leyrtj

Season 9 - Atletico CP - Ledman Liga Pro - 8th So I said I was going to take some time off from this save, but I'm back. First season in the second flight and solid mid table position. Never looked like getting involved in a relegation battle. We had some tough results to take again - similar to two years ago. We dominated a number of games but drew 0 - 0, or got caught on the break. I am looking at changing tactics next year to something more defensively solid and counter-attacking. In our whole squad the best stat for finishing is 9 from our striker, so scoring goals is continuing to be a problem. Our two centre back are 192cm+ so we're focusing on set pieces. The goal for next season is to get closer to the top two. We are also going to sell our best player Marcos Guilherme. We tried to sell him in the January window, but no one would bid above a million. I may take 2.5m with a sell-on. That would clear the debt and hopefully get a youth facilities upgrade, and then we might get much more if he sells big in the future. The board want top half next season. We have probably 3 - 4 seasons before they ask for promotion. Squad is looking decent, though some quality in defence and up front is needed. Augusto will go to the left wing next season and a youth prospect come in at left back. We are overloaded in midfield, with 6 top division players or prospects. We are going to sell one a season for a while I think to generate cash. We also had our first full international debut for Ibraima Cande for Guinea-Bissau. A poor youth intake. Only the second time without a golden generation. One good right winger, which is actually something we needed.

Season 8 - Atletico CP - Campeonato de Portugal - 1st - Promoted Wow, what a fun season that was. We started the year with a media prediction of 12th with odds of 11 - 1, but as the year progressed this dropped to 7 - 1 and finally 4 - 1. We had a reasonable first half, and were top but there were 4 teams within 2 points. Then we stormed the second half winning almost every game. The quarter finals and semi-finals were formalities (in the semi the other team had two men sent off in the first 15 minutes), and we were promoted. We face the Sporting B team in the ceremonial final. As the Liga NOS season had already finished they moved half their first team squad down to the B team for the final, and had players worth over 10m (including a 33 year old Nathan Ake). Blatantly cheating , but it would be a chance to see how we would fare against higher level opposition. And it was a belter. They had a sending off, we missed a penalty, they went ahead three times and we equalized in the 9th minute with a comical own goal. We then lost in the penalty shootout after our club captain, Joaquim Preto, missed our 9th spot kick. It was a joy to watch this team play this season. Watching your academy players grow into core players is one of the best parts of this challenge. I can only imagine what it feel slike to produce a world class player. I continued until the new season updated, and the board want mid table. I was hoping for fight bravely against relegation. We predicted to finish 11th out of 18th, so a promotion push might be possible. I'm going to put this save down for a week. It's so much fun, but the grind is getting to me a bit. And I want to go and sign some wonderkids in my home grown challenge! I'll be back. The squad is continuing to improve. At the end of last season we had 5 players in the media dream XI for the third division, and in the new Ledman Liga we have two of the four best players. We have a lack of true quality in defence but Silva will play centre back next year which will help. Still struggling up front, but Trendade emerged this year as a solid option, and Figueiras is scoring 20 a season playing off the main striker. With two very good academy midfield prospects coming through and almost first team ready, selling either Roque or Guillerme (our two best players) could be an option. For 10m I'd sell one, but I'm worried to offer them out in case the board accepts 500k. Our midfield looks very handy. Another good youth intake with more top division talent. Nothing spectacular but players that will keep us competitive in the future. Hopefully next year, with the higher division and improved reputation, we'll get some top talent.

Season 7 - Atletico CP - Campeonato de Portugal - 5th A season of highs and lows after winning the league and not being promoted last year. We ended up finishing 5th which was prety similar to our media prediction. We were so inconsistent. Some days we would destroy teams, then just lose out of nowhere. The biggest issue was scoring goals in games, and we got FMed numerous times. Sometimes I feel the game doesn't want to do well in a particular season. Going forward into the next season, we're now 11 - 1, which we means we have a good chance of going up and that's what the board wants. We've managed to keep onto our key players for two seasons and am starting to build up strength in the squad as a result. Our two central midfields are both top division quality and have signed long term contracts, It's time to get promoted. On a more positive note Honrado, our great youth intake player from 2 seasons ago, got sold to AC Milan for 13.75m, meaning we pocketed over 4m. This clearly our debts, meant we could upgrade the youth facilities and go professional. We're losing around 2m a season at the moment, so I want to get promoted so we can start selling players for more money to cover that. Another good youth intake with 3 or 4 reasonable talents. The talents from last year are being classified as Liga NOS talents, so it looks like the youth facilities are working. Still no striker.

