Snorks

The confusion Delap caused was almost comical - Right lads, mark up it's a throw in....Oh wait its a corner....no he's throwing it....S##t what just happened? Wasn't it Delap who caused all the controversy over wiping the ball with a towel before taking the throw? Banned Ball Boys from carrying towels.

Thanks for clarifying. I did mean that 'Junior' refers to pre-intake and 'youth' to post.

Thanks for that Seb. I was always under the impression that playing a MC as a CM-S for example, worked more on the attributes used as a CM-s. So, when loaning a player out I don't need to be so specific about his preferred role - just position? That would open up way more opportunities. Would also save time when picking age-group teams!

Errr yes. If you notice I was talking a generalisation in reponse to other posters. But thanks for pointing that out.

Not sure if Bravery is level-related though. I would think you have top-level players with similar. Balance, yeah can see that being generally lower but bravery I think is unrelated.

This! Have you noticed, when contract talks appear to be stalemate - offering the Agent a few grand (or hundred grand) more can be all that's needed to seal the deal?

I always permanently remove the Yearly Wage rise from player contract talks. Any other clauses I really don;t want will be permanently removed and excluded at the first offer I make. If they don;t want to negotiate from that standing I am prepared to move on most things) then the talks don't go much further. It's surprising how ften the agent comes back after a while and says 'My client is willing to talk to you again' after he fails elsewhere.

Doesn't always help though.

Graphics

I have the same thing occasionally. Update drivers and restart is the only thing I can do.

Good advice from @@Garrlor there. 18 and under concentrate on training Over 18 game time is the biggest influencer on development - if at an appropriate level. (Your Coach report will suggest the appropriate level) In recent iterations though, they removed the 'must get a rating to get a benefit' thing (was about 15mins) - ANY minutes on the field of play will help, although obviously, more of them is better! Essentially, whatever role/duty you play the youngster in, he will get a developmental boost on those attributes. Training boosts the trained attributes, mentoring boosts the mentals, game time is specifically the attributes needed for the role/duty. Importantly, game time at an appropriate level. That level may well be in your U23s, it may be at a club a couple of divisions below that's up to you. If loaning out, as @Garrlor says, choose the club carefully. Minimum of 'Good' training facilities, minimum of 'First Team' squad status and a manager who plays same or similar formations to me are my criteria. Otherwise I'd rather keep him at home and develop him myself. I like @Garrlor's suggestion for the youth training schedule - I may well introduce that to my save.

I use TV for game-play and director for replays.

Coach workload is impacted yes. They will become less effective and you lose the benefit of having a great coaching team. I can only explain my approach, and I tend to prefer a less cluttered first-team page so won't clog it with youngsters although there are benefits for mentoring and things. So, assuming I am at a 'big club' with decent facilities across the board: Initially, all players are sorted into squads by age. In general if under 18 they stay in the u18s. (I may be advised that Billy Bigboots could do a job for the u23s in which case I would look at the individual and the need for him in the u23s) they are there for AT LEAST one full season. Higher PA here and I will manually select them in the tactics window to make sure they are getting games - the U18s manager will pick by CA otherwise. Once they outgrow the u18s, they get a season or two in the U23s - again I make sure they get a decent number of games manually selecting them. This is purely until they get home-grown status. I then decide if they are worth working with or just leave them alone as 'squad' players. If I am working with them, I will look at their training and work on individual and traits training until they are ready for a loan spell somewhere. Full season loan to a club who promises at least First Team playing time in the position (and preferably) the role I want him to develop in. Always have Scout Reports as ON, and comment on his progress regularly whilst away. Review again for the following season. I will have maybe up to four players who, based on their CA, who will be used as bench or backups for my own first team. This means a CA of 2.5-ish. One season with 15 plus games and they may be at 3 stars in which case I look at them becoming 2nd choice and selling the first team 2nd choice guy. In an ideal world, their final season on loan will be in the same division as me. Whether they play for U18s, U23s, loan club or first team, they get a developmental 'boost' to the attributes used for the role they play the game in. The lower the standard the smaller the boost however, being thrown in to a Prem game when only performing at Vanarama Regional level can do more harm than good - hence the game time at an APPROPRIATE level. This is why it is important to keep some control over the loan conditions. Competitive first team games (loan or otherwise) carry the biggest weighting for this attribute 'boost'. (When I say boost, attributes are calculated to two decimal places so it can be hard to appreciate a 0.01 improvement after half a game. Especially if it is an attribute he doesn't need when fitting in to your tactic. So, TL:DR: U18s are pretty much left to their own devices. I employ the best coaches and staff as I can and invest in the facilities/recruitment etc 19-23 - achieve Home-Grown status, then either loan or keep as 'squad' players for the U23s. 2-2.5 star CA will be considered as one of the players who gets first team action with me for the season as long as they have good PA. Or I loan them out again. So pretty much, every intake, I will get up to four kids who are worth tracking and working with. The rest are kind of handled by the staff and left to their own devices. Each of those four will be handled on a case-by-case basis until they are full members of the first team but I will take an active interest in their development. The 2-3 star PA kids are kind of there to support the four top kids development. Every season I select two-four and try and work first team game time in for them myself. For lower league management - it's pot-luck lol. My focus is one the first team and pretty much the first team only. --------------------------------------------------------------- It is never an exact science, and results can be painfully thin. There was a great article somewhere the Ajax approach, where the goal was something like two first team regulars every three years from the academy. If you can achieve that rate you are doing pretty well.

An U18 with 2 stars would probably get put into the u23s for me. Under that would stay in u18s. As a general rule though, promising players are treated on a case-by-case basis (there are only three or four per intake) mid- low-PA and they are kind of left to their own devices . I think (I may be wrong) the U18s train under their own coaches and separate. The u23s train under the same coaches as the first team. The U23s staff are there to focus on individual work with their payers. At least that's how I understand it. The Junior facilities I think impact the newgen quality. The Youth impacts the age-group teams. I am open to be corrected though.

I do similar. Anyone who is 3 stars CA already, is in the first team squad and will be the 2nd choice in that position. they are treated as any other first-team player. My U23 squad has three 'levels' and there are 10 or 11 players at each level. Level 3: 18 yrs old, just outgrown the u18s, are working in training, am keeping them at my club to achieve Home-Grown status. Level 2: U23 'squad' players. Good enough to do a job in the u23s competitions, never likely to be a first team regular for me and don't hold enough value to sell on. (I still want to win u23 silverware!) Level 1: 11 (ish) players. They have home grown status, they are scattered around on loans or are held at club for first team starts. I try and keep three or four 'at home' for this reason. My first team squad has two senior players for each position, a 3rd choice is drawn from the U23s when needed, or when there is a cup-game/chance for first team action.