The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge

[Perre8]

12 hours ago, SuperRedditch said:

My "break from this stupid game" lasted less than one evening. I'm addicted, okay?

You will never be able to play the game "normally" I tried several times but always come back to this challenge. Weird  

[Makoto Nakamura]

*copied from my FMCU thread*

Welcome to Saudi Arabia!

I've holidayed a season and taken control of a club promoted to the 4th tier of Saudi football, of the 20 or so reloads this side Al-Tadamon Al-Arabi were the club with the lowest reputation.

Thank you Wikipedia for the information. What I have gathered is that they are a side based in the Northern Borders region of Saudi Arabia, the least densely populated region of the country and not one known for football, the biggest club in the area is Arar which are a mid-table 3rd tier side. The closest side in the top two tiers to us are Al-Tai and they're 260 miles away which potentially means the local top tier derby would be Plymouth vs Nottingham Forest!

A clay surface, I think that's new for me!

We have 13 players, no strikers, two already being bid on by other clubs and another five who are wanted, it isn't ideal!

[Makoto Nakamura]

2024/25 Youth Candidates

Yikes, 4th tier of Saudi Arabia with an 11 man squad and we can't even get a 5* PA player.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Al-Tadamon Al-Arabi

2024/25 End of Season Review

Promoted as champions but not as overall Third Division winners, still far better than I hoped for at the start of the season!

Even after our intake we have no strikers. 

An extra 50% added to the stadium and thankfully it isn't too expensive!

Because we didn't have a full eleven it means we don't get the majority of end of season bit like the best eleven.

[BustaRaymes]

23 hours ago, Koetzer said:

Unless it's an edited database (replacing Russia with USSR or other inactive nation), you won't get European games to complete the challenge.

Oh man, thanks for the reminder! I probably would've gone on to play a few seasons before realizing!

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Not sure what he was expecting when he agreed to having an optional club extension for 1 year...

In other news, we're ticking off another bingo spot and @WhiteCat33 will be happy about it.

[SuperRedditch]

6 minutes ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

Not sure what he was expecting when he agreed to having an optional club extension for 1 year...

In other news, we're ticking off another bingo spot and @WhiteCat33 will be happy about it.

[Colossus]

Sociedad Deportiva Leioa

Mid Season Update / Youth Intake Preview

 

We have just hit the Intake preview

5 Star Excellent Intake, but nothing really popping out as far as quality, it appears. We just need bodies at this point

 

When it comes to the league, we are having a pretty safe season. The legacy players that are here despite basically all of them being super overpaid, are very decent and with us playing a 433, we are performing way above expectations.

However, there is the financial threat looming over us.

As you can see, we are spending over 1 and a half million Euros per year on wages. That is just not sustainable and that means that next year we are basically going to be playing with all youth players

Edited November 11, 2023 by Colossus

[MaxeyN17]

Spoiler

After the corruption of my Lidingo save, I couldn't bring myself to go again in Sweden considering how well it had gone in the early seasons. So time to start again, in a country I have zero experience of managing in, Hungary!

[Makoto Nakamura]

Al-Tadamon Al-Arabi

2025/26 Youth Candidates

The players are awful, the personalities are awful but everyone has 5* PA this season and we have natural strikers!

[MaxeyN17]

If the club I takeover have a free transfer already arranged, I assume I should be putting them in the B/reserves team and not using them?

[Makoto Nakamura]

2025/26 End of Season Review

A good end to the season as we go unbeaten in four and we survive to face a second season in the 3rd tier, I'm hoping that the promoted teams from the 4th tier will be as weak as Al-Taqadum & Al-Ansar!

2025/26 Best XI

Abdulelah Al-Ruwaili

Ibrahim Al-Harbi (YP1h) - Abdulrahman Al-Dosari - Abdullah Al-Dossari

Mohammed Al-Shammari - Majid Al-Qumaizi - Saleh Al-Rashidi (YP1m) - Hamad Al-Shahrani (YP1g)

 

 

Abdulaziz Al-Harbi - Khaled Hazaa - Mansour Al-Shehri (YP1b)

[BustaRaymes]

Thanks to Koetzer, probably saving me from throwing away quite a few hours in Russia, I've returned to Italy.

 

 

AC Bra

 

There is so much to love about this club:

- I've never heard of neither the place or the club, and that's rare when it comes to football

- The 15 year old that lives in my brain loves the word 'bra'

- There's a striker who will either do wonders, or has a name I can shout at him for missing a sitter as he has 5 finishing

- Look at this youth team, their dissatisfied faces probably stemming from the headaches they got from looking at the pattern on their shirts. Their actual kits are very nice though, as is the kit they got in-game

 

So here we go again!

