[FM17] King's Lynn - Youth Academy Challange

[LeLaga]

 Allright,

I decided to embark on this challange, in one of the older FM. I think everyone is familiar with the rules. The country I chosed is England and I'll be managing King's Lynn Town, newly promoted to Vanarama National League North.

 Why King's Lynn? Team was predicted to finish last before the season and also after looking at a squad, I found one Polish player. Since I'm from Poland, that gave me a possibilty to create a nice logical explanation for lower-league English team signing unkown Polish manager with no experience or license. Obviously, I was recommended to the club by the player, Jacek Zielonka. I'm one year older than him, We came to school together You see!

 It's second topic for me here, last one was short-lived as I couldn't avoid relegation. Let's hope for a bit more success here.

 

Season 1 (2017/2018) goals:

- Avoid relegation.

 

 Simply that. I just want to hold on and stay in the league so that We can start building something from next season.

We already went through pre-season, thank god with no additional injuries - so wish me luck.

 

 EDIT

 This is my second attempt, after failing to avoid relegation in first try. For some reason, after re-loading to get King's Lynn again, I got 21 players right now... I think I had other database loaded up before, since I was thinking about playing lower league in Italy first before settling with England and Vanarama.

 To make it more realistic, let's say that my first attempt here was just a nightmare that stressed out manager - Julian Karmazin - had on a night before the real season started. You can read about it in post below, if You want :).

 The reality starts now!

Edited December 16, 2022 by LeLaga

[LeLaga]

 The nightmare!

Spoiler

 

  First season is likely to be very difficult for us, with only 13 players under contract - one of them will only come back after 2 months from serious knee injury and other has a bum knee (Recurring injury which prevents him from training after every game)

 

 Obviously there won't be any chance of rotating players and first youth intake is in March. Long way to go. Honestly I don't know how We're going to make it. I won't even try to compete in FA Cup or FA Trophy and even single injury to any of the players might end our chances for good. I guess We'll have to take it game by game and pray for the best.

 

 Couple "outsanding" players:

My old mate Jacek Zielonka

 

 Leon Mettam, sadly injured Striker. He's 30 already and I'm not sure if He can fully recover, particualry in terms of his physical attributes, after injury like that - but He's most accomplished player in our team so I still count on him.

 

 We have one decent defender also:

 

  I'll be playing 4-2-2 DM or 4-5-1 DM.

 

Season 1 (2017/2018) goals:

- Avoid relegation.

 

 Simply that. I just want to hold on and stay in the league so that We can start building something from next season.

We already went through pre-season, thank god with no additional injuries - so wish me luck.

 

 X

 

 Season 1 - 2017/2018 - Mid-Season Preview

Half of a season is behind us, so it's good time for a short update. Let's start with Table and list of games

 

 We started great, with 3 wins - 1 draw in first 4, then 4 wins - 2 draws - 1 loss in first 7 - but things fell apart completely after that,. We were only able to win 3 games out of remaining 14, losing all of the rest.

 It's not just the results that were worrying. I was trying to play off a counter most of times, but We were conceding goals very early, harldy putting up a fight - and We were never able to chase effectively. Many games were virtually over after 20 minutes.

 One thing I did after winning in 2-nd qualifying round of FA cup was request permission to go on a course, to gain my Coaching License.. Could this  have so much of an effect? Maybe I wasn't paying my team enough attention?

 My team is also struggling, with only 12 players (Mettam, who was injured when I arrive, sadly suffered another injury soon after recovering that sidetracked him for couple months again), to keep up physically with demanding schedule. Still 4 months until "reinforcements" arrive with annual Youth Intake. Can We hold on?

 Thankfully there's couple teams that really struggle as well, I think league is a bit less competitive than last year, when 40 points was needed to avoid relegation.

 

 Not much else to say. I'm looking forward to finishing my course, maybe it will boost my team up a little bit. Hopefully I can hold on to my lead. 8 points above relegation zone for now.

Wish me luck.

 

 Edit:

My best performing player, decent winger:

 

 My top scorer, with 7 goals and 6 assists - although most of them early in the season. He's been struggling since.

 Sadly, yet again - the same story. We started the second part of a season well, with win and two draws, but then We had series of injuries, which with my short squad were devastating. I had to play club's janitor, local bin-man and couple homeless man in some games (Grayed-out players, You know...).

 We were still afloat for most of the time, but eventuall dropped to relegation zone. Youth intake wasn't great and They couldn't help us out. We had a chance to avoid relagation up until the final game, with win over team 2 points above us guaranteeing that... but We came up short.

 

 I'll give it another go with King's Lynn - I'm not willing to give up on that dream!

