FM14: AFC Ajax - Ushering in a New Period of Greatness

[Hoarau]

Yorkshire - There's some gaps that will appear with some of that. Your left side has an IF who won't track back mush if at all and a FB who'll be looking to push on and support him leaving gaps in behind. Also your AP(a) is on that side will be roaming alot to try and play balls through.

Those aren't definite problems just things I would consider and as I said I am in no way clued up enough to offer advice! Ha!

The only glaring problem would be the BWM(d) in the CM spot, he'll be bombing all over the place looking to make challenges all the while not holding shape and leaving you open, I would suggest just a trial of pulling him back and playing a DMC(D) to see how it goes, that'll give you two CB's cover espically with to FB's on support.

Be interested to see how you get on man.

[yorkshire22]

cheers for the tips, I've a applied some of them and tweaked a few others and the teams looking much more solid, never even thought about the BWM haha, guess sometimes it just takes a fresh pair of eyes to look at it!

Anyway i'll probably do another update shortly as I can't seem to stop playing this save!

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Frustrated, Pleased, Delighted, Annoyed, Annoyed, Delighted, Embarrassed - that's a game-by-game review of my emotions of this pivotal month. Here's why:-

MONTHLY UPDATE - February

2.2.2014 | Eredivisie

Vitesse - 0

AFC Ajax - 0

As mentioned above, it was a frustrating game. While we dominated possession, we were far too cautious in our approach play, failed to make any clear-cut chances and left Arnhem utterly despondent. Viktor Fischer had two near-post chances of fairly decent quality, but Danny Hoesen's chance, which he blazed over the bar from 18-yards, should certainly go down as our best half-chance. Better needed.

9.2.2014 | Eredivisie

Heracles - 0

AFC Ajax - 1 (Duarte '36)

Thankfully, we returned to winning ways and stretched our unbeaten run in competitive competition to an impressive 8 games - largely thanks to Siem de Jong's impressive box-to-box performance. He found Lerin Duarte for his excellent 18-yard finish to, ultimately, win us the game, but also dictated proceedings: he completed 122 passes, 8 of them were key passes! He would've topped it off with a goal himself, were it not for Remko Pasveer's fine save. It was a good performance which wasn't reflected in the scoreline, but extended our lead at the top of the Eredivisie table nonetheless.

12.2.2014 | Eredivisie

AFC Ajax - 4 (De Jong '32, SigÞórsson '45, van Rhijn '76, Bojan '90+3)

PSV Eindhoven - 1 (Poulsen own goal '14)

An excellent performance to match an excellent result. Everything went to plan, bar an unfortunate Christian Poulsen own goal; the only blip in a wonderful display for him and the team as a whole. My tactical decisions worked well, we restricted PSV to very little and what we did concede to our visitors, the excellent Jasper Cillessen was on hand to save us. We played with exceptional levels of pace, intelligence, resilience and creativity which a youthful PSV simply couldn't handle and Ricardo van Rhijn's goal was a perfect exemplar of the aforementioned adjectives rolled into one - as well as a fine example of a typical Ajax goal.

Having won the ball back on the halfway line, Van Rhijn retained possession well, instigating a well-constructed move which involved every single Ajax player, bar SigÞórsson. In the final stages of the move, Lasse Schøne played a quick one-touch passe to Siem de Jong, who aptly found a marauding Ricardo van Rhijn with a similarly excellent one-touch through ball. Van Rhijn's finish was emphatic and culminated a truly fantastic goal, a goal which I will upload to YouTube and show you lot on here in due course.

15.2.2014 | Eredivisie

ADO Den Haag - 1 (Van der Hoorn own goal '80)

AFC Ajax - 0

It was frustrating to fall short in such a fixture following our thumping of PSV Eindhoven, but our self-confidence may have hindered us somewhat. We looked laboured, limp and legless at times and our performance, and result, suffered. Viktor Fischer wasted our best chance some 15 minutes in, finding the on-rushing Coutinho instead of the back of the net. As described earlier on: 'annoying'.

20.2.2014 | UEFA Europa League - First Knockout Round - first leg

CSKA Moscow - 2 (Dzagoev '12, S. Ignashevich '90+1)

AFC Ajax - 0 (Schøne missed penalty '51)

Ignashevich - I don't know which one - really sucked the life out of the evening. More so than Igor Akinfeev's excellent penalty save. Losing by a one goal deficit was manageable, but by two goals would propose a much harder task back in the Amsterdam ArenA, especially if CSKA managed to knick an infamous away goal. Moreover, the way in which we conceded the second and the timing of it really rattled me. We'll see what we can do back in Amsterdam...

23.2.2014 | Eredivisie

AFC Ajax - 3 (Hoesen '5, 26, De Jong '15)

AZ Alkmaar - 2 (Beerens '45+3, Jóhannsson '73)

Following the disappointment in Moscow, it was refreshing to see the side respond in such a blisteringly quick, mightily impressive manner - albeit for around 45 minutes! 3 goals, 30 minutes, game over; despite a spirited AZ fightback. Danny Hoesen impressed, scoring his first Ajax brace this season and putting in a promising all-round performance, one which consisted of skill, strength, technique and intelligence. His first a defly-executed near-post shot; his second a real poachers goal, mopping up a spilled corner in front of Yves de Winter.

28.2.2014 | UEFA Europa League - First Knockout Round - second leg

AFC Ajax - 0

CSKA Moscow - 3 (Dzagoev '10, Vitinho '34, Ricardo Jesus '45+1) - CSKA win 5-0 on aggregate

An utterly despondent performance, result and a nigh-embarrassing aggregate scoreline. We set out to attack CSKA and, one-by-one, they picked us off on the counter-attack, with their forward trio of Alan Dzagoev, Vitinho and Ricardo Jesus showing great cohesion and quality throughout, posing problems with their pace, skill and ability to beat a man. There's little else to say. Boo!

Eredivisie table; as of March 1^st

---

JONG AJAX

All in all, it was a positive month for the Jong side. The defeat to VVV Venlo was inevitable, but new addition Roope Riski was a shining light, scoring his second Ajax goal with great aplomb. The later two results were good ones. A draw at play-off hopefuls FC Emmen was surprising outcome, while the 3-2 win at Helmond Sport was somewhat of a smash and grab victory, but reflected the quality within the team, notable Ole Kristian Selæs, Kenneth Vermeer, Richedly Bazoer and Lucas Andersen. Good.

Jong Ajax's Jupiler League record - Position: 17^th, Played: 28, Wins: 7, Draws: 5, Losses: 16, Goal Difference: -22, Top Scorer: Danzell Gravenberch - 14 goals

---

BLIND AND DE JONG - anxious Amsterdammers

Daley Blind and Siem de Jong have both approached me and offered an ultimatum: 'win the Eredisivie, or I'm off!' It wasn't a surprise, nor is it an ultimatum which has soured our relationship. There are bigger leagues and more prestigious cups to be won - you can't win them all at Ajax. Needless to say, I reaffirmed our ambitions for the seasons. Ambitions which both feature heavily in.

Despite that, come season's end, I will reconsider the future of some of our bigger, more experienced players and may look to move on one or two in order to raise funds and further their footballing careers - in particular Siem de Jong. Having won three - hopefully four - Eredivisie titles on the trot, De Jong has been an invaluable player Ajax and a tremendous club captain. Olympique de Marseille, Southampton and West Brom were all sniffing around him in January and I'm sure there will be no shortage of suitors in the Summer...

As for Daley Blind, he's going absolutely nowhere. For now.

---

I've returned from my very own winter break. Hope you enjoyed reading about a rollercoaster month.

[yorkshire22]

Great update as always, one of the contributors who inspired me to give my career a go! A fairly inconsistent month but I've found that to be a problem with my side too... Best of luck in the next few months and good luck holding onto the players, Blind has been especially good for me so far.

[yorkshire22]

Ajax Amsterdam - Onwards and Upwards....

Results

A real inconsistent patch which saw us upset PSG in the champions league before crashing to a 3-0 defeat to ADO left me wondering what was going wrong with my tactics but after a little advice from this thread and some tinkering of my own, I seem to have got the team playing to a much higher and more consistent standard, winning 4 out of 5 in the league, including wins over AZ and table toppers at the time Vitesse. The only real negatives being the expected defeats to Madrid in the Champions League. Some might say the draw away to BATE was a disappointment but we were down to 9 men for the a large portion of that game.