Wondering if anyone can confirm this? I've been reading a lot about what influences youth intake. One aspect I hadn't seen before was someone saying that your team's U19 manager can have an impact. Over the last 6 seasons, every striker from my youth intake has been a pressing forward. Which is not ideal for my tactics. Looking at my U19 manager, his has "Uses intense pressing" as part of his tactics. This seems to be too much of a coincidence to not be correct, but just wondered if anyone knew for sure.

Season 6 - Atletico CP - Campeonato de Portugal - 1st (not promoted) Another positive season. We went on a winning run in the second half of the season and finished top. We got through the quarter final on away goals with a late penalty then had to face the best team in the league in the semis (if you win the semis you get promoted). They robbed us 3 - 0 in the first leg, but we stormed the second leg. After going 2 - 0 up they scored a penalty and I thought it was all over because of the away goals. We scored again, then got a penalty, which we missed. Then scored again but it was too late. The excellent dynamics you get in this save mean the team will often come back into matches. We are not ready to go up yet, so maybe another season or two at this level is good. Out odd of 34 - 1 had us predicted to finish mid table. We're starting to put together a really good spine of a team. All signed new contracts at the end of the season, s o hopefully we can keep the team together for another two seasons at least. We even got a Brazilian left winger through the youth intake which we desperately needed. The player development reports are starting to say some of the players are Top Division talents, meaning the youth academy is doing extremely well. Another decent youth intake with good players and personalities in important positions. I play attacking wingers so Augusto could be key.

Season 5 - Atletico CP - Campeonato de Portugal - 5th A solid season, finishing 5th. After making the playoffs last year, it felt a bit frustrating to fall away towards the end of the season. But we overachieved then, and 5th is probably a little above where we should finish - the media had us in 40th (10th?). There was a board takeover at the end of last season, but not much has changed and they continue to fund raise and inject money into the club. We have lost three of our best talents in the last 12 months, but they all have sell-ons so hopefully one of those will come good at some point. We lost Honrado in January for 300k plus 40% sell-on. There was just nothing we could do about it. He went to Vitoria Guimaraes who finished 3rd in Liga NOS, so I’m hopeful of a sell-on in 2 years. This is assuming he’s as good as I think he is. The talent is starting to come through to the first team and the team looks much better than a year ago, but there are lots of fresh faces. I think Roque will be the next to go, as he is wanted by 13 clubs and won’t sign a new deal. A really solid youth intake with 5 very good prospects with good personalities. Marcos Guilherme went straight into the first team.

I did consider putting a release clause in but thought teams would still bid 30k and it would be accepted. I'll try that next time. Anyway, he went in January for 300k plus a 40% sell on. To a team 4th in the top league, so hopefully we make a few million on him in a few years.

Season 4 - Atletico CP - Campeonato de Portugal - 1st (not promoted) Well this could take a while. We were in great form all season, won the league but then lost in the quarter final of the playoffs. Given how well we played this year, I really hope we go up next season, otherwise it could get frustrating. In the playoffs we came up against an in form team and we had 4 players out in the second leg through injuries/suspensions. Still, a fantastic season and hopefully we can go up next season. The board is pumping 150k into the club every month. Interestingly, or perhaps worrying, after a board takeover they and the fans were infuriated at the transfers I had done. Don’t they know it’s a youth academy challenge! I’m loving this save already, and learning so much from it. Normally, I don’t ever bother looking much at how players are progressing, but in this challenge you have to and I'm reading a lot about how to maximize the development. This is by far the most interesting save I've ever done, but I am still not confident I'll complete it. But I'm going to try. We lost two key players before the start of the season when the board accepted 30k as it was too good to refuse. They have 40% sell-ons at least. I used to love transfer windows but in this save I feel scared to hit the Continue button, especially on deadline day. Other than that it’s a strong squad and the youth will take over the midfield next season. I was paying 1.5 star oldies in midfield all season as they were playing so well. Youth Intake day was spectacular, with ten 5 star potential players. With Exceptional Academy Coaching and Excellent Youth Recruitment I was hoping for something like this. Good personalities on the whole as well. Pedro Honrado is, stats wise, by far the best player I’ve ever had out of a youth intake. Amazing mentals as well, and is already training above 9.0 every week. Interestingly, he has no team interested, whereas Vitor Roque has 13 teams interested so perhaps he has the higher PA. This could genuinely be the golden generation that takes us up, unless we lose a load of them in the summer.

