The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[XaW 5,164]

AFC Rushden & Diamonds Season 2024/25 review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Another strong season with some improvements. And I can feel and see the squad getting stronger. Most of the original players are now rated quite poor for the squad and some of them were highly rated early on. Currently we are only using 4 of the original squad and not all are even regulars. So things look good and we are playing well. For a lot of the season we were in the playoff spots and I hoped we could finish inside. However, we had a bit of a rough patch, so we just dropped outside. In the final game we had a shot at it, but we needed to beat Southport as well as a loss from either King's Lynn or Gateshead. None of those happened as both the other teams picked up points while we only managed a 0-0 draw. So we finished just outside the playoff, but I hope we can push into it next season. We also got in some more improvements to the academy coaching and youth recruitment.

The preview looked promising and the intake was quite good. Bruno Costa 25e is probably the best striker we have had come through by now.

In the FA Cup we went on a bit of a run as we beat Bury Town, Stalybridge Celtic, Kidderminster and Dartford before losing to League One side Doncaster in the 2nd round.

In the FA Trophy we beat Nantwich Town before losing to Darlington in the 3rd round.

[DazRTaylor 1,724]

Looks like you are having a blast @XaW!  I try again tomorrow, in Northern Ireland with Coagh United.

[XaW 5,164]

7 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

Looks like you are having a blast @XaW!  I try again tomorrow, in Northern Ireland with Coagh United.

Yeah, I'm really enjoying it! Hopefully we can push for a promotion in a few seasons.

[officiallydeej 231]

KRC Gent - 2021/22 Season Review

 

Squad - Croky Cup - Finances - Transfers (Both deals agreed before I took over)

Well, this was unexpected! We were predicted to finish 15th and with 1 win and 4 defeats from our opening 5 looked destined to live up to that pre season billing. I dropped our defensive line a touch and made us more attacking, but what followed on was not in the slightest bit expected. Only 2 more defeats in the remaining 22 league games saw us effectively lead the table (Club Brugge NXT can't get promoted) heading into the playoff phase. Being a fool I didn't check the playoff rules and expected an English style knock out, resting my players after we have confirmed our place in the top 4. I ended up losing the last 2 games of the regular season before finding out we took 50% of our points through! We lost our first playoff game against Francs Borains (they dealt us 3 of our 8 total defeats) but 3 wins and 2 draws saw us over the line in the final game and we're up at the first time of asking! I honestly didn't expect this and have no idea how we'll compete at the higher level, but only 1 team come back down so we'll do our best to finish next to bottom.

Finances aren't good, we lost a lot and I don't expect that will change in the next division. Luckily we have very good training and youth facilities for this level so they should carry us through for a little while yet. The two transfers were arranged before I joined and I couldn't cancel them, arriving on my 2nd day in the job.

Jeff Hagelstein

Having good starting facilities definitely makes a difference, and look at all those second nationalities! I signed all these players except for Pontikos & Fossati, and as we didn't have enough players to fill our bench expect to see at least 2 or 3 in and around the first team next season.

Edited December 13, 2020 by officiallydeej

[keeper#1 658]

South Shields September 1, 2027 Update

We had a very successful friendly season losing only to Rangers.  Beat follow League Two side Carlisle 2-0 in a friendly at our place.  The start of the season was tough as we struggled to find the right 4-4-2 fit for this year's squad.  As we find that, the results should start to come.  Played a mainly reserve side against the Newcastle U23s in the Checkatrade Trophy.  We were short a lot of players due to U19 and U21 international call-ups.  They just ran us over.

Our goals per game, shots per game, and pass completion numbers are all improved from last year.  We have moved into the "aggressive clinical" quad.  But our goals conceded and xG goals conceded are worse than last year's numbers.  We are currently in the "busy leaky" quad on the defensive efficiency graph.

No mentoring items to mention during this run of games.

[Joe Horn 17]

Berwick Rangers – 2022/23

Competitions:

 

League: (First picture pre-season prediction)

A very good season, predicted to finish rock bottom by a long long long way but miraculously we somehow beat pre-season expectations to stay up, we were running in the playoffs for the first half of the season but then slumped horrendously. Also Lewis Allan was the league top scorer.

