a first intake preview

[craigcwwe]

Never really paid much attention to the youth intake previews since they added the feature, how do people find they stack up when the actual intakes arrive a few months later?

[witticism]

2 minutes ago, craigcwwe said:

Never really paid much attention to the youth intake previews since they added the feature, how do people find they stack up when the actual intakes arrive a few months later?

Largely correct? In a broad sense. I have yet to notice big outliders for example whent hey mention strikers coming up are largely not good and it turns out the best in class is a striker or things like that.

Good a time as any to post my intake this season:

 

So at least one fullback had plenty of promise and the gabonese right back too with several defensive mids and wingers as mentioned.

[XaW]

3 minutes ago, craigcwwe said:

Never really paid much attention to the youth intake previews since they added the feature, how do people find they stack up when the actual intakes arrive a few months later?

It usually says something about the general state of things. "Golden generation" means quite a few (4-5+)should be able to reach the current level of the main squad, at least. And down from there. The positions are often one of the better rated ones, but not always. The "one great/good/decent" is often the highest rated in PCA (not PPA!), at least to my experience. With some random variations of course. It's guidelines to what I should expect, but not exacts.

[darren1983]

Well this is going well  

[officiallydeej]

I had such a bad start to this season that even though I've won 8 out my last 10 in just a 26 game season I mathematically can't make the playoffs even though there's still 4 games left. 

 

 

[VillaSmith]

A bit of a mid season update;

Looks good at first with another Golden Generation, but with only two GKs and a CM I'm not sure how good it will actually be, will have to wait and see.

A great start to the season which gave me the momentum to keep my self top of the table. With Sofokleous not getting upset about offers being rejected and sitting near the top of the table, I thought I'd keep hold of him so that hopefully a year of development and maybe promotion will increase his upfront fee. Also the great start to the season has gotten me two Manager of the Month awards which is always a bonus!

 

In the cups I got knocked out at the Third Qualifying round of the FA Cup again, but have gotten further in the FA Trophy and face Plymouth in the fourth round, who are currently top of the National League, so will be a tough ask.

 

And unrelated to the challenge, I hope England's 2022 World Cup is as easy as this IRL 

Edited November 30, 2020 by VillaSmith

[Flashman\'s School Days]

I've been reading through the challenge over the past week or so and you've all inspired me to get back into a challenge save like this.  Some of the progress made by you guys is fantastic and while I won't be able to fly through the seasons although hopefully it goes well enough to not end after one.

On FM20 and on this year's beta I really enjoyed playing in China so that's where I've decided to try my hand.

After a few times reloading there wasn't a massive selection of clubs coming up and one of the teams BJ IT had no academy coaching and no youth recruitment so I ended up going with the wonderfully named Wuhan Three Towns.  I had also looked for the one of the clubs I played with on FM20 although I think they've gone bust, which, after looking through some of the player's histories, seems to be a common occurrence.

Manager Profile

Spoiler

Club Background

Not a lot going on in the facilities department and a relatively small stadium for China so I hope it will be inexpensive on the upkeep

Spoiler

Pre Season Prediction

Not unusual for this challenge I imagine, we are predicted to finish bottom

Spoiler

Squad

The squad has a lot of older players and is also being paid more than 4 other sides in a league they've just been promoted into

Spoiler

 

A couple of 16 year olds had already come through the academy in the holiday season, they look really promising and I hope to get them some game time in the first season

 

 

[Bartrcm]

And the board went over my head and sold my 2 best players, ST and DR, for peanuts. My DR was even sold without a sell on clause.  This will be another season fighting against relegation.

[officiallydeej]

AS Rodos - 2023/24 Season Review

 

We started the season with 2 good wins then proceeded to go 6 games without a win which ultimately cost us any chance at catching the top two. After a tweak to my tactic after the 6-3 defeat at Veroia we finished the season strong with 12 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats (the last game is missing from the screenshot) but ultimately never looked like getting anywhere near the top two. There was much to be positive about however and we managed to beat both of the top two in the second half of the campaign which gives me heart we can compete with the best in the division next time around.

Christos Arkoulos 22i - Sebastien Caballero

A real breakthrough season for some of my younger players, again led by our top goalscorer Arkoulos. We now have four 5 star potential players in the first team squad with another 2 who will immediately join them from this year's intake, even if only for mentoring purposes initially. We do  still have some ageing players starting week in week out including 3 of my starting midfield 4 and my other main striker, but for the first time I'm confident we'll be able to replace them without too much of a dip over the next couple of seasons.