Eredivisie Table

Currently sitting 5th after our recent good run, only 4 points off top which is what I have my eye on...

Champions League

Interesting stage of the competition, Madrid have, as expected, qualified with ease but PSG just haven't turned up so I have the opportunity to reach the lucrative knockout rounds if I can perform in my remaining games against BATE and PSG...

Thanks again for reading!

[Gary_Parker]

Gary_Parker - I am in no way a tactical expert as you may have noticed with some of my form in my updates but I do think your front 3 are too "Luxary" if you will, the F9 If I understand it(I'm playing with one and he plays well although he's more about assists than goals). He would drift around looking for the ball as would your AP then once they recieve it they would be looking to hit your WTM, who would seem to be your only visable threat, even he's going to be coming from wide so won't be giving the defense much to do. I would stick with the F9 but then try and have more penetration from the wings.

The best player you have for this would be Viktor Fischer, he's a demon as IF a or s.. The WTM could be hard to perfect.

Let us know how you go about changing things man. Great to see more updates and discussion gents.

I agree with you there, you can see from my passing image above that my players don't like to pass it into the box a lot, all 3 are being creators, without the player to tuck them away consistently. Bojan is top scorer from the F9 role though. I'm thinking the F9 might become either a DLF or maybe a poacher (2 wide creators for him, could be heaven for the right player. Given my 2 central mids are also creators and the link between mid and attack are both wide and coming inside (both use sit narrower etc) to pull them inside a bit, a poacher could profit completely from that set up. Hmm, loads to think about and tinker with.

As a season update, 1 game lost in the league at the start of April and the title is ours. Nouri made his debut as the AP on the left and scored twice in a 2-2 draw with Twente once the title was ours. Out of the CL at the QF stage after a 5-3 aggregate defeat by Man City. We beat Dortmund in the last 16 with a 3-1 win at home and a 3-2 defeat away.

Blind has asked to move to a bigger club, but i'm holding out for > £10m bids first. I told him i'd decide who stays and goes and he seemed happy with that in a "Ok, lets see what happens" way. With Bazoer/Sporkslade emerging, i've got some HB options to consider anyway.

[Gary_Parker]

@yorkshire22. Great to see you're getting somewhere consistently now. Hope your tactical tweaks keep working out. Good update.

@Llew. Great update again sir. Love the time and effort you put into each one.

[Gary_Parker]

Good season after all. The wide target man idea works, sort of. I'll refine it over the course of the next season I think. However, Blind, Van Rhijn, Fischer and De Jong all asked to leave over the close season, my team is going to be just youngsters...big challenge.

[Hoarau]

Season 4 Review

Massive improvement from last, massive. Now it may not be a great season for me but for me after the pre-season we had I was preparing for a real tuff ask to grab any silverware, how wrong was I.

You see I came to a point in the season where I had to act like Ajax in real life. An all to familiar issue approached, the larger clubs in Europe has begun circling, showing real legitimate interest in a number of players and due to my own lacklustre showings in the Champions League those players needed to take that next step. So what followed was a pre- season like no other I've had in any version of CM/FM.. A real changing of the guard type thing, with a whole new flock of lads making the move from the reserves/fringes right into first team action and what they've accomplished is quite exceptional in my eyes.

Several have actually "burst" onto the scene and cemented there status as the top young players, not only in Holland but in European football, really excited about the next couple of seasons to see them grow and develop, both as individuals and as a collective.

I hope you won't mind if I add this and discuss is in future updates? Feel free if its unwelcome.

As I said in my last update Holland had a terrible experience at the Euro's and ultimately binned the coach.. I naively applied thinking there's no way they would give a shot to A) A foreign manager and B) A manager with as limited experience and success as I've had.. But as you've probably guessed that's only what they went and done.

So I started this season off proudly as manager of The Netherlands national side heading straight into a World Cup qualifying campaign with a squad very much in transition as Dutch servants like Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, John Hetinga, Rafael van der Vaart & Wesley Sneijder are on all their last legs. So it's actually a really exciting time with a squad and style I can shape myself.

The group that had already been drawn and it was pretty straight forward with only the Czech Rep providing a test, we find ourselves at the end of the season sitting top with only one defeat to our name and that was away to the aforementioned tricky Czech side. Some players have really stepped up and impressed, claiming a permanent spot in our squad.

League Review

League Table

Transfers in/out

Outgoings

I know right!? This is where my entire season and future changed, the club now has a financial footing like it couldn't have dreamed of unless it became the next PSG, Man City or Monaco. The profit on these sales I think is the biggest pleasure for me, it pained me to see some of these lads go as they really where just coming into their own.

Viktor Fischer is of course the main talking point, the interest in him was insane, I think at last count it was 9 top level European sides where chasing him. Of course I could have fought them off but like with another of the lads to leave Viktor's departure was down to more than just cashing in on a hot prospect, he came to me and said he needed to play at the top level and couple that with his contract expiring at the end of the coming season and his agent unwilling to discuss terms I really felt it was time for us to part, no ill will as the fee if £39m from Manchester City, while not what i in earlier season stated I'd only sell him for with his contract issues and search for a new challenge it was just right for everyone. Funnily enough the fans where actually happy with this sale, surprised me a bit.

The same scenario befell a player who was really becoming out heartbeat, I'd even go so far as to call him "My Xavi", a true work horse who also coming into his peak had an agent who wouldn't discuss a new deal and with it expiring the same time as Fischer i had to do what was best for the club. Stefan Johansen signed for us for £850k and turned in some great showings, one of my best ever signings but when Schalke stepped up and put an offer of £23m on the table I really had no choice.

Next to leave was a complete surprise as I didn't think there was much interest as he'd only spent this season playing in Europe, Jhon Andres Cordoba joined us on a free from Mexican side Jaguars and German side Wolfsburg seen enough in his impressive first season where he scored 14 goals in 27 games to part with £7.5for him. Again I was only just getting to know the lad and had more of him to develop but his performances alerted a host of clubs so again financial sensibility won out.

I'm still kinda frustrated with this next sale, all down yo me i mist say as i delt with the situation ver poorly. I recieved a couple of mediocre bids for Mike van der Hoorn none of which I had any intention of accepting, that was until Porto put a bid in and I rejected it.. The fall out from this resulted in me negotiating a £13.75m fee from FC Porto to sign a player I had hoped would stick around for a long time, gutted to have seen him leave.

Mike van Buren to us from Scandinavia for a very resonalble £650k and showed a lot of promise, putting in a couple of decent performances while grabbing a goal here and there. His game time was limited due to the form of others so when Wigan surprisingly offered £6.5m I thought it best to let the lad go, I did include a buy back clause just incase as he did show a lot of promise so it'll be interesting to see if he can progress with regular game time.

The next two sales I debated over endlessly, so much that I didn't play this save for a day or so while I worked out what was best for all parties. In the end i figured a win-win for both was to include a buy-back clause and let the players go to different leagues and develop their careers. I actually had really high hopes(and still do) for Stefano Denswil but an abundance of talent at CB meant he really wasn't getting the time on the field that he deserved so when Celtic offered £7m I felt inclined.

Story is awfully similar with Mitchell Diijks a £9m bid from Atalanta unsettled him and I had another option at LB so with a buy back clause I thought it made sense, again disappointed to lose another young Dutch player but our club has a strong national base so that's not as much of an issue.

A couple of other players left but no one of massive note, players mainly who fell around the fringes and needed games.

Incomings

I'm actually really impressed with our modest spending as i had intended to promote from within first and foremost and only buy if someone who i'd shortlisted became avalible for a unbeatable price, which happened more than i anticipated. I consider a handful of them real bargain and players who will flourish hopefully, the likes of Alen Halilovic, Dennis Praet & Gil Romero all came in for fees i really couldnt pass up. Was really happy to take another of Feyenoord's better players on a free in Tonny Trindade de Vihena, a young Dutchman with all the tools to become the new Sneijder/Van der Vaart. The other real surpise was Italian under '21 left back Cristiano Biraghi who was released from Inter and offered to us by his agent, a good scout report and some promising performances while on trial convinced me to offered him a long term deal which he really paid back instantly. His value has now rocketed up to £4m and funnily enough sides like AC Milan, Juventus & Napoli are looking at him now.

