jamespthomas
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Posts posted by jamespthomas
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Season 2 - 2024/2025
Start of Season Objective.
Improve on last seasons finish of 5th. Develop Cesari, Giusti and Mancini, Build out coaching team. Keep Finances stable. Win a round in the Serie C Cup!
Season Notes
Sold a lot of the established players from Season 1 to balance finances. Played a lot of the youth players who were 1 star/Serie D rated such as Viale (GK) and 1.5 Star Giusti (CM) Again a good finish in league finishing above expectations 5th (prediction 19th) switched to a 4312 to try and get game time for Giusti and Bruno in CM. System worked very well in that we scored a lot of goals, as our Goalkeepers arent very good we conceded lots also.
Worked out where I was going wrong when asking the board to add coaches. clicking "worried our players wont develop at this club" worked a lot and now upto 6 coaches.
Lost in the third round of the Serie C playoffs narrowly to Crotone.
Again lost in the first round of the cup. it's always 3 days after a league game so maybe I need to rest players more......
Progress Summary
Added 7 new targets to the bingo card including some lower hanging fruit. wont update it again. Achieved one target as Cesari got called up to the Italy U19s/20s aged 16.
End of season Squad / Player recap
Strong in Defence, CDM and CAM so currently set up as a 4312. Battistini was again top goalscorer for the league. Battistini, Chiericetti, Morselli, Miculi and Cesari are the standouts and Palma was player of the season but he's declining aged 31.
Still lacking at Goalkeeper & Wingers.
Youth Intake Preview & Intake
A promising preview was followed by a goodish intake. My HOYD is developing some great personalities!
Youth Intake Standout
Andrea Pizzo. Great personality - resolute with great determination and workrate. well rounded attributes across the board. Hope he develops well.
HOYD Upgrade
Davor Jozic was doing amazing things especially unearthing Cesari who I hope is destined for the top! but think Fabio Longo below with his Driven personality and better judging CA/PA will be a good upgrade. should get even better if able to update his badges.
Cesari Watch
developing well, went from fairly determined to resolute. debating whether to play more at full back for more assists/higher match rating.
Finances/Upgrades
Still no upgrades but have managed to do 2 coaching badges. Lost £350k this season even after selling £200k worth of players and reducing wage budget by £5k.
Next Season thoughts
Promotion is getting almost a necessity due to finances, ageing players and retaining Cesari. To do that I need injury luck and 16/17 year old starters Mancini, Giusti, Viale and Pizzo to develop into 2.5 star decent Serie C players. A wonder season from Cesari and another 20+ goal season from Battistini.
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Season 1 - 2024/2025
Season Objective.
Retain all 18 existing players on contracts. Build out coaching team. Target Mid Table Finish. Keep Finances stable. Gain One starting XI player through youth intake.
Season Notes
We were great in the league finishing above expectations 5th (prediction 19th) The Serie C Playoffs are crazy....and longer than a world cup!. We entered at the Second round and even though we won 3 rounds lost to Taranto in the Semi Finals. A 4222 narrow got the best out of the unbalanced squad. The Youth intake was incredible with a standout player.
Progress Summary
No Achievements this season.
End of season Squad / Player recap
The existing players at the club performed well. Strong in Defence, CDM and CAM so currently set up as a 4222. Battistini was top goalscorer for the league. Battistini, Venturini, Miculi, Foglio, Palma, Chierichetti, Morselli are the backbone of the team.
Lacking at Goalkeeper, Attacking Full backs & Wingers
Youth Intake Preview & Intake
A very promising preview was followed by an amazing intake headlined by Massimo Cesari (4 Star Centre Back even though was B rated in preview)
Youth Intake Standout
Well i was not expecting this! Star rating inflated by the quality of the squad (i.e. 4 star still just Serie C quality) however Massimo Cesari looks incredible. Amazing Mental stats along with tackling. 14 plus leadership,teamwork & workrate Possibly my captain and club legend for the whole save if he progressed and I keep hold of him.
