FM17 Youth Academy Challenge

[darren1983]

Dulwich Hamlet - EFL2 - Season 2026/27

 

League - what a strange season. Just look at that position graph. We started with a win giving me confidence that we could carry on last season's form. We didn't win for another 12 games, because why do things easy? We weren't playing badly but just not scoring (the fact we kept joint most 22 clean sheets and and the best defence in the league shows we had a solid base) but with a couple of tweaks to player roles and personal we started to score and moved up the table. We got within touching distance of the playoffs but our poor early season form left us with too much to do.

League Cup - once again an away draw to a championship side, but this time we won, we then beat Premiership side Swansea with the last kick of extra time. We of course then lost to league one side Blackburn  

FA Cup - exactly the same as last season, and I mean exactly. Same team, we drew the first game at home again before losing the replay away.

EFL Cup - usual 1 win 1 loss before getting pumped by the premier league u23 side. 

Transfers - usual loaning out of players I'm hoping to give some playing time to next season.

Squad - still weak in a couple of areas

Finances - only this good thanks to end of season money. We did have a takeover this year with the fans trust taking over, feels quite apt for the fans to be running the club while doing this challenge but fear it'll mean even less money in the club.

Key Players

Ertugrul Orhan (YP7OA) great development from him, potential league one player and had scouts at games watching him this season
Nicky Wright (YP06B) looking very good, has played all 3 midfield roles we use this season but now time to nail done one I think.
Gary Humphrey - came through 6 years ago and didn't look much but has established himself as first choice.

Youth Intake - pretty solid one this year with 5 players tagged.

Terry Goodliffe (YP10A) - looks like the DM we've been needing for a while now
Ian O'Brien (YP10B) - could be a capable left sided player for us
Seth Gayle (YP10C) - CM which is needed with our best 2 both the wrong side of 30
Anthony Hughes (YP10D) - a needed keeper, while not great could turn out well
Stephen McCann (YP10E) - Inside forward, added depth to our wide midfield range
 

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Achievements

2017/18		VNS		1st		Champions
2018/19		VNL		7th		
2019/20		VNL		14th 
2020/21		VNL		15th
2021/22		VNL		4th		Promotion via playoffs
2022/23		EFL2		22nd 
2023/24		EFL2		4th		Lost Playoff Semi Final	
2024/25		EFL2		22nd 	
2025/26		EFL2		19th 		
2026/27		EFL2		9th		

 

[darren1983]

26 minutes ago, Muttley84 said:

Thanks, it will get more interesting as seasons progress. Hope you can get read of that most teams so far trophy

Might be all I win from this challenge this year so not prepared to let it go just yet  

[Braumiller]

@Muttley84 excellent update post! 

@darren1983 awesome upward movement

@Duroliponte fantastic season, congrats!

[Kazushi80]

@Muttley84 Great overview. Have seen that i linked the wrong picture, so you couldn't add my place in the relegation stage. corrected it now. Got 4th place in the relegation stage.

 

@Duroliponte Thanks. At the moment i am nearing the end of season 2,  but because of a lot of work and family i don't think i will finish it in the next days. As i hoped i reached the promotion stage, because in my first stage group i faced only bad and mediocre teams. But the promotion stage is far too big for my team, yet. We get trashed most of the games, morale is really low, now. It's really a weird system in portugal and the decision who plays in which group seems to be totally random.

Btw. At the beginning of the season i was very happy, that my 18 year old youngster Rodolfo Machado who was already at the club in the beginning, decided to stay and even to extend his contract. But he played so good that the offers from teams in the 2nd division didn't stop and one day the board decided to sell him ... for 12k. After my protests they said they are forced to do so because of our financial situation (150k debt). Two days after that, the president decided to put 200k in the club. No debt anymore, but no Machado.

[Dan BHTFC]

My next update should be soon!