Player Performance & Analysis

Overall Squad Stats(2 Screenshots)

Dejan Meleg

Viktor who!? What a change in this lad, his stats have rocketed and in turn his performances continue to improve and impress. With him on one side and Kishna on the other we are really threatening from the flanks. His value has sky-rocketed which has increased the interest in him but I've secured a longer deal so it will take nigh on Fischer money again to make me part with him, defiently the new "Golden Boy" of the Ajax faithful.

Ricardo Kishna

Much like his buddy on the other side Ricardo has really kicked on with regular playing time. He maybe isn't as "red hot" as Meleg just yet but the promise is strong with this one and I feel with some more careful training & tutoring he could be a real star. Very excited about him.

Richedly Bazoer

An honourable mention to Jairo Reidwield who could have easily been in this spot it just so happened that his loan move went through before Bazoer's so Richedly ended up getting the chance in the first team and did he take it! A very mobile young man who's really strong on the ball which is a staple of the Ajax mantra I guess. Really progressed with the amount of games he played, something that will most definetly continue next season.

Stefan de Vrij

A big disappointment was when van der Hoorn left for Porto but very quickly De Vrij showed my he was considered such a coup when he joined us from Feyenoord on a free. A real rock and a player I can see captaining Ajax in the future. Relentless.

Siem de Jong

Big captain marvel! Love this lad.. An injury hampered him slightly but he still maintained his spot as one of the first names on the teamsheet. Hoping for a healthy Injury-free season as I had a lump in my throat as he missed the biggest game of our season and probably of his career so far. I did give him a return to the national fold and he's taken to it like a veteran scoring twice and assisting on his debut.

Aydin Atak

The new "Great Hope"! A graduate of the Ajax academy and a player I'm actually very proud to see such development in. I've been playing him as the front man of my side as a False 9 & as you can see he's taken to the role very promisingly. I've just signed him up to a long term deal and hope he can become a new hero to the fans.. I have a feeling he may already be but you'll see all about that later!

European Overview

UEFA Champions Legue

Another poor showing in the Champions League only saved face with scraping into the Europa League. We have really under performed I'm this competition in the season I've been I'm charge and it's something I really need to address to take the club back to that next level with the elite.

The only bonus of course is the regular prize money from competing in it every season, all too valuable.

UEFA Europa League

Atak! What can I say. The biggest delight from this aside for winning of course was how many of the young Ajax players have came through the ranks and arrived together at this point. Atak, Meleg, Kishna, Bazoer, Dekker and the rest all showed enough to claim the right to step out for this final and they didn't disappoint, a marvellously professional performance really confirmed the growth they are showing.

A rough run to the final espically the Quater final and semi final against two of the best from London.. Both dumped out on away goals! Oops! Sorry.. Ha!

Season 5 Plans & Activity

Honestly I don't know, I had all these plans for this season and those got spun upside down during pre season so I'm almost scared to make predictions of what will happen. Whatever occurs ill be reviewing both Jong Ajax & the Under '19's to see who is next to step up.

[yorkshire22]

Great write up there, good result in the Europa league and I'm sure an improved showing in the Champions League is not far away! Looks like you're having a lot of success with the young players too which is interesting for me as I'm about to finish my first season in charge, Atak looks like he's gonna be quality too, hope I get someone as promising in my youth intake!

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Great update as always, one of the contributors who inspired me to give my career a go! A fairly inconsistent month but I've found that to be a problem with my side too... Best of luck in the next few months and good luck holding onto the players, Blind has been especially good for me so far.

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoy them! Big fan of Blind both in real-life and on Football Manager.

@Llew. Great update again sir. Love the time and effort you put into each one.

As ever Gary, I'm glad you enjoy them!

Hoarau - A fantastic write-up to match a similarly good season. Congratulations on your Eredivisie and UEFA Europa League triumphs! Some excellent transfer business done, too - particularly the signing of Tonny Vilhena on a free transfer. Also, Dejan Meleg looks an excellent player with statistics too match. I'm looking forward to seeing him continue his development on my Ajax save, as well as yours. Keep us updated.

Hopefully, I'll have another monthly update on here soon as the season's end draws ever nearer.

[DBurns]

Due to not being able to get into any save at all on FM14, I decided to holiday the first season with all the major European leagues loaded and see if any big clubs had underperformed in season 1. When I checked the Dutch league I couldn't believe it when I seen Ajax had finished 4th. So with that and after seeing how active this thread has been become in the previous days and weeks I decided to take over at Ajax.

The season has only just finished - 17th May to be exact - but my planning for 2014/15 has started already.

Like so many of you, I want to bring success back to Ajax the right way - by developing youngsters and not buying top class internationals, instead bringing players in at a young age or by buying undervalued players.

My plan is to buy players, mainly under 23 from 'second tier' European nations. But I'd like to know from someone with more knowledge of the Ajax history, what nations would you say are linked with Ajax? I'm assuming Scandinavia as a whole but Denmark in particular, are there any other countries? Ideally, long term I'd like to end up with predominantly European squad with a few South Americans but all home grown through the famous Ajax youth system.

Any help or feedback will be greatly appreciated. Hopefully will get screenshots up later of the first season performances under the AI.

[Hoarau]

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoy them! Big fan of Blind both in real-life and on Football Manager.

As ever Gary, I'm glad you enjoy them!

Hoarau - A fantastic write-up to match a similarly good season. Congratulations on your Eredivisie and UEFA Europa League triumphs! Some excellent transfer business done, too - particularly the signing of Tonny Vilhena on a free transfer. Also, Dejan Meleg looks an excellent player with statistics too match. I'm looking forward to seeing him continue his development on my Ajax save, as well as yours. Keep us updated.

Hopefully, I'll have another monthly update on here soon as the season's end draws ever nearer.

Thanks for taking the time to read it gents.

yorkshire - The Champions League is my Achilles heel, I really haven't had a favourable draw yet and it's not helped by going into it head on with such a young & inexperienced squad. I'm hoping after this seaosn's progression that my not be as much of an issue as season gone by.

Llew_Arshavin - I can't really get over the change in Meleg, I criminally overlooked him when Fischer was still at the club but I'm glad I was forced to correct that misjudgment sooner rather than regret wasting his potential later. Would try and incorporate him, amoung many others, as soon as you can.

Looking forward to cracking on with Season 5 & reading how you gents get on.

DBurns - Africa. That's a a big part of Ajax and thier networks scouting, they sign a lot of players at a really young age, of course FM doesn't allow that exactly so uoull have to adapte. I have got a lot of joy from this part of the world aswell as African talent playing in another region strongly connect with Ajax, Scandinavia. The biggest country to scour is of course Belguim.

[Jogo Bonito]

Great updates as always guys, a fantastic thread and each time I read I get tempted to maybe try a 'philosophy' save with them. Maybe at some point...

Llew, the time and effort that goes in to your posts here is admirable.

Hoarau, good to see your Europa success, it can't be long before you have a decent CL campaign. I'm pleased to see you go back to ASPIRE for Diagne, but see that you gave him a free transfer on the very day that he joined?!? Is that because it was a mistake, or beacuse Drame didn't do enough to convince you? Vilhena is a fantastic capture, especially because he is Dutch and free! Halilovic and Praet have strong reputations, hopefully they can replicate that under your control. I think you've kept it very realistic with the sales, it's what happens to clubs like Ajax, Porto etc - evolution. And, forgive me, but wasn't the real reason for letting Johansen go that he just joined Celtic IRL haha. What interests me alot, when I see your squad, is just how big it is. It must give you selection headaches, particularly as you want to give opportunities to the young starlets? Looking at the stats, I see you rotate quite a bit - does that work out for you?

To everyone else contributing, it's great to see this so active and a pleasant read for some of us that aren't even managing the club. KUTGW.

[Hoarau]

Jogo - Thanks again man, glad you took the time to read and kinda enjoy..

The squad looks huge but I took some advice from guys around here and in particular Cleon in that with Ajax you have the unique opportunity to field players in the Jong Ajax(reserves) but do it in the Dutch 2nd tier(The Jupiler League). This for me represented a great opportunity to give players first team football, ala a loan move, but it's within the confines of the club where I can monitor and have full control. This gives me the ability to let them play and develop while not affecting first team results with risky selections.

