Shrewnaldo

I've tried a different experiment, using the in-game editor to reduce the youth facilities to 9 out of 20. And then the option appears to ask for an improvement. So it turns out that the affiliate is not blocking it after all and perhaps it's not even a bug. It's just that I can't even ask the board if they'll improve our youth training facilities despite them being downgraded whilst we were in La Liga 2 and us then getting promoted... I don't understand

No that's what I tried. But the option to request improvements to the youth facilities has never re-appeared, and I holidayed forward about 6 months as a test. Which makes me wonder whether the problem really is this affiliate link or something else?

So I've discovered why I can't improve the youth facilities. There is a bug where you are prevented for asking for upgrades if you share youth facilities with an affiliate club. Our agreement with E.F. Mareo Logroño not only includes this type of deal, but it is a long-term deal which cannot be cancelled. Therefore, I am in the sub-optimal position of needing to buy the in-game editor so that I can cancel the link and overcome the bug. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to use the in-game editor to just remove the sharing of facilities So I bought the in-game editor and removed the link... then holidayed to test that it would work... and holidayed... and holidayed... and holidayed. The option never appeared. I've tried other ways of editing the link but none of them seem to bring back the option to request upgraded youth facilities. So I'm a little stumped. My last option is just to use the in-game editor to bump my facilities and then subtract what I consider to be a reasonable amount of money from the club's balance. So, a couple of questions: 1. Has anyone else come across this bug previously and know a way around it? 2. If not, how much is a reasonable cost for upgrading the youth training facilities from 'Great' (3 1/2 stars)? I'm thinking £2m?

At first I thought Werder Bremen were interested in you and I was rather comfused. That'd be a great move Have you managed to set up any affiliate deals with African clubs? Like a pseudo-emulation of Right to Dream? Or even just to give you scouting knowledge?

Surely. For comparison, this was Soriano when he came through: And here he is now: You'll notice that he's now an AMC but has really struggled for game time which has probably held him back. Weirdly, his free-kick taking ability has got worse by two points but his dribbling and off the ball have improved, along with a significant jump in some of his physicals. I don't tend to use a DLF, but perhaps if I switch away from two 10s then a move to two 9s is a natural progression in which case I'd definitely be looking for one of them to be a DLF type player

