Ajax Youth Development – When The Real World Meets Football Manager

[Cleon]

Ajax Youth Development – When The Real World Meets Football Manager

Before I start and explain what this thread is about I'd like to thank some people for allowing me to use certain images, use of certain articles and for providing me links for elsewhere to better answer my questions.

So firstly I'd like to thank everyone at http://www.ecaeurope.com/ and in particular Olivier Jarosz who kindly game me permission to use his detailed ECA report on Youth Academies.

Secondly I'd like to thank the great staff over at https://www.ajaxonlineacademy.com/home/ for answering my questions, use of images and pointing me in the right direction. Without this I wouldn't have got the great insight into what Ajax is all about and what it means to people.

Lastly I'd also like to thank http://english.ajax.nl/Ajax-Experience/Preview.htm for the reasons mentioned above.

Without the above people I'd have not fully understood what Ajax the football club is all about, so a massive thank you to all those mentioned.

[Cleon]

The Aim Of The Thread

If you would like updates on this thread then they'll be posted first on my own site www.supportsinteractive.com You can also find out when I'll be updating this thread via twitter at @Cleon81

For the last few years I've actually took a step back from tactics and have been focusing more and more on player development and the training side of the game. I find this a lot more enjoyable and rewarding and find it a lot more relaxing that writing about and studying tactics. On FM12 I managed to create a very popular thread on youth development and I really enjoyed seeing how players improved and tailoring schedules to suit the player. However this as now changed for FM13 and you can't do it the same was but you can still develop youth players, you just have to do it by other methods now. So that is my aim to show you how you can now develop players using individual focus for specific attributes and individual roles.

I recently read an article about Ajax and how they focus on developing players so I thought it would be very interesting to see if I could implement the ideas I read into FM13.

Some aspects of the youth development aren't able to be transferred into FM13 but I think I can take lots of the elements and apply/adapt them so they do work on some levels. That'll be the aim of this thread. It'll be split into two parts, the first will be a detailed look at the Ajax philosophy and give a real insight into how the club operates in all age groups. The second part of the thread will be about taking all the information and seeing how we can try and translate this into the game.

I understand that there will be limits and restrictions to what I can actually achieve compared to the real life blueprint that is used but I still think it'll make a good read and give a good twist on Football Manager player development.

So with all this in mind it'll make for a better thread and discussion and be really thorough. I've wrote a lot of things up already so it shouldn't be that long after Xmas that I begin to start posting stuff. It'll probably be a new thread though with the opening post added to it. It'll contain things like this;

• Tutoring - I'll explain why I'm tutoring and track the development
  
• Player development - I'll be tracking this really closely as I try and implement the Ajax Philosophy
  
• Re-training - No doubt I'll change a few players positions to suit the tactical framework they'll be playing in
  
• Moulding players - This will focus on creating the types of players you'll need
  
• The tactic - I'll mention this but not in great detail, but I'll outline the basics as it'll make it easier to understand why I train players how I do and re-train them.
  
• Staff Choices - This will include hiring and firing and what attributes to look for to get the best out of the players you have
  

That's just the basic outline as far as I've got atm. It's not been easy trying to stick to the Ajax philosophy and implement the idea's into game. There are some restrictions but I found work arounds. It'll include a lot more than I've mentioned about though, that's just to give you a brief run down on how far I've got

[Cleon]

So what is the Ajax philosophy?

A Basic Overview

Continuity is particularly important in youth development. Everyone involved needs to be well informed and pulling in the same direction. At Ajax, there is great value placed on the opinion of the chief scout. In principle, an Ajax youth player is only a member for one year. An average of 30 of the 160 youth players drop out after one season. In this context, Ajax has to implement a tough selection procedure. This procedure takes account of numerous opinions, set out in reports.

Communication with parents is also important. An Ajax youth player is already a mini-star in his own environment, even though, in Ajax terms, he still has lot to learn. This means that parents must be kept well informed of what is happening, because otherwise the youngster may find himself listening to two different versions of the same story. It goes without saying that he will always lean toward the more favourable version, and this is usually bad for his development as a soccer player.

A comprehensive report of each young hopeful Ajax player is presented twice a year, in April and December. The report is discussed with both the player and his parents. The soccer elements have been subdivided into a number of categories.

• Ballcontrol -- dribbling, passing, beating an opponent, shooting, speed of action,attacking headers, scoring ability, crosses, speed on the ball
  
• 1 v 1 -- defending, defensive headers, sliding tackles, tackling, attacking the ball
  
• Combination skills -- overview, positional play, adherence to assigned tasks
  
• Athletic personality -- speed off the mark, speed from 0 to 10, from 10 to 30, and above 30 yards, mobility, strength in the tackle, stamina, running skills and jumping power
  
• Charisma -- leadership ability, match mentality, attitude towards others, team-mates, coach, referee, etc, receptivity to coaching, ability to with stand pressure
  
• Other information -- modest, cheeky, creative, plays in the service of others, character player, technical player, right footed, left footed , two footed
  

Analysis

The next step was to prepare a strengths and weaknesses analysis. At Ajax, a lot is done on intuition. This has led to a typical Ajax culture, with a high yield in terms of the number of young players who succeed in making the grade.

Ajax uses the acronym TIPS to describe the strong points of ayoung Ajax player.

T is for Technique. Ajax youth players must be in control of the ball

I is for Insightand Intelligence. The ability too serve and think ahead.

P is for Personality. Must be able to communicate with others, provide leadership, be creative, show flair and daring, be receptive to his fellow players, and be able to work in a disciplined manner.

S is for Speed, which is essential for every Ajax player. Speed off the mark, mobility and speed over long distances.

The Ajax scouts are always on the lookout for I,P and S, because these are very difficult to influence.Technique can always be improved. Ajax youth are technically gifted, soccer wise, interesting personalities, with good basic speed.

Development Plan

Every Ajax youth eleven has 16 players. There are 2 goalkeepers. Four righ tfooted players are selected for positions 2, 6, and 7 (right back, right midfield, right wing fwd), Four left footed players for positions 5, 8 and 11 (left back, left midfield, left forward), Three players for 3 and 4 (central defenders) and finally three players for 9 and 10 (striker and shadow striker). This applies from the Under 10 team up to the first eleven. During the players’ development, therefore, they play in the two or three positions within the team for which they have been selected.

When a 7 year old has passed the strict selection procedure and is allowed to wear his Ajax shirt at last, his first period will be devoted to learning the basic skills. He first needs to master various techniques if he is later to make the right choices in the various positions within the Ajax system. For this reason the drills developed by Wiel Coerver are used extensively for the 8 to 10 and 10 to 12 age groups. According to the coaching staff, these drills help children not only to use their feet more skilfully, but also to improve their balance, speed up their rhythm, pull away to the right and left, and use every part of their feet. The 8 to 10 year olds learn the rudiments of the Ajax system in a fun way.