A lot of the players you see in my squad spent a lot of time with Jong Ajax while also getting brief first team run outs, it's all part of my development plan/process that in trying to implement. I strongly reccommed reading Cleon's Ajax thread in the tactic & training forum.

Jogo... I'm gutted about Digane.. I agreed the deal, waiting 2 seasons for him to join due to some red tape. He then signs and next day I get a news item saying his contract ran down and he was gone! Of course I immediately tried to sign him again but of purse he wouldn't discuss terms.. Harsh lesson learned.

As for Johansen that was purely a business decision and not base on his poor real life decisions .

I've found a striker from Africa ill need to get your insight on, can't remember his name and I'm not at home so ill post it up later, he's 25 but looks like a handful.

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks, I understand about the use in Jong Ajax and the fact you are developing these guys without 'losing' them from the club - it makes total sense. I was just thinking that after their loans, you must have to rotate the main team alot, to give them the chances they desire? Anyway, it's working, and they keep coming through and results are good.

Shame about Diagne, I think I had that situation a few years ago with somebody I bought at a very young age. I can't remember who it was and why it happened, but I know he went before I was able to play him because of an expiring contract. I thought Ajax had no issues with non-EU players, so that's a bit disappointing for you. Has Drame managed to progress at all, either within Ajax or on loan?

I'm happy for any insight I can provide on your 'new find' from Africa, if you feel I can help in any way. And I totally believe you on Johansen

[yorkshire22]

I'm gonna post an update once my current season has ended but I just have to share this youth intake I've just got, I didn't realise just how good the setup was here!

[Hoarau]

Thanks, I understand about the use in Jong Ajax and the fact you are developing these guys without 'losing' them from the club - it makes total sense. I was just thinking that after their loans, you must have to rotate the main team alot, to give them the chances they desire? Anyway, it's working, and they keep coming through and results are good.

Shame about Diagne, I think I had that situation a few years ago with somebody I bought at a very young age. I can't remember who it was and why it happened, but I know he went before I was able to play him because of an expiring contract. I thought Ajax had no issues with non-EU players, so that's a bit disappointing for you. Has Drame managed to progress at all, either within Ajax or on loan?

I'm happy for any insight I can provide on your 'new find' from Africa, if you feel I can help in any way. And I totally believe you on Johansen

I don't think im expaling myself well, i dont actually send "send" my players on loan, i mean if they are in need of a run of games i just put them back down to Jong Ajax for say 110 games then bring them back if need be. It's a good way to get the young lads firts team football, at a good level and because their still at my club they're usuing my facilities.. also they can still get tutored while down there, bonus!

The players seem happy with this set up, its helped guys like Kishna and Meleg really take that next step.

Yeah the Digane thing is still a big bother of mine, the strikers names is Yannick N'Djeng, you familiar with him?

[Jogo Bonito]

My bad sir, it's me not understanding it - now it really does make perfect sense even to me!!

Yannick N'Djeng? Yes I am, and tried like mad to sign him for Basel in FM13, from Sion. In FM terms he was rated well last time out and gave good returns. I'm not sure how he performs in this version, but he shouldn't cost too much. Whether you can turn him in to a star at Ajax level? It's not guaranteed but he probably could be developed so might be worth a punt.

In real life, he was highly rated at ES Tunis (Esperance) and on a few occasions I saw him he justified the hype. He was one of the better players in their team and earned a big move (for Africa) to Sion in Switzerland. His returns there weren't very impressive, and after only a handful of goals, he moved back to his former club for this season. They paid a slightly bigger fee to take him back, and I hear he has settled in to the groove again nicely (although haven't seen him in action on TV since he went back). Whether he will do enough to earn a second chance in a bigger league remains to be seen.

For FM, I reckon he could do a job, and personally, I'd like to see you try. If you go for it, I will follow how it goes.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

MONTHLY UPDATE - March

The season's coming to an end. Just four Eredivisie game remain after this month, meaning the race for the title is on the home straight. March features frustrating results, a new youth intake for the Ajax Under-19s and a KNVB Beker semi-final. Here's how it went...

2.3.2014 | Eredivisie

NAC Breda - 1 (Schalk '74)

AFC Ajax - 1 (Ligeon '29, Moisander second yellow '90+2)

This type of result is one which has occurred far too regularly this season. Again, our advanced players were far too timid in front of goal and, surprisingly, Siem de Jong was guilty of that. He missed a gilt-edged chance some 20 minutes before time to double our lead, a lead which was provided by marauding right-back, Ruben Ligeon. Another impressive Alex Schalk performance pinned us back and deservedly grabbed two points from us, although his goal was very much avoidable. Niklas Moisander compounded our frustration, picking up a second booking through sheer petulance.

8.3.2014 | Eredivisie

AFC Ajax - 1 (De Jong '39)

Feyenoord - 1 (Pellè '33)

Another game which we should've won. Incidentally, it was eerily similar to the reverse fixture at the De Kuip: it ended 1-1, Ajax dominated and Graziano Pellè opened the scoring for Ronald Koeman's side, before Siem de Jong replied with a goal of his own. Weird. Feyenoord's goal was typically sloppy, while our's was a result of patient passing and good movement. Shamefully, despite our increased dominance as the game went on, we failed to find the elusive winning goal - despite Davy Klaassen's 93^rd efforts.

14.3.2014 | Eredivisie

NEC Nijmegen - 0

AFC Ajax - 0

This was a much tougher game than expected. NEC stifled our passing game well, meaning we couldn't advance up the pitch in our typical fashion. We deviated to a more counter-attacking-based style of play and it almost and should've paid off. Kolbeinn SigÞórsson missed a very good chance 10 minutes in, but the chances which followed should've won us the game. Danny Hoesen missed two excellent chances, while Thulani Serero - playing from a wider right position - was also uncharacteristically wasteful with the goal at his mercy.

22.3.2014 | Eredivisie

AFC Ajax - 4 (Klaassen '3, Sana '37, Serero '39, Van der Hoorn '71)

SC Heerenveen - 1 (Wildschut '31)

This was only the third game in which we've scored over two goals since the turn of the year. A damning fact; one in keeping with our inconsistent level of performance. I decided to kick-off with an attacking mentality and within 3 minutes, my decision was vindicated. Davy Klaassen finished well following a mazey Tobias Sana run, but SCH pulled back level after Ruben Ligeon and Siem de Jong managed to make out that Yanic Wildschut was Lionel Messi.

The reaction was evidently good: two goals in two minutes, both well-sculpted goals, firmly planted us back into the driving seat. Mike van der Hoorn scored his second Ajax league goal with a thumping near-post header to make sure of the three points and strengthen our grip of the Eredivisie lead following a worrying slump.

26.3.2014 | KNVB Beker - Semi-Final

AFC Ajax - 2 (Hoesen '45+2, Schøne '52)

Heracles - 1 (Uth '77, Koenders sent off '27)

We're in the KNVB Beker Final following an excellent semi-final performance, even if the socreline doesn't suggest it. We created thirteen goalscoring chances, while restricting the visitors to just three, and we relatively comfortable throughout - even after Mark Uth clawed one back. Danny Hoesen scored an important goal, for himself and in the context of the match, having turned neatly inside the box. 1-0. Lasse Schøne then doubled our lead, having been found excellently by Thulani Serero. 2-0. Mark Uth's goal wasn't ideal, but didn't disrupt us too much.

Melvin Vissers made his Ajax first-team debut and was mightily impressive. He completed 44 passes, set-up one goalscoring chance and also came within a width of a post from scoring a fairytale debut goal in front of the Ajax faithful. Promising.

30.3.2014 | Eredivisie

RKC Waalwijk - 0

AFC Ajax - 1 (Bojan '27)

Much like our meeting with NEC Nijmegen, RKC were a tough team to overcome. Thankfully we did so, as Bojan Krkić's - who started through the middle - good run was found well by Siem de Jong. The Barcelona loanee finished on the second attempt, having seen his first tamely parried back into his path. Defensively, we were excellent. Stefano Denswil has impressed since replacing the out-of-form Joël Veltman and has reasserted himself as one of the club's biggest prospects.