Promoted, so now what? A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón Promoted in second place, we limped over the line on the final day by the narrowest of margins. Having lost the Asturian derby in Oviedo, we'd handed the advantage to Levante - who had defeated champions-elect Almeríá to be in charge of their own destiny on the final day. Two early goals for Osasuna, themselves battling for the final playoff spot, opened the door for us and, despite going 1-0 down at Elche, we were able to seize a difficult 2-1 victory, second spot and promotion to La Liga. Again, it was defensive solidity that really carried us forward - having the best defence in the league by 8 goals (or 25%) is rather impressive. At the other end of the pitch, our goalscoring improved by 15 goals (25%) on last season, despite Uroš Sremčević going on a 15-hour barren spell right in the middle of the season. Instead, our top scorer was Pablo Pérez - the former Guaje signed on a free from Primera club Rayo Majadahonda. Looking back through Pérez's 14 league goals, only 6 were scored from the ground - 5 with his right foot and 1 on his left. The remaining 8 were headers with 2 from corners and 1 from a free-kick. All of which explains his success over previous strikers - 6'2" with 16 jumping reach and elite level strength, aggression, bravery and work rate... he is really well suited for getting his bonce on the end of a few crosses. And I think this is the sole explanation for his stats exceeding the other options at 9. He makes 3.77 shots per 90, cf 1.54 and 1.68 for Quiepo and Sremčević respectively - correlating nicely with their individual aerial records. Again, Pérez is miles clear of the younger two with a quite phenomenal 57% aerial success rate and double the number of attempts compared to the average of the other two. It's interesting that Sremčević has a better conversion rate than Pérez and takes better quality shots than the latter (0.19xG/shot cf 0.13) but that hasn't mitigated against the far, far lower volume. All of which tells me that I really need to be looking at aerially dominant strikers or a change of approach (my two best newgen strikers are 5'10 and 5'9" with 6 and 3 for jumping reach...) The other key performers were wingbacks Guille Rosas and Pablo García, and my preferred pairing at 10 - loanee Aarón Molinas and guaje Gaspar. I'm hoping that promotion will stave off any thoughts Rosas and Gaspar have of leaving, whilst Molinas' future is somewhat in my hands. He has a £5.25m future fee in his loan deal from Boca Juniors and I am sorely tempted to activate it. Compared to the average 10 from last season, his performances have been exceptional and ideally I'd like to keep him. But £5.25m is quite the chunk of our £10m prospective budget for next year and there are any number of gaps which that money could be used to fill. If Quiepo could stay fit then he might develop such that we don't Molinas but this season has convinced me that Nacho Méndez and Fran Villalba can both be allowed to leave. The former is a guaje but just isn't of the required quality, whilst Villalba looks like he should be a primary creator but doesn't consistently come up with the goods. Having convinced the board to let me keep 100% of any outgoing sale fees, selling Villalba for something around £3-4m would go a long way to covering that Molinas fee... that would leave me with Molinas, Gaspar and Quiepo capable of covering two 10 spots... but that's assuming I stick with the current shape. On the left is what I've been using for most of this season and on the right is what I'm considering switching to, or at least having in our pocket as a fallback option.. The below is a typical example of our defensive shape with the 5-2-2-1, the two AMs being #20 and #19, splitting wide. My concern is that the two DMs collapse back towards the defensive line too much. Whilst I like that, in the screenshot above, they're making a pass to the opposition 9 and 10 impossible, I don't like how much space they surrender in front of them. I wonder if one DM to protect that space and prevent that pass into the strikers' feet would suffice, whilst two MCs pressing a little ahead of the DM protects the central space better. The trade-off is going to be in wide areas - the two 10s, as you can see in the screenshot above, will drop wide when we're out of possession and almost make it a 5-4-1 in defence. It's not always the most effective 5-4-1 but I think a switch to 5-diamond-1 would rob us of some of that natural width. Defending on the ball's side should be fine but the narrower midfield would leave the far side exposed to quick switches of play. I'd wanted to experiment with the 5-diamond-1 variant a bit more this season, but was constrained by how tight the promotion push was. Funnily enough, I was forced into in for the final game of the season due to available personnel and you can see an example of what I feared here: Our midfield diamond has been drawn to our right flank as Elche have attacked down their left and they're now recycling the ball back through the centre-backs. The right-most player in the 3 of their 2-3-5 shape is the danger man here - completely free and with masses of space in front of him. A quick switch before we can shuffle across could see him driving at our back line and with a series of 1v1s in front of him. With the ball, I've also found that a single 10 tends to get lost - in the Elche game, Molinas made only 30 passes which is about half of his average output when played as one of two 10s. I think I would prefer to keep the two 10s but encourage the DMs not to collapse back on top of the centre-backs quite so readily. Perhaps this is something to (attempt to) sort during pre-season. A pre-season which promises to be exceedingly busy, for 10 isn't the only position in question. Far from it. In fact, I'd say that only goalkeeper and the wingback slots are fairly secure (barring outgoings). Cuban goalie Christian Joel Sanchéz was given the #1 spot this season - as a guaje, I wanted to give him the opportunity to develop ahead of Rubén Yáñez. Still only 25, I think Sanchéz is 'just fine' for a season or two, whilst I give the B-team 'keepers a chance to exceed expectations. At wing-back, the phenomenal Guille Rosas continues to excel but he was surpassed by the surprise package of the season Pablo García. I had ear-marked Diego Sánchez, sold to and re-loaned from Southampton, as the incumbent on the left flank but García made the position his own after January - leading the league with 1.14 chances created per 90 (in 1496 minutes). The increased game time for Sánchez, Rosas and García has seen a boost to the proportion of minutes given to guajes - taking a healthy jump towards our 50% target. I think it's likely that next season will see these numbers take a, hopefully temporary, drop. There are very few guajes of La Liga quality and most of these won't be coming back to El Molinero any time soon. Bordeaux's Pedro Díaz would be a welcome addition but looks set for the gold mine in Saudi Arabia, whilst Olympiakos' Jorge Meré isn't going to swap continental football for a return to Asturias just yet. The one genuine option for a return is Espanyol's José Gragera. Just two La Liga starts last season and a player that I would absolutely love to bring back - possibly as a 6 but more likely as a centre back. Sadly Espanyol narrowly avoided relegation and Gragera's asking price is likely to remain high - within reach but, similar to Molinas, one that would dominate the outgoings and constrain us elsewhere. And with so many gaps to fill, I just don't think I can splash £5m on a single player. Loanee centre back Rafa Marín has been excellent throughout his 3856 minutes but will return to Real Madrid and leave a big gap to fill; Jonathan Varane, Mario Lemina and Nacho Martín are solid options at 6 but will need some quality back-ups... potentially from B-team promotions; and I'm going to need at least one striker to supplement the unexpectedly excellent but entirely expectedly aging Pérez. Yes, there are options in the B-team who would have been promoted for a season in La Liga 2, but are they good enough for the top tier? Probably not. I don't see much merit in accepting relegation with sub-standard players just to meet arbitrary targets. Instead, the reputation boost from continued La Liga membership should improve the newgen quality and lead to longer-term benefit. Combined with the successful re-negotiation of our affiliate deals with Orlegi clubs Atlas Guadalajara and Santos Laguna - such that Mexican newgens from these clubs should start coming through our intake - we're building towards something 4-6 seasons down the line. And so this summer is likely to see us pick up a handful of quality players that can fill a temporary gap to keep us up. But I have no intention of abandoning the principles of the save completely and so I will be looking for experienced players with positive personalities that I hope will mentor the raft of talent that we have coming though. Another busy summer awaits. ¡Siempre Sporting!

