[FM21] A right Royal mess. Scandinavian Journeyman save starting in Faroe Islands. Very biased towards Youth Development. Possibly 100% #YouthOnly

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2053. 

Allsvenskan. We're not out of it completely, and while Europe is now confirmed, we've dropped down to 4th. Amazingly we could still win the league with 1 game remaining. IFK Norrköping FK stuffed us with late goals in the 88th and 94th minute to peg us back and draw, and but for that we would be joint top. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2053. 

Allvenskan. We have really fallen apart at the end of the season, but the truth is that we are still hugely over-performing in what is only our 2nd season back in the top flight. We've been a real yo-yo club over the past couple of decades, with at least 6 relegations and obviously the same number of promotions. To have qualified for Europe, (and I think we have), at this stage in the clubs development really is a big deal. 

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season Summary. Nov 2053. 

Strangely, the Swedish Allvenskan doesn't insist that the last league games of each club are played at the same time on the same game. We played our last game early and it left us in 4th, but a few days later I have received the following message advising me that we have now finished in the top 3. It would seem that BK Häcken lost their last game 2-0 and as a result we finished above them on goal difference, (by 1 goal). 

We've also qualified fir the Scandinavian Royal League again too. 

Allvenskan. We are confirmed as finishing 3rd at the end of the season. We ended up 4 points off the 2 leaders and if you had offered me that at the start of the season I would have bitten your hand off. Was delighted with 4. Am overjoyed with 3rd. We were also the top goal-scorers in the league which is great because we weren't great in this area last season. 

Squad by appearances. One of my main goals at the beginning of the season was to score more goals this season so to see (49l) Juha-Pekka Lindberg * on 16 goals for the season is pleasing. To see 3 other players also hit double-figure goals is just what I was looking for. 

Allvenskan Team of the Year. Slightly surprisingly that we only had 1 starter in the team of the season but it's better than 0 I suppose. 

Finances. The finances are not looking great, but I have really invested in youth and as we have just qualified for Europe things should be improving soon in this area. 

Facilities. We can't afford to improve the Training and Youth Facilities and I was refused when asking to improve the Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching. 

Tracker. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation. Dec 2053. 

I can't remember where we were last season at this stage, but after checking we were 13th last season (Mar 2053) and are 14th now so we have actually dropped in the rankings, despite rising in the reputation stakes. It would seem that just didn't rise as much as others. 

6,387 IFK Göteborg
6,286 IF Elfsborg
5,915 Malmö FF
5,859 Djurgårdens IF
5,623 Hammarby IF
5,325 Halmstads BK

We've been rubbish in the domestic cup since we arrived and we need to change that. Playing in Europe is also going to help us here. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nice little windfall. Jan 2054. 

There have been a few of these go through over the past 12 months or so, but this is the biggest. 

£925,000 + £32,000 is £957,000 and that's very nice for a player I've never heard of. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan, Feb & Mar 2054. 

Svenska Cupen. We've made the final for the 1st time in my tenure and the 1st time since..... [goes to check].... actually it's not that long ago. 2046/47 we were Runners Up and before that we were Runners Up again in 2031/31. We will play Örebro SK in the Final and they play in the 2nd tier Superettan after being relegated 3 years ago. We've got to be red hot favourites. 

Transfers. It's actually been a really busy period in terms of transfers, even if the fees involved haven't been huge. I targeted 7 players who I wanted off the books for a range of reasons and I managed to flog all 7 of them for a combined £2.8M, (as well as the obvious significant savings in wages). Mannsverk (NOR) SELL for example was the player who I inherited with the highest earner clause and I was desperate to get him off the books. That we also got £1M for him is brilliant. 

The players that came in are nothing special, (as the values suggest), but they are all an investment in the future and assuming that our scouts are at least vaguely competent, we should at the very least make a tidy profit on all. 

Bubacar (GAM) came with a 5.0 PA scout report and I will admit that I'm more than a little gutted that it's dropped to 3.5 PA after his arrival. I just hope my scouts are better than my coaches. 

Hansen 6'6" for £210k seemed like a deal too good to be true. He hasn't played a single league game yet and is already valued at £625k. It will be interesting to see what his value is after his 1st season with us. I appreciate that he is lacking a little in pace, (and we play a high line), but I will just have to make sure that I partner him with someone with legs. 

Birkir Leifsson (ISL) is not Swedish, but I was happy to sign him to add some depth after getting rid of a number of central players. I would expect his value to rise if he plays, (and he will play). For £170k it's hardly a risk and it should be pretty easy to make a profit. I'm aware that we will be playing both in Europe and the Royal League this season, so our squad is going to be really stretched. By getting rid of ageing players and signing players like Birkir Leifsson (ISL), I'm hoping that even the fringe players like him will be players who can develop and become saleable assets rather than a bottomless pit of draining worthless wage expenditure. If I'm going to pay someone a decent wage, (and £3,900 per week is decent), then I want to be able to sell him on and either get some all of that wage spend back, (£3,900 pw is £202,800 pa). If I think that I will expect to keep him for at least 1 season then I need to sell him for £373,000 to break even, (although it will obviously seem like a profit at the time because his wages would have been budgeted for). If I keep him for 2 seasons then I would need to sell him for £576,000 to break even, (again, with the proviso that his wages would have been budgeted for during that period). If I was being really harsh then I would be asking where the profit is in this deal, (despite the fact that covering the wages is technically profit). Well the simple answer is that it would come in terms of a 25% clause and a friendly. The amount of money that can be generated by adding these 2 clauses to every single sale is quite frankly astonishing when you add them up. It's a no-brainer. 

