The FM23 Youth Academy Challenge

[HenTheChicken]

2026/2027 - CHAMPIONS OF THE JD CYMRU SOUTH

Not particularly sure how we did it but we dragged our squad up, top flight will be difficult but we can do it!

We won the welsh cup AGAIN, against seven sisters, so it wasn't a difficult final on paper but we did take it to penalties. Great win! Another season in the conf league incoming.

Sadly, we didn't repeat our cup glory in the Nathaniel MG Cup, losing to TNS in the quarter final, closer than I thought it'd be but we still couldn't repeat our demolition job of them.

And of course, the conference league, split by friendlies and with a squad that was clearly nowhere near the quality needed, making it to the 2nd qualifying round was a miracle for us, but we did get defeated 10-4 on aggregate by piast, sucks.

We've properly started working on our facilities, and it's looking good for us coming into our first Cymru Premier season. Time to stay up.

[hubwub]

53 minutes ago, russ the womble said:

So do you only keep the 4.5/5 star youths and then introduce from the bench/rotate them in? 

I tend to promote one or two who look the most promising, but don't feel I always pick the right ones. The rest I have in my U19s but only managed to get a couple out on loan, so I rely on them getting game time in the U19s - I think at present I probably have too many in the U19 squad.

By 4.5/5 star youths, you mean their potential ability right? I think that depending on what your HOYD's JPA or JPP those stars could possibly be wrong. Earlier on in the game, your HOYD could have horrid JPA and JPP attributes. Then later down the line after their initial contract you find a better HOYD that youth player could have a different rating. If they are 2 stars in terms of current ability, I have them starting or on the bench.

I've posted about one of my players here, Jordi Rocha 23C, he wasn't even 2 stars in current ability and I don't think he was 5 stars in potential ability when I threw him onto the main team. Now, Jordi Rocha 23C is 4 stars in current ability with 5 stars with the final star a white one.

At the beginning of my save, Jordi Rocha 23C in 2023.

Current status of Jordi Rocha 23C in 2025.

As of this current save with Tampico Madero, I've kept all 16 players that is available per youth intake that you can get. I have 38 players that have come through my youth intake. I only have nine players left from the original squad when I took over. I'm currently phasing out Balanced personalities with low determination.

[WhiteCat33]

1 hour ago, russ the womble said:

So do you only keep the 4.5/5 star youths and then introduce from the bench/rotate them in? 

I tend to promote one or two who look the most promising, but don't feel I always pick the right ones. The rest I have in my U19s but only managed to get a couple out on loan, so I rely on them getting game time in the U19s - I think at present I probably have too many in the U19 squad.

In these early years I'm forced to promote more to fill out my squad. I really only like to if they are immediately who I'd want on my bench that way most weeks they see at least partial match game time. If I'm not going to select them regularly they will do better in the u19 until they are 18. Big reason being even on part time if you make them available for u19 they can miss training sessions for games. That's the big thing you're trying to avoid. 

[Reiver]

He's not very good but... why? This is another team at my level, with similar facilities, recruitment, etc...

[Shambolic]

There won't be a repeat of our FA Cup run this season as we've been booted out at home by Nantwich. 3.41 xG to 1.19 and we lose, very hard to take.

Tbf I shouldn't feel too hard done by as it took a 90th min leveller to take it to ET.

[russ the womble]

1 hour ago, WhiteCat33 said:

In these early years I'm forced to promote more to fill out my squad. I really only like to if they are immediately who I'd want on my bench that way most weeks they see at least partial match game time. If I'm not going to select them regularly they will do better in the u19 until they are 18. Big reason being even on part time if you make them available for u19 they can miss training sessions for games. That's the big thing you're trying to avoid. 

I feel I'm forced to promote a few as the first team isn't any better. Interesting point about training being missed. Isn't game time always better for development?

[VinnyChilds]

Season 1, Part 2

or: Knock me down with a feather...

Second half of the season:

Spoiler

Following on from Part 1, Agyemang decides against changing his mind

but some of us know how to sign on the dotted line

On the pitch, injuries and suspensions ravage our thin squad and our 10 point lead is whittled down to 3, before with one game to go..

