FM16 Youth Academy Challenge

[brettney1980]

Brora Rangers

Club Background.

Season 2 - 2017/18

So our 13 good players became 10, that meant at least one YP coming straight into the squad, add in a crazy amount of injuries and one positive is we managed to get plenty of games for the youngsters. Now how did we do!? 15 less points, 31 more goals conceeded but only scored 1 less than last season. I predicted it would be tough and it was, we couldn't get a break with injuries, we didn't have good enough YP's to come in and we finished 8th. Two more of that initial 13 are not going to sign new contracts...Aaaand we drop back to Semi-Pro (thanks board).

The Cups;

Scottish Cup: 2nd rd 3-1 loss to Berwick (L2)

League Cup: 1st rd 5-3 loss to Raith ©

Challenge Cup: 1st rd 3-1 loss to Dunfermline (L1)

Squad|Transfers|League Table|Season Review|Awards

Class of 2018 - Youth Candidates;

Steven Wright YP2a - AMR - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Hamish Hendry YP2b - CB/LB - Initial Profile|Coach Report

David Millar YP2c - GK - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Kris Miller YP2d - CM/AMC - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Previous Years YP's;

Shaun Nicholson, YP1a - RB/CB - Initial Profile|Full Season 1 Profile

James Higgins, YP1b - RM - Initial Profile|Full Season 1 Profile

NEXT SEASON;

So 3 of our 13 stars who earned us 4th left last season and with another 2 this year leaving i expect another tough season, add to that us dropping back to Semi-Pro and i think keeping us in the division will be a challenge!

- Stay up!

- A cup run (we need money fast).

Last Seasons Targets;

- Blood the YP's, retrain Higgins as CM. Part done...

- Do not get dragged into a relegation battle. We did sortof stay clear of bottom spot...

- Lose less than 3 of our better players. Done!

[Wavelberry]

Slow start for me as have been busy this week but hopefully should be on for a good run for a first season now. A draw, a loss and a win in my first three league games though.

[Jambo98]

Jambo98 - Youth Challenge Attempt 2 - C.D Castellón

Manager Profile

Squad

So into spain we go. Pleasant memories of Cultural Leonesa a few years ago. Picked a reasonably big club again. Castellon have a bit of history in the higher leagues, and a reasonably good set of facilities. The starting squad also has a reasonable spread of positions.

Whats the score with "B teams" in spain in this challenge? I dont recall having one the last time i played, but Castellon do, and there are players in my B team. They technically belong to my club, but i am not sure it has been discussed whether we can use those players? Thoughts?

[XaW]

Whats the score with "B teams" in spain in this challenge? I dont recall having one the last time i played, but Castellon do, and there are players in my B team. They technically belong to my club, but i am not sure it has been discussed whether we can use those players? Thoughts?

Good luck in Spain, Jambo! Regarding B-teams I don't think it's been talked about, but I would assume it would be ok to use players from there. However, I'm unsure if the B-team will buy their own players. In that case I would assume these players cannot be used by you. Or at least that's how I see it anyway. I guess Braumiller will chip in with the answer, since he is the "boss" here now.

[Braumiller]

Good luck Nottingham Forest! (As a Leicester lad, that hurts everytime I have to type that )

My season is not yet at the halfway stage, but it is as rough as I imagined it would be. Any point is an absolute battle and feels like a win.

I hate Aberdeen already. They have knocked me out of both early season cups and won both league games as well, including the last game where I parked a bus and they scrambled a 90th minute 1-0 winner....

[Braumiller]

Man, I even played 10 or so seasons with Castellon a couple of years ago and cannot for the life of me remember how the B team side of things operate....

XaW's point is a good one, can they buy players on their own, or do you control that and send them to the B team for games?

As long as they are not buying in players from the point you took over the main team, I would also say they are part of the set-up and fair game. Presuming they are not a great standard anyway and will soon be replaced by youths.

[XaW]

XaW - Volna Pinsk - Belarusian Highest League - 2019

Table | Past positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We didn't start our campaign very good as we went the first 5 games without a win. After a troubling start we managed to grind out some wins to get away from the relegation struggle. As we approached the summer we suddenly found our form and won 7 matches in a row to propel us up the table. Suddenly we were part of the fight for the top spots. With 5 matches to go we had a real chance of getting into the top 3, these spots all give European qualification, and we saw our chance and preformed above our level. Before the last match we were 1 point behind BATE, the very club we faced in the last match. An away win would give us the coveted 3rd place, though a win at BATE is tough to come by. As the game started we had some chances, but BATE were in control for the most of the first half, but just before the break we got a break and got the goal through one of the youngsters to give us a boost going into the break. I tried to rally the lads before the second half and they responded by almost getting another just after the actions restarted. Still, BATE continued their assault and we couldn't hold on throughout as they managed to tie the game in the 76th minute. I threw everything at them after that, but we didn't have quite the quality to score the vital goal we needed and the match ended in a draw. Along with this, Dinamo Minsk won their match to push us down to 5th. Even though we were oh so close, it's still a great season by us and I have hopes we can challenge like this next season as well.

In the cup we beat Slonim and Granit to progress through to the quarter final that's played at the start of next season.

Youth:

This years youth intake was a bit more disappointing than the last years, but I still got some talents.

Fourth intake:

Alexey Volod'ko (YP4a) - A very talented left back. I needed a great talent here.

Vitaliy Shabunya (YP4b) - Promising central midfielder.

Third Intake:

Dmitriy Sokol (YP3a) - Part of the main squad and does well. Got a couple of matches for Belarus U21.

Sergey Pyshnik (YP3b) - Second choice in goal and got a couple of matches due to injuries.