 

More awful personalities (here's looking at you, Perfectionist HOYD), but for the second season in a row we have two 5 star prospects. Unfortunately both play in the same position but beggars can't be choosers at this stage.

Panagiotis Dogiamas 24a

 

Next Season

The second half of the season has given me real hope that we're close to breaking into the top two and at least having a shot at the promotion playoff next season. Our chairman retired at the start of season and the board member who took over cleared the debts and now keeps injecting enough cash to keep us in the black, but not quite enough to approve any upgrades. A different team is coming down next year and although I can't see how good their players are due to attribute masking they finished with only 11 points and seem to have a thin squad, so I'm hopeful they won't stomp the league like Larisa do each time they come down. We have a real wealth of young talent now and I want to get promoted as soon as I can so I can offer them longer than 1 year professional contracts.

Edited November 30, 2020 by officiallydeej

[hubwub]

Would it be against the rules of this challenge, if I changed the colors of my team? I realized that there are too many teams with blue as their primary color in the Super League?

EDIT: I don't think I can.

Edited November 30, 2020 by hubwub

[darren1983]

Afraid not. To do so requires the editor which is against the rules. 

[hubwub]

Just now, darren1983 said:

Afraid not. To do so requires the editor which is against the rules. 

I was thinking I could change it with changing the kits associated to the team but it's more complicated.

[witticism]

2024/2025

Table

Playoff Result

Spoiler

A Season to remember

Spoiler

Finances

Spoiler

How we lined up

 

Spoiler

Analyst Report

Spoiler

 

Youth Intake

Spoiler

Top Prospects

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by witticism

[ANGL]

I've just discovered this challenge and love, will totally give it a try. I guess it is better to wait until the youth intake bug is solved?

[Cheez3y]

First game in the second divsion.

We are playing some football!

[witticism]

xG 4.22 is probably the highest I've seen yet

[Cheez3y]

1 minute ago, witticism said:

xG 4.22 is probably the highest I've seen yet

Me too.

We could maybe score like 5-6 goals.

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, ANGL said:

I've just discovered this challenge and love, will totally give it a try. I guess it is better to wait until the youth intake bug is solved?

bug ?

[hubwub]

I have a development question.

This is Tong Jiang 22M. He came into my first youth intake with 14 Determination with Unambitious / Level Headed.

Fast forward to June 2023.

Unambitious / Level Headed has:

• Professionalism 1-20
• Determination 1-17
• Ambition 1-5
• Pressure 1-20
• Temperament 7-20
• Loyalty 11-20
• Sportsmanship 1-20
• Controversy 1-14

My question is should I change his mentor and mentor group? Even though his determination and work rate went up.

His current mentor: Tian Yafei (7 Determination / Balanced / Media Friendly)

Possible new mentors: Li Xiang (18 Determination / Driven / Level Headed) OR a different player with a Determined / Fairly Determined personality

His mentoring group is primarily filled with people that play ML/AML position.

I'm wondering what can I do to push him out of Unambitious to something else. What would be the right personality synergy for him to get past that hurdle?

[witticism]

8 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

bug ?

every other team besides the player's recruits fewer regens every year to the point that in 2030's they get one or two players each year

[OlivierL]

Just now, witticism said:

every other team besides the player's recruits fewer regens every year to the point that in 2030's they get one or two players each year

hmm didn't know that. but it won't effect our own team ?  

[witticism]

Just now, OlivierL said:

hmm didn't know that. but it won't effect our own team ?  

doesnt seem like it? it kind of compromises the viability of long term saves but SI was aware of it last I saw and people in the feedback thread were feeling optimistic about the fix being save compatible.

[OlivierL]

Just now, witticism said:

doesnt seem like it? it kind of compromises the viability of long term saves but SI was aware of it last I saw and people in the feedback thread were feeling optimistic about the fix being save compatible.

lets hope :o 

[Jimbokav1971]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

 

[thomas_e]

This is good news at least, usually the mod's dont make any "promises" like this. 

But I wasnt aware of this bug until just now... very concerning and quite a serious bug to have with the full release...

 

[hubwub]

Zhejiang Yiteng F.C.

