Jimbokav1971

The truth here is that there isn't a 1 size fits all answer, quite simply because there is not only 1 thing that influences player development. Let's list some of the things that we know influence player development. Game time. The level at which the playing time is performed. The performance level achieved when playing. The facilities at the club. The staff at the club. Training performances, (driven my multiple things). That's by no means an exhaustive list, but it gives us a starting point. Let's take Beckham as an example because you mentioned him. He left Man Utd with their great facilities and coaches and went to play for Preston in the 3rd Division, (would now be League 2). In comparison to Man Utd they have rubbish facilities and rubbish staff, but he hasn't swapped playing for Man Utd in the Premier League for playing for Preston in League 2, he's swapped playing for the U19's in the U19's for playing competitive League 2 football against men, so the jump in standard would have been significant. Comparing Becks to the others in his group, what I would say is that although almost everyone knows that Becks went on loan to Preston, not many people know that he didn't stay there very long, (just a few games over a month or so I think), so if you are thinking that he went and played a whole season there then that's certainly not the case at all. It was very much a short-term thing. This group were so good that they were all asked to train with the senior squad early on and all impressed. The level in that Youth Team at the time was ridiculous, (when you think that the likes of Keith Gillespie, Robbie Savage, Chris Casper, Ben Thornley John O'Kane, Kevin Pilkington, Simon Davies, (no, not that one), and a few others that I can't remember), all went on to have decent Pro careers it's absolutely ridiculous. I'm not saying that the whole squad became Pro footballers, but I think we're already up to about 12 or 13 and that is absolutely ridiculous! My rule of thumb in the game is, if I think I can give the young player some 1st team exposure then I will keep him at the club, but if I think he can go and play competitive football, (at a decent level, and yes I think League 2 is a decent level in this case), then I would have no issues sending him out on loan. A high PA young player with decent CA is likely to be a decent candidate for staying at the club and playing senior football. A high PA young player with low CA is not likely to get 1st team opportunities, (because he's not good enough right now), so he would probably benefit from going out on loan. The problem then is the level of facilities at the club and if the player will play and if so how often will he play and in what position/role. It's really not an exact science I'm afraid.

If you look at post 2, you will see that there are 10 different Youth Intake previews. Each of them has 16 players on the Intake distribution screen. Preview 1. Preview 2. Preview 3. Preview 4. Preview 5. Preview 6. Preview 7. Preview 8. Preview 9. Preview 10. We know that there are 16 players in a standard intake although this can be increased by the poaching of players from other clubs, (so if you poached 1 player from another Youth Team/Academy then you would get an intake of 17 players, but at this stage I can't remember/confirm what happens if you are the club who has a player poached. (I'm pretty sure that you still get 16 players through the Intake, because the player would have been replaced), but at the same time this is something that I "think" rather than something I "know and can prove". Hopefully I will be able to do so at some point in the future. We know that each player only appears once on the Intake Distribution graphic, (as evidenced above), but we don't know what makes them get allocated into these specific positions. For that you have to look at where this info comes from.. To start off with you have to check which staff member has been allocated responsibility in this area, (and change it if needed). Ricardo Luiz Gomes Mendes is the HoYD at this club and he has been tasked with this duty. So the info here comes from his ability to judge players, (both in terms of CA and PA). Then it gets more complicated. This seems simple doesn't it. "Players by preferred positions" means the position that the player prefers to play in doesn't it? Or does it mean the position that the HoYD would prefer to play the player in? Or does it mean the position that the HoYD, (because he's compiling the report remember), thinks that the player wants to play in. The truth is that it's as clear as mud. What we do know is that it will be the position, or 1 of the positions in which the player where the player has "Natural" ability. This "preferred" position will ALWAYS 100% of the time be 1 of the Natural Ability positions. I know this but am unable to provide with you the evidence right now but will later. Where the player has multiple positions where he has natural ability, then what decides which 1 is used as the "preferred role" is unknown, but as the report is coming from the HoYD, (in this case), rather than from the player, I think it's reasonable to assume that it's the HoYD's "opinion" on what the players preferred role should be. This is what I "think" rather than what I "know" though.

Thanks. There are things that I can answer now, (and prove), and there are things that I can answer now and I'm unable to prove and there are things that will take more research before a definitive conclusion can be reached but I think you ask some really good questions even if some of them move on a little from the Youth Intake preview/Youth Intake to actual player development, (but I think that's only natural because it's all 1 subject really). Let me see what how I can respond now.....

