[FM22] Flying Our Way To The Top - British Airways Level 10 Youth Only Challenge

[deez0r]

The Save

As for my love for youth only challenges I have decided to take this to the extreme and go the whole way down to level 10 in England for this! I wont be able to sign any players and will be using the youth system for the whole save!

The Club

I decided to go with British Airways for something a bit different! I was tempted by the team called Cheddar but the nice blue kit swayed it for me!

Facilities as expected are awful so will be a tough save!

The Manager

No badges and my attributes are mostly youth related!

[Tbarnes88]

Isn't Youngster Knowledge pointless if you're doing Youth Only? I thought that and Player Knowledge related solely to attribute masking in other teams? 

I would put those valuable 10 points in Determination instead. Oh and good luck!

[Punch]

Looks like fun. Good luck!

[deez0r]

 

6 minutes ago, Tbarnes88 said:

Isn't Youngster Knowledge pointless if you're doing Youth Only? I thought that and Player Knowledge related solely to attribute masking in other teams? 

I would put those valuable 10 points in Determination instead. Oh and good luck!

Potentially a good shout! I think personalities in these types of save are vital for development!

[deez0r]

Just now, Punch said:

Looks like fun. Good luck!

Lets hope I have the same success as your Isle of Man team!

[deez0r]

Squad

Well one big standout here. I would be amazed if we have him in a few weeks time!

[deez0r]

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Our first game ends up in an impressive 4-2 win away at Uxbridge in the FA Cup!

[deez0r]

FA Cup Preliminary Round

A very impressive victory away to Three Bridges who are 2 divisions above us in the Isthmian League! Hastings continued his red hot form in the early season grabbing another 2 goals! This moves us into the 1st qualifying round where we will play...

Poole are 3 divisions above us so will be a tough game but who knows!

Edited January 11, 2022 by deez0r

[deez0r]

FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round

We rode our luck big time here but came out in the end with a very impressive 3-1 win that sends us into the 2nd qualifying round!

[deez0r]

FA Cup Qualifying 2nd Round

We were actually quite comfortable here and took a comfortable 3-1 win with our keeper getting in on the action as well!

A very kind draw for us!

[deez0r]

FA Cup Qualifying 3rd Round

A deserved win over Burgess Hill Town sends us into the 4th qualifying round where we will play National League Wealdstone!

[deez0r]

FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round

Well we rode our luck big time but were able to overcome Wealdstone 2-1 to send us into the first round of the FA Cup!

We are off to League 1 Rotherham!

[deez0r]

Improvement

Managed to get the Junior Coaching improved!

[deez0r]

FA Cup 1st Round

We gave it our best but ultimately they were just too strong! A great run!

[rmcf2017]

that was a strong cup run

[deez0r]

11 hours ago, rmcf2017 said:

that was a strong cup run

It was! Definitely didn't expect it!

[deez0r]

Improvements

2nd improvement in a season for Junior Coaching!

And our first improvement in youth recruitment!

Edited January 12, 2022 by deez0r

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2022

Overview

As expected at this stage a lot of potential and whilst there current ability isnt great their potential is much higher than pretty much our entire squad. How long we can keep these players we will wait and see! Nice to see a few different nations outside of the usual UK nations in Cyprus, Nigeria and Iceland!

The Players

YP22A - Aidan McNicholl

YP22B - Danny Denny

YP22C - Marios Koumis

YP22D - Kamali Walter

YP22E - Anthony Williams

YP22F - Shaun Powell

YP22G - Jamal Saunders

YP22H - Clive Cross

YP22I - Kirae Lake

YP22J - Delroy Dodds

YP22K - Graham Long

YP22L - Jean Coulibaly

YP22M - Joseph Nwokeji

YP22N - Scott Alfieri

YP22O - Rashid Mensah

YP22P - Einar Arngrimsson

[deez0r]

Cleanup On Aisle 5

With the youth players coming in and most having higher potential than our current team I have decided to release a lot of our current squad to enable the youth players to develop. This included players who have played a lot of games this season!