Eredivisie table, as of April 1^st

---

JONG AJAX

Following a surprisingly good February, March wasn't quite so successful for our Jong side. They managed to stage a dramatic comeback versus fellow Eredivisie reserve side, Jong PSV, with former PSV youngster Richedly Bazoer initiating a memorable fightback. Sparta Rotterdam and FC Eindhoven, both teams vying for a Jupiler League play-off place, proved a class above for an inexperienced Jong Ajax side.

Jong Ajax's Jupiler League record - Position: 17^th, Played: 35, Wins: 9, Draws: 7, Losses: 19, Goal Difference: -26, Top Goalscorer: Danzell Gravenberch - 14 goals

---

KNVB BEKER FINAL - new ground for new kids

We're in the KNVB Beker Final! The Dutch equivalent to to England's FA Cup, Spain's Copa del Rey or Germany's DFB Pokal. We've beaten amateur side DOTO, three Jupiler League clubs and fellow Eredivisie club Heracles Almelo on the way to the final, scoring 12 goals and rewarding talented youngsters a first-team chance in the process. We will face affiliate club FC Volendam, who top the Jupiler League, in the final.

As mentioned in the title, a final of a major domestic competition is relatively new ground to a large portion of our squad. It will certainly be interesting to see how they cope with intense pressure and at what level they undertake their respective roles against a FC Volendam side which will certainly be determined to cause an upset.

---

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT - de Jongeren

As I've often maintained, youth development is something which I, and AFC Ajax, champion. In this edition, I will showcase two youngsters who have recently been recruited, as well as update you on the development of Icelandic 17-year-old forward, Óttar Magnús Karlsson.

HENRY SWINKELS AGE: 15-years-old | POSITION: Forward | COUNTRY: Netherlands | POTENTIAL: ★★★★★

Henry Swinkels looks a fantastic talent. He has the potential to become a world-beater, a leading star in the game. While he might have the potential, he still has to realise it. With considerable deficiencies in his game's technical aspect, as well as room for improvement both mentally and physically, he has plenty of work to do in order to become the player he promises to be. His technique, first touch and decision-making is far from the level an Ajax player should be at. I look forward to overseeing his development.

GÖKHAN MIZRAK AGE: 16-years-old | POSITION: Left-Back | COUNTRY: Netherlands | POTENTIAL: ★★★★

Another member of the latest youth intake, young Gökhan Mizrak isn't the most talented of them, but he's certainly the most developed. Combining good technical ability - notably defensive attributes - with mental attributes beyond his years, Mizrak is a fine prospect for the future. Despite his already impressive attributes, he has plenty of improving to do - especially to his physical aspect of his game, where he lacks a little bit of quickness and an ability to yo-yo up and down the left flank from his left-back position.

ÓTTAR MAGNÚS KARLSSON AGE: 17-years-old | POSITION: Striker | COUNTRY: Iceland | POTENTIAL: ★★★★½

Having scored 20 goals in 26 youth team appearances, the future is bright for the Icelandic Under-21 international. It's not only his name which is impressive, his well-rounded attributes are too. He's already adept at finding the back of the net and, with time and age, will only get better. It is only now that I realised the 17-year-old is an imposing 6'3" tall, making him an even bigger threat for defences. He's developed well over the past season, but has plenty more to go.

---

I hope you all enjoyed my latest write-up...

[Hoarau]

Great update Llew, is it me or does Mizrak have the making of a top CB? Despite his 5"9 frame some of those attributes at the moment scream possible nippy CB ala Cordoba.

I also get frustrated with the countless times ive drawn games where i should and could have won, i'm slowly but surely getting cut throat in chagining things mid game to sort such scenarios.

Cant wait to read your next update bud.

[yorkshire22]

Shaping up to be an exciting end to the season, the next round of fixtures sees Heerenveen face PSV as I play Utrecht, and the season concludes with a home game vs Heerenveen, could go right to the wire!

[cemal_09]

tactical suggestion for the 4rd season.1st 2 season finished 2nd. then 3rd season 4-5-1 didn't go well and 6th finished.need tactic with wingers amr aml.thanks.i don't want sack. and very insecure my situation.

[yorkshire22]

Ajax Amsterdam Season Review 2013/14

Well after my previous post showing the run in, I have to be happy with how it went, we went into the final game of the season against Heerenveen level on points and with tensions running high... however I needn't have worried as we turned in the best performance of the season, routing the visitors 5-0 and securing the 4th title on the spin for the club. Funnily enough this was the first time all season that we topped the table but it's the only time that matters in the end.

All in all I'm happy with how the season went, especially after a difficult start to the season. At times the results were inconsistent but that is something that can be worked on and I'm happy with the way that the team managed to grind out results in the second half of the season.

In terms of our performance in the cup I was disappointed to go out of the cup at the semi final stage to Vitesse, although it gives us something to aim for next season. And the champions league campaign went well, finishing 2nd in a tough group before almost causing an upset in the knockout stage, falling 2-1 to Italian giants Juventus.

Squad Review

Goalkeepers

Kenneth Vermeer was my number 1 choice for the season and did a decent, if unspectacular job. Cillessen played a handful of games and was fairly poor, also seemed susceptible to injuries and has asked to leave the club which I will be trying to do come the summer. Van Der Hart had a full season for Jong Ajax and has spent time beinig tutored by Vermeer, who he will be understudy to next season.

Defence

We finished with the second tightest defence in the league which I have to be happy with, my first choice back four consisted of Daley Blind, Niklas Moisander, Kara (who was signed for £3.2m from Genk in the January window) and Ricardo Van Rhijn. I am more than happy with the performance of these 3, and with fine supporting performances from Stefano Deswil and Antony Reveilliere I am more than happy with this area of the squad, although Nicolai Boliesen never hit the heights for me this season, and will likely be moved on in the summer.

Midfield

For the most part I am happy with this area of the squad, Lerin Duarte, Christian Poulsen, Lucas Anderson and new signings Antony Knockaert (£4m from Leicester) and Kim Kallstrom (£1.5m from Spartak) all having fine seasons. The one disappointment was Viktor Fischer, after reading the rave reviews he never seemed to hit it off this season, I don't know if I was just not playing him correctly but I was not particularly impressed...

Forwards

Really only one name to mention in this section, Ezequiel Rescaldini who signed on a season long loan from Velez in Argentina led the line superbly this season, bagging 19 goals from 27 starts, and even better news is that he has agreed a permanent move to us on a free transfer in the summer. Bojan played well but his time was cut short due to a 4 month layoff. Not really much else to report in this area, definitely room for improvement.

Youth Intake

A really promising batch of players joined the academy this season, here are the pick of the bunch

Really like the look of Pennings and De Waard in particular and will be looking forward to seeing how they develop over the next few seasons.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

[Hoarau]

yorkshire - Nice update, talk about leaving it till the death!? What a stressful end of season that must have been, nice way to stick it to your rivals though by winning it after not topping the table all season!

Pennings looks immense, he looks better than Atak on my save, nice one. Interested to see your summer dealings as you've went a different route recruitment wise.

Good luck for the new season.

[Gary_Parker]

Sigh....

Lost my save 2 games into the 2nd season. So i've started with Ajax again. This time i've started with a less conventional formation...

Transfers this season are

Gaston Gil Romero for £3.8m is a steal for my midfield enforcer. I didn't think Enoh or Sporkslade were up to that task from day one, so Romero can come in and play with the view of a nice profit after a season or two. The additional left wingback has been filled by Ivan Obradovic (free transfer) who has been brilliant so far. Zivkovic and Cerri have been brought in with the future in mind as well as regen James Isa from Nigerian club Taribo West...yep...Taribo West..

The Champions League proved to be a bridge too far in the group stages, a 0-0 draw in Tel-Aviv really was the turning point, a win there would have pushed us into contention to qualify I think.

As for the league, in January now, played 19, won 14 and drawn 5. Some great performances and some scraped wins. I'm focussing on rotation and adding players to play for the 2nd team as much as possible.

[Gary_Parker]

End of Season 1.

Champions.

Unbeaten in the league but only 66 goals scored. While we're solid, we're not exactly destructive.

Season 2 transfers

and the youth intake.

So season 2 begins, with some new additions and some youth coming through. Bazoer, Nouri and Meleg will all feature heavily this year.

