[FM24] Tulach Bòide [Scotland Tier 13]

[Jimbokav1971]

Finances & Friendlies part 4. Feb 2027. 

I did the 1st 3 in a series of posts earlier in the season where I calculated that we were running at a slight loss when playing friendlies where small numbers of supporters attended.

Part 1. 49 fans. Loss of £48.
Part 2. 27 fans. Loss of £139.
Part 3. (Away fixture picked in error). Loss of £157. 

These are really small amounts of money but when you're playing an average of 1 friendly per week over 10 months, £139 x 4 x 10 = £5,560. 

When there is very little money to go around in the 1st place then £5,560 becomes a much bigger deal. 

More important than the actual figure though, I think it allows us to have an insight into how the game mechanics work in terms of profit/loss on game day. While our breakeven point is likely to be somewhere in the region of 65(ish) fans imo. (I don't have any data for that at this stage. It's just an educated guess). Although I started looking at friendlies, and friendlies at a tiny Semi-Pro club at that, the same basic thinking holds true for even the biggest clubs at the highest level, (although their breakeven point will be much higher because their costs will be higher). Our costs here are low so our breakeven point will be lower. Simples. 

I've got a home friendly coming up against the local big side Alloa Athletic, on 1st next month and that should allow a slightly different perspective, but I also thought it would be good to look at a competitive game too. We are playing a Cup game today against the biggest club we have played a competitive fixture against in this save so far. Clydebank were a big club back when I was a kid and I'm pretty sure they were in the Premiership with the. big boys for a while. They are now Semi-Pro and playing in the West of Scotland Premier Division, (the level below the Highland/Lowland leagues), so they are 4 leagues above us and I'm expecting the crowd to be decent, (although not a sell-out), so it makes for a good alternative snapshot from the very low attendances we have looked at before. As our home capacity is only 500 it will of course be limited though. Their average attendance this season is 446 and Clydebank to Tullibody is about 40 miles away so we should have a decent travelling support from them. 

Before I do this it's worth pointing out that because this is a Cup the gate receipts might be split, (and that info should be on the rules section but never is). It's just something that we should keep in mind if we get some strange results here. 

Income.

Expenditure. 

Balance.

Fixture.

Income. 

Gate Receipts +£1,442

Expenditure.

Bonuses +£145
Tax +£288
Travel costs +£50 (Why are we paying travel costs at home?) Is this ref travel costs or something like that?  * Actually, I've done it again. I've just realised that we were away.  So the travel costs are for us to travel to Clydebank. I guess we're just paying petrol. 

Balance. £21,153 - £20,194 = +£959

Conclusion. So with an attendance of 388 we make slightly less than £1,000 profit on the game, (and that includes player wages which are under bonuses in this example). That obviously shows that it's very hard to make money here at a club where the attendances are so low, (and also where the ticket prices are so low). I've just realised that we were away rather than home, (so this is a waste of time again  but I've done it now). 

Just for reference, how the Scottish Cup works, (and I would expect other Scottish Cups to be similar), is that the hosting club takes 20% of the gate receipts to cover expenses and then the remaining 80% is split 40%/40% between home and away. 

When do we get to play Celtic away? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Finances & Friendlies part 5. 

Part 1. 49 fans. Loss of £48.
Part 2. 27 fans. Loss of £139.
Part 3. (Away fixture picked in error). Loss of £157. 
Part 4. 388 fans. (Cup Away fixture picked in error). Profit of £959)

Income.

Expenditure. 

Balance.

Fixture.

Income.  Can someone explain to me how a club with only 23 season tickets, only generates £189 in gate receipts when it sells 266 tickets please? 266 tickets - 23 season tickets = 234 standard tickets. £189/234 = approx £0.81 per ticket. That just doesn't make sense. The Match Day income makes much more sense but the gate receipts can't be right can they? 81p? 

Expenditure.

Balance. £19,677 - £19,515 = +£162

Conclusion. This really doesn't seem right..... until you think that our average ticket prices popped from £1 to £2 at the beginning of this season. In reality that doesn't mean they went from £1 to £2. It meant that they went from something close to £1 to more than £1.50 If we're charging £1.50 for a league game, is it proportionally possible that we're charging £0.81 for a friendly? The answer unfortunately is yes.  We're not just getting shafted by our low attendances. We're getting absolutely hammered by our low pricing.

(So let's leave that well alone now until we're selling 500 tickets regularly eh). 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2027. 

West of Scotland 4th Div. With 6 games remaining and a possible 18 points to win, we're 17 points clear at the top. Any slight slip-up by the chasing pack will hand us the title even if we don't win another single point from our remaining 6 games. 

West of Scotland Cup. (Our opponent is 4 leagues above us). They have actually played in the Premiership in my lifetime and are currently top of the West of Scotland Premier Division 4 leagues above us! 

Board Takeover. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Nothing this month. 

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 13/14 from the spot at 93%.

FInances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Mar 2027.

Any intake with 16x 5.0 PA players is going to be decent intake, but after the preview I was expecting and hoping for more CA and an a little underwhelmed if I'm honest. Maybe I'm being greedy and it's far from a rubbish intake but..... 

[Edit]

I really don't want to sign these sorts of players, but until we can get to a stage where everyone isn't a 5.0 PA player and I can get some sort of idea as to who is worth keeping and who isn't, (in terms of PA), then I'm just going to keep signing everyone. The positions we're most in need of are DC and MC so there is no way that I can't sign these 5.

HoYD (F.Sport) WWY13 433 is our current HoYD and as I have delegated responsibility for most staff recruitment I'm not actually sure if he has been the only HoYD at the club during my tenure. 

[Edit2]

We've now got 51 players at the club and that's far too many. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

NxGn 2027. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2027. 

We've been promoted to Tier 9 with 6 games still left to play. 