Sebastian Ågren came in to add some more depth in the middle of the pitch. Again, his scout report suggested he was a 5.0 PA player, but the coaches have downgraded this. We wilk just have to wait and see. 

Popovic (SWE) (DEN) for £600k was a deal I just couldn't resist, despite the fact that I already have a number of high PA GK's at the club. 

GK's at the club. As well as Odd Mikkelsen (FRO) being one of the best players at the club, we have 1x 5.0 PA player and now a 4.5 PA player too. (51a) Kabangu (COD) * has gone out on loan to aid his development and it means that Popovic (SWE) (DEN) can play in goal in our Royal League games. (52a) Garmenius * looks decent, but I really don't like the look of his low Det value and I think I will now try and loan him out in the hope that his Det rises. 

[Jimbokav1971]

(30g) Nath O'Kav (ENG). End of Season 15. Apr 2054. 

I've missed the last 2 updates for Jimbo Jr, (because he wasn't really featuring). I will update his progress completely now though. 

On intake day. 

End of Season 1. Just the 2 appearances at the end of the 1st part-season. 

End of Season 2. He was our 1st choice left back all season and I even let him take penalties, (well penalty singular). He scored his 1st goal and was also capped by ENG U20's. That sounds really impressive, but obviously ENG isn't an active league so it's a less impressive accomplishment than it might have been. He's also learned the "gets forward wherever possible PPM" which I think is vital for my full-backs. 

End of Season 3. A much better season this year from Jr, who collected his 1st 2 MOM awards and was also names in the Veikkausliiga team of the month on 2 occasions. 

End of Season 4. His actual performances on the pitch were better this season, but he missed 5 from 9 penalties in all competitions, (which is awful), and many of these cost us points in close games. His season was disrupted by the Euro U19 Championships, (as he played in all games as England somehow ran out winners!!!)  suspensions and  

End of Season 5. 

End of Season 6. You might notice that Jr only played 17(1) of 27 league games and he also only played 3 of 9 Cup games. He was injured for a month in Feb, (which explains missed Cup games), and the reason he missed the other league games was because he played in 12 European games, (so wouldn't have played in the league games either side). I have a choice as to whether I play him in European or league games, (he can't play both), and for the last 2 seasons I chose to play him in Europe over the league. It should also be mentioned that he collected 11 yellows and 1 red card this season, (his 1st career red).

End of Season 7. Jr started the season really well and had scored 1 goal and created 6 assists after only 16 games. Unfortunately that was his season over and he was unable to add to his tally. 

End of Season 8. Jr made 30(2) appearances, and was pretty decent if you ignore the 2 games we played Euro League qualifying. He was 100% from the spot, (but only took 1 surprisingly), and only created 1 assist, (which is also surprising). His CA and PA are both 2.0 and I think he's starting to really impact negatively on performances. He's not great going forward, (I often compare him to the opposite full-back when watching highlights), but it's defensively where he seems to most be a liability. I'm going to persist with playing him though, however he will play more European and Cup games and less league games as we chase our 1st title. I'm thinking of a few tweaks to try and encourage some more penalties this season. It should be mentioned that our 1st choice GK (42c) Tomi Lehtinen 5'11" scored 2 penalties this season, (when Jr wasn't on the pitch), but that's still a very low penalty count. @Derekawill notice that his Det has popped back to 10 and so he has moved from Low Self Belief back to Balanced. I think that's all that can be done for him but you never know. 

End of Season 9. I forgot to do this last season in the aftermath of Jr winning the Player of the Year award and my excitement and the analysis that followed. 

End of Season 10. Nowhere near as good as last season, but I think that was largely down to injuries that kept him out and stopped him performing consistently at peak fitness. 

End of Season 11. A really good season for Jr that saw him score 6 goals and create a whopping 16 assists from full-back. Despite the fact that he is significantly the worst player in the squad, we seem to play better when he is in the side. (Which is mad). I think giving him the set-piece duties frees up other players to do things that he isn't as good at, (such as 1 of 2 who defend), or actually putting the ball in the net.

End of Season 12. It was a decent season for Jr, but way down on last season. he scored 8 goals, but only 5 of 12 penalties, (missing 7). On the plus side, he scored 3 goals from open play this season which is a record for him in a season. His assist count was also significantly down on last season's 16. 

End of Season 13. Jr had a poor season last year and I'm not sure that he has what it takes to play in a successful team at this level. I've not given up on him yet, but he needs to produce this year. 

End of Season 14. 

End of Season 15. 

Injuries. All in all I would say that he's been pretty lucky with injuries. He's played a lot of games in his career considering he's only 30 and has spent most of his career in leagues with a low number of fixtures. 

Milestones.

All Time progress.

NA.