Finances/Upgrades issue
Finances have been very challenging. I needed to resign all players and build out coaching staff. Because finances predicted to deteriorate haven't been able to add coaching staff (still only 3 first team coaches) or upgrade any facilities or even take any coaching badges.
Next Season thoughts
Debating whether to
a) embrace the youth fully and sell established players to relieve financial debts in order to upgrade facilities/coaching/badges but likely will remain in Serie C for longer.
b) Keep squad together,hope get an average keeper in next intake, and whole team improves to get to Serie B asap but rack up more debt and delay all upgrades.
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Not posted for years and have been lurking for a while but feeling inspired to do this challenge and from Youtube Lewis H90's Livorno Save and @Cultured Left Foot's Toledo Save and want this Youth Challenge save to be my Magnus Opus.
The team
Debated doing a Youth only in Wales save but that looks beyond me! Credit to @HenTheChicken on that incredible Mumbles save. For years i've tried various standard save games of building up 2/3rd City teams from lower levels - Paris FC, 1860 Munich, CD Europa. Become the biggest team in the city/overtopple the giants etc. Did a Youth only save for the first time with Bristol City at the start of FM24 and enjoyed it.
Everyone on here loves a story and I'm no different. It took me honestly around 40 holidays and many hours to get.............
Alcione Milano - Milan's New Third team.
Not managed in Italy for many years so this will be fun.
Echoing real life, Milan now has a third professional team with Alcione Milano being promoted last month to Serie C for the first time. (Imagine they will be very popular in FM25). They may also be playing in one of the oldest stadiums in the world at Arena Civica (unfortunately not on the game).
Facilities aren't too bad to start especially youth recruitment and academy coaching. However we don't own a stadium and finances set to deteriorate.
The objective is simple to complete the Youth only challenge and become the biggest team in Milan.
I'm also going to be doing the following 35 Achievement Bingo card.
Manager Screenshot
Manager Profile
Going all at this to try and force myself to complete this challenge. It's been very fun so far I've already completed my first season. Appreciate any feedback on the Bingo Card idea. Season Updates will be short and sharp.
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Season 2 - 2021/22
SA Premier League - 1st
Season Summary
Season went very well indeed, winning 4/5 trophies. I thought after last seasons performances we would be able to compete for the title with some strong signings and we went and won it, just. I managed to bring in some great players on loan (Lyle Foster, Luther Singh, Kaiky) and then raided rivals for upgrades (Mahlambi, Lakay). Player of the season was Lyle Foster who scored 55 in 51 which was astonishing. The African Confederations Cup was quite fun lots of thrashings but found a rival in Zamalek who beat us in the group but we managed to get revenge in the final. Found the 60ish season games a bit of a slog, with the preliminary rounds of the ACC and the 3 domestic cups taking quite a lot of time and some of the scheduling was painful (4 games in 8 days once) but had a big squad to cope.
I'm trying to land the first international job at a contender. I thought i had a good chance at one of the African Nations after AFCON 2021 but Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Morroco all turned me down.
Got to Continental C License and 2.5star (45%) reputation
Next Season Target/Notes
Want to sign Lyle Foster permanently with the £2.8m budget. Target for next season is all about the African Champions League and carry on building badges and reputation. Will focus on the ACL as want to move to a new country/club at end of season and hopefully land the first International Job, maybe after the 2022 world cup.
Career Overview
Season Team Division Position Notes 2020/21 Amazulu South African Premier League 5th Won SA Cup 2021/22 Amazulu South African Premier League 1st Won 4 trophies inc African Confederations Cup.
Challenge Progress
1/10 top domestic (SA Premier, 2022) 1/10 top domestic cups (SA Cup 2021) 0/5 club continental 0/1 club world championship 0/5 continental competitions 0/1 world tournaments0 -
Season 1 - 2020/21
SA Premier League - 5th
Season Introduction
Went against my original plan of building my reputation and badges around Europe when I managed to land the Amazulu Job in January 2021. The club was languishing in 15th. The Squad looked semi decent and had a good building block in Mlambo.
