The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge

[The Chairman Plays]

1 hour ago, SuperRedditch said:

No, we started with a 12k stadium.

The board then sold it to build a 2.5k stadium for £2.3m.

Which they are then expanding to a total of 4.9k for another £2.9m. It's madness.

That's mad. FM can be quirky sometimes 

[Potat]

Saint Davids Warriors - Bermuda

2028/29 - Season 6

Post-championship season hangovers are very real and not fun.

The League

Was just a bad season all around, had no chance at retaining the title as my defenders would manage to concede at least 3 goals to a team of toddlers with a beach ball. Combined with my strikers scoring on their debuts then forgetting how to score the rest of the season is always fun.

Domestic Cup

Again another quarter-final exit where I always draw the only competent teams in the tournament.

Caribbean Cup

First time in this competition after winning the league and we drew Ideal from Montserrat, Guaynabo Gol Peurto Rican champions, and System 3 the Saint Vincent and Grenadiers Champions, it was very much us against System 3 in a competition of who could score the most against the other 2 teams (It was me), and in the final game where a draw or better gets us through, we concede a 91st-minute goal to get knocked out in the first Group phase.

Youth Intake

A snap back to FM reality as for the first time there were no guaranteed starters coming straight from the intake.

Some decent strikers, would have preferred defenders but can't really complain.

Finances and Facilities

£200k in debt, we make about £150k a year, but I went too big too soon with the youth setup which costs £220k a year which we just can't afford at this point in the save. Do I keep the setup and just accept the money loss, or scale down the setup and try to save some money?

Internationals

Lawler is semi-regular in the Bermuda senior team but is no longer a Model Citizen and is now Resilient.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overview

Edited November 18, 2023 by Potat

[JAwtunes]

Austria - June 13th. Save May 31st for different teams. @darren1983

[PandaQC]

Minebea Mitsumi FC (Japan) - Season 1 - 2024

Got promoted to J2 League ! It was a battle between our team, Matsumoto Yamaga and FC Gifu all year long. The youth intake did help us closing that season because it brought new blood to our short-staffed team. I was lacking depth in defense, especially central defense. We played a 4-4-2 with two Segundo Volante.

J3 League results

Spoiler

 

 League past postions:

Spoiler

 

Youth intake

Got an awful preview but the actual youth intake was pretty nice. Three players have been added to the first squad already: Osamu Kudo 24.1 (DL), Mitusa Matsunaga 24.2 (DM) and Daichi Kato 24.4 (DC). Those defenders are very welcomed. They will have plenty of playing time next season.

.

 

New stadium

Board has decided to build a new 10k seat stadium. The current stadium does not meet the J2 League requirements (8000 seats). Poisoned gift. I'm afraid it will be a drag on my finances for years. Hope it will not impact facilities improvements.

 

Squad

 

Spoiler

 

Transfers

 

Spoiler

 

Next year preview

It will be about avoiding relegation, improving facilities, developing young players and hoping to get new promising talents.

Recap

Edited November 18, 2023 by timo

[Anners]

22 hours ago, Anners said:

Previous Post:

 

2029/30 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish League 2

League:

I'm not going to bother saying much about the season - it's literally just rinse and repeat of the previous few. Do well before Christmas, do poorly after. Win 3/4 games at the end of the season to make a mid-table finish.

Youth Intake:

We're actually at the point where we're one of the best Junior Coaching clubs in the country, we're only behind Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and Hearts. For a League 2 team!

As the youth coaching and recruitment keeps improving, the intakes keep being very solid indeed. Darrargh Garrard (DL), Ryan Gill (MC) and Taylor Munro (SC) go straight into the first team as I'm needing cover there, with Munro most likely being my starting striker next year at 15! I will do a post either for the 30/31 season or 31/32 season where I'll post about the players as we're obviously getting to the point where the intakes get more and more interesting.

Other than that, not much of an update here. We've lost money as I wanted to see if I put the u18s into friendlies against top u18 sides, if they would improve more even with the lack of training and youth facilities. They did not. I am incredibly looking forward to the next few seasons though - probably in the next 2 or 3 we'll have a full youth intake team!

 

Previous Post:

2030/31 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish League 2

League:

Erm, not entirely sure what happened with the league this season. Only Peterhead were actually half decent. We finished 7th last year, get a point less this year and end up 4th and in the playoffs...? I mean I'll take it!

How it turned out:

We actually managed to take down League 1 side Montrose on penalties, but then couldn't finish the job off, losing 2-0 on aggregate to Forfar. I'm not entirely sure what to feel here - slight disappointment that we didn't get promoted, but the fact that we were in the playoff final to begin with is unfathomable.

Youth Intake:

Another improvement to Junior Coaching now actually means we've got the best Junior Coaching in the country. In League 2. The intakes are really starting to ramp up now and I don't think we're too far away from getting a pretty handy prospect.

So again, we've got a couple of players straight into the first team, with Harry Stewart very likely going straight into the first 11. Obviously not the best personalities here, but we'll cope for now I guess!

 Bit of a bigger post for the end of the 31/32 season likely coming. I've not mentioned the Cups for a while, only because there's actually nothing of note really happening. We constantly get through to the Scottish Cup Third Round (we enter in the Second Round) but then lose. Viaplay Cup is somewhat similar, we might pick up a couple of wins but not qualify from the group.

