The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[keeper#1]

South Shields 2026-27 Review

Fixtures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - Fast start followed by fixture congestion which strained our depth and the poor results quickly followed.  We just couldn't break out of the funk once it set in.

League Two Table - Firmly in the middle of the table after we flirted with the playoff places in the late fall.  Stevenage, Preston and Forest Green promoted automatically.  The Shrimpers of Morecambe and Gillingham go to the National League.  

Playoff Tree - Wrexham beat Flyde in a tight playoff final.  Notts County and Oxford United were the semifinalists

Relegated from League One: Blackpool, Plymouth, Burton Albion and Tranmere

Promoted from National League: Hartlepool and Oldham

Bolton still stuck in the National League North after losing the playoff semifinals to promoted Gateshead.

FA Cup - A run to the 3rd round where we were knocked out by Bournemouth

League Cup - A hard-fought loss to Rotherham on penalty kicks

Checkatrade Trophy - Advanced out of the group stage before losing in the 2nd round Northern Section to Doncaster.

Transfers - Two players loaned to Blyth Spartans.  No players transferred out.

Stats - Leading goalscorer: Mike Neiland 23B - 28, Assist Leader: Robbie Newton 23D - 10, Average Rating Leader: Mike Neiland 23B: 7.35

2026-27 xG General Performance - We regressed hard during the season to our xG scored number.  We get shots on target but we need more shots on target to put pressure on the opposition.

2026-27 xG Attacking Efficiency - We spent all season in the "passive clinical" quad.  Better than the "passive wasteful" quad but I want to see us in the "aggressive clinical" quad.

Youth Intake - Best ever intake

Youth Intake DNA - Best intake in terms of attributes.  Not the best in terms of Club DNA.

Players to Watch: CB Graeme Grant 27A, RW Tom Naisbett 27B, RW/CF Rory Fogarty 27C, RW Pedro Silva 27D, CM Marc Dempsey 27E

Best XI     Accolades     Moments to Remember

My owner is one of those who likes to pay off the season losses at the end of season financial statement.  This could be why we never had to outlay money for the required stadium expansions.  Speaking of stadiums, we are looking to build a new one and move out of 1st Cloud Arena.

A whole lot of To Be Announced

[VooDooYouDo]

Belenenses Season 3 (2023-24)

After finishing 16th in our 2nd season in the 3rd division, we finished 2nd and automatically promoted!

Yes, I realize this screenshot is from before the final match, I messed up and didn't take a final one...eeek. We dispatched Alverca 3-0 in our final match. If we didn't draw so much in the early part of the season, we could have won it all... a lot of 0 and 1 all draws. My fault for playing too negative of tactics, thinking we weren't good enough to reach above mid-table, thankfully I was wrong (might be why my "personality" is "low self belief"...))

 

Youth Candidates

 

Bad news.  During the season, the big clubs came calling for our best defender and wide player.  I did manage to have the sales go at the end of the season and inserted 50% of the next sales, so at least there's that... Monteiro went for 450k to Braga and Caseiro for 3.5m to Inter.

 

 

So 2 promotions in 3 seasons to bring us into the 2nd league!

[JLAB]

Despite how ominous this looks, given that last time we had an intake that looked this scary we had 4-5 players that were highly regarded in recommendation for a golden generation.

What's not mentioned in this intake? Goalkeepers and Central Midfielders (again). Which makes me wonder if we'll be getting a lot of good players in those positions for the second season running.

I am also wondering if my Head of Youth Development not having a lot of knowledge of Italy also means that he's not hyping up a player in a certain position or not, given that's he's Scottish and has never worked in Italy beforehand. 

[Watson156]

Gremio Novorizontino Season 3 | Serie A | 2024

Manager Profile

Cup & State League Fixtures | League Fixtures 1 . League Fixtures 2 | Club Vision | Finances | Transfer History | Squad | Staff

 

Paulista Serie A1 (State League)

Overall Table . Group Stages . Knockout Stages

So this went well! Another improvement from last year as we were able to finish 2nd in the league table, but somehow also finished 2nd in our group! We started off the campaign with a great run of 5 straight wins before losing to previous rivals Ferroviaria. We managed to win the next couple including a mental game against Corinthians which we won 7-6! We lost to still undefeated Santos, before finishing off our final 3 games winning 1, drawing 1 and losing 1. We managed to beat a strong Palmerias in the quarters before sneaking past Sao Paulo on penalty's in the Semi Final. Of course we would play Santos in the Final and unfortunately it wasn't to be as we ended up losing 6-3 over 2 legs. Overall it was a fantastic campaign which bought us in a massive £663,464 through prize money & TV revenue. 