Had 150k transfer budget but a maxed out wage budget. Managed to get a few players in for minimal fees that contracts were running out. The big signing was Grant Margeman, a current SA international on loan from Roma.
Season Summary
Season went pretty well. thought a 4231 vertical tiki taka style would work best. managed to go on a 12 game unbeaten run in the league dropping only 1 game to finish 5th. Player of the season was Ntuli, already at the club who led the line for me and finished with 13 goals. Wasnt expecting to be so competitive in the cup but managed to win it after getting lucky with semi and quarter final home games to teams . I dont think i would have overcome Orlando Pirates, Cape Town or even Sundowns with the current team. Great season, first time properly managing in SA and enjoyed it. Have only managed 1 badge as only at the club 6 months but Reputation with the cup win is up to 1star (20%).
Next Season Target/Notes
Target for next season is to win the league and qualify for the African Champions League and carry on building badges and reputation. Should have more flexibility with signings as Tschabala's 8.5k wage comes of the books (20% of budget).
Career Overview
Season Club Competition Position Notes & Achievements 2020/21 Amazulu SA Premier Soccer League 5th Won SA Cup
Challenge Progress
0/10 top domestic 1/10 top domestic cups (SA Cup 2021) 0/5 club continental 0/1 club world championship 0/5 continental competitions 0/1 world tournaments1 -
Going to give this a proper go after 2 failed attempts (only one posted on here on fm20).
initial manager profile.
My plan is to try and build up reputation/badges around Europe and then do the top 5 leagues before going on a global road trip..........
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Chapter 1 - 2019-22
Season 1
Being a Welshman - I thought i'd start the challenge nearer home and took the only available job in the Welsh Premier at Cefn Druids, the oldest club in Wales. My intention was to win the welsh premier and cup in my second season whilst picking up coaching badges to get a top job in China or South Africa.I have managed in FM20 before in Wales at Newtown so I was confident of being able to sign the right free transfers to make a mockery of the season preview odds of 1000-1 but still overcoming TNS who are by far the best team in Wales was a huge first season challenge.
Managed to get a solid team on frees and loan transfers. Started the season well but got a bit of a hiding against TNS in our first game against them. but then managed to overcome them in the cup. The second half of the season was just non stop winning as the team really settled. We ended up winning the treble which was much better than expected. Juanito Lopez was sensational upfront. My best X1 from the season is below (backdated but still their best XI) I managed to get my coaching badges up to National A License and Reputation up to 1.25 stars whilst at the club.
Given that I had completed a domestic league and cup win in wales. I felt I needed to resign after the season in may and try for a job in Asia or South Africa mid season. I managed to get offered jobs in August in the Chinese Super League. with some 2.5 star clubs which was a surprise. Chongqing, Henan, Everbright. offered me jobs but I held out for another Chinese Super League Club......
Season 2
Tianjin offered me the job in August with only 7 games remaining, languishing in 12th so no chance of Asian Champions League the next season however with a large transfer and wage budget of £45m and 275k wages which was a huge step up from Cefn Druids. I got off to to a great start winning first game 5-1 but we dropped off. The chinese national players we had werent up to it but we We had some quality foreign players in Sandro Wagner , Andres Cubas, Justen Glad, Acheampong but I felt I could upgrade them with the bigger transfer kitty.
Season 3
The first full season with Tianjin, I overhauled the squad significantly. I made the decision to split the transfer fees and tax over the next two seasons to make sure I could get the best foreign player in season 1 that would improve the team straight away and then next season I would use my transfer budget on chinese national player upgrades. Whilst Wagner, Cubas etc were all good players... I decided to upgrade and an amazing player for the spine of the team. CB (Lyanco) CM (Gravenberch) AM/W (Magno) ST (Esposito) Sergio Gomez also joined for a pittance and rotated to suit injuries/resting.
