Johnny-Trotter

I am enjoying this Benelux adventure, and the part in Luxembourg in particular. I have also tried managing in Luxembourg and the inconsistency was the biggest challenge. Player movement between clubs also seemed very fluid (probably as most players seem to be non-contract based), so if you got any decent players, they would likely get snapped up or move on quite easily. Keep up the efforts and here's hoping for success to close out the season!

The same applies with Bari - playing in Serie D now, with a 58,720 capacity stadium, the Stadio San Nicola.

Well done on staying up! Onwards and upwards from here.

Enjoy the Balkans! I did a similar youth only effort in Serbia, taking OFK Beograd from the third tier to dominating nationally on the basis of the quality of facilities and youth steup early on. I always seemed to hit a plateau in Europe though, essentially falling at around the First Knockout round of the Champions League.

Will be amazing when you get a new stadium, and they name it after Clark Park, and call it Park Park!

Get a league expansion pack for England, take over AFC Liverpool and take them up to be the best side in Liverpool

Interesting challenge - looks like you could manage in up to 20 countries, never mind considering multiple locations in one country (St. Louis, LA, Altanta). An interesting quirk would be if you would consider trying to manage teams that also play in Olympic stadiums (West Ham, for example), although that could limit your set of clubs seeing as most Olympic stadia may not even be in use any more.

I think that's it, indeed.

I have seen it in a few saves, and my understanding is that it is age related - although it is very poorly modelled in-game. I believe they are trying to reflect that a minor (let's say under 18s) cannot have a professional job, according to labour law. I'm not sure if it's the same in all countries, but for now I would go with the view that it applies in the EU. Thus, when it comes into football terms, a youngster can only have a professional contract from a certain age. When you offer a 3+3 contract, this means that the first part is always valid, as this will only 'kick in" (so to speak when the player is above a certain age. However, if the player is not old enough to qualify for a pro contract, I believe the +3 part becomes null and void - even if you can offer it to him in the first place, and he agrees it, and it's in the contract. It looks from your above analysis that the younger players literally have it written in the contract, but the games understanding of labour/employment law says you cannot trigger it because the player is still too young to be a pro. I did see it before in previous FMs also - the kicker for me was where I was a smaller club and tried youth only and when a star came through I agreed 3+3, and after 3 years he rejected a new deal, thinking he was too big for the club and I couldn't trigger the +3 for the same reasons as above. I finally twigged it when I saw in the editor the lower age limits which can be applied for a nations settings and 14 is the minimum age a youth can come through at. Then it means that offering a 3+3 is logically valid in the game, but they normally can't turn fully pro at 17, so the +3 became null and void and I could not trigger it, and lost him at age 17. I guess there should be a 'blocker' so to speak to stop the possibility of adding a +3 trigger for a player under a certain age, and then it would take away the confusion. Hope that explains it...

Very interesting project - one quick question: what are the 'limits' at which the B and C teams cannot be promoted above?

If the two Barcelona games had been a 2 leg tie, it would have finished 2-2 and you would have 'lost' on away goals due to the 2-1 win in Glasgow, so it looks like the head to head rule works as expected. Nice start to your career - I can imagine that it will take a few seasons to get a high class youngster through and then another few seasons to get him up to Ballon D'Or standard, so this looks like an interesting medium to long-term challenge.

Happy Christmas!

Quality Beer Distributors? This is an enjoyable thread - lots of unknown unknowns taking place.

Very nice career - even with the ups and downs, hopefully the downs made you appreciate the ups even more. I'm looking forward to your re-entry/redemption game in FM18.