Career stats. 

League games played. 267(7)
Cup games played. 67(3)
Continental games played. 58(1)
Total games played. 392(11)
Goals scored. 42
Assists created. 81
Yellow cards. 83
Red cards. 2

Jimbo Jr was released by us, (harsh I know), after helping MP get promoted to the Finnish top flight. He just wasn't ever going to play for us and I was hoping that he would get a job back in Finland. 

He's now fluent in 5 languages so I would hope that someone will come in for him, although wage demands might be an issue. 

He could definitely still do a job in Finland or Iceland. 

[RoguPL]

Happy to see you getting back into this save ! 

Awesome job with Oulu, and looking forward for your dominance in Sweden. 

I think Nath O'Kav had better career then expected just by being your in game son so no need to feel harsh on letting him go  I guess he needs to grow up at some point and take his career into his own hands  

 

I am waiting for lower leagues of Poland to be released before I start my first proper youth only save. I wonder how that is going to go since I have 0 youth only experience.  I am testing a concept of adjusting Nation Youth Recruitment Level as I go along to try and make it a bit more realistic. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by rrozek93

[Jimbokav1971]

3 minutes ago, rrozek93 said:

Happy to see you getting back into this save ! 

Awesome job with Oulu, and looking forward for your dominance in Sweden. 

I think Nath O'Kav had better career then expected just by being your in game son so no need to feel harsh on letting him go  I guess he needs to grow up at some point and take his career into his own hands  

Yeah, I can't complain about the career he had.

Euro U19 Championship
Finnish Cup x 3
Veikkausliiga (Finnish top tier) x 4.
Promotion from Superettan (Swedish 2nd Tier). 
Promotion from Ykkönen (Finnish 2nd Tier). 

8 titles and 2 promotions is better than most achieve. 

[Jimbokav1971]

6 minutes ago, rrozek93 said:

I am waiting for lower leagues of Poland to be released before I start my first proper youth only save. I wonder how that is going to go since I have 0 youth only experience.  I am testing a concept of adjusting Nation Youth Recruitment Level as I go along to try and make it a bit more realistic. 

Please don't be offended by this, but if you have 0 Youth Only experience, what makes you think that you are in a position to make the game more realistic than those who actually make it? 

In my experience there really isn't an awful lot wrong in this area and I am yet to see any "improvements" suggested that don't actually make the whole thing less realistic. 

Good luck with whatever you do though. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Reminder for myself. Apr 2054. 

Although I think I've signed particularly well in the last 12 months or so, We have a couple of gaps in the squad. 

We're weak at both right back and left wing. 

Right back depth. I really need to go out and try to sign a right back immediately. The DoF has found a (POL) right back, (who has (NOR) as a 2nd Nationality), and I'm looking at him 

Ole Kalvhagen (NOR) is the 1st choice right back, (and he's not great).
Hansen 6'6" is very much a DC. 
Michael Öberg DC is too slow to be considered at right back, (hence the DC tag in his name). 
Emil Ståhl 6'4" has become 2nd choice DR by default, despite the fact that he's very much a centre-half. 

Left wing depth. While I'm happy for Philip Finsen (DEN) * to be our 1st choice lefty, I think I need to either sign someone else or recall (51c) Fredrik Broberg * ML. I think that's answered my own question and I need to recall him when able. 

(51c) Fredrik Broberg * ML is out on loan, but I think he might play so I'm considering recalling him, (when I'm able).
Almström * is very much a central player due to his lack of pace. 
Philip Finsen (DEN) * is the 1st choice left winger. 
EE was signed as a striker who can cover the left, but is now very much a left-sided player. If I was to sign a proper lefty then I could sell EE or play him up front. 
(51e) Petter Andersson looks a little raw for this level. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2054. 

Allvenskan. Drawing a game, (without conceding), is not a bug deal, but it's a sign of how far we have come in a relatively short time, that I'm frustrated that we lose a tight game to 1 of the big 2 in Sweden. It's a long old season now we are in Europe though and I have to be happy with a reasonable start. IFK Göteborg have started the season on fire, and the reason for this is that they bombed in Europe last season and didn't play Group football in Europe never mind about Knockout football. The European games are a good leveller. Without it they are still very strong 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2054. 

Allvenskan. We were given a right doing by IFK Göteborg, so no complaints there, but BK Häcken also proved too strong for us. 

Odd Mikkelsen (FRO) scored 3 more goals this month and that brings him to 7 for the season, (2 free-kicks and 5 penalties). 

Svenska Cupen. We've won the Cup for the 1st time since 1995. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun & Jul 2054.

Allvenskan. The good news is that we have scored 3+ goals in each of the last 4 games. The bad news is that 3 goals isn't always enough to win, (or even draw), a game. 

Euro Conference. It's hard to gauge how well you are going to do when you start playing in Europe for the 1st time at a new club. I'm always nervous about choking, but we never seen to bottle it, (or at least haven't done until this stage). 

Scandinavian Royal League. 

Job Offer. I might consider a Scandi National job in the future, but I've got absolutely no interest in managing a non Scandi Nation. 