Recognizing genuine talent at such an early age is a difficult tasks even for expert Ajax scouts. Even in the 8 to 10 age group, Ajax takes note of how well a talented youngster runs. During the two week test period, each young candidate is assessed on six different activities by the coordination coach.

Another problem involved in selecting 8 to 10 year olds is the difference in mental development encountered in this age group. If you join Ajax, you have to be coachable and be able to understand instructions. The child’s environment is also considered. What sort of support is provided by the parents ? How does he behave ? If adequate attention is paid to the initial selection, there will be no need to make any further subsequent adjustments further up the age range. It is typical for the 8 to 10 age group that each child plays for himself rather than combining with the others. In addition, children move towards the ball and not away from it, and are inclined to play the ball forward and not to the side or backwards. Ajax starts at the beginning by formulating the requirements for the 8 to 12 age group. Then the 12 to 14, the 14 to 16, and the 16 to 20 age groups.

Ajaxlooks at eight different areas:

1-- Technique, 2 -- tactics, 3 -- know-how, 4 -- running and strength training,

5-- personality formation, 6 -- coaching situations, 7 -- training, 8– matches.

Technique is most important for the 8 to 12 age group. They have to learn to control the ball with every part of both feet and in all directions.These are the objectives that the players must have achieved by the time they move up to the 12 to 14 age group:

Technical demands in the first phase include: combining ball controland speed in complicated situations where there is an element of resistance;

• Ability to use both feet to side-foot and semi—side-foot the ball and kick it with the instep, both along the ground and through the air, over short distances
  
• Taking and cushioning the ball with all parts of the body
  
• Juggling the ball with every part of the body except the arms
  
• Passing accurately from a standing position and while on the move
  
• Accurately shooting on goal
  
• Working on various crosses
  
• Learning the basic heading technique, without resistance
  
• Developing and stimulating body swerves and feints
  
• Learning techniques for taking a ball past an opponent
  
• Learning to shield the ball
  
• The throw in
  
• Learning to take a penalty
  

As far as tactics the following principles apply to the youngest group:

• Running into space to receive the ball
  
• Positions in the length and breadth of the field
  
• Linking up, linking back
  
• Taking up positions to receive the ball
  
• Playing from your own position
  
• Taking over the position of another player
  
• Learning to play in another position
  
• Looking beyond the ball
  
• Deciding the moment of choice between passing and making an individual run
  
• Learning to shield the ball when dribbling and passing
  
• Covering on the inside
  
• Covering the most dangerous opponent
  

In the field of soccer know-how, the first targets are:

• Learning the rules of the game
  
• Learning to keep their boots in good condition
  
• Learning to recognize the Ajax system of play
  
• Learning to look after their bodies
  
• Acquiring knowledge of diet in the context of matches and training
  
• Learning knowledge of the rules of soccer and Ajax’s own specific culture
  

Running and strength training involves:

• Learning the principles of good running technique
  
• Coordinated running
  
• Learning to jump by taking off from one leg and from two legs
  
• Maintaining and improving suppleness
  
• Learning to use the body during duels
  
• Strength training by making use of the player’s own bodyweight
  
• Learning to avoid an opponent, sliding tackle or tackle
  
• Sprinting in all directions
  
• Learning to use a shoulder charge
  

Personality formation -- Ajax makes high demands on even the youngest players:

• Learning a sporting attitude, in which respect for the opponent is central
  
• Learning to communicate with team-mates, coaches and team support staff
  
• Learning to be open to the opinions ofothers
  
• Accepting leadership
  
• Learning to accept the referee’sdecisions
  
• Learning to be critical of their own achievements
  
• Learning to analyse their own game
  
• Learning to conform to the Ajax rules
  
• Learning to listen to the coach
  
• Learning that soccer is a team sport
  
• Experiencing the rudiments of teambuilding
  
• Learning to concentrate
  
• Learning to be responsible for equipment
  
• Learning to avoid injury
  
• Learning to listen to their bodies
  

Twice each year, all the players are assessed on forty elements. These assessments result in one of three recommendations:

A– stay

B– doubtful (B/A doubtful/stay)

C– go ( B/C doubtful/go )

Once the Ajax youth players have reached the age of 12, they enter the second stage of training in the 12 to 14 age group. This is the age at which many of the young players are faced with accelerated physical growth. This is also a significant age group, because actual matches play a larger role. Boys of 13 and 14 already have more strength and speed, and are able to move the ball over long distances.

From the Under 14s upward, Ajax training sessions are geared towards competitive games.

Youngsters in the 12 to 14 age group have already under gone four years of Ajax training. In an enjoyable way, they have already learned a great deal about making choices during a game. The most stringent criteria are applied to the players in the second year of the Under 14 level.

Observation by the coaches, and the intuitive feeling that this player will fit the Ajax pattern, and that one will not, remain the most important criteria, but you must be able to support intuition with facts.

To compensate for the loss of street soccer in the busy city of Amsterdam, we have developed a soccer play ground for the youngest Ajax players. Twice a week the 8 to 12 year olds can enjoy themselves there, playing soccer tennis, header volleyball, keeping the ball in the air, or small sided games. Ajax believes that young players cannot spend too much time with the ball.

As far as the Ajax board is concerned, the coach for the 8 to 10 yearolds is just as important as the coach for the 16 to 18 year olds. In the Ajax philosophy, it is unthinkable that an Under 10 team coach should have the ambition to coach the Under 18 Team in a few years time, or that an older coach should feel he could “take it easy” by coaching the 8 to 10 year olds.

Every youth coach has a limited amount of freedom of action within the Ajax system. First of all, he must always think of the whole picture. The point of departure is the match, and the basis is the Ajax system of play, which runs like a thread through the entire club. At Ajax the youth coaches and players know from the start exactly how the finished structure should look: the desired system of play is totally familiar.

The Ajax philosophy is as follows: you can learn a brilliant book of coaching drills by heart, but the ability to act at the right moment, to make an accurate analysis and to show how things should be done, is much more important. That is the heartof the matter !

The constant will to improve. This is the principle of Ajax and the Ajax youth development scheme.

[Cleon]

Let's take a look at what drills Ajax use;

[Cleon]

More Drills;

[Cleon]

[Cleon]

You can now see how the drills are linked to what I posted in post 3 of this thread. It's a lot for a young player to take in, in my opinion. It's very demanding and highly technical, you can see how the drills focus on the technical side of the game. Something which is important for the Ajax philosophy.

[Cleon]

Infrastructure

The main goal of Ajax is simple, have three players make the first team every two seasons. It seems quite reasonable doesn't it?!. But why is there such a great need for this to happen. Well, again this is rather simple, they need the money to fund the first teams salaries. The more players they have make the first team as soon as possible the sooner they'll be able to sell them on for what is hopefully a big transfer fee. This is the main reason why they are so demanding and seem almost cruel in their selection process. Throughout the time at the academy a player learns both the technical and mental aspects of the game.

