The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[SoSolidSnake]

11 hours ago, SoSolidSnake said:

Do you guys know if there's a bug with moving players from your II Squad (maybe B squad in other leagues) to your main squad? I keep trying with one of my players, but he doesn't actually move squads. It doesn't come up with any error or anything, and I'm fairly sure I've tried it both inside and outside of transfer windows. 

 

For anyone wondering, the only solution I could figure out was to move him to my under 19s, and then move him to the senior squad from there. No idea why that worked and the other way didn't. 

[Padders]

8 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

For @Paddersand the others who are struggling with match fatigue and squad rotation.  I came across this, today, in a blog post.

"In FM21 there is no such thing as training too much. And because of FM21’s added focus on squad rotation (due to simulated travel fatigue), maintaining a proper 2nd team is essential. You can no longer get away with a top-heavy team with little depth."

https://dictatethegame.com/non-league-legends-total-football-total-training/

Thanks

I've resorted to playing a 2nd team at times

Think it's slightly unrealistic to be honest

Don't see L1/L2/VNN teams making 8-10 changes every week (they don't have the squad to do it!)

[Shankly84]

SEASON 21 - 2042 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES - COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 1 2

LEAGUE CUP

Out at the group stage. Valur was in our group and despite drawing 1-1 with them, they pipped us on goal difference.

LEAGUE

Similar to last season, inconsistent and despite a decent points total, we finish in 4th place.

ICELANDIC CUP

A good run saw us make it to the final again, where we came up against Iceland's dominant force, Valur. A great performance saw us come out 3-1 winners, to win the cup for the 4th time.

THE PLAYERS

Hinriksson was no longer a first choice player. To date he has 149 league goals in 273 games. Not bad for a converted right winger! His replacement, David Julian Kristinsson, managed 17 in 30 starts. Hallson carried on from last season and Gisli Adalgeirsson replaced Steingrimsson as the central centre back. Daniel Theodorsson made the left sided role his own. In midfield Sigurdarson broke into the team and Gunnlaugur Brandsson made the 2nd slot his own. Dadi Snaer Arnarson carried on from last season, although he isn't quite as prolific as I had hoped. The player values are starting to increase now as well, which is a massive help.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

A good intake. Omar Ingi Smarson could be a useful addition.

OFF THE FIELD

Steingrimsson moved on in a deal that could reach £2m. We needed the funds, but he leaves for rivals Valur. The big news this season came from Jales. Following his Valencia loan, I noticed he was transfer listed for £25m. Atletico Madrid mached the price and we are now £12.5m better off!! As a result of this we were able to plan works on the training and youth facilities. I also reached 700 games in management.

[Shankly84]

SEASON 22 - 2043 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 1 2

LEAGUE CUP

A good group stage, winning all 5 games. Out at the semi-final stage, after a 2-1 defeat by KR.

CHAMPIONS CUP

Same old story with this one. Beaten 4-1 by Breidoblik.

LEAGUE

Carried on from last season and qualified for Europe through league position. Some good signs, including a 2-0 win away at Breidablik and a good 3rd place finish.

ICELANDIC CUP

A decent run to the quarter-final, but out as soon as we met decent opposition. A 3-0 loss at home to Valur.

EURO CUP II

A tough draw straight away, being drawn against Hearts. We were really unlucky in the 1st leg, playing well, but conceding 3 penalties to lose 3-1. A 0-0 in Scotland, meant that we were out at the first hurdle.

THE PLAYERS

Solvi Snaer Gunnarsson became our new number 1. Hallson and Adalgeirsson both did well at the back again, whilst Arnarson was dropped back into a deeper attacking midfielder role and did well. Birgir Por Ulfarsson was a good back up, up front and Kristinsson was prolific with 26 in 27 starts. Back up striker Atli Laruson was impressive, with 16 in just 12 starts. He is pushing for a first team spot.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

A golden generation predicted and quite a few players who I think we can work with. I have noticed that I need to give some of the lower rated players a chance, as the rating can be quite off.

OFF THE FIELD

Axel Karl Sigurdarson left for Inter Milan for £1.8m. His release clause was matched, so no sell on fee this time. Another one who has left, before he has even started really.

[Cheez3y]

Season 2024/25 - Championship

Youth Intake Preview

Thats so s***

 

And we are goin back down to League 1, its impossible.

[DazRTaylor]

After failing again in The Netherlands this morning (I didn't post on here about it as I thought I would fail as that country is the hardest), it is back to Iceland.

Club Introduction

Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur

The Manager

This is me.

Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation            Qualifications          Att   Def   Fit   GkD   GkH   GkS   Tac   Tec   Men   WWY   Ada   Det   PlK   YoK   LoD   MaM   Mot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start   Minimal   (0.25*)     None                      1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     4     1     1     1     4     1     1     1

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start   Average              Average           Adequate              Adequate         Adequate           Regional   (1.50*)

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Time At Club
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------



Cup Competition Victories
-------------------------

Career Overview

Season     Champions League    Europa League    Europa Conference League             League                             Position     Mjólkurbikarinn     Lengjubikarinn A     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Appearances
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Assists
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Clean Sheets (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by DazRTaylor

[officiallydeej]

Had a few days away and just spent a good couple of hours this morning reading through the 3 pages i'd missed, some excellent progress all around! @XaW, I had to read your last season review twice, back to back promotions to the Championship is remarkable stuff.

Just holidaying to start a new save as I still can't get my KRC Gent game to load, i'm heading back to Italy as I thoroughly enjoyed it here and it's the first sacking i've had on FM in a long time. Has that unfinished business feel..

[Shankly84]

SEASON 23 - 2044 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES -  SQUAD 1 2  -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 1 2

LEAGUE CUP

A similar story to most years. Through the groups with 5 straight wins, only to be beaten 3-0 in the semi-final by Valur.

LEAGUE

A fantastic season. We hit the ground running, beating one of the title favourites, Breidablik, away on the first day. We never look back really. The only real blip being a 3-2 defeat at home to KA. Frustratingly, I rested too many player and we let a two goal lead slip. This proved to be our only league defeat of the season as we cruised to our 2nd title.