The Youth Intake:

Spoiler

The intake is not as bad as I'd feared

With our existing squad stretched paper-thin, several of the new lads get debuts in the remaining games, so much so that one game's bench was made up entirely of new blood

and a couple of them also get medals for their trouble

Many of these will be expected to feature quite heavily next season, especially as they already look better than our existing youth, as well as Agyemang's retirement putting us down to 14 'senior' players left standing.

The intake in detail

Spoiler

Season round-up:

Spoiler

Following constant badgering, I finally manage to get one thing upgraded:

Professional status is not on the table at the moment though, so we'll be one of only five teams still at Semi-Pro level in the Conference proper.

My achievements are recognised:

My press officer is a glass-half-empty kinda gal though...

We'll have it all to do next season; I can't help but feel this promotion has made a rod for our own backs.

Spreadsheets!

Spoiler

 

[WhiteCat33]

9 minutes ago, russ the womble said:

I feel I'm forced to promote a few as the first team isn't any better. Interesting point about training being missed. Isn't game time always better for development?

Before 18 Training is most important and they just need enough game time to stay fully match-fit (and good ratings to max out their training ratings). After 18 they need to be challenged in matches to progress. Once your club is mature this is where affiliates and lower-division clubs are crucial to send out your players on loan. At the low levels right now you're throwing away enough dud-youths that there should always be spots in your own roster once they turn 18. If they aren't good enough to play at 18 in these first years they probably never will be.

[Ice029]

Ok. Iceland is not going well, time to go Slovakia. Team in question: Nitra FC. Reason? I have a friend that lives in the city, I have 2 reasons to visit him.

 

But from the setup there might be a problem. I tried to start and restart and I always get a lot of incoming transfers. And I tried to get Nitra to be playable 5 times, always the same result: too many in transfer. I've sent them all to U19 and they will be sold eventually and play no games for the main team. @darren1983is this ok with the rules? I do want to end up on that list and thus I need to be sure.

[russ the womble]

3 minutes ago, WhiteCat33 said:

Before 18 Training is most important and they just need enough game time to stay fully match-fit (and good ratings to max out their training ratings). After 18 they need to be challenged in matches to progress. Once your club is mature this is where affiliates and lower-division clubs are crucial to send out your players on loan. At the low levels right now you're throwing away enough dud-youths that there should always be spots in your own roster once they turn 18. If they aren't good enough to play at 18 in these first years they probably never will be.

Thanks for the advice, will try and keep them in training in future

[HenTheChicken]

2028/2029 Midseason Update

This is crazy, after surviving in 7th last season we're currently leading the Cymru Premier, it won't last but this is nice

[Makoto Nakamura]

2038/39 Youth Preview

We could do with a new ML and DM's...but we're not getting DM's.

[darren1983]

1 hour ago, Ice029 said:

Ok. Iceland is not going well, time to go Slovakia. Team in question: Nitra FC. Reason? I have a friend that lives in the city, I have 2 reasons to visit him.

 

But from the setup there might be a problem. I tried to start and restart and I always get a lot of incoming transfers. And I tried to get Nitra to be playable 5 times, always the same result: too many in transfer. I've sent them all to U19 and they will be sold eventually and play no games for the main team. @darren1983is this ok with the rules? I do want to end up on that list and thus I need to be sure.

My thought is that anything that has happened before you take over is fine to use tbh, if you can't cancel them then they're players really.

[Ice029]

4 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

My thought is that anything that has happened before you take over is fine to use tbh, if you can't cancel them then they're players really.

As soon as I add myself to the team the moment it becomes available there are always there as future transfers arranged. I shall continue with them then, I at least have a (somewhat) competitive team

[darren1983]

4 hours ago, russ the womble said:

How do people manage their youths? Do you send them all out on loan until it becomes clearer who is high PA or rely entirely on the initial ratings and keep everyone in the youth team for a season or two? Immediately promote the best couple?

You've had some good answers already but my two cents are firstly try and ignore the star ratings, or at the very least don't judge players by them. It takes some doing but learning to see what attributes suit what roles you need. In these early seasons I do tend to promote players quickly as they're needed but once you're more established up the leagues the basic idea I use is that before 18 they stay training, once they're 18 I look to see if they're ready to play if not they're loaned out.