Scottish Cup:

We played Alloa four times in all comps and won three, the only one we lost being in the Scottish Cup. We beat Cove 4-0 in round 3 but ultimately lost to Alloa in round 4.

 

Betfred Cup:

The less said the better really, I don’t know what happened (three championship sides in our group).

 

SPFL Trust Trophy:

Our second fourth round crash out; can someone who understands this competition actually explain how the hell it works? Why are teams from across the UK invited, I’m so confused by that??

 

Intake:

 

 

All but one of our intake were signed with Molapo being a straight starter for us.

 

Squad/Accolades:

Hard to believe we had just 12 players for most of last season. Great depth now.

 

Lewis Allan somehow wins the Golden boot. Nelson also got most assists despite him having a fair few injuries. Also our discipline is an issue.

Lewis also won two POTMSs.

And I won the first MOTM of the season.

Lewis also got TOTS.

Just leave that there

 

And the final note is that a historical side and former premiership side offered me there manager role. I said no.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

 

 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Joe Horn
Picture deletion

[Braumiller 448]

Holy smokes, over 200+ posts to catch up on!   Will do so over the next day or so

[XaW 5,164]

1 minute ago, Braumiller said:

Holy smokes, over 200+ posts to catch up on!   Will do so over the next day or so

This challenge seems to just become more and more popular for each FM version! The FM20 one has over 5,600 replies and over 200,000 views!

[Braumiller 448]

On The Pitch - League Table
Europa Conference Qualifiers - KF Tirana of Albania in 1st round, 0-0 at home and then a quality 4-0 away win!  Horrendous draw for round 2, IFK Goteborg of Sweden!  Remarkably we raced into a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the away first leg.  Quality then shone and they pulled it back to 2-2 by half time, but we held firm and kept it at that in the 2nd half.  2nd leg at home, 0-0 would do, but an early Goteborg goal and a red card for us ended any hope.  Eventually lost 0-2, but we played well.
We followed this up with a disappointing loss in our first League Cup game, but turned up for the league, going unbeaten in the first 8, including winning our first 5.  We continued on fire with our newly tweaked tactic focusing on James Downes 05A out on the right and finished the regular season W16 D3 L3 and firmly in 2nd place behind you know who (who accounted for 2 of our 3 losses).
Our form in the Championship Group dropped off a lot, for reasons explained below  W3 D3 L4, but we held on to 2nd spot due to our fantastic regular season.  Europa Conference Qualifiers again next year!

Off The Pitch
Well, we had a bit of deja vu
MLS teams started sniffing around and then constantly bidding on James Downes 05A.  Eventually the board caved and he was sold for 34.5k and the 50% next sale clause.  He was our main striker before this season, but after Chris Hilton 05A's departure last year I started transitioning him to an AMR role, due to Adam Dunn 04's pace up front.  The AMR role evolved and eventually he became an out and out Inside Forward and our main goal threat, scoring 34 in 30 games this year before he left for Red Bull New York.  A huge loss (again!) and it showed in our results.
Before his sale, I was confident we had grown into the 2nd best team in Wales behind TNS, but now I feel like we are back in the pack for 3rd-8th.  Work to do!
Chris Hilton 04A has started life well in Cincinnati.  His value is up to 600k, has 2.5 years left on his contract and has 12 goals in 40 appearances so far.

TNS did TNS things.  They beat last years points total of 90, with 91 this year!  They didn't go unbeaten though, but did go P32 W30 D1 L1.  Ridiculous!  They also won the Welsh Cup and made the Europa Conference Group stages.
Financially we are doing a little better.  The Europa Conference money has helped grow our bank balance to between 300-400k (depending on seasonal ups and downs), but due to our debt, we have approx -250k total debt.  So still no chance of improvements anywhere, but we are slowly climbing out of the hole.  Another 2 or 3 more years of Europa Conference Qualifiers and I am hoping to see 0 debt and maybe even have the board pay off the Company Voluntary Agreement and save the approx 45k interest that will have to be paid overtime.