[Chef Raekwon]

Great updates all around, guys! Thanks for keeping this thread active! Real life has gotten the better of me, so I have halted my save game. I will probably start a new game once the winterupdate is released.

It's fun to see so many different approaches in FM, with people emulating Ajax in real life, while others opting for entirely different formations and philosophies.

[Gary_Parker]

Great updates all around, guys! Thanks for keeping this thread active! Real life has gotten the better of me, so I have halted my save game. I will probably start a new game once the winterupdate is released.

It's fun to see so many different approaches in FM, with people emulating Ajax in real life, while others opting for entirely different formations and philosophies.

Have to agree. I'm trying to mix both the real Ajax (heavy youth development, build/promote from within) whilst stabilising the short term with some signings to aid the first team now. I'm aiming for purchased players to be moved on within 3 seasons and be replaced by home grown talent who are fully ready for playing in all competitions.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

MONTHLY UPDATE - April, May and a Season Review!

The season's finally over! Here's how April and May went - including a domestic cup final and a tense culmination to the Eredivisie title race...

5.4.2014 | Eredivisie

AFC Ajax - 2 (Serero '28, Fischer '81)

Roda JC - 0 (Monteyne sent off '55)

We came into this game leading the Eredivise knowing that if we won all of our remaining games, we would clinch our fourth Eredivisie title on the bounce. Thulani Serero's excellent finish, having received Siem de Jong's pass well, put us on the right track. Helped by Martijn Monteyne's straight red card early into the second-half, we dominated the game, made plenty of chances and eventually doubled our lead - with Viktor Fischer finishing off a well-worked move.

Sadly, both Ricardo van Rhijn and Nicolai Boilesen - both tremendous full-backs and both integral parts in our Ajax side - picked up ankle injuries, ruling them both out of our KNVB Beker Final clash with FC VolenDAMN!

11.4.2014 | Eredivisie

FC Groningen - 0

AFC Ajax - 0

A frustrating goalless draw. We should've won with relative ease, but once again our inability to take chances - and create them - hindered us. PEC Zwolle's hopes of a title upset were boosted...

20.4.2014 | Eredivisie

AFC Ajax - 5 (Abdel Aty own goal '16, Sana '24, '72, Moisander '55, SigÞórsson '57)

SC Cambuur - 2 (Bakker '41, Brands '64)

After the newly-promoted side upstaged us at the Cambuur Stadion earlier in the season, the squad were determined to inflict revenge - fueled by the possibility of winning another Eredivisie title. We certainly made up for our early season slump in an emphatically entertaining manner. Abdel Aty - an Egyptian 'keeper on loan from PSV - unfortunately spilled the ball into his own net, with that mistake providing ample impetus for us to kick-on even further. Tobias Sana, who's performed excellently when called upon, scored twice; his first a good back-post finish while his second was a typical poacher's goal. Kolbeinn Siggy scored his first goal in many an outing, exploiting the young 'keeper's indecision well. A good win and a step closer to another Eredivisie title...

27.4.2014 | KNVB Beker - Final

FC Volendam - 1 (Wattamaelo '88)

AFC Ajax - 5 (Duarte '3, Fischer '8, SigÞórsson '45, Sana '63, '89)

KNVB BEKER CHAMPIONS! An excellent victory to match a fine cup run. We were excellent throughout, posing Volendam plenty of problems throughout and earning an impressive victory which was thoroughly deserved. Duarte finished emphatically, Fischer capitalised on a misplaced goalkick, before Kolbeinn Siggy took us into half-time an impressive 3-0 up. Ole Kristian Selnæs, a January arrival, started the game and impressed, but again, Tobias Sana scored a brace which further affirmed his place in Ajax's future plans. Kevin Wattamaelo scored a deserved consolation goal for the Jupiler League winners.

4.5.2014 | Eredvisie

FC Twente - 1 (Gutiérrez '78)

AFC Ajax - 1 (Veltman '60)

We came into this fixture knowing that anything but a loss would seal a fourth Eredivisie title... and we didn't lose! It was a fairly turgid affair, up until Joël Veltman's powerful header found the back of the net. An impressive Felipe Gutiérrez pulled FC Twente back level, having anticipated Joël Veltman's poor clearing header well. His goal also made for a fairly nervy final ten minutes-or-so, but we hung on with relative ease to clinch an Eredivisie quadruple, making Ajax history in the process.

---

EREDIVISIE WINNERS - four in a row!

We've created Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax history: we've won the Eredvisie four times in a row, the first time the club has done so in it's comprehensive history. An enthralling title race came to an end on the final day as we managed to avoid defeat against FC Twente, fending off a brilliant PEC Zwolle who eventually dropped of the title-winning pace. All-in-all, it was quite an absurd Eredivisie season: PEC Zwolle were runners-up, qualifying for next season's UEFA Champions League qualification rounds, ADO Den Haag finished fourth, both FC Twente and arch-rivals Feyenoord missed out on Europe altogether, while FC Groningen were relegated having enjoyed a 13-year spell in the Eredivisie. It was unpredictable, unprecedented domestic season which offered many surprise results, excellent examples of football - particularly from my Ajax side - and excitement.

We may have drew too many games, but we didn't lose many - four losses all season, incidentally the lowest figure in this season's Eredivisie. Keeping 16 clean sheets, we built this season's league success upon a solid, dependable defensive base, as every title-winning team does. Moreover, what we built upon that base was effectively efficient. We scored 60 goals in an aesthetically pleasing manager, but that figure should have been much more impressive.

A thoroughly enjoyable Eredivisie season. We won it, PEC Zwolle chased it, I enjoyed it.

Eredivisie table, final standings - Ajax top, Groningen bottom!

---

KNVB BEKER - kampionen!

As you saw presumably noticed from the above, we won this season's KNVB Beker, beating FC Volendam 5-1 in the final. Our latest cup triumph is the club's 19^th, eclipsing Feyenoord's 11 KNVB Beker wins and PSV's 8.

We didn't face a fellow Eredivisie side until the semi-final, having faced an amateur club and three Jupiler League sides in the cup's earlier stages. We beat DOTO in the second round, before facing FC Emmen, Fortuna Sittard and MVV Maastricht respectively in the subsequent rounds. A 2-1 win over Heracles secured a place in the final; while the final was fairly routine, as we eased to victory in style.

---

CONTINENTAL COMPETITIONS - disappointment

As the title suggests, our involvement in both Europe's premier continental competitions were disappointing, especially the way in which we tumbled out of the UEFA Europa League. As expected coming from the third pot in the UEFA Champions League draw, we were drawn into a particularly tough group. Arsenal, Atlético Madrid and RSC Anderlecht were our opponents which awaited us and despite memorable wins against all three - with a 3-1 win over Arsenal at the Amsterdam ArenA particularly outstanding - we still failed to qualify from a tough group. Neither of the teams which escaped from the group, Arsenal and Atlético Madrid, progressed very far. Real Madrid eventually won the competition, beating Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 in the final, in Lisbon's Estádio de Luz.

Having finished third in our UEFA Champions League group, we were thrown straight into the advanced stages of UEFA's second continental competition, the Europa League. Drawn against Russian league leaders CSKA Moscow in the competition's first knockout round, it was a difficult proposition, but one which I was fairly confident about my Ajax side handling. My confidence was seemingly misplaced, as we slumped to an embarrassing 5-0 aggregate defeat - losing by two goals in Moscow and by three goals back in the ArenA.

This certainly wasn't the classy, enthusiastic, energetic Ajax performances which had become synonymous with the club when playing on the continent. This is certainly a facet to the club's modern-day competition performances which I will look to improve on in the coming seasons.

---

AJAX PLAYER ANALYSIS - excellent performances, as a team and as individuals

OLDER HEADS - Siem de Jong was the standout player, as is obvious from the above graphic, during the 2013/2014 season. Not only was he the clubs joint-top scorer, but he also made the most goals, was a mainstay in the first-team and led the club in terms of shot accuracy, key passes made and distance run on the field - a whopping 311 miles in total! Saying that, De Jong wasn't the only consistently outstanding performer; Ricardo van Rhijn, Lasse Schøne and Daley Blind were all consistently excellent. Schøne was a constant creative and goalscoring threat, Blind was excellent at both left-back and in midfield, while Ricardo van Rhijn was an excellent exemplar of an Ajax wing-back. Of course, there was more. Notable mention: Tobias Sana, who was excellent when called upon.