With 5 league games still to play we were crowned Champions, and with it secured a 4th successive promotion, a 3rd successive league title and a 2nd successive League and Cup double. 

West of Scotland 4th Div. We just keep rolling on and are now 19 points clear at the top. 

West of Scotland Cup. (Our opposition are 4 leagues above us).

Debuts.

Facilities. This happened once our promotion was announced, It had nothing to do with me. Still no U18's squad though. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Nothing this month. 

Finances. 

[Mr Jabay]

vor 8 Stunden schrieb Jimbokav1971:

Conclusion. This really doesn't seem right..... until you think that our average ticket prices popped from £1 to £2 at the beginning of this season. In reality that doesn't mean they went from £1 to £2. It meant that they went from something close to £1 to more than £1.50 If we're charging £1.50 for a league game, is it proportionally possible that we're charging £0.81 for a friendly? The answer unfortunately is yes.  We're not just getting shafted by our low attendances. We're getting absolutely hammered by our low pricing.

Well, I think it could be that there were some free tickets involved, like for kids or ... who knows.

More disappointing are the Matchday incomes: there is always a big hustle around beer and fingerfood (at least in Germany) during a low-level football match, so the income should be way more than 10 $. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Mr Jabay said:

Well, I think it could be that there were some free tickets involved, like for kids or ... who knows.

More disappointing are the Matchday incomes: there is always a big hustle around beer and fingerfood (at least in Germany) during a low-level football match, so the income should be way more than 10 $. 

I think your point about free tickets for kids might be worth consideration at a slightly bigger club, but how many free tickets are likely to have been given out, especially to a game that kicks off at 19:30 on a Monday night? I really don't think that's a significant consideration. 

Let's just assume, (for arguments sake), that they gave away tickets, let;s try and think how many kids might have attended. 

Tullibody is so small that it doesn't have it's own primary school. It shares the Banchory Primary School with 3 other villages, so at a really rough rule of head, approx 25% of the kids in the school are going to actually live in Tullibody, (and be likely to attend). So if we assume 35 kids per class and 8 years including infants, (who are far too young for this on a Monday night but just go with it), the  the numbers are 35 x 8 = 280/4 = 70. So if 25% of every child in the infant school attended the match then that would mean 70 free tickets. 

If we remove these 70 free tickets from 266 attendees then that leaves us with 196 paying customers. 

Gate Receipts of £189, (that's pre-tax by the way), divided by 196(-23 season tickets) = 176 = £1.07 per ticket. Do you see what I mean? It doesn't really make much difference at all. 

I think Match Day Income of £2 per person is much less of an issue that Ticket sales of £1.07 per person, (but maybe it's just been done this way to balance the overall financial model).

We're being ultra-successful and have less than £13k in the bank, (while being really conservative with wages because we only have 1 player at the club who's not a teenager). With that in mind I think the overall financial model is stable, but low ticket prices are a way to balance that, (and hide inaccuracies elsewhere). 

Anyway, I don't think I need to get too bogged down by it now that we know that ticket sales are not the way forward. It's worth following at the save progresses, but I think we can probably do that just by looking at the Average Ticket price and Season Ticket sales, (assuming they go up this season), rather than me boring you all with all these meaningless detail. (Apologies, when I just get something in my head I like to investigate it until I understand what is happening). Now I know what's happening I'm fine (even though it's not correct). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2027.

West of Scotland 4th Div. We romped the league in the end, losing only twice and finishing 21 points ahead of 2nd place. I was expecting this season to have been much tougher but if anything it was easier. It makes me wonder if it will be like this all the way to the Highland/Lowland League. 

West of Scotland Cup. (Our opposition were 4 leagues above us). But we've beaten teams at this level already this season and I honestly think we had a decent chance of winning this. In the previous round we beat the team who were 1st in the West Of Scotland Premier League AWAY, and this lot are mid-table and we were playing at home. 

You're not going to believe what I did here.  I thought this was a friendly and I picked a completely rotated team and gave 6 players their debuts.  I was trying and failing to multitask and just screwed up.  This is really annoying but it's happened now and there is nothing I can do about it other than to make sure I don't make the same mistake again. 

Have I mentioned that this was the Semi-Final? 

Debuts. 

Records.

Goal-scoring GK's.Some much-needed good news this month is that (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" scored goals in all 3 of the league games this month, (bringing his tally to the season to 9). While that beats his tally of 5 from last season and 2 from the season before and really isn't that impressive, having a 17 yo GK already having scored 16 career goals is impressive. 

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 16/17 from the spot at 94%.

Finances. 

[Mr Jabay]

vor 36 Minuten schrieb Jimbokav1971:

I think your point about free tickets for kids might be worth consideration at a slightly bigger club, but how many free tickets are likely to have been given out, especially to a game that kicks off at 19:30 on a Monday night? I really don't think that's a significant consideration. 

Yes, you are right. It would be really interesting to see how the game calculates the income

[Jimbokav1971]

59 minutes ago, Mr Jabay said:

Yes, you are right. It would be really interesting to see how the game calculates the income

I think the original full game is quite good, (in the main), at getting things realistic and accurate and making it work within the game. 

When it comes to edited databases like this, that's obviously far harder to replicate so I think we have to give them a little bit of poetic licence with how the finances work, just so long as they work, (and I have no complaints so far). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Season stats. May 2027. 

Squad by Appearances. 

Squad by Goals. 

Squad by Assists. 

Squad by Average Rating.

Squad by CA.

Squad by PA. We had 51 players at the club and 50 of the had 5.0 PA rating, (so we now have 50 players at the club). 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[phnompenhandy]

You should nickname your new chairman "Mozza"    

[Jimbokav1971]

Saved Team selections. May 2027. 

I've had to cull the numbers, so i've got out the scythe and tried to be quite brutal. 

