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

[Jtomsett11]

12 minutes ago, Punch said:

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

Yes, it's been documented in quite a few of the youth only saves. Once facilities are at a certain level it improves, but it certainly makes youth only much harder!

[Punch]

4 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Yes, it's been documented in quite a few of the youth only saves. Once facilities are at a certain level it improves, but it certainly makes youth only much harder!

And more realistic I guess

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2026

Having taken into account the feedback from @Punch and @Jtomsett11 this youth intake I have took my heart out of it a bit and looked more at the CA than the PA and in turn this has meant I have reduced the number of players signed from the usual full 16 down to 8 and will be releasing a lot of players at the end of the season to clean up the squad a bit!

Overview

As mentioned above I have narrowed down the number of players signed this year based on CA currently. We are losing a lot of money now so I need to be smart with the squad which means this summer a massive clear out will be happening!

The Players

Abdulrasheed Sunday (YP26A)

Jake Delaney (YP26B)

Ger Obasato (YP26C)

Hugo Lapslie (YP26D)

Connor Crosby (YP26E)

Darren Ward-Cochrane (YP26F)

Lee Simpson (YP26G)

Desmond Richards (YP26H)

[deez0r]

End Of Season

Results

With me deciding that I was going to play a much more consistent side this season instead of spreading games around 35-40 players it really showed in terms of our results. We were much more consistent and won a lot of those tight games we were drawing/losing last season! How did we end up?

League Table

The win over Sheppey in early April sent us above them in the league and after that they collapsed ending up 7pts behind us! We are going up!

FA Cup

We got 1 round better off than last season but Hayes & Yeading comfortably beat us in the 3rd qualifying round!

FA Trophy

2 tight games here! One we won and the next we lost!

Isthmian League Cup

Our big rivals in the league knocked us out of the Isthmian League Cup on penalties were it took 27 penalties to separate us both!

Goalkeeper Watch

Leahy scored an impressive 13 goals in 41 games and newcomer Sunday is yet to get off the mark but does have an assist to his name!

Player Review - Charles Parker (YP25H)

Being utilised more in the deep lying role he played 37 (2) games scoring 9 goals and got 7 assists!

Player Of The Season - David Davis (YP25E)

We really spread the goals out a lot this season throughout the team with 6 players getting 8 or more goals but Davis was our main man with 28 goals and 9 assists this season making him the top scorer in the league!

Young Player Of The Season - Harley Leahy (YP24C)

With Sunday coming in they will be sharing the GK duties next season. An amazing 13 goals this season as well as getting into the team of the year!

Overview

[deez0r]

The Purge

As discussed I decided to release a lot of players at the end of their contract to cut numbers down and start to concentrate on CA currently as there isnt much development happening currently (which I will show in the next post). A total of 19 players have left the club permanently and I am looking to loan another 3 or 4 out!

 

[deez0r]

Development

After the 19 players were released that left us with a total of 37 players in the squad of which 28 sit in the first team (although I may look to loan some out). Taking out the 2026 intake above as they have only been here a few months that is a total of 29 players who have been here at least a season. Out of those only 11 players have developed 1 CA or more (Farrelly's loan spell seems to have been productive for development and Glasgow, Ngoie and Muwonge have also developed quite well). Outside of that next to no development which is why I am concentrating more on CA now. 

Some of the above players have been getting chased by a few clubs in the National League/League 2 so I may sell a few with sell on clauses as this could potentially be the route to bringing in some more money if they develop at clubs with much better facilities than ours.

[DaneBramage]

You're flying up the leagues. Confidence must be sky high.

Will probably start getting trickier from here though, it won't always be plane sailing.

[deez0r]

3 hours ago, DaneBramage said:

You're flying up the leagues. Confidence must be sky high.

Will probably start getting trickier from here though, it won't always be plane sailing.

I have been lucky enough none of my "star" players haven't been unhappy and wanted to leave yet. I think when that starts to happen it will be tough. That in turn with no money to upgrade anything now it could be a slog for a bit! 