I think this part will be easily recreated in FM, maybe not the having three good players who are able to be sold but selling players shouldn't be an issue really.

So how does all this fit into FM then I hear you ask.

Well it's going to be a struggle to begin with as I have to reshape the club to how I want it to be run. This will include hiring the correct type of staff. Sorting through the current players at the club and deciding who can/cannot make it. While at the same time trying to get good enough results so I keep my job and don't get fired.

As you'll have read from the development bit slightly further up, I will be applying the same logic as the youth team in terms of players. So I'll be following this;

Every Ajax youth eleven has 16 players. There are 2 goalkeepers. Four righ tfooted players are selected for positions 2, 6, and 7 (right back, right midfield, right wing fwd), Four left footed players for positions 5, 8 and 11 (left back, left midfield, left forward), Three players for 3 and 4 (central defenders) and finally three players for 9 and 10 (striker and shadow striker). This applies from the Under 10 team up to the first eleven. During the players’ development, therefore, they play in the two or three positions within the team for which they have been selected.

While Ajax might be considered a big club, in FM terms they have a very young squad which is rather average to begin with. So trying to adapt the Ajax way into the saved game will be difficult and take a lot of planning.

I can't just take over the club and expect everything to fall into place the way I want it to. There must be some kind of transitional period that allows me to bring in new coaches, scouts, players and tutors. If not then I'll fail and probably be sacked. With this in mind I've given myself three seasons to bring in enough quality staff and older players to use as tutors.

I also need to set up a large scouting network so I can scour the globe for players aged between 14-17 who I think might make a good addition to the youth teams. At first I wasn't going to bring anyone in but it seems like Ajax do this a lot so I thought I'd do the same. That doesn't mean I'll be going mad and buying everyone though, I have to set myself some limits. So I've decided I can't buy anyone over the age of 17 and I can't spend more than £2 million on a single player.

The idea behind brining tutors into the club is to help develop the youth I have at the club and try and give them a certain type of personality. I think this alone will be the biggest challenge I face as the turn over of these types of players that I bring into the club will be quite large. They'll not be available to play for the first team though, I'm brining them in with the sole purpose of just been tutors and nothing more.

I'm hoping that spending time in these first few seasons will build a great foundation for what I am trying to achieve. So by the start of the fourth season, I expect everything to be in place for how I want to shape the club and take them forward.

Some of you might think this is an excessive amount of time but hopefully as the thread develops you'll see why I went to the lengths I have and understand it a little better.

[Cleon]

Meet The Staff

Ajax start the game with a very youthful bunch of coaches who have very little experience meaning that their attributes aren't yet fully developed. So the coaching side of things needs a little time and attention spent on it. However the board wont allow you to sign extra staff to begin with so you have a tough choice to make and have to make a decision between terminating the contracts or giving them a chance to improve.

If you choose to get rid of the coach then it'll cost you quite a few thousand ££££ plus add in the fact you'll likely have to pay compensation for the staff you bring in to replace them. But if you do decide to keep them then player development could be affected due to the poor attributes majority of the coaches have. The flip side of that though is the coach could be good in a few seasons time so it's really a tough call.

The backroom staff can play a very important role in what types of players come into the club, namely newgens. So I try and build a backroom team that consists of the same type of coaches, assistant and head of youth. By that I mean in terms of personality, so I like them all to have high determination, level of discipline and motivation.

Let's take a look at the staff;

(Please note that I forgot to take screenshots on the first day, so some of these might show the staff a few days later after I'd fired them. But they were all took within the first week at the club)

Assistant

Head of Youth Development

Under 19's Manager

Coaches/U 19's

Goalkeeper Coaches

Fitness Coaches

As you can see some of the coaches are absolute **** and will have to go. The fitness coaches inparticular are shocking and will be the first to be addressed I think. I'll go into details about which coaches I hired and Fired a little further down.

[Cleon]

Reinforcements

You've probably guessed above about which staff I fired but here it is again just in-case

I've not sacked as many as I'd have liked because I don't have the finances and resources just yet to make drastic changes. This is another reason why I want to do it over a period of time to ensure it is done correctly because the board wont allow me any additional coaches just yet. I did however manage to bring in a few additions who are big improvements;

Assistant

I just couldn't resists brining this legend back to the club. The downside of this is he tends to retire 2-3 season into the game. So this measure is just a short term one.

Head of Youth Development

The HoYD influences the type newgens you get coming through the ranks albeit a very tine percentage of influence compared to your youth set-up/facilities/recruitment network and so on. But none the less it does have some bearing on the following;

• He will have a slight impact on the potential of newgens
  
• Some of them will share the same personality type as the HoYD
  
• Newgens could be influenced by his coaching style.
  

However he isn't my ideal HoYD but he certainly is the best I can currently acquire. I could have gone for someone more obvious like Phil Cannon but he lacks determination so if I can increase the chance of getting regens with high determination it means I could potentially save time in the long run by having to tutor them to try and raise the determination attribute.

Ideally you'd want like-minded backroom staff due to how they influence the type of newgens you get even if it is only a tiny percentage.

Under 19's Manager

I'm hoping he is young enough to improve and get better as he ages. If not it'll be no loss and I'm sure he can be replaced quite easy. But short term he is a great stop gap and as all the required attributes to be honest, working with youngsters, determination, motivation and level of discipline are all quite high. A vast improvement on the man he replaced.

Fitness Coaches

Again these are a vast improvement on the fitness coaches they replaced. I'm actually hoping that Carravetta will step up and be my assistant once Cruijff decided to retire. So he was signed for that reason, oh and the fact he is a superb coach!!!

Coach

This coach was signed to fill my final allocated coaching slot and looks good. I'm not sure if he'll improve or not but he already had very good attributes.

As you can see the backroom is starting to take shape and I've already made changes for the better imo. So now I'll have to build on this at the end of the season and see if I can bring more coaches in and quality ones too who will actually make a difference and not just make the numbers up.

[Cleon]

Meet The players

These are the players who are worth posting about and concentrating on. The players I don't mention won't be in my long term plans so its pointless going into any details about them.

[Cleon]

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[Cleon]

Player Personality & Tutoring

A players personality is made up from hidden attributes;

• Adaptability
  
• Ambition
  
• Controversy
  
• Loyalty
  
• Pressure
  
• Professionalism
  
• Sportsmanship
  
• Temperament
  

Sometimes some of the descriptions which will be described further down this post will also be made up of;

• Determination
  
• Influence
  

You might also notice sometimes in a scout/coach report that they give you an indication of the other hideen attributes I've yet to mention. Not all the time mind you but sometimes you might come across them. They would be;

• Consistency
  
• Dirtiness
  
• Important Matches
  
• Injury Proneness
  
• Versatility
  

Player personalities are a vital part of Football Manager and sometimes are overlooked by people but they can tell you quite a lot about the player and how he'll deal with certain things like team talks, chats, off the field events, on the field events and so on.