The signings were all top players within the league which meant our season preview was 4th but we surpassed it and ended up winning the domestic double. Esposito was a machine in front of goal and scored 43 goals in 30 games for Tianjin (average rating 7.96!). Gravenberch, Magno, Lyanco,Gomez were also fantastic. Key to our success though given how rare good chinese goalkeepers are was was a regen goalkeeper in the youth team. Lin Shuang who is now a good super league player aged 19.I was confident going into the next season that we would have a good chance to win the ASL given how well we had done if we could keep our best foreign players (all admiring glances from top european clubs and had release clauses of 40-55m) but we still needed to upgrade our domestic contingent if we could
Season 4
I spent the transfer window adding the best available domestic players overspending on a couple of youngsters who i felt could fill out the squad. We had a phenomenal season and ended up winning the quadruple beating a host of Chinese Super league sides in all the competitions, largely on the back of the goals of Esposito who whilst only scoring 17 in the league managed to score 17 in 12 in the Asian Champions League. In the ASL final we were 3-1 up in the first leg to Paxtakor and then survived a 1-0 loss in the second leg to secure the first continental title of my career.
I am now in December 2022 and have recently been appointed the Nigeria coach following the 2022 World Cup with the Africa Cup of Nations coming up next year which I am looking forward to as Nigeria have some great players in Chukwueze and Ndidi.
I am going to look for Jobs in south africa next ideally but would take the right job in the Americas.
Club Season Team Division Position Best Player Notes 19/20 Cefn Druids Welsh Premier 1st Juanito Lopez Manager of the Year, Won domestic Cup and League 20/21 Tianjin TEDA Chinese Super League 12th Andres Cubas finished off season, started in 12th with 7 games to go. 22/23 Tianjin TEDA Chinese Super League 1st Sebastian Esposito Manager of the Year, Won domestic Cup and League 22/23 Tianjin TEDA Chinese Super League 1st Sebastian Esposito Manager of the Year, Won quadruple including Asian Champions League International Year Team Achievements 22 - Nigeria just appointed Challenge Progress 5/32 Club 2/10 top domestic leagues Wales, China(2) 2/10 domestic cups Wales, China(2) 1/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments
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I've been reading this forum for a while and now going to take the plunge and start this challenge for the first time, and it may be my last ever fm game in conjunction with the Dafuge Challenge where I am currently in premier league with Gainsborough.
my starting profile, 19yrs old welsh/english. started with UK nations, SA, China, Australia, South American nations loaded. Hope this is all fine @vikeologist?
I wanted to start in my native wales and lucky enough Cefn Druids job available at the start of my game in may. 1000-1 prediction, so a lot to do in preseason if to topple the mighty TNS to start the challenge with a first domestic league and cup.
I have been debating about doing a european journeyman first as dont like playing with regens too much but think I will try to build up in order, do Wales - South Africa - China/Aus - USA - Braz/Arg then the european top leagues. Will probably next update in 5 seasons time.
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End of Season Review
Season 2024/25
Season 4 Summary - 2nd Championship
The title run is over but another promotion amazing.... Newcastle were too strong but we pipped West Ham to second and got automatic promotion to the big time!
we started the season in patchy form due to the late loan additions and then recovered being led by the goals of Liam Delap and assists of Gomez and Maldini.....did well in FA cup run boosted the budget, losing away at Man Utd.
Transfers, Best 11
Sold some stalwarts in Aarons, Bowden, Ntenda 1.1m....to give myself more wage budget room. picked up some great free transfers - Daniel Maldini from Milan, Diallo from everton, a superstar regen england U21 Chris gomez (from spurs) Genty from FCP. did well with loans picking up some leading championship players in Delap, Florent Da Silva from City, Brunel and Corcoran (regen cb's from chelsea) to add to the spine from League one.