ICELANDIC CUP

Despite smashing the league, we still managed to go out of the cup at the quarter-final stage. A dissapointing 1-0 home loss to KR.

 

EURO CUP II

A tough draw to Hadjuk Split saw us lose 3-1 away in the first leg. One of our best European performances though saw us overturn that, with a 4-0 home leg win. Next was a tricky game with IF Elfsborg. Two close games, but a good 1-0 away win and a 2-1 home win saw us through. The fourth qualifying round was the end of the road as we met German side Mainz 05. Beaten 4-2 at home, then a mad game in Germany, losing 7-3 on the night.

THE PLAYERS

Gunnarsson carried on his good form in goal and Hallson and Adalgeirsson carried on at the back. Andri Hrafn Jospsson made the right wing back spot his, in his breakthrough season and Gudni Gunnarsson had a good season at left mid. Kristinsson smashed 29 goals in 35 appearances, but it was his strike partner Atli Larusson who stood out. 46 goals in 36 games, by far our best goalscoring player so far. He also claimed Icelandic footballer of the year, the golden boot and young player of the year. Some breakthrough season!

THE YOUTH INTAKE

Another decent intake, although it's quite frustrating that we seem to produce a great goalkeeper every year. We could do with mixing uit up a little!

OFF THE FIELD

I managed to win manager of the year and we have managed to start on further works to the youth facilities. I was also offered the Spain job.

[DazRTaylor]

In the town of Hafnarfjörður in Iceland, the kids have kickabouts in the streets.  Unfortunately, they regularly start fighting as everyone wants to go in goal.

[Cheez3y]

Season 2024/25 - Championship

Youth Intake 2025

OK. Not as bad as I expected.

We got some great players, which are goin right into the first team next season.

 

 

Not many fancy things.

Nigeria and Northern Irland are making their debut.

Also we got 2 Jamaican born players.

 

 

Lets see how and if I can use those players in the next season, after we got relegated.

[SoSolidSnake]

We lose another fantastic first team player - our 6'7" centre-back:

Hopefully, this one turns out more profitable than the last. 

We're sitting pretty comfortably mid-table, but I really hope losing our best centre back (and backup DM) doesn't hurt us too much.

He will probably be replaced by Michael Jager, who is 6'5", but will have to phased in as he's not quite first team standard yet, although I'm not really convinced aging centre back Alexander Heinze is much better, he's a bit of a "has-bean" (ba-dum-tsh!)

[officiallydeej]

Arzachena Academy Costa Smeralda - Lega Pro Girone C

I'm back in Italy after my ill fated adventure with Valchiampo which ended in my first sacking in a long time. Arzachena Academy (any team with academy in the name ticks a box for this challenge!) Costa Smeralda are based on the island of Sardinia and have never played at a higher level than the Italian third tier. They had three seasons in Serie C but after being relegated at the end of 2018/19 were liquidated but allowed to reform under the same name in Serie D for the 19-20 season. 

In all honesty their squad doesn't look very good and i'll be more than happy to survive the first season by relegation playoff if need be. I'm always a sucker for an unusual team, so as well as aiming to progress in the challenge i'll also be looking to make Arzachena the top team in Sardinia, a title currently held by Serie A side Cagliari.

Edited December 22, 2020 by officiallydeej

[Cheez3y]

Season 2024/25 - Championship

 

Lets see how the next season goes.

I hope we can stabilize us in League 1.

[Shankly84]

SEASON 24 - 2045 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES - FIXTURES -  SQUAD 1 2  -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 1 2

LEAGUE CUP

5 group wins, a semi-final victory over FH meant a final against Valur. A 2-1 victory saw us lift the trophy for the third time.

 

CHAMPIONS CUP

No matter how good we are, we still manage to mess this one up. This time a 4-3 defeat to Breidablik.

LEAGUE

Carried straight on from last season. We scored 25 goals in our first 4 games and never looked back. As with last season we only lost one league game and as with last season, that defeat came to KA. Not to worry though. Back to back titles and we are starting to domiante now.

ICELANDIC CUP

A league and league cup win was done alongside a run to the final. The final always gets wedged between important European games, and Breidalik managed to utilise this and beat us 2-1 in extra time. Runners-up this year.

 

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

A much better draw this time round, with TNS of Wales. A 3-1 away win was followed up with a 5-2 home win and we were through to play BATE. I wasn't sure what level of opponent they would be, but we was quite comfortable and won both legs, 2-0 at home and 2-1 away. Next was Astana, who could be tricky again. But a great 2-1 win away, follwed up with a 4-2 home win, meant that we were into the play-off. Next up Shakhtar. A lot trickier! In the first leg we found ourselves 3-1 up and on the bring. We ended up collapsing though and came out with a credible 4-4 draw. The second leg was nothing like the first and we were battered 4-0. The good news though was that we dropped straight into the Europa League group stage.

EUROPA LEAGUE

Drawn alongside LASK, Sporting Lisbon and Astana (again), I fancied that we wouldn't embarras ourselves. We went to LASK first and was unlucky to come away with a 2-1 defeat. Next was Astana at home. A 1-0 win saw our first points on the board. Next up Sporting away. A 3-2 win probably goes down as our greatest acheivement to date. We managed to follow this up with a 1-0 home win against the same opponents and we were on the brink of the knockout stage. A 0-0 draw at home to LASK, meant that we were through to the nect round. The last game and knockout stage, moves into next season.

THE PLAYERS

Gunnarsson is now the ever present in goal and Adelgeirsson continues to impress. Joespsson stepped up a level at right wing back and Kristinsson followed suit bagging 39 in 40 games, including 20 in 18 starts in the league. Atli Larusson blew him out of the water again though. A crazy 64 goals in 39 starts and bettering 2 a game in the league. He only came into the side by chance and had around 2.5* potential on the intake, What a gem!!

