The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[JLAB]

I'm starting to realise that I might have upgraded my Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching too soon. Does anyone know if it costs money to downgrade the facilities?

[XaW]

                          

Teie IF - Youth intake 2037

Looks promising and a fair few positions as well.

Well now, can't really complain about that! Quite a few good players and nice personalities for the most part as well.

Apparently a winger that can also play centrally, but I'm thinking about converting him a right back. Granted a bit lack of speed, but he has everything else, and I'm getting a bit lacking at that position. Any thoughts about it?

The English striker from Wrose (that I found out is north of Bradford after a quick check of Google maps), and he is very talented. Needs a bit of working on his finishing, but other than that he is really good.

Statistics:

Spoiler

We got in a Moroccan player, but other than a Chinese and and Englishman, we got Norwegians. Interestingly NONE were from Færder, our home municipality.

 

[darren1983]

1 hour ago, JLAB said:

I'm starting to realise that I might have upgraded my Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching too soon. Does anyone know if it costs money to downgrade the facilities?

You can decrease your Jr coaching, it's either above or below the option to increase it. Should be able to cut back on recruitment too if needed. 

[XaW]

So we just got knocked out of the European cups, we beat Romanian CFR Cluj before losing to Athletic Club of Spain in the 2nd knockout round.

[keeper#1]

7 hours ago, Padders said:

Season Review 2078/79

Tried a change of tactic to try improve from the mid table mediocrity.

As usual when I try that, it all falls to pieces and end up in a relegation battle

Luckily manage to win 3 and draw 2 out of the last 6 games

Jamie Bateson still scoring goals at the grand old of age of 35. Another 26 this season and has been top scorer for 18 seasons in a row now!

 

99 goals allowed?!?!?!?!?!

[keeper#1]

Farnborough 2022 Youth Intake

A whole of 5* potential which I think says more about the current first team than the potential of the players.  We brought in a lot of players from Farnborough and Neiland poached a couple of players from his native Ireland.  Some greens in the team and positional DNA but mostly reds and yellows which isn't good.

Ed can provide us some needed depth and pace on the wing.  May spend some time training as a full-back to give us some depth there too.

Lee Brewer 22B is a center forward who lacks the ability to find but can pass the ball.  Another negative is he's a weakling on the ball.  

Adrian Keane 22C could be the best of the class.  He's a midfield creator that we desperately need.  Needs to get a little faster and a little stronger on the ball.

A brave center back who can run for days.  Good all-around defender with his marking, tackling and positioning.  I like what I see from Steve Wilson 22D.

Philipp Fitz 22E came to us from Germany and will provide us some depth at center back.  Not as a good as Wilson but still a good depth option going forward.

[shaunvamos]

 

 

 

 

We were easily the 7th best team in the league, having been there for most of the season. Finishing 7th qualifies us for the European places playoff, as it is is usually 3rd-6th. Ballymena Utd won the Irish Cup, and as the highest placed team in the league not already in the playoff Donegal Celtic took their place. The winner of the playoff qualifies for the Europa Conference league, and somehow, someway, we won! A good win against Linfield, and then a 95th minute goal with a man sent off against Glenavon, and just like that we re playing European football 7 years in. It's been an incredible journey so far, and it's only just begun. Time to get flogged in Europe!

 

 

 

Karolis Romanov 3E  -  Stephen Millar 3D  -  Tommy Magee 4E

 

 

 

Decided to add a graph to better track how we've grown as a team over the years. I'm excited to see what it will look like when we hit 10, 15, 20 seasons later. But once again Romanov was our best player, with not many others standing out really. Defence is the name of our game at the minute.

 

 

Youth Intake

Conor Robinson 7G  -  Ethan Gardiner 7H  -  Alan Davidson 7A

 

 

We were told this was another golden generation, and we have a striker that steps straight into the first team as our poacher. Apart from that, there's nothing that jumps out at me, and the personalities are terrible.

 

Record Breakers

 

Our main records are now held by youth products

 

Transfers

 

We lose another CB to a better team, but he was 4th choice at best.

 

Progress

 

[Raffen]

Looks like this Merthyr business might be an eternal slog. Not really seeing much improvement in intakes at all, and the team still tipped for relegation each year, even after 10 seasons. Merthyr is a small town, that's fair enough, but it's not like it's in the middle of nowhere. Cardiff and Swansea are relatively near. Not sure how to really get going from here. Maybe if I can get the training facilities improved a tad more players reach their potential?

 

PS: Just noticed we've been switched from Vanarama North to South in the past season and this. Need to update my excel sheet. Completely passed me by that

[Padders]

Season Review 2079/80

Well, its no surprise, relegated! GUTTED

Bateson had a shocker (probably not helped by me trying a number of different formation to try turn it around!)

