[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

Season Two is going to be a strange one. I've been moved from the North division to the South and the number of teams in the league has been reduced from 15 to 12 in both divisions.

To throw an additional spanner in the works, the South division includes three 'B' teams, who cannot be relegated or promoted, essentially making this a nine team division with one going into the promotion playoff and five relegated.

Edit: depending on the final placements, a team finishing in 5th could be relegated, while if it were to go differently a team finishing 4th could be in the promotion playoff.

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

AEPS Aiolikos Mytilinis, aka 'Wind'

Season One (2022/23) Review

 

I was greeted with an aging squad, including my captain and goalkeeper who ended the season at the ripe age of 38. Only one teenager (Borisov) in the entire club, I tried to blood as best I could but sadly his potential is somewhat limited.

Greek Super League Two

A surprisingly good showing in the league saw us finish 3rd after a good run at the end of the season.

Mbuba finishing 3rd in the scoring charts and set-piece specialist Kouroupis topping the assists chart. Sadly it looks like our arguably best player Kostas Apostolopoulos will be leaving us at the end of the season, refusing to renew his contract and handing in a transfer request.

 

Greek Cup

A goal fest in the Cup saw us eliminated in our first game in the Third Round.

 

Youth Development

A few decent improvements to Recruitment and Junior Coaching.

 

Youth Intake

Decent early signs...

Although four Elite Talents were identified, only one stood out...

Thanasis Bourous...our next Joe Gilbey? Out highest rated youngster, scoring a hattrick vs the u19s before another four on his u19s debut.

 

Finances and Transfers

Our club is bleeding money, with a much needed injection of £100k from the board keeping our heads above water.

 

An ageing squad and limited youth prospects, this could be a long stay in the Second Division. But, that's just the way the Wind blows. Get it? Wind. That's their nickname.

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

56 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

be a shame to start over, you were doing really well!

It's just one of those things, if you did complete it'd just need an asterisk or something. this challenge is hard enough as it is!

That asterisk would haunt me for the rest of my life 

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

Note: New Greek Teams available on 20th June 2022

--------------------

 Introduction: AEPS Aiolikos Mytilinis, aka "Wind"

100/1 Shot in the Greek Super League 2 (North) 

 

Key Player

 

Captain

UP THE WIND! WE'LL BLOW EVERYONE AWAY!

 

 

 

 

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

1 minute ago, XaW said:

Yeah, the ground rule is "no transfer or loans of any kind" and we take it from there.

I never like managing in England anyway, I'll go somewhere a little more obscure.

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

1 minute ago, XaW said:

Yeah, sorry, but we've had those rules for a long time. If the bid was out of your hands and you didn't get any choice, then it's allowed, BUT not allowed to use the player, in the same way we do for when the board buys players without your input.

That's fair enough, I just assumed it didn't fall under that given it's an academy player and not someone new/external, guess the rule is a bit vague when starting out.

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

No, that's not allowed. That counts as a loan in, sorry.

Well, that's a bit silly considering it's an academy player and part of a transfer offer?

Oh well, guess I'll just start over.

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

25 minutes ago, XaW said:

@br00kster - Did you loan in a player, or am I misunderstanding something? That's not allowed in this challenge, sorry.

I sold a player, which was then offered to me for a season on loan as part of the transfer. It's still a player from my academy - see image. Is this not allowed?

 

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

Sand Dancers aka South Shields F.C.

Season Review 2025/26

Pre-season

Achieving back-to-back-to-back promotions was something I'd never achieved on FM, so to do it in a Youth Challenge shocked me. Going into League One, we knew we were in for a tough time, but we had to make do with Joe Gilbey for the final time before he completes his £11m move to Fulham and as ever, it was his performances who dragged a lackluster team through the season.

The Gilbey money was being well spent on improvements to Youth and Training setup:

 

League One

An extremely poor start saw us in the relegation zone for much of the first quarter of the season. I blame this on our first choice keeper getting injured for three months meaning we had a 16 year old stepping in who was nowhere near the quality required and as such goals were being conceded like they were going out of style.