[Punch]

Sounds like the tougher challenge of youth saves that FM22 provides 

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2027

As per last year I have took my heart out of this intake and let my head rule with going with more around the CA than the PA.

Overview

I have to admit I am a bit disappointed with this. Having moved up a league I thought we might get slightly better CA but we struggled here. I signed a total of 8 players of which maybe only 2 or 3 are first team ready.

The Players

YP27A - David Bishop

YP27B - Stephen Owens

YP27C - Graham Addison

YP27D - Chavez Bancroft

YP27E - Di'Shon Sanusi

YP27F - William McNamee

YP27G - Courtney Riberio

YP27H - Daniel Wright

[deez0r]

End Of Season

Results

We had a very strong start and were sitting inside the playoffs but as expected the fall off came. This year was all about survival and setting ourselves up with a potential push in the next few seasons.

League Table

We finish 11pts clear off the relegation zone which is a great season for us.

FA Cup

Another solid run in the FA Cup beating a couple of teams from the division above before Northampton knocked us out in the 1st round proper.

FA Trophy

Out struggles continue in this competition with an early exit!

Isthmian League Cup

We managed to get through a couple of rounds here before being FM'd in the 4th round!

Goalkeeper Watch

Leahy scored 11 goals and got 2 assists in 28 games and Sunday got 6 goals in 25 games!

Player Review - Hugo Lapslie (YP26D)

Lapslie is our starting left back and got a lot of game time this season. He had a solid season grabbing 6 assists.

Player Of The Season - Darren Ward-Cochrane (YP26F)

His first full season and he stepped up grabbing an impressive 20 goals and 3 assists in 37 games!

Young Player Of The Season - Khalid Benali (YP25D)

Now the starting centre back partner of Warman he was very solid at the back with an average rating of 7.02 and grabbing 1 goal and 1 assist in 27 (2) appearances!

[deez0r]

Transfer

With us struggling for money I decided to have a look and see if there are any fairly high PA players within the squad who arent first team players. I came across Olaoye (YP25A) who is 3rd choice keeper for us behind Leahy and Sunday. With his PA being 136 I offered him out and got 2 transfer offers in, one from Coventry and one from Blackpool. Both offers for £0 but its the add ons which may make us money down the line. So off he went too....

Those 2 add ons could maybe get us some decent money down the line and help us move on to the next step in the save!

[deez0r]

Transfer #2

Similar to the above. Rainford (YP25C) was 4th choice winger currently but with a few others coming through I decided that the possibility of potential gains down the line outweighs him staying currently. 

[deez0r]

Transfers

So have decided to loan a couple of our first team players out this season. McGinnes and Richards probably would have got game time this season but having seen solid improvement in terms of CA of other loanees I decided it be best if we give them more game time elsewhere. Milton, Foster and Harney are a bit further down the packing order so game time should do them the world of good! 

In terms of transfers you already know about Olaoye and Rainford. Muwonge and Tait weren't developing (and in Tait's case regressing) so were sold and Farrelly had started to develop in the past season or 2 but was unhappy with playing time so sold him on as he was still 5th or 6th choice!

Still actively looking to loan 3 or 4 more out who currently sit in the u23's but to no avail so far!

[deez0r]

Development

This is a lot more positive than the previous look at this. 3 players now hitting 10 points in CA increase is great to see and a few others not far behind on 9 points increase. McGinnes is very positive as nearly all his 9 points increase came whilst on loan last season which is similar to Ngoie. Lets hope some of the others are similar in their loans this season!

[Punch]

Glad to see you're getting some benefit out of players going on loan, I struggled to get any benefit out of it, other than financially.

[deez0r]

2 hours ago, Punch said:

Glad to see you're getting some benefit out of players going on loan, I struggled to get any benefit out of it, other than financially.

Yeah it's been very hit and miss for me this year but few players that have went out have benefitted quite a bit thus far! 

[Punch]

12 minutes ago, deez0r said:

Yeah it's been very hit and miss for me this year but few players that have went out have benefitted quite a bit thus far! 