My Ajax Player of the Season: SIEM DE JONG

NEWER FACES - As ever, there were many newcomers - some products of the ever-fruitful Ajax academy, while some finally nailed down a spot in the first-team. Joël Veltman performer admirably as a centre-half in his first season as an Ajax first-teamer, while Jasper Cillessen - replacing the unhappy, Torino-bound Kenneth Vermeer - was consistently good in goal, keeping 16 clean sheets in 43 appearances in all competitions. Another academy graduate, Mickey van der Hart, was excellent in his KNVB Beker run too. Nicolai Boilesen put his injury woes behind him, averaging 4.5 tackles and making 137 interceptions in 26 appearances and really reasserted himself as an excellent prospect and made the left-back spot his own.

My Ajax Young Player of the Season: NICOLAI BOILESEN

---

JONG AJAX - Jupiler League season review

Firstly, April wasn't a good month for the Jong Ajax side. Another succession of defeats, intersected by a 2-2 draw at affiliate club, Almere City. Promisingly, Vincent Vermij continued his fine run of form in front of goal and one of the few promising aspects to a dismal culmination to Jong Ajax's Jupiler League season.

On the whole, I wasn't expecting much from our Jong Ajax side. Seeing as this was their first season in a professional league, it was always going to be hard, while the uncertainty over who is and isn't available certainly took it's toll on the team. The players weren't afforded enough time to gel together, something which I am looking to improve on next season. Saying that, the team did fairly well. 9 wins and 8 draws is a fairly decent return for a squad who's oldest player was 21-years-old, excluding Jari Litmanen and later, Kenneth Vermeer. Evidently, conceding goals was our primary issue. We scored more than many of the teams in the upper half of the table, but we only managed to keep 4 clean sheets throughout the whole campaign - a far cry from the defensive stability in the first-team.

Jong Ajax - Player Statistics - Most Appearances: Danzell Gravenberch - 26 (8 sub), Top Goalscorer: Danzell Gravenberch - 14 goals, Most Assists Dejan Meleg - 12 assists, Most Passes: Stefan Marinković - 1,387 passes, Highest Average Rating: Dejan Meleg - 7.07 Average Rating

Jupiler League table, final standings

---

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT - under-19s season review

It was a fairly productive season for our Under-19s side. They may not have won the Group 1 championship, but they gave it their best shot and came very close to doing so. Moreover, the primary objective of such competitions is to aid the development of young talent - not to win trophies. Óttar Magnús Karlsson was excellent all season and will certainly be in with a chance of first-team opportunities during the forthcoming (pre-)season, while full-backs Jaïro Riedewald and Kenny Tete were equally as influential in our youth team's success on the pitch. This lot are a talented bunch.

Ajax Under-19s - Player Statistics - Most Appearances: Jaïro Riedewald - 35 (2 sub), Top Goalscorer: Óttar Magnús Karlsson - 20 goals, Most Assists: Gino Dekker - 9, Most Passes: Jaïro Riedewald - 1,944, Highest Average Rating: Óttar Magnús Karlsson - 7. 54 Average Rating

Under-19s Gorup 1 table, final standings

---

PLANS FOR THE SUMMER...

Following the culmination of the domestic season, I have had my eye on the Summer transfer window which is charging towards us. Prior to that, six of our players - Cillessen, Van Rhijn, Blind, De Jong, Boilesen and Fischer - will be gallivanting off to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup with their respective nations. I will certainly have my eye on that, but in terms of incomings, I've already agreed three deals for three players: Stefan de Vrij will arrive under the Bosman ruling from bitter rivals Feyenoord, while talented youngsters Linus Wahlqvist and Leandro Kuijpers (regen) arrive from IFK Norrköping and Sparta Rotterdam respectively.

I expect plenty of outgoings this Summer. Eyong Enoh's already departed to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli for €1.4 million, while we've agreed a deal worth €3 million with Torino for wantaway goalkeeper, Kenneth Vermeer. I've decided to let Bojan return to Barcelona following an relatively inconsistent spell on loan in Amsterdam. I will also be willing to listen to offers for first-team stalwarts Siem de Jong and Niklas Moisander.

One player who certainly won't be leaving this Summer is Daley Blind. I will give him the club captaincy for the 2014/2015 season and he is an integral cog in the Ajax machine that I'm in the process of assembling. He's signed a new contract until the Summer of 2018, while also boosting his wages to €30,000-a-week.

AND THE 2014/2015 SEASON?

I want to be competitive in every competition we enter. Once again, the domestic competitions will be my 'priority' - and I use that term loosely - although I want to progress from the UEFA Champions League group stage this year, having tragically missed out on doing so in the last campaign. There's plenty more to come from me and this Ajax side!

---

HUP, AJAX! HUP!

[Hoarau]

Fantastic read Llew and a great season.

I suffered those same frailties in the Champions League so I know your frustration. A great peice of business brining De Vrij in, I made the same move and he hasn't let me down. He's now my no#1 CB, plus he'll be a good tutor for Reidweld & Bazoer who are excelling in my save.

I must ask as the most startling thing I got from your update is your willingness to sell De Jong and also strip him of the captaincy(although I like the decision to promote Blind as he's currently my vice Cpt behind De Jong funnily enough). Any particular reason? Performance related or just not fitting into your set up how you'd like?

Great work though and I can wait to read more, hope you stick around with Ajax for a while.

[Hoarau]

Delighted with this result..

[tommonufc]

Awsome thread here Chef Raekwon!

Had a quick glance through the other week and noticed the familiar layout, and had another more in depth read through now - top stuff! Highly tempted to start an Ajax save, the idea of the youth development and challenging in Europe is certainly appealing.

[danp86]

Gonna start an Ajax save up tonight, been looking for my first big club of fm14 to manage as I need a break from llm for a bit. Enjoy youth development so seems perfect, gonna put my own stamp on the team and build from the back and play defensive football just to be different!

[3rik]

Anyone willing to send their tactics they have mastered now?

[yorkshire22]

Season 2 - 2014/15

Transfer News

Early dealings in the transfer window saw some of my more fringe first teamers leave the club including Sigborsson, Serero, Cillessen and the injury prone Boilesen for a combined total of £11m which will be reinvested in the squad. In terms of incoming players, I picked up a few young regens to join the academy as well as last seasons top scorer Ezequiel Rescaldani and experienced potential tutor Park Ji Sung, all on free transfers. The main signing of the window was Jonathan Viera, picked up from Valencia for what I feel is a bargain price of £3.8m, and on just £5k per week I hope this could well turn out to be a good bit of business for the club.

Early Season Form

Have to say that I'm delighted with the way we have started the season, we cruised to victory in the super cup and haven't really looked back since, unbeaten in the league so far and we have only dropped 4 points in total. Antony Knockaert has started the season in fine form in the AMR position, as has Viktor Fischer on the opposite flank hopefully I will see him at his best after the disappointing first season performances.

The Champions League draw has again been tough, pitting us against the team who dumped us out last season Juventus, German side Borrusia Dortmund and Scottish champions Celtic, hopefully we can play well and maybe spring a few surprises along the way!

[tommonufc]

The best of my first seasons youth intake;

[Hoarau]

Cremers looks very promising, when do you tend to expose your youth players to first team action?

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Fantastic read Llew and a great season.

I suffered those same frailties in the Champions League so I know your frustration. A great peice of business brining De Vrij in, I made the same move and he hasn't let me down. He's now my no#1 CB, plus he'll be a good tutor for Reidweld & Bazoer who are excelling in my save.

I must ask as the most startling thing I got from your update is your willingness to sell De Jong and also strip him of the captaincy(although I like the decision to promote Blind as he's currently my vice Cpt behind De Jong funnily enough). Any particular reason? Performance related or just not fitting into your set up how you'd like?

Great work though and I can wait to read more, hope you stick around with Ajax for a while.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, as it took a while. I am pleased with my signings of Stefan de Vrij and not just because I signed him from Feyenoord! Hopefully, he'll become similarly important to my team as he is to yours. With Niklas Moisander not getting any younger and likely to leave sooner rather than later, I felt compelled to bring in another centre-half.