THE YOUTH INTAKE

An ok intake, but Benjamin Omarson looks like he will go straight in to the first team, already scorning 3 in 4 games at the end of the season. Yet again another good goalkeeper coming through.

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, DazRTaylor said:

After failing again in The Netherlands this morning (I didn't post on here about it as I thought I would fail as that country is the hardest), it is back to Iceland.

Club Introduction

Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur

The Manager

This is me.

Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation            Qualifications          Att   Def   Fit   GkD   GkH   GkS   Tac   Tec   Men   WWY   Ada   Det   PlK   YoK   LoD   MaM   Mot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start   Minimal   (0.25*)     None                      1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     4     1     1     1     4     1     1     1

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start   Average              Average           Adequate              Adequate         Adequate           Regional   (1.50*)

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Time At Club
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------



Cup Competition Victories
-------------------------

Career Overview

Season     Champions League    Europa League    Europa Conference League             League                             Position     Mjólkurbikarinn     Lengjubikarinn A     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Appearances
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Assists
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Clean Sheets (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed playing with them on FM20 , most of the pictures are added in the facepack after my request. If u miss one , send me pm if u want them.

[DazRTaylor]

Thank you.

[Shankly84]

One update to do, then I can actually carry on with the save :-)

[Padders]

Season Review 2041/42

Better season but should have made playoffs.

Top 5 from October to April, then the fatigue issues got too much and when ever I make changes I lose and when I keep the unfit players in i lose. The form at the end of the season was a joke

Got to hope for a better start next season and can try stay towards the top when the inevitable fitness issues happen

My star striker from over the years is leaving this summer, Oluwasegun Awoniyi - 412 goals in 606 games

Youth intake looks good again

Yout

 

 

[Shankly84]

SEASON 25 - 2046 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES - FIXTURES -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 1 2

EUROPA LEAGUE (carried over from previous season)

So the Europa League journey continued into the new season. We finished the group stage with a 4-0 win at Astana and topped the gorup, which I didn't realise, put us into the second knockout stage. The Second Knockout Round saw us drawn against Benfica. We had already dismissed of Sporting and now we would be going back to Portugal. The first leg was away and we were in dreamland by full time. A 3-0 win bypassing our 3-2 win at Sporting earlier in the competition. The 2nd leg almost saw us throw it away, but the 2-0 defeat meant that we were in the Europa League quarter-final. The quarter-final was a bridge too far. We came up against Chelsea and were outclassed from start to finish. A 3-0 home loss, followed by a 4-1 away loss. We were out, but what a journey that was!!

LEAGUE CUP

A strange start. The players hadn't returned for the first game. We managed to beat Fram 4-0 with a team full of greys. The players then returned, only to draw 1-1 with Vikingur O. I should of left the greys in!!! We won the rest and went through to the semi's, were we just got past Valur 4-3. Breidablik in the final and a 2-1 win meant that we had won it again, in difficult circumstances.

CHAMPIONS CUP

We beat Breidablik in the League Cup final, but couldn't get past them in the Champions Cup. A 3-1 defeat and we were runners-up yet again!

LEAGUE

Carried on again from the previous 2 seasons to win our 4th title and 3rd in a row, We are starting to dominate this league now. For the third year running, we lose only 1 league game.

ICELANDIC CUP

Back in the final and a 3-0 win over Valur completed the domestic treble, for the first time in our history.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We are starting to get used to Europe now and seem to be establishing ourselves. The first round we met Progres, of Luxembourg, we beat them 15-0 on aggregate, with an 11-0 away win. PAOK next and I thought this would be a tricky one. A 6-0 win in Greece and we were already through. We followed up with 2-1 home win. Club Brugge was next. A 3-2 win at home, but we lost 1-0 away, to go out on away goals. If we had on gone through, we would of been 2 legs against Slavia Prague away from the Champions League group stage.

EUROPA LEAGUE

Losing to Club Brugge, meant that we dropped down to the Europa League Play-off, where we came up against Legia Warsaw. We lost the first leg away 3-1 but completely turned it around with a 6-0 win at home. We were back in the group stage for the 2nd year running. This time we were up against Athletic Bilbao, Young Boys and Rennes. Bilbao up first at home, and we came out with a credible 0-0 draw. A 2-0 home win against Young Boys was followed up with a brilliant 3-2 win in France against Rennes. The return game with Rennes finish in a 1-1 draw, meaning that we were on the verge of the knockout stage for the 2nd season running.

THE PLAYERS

Gunnarsson moved on, so Einar Magnusson came in and took over the number 1 slot. The benefit of bringing a keeper through every year!! Kristinsson had to drop into the AMC role, as Arnarson had moved on and Omarson had made his way into the striker role. He still managed 16 goals in 43 starts. Omarson hit the ground running in his first full season with 39 goals in 45 games. Atli Larusson carried on his form with 58 goals in 43 games. Gunnar Reynir Sigurgeirsson was the back-up striker and managed 10 in 10, in his first season.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

A poor intake and I missed the inatke screenshot :-( I did get the preview though.

OFF THE FIELD

With the European runs. the bank balance is looking a lot better and we have announced plans to upgrade the training and youth facilities again. Plans were announced again, to expand the stadium. This time it looks like it's happening!!!

Edited December 22, 2020 by Shankly84

[SoSolidSnake]

Aachen Youth Intake 2024/25

Well I don't know if I'd call this a 'golden generation' but I guess it's probably better than previous intakes through depth, despite not having any 5 star potential players:

With 7 players already at 1.5 star CA, we could have a few of them starting sooner than you might think. I'm not thrilled about the personalities, there are 3 at the bottom with fairly professional, but unfortunately they'll never be good enough for the main team! 

The Stand-Outs

Our one resolute player is Labinot Idrizi, who is kind of just ok. Why have 14 heading if you're 5'6, and have 6 jumping reach?

According to our HOYD, our best talent is Ingo Woitzyk, a defensive midfielder, who to be fair to him does look nicely suited to the role. Not very quick yet, but as he's only 15 he should be able to increase that. However, only 4 star PA (if you can believe anything my HOYD says.