Valeriy Kozeka (YP3c) - Got his debut, progressing well.

Evgeniy Balanovich (YP4d) - Also got his debut and are progressing great.

Ruslan Zaleskiy (YP3e) - Got his debut due to injuries and repayed me by scoring two goals. Stat progression are amazing and should be a contender for the first team next season.

Evgeniy Kryakushkin (YP3f) - A talent, but don't progress as well as I had hoped.

Second Intake:

Stanislav Rusak (YP2a) - Still very injury prone, but got quite some matches this season. I'm struggling to get the best from him, and he don't preform as I had hoped.

Alexandr Chaika (YP2b) - Another solid season, and are getting better and better now.

Iliya Volod'ko (YP2c) - Still complaining about playing time, but does well when he plays. Our other striker became top scorer of the league, so I'm in a pinch to give him enough minutes.

Vitaliy Karnitskiy (YP2d) - Close to first choice right back now.

Igor Panayuk (YP2e) - A decent backup on both wings.

Sergey Zhdanovich (YP2f) - Our best central defender and his stats are through the roof.

First intake:

Iliya Krotov (YP1a) - First choice left winger and did great.

Sergey Rusetskiy (YP1b) - First choice for BATE. I wish I still had him.

Alexey Vasilevich (YP1c) - Our best goalkeeper and does well.

Sergey Matyukhevich (YP1d) - Another good season leading our attacking force.

Alexey Demidovich (former YP1e) - Didn't get many chances, but haven't progressed well.

Maxim Korzun (YP1f) - A very good season, although he did struggle a bit with injuries.

Denis Melnik (former YP1g) - Suddenly started complaining about everything, then stopped showing up for training. A talent, but he is a troublemaker.

Denis Petrushevskiy (YP1h) - Plays well when he gets the chance, but I feel his stat progress is stopping.

Season	|    League	  |     Position    |    Europe	    |         Top scorer   	 |    Achievments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016	|  First League   |	  5th	    |      N/A      |  Dmitriy Malashitskiy (19) |   Close to promotion
2017	|  First League   |	  1st       |      N/A	    |  Dmitriy Malashitskiy (18) |   Promoted as champions
2018	| Highest League  |	  9th       |  EL 3rd qual  |  Dmitriy Malashitskiy (19) |   Cup winners, mid table
2019	| Highest League  |	  5th       |      N/A      |  Dmitriy Malashitskiy (24) |   Close to European spots

[Jambo98]

Man, I even played 10 or so seasons with Castellon a couple of years ago and cannot for the life of me remember how the B team side of things operate....

XaW's point is a good one, can they buy players on their own, or do you control that and send them to the B team for games?

As long as they are not buying in players from the point you took over the main team, I would also say they are part of the set-up and fair game. Presuming they are not a great standard anyway and will soon be replaced by youths.

Yeah one of the options is to ensure you control all transfer business for the "b team" - so having that selected would keep me clean from a transfers point of view. I would agree, they are no different really to english clubs reserve teams, so just treating them like that. They are available to me, but they are poor quality just as reserves normally would be.

[Forest]

Friska Viljor FC - Season 2016 Review

Fixtures l League Table l League Position Graph l Squad Stats l Transfers l Finance

Competitions

Second Division North : 10th

Swedish Cup : /

Season Review

Oh woow, I played the Football Manager for quiet 15 years, but I think I never had such a season. But let´s start at the beginning. I came here to Sweden to the small club called Friska Viljor. I took a look at the squad and already got the first surprise. Only twelve playable players (I load all players from Sweden and activate the highest unplayble league and add players to unplayble teams). And from the twelve players were two goalkeepers. So not the start I would have.

It was very frustrating to develop any kind of tactic, because we got only one central midfielder and one striker. The friendlies were okay, but was only moral boost because the teams were very bad. The start of the new season was frustrating. The bookmakers gave us a chance of 2000.00. Only 1 point from the first six games and of course the last place. I experimented a lot but nothing seems to work. Only the board was still happy with my work and they told me to give me the time I would need.

In the 7th game we played Bergnäset and took our first win, even when it was totally undeserved. I thought I could manage things around now, but we failed again. So at the season break, we managed only to get 5 points from 13 games. Far to poor, even to survive in Swedish 4th Division.

I had a chat with my Assistent Manager and I new something had to change. So I switched completely ff my 4-4-2 system and tried a new 4-3-2-1 with wingers, very similar to the Gegenpressing system of Jürgen Klopp at Dortmund. I told my boys to attack the opposing very fast and to play over the flanks. And initally it seemed to work. 5 points from 5 games. But it was still not good enough. In Sweden only the last two were relegated and the 12th play a relegation. I said to myself that only a wonder could save us now. I hold a team meeting and explained the guys that we were in real relegation danger. Then I put Lindskog in as an insinde forward at the left flank, and wow this guy worked wonders for us. We played football I never thought we were capable of. We managed to get 22 points from the last 8 games and survived this. This is stuff legends are born. I´m really happy that my tactic worked so good and hope we can manage to do well next year.

Friska players of the season

Tom Johansson - Our central defender. He played a very good season, especially in the last third. He got very good physical stats for our level and a good positiong.

Mattias Linskog - The left winger was our best man this season. He turned things around an he´s a qulality leader for the team

Marcus Jacobsson - The right winger made some really impacts and plays often with flair.

Youth Intake

A very good first Intake. A lot of players from different positions and with Leif Westman a real cracker.

Leif Westman - Clearly the best guy in the youth intake. His physical stats are a wonder in this league. Really happy to work with Leif

Jonas Yousef - A real Ballwinner with high aggression and determination. Perfect for this league and i think he can play in the first team next year.