[deez0r]

2021-22 Season Review

Results

A very successful first season for us and despite a very small squad we managed any injuries or suspensions well! 

League Table

A 3rd place position means promotion for us in our first season!

FA Cup

A fantastic run in the FA Cup where we won 6 matches to get into the first round where we lost to League 1 Rotherham!

FA Vase

A 3rd round exit for us in the FA Vase!

Combined Counties League Cup

We were very close to our first final under my tenure but a semi final exit to Beckenham Town who were much the better side stopped us in our tracks!

Goalkeeper Watch

Boyce scored an impressive 12 goals and got 1 assist in 55 games whilst new youth graduate keeper Walter (YP22D) scored once in 2 games!

Player Review - Spencer Maw

Comfortably our best player at the club, I am surprised we have been able to keep him thus far. He scored 14 goals and got 12 assists for the team this season mainly from right wing!

Player Of The Season - Ahmed Hastings

Our main man up top! He scored an amazing 39 goals and got 11 assists for us finishing 2nd in the league's top scorer table!

Young Player Of The Season - Omar Eikrem

An impressive season for our young Scandanavian who grabbed 20 goals and got 13 assists from the AMC role!

Other News

We have changed to semi professional. @Punch and @Jtomsett11 just wondering if this affected you much in terms of player retention? After releasing a number of players just want to be save in the knowledge I have enough to keep us going in the 2nd season!

 

[Punch]

1 hour ago, deez0r said:

We have changed to semi professional. @Punch and @Jtomsett11 just wondering if this affected you much in terms of player retention? After releasing a number of players just want to be save in the knowledge I have enough to keep us going in the 2nd season!

We were a bit lucky in that being Island teams, players seemed less likely to be pinched by other teams. I know it's a bigger issue on mainland teams. (or at least seems that way) But in theory it should be easier to retain players.

Just don't go overboard on wages, you'll find yourself in a financial hole pretty quickly if you do.

[deez0r]

FA Cup Preliminary Round

Well no cup run this year. The early sending off really killed us and despite it being a relatively even game their superior finishing knocked us out.

[deez0r]

Improvement

Another increase for our junior coaching! 

[deez0r]

Improvement

After being rejected earlier in the season I have convinced them to reconsider!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

A bit disappointed with this. We could badly do with a striker!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2023

Overview

This is much more like it. Our improvements have really kicked in for this intake. Fully expect to lose a few players but this helps our squad no end! Our average CA is very low for this league so this was badly required!

The Players

YP23A - Keron Glasgow

YP23B - Oliver Foster

YP23C - Stephen Farrelly

YP23D - Thierry Ngoie

YP23E - Kieron Cook

YP23F - Jaane Aaltonen

YP23G - Max Brown

YP23H - Mick Brooks

YP23I - Nico Muwonge

YP23J - Mohamed Souley

YP23K - William Townrow

YP23L - Shane Lee

YP23M - Ian Tait

YP23N - Richard Hart

YP23O - Richard Underwood

YP23P - Martins Isaac

[deez0r]

End Of Season 2022-23

Results

It was always going to be much more difficult season as our ability at this level is pretty poor so w did really well to hold our own!

League Table

An 8th place finish is fantastic for us and with our newest intake at a much better level than our current squad we should be aiming up around the playoff spots next season!

FA Cup

We had a great run last season but this time Guernsey battered us in the preliminary round!

FA Vase

No run in the FA Vase either as we lost to Burnham Ramblers in a game we dominated but couldnt put the ball in the net!

Combined Counties League Cup

And the 3rd of our cups also ended early this season with a 2-1 loss away to Southall!

Goalkeeper Watch

Walter (YP22D) scored 7 goals in 36 games and new intake keeper Brooks (YP23H) hasnt opened his account yet but has got an assist!

Player Review - Shaun Powell (YP22F)

Powell has been very good for us this season, with our new intake I am not sure how much game time he will get next season!