The other thing I try and do is make sure I don't have more than 2 players for a role in the U18 as they need game time there. Not having a reserve or B team makes this a little hard though.

[darren1983]

2 minutes ago, Ice029 said:

As soon as I add myself to the team the moment it becomes available there are always there as future transfers arranged. I shall continue with them then, I at least have a (somewhat) competitive team

Yeah that's fine then. 

[VinnyChilds]

1 hour ago, VinnyChilds said:

...as well as Agyemang's retirement putting us down to 14 'senior' players left standing.

I am an idiot. He's retired from Professional football, but as long as we're semi-pro, he's honouring his contract.

I can now go from missing his set-pieces back to getting annoyed with his constant disagreeing with my praise or criticism and his general inability to give a s***.

[Reiver]

This record will be hard to beat.

[HenTheChicken]

Quite disappointing after our champion run last season, but this is around what we should be expecting for a long time now, 3rd in the league and hopefully around group stage in the conference league. Looking to just keep working on facilities!

We're also going professional next season, so we'll see.

Edited November 5, 2022 by HenTheChicken

[Makoto Nakamura]

2038/39 Youth Candidates

Can Liam be the player to take Andrew Caulfield with his 617 appearances out of the starting 11? I am still disappointed with the personalities.

[Reiver]

One of my kids from the first intake, is actively get worse, to the point where it isn't funny. A DC that lost 1 point in crossing, balance, dribbling, finishing, free kicks, heading, long throws, vision, work rate, acceleration, passing, tackling, teamwork, and 3 points in long shots, 2 in off the ball, . Gained a point in anticipation, leadership, 2 in concentration, strength and jumping reach.

We're talking a total loss of 10 ability points. Should I just give up on this now 17 year old?

[SuperRedditch]

18 minutes ago, Reiver said:

One of my kids from the first intake, is actively get worse, to the point where it isn't funny. A DC that lost 1 point in crossing, balance, dribbling, finishing, free kicks, heading, long throws, vision, work rate, acceleration, passing, tackling, teamwork, and 3 points in long shots, 2 in off the ball, . Gained a point in anticipation, leadership, 2 in concentration, strength and jumping reach.

We're talking a total loss of 10 ability points. Should I just give up on this now 17 year old?

Can I see him?

[OlivierL]

6 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

ok, so i went back to the random factor like a tractor! and....

and the winner is....

calling mr. holiday man! 9 months later and he presents us with these options

 

Catania were hugely tempting but I always had a soft spot for ChievoVerona and it was really sad when they went bust. Apparently they are kinda back in Italy, and the game seems to think they're valide for promotion to Serie C in 2023! so, here we go....

 

Really nice starting facilities! Media prediction is a bit scary, given my record so far in FM23. The balance is insane though - £9m!!!!!

i can't possibly screw this up, can i? can i????

Good luck ! Love the fallen giant vibe , but if i'm correct they should not be playable because they stopped in real life (not sure ?)

[dominik4805]

Hey Guys,

I have discovered this thread a few days ago and I'm absolutely loving it. I want to try it myself and now I'm managing in Bulgaria. Reset date is the 18th of June, to get different teams, you have to save on the 11th of June.

So I chose Bimitar Derbatov, the unknown brother of the famous bulgarian goalscorer, to take over Chavdar Etropole.

Spoiler

 

We are expected to finish 14th, one place above the relegation ranks (with two B-teams at the bottom), but I'm pretty sure we have enough quality to stay in the league.

 

Spoiler

 

I'm quite excited and can't wait to start. Good luck to everyone!

[Makoto Nakamura]

2038/39 End of Season Review

A strong end to the season makes things look a lot better. We do have Harland & Wolff Welders coming up to the top tier next season for I think the first time which is exciting!

Up to 1.5* reputation!

Nathan Browne has now had his last full season with us, he's not even making the bench anymore. 