Going from the top, we have Fernando Meija, who is most certainly not a winger. Hopefully though, we'll be able to turn him into a nice central midfielder though, perhaps a box-to-box? The other interesting thing about him, is that his second nationality is Dominican Republic, which I don't think I've ever had before in any FM. 

Then we have Lukas Klein with his wonderful first touch. We're starting to get an overload of attacking mids, and I think we might be starting to lack in full backs, although our current ones are pretty young.

Speaking of, we have another man who can play in attacking midfield in Joachim Wagner. He's got a few nice stats, but he's nothing special.

Another area we are lacking in is strikers, so I was looking forward to our 'fine prospect' of striker, but I'm not sure how much Felix Burchert is actually delivering on that promise. He's 6'2" and has a bit of pace, but that's about it. What kind of striker has 6 finishing? 

Mirko Bardella is an unambitious goalkeeper, who I doubt is going to replace our current youth keeper, never mind our actual keeper. 

And honestly that's about everyone worth speaking about, but at least it will add some depth to the squad given most of the senior players will be retiring soon! 

I'll be back with an end of season update soon, including a couple of breakthrough prospects who have really delivered this season...

[Cheez3y]

It took us 5 intakes to get a decent keeper, which is not just standing in goal to fill the spot.

I tried like 5-6 keepers over the years, they were terrible in the air or couldnt even stop a ball or both.

He is the most balanced one.

And ofcause he is already wanted.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Cheez3y

[VooDooYouDo]

1 hour ago, Cheez3y said:

It took us 5 intakes to get a decent keeper, which is not just standing in goal to fill the spot.

I tried like 5-6 keepers over the years, they were terrible in the air or couldnt even stop a ball or both.

He is the most balanced one.

And ofcause he is already wanted.

Wish I could send you some of mine!

[Cheez3y]

16 minutes ago, VooDooYouDo said:

Wish I could send you some of mine!

Normally you get a decent real player as keeper, which can play for a long time.

I got a regen to fill out the required 15 players for registration.

And he was already 2*/2* back then with ****** stats.

 

But I got like 12 wingers, which are decent for this level.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Cheez3y

[keeper#1]

7 hours ago, Padders said:

Thanks

I've resorted to playing a 2nd team at times

Think it's slightly unrealistic to be honest

Don't see L1/L2/VNN teams making 8-10 changes every week (they don't have the squad to do it!)

L1/L2/VNN don't make 8-10 changes every week because: 1) they don't have the roster depth and 2) those leagues are more or less "bus leagues" - teams aren't flying to games leading to jet lag, etc. 

I can understand giving a team that plays in Europe mid-week jet lag leading into their weekend league game but the lower leagues this is not an issue.

[SoSolidSnake]

Aachen 2024/25 

Normally I put most of my pictures in links, but I'm trying it out with with more just copy/pasted onto the post this time, let me know what you guys prefer.

Another improvement this season, although only by 3 points and one place:

We had a few youth prospects establish themselves as first team regulars this season:

Thomas Ahrenhöfer (YI21a)

He is our top scorer this season with 19 goals in the league. He's developed quite nicely, but at this rate, he'll probably leave us next season as a bigger club comes knocking. Hopefully we can hold onto him!

Brian Schmidt (YI22a)

I've never heard of a German called Brian, but I'm not going to stop this kid being called whatever he wants to be called. Been absolutely phenomenal this season, and is one of the first names on the teamsheet. Somehow he's only managed to put 7 goals and 4 assists to his name, and I don't really understand how as I always see him in game and he seems to play well. He's got blistering pace, and whilst his attributes suggest he's got no end product, I promise you that he does.

Alexander Markert (YI22b)

I may have taken the **** out of this guy when he came through the youth intake, saying how he could play in any position down the middle but his attributes suggested otherwise, but he's really grown up now! He's now my main attacking midfielder, but can also play at CM and if I'm desperate as a striker, but I'm sure I can find someone with more than 3 finishing. This guy could end up being a star for us, but there are definitely a few back up attacking mids in the youth teams if he does end up getting sold.

Rune Holden (YI22e)

Towards the end of the season, Rune has been my go to RB, playing as an inverted wingback. I had previously started training him as a LB as he's left footed, but then I started using IWBs and so stopped bothering with that. He's pretty well rounded, which I think suits the IWB quite well as they often can end up being a bit of DM as well as a winger. He had a couple of injuries so hasn't started as often as I would like, but next season he'll be first choice.

Pierre Ebbers (YI22f)

Pierre may end up being our future left winger, he's nice and quick which is a bonus, but I don't know why he's so angry all the time! He literally starts the game 'aggressive' according to the dugout UI. He still needs a bit of work if he's to become the finished article, but with Oğuzhan Aydoğan getting older and being plagued by injuries, it won't be long until we need someone there.

The one that got away... Maximilian Billing (YI21b)

This boy was playing very well as my centre back (avg rating of 7.11) until Union Berlin offered me £775k for him, which was too much to turn down. I look forward to him being sold for millions in the future and us getting half of it  We're trying to replace him with Michael Jager (YI22c) but it's definitely a slow process.

Transfers

Nothing that hasn't been talked about already.

Finances

Not fantastic...

I am now using instant result a lot more to try and speed through the seasons until we're either good enough to challenge for promotion, or we hit a nice jackpot with a sale which lets us upgrade the facilities a bit and helps jumpstart our journey up the leagues. Until then we're in a bit of limbo in mid table. 

Best XI

Apparently this was my best team this season. 
The tactics we used were the one seen above - a 4-3-3DM - mostly used when our usual striker Vincent Boesen was out for 4 months, but when he was available we went with 2 strikers in this 4-4-2 Diamond. Personally, I prefer the diamond, but I haven't done the tactical analysis to tell you what is better when.

Conclusion

Next season, we go again! Hopefully some more of youth players can be blooded, and maybe we'll pull of a miracle and get promoted - who knows! 