Youth Intake - screenshot
A down year for intake potential.  Peter Lowndes 08A looks a useful addition to the squad (and with possible future captain consideration if he can establish himself) and will start next year as our back up central defender.
Peter Lowndes 08A - Slower than I would like, but everything else looks promising.  Hard working, determined, team oriented player.  Hoping he progresses.
Colin Baker 08B - Our seasonal graduate from the Monmouth GK pipeline...
Neil Spencer 08C - Professional and pacey left winger.  Not much else about him, but hopeful he might prove me wrong and see first team action.
Steve Hanbury 08D - A striker who can finish with composure!  Sadly we play purely to the pacey threat of our forwards & widemen which is a deficiency to his game.  If he makes the first team level, I need to figure out how to adapt to him.

Squad Stats

Transfers

[thomas_e 740]

Sacachispas FC

Season Summary 2025 - 2026

Another good season, but danger on the horizon? 

 

*Note: the Copa Libertadores and the Argentinian domestic cup does not correlate with the league calendar, so the save summary box at the end is a bit off.

It was another good season for us, and with the exact same development in form. Start well -> slow off a bit -> good form mid-season -> absolutely shocking, cant win anything -> finish strong. 

We finished 5th place which is actaully the worst league finish we've had! I can't complain though as we get another run in the Copa Libertadores (might have to go through qualification). We played some really good football at times this year, but overall we have to improve our consistency. A lot of tactical work was done thoughout the year, but to be honest it just left me with more questions. When our defenders have the ball, we don't seem to find many clever ways of building attacks from the back. This has led to more direct play from my GK, but this makes me lose possession more than I like and many games looked more like ping poll than a team with a tactical plan. 

Luckily we have a striker that scores at will. Moustapha Bissene scored 30 goals in 38 games which is great. His stats arent that great, but our formation really suits the advanced forward. 

In the Copa Libertadores we drew Corinthians (Brazil), Cruzeiro (Brazil) and Barcelona SC (Equador). A tough group, but we played great! We only lost once and that was the last game away against Corinthians. Home and away wins against Cruzeiro was crucial and we progressed to the knock-out stage with ease, and that was surprising! We could have won the group as we missed some huge chances in the final game against Corinthians, but it was well deserved that we lost the game in the end! So the first games of the next season is against Brazilian side Palmeiras. We are underdogs, but hopefully we can surprise them! 

But I do have some issues that I need to address. We have some really good players at this stage, including goalkeeper which is key, but my star player Gabriel Dezotti is going to leave.. I have been living in deinal, but with only one year left in his contract there is no chance that he will stay. I think I have to sell him and that has me forced to change tactics. I dont have any full backs left.... So we will be going into the next season with a formation that doesn't include full backs or wing backs.. How that will work I have no idea... 

Our next best player, Sergio Soto, has several years left on his contract, but I still pinned him down to a new deal (5 years + 2 extension). By far our best paid player now, but we just have to keep hold of the little quality that we have! 

 

Season Summary

          

 

Key Players

          

 

Key Talents

          

 

 

[Joe Horn 17]

Now I'm hella confused is Scotland bizzare with job offers, I just got offered Premiership side Livingston's job. Like wtf I just finished mid table two divisions below with the worst squad in Scotland.

[DazRTaylor 1,724]

2 minutes ago, Joe Horn said:

Now I'm hella confused is Scotland bizzare with job offers, I just got offered Premiership side Livingston's job. Like wtf I just finished mid table two divisions below with the worst squad in Scotland.

You have answered your own question.  You finished mid table with the worst squad.  

[Joe Horn 17]

1 minute ago, DazRTaylor said:

You have answered your own question.  You finished mid table with the worst squad.  

Yeah but is that really worthy of a first division job 

[Braumiller 448]

On The Pitch - League Table
Europa Conference Qualifying Rounds - We drew Iskra of Montenegro again, who we played our first ever European game against!  Again we beat them handily, 7-2 on aggregate.  Round 2 and we get KuPS of Finland, a much tougher test.  We drew 1-1 at home to start with, and then sadly never really got going in the away leg losing 2-4, 3-5 on aggregate to fall at the same hurdle as last year.
Our struggles at the end of last season after the sale of James Downes 05A continued.  We were always around 4th-6th, but 4th did actually feel a little above our quality level.
In the European Playoffs we got knocked out on penalties after a 0-0 draw.  This means we miss out on Europe and the money it generates for the first time in 4 years