Another big part of player personalities is the media handling, its quite clever and intricate how they all link and work. It's a lot to get your head around and very complicated so I'm just going to link you to two threads that go into detail and explain the workings out and how they all link together;

http://community.sigames.com/showthr...Handling-Guide

http://community.sigames.com/showthr...onal-youngster

Smac as actually uploaded a spreadsheet in the second link above that makes it all easier to understand if someone wants to delve deeper into this side of the game.

Below are all the types of personalities that you can find, some are harder to find than others but I think this is the complete list. If I've missed any I do apologise but feel free to add more if you've found some I've missed

Newgens

• Model Citizen Pro 18-20, Det 18-20, Pre 18-20, Amb 18-20, Loy 18-20, Spo 18-20, Tem 18-20
  
• Model Professional Pro 20, Tem 10-20
  
• Professional Pro 18-19, Tem 10-20
  
• Perfectionist Pro 18-20, Det 18-20, Amb 18-20, Tem 1-9
  
• Resolute Pro 15-20, Det 15-20, Pre 1-16 Spo 5-20
  
• Temperamental Tem 1-4, Pro 1-10
  
• Driven Det 20, Amb 10-20
  
• Determined Det 18-19, Amb 10-20
  
• Slack Pro 1, Det 1-9, Tem 5-20
  
• Casual Pro 2-4, Det 1-9, Tem 5-20
  
• Very Ambitious Amb 20, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17
  
• Amibitous Amb 16-19, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17
  
• Unambitious Amb 1-5, Loy 11-20
  
• Honest Spo 20, Det 1-9, Pro 5-20
  
• Sporting Spo 18-19, Det 1-9, Pro 5-20
  
• Easily Discouraged Det 1, Amb 1-9, Spo 1-17, Pro 5-20
  
• Low Determination Det 2-5, Amb 1-9, Spo 1-17, Pro 5-20
  
• Unsporting Spo 1, Det 11-20
  
• Realist Spo 2-4, Det 11-20
  
• Very Loyal Loy 20, Amb 6-7, Det 6-20
  
• Loyal Loy 18-19, Amb 6-7, Det 6-20
  
• Iron Willed Pre 20, Det 15-20, Spo 5-20
  
• Resilient Pre 17-19, Det 15-20, Spo 5-20
  
• Spineless Pre 1, Det 1-9, Pro 5-20, Spo 1-17
  
• Low Self-Belief Pre 2-3, Det 1-9, Pro 5-20, Spo 1-17
  
• Light-Hearted Pre 15-20, Spo 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 1-17
  
• Spirited Pre 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 11-17, Spo 1-14
  
• Jovial Pre 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 1-10, Spo 1-14
  
• Fairly Professional Pro 15-20, Det 1-14
  
• Fairly Determined Det 15-20, Pro 1-14, Spo 5-20, Pre 1-16
  
• Fairly Amibitous Amb 15-20, Pro 1-14, Det 1-14
  
• Fairly Loyal Loy 15-20, Pro 1-14, Det 1-14, Amb 6-14
  
• Fairly Sporting Spo 15-20, Pro & Det & Amb & Loy all 1-14
  
• Balanced Pro 1-14, Det 1-14, Amb 1-14, Loy & Spo 1-14
  
• Born Leader Inf 20 & Det 20. Age needs to be 23+ (if age requirement not met, he would be Driven).
  
• Devoted Loy 20 & Amb 6-7
  
• Leader Inf 19 or Inf 20 & Det < 20
  

None Newgen's

• Model Citizen Pro 18-20, Det 18-20, Pre 18-20, Amb 18-20, Loy 18-20, Spo 18-20, Tem 18-20
  
• Model Professional Pro 20, Tem 10-20
  
• Professional Pro 18-19, Tem 10-20
  
• Perfectionist Pro 18-20, Det 18-20, Amb 18-20, Tem 1-9
  
• Driven Det 20, Amb 10-20
  
• Determined Det 18-19, Amb 10-20
  
• Very Ambitious Amb 20, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17
  
• Amibitous Amb 16-19, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17
  
• Honest Spo 20, Det 1-9
  
• Sporting Spo 18-19, Det 1-9
  
• Very Loyal Loy 20, Amb 6-7
  
• Loyal Loy 18-19, Amb 6-7
  
• Iron Willed Pre 20, Det 15-20
  
• Resilient Pre 17-19, Det 15-20
  
• Light-Hearted Pre 15-20, Spo 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 1-17
  
• Spirited Pre 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 11-17, Spo 1-14
  
• Jovial Pre 15-20, Tem 10-20, Pro 1-10, Spo 1-14
  
• Resolute Pro 15-20, Det 15-20, Pre 1-16
  
• Fairly Professional Pro 15-20, Det 1-14
  
• Fairly Determined Det 15-20, Pro 1-14, Pre 1-16
  
• Fairly Amibitous Amb 15-20, Pro 1-14, Det 1-14
  
• Fairly Loyal Loy 15-20, Pro 1-14, Det 1-14, Amb 1-14
  
• Fairly Sporting Spo 15-20, Pro & Det & Amb & Loy all 1-14
  
• Balanced Pro 1-14, Det 1-14, Amb 1-14, Loy & Spo 1-14
  
• Born Leader Inf 20 & Det 20. Age needs to be 23+ (if age requirement not met, he would be Driven).
  
• Devoted Loy 20 & Amb 6-7
  
• Leader Inf 19 or Inf 20 & Det < 20
  

As I'm focusing on youth development with the aim of developing/buying cheap and selling for (hopefully) big money then player personality is a big part of what I'm trying to achieve. So for this I need players who I know will train hard and give it their all. What determines this is not determination, that is a misconception amongst the community, what you need to look for in a player is an indication of the hidden attribute professionalism. Ambition wouldn't hurt either but ultimately it is professionalism that determines how well a player applies himself in training.

So with this in mind these are the personalities I'll be trying to give my players;

Model Citizen – This would be the best one to have but they are limited and in really short reply. In fact so far in all my saves I have only managed to find two players who have this personality.

Resolute – This is one of my favourite personalities due to high level of professionalism and determination. While I don't class determination as a vital attribute that players must have there is no hard in having players who do have good determination. It will help with on field events and make me stronger tactically.

Perfectionist – Again this shows a player to have high determination, ambition and professionalism but does highlight low temperament.

