The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[hyrule_king]

On 04/12/2020 at 09:54, gadedk said:

Going up! We're goooooing up! 

Finally i'm moving up to second best league in Portugal and with the club going pro this season, i hope to have my players a lot longere!
And maybe therefor i can get up to the best league in short time. BUT we'll se... There is a long way ahead of us.

Lucky for me i just keep getting good YI, this team with my first from Brazil and second from Luxembourg! And i know who you guys want to see now....
 

  Reveal hidden contents

We lost our goalkeeper last season, but i did already have a new one ready to take over and now is playing for Schweiz u21! 

Silas was unhappy all season and wanted to leave with contract ended after the season, but i got him signed after the last game when we won the league.
Sadly Espiguilha still did't wanted to sign, so he is going out on a free transfer...

Your screenshots are so clear. What resolution do you play the game in?

[vikeologist]

2 hours ago, fairsy said:

I've started this with Needham Market, but don't think i am even going to survive one season!

Only had 12 players when I joined, one of whom was a 41 year old midfielder that retired straight away.......with injuries I am generally playing at least 2 greyed out players in every single game and am 9 points off safety with about 13 games to go.

I don't see anyway back from here, trying to play 4411, but ultimately limited by trying to fit my 11 players into a formation that suits!

Has anyone else managed a team with so few players initially and how did you get through it?

I had slightly more than 12 players. From memory I think it was 17, including 3 goalkeepers.

My advice would be (and a) it's probably too late, and b) just my personal opinion, that it's a mistake to try to fit the players into a formation.

They're mostly going to be garbage even when you play them in their natural position. Playing them out of position in a tactic that's actually going to work is much better.  If the game was being honest, it would list the best position for most of your players as 'left on the bench'. They are technically football players in the same way that 70 year old pop stars are in charity matches, and almost as good. Play them anywhere. It doesn't matter. Even the goalies. Actually the goalies are almost certainly not your worst outfield players. They're usually big and can kick the ball in something approaching the correct direction. Seriously, give them a try over anyone who only has grey or 1 star.

[XaW]

Season 2031/32 - JD Cymru Premier

Another very successful season for us and going full time professionals really helps out a lot! We retained the league title without much problem, and we also won the Welsh cup this season to take a double. In the league cup we went out early and in the Challenge cup we lost to Kilmarnock quite soon as well. Over to the most exciting part, Europe. We beat Beitar Jerusalem of Israel in the 1st qualifying round of the Champions League, but lost to BATE Borisov of Belarus in the 2nd qualification round. Then into the Europa League were we beat Ferencvarós of Hungary and Legia Warszawa to actually reach the group stage. Here we finished 3rd, behind Sporting CP of Portugal and Zenit of Russia, but ahead of BATE Borisov, the very club who knocked us out of the Champions League qualification. The 3rd place put us into the Europa Conference knockout stages. Here we beat AEK of Greece and Slavia Prague of Czechia before we unsurprisingly lost heavily to French side Marseille. Still an excellent run and very profitable as well. We got improvements to the facilities and more are being worked on this summer. All in all, things are going surprisingly well.

Transfers | Youth Preview | Youth Intake

A good intake, but not spectacular. We got a good central defender I hope can do well as well as another two right wingers, so we are more than covered on the right. I've got 2 great strikers and a decent backup, but after that we are very short on talents. I really hope I get more soon.

Key players: Bryan Stone 28f, Callum Cairns 30c & Ieuan Vale 29a

[fairsy]

25 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

I had slightly more than 12 players. From memory I think it was 17, including 3 goalkeepers.

My advice would be (and a) it's probably too late, and b) just my personal opinion, that it's a mistake to try to fit the players into a formation.

They're mostly going to be garbage even when you play them in their natural position. Playing them out of position in a tactic that's actually going to work is much better.  If the game was being honest, it would list the best position for most of your players as 'left on the bench'. They are technically football players in the same way that 70 year old pop stars are in charity matches, and almost as good. Play them anywhere. It doesn't matter. Even the goalies. Actually the goalies are almost certainly not your worst outfield players. They're usually big and can kick the ball in something approaching the correct direction. Seriously, give them a try over anyone who only has grey or 1 star.

I only have one keeper, so no spare players to try outfield - it is just literally 11 players, including only one striker. I've followed advice and gone with a 442 diamond and stuck my spare RB as a second striker as he is rated orange there - have gone WDLWW since and now have a hope of staying up.....am 5 points behind 20th with 6 games left. If I repeat that 10 points in next 5 then I have a chance....