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Key Players
Liam Delap,( who looks like a young Harry Kane)on loan from City was great for us nearly winning golden boot., I'm hoping they transfer list him in the summer. Ibrahima Diallo joined on a free who was immense in midfield. Chris Gomez a wonderkid regen joined on a free from spurs which was scarcely believable as it looks like he could be leading star in premier league in a few years.
Aims for next season
Wow, this save game has been great. I'm building a new small stadium (12k) and have £24m and 300k wage budget remaining on June 1st. Will try to use the loan market again to get 5 players in to bolster the side much prefer real players to regens but will now try and scout around for some bargains in south america and hope to get mid table....
as said in my original post. I always get bored a few years into the premier league with a conference team but hopefully will be able to complete the challenge this time!
Season Division Position Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Vanarama National League North 1st Promoted as champions 2021/22 Vanarama National League 1st Promoted as champions, FA Trophy Winners 2022/23 Sky Bet League Two 1st Promoted as champions, Leasing Trophy Winners 2023/24 Sky Bet League One 1st Promoted as champions, Leasing Trophy Winners 2024/25 Championship 2nd Promoted0 -
End of Season Review
Season 2023/24
Season 4 Summary - 1st League One, Leasing.com Trophy Winners
this is developing into my best ever LLM game.....after 3 straight titles comes a fourth but was a lot more difficult with the step up and having the lowest budget. we led until christmas but then the fixtures mounted up with our small squad we had a horrible run of games in january where we just could not score and thought may have to settle for playoffs. things came together after some loan signings to bolster the squad. and managed to pip Milwall to the title but drew 12 and lost 6. Another great FA cup run boosted the budget... beating Newcastle at St James Park on route to the quarter finals,
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Transfers, Best 11
Had some league one standard players in Ogbeta, Sterling, Darcy, Greenwood and Lgharbi to build on. sold Riley and Lakin for 515k to give myself more wage budget room. Picked up Bejger man utd transfer list who is good championship for 215k. Corcoran a regen from chelsea at prem standard, joined which meant CB was my new area of strength. Luke Thomas on a free and Hudell returned on loan from Arsenal. Callum Wright and Tom Kraub were great signings in CM. John-Jules came in on loan to compete with Sterling the top goalscorer in the league from the previous season and quickly got the starting gig after a long goal drought by Sterling. other loanees joined in january to fill out the squad and luckily needed no loan fee as i was 5k over.
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Key Players
Sam Greenwood went on a sensational run for the first two months scoring 11 in 7 en route to becoming League one top goalscorer and turned down a bid of 2.5m in jan which would have been great for squad building but wanted to complete the season with him. Bejger was a rock in defence and a big reason for Promotion. Luke Thomas my surname namesake was a brilliant signing and really suits my formation with attacking full backs.
Aims for next season
use the £3m new budget wisely on some long term prospects to build for promotion. I think i will revert back to 433 next season as the formation is likely too attacking for the championship and some bigger teams. my club captain Ronan Darcy who I changed the formation for AM has not kicked on and is only decent league one. will see if I can get a good AM or DM and then see. the squad I have now is hopefully good enough to compete but i cant see how i can go up again without some super regen signings and some loan signings so will look after finances and finally upgrade training facilities.
Season Division Position Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Vanarama National League North 1st Promoted as champions 2021/22 Vanarama National League 1st Promoted as champions, FA Trophy Winners 2022/23 Sky Bet League Two 1st Promoted as champions, Leasing Trophy Winners 2023/24 Sky Bet League One 1st Promoted as champions, Leasing Trophy Winners0 -
End of Season Review
Season 2022/23
Season 3 Summary - 1st League Two, Leasing.com Trophy Winners
Another great season, developed a really great squad building on from last year. Kaziah Sterling really pushed on up front winning League Two top goalscorer. played some great football en route to a (game record total in league two) Managed another good FA cup run beating Burnley at home and won the Leasing Cup beating several league one teams along the way.