 

Copa do Brasil

Matches

This wasn't anywhere near as good as last seasons run. We won our first round game against Globo thanks to the higher team rule. The 2nd round was against Serie B Parana. A team that we should be beating but in reality we were never close to beating them on the day and lost 2-0. It's a shame because the fixtures were very kind and it would have been possible to get to the 5th round at least. Oh well, at least we met the boards requirements and in truth it probably helped us not having some extra games throughout the forthcoming league season. Speaking of....

 

Serie A

League Table

Bloody mental!! As I've previously said starting the season in our state league it gives us a really good gauge of where we are at in comparison to other Serie A teams, and we have shown all 3 seasons that we can compete with them. While I was nervous before the season started I didn't need to be. We lost our first ever game to Palmerias 2-0 but created chances. In our next 10 league games we would win 8, draw 1 and lose 1. At this stage we had been top of the league for 6 games. While I knew that it wouldn't last it was nice to know that we weren't realistically going to be near a relegation fight. 7 games later we did go back to top of the table for another 3 games but that would be the last time. We would slide down the table before finding our place in 6th, the last Copa Libertadores place. We would spend the next 6 games their before falling down to 7th where we would stay for the remaining 6 games. 

For our first ever season in Serie A i'm not sure really how we did so well. There were some fantastic performances from key players. Our best player Lucas Pereira really stepped up and without him, I hate to think of where we would have been. He kept us in many games and ended up being rewarded by being named in the Best 11 of the season as well as Goalkeeper of the Year. Youngster Marcelo Antonio stepped up this season and filled in at left back while mainly playing at left mid. I think his Mercenary personality has started to take over though as he has been asking to leave. Thankfully we have agreed that he can only leave for his minimum release fee which is either £3.5m for domestic teams or £4.6m for foreign teams. If we can get either of them then I will be ok to let him leave! Opposite him at right mid is Danielzinho. He is reaching the age where we might start to see his stats decrease but hopefully he can play at a high level for another couple of seasons and give me a chance to bed in his replacement. A surprising key contributor this year was Andrei. He was able to be the link between midfield and attack and although he probably isn't the best player at that position, we almost always play worse when he's not playing. Now the key reason why we were able to do so well Batista & Nando. Between them this season they have scored 71 goals, scoring 38 in the league, both in the top 5 goalscorers. 

 

* * * * * * *

Youth Candidates

Kaua | Christopher | Vinicius Kiss | Ubiraci | Rafa

Overall I'm not too impressed with this intake. This was the first intake with updated facilities and my new HoYD who is a Model Pro. He will either be replaced this year or I'll give him another year. I'm not sure yet.

Kaua will hopefully develop into our starting DM and will have to compete with Christopher. Vinicius Kiss will have to improve a lot and I can imagine him becoming my backup keeper at most although hopefully I will be proven wrong. Ubiraci is another who won't really feature for us unless he can make massive improvements in his pace. Hopefully it will improve naturally and with some additional training over the next 2 years otherwise he won't see past 19 at this club. Finally Rafa could be one for the future. If we can find a way to improve his determination to 18+ I think his personality will improve which should help him. Finding somebody in our team to improve that through mentoring is going to be a massive problem however. Can determination be increased any other way??

Off the pitch this season we have finally started making significant improvements. We have increased our Junior Coaching & Youth Recruitment again, but the most pleasing is that we are also finally improving our Training and Youth facilities. The fact that we now have a very positive bank balance means that we should be able to keep improving our facilities which will obviously help. Playing in the Copa Libertadores this year will hopefully not only improve our finances even more but will also increase our reputation and allow us to bring in better staff, which will be where all my transfer budget will be going! 

Edited December 12, 2020 by Watson156

[Cheez3y]

After spending roughly 10 hours of holidaying in Germany to get Germania Halberstadt and not gettin them. (which I dont give up)

 

I started in England with...

Why? They got a fn boat on the badge.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Cheez3y

[Watson156]

Can anybody help answer a couple of questions.

1) Is the only way to improve determination through mentoring or can it increase naturally?

2) Does scouting knowledge have any impact on youth intakes? If it does, then does the quality of scout/director of football have an impact?