I've released 12 players in the last week and that leaves us with 37 teenagers who are all 5.0 PA. I will continue to cull those who produce average ratings significantly poorer than others in their position or who consistently train poorly. 

1st Team. 

2nd Team. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

26 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

You should nickname your new chairman "Mozza"    

I'd be too tempted to @ him if he screwed me over and after that Country in South America beginning with C I didn't want to temp anything. 

[phnompenhandy]

1 minute ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I'd be too tempted to @ him if he screwed me over and after that Country in South America beginning with C I didn't want to temp anything. 

Don't worry. In previous saves I've nicknamed my chairperson with my wife's name, then blame her for being stingy when my requests get turned down

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2027. 

Facilities. 

Vision. 

I saw @phnompenhandyand @Stuniverse use this page and didn't even recognise it because I never click on it, so here you go. 

Overall Best XI. This still doesn't work properly.  (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" for example has 16 goals rather than 14 goals, but because he wasn't in the seasonal Best XI for 24/25 when he scored 2 goals, they don't count. How hard is it to count all the appearances the player has made for the club? 

Trophy Cabinet. 

Favoured Personnel. 

Finances. 

Now we're starting to get somewhere. Last seasons Season Tickets were 23 and surely they are going to rise this year after all the goals we've scored, (and conceded). The big change though is the significant increase in the price structure. The projections are a little silly, (and probably wrong), but we're finally starting to see some proper ticket prices. 

Season Tickets rising from £9 to £31. 
Average Tickets rising from £2 to £5. 

I think this will have a significant impact. 

[Jimbokav1971]

16 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Don't worry. In previous saves I've nicknamed my chairperson with my wife's name, then blame her for being stingy when my requests get turned down

I must have a warped sense of humour, but the 1st thing I think of here is to trawl back through your old threads, find our Mrs @phnompenhandy's name, install her as my new El Presidente and then wait while all hell unfolds...... 

[phnompenhandy]

10 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I must have a warped sense of humour, but the 1st thing I think of here is to trawl back through your old threads, find our Mrs @phnompenhandy's name, install her as my new El Presidente and then wait while all hell unfolds...... 

this is her

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun 2027. 

Competitions. What a page this is. Thank you @phnompenhandy I'm not sure we're so thankful to be playing in 7 competitions though. 

Reputation. 

Average Attendance. 

Finances. 

[phnompenhandy]

You've somehow squeezed in one more sucky cup than me!

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul 2027.

Friendlies. Lots of goals. 

Transfers. We only lost 1 player that I didn't want to lose, but it was a big loss with our 1st choice GK going. 

(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" has gone to another club in our league, (which is frustrating), and of course we will have the opportunity to re-sign him in the future. 

Dynamics. 

Finances. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

You've somehow squeezed in one more sucky cup than me!

The South, EaST and West Cup winners Shield is something I have never even seen. It happens at the end of the season. More info as and when. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2027. 

Season Preview. Not really sure what to expect from this season. Lots of goals? 

West of Scotland 3rd Div. We might have been lucky with who our 1st opposition in the league were, but that's still a hell of a Game 1 marker to lay down. 7 different goal-scorers, (including our GK). 

Scottish Cup. I would love to see how far we can go in this as a non-league team, (and the money is a nice bonus). I think I will prioritise this competition ahead of everything else, (even the league). 

(Our opposition are 1 league above us). 

(Our opposition are at the same level as us). 

Scottish Non League Cup. Considering we had a 1st half sending off, (while we were already a man down), I think we did well to take it to pens. Either way, we're still out. 

(East of Scotland 3rd Division which I think is 1 league above us, but across from us). 

Fingers crossed he doesn't go all Colombian on my ass! 

Strathclyde Demolition Cup. Another defeat in a Cup after a sending off. It appears to be becoming a bit of a trend. 

(Our opponents are 1 league below us). 

(Our opponents are 1 league above us). 

Junior Cup. A comfortable win. 

(Our opponents were.... you know I'm not completely sure, but I think 2 leagues above us). 

Records. 

Goal-scoring GK's. We've only 1 got 1 GK at the club because I released 1 from the most recent intake and then someone poached our best GK so I'm having to sign another grey GK because we need a GK on the bench in some competitions. 

Our GK is so bad that the grey bloke I've just signed is rated better than hin on both CA and PA. 

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 16/17 from the spot at 94%. (Is no longer at the club).
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 2/2 from the spot at 100%. 

Finances. £18k in prize money certainly helps, but we've also taken £4,125 in gate receipts in our 1st month and we only took £15,867 over the course of the whole season last year. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Squad (U18's). Sep 2027. 

I noticed that our Youth Team had a game planned, but we don't have an Youth Team or an U18's so I was confused. 

I checked and it definitely wasn't visible so I pressed a "Reset" button just on the off chance and just like magic it appeared. 

I wonder how long it's been waiting for me to do that for? 

We've got 15 players who didn't play a single minute in the opening month so I've stuck them all in the U18's. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2027. 

West of Scotland 3rd Div. Finally a league that I can get my teeth into rather than one we just win in a stroll with a cigar on. Right now I would give my left nad for a 3rd place finish at the end of the season. 

Scottish Cup. I have no idea what round the big boys enter the competition, but that's the dream right? (Away obviously). 

(Our opponents are 2 leagues above us). 

Junior Cup. The truth is that our 2nd Team are nowhere as strong as our 1st Team at the moment, so the 1st Team played in the Scottish Cup, (and progressed), and the 2nd Team played in this, (and lost on pens). That's fine by me. 

(Our opponents are 3 leagues above us).

Records. Progress. 

Coaching Badges. 

Facilities. This is progressing really nicely. 

* Remember the number upgrades don't kick in for a month or so. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 1 more goal for (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" this month, (who it has to be said is in pretty poor form with the gloves). 