Player Of The Season - Ahmed Hastings

Still our main striker and although we managed to get 1 more striker in our intake he still will be required next season. He scored 20 goals and got 5 assists in 32 games.

Young Player Of The Season - Aidan McNicholl (YP22A)

Utilised in the deep lying playmaker role he had a solid first season with 1 goal and an impressive 10 assists in 36 games.

Other News

We have managed to get our junior coaching increased again!

Overview

[deez0r]

Improvement

After persuading we have got the youth recruitment increased again! Unfortunately I wasnt able to get another junior coaching!

[deltablue]

It's nice to see someone else starting low down in England.

[deez0r]

38 minutes ago, deltablue said:

It's nice to see someone else starting low down in England.

Yeah I am definitely enjoying it so far! 

[deez0r]

Squad Review

Thanks for the input of @Punch and @Jtomsett11 I have started to track my players a bit more in depth using the spreadsheet they both follow. Lets break this down by position:

Goalkeeper

We are down to 1 goalkeeper at the club now after Walter (YP22D) was signed by Debenham Leisure Centre! It is definitely an area we could do with a decent prospect coming through. Despite playing very well this season in terms of being a good goal scoring keeper we are conceding too much currently!

Centre Backs

For this level we have 4 decent centre halves. Glasgow and Foster currently are the starting 2 but it is interesting to see the others being quite close in terms of rating despite having much lower CA currently!

Full Backs

Our first sign of the different colour for rating in Tait! He is a very good left back for this level. Souley is a solid backup left back but is definitely suited to being further forward on the left hand side. Aaltonen currently starts on the right hand side but its interesting to see that Powell is rated better currently!

Deep Lying Playmaker

One of the best players at the club currently is Ngoie who has made this position his own this season. McNicholl and Denny were both 2 big prospects from the first academy but as the 2nd academy was much better in terms of CA they havent got much game time this season yet!

Wingers

Comfortably our most stacked area currentlly. Maw and Muwonge have been the main starters but others are definitely getting game time as well. Interesting to see Isaacs usurp Muwonge in ratings!

AMC (Shadow Striker)

Underwood is the current starter here and the ratings prove this although not by as much as I anticipated. The others have struggled for game time this season but will aim to play them in some cup games where I can!

Strikers

One of our weakest areas currently. Farrelly and Eikrem have started most games up top. Hastings is a more than useful backup striker whilst Townrow is more suited to the wing due to his awful finishing! 

Improvements

In terms of where I believe we need players, in order I would go with:

Goalkeeper

Striker

Right Back

Centre Back

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

This doesnt look good!

[deez0r]

Improvement

With our good performances thus far this season was able to convince them for another junior coaching improvement!

[Punch]

3 hours ago, deez0r said:

Squad Review

Thanks for the input of @Punch and @Jtomsett11 I have started to track my players a bit more in depth using the spreadsheet they both follow. Lets break this down by position:

Goalkeeper

We are down to 1 goalkeeper at the club now after Walter (YP22D) was signed by Debenham Leisure Centre! It is definitely an area we could do with a decent prospect coming through. Despite playing very well this season in terms of being a good goal scoring keeper we are conceding too much currently!

Centre Backs

For this level we have 4 decent centre halves. Glasgow and Foster currently are the starting 2 but it is interesting to see the others being quite close in terms of rating despite having much lower CA currently!

Full Backs

Our first sign of the different colour for rating in Tait! He is a very good left back for this level. Souley is a solid backup left back but is definitely suited to being further forward on the left hand side. Aaltonen currently starts on the right hand side but its interesting to see that Powell is rated better currently!

Deep Lying Playmaker

One of the best players at the club currently is Ngoie who has made this position his own this season. McNicholl and Denny were both 2 big prospects from the first academy but as the 2nd academy was much better in terms of CA they havent got much game time this season yet!