Thanks

[XaW]

5 minutes ago, Watson156 said:

Can anybody help answer a couple of questions.

1) Is the only way to improve determination through mentoring or can it increase naturally?

2) Does scouting knowledge have any impact on youth intakes? If it does, then does the quality of scout/director of football have an impact?

Thanks

1. Yes, both up and down naturally based on the average of the squad. That's why squad personality is important. There is also those rare inbox news items where they randomly change the hidden attributes from off pitch events.

2. Not that I've heard of.

[vikeologist]

1 minute ago, XaW said:

1. Yes, both up and down naturally based on the average of the squad. That's why squad personality is important. There is also those rare inbox news items where they randomly change the hidden attributes from off pitch events.

2. Not that I've heard of.

Do you think the scouts / DoF have an impact on squad personality? I've always assumed they do  a little bit.

[Watson156]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

1. Yes, both up and down naturally based on the average of the squad. That's why squad personality is important. There is also those rare inbox news items where they randomly change the hidden attributes from off pitch events.

2. Not that I've heard of.

At least I have some hope that my senior players can gain some determination, as I can't increase it by tutoring them! Thanks

[XaW]

23 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

Do you think the scouts / DoF have an impact on squad personality? I've always assumed they do  a little bit.

I'm not sure, I think coaches have, but I don't rate personality as much in scouts as others.

[darren1983]

I don't think scouts do because, in my head anyway, they're never really around anyone at the club aside from the manager. 

[ravenation]

3 hours ago, Cheez3y said:

After spending roughly 10 hours of holidaying in Germany to get Germania Halberstadt and not gettin them. (which I dont give up)

 

I started in England with...

Why? They got a fn boat on the badge.

I like this team - great facilities. Unfortunately they didnt promote in mine :-)

[hubwub]

3 hours ago, Watson156 said:

Can anybody help answer a couple of questions.

1) Is the only way to improve determination through mentoring or can it increase naturally?

2) Does scouting knowledge have any impact on youth intakes? If it does, then does the quality of scout/director of football have an impact?

Thanks

Mentoring is the sure way to improve determination. However, determination can also improve positively or negatively depending on the whole squad personality. If determination is decreasing so much for one of your players, look at the determination and hierarchy of the people in that mentoring group.

Scouting knowledge does not impact youth intake.

[vikeologist]

1 hour ago, darren1983 said:

I don't think scouts do because, in my head anyway, they're never really around anyone at the club aside from the manager. 

As I couldn't get anybody to apply for or take my vacant U18 coach job, I hired a scout, and insisted he have a secondary role as a coach. It means that we're paying twice as much for half the coaching.

[OlivierL]

I'm going to decide today.

Playing in Gibraltar with Manchester 62 (won't post about them here , because not allowed, only one tier) - youth only . Or Croatia Berlin.. love the team, loved the topic from Nakamura about them. A good German database was just released .

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 5th Folkestone Intake Report

This seems like by far the best intake I’ve had, so probably a few more screenshots than strictly necessary.

5 with 5 star potential. They’re the only ones I’ll offer actual P/T contracts to, but I’ll offer non contract and youth contracts to some of the players with good personalities, and a Dutch central defender who has potential to be relatively high up the depth chart for the position by dint of not being a short-arse.

Steve Marshall 5a – Central defender singled out by my HoYD. Unfortunately for Steve, every intake has central midfielders at the top. He has a poor personality and determination, so a tough path to relevancy.

However, he does look quite tasty as a right winger, which will require re-training. Might as well though. I really can’t see him making his way up the depth chart as a central midfielder.

Robert Davies 5b – A left back. Much better than last year’s 4a, who was also a left back, so Davies will be making his way straight to the first team. My starter isn’t that great, so I might give him some games straight away.

Rowan O'Hara 5c – A defensive midfielder / central defender, but at only 182cm I’m going to retrain him as a right back. He doesn’t look much cop as a central defender at all. Maybe a bit of a long shot.

Jordan Buxton 5d – My HoYD thinks he’s best as a defensive winger. He’s a physical athlete, so I can see that, but his speed and dribbling are not great. He’s the mirror image of Steve Marshall above. A supposed right winger who’d make a better central midfielder, but what is the same is that I am fully stocked on regen central midfielders. With a fairly determined personality, I might as well start training him as a winger and see if additional speed training kicks in.