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 16/17 from the spot at 94%. (Is no longer at the club).
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 3/3 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. You might think that the prize money is too much at this level but (1). It's accurate and we're over-performing to get here and (2). The only reason we're building a healthy bank balance is because we have a whole squad of teenagers and are paying them significantly less than the older players we had before, (although I am considering re-signing some of them right now)....... 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2027.

West of Scotland 3rd Div. I thought we'd grabbed all 3 points against Neilston with a 91st min goal to make it 3-2, but we went and conceded a 3rd in the 93rd min to cost us 2 points and lose top spot in the league.  Still really happy with how things are going though. Would love another league title but just want to try to hang on to the playoffs at the moment. 

Scottish Cup. What a win this was. Even a 48th min red card couldn't stop us. 

(Our opponents play 4 leagues above us in the Highland League).

West of Scotland Cup. Very comfortable win. 

(Our opponents play at the same level as us).

Job Interview. No thanks. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Another couple of goals for (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10".

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 16/17 from the spot at 94%. (Is no longer at the club).
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 5/5 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. This is the 1st time we have played on TV. Win, lose or draw, the £6,000 is brilliant.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2027. 

West of Scotland 3rd Div. I see the draw against Vale of Leven as 2 points dropped, but when nobody else is managing collect more points it stop becoming 2 points dropped and start becoming 10 points won. West Park are just 1 point behind, but they have played an extra game. 

Scottish Cup. I was really hoping for another win and then a big juicy draw, but alas we were well beaten in the end.  Still, it was fun while it lasted. 

(The opposition are 2 leagues above us).

West of Scotland Cup. We probably should have won this, but despite scoring lots of goals, we only actually have 2 clinical finishers and both of them are recovering from injuries. 

(The opposition are 2 leagues above us). 

Debuts.

Records.

Goal-scoring GK's. Another goal for (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10".

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 16/17 from the spot at 94%. (Is no longer at the club).
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 6/6 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Tactical tweaks. Dec 2027.

We've been playing with double CM(s) in the middle of the pitch and I've been looking at them and not liking it for a while. I appreciate that they have an awful lot of ground to cover, (and that they're nowhere near as athletic as Pro players), so it seems I'm asking them to do an impossible job in there by leaving them both as is. The problem is though that I want to continue with 2 in there because I don't want to sacrifice 3 at the back or 3 up front, and our greatest attacking threats are our WB's so I don't want to change things there either. 

With that in mind I have changed the MLC to a DLP(s). I personally like this as a role, (particularly in the MLC slot for some reason), and when the Ass Man suggested that we change it for 1 particular player, I didn't need a 2nd invitation and changed it for everyone who plays there. 

The idea is that this will put the brakes on him just a little bit more and make him sit rather than get into such advanced positions.

In my head, how I see the tactic evolving at the moment is something like this, but we're sooooo far away from there right now that it's hardly worth mentioning. 

I'm relatively happy with the back 3 & GK right now, (the fact that we're conceding so many goals is just a nature of the beast), but I would like to play slightly higher at some point in the future, (when we have centre-backs who can run & GK's who can sweep, but I also want our left DLC to move wider into a WCB role.

This is what it is now. 

What I want it to be is something like this. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CM(s)---------------DLP(s)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------WB(s)-------------------------------------------------------WB(a)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------WCB(a)-------------------------L(s)------------BPD(d)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SK(a)

The problems I've got at the moment is that the best DLP's I've got are both lefties, and I don;t want to play them on the right in a 2, and the only suitable WCB is actually a righty and we have someone much more suited to playing on the right. 

You could be saying, well that's fine, just invert the whole thing and put the DLP(s) in the MRC slot, move the WCB(a) to the right and everything's sorted, but I don't want to lose our attacking threat from the WB(a) there because it's suck an attacking outlet, and I don;t want to reign them in from WB(a) to WB(s).

Also, because I use the IR buttons and don't usually watch matches, making tactical tweaks like this can be risky. I want to do things very gradually so I can see what works and what doesn't, and when you do multiple things at once, it's impossible to know what caused the problem when one occurs. 

So far the move to DLP(s) from CM(s) in the MLC slot seems to have had a positive effect in that we're conceding slightly fewer goals, but have also lost a little something going forward, (but that's fine). We've still had 3 red cards during these 12 games, (which is actually a slight improvement I think), but all 3 were for 2nd yellows rather than straight reds, (which is a change), and I'm not sure I like that because this tweak was designed to reduce the occasions when we were caught ahead of the ball and were forced to make a tactical foul. I haven;t checked to see what the yellows were for, (can't be bothered), but obviously if they are for tactical fouls rather than aggressive challenges then this is a tactical problem because my change hasn't done part of what I wanted it to do. 

The other thing to remember is that we're just to tactically limited by the physical ability, (inability), of our players. We're working with such a low level of players that asking players to do what we want and play WB(a) isn't realistic and we're only getting away with it because I'm selecting the best physical players in that area, (rather than the best actual players), and they're effectively running away from the opposition and causing huge overloads in an area where we're already overloading them.

[phnompenhandy]

As I'm very soon to mention in my next post, I too have had five years of headaches with my midfield duo. In the first year the '2' of my 4-2-4 was a DM double-pivot, but the individuals were very poor and nothing came through in the intake, so I adjusted to a pair of MCs. I've never been happy with them, but in the main I've gone with a fancy-dan dlp and a thuglife bwm. The bwm in particular is a weakness - at this level they don't really have the positioning and other mentals to make good decisions, but if I try a different role we get sliced up down the centre. I'm pretty sure what I should do is drop a forward and go 4-3-3 but I've limited myself with my 'DNA' philosophy.

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2027. 

I "think", (not 100% positive yet), that this sort of preview indicates that the strength is more in the CA than the PA, so it will be interesting to check once it comes through. . 

I think this section is all about CA, (in comparison to our existing players). 