[WhiteCat33]

1 hour ago, Braumiller said:

With how this is worded "Should be focusing on becoming a more consistent performer at this stage of his development" is there anything I can be doing to help him with that or is it purely on him?

Would love to hear if there are anyways that I have missed where I could have even a small chance of helping improve consistency.

 

If you have a mentor with high consistency and who will give significant influence on the mentor group consistency can be improved along with the other hidden attributes that make up personalities including big matches.

In my Perfectionist Striker mentoring group our star player and mentor Carrillo has high consistency and good big matches. Nurse (my protégé and current star striker) started with mild inconsistency and (i believe) mild big Match negative. Now he's up to neutral big match (no icon in either) and slightly positive consistency. 

I unfortunately haven't been accurately tracking those to attributes so can't show any data across the group, just had noticed that specific example and found it interesting. 

Not sure if good game performances for younger players help improve that as well? Same with training level, making sure they are happy with their training assignment?

[officiallydeej]

Couldn't get him to sign a new deal and he'll leave us on a free at the end of the season. Had banked on a bit of compensation but as he's moving to Ireland we won't get a penny. 

[WhiteCat33]

1 hour ago, Potat said:

Finances and Facilities

£200k in debt, we make about £150k a year, but I went too big too soon with the youth setup which costs £220k a year which we just can't afford at this point in the save. Do I keep the setup and just accept the money loss, or scale down the setup and try to save some money?

Is it impacting your ability to sign players onto contracts? Caribbean success is all about keeping hold of players, so as long as you can do the 'next season' contract signing of non-contract players I would run the deficit.

In the carribbean you won't make enough money to improve facilities until you're regularly advancing in the CCC, so priority is to become the regular champion of your country by any means. This can easily mean running a deficit and stretching finances for a few years even letting the board do debt financing to try and cover the deficit. 

 

[Potat]

28 minutes ago, WhiteCat33 said:

Is it impacting your ability to sign players onto contracts? Caribbean success is all about keeping hold of players, so as long as you can do the 'next season' contract signing of non-contract players I would run the deficit.

In the carribbean you won't make enough money to improve facilities until you're regularly advancing in the CCC, so priority is to become the regular champion of your country by any means. This can easily mean running a deficit and stretching finances for a few years even letting the board do debt financing to try and cover the deficit. 

 

So far only one contract that I've been unable to sign but the player wanted 5x what anyone else earns so I dont feel bad, ill just bite the bullet on the money side and see what happens.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

   

               

Haringey Borough - Youth Intake and Youth Review Season 6

Now this one isn't as good as our last couple, although we did pick up our first Dane.

Spoiler

McGurk 06a looks like he can develop into a second choice striker who will stay at the club for a while. Only thing holding him back is the Unambitious personality.

  

Spoiler

Joynes 06b can play either fullback or center back and has a solid technical base.

 

Youth Update

Class of 2024

Brian Inglis - Seems to be enjoying the Queensland Premier League in Australia,

Class of 2025

Callum Graham 01a - Managed to stay at the VNN level and has played 33 matches for Basford who will be relegated back out of the playable leagues.

Johnny Rea 01b - Averaging a 5.53 in the second tier of Northern Ireland is rough.

Colin Morgan 01c - He's a solid BWM and we don't ask him to do much more. Has put in some good performances on the pitch and in training.

Kenneth John 01d - Lighting it up in the lower divisons in Nigeria on an amateur contract.

Matthew Freeman 01e - Gloucester took him off our non contract deal, and he's not performed great.

Rayon Messam 01j - Continues to be the most unlikeliest of heroes, but he's gonna win fans player of the season with double digit goals and assists and a 7.44 rating in all comps.

Class of 2026

Oliver Smith 02a - Still committed to leave on a free after this season. I hope he reconsiders, but we have 2 young left backs behind him waiting for the chance to breakout.

Paul Banton 02b - Left the youth teams at Worthing to play for Merthyr.

Dylan Wilson 02c - World class mentals and not much else. We had to fork out lots of money to keep him at the club, but he's under contract for 2 years now.

Gonçalo Paulo 02d - Underhwelming when he did get a chance, will be released this June.

Gregory Griffith 02e - We can't see his attributes since he's all the way up in L1 now playing for Blackpool's youth teams after leavign Southend's youth teams.

Ryan Camm 02f - Developed quite well in spite of his personality; averaging a 7.02 from center back helps. He's scored 10 goals in all comps this season just from corners with the 6'5" height and 18 jumping reach.

Class of 2027

Aaron Porter 03a - Must be near his PA, since no bigger teams are interested in him despite scoring another 20 goals this season.

Kemar Cox 03b - Also seems close to his PA, since his attributes have stayed the same this season despite good training and good performances (7.11 rating in the league).

Armando Sargeant 03c - Looks to pick up where SMith 02a left off next season.

Dean Murray 03d - He was this level when he came through the intake, so must have no PA since a Resolute personality + >7.20 performances in the league would have seen some development by now.

Deno Jeffers 03e - Playing way down the English ladder now.

Alex Nicholls 03h - Good partner to Camm 02f, but I'm hoping a new kid can supplant him, since he's stopped developing technically and his physicals still aren't great.

Calvin Swift 03l - Still think he's much better than my assistants give him credit for, but hard to find any minutes in our deep midfield.