That's great to know.

I had the problem that players went out on loan, and tended to develop less, or even go backwards, compared to players that stayed in our 18s/23s.

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

[deez0r]

18 hours ago, Punch said:

That's great to know.

I had the problem that players went out on loan, and tended to develop less, or even go backwards, compared to players that stayed in our 18s/23s.

Just on this I have just decided to do a quick check on the development this season of my players (currently in January) and this is how it looks:

As you can see here some of these players have had minimal increases (1 or 2 points) or none. If we look at those more than 2pts we have 4 players that fit that criteria:

Chavez Bancroft is the anomaly. He has been fantastic this season for us in the first team and his CA has flew up an amazing 9pts thus far.  The other 3 players who hit this mark are 3 on loan players and all will come back onto the first team next season! McGinnes is on loan at Berwick where he has played 25 games so far. Milton is on loan at Wingate & Finchley and has also played 25 games. Harney is on loan at Hanwell and has played 27 games thus far. The final 2 loanees are Foster who has went up 2 points and has played 29 games and Richards who hasnt went up any CA points but doesnt have much room to grow in terms of PA! 

If we compare that to the players I kept in the u23 and u18 teams we have a total of 14 players and have only had 1 player improve at all this season who is Obasato who has only went up 1 CA point!

[Punch]

That's a great analysis.

I wonder if it's to do with facilities and coaches having more to do with development in FM22, that is helping you see those results.

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2028

Overview

Well the number of players signed has ben reduced to 7 this year. I decided to sign anyone over 100 PA in the hope that potentially down the line I can sell them on for a percentage of next sale. 2 standouts here in Egilsson and Dyer who will go straight into our first team!

Players

YP28A - Kieran Barima

YP28B - Tom Jones

YP28C - Njorour Egilsson

YP28D - Zaheer Levi

YP28E - Sammy Huntley

YP28F - Gary Dyer

YP28G - Douglas Tawiah

[vikeologist]

On 28/01/2022 at 17:40, DaneBramage said:

You're flying up the leagues. Confidence must be sky high.

Will probably start getting trickier from here though, it won't always be plane sailing.

Going to give you the benefit of the doubt and presume this was a deliberate pun

[deez0r]

End Of Season Review

Results

Well what an incredible season we had. I was somewhat surprised but when I looked into the CA's of the starting teams we were surprisingly up in 5th spot so not that big a jump in the end!

League Table

Despite losing only once all season we were never comfortably clear until the last game or 2!

FA Cup

Awful. Really poor performance from us.

FA Trophy

A crazy game as we were reduced to 8 (yes 8) men by the 35th minute and they camped in our half for the rest of the game! 2-0 was very respectable!

Isthmian League Cup

Our poor season in the cups finished with a penalty defeat in the Isthmian League Cup 3rd round!

Goalkeeper Watch

Sunday scored 7 goals and got 1 assist in 31 games and Leahy scored 3 goals in 15 (1) games!

Player Review - Chavez Bancroft (YP27D)

Well our big star this season in terms of CA improvement jumping an amazing 15 CA points. On the pitch he also scored an amazing 19 goals and got 11 assists mainly in the AMC position!

Player Of The Season - Khalid Benali (YP25D)

Benali was immense this season and despite being ousted since Dyer's arrival in the latest intake he managed an amazing average rating of 7.25 for a centre back and he scored 5 goals and got 1 assist in 34 (2) appearances!

Young Player Of The Season - David Davis (YP25E)

Can count himself a bit unlucky not to win the player of the year but as it is normally a striker that wins it I decided to go with Benali. Davis was the top scorer in the league scoring 27 goals and 29 in total along with 13 assists!

Development

Overview

 

[deez0r]

Transfers

Our first transfer fee of the save comes for Glasgow who hasnt overly developed since coming through but does have a very good PA. Again we have included the sell on fee on this as well for the futur! Sanusi was a silly mistake from me. He agreed to non contract terms which save us some wages but also freed him up to be signed on a free and we cannot ask for the sell on fee!