Jesper Alander - He will perharps get the playce of Olsson, who would renew his contract. Seems talented, but needs some improvement.

Robin Brunemo - A very talented goalkeeper. Alreasy some good stats, he will definitely play some games next year.

Off the field

Bad news off the field. First at all, our training facilities has been downgraded. Now they are belov average. The second, we made terrible finances. We made a loss of around 90k. And the new chairman who went in made a credit of about 60k to pay the debt.

So a thing we really need to improve, and the only way to do it, is to gain promotion in a higher league.

A positive thing is that the new chairmen increased the junior coaching, which is now average.

[craiigman]

Since you can sell your players on, why can't you buy them back later? Example: You produce a gem who goes for huge money, but then in 5 years or so he's available for loan/transfer, technically he is from your youth academy, no?

[Forest]

no transfers, that's the rule !

[Braumiller]

Fraserburgh FC - Season 5 Review (2020/21)

League Table | League Positions Graph | Squad Stats | Transfers | End of Season Awards | Season Review | Injury Report

Competitions

Championship : 7th (Fixtures (1 2)

Scottish Cup : 3rd Round

Scottish League Cup : 2nd Round

League Challenge Cup : 1st Round

Season Review

That was officially a struggle.

We started off on the crest of a wave as many promoted clubs do, winning 2 and drawing 1 of our first 3 games. Then we hit the first of several really rough patches throughout the season, losing 4 on the trot. A couple of wins steadied the ship, before another patch of losing 5 out of 6. We fell to 9th and the relegation playoff spot. Thankfully Stenhousemuir were having a really bad season and seemed to have last spot sewn up. Then came an 11 game stretch which saved the season and avoided a relegation dogfight. We won 5, drew 4 and lost 2 (although those two losses highlighted our troubles, losing 7-1 and 5-1).

That good patch of form looked to set us up for a mid table finish, but we finished the season in terrible form, losing 7 of our last 9 games, only scoring once in those 7 losses. By the end we were watching over our shoulder to make sure the bottom 3 were not picking up too many points, and thankfully they did not.

We limped over the line, but we were safe.

As if that finish was not bad enough, we had horrible injury news in the penultimate game, Callum Tremaine suffered a cruitiate ligament injury and is out for 9-11 months! This is really going to hurt as he is our best forward. About halfway through the season we had to move away from him being the lone target man up front, as he was struggling against the better defenders and if he had a bad game we didn't stand a chance. His form suffered from the change, but on the whole I think it improved us. With him out we are left with 3 or 4 very young forwards who will need to step up, and they have almost a full season of experience ahead of them.

Let's not mention the cups.....

"Fraserburgh Five"

Dylan Honeyman - A very good season out on our right side for Dylan, 9 goals and 11 assists.

Steve Taylor (YP 01A) - Steve played well, and so he should for what I now have to pay him! Our tiny team pays first teamers around 150p/w still, but as a sign of us growing a little, Steve forced me to pay him 600p/w!

Adam Cross - Dylan's counterpart on the other wing, Adam had a steady year.

Callum Tremaine - Big Callum had a good year until his horror injury. He will be missed sorely.

Craig Bell - Glad steady Craig gets a mention, as he is always putting in decent performances without grabbing any headlines.

Youth Intake

Another great looking intake on paper. Again though, I think the ratings are somewhat inflated by our current squad, but either way they are very welcome. Bar a couple, fantastic Determination throughout the whole intake.

Ray Reid (YP 05A) - A nice looking midfielder, with good starting passing, decisions and flair. Also a good starting PPM.

Ian Boyle (YP 05B) - Excellent rated goalkeeper. His current ability is higher than either of my other keepers. A little hesitant to throw him into the first team, but it might happen soon.

William Clark (YP 05C) - Nice passing for our midfield, can also operate on the right of midfield as a backup.

Kyle Esslemont (YP 05D) - A nice pacey full back, lacking in defensive skills but has potential

Ross MacRae (YP 05E) - Slightly undersized, but well atrributed central defender. We have a mini log jam at DC currently, so will be in the youth team for a couple of years I imagine.

Stuart Hammell (YP 05F) - Instantly the best natural finisher at the club, with very nice flair to go with it. Will no doubt get first team chances in the upcoming season with Callum's injury

Ryan Blanchard (YP 05G) - Mr versatility.

Ray Caldwell (YP 05H) - Another central defender and by looks alone, not someone you would mess with!

Iain McHardy (YP 05I) - A pacey, aggressive left sided midfielder.

Miscellaneous

As expected, a tough season with some very tough patches. It was nice to see the expectations I set were taken on board, as while we were 6th in the table a lot of players had the Happiness positive of being proud of our league position. Only one Premiership team is coming down and two League One teams coming up. Hopefully we can finish above those two and survive again. There is potential in the team, I am hoping we just need another 2 or 3 years of Championship football for it to start shining through.

Facility Update

Training - Basic

Youth Training - Basic

Junior Coaching - Good

Youth Recruitment - Fairly Basic (upgraded this season)

Season 5 (2020/21) Goals

* Survive. As simple as that. If we can become a stable Championship team for 4-5 seasons, that would be an excellent platform to build upon for push to the Premiership - Achieved!

Season 6 (2021/22) Goals

* Survive again

* Weed out unused youths as the youth system is bloated after the last two intakes

[XaW]

XaW - Volna Pinsk - Belarusian Highest League - 2020

Table | Past positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Once again we had the rest of the cup at the start of the season. In the quarter final we beat Naftan 1-0 before going past Torpedo Zhodino in the semi final to reach our second ever cup final. Our opponent were Gomel who had a tough season last year. We started the match great scoring 2 goals within the first 15 minutes. Gomel hit one back just after the half hour mark, and the score held to the break. The second half was mostly a turf war with neither side managing to create many chances. In the end the match ended without any more goals to give us our second cup title and another possibility to compete in Europe.