SEASON TWO - 2023 - Ping An CFA Super League

LEAGUE TABLE | FIXTURES | SQUAD STATS | COMPETITION OVERVIEW

MANAGER OVERVIEW: CHARACTERISTICS | ATTRIBUTES

CLUB: PROFILE | GENERAL | FACILITIES | HONOURS | FINANCES | CLUB VISION 

SQUAD: TRANSFERS | RELEASED

STAFF: CURRENT| RELEASED

 

Ping An CFA Super League

It's mid season already. We are predicted to be relegated. It's expected. We are fighting are darn hardest not too. It wasn't till our 8th competitive match in the league did we win. our first match. I was elated but it seems like we couldn't catch break finishing wise. Our defense is holding up as in we aren't losing in heavy margins and most of the time the goals are from corners. I might need to tweak my defending corners tactic.

We had the first derby game with our local rivals, Zhejiang Energy Greentown. We won 2-0 thanks to Yang Fangzhi and Li Xiang.

Chinese FA Cup

We started in the fourth round and won in a penalty shoot out. Our fifth round opponent was Beijing Sinbo Guo'an who dismantled us.

Tactics

I reverted back to using the 4-2-3-1 Wing Play from last season. I experimented with 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3 DM Wide earlier in the season but I wasn't getting scoring chances. It didn't work out so well.

Facilities

We finished the construction the upgrade of our youth facility. We also upgraded our junior coaching and youth recruitment.

Youth Intake

 

I posted this development question earlier in the thread. Still looking for input.

[Diego D10S]

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                         Season 2021 / 2022 - 12th in Serie C / B

                                                                                                                             Leauge Table        Transfer History

 

Finally I have getting started. Been struggling where to start and ended up in Siena.

A old and small squad so I'm in a hurry to get some decent youngsters.

First youth intake was pretty decent a couple of them I have moved up in the senior squad already.

 

 

GL ALL !!  

[darren1983]

9 hours ago, darren1983 said:

Well this is going well  

Shockingly this form carried on and I lost the dressing room and was sacked. Again. Always takes me a few goes to get really going  

Might have a little bash at the ultimate challenge for a bit though, fancy a bit of travelling and in 2020 the only way to do that is in FM I think  

[MoonMonster]

 

I really wanted to do a save in the Netherlands but I didn't feel like simming until 2024😞 I guess if/when I get sacked, I can do one in the Netherlands. But for now we go to Germany, where I will take charge at TSV Alemannia Aachen. They made it into the Bundesliga in 2006 but it's been downhill ever since. After 8 seasons in the fourth division they have finally been promoted back to 3. Liga, where I will take charge. 

 

 

 

I should also add, some notable youth players include Kai Havertz and Lewis Holtby. So maybe there will be some hope for Aachen.

 

Personal Stats

 

Club

Edited December 1, 2020 by MoonMonster

[dervinus]

Well after failing already in Italy and Sweden...time to start again! 

Enfield Town, HERE WE GO!

[Snabel]

FBK Karlstad

Season 2  -  2022  -  Division 2 Norra Götaland  -  4th Tier

Fixtures 1  -  Fixtures 2

Squad  -  Youth Preview  -  Transfers

 

Youth Intake

 

Club Information

Club Vision  -  Club Profile  -  General  -  Facilities  -  Finance

 

Manager Profile

Characteristics  -  Attributes

 

This season went a lot better. Avoiding a relegation battle feels like a big step in the right direciton. Something we hopefully can continue building on.

The youth intake was similar to last year. A couple of players with good potential but very poor in terms of current ability.

The board agreed to upgrade both junior coaching and youth recruitment this season so we now have average junior coaching and

adequate youth recruitment. Hopefully that means our intake will be better next season.

 

Something i did not notice during the season was that we apparently struggled at home but were really good away from home.

So i will have to figure out a new game plan for our home games next season. If we are able to win at home and keep playing this well away from home

we might be looking at a solid season next year. Hopefully.

 

[DazRTaylor]

@darren1983The Netherlands.  I have exact dates now.  Save to 2 June 2024 to enable different teams.  Holiday to 6 July 2024 for the season reset.

[The Gold Guard]

Truro City Youth Academy Challenge

Act II - 2021/22 

Truro Manager Chad Thundercock strutted into management in remarkable fashion after purposefully stroking his player's egos the right way by organising friendly matches with local minnows of Cornwall and the outskirts to promote his dynamic and attacking style of play. With a full squad of overpaid and frankly, overachieving veterans/journeymen on his list, it did not take long before panicking offers came knocking from leagues above and below to poach amongst the ranks. With the board giving Thundercock their blessing to purge the wage bill whatever means necessary, a few had gone even before the first day of pre-season training.
Consolidation was key. 