Thomas Badu 03m - Not getting any better, so we'll let him go.

Class of 2028

Ammar Al-Kindi 04a - Won't improve at all with that personality, but has been playing well enough to get rotation minutes.

Jonathan Purrington 04b - Will benefits from more backup minutes when Smith 02a leaves.

Razark Ashimeru 04c - Really like the look of him, has gotten the majority of the backup minute sin midfield this year.

Yannick Ongenda 04d - Has been rotating with Worrell 05f and will continue to do so until one of them takes that step forward.

Robin Hamilton O'Hara 04f - Really need those physicals to improve.

Luke Evans 04h - Has finally shown signs of improvement, but we're thin in defense so he will keep his rotation place for now.

Vaughan Southernwood 04i - Been fine in backup minutes and I still like his potential, if he can reach it.

Class of 2029

Ally Paterson 05a - Ignore the red arrows, he's actually developed fine this year and had a high floor. Unfortunately, it looks like his potential isn't really there.

Josh Ross 05b - Got a chunk of minutes this year and is looking decent.

Alex Mehmet 05c - Another 16 year old who's played a ton this year, but hasn't put it together yet.

Reeco Worrell 05f - Has been the first choice of our rotating GKs and has played ok for a 17 year old GK.

Peter Mutero 05h - Our lack of defensive depth meant he was an unlikely candidate for rotation minutes and played ok. He's tall and can jump, so that's all I need for center backs.

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by The_Gato_In_Goal

[WhiteCat33]

I swear these draws have to be rigged for Mexican teams to get non-Mexican opposition. And of course we get the hardest of the teams available...

 

In brighter news Barbados Qualified for their 2nd World Cup! I just realized I forgot to include it in last year's update:

And Barbados have a new record World Ranking of 91!

 

2nd Edit: Promise final edit here, as the groups for the World Cup were drawn and Barbados actually got an okay draw with Morocco and Norway. Still a very outside chance of advancing above either of them, but it's at least not a world heavyweight.

Way better than Jamaica's draw (as the only other Caribbean Nation at the WC).

Other CONCACAF:

Canada got host Spain

USA got Paraguay and Scotland

Mexico have what has been a pretty strong Croatia side (finished 3rd in the WC this save)

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by WhiteCat33

[seatdean]

AYSA - Season 2 (2025)

* Season Overview:

The academy was preparing for its debut in professional football, with new energy from the youth promoted from the under-15 team. Beyond the fact that the board was content with a comfortable middle table, the feeling from the beginning is that these boys were hungry for more, and they achieved it. Not only did they earn promotion as champions of the second division, but they also won the prestigious Zimbabwe national cup, defeating several first division clubs along the way.

* Competition Performance:

 

* Squad:

 

* Academy:

Without being brilliant like the previous season, this group of youth players is quite decent, we receive a center back and a playmaker (he will surely be trained as a forward) who will fight for their place in the starting team.

 

Hot prospects:  Tawanda Chazika - Nyasha Mamvura - James Tavengwa

 

* Transfers:

Spoiler

 

 

[darren1983]

Season 2026/27 Review - Vanarama National League North

 

League - After last season's playoff push I was hoping for more of the same this year. I had planned to try and be a bit more possession heavy but felt it was probably a little too song for that change so we stuck with what I know but with some tweaks to try and minimise our goals conceded from corners and to try and stop us throwing away late points. While it felt like we did better from that looking at the stats we didn't really. Went from conceding 18 goals from corners last season to 14 this year. Work still to be done. Late comebacks though we did improve with only a handful of games causing me to get angry this year. We started well, unbeaten in our first 8 games and only 2 defeats in our opening 15, we kept pace with Kidderminster but around December we struggled, first we were away to an improving Warrington side where we were 3-0 up after 85 mins and drew 3-3, this then saw us lose 3 of our next 6 league games before 3 straight wins seemed to steady us. To end the year we lost at home to Scunthorpe (1-4) away to Tamworth (2-0) and home to Braintree (0-5) had me worried. I didn't need to be as that Braintree game was our last defeat of the season. In a mad week at the end of Feb we started the week 10 points behind Warrington in first and ended a point behind them with a game in hand as we beat Blyth, Kettering and Warrington themselves. We actually didn't hit top spot till 3 weeks later though and from there we just kept going and won the title and promotion with room to breath. I think the thing that helped the most this season was the added depth to the first team squad, we had players I could throw in to games late on to rest key players without a massive drop off and also bring players in from the Under 18's when injuries struck.