 

[tobiahabramson]

Macclesfield Town FC

Vanarama National League North

Season 2 2025-26

Results

League: Champions - 1st place

FA Cup

Second Qualifying Round: Win 4-0 v. Stowmarket (Isthmian D1N)

Third Qualifying Round: Loss 0-2 v. Radcliffe (Vanarama North)

FA Trophy

Second Round: Loss 1-2 v. Hemel Hempstead (Vanarama South)

Season Overview

We are the champions!

In the 2025-2026 season Macclesfield defied all odds by going 25-8-13 and winning the Vanarama National League North with 83 points. We were predicted to finish in absolute last place by the media, but we sure showed them. The season started hot, and we just kept winning games that we probably had no right to win, with several winning goals in stoppage time. Our opponents loved fouling us, which led to 17 penalty goals over the course of the season, compared to the 9 we conceded. We had a +37 goal differential, by far the highest in the league.

Spoiler

 Injury issues were not as big a deal this season, but we did lose our starting keeper for about a month with a wrist fracture. Apparently this arms are literally made of glass and fall apart whenever he tries to catch a ball. Looking at our overall squad, we preformed fairly average but did have a few standout players.

Spoiler

We had good rotational strikers that allowed us to ride the hot streaks as they came and went. Both Tom Peers and Neil Kengni put in good time for us and scored goals. I'm not sure why Tom Peers scored so many goals, on paper he is quite average and below par compared to the team, but when it works, it works.

Spoiler

Our midfield duo of Alex Curran and Hayden Campbell (who also played off the right at times) had really good seasons, with Curran scoring 20 goals from a CM(A) position, most of them penalties, and Campbell scoring 13 and assisting 7. Campbell was named player of the season by the Macclesfield Fans.

Spoiler

Our defence was mostly average, but left-back Brandon Lee, playing as a WB(A) was a consistent performer and playmaker and our keeper Conor O'Keefe also was a rock in the back. O'Keefe turned 30 this year, and with no standout keepers in the pipeline yet, I fear for the future when he leaves us or starts to decline.

Spoiler

We had two players from last season's youth intake make an immediate impact on the team with substantial appearances on the senior squad this season. D(L) Daniel Needham made 9 starts and substituted on 17 times with an average rating of 6.8. He made some decent progress on the mental side of the game, but stills to work on his technicals before he takes over from Brandon Lee.

Spoiler

CB Dean Leach also broke through to the starting team, making 17 starts and 23 substitutions, averaging a 6.8. With otherwise average senior CBs who are not performing too well, he will likely continue to remain a rotational starter.

Spoiler

Finances and Upgrades

Macclesfield boasted the highest attendance in the league, which greatly helped out our finances.

Spoiler

This season our board increased our youth recruitment and junior coaching 3 times. They also approved a $900.000 upgrade to our training facilities, which completed at the tail end of the season.

Youth Intake and HYD

We started the season with our HYD Phipps and he brought in a decent class this year. However, towards the end of the year, we heard that James Milner was currently unemployed and looking for work as a Head of Youth Development. With his Model Citizen personality and improved stats over Phipps, we made the decision to terminate Phipps' contract to bring on Milner. I hope he lives up to his personality.

Spoiler

With our thinning and aging squad, we desperately needed a good intake. We were not disappointed. We were particularly interested in seeing good strikers coming in, as both our starting options have been streaky and inconsistent.

Spoiler

When our intake came in in March, the preview proved to be correct and we were thrilled to see such a great crop of players choosing Macclesfield. According to our assistant manager, we had 8 Elite Talents and 2 players rated as 3* compared to our current squad.

Spoiler

Striker Davide Santangelo comes in as the best striker in the club on paper, with great physicals for this level. He was immediately offered a professional contract and I anticipate he will play a key role next season.

Spoiler

Dean Whelan also looks like he will become a rotational player this season, likely being retrained as a right attacking midfielder

Spoiler

the other elite talents:

Spoiler

Next Season

We will be in the National League, surely again predicted to finish dead last. With our current squad, I am concerned that we got promoted too quickly and that it will be our demise. The board expects us to relegated but we will do our best to survive, continue to rotate in new youth players and develop the squad.

Excelsior!

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by tobiahabramson

[libbyshuss]

Japan - Honda FC/Machida Corriente

J1 - 2031 (season 9)

Objectives: Just improve on last season and hopefully challenge for continental competition

Season Summary

well, I didn't see this coming. We only went and won the league! We started really well with 8 wins out of our first 9 games and we were in a title race! We had wobbles but luckily other teams seemed to wobble the same time we did. With 3 games to go we were looking good, 4 points clear. 2 defeats later we were one point behind in second. We had to win our last game and hope results went in our favour elsewhere, which to my total shock they did!

to be fair, we were lucky. That points total would have seen us finish 6th last season!