Josh Waters 5e – A goalie. Has awful current ability, but a professional personality, so you never know.

Boris Kabeya 5f – What I could really have done with in this intake is a striker, but despite his seeming unimpressive ability and potential according to my HoYD, Boris may be the answer. (Frankly, the only context in I’m likely to write that last clause).

Crunching his attributes into my spreadsheet, he looks like my 2^nd best striker, second only to goal machine, David Smith. In fact, he;s considerably ahead of the rest of the field. Fairly Professional, but with a determination of 14, I’m going to throw him straight into my starting lineup as soon as he signs the contract. Initially I only offered him pay for play, but I’ve changed that to a proper part time one now.

[VooDooYouDo]

30 minutes ago, hubwub said:

Mentoring is the sure way to improve determination. However, determination can also improve positively or negatively depending on the whole squad personality. If determination is decreasing so much for one of your players, look at the determination and hierarchy of the people in that mentoring group.

Scouting knowledge does not impact youth intake.

Can also increase determination by fining/warning players for poor performances.  I've found this to be the quickest way to raise determination, assuming they've had a poor performance.

[andershs]

And we are relegated from the danish 3rd division.

Admittedly, my tactics were all over the place (and proven FM20 tactics did definitely not work), but the opposing players ran right through my central defense and had an insane conversion rate.

Moreover, we had our share of disallowed goals and offsides, and the new match UI made the confusion even bigger. What is the definition of a half filled yellow heart and a purple smiley? And my neck is hurting with all the horizontal scanning of the screen...

I need to find a working tactic and figure out how to properly motivate my players in FM21.

I will be back soon with another attempt at this challenge

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 1st Folkestone Intake Review

Every 4 years I like to review intakes, given that enough time should have passed to evaluate them.

Jason Ramsay 1a – By far my best regen player at the moment. 3 star CA. I’ve started both Jason and my 1b from the moment they appeared. My central midfield was a sewer before this intake.

Jason (who I regard as my nephew) has developed a lot better, although I wouldn’t say he’s actually been much good so far. His average ratings have been in the 6.50s every season, including this one.

Lachlan Cook 1b – He hasn’t developed as well as Jason despite getting a virtually identical amount of games. Just 2 star CA. He just has a worse personality, but he still has 5 star potential. He is getting better, just even more slowly than Jason.

 

Graham Hudson 1c – He developed well, and quickly was supposed to be my best striker. Trouble is he has a finishing of 1, and no skill whatsoever, and nothing would shift that.

I trained him as a striker. I trained him as a right back. Eventually I trained him as a right winger, even though it was a completely unnatural position for him, and this season he became the starter.

He was doing as well as anybody else had, and has a lot of potential, but them he broke his ankle. Time will tell if he can regain his spot at the start of next season. I just think his deficiencies as a player are insurmountable, but despite all my mucking him about, he has developed well into a 2 star CA.

Gerry Robinson 1d and Jack Solly 1e

2 goalkeepers. Solly is my sub keeper. Robinson is going to be released at the end of next season if I can’t offload him to someone. Neither of them are anywhere near as good as my legacy starter, but Solly has a better personality and once again, has developed better. I say he has a better personality. It’s Fickle, but Robinson’s is awful.

Mesut Özgür 1h – Was a first team central defender for a while, nd even picked up a few U21 caps for Turkey, but was quickly overtaken by a later regen.

Neal Muggeridge 1g – Has appeared 92 times as a winger, on both wings, but like Mesut, that was more out of desperation than anything. Because he can play on both wings though, he is useful to have as a sub, because I only have 5 subs in the Conference South.

In summary, personality seems to be having a far, far bigger effect on progression than first team action. I do everything I can to improve the personalities, but it's hard sledging.

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, OlivierL said:

I'm going to decide today.

Playing in Gibraltar with Manchester 62 (won't post about them here , because not allowed, only one tier) - youth only . Or Croatia Berlin.. love the team, loved the topic from Nakamura about them. A good German database was just released .

I did an attempt to get Croatia Berlin but they are relegated  so picking them for this challenge won't be possible  they only have three real players at the start.

So I think i'm going to start in Gibraltar.. this won't be posted here since it is not allowed. I'll start my own topic in career forum.  I continue reading here and i'll be back later  good luck all ! 

