Potat

I thought not posting until the end of the second season would mean I don't curse myself like I normally do. But nope Season 3 rolls in and my best two outfield players leave on a free (they still have no club) and my only goalkeeper is now injured. Just as I thought it was finally going well this save seems to be as good as dead now.

What facepack/tools do people use for their academy players? I've not used any since the update that changed how it was done and am looking to start doing it again. Also, do you still have to edit config files to update them or is there a workaround for that yet?

FC United - Season 1 + 2 Well, I got sacked from Portugal (still not sure why) so I decided to try England because this challenge is weirdly addicting despite me being terrible at it. Didn't do an update after season 1 because I curse myself whenever I do and the second season always seems to be the struggle point for me in these saves. Season 1 Forgot to do all the formalities at the start so thats at the end of season 1 but better late than never. As for the season it was as expected, Bad. Small squad, injuries, the standard England experience. The squad, small, average and very reliant on one-star player. The youth intake was alright? One real good player who just doesn't play very well and is allergic to a good rating. But cant complain as I needed the extra bodies in every position and they are better than nothing. The board didn't seem to like me too much and denied every single one of my requests throughout the entire season. Season 2 A much much much better season, despite accidentally selling my starting left back for free it didnt affect us too badly and we went on to finish comfortably mid table A season of runs where we lost 7 in a row before going 12 unbeaten after a tactics change half way through the year. The intake, despite no stand out players the floor was much higher and some good players for the U19 team. I'll make the posts shorter in the future just had a lot to get out after doing 2 seasons in one post and ran out of time after accidentally posting it.

Moura Remember the Denmark save I started last week? Yeah me neither, anyway I returned to my happy place of Portugal with Moura. The Season was painful drew so many games I almost took up art, we won 5 of the last 6 games which saw us survive on the final day of the season The Team was good but very thin luckily had no major injuries to anyone but this is FM so that's going to change next season The Intake came in after the season had ended so no one has made their debut yet but there's a few decent players here who could play some minutes next season Facilities wise nothing changed were broke but not in debt so overall a pretty positive season

After playing an unhealthy amount in Bermuda, we're back from a 5 month FM break ready to pull my hair out in Denmark this time. Am I any good at this game anymore? I doubt it. Whats the worst that could happen.

St Davids Cricket Club Warriors - Bermuda 2032/34 - Season 11/12 Season 11 We finished second after Dandy Town went unbeaten throughout the whole season, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. As for the cup we lost in the semis.. on penalties... to an amateur team who refuses to go semi-pro despite winning the league in season 1. The youth intake was mid, with some good potential but poor ability which is basically useless as we don't have the training facilities to develop them and they aren't anywhere near first-team level for game time. Season 12 A season ruined by two unexpected defeats to teams much worse than us. League This poor defensive record is stopping us from consistently being good, every game is basically a basketball match of who can score the most, and this led to us finishing third, on goal difference, basically the worst outcome for the save all because we lost to the 7th placed team. Domestic Cup Another year and another cup draw against that team, surprise surprise it wasn't close, but fortunately, this cup is basically useless as it doesn't qualify us for anything else so I dont mind. Caribbean Cup After finishing second last season we got put into the qualifying round for the Caribbean Cup. Finishing second means we have to play a two-legged qualifying match before the group stage, but as we are so much better than the opposition it allows us to rotate, and more importantly it didn't ruin our finances as our youth setup costs the same finishing 2nd - 8th. So we end up in the same place as the league winners just without the £200k additional youth setup costs which I get after winning the league. Meaning from here on we have to aim to finish second. Group Stages Phase 1 - Simple, easy not much to say just into phase 2 comfortably. Phase 2 - Pain... One dumb defeat to St Pauls Utd sees us knocked out Youth Intake Pretty eh, 4 decent players who will play little to no football ever as our best players currently is our attacking front 4 and they wont displace them any time soon. The Squad Is there any better feeling than having a front 4 who all get 20+ G/A and wingers who both get 30+. Unfortunately, that's where the positives end for the team, I have 2 goalkeepers who got a combined 7 clean sheets in 30 games (5/2 split). The starting midfield duo got 22 assists between them which I can't complain about, but our defense is an issue, our centrebacks are the best players in the squad according to star rating, as well as being the captain and vice-captain... but they can't play football, terrible average ratings no matter the tactic and error pron but no one else is near good enough to replace them. Internationals - Bermuda 18 of the 23-man senior squad came through our youth intake and has seen Bermuda jump from the 175th-best nation (as of 2025) to 135th best, they haven't done anything in any tournaments yet but +30 in the ranking is good enough for me. Knocked out in the second round of WC Qualifiying, not qualified for the Gold Cup, and finished second in the second league of the Nations League.