[Mr_Demus]

A couple of days ago, I realized that I had not read this forum for a while. What do I find? A 10 page Jimbo thread. I have read it all, and as per usual it's great fun. And (almost) in my backyard - please move to Denmark

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, Mr_Demus said:

A couple of days ago, I realized that I had not read this forum for a while. What do I find? A 10 page Jimbo thread. I have read it all, and as per usual it's great fun. And (almost) in my backyard - please move to Denmark

I will of course be moving to Denmark. 

But only after I have finished Sweden and then done Norway. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2054. 

Allvenskan. Only 1 league game this month and it sees us with 7 games in hand on some other clubs now. IFK Göteborg are still unbeaten and look to be romping away with it, and even IFK Norrköping FK look like they will be tough to catch as we will only be 2 points ahead of them even if we win all 6 games in hand on them. 3rd place is looking more realistic, but it's early days yet. 

Euro Conference. It was tight against Antwerp, but we got there in the end and in doing so have accomplished the main goal for this season which was to qualify for the Group Stage of the Euro Conference. Not just because of the money, (although that's significant in itself), but also because of the extra games and matchday income, as well as the coefficient boost of course. Are we likely to be able to qualify from the Group? I'm not really sure. Any German side is likely to prove too strong for us and Red Bull are also going to be decent so our best bet is probably to hope to finish 3rdahead of Livingston. 

Scandinavian Royal League. Looking good in this competition. 

Svenska Cupen. What a shambles. 

Transfers. 

The weakest area of the squad was full back, so I arranged to bring in 1 on each side. Dennis Jansen * has 5.0 PA even after he arrived so that's a good indication, but Geir Ali (NOR) is a more short-term answer. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2054. 

Allvenskan. The fixture list has been a little tough this month and this gives you an indication of just how tough, (albeit that the European game is in October rather than September). It's a little awkward telling you my strategy for squad selection here, (before I play the games), because there is no guarantee that I will win any of them and there is a danger of me sounding like pompous ass.  Now that we've got the fact that I'm a pompous ass out of the way, my thinking is that if we go "strong", (ie 1st choice in all positions), in games 1 and 3, (where they will get 4 days rest between games), I can then field a weakened line-up against 16th place IF Sylvia. The thinking behind that is that they will hopefully be so rubbish that even our back-up players will be too good for their tired 1st choice players. That leaves us with just the European game and the reality is that this is us already in the Group Stage. I expect to finish 3rd so does it really batter if we field a weakened side against 1 of the stringer teams in a game that we are expected to lose anyway? No is the simple answer, so we will play a weakened line-up in Europe, (it's all good experience for the fringe players), and then we have 2 weeks before our next match......... Mmmmmm it's interesting that we have 2 weeks off after the European game.....  I wonder if it would be worth picking any players who look fit enough? Maybe anyone who was on the bench against Dalkurd FF?? or someone who started but didn't play a full 90 mins? 

Lots of people just tend to play the same old players the whole time and then wonder why they are absolutely exhausted come the end of the season. At the same time they complain that their Youth players never develop into anything. Every game is an opportunity to play a youngster. How often you take that opportunity is up to you. 

As it would happen, although we won the 1st game 3-0, we could only manage a 1-1 draw in the 2nd game despite battering them. In hindsight I weakened the squad too much and should have had both 1st choice striker on the bench, but went with youngsters instead. We lost the game but gave loads of youngsters experience and didn't lose. This rotation system only works if your 1st choice team go and win their games after their rest. Unfortunately I had reckoned without messrs (46b) Nico Jaatinen * and (43d) Jani Korhonen-Janhunen who seemingly both had points to prove after coming through the Academy at AC Oulu not really given many opportunities by me. They certainly have my attention now as they absolutely destroyed us time and time again. The former played the QB role and the latter finished off the chances. What was the wording I used earlier? Oh yeah. Pompous ass.  You get the gist of what I was trying to do and why, even if we weren't able to do it.

I must admit that I'm secretly just a tiny bit pleased that 2 of our old Academy products performed so well against us. When they combined for each goal I was actually happy! Yeah. Weird I know. 

The reality is that I've still got to be happy with how we're going in the league. We're not really competing with IFK Göteborg and IF Elfsborg yet, and the reason that IFK Norrköping FK are doing so well is because they're not playing in Europe. We on the other hand have already played 7 European games and 4 Scandi Royal League games on top of our domestic schedule. We're only 1 point behind Malmö FF, (and have 5 games in hand), and 2 points behind Djurgårdens IF, (with 4 games in hand). I'm looking at this and thinking that we're already comfortably in 4th, (so qualifying for Europe again), but actually that goes to the Cup winner and that's already us so no matter where we finish we're in Europe next season. 

Euro Conference. 

Scandinavian Royal League. 

Youth Intake. (54a) Ollikainen (FIN) * looks decent, but there seems to be a little depth to back him up. It's hard to complain about an intake with a 5.0 PA player, but it's really not great. When I saw we had an (ENG) player, just for a moment I thought that I had another son. .

Despite the overall lack of depth in the intake, (54a) Ollikainen (FIN) * looks great, (and of course I love his Det). I also quite like that he has Finnish as a 2nd Nationality. (I love a 2nd Nationality). There is lots to like about him already and I would say that I might even be able to get him the odd game or 2 this season. he will certainly be playing in the Scandi Royal League. I really like him the more I look at him. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2054. 