[XaW]

AFC Rushden & Diamonds Season 2023/24 review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Now we are talking! A very good season for us, but the finished league table flatters us a bit. We were never in contention for a playoff spot, and only a small win streak towards the end of the season pushed us up quite a bit. Going into the latter part, I had hopes we could finish in the top half with a bit of luck, but we overachieved a bit to end in a very good 9th place. I've not gotten any more improvements accepted, but I hope the ones I've gotten so far will be repaid in the long run.

The preview gave me high hopes for the intake, but it was probably the worst yet. Still we got a very talented right winger in Paul Andoh 24b.

In the FA Cup we beat Biggleswade and St. Ives before losing to Kidderminster in the 4th qualifying round.

In the FA Trophy we beat Alfreton Town before losing to Gateshead in the 3rd round.

[Steveh171]

22 minutes ago, XaW said:

AFC Rushden & Diamonds Season 2023/24 review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Now we are talking! A very good season for us, but the finished league table flatters us a bit. We were never in contention for a playoff spot, and only a small win streak towards the end of the season pushed us up quite a bit. Going into the latter part, I had hopes we could finish in the top half with a bit of luck, but we overachieved a bit to end in a very good 9th place. I've not gotten any more improvements accepted, but I hope the ones I've gotten so far will be repaid in the long run.

The preview gave me high hopes for the intake, but it was probably the worst yet. Still we got a very talented right winger in Paul Andoh 24b.

In the FA Cup we beat Biggleswade and St. Ives before losing to Kidderminster in the 4th qualifying round.

In the FA Trophy we beat Alfreton Town before losing to Gateshead in the 3rd round.

Any tips for managing finances in England? 

I've never had finances anywhere near that at stourbridge! Meaning I couldn't improve my junior / youth recruitment

[XaW]

12 minutes ago, Steveh171 said:

Any tips for managing finances in England? 

I've never had finances anywhere near that at stourbridge! Meaning I couldn't improve my junior / youth recruitment

Not really, trying to maintain a low wage budget and get as far in the FA Cup as possible. I've been surprised we weren't losing more, but we are going to go into the red this season, I expect! The only think I can think of, is that my club has more season ticket holders than many other clubs in the division. Probably because we are a phoenix club...

[keeper#1]

What are your thoughts on "light-hearted" personalities?  Good?  Bad?  Meh?

[XaW]

3 minutes ago, keeper#1 said:

What are your thoughts on "light-hearted" personalities?  Good?  Bad?  Meh?

I consider it slightly better than Balanced. It's the poor version of Spirited.

Edited December 12, 2020 by XaW

[hubwub]

4 hours ago, VooDooYouDo said:

Can also increase determination by fining/warning players for poor performances.  I've found this to be the quickest way to raise determination, assuming they've had a poor performance.

I've seen determination raise that way too. I have tiers for fining.

• 6.5 - 1/2 week
• 6.4 - 6.3 - 1 week
• 6.3 and below - 2 week

Also, I criticize when they don't do well in training.

[officiallydeej]

.

 

deleted.

 

Edited December 12, 2020 by officiallydeej

[officiallydeej]

KRC Gent - Belgian Nationale 1

Just wrote out an entire post for a team I couldn't use so I'm going to save my words this time and get stuck in. Excellent facilities but predicted to finish bottom. Never managed in Belgium before, let's get going!

Edited December 12, 2020 by officiallydeej

[jmonfu]

47 minutes ago, hubwub said:

I've seen determination raise that way too. I have tiers for fining.

• 6.5 - 1/2 week
• 6.4 - 6.3 - 1 week
• 6.3 and below - 2 week

Also, I criticize when they don't do well in training.

You fine a player if he plays badly?  I only fine a player on a red card, and I start with issuing a warning.  Do the players taking fining 2 weeks wages for a 6.3 well?  If he gets a 6.3 every other week?  He will remain without a wage?

[VooDooYouDo]

55 minutes ago, hubwub said:

I've seen determination raise that way too. I have tiers for fining.

• 6.5 - 1/2 week
• 6.4 - 6.3 - 1 week
• 6.3 and below - 2 week

Also, I criticize when they don't do well in training.

For me it's
6.5 - warning

6.3-6.4 - 1 day

6.2 and below - 1 week

[officiallydeej]

I've never had this before on a YAC save and I'm not entirely comfortable with it. These 2 players have just arrived on a free on my second day in charge as I had no way to cancel them. What is the official ruling on it? I'm thinking of only using them if I run out of non-grey players, if that's allowed.