Feb 2050. Liga Bwin. This is really poor. It's awful. How we're still in 3rd is astonishing! We've drawn our last 4 games in the league, (dropping 8 pts), and have dropped 14 pts in the last 8 games. We're in awful form in the league. We've lost the talismanic pair of (31g) Simões (POR) 6'1" and (32g) Ramos (POR) to multiple injuries and we really struggle without them. UEFA Europa League. I thought that 8-0 was our biggest win, but I didn't get a message so maybe not. Goal-scoring GK's. This season is the 1st that I have managed to get our GK's taking free-kicks and penalties for the B Team, but 2 different injuries to (31g) Simões (POR) 6'1", (a pulled calf muscle and an abdominal strain), mean that he has missed 8 of our last 9 matches. (40c) Teixeira (POR) 6'3" has scored 5 goals in the Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for the B Team but he has also scored for the 1st Team in both Liga Bwin and in Europe. Finances.

Jan 2050. Liga Bwin. We're good. I think we're really good, but we just can't compete with Benfica and Porto at the moment. When we lose our 1st choice players there are a few positions where players can step up without a drop in quality, but not many. We need more depth! Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. Records. Goal-scoring GK's. Finances.

Dec 2049. Liga Bwin. It was a poor month with 8 pts dropped. The Gil Vicente draw was poor because we battered them, but the Benfica game saw a masterclass in high pressing and counter-attacking by them. We scored 2 good goals, but they countered really well and snuck an even game. Against Guimaraes we just seemed to run out of steam and I wasn't really surprised that we lost, (especially when it was our 4th consecutive away game in the league). We're still 2nd, but we have played 1 game more than 1st placed Benfica, 2 more than 3rd placed Porto and 3 more than 4th placed Guimaraes. UEFA Champions League. Goal-scoring GK's. Awards. Youth Intake preview. 2 wingers and a striker is just what the Dr ordered. Facilities. Finances.

Nov 2049. Liga Bwin. We're still unbeaten but Benfica are scoring goals for fun, (and not conceding many either). We're 2nd, but Guimaraes are making it a 4-way battle at the top after Braga's poor start. UEFA Champions League. Our last Group game will be a nice little run-out for the kids against Inter to ensure that we don't finish 2nd by accident. Taça de Portugal Placard. Furious! Absolutely furious! (I think they beat us in 1 of the Cups last season too!) On the plus side, when we initially lost I thought it was a league game. Goal-scoring GK's. Finances.

Oct 2049. Liga Bwin. We dropped points against Moreirense due to not only missing a penalty, but the goal they scored also being conceded as a result of our GK being stranded upfield after taking an attacking free-kick. It was a costly 2 pts dropped that means despite still being unbeaten, we've dropped to 3rd. The real reason we didn't win against Moreirense however is because (32g) Ramos (POR) was recovering from injury and was unavailable. He has scored 11 goals in 10 appearances this season and we miss him when he doesn't play. UEFA Champions League. We're set comfortably to finish 3rd. Taça de Portugal Placard. It was still 0-0 in the 63rd min so we did well to run out 5-0 winners by FT. Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. A similar story here where we scored late goals again. Goal-scoring GK's. A bit of a mixed bag this month. We're not getting as many FK opportunities as a result of our wide players no longer being inverted, but it's working for the team in terms of overall results so I can't complain. Facilities. It's been so long now that I can't remember which facility is affected by the bug that stops it popping to L20. If I get the other 3 to L20 then I will use the editor to get the last one to L20. Finances.

Sep 2049. Liga Bwin. Only ourselves and Porto remain unbeaten after 8 games and despite dropping 2 pts at Leixoes, we're still 2 pts clear at the top/ UEFA Champions League. I know it's boring but we're going for 3rd place and the Europa League again. The (POR) coefficient needs a boost/ Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. It's about time we started smashing teams in this competition. Records. I wasn't actually aware that (32g) Ramos (POR) wasn't already the record league goal-scorer. I just assumed he was. Goal-scoring GK's. Finances.

Jul & Aug 2049. Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. This is 1st time in 5 attempts as a club that we have won this trophy. (4 attempts under my tenure). Liga Bwin. This is the 1st time we have started this well in the league. We dropped 2 pts away to Porto, but Braga have already dropped 11 pts so that's basically them out of the running already. UEFA Champions League Group. Another tough Group. Goal-scoring GK's. Finances.