This, coupled with an extremely poor run of form at the end of the season (injuries, lack of squad depth, blooding youngsters), saw us finish 15th (a far higher finish than we deserved picking up two wins in our last two games after a horrible run).

Star of the season was one again the aforementioned Joe Gilbey, who regularly popped up with undeserved goals to turn the balance of a game, finishing top scorer in the league. A big shout out to Hunter and Laws in the assists chart, both of who will be here next season, finishing just above Greig, who sadly looks likely to go for a small fee minimum fee of £190k with us being unable to renew his contract.

 

Papa John's Trophy

Another shocking performance, based on a high amount of rotation saw us drop out immediately

 

Carabao Cup

A Third Round exit to Hull (again), although by a small defecit

 

FA Cup

Less said about Eddie Nketiah's masterclass, the better. Third Round exit.

 

Youth Intake

Early signs were promising.

And despite a large amount of 'Elite Talents', many will not be in and around the first team next year.

 

Jimmy Pickles (ironically my cousin's name) looks our best prospect and will like be brought in to replace the aforementioned Greig, who is likely to leave in Summer. Anth Gray will boost the attacking line as we say a teary goodbye to Gilbey. Delap and Everitt make up any other prospects, but unlikely to break into the team.

 

Post Season

League One was a struggle, I'm not going to lie. At times it felt impossible and I dread to think what we will do without our 30 goal a season Gilbey in the team, as well as Greig. Next season is going to be one of transition and blooding more youngsters as other first teamers age and their stats diminish. I see us struggling immensely and would not be surprised to see our stay in League One end.

On a personal note, I was able to add Joe Skarz to my Coaching Team. A footballer who I played in the same team with growing up, sadly he was far better than me (obviously).

 

Joe Gilbey

Finally, a word on Joe Gilbey. What a player. When I found him languishing in my u18s, a 16yo with a huge drive, I knew I was on to a winner. His £11m transfer fee will keep the club afloat for another few seasons alone, as well as contributing massively to much required upgrades in facilities. He goes down in history as South Shields' top ever League Scorer, a true talent that we will not see again for many a year. 110 goals and 24 assists in 174 games.

Just to sum up his career with South Shield, the final game of the season saw him contribute a hattrick and an assist in a 4-1 win against Portsmouth. A final farewell to the fans for a much loved legend.

 

UP THE SAND DANCERSSSSS!!!

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

3 minutes ago, XaW said:

You just have to keep asking. Rejection happens all the time.

Do they not know who I am? What I've done for this club?! 

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

How am I meant to make a compelling case for Junior Coaching, if it gives me one option and it's constantly refused?

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

Season 3 Review (2024/25)

Sand Dancers, aka South Shields FC

Sadly the six weeks holidays in England are getting in the way of my Football Manager time, but finally I have the third season under my belt.

Pre-Season

Another stadium expansion and improvement to our Youth Recruitment was slightly tarnished by our star man, Joe Gilbey, again wanting to leave the club. With three years left on his contract at the beginning of the season and no release clause, it was going to take something special for me to let him go - bids reaching £600k, plus £250k were made, but nowhere near my valuation of him.

League Two

Season expectation were low, but somehow (despite a horrible run in form due to injuries in the final quarter of the season), South Shields make it back-to-back-to-back promotions...maybe my tactics are overpowered? This is the first time in my long, long FM career I think I've ever achieved this.

 

Despite our fantastic performance in the league, the Cup proved a different beast all together with a poor showing all round.

Carabao Cup - Third Round Exit

FA Cup - Third Round Exit

Papa John's Trophy - Out in the Group Stages

 

Current Youth Players

Along with Joe Gilbey, who again changed his allegiances back to England having been capped by Ireland at u18 level and receiving an u20s call up (and getting an assist on his debut), another star coming through is Lee Greig, who at the end of the season received a call up to Scotland u18s.

It was also a breakthrough season for Dinu at CB, who achieved a solid 7.09 average rating over 34 starts for the club.

Youth Intake

Another positive looking Youth Intake, I'll be looking to bring both Huovinen and Hodgson into the first team immediately as my original squad ages and we move up the divisions.