[XaW]

1 minute ago, officiallydeej said:

I've never had this before on a YAC save and I'm not entirely comfortable with it. These 2 players have just arrived on a free on my second day in charge as I had no way to cancel them. What is the official ruling on it? I'm thinking of only using them if I run out of non-grey players, if that's allowed.

Ah, they're fine as long as you didn't have any way of cancelling them. If they were "Done" before you took over they are to be considered as normal players.

[vikeologist]

7 minutes ago, VooDooYouDo said:

For me it's
6.5 - warning

6.3-6.4 - 1 day

6.2 and below - 1 week

I'd be disciplining around 9 of my team every match.

[VooDooYouDo]

28 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

I'd be disciplining around 9 of my team every match.

Their determination should skyrocket then

[hubwub]

52 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

I'd be disciplining around 9 of my team every match.

Most of my team gets disciplined for bad performances. It's required to have a good captain with a good personality when you fine. Also fining helps with wages, a tiny bit.

[hubwub]

1 hour ago, jmonfu said:

You fine a player if he plays badly?  I only fine a player on a red card, and I start with issuing a warning.  Do the players taking fining 2 weeks wages for a 6.3 well?  If he gets a 6.3 every other week?  He will remain without a wage?

I fine a player when he plays badly. I'm that strict in the game. My code of conduct is even harsher. Some accept the fining for two weeks wages fine, the one with bad personalities don't handle it well then I get my captain to ease the pain.

1 hour ago, VooDooYouDo said:

For me it's
6.5 - warning

6.3-6.4 - 1 day

6.2 and below - 1 week

I used to warn when they got yellow cards. I've eased on that.

I'm very strict in the game because I know that if I can get them to play consistently well, the hidden attribute of consistency can increase. They can only increase with how well they play in matches. I don't think mentoring can influence it. That's the same with big matches, I've yet to find out how I can grow that hidden attribute.

[jmonfu]

11 minutes ago, hubwub said:

I fine a player when he plays badly. I'm that strict in the game. My code of conduct is even harsher. Some accept the fining for two weeks wages fine, the one with bad personalities don't handle it well then I get my captain to ease the pain.

I used to warn when they got yellow cards. I've eased on that.

I'm very strict in the game because I know that if I can get them to play consistently well, the hidden attribute of consistency can increase. They can only increase with how well they play in matches. I don't think mentoring can influence it. That's the same with big matches, I've yet to find out how I can grow that hidden attribute.

hmmm interesting, I never thought of this tbh.  Will try it this season.  

[holidaysong]

FC United of Manchester ; season 2026/27

League Table ; A 17th place finish which was one place lower but 2 points better off compared to the previous season. I was getting very excited early on, winning 6 of my first 7 games and even topping the league at one point, alas it was a downward trajectory from there.

Squad ; I managed to hang on to all my best players this year, which seems like progress in itself.

Starting 11 ; 24 goals for Rohan Francis who shone in a poacher role.

Transfers ; Nothing major.

Youth Candidates ; A great intake if only for my fellow countryman Scott Graham alone, who will goes straight into my midfield.

Next season expectations ; Fight bravely against relegation (of course).. 

Edited December 12, 2020 by holidaysong

[Rizz0therat]

Gosport Borough - Season 1

 

I'm kicking off this year's first attempt with Gosport, definitely one of the more challenging choices but I couldn resist that badge. Plus, they had a Brazilian forward (who I then upset and he didn't sign a contract), and a 6'8 young centre back. The rest of the squad is quite old so I fear for the immediate future.

Season 1 went well, we flirted with the playoffs a few times but eventually our old man centre backs stopped scoring. We made it to the first round of the FA cup which gave us some much needed cash, unfortunately drew Peterborough at home rather than away and they knocked us out.

Can't see us getting promoted any time soon, i suspect season 2 will be tougher.

League Table - 10th

Squad - Best players are Casey the 6'8 centre back who got us 8 goals, and Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, brother of Alex. Nicky Bailey, our captain, and Jordan Rose, first chouce centre back, both retired at the end of the season.

Youth Intake - Decent but no one amazing, Ed Halliwell will get some game time for sure next season, as will Ethan Henderson with the lack of centre backs at the club.