And I think this section is all about PA, (in comparison to our existing players). 

Whatever each section represents, it's clear that they don't reflect the quality in the same areas in the same way. 

The alphabetic value one of the best we ever see in an preview, where as the numerical/stars rating, (it's effectively an 8/10 rating), is good but nothing amazing.

I'm posting this now so that it will remind me to comment whether I'm right or wrong when the intake arrives, (and because the difference is so significant it should be easy to see). 

In terms of how I've managed to get this sort of intake again, (I often get messages asking how I do it), and remember the intake isn't here so I'm just assuming all this at this stage, then there's a few different reasons. 

1. You have to remember that at the start of the season we had 1 single player who wasn't a teenager, (and I released him), so the age of our squad is very young. They are also very poor at playing football. Because of that, the level against which new intakes are being judged is very low. So even a player with average PA coming through looks like a superstar right now. (Even grey players looked decent on the star rating when we sign them and we know that they're really not). 

2. Our reputation has taken a few nice boosts in recent seasons. We've won 4 promotions, 3 league titles and 2 doubles and beaten quite a few sides from higher leagues. All this is going to really boost our reputation what was from an appallingly low starting level. So even without getting any facility upgrades, I think we were due to get significantly better players simoly because our rep was so much improved. (Not good players by the way. Just better players). 

3. Facility upgrades. 

Training Facilities. L1-L3.
Youth Facilities. L1-L3.
Junior Coaching. L6-L9.
Youth Recruitment. L12-L14. 

The reason I checked these with both the IGE and the old manual table is that I think I've got a recent double upgrade that isn't showing yet. 

We had a double upgrade agreed on 1st Oct 2027 and today is 13th Dec 2027 so it's been about 2.5 months and it still hasn't kicked in. It used to be approx 1 month, so that's a little longer I think.

The other thing that catches my eye is that while I was expecting our facilities, (once the recent double upgrade kicks in), to be something like 1.1.9.9.1, the Youth recruitment value is showing like it's going to be higher than that, (according to my old FM22 graphic at least), and I wonder if this is FM finally fixing the error where "Average" as a Junior Coaching rating came before "Adequate" as a Junior Coaching rating, but "Average" as a Youth Recruitment rating came after "Adequate" as a Youth Recruitment rating. What I suspect has happened is that the Youth Recruitment values have been changed and that Youth Recruitment now goes Limited - Basic - F.Basic - Average - Adequate - Good - Excellent - Exceptional, in line with the way that Junior Coaching is graded. (but not 100% at this stage and will need to check once the recent updates kick in). 

(This is the old chart that has been accurate for a few issues of the game). 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

As I'm very soon to mention in my next post, I too have had five years of headaches with my midfield duo. In the first year the '2' of my 4-2-4 was a DM double-pivot, but the individuals were very poor and nothing came through in the intake, so I adjusted to a pair of MCs. I've never been happy with them, but in the main I've gone with a fancy-dan dlp and a thuglife bwm. The bwm in particular is a weakness - at this level they don't really have the positioning and other mentals to make good decisions, but if I try a different role we get sliced up down the centre. I'm pretty sure what I should do is drop a forward and go 4-3-3 but I've limited myself with my 'DNA' philosophy.

Yeah, I don't plan on changing anytime soon in terms of 523/343. I've played for years with 3 in the middle of the pitch in different guises and it was always deemed to be gaming the system. Now I'm doing something different and staying clear of the 4231 that used to dominate so much and many now way that 3 up front is gaming the system. 

I think it's all about overloads and you have to balance one thing with another. I'm all about goal-scoring GK's and actually playing a 4231 is probably more effective at winning penalties, (at leased I used to think so), but it had got to the stage that I just wanted a change. 

[phnompenhandy]

I'm assessing my current academy intake right now. You're about 18 months behind me in the gameworld but rapidly catching up, so it will be interesting to compare. Our facilities match up right now, but if you've got two cooking and I'm not likely to get anything again with the present board, you'll surpass mine.

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

I'm assessing my current academy intake right now. You're about 18 months behind me in the gameworld but rapidly catching up, so it will be interesting to compare. Our facilities match up right now, but if you've got two cooking and I'm not likely to get anything again with the present board, you'll surpass mine.

I'm really surprised at the level we've reached so quickly.

We've had 3 double upgrades and we have almost £100k in the bank. 

I think the biggest barrier to a really good intake right now is reputation, (which is still appalling), but which has significantly improved, (haven't checked numbers). 

I wonder if we're a million miles away from producing a player with the potential to play in the Scottish Pro leagues? I don't think we're there yet, (4.0 rating in the last 2 previews), but wouldn't surprise me if the 2028 preview was 5.0 and the 2029 intake itself was a whopper. I was really hoping that we might have drawn and beaten a Scottish League 2 club in the Scottish Cup, (but playing and winning on TV will have to do). 

[Gundo]

Good luck, @Jimbokav1971. Do you have a rough expectation/idea of how long it will take to win the Scottish Premiership? 

[Jimbokav1971]

15 minutes ago, Gundo said:

Good luck, @Jimbokav1971. Do you have a rough expectation/idea of how long it will take to win the Scottish Premiership? 

I'm not positive I will ever win the Scottish Premiership. 

I recently managed to do it in Portugal and Spain, and didn't think either of them was possible, but the gulf in class between the Old Firm and the rest of Scotland is probably unparalleled in World Football. I can't think of another Nation where 2 teams have such a stranglehold over domestic football for so long. (Serbia possibly?) 

Aberdeen were in the 90's (before Fergie joined Man Utd), is the last time that 1 of the Old Firm didn't win the league and I think I remember, (I checked when I managed Partizan), that their gap is something similar. 

I think Scotland and Serbia are probably the greatest challenge as far as these types of saves go, (and yes Serbia is on the list for next year). 