As the season started we were in good form after some good pre season friendlies. We kept the spirit up by going the first 8 matches without a loss. Half way through the season we were fighting for the top, going between 1st and 2nd on a match to match basis. As the season went into the final third we had a little slump in form and lost a couple of matches in a row and Dinamo Minsk got a slight lead on us, while BATE came from behind. We managed to scrap together a couple of wins towards the end to finish on a very good 2nd place. This means we are qualified for Europe both this season and the next.

In the cup we beat Zhdanovichi and Slavia Mozyr to go into the quater finals next season.

After winning the cup we got our second try in the Europa League. We started in the 1st qualifying round against Ganzasar of Armenia. A fantastic away match in which we won 9-2 let us know we are a better team than most of the teams at this level. A poor 2-1 win at home put us through to the 2nd qualifying round. Here we were up against AIK of Sweden, a very tough draw. The first match ended 2-2 as we played well above our capability, and when we followed it up with a good 1-1 draw at home we were through on away goals. In the 3rd qualifying round we got another Scandinavian team in danish Brøndby. We played fantastic in the home tie to win 4-2, but in the away game we lost with the same digits to take it to penalties. We managed to keep our cool, while the Danes lost their composure to let us win it 3-0. Our opponent in the playoff was another danish team in the slightly more famous FC København. We had a great game in Denmark as we managed a 2-2 draw. When we managed to beat them 2-1 at home to qualify for the group stage I cheered loudly (and my wife are now convinced I'm crazy)!

In the group stage we got a very tough group when we drew PAOK of Greece, Borussia Mönchengladbach of Germany and Marseilles of France. Though we had some good efforts we lost all 6 matches as expected to finish in 4th place. Still, loads of cash in the bank now, and thanks to this the board have decided to build a new stadium as our current one cannot be extended. It should be finished some time into next season, but since we are in eastern Europe, who knows.

Youth:

Out youth intake this season had a couple of amazing players!

Fifth Intake:

Igor Khlebosolov (YP5a) - Attacking midfielder with amazing stats for his age. I've given him a couple of matches in Europe and he did good, even scored against PAOK.

Dmitriy Lyubchenko (YP5b) - Box to box midfielder who might be one of the best midfielders I have. Probably going straight into the main squad.

Fourth intake:

Alexey Volod'ko (YP4a) - Got some matches and does good. Amazing stat progression.

Vitaliy Shabunya (YP4b) - Poor season in the reserves. Need to step up.

Third Intake:

Dmitriy Sokol (YP3a) - Got a lot of matches and did ok, but I had hoped for more from him.

Sergey Pyshnik (YP3b) - Second choice, but pushing for first. Does good when called upon.

Valeriy Kozeka (YP3c) - Backup, and doubt he will ever be more than that.

Evgeniy Balanovich (YP3d) - Great season in the heart of defense.

Ruslan Zaleskiy (YP3e) - A good season and his stats are still getting better.

Evgeniy Kryakushkin (YP3f) - In the reserves, but might get some matches next season.

Second Intake:

Stanislav Rusak (YP2a) - I'm afraid his career is done due to injuries. Gets a couple of matches, but are out most of the season with severe injuries.

Alexandr Chaika (YP2b) - An ok season, and keeps getting better. Still needs to deliver more end product.

Iliya Volod'ko (YP2c) - Stopped complaining and are a good backup striker.

Vitaliy Karnitskiy (YP2d) - Broke into the team as first choice right back and did great.

Igor Panayuk (former YP2e) - Horrible season topped by complaining. Going to be released.

Sergey Zhdanovich (YP2f) - Another great season in defense.

First intake:

Iliya Krotov (YP1a) - A very good season on the left wing.

Sergey Rusetskiy (YP1b) - I still wish I had him. He got his debut on the Belarus national team this season.

Alexey Vasilevich (YP1c) - First choice, but need to watch out.

Sergey Matyukhevich (YP1d) - Does well sometimes, but are very inconsistent.

Maxim Korzun (YP1f) - Once again a great season on the wing.

Denis Petrushevskiy (former YP1h) - His progress have stopped.

Season	|    League	  |     Position    |    Europe	    |         Top scorer   	 |    Achievments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016	|  First League   |	  5th	    |      N/A      |  Dmitriy Malashitskiy (19) |   Close to promotion
2017	|  First League   |	  1st       |      N/A	    |  Dmitriy Malashitskiy (18) |   Promoted as champions
2018	| Highest League  |	  9th       |  EL 3rd qual  |  Dmitriy Malashitskiy (19) |   Cup winners, mid table
2019	| Highest League  |	  5th       |      N/A      |  Dmitriy Malashitskiy (24) |   Close to European spots
2019	| Highest League  |	  2nd       |   EL group    |  Dmitriy Malashitskiy (38) |   EL group stage, Cup winners

[XaW]

Looks like you had a good season there, Braumiller! Boyle looks like he could be with you for many seasons, a great talent!

[brettney1980]

Brora Rangers

Club Background.

Season 3 - 2018/19

A tough slog of a season, at times we were losing so many matches in a row i was struggling to keep myself motivated never mind my players (who needed meetings every couple of games it seemed) we somehow managed to finish 3 points clear of bottom spot though and safety for another season at the very least, Semi-Pro is going to make things very difficult though and we need to be going back Pro as soon as... We are going to lose a few more players who are capable of playing at this level, most of the season we were playing players who aren't even good enough yet for the Highland league...