Off The Pitch
As has been the case recently, the off the pitch section is a lot busier!
December saw a takeover talks here at Monmouth.  No drama, just a simple transition.  There was hope that he would pay off our debts, but in the end he injected 10k into the club and it was business as usual.
January is where things started to get VERY interesting.  We got news of an Arsenal bid for James Downes 05A!  6.25m in total and we have a 50% clause!  Turns out the MLS stole some of our final amount, but we are suddenly rich (for a Welsh club!).  2.8m upfront and roughly 400k in installments over time.
The day after it was finalized I went straight to the board to starting asking for things!  And we are now turning pro in the summer!  This should be a huge stepping stone as we try and climb back up the pecking order in Wales.
Training and Youth facilities are also agreed on.  Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching couldn't be asked for again, I had only just asked in vain before the transfer news broke!  They will be pleaded for next season  

Youth Intake - screenshot
A better intake than last year, but not yet setting the Welsh world alight.  Truth be told with the stagnation of our infrastructure improvements to this point it is not a surprise.  It looks like our trend of having potentially 1 youth impacting the first team and the others needing to progress to have any chance continues.
Mykee Sadler 09A - This kid has a chance to make it.  Can use both feet, can play at both full back spots and is another possible future captain consideration if he makes it (I look for a combination of leadership, personality, determination, teamwork & work rate).  Will start next year on the bench, backing up both full backs.
Luke Evans 09B - Another left back, but is not very technical at all and a bad personality
Luke Morgan-Allen 09C - Hard working midfielder, this kid may have a future if we can improve his personality
Daniel Roberts 09D - Left sided midfielder.

Squad Stats

Transfers

[Braumiller 448]

Ok, all caught up on my posts, now to catch up on all of yours  

[Watson156 122]

13 hours ago, thomas_e said:

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...................

 

 

I'm having the same problem in Brazil!

[keeper#1 658]

South Shields November 1, 2027 Update

Our defense is vastly improved over the past couple years.  We played 12 matches in the last two months, we had clean sheets in seven of them and allowed only one goal in two more.  We finally have some depth and we don't have to roll out the same four defenders every game.  We can rotate in some fresh bodies.  We have slid back into the playoff places.  We were in them last season but really dropped off in the second half of the season due to no depth.  I feel better about our position this season.

He doesn't look like much but he has a nose for the goal and puts in the work as a good deep-lying forward.  A nice little find in the bottom end of our most recent intake.

Shots per game down and we are moving back into the "passive, clinical" quad.  But goals conceded per game is way down and driving our success this season.

We have a lot of players playing during the international breaks for a variety of countries.

[Watson156 122]

I don't really know how to feel about this. We have lost our best prospect after Bahia met his release clause of £3.2m. I'm gutted that we are losing him as he had really become a main player for us, and we don't have anyone near his potential who will be ready to replace him in the next few years. 

The other problem is that we couldn't add any extra clauses into the deal. If we could have added a 50% next fee into the deal then I wouldn't be even questioning it. I reckon he will be moving on again for at least 7-10m and we aren't going to get any of it. 

It's also come at a bad time as we really don't need the money. We have a really good balance (for a club our size) and are already investing in our facilities. Oh well, that's the life of a youth only challenge I suppose!

[Diego D10S 379]

 

Getting off to a great start. Golden generation in the first intake with a attacking midfielder as the best one is just what I need  

This always get me very excited even if I know I will get disappointed  

GL ALL !!  

 

 

 

[jmonfu 92]

Hi guys,

Anyone encounters a problem where some of their own players will have different kits?  All games now, some of my players will have white (default) kits, but some will have blue shirts, or striped shirts etc.  Makes it annoying since a lot of teams have blue kits and makes them undistinguisahable

Anyone has this problem?

[officiallydeej 231]

1 hour ago, jmonfu said:

Hi guys,

Anyone encounters a problem where some of their own players will have different kits?  All games now, some of my players will have white (default) kits, but some will have blue shirts, or striped shirts etc.  Makes it annoying since a lot of teams have blue kits and makes them undistinguisahable

Anyone has this problem?

Yes, I've had it for a while where in some games one or two of my players will play in an away shirt (but home shorts) whilst the rest of the team is wearing the normal home kit.

When I first saw it and wasn't sure what was going on it looked like one of the other team had run 40 yards trying to score an O.G 

Edited December 14, 2020 by officiallydeej

[officiallydeej 231]

6 games left of our second season and against all the odds there could be a second consecutive promotion on the cards..