Wingers

Comfortably our most stacked area currentlly. Maw and Muwonge have been the main starters but others are definitely getting game time as well. Interesting to see Isaacs usurp Muwonge in ratings!

AMC (Shadow Striker)

Underwood is the current starter here and the ratings prove this although not by as much as I anticipated. The others have struggled for game time this season but will aim to play them in some cup games where I can!

Strikers

One of our weakest areas currently. Farrelly and Eikrem have started most games up top. Hastings is a more than useful backup striker whilst Townrow is more suited to the wing due to his awful finishing! 

Improvements

In terms of where I believe we need players, in order I would go with:

Goalkeeper

Striker

Right Back

Centre Back

Looks good, don't forget to adjust the formula's if you use different positions than the original speadsheet. I know I had to do that for some of mine.

[deez0r]

2 hours ago, Punch said:

Looks good, don't forget to adjust the formula's if you use different positions than the original speadsheet. I know I had to do that for some of mine.

Most where fine. Changed my AMC to Shadow Striker which is pretty much identical to Advanced Forward anyway

[Punch]

13 minutes ago, deez0r said:

Most where fine. Changed my AMC to Shadow Striker which is pretty much identical to Advanced Forward anyway

Nice work.

I had to adjust a few on the Notts County save, but on the IoM save tactic they were pretty similar.

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2024

Overview

Well hello there! An amazing intake despite the initial poor preview! All of these players will be moved straight into the first team!

The Players

YP24A - Richard Milton

YP24B - Thomas Warman

YP24C - Harley Leahy

YP24D - Ramar Forte

YP24E - Cormac Harney

YP24F - Zidkigah Smith

YP24G - Marcus Shelley

YP24H - Finley Irvine

YP24I - Stephen Cahill

YP24J - Jamie Ellis

YP24K - Junior Okotcha

YP24L - Robert Watkiss

YP24M - Ahmed Babatunde

YP24N - Ronan O'Connor

YP24O - Darius Walker

YP24P - Franck Sapao

 

[deez0r]

End Of Season

Results

Some sticky periods most notably in October were we didnt win a single league game. We bounced back and one period won 9 out of 10 games. We went into the last day 3pts clear of 2nd with a much superior goal difference. Our performance was terrible but it was enough!

League Table

We go up on goal difference! 

FA Cup

No run this year in the FA Cup as we were thumped by Swindon Supermarine!

FA Vase

We were much the better side against Daisy Hill but our shooting boots were left at home as they knocked us out on penalties!

Combined Counties League Cup

Our backup players were knocked out early, against Sheerwater!

Goalkeeper Watch

Brooks scored an amazing 16 goals in 38 games this season. New graduate keeper Leahy scored 2 goals in 6 games!

Player Review - Oliver Foster (YP23B)

One of our leaders at the back. Like most of the team lacking a bit of pace but his mentals are fantastic for this level!

Player Of The Season - Mick Brooks (YP23H)

Will now be 2nd choice goalkeeper next season but 16 goals in one season is the best I have ever had from a GK!

Young Player Of The Season - Stephen Farrelly (YP23C)

No pace but he certainly knew where the net was scoring 21 goals in 43 games and 4 assists!

Other News

We were able to improve youth recruitment again but junior coaching was rejected!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

Looks like solid potential here. Again striker would be our main ask this season. Its marked as a C rating so lets see how that goes!

[deez0r]

Youth Recruitment Improvement

Another improvement here which is great. Still no joy with junior coaching!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2025

Overview

The Players

YP25A - Ayo Olaoye

YP25B - Billy Rogerson

YP25C - Roydel Rainford

YP25D - Khalid Benali

YP25E - David Davis

YP25F - Brian McGinnes

YP25G - Jamie Jones

YP25H - Charles Parker

YP25I - Yilmaz Goksu

YP25J - Ade Bates

YP25K - Jordan Richardson

YP25L - Harry Burke

YP25M - Justin West

YP25N - Lewis Fulton

YP25O - Kenji Watanabe

YP25P - Caron Allen-Davies

[deez0r]

End Of Season 2024-25

Results

A very up and down season for us but that was to be expected with the step up this season!