The Cups;

Scottish Cup: 3rd rd Loss vs Cowdenbeath

League Cup: 1st rd Loss vs Hibs

Challenge Cup: 1st rd Loss vs St. Johnstone

Squad|Transfers|League Table|Finances|Season Review|Awards

Class of 2019 - Youth Candidates;

Mark Hendry YP3a - AMR - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Ross Hull YP3b - LB - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Liam Lochhead YP3c - AMC/CM - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Paul Lawrie YP3d - CB/LB - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Stevie Allan YP3e - GK - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Steve Sweeney YP3f - RM/LM - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Steven Miller YP3g - AML - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Ryan Ferguson YP3h - CB/LB - Initial Profile|Coach Report

Previous Years YP's;

Steven Wright YP2a - AMR - Initial Profile|Full Season 1 Profile

Hamish Hendry YP2b - CB/LB - Initial Profile|Full Season 1 Profile

David Millar YP2c - GK - Initial Profile||Full Season 1 Profile

Kris Miller YP2d - CM/AMC - Initial Profile|Full Season 1 Profile

Shaun Nicholson, YP1a - RB/CB - Initial Profile|Full Season 1 Profile|Season 2

James Higgins, YP1b - RM - Initial Profile|Full Season 1 Profile|Season 2

Landmark Alert: Youngest ever Player!

NEXT SEASON;

- Just stay up!

Last Seasons Targets;

- Stay up! --- Just managed this!

- A cup run (we need money fast). --- Out early every cup. Failed!

[Shakes]

Well this one started as a bit of a mess about save, but I think I'm enjoying it more than my Scotland save, so may as well document it.

Kilmore Recreation FC

Manager Profile | Facilities | Squad

Off to Northern Ireland for some 4-3-3-0 style, with a squad that doesn't really suit that but hey, that's the real test of a system.

Northern Ireland season reset date is the 19th of June.

[brettney1980]

Well there goes attempt number 2... Sacked again!

Table when Sacked|Squad When Sacked|Fixtures up to sacking

Biggest regret is that i will not get to see these two become stars;

Shaun Nicholson (YP1a) and Liam Lochhead (YP3c)

Well good luck guys but i'm going to head off to manage Salford City now (after watching them beat Notts County on friday they have really tempted me), i dont fancy them in this challenge so will head over to Dafuge's (until i get sacked there )... I'm sure i'll be back here at some point.

[brenosantos]

2018 - Iceland First Division - 4th

League Table | Positions | Fixtures | Upper League Cup | Icelandic Cup | Transfers | My Profile

COMPETITIONS

Iceland First Division: 4th (expected 10th)

Icelandic Cup: Second Round (expected Reach Third Round)

Iceland Upper League Cup: 8th (Not Important)

Average season. We had difficulties to build a new formation, due to players don't wanting to renew their contracts. So, you can see that we totally struggled until june. With a poor campaign at the Upper League Cup, losing even to teams who are in our division, we've started the Iceland Cup without any trace of confidence; after a tough match, our captain Porvaldur Sveinn Sveinnson hitted the bar and Fjardabyggd knocked us out of the cup in a earlier stage.

In the league, we had a pretty decent start, with sixteen points after eleven games. Our quick game, with direct passes and counters were working and our team started, again, to dream about the promotion. After that, a good sequence with seven unbeaten games in a row helped us to reach the promotion spot (with some help of Selfoss, to be honest), but we hadn't the mental strength needed and lose the final games and, consequently, the promotion.

YOUTH INTAKE

Very good intake this year, some players are already in our first team and three of them were called up to the Iceland U19 squad.

(YP2a) Daniel Johansson - Decent player, so much paced and fairly determinated, but he still at the U19 team.

(YP2b) Alex Freyr Jónsson - Another good prospect, still not ready to field in the first team, but I'm hoping that he will be good in the future.

(YP2c) Asgeir Aron Finnbogason - Good player, with low determination, it's true, but he's already decent and, because of this, is already in our first team.

(YP2d) Bjarki Magnusson - Surely he's our hidden gem. He is not that determinated player that I would like, but he's already our first choice with excellent atributes to a Limited Defender.

(YP2e) Viktor Jes Barddal - Another good player, decent centre-back and very determinated, he's also in our first team, being a good option in the bench.

(YP2f) Bjarki Skarphedinsson - I'll not say that he's a bad player, but we have better options in the first team, so he still at the U19 team.

(YP2g) Eggert K. Halfredsson - He's a decent striker, nothing special, but will surely be useful because we lost our best striker, Árnason.

CURRENT SEASON GOALS

- Try to get promotion (Failed)

- Try to win a cup (Failed)

NEXT SEASON GOALS

- Try to get promotion

- Be competitive in the Iceland Cup

- Field some young players

[Shakes]

2016/17 - Belfast Telegraph Championship Two - 1st

Table | Cups | Squad | Transfers

The side started slowly but once they started to get familiar with the tactic nothing could stop us. Injuries piled up, at one point I had one fit centre back, players on amateur contracts signed elsewhere, didn't matter. We went 15 matches without default, including 10 wins in a row across all competitive games to rapidly rise up the table.

We hit the front with 4 games to go and despite a shock loss in the second last game were well ahead on goal difference and simply matching Dundela's result in the final game would do it. We did better than that, 2-1 to 1-2 to sit clear on top of the table.

What started as an experiment in strikerless tactics ended up in automatic promotion! Haven't played strikerless since an early FM14 patch and this version feels different, in the past when strikerless has worked it's felt like it's exploiting the opposition for through balls and always ended up getting butchered in a subsequent patch, this seems sustainable. Goals from a variety of sources, winning possession consistently, defense seems solid given the players limitations. We'll see once the final release comes out I guess.