The only main targets are Jose Gragera and Aaron Molinas. Gragera is a former Guaje currently at Espanyol and not getting much game time. Molinas has been on loan with us this season and has an optional £5.25m fee to make it permanent... I'm not sure I can afford that given the other strengthening we need For now, only Spain is full detail. I was thinking of experimenting with full detail elsewhere but didn't want to screw up and make my game unbearably slow For a future save where I'm back with graphical attributes (say if I good back to Verona) then I think I'd bump a selection of 5 or 6 leagues to full detail and use the stats from there. With the focus on youth and the Mexican market, I don't think I need it in this save

We almost threw it away - losing to Oviedo in the Asturian derby meant we went into the final day needing to better Levante's result at Osasuna. We did our part, coming from behind to beat Elche. The first goal came from Damian Cáceres - a B-team player that I had to play due to a midfield injury crisis - and Sremcevic, who had gone 15 hours without a goal through the middle of the season. And Osasuna held up their half of the bargain to bag themselves a playoff spot where they'll play... Levante. Fun. Best part of £10m to survive.

Actually, scratch that @SixPointer - I had another look at the affiliates and I could negotiate the options... Which means we now have this option with both Atlas and Santos Laguna For the save narrative, this is huge. Massive fan of this so thanks for the prompt to re-check @SixPointer

One of my favourite news items in FM - such a great addition to the game in FM20 or whenever it was. Four teams still vying for the two top promotion spots. Almería look set to bounce straight back up, barring a complete collapse. Can we hold off the challenge form Levante and Elche? I think we have the hardest run-in - with the away leg of the Asturian derby coming at the business end of the season for a second campaign in a row. Málaga will also likely be fighting for playoff spots and then there's the final day showdown with Elche... It's going to be tight. I'm also taking an interested look at the bottom end of the table with both Depor and Racing likely to take some tasty players with them into the Primera... some raiding options available there. Sadly not. We don't have that sort of affiliate link with any of the Mexican clubs and I don't appear to be able to amend the links yet. I might have to ask for another affiliate and try again.

What would be a realistic next step if you decided to move? Or is it just a case of waiting for other Andean clubs to become available? Cusco's shirts are great, btw. Definitely need to end up there

I like Bakoune a lot, had him on loan at Feralpi How much of a difference do you find having your wingbacks aligned with the DM line rather than DC?