Allvenskan. The wheels have properly come off and thank God we have already qualified for Europe via the Cup. 

Euro Conference. In contrast to our league form, our performances in Europe have been decent. 

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season Summary. Dec 2054. 

Allvenskan. Our form really fell off  cliff towards the end of the season. I thought we had already qualified for Europe via the Cup, but it seems that might have been a mistake. 

Svenska Cupen. I'm a bit confused now. We won the Cup this season, but it was effectively last seasons Cup. I'm not completely sure we have qualified for Europe at all. 

Euro Conference. The plan for Europe this season was just to qualify for the Group Stage and then once we got there and beat Red Bull, there was sudden a vey real chance of qualifying for the Knockout stages. In any case we bottled it, (no surprise there), but it was good that we took it to the last game at least. 

Scandinavian Royal League. We qualified top of the league, but our form really fell off a cliff. Really not sure what's going on here because we had a stronger squad towards the end of the season if anything

Squad by appearances. 

Facilities. 

Finances. 

Club vision.

Transfers. 

Tracker. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Scandinavian Royal League Exit. Jan 2055. 

We've just lost 9-0 in the Quarter-Finals of the Scandi Royal League because everyone was on holiday and I had to field a whole squad of grey players. 

[Edit]

It's the same for the 2nd leg. It's such a shame. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Pompeyboyz]

Did Goteborg also have grey players?

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Pompeyboyz said:

Did Goteborg also have grey players?

No. 

[Pompeyboyz]

Just now, Jimbokav1971 said:

No. 

Big question is why??  You are both Swedish teams after all

Are they still in European competition around that same time?

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Pompeyboyz said:

Big question is why??  You are both Swedish teams after all

Are they still in European competition around that same time?

I think it's related to both Europe and the Svenska Cupen. We didn't qualify for the Group Stages, (I know I know I know), but IFK Göteborg had domestic Cup games and European Cup games to prepare for so started pre-season in January. We didn't start our pre-season until March, because there was seemingly nothing to prepare for before that. I think that if we had been in the Cup then everything would have been ok. The players wouldn't have been fit, but they would at least have been available. 

It must be because of the Cup actually. Last season we weren't in Europe and we weren't in the Scandi Royal League, but we were in the Group Stage of the Svenska Cupen and came back for pre-season in January. 

[Pompeyboyz]

Thats a big bugger then.

Not even a bug you can raise as you are using an editor file for the Royal League too

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Pompeyboyz said:

Thats a big bugger then.

Not even a bug you can raise as you are using an editor file for the Royal League too

Yeah. I think I have to take some responsibility though in that I can choose when to return. I just go with whatever is suggested though, thinking that it usually works. I think the edited file for the Royal League is what caused the problem. They have probably never experienced anyone good enough to qualify for the Royal league also being rubbish enough not to qualify for the Group Stage of the domestic Cup. 

[Pompeyboyz]

You are very special then 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 minutes ago, Pompeyboyz said:

You are very special then 

VERY special. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2055. 

Allvenskan. 

Facilities.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2055. 

Allvenskan. A little bit mixed this month. We're scoring goals ok but are also conceding to many.

Facilities. We're getting there. Slowly but surely but we're getting there. 

Player Development. I take FAR too much notice of little features like this. 

I always like to see what players we have produced at the club so I quite like this list. It's just a shame that it's a pop-up that isn't clickable. 

Rankings. Sweden moving up 7 places in 1 season is pretty decent. 

[abulezz]

Can't believe you are already in the 2050s! Incredible save and reporting, as always. 

[Sonic Youth]

Look at all that DRAMA, some very special drama! And this season looks like it’s started promising as well.

I’m beginning to think your depth is the problem at the moment, as there seems to be a drop-off in quality when the games come thick and fast.

Still, progress is great and the board are helping now too 

Time to try and push for top two finish this season with the extra Champ spot.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Sonic Youth

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, abulezz said:

Can't believe you are already in the 2050s! Incredible save and reporting, as always. 

Thanks very much. The joys of furlough and then redundancy I'm afraid. 

I plan on staying in Sweden for at least 10 years I think and then we have Norway to do and I plan on finishing in Denmark. Much more to come from this save hopefully. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

Look at all that DRAMA, some very special drama! And this season looks like it’s started promising as well.

I’m beginning to think your depth is the problem at the moment, as there seems to be a drop-off in quality when the games come thick and fast.

Still, progress is great and the board are helping now too 

Time to try and push for top two finish this season with the extra Champ spot.

Drama? What drama? 

You are completely spot on about the lack of depth being the problem. The issue with resolving that is that we didn't have much of a transfer budget until this season and you have to remember that I have a self-imposed rule whereby I'm only allowed to sign Scandinavian players in this save. Buying Scandi players seems cheap when you are a big English/European club, but buying good Scandi players is pretty expensive when you are a Scandi club yourself. 

I've been slowly selling older players and replacing them with younger players with a view to long-term development and I've also been upgrading the facilities with a view to producing our own players, (which will obviously be much cheaper in the long-run that having to buy good youngsters). 