Youth Intake

The HOYD available to me was pretty bad so I wasn't sure what I'd get here but this will do. Some of my team are quite ancient so I'll need help.

[17a] Robert Howland - ST - Great finishing and not much else. Doesn't know AMC yet at all so needs retraining.

[17b] Brian Jennings - AML/AMC/AMR - I see this guy as a roaming playmaker defensive mid in my tactic, not in attack.

[17c] Gavin Fegan - AMC/MC - A second player I see being moved into one of the defensive playmaker slots.

[17d] Steven Long - DL - A long long way from being ready, but at least comes trained in where he'll play.

Next Season

Got to stay up. I don't think the jump is too great. All the leagues here look garbage.

Maybe blood [17b] Brian Jennings and [17c] Gavin Fegan. I don't think anyone else will be ready.

Hope to lose less money, we're taking in about half what we spend even with much of the squad still amateurs. I wonder if one of the 5(!) cups we're in pays anything?

[Braumiller]

Nice season @brenosantos!

Shakes, great start again!

[smp20]

I have to admit, this challenge is callig my name yet again. I am currently doing the dafuge challenge however I may start here and dovetail between the two depending on how I feel.

Im not sure who to start with, I'm yet to do this challenge with a non-british side ( Afan Lido & Dulwich Hamlet on FM15 as well as Bury Town on FM14) so that will be must. Ideally a league with some good teams in the top flight so that it is a challenge on the domestic front.

Any suggestions?

[Jimbokav1971]

Brettney1980.

Don't let Mackay take your pens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34765355?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_match_of_the_day&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=sport

[Bartrcm]

I have to admit, this challenge is callig my name yet again. I am currently doing the dafuge challenge however I may start here and dovetail between the two depending on how I feel.

Im not sure who to start with, I'm yet to do this challenge with a non-british side ( Afan Lido & Dulwich Hamlet on FM15 as well as Bury Town on FM14) so that will be must. Ideally a league with some good teams in the top flight so that it is a challenge on the domestic front.

Any suggestions?

I had a lot of fun in Ukraine last year with Obolon. They had good facilities for this challenge. Don't know if they are playable in this FM.

[smp20]

I had a lot of fun in Ukraine last year with Obolon. They had good facilities for this challenge. Don't know if they are playable in this FM.

It looks like they are now in the 2nd tier. I've loaded up a France db with a view to be Arles-Avignon who were recently relegated down two divisions due to financial difficulty. I've picked them because I recently had a very nice holiday in the Arles-Avignon region

Just to check, I'm not allowed to have any other leagues loaded am I?

[brettney1980]

Brettney1980.

Don't let Mackay take your pens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34765355?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_match_of_the_day&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=sport

Wow, that is just.... Bad...

[Forest]

Friska Viljor FC - Season 2017 Review

End of Season Awards l Season Review l Fixtures l League Table l League Position Graph l Squad Stats l Transfers l Finance

Competitions

Second Division North : 12th (won Relegation Playoff)

Swedish Cup : /

Season Review

Oh dear, what a season! If I didn´t got such strong nerves, I´d had already smashed my laptop trough the window. Season began again very bad for us, grabbing only 2 points out of the first 5 games. I tried so many things, many tactics, but nothing seems to work. Our team is one of the weaker ones in this league and after 2-3 loses, the moral drops and it gets even more difficult.

Finally I sticked with 4-2-3-1 wing play. At least we managed a three wins and out of the bottom three. But it didn´t last long. I knew it would be a relegation battle until the last game. Positive for us is, that a lot of teams seems to have problems and it is a lot more balanced than last season.

At the very beginning of the season, our central attacking midfielder Leif Westman (YP01a) got an injury an was out nearly all the season, so I had to rotate a lot. Another problem is our strikeforce. We only got two Strikers in the Team. The first choice is Daniel Johansson and is 39 years old.... The other one is Ludvig Sjöberg (YP01f) and is 17 years old. A young lad from the first intake. So it is very difficult to score goals. At least we have good wingers, so we can produce a lot of chances from the flanks.

But it was not enough in the end. We had a poorly season finish and we finished 12th placed. That´s the relegation place, so two extra games for us this season. We managed to get two wins without any problems, so at least we avoid the relegation.

Hard times in the north east of Sweden. I really hope we can improve the next season, we can find a tactic that works and can manage to gain any profit. The finances... another big problem. I asked two times for junior coaching upgrade, two times refused. Same for the youth facilities and the coaching course. But without an improvement we can´t challenge for promotion. The team is too weak at the moment. Against teams like Trollhättan or Boden we are simply without any chance. Without promotion, no more money. With an average attendance of about 170 persons/game we gain very little from gate recipes. Another thing is the poor training facilities. Ad the ****** coaches we can hire. Our players don´t develop well. So a very complicated situation at the moment at the club. We will see how it will work next year, I will stay and take the challenge! Swedish fourth league is really tough tough game...

Friska players of the season

Tom Johansson - Again our best man in the defence. Tom Johansson is a real good guy, at least in this league. Good postioning and junping!

Henrik Randeblad - Our goalkeeper did a very good season for us, but unfortunately he will not renew his contract because he dislikes me...

Jesper Alander (YP01c) - At least one positive aspect of this season. Jesper developed very good over the whole season and he´s definatly our 2 central defender over the next years.

Mänz Landin (YP02a) - Mads came in as a regen this year, but managed to play very well in his first 6 games and scored very important goal. He will have a bright future here if he can continue like this.

Youth Intake

An intresting Youth Intake. Not quiet the positions i would like, but there are a few very promising guys.