 

 

Players

One of the bonuses of winning the league is it should make a lot more of my players happier and more willing to stay. But not our new star striker - no sooner had we won the league than he announced he wanted to leave for a stronger squad...

I've got him on an optional contract extension so he'll have to suck it up!

Youth

After last years disappointing intake, I could really do with a good one this year. The preview wasn't too promising....

The intake was a lot more promising than the preview despite only one elite talent

He's a natural AMC but as i'm playing a 4123 at the minute with a DM and 2 MCs I'm probably gonna retrain him as a natural MC

 

Career

Next season its Champions League! which runs on a different season schedule to us so first game won't be until the latter stages of our next season, which will be a bit weird.

[SuperRedditch]

 

Leça FC

Season One - 2024/25
Campeonate Nacional Prio - 1st
(Promotion Stage 2nd - Promoted)

 

 

In the words of Miss Spears - oops, I did it again. Another first season promotion.

 

Nah, I think we'll be alright. I feel it vindicates everything I believed in my previous save - my tactic is super solid and I just need enough seasons to get the youth rolling in without getting the sack. As an aside, Portugal is lovely, 26-32 match seasons - a far cry from the pure grind that is England. One match a week! No panicking about fatigue.

We crashed out of the cup in the first round, and we've haemorrhaged money, ending up -£300k even with a £160k board injection. Any upgrades and coaching badges look a long way off.

 

The Squad

Started with a moderately youngish squad with a couple of standouts. We're gonna struggle at centre-back, as one starter is now 37 and we don't have much in the way of cover.

Top Scorer - Lucas Gomes - 20 goals from the young swede but he's asked to leave.

Top Assister - Zé Domingos - Runs and crosses and crosses and runs.

Player of the Season - Fábio Borges - One of the only 2 CMs I have in the squad but super reliable.


The Intake

 

 

 

 

They're a ways off being ready to start many games - but it's a start.

 

Next Season

Stay up! For the love of god stay up and don't get sacked.

 

[DrJones]

2 hours ago, BustaRaymes said:

Thanks to Koetzer, probably saving me from throwing away quite a few hours in Russia, I've returned to Italy.

 

 

AC Bra

 

There is so much to love about this club:

- I've never heard of neither the place or the club, and that's rare when it comes to football

- The 15 year old that lives in my brain loves the word 'bra'

- There's a striker who will either do wonders, or has a name I can shout at him for missing a sitter as he has 5 finishing

- Look at this youth team, their dissatisfied faces probably stemming from the headaches they got from looking at the pattern on their shirts. Their actual kits are very nice though, as is the kit they got in-game

 

So here we go again!

 

Good luck in the hell hole that Serie C is, I´ve tried this challenge in Italy for several years and got out of that division one time... When I´m done in Portugal I´ll probably go back and try again

[Winski]

3 hours ago, MaxeyN17 said:

If the club I takeover have a free transfer already arranged, I assume I should be putting them in the B/reserves team and not using them?

No, in that case you can use the player, as the transfer was arranged before your arrival. 

[Colossus]

Sociedad Deportiva Leioa

2024/2025

 

Season Review

Competitions | League Table | Transfers

 

Did pretty on the season as a whole. Good do with a better cup run, but when it all comes down to it, we stayed up pretty easily.

 

Team Stats

Team at the Start of the Season | Team at the End of the Season

Player Stats

As expected, our team was very very thin. We actually started the season with 4 goalkeepers, for some reason, but we did get rid of 2 of them during the season.

 

Standout Performers:

1 - Gorka Estrada

Ever present on our squad be it in the middle or down the left, he was our best performer of the year, and with 20 goal contributions, we expect more of the same next year. His biggest drawback is his HUGE wage

 

2 - Ibon Barandiaran

A rock between the posts. A contract renewal saw him reduce his wage in 50%, so we are actually set at goalkeeper for the next couple of years.

 

3 - Iker Garmendia

A lot of goals, but very inconsistent. He could get a brace in one game and then go scoreless for the next 3. However, with a relative low wage, he looks to be apart of the team next year, if not going even further.

 

Youth Intake

This was dubbed a Golden Generation by my (very decent for this level) HoYD. 2 Elite Talents is nothing to sneeze at, but we are signing everyone just so that we can get more bodies.

According to the brilliant spreadsheet created by @WhiteCat33, these are the 3 best talents.

None of them are going to set the world on fire, but having our 3 best prospects be more defensively minded is not a bad thing at all.

 

Rest of the prospects:

GK - Mikel San Jose

CB - Peru Sola

LB - Agustin Tabuenka

CM/LM - Javier Orueta

LM - Ibon Alonso

RM/RW - Alejandro Etxanix

RM/RW/ST - Ricardo Benito

CM/CAM - Hodei Blasco

CM/CAM - Igor Sola

LW/RW - Unai Franco

ST/LW/CAM - Jose Manuel Alvarez

ST/LW/CAM - Miguel Angel Badiola

ST - Jon Guruzeta

 

Other Stuff

Yearly Progression

 

Manager Atribute Progression

 

Youth Player Stats

 

Gora Leioa!