[keeper#1]

Farnborough 2022 Season Review

Fixtures 1, 2, 3, 4: A season of solidly inconsistent form but the highs outweighed the lows until the end of the season when we hit a bad patch of form which ended our season earlier than I hoped

League Table: Our solidly inconsistent form and bad run-in saw our grip on the playoffs slip.  Thankfully, Enfield's form was just as bad and we held onto 7th place and last playoff spot.

Playoff: Dartford's strike force made our stay in the playoffs a short one as they eliminated us 4-2 in the first round.  Havant & Waterlooville joined champions Sutton United as the two promoted teams to the Vanarama National League for the 2022-23 season.

FA Cup: Nice little money-earning run to the 4th qualifying round before we were eliminated in a replay at Aldershot.

FA Trophy: Hampton & Richmond took us out in the 2nd round replay.

xG General Performance: As the season wore on, our small 14 player squad got worn down by the season and the offensive stats declined while the defense became leakier

xG Expected-Actual: Lots of overperformance here.  xG of 44.6 while scoring 60 goals (+15).  xG points of 51.8 while earning 72 (+20).  These totals would have saved from relegation and a 20th place finish not our actual 7th place finish.

xG Attacking Efficiency: Not a lot of shots but when we shot we scored for the most part

xG Defensive Efficiency: In contrast, the opposition shot a lot but didn't score very often.

Stats: Offense led by Wilberforce Orcan (great name!) and his 28 goals.  His strike partner, Connor Cullen, led the team with 13 assists.

2022 Youth Intake     Youth Intake DNA     Ed Wedatilake 22A     Lee Brewer 22B     Adrian Keane 22C     Steve Wilson 22D     Philipp Fitz 22E

Moments to Remember     Best XI     Accolades

Farnborough Almanac

No news to report.  Mike Neiland now has a England C Coaching License and is working on his England B License.

Board does not want to improve junior coaching or youth recruitment.

[AlwaysNalah]

Just spent the last week reading through 79 pages, so thanks lads for reinvigorating my FM passion. I was an early player from the cm2 days and 10-17 I played to death, but fell out of love with the changes from 18 onwards (I still rate fm17 as the best game they ever made). The no mass trails for non league's teams in 19 infuriated me and I still don't like the new scouting set up in the slightest.

 

For the last couple of years I've been deep into OOTP and learning all about baseball, as a bristolian with little prior knowledge twas a steep learning curve. The joys of it is that it is all about drafing right and developing teams from the ground up with a focus on stats which this challenge seems made for. 

I feel like I'm about to lose many hundreds of hours in FM for the first time in a while! 

[XaW]

1 minute ago, AlwaysNalah said:

Just spent the last week reading through 79 pages, so thanks lads for reinvigorating my FM passion. I was an early player from the cm2 days and 10-17 I played to death, but fell out of love with the changes from 18 onwards (I still rate fm17 as the best game they ever made). The no mass trails for non league's teams in 19 infuriated me and I still don't like the new scouting set up in the slightest.

 

For the last couple of years I've been deep into OOTP and learning all about baseball, as a bristolian with little prior knowledge twas a steep learning curve. The joys of it is that it is all about drafing right and developing teams from the ground up with a focus on stats which this challenge seems made for. 

I feel like I'm about to lose many hundreds of hours in FM for the first time in a while! 

Welcome! More than happy to see new people here. It's a tough challenge, but it's oh so rewarding even coming close to anything resembling trophies playing this way. If you love to dive deep, then come on in, set up a spreadsheet and dig away!

[ANGL]

CLUB ESPORTIU EUROPA - SEASON 6 (26/27)

League table - PO Semi-Final - PO Final -  PROMOTION! We go up to Primera RFEF, the third tier in spanish football. An excellent season, with a hard fight to gain a promotion place first, and a lot of suffering in the promotion play-off then, but we are leaving Segunda B (for the moment...). In Copa del Rey, took advantage from being seeded with same-division team Salamanca CF in first round, for us to be knocked out in second round against LaLiga team Sevilla FC.

 

First team squad - Cesar 1H: the man, the myth, the legend. 35 goals this season in all competitions and top goalscorer of the team for the fifth year in a row. Excellent season too for Edu Nieto 3G, with 12 goals and 7 assists, but unfortunately will lose him soon as he doesn't want to sign a new contract. Regarding transfers, sold Joel 1A for a very little fee as he wanted to play more games, no transfers in.

 

Youth Intake - The youth preview reported another golden generation, but I believe I only got some decent players in the final squad. Hector Cárdenas 6E looks like the best player of this generation, and is the only one who would be close to the first team.

 

Club Structure - Great news: we have become a professional team! Regarding our facilities, we improved our training facilities, which are now below average, with no other changes from last season. The board is not accepting any coaching courses for me by the moment, so still holding a Continental B license.

 

So, onto next season! Will have to face a hard relegation battle.