Makes sense. Managed to trim some of the budget by doing that. The youth set up is still costing me over 100k a month which is far higher than anything else. The board are pumping money in every month. I can't seem to make any money from the friendlies.

Need some help. I just pulled the best player I've ever had in any game from the youth intake. How on earth do I stop the board accepting 30k for him like they did last summer for two really good talents? I'm in the third league of Portugal and am in a lot of debt. I guess when he goes the ideal scenario would be a decent top division Portuguese team with a sell on % who then sells him to a top European team for big money. I'm still in shock. Never had anyone as good as this.

Season 3 - Atletico CP - Campeonato de Portugal - 10th Thiis was a really good season in the context of the save. We finished a solid mid-table, with the media predicting similar, with odds of 52 - 1, which were slightly better than the year before. We were never in any danger of relegation, so in the last 10 games I started playing some of the youth players. I was also hoping that a lower finish would reduce board expectations for next year. Strangely, we lost in the first round of the cup, but still went through to the second round. Has anyone seen this before (screenshot below)? I’ve been checking the finances throughout, as this was a problem in the previous save at South Shields. Basically, we’re stuffed. We managed to get upgrades in all 4 categories, after getting upgrades in two of them last year. We now have Exceptional Youth Coaching and Excellent Youth Recruitment. My next intake might be really special. The board accepted the requests so they can’t be too worried about the money, and they injected some cash at the end of the season. In the Income page, I also saw they were doing some “Fundraising”. I'd love to see more options around managing the finances of the game, possibly with the option of having a Finance Manager if players don’t want to manage it. Lost in the cup but went through to the next round... Started to get some excellent strength in depth. It wasn’t until around season 8 when I saw this with South Shields. Lots of potential still needs to be realised so I am thinking a promotion push in 2 - 3 seasons. Still need a quality striker to come through. Leite is the best player at the club and has been unhappy all year as I keep turning down offers - he has a temperantal, volatile personality. If he was a right back I'd sell him as I have cover, but I don't have anyone to replace him. Excellent youth intake, with two quality wingers especially Rui Martins, and a 4.5 star attacking midfielder.

In my first season we actually made money and had half a million in the bank, so maybe that's why they approved the deals. The cutting of the wage budget is a problem that might be coming. I'll try to put my best players on the longest contract possible around February. Portugal is really tough in the third tier. No playoffs, only top 2 make the promotion playoffs.

I'm halfway through the third season now. I've upgraded all the facilities. However, we are starting to lose money quickly - around 600k a season. I guess this is normal, but what will happen when this debt becomes larger and larger? One possibilty will be the board injects cash but what if they don't? I'm probably still 2 - 5 seasons from getting promoted.

Season 2 - Atletico CP - Campeonato de Portugal - 6th This season we I came 6th in the league. Given there’s 4 leagues, does that mean I came 24th or thereabouts? The media predicted us to come 51st with odds of 64 - 1. It was almost a carbon copy of season 1. We started well, and looked like we might push for the playoff, then our star player got a 9 month injury (this time a damaged spine) and we couldn’t win a game. Finally, we turned it around storming up the league to mid-table. The star player has an interesting contract. He’s on an amateur contract which has expired, and it says he has retired from amateur football. I can’t offer him a proper contract, and other teams can’t either, but he can play. Given he’s had two 9 month injuries maybe it’s best I don’t again. I've also been following the finances a lot more carefully following the failure in the previous attempt. The board agreed to upgrade every facility this year, which was great news. Unfortunately, we’re now losing money, as the youth set up increased in cost from 20k a month to 60k. Does that mean that once you get the facilities upgraded then the clock starts ticking on finances? You need to get promoted soon to get extra income or the debt becomes a problem. Vitor Leite from last year’s intake is already our best player, and I ended up keeping him as a left back. Some prospects in many positions, but no good strikers coming through yet to replace Caramelo. No a great youth intake. Those stars say more about the quality of my team than the quality of the intake.