Ed Halliwell 22A - Good determination and decent passer

Yashwa Giamattei 22B - Temperamental, weird name for a Gosport lad

Anthony Salt 22C - Great determination, unfortunately another left winger, probably will end up better than Yashwa and this guy is comically small on the pitch 5'3

Sam Bolton 22D - Another with good determination and leadership, could do a job.

Ethan Henderson 22E - Good mentals and tackling, will get game time due to retirements

My starting profile - Season transfers

Year

League

Predicted

Finished

FA Cup

FA Trophy

Top Goal Scorer

Most Assists

Fans POTS

Young POTS

Training Fac

Youth Fac

Junior Coach

Youth Rec

Badges

2020/21

Vanarama National League South

23rd

10th

1st Round

3rd Round

Elliott Charles (33)

Chris Flood (15)

Matt Casey

Matt Casey

Poor

Poor

Fairly basic

Limited

National C

 

Edited December 12, 2020 by Rizz0therat

[Rizz0therat]

13 hours ago, Cheez3y said:

After spending roughly 10 hours of holidaying in Germany to get Germania Halberstadt and not gettin them. (which I dont give up)

 

I started in England with...

Why? They got a fn boat on the badge.

Haha jsut seen this, exact reason i chose them. I hate yellow kits too but the badge is too good.

[shaunvamos]

Excelsior Maasluis 2032/33 Season Review

 

 

 

 

Alex Smith 9B* - Selorm Mohammed 5B* - Sjoerd Spreeuwenberg 6E*
 

This was something I didn't expect. But we got off to a great start and managed to maintain it to get a top 3 finish and (I think) a place in the group stages of a European competition for the first time! Finishing third puts us in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League, so even if we lose all of our qualification games we should get a spot in the Conference League. Speaking of the Conference league, we beat 2 Slovenian teams in our first two ties without conceding, but Kobenhavn beat us 2-1 on aggregate to eliminate us which was disappointing. 

There were two major transfers that happened this season too, one planned and one unplanned. The planned one happened in the first transfer window, where I sold our 196 game GK Daniel Mofokeng 4F to Chievo Verona for 4.7M. It was a strategic decision, as our backup keeper longest name ever 6E* was pretty much the same ability but had more potential. It proved to be a good choice, as Spreeuwenberg had a fantastic season, breaking the clean sheets record. The second transfer was not planned, and tears a gaping hole in our lineup. Hendri Adrian 8A*, our driven right wing back, went to AZ Alkmaar in January as they matched his release clause of 14M. Our backups are less than ideal, but they're still young so hopefully they develop quickly. 

Our training facilities are maxed out, and our youth facilities are one upgrade away from also being maxed. The foundation is there, we just need the players to fill gaps where they're needed. 

 

Record Breakers

 

 

Youth Intake

 

Renzo Bakx 12A - Steven Been 12B* - Angelo Villareal 12C

 

A pretty good intake, and I'm really excited about Been. CB is probably our weakest position, and having 3 at the back means that's a massive problem. But he's got great base stats, is already 6'4", and has plenty of time and room to develop. He's going to be great!

 

Transfers

 

The two first teamers and a bunch of youths that never featured leave us.

 

Progress

 

[andershs]

A quick note on Northern Ireland in this challenge.

It seems that the promoted team to the Bluefin Sport PIL is determined between 1st of May 2021 and 1st of June 2021.

If I save at 1st of May and holiday to 25th of June, I can get different teams. Saving on the 1st of June, the promoted team seems to have been determined already.

Edit: And it should be hard to get other teams than Belfast Celtic or Donegal Celtic. They both have a reputation of 1250 and the third most reputable team Coagh United has a reputation of 800.

Edited December 13, 2020 by andershs
typo

[SoSolidSnake]

Well that's much better than last year, a lot of different positions too! 

The only thing we might be missing is a goalkeeper, but luckily our current keeper is only 22. 

As I'm doing a little update, might as well show the league table given that we're surpassing expectations:

We've been a bit up and down, in the automatic promotion spots near the beginning, then had a poor September, but bringing it up through October and November, only to lose 2 out of our last 3. We almost don't want to go up because it would be so tough, but the prize money is so enticing: £7m for last place in the 2. Bundesliga! Compared to the nothing we get in the 3. Liga that would be incredible. 

I don't know if I'd be able to keep my job though if we were getting relegated, so something to think about.

[andershs]

Belfast Celtic in Northern Ireland it is!

Meet the new manager.