[Braumiller]

On The Pitch - League Table
Our season starts earlier than usual and in the Europa Conference Qualifying rounds.
First round against Iskra of Montenegro and after not knowing what to expect, they were poor.  7-0 aggregate win and around 70k in appearance money!
Second round against Mura of Slovenia, and they were tougher.  One of our better performances this year saw a 4-1 away win, followed by a basketball type game at home, 5-3.  9-4 win and another 77k appearance money!
Third round and we draw what I feel is the toughest team available, Sparta Prague.  We didn't embarrass ourselves, but the skill level was evident.  Losses of 2-4 and 1-3 saw our dream end, but it was a great run and 233k received in total over the 3 rounds.  In comparison our entire income for the prior year was 348k, so this has started chipping away at our loan debt (now down to -446k).
Domestically it was a fantastic season.  We lost in our first round of the League Cup to TNS (although only 1-2!) and 3 of our first 10 league games (but won the other 7!) and then went just over 3 months unbeaten before a double header with TNS.  We lost both of those, but won our last game before the split to sit 2nd in the league.
A definite wobble then happened, losing our first 3 post-split games (not coincidentally around the time Chris Hilton 04A left) but we settled and ground out results to secure 2nd place with 2 games to spare!
We made our 2nd Welsh Cup final in a row and were promptly beaten by TNS again.

This is not unusual though, TNS are simply unplayable in my save right now and are exactly where we are aiming to be in the future.
They won the domestic treble again and their final league record was P32 W29 D3 L0 F99 A16 GD+83 Pts90
Then add in their 10 wins in the two cups......
Truly dominant.

Off The Pitch
The main news was already covered in this post.  We lost Chris Hilton 04A for just 35k, but we did get a 50% next fee clause in there.
FC Cincinnati, Houston, Real Salt Lake and one other MLS team I forget now were all in for him.
Since his move his value has steadily risen from around 50k to 155K and he has scored twice in 9 games.  Hoping he continues and we cash in at some point down the line.
Debt wise, we are making headway on erasing it.  A few more years of mini Europa Conference runs will go a long way to getting us back on a sound financial footing and maybe looking at infrastructure improvements that haven't happened now in what feels like forever.

Youth Intake - screenshot
A decent intake, as with last year I anticipate on 1 or 2 will surface in the first team, but if that happens each year then we should be ok (as long as we don't lose too many like Chris Hilton 04A)
Nathan Jones 07A - Noted as a playmaking attacking midfielder, I am hoping to turn him into my more creative deep lying attacker.  After starting on the bench Nathan started 5 games in the run in and scored twice.  If he settles there as it appears he will, that will free up James Downes 05A to move out wide into the spot vacated by Chris Hilton 04A!
Mykee Watkins 07B - Somewhat of a pattern emerging, with our midfield prospects being more combative than creative.  Not too opposed to this (although one MC role right now is a playmaker, but willing to experiment) if we can win the ball and move it quickly into space in front of us and let the fast lads up front and out wide loose.
Keith Ball 07C - Big potential GK.  Will need to impress in the u19s to get any chance of a first team start, but always nice to have options.
Sam Rumsey 07D - Sam joins a long list of left backs, none of whom have cemented the position for themselves.  Slow and technically deficient, not expecting Sam to break this mold.
Lewis Binns 07E - Big tall DC, Lewis will have a few years in the u19s to try and progress

Squad Stats

Transfers

Edited December 7, 2020 by Braumiller

[XaW]

Great season there @Braumiller! TNS are so much better in your save than mine, it's crazy! They've never been close to 90 points in my save.

The highest they've had is 74 points, and they've not won much at all.

Bangor City on the other hand have won a lot, even if they are nowhere near your TNS side.

Good to see you are making progress in Europe as well, those 70k+ attendance fees really helps out to pay for youth coaching!

[Braumiller]

18 minutes ago, XaW said:

Great season there @Braumiller! TNS are so much better in your save than mine, it's crazy! They've never been close to 90 points in my save.

The highest they've had is 74 points, and they've not won much at all.

Bangor City on the other hand have won a lot, even if they are nowhere near your TNS side.

Good to see you are making progress in Europe as well, those 70k+ attendance fees really helps out to pay for youth coaching!