If you had asked me would it have been possible for me to overhaul the Portugese giants I would have said no, but I had the advantage there of a phoenix club, (Belenenses), with great facilities.

In Spain it was different in that I allowed myself to sign African players from elsewhere so that's another advantage. 

Here though, starting at L13 and going full Youth Only from a club with 1.1.1.1 facilities is a big ask. It wouldn't surprise me if I never close the gap to them. 

Having said that, I think getting there, (to the Premiership), will be relatively straightforward, (after we navigate the Highland/Lowland playoff pinch-point). 

Edited December 12, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2027. 

West of Scotland 3rd Div. The Dalry Thistle game was really frustrating. Don't get me wrong, we got battered and deserved to lose, but that only happened because we got a 22nd min red card, (a straight red this time), only conceded late on and almost nicked something from the game at the death. Heroic performance but 0 points. 

Although dropping 3 points is a loss, the highest placed team who managed to close points on us this month is Forth Wanderers down in 8th who managed to...... "bridge the gap".... (sorry, couldn't help it), but dropping just 1 point this month. 

New contract. I'm starting to get the hump with these 1 year contracts now.  The reality though it that it's less about how highly they value me and all about it being a NC contract. 

Goal-scoring GK's. +1 goal for (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" this month, but also the 1st failure from the spot of his career. 

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 16/17 from the spot at 94%. (Is no longer at the club).
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 7/8 from the spot at 88%.

Finances. Really pleased with how the finances are developing. Obviously it will be much harder when we turn pro, but we're building a nice little nest egg right now and it's making me wonder if we could squeeze in a Training Facility upgrade.....?

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2028. 

West of Scotland 3rd Div. I'm not sure if it's because of the tactical tweaks, or just a lack of quality up front, but we dropped 4 points this month despite playing well. Against Craigmark we were comfortably the better team but didn't take our chances and they scored with their only shot on target. Rossvale was really strange. Their GK made 7 saves and we hit the woodwork at least once, but they somehow scored 4 goals and we only scored once. The Thorn game was ridiculous. We had another early red card, (this time after 7 mins), but we also conceded 2 pens and our aggression levels seem to have gone through the roof this season. 

Transfers. He wasn't gone for long, and it made sense to bring him straight back in. 

Facilities. I mentioned in a recent post about the possibility of squeezing in a Training Facilities or Youth Facilities upgrade but after thinking about it for a while it just doesn't make sense. What's the point in developing players when they can just be nabbed off us for no compensation? No, I will keep with the Junior Coaching and the Youth Recruitment upgrades, but that's it until we turn pro. Anything else is just a waste of resources. 

This still hasn't been upgraded. It's very strange it's taking so long.Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment should have popped to 9 by now.  

Red cards. we've now had 8 red cards this season 

WBL (27b) Harney (IRL)(SCO) DL sent off for 2 yellows on 27 mins in the League Cup as we lost to Fife Elite on pens. 
WBR (25b) Browning (SCO)(IRL) sent off for 2 yellows on 65 mins in the Junior Cup as we beat Longside. 
MRC (27j) Hay (Bal) MC sent off for 2 yellows on 52 mins in the Strathclyde Cup as we lost to Yoker Athletic.
WBL (25e) Foth2 (Unamb) WBL sent off for 2 yellows on 48 mins in the Scottish Cup as we beat Keith. 
DRC (24f) Ryan (IRL)(SCO) 6'2" was sent off for 2 yellows on 66 mins in the league as we drew with Vale of Leven. 
WBL (25i) Steven (F.Amb) was sent off for 2 yellows on 81 mins in the Scottish Cup as we lost to Cumbernauld.
MRC (25f) Clements (SCO)(AUS)(Bal) was sent off for a straight red on 22 mins in the league as we lost to Dalry Thistle. 
MLC (26n) Severin (Unamb) was sent off for a straight red on 7 mins in the league as we beat Thorn. 

It's interesting that although we've had 8 reds, no player has been red-carded twice. 

4 of them have been awarded to WB's.3 of them to MC's and just 1 to a DC.

The WB's make sense because they are given such attacking instructions that they are often caught wrong side in transition and fouls follow. 
Straight reds for MC's is less of an issue and if anything I would prefer straight reds than multiple yellows. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Although (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" scored twice from the spot against Vale of Clyde, the returning (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" went straight back into the starting XI and although he conceded 4 goals against Rossvale on his 2nd debut, he then went and scored pens against both Thorn and Glasgow Perthshire. 

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 18/19 from the spot at 95%. (He's back baby!). 
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%.

Finances.

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2028. 

West of Scotland 3rd Div. 2 comfortable wins and look at that nice, juicy home attendance of 160. 

We're 10 points clear of 2nd and everyone below us is consistently dropping points while we keep cranking out those wins. Only 1 other club in the whole league won both their last 2 games, (Forth Wanderers again), and they're still down in 8th, despite their good form. We have 7 games to play. 

Facilities. The last upgrade still hasn't come through on the numbers. It's very very very very strange. It used to take about a month. These latest upgrades were agreed in September and it's Feb now so it's been 5 months. 

Goal-scoring GK's. A hit and a miss for (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" as he both scored and saw a pen saved against Kilsyth Rangers. 

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 19/21 from the spot at 90%.
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%.

Finances. We're dropping cash quicker than we used to because every time a club comes in for one of our players I have to offer them a new (NC) contract to keep them. Each time the bonus payments are slightly higher and it just adds up. It's fair to say that there has been a lot of interest and a lot of new contracts. 

[Gundo]

7 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I'm not positive I will ever win the Scottish Premiership. 

I recently managed to do it in Portugal and Spain, and didn't think either of them was possible, but the gulf in class between the Old Firm and the rest of Scotland is probably unparalleled in World Football. I can't think of another Nation where 2 teams have such a stranglehold over domestic football for so long. (Serbia possibly?) 