FA Cup - Made the first round proper again but Sheff Weds were too good. We did take the lead but the money from the sell out game and it being on TV was nice and helped pay for a Junior Coaching upgrade

FA Trophy - We had our best run in this and while we needed pens a couple of times we did make it to the final. There we played Barnet who had been relegated from National League and a hat trick from our main striker Max Cane gave us the win and a nice double

Transfers - finally we've started to be able to loan players out which is nice. We lost our only back up striker (Paul Evans) which was annoying but otherwise we didn't lose anyone I didn't mind losing

Finances - Shockingly good for this level, gonna keep pushing for ugrades

Youth Intake - The preview had me excited and well it delivered! A lot of players tagged:

Anthony Rogers YP27A - probably the best player I've ever had come through at this level. His finishing lets him down but otherwise really good for this level. Already made his debut off the bench (and assisted a later winner) and first start where he also scored his first goal to becoming our youngest ever scorer. He's also a pretty good ST for my more possession based tactics which is nice - like the game wants me to move to it
Martin Woolley YP27B - another ST but a tall one, will be a decent option late in games when chasing a goal
Martyn McPherson YP27C - a 3rd striker, weaker than the rest, looking at him now I'm not too sure why I tagged him so high
David Haugh YP27D - CM, good option for our Mezz role
Luke Harris YP27E - Unsure with this guy, have him training out wide for now, looks like he should be playing in the CM area but his passing is too poor to trust him there
John Ibrahim YP27F - can play CB or DM I like having that option in a player
Jim Campbell YP27G - like above, can play a couple roles but will likely be a CB
Fergus McGrath YP27H - the final guy but like the look of him as a wide option 

 

Career Overview

Season		League			Position	Junior Coaching		Youth Recruitment	Notes

2024/25		VNN			13th 		Adequate		Average			Got first coaching badge
2025/26		VNN			7th 		Adequate 		Average 		Lost playoff semi finals. 2nd coaching badge
2026/27		VNN			1st 		Good			Average 		Won the FA Trophy

The biggest plan for next season is to go through the Under 18's and reduce the size. After the intake it had 34 players in it and that's at least 12 too many for my liking (ideally I like it around 18-20 players, enough to cover injuries but not too many that players don't get enough game time) some will go when their contracts are up this summer and others (Rogers for example) will be a part of the first team squad. Others will be moved up to first team with the plan to loan them out

[korvalis]

Season 3 - 2026-2027

A slightly better points haul from last season getting into the play-off spot, a pair of one all draws means we had to do things the hard way, eventually winning in after 6 pens.

Promotion now also means professional status,  And the luxury of a 3rd coach for training. And sorting everyone's contract in case some big teams try and poach some players.

It's also probably going to Soderstrom's last game for the team, He was complaining most of the season about not playing in his preferred role, even if he was playing as a striker. Full fixtures in the spoiler,

 

Spoiler

The youth intake for this season was mainly defensively focused, so I'm not going to complain, Definitely going to have to tighten things up at the back to not fall straight back down again.

The two stand out players being Andersson and Kristoffersson, With the 2nd of the two being someone who should be able to deal with high crosses just by standing there.

Full intake is the spoilers, 

Spoiler

The two tactics I was using did leave to more goals being scored, sadly at both ends, so some further tweaking might be required.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[abirdc]

5 hours ago, darren1983 said:

You are correct. 1 league countries are not eligible for this challenge. 

Ah ****, didn't know that. Bummers, I was having a torrid time in that save anyway. Time to leave it. Do Indonesia or Malaysia have 2 leagues in FM24? 

[korvalis]

Both have two

[carlowsaint19]

Trying this save for the first time and think I have hit the jackpot with Batman Petrolspor who play in Turkish 3rd league in 22/23 season. Had decided on Turkey having been on holiday there recently and not having managed in the country in any FM before.

 

Having holidayed as suggested in OP post, Batman have just been promoted and I will be taking them over. Great starting facilities as you can see below and some interesting facts (and name) after googling them:

• Main team of Batman City with pop of circa 450k, the population used to be closer to 3k in the 1930's until oil was found
• Have never made it to the top flight of Turkish football
• Stadium was government funded to allow international standard matches to be held in the region

 

The team of course is being taken over by a uniquely handsome Bruce Wayne with zero manager/player experience. First port of call will be to get staff in as there isn't a single employee besides Bruce Wayne at the club, and can't even get star rating opinions at the moment.

[Scraborn]

Hello fellow Managers,

I started earlier today with this challenge and might upload some pictures later - I rerolled sometimes and narrowed it down to two clubs... Club number one was the austrian side SV Austria Salzburg to have the battle against the big evil RB Salzburg to try and stop there attack on the football we like - the other team was Macclesfield FC in the freshly promoted to the Vanarama National League North. I picked Macclesfield after there downfall to bring them back up. Me,  a random german bloke heard about there struggles years ago and I want to help. Mediaprediction is 16 wich gave me hope to stay in the League. Right now after 9 matches we lead the league. We will see where we get in the end - I hope for a lomgterm approach instead of getting back to back promotions.

 

 

[OlivierL]

Update Hall of fame - Youth Challenge: Completed and not completed nations.

Spoiler

@darren1983 for OP update 

 

[Anners]

Couple of quicker posts from me here - was a bit ahead and need to catch up!

Previous Post:

5 hours ago, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2030/31 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish League 2

League:

Erm, not entirely sure what happened with the league this season. Only Peterhead were actually half decent. We finished 7th last year, get a point less this year and end up 4th and in the playoffs...? I mean I'll take it!

How it turned out:

We actually managed to take down League 1 side Montrose on penalties, but then couldn't finish the job off, losing 2-0 on aggregate to Forfar. I'm not entirely sure what to feel here - slight disappointment that we didn't get promoted, but the fact that we were in the playoff final to begin with is unfathomable.

Youth Intake:

Another improvement to Junior Coaching now actually means we've got the best Junior Coaching in the country. In League 2. The intakes are really starting to ramp up now and I don't think we're too far away from getting a pretty handy prospect.