The squad is small and aging in certain positions. Most notably our only goalkeeper, 39 year old David Hilton-McIlwaine.

Half-decent facilities for this level, I would say, and even though we are projected to finish dead last, our central defender has snuck into the Media Dream Eleven.

Here we go. 

[thomas_e]

It really is great how form works in this game. I've had massive dips in form at almost the exact same time each season now. Does this mean the game is scripted? Absolutely not. Is it strange that the slip in form does not affect anything in the Copa Libertadores, but only in the league? Yes, that is really strange... The passing module in this years match engine is not good IMO, and when my form slips my CB's tend to only hit long hopeless balls towards a lone striker. The fact that I play with short passing lower tempo doesn't seem to matter. In the Copa Libertadores though, this doesn't happen. Really strange indeed.........

[thomas_e]

In the Copa Libertadores it's always tough to beat the Brazilian teams. This year I got two of them in the group stage, so advancing will be hard! But it's a lot harder when I only get one day rest after a league game. This makes no sense and there isn't even a tight schedule of games...................

 

 

[duvels]

I'm going to give this a try as well, as my 3rd save. I ended up with:

This is how I'll be going through the game:

[SoSolidSnake]

Honestly, I was hoping for better - but it's not too bad:

Tobias Formann - A position where we do need some more depth. He doesn't look very good, but with a 5 star potential, hopefully he can improve.

Brian Schmidt - A right winger with pace, technique and flair, and he's naturally fit which is nice I guess. All other stats are pretty atrocious though, 4 crossing and 5 passing aren't ideal for a winger.

Rune Holden - A left footed right back/right mid, I mean honestly he's fairly rounded, I think I'll retrain him to a left back as we're lacking over there, but he could end up on either wing to be honest.

Alexander Markert - Aside from trying to sell me car insurance, this guy can apparently play in every position down the middle of the pitch - his attributes say otherwise though. 

In other news

We've had an awful run since my last update:

However, in 11th place with 42 points with 6 games left, we are 2 points from guaranteeing to avoid relegation, which is all I can really ask for really. 

I would very much like some of the sponsors that the big dogs have (Chemnitz are in the relegation zone for god's sake! How are they getting £4m a year?) as we are very much in the red.

I'll probably be back to give a little more update when the season is over! 

[DazRTaylor]

@darren1983Northern Ireland.  Season resets on 25 June 2021.  Save on 4 June 2021 to enable a different team.  When you start the game, it looks like there is no relegation from the third tier.  This is correct.  However, the league is restructured after the first season and a new club, that is unplayable at the start, is available from season two.

[GylfiAsCharged]

I'm hopeless at sticking to this challenge beyond a season or so and tend to start a new game elsewhere when things become stagnant, so I figured a change of scenery might help. For the first time ever I set out to manage in the Turkish leagues, holidayed the first season and was greeted with a familiar name... Fethiyespor.

Fethiye is a coastal town in the Muğla province of Turkey where I went on holiday at the age of 10 and I have fond memories of the area, especially the beautiful harbour.

Not only am I familiar with the location, but Fethiyespor are predicted to survive their first season with a pre-season prediction of 14th, with only the bottom three of 20 facing the drop, and their club policy of only signing Turkish players shouldn't be a hindrance in a youth-only save. The facilities need quite a lot of work to really start getting useful youth intakes and I'm going to have to win my board over before they grant me anything. 

Personnel-wise they look well poised to operate in a wide 4-3-3 which I haven't yet experimented with on FM21 but has usually been my go-to shape in previous iterations of the game. I suppose my main priority is just to get results, win the board over and start getting them on-side for infrastructure decisions as there's some money in the bank and we're only spending about half of our wage budget, though weirdly the projections look super-bleak, maybe they assume I'm spending my whole wage budget...

Here's my manager profile showing my total lack of pedigree, and below is a bit more about the club from within FM. Interesting to see that we play in PSG and Blackburn Rovers knock-off kits. The third tier in Turkey consists of two 20 team leagues, we play in the "Kirmizi Grup" (Red Group) which has one automatic promotion spot to the second tier, four play-off spots and a three-team relegation zone, which is mirrored by the "Beyaz Grup" (White Group). I can't establish any geographic reasoning behind which teams are in which group, perhaps this exists in real life but not in-game. Sadly we don't have any in-game rivals, though maybe that takes some pressure off me.

Edited December 14, 2020 by GylfiAsCharged