I have finally worked out how to get my B Team GK's taking free-kicks and pens......

Transfer. Aug 2049. This is the stumbling block. We have a few quid in the bank, but there is no way on earth we could afford to pay a player £687,000 per month. (That's £8.24M per year). Liverpool have hardly played him and it's no wonder he wanted to move on.

I think that's a really good point. What makes a good intake? Is it 1 potential superstar of 4-5 players who will impact the 1st Team. Total CA/PA for the whole intake is definitely something I will add.

SC's. This is such a key position and I don't feel I have got the decisions in the area right all the time in this save. By selling (39a) Moreira (POR) last season and (39d) Rebelo (POR) * last season I think at least I'm becoming more decisive. I think it's an area of real strength if I can just get the supporting striker firing. (32g) Ramos (POR) will be 1st choice on the left again and he will be partnered by (41c) Abrantes (POR) * who scored 7 goals and 9 assists last season. He has asked to leave because I'm still paying him a pittance and I wonder if I offer him a new deal could that unlock his potential? He wants £450k a month though and I'm just not paying that. We eventually agreed on a 5 year deal at £290k pm. (44a) Simões (POR) * will be understudy to Ramos but I expect to see him quite a bit from the bench and (41g) Amaral (POR) * will be 2nd choice on the right. (47g) Ezequiel (ESP) scored loads of goals for the U19's last season so he will play for the B Team this year. (46a) Naldo (POR) (BRA) hit double figure goals last season while on loan in Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG so he will also play for the B Team this season. (46b) Pereira (POR) was on loan at AC Milan last season, (without playing). He will play for the B Team. (45c) Rosa (POR) * is good enough to play in Liga Bwin right now so I'm going to loan him out. (38d) Embalo (GNB) (POR) * scored 12 goals in loan in Liga Bwin last season, (including scoring against us). He's not going to play for us with the depth we have coming through so I'm going to sell him.

MC's. For so long this has been an area of real strength at the club. It's still strong, but we really only have 3 top end players now and we have had 4 for the past few years. The 3 players going out on loan are 23+ and capable of playing in the Liga Bwin so we do have good depth here. I guess I've just been spoilt with what we have had available. (44c) Ogbu (ENG) (NGA) * will be 1st choice in the DLP role for the 1st time in his career and he will be partnered with (40a) Sérgio (POR) *. (36a) Cruz (POR) * and (44l) Teixeira (CPV) (POR) will support them. (47k) Tavares (CPV) is only 17 but he will play for the B Team with 20 year old (45a) de Sousa (POR) (42d) Poejo (POR) will go out on loan because he's 23 now and I don't want to play him in the B Team. He needs to be playing in the Liga Bwin. (41b) Diogo (POR) will go out on loan because he's 23 now and I don't want him to play for the B Team. He need to be playing in the Liga Bwin. (40f) Dabó (GNB) (POR) will go out on loan because he's 25 now and I don't want him to play for the B Team. He need to be playing in the Liga Bwin.

ML's & MR's. I'm putting this together because the way we are playing now I don't want to play with inverted wide players so I don't want to miss any who can't yet play on the side I want them to play on. ML's. (32b) Moucheira (POR) is 33 now and I think his legs are gone, but he still managed double figure goals and assists last season so he will at least start 1st choice. (43b) Antunes (POR) and (40g) N'Da (CIV) ML will be the strongest competition. (49e) Madruga (POR) who is 15 and (47a) Soares (POR) who is 17 will need to be developed. MR's. Our right flank seems to be one of the weakest areas of the squad after our 1st pick. (41a) Gil (POR) * had a poor season last season but he was recovering from injury so we will give him more time. He will still be my 1st choice on the right flank. His days of covering at full back are probably gone with the arrival of (48c) Bronze (POR) 5'10". He will be supported by (42a) Salazar (POR) and (44b) Andrade (POR)(CPV) 4'11".

DC's. (41d) Hussein (TAN) 6'5" * and (39c) Salgueiro (POR) 6'4" DC will compete for the left side slot and (45e) The Gimp (ENG) 6'2" will start most games on the right. (45b) Gamito (POR) 6'1" will play in the B Team with (47b) Santiago (POR) 6'0" and (46h) Carlos (BRA) (POR) 6'0" who will also step up to the 1st Team when I rotate players. (35f) Azevedo 6'2" is getting flogged for £500,000

DR's. (36c) Mussagi (POR) (MOZ) * will be 1st choice. (42e) Crespo (POR) * and (45f) Basto (POR) will provide some depth but will also play in the B Team. (48c) Bronze (POR) 5'10" is the real star in the making though and will play in either full back position when I can squeeze him in.