So again, we've got a couple of players straight into the first team, with Harry Stewart very likely going straight into the first 11. Obviously not the best personalities here, but we'll cope for now I guess!

 Bit of a bigger post for the end of the 31/32 season likely coming. I've not mentioned the Cups for a while, only because there's actually nothing of note really happening. We constantly get through to the Scottish Cup Third Round (we enter in the Second Round) but then lose. Viaplay Cup is somewhat similar, we might pick up a couple of wins but not qualify from the group.

2031/32 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish League 2

League:

The first time we've got over 47 points since our first season (which got promotion... somehow?) and we did stumble a bit over the line, but managed to find ourselves in the playoffs again.

Unfortunately, the exact same outcome - we lose again in the Playoff Final. I was actually 4-1 ahead in the 2nd leg against Kelty, and then they just wouldn't stop scoring and my nerves definitely started going! The Stenhousemuir performance was very disappointing though, especially as we went 1-0 up within the first 2 minutes of the away leg. Still stuck down here in League 2 - I will eventually get back up!

Youth Intake: 

We've finally got one!! Josh Strachan goes straight into the striker position and he looks fantastic...

Now, if we can actually make use of him for next year, this should be the first time we're able to launch an attempt at the title. The board have upgraded our recruitment again, so we're exceptional in both now which means we've got the best Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment in Scotland but we're stuck all the way down here! If we can just get going, we should be able to get up the leagues.

Current Team:

So I said I'd do a bit more of a post than usual and you can see why above - only 4 players over the age of 18 in the starting 11! We did lose our starting keeper, so we're forced to put Hersee in between the sticks unfortunately, but the rest of the starting 11 I'm actually reasonably happy with.

We're only allowed full backs called Darragh, so I'm really hoping we get more of them in intakes moving forward. Joking aside, they are 2 of the best prospects we've had come through (Forbes and Garrard here). Bailey McKay is another name those reading would know - he's been my best player for a good couple of years now and is usually the top assists and average rating player. Harry Stewart on the left wing is also another handy prospect, although is Unambitious which will stunt his growth. And then obviously to top it all off as I've posted above - Josh Strachan, the first prospect we've had that looks like he might be worth a pretty penny soon.

[carlowsaint19]

Wondering how you are all dealing with these squad depth issues, my squad are very unhappy at the moment, but dont think there is anything I can do (they are pissed that I have no defenders)

 

[Perre8]

FC Wacker Innsbruck

Season 4 /28/29

 

Season summary

We started the season very good, a few wins, a few draws and a few draws, wich gave this league table right before the winterbreak (wich lasts until mid february in Austria)

At this point we receive our intake preview, wich was okay, didn't expect a new "Korkmaz" so just a wider base of higher level players.

During the transfer window i got an offer on our playmaker van der Lugt, first Porto did a bid (5mil) but without the sell on clause, so i rejected. Then this happened...

 

So bye bye playmaker, i knew i had a decent backup in the youth team so it was time to promote him to the senior squad!

It was time for the ZOLTAN!!

The second he started playing, our squad gelled like it never did before, he was the player we were missing. I tought we were going the suffer because of the sale of van der Lugt but no...

Our intake was okay, the best players were

 

Then back to the league, we managed to qualify for the champions group

So this is how it started...We had an absolute banger in this playoff group, we destroyed the competition all thanks to the Zoltan!

We managed to overtake Altach, Sturm and were 4th with 1 game left, if we won that game and Austria (3rd at that moment) didn't win, we became 3rd.

And so be it

We qualified for the league phase of the Europa League in our first season in the Bundesliga!! Show me the money!!!

This was the final league table, because of the split in champions and relegation group it looks very chaotic!!

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Perre8

[Makoto Nakamura]

 

I'm back in Brazil, time to topple to big boys!

[karax268]

After the last meeting with the board I knew it would be very difficult to turn the tie. 

It wasn't to be. one match and another loss later and i was done.

 

 

 

This was the match that put the final nail in my coffin.

To paint the picture, they were first in the league with 11 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses. We were last with 8 points total.

When we went up 0-1 against them I dared to hope. Would this be the turning point of the season.

When we went up 0-2 I could not believe my eyes. I was FMíng my way to a miraculous revival of our season.

 

and then they remembered they were good. Soon they realised we were not and in ten minutes time my dreams where shattered.

and that was all she wrote.

 

Onwards to the next adventure!

[Brentmeister]

20 minutes ago, karax268 said:

After the last meeting with the board I knew it would be very difficult to turn the tie. 

It wasn't to be. one match and another loss later and i was done.

 

 

 

This was the match that put the final nail in my coffin.

To paint the picture, they were first in the league with 11 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses. We were last with 8 points total.

When we went up 0-1 against them I dared to hope. Would this be the turning point of the season.

When we went up 0-2 I could not believe my eyes. I was FMíng my way to a miraculous revival of our season.

 

and then they remembered they were good. Soon they realised we were not and in ten minutes time my dreams where shattered.

and that was all she wrote.

 

Onwards to the next adventure!

Brutal way to go

[Brentmeister]

1 hour ago, carlowsaint19 said:

Wondering how you are all dealing with these squad depth issues, my squad are very unhappy at the moment, but dont think there is anything I can do (they are pissed that I have no defenders)

 

I ignore it. If you start doing well, everyone just sort of forgets about it!