Transfers, Best 11
Bolstered the squad with some great youth players on frees - Greenwood and Lgharbi were great signings for the wing positions. Ntenda and Hudell joined as attacking full backs. Harvey White was a great pick up in midfield and hopefully can stay with us as we move up the leagues. Daniel Adshead joined on loan in CM/DM from norwich and would have loved to have signed him in the summer but hes gone to the MLS. struggled to get a good CB partner for Ogbeta so brought in a couple loans. Bazunu the irish wonderkid joined on loan in goal.. Finally Marcelo joined in January for the last 6 months of his career which was funny. I changed tactics a few months into my season to maximise Ronan Darcy my captain and standout player from last season in his best position AM.
Key Players
Daniel Adshead beat out Harvey White as my best signing. Kaziah Sterling did the business up front and Sam Greenwood was sensational.
Aims for next season
to continue building the squad and hopefully continue the promotion run. need a good GK,CB, CM and RB to replace loans...mwould like to update facilities.
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Hi @Brent Jolicoeur keep at it - i saw the comment above about the frustration with other people getting consecutive promotions and thought id share a few things i like to do.
1) i find the first transfer window to be the most important and after that you can add better players more easily...i.e. you get on a roll, as you get better players then other players are more like to join. the quality of squad is for me the number 1 in attracting new players.
2) after each season start straight away with signings and only bring in 4 star+ rated or rated in the league above, dont fill out squad for sake of it, aim for a great x1 for start of season as a minimum if you lose some early games but get a better team then so be it. try to keep 1-2k for september/october because there will be players who will become desperate who will join who will be too good for the league.
3) never change tactics to suit opposition or signings. get players to suit.
4) a good way to filter players is.... Player search, world rep - and then target players with the level above your current players -i.e. if in vanarama N/S target nominal, League 2 decent etc.
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End of Season Review
Season 2021/22
Season 2 Summary - 1st Vanarama National, Won FA Trophy.
A strong first season set me up well for the second season as some great players wanted to join straight after the season, led from the off and managed to juggle the league and a FA cup run to the 4th round being knocked out by Championship birmingham. FA trophy win was great as we beat Aldershot in the final on penalties. another season without a prolific goalscorer which I hope to fix for League two!
Transfers, Best 11
Bolstered the squad with some great youth players on frees - Ogbeta, CJ Riley from Manc city improved my back four out of the gate in June, Ronan Darcy, Sotona and Bowden were great signings for midfield/attack. whilst Kaziah Sterling and Rolando Aarons joined in October after failing to pick up a club (v unrealistic) and together with Jordan Graham meant a Jamaican front three of pace and finesse. Lansbury was a great addition in october also.
Key Players
Ronan Darcy on loan to buy from Bolton who was my player of the season. it says he could be good championship so will hope to buy him with my new budget (of £18k per week up from 11k!) Ogbeta and Aarons were also class and should stay with me for the next couple seasons.
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End of Season Review
Season 2020/21
Latest Profiles Gainsborough Manager
Season 1 Summary - 1st Vanarama North
Transfers 1 Transfers 2 made some crucial early signings after trialling out of contract youngsters from big clubs. Ethan Galbraith, Di'Shon Bernard, D'Mani Mellor (Man Utd) and Tolaji Bola (Chelsea) joined early and meant better players would join then. Got some good loans to bolster the team in midfield. Struggled to find the right striker and goalkeeper signings which is key for next season but goals were shared out.
Competitions Amazing first season which took me by surprise, was aiming for playoffs and went ahead of schedule pipping York to the title who had me pegged back for most of the season. scrapped out lots of narrow wins along the way.
Tactics I mostly always play 433 on fm as like to dominate midfield and then go more attacking from a strong defense if I need to. I'm playing a control possession variant but don't quite have the right players to pull it off yet - will move to a DM and attacking full backs asap.
Finances - FA Cup (Second round) and FA Trophy (4th) gave me good income and meant my -1.5k wage deficit wasnt an issue. 200k balance sets me up well for next season.
Key Players
Jordan Graham - simply too good for Gainsborough and very luck to be able to snap him up in October. Will be my best player for some time.