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by LeLaga

[LeLaga]

 Sadly, yet again - the same story. We started the second part of a season well, with win and two draws, but then We had series of injuries, which with my short squad were devastating. I had to play club's janitor, local bin-man and couple homeless man in some games (Grayed-out players, You know...).

 We were still afloat for most of the time, but eventuall dropped to relegation zone. Youth intake wasn't great and They couldn't help us out. We had a chance to avoid relagation up until the final game, with win over team 2 points above us guaranteeing that... but We came up short.

 

 I'll give it another go with King's Lynn - I'm not willing to give up on that dream!

 

...oh wait, it was just a dream!

Edited December 16, 2022 by LeLaga

[LeLaga]

King's Lynn - Season 1 (2017/2018) - Pre-Season Update

 This time, I have much wider squad to my disposal, with 21 players, which gave me opportunity to rotate at every position. After the nightmare of first try, I really appriciate little things like that.

 

 I actually let my mate Zielonka go after his  contract ended. He was a nice bloke, but his lack of determination and ambition were bad influence on young players.

Our players aren't great, but They are not bad either and We have a very balanced team, with no real stars, but also no real weak-links.

 

 Before the season, I promised the board I'll focus on developing solid defensive team and introducing young players.

 

King's Lynn - Season 1 (2017/2018) - Half Season Update

 First half of the season is behind us, this is where We stand:

 

 League Table

 

 Cups Performances:

 

 I'm very happy with the way my team was performing. We are just behind play-off zone in the league and I was able to live up to my promise of building a good defensive team.

We had excellent run in FA Cup, knocking off top team in Vanarama North in 4-th qualiying round and taking Vanarama National team, Bromley, to repeat game in first round. We had a lot of repeat games with draws in first, which made the schedule very demanding for my team - but like I mentioned earlier, the depth of the team is solid so I was able to rotate without negatively impacting the quality of play.

 

I was really struggling to make things work, trying to play more defensive football with 4 at a back, I think I finally found something.

 

 My team is finally playing the way I wanted them to play.

 

 That's a good moment for me to explain my football philosophy.

I'm trying to play the classic Polish "Laga" style of football, but not in a way it was implemented by Polish national team in 2022 World Cup, but the way it should be played.

 

 Basic tenets:

- In possession, We play direct football, with classic, old-school defenders. We don't build from deep, but our defenders are instructed to clear the ball and kick long "Lagas" forward.

- Out of possession: We welcome opposite team on our half, but We meet them with low pressing and try to run quick counters after winning the ball.

 

  It's simple, but effective. Here is how I explained it to my players:

 

 

 In second half of the season, I'll just take it game at a time. Technically, We're not far out of Play-offs, but after the way things played out in the nightmare I had (Read first 2 posts which I edited if You're interested), I'm not over-confident.

Big disappointment for me was dropping out of FA Trophy early, losing to lower league team, Kendal. I was hoping for another run in second half of a season, which is always the most fun part of managing a football team, but now We're left with just league competition.

 I'm also looking forward to first Youth intake in March. My team is solid, still mostly young and pleasure to work with - I'm in a process of extending the contracts of all 20 players - but I'm really hoping for good Defensive Midfielder, only player I have natural on that position has recurring injury.

 

 Simon Leninghan is my best performing player:

Edited December 16, 2022 by LeLaga

[LeLaga]

2017/2018 Youth Intake Preview

 Sadly, my first Youth Intake at a club has been disappointing (Somebody is getting fired...). I signed all but 2 players anyway, I'm in no spot to be picky, but I don't see anyone who could step into first squad. Here are three stand-outs that I'll be trying to use in rotation. Maybe Dickinson I have most hopes for. I really need a consistant goal scorer and his pace in combination with finishing ability could make him effective player on that level.

 

 

 

 For positive note, my requets to increase Youth development level was accepted! Still some time until project is complete, but still exciting.

Edited December 16, 2022 by LeLaga

[LeLaga]

Season 1 (2017/2018) - End of season summary

 

 

 Season Summary:

 First, sad news as project to improve youth facilities has been cancelled. Very disappointing, to say the least. Board says that our finances are not secure enough after all. I can't help but wonder, if I managed a decent run in FA Trophy, could this have been avoided?

 

 Overall, I'm happy with our results this year. After failing with my 2 latest attempts managing in lower leagues, I'm happy I'll finally be able to continue my work with a team through another season.

 We finished 9-th. We were never close to relegation and never in serious contention for play-off spots. We actually played a bit better in first half, when We got 31 points in comparision to 27 points in second half.

 We had very good run in FA Cup which brought some funds and allowed us to finish the season on +.

 

 I see 2 major problems:

- We developed good counter-attacking tactic that brought us success in away games and against superior teams, but We still struggle to find effective offensive strategies and approach for home games against lesser opposition. We won more points away from home than at home (30 vs 28), which is not how it's suppose to work.