 

No doubt that posting here in excitement will be sure to derail my season and we'll finish third.

[JLAB 308]

So I've had my youth intake for my 4th season and it's... questionably good? At least 4 players could have decent potential, but given the quality of our side, I'm not holding my breath.

Tortoli is my best prospect and someone that I can finally build my team around in goal. With my current starting goalkeeper still only being 29 and 3.5 stars in current ability, my main concern for Tortoli is giving him game-time, which I'm not great at when it comes to goalkeepers.

[officiallydeej 231]

@JLAB I have exactly that same issue with keepers. My starting keeper is 29 now and I've got 2 higher potential keepers in the u21's who aren't far behind in terms of CA but they never get to play.

My thinking is to loan both out next season, sit a poorer option on the first team bench but have a recall clause on both in case my main keeper picks up an injury.

'

[Cheez3y 765]

9 minutes ago, officiallydeej said:

@JLAB I have exactly that same issue with keepers. My starting keeper is 29 now and I've got 2 higher potential keepers in the u21's who aren't far behind in terms of CA but they never get to play.

My thinking is to loan both out next season, sit a poorer option on the first team bench but have a recall clause on both in case my main keeper picks up an injury.

'

Jep, this is the best thing to do.

[officiallydeej 231]

KRC Gent - 2022/23 Season Review

Proximus League

 

Croky Cup - Squad - Finances - Transfers

It was ultimately playoff heartbreak for us against Oostende but what a debut season for us in Belgium's second tier. We flew out of the traps and led the league by 6 points at one stage but in the end Lierse proved too strong and won their last 7 on the bounce to take the title. I carried our attacking football into the playoffs and the gap in quality between the divisions proved too much for us, the 6-3 in the first leg flattered us as we got absolutely mullered. I tightened us up for the second leg and tried to play on the counter but the game ended up a damp squib. That said, I'm delighted with our season on the whole as again we were predicted to finish rock bottom, but ended up an impressive 39 points above  RWDM.

We have an incredible 10 five star potential players in our U18's now and another 2 already in the first team so the future seems really bright and as long as I can hold onto most of them we don't need to rush promotion to the top league. Money is an issue however and we are almost 900k in the red now with no obvious way out without an investor or perhaps one big sale. The core of my first team are all still mid twenties so there is no rush this time to get the youngsters in as I have done on previous saves. I'll be looking to loan out as many of the youth team as possible next season to get them experience and hopefully have another crack at promotion with my original squad.

Jan de Sutter

Not the best set of personalities but another boat load of potential here. De Sutter and Van Damme will immediately join the first team with the rest going out on loan as soon as they turn pro.

Edited December 14, 2020 by officiallydeej

[jmonfu 92]

1 hour ago, officiallydeej said:

Yes, I've had it for a while where in some games one or two of my players will play in an away shirt (but home shorts) whilst the rest of the team is wearing the normal home kit.

When I first saw it and wasn't sure what was going on it looked like one of the other team had run 40 yards trying to score an O.G 

Have you resolved it?  Is there a fix for this?  I get it in every match now

[officiallydeej 231]

If my understanding of the star system on the poaching screen is correct, he is going to be really, really good. 

[XaW 5,164]

Just lost one of my best players, but for that fee, I didn't think I could turn it down. He also had a short time left on his contract, so I thought I'd cash in. He was too good for this level really. £170k + 50% of next sale is quite good for a VNN-team, really.

[officiallydeej 231]

6 minutes ago, jmonfu said:

Have you resolved it?  Is there a fix for this?  I get it in every match now

No I haven't resolved it, nor am I aware there's a fix until the game next gets patched.

It does seem to improve for a while if I close my game down and reopen it, but that's not really a long term solution.