We're top of the table now after 17 games, but that's mainly because we haven't been playing in Europe this season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun, Jul & Aug 2055. 

Allsvenskan. We're in decent form now. It all started with not getting beat and then turned into scoring 1 more than the opposition and we're slowly turning the screw and are now also not conceding. The FM Gods see everything so I expect we will lose our next game 1-0, but that's just the way of it sometimes. 

Svenska Cupen. No mistake this season in the Cup. I still rotated the squad, but it was an absolute battering of a 1-0.

Transfers. We're still culling the older players and I'm intent to keep bringing in youngsters until such time as we are producing our own. (We're not doing so yet). 

Although we have a few finishers at the club, we only had 1x DLP so I was keen to bring in another. The DoF actually made this signing and although he's a bit raw, I thought it was a good deal so let it go through. 

We have a few "technical" players in the middle of the pitch, but I was looking for someone a little more workmanlike. I think that Kris Thychosen (DEN) * fits the bill nicely and will prove a good addition at that price. 

I've been after Ali Azar (ISL) (LIB) 6'6" * for a while now and you don't have to be a brain surgeon to work out why. He's still a little raw, (but still has time to develop), and is an absolute steal at £250,000.

The DoF signed Didrik Alhaug (NOR) and it seemed like a better deal back then than it does now. I can't really tell you why I thought that this looked a good deal, but I must have been swayed by the 5.0 PA rating. £825,000.

The loanee is just a back-up GK to cover us in case we get an injury because all the decent youngsters are out on loan. Hopefully he will never play. 

Big Bid. I've had a £7M bid for Stahre *, but I'm not keen at all to accept it because he's our main goal threat and is only 21 years old with 4 years left on his contract. I've upped his asking price to £10M and instructed the board to decline any offers below this. He's scoring at about a goal a game at the moment. Not too shabby for a £600k purchase back in 2052. 

[Thebaker]

i could see Alhaug as a FB if his tackling got better, his attributes are not high in the right places to be a great LM

[Jimbokav1971]

3 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

i could see Alhaug as a FB if his tackling got better, his attributes are not high in the right places to be a great LM

I don't really know what he is at this stage. 

He's not a left back. 
He's not a left winger. 
He's not a central midfielder. 

What he might be though is someone decent to have on the bench. 

I'm training him to play left wing at the moment, but might stick some defensive positioning in there too. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2055. 

Allsvenskan. We've gone from 11 wins in 12 games to 1 win in 4. 

Youth Intake. It's really not a good intake. It's taking a long time to get going here in Sweden. 

(55a) Nassim (MAR) is an interesting player. He might not be 5.0 PA, but 4.5 is decent and he has a good personality too. One thing I really don't like is him 1st PPM "avoids using weaker foot". I usually don't mind this PPM at all, but in this case the PPM is twinned with a both footed player. I don't think I have ever seen it before. I will try an get him to unlearn that PPM asap. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2055. 

We've already qualified for the Euro Conference next season. 

Allsvenskan. We've completely bottled the league here.  Our young side have just completely imploded and after an unbeaten 11 wins in 13 games, we have now lost 4 of the last 7. We've got 1 game left and technically could still win the league, (we're not going to). 

5.0 PA players. I know I know I know I know I know that you can't rely on the PA stars, but as there is little else to go on, I find it very hard not to keep being drawn to the stars, (both in terms of CA and PA). We're very much a squad based on PA rather than CA, (how often have you heard that comment in my various threads over the years?)

In terms of CA we're very limited with the top end of the squad made up in the following ways. 

0x 5.0 player. 
1x 4.5 player. 
0x 4.0 player.
6x 3.5 players. 
8x 3.0 players. 

Things are much better in terms of PA however and that's exactly what I want to see. 

11x 5.0 PA players.
9x 4.5 PA players. 

Barbosa (CPV) * shouldn't be out on loan. Not once but twice I have loaned him out by accident now and I have to wait to be able to recall him. He would be my 1st choice left back even at 2.0 CA. Although he's a Cape Verdean International, he also has Swedish as a 2nd Nationality, (he came through the Academy at Åtvidabergs FF).

There are only 5 products of our Academy on the above list and only 3 of them have 5.0 PA. 

(54a) Ollikainen (FIN) * is developing nicely and has started to break into the Senior squad. I have a few options on the left flank but I have pushed him up the starting order as a result of his 5.0 PA.

(53a) Söderberg * is developing less well, but I think that's my fault for not giving him enough 1st team exposure, (and I need to change that). There have been no European games and no Royal League games this season, (and we didn't qualify for last season's domestic Cup Group stage), and because we are doing well in the league I didn't want to weaken us by playing him. If I don't want to stunt his development I'm going to have to blood him soon. 

(51a) Kabangu (COD) * is in his 2nd season out on loan in the Superettan league, (Swedish 2nd tier), and is developing nicely. I think he's getting to the stage where he's in contention to start for us. Odd Mikkelsen (FRO) has 3.0 CA and (51a) Kabangu (COD) * is at 2.5 CA. At the start of next season I think I will have a decision to make here and if (51a) Kabangu (COD) * is going out on loan, I want it to be to a team in the Allsvenskan rather than the Superettan. 