Season 1 - Atletico CP - Campeonato de Portugal - 11th In our first season the media predicted we would come 59th with odds of 78-1. Hmmm, this doesn’t sound like England - it’s been a while since I managed abroad. In the (old - it was updated in 2021) league, there are 4 groups of 16 with the top 2 of each league going into the playoffs. 2 out of 72 teams get promoted, and 5 out of 16 in each league get relegated. This might take a while. Anyway, we had a solid season, finishing just above the relegation zone but by a number of points. Our star player tore his cruciate ligaments in the first game of the season. I’ve been much more careful with finances and they are actually increasing. In the income page there’s some mysterious “Other” of 50k going into our account each year. I’ve enjoyed the season - there’s a lot less game than in England - 34 league games and only 1 cup. We got a crazy youth intake (see below), so I might promote most of them up to the first team squad next year and have them for squad rotation. Some good young talent in the original squad as well. Basic training facilities might harm us in the short run. I've never had anything like this before - there are more 5 star players than shown. I think it's probably more to do with the fact that our squad isn’t that strong. But our youth recruitment and academy coaching are really good for this level. I’ve never managed in Portugal before so it’s hard to gauge the level. Out of the three Leite is clearly the most talented - he’ll be retrained into a central midfielder as I have plenty of talent at right back. I really like the look of Dantas as a defender. Could be a possible future club captain and mentor.

Good luck with it. I did my first attempt at the challenge there this week. Lasted 10 seasons. It's very competitve. Trying Portugal now.

That sounds about right. I wonder how many years is about right to get promoted to League 2. 8? I worked out by getting rid of a lot of unnecessary staff and players my finances wouldn't have been too bad. Perhaps also focusing on the cup like you say, especially if a mid table is likely. -

Let's try again. I've done three England saves in a row so time for Portugal.

I'm a bit behind posting my updates here. In Season 7 we got promoted to the National League and then stayed there comfortably for two seasons. At that point the grind got to me and I tried to force things as the finances were awful, so I sold our two best players and use the money to invest in facilities. Well, 10 games later and I got sacked. The crazy part is I signed a 3 year long term contract just 2 games previously when I was in mid table and they were pleased. I went back to a previous save and didn't sell the striker, then simmed to see what would have happenned. 7th at Christman. Hmm. I went to bed last night saying I would never do this challenge again, but I'm starting a new save right now. I will be looking carefully into the finances on this save, trying to cut out what's unnecessary. For example, with South Shields I employed a whole scouting team on 1k per week. I don't know why I did it, maybe just because there's space avaialble. That's 500k over the ten years I was at the club.

Season 6 - South Shields - Vanarama National South - 3rd Well, that was both positive and negative. After a poor start, we put together a great run in the second half to finish 3rd. The problem was we lost our last two games out of nowhere. Not sure why, but wasn’t confident going into the playoffs. 2-0 and 3-2, then had our captain and best player Colin Gallagher sent off, and lost 4-3. Our media prediction was to finish 17th with odds of 12-1. We now have Good academy coaching and Excellent Youth Recruitment, after I promised to play the youngsters. Colin Gallagher and Derrick Boakye are the best two players in the league, and slowly the squad is coming together. Derrick Boakye scored 35 league goals. We even got a defender in the youth intake, though not a natural one. Just one more defender and a left winger and we’re set. Just hope we can hold on to our players, they’re all on long contracts. Learning a lot about the training part of the game. I’ve never had much success with mentoring but Damian O’Sullivan went from Low Determination to Fairly Professional and determination from 4 to 10. 8 of the first team are now youth intake players. The GK needs another year, and defence and left wing are still weak. A good youth intake but not quite what we wanted, as two are natural in positions we don’t play. Daniel Asante was the stand out as I’ll retrain him to a defenders. Only 7 tackling but it’s better than anything I have. He’ll also be a good mentor in the future.