The Second Intake A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón I'm flying through the save, loving it, and have already reached the second youth intake day... and it looks rather promising. Just like last time, I'm going to go through it 'live' on this post. As a reminder, this was the rather uninspiring preview: ...which prompted me to sack the Head of Youth Development and replace him with a newgen staff member that has a better personality, leading to this intake. ...and that looks much tastier than either the preview or last year's intake. So here goes... Manuel Navarro Centre back 'elite talent' I like the aggression and boy are the physicals better than last year's intake. Balanced personality is mid, as my son would say, and Determination of 7 will need to be increased. But nothing is catastrophically low - Heading and Marking of 7 will need a bit of work but technicals should increase nicely over time and it's always nice to have a left-footed centre back with a bit of pace. This is an excellent start to the intake, particularly knowing that centre back has a number of gaps in our squad planner across the B-team and under-19s. Raimundo Montiel LB/CB - 'elite talent' Oddly Montiel is listed as a left-back only for me to notice that he's only natural at centre-back... this bug has existed in FM for years and it's so infuriating... anyway, another left-footed centre-back with better physicals but poorer in the air that Navarro. Personality is mid again. I'm thinking Montiel might make a better wingback afterall, or perhaps a defensive 6. He seems to be pretty well-rounded but the low Dribbling and Flair would push me away from a wingback role that I'd want to be more creative. I'll hold off for a while and see if his aerial ability improves in a few years. Carlos Rojas Ball-winning 6 Yikes, that personality. 'Temperamental' means he has low Professionalism and that can be a killer for development... which is a real shame because just look at those mentals! He looks like he'd be an absolutely phenomenal ball-winner at 6 so I'm immediately thinking that Perfectionist Mario Lemina will be asked to mentor Rojas and encourage him to realise the obvious potential that he has. The physicals might have started on the low side but the technicals are just about there and those mentals... Tomás Playmaking 6 - 'top talent' Much better personality and your eye is automatically drawn to his outstanding Passing and Determination, plus Technique and Teamwork - so the playmaking 6 role looks about right. Low Flair would keep him in a deep role, to my mind, whilst there are obvious defensive deficiencies to keep him away from a ball-winning role. Javier Bravo Shadow Striker - 'top talent' Again, physicals are just so much better this time around... and 14 for Dribbling, Flair and Technique could make for a fun watch. But there are quite a few gaps for me - his mentals are particularly concerning without Anticipation, Off the Ball and Vision. Is he a creator or a finisher... or neither? I can't say I'm overly excited by Bravo - although he reminds me of Alex Lozano who I've just played twice in the league due to injury troubles... I wasn't too bothered about Lozano but he's scored in both games so... maybe I should shut up Hugo Quinones Playmaking 10 - 'top talent' Decent beard for 15. Fair play. Physicals are a massive yikes, although at least the Natural Fitness may imply they will increase? Another with some top-heavy eye-catching attributes at First Touch, Technique and Flair... then looking closer he only has two mental attributes below 8, and I think I'd only be looking for a prospective 10 to have better Finishing amongst his technicals. So I think Quiñones is another with real potential. Mario Rodrígues 9 - 'top talent' Ok... he can't jump and he'd get blown over by a light breeze but there's some real potential here. Determination and Aggression obviously catch the eye but he's also got really solid starting attributes for Dribbling, Finishing, First Touch, Technique, Flair and Off the Ball - all of which have the makings of a lovely poacher. Personally, I like my lone strikers to be more imposing physically and 5'9" / 3 Jumping and Strength... that just feels like it's never going to get up to scratch. So maybe as part of a front two... Dani Moya Left back - 'decent talent' Just hang on a second there. My HoYD / coaches say he's got 2* potential... but am I crazy to think there's a player here? The mentals are impressive enough with only Concentration something that might cause any concern for a defensive player. Technically, he's only 3 points away from double-figures on Marking and Tackling. His Spirited personality implies decent Professionalism, as does Level-Headed media handling. I don't use them at the moment but I can see a solid inverted full-back in Moya, despite being rated as the second worst of my intake. And he's been using the same beard oil as Quiñones. ----------------------------------------- Outside of that, there are 6 'good talents' and 2 'decent talents' which I think are complete duds. But we've got 8 players out of this intake who look genuinely quite handy. I think Rojas, if we can sort out his personality, is the most promising of the bunch so he'll probably come straight into the first-team training set-up so I can organise that mentoring (what a stupid system that is by the way - surely they can be mentored without need to train with the first team. Ridiculous). @-Jef- I think, from the Evidence Based FM video, that only the HoYD's personality directly influences the personalities of the intake, but I'm not 100% sure. I always pay attention to the personality of the staff regardless, though - more out of superstition that any knowledge of its impact. I'm very happy to be enlightened otherwise.