DL's. (36b) Sousa (POR) * and (36f) Antunes (POR) * will play for the 1st Team. (47c) Morais (POR) (CPV) will play for the U23's. (48m) Ba (SEN) (FRA) will play for the U19's. (43g) Lavado (POR) is going out on loan. (48c) Bronze (POR) 5'10" is a bit of a wildcard in that he looks great but is actually a right back who can also play left back. I will play him wherever I can to get him more experience and I expect him to play for U19's, B Team and 1st Team this season.

GK's. (31g) Simões (POR) 6'1" will be our 1st choice GK as ever and will try to add to his 105 career goals. (45i) Ion (POR) (ROU) 6'2" will play for the U23's. (40c) Teixeira (POR) 6'3" * will play for the B Team.

Exits. Jul 2049. I mentioned recently that we have lost a few good players over the last couple of seasons and it's time to take stock, see how we are and work out exactly how we will be affected in these areas. 2045/46. (36e) Pisco (POR) went to Valencia for £4.1M and although he never really got a chance to perform there, he has certainly taken his chance at Eibar and is currently valued at £14.5M. (32a) Gaspar (POR) (ANG) went to Fuenlabrada for £250,000 and although he wasn't a regular 1st choice centre-half for us he was a squad player for ages and you can understand why we might have struggled defensively with players of his ability playing. His main claim to fame is that he has 100+ caps for Angola. (33n) Sanches (CPV) 6'4" went to Famalicao for £100,000 and has just been relegated from Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG so he's nowhere near the required level. 2046/47. Paulo Coelho, (retired so lost his nickname), went to Oviedo in Spain for £500,000 but didn't play very often before retirement. (33a) Ramos (STP) (POR) * went to Cadiz in Spain on a free. I wasn't happy about him leaving but couldn't do anything about it. If he was here now he would still be part of our squad. (31d) Pais (POR) left on a free and joined Oviedo. He was a big player for us over the years and has amassed 500 career league appearances. 2047/48. (32c) Tomás (POR) * went to Wolfsburg for £3.4M and is another who played a LOT of games for us. (39d) Rebelo (POR) * went to Ponferradina for a modest £1.1M and it was never about getting rid of him. He was always playing 2nd fiddle to (32g) Ramos (POR) and needed to go somewhere and play every week to develop properly while I invested some time in our youngsters. My thinking was that if I ever needed him back then I could go and buy him back, but he's now worth £10.5M-£16.5M, and earning £173k per month in the Spanish 2nd tier. The only surprise here is that he hasn't scored more goals in Spain. (33d) Diederich (POR)(LUX) 6'2 went to Alaves for £1M. (41e) Gonçalves (POR) went to Celta de Vigo for £850,000. (36d) Cardone. (ITA) 6'1" was the high PA GK who unfortunately had the dreaded (Unamb) + (L.Det) combo so didn't develop. He went to Badajoz for £500,000. (39g) Fonseca (POR) * went to Zaragoza for £205,000 and is now worth £4.7M-£8.8M. I struggled to get him in the team. 2048/49. (38c) Marchão (POR) went to Almeira for £500,000. He looks decent but I just couldn't get him in the team. (38a) Hartmann (POR)(GER) went to Santa Clara for £100,000 and they have just been promoted to Liga Bwin. (35a) Paulo Júnior (POR) * went to R.Madrid on a free. (39b) Tiago (POR) was released on a free and has been snapped up by Zenit. 2049/50. (39a) Moreira (POR) looked good but just didn't fit into the team no matter what I tried. In the end I just flogged him to New York for £10M and I expect him to prove me wrong. He obviously scored 2 goals and got MOM on his debut. (42b) Felizardo (POR) 5'10" DC has left on a free and joined Barca where he is immediately worth up to £5.8M. We've lost some decent players but I'm happy with what we've got in most areas.