 

Post Season

The unthinkable finally happened. After fending off multiple bids for Joe Gilbey, a bidding war started breaking out between Middlesbrough, Porto, Logroñés and Fulham. It was inevitable that he was going to go and throwing caution to the wind, I offered Gilbey out for a ludicrous sum a few times hoping someone took the bait...Fulham did.

ELEVEN MILLION POUNDS. ELEVEN. and the opportunity to keep Gilbey for one more season as we hope to survive what will be a difficult season in League One, the board snapped their hands off.

This vitally important money allows us to focus on improving facilities and our youth setup, but I fear how we will cope in the future given Gilbey has generally single handedly dragged us through each promotion. Sadly, no future percentages were included so we will have to make this last.

Joe Gilbey, a legend of the game that I will never forget. Let's hope your final season with us is another cracker.

 

Facilities Update

The Gilbey money came at the right time with our Facilities being downgraded, so additional investment was required, along with Coaching Qualifications for myself.

 

Finally, our squad going into the new season and confirmation of no transfers made, bar the agreed loan of Gilbey as part of Fulham's purchase:

 

Up the Sand Dancers!

 

 

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

29 minutes ago, toshimitzou1 said:

Mission complete!!!!

 

I had to tweak early doors- whilst watching the Full Match for the first 5 mins, Musiala was a constant pain, being played in behind by the wide players and beating what was previously a strong offside trap. I dropped the offside trap, switched my defenders to stopper and cover with this guy tasked with covering Musiala's runs:

Their attacking impetus was almost immediately nullified. I was using this as a base point:

Again, at the 10 min mark I changed the CM-Attack to AP- attack and the DLP to DM- Support and added the TI play through the middle. What transpired was a turgid game where we were clearly keeping the ball centrally to prevent their exceptional wide players from obliterating us . Opposition example:

I can only say: ALWAY WATCH THE FIRST 10 MINS OF A 'BIG MATCH'. 

With these changes in effect, I watched PSG (with far superior players) look for the same through ball to Musiala time and time aging, who was thwarted by and organised deep block and a competent covering defender.

 

End result:

And the gritty:

 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Massive congratulations!

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

16 hours ago, glennuk said:

@XaW what an unbelievable talent. He would start in my EPL team at 15 probably. I am HOPING I get a striker like that ASAP. I feel with a really good striker I could finish this challenge in 4-5 more seasons.

 

@br00kster- great season mate. For me Vanarama National was the hardest league to escape, so getting out of there on attempt number 1 is more than impressive!

Thank you. Historically, I've always found that North/South and Premier are fairly similar, but didn't expect it to be as 'easy' as it was. My season in League Two, however, has not started well...it's going to be a long one!

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

Second Season Review (2023/24)

Sand Dancers, The Mariners, aka South Shields FC

After securing promotion to the Conference Premier League in the first season, the mighty Sand Dancers Mariners continued their domination and achieved back to back promotions, this time to League Two.

The season started off brightly with us not only securing the long term contract of our star Striker, Joe Gilbey, but a successful takeover by the South Shields fans put the club back in their hands. Great news all round, despite their lack of investment, but we were keeping our head above water (just).

 

No significant changes to the squad.

 

Media Predictions pre-season had us at 50/1 to win the league, so expectations were low. Despite this, another successful campaign saw promotion secured with one game to spare with Solihull putting up a monster fight as well as knocking us out of the FA Trophy in the latter stages 6-3 on aggregate.

 

Let's be honest, back to back promotions have been down to one man: Joe Gilbey, who much like Dennis Reynolds, is a Five Star Man and currently a League One standard player. A special mention should go out to a new number one, who pulled off some minor miracles throughout the season.

 

What I would achieve without him, I wouldn't know. Another special season for the now 18 year old, who is going from strength to strength, consistently being our best trainer week in week out, rarely dropping below a 10.0 and also getting a call up to Ireland u21s and scoring on his debut. A proud moment.

 

His stand out moment for me was his three minute hattrick in a comprehensive 7-0 win away to King's Lynn.

I believe my success will last only as long as I am able to keep him at the club, with the sharks circling and his desire to play at a higher level, his days at the club may be numbered. Still, two years left on his deal and an option to extend means we will fight tooth and nail to keep him as long as possible. Unfortunately, his valuation of £8k-80k is way below what I think he's worth so we need to continue to develop him for a bumper offer.

