Cultured Left Foot

If you'd like to follow my series in more detail, its available on YouTube here - http://www.youtube.com/c/culturedleftfoot SEASON 5 END OF SEASON REVIEW The season was a resounding success... ! First off, the club was sold to its second owner of the series.... And he leveraged a little bit of debt to take over the club - but we're not worrying about that at the moment And under the new chairperson's stewardship, we WON the Vanarama National League North! An incredible achievement, and one we never looked like failing (except at the beginning of the season)... The league run shows that. We broke a number of records along the way. With Average Attendance, Record Attendance and Record Gate Receipts all being broken. And the best record of all was that we only lost 3 games in the whole season! The stand out player of the season was youngster Tarmey who broke a record of his own! The Youth intake preview looked good, but it failed to deliver anyone of real note. Our facilities have been upgraded through out the season and now look like this : But the main piece of news... we are going up to the Vanarama National League as CHAMPIONS!!! SEASON 6 is underway and we need all the luck we can get to stay in the league next year! Wish Us Luck!

If you'd like more details of the save, its a Playthrough series on my YouTube channel - http://www.youtube.com/c/culturedleftfoot END OF SEASON 4 ! By far our best season yet where we challenged for the playoffs for a large portion of the season, but one bad run in the middle of the season saw us drop off. However, a 9th place finish shows clear improvement in the squad and the youngsters are really stepping up and performing well. We had some absolutely amazing results this season and some mega news.... so it's a big update. Let's take a look. First up is the fact that heading into the new season, Diadora decided they wanted to manufacture and sponsor our kits all the way down in the National League North. So, here are our kits for Season 4 and Season 5 of this save. We headed into the season with a number of the youngsters claiming low shirt numbers indicating they are expected to be in the first 11 for most of the season. The league season was definitely a success. We definitely made sure we are a mid-table team that could challenge for the playoffs next season. An end of season run that saw us only lose one game in 12 wasn't enough for a run into the playoffs, but was lovely to see the team perform so well and so consistently. Something incredibly special was that in the final fixture of the season (with nothing to play for) we played a team full of Youth Academy graduates and ran out 4-1 winners! However, the biggest and best news of the season was our magnificent FA Cup run, which saw us get through to the 3rd round ! After the qualifying rounds were we saw of National League team Gateshead, we were drawn in round 1 against Kent-based Gillingham from League Two ! After the first round win over fully professional Gillingham, we were rewarded with a home-tie against League Two Rochdale.... And they met the same fate ! Qualifying for the third round and we were rewarded with what every small club wants - an away trip to a Premier League club! Getting drawn against West Ham I knew we would get battered, but half of those 60,000 gate receipts would be ours!! And so West Ham absolutely trounced us. That FA Cup run and third round fixture gave us a whopping 1.5 million in the club coffers! And we reinvested that straight away! And with those improvements being agreed. We had our youth intake... Which was also amazing! A number of amazing talents came through from the youth intake - and 3 or 4 of them will get into our first squad next year - but the standout players were Matt O'Keefe and Danny Adams. We ended the season, however, with one of our better young central midfielders being sold to Tranmere. However, I'm hoping that the 50% sell on clause comes in handy! But again, its a year on year improvement and we are definitely moving in the right direction - I'm hoping the youngsters that have just come through give us that final bit of squad depth to push us to the playoffs next season! On we go to Season 5. Wish us luck!

If you'd like to keep up with the save in more detail, its available as a YouTube series on my channel here END OF SEASON 3 UPDATE We survived comfortably as we continued to make progress on and off the pitch. We have integrated more youth than ever and Season three was a real changing of the guard which saw previous top scorer Jake Cassidy dropped from the starting 11. The season was a bit of a rollercoaster, having peaks and troughs all over the place. At one point, it looked like we may sneak into the playoffs, but our end of season form made sure that pipe dream was long gone as we won 1 game in our last 8. However, it was a good season as we recorded our lowest number of defeats in a league season - just need to change those draws into wins! It does mean we've made year on year improvements in the early points of the save. Our board had some good news for the team as well, as they agreed to improve Academy Coaching and our Youth Recruitment. But then the chairman dropped the bomb that after the investment in the youth teams and recruitment, he was looking to relinquish control of the club - which was a huge shock as the club had only recently become fan owned. Of course, we had our youth intake, and the preview was positive - all positions gaining players having "A" ratings. The top players that actually came through were: Warhurst, O'Shea and McFadyen. The future is looking good for Guiseley and we are becoming more of a global club having players from across the UK, some others from Europe and even players from Australia, Guyana and Taipei! We head into Season 4 with a complete changing of the guard with 5 of our elder statesmen all being released after not earning new contracts. Overall, a good solid year showing more improvements and losing less games. Looking forward to see what our next batch of youngsters bring and where we can end the season - is the playoffs too much of a push?! Wish us luck for Season 4!