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Colossus

[Neo_Geo]

3. DIVISION FAVOURITES STUNG BY THE WASPS

Bronshoj Boldklub - Season 2 (2025/26)

"Club sponsors Lego are said to be delighted at the building blocks the club are putting together"

League

Spoiler

A really hard fought and - in my humble opinion - well deserved title win from The Wasps as we wave goodbye to Tier 4 of Danish football and Amateur status as the board asked my opinion to move to semi-professional.

We had an incredible start to the season with 5 straight wins in the league and cup only to then start to falter but luckily in this league there were never any teams that were head and shoulders above the rest. After the mid-season break we hit the ground running with an 8 game unbeaten run including a 5 game winning streak that propelled us to the top of the league once more. Once again I found myself dabbling with different tactics to just make it work for certain games, even resorting to a 4-4-2 diamond narrow after going a goal down to Middelfart (stop laughing at the back there!) and coming back to win the game 3-2 which was the title winning game. Disappointed to lose the last game of the season to Braband who are promoted as runners-up but the main objective had been achieved by this stage.

The one sting in the tail of the season (See what I did there?) was the change to semi-pro, I was told end of July but no sooner than the board announced it were the players coming to me worried about their contracts expiring. "I have £4.9k a week to spend, no problem......lets get talking", started negotiations with my best centre back who wanted £230 p/w.......I could offer £0 (it was part time contract so it wasn't like it was still amateur though the option was still there). Unsure why this was happening (could have been a bug or might just be I can't offer proper terms until I got to the official switchover) I decided to promise the rest of the players wanting to discuss it that I would do so at the end of the season. With the players being on an amateur contract they can leave at any time and I already had one of my original keepers leave in the first season because he was unhappy at not being first choice.

I waited a week and then tried again with my centre back, Akyirem, and this time I could offer a salary.......a whole £50 p/w

I was contemplating binning the save at this point but I proceeded until the league was complete and now I can offer decent salaries with the exception of Akyirem who is annoyed with me and is wanted so I may well lose him.

Just a note of caution to anyone managing an amateur team that this could happen with you too.

One other sour note was star youth player Andreas Bruun YP25-A doesn't want to sign a new deal as he doesn't think the squad is strong enough to play at the level matching his ambitions......he's right but it means he's probably for the off given he's on the amateur contact too (no interest yet but can't imagine it will be long)

 

Cups

Spoiler

Surprisingly did well in the cup making the third round to be beaten at home 4-1 by AaB (finished 6th in this years Superliga), the gulf is rather sizeable between 1st and 4th tier. There isn't much money in this cup competition so at this stage I really don't care too much about it.

 

Youth

Spoiler

Preview didn't look fantastic

The actual intake was better than I hoped however two keepers is a little frustrating as its not an area I have an issue with at the moment.

 

         

     

 

Club

Spoiler

No changes once again, we just don't have the finances to make any kind of improvement and for the second year running the board deny me the right to go on a coaching course, initially because they don't want to lose me then when I try to convince them its because "it wouldn't benefit the club".

This is going to be a real fight to get up the leagues as I can't see where the money will come from to allow me to make any headway off the field.

 

Bingo

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Neo_Geo

[v1n1akabozo]

What about training guys? How often do you praise/criticize training performances? What is your performance threshold? 

In the past i used to do it weekly but players would complain a lot, then i decided to to it bi-weekly. As for the threshold, i always follow what the game indicates as a good/poor rating by the default green/red signaling.

[aldojags]

14 minutes ago, v1n1akabozo said:

What about training guys? How often do you praise/criticize training performances? What is your performance threshold? 

In the past i used to do it weekly but players would complain a lot, then i decided to to it bi-weekly. As for the threshold, i always follow what the game indicates as a good/poor rating by the default green/red signaling.

I occasionally praise - only if above 8.

 

But if anyone is below 6 i slag them off. It's really boring - I wish SI would put in a delegate to assistant manager training ground discipline. It's just pointless clicking through 3 players every week slagging them, especially in the beginning when your reputation is so low and the squad completely disrespect you!

[Winski]

13 minutes ago, v1n1akabozo said:

What about training guys? How often do you praise/criticize training performances? What is your performance threshold? 

In the past i used to do it weekly but players would complain a lot, then i decided to to it bi-weekly. As for the threshold, i always follow what the game indicates as a good/poor rating by the default green/red signaling.

I do that every fortnight. I praise every player with a raiting above 7.50, and never lower then that.

I criticize every player with a raiting below 6.20. 