Loans

Having seen the success of our loans last season I decided to loan 11 players out in total this season which is more than doubling the amount from the previous season. A couple of these were close to first team but I am hoping they improve like the others have improved and be better prepared next season!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

Could use with a keeper and a couple of full backs if possible!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2029

So I have decided that this season I would take any players with over 100 PA and those players who came in with decent enough CA where they could help out the first team. In total wee only signed 7 players from the intake.

Overview

Not a great intake to be honest with only 3 players being able to contribute straightaway to the first team and the high end PA being some of the worst we have had all save. At least we got a full back!

Players

YP29A - Danny Young

YP29B - Ritchie Edgar

YP29C - Mark McPartland

YP29D - Steve Hall

YP29E - Sam Harrison

YP29F - Ondrej Oravec

YP29G - Umar Olowoyo

[deez0r]

End Of Season

League Table

The 2 promoted teams from last year finished top 2 this year! 

Playoff Semi Final

We play Hampton & Richmond Borough in the semi finals. They finished 5 places and 14pts behind us. As we finished above them we are drawn home!

In what looks like an absolute hammering it was actually a much closer game! Our finishing was on point though and we even had a chance for our goalkeeper to miss a penalty!

Playoff Final

Despite finishing above them in the league we are playing at their stadium? I dont understand that at all. To make matters worse we are missing Dyer (YP28F) as he has been called up to Jamaica's u20 team for the u20 World Cup meaning last seasons player of the season Benali (YP25D) comes in! We played Weymouth in the final game of the regular season beating them 3-2 away from home. Lets hope for something similar!

Just to heighten the tension the playoff final was postponed!

We did it! A very tight game went to extra time. Simpson had given us the lead before they equalised from a corner. Halfway through extra time our Icelandic hot shot Egilsson scored his 28th goal of an incredible season to send us up!

 

 

 

[deez0r]

Trouble Ahead

We are getting further and further into the red financially which means really tiny offers for players are starting to be accepted. Protesting the transfers has got me nowhere either! At the very least I am getting some percentage of the next sale!

We are nearly 350k in debt now and despite having a tiny wage spend we are nearly £1k above the budget. This has lead to....

We have lost our starting goalkeeper, centre back and attacking midfielder for next to nothing!

Clause

In better news Olaoye (YP25A) has left Blackpool to join Stoke for 725k. He played 3 times in the Championship last season and is developing well!

[deez0r]

Another One

And now our starting left back goes as well!

[deez0r]

FA Cup 2nd Round

Well a ridiculous match. Tranmere had 3 men sent off in the first 28mins and we absolutely hammered them! It's a nice break from the league which is an absolute struggle currently and we have reached the 3rd round for the first time in our history!

Was hoping for a big tie away from home but alas its a home time against a Championship side!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

Full backs and keepers are probably our weakest areas currently, lets hope we get a few in!

[deez0r]

Transfer

Been having some issue with gyazo but we have now lost a starting striker:

We got a 20% sell on negotiated after I protested!

To make matters worse we will also be losing our other starting striker at end of the season.....

 

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2030

Overview

With our wage budget being quite poor I decided to b quite particular with this intake and only signed a total of 6 players! Thankfully those players cover some of our weak areas in full back and striker as well as a new starting goalkeeper!

Players

YP30A - Louie Gelacio

YP30B - Tyron Toms

YP30C - Elliot Whyte

YP30D - Peter Pugh

YP30E - Adam Morgan

YP30F - Bruce Baptiste

[deez0r]

Emergency Landing

It was going to be a tough season even before we lost 5 of our starting 11 but we managed to give it our best and with some decent development shown this season I am hoping we could potentially bounce back next season. 

[deez0r]

End Of Season

Results

Was always going to be a tough season even before we lost half our starting 11. We were as much as 15 points off safety at one point and we did well to pull that back to just 4pts in the end!

League Table

If only we could have turned some of those defeats into draws then who knows what could have happened!