League Table

We finished comfortably clear of relegation and hopefully we can push on next season with the new intake!

FA Cup

Weymouth thumped us in the 2nd qualifying round despite it being a fairly equal game!

FA Trophy

The YouTube club knock us out of the FA Trophy at the first stage

Isthmian Cup

Our poor cup form this season continued with a first stage exit to Lancing!

Goalkeeper Watch

Leahy scored 7 goals in 43 games this season!

Player Review - Junior Okotcha (YP24K)

Our starting right back this season had a very solid season with 6 assists in 31 (4) appearances!

Player Of The Season - Franck Sapao (YP24P)

We needed a striker this season and Sapao stepped up scoring 21 goals and getting 6 assists in 37 games!

Young Player Of The Season - Thomas Warman (YP24B)

A great first season for Warman who scored 3 goals and got an impressive 6 assists in 32 (2) appearances!

Other News

[deez0r]

Squad Review

I think in the last season or 2 I have been working with a very inflated squad which has affected performance somewhat. So I have moved a lot of the backup squad players have been dropped down to the u23 squad and u18 squad. As our training facilities are so poor there isn't too much development in terms of CA so I am concentrating on those further up the pecking order! @Punch and @Jtomsett11 did you have similar issues developing players?

Goalkeeper

Leahy is our starting goalkeeper and his rating and CA does indicate why. Stat wise also indicate he is better in most areas but interesting to see the rating is a lot closer than I thought!

Centre Backs

This is where the first interesting results comes in basing rating vs CA. Warman and Benali tend to be our starting centre backs currently but I was surprised to see that Fulton who has comfortably the lowest CA of the 5 actually works out as our 3rd best centre back in terms of rating.

Full Backs

Our current starting full backs are Tait and Okotcha but it is interesting to see Bates who I was originally thinking of moving down to the u23s until I did the review is actually rated better!

Def. Mid

Again another interesting area as Ngoie is rated last in CA but 1st in rating and by some distance! Rogerson has been starting most games but I will definitely look at spreading game time a bit more evenly!

Wingers

We have a lot of wingers! From the above Maw is about to leave as he wouldnt agree to a new contract. I was starting Allen-Davies and Rainford most games but its interesting to see Rainford ranked bottom of the ratings list. Others who I thought about moving down to the u23's seem to be more prominent in terms of rating again!

Att. Mid

All 3 are similar in terms of rating and all 3 are getting game time as well with Burke also becoming our 4th choice striker due to lack of numbers up top!

Strikers

We have 3 solid rating scores here and despite having only 3 strikers we are in good nick here!

Overview

So lets look at the below average ratings and average CA by position to see where we may require improvements in on in terms of overall squad:

Well this is very interesting viewing. Whilst Def. Mid is rated best in terms of rating in terms of CA it's dead last! Not too much major movement elsewhere except for Goalkeepers which is 6th in rating but joint 3rd in CA! Find this type of review quite interesting!

 

 

 

 

[Punch]

4 hours ago, deez0r said:

did you have similar issues developing players?

I've seen it said many times that the best way to develop players is to make sure they are playing. Doesn't matter if it's first team, U23's. or U18s, those that play more, develop faster than those that constantly sit on the bench, or are a part of the 1st team squad but rarely play.

One of the things I noticed was that after I had 6-7 intakes, I had nearly a hundred players on my books and their development was starting to slow because I simply couldn't get them game time, and even sending them out on loan didn't help, because you couldn't guarantee they were going to get game time, or have decent training facilities, where ever you sent them either.

So I made a conscious effort to keep my player numbers down, along with making sure coaches were the best you could get within your number and budget constraints, and development improved out of sight. Years 9-10 have been especially good in that regard, but I notice now that I have a bloated squad again, so it's time to make some tough decisions and cast some players that are not playing, and/or not developing aside.