I thought about this quite a lot and just can't accept the risk of such poor intakes. We've successfully bumped the Youth Recruitment to go with the earlier improvements to Junior Coaching, but I've also taken the decision to replace the Head of Youth Recruitment. Whilst Óscar Garro had decent attributes, he just didn't have the personality that I was wanting to transfer into the newgens. Balanced personality with Media-friendly media handling style and 12 for Determination is all a bit meh. So out he went to be replaced by newgen staff member Feliu Márquez 14 for Determination is better but it's the Professional personality which I was truly after, whilst maintaining decent attributes for Working With Youngsters and JPA/JPP. With luck, this will have a positive impact on the upcoming intake and going forward.

I don't recall anything about scouting regions affecting your intake nationalities - did I miss something? I thought this was always influenced by club geography, staff nationalities, national preferences, club preferences, RNG and the affiliate links (per EBFM's video)

Someone on twitter reminded me of the fantastic Evidence Based Football Manager videos which do a deep dive into the youth intake mechanics. You can watch the summary here - You were absolutely correct - Youth Recruitment also impacts your pecking order in taking good newgens from the 'draft pool'

Nevermind the Newgens A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón We've reached the halfway point of season 2 and things are going well on the pitch. Or rather pitches. The first-team are top of La Liga 2, the B-team are top of the Segunda Federación and the under-19s are top of the Spanish U19 Division 1. Can't really say fairer than that. The B-team has faced a little more competition than I had anticipated and have even lost a game - to nearest competitors Cultural Leonesa. From just down the road in Léon, they were relegated from the Primera last season and are just a point behind our B-team. Racing Santander B, in third, are some 14 points behind that. Either way, the performances across the board have been excellent and this has prompted me to take stock for a second. The only development post I've made so far has focused on the first intake of newgens but, coming into the club at 15, it'll be several seasons before they are endangering the first team. In the meantime, there's a raft of real life prospects in the Sporting squad and a handful that I've brought in since. So I thought it'd be worth taking a wee look at some of my favourites and where they fit within the playing pathway. Under-19s Diego Matabuena Creative Midfielder 6/10 On day one at the club, Matabuena was listed as the best prospect at the club and initially I was sceptical. There's way too many low single-digit attributes in key areas but he's progressed steadily and has performed pretty well for the under-19s so far. Still only 17, there's a half decent chance that he could become a solid creative 10. Angelo Goalscoring 10 Another of those odd youngsters with top-heavy attributes in some good areas but then big gaps in others, Angelo was another that I wasn't massively convinced by but has performed superbly for the under-19s and should be able to do a job for the B team next season. Tzalo Goalmachine 23 goals in 14 starts for the under-19s is going to make you stand up and take notice. Again, top heavy but in all the right areas really. He strikes me as the sort of player that will smash is at lower levels but is going to struggle at the higher echelons where players have to be more rounded. Sporting B Damián Garcíá-San Pedro Goalkeeper Just 3* potential but, looking at those attributes, he genuinely looks handy to me. I like the basic attributes in goalkeepers - Positioning, Reflexes, Handling, Command of Area, Aerial Reach and Agility. 11, 14, 13, 11, 15, 16. That's not too shabby at all for a 19 year-old. Yes, some mental deficiencies but that could come with experience and probably good enough to be a homegrown bench warmer. There's a second 'keeper called More who I initially liked better but Garcíá-San Pedro looks to have secured the B-team slot for now. Lucas Ferreras Centre Back I like. 6'2" with pace and high Determination and Decisions, he was accelerated into the B-team this season despite being young enough for the under-19s. He's impressed, albeit at a relatively poor level, and might be a candidate for acceleration into the first team if we don't go up this year. I also brought in German centre-back Christian Kouam who may be one to keep an eye on. Sebastián Valenzuela Wingback... I think One of the Mexican imports brought in by Orlegi before I started the save, Valenzuela is starting to look the business. He's the polar opposite to the under-19 options with 10-13 across almost the entire raft of attributes but nothing exceptional. I'd ear-marked him for the wingback slot but the B-team manager has been playing him as the left of the three centre backs. With what I'd call 'broad rather than tall' attributes, that sort of versatility absolutely makes sense. Jorge Montes Wingback... definitely