Thank you

Yeah, TNS are going crazy here currently! lol

Here is their last 5 years;

[hubwub]

I would consider this a good start to the day. The "Poached youth players have the wrong nationality" bug is under review now. Hopefully, it gets fixed.

https://community.sigames.com/topic/541416-poached-youth-players-have-the-wrong-nationality/

 

 

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Season 2031/32 - JD Cymru Premier

Another very successful season for us and going full time professionals really helps out a lot! We retained the league title without much problem, and we also won the Welsh cup this season to take a double. In the league cup we went out early and in the Challenge cup we lost to Kilmarnock quite soon as well. Over to the most exciting part, Europe. We beat Beitar Jerusalem of Israel in the 1st qualifying round of the Champions League, but lost to BATE Borisov of Belarus in the 2nd qualification round. Then into the Europa League were we beat Ferencvarós of Hungary and Legia Warszawa to actually reach the group stage. Here we finished 3rd, behind Sporting CP of Portugal and Zenit of Russia, but ahead of BATE Borisov, the very club who knocked us out of the Champions League qualification. The 3rd place put us into the Europa Conference knockout stages. Here we beat AEK of Greece and Slavia Prague of Czechia before we unsurprisingly lost heavily to French side Marseille. Still an excellent run and very profitable as well. We got improvements to the facilities and more are being worked on this summer. All in all, things are going surprisingly well.

Transfers | Youth Preview | Youth Intake

A good intake, but not spectacular. We got a good central defender I hope can do well as well as another two right wingers, so we are more than covered on the right. I've got 2 great strikers and a decent backup, but after that we are very short on talents. I really hope I get more soon.

Key players: Bryan Stone 28f, Callum Cairns 30c & Ieuan Vale 29a

Europa league group stage is gold for your finances, great job !

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Europa league group stage is gold for your finances, great job !

Thanks! And yes, the finances are looking good now, so I'm spending most of it on facility improvements!

[hubwub]

4 hours ago, Hian said:

Just got my youth intake and I don't think I've ever had a youth intake with so many bad personalities.

But I don't get why? Here is my HOYD and his media handling is Outspoken, Media-Friendly. The rest of the coaching staff are mostly determined or proffesional, with a couple of balanced personalities. What is the best way of turning these lazy kids into proffesional athletes?

 

On a more positive note, we are probably playing the best football we ever have. Breaking our own league points record already! Three games to go and there is a slight chance of getting into the playoffs by being the best 4th placed team.

Balanced personalities are kind of like negative personalities, to be honest. That's my opinion. They are worse when they are on your staff. If the balanced personality was a youth player, it's easier through mentoring to change them to a different type of personality.

If your staff is balanced, it introduces too much randomness instead of like a good personality.

I don't know what media handling type your other coaches have but say if you have a Balanced, Media Friendly:

• Professionalism: 1-14
• Determination: 1-14
• Ambition: 1-14
• Pressure: 1-20
• Temperament: 7-20
• Loyalty: 1-14
• Sportsmanship: 1-14
• Controversy: 1-14

Compare that to somebody like your HOYD which is Fairly Determined, Media Friendly and Outspoken.

• Professionalism: 1-14
• Determination: 15-17
• Ambition: 1-20
• Pressure: 1-16
• Temperament: 7-20
• Loyalty: 1-20
• Sportsmanship: 5-20
• Controversy: 15-20

The biggest flaw to your HOYD is having outspoken as a media handling personality because it locks controversy to 15-20. The biggest strength to him is that he could have an ambition that is within the range of 1-20. Ambition is one of the key attributes for your staff members to impart on your youth intake.

Can you should like a preview of your intake with like their determination?

Something like this:

EDIT:

You could have an Unambitious player with high determination and move them to a different personality. That is possible but that can only be achieved with the right mentoring group for that player. Not all is lost when you see negative personalities. You just have to work hard with how you mentor these young players. I find a lot of joy in that when playing these type of save game.

Edited December 7, 2020 by hubwub

[OlivierL]

6 minutes ago, hubwub said:

Balanced personalities are kind of like negative personalities, to be honest. That's my opinion. They are worse when they are on your staff. If the balanced personality was a youth player, it's easier through mentoring to change them to a different type of personality.

If your staff is balanced, it introduces too much randomness instead of like a good personality.

I don't know what media handling type your other coaches have but say if you have a Balanced, Media Friendly:

• Professionalism: 1-14
• Determination: 1-14
• Ambition: 1-14
• Pressure: 1-20
• Temperament: 7-20
• Loyalty: 1-14
• Sportsmanship: 1-14
• Controversy: 1-14

Compare that to somebody like your HOYD which is Fairly Determined, Media Friendly and Outspoken.