Mänz Landin (YP02a) - A nice winger and with good aceleration. He an become one of our first team mebers next year.

Andreas Malmberg (YP02b) - Has talent, but needs a bit of training. Could beome a leader in the central defence in the future.

Anders Lundberg (YP02d) - Lundberg will be our second striker next year. We have no choice, but already he has some good stats for Swedish 4th ligue.

Jesper Wikström (YP02g) - Another winger with some good stats. He´s talented and will get some games next season

Off the field

Bad finances I reported early. We really struggle. The chairman already pumped over 65k into the club in July to reduce the debts. But I can´t see any way how we can manage that. We have to build a team that can at least challenge a bit in the league. I hope we can manage things around and the chairman shows a bit of patience. I will look the build up a new staff team and to have a good pre season, so that the guys get fully fit in the season. This was also a problem because we couldn´t hire a fitness coach last season. The hope will die at last. But I really can recommand the Swedish league for this challenge. It´s a real tough one when you take over a smaller team.

[Makoto Nakamura]

After getting sacked in Greece and sacked in Romania, now re-loading in Scotland, I don't know the reputations for teams but I'm trying to get a lower rep team to get to the playoffs. I've so far had Gala Fairydean Rovers, Dalbeattie Star, Selkirk & Edinburgh University qualify.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Would it be possible to do this with a squad of grey players? Been holidaying for just over 2 hours now and the lowest teams to come up are Vale of Leithen and Broomshill Sports Club Glasgow who both have no players. The lowest teams to come up with players so far are Wick Academy and Deveronvale.

Basically, the teams from the Lowland Leagues don't really have many/any players.

[Shakes]

In Scotland it's very possible to do with a team of grey players. Even if you lose every league game you still get a playoff to stay in the league, by which time your youth intake has arrived.

[Makoto Nakamura]

In Scotland it's very possible to do with a team of grey players. Even if you lose every league game you still get a playoff to stay in the league, by which time your youth intake has arrived.

My thoughts exactly, I've been hoping for minnows Fort William or Keith to show up, but I have to say that Vale of Leithen looks quite beautiful:

[smp20]

Club Info ~ Manager Profile ~ Facilities ~ Finances

So here I am as manager of AC Arles-Avignon. We have a very small squad, excluding 14/15 year old regens we have 11 players, 2 of whom look set to leave as they don't wish to sign new contracts Lets see how this goes, it's going to be a tough start!

[Jimbokav1971]

Would it be possible to do this with a squad of grey players?

Now THAT I would read about.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Club Info - Manager Profile - Facilities - Finances - Squad

SI is so kind! On promotion Vale of Leithen were given a whole 11 players to the team! 3rd time lucky eh?!

[smp20]

Good luck Makoto.

As expected, two of our 4.5* CA players left at the end of their contract, one of whom was our only left back. One a positive note, we are professional and have a couple of decent players and also a couple of decent prospects. All in all we have 19 players and we are predicted to finish rock bottom, so there isn't too much pressure at this stage.

I can confirm that the French Reset Date is 19th June. I've never managed in France before.

[Shakes]

Good luck to you both with your minimal squads. I think the "Keep Faith" on the logo is perfect for the challenge.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Thanks smp and Shakes, we've already lost our first player of the season to Gretna 2008...we really can't afford to lose anyone!

[smp20]

I have a dilemma of playing a greyed out left back, or a player completely out of position :/

[brettney1980]

I have a dilemma of playing a greyed out left back, or a player completely out of position :/

I always went with player out of position (which included Outfield players in goal as well as GK's playing all over the pitch)... But then i did get sacked twice so maybe dont listen to me.

[smp20]

I always went with player out of position (which included Outfield players in goal as well as GK's playing all over the pitch)... But then i did get sacked twice so maybe dont listen to me.

I've decided I'm going to give any real player the nod over the grey one as it's more in the spirit of the challenge and I'd rather give the experience to a youngster than a non-existent player. These youngster are going to be getting first team football early!

[smp20]

We are hemorrhaging money, we are in the red after just 2 months and we started with nearly £300k! Only half our wage budget being used as well.

[Shakes]

2017/18 - Belfast Telegraph Championship One - 2nd

Table | Playoffs | Cups | Squad | Transfers

Well the step up certainly wasn't huge, but it was enough to wipe off our air of dominance we had after we got going last season. During the off season a bunch of players retired, and although they were mostly backups, that still left us with a very thin squad. Early on we went quite well but in the back half of the season I think that played a role, the number of times we gave up points after scoring the first goal cost us the title for sure.

Still we went into the split only 1 point from the top and could easily have taken it out. We won 3 and lost 2 of our post split games, and had more/better chances in the two losses. The 3-4 loss we took where they created no good chances but pinged off multiple fluke long shots was particularly frustrating. Not to be, we landed second two points off the top, and were left to wonder what might have happened if our keeper could have stayed fit. Those couple of games that we needed to use an outfielder, ugh. Even our youth backup is pretty terrible.

Playoffs came along with us really starting to hurt from injuries and the away leg didn't start well, 1-0 down at half time but for once it was us on the late charge, scoring twice. A first half goal at our place and we wrapped up a 3-2 aggregate win, and the right to challenge Knockbreda for a spot in the top league.

We absolutely dominated the home leg, having 20 shots on goal to 5 but somehow ended in a scoreless draw, and picked up another couple of injuries in the process. Not good. However the away leg was a different story with scoring galore. I'll just put the goals out there and let it tell the story:

After a roller coaster ride it really looked like we were going up on away goals until the very last touch of the game. I've lost in playoffs plenty of times before but I don't think I've ever been quite so cruelly done.