So between 6.20 and 7.50 I’ll just do nothing. 
 

[xQrtx]

SG Sacavenense - Year 1 2024/25

Campeonato Nacional C - 4th 



Should've went up or at least made the promotion stage but we struggled hard with injuries and a tough group which lead us to bottling on the final day.
Fully expect us to bounce back and get promoted.

Manager Profile



Squad


Very Very solid squad. The main core of the squad are in their mid 20s. Feel like the squad is good enough to achieve promotion and survive easily in the next division. Our front 3 are reaching the later ends of their careers and are starting to regress, 29, 30 and 30. Going to need to integrate my young winger Belarmino Valido from the intake and hope he can develop well enough so he can replace one of our key wingers hopefully as early as the 26/27 season.

Spoiler

Top Scorer - Iaquinta - 28

Spoiler

Most Assists - Gustavo de Oliveira - 9 

Spoiler

 

Youth



"A" Rated players' pages

Spoiler

 

Season History



Manager History

[JLAB]

Real Jaén - Season 2 Preview

As the new season ticked over, we were not expected to be doing very well. Struggling in a relegation fight was what people predicted we'd be doing this season, but with the young talent at the club, it could change very quickly.

The board asked if we wanted to make a B team this season, and I declined the offer. We simply don't have the money or the squad depth to justify the decision just yet.

I also decided to go over every player at the club who would be in my first-team plans for this season in the video below. I decided to avoid taking a lot of screenshots here to stop clogging up this update.

YAC - Real Jaén - Part 6

[Ron_Swanson]

I'm still one version behind so playing FM23, but I wanted to give Sweden a try in this YAC format, so...

Squad is very short, but at least I can fill my whole starting 11, only need to convert someone to DR. Pretty young team, they can still develop a bit although facilities are poor so I don't see high chances

[OlivierL]

@darren1983 Finland reset date 16 december.

[Skora11]

Giving this a go then, although don't think I'll be able to manage all the fancy updates like many manage. Trying to complete the challenge in Scotland and the team to go up was the might Blue Brazil.

 

[RCola1]

Hi Guys,

Back to recount Year 3 of my Belfast Celtic save in the third tier of Northern Ireland. I posted the first season earlier, which I lost out on promotion on the last day by a missed penalty. The second season I didn't get a win until December, but I was able to stabilize and avoid relegation. This third season I earned promotion by winning the league, eight points clear. I'm not sure if I will be able to stay up the coming season as we don't really score many goals. My leading scorer only had 10 goals, so scoring is fairly spread out. The key thing in Northern Ireland is that in the second tier you can sign multiple year contracts (the third tier is only 1 year, with a possible option clause). I going to try to lock down all my players once I go up.

Tactics:

I designed my tactic as a fluid-counter attacking style, but I end up dominating possession and having a hard time breaking down defenses. Usually I end up pressuring the 6 yard box until we nick a goal on a set piece and then we get another goal in open play. I've been using a False 9 as a striker in a diamond midfield with a wing back on attack. My defenders almost end up defending on the half way line.

 

Youth Intake -Unfortunately, my Youth Intake this year has only been mediocre even though I've received a lot of academy upgrades. I might move to change my Head of Youth Development.

[Makoto Nakamura]

2026/27 Youth Candidates

A lot of horrible personalities but two Model Citizens and a lot of really good current ability!

[Makoto Nakamura]

2026/27 End of Season Review

What an end to the season! Five wins from five sees us shoot right up to 5th! Next season we'll be looking to finish in mid-table, especially with the new youth intake at our disposal!

Overall Best XI

2026/27 Best XI

Abdulelah Al-Ruwaili

Ibrahim Al-Harbi (YP1h) - Abdulrahman Al-Dosari - Ahmed Al-Zaid (YP1d)

Mohammed Al-Shammari - Majid Al-Qumaizi - Majid Al-Qumaizi - Hamad Al-Shahrani (YP1g)

 

 

Rakan Hawsawi (YP2o) - Abdulmajeed Al-Jakhli (YP2m) - Mansour Al-Shehri (YP1b)

[HanziZoloman]

"The sack smiles upon all of us. All a man can do is smile back." Earl of Grey

The year 2052

We are close to finish this save. I do not think, that I have much left to go. Clearly the promotion came to early.

Spoiler

They are impatient with me.

Spoiler

 

 

[Ron_Swanson]

[FM23] Reymersholms IK - season 1 - 2023

 

Intake as expected lots of "high potential" but none of them making immediate impact to our squad. At least I won't have to use grey players anymore

Very solid 3rd place, just staying safe, taking time for squad developement. Money is tight, we're around 0, not losing not earing much. I had to ask for a new contract ASAP to cut my wage from 550p/w to 140p/w or else we would drown in red.