• Professionalism: 1-14
• Determination: 15-17
• Ambition: 1-20
• Pressure: 1-16
• Temperament: 7-20
• Loyalty: 1-20
• Sportsmanship: 5-20
• Controversy: 15-20

The biggest flaw to your HOYD is having outspoken as a media handling personality because it locks controversy to 15-20. The biggest strength to him is that he could have an ambition that is within the range of 1-20. Ambition is one of the key attributes for your staff members to impart on your youth intake.

Can you should like a preview of your intake with like their determination?

Something like this:

Great post ! what about Outspoken and Reserved..

 

What will his controversy be ?

[Cheez3y]

Since I dont play the diamond formation anymore its time to upgrade my HoYD.

My current one:

 

This would be the new one.

Looks like an upgrade to me or?

[OlivierL]

1 minute ago, Cheez3y said:

Since I dont play the diamond formation anymore its time to upgrade my HoYD.

My current one:

 

This would be the new one.

Looks like an upgrade to me or?

Yes but can't u find one with better personality ?

Fairly Amb = 1-14 Prof | 1-14 Det and 15-20 Amb. So they could produce players with low professionalism and determination.

[Cheez3y]

4 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Yes but can't u find one with better personality ?

Fairly Amb = 1-14 Prof | 1-14 Det and 15-20 Amb. So they could produce players with low professionalism and determination.

At the moment no.

Nothing above 13-13-13 in the key stats for an HoYD.

[hubwub]

9 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Great post ! what about Outspoken and Reserved..

 

What will his controversy be ?

This personality does exist and only exists on newgens. I've yet to see it on a youth player but on a staff personality.

It would change the Controversy to 1-20.

6 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

Since I dont play the diamond formation anymore its time to upgrade my HoYD.

My current one:

 

This would be the new one.

Looks like an upgrade to me or?

I don't think the Fairly Ambitious is that bad. It depends on what media handling personality he's paired with. Your screenshot doesn't show that.

[OlivierL]

Just now, hubwub said:

This personality does exist and only exists on newgens. I've yet to see it on a youth player but on a staff personality.

It would change the Controversy to 1-20.

its a real staff member  

[hubwub]

2 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

At the moment no.

Nothing above 13-13-13 in the key stats for an HoYD.

If the 13-13-13 in the key stats is alluding to determination, discipline and motivation, GO FOR DETERMINATION. Don't lock yourself in on that. You could get 5 stars coaching with a certain combination.

[hubwub]

2 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

its a real staff member  

What? I've only seen in newgens. The one thing about the Reserved media handling I like, it's normally paired with a good personality. I will take the hit on outspoken, if it's like this.

Edited December 7, 2020 by hubwub

[Hian]

29 minutes ago, hubwub said:

Balanced personalities are kind of like negative personalities, to be honest. That's my opinion. They are worse when they are on your staff. If the balanced personality was a youth player, it's easier through mentoring to change them to a different type of personality.

If your staff is balanced, it introduces too much randomness instead of like a good personality.

I don't know what media handling type your other coaches have but say if you have a Balanced, Media Friendly:

• Professionalism: 1-14
• Determination: 1-14
• Ambition: 1-14
• Pressure: 1-20
• Temperament: 7-20
• Loyalty: 1-14
• Sportsmanship: 1-14
• Controversy: 1-14

Compare that to somebody like your HOYD which is Fairly Determined, Media Friendly and Outspoken.

• Professionalism: 1-14
• Determination: 15-17
• Ambition: 1-20
• Pressure: 1-16
• Temperament: 7-20
• Loyalty: 1-20
• Sportsmanship: 5-20
• Controversy: 15-20

The biggest flaw to your HOYD is having outspoken as a media handling personality because it locks controversy to 15-20. The biggest strength to him is that he could have an ambition that is within the range of 1-20. Ambition is one of the key attributes for your staff members to impart on your youth intake.

Can you should like a preview of your intake with like their determination?

Something like this:

EDIT:

You could have an Unambitious player with high determination and move them to a different personality. That is possible but that can only be achieved with the right mentoring group for that player. Not all is lost when you see negative personalities. You just have to work hard with how you mentor these young players. I find a lot of joy in that when playing these type of save game.

Thank you for the great write up! I will take a look at my backroom staff and replace the bad ones. Where do you get info on the hidden attributes from?