[Anners]

1 hour ago, carlowsaint19 said:

Wondering how you are all dealing with these squad depth issues, my squad are very unhappy at the moment, but dont think there is anything I can do (they are pissed that I have no defenders)

 

A bit like what Brentmeister said - I just kept saying something to do with youth products, but it does tend to go away after a little bit.

[BustaRaymes]

Just out of curiosity; there are edited databases around that open up the Dutch First Division for relegation, would that make it eligible for this challenge? I suppose not as it's an invented scenario, right?

[Vakama2619]

11 minutes ago, BustaRaymes said:

Just out of curiosity; there are edited databases around that open up the Dutch First Division for relegation, would that make it eligible for this challenge? I suppose not as it's an invented scenario, right?

I believe the country is still not allowed regardless, although I don't think theres any currently

[carlowsaint19]

1 hour ago, Brentmeister said:

I ignore it. If you start doing well, everyone just sort of forgets about it!

 

1 hour ago, Anners said:

A bit like what Brentmeister said - I just kept saying something to do with youth products, but it does tend to go away after a little bit.

Thanks both, have been on a big unbeaten run in the league and like you said, the moaning has gone away.

 

Sadly my initial youth intake preview looks awful

[karax268]

Start of challenge

 

We go again. On to Ankara in Turkey where we take over Çankaya FK

They play in the 18.000 seater stadium Osmanlı Stadyumu. For now, that is much to big for them. Hopefully we can fill it up on our way to the top.

 

First goal, best team in Ankara.

Next, displace those Istanbul teams.

then, Conquer Europe.

 

Manager profile | Transfers

 

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

                   

Haringey Borough - Review Season 6

This was the year everything clicked! The lineup was the same, but an extra year of gelling (and finally some green links between players) took our performances up a notch. We had a great midseason run and finished 5th in the league. We won the first round of the playoffs but lost in the semi finals to Wealdstone. It was a tight game and the 3-0 scoreline flattered them. We scored the 4th most goals in the league with 100 and we're a midtable defense with 78 conceded. Surprisingly our average attendance was 8th best at 905. We never used to have good attendance, but being established in the league helped I guess, as does being in the center of London. Next year we'll aim for another promotion push, but we managed to get another year older and I don't mind have more time in the VNS to build our club.

 

Our midseason form coincided with 2 amazing cup runs. We spent about 500k on training facility upgrades, but made most of it back with cup runs. We managed to draw at home to L1 Wrexham in the FA Cup first round, and followed it up with a narrow 1-0 loss on the road that gave us a ton of money. We we're unlucky to draw the first game to be honest and should have advanced then and there. They scored an injury time goal to tie and we had 2.08 xG. Then the FA Trophy run was even better. We beat 4 VNL sides on our way to the final, which was against a Farnborough side that finished 14th in our division. A lucky draw that we couldn't do enough to make count as we lost on penalties after tying the game up in the 118th minute after sending everyone forward in an all-out attack. We were the better team so it was a tough loss to take when we had made it so close. Ultimately, we won 3 shootouts to make it that far and couldn't win the 4th.

 

Top 3 performers:

Spoiler

Spent a ton on training facility upgrades, but still looking healthy. Our wage budget is still low, but we can't afford any more youth recruitment upgrades until we get promoted or else the club will hemorrhage money.

Got 1.2k to let Smith 02a leave a month early.

[jrobertgordon13]

My Bethesda SC game file corrupted (or at least it said it wouldn't load) so I'm heading to Cyprus!

[glennuk]

Was behind on my updates and then......

Soo frustrated. I decided to ask the board for a youth upgrade. They said only if you say you will play youth.

I played youth every game.....got fired for NEVER playing youth???????

Feel like it must be a bug, as I even went back to an earlier save. Set my lineup to only youth players. Simmed until end of the season and still the same message.

SO PSA: I guess never promise to give youth a chance.

Will probably restart in Japan. But just sooooo annoyed. Things had just started going well with Honda.....

[glennuk]

Started again already, but can anyone remind me what to do with a pre-arranged transfer (was a free transfer with the player joining at the end of his contract) that I can not cancel?

Do I try to sell the player ASAP? Leave in reserves? Try to loan out? Or I think I read somewhere I can play them, but cant find it now....

[karax268]

I just try to get rid of them as soon as possible @glennuk

[Makoto Nakamura]

2024 Youth Candidates

I'm a bit surprised to get a 17 year old through the intake, I swear back in the day they used to be 14/15?

Edited November 19, 2023 by Makoto Nakamura

[Brentmeister]

3 hours ago, glennuk said:

Started again already, but can anyone remind me what to do with a pre-arranged transfer (was a free transfer with the player joining at the end of his contract) that I can not cancel?

Do I try to sell the player ASAP? Leave in reserves? Try to loan out? Or I think I read somewhere I can play them, but cant find it now....

If it was done before you joined the club then he's yours to use, right?

[officiallydeej]

Dulwich Hamlet - 2027/28

Vanarama National League - 9th

A very pleasing first outing at this level, with a 9th place finish probably about fair based on our performances. We spent the first third of the season between 14th-17th and although we never got sucked into the relegation battle I was a little bit nervous knowing a collapse in form could drag us in. The middle third we exploded into league winning form and we were as high at 5th after 33 games. We only won 4 of our last 12 as my squad ran out of steam and everyone around us seemed to win every week, however if I'd been offered 9th and 25 points above the relegation zone before a ball was kicked I'd have been more than happy.