Valenzuela has been pushed to centre-back because of Montes who has been exceptional from left wingback for the B-team. And just look at those arrows. Obviously there's a couple of deficiencies in the mentals and that Strength but I'm a big fan. Franco Rossano Wingback Montes and Valenzuela meant that another Mexican, Franco Rossano, was pushed to the right flank. To be honest, I saw this as a stop gap, with other prospect Kevin Picon already in the first-team squad and expected that Rossano would just fill the slot for a while - particularly considering those physicals. But he's done really well for the B-team and has given me some thought about 'wrong footed' wingbacks. He's scored 3 this season (and many more last season) cutting onto his strong foot from wide. Something to consider. Damián Cáceres 6 Cáceres is really only lacking Concentration and Strength to make him a really, really good physical 6. So I've had him pegged as the more creative 6 in our double pivot - albeit I'd appreciate better dribbling and flair. At 21, he'll likely make the step up to the first-team squad next season. Aarón Quintana 6 Quintana has the same issue as Cáceres - he's just missing those one or two attributes that would probably see him already in the first team squad. His Vision and Composure need to improve for him to be the creative 6, Marking and Concentration are a bit low for the sitting 6. Enol Prendes 9/10 Clearly held back by his physicals but Prendes. With his exceptional Technique, First Touch, Off the Ball and Flair I see him as being a creative 10 trying to play in between the lines. Both my 9 and the other 10 need pace to try and get in behind the defence, so it absolutely makes sense to tailor him for the less physically-demanding role. Joshua Mancha 9/10 The last of the original Mexican imports, Mancha has been the worst performer in the B-team by quite some distance. He is, however, filling the second 10 role which is struggling throughout the three teams and is indicative that I just haven't got the front three right yet. I see this second 10 as being the "link role" - ahead of the creative 10 but playing off the advanced forward 9. This clearly hasn't worked yet so I'm willing to give Mancha more time to prove himself. Álex Lozano Winger 10 Lozano has been held back by being a winger, which we don't use, and then breaking his ankle last season - keeping him out for at least 3 months. I've tried to re-train him as that 'link 10' but he hasn't even had the game time in which he can fail to impress. Given Valenzuela and Montes, I really don't need another wingback on the left and so I'm at a loss what to do with Lozano. I suspect he'll just leave the club shortly and end up back on the wing somewhere else - which is a bit of a waste for us, as I think there's a player in there. I'll probably regret this in 3 seasons when I get bored and revert to wingers. Álex Oyón 9/10 Yet another 9/10 who isn't really perfect for any of the roles I play but who has been smashing it as a 9 in the B-team. Ok 8 of his goals have come from penalties, but 12 in 18 from open play is pretty handy anyway. Despite these impressive numbers, I'm just not convinced by Oyón - there seems to be too many gaps in his attributes. But, perhaps a legacy from playing with graphical attributes, so long as he keeps producing then I'm just going to ignore the gaps I think *should* be there. Exceptional First Touch, Technique and Decisions with good Off The Ball, Flair, Finishing and Composure... it's clear to see why he's bagging goals in the Segunda. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That all gives me some nice prospects to work with whilst the newgens start to come through. I've got high hopes for Ferreras, Valenzuela, Montes and Matabuena as the best prospects - with a handful of the others likely to be squad rotation options that should give me 7 or 8 Guajes towards my target of 60% (15). With the likes of Christian Joel Sánchez, Borja Montes, Pablo García, Nacho Martin and Dani Quiepo already in the squad and getting significant game time I feel that there's a solid foundation of homegrown players to work with. I've also convinced the board to improve the Junior Coaching twice (now Excellent), something I hope to see reflected in this year's newgen intake - even if the preview is uninspiring. The training facilities are also currently being upgraded from Excellent at a cost of £2.5m, whilst I still cannot ask the board to improve the Youth Facilities - a major disappointment. I am able to ask them to improve the Youth Recruitment but I'm unsure whether or not I'll do so. My understanding is that this will simply increase the range of recruitment - allowing the club to draw newgens from other countries and even continents. I'm not sure this is something that I want. Considering Turkish clubs in FM, they all have terrible Youth Recruitment and so they typically produce only Turkish newgens. Isn't this what I want? To prioritise Asturian talent? I'd welcome any thoughts on this and whether I'm simply misinterpreting the Youth Recruitment mechanic. ¡Siempre Sporting!