FA Cup

The positive story of the season was our run in the FA Cup getting to the 3rd round!

FA Trophy

A shocking performance in the 5th round were we simply didnt show up!

Goalkeeper Watch

Leahy scored 7 goals and got 1 assist in 47 games and new intake keeper Gelacio scored 1 goal in 5 games!

Player Review - Richard Milton (YP24A)

His development has started to take a very positive upward curve after an initial few seasons of very little. He got 1 goal and 2 assists this season!

Player Of The Season - Gary Dyer (YP28F)

Best player at the club currently and we may find it difficult to keep him here especially after relegation. The only player in the squad to get over a 7 in average rating netting an impressive 7 goals in the process!

Young Player Of The Season - Njordur Egilsson (YP28C)

Almost as if to rub salt into the wounds our top scorer is a player who is scheduled to leave us in the summer and join the team I grew up supporting in Northern Ireland! 16 goals and 4 assists this season for him!

[deez0r]

Development 2029-30

The good news is our development has been quite solid this year with most players developing including some very successful loans in McNamee and Rogerson who will come into the first team squad again in the new season. Impressive from Dyer and Milton as well! I am optimistic we can bounce back if we can keep this team together. That is a big if though!

[deez0r]

Clause

Bancroft has went from strength to strength since leaving and is even playing in the World Cup currently! 900k to Championship Luton gets us a tidy amount!

[deez0r]

Transfers

2 players left in the summer. Egilsson was already agreed in January and Okotcha who hasnt improved a single CA point in nearly 7 years also left to join Dorking. 

Released

4 players where released. All werent really developing as I would have liked.

 

[deez0r]

FA Cup

We have beaten 2 struggling League 2 sides in Chester and Oldham to reach the 3rd round again and have been given a relatively kind draw at home to another league 2 side! If we can get past this lets hope I massive PL team could await us in the next round! That is a big IF though!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

Some wingers would be really nice!

[deez0r]

FA Cup 3rd Round

Does it get better than that. A 95th minute free kick winner from our keeper!

And we get Premier League opposition in the 4th round against Villa!

[deez0r]

FA Cup 4th Round

A very respectable scoreline which has done wonders for our bank account!

[deez0r]

Improvements

Our first improvement in this area which is great!

The cup run has been big for our improvements!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake 2031

Overview

Well hello! 3 playrs who will walk straight into our starting 11 and another who will become a backup player. Really high PA here as well so if I can manage to get some 40% sell on fees it could help us down the line!

Players

YP31A - Marvin Hope

YP31B - Adrian Boylan

YP31C - Michalis Lavdarias

YP31D - Rob Unsworth

YP31E - Anthony Adarkwa

YP31F - Aykut Ural

YP31G - Ted Fredericks

YP31H - Abass Boadu

[deez0r]

End Of Season

Results

A great season for us and with us not losing any players this season and developing well it culminated with us being much more consistent!

League Table

It was quite a battle at the top throughout the whole season with 4 teams still capable of winning the title on the last day!

FA Cup

An amazing run this season was only ended by Premier League Villa. The money enabled us to get vital improvements!

FA Trophy

A trophy we have really struggled to get deep in. 

Goalkeeper Watch

Gelacio scored an amazing 17 goals and got 1 assist in 52 games and Leahy didnt score in 3 appearances this season.

Player Review - Sam Harrison

Played really well this season partnering Dyer at the back for the most part. He grabbed 4 goals and 3 assists in 49 games!

Player Of The Season - Darren Ward-Cochrane

Our main man this season grabbing a very impressive 31 goals and 10 assists. An impressive average rating of 7.49 led him to the league player of the year!

Young Player Of The Season - Gary Dyer

Our main centre back and currently the best player at the club. Scored an amazing 7 goals from centre back and also grabbed 4 assists!

[deez0r]

Youth Intake Preview

[deez0r]

FA Cup 3rd Round

We have reached the 3rd round again and we have probably the biggest game of our lives!

[deez0r]

Improvement

With the FA Cup run we have managed to get a training facility improvement!