Remember that coaches having too many players to look after, or too many roles to cover can effect improvement, or it can effect player happiness, which can effect improvement.

I have started monitoring CA/PA along with attribute changes for the last few seasons. Players that have a CA close to PA, and attribute growth has slowed or stopped, if they are not part of the first team, it's time to move them on. Even if there is a big gap between the CA/PA, but they have had a few seasons of not developing, it's time to move on (that can be a mental issue as well eg: unambitious).

Don't forget, it's hard to compare attribute rating scores between positions, because most positions are taking their scores from different attributes, or they have a different importance between positions.

It's a fun part of the spread sheet game to figure out which players to keep, and which to send on their way, and work out how to get the most out of the ones you choose to keep.

[Punch]

Just another thought, remember that your youth recruitment and training are pretty low at the moment, so there is probably not going to be too many players that have a high CA/PA for a few years, which will of course effect how quickly they develop/peak.

[deez0r]

13 hours ago, Punch said:

Just another thought, remember that your youth recruitment and training are pretty low at the moment, so there is probably not going to be too many players that have a high CA/PA for a few years, which will of course effect how quickly they develop/peak.

My youth recruitment is actually quite high now (15) but as you mention our training facilities (2) and youth facilities (1) our very low!

[deez0r]

13 hours ago, Punch said:

I've seen it said many times that the best way to develop players is to make sure they are playing. Doesn't matter if it's first team, U23's. or U18s, those that play more, develop faster than those that constantly sit on the bench, or are a part of the 1st team squad but rarely play.

One of the things I noticed was that after I had 6-7 intakes, I had nearly a hundred players on my books and their development was starting to slow because I simply couldn't get them game time, and even sending them out on loan didn't help, because you couldn't guarantee they were going to get game time, or have decent training facilities, where ever you sent them either.

So I made a conscious effort to keep my player numbers down, along with making sure coaches were the best you could get within your number and budget constraints, and development improved out of sight. Years 9-10 have been especially good in that regard, but I notice now that I have a bloated squad again, so it's time to make some tough decisions and cast some players that are not playing, and/or not developing aside.

Remember that coaches having too many players to look after, or too many roles to cover can effect improvement, or it can effect player happiness, which can effect improvement.

I have started monitoring CA/PA along with attribute changes for the last few seasons. Players that have a CA close to PA, and attribute growth has slowed or stopped, if they are not part of the first team, it's time to move them on. Even if there is a big gap between the CA/PA, but they have had a few seasons of not developing, it's time to move on (that can be a mental issue as well eg: unambitious).

Don't forget, it's hard to compare attribute rating scores between positions, because most positions are taking their scores from different attributes, or they have a different importance between positions.

It's a fun part of the spread sheet game to figure out which players to keep, and which to send on their way, and work out how to get the most out of the ones you choose to keep.

Yeah I definitely have started to monitor CA a bit more as I sometimes get drawn into the high PA and not actually thinking about the fact with our current facilities those players will never reach those heights!

Thanks for the response much appreciated!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

Again it says excellent intake, lets see what happens!

[Jtomsett11]

10 hours ago, deez0r said:

Yeah I definitely have started to monitor CA a bit more as I sometimes get drawn into the high PA and not actually thinking about the fact with our current facilities those players will never reach those heights!

Thanks for the response much appreciated!

I would just add to this conversation that FM22 has much more of a bias towards quality of training facilities when it comes to player development. My career is in FM21 where game time = development,  whereas on FM22 you'll find that part time players in low leagues don't develop much. Pretty similar to real life really!

[Punch]

5 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

I would just add to this conversation that FM22 has much more of a bias towards quality of training facilities when it comes to player development. My career is in FM21 where game time = development,  whereas on FM22 you'll find that part time players in low leagues don't develop much. Pretty similar to real life really!

Wasn't aware of that. Will be something to keep in mind if I ever decide to upgrade