Season 5 -South Shields - Vanarama National North - 12th I'm really starting to enjoy this save now. I’m normally a wheeler-dealer type of manager so it’s forcing me to play the game in new ways and I’m learning a lot in the process, especially about training and development. Praising the training and development of a 16 year old in the U18s is not something I’ve done before. The media season preview had us at 11-1, which was up from 12-1 the year before. We ended up finishing 12th, and were mid-season throughout. Despite this being our worst league position ever, I’m starting to be more positive about the long term possibilities of the save. The board agreed to improve academy coaching and youth recruitment (both Good now) and that showed in the youth intake. Our youth is finally starting to be integral to the team. Derrick Boakye started the year in the U18s, but ended the year as our top goalscorer, fans’ player of the season, Vanarama National North player of the season and our best player. He’s been capped at U20 for Ghana. Colin Gallagher is our captain and second best player, and the second best player in our club. There are another 3 - 4 players who are now good players at this level. The problem is defence. We retrained Harrison (only 176 cm) to play at centre back and he’s starting to improve. I’m going to change my Head of Youth Development to someone with 3412 as his formation in the hope of getting more centre bucks - not sure if that works but worth a try. Another good intake with three 5 star potentials. Christian Haley is now rated as the Hot Prospect at the club and with those stats, I’m not surprised. He’ll be a big player for us. The general feeling is these players are better than previous. The board agreed to improve Academy Coaching and Youth Recruitment and I think it’s showing. 201cm striker...

Your videos were actually the reason I decided to have a go at this challenge. Never thought it possible before. I love this challenge so thanks for the inspiration. Already planning which country to do the next one.

Season 4 - South Shields - Vanarama National North - 3rd The Board again wanted us to finish mid-table following our relegation which seemed reasonable. Our media prediction was 17th with odds of 12-1. Already I’m seeing how this challenge is a grind. These first few years especially as you wait for your touch players to develop into first team players. We already have two (Porritt and Gallagher). Even if we get those defenders it’ll be two seasons before they’re good enough. Putting the squad together felt better this season. There are some decent players now as back up, meaning rotation wasn’t as much as an issue. We sold our best player at the beginning of the season. His average rating was low, was costing us 100k a year, and he kicked up a fuss when we got relegated. We also had Conor Gallagher, one of our 5 star prospects, ready to step up. We started amazingly, and were 14 points clear after 20 games. Then I started rotating in the league to focus on the cup. And you can probably guess what came next. We ended up finishing 3rd and lost in the playoffs. Overall, though, a good season. The board even increased Youth Recruitment up to Good. A disappointing youth intake. We got another 5 star goalkeeper but nothing much else. The new GK will be first choice now as he has a good personality and determination. Need a defender. We did, however, move one of our 5 star midfields back to defence. Only 176 cm but decent stats for a ball-playing defender.

Season 3 - South Shields - Vanarama National - 23rd - Relegated This was the second season in the Vanarama National and our media prediction was 70 - 1.This was worse than the year before when we only just stayed up. And it was an omen of what was to come. We won two of our first three games and I was hoping for a nice boring mid table. However, we got relegated. It wasn’t even close. Luckily the board wanted us to struggle bravely against relegation, so we weren’t sacked. Down to the National North then. We did blood in a number of our 5 star talents, including a new goalkeeper who came through the youth intake. Just need some defenders now. Another good youth intake. Another central midfield, but more importantly two 5 star goalkeepers. Goalkeepers were one thing that worried me about this ave - what happens if you don’t get any good goalkeepers coming through? We do need defenders but I’m sure they’ll come soon.

Season 2 - South Shields Wow, that was a tough season. A disappointing start as the board refused any improvements in facilities. They injected a loan into the club to cover any debts so money isn’t great. For our first season in the Vanarama National, our media prediction was 24th with odds of 45 - 1. Not quite as bad as I thought. All players signed extensions, some by 3 years. We finished 19th in the end. The start was promising and I thought we might have a chance of the playoffs. But then everyone started getting jaded and in need of a rest. We reduced our pressing intensity and rested the whole first team squad for two weeks. But the bad results kept coming and coming. At one point we were 4 points above the drop but a couple of key wins and we survived, finishing 19th in the League. Check this out for a bad run of form. Our goal next year is to start getting those youth prospects into the first team. Porritt, our 5 star potential winger from the first youth intake batch is now the starting MR.