[XaW]

Teie IF Season 2037 review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

No Europe for us this season (other than the knockout rounds that started in our pre-season), so we could focus on the domestic matches. And things went really well as we finished in a very good 3rd place and are qualified for the Europa League next season. We started quite poorly, but in the end things went better and better as the season went on. I think the reason is that I got rid of a lot of the older regulars since the young up and coming players are now equal or better now. So a lot went out, either loan or sold, so we finally got in some money for sales, even if it weren't that big. Got some sell-on fees and such for the long run in case they have success elsewhere.

In Norgesmesterskapet we beat Fana, Runar, Mjøndalen and Aalesund before losing to Viking in the quarter final.

Players of note:

Came through last season and went straight into the first team. Has had an amazing development and assists a lot from his winger role.

Our hero has started to become a bit outdated, but he is still a main choice for striker. Not as many goals as before, and I think his term as first choice and best player are going towards an end. Still, this was his 13th season as a main choice and has 286 goals and 142 assists in 408 games for us. Quite a stat!

[TheGreatTraveler]

1 hour ago, AlwaysNalah said:

Just spent the last week reading through 79 pages, so thanks lads for reinvigorating my FM passion. I was an early player from the cm2 days and 10-17 I played to death, but fell out of love with the changes from 18 onwards (I still rate fm17 as the best game they ever made). The no mass trails for non league's teams in 19 infuriated me and I still don't like the new scouting set up in the slightest.

 

For the last couple of years I've been deep into OOTP and learning all about baseball, as a bristolian with little prior knowledge twas a steep learning curve. The joys of it is that it is all about drafing right and developing teams from the ground up with a focus on stats which this challenge seems made for. 

I feel like I'm about to lose many hundreds of hours in FM for the first time in a while! 

Welcome to the challenge! It's definitely a different way of playing yet so rewarding. 

50 minutes ago, ANGL said:

CLUB ESPORTIU EUROPA - SEASON 6 (26/27)

League table - PO Semi-Final - PO Final -  PROMOTION! We go up to Primera RFEF, the third tier in spanish football. An excellent season, with a hard fight to gain a promotion place first, and a lot of suffering in the promotion play-off then, but we are leaving Segunda B (for the moment...). In Copa del Rey, took advantage from being seeded with same-division team Salamanca CF in first round, for us to be knocked out in second round against LaLiga team Sevilla FC.

 

First team squad - Cesar 1H: the man, the myth, the legend. 35 goals this season in all competitions and top goalscorer of the team for the fifth year in a row. Excellent season too for Edu Nieto 3G, with 12 goals and 7 assists, but unfortunately will lose him soon as he doesn't want to sign a new contract. Regarding transfers, sold Joel 1A for a very little fee as he wanted to play more games, no transfers in.

 

Youth Intake - The youth preview reported another golden generation, but I believe I only got some decent players in the final squad. Hector Cárdenas 6E looks like the best player of this generation, and is the only one who would be close to the first team.

 

Club Structure - Great news: we have become a professional team! Regarding our facilities, we improved our training facilities, which are now below average, with no other changes from last season. The board is not accepting any coaching courses for me by the moment, so still holding a Continental B license.

 

So, onto next season! Will have to face a hard relegation battle.

Congrats on Promotion! Those play-offs to go up are always nerve racking, but you made it through!

39 minutes ago, XaW said:

Teie IF Season 2037 review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

No Europe for us this season (other than the knockout rounds that started in our pre-season), so we could focus on the domestic matches. And things went really well as we finished in a very good 3rd place and are qualified for the Europa League next season. We started quite poorly, but in the end things went better and better as the season went on. I think the reason is that I got rid of a lot of the older regulars since the young up and coming players are now equal or better now. So a lot went out, either loan or sold, so we finally got in some money for sales, even if it weren't that big. Got some sell-on fees and such for the long run in case they have success elsewhere.

In Norgesmesterskapet we beat Fana, Runar, Mjøndalen and Aalesund before losing to Viking in the quarter final.

Players of note:

Came through last season and went straight into the first team. Has had an amazing development and assists a lot from his winger role.

Our hero has started to become a bit outdated, but he is still a main choice for striker. Not as many goals as before, and I think his term as first choice and best player are going towards an end. Still, this was his 13th season as a main choice and has 286 goals and 142 assists in 408 games for us. Quite a stat!

Another great season there XaW, how far do you feel your squad is from challenging for the title? 

[XaW]

Just now, TheGreatTraveler said:

Another great season there XaW, how far do you feel your squad is from challenging for the title? 

We are not horribly off, only 5 points this season, but I also never felt we really were close. So I think with a few more improvements, and a few more seasons to get the players to mature (if I can keep them!) and we should have a chance.

In other news:

He really had a spectacular season! An average of more than 5 key passes per 90 is amazing!