Spirited – Decent temperament, good pressure and professionalism

Model Professional/Professional/Fairly Professional – Good professionalism and decent temperament

There are other personalities that I could possibly use but for the purpose of pure youth development I find these 5 to be key for how I play and what I want to achieve. Others might prefer to do it a different way and that's fine its just this way works for me

This should give you an idea of what kind of tutors I'll be trying to bring into the club. Some tutors though might be brought in purely for PPM training though, I'll go into this more specifically a little later in the thread.

[Cleon]

Tutors

Even though many of you might deem Ajax as a big club they don't really have a good squad in all honesty. They have a squad full of potential but many of their players are years away from been good, the starting squad is average at best.

As the squad is very youthful I need to bring in more experienced players to tutor the youngsters and shape their personalities as well as learn them PPM's. So for this task I decided to bring in the following players;

All the above where brought in for personalities with the exception of Zenden. He was brought into the club because he has the PPM 'Curls Ball' which is not trainable and can only be passed on through tutoring.

I've had to pay over the odds for some of these players though in terms of wages. That's because I needed them as key players so they could tutor all the youth players even the ones who are rotation and so forth. It was easier to do it this way than risk upsetting a player by lowering their squad status. I don't intend having them for longer than a season at the very maximum anyway so it shouldn't make to much difference in the long run.

Some people put a lot of thought and effort into picking tutors for their players and like to choose similar personality types. For me this isn't the case and seems to go against what I am wanting to create. So I will try and tutor people even if they have a total mismatch of personalities, after all for me this is what tutoring is all about. I don't expect to always be successful in this approach but the benefits from when it is successful should out gain the times it fails. At least in theory anyway and is something I will try and keep track of.

Rather that re-post some of the images I've already posted I'll just tell you who I've got tutoring who for now to try and cut down on the images for the time being. But when I update at the end of the season I'll be sure to add the new screenshots to show you any differences in personality or PPM's.

• I paired Boateng with Klaassen
  
• Bowyer with Sporkslede
  
• Litmanen with Kishna
  
• Melchiot with Tete
  
• Mpenza with Menig
  
• Zanetti with van de Boomen
  

For all of these I choose the top tutoring option because that one does personality and there is a chance of transferring PPM's. The bottom option works on personality only and should be used if a player has a PPM that you don't want your player to pick up.

You'll notice that I've not mentioned Zenden above, that's because I don't have anyone suitable for him to tutor yet and he was only brought in for the PPM. He will be tutoring Kishna once his time being tutored by Litmanen is up.

In addition to the tutors I brought in I had 2 at the club already who were capable of been a tutor.

• Vermeer with van der Hart
  
• Poulsen with Fischer
  

I'll be updating at the end of the first season about how the tutoring went and if I had the tutors tutor someone else. But as its still the first week at the club there isn't much to report on just yet.

[Cleon]

Players Preferred Moves

These add a different dimension to the player and depending on what PPM's he has will instruct him to do certain traits like dictate tempo, curl ball, shoots with power and so on. So when creating a tactic and choosing a role for a player you really should take these into consideration because they may affect how he plays the role you've give him. For example – you wouldn't want an anchor man with the PPM gets forward when possible, as his job is to stay deep and protect the back four. Having that kind of PPM for that kind of role can stop him doing it effectively and efficiently and could make him get caught out of position. So you need to be aware of the PPM's a player has before deciding what you want him to do in the system you are creating.

There is a total of 43 PPM's that are available by either tutoring and learning a player the move. Of these 43 different kinds of PPM's 7 of them are available by tutoring only.

The full list of PPM's can be seen in the screenshots below. I used the player search screen as it was easier to show you them all without missing any out.

Below are a list of PPM's that can only be obtained via tutoring;

• Curls ball
  
• Stays back at all times
  
• Dwells on ball
  
• Tries to play way out of trouble
  
• Gets into oppositions area
  
• Arrives late in oppositions area
  
• Argues with officials
  

If you'd like your players to learn any of those then you'll have to find a player with them already in the game and try and buy the player. Then you can try and get it transferred to one of your players by having him tutor someone. These will always be in the game but they'll be hard to find like they are currently. So if you want to use these then you really need to find someone with them early on and try and get them transffered to one of your players.

[Cleon]

Season One Update

There is only so far I can implement the TIPS system in the first season as the players aren't as young as they should be to get the best out of them. So for the players who were in the original squad when I took over I tried and implemented it the best I could but at the same time thinking about their development as a whole. To get the best out of the TIPS idea I need to have players who are 16 or younger which isn't really viable the first season until I got the first youth intake which I'll discuss a bit further down.

As I focus on pure player development for me match training isn't important. So for me its set on 10% throughout the season once tactic familiarity levels are all fluid. Now due to me trying to develop the player best I can everyone at the club is either learning a specific attribute or a specific role. This means that the general training is set to a low intensity alowing me to focus just on development with an heavy individual focus. If I wanted a more generic player instead of a specific bunch of players then I'd set general training to a high intensity and no individual training. This would mean development is spread evenly across all aspects rather than you shaping them into specific players.

Using this method some players might complain about training but ignore them because they'll be complaining because they have strong personalities. It's a good sign but you shouldn't listen to them because it has to be set this way to get them to develop the best you can. Any higher and you'd be taking away from his individual development.

A little further up the thread I showed some of the players attributes, so I thought now would be a good time to do a little update and show you how its progressing. So here goes;

Mickey van der Hart

That is him after a season. For the first 6 months I concentrated just on an individual focus training for his handling because he started off with 10 which is rather low for an 18 year old. Then the other 6 months was spent on an individual focus for his positioning because again 12 is low for the level I am playing at. So if he is to ever play for me it needs to be higher.

Tutoring the first time didn't help get his determination up as much as I was hoping. So for the start of season two I will have him tutored by the same player again. In fact I'll do this a few times if it means I can make him a better player. He started off being 'fairly professional' as his description and its still the same but I think over the next 2 seasons I should be able to make him resolute which is the aim.

Toby Alderweireld

Toby is a great defender but he's quite near his potential I suspect so there is that much room for scope, so I had to start working on him early because come season two he'll probably be at full potential.

With this in mind I decided to work on his marking attribute via an individual focus for 6 months and the other 4 months spent on his positioning. I was happy with how the rest of his attributes changed as well but I feel positioning and marking make him a better defender and for me are part of his core attribute needed to play as a defender.

Stefano Denswil

I have high hopes for this lad and think he can become a big player for me.

On a 3 month cycle I focused on these attributes as an individual focus;

• Strength
  
• Quickness
  
• Marking
  
• Positioning
  

He starts off with this personality;

I've just managed to get him to begin been tutored with;

So I hope in the next year or so his personality will change and as you can tell with his determination rising it is well on his way to that.

The exposure to first team is also helping him out and aiding his development so hopefully if he stays injury free and carries on how he is then he should get even better over the next 18 months.