[Braumiller]

Season 04 - 2027/28

FC Biel-Bienne

And breathe.....
Wow, a season that started as expected ended unexpectedly!

Before our first preseason friendly even happened what we feared and expected happened.  Borussia Dortmund came knocking for Mirco Isler (YP01-Elite) and while they did not hit the 3.8m I had agreed with the player and agent to sell him for, the 3.4m they did offer was too much for my chairman to refuse.  I cannot say I disagree with his business decision, and even though I had the option to protest the sale all I did was suggest we renegotiate a sell on clause.  They did, and the 3.4m now includes a 20% future profit clause.  We immediately went off a asked to spend as much as we could, and a very hefty training ground upgrade was approved (1.7m) and increases to both junior coaching and youth recruitment were granted as well.  A late season additional youth recruitment increase was the cherry on the cake too.  Facility-wise we are now rocking GREAT training facilities, GOOD youth facilities, EXCELLENT junior coaching and EXCEPTIONAL youth recruitment.  Very happy with those!

On the field we had a great year!  It took a little bit of chopping and changing to find new best partnerships across the park, but we hit top spot twice in first half of the season but both times lost our bottle.  Second half of the season we were part of a 4 team break away and it got tight in the run in. Schauffhausen & Neuchatel Xamax both fell away and it was left to ourselves and Vaduz to fight for the automatic promotion spot and the playoffs.  Penultimate game of the season saw us away at Vaduz and trailing by 2 points.  They took an early lead, we pulled it back to 1-1, but then they outplayed us and celebrated as champions in front of us!

The Swiss play-offs are a simply affair.  2nd bottom of the Super League vs 2nd place in the Challenge League.  2 legs, extra time and penalties as needed.

First leg at home was a borefest.....  I was nursing 3 players through the game who would miss the decider if booked and we didn't have a shot on target until the 90th minute.  That is when Armando Mancini, who has already signed for Serie C Catanzaro on a free in the summer and was only on as a sub for an injured sub, tucked in the winner at the far post!!

Second leg I was nervous for.  And then Jonathan de Donno had a day!  Had had broken Challenge League records with 33 goals in 35 games, added 3 Swiss Cup goals in 3 games and then hit a hat-trick in the first 26 minutes!  Up 4-0 on aggregate and despite Luzern grabbing a goal back it was a surprisingly stress free second half!  Promotion!

League Table

Squad Stats - Still 2 and sometimes 3 non youths who I cannot shake of the team, but loving the way they are starting to shape up.  No idea if we can hold our own in the Super League though.  I have kept way too many players the last couple of seasons with not knowing if we are ready to let them go.  I now am.  Time to start getting a little more ruthless.

Youth Intake - the preview was not very good reading to be honest, but this is not as bad as I thought it would be.  With the end of the season the senior squad had I didn't promote any of them yet to start getting minutes.  Not sure how many they will get in the Super League campaign either tbh.  A lot more undesirable personalities this time around.

Juddy Kabongo - Looks to be the best of the batch.  Not currently playing an AMC, so retraining to MC although tempted to see at AMR too

Ergi Bushi - A second intake with a high potential GK.  Much needed depth at the position.  I really need to look into those newgen pics I see people use!.....

Wirth - Another AMC, so another retrain project.  I am overstocked at MC currently, so I may retrain as a wide player next year.  Pace and finishing are prohibitive though.

Terraz - Rough around the edges for sure, but has the beginnings of a decent striker.  No clear route to first team football currently, but if he scores for fun in the u18s then who knows.

Transfers - several out of the door, with Mirco Isler (YP01-Elite) being the obvious headliner here

 

Next season - a simple battle for survival I would imagine!  Will be interesting to see how finances fare as well.  With all of our infrastructure improvements we are losing money every month, it would be nice if they was lessened.

Anyway, a 12 team Super League awaits.  12th is relegated, 11th goes into the playoffs and I will happily take 10th right now if offered!

[Padders]

WOW that GK @WhiteCat33

[PandaQC]

Five months in my first season with Minebea Mitsumi FC in Japan and my board declines every improvement to my Youth Recruitment. 

[Sdp9511]

Club Introduction

Le Puy 43 Auvergne

The Manager

Personal Contract

Season     Contract Start Date     Contract Expiry Date     Pre Tax Wage     Post Tax Wage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start          19 June 2024             30 June 2025         €1100 p/w          €700 p/w 

Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation            Qualifications     Att   Def   Fit   GkD   GkH   GkS   Tac   Tec   Men   WWY   Ada   Det   PlK   YoK   LoD   MaM   Mot
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start   Minimal   (0.25*)     None                 1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     5     1     1     1     5     1     1     1

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Youth Level  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start        Basic                Poor                        Adequate                 Good             Basic          Regional (2.00*)

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Time At Club
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transfer Sale Record

Date               Player                    Position               Club Sold To                 Country                   Transfer Fee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------
Cup Competition Victories
-------------------------

Career Overview

Season     Champions League    Europa League    Europa Conference League             League                             Position     F.A. Cup                    League Cup        Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Appearances
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                        Cumulative Number of Assists
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Clean Sheets (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's hope this goes well.