Our issue comes in two of our star players who have been part of the quarter to carry us over the last few seasons will be leaving on frees. Bas Panamarenko and our best player Paul Moro have both refused new contract and (unless there's a miracle with Moro) will be moving on to pastures new. Panamarenko is annoyingly going to St Pats, meaning we won't get any compensation as he is leaving England. Moro hasn't signed a pre contract yet but with 10 English clubs circling I would imagine as soon as they can make him an offer he'll be on his way.

As seen further down we've had another shocking intake and I'm not really sure why, they've declined each year despite an improvement to facilities. As a result I've sacked my HoYD, brought in another and given responsibility for intakes to my Director of Football who due to my error assigning roles oversaw the 2025 golden generation which makes up most of my team. I've no idea if there's anything in the DoF doing it, but I'm a superstitious chap and with 5 over 30s in my best 11 we really are starting to run out of time.

Our u18s won their league with 30 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat and 153 goals scores, but that is more a reflection on them playing in a very poor league than there being any first team ready players coming through

 
 

Cups

The cups didn't go so well and we really needed them to. As a National League side we now enter the FA cup in the fourth qualifying round and were dumped out at home to National League South side Worthing. We also enter the Trophy in the third round, with defeat to Yeovil meaning we had no cup wins at all this season. We are now four seasons in and still haven't won an FA Trophy match!

 

Star Players

   

 

Star boy Paul Moro 25b took the step up to the National League with ease, registering 16 goals and 12 assists at an average rating of 7.31. He will leave us with 47 goals and 36 assists in just 121 games, a seriously impressive return from attacking midfield. He's one of my favourite players over the last couple of versions of FM and is going to leave an enormous void that I'm not currently equipped to fill.

One player who will be staying with us is Rekeem Thomas 25c. I offered him a 3+1 contract and the next day before signing he said he wanted to explore his options and leave. Luckily the contract offer seemed to supersede his unhappiness and he signed the contract. He gave us 10 goals and 9 assists in 31 starts, his season often broken up by international duty. He is a real star for Antigua though, with 10 goals in 17 caps for his nation.

After Panamarenko signed his pre contract deal with St Pats, I decided to switch to 1 up front and go all in on Sam Caldwell 25b, benching our departing Irishman. He didn't let me down and despite not being the fastest scored 18 goals in 35 starts. 15 finishing and composure is elite for this level and keeping him supplied with chances will be crucial to surviving next season. I do have another similar striker in the academy from last year's intake, McHardy, who scored an incredible 46 in 38 for the U18s so there is every chance I may switch back to a front two going forward.

 

Youth Intake

 

 

 

As mentioned further up another really disappointing intake, meaning the squad situation is becoming quite desperate which original players aging fast. I signed 7 players from this intake, just to make the numbers up in the u18s if nothing else. Danny Atkinson seems to have the highest potential but has a very odd set of attributes for an attacking midfielder, I haven't quite decided what to do with him yet.

I'm hoping my superstitious switch back to my DoF handling next year's intake bears the same fruit as it did in 2025 as the last 3 intakes have really dwindled to nothing.

 

Admin

 

The board's decision to take out a huge loan for a new 6000 seater stadium proved every bit as disastrous as expected, with the monthly repayments undoing all my previous good financial management and pushing us into the red for the first time. The stadium opens in 2 weeks, but the predicted increase in income doesn't cover the £50k monthly repayments. Obviously without a cup run facility improvements aren't on the horizon, however with good youth coaching and average youth recruitment (and being London based) I would really expect to see better intakes than we are currently.

No transfers out to show but this will obviously change when my two top prospects depart. Moro I have already covered, and Panamarenko leaves us after scoring 47 times in 118 starts. Between the pair the have scored almost 100 goals and laid on 50 more in 3 seasons, and we will really need Caldwell and Beaney to step up going into next season.

Edited November 19, 2023 by officiallydeej

[carlowsaint19]

5 hours ago, glennuk said:

Was behind on my updates and then......

Soo frustrated. I decided to ask the board for a youth upgrade. They said only if you say you will play youth.

I played youth every game.....got fired for NEVER playing youth???????

Feel like it must be a bug, as I even went back to an earlier save. Set my lineup to only youth players. Simmed until end of the season and still the same message.

SO PSA: I guess never promise to give youth a chance.

Will probably restart in Japan. But just sooooo annoyed. Things had just started going well with Honda.....

that is crazy, promises need to be avoided at all costs by the looks of things in FM24 

[glennuk]

30 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

If it was done before you joined the club then he's yours to use, right?

I started a new save and joined as manager on 15th January. I cancelled one of the existing transfers (the player was still debating the contract offer). However there was already a free transfer agreement for a player to join on 1st February when his contract expired. I had no option to cancel that one.

 

Not playing him for now, but he would be my 2nd choice winger if I can. @Darren1982or @XaWany clarity on this? I keep searching but maybe I'm using the wrong search terms

[glennuk]

4 minutes ago, carlowsaint19 said:

that is crazy, promises need to be avoided at all costs by the looks of things in FM24 

Yeh I was at the end of season 3 and just had my best youth intake yet. Got to excellent training facilities and things in the save were looking up.....