[Sanno11 173]

Nuneaton Borough 2026/27 Season review

Competitions

Vanarama National League North- 11th position - League table

FA Cup - lost in 4th qualifying round

FA Trophy - lost in 2nd round

I set an ambitious target of mid-table for this season, otherwise I was considering walking away. To my pleasant surprise the team meet my expectations and even flirted with the playoffs. We were so close to having a great start to the season, drawing three games from winning positions against strong opposition. I was much happier to see us competitive. When these draws turned into wins, we climbed the table, We had a 10 game unbeaten streak that took us up to 7th position at the halfway point of the season. A couple of wins against playoff chasing teams, really gave me hope of success. However it wasn't to be. A horrible 2-0, to 2-4 turn around at the hands of AFC Telford, seemed to shake the teams confidence and our form suffered from then on. We managed to pick up occasional wins, but ultimately come up short. This finish of 11th matches our previous best in the first season. To achieve a best points total and have a positive goal difference for the first time since then is great feeling. I honestly feel we can build on this, so I go into next year with optimism

Playing squad

The core of the squad are all one year older now and seemed to be more consistent. I've put a screenshot below, what we lack in technical ability to make up for in determination and work rate, which is a great thing at this level. 

Youth Intake

The most disappointing intake yet in terms of quality and personality. I signed the top four and only expect anything from the May and Howard. My HOYD is exceptional for this level and I cannot find a replacement that even compares, but another intake like this and I'll have to make the call. Teams from the League 2 made bids for Howard, so I am optimistic he 

Charlie May (27a) This lad could make it here, I'll use him as an attacking midfield to start off with as he lacks pace.

Finances, Facilities and Transfers

I managed to bully the board into upgrading the junior coaching. I also got our pitch relayed as it was a constant source of mockery in press conferences. We also saw the departure of Ollie Basset at the beginning of the season, he was probably the most talented player we had, but wage demands of £2.5 a week at this level were a joke, so he went on a free transfer.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Sanno11

[officiallydeej 231]

@XaW Petrik looks really good for a VNN player. Hopefully he hasn't peaked yet and you'll see a decent return on that 50% sell on.

[XaW 5,164]

5 minutes ago, officiallydeej said:

@XaW Petrik looks really good for a VNN player. Hopefully he hasn't peaked yet and you'll see a decent return on that 50% sell on.

Yeah, I think he could get better and hopefully sell for a decent fee. There were some other teams interested as well, and they bid around £20k, so when I asked for £250k+50% i didn't expect any takers, but Fleetwood negotiated and in the end I don't think I could reject it, really. Almost strange my board didn't jump in.

[jmonfu 92]

34 minutes ago, officiallydeej said:

No I haven't resolved it, nor am I aware there's a fix until the game next gets patched.

It does seem to improve for a while if I close my game down and reopen it, but that's not really a long term solution.

I also had this in last FM2020 so I doubt it will be solved.

Are you using a skin?  I am suspecting its the skin I am using

Edited December 14, 2020 by jmonfu

[witticism 162]

This is what I get for coming to manage in Scotland huh

[Padders 1,518]

1 hour ago, jmonfu said:

I also had this in last FM2020 so I doubt it will be solved.

Are you using a skin?  I am suspecting its the skin I am using

Get this quite a bit in FM20 and again in FM21

It's very random 

Happens in one game and then next game it's fine (don't restart or reboot)

[jmonfu 92]

2 minutes ago, Padders said:

Get this quite a bit in FM20 and again in FM21

It's very random 

Happens in one game and then next game it's fine (don't restart or reboot)

Me every game now!  I am staring to think its my skin. Will try different skins and see if it occurs again.  What skin are you using @Padders

[thomas_e 740]

28 minutes ago, witticism said:

This is what I get for coming to manage in Scotland huh

If 2020 was a goal... 

[officiallydeej 231]

1 hour ago, jmonfu said:

I also had this in last FM2020 so I doubt it will be solved.

Are you using a skin?  I am suspecting its the skin I am using

Yes I am using a darker version of the default.

[SoSolidSnake 80]

Aachen 2022/23

Honestly, I don't know what happened to us, we started off so well, but we fell down the rankings as the season went on. 

We ended up in 12th place, our worst ever position in 3. Liga as the media was calling it, ignoring that it's our second season and we had 4 fewer points and were only 1 place lower than last season.

Transfers

None in and two bits of deadwood left on a free at the beginning of the season. And apparently that contributed to our success, if you can call it that.

Best 11 

Honestly, Boesen and Srdic carried us this season - although our 2 CBs and Goalkeeper helped out for sure. Srdic scored a lot more than his 7 finishing made me think he would, and assisted a lot less than his passing attributes seem to suggest he might. Can't complain though, a product of our academy (born in Aachen itself I might add, despite his Serbian nationality) is really making his mark.