[wicksyFM]

I really want to do this challenge. But it genuinely does scare the life out of me

[MackieStaggie]

23 minutes ago, wicksyFM said:

I really want to do this challenge. But it genuinely does scare the life out of me

I was much like that as well, I'm not a great manager in FM, nor do I tend to keep at a save for any length of time, but I did this challenge last year and although I didn't record anything it was my longest last save, well into 20+ seasons before I lost interest.   Give it a go, since it's only 1 nation you'll be loading a season goes through really quickly.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

@darren1983 - Nice to see you getting back towards the top of the league. Hopefully you can stay there instead of dropping down to 22nd this time.

@Muttley84 - Awesome stats, I can only imagine how long it took you to compile.

[wicksyFM]

20 minutes ago, MackieStaggie said:

I was much like that as well, I'm not a great manager in FM, nor do I tend to keep at a save for any length of time, but I did this challenge last year and although I didn't record anything it was my longest last save, well into 20+ seasons before I lost interest.   Give it a go, since it's only 1 nation you'll be loading a season goes through really quickly.

i think i will. ive been playing LLM saves but this challenge is all i think about. ive never done it before so i might give it a go. hmmm. who to be

[wicksyFM]

i would have been Dulwich Hamlet but @darren1983 is doing an excellent job with them

I will holiday now. see what shows up

[smp20]

4 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

FM 17 - Youth Academy Challenge Update

So after 15 pages (that would be 750 post to my counting - not great at math though so if I made some mistakes in adding up results, please be kind with me), the situation of the challenge looks at seen bellow:

- We received a total number of 58 subscriptions to the challenge, with several users having more than one ( @darren1983 and @Shakes both with 3 so far). Of this 58 challenges, 15 haven't gone past the first season (with no updates presented, game crashes, fired or relegated). 

- 10 people have reached the first league in their country, and three of them won the national league: @smp20 in Bulgaria in 2022 (which has also completed the challenge by winning Champions League in 2025) and @MCPlay and @Braumiller in Wales (2022 and 2025). I also think @MCPlay has the longest career so far (i stopped counting around 15 seasons i think).

- The most popular country to play is of course England (with 7 careers there), Germany has 6, Scotland 5.

-  FC Sakhalin from Russia is the only club selected by two users, but neither have progressed far with them.

- Other users who have played at least 5 seasons, showing great commitment to the challenge: @Bartrcm with RC Mechelen in Belgium, @Sanno11 with Ilkeston and darren1983 with Dulwich Hamlet in England, @The_Gato_In_Goal with SV Spakenburg in Holland (finishing 19, 19, 18, 19, 19, 16), @Velodromè with Forde in Norway, @XaV with Imortal In Portugal and @Dan BHTFC with Selkirk in Scotland (finishing 10, 9, 8, 10, 9, 9).

- And of course, @Muttley84's career with Ergotelis from Greece is the most beautiful of all

Awesome stats, cheers @Muttley84

[Shakes]

@wicksyFM - The point is in trying, you don't have to succeed. I'm on my 13th save since the I completed the challenge in FM13, in that time I've spent 2 seasons total in a top tier league (one of them relegated) and haven't made it to Europe at all. So don't feel bad if you fail, you'll probably do better than I do.  

Nice recovery @darren1983, it's amazing the difference in a striker as soon as they break that scoring dry run. Until they do it feels like they couldn't kick it into the ocean.

[MackieStaggie]

Dalbeattie Star

Season 3 - 2019/2020
 

Squad

1st Team Keepers / U20's Keepers - Not much to add to this tbh.  Moved Frank Patterson (2019) up into the first team and moved Steven Stevenson (2018) back to the U20's as Frank was marginally the better keeper.  None are close to challenging for the No.1 jersey yet but will need to find a way to get some game time for them soon.

1st Team Defenders / U20's Defenders - Again, sticking with the core group I got when I first took over the team, thankfully the oldest player is 26 so still have a few years with this core group while attempting to bleed the youth into them.  A blend of youth and experience in the coming years I hope.  My captain Fabio had a stellar year and really grew as a player....may be fending off the wolves to keep hold of him.  2 of last years intake Simon Wedge (2019) and Peter Reid (2019) had a good season for the U20's and I'm looking to try and send them on loan if possible for some game time.