"This will take a long time to get going, it's a big risk but a bigger reward. If we wish to keep this club afloat we have to press the reset button now or never." Cornish Pirates director and Truro City stakeholder Dicky Evans stated.
He further added on that "Chad is the lad. This is a rugby region, if we are to give this region a slice of football recognition, then we need to develop from within."

Chad's priorities are to spend the wages on securing quality in the coaching department. Recently retired Truro player & assistant manager Stuart Yetton was quoted saying that "It's better to (invest in staff) than keep on wasting wages on a Northern lad who will be here for a year, treated like a king, play like a court jester and then pack his belongings so he can give grievance to another court". Thundercock decided not to retain Yetton's services and rather bring in a whole fresh contingency of staff.

Table

High Points

• Andrew Neal is on fire and has shown no signs to leave for next season. He will be integral for Truro's experienced contingency to blood the younglings in the side.
• When we win, we absolutely win.
• I got lucky with the regen veterans and the pre-loaded English depth.
• We were as high as 4th place for a stint
• Injuries weren't terrible
• Wages are slowly dropping and finances are steady

Low Points

• Got rid of the players I didn't want with no fees.
• Got rid of players I didn't want to leave with ease.
• I need a better centre back pairing.
• We were the worst in-form team post-January
• When we lose, we absolutely lose.
• Crap cup runs due to no depth
• Goalkeeper wants to leave despite signing a new contract

Transfers

Reuben Collins is the only one I am devastated about leaving. The guy was quality at back and no one has been close to filling his shoes.

Youth preview

Expected.

Youth Intake

Expected.

Conclusion:

In an interview with the local radio station Chad was asked what he looks for in a squad leader - "No cringe. Only based."

The interviewer absolutely dumbfounded by this statement replied with "Based on what?" 

Chad crept closer to the microphone and simply said "Yes." and strutted out the room flailing his arms.

End of Act II

Spoiler

Thanks for checking out my Youth Academy Challenge. This is going to be more 'entertainment' oriented than 'winning' oriented and hope everyone enjoys this spin. Just wanted to point out that I am using a pre-made tactic but still following the rules for everything else. This is because I am playing this on my fiance's laptop instead of my primary simulation station which is why this is kind of soothing for me to do on the side without worries. Enjoy the immersion, enjoy the story and most importantly enjoy the challenge - please take everything tongue-in-cheek. Good luck and all the best to everyone else doing this challenge. Maybe it's not about winning the Champions League, maybe it's about the friends we make along the way.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by The Gold Guard

[Caning the Days]

20 hours ago, vikeologist said:

@Caning the Days Sorry to add something to the issue. i know you're trying to let it die down.

I wasn't at all offended by your assertion, but as I'm at the top of the hall of fame, I wanted to point out a couple of things.

Why do some people achieve in just over 20 seasons? Well, basically it's luck. It certainly was with me. I was about 5 years removed from my 1 league win, and I won the Champions League. 

If I hadn't won the CL, I probably wouldn't have. Your team doesn't get better year on year. It seems that the nature of your challenge leads to your success being somewhat cyclical.

The second reason that people complete in just over 20 seasons. Because almost nobody plays 40 seasons.

If every single person that's started this challenge were able to play as many seasons as necessary, the average time for completion would probably be about 100 years.

Not many people are able to play for as many seasons as they need to to complete, and the ones that do are mostly just lucky.

There are a lot of people who start this challenge, and since most people get sacked very quickly and immediately start again, there are many hundreds of attempts on this challenge each year. It's like winning the lottery or maybe the (actually nonsense) theory of if you have enough monkeys on a typewriter, eventually one of them will write a Shakespearian sonnet.

A big reason why I completed the challenge was because I chose the club, out of all the playable clubs in the world, that was most likely to be able to complete the challenge. It still needed luck. The first 5 or so times I tried this challenge it was with Piacenza who aren't a million miles away from Palermo in terms of facilities etc, and I was relegated 3 times in the first season. Once I think I survived to the second season, and one time I actually made it briefly to the top division. I chose the absolute easiest option, because after failing many, many times, I wanted to succeed.