I already detailed the youth intake in the post above, so for now I'll just show the 2 players that I'm likely to induct into the first team next season:

Maximillian Billing - the young Austrian from the youth intake of 2022. I think he's come on quite nicely, and will be a good back up for both CB and DM. The senior players are still better than him, but I have high hopes for our 6'7 youngster.

Tommaso Dal Fiume - an Italian winger (why are none of our good players actually German?) who was in the same intake as Srdic, i.e. before I arrived. There's nothing particularly special about him, but his ability to play on both wings makes him a nice asset. Hopefully I'll be able to coach some ambition into him too, but I'm not too good at the mentoring game (any tips are welcomed) and I'm not sure I have the players for it.

Not sure why that screen doesn't show their potential (maybe because they're in the Aachen II team?) but they both have 5 star potential currently.

Tactics

Honestly there wasn't much tactical change this year, I mostly stuck with the 4-4-2 Diamond from last year - perhaps that's why we had such a poor second half of the season, the other clubs got wise to it.

When we had no DM, I did move to a flat 4-4-2 but didn't have much luck there either. 

It might have to be back to the drawing board tactically for next year, but with only the players I've got, it's going to be difficult to get them to do anything too different. 

Again, any advice is always welcomed, but I understand you'd probably need more info on the players and also a lot of time to work out somebody else's game.

 

Conclusion

All in all, it's not going badly, it's just not really going anywhere. Doesn't seem to be any new sponsorship as of yet, nor anybody interested in my players (not for actual money anyway), so we'll keep on  going and see if we can find some spark (I'm looking at you Srdic) to propel us forwards! 

[VooDooYouDo 71]

Season 4 (2024-25) at Belenenses.  After losing our best defender and wide player at the end of last season, we managed to survive the whole season without any bids for our top players!

 

We did exceptionally well, miraculously, in the 2nd League.  We finished 6th, only 6 points out of the promotion playoff, when the board only expected us to "avoid a relegation battle". And I'm the one with "low self belief"?

 

We had a player poached by a team 2 divisions down, with worse youth facilities, academy coaching...everything really.  I don't think that should be happening.  I'll have to see if he comes up there what the deal is.  Is he from Leiria or a town closer to there? A HOYD with high determination (if that even effects poaching..)?  Maybe he knew he wouldn't make the cut so he jumped ship to a weaker team? IDK

 

Yet another decent intake predicted.  It really does feel pretty easy here in Belem.  Even with our best players being bought, there always seems to be someone waiting in the wings to step up.  Whether that continues when the overall squad is actually rated at the same level as the current division will remain to be seen, however--especially when/if we make it to the top level.

 

And the intake.

 

Sessegnon looking good, plus yet another keeper.  I think we get a decent keeper prospect with each intake, which is incredibly lucky when I've seen other intakes in this thread! #blessed

[thomas_e 740]

Losing players is part of the challlenge, but it's always dissapointing! The departure of Dezotti was a necessary one and even though I often prefer to have players run out their contract I think the best devision was to sell him now, 12 months before his contract expired.

After the sale of Dezotti this is the first time since the start of the challenge that we have a positive bank balance and even though I hoped to get a bit more out of the transfer a £4,2 million with 50% percentage of profit from next sale was okay! 

Hopefully we can get some good improvements with our cash injection! 

And as you can see, we now have a very creative tactic... A Copa Libertadores finish this year seems very unrealistic... 

     

 

 

 

Edit: 

The day after the sale of Dezotti the board accepted to improve our training and youth facilities. Unfortunately the work won't start until after the season, so I hope our finances aren't so bad at that stage that they will cancel the plans! 

 

      

 

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by thomas_e

[Padders 1,518]

2 hours ago, jmonfu said:

Me every game now!  I am staring to think its my skin. Will try different skins and see if it occurs again.  What skin are you using @Padders

Don't have any different skins just what comes with the game

[hubwub 87]

@PaddersDo you have any custom kits in your graphics folder?

What happens when you reset the cache?

[jmonfu 92]

13 minutes ago, hubwub said:

@PaddersDo you have any custom kits in your graphics folder?