St Davids Warriors - Bermuda Season 10 - 3032/33 League You have to be borderline perfect in these short leagues in order to win it, and an 8-2 loss to Dandy Town didn't help that. Domestic Cup We finally got an easy draw and we made the most of it, easy group stage and for the first time in 5 years, we avoided the good teams on our way to finally winning it. Caribbean Cup Group Stages Caribbean Zone Finals The finals were a Bermuda vs Jamaica doubleheader, us vs Arnett Gardens, and Dandy Town vs Harbour View Finance and Facilities No changes on the facility front as we can't afford training/youth facilities and I'm happy with the coaching/recruitment. However, on the money side, we are £250k in the red, and I've discovered that after winning the league our youth setup cost more than doubles, from £96k last year to £230k this season. This means the prize money from the League/Cups makes no difference as the youth setup takes more than we win. Almost more beneficial to not win the league until we are ready to dominate. Youth Intake Top Prospect? Player Stats Overview

Everyone is Semi-Pro with terrible facilities so players don't really develop, but I'll happily take 2-5% if it helps keep some of the best players in the future.

Saint Davids Warriors - Bermuda 2030/32 - Season 8/9 These updates every 2 seasons seem to bring me very good luck. Season 8 Not a lot happened, we were terrible, we lost our best player on a free transfer, got the worst possible cup draw again, you know the usual kinda stuff in this game. Just finished 3rd, had 0 goal difference, and a small gap of 15 points to the top two which has been growing year on year since we won the league, things really starting to look not great. Then it got a bit worse, our best player refused to sign a new deal due to the strength of squad and then joined the best team in the league, I never thought I'd be able to hate a team called Dandy Town but I do now. Plus he is literally valued higher than our entire club and as far as I know I won't get any future fee now as he was on a non-contract for us. This kid came through the academy and well as you can see did pretty good the season after. So silver linings? Season 9 We are back and better than ever, Champions for a second time, sealed with a 5-0 win in the final game of the second against the team of my nightmares, despite only keeping 3 clean sheets all season we also somehow had the best defense in the league, now we just have to avoid the pattern which suggests next season will be terrible. Domestic Cup At this point, I'm convinced this thing is rigged, 7 seasons in the top flight and I've been drawn against one of the top 2 teams in the Quarter Finals in every season bar one. The day I don't draw Dandy Town or North Village immediately I'll throw a party. Youth Intake / Youth Teams Intake was pretty decent I guess, I've lowered my expectations compared to previous years and there's a few decent players on the verge of the first team this time. Also worth noting now each player with good technicals is worth his weight in gold as our training facilities are so bad our current player's technical attributes are just getting worse each year. Kalijah Clemons | Rob Bradley-Sinclair | Scott Chamberlain As for the U18s and Reserve teams, both went unbeaten and both only dropped points once all season so clearly we are very well set up there at least. Internationals / Other Teams As far as Bermuda national teams go we basically run them at this point, last call-up saw 11 players in the senior squad (3 hadn't even made their debut for me) and a further 13 in the U20s team. As far as other teams go I have to show the freak that Dandy Town kidnapped from Togo, 42GA in 26 games, how can I make him leave my island and go play actual football? He's been here for 3.5 years and is already a club legend for them. Overview Won't add player stats as this is already long enough. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going into next year and actually turn up the Caribbean Cup this time.