Aberdeen were in the 90's (before Fergie joined Man Utd), is the last time that 1 of the Old Firm didn't win the league and I think I remember, (I checked when I managed Partizan), that their gap is something similar. 

I think Scotland and Serbia are probably the greatest challenge as far as these types of saves go, (and yes Serbia is on the list for next year). 

If you had asked me would it have been possible for me to overhaul the Portugese giants I would have said no, but I had the advantage there of a phoenix club, (Belenenses), with great facilities.

In Spain it was different in that I allowed myself to sign African players from elsewhere so that's another advantage. 

Here though, starting at L13 and going full Youth Only from a club with 1.1.1.1 facilities is a big ask. It wouldn't surprise me if I never close the gap to them. 

Having said that, I think getting there, (to the Premiership), will be relatively straightforward, (after we navigate the Highland/Lowland playoff pinch-point). 

Yikes! That sounds like a crazy hard challenge – fun trying, though! I agree with Rangers and Celtic being almost a separate division to conquer. Having taken on some pretty tough challenges – self-imposed restrictions –myself in recent FMs, a good mindset to start with is accepting thatyou may never "complete it". That being said, I look forward to seeing how far you get with this, it will be a fun journey to follow.  

[Jimbokav1971]

44 minutes ago, Gundo said:

Yikes! That sounds like a crazy hard challenge – fun trying, though! I agree with Rangers and Celtic being almost a separate division to conquer. Having taken on some pretty tough challenges – self-imposed restrictions –myself in recent FMs, a good mindset to start with is accepting thatyou may never "complete it". That being said, I look forward to seeing how far you get with this, it will be a fun journey to follow.  

I'm used to failing. 

I never completed either of the @dafugeor @Gundochallenges back in the day. I could always get to the top. I could never quite finish it off though. It's all about the journey though. 

Loved my recent saves in Portugal and Spain though and Won all the domestic titles with both of them.... (just checked and won everything with Belenenses + scored 346 career goals with a GK), and with AC Ceuta in Spain/Africa we were completely dominant in Spain in the end but couldn't win the Champions league. Loved both those saves. 

Yeah, whatever happens in this save is great. Have already won a fair bit. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Mar 2028. 

I mentioned when I posted the Youth Intake preview that I predicted that this intake would be a better intake in terms of CA than PA. While the above graphic has the players ranked by PA, (because that's how I always do it because that;s what's important to me), the below graphic ranks them by CA. 

The reason for sorting the intake this way is simply to show you the strength of the CA in comparison to normal intakes. It's not as strong as that freak intake I had a couple of seasons ago, but I think you would agree that 3x 2.5 CA players, 2x 2.0 CA players, 2x 1.5 CA players and 5x 1.0 CA players is a very strong intake in terms of CA. 

(28a) Gunn (Bal) looks decent, but he's neither a MC nor a SC and I think he's made me realise that I have to stop messing about with whatever HoYD the DoF can find me, and go and sign my own who suits the formation we play. I can't be having players like this come through who are not suitable for us. It's just a waste. I probably see this guy as a central striker. 

(28f) Currid (Bal) is an MC, (and he's decent), but he;s very defensively minded and probably more used to playing in a 3 rather than the more rounded players we need in a 2.  Again, I think this might be down to the preferred formation of our HoYD which is 433 DM wide. This bloke is a very good player for our level I think and I'm sure I will find a use for him, but he's not the 10 First Touch, 10 Technique, 10 Passing, 10 Vision central midfielder I was hoping for. 

(28g) Smith (SCO)(IRL)(Fickle) is probably our best striker now, (in the whole squad). At the very least he's our 2nd best striker, (and by that I mean central striker rather than the wide strikers we're using as PF's. I really like him. 

(28d) Tomaszewski (Unamb) is another grafter in the middle of a pitch rather than a playmaker. At 6'4" he could probably do a job at centre-half too. He's not what I'm looking for, but he's certainly not rubbish. 

(28e) Crilly (NIR) (Unamb) 6'4 is a 6'4" DL and again is not what we're looking for at all despite being quite good. I hope you can just start to see the ability in these players when you look at them now. In previous intakes it was very hard to see any real quality at all, but now there is at least something there to work with. 

(28h) Mackay (Bal) is very raw and I wish his finishing was higher, but he would have started games this season if he was here so he's certainly decent. 

I'm not going to show you everyone, but there is a player here who I would never usually sign under normal circumstances because of his personality. 

(28k) Maxwell. (Spineless) is a player I would usually just bin off immediately, but here, where I really don't know how good any of them are, (because they are all 5.0 PA), I really can;t bring myself to do it. His pace and acceleration make him a bit of a freak at this sort of level. Imagine him coming through at 19/19 at a Premier League club! It's not just that though. His attributes have all got value in the right area. Don't look at what the values are. Just look at where the white is. Finishing, Technique, Composure, Det, Flair, Off The Ball, Workrate and that's even before we get to the physicals that have 3 in double figures. This bloke would have played a lot of games for me this season I think. I just can't bin him. 

[Thebaker]

If Maxwell increases his det by 1 he could be balanced and not look so bad. (he could also morph into something just as poor but not casual or slack which are the worst 2)

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, Thebaker said:

If Maxwell increases his det by 1 he could be balanced and not look so bad. (he could also morph into something just as poor but not casual or slack which are the worst 2)

Good spot. 

At this stage of the save it's not about developing players anyway, (because the next intake will likely make many of the current lot obsolete). 

It;s about what he can offer with his CA as it is now, and that's plenty. 

[Jimbokav1971]

NxGn 2028. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2028. 

West of Scotland 3rd Div. I think it's fair to say that the pressure is getting to us.  We have 4 games to play and we need 4 points,l (with our superior goal difference*), to win the league. Alternatively, maybe some of the chasers could do us a favour and drop some points please? 