 

[VillaSmith]

Youth Intake 2025

A very good intake this year! When taking personalities, the variety of positions and how many players have good potential, all in to account, it's probably my best so far. Taylor and Bengue have both been promoted to my senior squad, but I think I'll be integrating quite a few of these players next season. Also, it's always nice to get such a mix of nationalities

[Cheez3y]

9 minutes ago, hubwub said:

I don't think the Fairly Ambitious is that bad. It depends on what media handling personality he's paired with. Your screenshot doesn't show that.

Media friendly are both.

 

18 minutes ago, hubwub said:

If the 13-13-13 in the key stats is alluding to determination, discipline and motivation, GO FOR DETERMINATION. Don't lock yourself in on that. You could get 5 stars coaching with a certain combination.

[hubwub]

23 minutes ago, Hian said:

Thank you for the great write up! I will take a look at my backroom staff and replace the bad ones. Where do you get info on the hidden attributes from?

 

The hidden attributes are hidden. The only way to see what the actual values are through the in-game editor. However, when playing this challenge you cannot use the in-game editor.

The hidden attributes are the following:

• Professionalism
• Determination (VISIBLE ATTRIBUTE though but needed in the calculation)
• Ambition
• Pressure
• Temperament
• Loyalty
• Sportsmanship
• Controversy
• Adaptability (NOT MENTIONED MOST OF THE TIME)

You can make inferences as to what the range of values these hidden attributes have based on what type of personality and media handling your player has. These hidden attributes are what determine their personality and media handling are. You also get an inkling as to what they are through coach reports.

@OlivierLhas a chart that he has posted that is a good guide in regards to what the ranges are. He's posted in on this thread before.

I'm going to say this your youth intake is not a lost cause. I say this because those CA/PA stars that your seeing could be lying to you. I have in my time of playing have seen that they can change with mentoring and training.

Jorge Rodriguez has an Unambitious personality is Levelheaded and 14 Determination.

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

This guy from the time he comes into your youth system at 16 to like 18. He can still get more determination. He can still grow as a player. He needs the right mentoring group.

I had a similar player in my first youth intake. His name is Tong Jiang 22M. I've talked about him on this thread. He arrived with Unambitious and was Level Headed with 14 Determination. He is 17 now. This is him now.

I got his determination up to 16. I paired him in a mentoring group of Fairly Determined personalities from my first team. This is the outcome. It's not over yet.

If through mentoring, I can get him above 17 Determination. I will be able to change his personality. I know ambition is still low but he can still be a good role player for my team. He's also a backup AML for my team.

Edited December 7, 2020 by hubwub

[holidaysong]

FC United of Manchester ; season 2024/25

League Table ; A 12th place finish in the National League. It looked like a playoff spot was a possibility in the early part of the season but I lost my two best players during the year with the board accepting offers over my head.

Squad ; Defence is still a problem, and now so is scoring goals since losing my best striker. Gallagher won't sign a new deal so I will need to sell him in 12 months time so as not to lose him on a free.

Starting 11 ; My 442 tactic from last year went out the window when I lost my top striker in preseason. Jac Mason was the leading scorer for a 2nd consecutive season. Mitchell was listed here even though I lost him in January.

Transfers ; My two best players were sold by the board. Mitchell at least went for a very good price of €1.2m (although I subsequently got a €2.3m offer that the board also accepted but didn't reject the original one, so I ended up losing him for a million less than I could have gotten).

Youth Candidates ; An OK intake but nobody that will go straight into the first team. Tom Fletcher brings much needs defensive quality. Ken Ward will slot into midfield when I need to sell Gallagher.

Next season expectations ; For the fourth consecutive year it's fight bravely against relegation. Unfortunately with my 2 best players gone, I am expecting to go backwards this year, rather than pushing on to the playoffs.

[hubwub]

22 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

Media friendly are both.

 

If I had to choose, I'd keep your current HOYD. He has better coaching stats and I kind of value a higher JPA than a JPP.

In the staff search, I would say don't lock yourself with a filter. Look for the staff role of HOYD but then add the column called rating and sort by that. Then determine who has the best personality available based on that.

[VillaSmith]

Sad times  Even worse is that my board keeps refusing to improve the facilites despite a healthy bank balance.

[OlivierL]

19 minutes ago, hubwub said:

The hidden attributes are hidden. The only way to see what the actual values are through the in-game editor. However, when playing this challenge you cannot use the in-game editor.