[Johnny-Trotter]

On 04/03/2021 at 11:56, Jimbokav1971 said:

May 2055. 

Allvenskan. A little bit mixed this month. We're scoring goals ok but are also conceding to many.

Facilities. We're getting there. Slowly but surely but we're getting there. 

Player Development. I take FAR too much notice of little features like this. 

I always like to see what players we have produced at the club so I quite like this list. It's just a shame that it's a pop-up that isn't clickable. 

 

When your team gets to the top of this list, an extra piece of information is added to the bottom of the note, which lists out the 17 players (in the case of Goteborg and Djurgardens here) and then these can be clickable and you can see information about value, club at which they were 'raised' and so on,

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season Summary. Nov 2055. 

Allsvenskan. We bottled the league and then came came back and smashed the last game

Squad by Appearances. We were hugely reliant on 21 year old Stahre * for goals this season and although he scored 26 in 27(2) appearances, he was actually operating ahead of 1 goal per game schedule until the last few games of the season. 

Stahre * won the Golden Boot and I expect he will also win Allsvenskan Player of the Year because he also tops the average rating with 7.42. He's worth £7.5M right now but I want at least £10M+ for him as he has 4 years left on his contract and there is no min fee release clause. 

Club vision old. I don't usually show this page because everything is fine, but it seems that we are failing a little with regards to the club culture side of the expectations. The are we are falling down most in is surprisingly set-pieces, but I think this is because I'm in the process of upgrading my short corner routine, (that I quite liked), to a more standard "hit the big man at the near post" option. We have centre-backs at the club who are 6'6", 6'6" and 6'5", so I think there is something there to work with. For whatever reason though, we haven't quite clicked yet. The board are also unhappy with our inability to play direct football, and I think this is a little unfair as we are using an attacking mentality that clearly states it uses more direct passing. For this to not be recognised by the board is a little concerning. 

Club vision new. There's no change from last season, which really means that we need to look at set-pieces some more. 

Finances. 

 

Facilities. 

 

Tracker. 

[rodesire]

what are the league reputations like 30 years into the future, have they inflated like they did on fm19 and 20?

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, Johnny-Trotter said:

When your team gets to the top of this list, an extra piece of information is added to the bottom of the note, which lists out the 17 players (in the case of Goteborg and Djurgardens here) and then these can be clickable and you can see information about value, club at which they were 'raised' and so on,

WHEN we get there, I will make a point of @ing you. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, rodesire said:

what are the league reputations like 30 years into the future, have they inflated like they did on fm19 and 20?

Let's have a look. 

Because I only have the Scandi/Nordic Nations running, this will probably have skewed things somewhat, and the long time I spent in Finland will also have skewed that too. 

There are 5x 4.5 Rep leagues. The top 4 are as you would expect, but I wouldn't have thought that the French league should be grouped in with these, (but feel free to disagree with me). The top end of this group is English Premier League with a rep of 187 and the bottom end of this group is French Ligue 1 Uber Eats with a rep of 180.

*** I've never looked at individual competition reputation in the editor before and I'm surprised that it's 3 digits rather than 5 digits. (club reputation is out of a maximum of 10,000 I think). 

After that there are 2x 4.0 Rep leagues, (and this is where I would have expected to find France).

Portugese Liga NOS has a rep of 161 and Dutch Eredivisie has a rep of 160. 

Then we have a group of 15 clubs all grouped together. 

The Danish Superligen sits at the top with a reputation of 159 and at the bottom we have the Tinkoff Russian Premier League with a rep of 140. 

Because I've never looked at this before I don't really have anything to compare it to, (other than the French league seems a little high). 

[rodesire]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Let's have a look. 

Thanks for that, I believe at the start of the save, La Liga and Premier League have rep of 180 and the rest is lower, so looks like there is a mild inflation but nowhere near as bad as the previous couple of editions where top20 European leagues would be 4* or higher rep after 25-30 seasons

[Fudal]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Let's have a look. 

Because I only have the Scandi/Nordic Nations running, this will probably have skewed things somewhat, and the long time I spent in Finland will also have skewed that too. 

There are 5x 4.5 Rep leagues. The top 4 are as you would expect, but I wouldn't have thought that the French league should be grouped in with these, (but feel free to disagree with me). The top end of this group is English Premier League with a rep of 187 and the bottom end of this group is French Ligue 1 Uber Eats with a rep of 180.

*** I've never looked at individual competition reputation in the editor before and I'm surprised that it's 3 digits rather than 5 digits. (club reputation is out of a maximum of 10,000 I think). 

After that there are 2x 4.0 Rep leagues, (and this is where I would have expected to find France).

Portugese Liga NOS has a rep of 161 and Dutch Eredivisie has a rep of 160. 

Then we have a group of 15 clubs all grouped together. 

The Danish Superligen sits at the top with a reputation of 159 and at the bottom we have the Tinkoff Russian Premier League with a rep of 140. 

Because I've never looked at this before I don't really have anything to compare it to, (other than the French league seems a little high). 

Slovakia above Russia is ridiculous! 