- Lack of consistancy. I think our Central Defenders in particular lack maturity and discipline.

 

 2018/2019 Season Goals:

 Looking up at my second season, there's couple things I'd like to achieve.

1) Find some consistancy at home.

 I'm still playing around with tactics a bit, it's a bit of an trial and error, but I hope another season will be enough to figure it out.

 

2) Fight for a play-off spot.

 Poor youth intake might hinder our progress a bit, but most of our first team players are still developing and gaining experience (And I kept all of the players from this season, outside of my reserve goal-keeper who I'll let go), as is their manager! I hope both myself and the players can perform better and more consistantly and hopefully become a play-off contender.

 

3) Bring along at least 2 youth players into regular first-team rotation

 It's part of my deal with a club to help bring young players through and I hope to start doing that, but also have to do it in such a manner that will not hinder club's performance, which will be tricky balance

 

 Additional goal will be trying to compete in FA Cup and FA Trophy to the best of our abilities, but here I don't want to put too much pressure on my players.

Let's hope for good season ahead.

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by LeLaga

[LeLaga]

Season 2 (2018/2019) - Half-season Update

 Team Performance

 

 League Table:

 

 

 We played on similar level to previous season, gathered only single point more this time around.

 Consistancy has still been an issue. We improved significantly in terms of offence, but our defensive performance was actually worse. Last year our goal ratio was 24-21, now it's 30-24. Big issue was my most skilled defender, Nathan Millichamp, playing horribly. I had to bench him and whenever I tried to introduce him back into the squad, He was making the same mistakes and costing us points.

 Surprisingly, Ryan Fryatt proved to be my most reliable Centre Back this season - He wasn't playing much in first season, but with struggles of Millichamp, He got his chance and made the most of it.

 Joe Brennan, my 22-years old striker is playing magnificantly, leading the team in both goals and assists.

 

Cup Performances

 We did slightly worse this time, coming up short in 4-th qualifying round of FA Cup and 1-st round of FA Trophy.

It's disappointing as both times, I felt We were unlucky. We blew 2-0 lead vs Bishop's Storford (Mid-table Vanarama South Team) as guests, then blew 1-0 lead at home, injury made us play with 10 people in overtime and We eventually lost in penalties.

 Against Stourbrige, again We were leading 2-0, when our goal-keeper got injured and I had to put in field player with no reserve goalie.. 

 

 Youth Development

 I fell short of my goal of using two youth players in first squad rotation, but on positive note, Tommy Bennett broke into first team and is one of the team's best performers, playing as Defensive Midfielder.

 

Season Highlight:

 The most satisfying win and exciting game came against AFC Flyde, which was leading the league at the time and was playing at home. We were trailing 0-1, 1-2, 2-3 - evening up the score time after time and eventually won the game 4-3.

 That's one positive this season, our superior offensive performance allowed us to come back after falling behind couple times, which was very rare last season. This game also highlighted our defensive struggles though.

 

 What's next?

 I'm still hoping of getting into play-offs this season. We're only 2-3 points away and I hope to be able to perform a bit better in second half than last year. Defensive issues still need addressing, improving on that front is going to be my focus.

 I'm also looking forward to Youth Intake obviously, I gave my Head of Youth Development another chance and hope He can bring in a bit more talent this time. There are some open spots in first team that talented youngsters could fill into.

 

 Some more screenshots:

Joe Brennan, my best performer

 

Nathan Millichamp (Disappointment of the season thus far)

 

Ryan Fryatt (Surprise performer of the season)

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by LeLaga

[phnompenhandy]

I like the brevity (short-ness) of your summaries. Wish I could keep mine brief (I'm doing an Academy Challenge myself here; King's Lynn is my main rival this season)! What's your Head of Youth Development like, personality and preferences - wise?

Good luck with staying in the job and here's hoping you move forward

[LeLaga]

3 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

I like the brevity (short-ness) of your summaries. Wish I could keep mine brief (I'm doing an Academy Challenge myself here; King's Lynn is my main rival this season)! What's your Head of Youth Development like, personality and preferences - wise?

Good luck with staying in the job and here's hoping you move forward

 Hey!

I believe that people will not absorb excess information anyway, so I try to keep it short and condensed. I'll take a look at your topic, I missed it before. 

Here is my HoYD.

... or rather - was. He's not keeping his job! I think He probably lied about his resume!

 

[LeLaga]

Season 2 (2018/2019) - End of Season Summary

  After solid first half of the season, I had positive outlook for the future... but second half of the season was plain AWFUL

League Table:

Results:

 

 We started pretty well, but then couple injuries hit, I also tried to play with tactics... and the team hit the slump and didn't recover until end of a season. I'm not sure what happend, the tactics that worked for us previously - suddenly stopped working. Have the teams figure us out, or perhaps They were taking us lightly previously? Not sure, but it's not looking good. I'm hoping maybe it's the impact of team captain's being injured and things will go back to normal once He comes back next season.