Youth Intake

Change of HOYD for this year and I'm very happy what he dragged in. Talent and good personalities.

[18a] David Byrne - AMC - Definitely someone to throw immediately in to the first team. Looking forward to many years of him "Burning Down the House".

[18b] Paul Newby - DC/DR - Central defense was the biggest need, and while he's not brilliant yet, given I have 3 and one is retiring, he'll get games.

[18c] Jordan Holland - DC - As above really, not as fast as I'd like, but faster than the 40 year old for sure.

[18d] Colin Kerr - ML - Not really a fit to my system, but might be able to be turned into an AMC. Needs finishing work though.

[18e] Simon Bennett - DL/DR - Probably a year or two away but coming in able to play either side increases his chances of picking up the odd game.

Youth Wrecking it at the Rec

[17b] Brian Jennings - DM/AMC - Started out being handed sub appearances but by the end of the season had won a starting XI spot. Retraining progressing very well.

[17c] Gavin Fegan - AMC/DM - Injuries meant he played more forward than I envisioned, but delivered a solid 10 goals. Still think his long term future is at DM.

Next Season

Promotion this time. Do it by winning the title, playoffs suck.

Hope for a goal keeper in the intake, having a single decent option that is injury prone is no fun.

[2481]

Loving the idea of this challenge! After initial tinkerings with Parma in Italy, I've decided to start again - this time in Croatia. I've found quite an interesting club who have a fairly big stadium (around 10,000 capacity), a perfect pitch, Good training facilities, Above Average Youth Recruitment, and solid backroom staff (although minimal, with only one GK coach on the coaching staff, no scouts and one physio). They were also managerless following their promotion to the Croatian 2nd Tier, so it seemed appropriate that I should take the helm for this challenge. Introducing NK Varaždin!

Varaždin have a little bit of history both in the domestic leagues and in Europe. They knocked Aston Villa out of the UEFA Cup in the 2001-02 season on away goals, and also took the scalp of Lokomotiv Moscow in the 1996-97 Cup Winners' Cup. Their squad of 17 players includes a veteran ex-Croatian international in Ivan Revic (who will retire at the end of the season), as well as some very promising players under 23 years old. Thankfully they already have some highly promising youth players, 3 of whom will receive regular first team football as a result of the league's 'Minimum of 3 Under-21 players in the First 11' rule. I've secured the services of Hasan Kacic as my Assistant Manager - this guy looks immense for the level I'm playing at and I'm surprised he signed! He joins goalkeeping coach Marijan Mrmic in my coaching team.

Manager Profile | Squad | Club Facilities | Club Information | Board Information | League Table

Promising Youth Players:

Denis Yaros (MC), Dalibor Vugrinec (M/AML), Danijel Melnjak (SC), Marijo Knezevic (SC)

Some top prospects here - Yaros has 15 for passing, while Melnjak has 15 for Flair, Finishing and Heading which should hopefully see him bag a few goals.

Key Players:

Ahmed Ezz Elregal (DC), Tomislav Nikolic (DC), Vanja Jalusic (AMC), Luka Ivanovic (SC).

Good talents for this level of football and I'm optimistic of our chances of avoiding relegation - even though the squad don't seem to share that optimism

[Shakes]

Well this could get nasty, my keeper doesn't think the squad is strong enough to sign on for another year. Over to the one silver star youth I guess ...

[smp20]

Anyone else seen this yet?

Edit: 5 days in, he started with a hairless face!

[Shakes]

He really needs to trim that nose hair!

[Jimbokav1971]

Anyone else seen this yet?

Edit: 5 days in, he started with a hairless face!

I haven't seen it in-game, but I've seen it reported and acknowledged as a bug.

[smp20]

Damn, you really feel the injuries in this challenge :/ roll on regen day!

[Makoto Nakamura]

I have one player out for 8 months with a broken leg, that means that if the entire squad stays fit then I have a maximum of 10 players available to me, fun fun!

[smp20]

Ok, I'm not quite in that situation. For me it means playing someone completely out of position or playing a rubbish 15 year old (the half decent ones already start).

[mattyjames_]

[TABLE=width: 500]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[TD]Tonbridge Angels

Vanarama National League South[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]League Results

S1 - 2016/17: Incomplete[/TD]

[TD]Cup Results

S1 - 2016/17: FA Cup- 1st Round Replay (2-4 vs Cambridge [L2]

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Player Awards

POTM Oct 16: Charlie Webster[/TD]

[TD]Manager Awards

MOTM October 2016[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Well, I've just stumbled across this forum, thought I'd start a challenge myself, and then decided that I would post on here to keep

myself on track! So my date is a teeny bit off, but I have only played my intra-squad friendly. I'm hoping to use this post as a reference

point throughout, to link future posts back to (if that makes sense? I hope it does).<br>I'm a teacher by trade, so I may not be regularly

active, but I will try and keep updated as much as possible! Will be great to read about all the other challenges people are completing!

Without further ado...

Manager Profile - Manager Information - Club Information - Squad 1 / 2 - Staff - Facilities - League Table

I have taken charge of the Tonbridge Angels. My first order of business (not sure if it was wise or not) was to terminate the contracts of the

Assistant Manager and the Head Physio, placing adverts for their positions as well as advertising for a Head Scout position.

The board expectations for our first season together are as follows:

Vanarama National League South: The minimum expectation is that the team avoid relegation from the Vanarama South this season.

FA Cup: The minimum expectation is that the team reach the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.

FA Trophy: The minimum expectation is that the team doesn't get outclassed in the FA Trophy.

Founded in 1947, Tonbridge Angels are a semi-professional club that play their home matches at Longmead Stadium.

Their one trophy is for winning the English 8th tier in 1993.