I think that's fine for u19 players but doesn't work for me once players are too old for that. Anyone in the B team had to be registered

Not for me. Having just been relegated to the second tier is quite different to having just been relegated to the third tier after (presumably) five(?) seasons of deterioration through the third-tier. Maybe more akin to Leeds when they were in League One and Gordon Strachan going there rather than 'Boro? Something which isn't beyond the realms. But, realistically, you're talking about at least three seasons before you're back in the top tier rather than one. I agree with the second part, mind. It does feel like an opportunity to build a legacy and a proper fallen giant

Intuitively it feels like it'd be an odd move to me. If I were to equate Allsvenskan with the Scottish Premier League, you saw Postecoglu move to Spurs. If he'd gone to Sunderland or Southampton when they were both down there, I think that would have been a very odd move. But does it make sense in terms of your game? Maybe. Do you want to build towards a club where you're then going to stay for an extended period? Like Atalanta if I'm remembering correctly? In that case, I think this would be a good move. Would you have moved to Schalke if they'd been a 2.Bundesliga club? Because you're probably only one season away from that and should surely bounce back immediately. How much are they offering you personally per week? I know it means nothing in terms of the game but I tend to look at that to gauge some realism. I went back to your original preview posts to check what you thought at the start of the save: Depends if you feel you've met the first part of this. Feels like you've nothing else to achieve in Sweden. Could you do more if you got a move to the likes of Molde or Bodø/Glimt in Norway, or perhaps København in Denmark? Perhaps not unless you feel you want to 'tick off' the other leagues?

Poor Feralpisalò (again) Do you think the drop-off as the season progressed is linked to the high intensity game and the number of sprints you highlighted? Did you have wider fatigue problems towards the end of the campaign?

I typically avoid loan deals too, concerned that I'm just throwing value away. But there are some circumstances that I think they're great - old players that wouldn't have any resale value anyway, for example. Yeah I like the look of him a lot. He was transfer listed but I couldn't afford his fee. This way I get to take a good look at him, build up a good relationship and, should we go up, hopefully be able to afford him at the end of the season

I've never seen it linked to rep - unless that's a new thing? I've always had the option available until the facilities are maxed out Yeah I think he looks decent - my only concern is the obvious lack of consistency in an 18 year old. But the bonus is that his value has already sky-rocketed so should give me some nice profit. --------------------------------------------------------- In other news, we found the genuine quality for DM with, a player I really like irl, Mario Lemina joining from Wolves for £1.7m. 30 with a Perfectionist personality and also capable of covering at right wing-back. Lovely deal. Meanwhile, we found some risk-free quality at 10 with Boca Juniors' Aarón Molinas joining on loan with an optional future fee of £5.75m come the end of the season. Molinas has an Italian passport meaning that I can assign our two non-EU slots to Mexican players per our Orlegi strategy.