The hidden attributes are the following:

• Professionalism
• Determination (VISIBLE ATTRIBUTE though but needed in the calculation)
• Ambition
• Pressure
• Temperament
• Loyalty
• Sportsmanship
• Controversy
• Adaptability (NOT MENTIONED MOST OF THE TIME)

You can make inferences as to what the range of values these hidden attributes have based on what type of personality and media handling your player has. These hidden attributes are what determine their personality and media handling are. You also get an inkling as to what they are through coach reports.

@OlivierLhas a chart that he has posted that is a good guide in regards to what the ranges are. He's posted in on this thread before.

I'm going to say this your youth intake is not a lost cause. I say this because those CA/PA stars that your seeing could be lying to you. I have in my time of playing have seen that they can change with mentoring and training.

Jorge Rodriguez has an Unambitious personality is Levelheaded and 14 Determination.

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

This guy from the time he comes into your youth system at 16 to like 18. He can still get more determination. He can still grow as a player. He needs the right mentoring group.

I had a similar player in my first youth intake. His name is Tong Jiang 22M. I've talked about him on this thread. He arrived with Unambitious and was Level Headed with 14 Determination. He is 17 now. This is him now.

I got his determination up to 16. I paired him in a mentoring group of Fairly Determined personalities from my first team. This is the outcome. It's not over yet.

If through mentoring, I can get him above 17 Determination. I will be able to change his personality. I know ambition is still low but he can still be a good role player for my team. He's also a backup AML for my team.

[JLAB]

I'm starting to hate this team. I really am.

[OlivierL]

27 minutes ago, holidaysong said:

FC United of Manchester ; season 2024/25

League Table ; A 12th place finish in the National League. It looked like a playoff spot was a possibility in the early part of the season but I lost my two best players during the year with the board accepting offers over my head.

Squad ; Defence is still a problem, and now so is scoring goals since losing my best striker. Gallagher won't sign a new deal so I will need to sell him in 12 months time so as not to lose him on a free.

Starting 11 ; My 442 tactic from last year went out the window when I lost my top striker in preseason. Jac Mason was the leading scorer for a 2nd consecutive season. Mitchell was listed here even though I lost him in January.

Transfers ; My two best players were sold by the board. Mitchell at least went for a very good price of €1.2m (although I subsequently got a €2.3m offer that the board also accepted but didn't reject the original one, so I ended up losing him for a million less than I could have gotten).

Youth Candidates ; An OK intake but nobody that will go straight into the first team. Tom  brings much needs defensive quality. Ken Ward will slot into midfield when I need to sell Gallagher.

Next season expectations ; For the fourth consecutive year it's fight bravely against relegation. Unfortunately with my 2 best players gone, I am expecting to go backwards this year, rather than pushing on to the playoffs.

Sinclair-Smith looks good ? i didn't have him, he left ten days before reload day , for free / Yeovil. how are ur finances ?

[OlivierL]

I really have a hard time playing a lot of matches. I don't get speed in men save and what's most important in this challenge are getting a lot of youth intakes... I see them passing by here but I'm only half way through the first season myself.
If I don't play my own matches myself but use instant results, I don't feel good about it, I want to see and decide everything for myself. 
Small leagues help but both Iceland, Wales and Scotland rarely have clubs with high crowd numbers and so few FC United opportunities. (Money, opportunity to grow fast).  Too bad there are no short competitions in a stronger country.  Iceland also boring pretty fast with the same opponents and long winter break. I amuse myself a lot with FC United but the speed bothers me. Nobody has the solution for me, I suppose

 

[holidaysong]

3 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Sinclair-Smith looks good ? i didn't have him, he left ten days before reload day , for free / Yeovil. how are ur finances ?

Yes he is decent alright. 16 determination too so useful for future mentoring.

In terms of finances, I have €620k in the bank, with my facilities up to these levels.

I have tried and failed a few times to get the board to go Professional but they're not up for it due to lack of money.

[hubwub]

4 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

I really have a hard time playing a lot of matches. I don't get speed in men save and what's most important in this challenge are getting a lot of youth intakes... I see them passing by here but I'm only half way through the first season myself.
If I don't play my own matches myself but use instant results, I don't feel good about it, I want to see and decide everything for myself. 
Small leagues help but both Iceland, Wales and Scotland rarely have clubs with high crowd numbers and so few FC United opportunities. (Money, opportunity to grow fast).  Too bad there are no short competitions in a stronger country.  Iceland also boring pretty fast with the same opponents and long winter break. I amuse myself a lot with FC United but the speed bothers me. Nobody has the solution for me, I suppose

 

I'm only at the beginning of season 3 in my save. It took me forever to get just to the first match of this season because I was tinkering with my mentoring groups and trying to figure out which older players to retain. I essentially let go of balanced older players.