[TheGreatTraveler]

@XaWThose numbers are insane, almost a goal or assist per game at that age.. WOW!

 

[XaW]

6 minutes ago, TheGreatTraveler said:

@XaWThose numbers are insane, almost a goal or assist per game at that age.. WOW!

 

Yeah, he is insane, and I'm not a tactical genius, so I'm only using him as a regular Winger - Attack on the left midfield strata. Could probably get even more from him if I were better at that. But with those numbers I'm not complaining!

[Padders]

Season Review 2080/81

Awful season and attempt to get back into the Premier League

Won first 6 games. Then as soon as lost the 7th game, form dropped and couldn't ever really turn it around consistently

Still trying to find a tactic that will work

Jamie Bateson retired

Gumbs has taken over as the main striker now

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Padders

[thomas_e]

Rimini Calcio FC 

Season Summary 2025 - 2026

We finished 15th place for the third year running! Some of our players developed really nicely this year, but as a team I see basically no development at all. We have the most un-Italian defensive structure that I have ever seen. Our positional and marking play, especially when the opponent attacks with pace, is absolutely appaling. It is really frustrating to watch, but having so many young players in a side is of course a recipe for unconsistency, especially when it comes to defending! 

We started the season pretty well, but from March we were absolutely dreadful. We won only one of our last nine games and I really feared relegation. Luckily the teams around us were terrible as well, but next year I really hope that we can make some progress. It is obviously my fault and I find myself playing a tactical style that I dont really like, but it is being forced upon me based on the players that I have. 

I of course want to stay in Serie B, but a relegation would probably be good for us in terms of developing players. We end up running out of energy in most games and I wonder how much development for our players this can give.. For our finances a relegation would be dreadful, so staying in the league is obviously preferred, but maybe we got promoted to Serie B too quickly..

Even though we are leaking goals and rely solely on our lone striker scoring goals we have plenty of talent coming through the ranks. Hopefully this means that the future is bright, because the present is quite sad! 

We had a change of ownership and the new owners gave us a loan to help our finances. This was good as a temporary solution, but in the long term we need to start selling more tickets. Our 10 000 seat stadium is basically empty (which is realistic considering I play in Italy...)

 

Season Summary 

          

 

Key Talents

          

 

          

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by thomas_e

[XaW]

                           

Teie IF - Youth intake 2038

Seems like I'm in for a load of defenders. Nice to get some more there.

That's a pretty good intake! And lots of defenders at the preview said. Very happy with this intake.

Looks like a really nice left back. No big issues, but needs some work going forward.

Statistics:

Spoiler

The least exciting this intake. A guy from Eritrea, and otherwise Norwegians from the Eastern part (Østlandet).

 

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 14th Folkestone Intake Report (and 10th Intake Review)

Don’t really have a lot to say about this intake, probably more at frustration at the challenge rather than disappointment with the actual intake.

Pete Everitt 14a - My top prospect is a right back who won’t be that far off fighting for a starting slot.(Update. I started him for one match, and he was sent off after picking up 2 reds.

Oliver Coxall 14b – Yet another promising striker. I do however need a 2^nd striker to make the spot his own, and if Oliver can score some goals for the U18s, I may consider him. The problem is that I have so many strikers, some of them barely get a game.

 

YP10 Review

Ellis Drake 10a – A big part of why I’m feeling down about the challenge. Drake was our one, as Boris would put it, oven ready superstar. I could only keep him for 3 years, and he departed at the start of the season after 95 goals to Championship Rotherham for £100k and a 50% profit clause.

Chris Pope 10b – We did receive another great player that year though. We’ve had lots of promising goalies, but Pope was the right man in the right place when my legacy goalie finally succumbed to age. Will probably set the club record for appearances. Didn’t play his first year, but has been the starter for 2 seasons now.

Ellis Maynard-Hussey 10c – A central midfielder with lots of potential, but haven’t yet dropped my nephew for him. He’s played in lots of matches, but nearly all as a sub.

Ryan Bower 10d – I hadn’t realised how good this intake was. Pope has been our starting left winger for 2 seasons now.

Callum Walker 10i – Our staring right back for most matches this season, but that’s basically because we have no good right backs. My 14a above immediately threatens Walker’s place.

Ed Rihoy 10f and Luca Jefcoate 10h are still with us as well, as is Richard Hunt 10g who did get a few starts in central defence.

Zain Walder YP left us and became a regular starter for Hendon who are in our division.

So basically this really was a fantastic intake.

 

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2034/35 Folkestone Season Report 

A long report, because after 14 seasons I have some tough choices to make.

After narrowly failing to win the league last season, I was obviously hoping to succeed this one, but the transfer of Ellis Drake, our best player, hit us hard.

We never looked like winning the league, but for the first time we have reached the playoffs 2 seasons in a row. We had a chance for a first round bye but dropped from 3^rd to 4^th with a defeat in our last match.