Saint Davids Warriors - Bermuda Season 7 - 2029/30 Were just not quite good enough to be winning the league. The League We were much better than last year the last task now is to consistantly be beating the 2 teams better than us. With the best defence in the league and second best offence, we just came up short drawing too many games to be a threat. Domestic Cup We did pretty good then failed horribly at the final hurdle, after a pretty easy group we were rewarded by being drawn the best team in the country, after getting by on penalties the draw for the next round gave us.. the second best team in the country, and after we scraped a 1-0 win against them we made our first final of the save where we played the third best team in the country, theres only 3 teams as good / better than us and we had to play all of them just to lose to the worst one anyway. Other Teams There is very much clear divisions being formed in the league at this stage, top 4, 1 or 2 who just exist and the rest in a relegation battle yoyoing every season, and there is nothing scarier than managing in a tiny nation and seeing your rivals sign someone you recognise, when Robin Hood signed Jovane Cabral, formally of Sporting Lisbon and Lazio and unsuprisingly he was the best player in the league scoring a hat-trick against us in the final. Finances and Transfers We are still £150k in the red so kind of stabalising at this stage but for the first time this save we sold a player for actually money... it was £1000 but you have to start somewhere. As for facilities I downgraded Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment by 1 each and we saved £170k over the course of the season??? Youth Squads / Intake The U18s continued to dominate winning the league title for the 4th consecutive year, while our reserves also won the league making it 2 in 3 years for them. As for the intake, we are past the days of getting 3-4 garunteed starters each intake but there are some ok players in here for the future however none will be challenging for first team spots next year. Stats

So far only one contract that I've been unable to sign but the player wanted 5x what anyone else earns so I dont feel bad, ill just bite the bullet on the money side and see what happens.

Saint Davids Warriors - Bermuda 2028/29 - Season 6 Post-championship season hangovers are very real and not fun. The League Was just a bad season all around, had no chance at retaining the title as my defenders would manage to concede at least 3 goals to a team of toddlers with a beach ball. Combined with my strikers scoring on their debuts then forgetting how to score the rest of the season is always fun. Domestic Cup Again another quarter-final exit where I always draw the only competent teams in the tournament. Caribbean Cup First time in this competition after winning the league and we drew Ideal from Montserrat, Guaynabo Gol Peurto Rican champions, and System 3 the Saint Vincent and Grenadiers Champions, it was very much us against System 3 in a competition of who could score the most against the other 2 teams (It was me), and in the final game where a draw or better gets us through, we concede a 91st-minute goal to get knocked out in the first Group phase. Youth Intake A snap back to FM reality as for the first time there were no guaranteed starters coming straight from the intake. Some decent strikers, would have preferred defenders but can't really complain. Finances and Facilities £200k in debt, we make about £150k a year, but I went too big too soon with the youth setup which costs £220k a year which we just can't afford at this point in the save. Do I keep the setup and just accept the money loss, or scale down the setup and try to save some money? Internationals Lawler is semi-regular in the Bermuda senior team but is no longer a Model Citizen and is now Resilient. Overview