As for the Siem de Jong situation, I simply had to sell him - and I have, for €9.5 million to Marseille. He was my best player last season, but being in the final year of his contract and an agreement over a new one some way off, I had to sell him. I've sold two others important first-team players because of the same situation, but I'll divulge further in my pre-season update...

[Chef Raekwon]

Awsome thread here Chef Raekwon!

Had a quick glance through the other week and noticed the familiar layout, and had another more in depth read through now - top stuff! Highly tempted to start an Ajax save, the idea of the youth development and challenging in Europe is certainly appealing.

Coming from the grandmaster himself, I value your comment a whole lot! Thank you!

As for the regular updaters: keep 'em coming! I'm still enjoying the work everybody is putting into this thread, it's very satisfying, to say the least! I have to say some of you are really progressing well, capturing exciting players, developing your youngsters well and doing smart pieces of business. Frank de Boer couldn't have done it better!

[yorkshire22]

Just entering the January transfer window in my second season and the majority of my first team squad have major interest from top European clubs, gonna be an interesting month...

[tommonufc]

Season 2013/14

League went as expected. No real challenge from any side; odd few slip ups on the way, so will be looking to zone in on an undefeated campaign as soon as possible.

Champions League was disappointing, finishing 3rd in my group. Reached the Semi-finals in the Europa League, but eventually knocked out against Tottenham. Second leg was never going to go to plan after Matija Nastastic was sent off within first ten minutes of the game.

Signings saw an army of tutors arrive, as well as a trio of loan signings from Man City. Garcia and Guidetti never really hit it off, whilst Nastasic was a rock at the back all season. Real signings saw me reinforce midfield with two youthful options - Lucas Romero and William Carvalho. Ola John was signed by Marc Overmars in the January window, as was Rebic in on loan. John was a decent success, and a good signing for the money; but he's since been flipped for a decent profit. Also acquired Richario Zivkovic on a compensation deal from FC Groningen.

I needed to raise money after goofing up my budgets ahead of my seasonal expectations budget - moving all funds into salary in a move to lure Keisuke Honda on a free transfer; so when my budgets did come in I was left with an immovable salary budget for some reason. I didn't really know who to sell, but made a judgement on two older figures in the team that I could use to free up funds for a couple of potential stars.

Season 2014/15

Main move so far this summer has seen me use my initial budget to purchase Neal Maupay from Nice on a deal structured at £10M. Had targeted PSV due Adam Maher, and Tonny Trindade de Vilhena; but was quoted £80M for Maher, and de Vilhena moving on loan to Montpellier instead.

Ola John has been sold after playing 8 games for the club, scoring 3 goals and making 1 assist for a profit of around £1.4M - moving to Stade Rennais for £2.2M.

Only played one game so far this season - the Super Cup. A relative stroll in the park, beating AZ 3-0.

One question I do have to everyone is though how on earth does everyone manage to juggle to wealth of youth talent that they accumulate. I have a projection of selling off any non-Ajax graduates when I can - for example I'll look to move on Romero should I see a clear and adequate Dutch/Ajax replacement. This possible could fund a move for Maher in the future; but I don't really wish to sell off say van Rhijn, although I've rejected £8/9M bids, even though I'd clear pathways for Tetty and Ligeon.

[Hoarau]

tommonufc - Nice update, great wee read. Solid first season in the Legue and your first season Europa League run is a good early sign. Some different signings from I've seen most, if you can hold off for de Vilhena he should choose to leave Feyenoord on a Bosman, as will de Vrij, some time around season 2 or 3.

As for you query, it's one of my biggest challenges and I think that's part of the fun with Ajax as you have the opportunity to develop and play so many youngsters at the one time. I don't know if you've read of any my updates in this thread but I would consider myself pretty proud of how many of the Ajax youth I've managed to incorporate and in turn cement as first team players, all the while I know I have missed the opportunity with several, if not many, of the young players still sitting in Jong Ajax.

Another theme on this topic from my updates is now in my 6th season I rarely buy in and often just review the invaluable Jong Ajax at the end of a season, that's a saving grace for me, the fact the players in Jong Ajax play regular, competitive football helps keep them ticking along If, as I have, you miss the boat bleeding them in.

It's a plethora of riches too hard to maintain at times.

[Hoarau]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, as it took a while. I am pleased with my signings of Stefan de Vrij and not just because I signed him from Feyenoord! Hopefully, he'll become similarly important to my team as he is to yours. With Niklas Moisander not getting any younger and likely to leave sooner rather than later, I felt compelled to bring in another centre-half.

As for the Siem de Jong situation, I simply had to sell him - and I have, for €9.5 million to Marseille. He was my best player last season, but being in the final year of his contract and an agreement over a new one some way off, I had to sell him. I've sold two others important first-team players because of the same situation, but I'll divulge further in my pre-season update...

De Vrij is solid, not sure if he'll do the same for you but he took a season to really bed in and settle but he's been immense since then and has really helped the progression of Reidweld & Bozaer.

I can completely understand that reasoning Llew, as you may have seen in my recent updates I have suffered the same situations which resulted in several first teamers moving on, although the fee is slightly on the low side for me, still best for business to move him on and not risk him leaving for nowt.

De Jong is my stalwart, I think he'll probably stick around untill he hangs them up, he's just too consistent and a great captain. I love the difference in just a handful of people's saves.

Keep em coming gents, I'm hoping to get something up in the next day or so if I can finish my season.

[Anxiietyyy]

One question I do have to everyone is though how on earth does everyone manage to juggle to wealth of youth talent that they accumulate. I have a projection of selling off any non-Ajax graduates when I can - for example I'll look to move on Romero should I see a clear and adequate Dutch/Ajax replacement. This possible could fund a move for Maher in the future; but I don't really wish to sell off say van Rhijn, although I've rejected £8/9M bids, even though I'd clear pathways for Tetty and Ligeon.

Romero's value absolutely sky rockets. In the summer of 2017 (as Arsenal) I've been fending off £40M bids from Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund.

I'm planning on starting an Ajax save at some point today, really looking forward to it!

[3rik]

How are you doing with all offers you recieving on your key-players? Are you trying to keep them or going for the big money?

[Chef Raekwon]

^In my opinion, it depends on whether or not you have a youngster waiting in the wings. If I have a young player whom I know is not yet up to par, but will be within the span of a single season, I sell and use the youngster. One exception would be if the first team player in the spotlight is an excellent tutor: in that case, I would maintain the player, even as a backup should his time come.

[danp86]

just a quick question, how do you post screen shots, wanting to do an update of my first season, cheers!

[tommonufc]

Season 2014/15

Made a good enough start to the league. Feyenoord seem early contenders this season, which should be entertaining if I have a challenger throughout the campaign.

Been given a decent group in the Champions League I think, will be very disappointed should I not progress this year; although opening round defeat to OM in Ajax Arena 2-0 certainly isn't to plan.

End of the transfer window saw me bring in Lucas Ocampos. Initially agreed a £7.5M transfer for him, but couldn't juggle finances and bring in the last few £100k to be able to finalise the deal. Went back again, this time asking the board to do the donkey work, and they managed to get the deal over the line for me this time.

I also had a quick scout of South Africa in the summer, and Nkosinathi Vilakazi turned up. He won't join until summer 2016, but has a very good personality, so should be able to continue his development until he joins Ajax.

[Hoarau]

I'm very reactionary when it comes to transfers, it's really a case by case basis as I would never look to sell my in form players but if I was to recieve a bid of outright silliness or if, as I and Llew have experienced, a player won't sign a contract on his expiring deal then sure I'd sell anyone.

Anxiietyyy - Be great to see your posts added to the good group of lads in here, To add to Romero in terms of value rocketing, Gaston Gil Romero(sp) is another, I picked him up for £2.2m and he's with £10.75m with some serious interest. The same can be said for domestic based players though, a lot of the young guys I've brought have massive values now.. Hoesen, Reidweld, Kishna, Bazoer, Meleg and a host more are sitting around the £8m-£10m mark.

Chef - That's De Jong for me, he's a consultant performer every season but his value as a tutor & a captain is immense, same with Blind. Both are worth £10m+ an have interest on and off but thier respective value to the blood line of the club is too great for me at this stage.

I do enjoy seeing so many different approaches to the transfers and player development side of things, I really need to post my players in Cleon's Ajax thread to get his input.