Too far? A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón It's been a busy summer of transfer business and I suspect it isn't finished yet, but I'm already concerned that I've gone too far and ended up with an unnecessarily weakened team. Indeed, our transfer business has seen us slide down the season preview predictions from 7th to 10th... never a good sign. All of the departures are justifiable though. Bamba simply isn't good enough. Milovanovic was an odd one - having been signed IRL last summer and immediately loaned to TSC in Serbia, the latter never taking up his optional fee to make that deal permanent. I didn't fancy him and let him go to Eibar considering that we would have better and more suited 9s to rely on. Last season's primary 9, Uroš Đurđević, has moved to Czechia - I said in the last post that his £14,500p/w wages outweighed his value - so you can imagine how keen I was to sell when a 10% annual increase clause saw that rise to £16,000p/w. This is perhaps the deal that's given me most concern because, having confirmed his sale, we then missed out on the free transfer of Miguel de la Fuente. De la Fuente would have been an outstanding signing but opted to join fellow La Liga 2 side Tenerife for less money. Such is life. Christian Rivera also departed El Molinón having forced my hand somewhat. His contract was up at the end of the season and he had indicated he would "consider his options". We all know what that means so I decided to cash in while I could. The last signing was the only mistake on my part - I hadn't noticed the Diego Sánchez's minimum fee clause, a legal requirement in Spain, was so low at £800k. I had intended him to be my first choice left wing-back replacing Cote. The unexpected interest from Premier League Southampton was paired with him losing interest in signing a new deal - so I decided to de-risk the move by negotiating below his release clause but taking him back on loan for two seasons. Knowing that he wouldn't gain a UK work permit, Southampton were only too keen to oblige. Sanchez is the Guaje to be sold but at least we'll keep him for two seasons whilst I develop others. Coming in the other direction, you can clearly see the influence of the planned recruitment strategy with four arrivals from Mexico including three from affiliates. Guerrero, Eguade and Carballo will support the B-team initially - all in positions where there was no incumbent Guaje to compete with. I'd already mentioned Pelayo and Pérez in the last update but my major disappointment with this window is that I've been unable to add any further ex-Guajes. One Asturian has joined - 16-year old newgen José Mariá from affiliate Mareo Logroño but that's your lot. Instead, I've decided to take in a couple of loans whilst I develop the academy players. Rafa Marín from Real looks a solid option whilst we've exchanged one Uros for another up top with Serbian Sremčević replacing the exepensive Montenegrin Đurđević. Clearly a talented prospect, the Serbian also satisfied my board who were getting tetchy about their stated objective to "sign players under the age of 20 for the future". Sremčević and German centre-back Christian Kouam have satisfied them on this score for now. I'm afraid I made one other mistake - giving Guaje centre-back Borja Montes a new contract and only then promoting him to the first-team. I failed to notice that his new contract is below the minimum wage requirement for registration in La Liga 2, meaning that - at least for the moment - he cannot play and will likely need to return to the B-team. This triggered my loan signing of Kevin García from Mexican affiliate Santos Laguna but is also one of the areas where further recruitment may take place. Financially, I've transformed the club's fortunes over the summer and this has seen the originally transfer budget swell to ~£2.5m. Therefore, an additional centre-back shouldn't be a problem. Indeed, I'm also on the lookout for an additional 6 and 9, and genuine quality at 10. It's that spark of quality which I think we're lacking up front - responsible for our underperformance at the business end last season. The problem, though, is how far to deviate from the transfer priorities. I feel like the attacking options I have in the B-team are not good enough for La Liga 2 yet, whilst I have exhausted the opportunities for former-Guajes or other Asturian players. I'm loathe to bring in long-term options that will constrain future opportunities for the youth players and I don't want to over-spend to bring in experienced players. So I'm on the lookout for some aging players with good personalities that are willing to come to the club in their 30s and do a job for a season or two - whilst providing mentoring duties for the raft of youngsters. To that end, I also convinced the board to improve the Junior Coaching so hopefully this season's intake will come through with slightly higher CA. Meanwhile, our youth coaching facilities have been downgraded but I have no option to improve them... which feels a little odd. Regardless, I head into the season a little concerned that I've let too many players go and insufficiently replaced them with ready talent... we have five league fixtures before the window closes so there might be a mad scramble if we start poorly. ¡Siempre Sporting!

I tried that in the staff responsibilities? But it didn't work so I just ploughed through it manually. The whole B team thing seems to be quite bugged. The staff job adverts being another one that just didn't work I think because they're this odd blend of sub-team and affiliate, some stuff just doesn't work