Di'Shon Bernard - Ex Man Utd Youth - played out of his skin and mainstay of my defence
Ethan Walker - Loan signing, came up with the goods when it mattered most - scoring a hatrick against York
Career Overview
Season Champions League Europa League League Position F.A. Cup League Cup Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 N/a N/a Vanarama National League North 1st Second round N/a Champions, 4th Round F. A. Trophy.0 -
Hi,
FM player of 8+ years but never posted on forums so thought i'd give it a go now. I've played numerous conference north/south to premier league games; have got Blyth x2, Hereford x1, Concord x1 into the prem/champions league whIch is good going but never been able to win prem / cl as prefer the early seasons and get bored of regens after a while... so I hope FM20 and updates to/support from this forum get's me over the hill!
Decided to play as Gainsborough Trinity
Gainsborough have some great history - they were one of the first clubs in the football league finishing 7th in the football league second division just behind Newcastle and Man City in 1896. They stayed in the league until 1912 but then failed to be elected instead Lincoln city were elected and then Gainsborough dropped down to the Midland League. Time for a resurgence, to outdo Lincoln City and to get back to where we belong!
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The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge
in Challenges, Sign-Ups & Experiments
Posted
Season 3 - 2026/2027
Start of Season Objective.
Get Promoted. Retain (and hope board don't sell) Cesari, Develop Cesari, Pizzo, Giusti and Mancini, Upgrade a facility/recruitment/coaching. Win a round in the Serie C Cup!
Season Notes
Season was a huge success, after two consecutive 5th place finishes and quarters/semis of the playoffs. we were very lucky winning the Serie C/A with the lowest point total of a winner of all time. It all clicked well in a 4312 and some amazing growth by our youngsters.
Managed to get to the 3rd round of the Serie C Cup this time and won the Serie C Super Cup (round robin of the 3 Serie C winners).
End of season Squad / Player recap
Catalani, Giusti, Pizzo and Franklin all developed incredibly well and pushed us over the line following the two 5th place finishes. Franklin's 16 goals were the difference.He was a 2024 intake player in my u18s - I didnt play him last season due to form of Battistini, Mazzani and preferring Mancini but he has come on leaps and bounds. Viale now first choice GK but only 1.5 star CA.
Very excited by Pizzo and Giusti, some nice technical/Creative players.
Progress Summary
Achieved 3 New Bingo Card targets, The Serie C win, James Franklin (2024 intake) got a 7.18 rating for the season. Coaching badges upto a National A License.
Youth Intake Preview & Intake
Was so excited after the preview to finally get a new A rated goalkeeper!.
The Intake matched it aswell!
Riccardo Re. Finally a 5 star rated PA goalkeeper - except he doesnt look very good....Tall and good physicals and teamwork but Unambitious, 2 determination. low goalkeeping starting stats. Can't see him developing into the player we need. Russo looks interesting but not currently playing with wingers.
Cesari Watch
Alternated between centre back and full back, not developed too much. Missed maybe 10 games due to Italy u19s. Wanted by so many domestic clubs in January. Protested to stop one transfer and then offered him out on loan which seemed to slow down the offers.
Finances/Upgrades
Still no upgrades but have managed to do 2 coaching badges. Lost £300k approx this season.
Stadium Watch
Still playing (renting) at the Ernesto Breda, the Inter Milan youth/womens team stadium.
Very interested to see what happens with the Stadium after the next season in Serie B. Could mean an expansion, a move to a new stadium in Milan.
Or can we get relegated back to Serie C for not having our own stadium of sufficient capacity?
Next Season thoughts
Try to stay up in Serie B and hope next intake is a better one!. Desprately need a GK and to improve the squad.
Will likely need to try and sell Cesari before the board accepts an offer. He's wanted by 23 clubs and looks like he's destined for the top so I'm hoping for £3m + and enough to upgrade some facilities!. My finances are terrible so hoping the board dont accept an offer.