 

[Bubbles_DK]

Lost my save in Denmark, so restarting now in Denmark again with B1908 (hopefully)

[Braumiller]

17 hours ago, witticism said:

Oh probably but you know how the board is, love to harp about the one defeat in an otherwise successful season

Re-reading through the thread, without the assistance of a couple of Long Island Ice Teas unlike last night, and my reply here sounds kind of a$$holey and not jokey as intended.  Apologies @witticism if it did come across that way 

[JAwtunes]

On 10/11/2020 at 20:22, darren1983 said:

Also, some people like to nickname/tag their best players from each youth intake in chronological order. For example, you could nickname your best player in the intake in season 1 as *their name* YP01a, and so on. But this is not compulsory if you don't wish to.

Hello. Firstly, sorry if this has been shared before (I did search but couldn't see it) but I have just had my first intake and am going to name my players as suggested in the thread.  Initially I planned to make 'notes' for each player in game so as to not lose first and second names (which happens when using nicknames), but didn't like this as you have to make an effort to check the notes.  I therefore looked to see whether this could be controlled using the real name fix approach.  For those that don't know, you can simply open the name fix files in Notepad and make edits, which is really helpful where sponsors are wrong or team names are very long etc. 

Anyway, I simply created a new file and called it newgen names and set up as shown below.  This seems to have worked for the newgens I have tested it on (see below).  You simply need to update the file when you have an intake, close the game and then restart for the name changes to take effect (caching may need to be off in preferences).

I'm not on FM21 but the lovely new teamsheets are probably butchered when using nicknames, as I guess it wont recognise surnames so wont put them in bold.  This should work as a fix for that.

Hopefully someone might find this helpful. Cheers.

Spoiler

file

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by JAwtunes

[DJ Sir Matthew]

I'm starting to get utterly frustrated with the game and especially the bug with non-contract and youth contract players. I already lost my 3rd central defender because he was transfer listed when I took over, wasn't able to retract that listing and of course he's not willing to sign a new contract.

But now the story of my star youth player continues: every 2 - 3 days clubs are making non-negtionable offers for him which I have to reject. When I then immediately offer him specifically to all clubs interested to him, are none of the proposed clubs willing to make an offer at the current time?? are you kidding me :/ 

 

Edit: now also had the top goalscorer odds preview of the new season and he's not even in the list after being top goalscorer last year with 41 goals. 

Edited December 22, 2020 by DJ Sir Matthew

[ravenation]

Gainsborough Trinity

4th season. 7th place Vanorama south - promotion through play-off - no cup success

What a season - out tactical experiments succedded with our 3-5-2 Keegan style set-up. Started the season undefeated in 12 matches. Didnt win the next 9. Suddenly our partnerships started to work and we found the ideal start-11. Even when our star Dixon got a long term injury - other player stood up and took his chance.

We were extremely lucky at times. Qualified to play-offs with smallest margin - were played out of the stadium in the semifinal by Halifax, reduced to 10 man before extra time, but managed to win 6-5 on penalties. But when the fat lady song - we did it and the final against Hartlepool never gave us any major problems.

Youth intake was fine again and we have now several players in our squad, and fight for playing time.

Goal for next season is survival - but after this succes we hope a mid-table season is in reach.

Star of the season was Jack Dillon - our Irish Advanced forward, than were banging goals in from 1st match of season.

Edited December 22, 2020 by ravenation

[Raffen]

Merthyr Town FC – Season 2021/22

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well, we survived. Not playing free flowing football exactly, scoring less than a goal per game. On the other hand we’re not letting in too many goals. Most wins were 1-0, nicking a goal on the counter, with some notable exceptions, e.g. a 4-5 win against South Shields where we had 9 shots to Shields’ 31. There was a short undefeated streak in January-February, which was a good thing since the season ended with seven losses in a row, mostly against top half sides. Best performer was the 2 m tall defender Stephen Cummings, who also scored 4 goals on set pieces, less than hoped admittedly. Mostly poor performances other than him.

The youth preview promised a good central defender and a decent striker. I didn’t read too much into it, since the squad is so poor to begin with that there was bound to be prospects. I had my fingers crossed hoping for a central midfielder and a central defender with enough current ability to go into the first eleven. The intake did include a player with CA matching my best, Jonathan Williams 22a, who could play both central midfield and defense. Steve Davey 22b will also be knocking on the door to the first eleven, especially with his mentality.

Other than that, not really much to write home about. Knocked out in the 3rd qualifying round of the FA cup. Also looks to be in for another slog next season judging by the season preview.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Raffen
Managed to mess up the links

[holidaysong]

FC United of Manchester ; season 2028/29

League Table ; Turning Professional in the off season has been a bit of a game changer, I finished in the playoff spots in 6th place in the VNL (+12 places). Unfortunately I didn't get promoted but the squad are coming on leaps and bounds thanks to full time training.

In addition to that I won the FA Trophy to add my 2nd piece of silverware after the VNN title.

Squad ; Getting stronger & stronger. Scott Graham is (was) my best player on paper but didn't actually perform that well as the starting 11 image below shows. That made it a bit easier to take him being sold over my head at the end of the season. It's €5.5m in the bank though, potentially rising to €16m!

Starting 11 ; Austin with 18 goals as my leading scorer but my 2nd striker and both wingers also chipped in nicely.

Transfers ; Nothing of note. The Graham transfer falls into 2029-30.

Youth Candidates ; Nobody that will go straight into the first team but some potentials. [P.S. I always forget to screenshot this on the actual intake day]

Next season expectations ; For the first year, it's not to fight bravely against relegation, but instead a mid table finish. A victim of my own relative success.