Overall Best XI

2038/39 Best XI

Johnny Wright (YP7i)

Paul Dunn (YP13e) - Andy Dunn (YP1k) - Jim Fletcher (YP7d) - Gareth Huxley (YP2e)

Daniel Casey (YP3h) - Peter Morrow (YP1l)

Macauley Joynes (YP1g)                                                         Gavin Huxley (YP5d)

 

Andrew Caulfield (YP1j) - Darren Metcalf (YP12f)

Top 10's

 

Trophy Count

 

[Braumiller]

Notes

As expected, much more of a struggle this season being our first in a higher league.  We hung around the lower half of mid table most of the season, but we did drop off the final stretch of games.  W1 D1 L6 to finish....

The intake had a huge amount of potential, with a couple of interesting possibles.  Kenny Granath looks like a possible future forward for us, but also a future headache with his personality and media handling!  Carl-Johan Forsberg is tiny, but is an immediate backup for the right side of our midfield.  Zoran Vasilev looks a decent playmaker for our level and has great teamwork and work rate in addition.  Marcus Nilsson is a two footed central defender, but slow as molasses.  Andreas Forsgren is immediately our best passer of a ball and might get a look in on the left of midfield over time.

Bank balance went upwards for the first time in my tenure and it is a gamble.  I noticed I was close to breaking even, but by far the biggest outlay was my own wage (650 p/w - my WHOLE playing staff in comparison is 637 p/w...).  So in my contract renewal I bumped mine down to a more modest (and tbh more realistic) 200 p/w.  The gamble here is that it is now a lot cheaper to fire me!

Hoping for a solid mid table finish next season with more youths coming through.

Supporting Screenshots

Shout out to @XaW and @SuperRedditch for the information about the .lnc files!  Took a while but now up and running with mine and I took the chance to rework how I am naming my youths this time around (went back and fixed for seasons 1, 2 & 3 as well).  I always tended to over value the A / B / C etc that I named them.  So now just going with the tier of prospect level they are given.  Should even out my selection prejudices based on nickname

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Braumiller

[libbyshuss]

1 hour ago, OlivierL said:

Good luck ! Love the fallen giant vibe , but if i'm correct they should not be playable because they stopped in real life (not sure ?)

technically, yeah. I googled and as far as I can see a new version of the team is in tier 5 under a slightly different name but not with this badge/history. So i guess it's a matter of argument whether they're the same team or not.

to be honest i was surprised to see them too, but they're in the game so i figured why not. i'll be sacked before too long anyway!

 

edit: on further inspection it looks like they're using the players from Sona Calcio, who are a totally different separate side. I think you might be right, they shouldn't be there at all. There's other fallen giants in Italy like Catania and Livorno, I think i'll go back and start with one of those. Shame, i was enjoying that £9m bank balance! but it shouldn't be.....

Edited November 5, 2022 by libbyshuss

[Reiver]

1 hour ago, SuperRedditch said:

Can I see him?

When he first showed up:

 

And now:

 

It's possible his personality's behind it - I've brought him up to my first team as he would be my 4th best defender, but I'm considering shipping him back to the youth team and bringing someone else up that would be more likely to develop. The only issue is, the other option is Fickle...

 

 

[Winski]

15 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

edit: on further inspection it looks like they're using the players from Sona Calcio, who are a totally different separate side. I think you might be right, they shouldn't be there at all. There's other fallen giants in Italy like Catania and Livorno, I think i'll go back and start with one of those. Shame, i was enjoying that £9m bank balance! but it shouldn't be.....

Yes, that is indeed correct, unfortunately. I already made a bug report about this.

[SuperRedditch]

3 minutes ago, Reiver said:

When he first showed up:

 

And now:

 

It's possible his personality's behind it - I've brought him up to my first team as he would be my 4th best defender, but I'm considering shipping him back to the youth team and bringing someone else up that would be more likely to develop. The only issue is, the other option is Fickle...

 

 

It's 100% his personality. Unambitious is almost the worst you can get (along with Slack, Casual, Low Determination). Fickle is okay, he'll have decently high ambition but low loyalty. Fickle can develop.

[Nottingham Forest]

Dembele has gone from model citizen to light hearted and I don’t know why.