With just one win in our last 10 matches of the season, I’m not optimistic.

Playoff First Round

Folkestone           2-2p  Tonbridge

Extra time and penalty shootout. The first 6 players on each side converted, but we lost on the 7^th.

 

This was a huge season. We reached the FA Cup 1^st round, the Q/F of the FA Trophy and had a few replays along the way, so the playoff defeat was our 60^th match of the season.

My big problem is that I don’t know what my best team is.

The problems start up front replacing Ellis Drake in attack, but I also don’t know who my best left or right backs are or 2^nd central midfielder. To be fair, the right back question will hopefully be resolved by Pete 'Hello, I must be sent off' Everitt 14a.

Half my side is very good, the other half awful.

Here you can see that I have only 5 players with 3 stars or more. My 2^nd central midfielder and nephew, Jason ‘Nepotism’ Ramsay doesn’t even appear on this screen, although at 2 stars he is equal 2^nd best with lots of other players in central midfield.

Of course, looking at this it’s obvious that I should be starting Alwayne Holness 12e instead. He’s actually never played a single minute in the first team.

In my defence he’s improved a lot recently, but also doesn’t have great stats playing for the Reserves.

You’ll also note the total lack of natural central defenders. The only one is Nathan Bird, but he came in as a defensive midfielder, and he’s only 183cm.

So, I have a lot of players with potential, but I need to find half a team that will actually develop and produce the goods.

Top Goalscorer – Michael Morgan 9a – 56

A huge total. Yes we played lots of matches, but still a magnificent tally.

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Michael Morgan 9a – 7.44

One of only 2 players over 7.

 

Man of The Match – Michael Morgan 9a – 16

 

Most Valuable Player– Michael Morgan 9a

Basically he’s carrying the entire team on his shoulders. This is the easiest decision in my history of MVPing, although my goalie Chris Pope 10b might well be my best player.

Most Appearances (Regens) – Jason ‘Nepotism’ Ramsay 1a – 655

This probably pretty much ends now. Although he’s only 29, he’d declined a bit during the season, and he might not even make another appearance. Time to cut the cord.

It will be at least 3 seasons until anybody surpasses him though.

Again, in my defence, he has genuinely been one of my top 2 central midfielders (Star Ratings wise) for the last 13 seasons; the best for most of them. Nobody else has ever done better than him when given the chance. I had lots of great central midfielders the first few intakes, and probably just the one good one in the last 10 years.

Most Goals (Regens) – Ellis Andrews 2c  - 232

As I said, there was no clear cut 2^nd striker to replace Ellis Drake. Andrews is judged to be far from our best option, and others have more potential. However, of the 3 strikers given considerable time in this slot, Ellis does have the best goals per minute stat, and of course a long solid record of scoring. Do I play him and settle for a solid of unremarkable goal tally, or try to develop someone with more potential? 

Season	Division		Position	Notes							MVP										
21/22	VNL South		18th		Steered clear of relegaton thanks to good start.	Callum Davies
22/23	VNL South		16th		Only 2 places better, but a lot more points.		Henry Newcombe
23/24	VNL South		18th		Big step backwards in points.				David Smith
24/25	VNL South		15th		Consistently mediocre.					David Smith
25/26	VNL South		14th		Just outside playoffs for most of the season.		David Smith
26/27	VNL South		16th		Otherwise known as the year 1AD (After Discipline)	Ellis Andrews 2c
27/28	VNL South		19th		Narrowly avoided relegation places all season		David Smith
28/29	VNL South		15th		Tried different tactics. Didn't find a magic bean.	David Smith
29/30	VNL South		7th		Lost playoff semifinal, but a great improvement.	Ellis Andrews 2c
30/31	VNL South		12th		Second half slump into mid-table disappointment		David Smith
31/32	VNL South		7th		Lost in S/F of playoff					Ellis Andrews 2c
32/33	VNL South		9th		Didn't threaten playoffs				Ellis Drake 10a
33/34	VNL South		2nd		Lost last 2 matches of season and 1st playoff game.	Michael Morgan 9a
34/35	VNL South		4th		Knocked out Playoffs 1st round on penalties		Michael Morgan 9a

 

[thomas_e]

At least you have a good goalkeeper @vikeologist! If you're going to have just a handful of useful player on this save having a goalkeeper is a blessing. 

[vikeologist]

12 minutes ago, thomas_e said:

At least you have a good goalkeeper @vikeologist! If you're going to have just a handful of useful player on this save having a goalkeeper is a blessing. 

Yes. I had a good goalkeeper at the start, and the season when Pope took over (and wasn't that great at that early stage) was rough. He and my 3 other best players, are all 20 or under, so there is hope.