1st Team Midfielders / U20's Midfielders - Again, not looking to change much at the moment, although as I'll explain in the season review latter on and number of the U20's may be getting a look into the 1st team next season.  Dean Carse had his best season for us and was vital in our 2nd half of the season putting in a number of MOTM performances.

1st Team Strikers / U20's Strikers - I know at the end of last season I said I was going to use Lewis McLean (2019) with caution.....but caution be damned, I need the talent up front.  Lewis did seem fatigued towards the end of the season but 15 goals from 39 games with 3 MOTM awards shows my faith was repaid for, he's now on a part time contract and not just a youth one.  Not much else to write home about with the rest, Gerry McCulloch will need some game time which will see him coming off the bench more often.

Season Review

League Cup - Knocked out group stage, decent away game to Dundee Utd which saw a decent return in revenue but nothing else of note

Challenge Cup - Knocked out in the 2nd round to Celtic's 20 in a penalty shootout....to a record low crown of 17.  That hurts man.

Scottish Cup - A rather timid and week performance and we are out in the 2nd round.  Very disappointing.

League - They say that football is a game of 2 halves, and for The Star the league was very much a season of 2 half's.  Staying with the basic 4-4-2 formation from the previous 2 seasons the season started badly and continued on that trend.  The 1st half of the season table is not a pretty sight and shows the trouble that we found ourselves in.  I had to do something to try an arrest this slump or it was certain relegation playoff and most likely a loss in that as well.  So I move to a 4-3-2-1 with wide attacking midfielders in an attempt to utilise Lewis McLean's youthful pace.  IT ONLY WORKED!!! Going into the last game of the season we find ourselves in 9th place and only have to match what Berwick Rangers do.  We had league leaders Cowdenbeath while Berwick Rangers played 4th place Stenhousmuir.  Was I going to experience the pain of finishing 10th after dodging that position in the last 2 seasons.....was I heck.  A 1-0 win against Cowdenbeath (who lost the title as a result) matched Berwick's 2-0 win and once again, The Star shines just enough to shine through (I'm so sorry for that pun...well not that sorry)

Incidentally, Berwick lose the playoff relegation tie to Stirling Albion.  The last 3 teams who have finished 10th have gone down....that is not a good place to finish it seems.

Youth Intake

I think it was unlikely that I would have another find like Lewis McLean (2019) but I live in hope....so intake day

Mmm, not great but not terrible either.  I take the keeper Barry Mutch (2020) and he'll be going into the youth team, I'll farm one of the current bunch out on loan to an affiliate club. Defenders Blair Quinn (2020) DC, Michael Reynolds (2020) DC, Ray Hanley (2020) DC and David Frame (2020) DR all come in, potential is greater than what we have at the moment so will see if anything develops. Angus Alexander (2020) AM RLC is brought in as his versatility in playing anywhere up front provides some depth in cover.  The rest are free to find a local pub team to play for.

Other Points of Interest

Club takeover - At the end of last season I had said our chairman was ready to step down.....well it must have been a large step as it took 7 months for a fans trust to take over.  There will be no cash injection (booo), they reset the clubs philosophies (BOOOO) and where not willing to negotiate on them till near the end of the season as I wasn't doing a good enough job at the time (MEGA BOOING) but considering the first half of the season they may have had a point.  However I got another years contract and was able to agree on a club philosophy of developing youth players for 1st team and an increase in junior coaching as well, which is nice.

Finances - I think the 7 months of takeover meant our chairman was not putting in some cash which he did last season so we took a big hit, end of season prize money helps a bit but wonder if I have to cut back on junior coaching if it becomes an issue further down the season.

100th Career game - My 100th game in charge and I got a rare win, the boys knew it was multiple laps around the caravan park if we had lost.