[OlivierL]

28 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

technically, yeah. I googled and as far as I can see a new version of the team is in tier 5 under a slightly different name but not with this badge/history. So i guess it's a matter of argument whether they're the same team or not.

to be honest i was surprised to see them too, but they're in the game so i figured why not. i'll be sacked before too long anyway!

 

edit: on further inspection it looks like they're using the players from Sona Calcio, who are a totally different separate side. I think you might be right, they shouldn't be there at all. There's other fallen giants in Italy like Catania and Livorno, I think i'll go back and start with one of those. Shame, i was enjoying that £9m bank balance! but it shouldn't be.....

Don't be bothered to continue, they were one of my preferred options in Italy.  Livorno and catania are nice options.  

[Reiver]

God, I'm actually fearing for my job this season - the amount of stupid goals from defensive errors I'm suffering together with games without xG the opponents but just cannot score is way too high.

[shaunvamos]

 

2024 Youth Intake

 

 

 

Dan Pînzariu 1A  -  Nelu Stan 1B  -  Dumitru Stănilă 1C*

 

 

Not a bad opening intake, I think a couple might appear as a sub for the remaining games this season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shaunvamos]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Survival, but only just. We'll take it though!

 

 

 

Best XI

 

 

 

Cosmin Ciocoteală  -  Robert Jerdea  -  Ionuţ Teodorescu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Record Breakers

 

 

 

 

 

Award Winners

 

 

 

 

 

Manager Timeline

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress

 

 

 

[hubwub]

7 hours ago, Reiver said:

One of my kids from the first intake, is actively get worse, to the point where it isn't funny. A DC that lost 1 point in crossing, balance, dribbling, finishing, free kicks, heading, long throws, vision, work rate, acceleration, passing, tackling, teamwork, and 3 points in long shots, 2 in off the ball, . Gained a point in anticipation, leadership, 2 in concentration, strength and jumping reach.

We're talking a total loss of 10 ability points. Should I just give up on this now 17 year old?

What was their personality? Did you put them in a mentoring group?

EDIT: I see it's an Unambitious.

Edited November 6, 2022 by hubwub

[libbyshuss]

8 hours ago, Winski said:

Yes, that is indeed correct, unfortunately. I already made a bug report about this.

Saved me a job! something didn't quite feel right about it from the start to be honest. took me a while to put my finger on why/what it was! 

[libbyshuss]

Here we go again! ChievoVerona shouldn't exist so I've gone back and chosen a fallen giant who do exist! The original team went bust and the reformed side were demoted down to Serie D. But they're back into Serie C for the new season!

 

Those starting facilities are insane for this challenge!

The game is still using the old defunct team badge, which I would change if i knew how. I suspect you got to use the in-game editor to do it? i dunno...

edit: it was easy, just the same as changing kits

Anyway, fifth time lucky!

Edited November 6, 2022 by libbyshuss

[shaunvamos]

 

 

 

2025 Youth Intake

 

 

 

 

Florentin Floricel 2A  -  Robert Ungureanu 2B*  -  George Pascu 2C

 

A little disappointing, but we don't have the finances to upgrade anything at this stage so we just need to keep pushing forward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Reiver]

This could be it.

[Reiver]

I lasted 3 more games.

[The7Striker]

10 minutos atrás, Reiver disse:

I lasted 3 more games.

[XaW]

12 hours ago, Nottingham Forest said:

Dembele has gone from model citizen to light hearted and I don’t know why.

Hiding my reply for those who don't want to know, but here it is:

Spoiler

Model Citizen has: Pro 15-20, Det 14-20, Amb 12-20, Loy 15-20, Spo 15-20, Pre 14-20, Temp 15-20

Light Hearted has: Pro 1-17, Det 1-17, Spo 15-20, Pre 15-20, Temp 10-20

So my guess is that something small has changed to one of the attributes of Model citizen has gone down under the limit, most likely from the squad average (weighted on influence of the players).

 

[HenTheChicken]

Champions! Again, lets see how we can do in the champions league again, we managed to beat TNS by 2 points, going professional has been great for us in every way other than financially, time to retain!

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by HenTheChicken

[Nottingham Forest]

Never known a season like it.