Hello all, I know the rules stat no transfers or loans in, but I have a question (sort of preempting the danger of a change of board/owner).. If they bring a culture to "to buy young players for profit or first team" or even "buy first team players". Are you allowed to buy players, never play them and then sell them on a year later? Just wondering, as I'm worried that if a new board/owner comes in and make this a fundamental objective for you to achieve it could result in a premature ending if you don't do it.... Interested to know the thoughts of everyone! My instinct is that its against the rules. As the rules state, no transfers at all - but wanted to check!

Yeah, I thought I'd track it here as well.... that doesn't mean you need stop watching the videos though

If you'd like more in depth updates - the Youth Academy save is being run as YouTube series on my channel here : Cultured Left Foot END OF SEASON 2 UPDATE We survived again in the National League North making progress on and off the pitch and integrating a number of the youngsters too. The season started well again with us comfortable in the playoff positions after 10 games but it soon settled into a more expected rhythm and we ended season 2 comfortably in midtable. We tailed of slightly towards the end of the season as we introduced some players from our 2nd youth intake and gave some more gametime to other youngsters. We did manage to get our best ever points total and league finish in the National League North. We earnt a new contract and the club agreed to fund another coaching course (our 3rd in 2 years). The now fan owned club agreed to increase our academy coaching - which should help with this save! This moved us from Average Academy Coaching to Adequate Academy Coaching. Top scorer (again) Jamie Cassidy signed a new contract and extended his stay at the club. We had another Youth Intake, the preview was okay, and the intake itself produced a couple of good talents that can enter the first team squad immediately. Stand out players are Holt, Harper and Johnson: With Johnson scoring on his debut! Which is always great to see... The best youngster of Season One was Byrne at centre back who helped "steady the ship" after Sikora left. He is nowhere near as good as Sikora, but his first season in senior football went well and he'll be better off for it as we head into season 3! And finally, who better to coach our defensive players than former Scottish International Christophe Berra! A good, solid year. Its getting harder and harder as the more senior "real" players start to drop off and look towards retirement. But, that is the joy of the save! Wish us luck for Season 3!

My Youth Academy Save is also a YouTube series on my channel here -> Cultured Left Foot (YouTube). The videos are more in depth and give details that aren't in my posts. As to be expected with a YouTube series, my challenge will have more updates than most on these forums. Its the End of Season One! And we have survived... Just! After a wonderful start to the season and looking nailed on for safety at the mid-point of the season, the form towards the end of the season was absolutely dreadful. The final league table saw us finish in 18th, 4 points above the relegation zone. More surprisingly, FC United had back to back promotions and went to the National League through the playoffs. As we got to the final parts of the season, we had some interesting news from our chairman that he was looking to step aside: But the news was good as it was the fans that were successful in taking back ownership of the club! Of course, we had our youth intake and it looked to be pretty decent for our first one, with a number of "elite" talents: We also had a number of "top" talent too. Needless to say, all youth players earnt contracts from the academy. The best looking players included Guyanese Jobe McKenzie, Hungarian goalkeeper Viktor Hevesi, as well as Englishmen Luke Rowe, Nat Ampadu and Paul Byrne and Irishmen Shame Tarmey. Our safety in the first season was achieved thanks to the 3 formations: With safety assured in the league, we chucked Jobe McKenzie and Net Ampadu into the first team to see what they could do.... Jobe didn't disappoint as he scored an absolute banger to put his name in the record books as the youngster goal scorer in Guiseley's history (and the League too!)! So... on to Season Two we go! And we have to deal with losing our best centre back and our best right back - who were far and away the best players at the club. Luckily we keep hold of Adam Haw and Jake Cassidy up front! Wish us luck! Cheers and thanks for the support. CLF/Dave