 

 

 

 

[WhiteCat33]

36 minutes ago, Padders said:

WOW that GK @WhiteCat33

Best part is he's pure Barbados so at the very least the national team will have the best Caribbean shot stopper for the next 20 years!

[officiallydeej]

Dulwich Hamlet - 2025/26

Vanarama National League South - 2nd

A return of 93 points with 30 wins along the way represents my best season on Football Manager for quite a long time, especially in England. We started well, suffered a bit of a drop when the gruelling two game a week schedule kicked in through autumn and up to Christmas, then came storming back in the new year. Although we never looked like troubling runaway champions Southend United, we did finish the regular campaign with 8 wins in a row, giving us plenty of cause for optimism going into the playoffs as top seed...

We overcame Dartford 4-2 in the semis, meaning a home game against Yeovil who we'd beaten twice in the regular season stood between us and the National League. It was quite a game which we unfortunately lost 5-4 on penalties, with stay boy Moro missing the all important spot kick.

Our youths are still developing nicely due to us being a professional outfit, and no clubs are circling for the better ones yet so although disappointing I'm not too worried about another season at this level. What isn't so good news is that all 4 teams who got relegated from the National League are (particularly) Southern, so I can could easily see all 4 being in our league next year and a couple of weaker teams from our league being put into the Northern section.

 
 

Cups

We had a good run in the FA cup, overcoming National League side Bromley 5-0 in the fourth qualifying round which gave me plenty of optimism going into the First Round proper against Torquay. We came unstuck however following a 1-1 draw at home, travelling to Devon with 3 of our first choice back 4 on international duty proved too much and we lost 3-1. It was particularly unfortunate as Torquay went on to lose at Leeds in the Third Round which would have no doubt been a money spinner for us.

I'm not too worried about the FA Trophy at the moment, as reflected by our second string going out to mid table side Dover.

 

Star Players

  

Two academy players already making up our trio of star players is a very promising sign for the future. Paul Moro 25b is our brightest prospect and it showed with a debut season return of 15 goals and 7 assists from 33 starts. The one blot on his copybook was missing the decisive penalty in the playoff final defeat but hopefully he will come back stronger. Although a natural striker Rakeem Thomas 25c excelled in a left inside forward position, with 14 goals aiding his rapid development and only bettered by centre forward Panamarenko, who also came from our first intake. Although not a youth product the contribution of Ade Shokunbi cannot be ignored, with a quite ridiculous 12 goals and 19 assists from defensive midfield. He's our highest earner by far but I have managed to get him to sign for at least one more season.

 

Youth Intake

  

I don't actually think this intake was as strong as our first season, which was reflected by me only opting to sign 7 from the group. Brian and Beaney are the stand out talents however both have unambitious personalities. Luckily I still have some original players that act as mentors at the club who I have set to work trying to put that right. Chris Miller is the best of the rest and has a nice personality, but we are reasonably well stocked in midfield so he'll be in the under 18s for the time being.

 

Admin

 

Financially we are still in excellent shape. I didn't request any upgrades this season as we already have decent facilities and I'm not sure we could cope with the financial burden of the costs if I did try and push them further at this stage. I did however secure my first coaching badge (which I forgot to request in season one!) so am now at national C level. Only one player left this season, with aging Kosovan Krasniqi opting to leave us and return to his home nation.

[Newgenn]

Anyone doing this save as Macclesfield, how are you managing to get through the first few seasons?

In the past I have always used South Shields, who have obviously now been promoted. I used to find the early seasons pretty easy because they were professional to start and also had a strong squad and some players had a few years in their contracts.

Macclesfield are good because they get good gates and therefore strong financials. I finished mid table first season and managed an upgrade each to youth recruitment and junior coaching. The intake was still awful with nobody close to the first team. The real killer was trying to renew contracts. Even though we had plenty of money in the bank, I wasn't able to offer high enough wages, and the ones I could, I could only offer one year deals.

I ended up losing most of the original players and couldn't buy a win in the second season.

Any tips much appreciated as I do intend on going again with Macc.

 

[SuperRedditch]

1 minute ago, Newgenn said:

 The real killer was trying to renew contracts. Even though we had plenty of money in the bank, I wasn't able to offer high enough wages, and the ones I could, I could only offer one year deals.

 

 A useful, albeit cheesy, tip for lower league wages is to include a clause of "Wage after 1 international appearances" and put it to the max. Do not do this for players with minnow nationalities (caribbean islands for instance) but for your English and other decent nationality lads, you can get them to agree to lower wages - often £100-200 less per week.