Saint Davids Warriors - Bermuda Season 4 + 5 - 2026/28 These short seasons (18 league games) are too addicting. Season 4 Not much happened in season 4, we finished mid-table which is the best for us and we had an incredible intake (previous post) that turned our previous 5-star players into 2/2.5 star players in comparison. Season 5 League Champions First of many hopefully, I wouldn't say we are the best team in the country yet but definitely top 3 going into the future, defensively we were mehh, however, our new wingers getting 26 / 27 goal involvements each meant we had the best attack on the island Cup Run It is what it is losing to one of the teams I'd say were better than us all year. Finances and Facilities Financially we arent in a great place, I offered everyone actual contracts so they wouldn't leave on free transfers but we don't make enough money to pay actual wages so we're losing a lot of money. With the facilities we cant afford training/youth facilities meaning our only option for now is to try max out our Junior Coaching until we start getting money from somewhere somehow. Youth Intake Another good year, 16 elite talents all from Bermuda, Tyler Pearman and Mikkael Morton come straight into the first team as our best two players in the squad. Mikkail Morton Tyler Pearman Youth Teams / Reserves It was the first time we've actually had players available to play in these teams as we were so short on numbers, and they provided by winning the league in each age group . Internationals It was a good year as our now backup GK cemented his place as the U20 team's first-choice keeper alongside a few others making more regular appearances for the youth side As for the main national side, we had our first player make their senior debut for Bermuda, our Model Citizen midfielder Brendon Lawler at the age of 16, who, after the most recent intake is now only the 3rd best midfielder in our side. Team Stats

I know I'm a semi-pro team in Bermuda and our squad is pretty terrible, but I genuinely let out a laugh when I saw this intake... Just the EIGHT 5-star ability players. John Griffith | Calon Cooper | Detre Delgado | Brendon Lawler | Ken Agnew | Remy Brangman | Quinaceo Tucker | Riley Hall

Saint David's Cricket Club Warriors Bermuda Heavily inspired by @WhiteCat33 in Barbados, I thought I'd reinstall FM23, download a Caribbean/Central American database, and see how far and wide I can spread the players of a small island nation after importing the save to the current game. After searching through the Caribbean looking for a suitable nation I settled in Bermuda, an island of 62k population, 2 football leagues, 20 teams, and using a format that didn't hurt my brain trying to understand. The aim... win the North American Champions League and see how successful Bermudian players can become worldwide. I've just finished season 3 and delayed posting anything as I wasn't sure A) If it would be eligible B) If it was even working as intended C) If it would remain interesting short/long term. (if it's not eligible I'll just hold off on the updates) Picking the Team Manager Profile | Club Profile As there is no relegation from the second division in Bermuda I holidayed forward a season and took over the team that finished bottom of that season, in this case, St Davids Warriors (my local team... kinda). I took over an amateur team of greyed-out players, 3 actual players, and 5 academy players from that season's intake. Update After 2 promotions, 1 relegation, 4 takeovers, and a total of 5 clean sheets across 3 years we are back in the top flight. Season 1 Results | Season 2 Results | Season 3 Results Youth Intakes Season 1 Intake | Season 2 Intake | Season 3 Intake Considering the level of players at the club I'm not all too surprised with the amount of 4 and 5-star ability players we've got through, especially as they all drop as soon as the next intake comes in. Best Prospects Daz Butterfield-Steede | Kole Smith | John Castle The best of the players to come through so far, 5-star ability and are so clear of everyone else that the rest of the squad is 2.5 stars or lower. Finance and Facilities Current Facilities | Finances The board here is very generous and over the first 3 seasons have allowed me to fully upgrade the youth recruitment and get a good upgrade to the junior coaching too, leaving us with the best youth system in Bermuda (that's not saying much though) Transfers Literally nothing, unsurprisingly no one wants Bermudian teenagers, as the good ones have part-time contracts and the bad ones are so bad I can't even give them away, I keep everyone to fill the reserves and U18 team anyway. Academy Player Stats Club Stats Overview