[Steveh171]

Season 27/28 Update

Promotion! We carried on our form from the tail end of back year and absolutely stormed the league. It only took me 7 years and a god of a regen at centre back, but we finally found a winning formula that suited the players. We finished top comfortably by 12 points. We also finally managed to conceed on average less than a goal a game. A stat I think would be higher was it not for the ******** amount of goals that seem to be scored in this game after the 85th minute mark, now matter how defensive or if you just stay with the same tactic.  I also won the Serie C cup, something I have not even bothered to write an update about the entire time as I never made it past the group stage at all each year. We beat Pisa in the final 4-2 on aggregate, with apparently our goal of the season being scored in that game.  And off the back of all this i'm now a club icon! It was also one of my weirdest Saves by the fact my top goalscorer in the league had 9 goals, my team had a really even spread of goals due to my tactic. We also lost our top goalscorer in january!

However promotion did come at a cost, prior to the season I knew my best centre back would be leaving at the end for strasbourg. I also lost my best left winger, a regen in the holiday season, to empoli in serie A. I've also now lost the best regen I've ever had to Lecce in Serie A, for 450k + 50% of profit. I had to sell him in january as the board accepted bids of 650k for him, so i offered him to his preferred team he wanted to for less but with a sell on a clause. 

The biggest miss out of these is Mangione at centre back! He was a rock and averaged 7.28. It's a real shame as I thought that him and Casula could of stayed in the team well into Serie A, but I guess that's the fun of this challenge. We have sell on clauses for all of the above, I have high hopes for Casual and Mangione. 

So now the youth intake, It was really good in terms of personalities, but not so much in terms of ability so we will have to wait and see. We also have a columbian midfielder as our top talent!! Still lacking a striker, as i'm using the striker that i had originally at the club still as my main goal scorer. 

Roberto Flórez - A playmaker, really excited about this guy as he has a professional personality. High hopes for him in midfield. 

Anthony Calia - Decent all round midfielder, potentially back up / replacement for D'agostino.

Luca Spinosa   - Nice winger that can grow into the void left by Montrone leaving. 

 

Top performing players this year (excluding mangione): Giancarlo Pratesi 22A(GK), Riccardo Olivetti 26H(RM), Cristian D'agostino 27C(CM-D), Arcangello Divella 27B(ST/IF-A), Paolo Serafino (ST)

 

Tactics, Transfers, Squad

 

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by Steveh171

[Padders]

Season Review 2042/43

How unlucky. Gutting!

Missed out on automatic promotion by 1 point. I drew 4 of the last 10 games

Including conceding in the 96th minute against relegated Dulwich Halmet. Gutted as if I held on I would have gone up automatic

Lost in the playoffs Semi Final 1-0 with another late goal

Youth intake was average

Reached 1,000 games in charge

[keeper#1]

Tough way to lose out on promotion.

[Padders]

6 minutes ago, keeper#1 said:

Tough way to lose out on promotion.

Absolutely gutting

[Braumiller]

On The Pitch - League Table
Europa Conference Qualifying 1st Round - Beitar Jerusalem of Israel and an easy 11-2 aggregate win
Europa Conference Qualifying 2nd Round - Tougher draw with APOEL of Cyprus, but navigated well enough 6-2 on aggregate.
Europa Conference Qualifying 3rd Round - FC Nordsjaelland of Norway and we played very well against them, 7-2 aggregate win
Europa Conference Qualifying 4th Round - CSKA Moscow of Russia and we fall at the same hurdle as last year, 4-6 on aggregate after winning the home first leg 3-2  

This image says it all!

 

What is really frustrating is that we lost all 4 league games against TNS, so any of those being a win instead would have been it!
We had a couple of key player progressions this year, which has helped us step up another gear.  Connor Tinsley 12B from last years intake got some games due to fixture congestion and just took off!  Now our 2nd best player already and looking great!  Being English and progressing well, bracing myself for interest in him and the inevitable sale
Kristian Turner 10G was originally planned to be retrained at DR (and was to start with), but when injuries hit I turned him into a right sided midfielder and he has not looked back.  Now natural there and first choice.

TNS knocked us out of the Welsh Cup at our first hurdle, but we knocked them out of the League Cup early on and then ran the table, to land our 2nd League Cup in 3 years!

Off The Pitch
I decided to bite the bullet and just let Lukas Jedlicka 10E play out his final 12 months and try to break through our 2 glass ceilings (League Title and progressing out of the European qualifying rounds).  When we failed both I put him up for sale in October and no-one even became interested....  I removed him from the list in December and just left it.  Mid February a contract renewal news item came through and he was listed and open for a new contract!  His demands were ridiculous, but finally by April we agreed.  He is signed up for 3 more years, but he has a buyout clause of just 12.5k!  The minute I see anyone appear on him wanted list, I am offering him out for peanuts and the 50% clause!

Our finances are tanking again.  We lost (and are projected to lose) around 1m a year now....  No more facility upgrades in the foreseeable, until sales or miracles happen

Youth Intake - screenshot
Oof, this was a bad one.  2 tagged and bad personalities all around.
Chris Miller 13A - In our preview he was raved about, but his appearance didn't live up to the hype.  Has the potential to be a playmaker, but needs work and an attitude adjustment.
Lee Barrett 13B - I like the flexibility in being natural on both sides of midfield, but again, so much work needed and a bad personality.

** worth noting, I think this is my first full year under 21.2 and the ages of all candidates are a year younger than before (usually 16s and the odd 17, these are all 15s and the odd 16), so they have a year extra to play and potentially develop in the youth system.

Squad Stats

Transfers

[Padders]

4 hours ago, Steveh171 said:

Season 27/28 Update

Promotion! We carried on our form from the tail end of back year and absolutely stormed the league. It only took me 5 years and a god of a regen at centre back, but we finally found a winning formula that suited the players. We finished top comfortably by 12 points. We also finally managed to conceed on average less than a goal a game. A stat I think would be higher was it not for the ******** amount of goals that seem to be scored in this game after the 85th minute mark, now matter how defensive or if you just stay with the same tactic.  I also won the Serie C cup, something I have not even bothered to write an update about the entire time as I never made it past the group stage at all each year. We beat Pisa in the final 4-2 on aggregate, with apparently our goal of the season being scored in that game.  And off the back of all this i'm now a club icon! It was also one of my weirdest Saves by the fact my top goalscorer in the league had 9 goals, my team had a really even spread of goals due to my tactic. We also lost our top goalscorer in january!