Kenny Tete

You can already see the visible sides of tutoring here with an increase in his determination attribute by 4 points already in a short space of time. Sadly though they've not had much impact on his hidden attributes just yet because he is still balanced. But that's fine I know its going to take time and patience as I can't expect everything to work from the off and change a player in a season. It's the long term goal that matter and the bigger picture. I can have him tutored quite a few more times so no need to worry

For his training I decided he should focus on the these attributes in a 2 month cycle;

• Quickness
  
• Stamina
  
• Positioning
  
• Tackling
  
• Marking
  

When the new season starts I'll also add crossing to that but I ran out of months currently to add this into the mix. The low stamina was a real issue though especially for the role he would be doing of a wing-back. He is expected to get forward so needs good stamina to stop him getting tired after a couple of runs.

Overall I'm really pleased with the progress he is making and next season I'll be giving him some game time as I feel he is needing that to push on to the next level.

[Cleon]

The thread isn't as complete as I'd have liked it to be before posting but I'm hitting the stage that if I don't post now I don't think it would ever see the light of day. Don't think this thread is anywhere near complete because it's not, far from it.

I'll just update every so often now the basics are out here. I've played 5 full seasons so far so I've got lots to post about but hopefully this will generate some discussion for now until I do another update

The season one update is nowhere near finished either, hopefully I'll get that finished today/tomorrow

[NakS]

Wow, I was really looking forward to this as player development is one of my main enjoyment in the game and I have to say it looks pretty impressive. Time to make some coffee, sit back and read thoroughly.

[Cleon]

Wow, I was really looking forward to this as player development is one of my main enjoyment in the game and I have to say it looks pretty impressive. Time to make some coffee, sit back and read thoroughly.

Cheers NakS

I'm not sure if its just my game or a problem in general though, stamina hardly seems to rise unless you focus on it. Sure it does rise with age but still nowhere near enough and this is becoming a common problem throughout all my saves when focusing on player development. Even if you choose a specific role, hardly any of them for attackers focus on stamina. So at some stage I have to sacrifce something and focus on this issue with individual focus. I don't expect it to become amazing and very high far from it. But inline with the rest of the attributes stamina seems to be the one that develops the least unless you target it.

Have you or anyone else noticed the same? I've checked quite a few games and after 2 or 3 seasons the issue becomes more apparent.

[Adamski152]

This looks phenomenal at first glance, Cleon.

I'm playing as Huracan in Argentina and doing a You Dont Win Anything With Kids save just now so it's safe to say this will be something I'll be following closely!

[NakS]

Tha'ts an issue for me too.

It's like trying to fit square peg into round hole. Box to box, Central midfielders and Playmaking roles focus don't focus on any physical stats AT ALL for example. This is just amazing. And, as you noticed, most of attackers doesn't focus on stamina as well and you have to go either "poacher or treq" to have agilitiy featuring in a role focus...I am doing exactly the same, switching between individual role focus and single attribute focus every quarter of season (around 2 and 3 months period)

[SRL88]

Well **** me sideways.

Monster thread indeed my friend. Excellent work

[Cleon]

This looks phenomenal at first glance, Cleon.

I'm playing as Huracan in Argentina and doing a You Dont Win Anything With Kids save just now so it's safe to say this will be something I'll be following closely!

Thanks you

Tha'ts an issue for me too.

It's like trying to fit square peg into round hole. Box to box, Central midfielders and Playmaking roles focus don't focus on any physical stats AT ALL for example. This is just amazing. And, as you noticed, most of attackers doesn't focus on stamina as well and you have to go either "poacher or treq" to have agilitiy featuring in a role focus...I am doing exactly the same, switching between individual role focus and single attribute focus every quarter of season (around 2 and 3 months period)

They just don't seem to rise at all inline with the other attributes. To some extent I can see why strength might not rise but stamina should rise inline with the rest of the attributes because its important, without having to sacrifice a few months/year development to concentrate just on stamina. Even then, I'm finding it still rises slower than other attributes.

I think I might pick out load of examples from my current game and give a detailed bug report because it just doesn't seem right. Glad I'm not the only one who'd noticed that its a big issue

Well **** me sideways.

Monster thread indeed my friend. Excellent work

Cheers fella

[ramie]

Epic! Im going to print it off need a hard copy of this masterpiece!

[kazm]

Impressive and interesting even though it hurts my eyes. (you shouldve just taken the easy road with Feyenoord the club were the actual potential is )

BTW you are somewhat unlucky: there are some big changes happening at Ajax, next year their staff will have a lot more people like Bergkamp, I think Van der Sar will become Director of Football or something for example and my guess is those clublegends and icons will get a lot better potential than the coaches they have now.

[RTHerringbone]

Christ, that's a big 'un!

I'm focusing on Player Development whilst the ME continues to deliver me with aesthetically displeasing wins, so I'll read this thoroughly tonight and see what I can glean.

You said you were going to post something substantial and not tactical in the New Year, and you certainly have - thanks.

[Cleon]

Epic! Im going to print it off need a hard copy of this masterpiece!

Cheers, just wait until you actually see the TIPS in action and see the kind of player progression I've had come season 4

Impressive and interesting even though it hurts my eyes. (you shouldve just taken the easy road with Feyenoord the club were the actual potential is )

BTW you are somewhat unlucky: there are some big changes happening at Ajax, next year their staff will have a lot more people like Bergkamp, I think Van der Sar will become Director of Football or something for example and my guess is those clublegends and icons will get a lot better potential than the coaches they have now.

I was trying to remember who the Feyenoord fan was, I'll not post any results that I've had against you, I might offend you

That's been a pretty big issue on FM13 in all honesty, it's a very young backroom staffed club so they have very poor attributes to begin with. Its a case of asking how long you are prepared to give them a chance and room to improve. I've been quite patient and gave a few of them a couple of seasons to improve. Some have and some haven't like you'll see in a future update. This was another vital reason I allowed a 3 year transitional period before I fully implemented the TIPS system so I could see how the coaches developed.

[Cleon]

Christ, that's a big 'un!

I'm focusing on Player Development whilst the ME continues to deliver me with aesthetically displeasing wins, so I'll read this thoroughly tonight and see what I can glean.

You said you were going to post something substantial and not tactical in the New Year, and you certainly have - thanks.

Cheers

How do you approach player development? Do you focus on individual attributes or roles from a younger age? Not many people talk about player development on here so I'm always intrigued and curious to how others approach it.

Btw if anyone wants to post up screens of their players and how they've been developing them, then feel free to do so. Makes for a better discussion imo

[RTHerringbone]

Cheers

How do you approach player development? Do you focus on individual attributes or roles from a younger age? Not many people talk about player development on here so I'm always intrigued and curious to how others approach it.

Btw if anyone wants to post up screens of their players and how they've been developing them, then feel free to do so. Makes for a better discussion imo

I'm far too simplistic. FM13 has encouraged me to try to "learn" tactics, and my current save sees my team churn out results and trophies with minimal input.