Before doing youth-academy saves, I used to instant result. Now, I'm like watching the match and making adjustments. I'm playing 30 league matches then like two rounds of FA Cup which is two matches.

[Cheez3y]

How?

 

[XaW]

5 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

I really have a hard time playing a lot of matches. I don't get speed in men save and what's most important in this challenge are getting a lot of youth intakes... I see them passing by here but I'm only half way through the first season myself.
If I don't play my own matches myself but use instant results, I don't feel good about it, I want to see and decide everything for myself. 
Small leagues help but both Iceland, Wales and Scotland rarely have clubs with high crowd numbers and so few FC United opportunities. (Money, opportunity to grow fast).  Too bad there are no short competitions in a stronger country.  Iceland also boring pretty fast with the same opponents and long winter break. I amuse myself a lot with FC United but the speed bothers me. Nobody has the solution for me, I suppose

 

Germany actually go quite fast. 34 league games and only 1 cup usually tops of at about 35-37 games the first seasons. Not much more than Iceland if you include the 22 league games+5 group in the league cup and a regular cup of about 2-3, then you are at about 30 per season, not that many fewer than Germany when you look at it.

Other than that there are some other very small ones with similar as Iceland, but that's through custom databases (something I'm thinking about for my next one after Wales, when I'm tired or bored by it since I find it unlikely to finish it with Wales tbh)

[OlivierL]

8 minutes ago, XaW said:

Germany actually go quite fast. 34 league games and only 1 cup usually tops of at about 35-37 games the first seasons. Not much more than Iceland if you include the 22 league games+5 group in the league cup and a regular cup of about 2-3, then you are at about 30 per season, not that many fewer than Germany when you look at it.

Other than that there are some other very small ones with similar as Iceland, but that's through custom databases (something I'm thinking about for my next one after Wales, when I'm tired or bored by it since I find it unlikely to finish it with Wales tbh)

I think i have a first season syndrom.. i love posting the intro, love playing the first season but right after the first intake (i'm only in december with FC United so not there yet..) i'm losing it. Reading and posting here isn't helping because a lot of you guys go really fast :o . Was thinking about Croatia Berlin (6th tier, germany) but no good German database yet.

Really stupid if i won't continue with FC United because we are flying, love the story, love the league and fan base.

what custom leagues are u thinking about ?  Germany idd but they have that stupid rule and all prof. team, don't like that  i want Semi prof, average reputation country/league, big fan base, fast league.. :o 

Edited December 7, 2020 by OlivierL

[XaW]

7 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

what custom leagues are u thinking about ?  Germany idd but they have that stupid rule and all prof. team, don't like that  i want Semi prof, average reputation country/league, big fan base, fast league.. :o 

Nah, the custom ones are often small, but perhaps an extended one somewhere? I saw one that takes Norway down to 7th tier, but the comments suggested it failed after a few seasons, so I'll wait. Currently, I'm thinking of giving the Faroe Islands another go next time... Or perhaps another similar country, depends on how fast I can plow through the seasons, really. Just saw Andorra have 24 league games a season and only a cup...

[OlivierL]

Just now, XaW said:

Nah, the custom ones are often small, but perhaps an extended one somewhere? I saw one that takes Norway down to 7th tier, but the comments suggested it failed after a few seasons, so I'll wait. Currently, I'm thinking of giving the Faroe Islands another go next time... Or perhaps another similar country, depends on how fast I can plow through the seasons, really. Just saw Andorra have 24 league games a season and only a cup...

hmm  i'll check that in the future, thanks and good luck with what u'll pick. 

[jmonfu]

4 minutes ago, XaW said:

Nah, the custom ones are often small, but perhaps an extended one somewhere? I saw one that takes Norway down to 7th tier, but the comments suggested it failed after a few seasons, so I'll wait. Currently, I'm thinking of giving the Faroe Islands another go next time... Or perhaps another similar country, depends on how fast I can plow through the seasons, really. Just saw Andorra have 24 league games a season and only a cup...

There will be the annual Maltese league very soon.  Now that's a challenge!