TSV Aachen Season 1 - 2024/25 - Review The 3-2-4-1 Pep ball is pretty powerful eh, who would have thought. The Team Squad | Staff | HoYD The squad is very good, at least compared to what I've been used to so far anyway. The Season Fixtures Pt1 | Fixtures Pt2 An ok start considering how tough the opening few fixtures were but turned it around and had a very good year barely missing out on playoffs just ran out of games at the end. Youth Intake Intake Preview | Full Intake A pretty meh intake can't complain nothing to shout about either. Key Prospects A. Grzybowski 00A | D. Hartel 00B The only players who really caught my eye neither will be pushing the first team anytime soon. Finance and Facilities Facilities | Finances Very disappointing all things considered, on the upgrade front we got nothing, 0 upgrades, not even a basic coaching course "dOnT wAnT a BiGgEr ClUb cOmInG fOr yOu" Little do they know they are stuck with me until we get relegated. Topped off by a training facility downgrade at the end of the season. Overview Season Overview | Youth Season Stats | Youth All-Time Stats

TSV Aachen Preview If I fail with a setup this good then I'll take the hint this isn't for me. Manager Profile | Club Profile Key Players Jan-Luca Rumpf | Ulrich Bapoh | Frederic Baum By far the best squad of players I've had to work with so far, hopefully, I get to keep them around. Best Prospects Laurence Park | Nikola Janev Along with some decent youngsters who will get to develop as I won't need to rush them into the team.

FC Maruyasu Okazaki End of Save Review - 2026 - Season 3 Getting promoted was the worst thing that could have happened, £3m in debt to build a new stadium (which we never played in), and £6m extra to use the current stadium for an extra season meant we had no money, as far as players go, what we had wasn't good enough and we had no chance, made worse by losing 2 key players (starting RB and CM who was POTY the year before). Despite the aim being "Fight Bravily Against Relegation" and being by far the worst team in the league, with 1 win and 8 points from 32 games I can't say I'm shocked I got sacked but still disappointed. This challenge is torture but still in a weird way I enjoy it, so we go again somewhere else. Is there anything against using the same game file to start at another team with a new manager?

Understandable I've just tested it and got them after 5 re-rolls with a small boost to rep so I can see why it might be an issue.

So what's the rule regarding using the pre-game editor to increase a team's chances of getting promoted to a playable league? After 50 re-rolls trying to get a specific team, I might have to give a little boost to their reputation to get them promoted.

FC Maruyasu Okazaki 2026 - Season 3 Mid-Season Update Progress has really slowed with this save over the last few days, after getting promoted to J2, I knew we were going to struggle but it's been very rough and demotivating so far. We've one once but other than that it's been miserable with our defense simply being too bad to survive in this league, combined with season-ending injuries to two starters as well as losing my full-back pairing for free last season I am out of ideas. We're back to being the worst team in the league defending crosses meaning we can't sit deep, and we aren't good enough to push up high up the pitch. We are still £10m in debt meaning no more upgrades for the foreseeable future and with poor youth facilities we can't rely on many youngsters. Anyway, that's the end of my rant its looking bad and the only silver lining is somehow we're not bottom.

Well then this complicates things, the season just ended and I lost £6 million for 'Ground Maintenance' about a week after the final game. Anyone know what happens next? I'd imagine a points deduction but not sure how it works in the game... And to top it off the new stadium which should have been ready for the start of the upcoming season has been delayed for 3 months at a minimum.