 

Here's how team performed:

 

 Our defenders were horrible. Joe Brennan was hit with injury and wasn't able to regain his previous form until end of a season.

 

To add to our trouble, second Youth Intake was even worse than the first. Here's the player that is considered by our Head of Youth Development to be the most promising.

 

 I'm not impressed.

 

 Well, now for positives. We were still predicted to finish dead last at the end of a season, so board is still happy enough. They are pleased with my low wage expenditures and the opportunity to young players being given... so I'll get a chance to keep working and hopefully figure something out.

 

 Season 3 (2019/2020) Goals:

 After shocking decline in performance of the team in second half of last season, I don't know what to expect next. My goal now is to regain the form from before Ferbuary 2019, before it all suddenly fell apart, first thing first, before looking further.

 I hope that players will be able to clear their heads during the summer break - I gave them a bit more time than usual, allowing them to come back week later.

With Right Back being my weakest link, I'm going to give a chance to another one of my youngsters next season. I wasn't thinking much of him at the beginning, but He showed himself a hard working player and quick learner.

[phnompenhandy]

4 hours ago, LeLaga said:

 Hey!

I believe that people will not absorb excess information anyway, so I try to keep it short and condensed. I'll take a look at your topic, I missed it before. 

Here is my HoYD.

... or rather - was. He's not keeping his job! I think He probably lied about his resume!

 

He's got a lot of good attributes, but not great Working with Youngsters, and his preferred formation is narrow, so you might not get decent MR/ML wingers. What I do also is pressure the board to upgrade Junior Coaching - it's quite cheap and gives you a better chance of higher CA youngsters coming through.

[LeLaga]

Season 3 (2019/2020) - End of Season Summary

Season Review:

 

League Table:

 

 Season was underwhelming, but after total collapse of the team in second half of last seaon, I was fearing the worst - so I'm actually quite positive about it.

We never had as bad streak as during last season, so We were more consistant - just not on great level. Some playing around with tactics, using 1-4-5-1 DP more often, allowed us to have our best season in terms of home games performance. We found better rhythm late in a season, so there's a chance We can take it into new season.

 Our defence was still very leaky - and since I promised the board building good defensive team, They were understandably not very happy about it. I was able to take it out from our deal after signing new contract. I'll still try to play defensively, but it's not easy with one of the worst defensive lines in the league.

 I'm happy that Nathan Millichamp was able to find his form and had his best season with us after last year's disappointment.

 

 Sadly, We performed very poorly in cups. We lost in first round We joined in, second qualifying for FA Cup and Third qualifying in FA Trophy - to Workington (Regional Premier Divisions) and Darlington (Vanarama North).

 Because of that, our finances really took a hit - and I don't think club can afford another season like that, so We have to be on form early. That's why I ordered my players to be back from summer break early.

 

 Youth Development

As season went on and I realised play-offs will be out of reach, I gave a chance to larger number of youth players. For some, it was too soon and were not able to adapt, but here's couple (In addition to Tommy Bennett who remains my best home-grown young player) that I was able to use in first team multiple times and who were all able to handle themselves:

 

Calub Gibbon

 

Dennis Stevenson

 

Jamie Bunyard

 

 Simon Stainsby

 

 Simon will be getting even more opportunities next year, as veteran striker - Leon Mettam, is set to retire.

 

 One problem that remains for me is the fact that I have a lot of strikers who are good as Defensive strikers or more providing, Deep Lying Forward, but I don't have a quality, classic Advanced Forward that I could count on to consistantly provide goals.

 

2020 Youth Intake Preview

Overall, it's been disappointing again - so I fired another HoYD... but here's one stand-out. I think He might have a chance to break into first team in a year or so - if He works on couple flaws that set him back

 

2020/2021 (Season 4) Goals:

 After good first season, I thought that I might use the squad that I "inherited" at a club to advance to Vanarama National within couple season. I now see it was overly optimistic. It's more likely to take couple years, as the players I have now reach their peak - They are still mostly in their 20s - and perhaps I get lucky with some real talents coming through eventually.

 Goal for next season will be modest - improvement on this year, both in the league and in Cups. I hope to utilise the new tactic at home more, it was really successful last season against lesser teams and those were the games that I really struggled in in previous seasons.

 Positive thing is that Board is still very happy with me, so I'll have a comfort of work without added pressure, only that which I put on myself. We're still being predicted to finish last by the media season after season, no matter how many times We prove them wrong - They still feel it's a fluke apparently.

 

 Here's little summary of how We're doing thus far, overall, since I joined the club

Edited December 18, 2022 by LeLaga