However promotion did not come at a cost, prior to the season I knew my best centre back would be leaving at the end for strasbourg. I also lost my best left winger, a regen in the holiday season, to empoli in serie A. I've also now lost the best regen I've ever had to Lecce in Serie A, for 450k + 50% of profit. I had to sell him in january as the board accepted bids of 650k for him, so i offered him to his preferred team he wanted to for less but with a sell on a clause. 

The biggest miss out of these is Mangione at centre back! He was a rock and averaged 7.28. It's a real shame as I thought that him and Casula could of stayed in the team well into Serie A, but I guess that's the fun of this challenge. We have sell on clauses for all of the above, I have high hopes for Casual and Mangione. 

So now the youth intake, It was really good in terms of personalities, but not so much in terms of ability so we will have to wait and see. We also have a columbian midfielder as our top talent!! Still lacking a striker, as i'm using the striker that i had originally at the club still as my main goal scorer. 

Roberto Flórez - A playmaker, really excited about this guy as he has a professional personality. High hopes for him in midfield. 

Anthony Calia - Decent all round midfielder, potentially back up / replacement for D'agostino.

Luca Spinosa   - Nice winger that can grow into the void left by Montrone leaving. 

 

Top performing players this year (excluding mangione): Giancarlo Pratesi 22A(GK), Riccardo Olivetti 26H(RM), Cristian D'agostino 27C(CM-D), Arcangello Divella 27B(ST/IF-A), Paolo Serafino (ST)

 

Tactics, Transfers, Squad

 

 

Yes the amount of late goals conceded is ridiculous, doesn’t matter what you do. As from my update, two lates goals in two separate games cost me promotion

[witticism]

That late summer sale and the board's refusal to expand recruitment really took the wind out of my sails so I think I am gonna try and get a team I like in Norway promoted and maybe start there, maybe avoid totally quitting the french save.

[Gbrexiton]

Season 2

Energie Cottbus Season Review ~ 2022/23

Into the playoffs for the first time! An improvement of 11 points on last season exceeded my expectations and prediction of +7. I really could have gone up automatically, and I thought that I had done so. Going into the final day, I was only behind Magdeburg on GD. Magdeburg was away against top of the table Hansa Rostock, who were already champions. At home to a lower mid table team, I was up 4-0 after 20 minutes. I went on to win the game. Anyways, I had begun to celebrate after the game, because I didn’t see any updates for the Magdeburg Rostock game (I don’t have the league table up, just the results). To my dismay, I noticed that Magdeburg had scored on the 2nd minute… Anyways, I was relatively confident going into the playoffs. We were on a really good run of form, and Osanbrück of Bundesliga 2 were not. We won the home leg 3-2, but lost 3-0 away.

Extremely disappointed that we were unable to go up. 73 points would have been enough for automatic promotion in the last two seasons.

Poor intake compared to the 5 5 star PA players. Dieter Huber 02a could become the next AM, or at least a backup. Benjamin Oberschmidt 02b is blocked by a quality keeper I got in the last intake, but not all hope is lost yet for him.

 

Bad News:

So the board decided to go through with a new stadium that is smaller than our current one. Soon after, I got a notification that we are close to administration. This makes the narrow miss to promotion even worse, but I still think that we will be fine.

 

Expectations for next Season

Surely I will go up next season. Even the same points tally will probably be enough for automatic promotion next season. +3 points on this season will almost guarantee it.

Edited December 23, 2020 by Gbrexiton

[Steveh171]

7 hours ago, Padders said:

Yes the amount of late goals conceded is ridiculous, doesn’t matter what you do. As from my update, two lates goals in two separate games cost me promotion

Yeah it pisses me off, I don't like overly attacking tactics. But every game I knew when I was 2- 3 up the team would almost always score a goal in the last few minutes. Even in my season to remember you can see in 2/3 games  it was all goals conceded in the 85th+.

Last year I got wrexham up with something like 32 clean sheets. Absolutely no way I could dream of that this year!

[XaW]

Just lost on my best talents. The board took over, but at least it was partially into a negotiation from me (he had a release clause), so I got in the 50% of next sale before they accepted.

[Padders]

Looks a good player but decent money 

[XaW]

Just now, Padders said:

Looks a good player but decent money 

Yeah, he was not spectacular, but did his job well and provided a few assists.

[JAwtunes]

Widzew Lodz (FM20)

Season 1 (2020-21) - Review

On the pitch

Starting 11 for 2020/21 season

Fortuna Liga I - Winners.  We were predicted to finish ninth, but this felt a little too low.  We had a sluggish start, probably in part due to the team getting to know my tactic and not respecting their unqualified former sunday league manager, but once things picked up they never really stopped.  It was a great league campaign, bettered only by our shock performance in the cup...

Polish Cup - Winners.  WOW, this looks very impressive and it is tempting to just leave it at that.  However, the truth is that we were very fortunate.  Our run to the final and eventual glory included having to face just one PKO Ekstraklasa team (Śląsk Wrocław, who finished 6 out of 16 in the league), just one away fixture and a penalties win against our big local rivals.  We had no intention of focusing on the cup, the board had a 2nd round expectation, but being drawn against a II Liga team in round 2 meant qualification to round 3 was fairly easy, even with a rotated team.  Then facing our big rivals in round 3 meant we went in with our best available and fully rested team.  Losing that one was not an option!  We were just 2 games away from a final in a cup that now only included 2 Ekstraklasa teams.  By the time the semi-final came around it was just us and three other Liga I teams left.  We were drawn at home and made light work of Odra Opole.  The final took place at the national stadium in Warsaw and saw us win against the team that eventually finished 4th in Liga I.  After the match I realised (after receiving a message from my helpful PA) that we had just qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League.  Yes, we're in Europe next season, for 2 qualification matches at least.