Our next game is against Vale of Leven at home. If we lose that we're in trouble I think. 

* Assuming the league is decided on goal difference if we're level on points. (Yes it is). 

Facilities. The Facility upgrades have finally come through on the numbers. It's taken 6 months rather than 1 month. 

According to the old rating system it should be something like this. 

Training Facilities. L1-L3.
Youth Facilities.  L1-L3.
Junior Coaching. L10-L13
Youth Recruitment. L12-14.

This is what the system used to look like. You can see that when we're talking about Junior Coaching then Average comes before Adequate, but when we're talking about Youth Recruitment, then Average comes after Adequate. 

It effectively means that the Adequate and Average values, (for Youth Recruitment only), have swapped placed.

What it looks like now is this. 

The problem now is that although Average comes after Adequate in both Training Facilities and Youth Facilities, it now comes before Adequate in both Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment. 

They basically changed the wrong one. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Nothing this month. 

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 19/21 from the spot at 90%.
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2028.

West of Scotland 3rd Div. After a little bit of a wobble last month, we finished the league campaign really strongly and in the end finished with a comfortable 9 point margin. 

Transfers. What a weird thing to lose the plot about!  We've just signed 16 new players. That's why the squad is so big. 

The only real problem here is that he's scored 31 goals for us in all competitions this season.  There was nothing I could do though. He's on a NC contrac, so basically they can all leave whenever they want. 

Debuts. 8 of the 16 from the recent intake have already made their debuts. 

Records. 

Competitions. The league campaign is over, but believe it or not we have another competition about to start. The South, East & West Cup Winners Shield. 

Goal-Scoring GK's. 1 goal for (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" this month. 

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 20/22 from the spot at 91%.
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2028. 

Yes, we've got more games! 

South & East & West of Scotland Cup. I'm not 100% sure that this is a real trophy, but whether it's real or made up it's going in out trophy cabinet. 

 

This is like the Scottish, Lower League Charity Shield, (but for Cup-Winners of the various Regional Cup at this level so not really like the Charity Shield at all), but we're in it by virtue of winning the....... William Turner Challenge Cup..... last season, and rather than playing it during pre-season, (which is busy enough as it is with all the other Cups, this is played at the end of the season, (so not like the Charity Shield at all basically).  

Youth Player poached. This is the 4th one I think. 

Debuts. 

Trophy cabinet.

My History.

Goal-scoring GK's.

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 20/22 from the spot at 91%.
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun 2028. 

Youth Player poached. That's the 5th one now.  The problem here is that our facilities are improving much faster than our Rep, so of course our youngsters are ripe for the poaching. 

Facilities. We've just won the league again, got promoted again and won another Cup, so it's the perfect time to ask for another batch of upgrades. They eventually agreed to both so this will be the 4th double upgrade of the save and could take is to 1.1.13.12 which is astonishing at this level. Of course we won't produce players that big Rep clubs with these Facilities will produce, but I think I mentioned earlier in the thread that I was able to produce FGN International players, (I think Scandinavian & North American), while a Semi-Pro club when I did the England L10 save a few years ago. In fact I seem to remember my intakes taking a hit after we turned Pro, (although I was never able to explain that). I was checking CA/PA levels in that save and I'm not doing that here so we won't know for sure, but keep an eye out North Americans, Scandinavians, Aussies/Kiwi's and any really obscure Nationalities that come through, (although I think they have to be 1st Nationalities rather than 2nd Nationalities but I'm not 100% positive). Anyway, keep an eye out for FGN players in the intakes between now and when we turn Pro. 

Either way, these facilities are really really really impressive, (or they will be once they are completed in 6 months time). Remember though that the general opinion is that you don't get all the benefit of these upgrades immediately and in fact the full benefit might not be felt for years, (ie. the amount of time a kid is playing aged Group football at the club before coming through the intake, which is usually about 4 seasons). 

Reputation. We're now the 35th highest Rep team in the West of Scotland structure, and when you consider that we've just won the 4th tier of that structure and there are 47 Teams in the structure above us, that sort of indicates that our Cup successes are actually boosting our Rep ahead of where it would usually be in this type of save, (ie. really lagging behind the league level we're at). 

Favoured Personnel list. I've made it to ICON and Ben Thom has retired and (25a) Wood (L.Det) SRC has left the club in a strop because I....... didn't release enough fringe players.   I just have to make sure that I release rampaging RWB (25b) Browning (SCO)(IRL) before he becomes an ICON so that I have no competition for the name of any future stadium name. 

Yes. yes I am deadly serious. 

Finances. I don't think this sort of balance is likely to have an impact on any decision to turn pro, but I also don't think we're there yet. The finances just don't stack up yet so I'm happy to continue as is and don't want the Board to turn pro yet. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached players. Jul 2028. 

I want to keep a track of what players are ours all in 1 place, because the poaching system isn't working properly, or at least wasn't working properly earlier in FM24. (I appreciate that there have been updates and issues might have been resolved). 

In the past it was easy. You actually didn't have to keep track of the players yourself manually. You just had to wait for the poached player clauses to appear on your clauses screen. 

Oh! They have indeed fixed it.  (Or at least partially fixed it, because the players are now showing on there, at least some of them). 

I know this screen was empty before our last intake, (because I looked), and haven't looked again since until now. 

None of these players are ever likely to be sold for actual cash money so this isn't about the money. It's simply about the game mechanics working as intended. 

1st Poached player. I can't find the info for this player either in game or in the thread, It definitely happened though. 

2nd Poached player. 

It appears that they haven't fixed it completely, because it's still showing that he joined us after he left us and joined Creetown. Ah well, something else for me to log tomorrow. 

3rd Poached player. 

But this one is fine. 

4th Poached player. Hasn't come through an Intake yet. 

5th Poached player. Hasn't come through an Intake yet.