[XaW]

Just now, jmonfu said:

There will be the annual Maltese league very soon.  Now that's a challenge!

That's also interesting!

[OlivierL]

1 minute ago, jmonfu said:

There will be the annual Maltese league very soon.  Now that's a challenge!

nice ! what about Luxembourg or Cyprus ?

[DazRTaylor]

Iceland down to tier 5 is available and the bottom couple of tiers only have around twenty games a season, including cups.

@XaWwhat are the rules around custom databases?  I know that you get n asterisk if you complete it, but what I mean is what team to start with.  For example, take the Maltese one referenced above.  I played this in FM20 and the database is quality.  But the bottom division has no relegation.  So can you start with any team in the bottom tier?  I started a Dutch one today in tier 8.  Would that be eligible?

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

nice ! what about Luxembourg or Cyprus ?

I found a Luxembourg down to level 5 file, but I haven't tested it.

[DazRTaylor]

2 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

nice ! what about Luxembourg or Cyprus ?

Cyprus is always good.  Usually four tiers.  Easy enough to get to the top end of tier 2 but then very hard.  Bear in mind APOEL have reached the Champions League quarter final in real life and you see what I mean.

[XaW]

1 minute ago, DazRTaylor said:

Iceland down to tier 5 is available and the bottom couple of tiers only have around twenty games a season, including cups.

@XaWwhat are the rules around custom databases?  I know that you get n asterisk if you complete it, but what I mean is what team to start with.  For example, take the Maltese one referenced above.  I played this in FM20 and the database is quality.  But the bottom division has no relegation.  So can you start with any team in the bottom tier?  I started a Dutch one today in tier 8.  Would that be eligible?

I'm not sure how we've set it. Most leagues I've tried as custom have had relegation from the lowest tier. What do you think @darren1983? I think the team who finished bottom the initial season could be an option? Think that was the case in Northern Ireland many years ago when it didn't have relegation, unless I remember wrong?

[OlivierL]

1 minute ago, DazRTaylor said:

Cyprus is always good.  Usually four tiers.  Easy enough to get to the top end of tier 2 but then very hard.  Bear in mind APOEL have reached the Champions League quarter final in real life and you see what I mean.

Hmm hard idd ! if u download a custom database, can u start in the division that u want ? I mean their is an Andorra file till third tier. Do i have to pick a team in the third tier (after holidaying) or can i select only first and second division and pick a promoted team from (not selected) 3th tier ?

[DazRTaylor]

Just now, OlivierL said:

Hmm hard idd ! if u download a custom database, can u start in the division that u want ? I mean their is an Andorra file till third tier. Do i have to pick a team in the third tier (after holidaying) or can i select only first and second division and pick a promoted team from (not selected) 3th tier ?

Definitely bottom tier.

[DazRTaylor]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

I'm not sure how we've set it. Most leagues I've tried as custom have had relegation from the lowest tier. What do you think @darren1983? I think the team who finished bottom the initial season could be an option? Think that was the case in Northern Ireland many years ago when it didn't have relegation, unless I remember wrong?

Cant we say any side in the bottom tier of an extended or custom databases assuming there is no relegation?  

[darren1983]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

I'm not sure how we've set it. Most leagues I've tried as custom have had relegation from the lowest tier. What do you think @darren1983? I think the team who finished bottom the initial season could be an option? Think that was the case in Northern Ireland many years ago when it didn't have relegation, unless I remember wrong?

My first reaction would be to see how many levels they have, if it's just the 2 then I'd probably say no to it because with no relegation just 2 divisions seems a bit small but then again Europe is gonna be near impossible from there so even with just 2 I'd probably say that just taking over the bottom side works. That was just a ramble where I started with one view and talked myself around wasn't it?  

[XaW]

Just now, darren1983 said:

My first reaction would be to see how many levels they have, if it's just the 2 then I'd probably say no to it because with no relegation just 2 divisions seems a bit small but then again Europe is gonna be near impossible from there so even with just 2 I'd probably say that just taking over the bottom side works. That was just a ramble where I started with one view and talked myself around wasn't it?  

Yeah, I agree, holiday the first season and take over the team that finished bottom then. Happy/Unhappy with that @DazRTaylor?

Excellent decision, Darren!

[XaW]

For what it's worth for anyone doing custom leagues, PLEASE HOLIDAY AT LEAST 10 SEASON IN TO MAKE SURE THE FILE IS NOT BROKEN. It's horrible to lose weeks of play because the longevity of the file is poor.