Even after 30 years

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, rodesire said:

Thanks for that, I believe at the start of the save, La Liga and Premier League have rep of 180 and the rest is lower, so looks like there is a mild inflation but nowhere near as bad as the previous couple of editions where top20 European leagues would be 4* or higher rep after 25-30 seasons

That does sound like progress. 

That's the problem with things like this being capped. The only other way I think this might work is that while rep can go up and down, the amount of total league rep in the game should remain constant (ie Newton's Law that every action should have an equal and opposite reaction). So if League x rises by xx rep points then another league, (or multiple leagues), should drop by the same amount. The total amount of increases in rep should be the same as the total amount of decreases in rep. 

[Jimbokav1971]

38 minutes ago, Fudal said:

Slovakia above Russia is ridiculous! 

Even after 30 years

Slovakia is the 2nd one that jumped out at me after France. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad depth for next coming season. Nov 2055.

I've had a problem with losing track of who should and shouldn't be loaned out, so this is to try and keep things in check.

GK. I will keep these 2 at the club plus 1 for the U19's. Odd Mikkelsen (FRO) is still 1st choice & (51a) Kabangu (COD) * will play for the Reserves. 

Odd Mikkelsen (FRO)
(51a) Kabangu (COD) *

DL. Until this season I had been playing Ahmetovic (BIH) 6'2" * at left back because I wanted to give him 1st team game time, but he was never a proper left back and now we need one. Barbosa (CPV) * will be 1st choice and Joel Niklasson * will provide back-up. If we need more depth than that then Geir Ali (NOR) can play on both sides and of course Ahmetovic (BIH) 6'2" * is always a last resort in a pinch. 

Barbosa (CPV) *
Joel Niklasson *

DR. We've really improved in this area over the last 12 months or so. Dennis Jansen (DEN) * will be 1st choice and he will be supported by Geir Ali (NOR). 

Dennis Jansen (DEN) *
Geir Ali (NOR)

DC. I'm determined to sort out our set-piece deficiencies and with that in mind I will be utilising a group of Giant centre-backs. If I can replace Ahmetovic (BIH) 6'2" * with another giant then I will do so. It might seem like we have far too many players, but most on this list aren't actually centre-backs and in any case by far the greater majority of players at the club were products of the Academy in the last few years. Many of these will soon leave at the end of their initial contracts. 

Ali Azar (ISL) (LIB) 6'6" *
Hansen 6'6"
Lassagård 6'5" *
Ahmetovic (BIH) 6'2" *

MC. I need 2 playmakers and 2 grafters in the middle of the pitch, (at least). Eric Eliasson * can do either job, but because he is right foot only I don't like playing him on the left. It's just more natural for a DLP playing on the left to have some ability with his left foot. Right is ok. Right only isn't. We will be back in Europe again next season and will be also playing in the Royal league again too, so I probably need a bigger squad than 2 in every position if I want to fight on multiple fronts. This at least gives me a starting point though.

Kris Thychosen (DEN) *
Eric Eliasson *
Joakim Eskilsson *
Mikkola (NOR)
 

ML. We've been decent in this area in recent seasons. Only lefties play on the left in this save so Philip Finsen (DEN) will be 1st choice, Didrik Alhaug (NOR) is only 18, (and is the utility player remember), so he will play in the Royal League I think, (51c) Fredrik Broberg ML has something about him and (54a) Ollikainen (FIN) * is only 17 and that makes a nice quartet. 

Philip Finsen (DEN)
Didrik Alhaug (NOR)
(51c) Fredrik Broberg ML
(54a) Ollikainen (FIN) *

MR. This was a problem area for a while, but I think we are doing ok now. Magnus Lööf has been 1st choice for a while now and I really need 1 of the youngsters to usurp him. Ingi Svavarsson (ISL) * had some moments last season but was a little inconsistent, (as you would expect from a teenager). Kevin Andersson * needs to play this season and (53d) Andranik (ARM) will be around to play in the Royal League. 

Magnus Lööf
Ingi Svavarsson (ISL) *
Kevin Andersson *
(53d) Andranik (ARM)

SC. The fact that young right winger (55a) Nassim (MAR) * appears on this picture but doesn't appear on the MR picture is concerning because the reason he didn't appear on the MR picture is because he was off the bottom. That doesn't sound a huge problem but when you consider that we play 2 strikers and only 1 right winger then it perhaps highlights that we have more of the wrong one and less of the right one. Goal machine Stahre * will continue on the left up front and will be paired with either the old (43a) Teppo (FIN) or the new Valdi Jakobsson (ISL). If I can sign a new DLF then I will try to flog (43a) Teppo (FIN). In terms of pack-up for Stahre * then we have (53a) Söderberg *, (who needs to play more), and (49l) Juha-Pekka Lindberg who I would like to sell, to make room for (51b) Carl-Johan Ramberg and Christopher Lindh 6'6" who is another Giant to throw into the mix. 

Stahre *
(43a) Teppo (FIN)
 Valdi Jakobsson (ISL)
(53a) Söderberg *
(49l) Juha-Pekka Lindberg
(51b) Carl-Johan Ramberg
Christopher Lindh 6'6"