[Diego D10S]

                                                                                                                                                      The Seagulls Season 2022 / 2023 Update

 

Another great season and very nice youth intake. Lost again in Semi Final but like last season I had to play extra time in the first round with only 2 day rest before the Semi Final.

Starting to feel alot stronger and with another great youth intake future looking good and I really enjoy life with this team.

 

GL ALL !!!  

 

[Raffen]

5 hours ago, vikeologist said:

Yes. I had a good goalkeeper at the start, and the season when Pope took over (and wasn't that great at that early stage) was rough. He and my 3 other best players, are all 20 or under, so there is hope.

Looks like you're in the same boat as me, being stuck down in the bottom league for eternity, and not getting good enough prospects to properly push on. 

[Raffen]

Merthyr Town FC - Season 2030-31

Table | Squad | Finances | Transfers

The season started phenomenally, being top 5 for half the season. And then... as usual... the winter breakdown. Setting a record matches in a row without a win in the process. Managed to pick up some form at the end, when meeting 4 of the bottom 6 sides, but it really wasn't convincing from around match 22. Had half a chance for a play-off spot in the last match, but we bottled it at the same time as Welling United won their match. In the FA cup we beat two regional league sides, before barely scraping past league colleagues Maidstone United in the 4th qualifying round. Drew league 1 Colchester at home, losing only 0-1, and with a record crowd of 2894. 

Jamie Richards 23a inexplicably the man of the season even if I really should replace him, and Callum Vaughan 25a scoring 9 goals from set pieces. Richard Cummings 25d top scorer with a decent tally of 21 goals. The seasons best 11 generally played ok. Midfield is still our worst position. Goalkeeper Simon Bassett 24j is also fairly limited, and all goalkeepers who look like they have potential are also unambitious. 

Youth preview | Youth intake

The preview promised centre backs and a forward. A forward would be much needed, centre backs probably less so. But where are the midfielders? The intake could mean anything really. Started ignoring the stars almost completely, and focusing on attribute spread. Lee French 31a maybe the best of a limited bunch. The intake looks worse than the previous two seasons sadly.

Finances really steady this season, with lower total wages and better attendances, but the board are saying no to every request the past two seasons. I think we'll cut a few more players loose now. Andrew Savage 22d and Ifan Williams 22e have been here since the first intake, and both are high in the hierarchy with poor personalities/determination, doesn't seem to get any better, and are complaining of lack of playing time. There's some wages to be saved there, and hopefully the rest have better influence than them in the future. My guess is that both of them, like all other of our released players will retire in a few months...

[Padders]

Season Review 2081/82

Another disappointing season, finishing 4th and losing to Stoke in the play offs!

Sorry for the many screenshots

Go on long runs unbeaten, like the one at the begin of the season, 16 games unbeaten, then lost 3 in a row out of nowhere!

Won only 3 out of the last 13 games!

My goal keeper wouldn't sign a new contract and has gone to Chelsea on a free, he has also now my most appearances. He was 36yrs old/

 

[vikeologist]

1 hour ago, Raffen said:

Looks like you're in the same boat as me, being stuck down in the bottom league for eternity, and not getting good enough prospects to properly push on. 

It did seem that way for me for a while, although things have picked up slowly with better attendances, a more successful tactic and a few years with good players coming through, though it wasn't apparent how good some of them were at first.

Who does Liam Brooks, your one Resolute player, mentor?

Players in the same position

or The highest potential players

I tend to go with the second option. I don't have any problems with players picking up the wrong PPMs.

Your squad is very large, and doesn't have many of your youngest players in. My squad is huge as well, but there's no way you're giving all of those guys in your first team games. You must have a younger better option to Ifan Williams 22e. 

Do you not have any promising goalies in your youth team at all?

[Shankly84]

On 25/01/2021 at 17:13, Padders said:

Can add the stat for all time career goals

Bateson got 540 @Brentmeister

Atli Larusson is on 545 for me so far. I dropped him the season before last as well, as I have better players, but he just scores all the time!! 545 takes some doing, considering we only play 22 league games a season :-)

[Raffen]

26 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

It did seem that way for me for a while, although things have picked up slowly with better attendances, a more successful tactic and a few years with good players coming through, though it wasn't apparent how good some of them were at first.

Who does Liam Brooks, your one Resolute player, mentor?

Players in the same position

or The highest potential players

I tend to go with the second option. I don't have any problems with players picking up the wrong PPMs.

Your squad is very large, and doesn't have many of your youngest players in. My squad is huge as well, but there's no way you're giving all of those guys in your first team games. You must have a younger better option to Ifan Williams 22e. 

Do you not have any promising goalies in your youth team at all?

Liam Brooks is ranked as "other players" in the hierarchy, so his influence has been too low so far. Got a few players on amateur contracts now, who I've kept around for a season or two extra in the hope that they somehow become important, but will probably kick 10ish players out now, to trim the squad down again. As you say, it's on the big side. Siôn Hall (resilient) has mentored for the past season, as he's a team leader. 