The Journey with Guiseley can be found in video form here : youtube.com/c/culturedleftfoot My save will likely progress slower than most on here due to stopping for video recordings. But it means there will be some more detailed updates to keep you all in the loop too! Apologies for the big update - there are plenty of images! As we get to the midway point of the season. Its been a rollercoaster of a start for manager Dave Nicholls. An opening fixture against fellow promoted team Hitchin ended with a 7-0 victory and propelled us to the top of the league. We started the season with 1 loss in our first 6 games and flirted in the promotion and playoff places. But the latter part of the first half of the season bought us back down to Earth with 0 league wins in 8 games. The board were impressed with our start to the season, and a run in the FA Trophy, beating Solihull Moors on the way, meant they agreed to fund a coaching course for me. We have a lot to thank our two strikers for with Cassidy and Haw being amongst the goals consistently and bailing us out of trouble in numerous games! Adam Haw (profile below) has scored 12 goals in 13 league games. Jake Cassidy has also hit his bonus payout for his 15 league goals so far. The unlikely hero of the first half of the season is central midfielder Chippendale. Who we have trained to also play in holding midfield to give us more options across DM/CM/AMC. Kyle Trennery earnt his new contract for his good performances as well as being the only actual GK at the club! He was joined by Jake Cassidy and Adam Haw, who also agreed new deals to stay with the club until the 2025 season. And whilst talking about new contracts, the board were happy to extend my contract too! Chesterfield have tried to unsettle our star centre-back (Jorge Sikora) with a transfer bid, but I'd rather lose him on a free at the end of the season than lose him at the midpoint. He's been a rock at the back for us this season and easily our most gifted player but unfortunately he knows he is better than the level of football we are currently playing and therefore will not renew his contract. And, finally, we had our preview for the upcoming youth intake. It looks amazing, but I can only put that down to the fact that we have an underwhelming squad at the moment! And that brings an end to the mid-season update for season one! Hopefully this update isn't too long or too detail. Not sure on the rules of posts. But this challenge has gripped me and I'm loving it. Can't wait for the youth intake to actually arrive! Cheers, CLF / Dave

The Journey with Guiseley has started. For those that would like to watch the video series of this journey, it can be found here : https://www.youtube.com/c/CulturedLeftFoot But those on the forum, here is the starting summary : Guiseley Association Football Club is a football club based in Guiseley, West Yorkshire, England. As of this save, they are currently members of the Vanarama National League North , the sixth tier of English football, and play at Nethermoor Park. Dave Nicholls (Cultured Left Foot) has been appointed the manager of the newly promoted team. Having no coaching badges and only playing Sunday League football, he's got a lot to learn in a short space of time. Nicholls will be hoping to get the most out of star player Jorge Sikora, but is already in a battle to keep his star central defender with interest from Gateshead and Southend. The facilities aren't the best, but they are what they are. Lots of work is needed in youth development, youth coaching and the youth facilities. First thing was to make sure our Head of Youth Development was suitable and checking of Dave Currie, who was already at the club we decided to give him another one year contract. One big bit of concern for the squad is that we only have one contracted GK across our whole squad (Lets hope he doesn't get injured!) I'll try and keep the updates regular in the forums to keep you all up to date as much as possible. Cheers, Dave/CLF

Hello All! This challenge really perked my interest for FM this year and is something I've never tried before! Therefore I've decided to make the Youth Academy Challenge my main save on YouTube this year. I'm hoping to do some update here in the forums along the way, but if you're interested for the more consistent updates, they'll be found here : https://youtu.be/kxs5B3M4D1A . This could be one of the best challenges I've seen in my long years of playing FM and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into it - hopefully it doesn't end dramatically early! Any advice and tips are most welcome either here or in the video! But also looking forward to keeping up with the players stories and updates. What a challenge!

Great, thank you!

In fact, I've just double checked and nearly all transfer listed players - whether requested by player or club placed on them on the list - all seem to have a scout report that says "Not For Sale" when it hits my inbox.