FC Marusayu Okazaki Season 2 - 2025 After getting to the playoffs last year I was expecting a relegation battle as that's how all my saves go in the second season apparently. The Squad Staff | Squad Pt 1 | Squad Pt 2 As we still had no youth teams the squad was getting a bit larger than I would have liked, playing friendlies for the youth players every midweek did help a bit with morale however. The Season Promotion... yeh I don't know how either. Last year we were one of the worst in the league and relied heavily on counters, this year however, after a change in tactics we dominated games throughout the season, having the highest average possession in the league (62%), scored the most set pieces in the league (set piece coaches are a must) and our defense improved massively. Although we were 11 points clear of 3rd with 10 games to play I've never been more stressed about winning promotion by a single point. We will just claim it was for dramatic effect not us trying to throw it away at the end. The Tactics Last year we focused heavily on playing down the wings, which in hindsight was a terrible idea as we had no one to cross it to, this year we switched it up to keep the ball more and it worked, scoring a lot despite Hara and Hakamata having 1 and 2 finishing attributes respectively. Will this work in the division above with much better teams? I doubt it but only one way to find out. Youth Intake Intake Preview | November Intake Considerably more exciting than last season with the elite talents already making their debut in the final game after securing promotion Key Prospects Tsubasa Yoshino | Shogo Nishimori | Hiroki Hosokawa Three players who will probably feature on the bench a lot next season who have great potential. Facility Upgrades At the end of last season, the board decided we needed our own much smaller stadium (5k) instead of sharing what we currently use (20k), this decision has borderline bankrupted the club and really limited what I was allowed to upgrade this season. I was denied all upgrades relevant to the youth setup but was given two training facility upgrades, one before the season started and one mid-way through, despite them being the most expensive. Season Review Academy Player Stat Leaders for Season Despite the debt, lack of upgrades, captain leaving for free and inevitably being the worst team in the league next season. This year was a success I was not expecting and im not sure whether I should be excited or terrified for whats going to happen next year. Other Things Academy Player Leaderboard | Bingo (Japan Version) edit: Should probably mention it's been incredibly quiet on the transfer front, for two full seasons I've received 0 offers for any of my players for actual money, while only getting offers for one or two players on free deals which were all declined.

FC Maruyasu Okazaki Season 1 - 2024 (Final Attempt at the torturous challenge) Preview Manager Profile | Club Profile Going into the season expectations were low and the aim was to simply survive relegation and try to build from that. Season Review We managed to do a lot better than survive in the league as we made the playoffs securing our place with a draw in the final game of the season. The cups... well we don't need to talk about those. Despite making the playoffs we were bad, like really really bad. We kept 2 clean sheets all season and conceded 23 goals from set pieces, we did, however, have the 5th best offense despite it taking 13 games for either of my strikers to score their first goals. Statistically, we were the worst team in the league for passing, crossing, heading, and set-piece defense even though we were focusing our play down the wings. Youth Intake Intake Preview | Youth Intake First-year in Japan is more about getting the academy off the ground than it is about the players you get. Expectations were on the floor and was pleasantly surprised that we had one or two competent players. Youth Prospects Toshihiro Matsumoto | Kazuhiro Osaka | Yushi Sakai None of them got any league minutes at the end of the season due to the playoff push but will probably get some in pre-season. (Slightly worried that the top 3 prospects have a combined jumping reach of 9) Facilities & Upgrades There was a slight panic when 3 months in, the board was denying all requests, but after a good patch of form, the board felt generous allowing me to upgrade everything possible except for getting a reserve team. edit: After typing all this and progressing a couple of days the board announced we will be getting our own 5k capacity stadium despite having the lowest attendance in the league. While already sharing a 20k capacity stadium anyway seems like money is going to be tight over the next 2 years. Next Season If I have learned anything from my previous attempts it's that the first season is always the best, so I'm expecting a tough relegation battle next year as that seems to be the way all my saves go, not made any easier by having a squad of 44 players to keep happy as I have nowhere to put any of the academy players. Other Youth Player Leaderboard | FM Bingo (Japan Version)

AFC Telford - Season Review Season 1 - 2024/25 We go again learning from past mistakes. (Picking a team with more than 10 players this time) Overview Manager Stats | Club Preview Season With the board aiming to avoid relegation I had a comfortable season around mid table without too much happening. Combined with some short and lackluster cup runs it wasn't the most entertaining of seasons other than us getting beat 4 - 0 once a month, leading to many different tactics with varying degrees of success. A decent early run meant the board was willing to give me Junior Coaching upgrades but that's pretty much all that was upgraded this season. Youth Intake Intake Preview | Youth Intake A promising preview led to a fairly good intake with one or two players capable of being in and around the first team from the start of next season. Stand Out Prospects Rikki Shaw | Myles Albrighton | Tsuyoshi Kamada Academy Player Stats Season Review Full Review | Bingo (2/100)