Spoiler

Off the pitch

Our good form on the pitch certainly helped in forcing through a number of board requests, including a couple of training badges.  The club saw a slight improvement in reputation (2 to 2.5 stars).  Perhaps one of our greatest achievements was almost filling our impressive new stadium (built 2017).  We managed to get an average attendance of just over 17,000 in our 18,000 capacity stadium, which would have put us third highest attendance in the PKO Ekstraklasa (won by Lech Poznan in 2020/21).

We suffered a number of fairly long injuries this season, including to our 32 year old captain to a cruciate ligament injury for 10 months (Daniel Maka) and our promising young left back for 6 months with a broken leg (Marcel Stefaniak).  Unfortunately for Maka, due to his age and severity of his injury, he decided to retire part way through the season.

Spoiler

Transfers - 0 in, 1 out.

Spoiler

Six youth intake retained (21a to 21f)

Summary

Edited December 23, 2020 by JAwtunes

[DazRTaylor]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Just lost on my best talents. The board took over, but at least it was partially into a negotiation from me (he had a release clause), so I got in the 50% of next sale before they accepted.

Good club he went to as well.  They will always sell to the giants for huge money.  Hopefully a £100m sale is on the horizon.

[Cheez3y]

I will put my Berwick save on hold for the chrismas periode, I want something new.

If its somehow serious I let you guys now, I will save the important stuff.

[Sanno11]

Nuneaton Borough 2028/29 Season review

Competitions

Vanarama National League North- 5th position - League table

FA Cup - lost in 2nd round (1-4 vs. Charlton)

FA Trophy - lost in 1st round

 

A season very  similar to last year, but this time with a happy ending!

We started the season with the same tactical approach, the opening two losses didn't worry me too much, and after 10 games we were comfortably in the hunt for promotion. Our form was not as consistent as you would like in a team chasing for a title and eventually, I resigned myself to the realistic expectation of a playoff spot. Our final two games of the season were at home to already relegated teams, these were great morale boosting wins going into the playoffs. Our first game was at home Kettering, the 6th place finishers. A confident 3-0 win saw us into the semi-final. Away at AFC Telford was tough, but with a gritty and tight 1-0 win, we made it to the final to play away at Boston Utd. I approached it the same way, cautiously, we managed another 1-0 win, to secure our promotion. After the final whistle, I realised we managed to go through the last 5 games of the season without conceding a goal, which was great form for us.

 

Playing squad

No spectacular performances, but a more well rounded squad. We now have a few 17-19 year olds who are getting into the starting line up and replacing players from the earlier intakes (Charlie May and Remeao O' Loughlin especially). It was Remeao that scored the winner in the final of the playoffs. The concerns I have about our defence deepen, with no new talent coming in the last couple of intakes. 

Youth Intake

Another goalkeeper as the top prospect, at least there is some hope in my first 'professional' personality in Ryan Woodward. There is a new HOYD who is a free agent and is a perfectionist, he currently wants £1000 a week. The moment he gets desperate enough to negotiate a reasonable wage, I will replace my current chap.

Ryan Woodward (29a)

 

Finances, Facilities and Transfers

After a tiny FA cup run, we had enough money to get the junior coaching and recruitment bumped up again, to adequate and average respectively, Nothing exciting in transfer news, none of my players are attracting ay attention at the moment!

Edited December 23, 2020 by Sanno11

[shaunvamos]

Excelsior Maassluis 2037/38 Season Review

 

 

 

We couldn't repeat our title success this season, even though we had the chance, several times. We didn't know how to lose, but we also didn't know how to win very winnable games which was frustrating. We had a nightmare run home in the last three games, with the first two against Utrecht and PSV. Luckily, they were at home and we won both, but we couldn't beat lowly Heerenveen which cost us the title. The top 3 were inseparable, which would've been great to watch for the neutral. Performance wise I was pretty happy, as we scored the most goals and conceded the least as well. So things are still trending in the right direction. We had an easy route in the Cup to take it out, and we beat PSV in the Super Cup, we seem to have a bit of a hold over them now. 

One bit I don't get is that we are considered quiet and leaky when we have the best record in the league. Oh well. Let's see what we can do going through the Champions League Playoff next season.

 

 

 

 

We gave an excellent account of ourselves in the group stage, with home draws against big guns Bayern and Man Utd and keeping the results respectable away. Add in the two easy wins over whipping boys Kobenhavn (Bayern beat them 11-0!) and we were comfortably 3rd and into the Europa League knockouts.

This was where the magic happened. Back in familiar territory, we had a much easier draw than last season and powered into the final to face 2036/37 EPL and Europa League champions West Ham in a rematch from last year. Unfortunately for us, the result was the same, with West Ham scoring all 4 goals. Still, that's 3 European finals in 3 seasons which is nothing to be sad about. We just need to be able to take that extra step.

 

 

Alex Smith 9B*  -  Glenn Schermer 10A*  -  Svend Jørgensen 10B*

 

 

 

Witteveen gets his own showcase because he has become the first player to play for the Netherlands while still at the club! I say still at the club because this season saw a former player of ours make his international debut, Hendri Adrian 8A*. He's had quite the career, and it's nice to see him doing well, even though he'd be doing a lot better with us and not with PSV 

That being said, our first XI is very well rounded with no real glaring weaknesses.

 

Record Breakers

 

Selorm Mohammed etches his name into the record books, and deservedly so. 

 

Youth Intake

Rogier Liefden 17A  -  Jean-Louis Pirson 17B  -  Oliver Barnickel 17C*

Well, we were due a poor intake, and it only took 17 seasons. We'll see what comes of these guys, but I won't get my hopes up. Hopefully I get surprised.

 

Transfers

Nothing massively important here, just players that couldn't quite make the cut. The most prominent player who leaves is Mitchell Kaise who only played 25 games for us.

 

Progress

 

[Steveh171]

First 2 games against me in Serie B have had an XG against of of 3.00.

More results like this though please! Not sure I can handle more seasons of our goal being under siege. Completely FM'd parma haha