A large offer from Middlesbrough was rejected on Transfer Deadline Day in January.

 

Fortunately, a great Cup run which saw us topple England's greatest yo-yo club Norwich (who with it being the third season of the game are obviously languishing at the bottom of the Premier League having been promoted the previous season, and relegated the season before). A Man of the Match performance was given by our woodwork, which Norwich hit approximately 84 times, as well as our keeper turning into a prime Manuel Neuer.

The win banked us approximately £300k, meaning we were secure enough to reject any advances for Gilbey. I'd like to say there was more to this run, but I don't want to talk about our humbling 4-0 defeat to Hull in the next round, so we'll move on...

The injection of cash allowed us to make some further improvements to Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment.

Two of last year's youth intake were slowly blooded into the team, including Luis Laws, a potential replacement for the inevitably departing Joe Gilbey, who at 6'4" literally defies the LAWS of physics...I'll show myself out.

 

This year's Youth Intake once again provided a number of 'Elite Talents', although what their definition of 'Elite' wildly differs from mine, but we do what we can with what is provided.

 

Our best prospect is half Romanian, Alexandru Dinu, but don't let David Casson hear you say that, some of his Mental stats are just that, mental, and scary off the football pitch. I feel sorry for any striker facing these two in an u18s fixture with their combined 36 aggression.

 

Finishing on a more sombre note, despite racking up another 14 league assists and our pleas for him to continue, Charlie Daniels decided to hang his boots up at at the tender age of 37. A legend of the club who we were more than happy to offer a Scouting role to and he will continue to serve the club in his own way.

 

Onwards and upwards, Sand Dancers Mariners, and I expect an extremely tough season in League Two coming up.

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

5 hours ago, SkiIIs said:

had Boney play over 400 games for me up all the until League 1, averaging less than a goal a game

Bad luck, I guess! Was a quickfire double blow to start the challenge off, my backup (or now number one) has put in some questionable performances to say the least.

[The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge]

Hi All,

First time doing this challenge, so bear with me if I miss any bits of information out. Discovered this thread a little too late to post an introduction having just finished the first season, so here goes:

 

Taken charge of mighty Sand Dancers, or South Shields FC ("The Mariners" as FM refers to them).

 

The first few days of my reign didn't start particularly well with me unable to secure the contract of my star CM (Mitch Rose) who left for Mansfield, despite my much larger contract offer, as well as my first choice keeper expressing his desire to leave at the end of the season when his contract was up, cashing in at the end of the calendar year.

 

Not all was lost as I discovered what looked like a gem in my u18s, introducing Joe Gilbey:

 

The money from the Boney sale did allow me some flexibility and I managed to secure an improvement in my youth recruitment.

 

Finished my first season, dominating the Conference North and gaining promotion to the Conference Premier:

 

With my star youngster playing a key role as the spearhead in my attack and ending up as my top scorer and also changed Nationalities to represent Ireland. Special shoutout to Bournemouth legend Charlie Daniels still whipping in those balls at the age of 36, let's hope he has a couple more seasons left in him:

 

Youth recruitment looks favourable, but overall I'm expecting a much more difficult season next with potentially only two of the below coming in as bench warmers at best:

 

Tied down most of my players for next season, but sadly looks like (despite signing him up for an additional year, with an option to extend), my best CM will be leaving...I have 24 months to cash in, however:

 

Mounting debts left us massively in the red, but the Chairman kindly injected some funds and submitted plans for a stadium expansion:

Onwards and upwards Sand Dancers, errrr...I mean Mariners. And please let me know if there is anything I should be including!

[Custom Database Not Loading]

Hi everyone, I've played custom databases in the past but I'm having an issue loading one today on FM21.

I have it downloaded and saved in the correct location, I can even select when starting a new career, however the database just doesn't seem to load, no information has changed from the existed database it seems.

For context, I want to start the San Marino Challenge (again), but Serie D is not available to me despite having the appropriate database selected. I've tried 

Thanks in advance.