 

When I went back and holidayed through an older save with the promise already in place I had 13 games left in the season and used only youth players.....still the same response from the board 🤔

[JLAB]

Real Jaén - Season 3 - I Could Be Sacked?!

Sometimes, things fall apart before your eyes. After enjoying a great January and picking up 13 points from the first six games of 2027, we somehow ended up enduring one of the worst periods of my life. Losing seven games in a row has entirely made me lose all of my confidence in the side.

Heading into the game against top-of-the-table Linares, we were dragged into a relegation fight. Despite having over 40 points, it was not ideal.

It was getting bad enough that the media said I needed a win to keep my job.

Despite all this negative energy around the club, our latest youth intake was outstanding, but I couldn't celebrate because of how quickly things turned against me.

This wasn't helped because I lost 2-1 to Linares despite taking a first-half lead.

I'm still in a job, but it feels like it's just a matter of time before it's taken away from me.

Watch the video below if you want to see the players who came through the youth intake.

YAC - Real Jaén - Part 13

[Brentmeister]

Mid-Season update

Things are going well in the league. We hold an 8-point lead for automatic promotion with 13 games to play.

We need to go up in the next 2/3 seasons or all of our youth upgrades will eventually bankrupt us, unless another wonderkid comes along.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Youth Intake

A promising preview that will no doubt be completely different by the time it arrives

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Transfer news

We managed to sell our sell-on clause early for another 7.4m. This should keep us running for the next 3 years.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Upgrades

A coaching course, 2 facilities upgrades, and 2 junior coaching upgrades puts us in a great position to nurture the next generation.

(The training upgrades are currently pending and will be completed in 2 months, taking it to good)

I'd like to squeeze in 1 more recruitment upgrade before the intake arrives.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[carlowsaint19]

1 hour ago, glennuk said:

Yeh I was at the end of season 3 and just had my best youth intake yet. Got to excellent training facilities and things in the save were looking up.....

 

When I went back and holidayed through an older save with the promise already in place I had 13 games left in the season and used only youth players.....still the same response from the board 🤔

Likely worth reporting as a bug, so unfortunate

[darren1983]

5 hours ago, glennuk said:

Started again already, but can anyone remind me what to do with a pre-arranged transfer (was a free transfer with the player joining at the end of his contract) that I can not cancel?

Do I try to sell the player ASAP? Leave in reserves? Try to loan out? Or I think I read somewhere I can play them, but cant find it now....

 

1 hour ago, Brentmeister said:

If it was done before you joined the club then he's yours to use, right?

 

1 hour ago, glennuk said:

I started a new save and joined as manager on 15th January. I cancelled one of the existing transfers (the player was still debating the contract offer). However there was already a free transfer agreement for a player to join on 1st February when his contract expired. I had no option to cancel that one.

 

Not playing him for now, but he would be my 2nd choice winger if I can. @Darren1982or @XaWany clarity on this? I keep searching but maybe I'm using the wrong search terms

Any player signed before you take over, and you can't cancel, is yours to use. It's no different from players already at the club when you take over.

Any plyer the club sign after you've taken over can't be used.

[darren1983]

First game after promotion  

 

2 injury time goals as I try and shut down the game and the first 2 goals from corners - safe to say I've not fixed either issue yet  

 

[carlowsaint19]

Season 1 Review in Turkey

 

Really enjoying the save so far, and the season is so quick when not spending anytime on scouting / trialling endless players. Frequent player mutinies over lack of squad depth at the back, and losing my star player to a board accepted transfer have been the main challenges but in general for a newly promoted team we had 18 players and some of a really good standard for the division. A 34 game season with a game just every Sunday makes this a lot easier I think that people starting in England in this forum for example.

League (media expectation 4th, board expect to be in playoffs) - Finished 1st. Not familiar with Turkish leagues so will be interesting to see how we compare a division up in Turkish 1.League.

Cup (be competitive, enter in 3rd round) - 4th round exit, hammered 4 - 1 by Premier division side where our goal was an O.G. from the half way line!.

Youth Intake - no superstars, but two players with around 1star CA and 4 star CA which will be used as part of squad. One decent youth already in squad from the previous season played in 23 games for me and is still 16.

Next season expectations - not announced yet but assume it will be fight bravely against relegation. 

Facilities: small improvements to youth recruitment & junior coaching during the season. Current financial balance is -200k, so not expecting any facility upgrades in the immediate future.

 

League Table

Spoiler

 

Best players, first screenshot is my star man who was sold by the board earlier in the season

 

Spoiler

 

GK

Spoiler

CB

Spoiler

Striker

Spoiler

 

Winger

Spoiler

 

Youth intake (Cihan already at club from initial season youth intake)

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

[Brentmeister]

100 games up and on the verge of promotion to the top flight.

I think this is the best start I've ever made in Belgium. It'll probably crash and burn now I've mentioned it!

[officiallydeej]

Next time you are having a tough time with this challenge, just remember you could be Cheltenham in my save.

After being relegated from League One last season with only 14 points, 38 defeats and 124 goals conceded they were probably hoping for a better start in League Two...

Where they are currently on course to conceded about 150 goals and have lost 12 from 13!