As I say, I intent to trim the squad down. Probably take a proper punt at some of the newer youngsters. Harry Yanez 28b was a regular last season at 18, and intend to make Miguel McGee 29a first choice left winger or maybe retrain as central midfielder to make room for Jordan Roche 29b, who has lots of pace. Might chuck Wayne Wells 30a in from the start of the season as well. If they all improve fairly quickly things might be a lot better going forward.

Biggest goalkeeper prospect at the moment is Ryan Holland 29c, but right now he's not really much. Casual personality is not ideal either, but will promote him  to the first team and put him in a mentoring group.

Got A LOT of really slow players, something I'm not overly used to. 

EDIT: Forgot to say: The squad looks more bloated than it actually is, at the end of the season I add most players getting gametime to the first team squad for the squad screenshot.

Edited January 27, 2021 by Raffen
a PS

[vikeologist]

54 minutes ago, Shankly84 said:

Atli Larusson is on 545 for me so far. I dropped him the season before last as well, as I have better players, but he just scores all the time!! 545 takes some doing, considering we only play 22 league games a season :-)

 

[CarlosTTR]

Craving a new football manager challenge and after reading through the journeys of other managers, I have decided to take over Brazilian side Ferroviária in São Paulo. I've always wanted to do a save in Brazil but could never get one started, now I've already done 3 seasons!

Season 1

Manager Profile / Transfers before I joined

Before we even started the league campaign, the board sold my best LB, RB and CM for a total of 100k.

Ferroviária were one of the favourites to get promoted from Série C, and we did just that! The promotion rules are nothing like I have ever seen before - the league starts in two groups, then the top 4 from each group go into two groups of four, and the top two from each get promoted, and the winners of each group play each other over two legs for the title. Confusing, right?

Luckily we played well the entire season and finished top of both sets of groups, beating América de Natal over two legs to claim the title. 

In terms of the São Paulo state championsip, the board wanted us to avoid a relegation battle which wasn't surprising considering the league includes São Paulo, Santos, Corinthians and Palmerias.  We somehowe made the final after beating Palmerias 1-0 in the semi-final before getting demolished by Santos 7-3 on aggregate.

We were also knocked out of the cup in the first round by a Série A side.

Carlos Renato was the best player to come through the 2022 youth intake, however his attributes are a bit all over the place.

 

Season 2

Season 2 transfers

After promotion to Série B, we were heavy favourites to go straight back down again. We managed to get a solid mid table finish, finishing 10th - 10 points above relegation and 10 points below promotion places. 

I didn't focus as heavy on the São Paulo state championsip, using it to rotate squad players and give some playing time to the youth players. We ended up 8th, which the board were more than happy with. 

We progressed a bit further in the cup, before being narrowly eleminated in the 3rd round over two legs to Sport Recife.

Best of the season 2023 intake was Valkenedy, already 6'5" at 16, just hope the unambitius personality doesn't effect his development too much.

 

Season 3

Season 3 transfers - The board once again sold my best CM and then my star goalkeeper wanted to leave and was sold to Palmerias half way through the season. Luckily we had a couple of prospects that came through in the first season before Ferroviária was a playable team, including Felipe José and Jefferson. However, one of the star performers was a regen that came though in 2022 - Caio Vinícius. 

He is by far the best player at the club now at just 18 - and with a perfecionist personality. I just hope the board don't sell him.

We improved a lot in our league campaign, finishing 5th and just one point off promotion. It might have been a good thing we didn't get promoted as I think we would of got destroyed in the Série A this early.

We got to the quater finals of the São Paulo state championsip and we were once again knocked out in the first round of the cup.

I have been requesting improvements in all of our youth infrastructure, but the board keep declining due to financial reasons despite us having £1.2m in the bank. It might be due to the fact our finances are classed as okay and not secure, just hoping they eventually cave in and say yes.

Our best youth candidate in 2024 was Richard, however its another player with an unambitious personality.

[Murley]

Really interested in starting this challenge but can someone confirm if Cottbus is fine to use in Germany?

[OlivierL]

Just now, Murley said:

Really interested in starting this challenge but can someone confirm if Cottbus is fine to use in Germany?

Yes they start in the 4th tier so if they pop up after one year of holiday, u can pick them.

[ANGL]

Bad part of becoming a professional team: I have to re-negotiate 40 players and 10 staff contracts to make them full-time 

Also, I had forgotten that Spain has a mandatory minimum fee release clause so will be losing some 50% next sale clauses in the future 

[OlivierL]

On 24/01/2021 at 21:40, Shankly84 said:

I thought we had thrown it away. We were 3-1 up with 12 to go when they pulled two back. But we went straight down the other end and bagged two more. Our greatest achievement so far this one!!

Great job ! 