What happens when you reset the cache?

hmmm I do have some custom kits actually............will look at that

[darren1983 2,992]

Season 2021/21 Review - Vanarama National League North

League - Did not expect this outcome. A mixed start as team got used to my formation but then we clicked and went on a long unbeaten run of 12 games from end of Sept till the last game of the year (11 wins and 1 draw) saw us climb to the top and we stayed there for the rest of the season. Despite the 7 point win we pretty much stumbled over the line at the end only winning 3 of our last 11 games as a small squad, injuries and suspensions and games coming every Saturday and Tuesday nearly caught up with us.

FA Cup - A shocker here as I rotated half the team to give some fitness to fringe players and we lost to a side the league (or maybe even more I think) below us

FA Trophy - Much better as we made it to the semi finals. Beat one side from league above before losing twice to Dagenham, frustrating as over the 2 games we had 3 goals disallowed. This run though is what affected our league form though.

Squad - A very good one for this level with a couple already probably league 2 ready. Our first choice keeper wants to leave though with his contract up soon and he's a potential league 1 keeper so that's a blow.

Finances - Again pretty good for this level, helped having over 800 season ticket holders at this level

Transfers - None in and none out

 

Youth Intake - not bad, few that could make it here but we'll see. Also somewhere along the way my AM took over bringing players in rather than my HOYD which has annoyed m no end  

Gary Philips 22A - winger, decent pace and technique, like the look of him
Andy Matthews 22B - CM, think with some work on his quickness could add some depth to the Box to Box role
Graeme Clough 22C - another winger but looking at him again now I feel like he could make a decent option as an attacking full back
Jack Hackett 22D - keeper which with our first choice looking to leave was needed

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Junior Coaching		Recruitment	Notes & Achievements
2021/22		VNLN		1st 		Adequate		Adequate	Promotion

 

[officiallydeej 231]

KRC Gent - 2023/24 Season Review

 

Croky Cup - Squad - U21s - U18s - Finances - Transfers

We did it! For the second season in a row we got off to a red hot start and led the league up until Christmas. Form dipped again and we fell to 3rd but we managed to recover and over take Lommel United to finish in the playoffs again. I fancied our chances against Lierse so went out all guns blazing in the first leg and was rewarded with a 4-2 advantage. The second leg ended 3-3 but we were always in control and never looked like throwing our aggregate lead away. Next stop the big league!

I've tried this challenge many times in the past, some on this thread and some for my own enjoyment and I have to say I've never been invested in it as much as I am with this save at the moment. The extra screenshots showing our youth teams show that we are stacked with talent, and our great training and youth facilities mean all our young players are developing rapidly and starting to oust our original players who themselves are most only just approaching their peaks. I don't know how we'll fare against the big teams next season, but regardless as long as I can hold onto the vast majority of our youngsters (we've stayed off the radar and I haven't had any bids at all so far) I'm optimistic I can still take this side a fair bit further yet.

Guide Sabbe

Only 1 five star potential player this time around but better personalities towards the top of the intake and plenty to be enthusiastic about. Everyone down to Bigger Mabiala (what a name) was signed and Sabbe will be going straight into the first time squad looking for minutes.

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by officiallydeej

[JAwtunes 146]

On 11/12/2020 at 10:17, Pieyanthikos said:

Thanks, that makes sense. Is it okay to play FM20, or is it too late in this thread?

I am going to start a new FM20 soon and would be interested to know too.  Would be cool to share the journey here if possible - might keep me playing a save for more that 5 seasons!

[darren1983 2,992]

On 11/12/2020 at 10:17, Pieyanthikos said:

Thanks, that makes sense. Is it okay to play FM20, or is it too late in this thread?

Sorry, I missed this at the time

6 minutes ago, JAwtunes said:

I am going to start a new FM20 soon and would be interested to know too.  Would be cool to share the journey here if possible - might keep me playing a save for more that 5 seasons!

I've no issue with people using FM20 if they want - just ;et me know if you complete it on 20 so I can put you in right area of Hall of Fame 

[JAwtunes 146]

1 minute ago, darren1983 said:

Sorry, I missed this at the time

I've no issue with people using FM20 if they want - just ;et me know if you complete it on 20 so I can put you in right area of Hall of Fame 

I don't think ill be featuring there