It isn't at all satisfying really, so now I'm turning to Player Development (another "new" aspect of the game for me) in the hope that I can build a squad of excellent newgens in time for the point in time where the ME is better balanced.

My save is very kind to me, as I was offered the Barca job after just 20 games in charge at Spurs.

As a result, I have great facilities and enough headcount available to build a strong scouting network and youth coaches.

This enables me to scout worldwide, and the ridiculously high Spanish TV deals for the Top Two give me plenty of cash to throw at talent spotted.

In spite of all this, the best player I have found so far was through my Youth Ranks - pic posted on this page #204: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/319617-FM13-Rate-My-Regen-Thread/page3

At the moment, my views of Player Development are dictated by my tactics.

I train role first, but in tandem with PPMs.

I think rashidi1 posted recently about PPMs and I do the same - I train PPMs in players based on how and where I want them to play.

Tutoring is also afforded to my brightest talents, but I simply do this based on compatible personalities.

I only tend to train specific attributes on older players, or where I perceive Role training to have hit its ceiling.

That apart, I ensure that my U19 squad members get plenty of first team exposure; 4 of my subs bench are always U19's, and with my save as it is, I can put 5 or 6 U19's into the first team for the final 6-8 games of La Liga.

There are more potential stars in my U19's who I send out on loan, but they aren't all getting the first team exposure I want, so I'll keep a closer eye on my loan offers next season (just finished a season last night).

So far, I have been able to replace Xavi, Mascherano, Adriano, Pedro and Iniesta with newgens developed at Barca from 16, with no real detrimental impact in the short term.

[Adamski152]

Just read through fully and it really is first class. So interested to see how this develops.

A couple of questions from me if I may

1) I notice you had Kenny Tete on 2 month rotations for his individual focus and managed to increase each attribute by at least one point. Would that be the minimum period of time you would have this focus for? I have been doing 6 months on an individual focus then 6 months position training for my youths to try and round off their attributes. I obviously have some who require improvement in 4-5 specific attributes so even a 3 month focus on a specific attribute may be more beneficial?

2) Is there a way to show all PPM's players have in the squad screen? I know you can show the one currently being worked on but wondered if this was possible.

[kazm]

Cheers, just wait until you actually see the TIPS in action and see the kind of player progression I've had come season 4

I was trying to remember who the Feyenoord fan was, I'll not post any results that I've had against you, I might offend you

That's been a pretty big issue on FM13 in all honesty, it's a very young backroom staffed club so they have very poor attributes to begin with. Its a case of asking how long you are prepared to give them a chance and room to improve. I've been quite patient and gave a few of them a couple of seasons to improve. Some have and some haven't like you'll see in a future update. This was another vital reason I allowed a 3 year transitional period before I fully implemented the TIPS system so I could see how the coaches developed.

hehe i dont mind. I'm past that age . Also we lost 10-0 to PSV a few years back (we won 3-1 at the end of the season which blocked their chances of winning the league and indirectly made them make the mistake of signing Wijnaldum who they didnt need)

Theres a saying here: "Feyenoord fan you aren't for fun"

FMs scouting regarding coaches seems pretty random though. Coaches doing their job for ages having terrible stats and such while big names 'have to' have seemingly having high potential just because they have the name. Also stuff like physios (who actually studied at pretty high level) having terrible physio attributes and such. Imo: Ajax has one of the best youth setups in the world, would they hire idiots? They wouldnt have one of the best youth setups if they did.

I know its even harder to 'scout' this stuff for SI compared to player stats but still, big parts of it don't make sense and seem completely random or based on name.

/end rant

ontopic: right now I'm actually writing down what each individual player is training to see the difference in 3 months and I'm looking at the mentalities for each young player so thanks for the motivation lol.

[Adamski152]

Tha'ts an issue for me too.

It's like trying to fit square peg into round hole. Box to box, Central midfielders and Playmaking roles focus don't focus on any physical stats AT ALL for example. This is just amazing. And, as you noticed, most of attackers doesn't focus on stamina as well and you have to go either "poacher or treq" to have agilitiy featuring in a role focus...I am doing exactly the same, switching between individual role focus and single attribute focus every quarter of season (around 2 and 3 months period)

I've investigated training players on an individual role that you don't require them to play. For example, I have a right winger who is able to train as a striker (I presume he must be unconvincing/awkward in it to begin with) so I have set him on Poacher focus to develop his physical attributes.

One thing I havent yet investigated is retraining a player to a completely alien position specifically to unlock areas of role focus but it may be of use - has anyone else?

[Cleon]

I've investigated training players on an individual role that you don't require them to play. For example, I have a right winger who is able to train as a striker (I presume he must be unconvincing/awkward in it to begin with) so I have set him on Poacher focus to develop his physical attributes.

One thing I havent yet investigated is retraining a player to a completely alien position specifically to unlock areas of role focus but it may be of use - has anyone else?

I've retrained a AML/AMR to a DL in my Ajax save that I'll be writing about. But the more positions a player learns the more CA he'll waste so to speak.

[Cleon]

I'm far too simplistic. FM13 has encouraged me to try to "learn" tactics, and my current save sees my team churn out results and trophies with minimal input.

It isn't at all satisfying really, so now I'm turning to Player Development (another "new" aspect of the game for me) in the hope that I can build a squad of excellent newgens in time for the point in time where the ME is better balanced.

My save is very kind to me, as I was offered the Barca job after just 20 games in charge at Spurs.

As a result, I have great facilities and enough headcount available to build a strong scouting network and youth coaches.

This enables me to scout worldwide, and the ridiculously high Spanish TV deals for the Top Two give me plenty of cash to throw at talent spotted.

In spite of all this, the best player I have found so far was through my Youth Ranks - pic posted on this page #204: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/319617-FM13-Rate-My-Regen-Thread/page3

At the moment, my views of Player Development are dictated by my tactics.

I train role first, but in tandem with PPMs.

I think rashidi1 posted recently about PPMs and I do the same - I train PPMs in players based on how and where I want them to play.

Tutoring is also afforded to my brightest talents, but I simply do this based on compatible personalities.

I only tend to train specific attributes on older players, or where I perceive Role training to have hit its ceiling.

That apart, I ensure that my U19 squad members get plenty of first team exposure; 4 of my subs bench are always U19's, and with my save as it is, I can put 5 or 6 U19's into the first team for the final 6-8 games of La Liga.

There are more potential stars in my U19's who I send out on loan, but they aren't all getting the first team exposure I want, so I'll keep a closer eye on my loan offers next season (just finished a season last night).

So far, I have been able to replace Xavi, Mascherano, Adriano, Pedro and Iniesta with newgens developed at Barca from 16, with no real detrimental impact in the short term.