[Sn00gle]

How old is your manager @Padders ? 🤣

[Padders]

2 hours ago, Sn00gle said:

How old is your manager @Padders ? 🤣

I've hit the 100 years limit now 

[Brentmeister]

After failing miserably in FM 20 and being inspired by you lot, i'm back and even more determined to get into that hall of fame.

I chose Belgium again beacause I really enjoyed it there last time out, and they have a good mix of excellent youth players and a not too long and demanding league structure (i'm looking at you England!).

K.Lyra-Lierse popped up with an already solid base and a large ish squad. I also liked their badge which is really important to me.

I'm posting early for accountability, ive had the game for a week now and still haven't started a save and analysis paralysis was starting to kick in.

 

The manager

 

 

Hopefully i'll be back in a day or 2 with a season 1 update, providing I don't get sacked first.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Brentmeister

[Padders]

Season Review 2082/83

Managed to get promoted via the play offs. Lost 1st leg to Middlesbrough 2-3 then won 2nd leg 3-0. Won Final against 4-2 vs Bournemouth

Not a great start but turned the form around back end of the season

A potentially decent intake, with a couple of good players

 

[JAwtunes]

Hi all, I have a couple of questions:

1. I have an affiliate who play in Czech Republic top division (im in Poland) who I am planning on sending loan players to.  Should I make Czech Republic top division playable (currently just Poland 1&2)?

2. I have read that consistency can be improved by playing regularly (it was in a thread on the SI forum from 2017).  Has anyone experienced this?

[Armeniar]

@Brentmeister Good luck! Worst club choice ever tho, they are a remainder of the former fierce rival of my favourite club (KV Mechelen). Lierse SK went bankrupt, more than half of their supporters chose Oosterzonen (now named Lierse Kempenzonen, Division 2 club).

The others went to Lyra, now named Lyra-Lierse. The badge is actually a tribute to Lyra, as the red part are their formers colours. Very different approach from Lierse Kempenzonen, who just erased everything that had to do with Oosterzonen. At least you're in for some sweet games against them in the future! 

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by Armeniar

[Brentmeister]

10 minutes ago, Armeniar said:

@Brentmeister Good luck! Worst club choice ever tho, they are a remainder of the former fierce rival of my favourite club (KV Mechelen). Lierse SK went bankrupt, half of their supporters chose Oosterzonen (now named Lierse Kempenzonen, Division 2 club).

The other part went to Lyra, now named Lyra-Lierse. The badge is a tribute to Lyra, as the red part are their formers colours. Different from Lierse Kempenzonen, they just erased everything that had to do with Oosterzonen. At least you're in for some sweet games against them in the future! 

 

 

 

So i'm in a win-win situation, succeed and I could end up in the hall of fame, fail and I'll make you very happy

[XaW]

1 hour ago, JAwtunes said:

Hi all, I have a couple of questions:

1. I have an affiliate who play in Czech Republic top division (im in Poland) who I am planning on sending loan players to.  Should I make Czech Republic top division playable (currently just Poland 1&2)?

2. I have read that consistency can be improved by playing regularly (it was in a thread on the SI forum from 2017).  Has anyone experienced this?

1. I have done so before, but I'm not sure of the benefit, or if there is one. Still, if your computer can handle it without slowing down, why not?

2. I've read the same, but I haven't written down the coach reports and looked if they've changed. I guess that is the only way to really know (aside using editors, and that's prohibited for this challenge).

[Ronaldo Beckham]

@darren1983 What division do you start in England is it Vanarama Conference or Vanarama North/South as I am going to do a Youth only save with Kidderminster Harriers so was hoping I could do the challenge with them even if I have to holiday a few times before Kidderminster get promoted to the Vanarama Conference.

If I can't do the challenge with them then that is cool as I will just do it as a normal save. 

[XaW]

4 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

@darren1983 What division do you start in England is it Vanarama Conference or Vanarama North/South as I am going to do a Youth only save with Kidderminster Harriers so was hoping I could do the challenge with them even if I have to holiday a few times before Kidderminster get promoted to the Vanarama Conference.

If I can't do the challenge with them then that is cool as I will just do it as a normal save. 

You have to start in the lowest possible tier, so VNS or VNN, sorry.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

You have to start in the lowest possible tier, so VNS or VNN, sorry.

Oh ok no worries. Cheers for the heads up.

[Murley]

Cottbus

Manager - Silvio Adzic

Season 2021-2022

Squad Overview

The overall team has a huge amount of players to choose from which seems to be a rare thing on this challenge and most look like they could have a future at the club. There are a few players who stand out such as The 6"2 15 year old Serbian CB, Miroslav Orlovic & Tobias Eisenhuth who stand out at the first look.

 

The seasons target will be to stay up and aim for mid table which I believe should be doable with the quality in the squad but as the team is large so I can see a number of players leaving throughout the season.