[Nottingham Forest]

Will post a full season update soon. But my god. Shall just leave this here. Just to put it into context. The next highest has been 92 when winning the title. The rest below 90.

[Ray46]

Update 3b;

 

Sant Andreu: A Dutch manager in Barcelona

“Go out and enjoy”

 

Thanks, but we could use another 575k.

 

We had a good season. Never in relegation problems and we were in the playoffs race all season. We scored a lot, but the defense was horrible. We conceded the most goals from corners. Also we conceded 12 penalties. 

 

Look at those green arrows, all in one season!!!

And this player in two seasons, captain material:

 

Good Intake, but no elite talents,

 

After I signed them, Jofre Giraldez was an elite talent after all.

A good mid table finish for the U19’s.

But we lost some potential gems to Olot.

 

The end of season report.

 

Higher wage budget, but the finances remain bad.

Downgraded facilities and no money to invest.

Although we are improving commercially.

 

All the 30+ players were released, they had bad personalities and they were declining. 

 

 

[Nottingham Forest]

Season 4

2026-27 Season

Vanarama National League North

Season Summary

Champions! Only just! I felt we'd have a good campaign as through pre-season every went to excellent and there wasn't many changes to the squad. As you can see from our results we were playing well and the Chester game was key. We managed to secure a 4-4 draw. Which at the time I was disappointed with. That game and the three games after St Albans were what enabled us to start to pull clear as Chester, Chelmsford, Oldham and Boston were all fighting us to take control of the league. Getting ten points from twelve meant we opened up a gap of four points. The Chelmsford game we played the last half hour or so with ten man. Thankfully we were already three up. By the time we'd got to the Ilkeston game and even the FCUM game we'd opened up a gap of about nine points. It fluctuated between six and twelve. Inconsistent form then hit us. Oldham were the only side who were maintaining their title hopes and our lead dwindled. Oldham had the better run in with four games to go and frustratingly we conceded two late goals against Chelmsford to mean the result against Warrington didn't seal the title. 

Just for context, going into the final game of the season we were on 100 points. Oldham 99. The previous league titles had been settled for 92 points or less than 90. So Oldham had put a massive fight to push us to the wire. That final game of the season they faced ninth place Hereford away from home. Nothing to play for and Oldham, who I'd since found out hadn't lost since we beat them on the 1st December. Oldham also had a knack of grabbing late goals to either secure a point or get all three. We were against Basford who had nothing to play for either. Unfortunately we decided to put in our worst performance of the season and it was made worse by Josh Doherty(left back) getting sent off for his second yellow on 17. He did the same in the play-off final last season picking up two yellows in 4 minutes. Oldham took the lead, Hereford pegged them back. Hereford went in front. This all happened in the space of 7 minutes. Hereford had to hold on for 65 or so minutes as we tried to force our way back in. We failed. Thankfully so did Oldham as we were crowned champions.

In the cups we reached the first round of the FA Cup and second round of the FA Trophy.

Youth Intake

An intake that I can work with as a number could push for starting spots or help pad out the squad. 

Other Bits

All key players are tied down for the new season apart from the ageing centre half Broadbent who is retiring. Dembele YP1c had three attempts at exploring his options and on the third occasion I couldn't persuade him. Thankfully he's now signed a new deal. We're over £368k in the red which is now over £400k due to the 500 seat stadium expansion. 

HoYD is below. Personality has changed. Not sure if he'll improve or change back.

No transfers again but a few youngsters and seniors left.

We had our second player poached. First one was a couple of seasons ago by Nottingham Forest although he never came through or hasn't yet. The latest is a striker by Blackpool. Not sure how good he is.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Brønshøj BK - Youth Intake Season 1

Before the intake, we were able to get a youth recruitment upgrade despite the board rejecting a junior coaching one. This will be the last in a while since our bank balance will be negative after this year and it will only get worse once we have to start paying players and staff.

A few players who I will stick into the first team to develop a bit. I've decided to take a more aggressive path with the intakes and not bother signing players with poor personalities and determination, despite how much potential they have according to my HOYD. Only the tagged players are the ones I'm signing.

 

[The7Striker]

Got sacked!
It was inevitable because the youth had no quality for the league.