I have added the following points to post #6. 14. What single thing has the biggest impact on the quality of a Youth Intake? (This is immediately subjective because it depends if you are looking at CA or PA). Most of us look at CA in terms of the stars, but if you can't develop the player from his low CA starting point to his potential PA then the high PA doesn't really mean anything. 15. Why do low rep clubs often seem to get players from Secondary Nations in their Intakes with high PA relative to the rest of the intake? 16. It is commonly believed that the 1st intake of each save, (for all clubs), is boosted for some reason. Is there any truth to this or is it just an old FM players tale?

Absolutely. Close-season has become quite a hard and thankless task in this save at the moment, but it's really important so has to be done. (32g) Ramos (POR) has done really well this season so he will still start next season as #1 on the left up front. That being said, his days are numbered and I might soon be faced with the problem of when to promote something else and this is really at odds with me having backed him for so long. He's been 1st choice for the last 13 seasons now and is up to 324 goals, (although 38 of them were scored for the B Team and a further 14 scored when out on loan). His pace and acceleration are both still at 15 and much will depend how quickly they start to drop off. He played quite a lot of senior football at an early age so I think he might start to drop off sooner rather than later. Aged 16 he just played aged group football. Aged 17 he made 1(21) senior appearances, (largely for the B Team). Aged 18 he made 8(1) senior appearances, (largely for the 1st Team). Aged 19 he made 17(7) senior appearances while on loan in the 4th Tier. Aged 20 he made 23(2) senior appearances, (largely for the 1st Team). Actually that's not as bad as it might have been. I wonder if he might have a couple of seasons left in him? I don't look at the U19's or U23's results at all during the season, (unless something catches my eye), and I only saw at the end of the season that we were close to having a 100% record at U19 level. I don't know if it means we have the best youth players, (I haven't checked so I'm not 100% sure), but we certainly have considerable depth in most areas even if they might not be good enough to eventually play for our Senior side. I'm keeping players on past 23 just to ensure that we give them the best opportunity to develop because there is no way of knowing when I might need to re-sign them later in their career if we struggle in any area, (unlikely I know). Yeah, the drop from 4 Champions League Teams to 3 kicks in the season after, (so this coming season). I would like to think that Top 3 is a done deal now but we have lost some important players of the last couple of seasons, (but more on that when I go through the squad depth later). I sort of dismissed the challenge from Braga last season after the competitive rivalry was announced, (even after their strong start), but they surprised me a little and despite us doing quite well and finishing just 4 pts off 1st, they were only 3 pts behind us. It's nice, (and a little surprising), to see that we were top goal-scorers in the league, and a little annoying to see that Braga conceded 2 goals fewer than us last season.

No problem at all. I think we are all guilty of working hard to understand how something works and then just assuming that it will stay the same. I know I certainly am.

I don't think I have used the pre-game editor since the CM days, (it was a long time ago anyway), so while I know roughly what the -10, -9, -8 etc is, I would find it very hard to explain to someone else in this thread for example. I am FAR from an expert. That being said, even if I am to take what you have said as absolute gospel, (and in fact I do believe that it certainly used to be done this way), there is no guarantee that what was done in the past is what is being done now. I say that with special reference to the fact that we know that the "Youth Intake Preview" is a relatively new addition as a feature, so if they changed that...... what else have they changed. Something that In have certainly been guilty of in various issues of FM is assuming that how things worked in 1 issue of the game, is how they would work in subsequent issues of the game. With often no communication from SI Towers we can't have known that things have changed, and it's only have much playing that we decide that we think they have changed, but we don't know how they have changed. In this instance, and using Henrique Simal and Henrique Honorato as examples just because they have 2 names which makes them stand out, let's look at their CA/PA. Henrique Simal. 77/153 68/146 69/142 72/157 78/177 83/187 70/146 73/153 67/134 76/155 His PA ranges from 142-187 which according to my basic understanding doesn't fit him into any 1 of the existing ranges. 142-187 fits between the -85 and -9 ranges so.... further investigation required I think. Henrique Honorato. 39/64 47/57 39/88 35/63 51/62 48/74 37/108 59/74 39/80 46/84 His PA ranges from 57-108 which again doesn't fit into any single range and actually has to be spread over 4 different ranges. Like I said though, my understanding in this area is pretty weak so..... further investigation required again. -10 170-200 -95 160-190 -9 150-180 -85140-170 -8 130-160 -75 120-150 -7 110-140 -65 100-130 -6 90-120 -55 80-110 -5 70-100 -45 60-90 -4 50-80 -35 40-70 -3 30-60 Below that I don't understand at all how it works.