Just coming to the end of season 5 in this save and my squads average age is 19, so I think you might enjoy the updates that I'll be doing

[Adamski152]

At the moment, my views of Player Development are dictated by my tactics.

I train role first, but in tandem with PPMs.

I think rashidi1 posted recently about PPMs and I do the same - I train PPMs in players based on how and where I want them to play.

Tutoring is also afforded to my brightest talents, but I simply do this based on compatible personalities.

This was how I approached player development for the first 6 seasons of my current save. Coupled with sending out the majority of young players on loan (mostly to unloaded leagues as my reputation was fairly low) and not monitoring their gametime/performance etc. Not the brightest approach considering youths are what my game is all about!

In this close season I've performed a complete review of my squad. I've taken over the U19 team and intend on keeping the majority of my u19's in house unless I get offers where I can be sure they are playing week in week out at a high level. I have a small bunch of reserves who are over 20 but not good enough for my first team and I will be loaning them out just to see if regular football will improve them at all.

I have systematically went through the squad and either assigned individual position focus if they have many attributes requiring work, or specific focus if they are short in one or two areas. I was intending on doing this on 6 monthly cycles but may review this now.

I haven't paid much attention to PPM's at all to be honest, I did initially with little to no overall framework of how the player would play in match.

Definitely lots of food for thought coming out of this thread fo rme.

[Karnage94]

Goodness me this is a cracking thread. Might actually get me to take Player Development seriously as I end up buying the majority of my players at around 19-22 when they are close to their best with a little bit of room to shape. I hope to change this. Top job Cleon

[RTHerringbone]

I review individual training for each player at natural breaks in the flow of a season - so in pre-season, at the start of the season and Christmas.

Obviously when notified that a player has learned / failed to learn a PPM, I may start to train them on the next PPM I like for their role and duty.

Taking over the U19's is precisely what I should be doing to maximize their potential, but I just haven't got the time to spin all of those plates.

My plan is to just accept loan offers from clubs where the newgen will be a guaranteed starter.

My loanees have weird experiences - last season I had a decent 4 star PA guy (1 start CA) who started 10 games for Juventus.

Conversely, I had another guy with the 4.5 PA and 1 CA who went to a second Tier German side using a tactic which appeared to suit his preferred role, and who had no real quality in that position, and yet they didn't use him once!

[Cleon]

Just read through fully and it really is first class. So interested to see how this develops.

A couple of questions from me if I may

1) I notice you had Kenny Tete on 2 month rotations for his individual focus and managed to increase each attribute by at least one point. Would that be the minimum period of time you would have this focus for? I have been doing 6 months on an individual focus then 6 months position training for my youths to try and round off their attributes. I obviously have some who require improvement in 4-5 specific attributes so even a 3 month focus on a specific attribute may be more beneficial?

2) Is there a way to show all PPM's players have in the squad screen? I know you can show the one currently being worked on but wondered if this was possible.

1 - The good thing about training on FM13 is even when you choose a specific attribute to focus on he still trains a basic minimum on the others for his position he is classed as natural in. That's why you've seen his other attributes change too. I'd even go as low as 1 month cycles if I thought it would be benefical for me. I do it just to boost the attribute and give it a helping hand.

2 - You can see them all on a players profile pge though but don't think you can add them as a custom view sadly. Unless I'm missing something.

[kazm]

I've investigated training players on an individual role that you don't require them to play. For example, I have a right winger who is able to train as a striker (I presume he must be unconvincing/awkward in it to begin with) so I have set him on Poacher focus to develop his physical attributes.

One thing I havent yet investigated is retraining a player to a completely alien position specifically to unlock areas of role focus but it may be of use - has anyone else?

Seems like a waste of time. As far as I can see you can train enough relevant roles already, you have to really want those exact specific attributes to improve to make it worth it while you can probably take a different role that overlaps a decent amount with these attributes. Also to take a simple example if you have a striker and train him to be leftback so you can train him in the fullback role, those attributes trained aren't as relevant to a striker and the more relevant attributes can be trained by training him as a defensive forward. Besides that I think players often start bitching when you do stuff like this.

[Adamski152]

1 - The good thing about training on FM13 is even when you choose a specific attribute to focus on he still trains a basic minimum on the others for his position he is classed as natural in. That's why you've seen his other attributes change too. I'd even go as low as 1 month cycles if I thought it would be benefical for me. I do it just to boost the attribute and give it a helping hand.

2 - You can see them all on a players profile pge though but don't think you can add them as a custom view sadly. Unless I'm missing something.

I assumed 1-2 months individual attribute focus would have been too short a period to see an attribute increase but obviously not.

Thanks for the response

[Cleon]

I assumed 1-2 months individual attribute focus would have been too short a period to see an attribute increase but obviously not.

Thanks for the response

I don't always see a visible increase in terms of the stat changing from lets say 12 to 13. But as long as i can see it working and increasing on the training graph then all is fine

[Cleon]

Goodness me this is a cracking thread. Might actually get me to take Player Development seriously as I end up buying the majority of my players at around 19-22 when they are close to their best with a little bit of room to shape. I hope to change this. Top job Cleon

Cheers mate

[Outliar]

So tell me, how long does one take to read the whole thread? Gosh that's some quality right there, Ajax head of youth development would've been proud

[Blair McCabe]

Cleon, excellent thread again.

Is it possible to qualify for the nextgen series?? I want to develop my youth team but would like them in that competition to test themselves against better teams. I know some teams are in it already but I can't seem to find the rules on qualification etc

[wez007]

I've retrained a AML/AMR to a DL in my Ajax save that I'll be writing about. But the more positions a player learns the more CA he'll waste so to speak.

Ouch... wasnt aware of this at all ! Ive just retrained my 19 year old wonderkid (who started as a DC) to DM and MC "doh"

[RTHerringbone]

Ouch... wasnt aware of this at all ! Ive just retrained my 19 year old wonderkid (who started as a DC) to DM and MC "doh"

Same here - albeit with Fabregas. I had to retrain his position to DM as that's where my DLP operates.....

Definitely something to try to remember with newgens.

[jayahr]

wow

this calls for a sticky!

[Dgirth]

Im wondering what attributes you look for in a youth player. can you look at the youth player and decide there and then if he is worth being in your training program ?

[Cleon]

Im wondering what attributes you look for in a youth player. can you look at the youth player and decide there and then if he is worth being in your training program ?

I give them time to develop. Different players will develop at different speeds, so I don't like to be too hasty in making snap decisions. As long as a player has a decent rating from the coaches/scout then I'll take a gamble on then. I'll then shape them as soon as into the player I want to make them.

[Dgirth]

Ok I had it hard coded into my head about a player with low determination will never be any good. I have even released decent youths for having low det. there was a guide on here on the old forum version many years ago, which i have stuck to and has no proved me wrong, my falt for not updating myself along with the game. thanks for showing me the light.