You can also include the maximum bonus for Winning FA Cup, Reaching FA Cup FInal, Reaching FA Cup Semi. Obviously will never happen but can also weight the negotiation in your favour.

1 Year contracts are the norm in the National League North. Try and renew them early rather than letting them run down till the end of the season. You need those legacy players for a few seasons.

[Newgenn]

1 minute ago, SuperRedditch said:

 A useful, albeit cheesy, tip for lower league wages is to include a clause of "Wage after 1 international appearances" and put it to the max. Do not do this for players with minnow nationalities (caribbean islands for instance) but for your English and other decent nationality lads, you can get them to agree to lower wages - often £100-200 less per week.

You can also include the maximum bonus for Winning FA Cup, Reaching FA Cup FInal, Reaching FA Cup Semi. Obviously will never happen but can also weight the negotiation in your favour.

1 Year contracts are the norm in the National League North. Try and renew them early rather than letting them run down till the end of the season. You need those legacy players for a few seasons.

Thanks, I always use the strategies you have listed, but have found them to not work as well this year.

It's very frustrating when they are asking for thousands of pounds a week and I can offer £900 at a push to star players.

[Colossus]

In bad news, the board decided to revert us back to Semi-Pro. I did cut our wage bill in half, but we are still more than a million Euros on the red

 

[Ron_Swanson]

[FM23] Reymersholms IK - season 2 - 2024

Same as previous season. Devin Weidersjo should be getting some starts and the rest probably just bench warmers

Another 3rd place. Youngsters giving depth definetely helps. Good thing is the schedule without mid-week games so no problems with fitness. I need good GK as Sambola is old and declared he's leaving after contract expires, that's why 2,5 grey star Ostlin was my first choice.

[Makoto Nakamura]

2027/28 Youth Candidates

Nobody is walking straight into the first team but it's still a good intake minus the personalities.

[Coxbox]

      Recap -Previous Post

On 10/11/2023 at 01:17, Coxbox said:

 

 

Season 26/27

A few items of interest from the start of the season, a new youth upgrade and a nice new affiliate. I am not sure about the takeover, hopefully, I won't be sacked.   

Season 26/27 Quick Update

Started the season well but did lose the cup due to some BS in the match, The results are strong and we have now  11 players in the starting squad including subs. Turns out the Indian Youth  League comprises 3 games in a group stage then knockout stages and a final, so they are now playing friendlies every week.  Intake Preview has a good spread of positions. 

*Edit*

 

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Coxbox

[The Chairman Plays]

2024/25

"HERE WE GO!"

Manager Profile

 

Spoiler

 

Starting Contract

 

Spoiler

 

Squad

 

Spoiler

 

Transfers 

 

Spoiler

 

Season Preview

Spoiler

 

Hello everybody. Greetings from Finland!

This is my first time properly writing my challenge here in the forums. Last year i did this on youtube but never managed to finish the save because got bored in England.

This year I wanted to manage somewhere where I haven't manage before. I was tinkering between Croatia and Serbia, nations which both generate lot of talented youngster. This time NK Bjelovar was the team to won us on their side! So Croatia it is!

Our team looks really decent Gibanjek was loan on last season and is leaving soon. Good becuase no loans! And what is best for our club is the fact that we are professional club so full time training and coaching! We have lot of youngsters in our squad already which is good! Only downside is that under 17yo players can't play in senior squad 

Season preview looks promising 8th place would guarantee us safety which is our board objective also.

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by The Chairman Plays

[aldojags]

Looks like I'm joining you @The Chairman Plays!

 

I set this up last night so I promise I'm not jumping on the bandwagon haha! However, I wouldn't worry, as I expect I'll be fired before long, but it'll be fun comparing notes for the first season at least!

 

I know nothing about the Croatian league, but surely I can keep them up if I only need to finish 8th out of 10!

 

I have 2 centre backs...that could be a problem!

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by aldojags

[Makoto Nakamura]

2027/28 End of Season Review

A poor season in comparison to last but this is very much where we should be (if not the bottom two). The aim is to concede a few less next season. 

Overall Best XI

2027/28 Best XI

Abdulelah Al-Ruwaili

Mohamed Al-Ali (YP3d) - Abdulrahman Al-Dosari - Ahmed Al-Zaid (YP1d)

Mohammed Al-Shammari - Majid Al-Qumaizi - Saleh Al-Rashidi (YP1m) - Hamad Al-Shahrani (YP1g)

 

 

Rakan Hawsawi (YP2o) - Sultan Al-Qahtani (YP3n) - Mansour Al-Shehri (YP1b)

[The Chairman Plays]

That's cool! @aldojags

 Good luck