That's partly why this time I've chosen the hardest option I think, a small English club. I almost certainly won't succeed, even though my results are very good, because unlike with Palermo, I have no money, no facilities and almost no chance of my players really improving. The joy of having actually completed the challenge is that it doesn't matter. This challenge isn't really about succeeding or completing. Every time you start, even with whatever the FM21 equivalent of Palermo is, you are overwhelmingly likely to fail.

I have to say that after a certain amount of failing, not failing does become attractive.

Lastly the cheating thing. I've been relatively open about the fact that I use downloaded tactics, which I adapt to a certain extent, but not very much. I know others believe that this is 'cheating'. I don't believe it's cheating. It's the way in which I enjoy the game, but I'm aware that it would be kind of silly for me to take the attitude that I'm some great FM manager. I completed the challenge. I enjoyed it, although it's safe to say I didn't enjoy all of it, because some of those latter intakes were honestly like being kicked in the nuts after waiting a whole season for them to come through.

I play a lot of FM, and sometimes you go through spells where you look like the unluckiest dog on the planet, and sometimes you go through spells where you win every trophy you're in for a few seasons, and you think, if I was reading these reports, I'd think it was too good to be true. Except you know it is true. 

Because if enough people play enough FM, eventually unbelievable **** happens.

We've vaguely been having  discussion on the Ultimate Challenge about whether the game 'scripts' things. I hold that the game is totally random, but so many things happen that eventually you see order in the chaos.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi @vikeologist! First off no worries about continuing... I started it, so I don't have the right to put the lid back on of my own choosing. Thanks also for the reply, and the insight into what it takes and how/why it is that the challenge is achievable so quickly by some. As I said in another reply, it is the chaos and randomness of both football and FM that keeps us hooked, so I should have considered this before my OP.

I've not yet set out to do this particular challenge but might well after my first FM21 save (although my first tends to be my only one as I like the 'learning on the job' aspect). My last personal challenge was a Wrexham save where I only signed Welsh players and staff but predominantely relied on my youth set up, which isn't a million miles away from this one. When I read the challenge I thought that the difficulties I faced when seemingly hitting a ceiling in the Championship would be almost unsurmountable but I have since realised a couple of crucial factors.

1. I'm not as good as I think I am....

2. Maybe the Welsh player challenge was harder than I thought as even with the best youth set up I would be unlikely to get many CL level players coming through at Wrexham...? Would Wales in the Premier League be challenging for the top 4?

3. I didn't do it for 100+ years, and if I had got lucky on getting into the PL early on (I got in the playoffs once) then perhaps I could have had a lucky bounce in the league, CL etc...

4. Most of my experience is managing in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England, and there are probably easier leagues to achieve this in. I did a Wales attempt once (with signing players) and got about 25 seasons in and occasionally qualified for the CL, but never got out of a group.

Perhaps the inclusion of the word, 'cheating', was the most misjudged aspect of the OP. I never really struggle with the urge to reload after losing games so shouldn't imply others do. I think the hardest part for me is when you make a mistake and annoy a player, drop them down to the reserves or reject a bid out of hand, or just miss it completely, then and annoy them which starts a downward spiral in the relationship. I still manage to avoid the reload but often think I could have gotten further if I had reloaded to renegotiate a contract to prevent a poach etc. The long contract argument that was mentioned by someone else didn't work that reliably for me, as my very best players still got poached/unhappy unless I offered improved contracts at least once a year.

I like the added focus this challenge gives to developing players through the academy as before my Welsh only Wrexham save, I hadn't really ever put so much focus into devloping the more average players that come through. It's really satisfying to get a few bang average players to become 1st team regulars, although I couldn't have imagined them pulling up any trees in the Prem! There's a heartening security to a player who isn't good enough to interest anyone else, but fits a system so well and has all the right traits and personality that they become a stallwart.

Thanks again for the reply

Edited December 1, 2020 by Caning the Days

[XaW]

HoYD: Oh boss! The kids, I tell you, we have a golden generation on our hand here!

Me: Oh, lovely, tell me more.

HoYD: There are loads of full backs!

Me: Good.... and?

HoYD: We got no DMs.

Me: OK....?

HoYD: All the wing backs and crap.

Me: Uhh...

HoYD: The full backs are poor, the central defenders sucks donkeys, wide midfielders are unplayable, attacking midfielders haven't seen a football before, some wingers are ok and the strikers couldn't score to save their nan.

Me: So....?

HoYD: "so" what? That's it.

Me: What about the golden generation?

HoYD: Oh yes, it's a great bunch.

Me:

 

[officiallydeej]

Oh.Dear.