Season 4 Aims

If we can replicate the 2nd half of the season's form there's no reason why I should not be aiming for mid table....however anything not 10th is a win I think, cup run would be nice also.

Results to Date

Season     League    Postion   Challenge Cup   League Cup   Scottish Cup   Traning Facilites   Youth Facilites   Junior Coaching   Youth Recruitment   Avg Attendance  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18    League 2  9th       1st Round       Group Stage  3rd Round      Poor                Basic             Adequate          Basic               185 (5% Full)   
2018/19    League 2  9th       1st Round       Group Stage  4th Round      Poor                Basic             Adequate          Basic               142 (4% Full)  
2019/20    League 2  9th       1st Round       Group Stage  2nd Round      Poor                Basic             Average           Basic               151 (4% Full)  

 

[wicksyFM]

2 minutes ago, Shakes said:

@wicksyFM - The point is in trying, you don't have to succeed. I'm on my 13th save since the I completed the challenge in FM13, in that time I've spent 2 seasons total in a top tier league (one of them relegated) and haven't made it to Europe at all. So don't feel bad if you fail, you'll probably do better than I do.  

Nice recovery @darren1983, it's amazing the difference in a striker as soon as they break that scoring dry run. Until they do it feels like they couldn't kick it into the ocean.

i will be starting tomorrow. not sure who with. but i will post on here. should be fun

[darren1983]

@wicksyFM I was the same when reading this challenge, it's daunting for sure, but once you get going it's great. What has helped him with this save is people in here, it's amazing what the odd little words of encouragement mean when you've not won in 12 games  

 

[Mushtaq]

On 12/1/2016 at 09:14, Braumiller said:

Yep!

(It just cannot be a team that went down in the first season, who comes back up again)

Thanks. I have holidayed two seasons to get Ribeira Brava in Portugal to come up who I had an enjoyable but failed attempt with last year.

The first season will be tricky - starting squad of 12 with best midfielder and best centre back both leaving in pre-season. So I have my back up GK playing left wing and a grey player at DM. Looking forward to intake day...

[bdavies26]

Dumb question - there's no point in employing a DoF or any scouts in this challenge, right?

[Braumiller]

1 hour ago, bdavies26 said:

Dumb question - there's no point in employing a DoF or any scouts in this challenge, right?

There are no dumb questions here.

I hired the cheapest scout possible, just so I could get a next opponent report each week.

I did not get a DoF at all, until I was 5-6 years in.  And only then as I like to add my kids to the Development list and have the DoF try and find them loan destinations.  You can certainly do this yourself, I just had a bunch of kids and was lazy

[Braumiller]

Season 09 - 2025-26

The Season As It Happened.....

Preseason
With the later start to our European games we were able to get in two friendlies beforehand!
Our first ever Champions League tie was against FC Copenhagen, which could have been kinder....
Home first and we took the lead!  The Danish pro team then exerted their superiority on us and turned it around and were leading 1-2 late on.  Recalled Leigh Taylor 2022-A (who finished 3rd top scorer in the Welsh Premier League last year) then popped up with a header to claim a 2-2 draw!
Wow!  We went to Copenhagen expecting to get a beating, but the lads were magnificent.  Jordan Martin 2018-D gave us a valuable 1-0 lead in the 7th minute.  Straight after halftime we made it 2-0 with Scott Hurley 2021-G's first ever goal from right back (only playing due to preseason injuries) and the expected FC Copenhagen onslaught never materialized.  Gobsmacked.
3rd Qualifying Round sees another Scandinavian opponent, the Finnish outfit FC Inter.  On paper a much smaller team than FC Copenhagen..  First leg at home again.  And I have to be honest I feel as though we played below par.  We eeked out a 1-0 win, but it was not up to standard  The away leg saw a much better performance and we won 2-0!   Only downside was a late red card, but it was to Conah Howells 2018-C who is a backup player (who had just come on!) so it should not be too much of a miss.
Unbelievably we are in the Champions League Playoff draw....  And it hands us our 3rd Scandinavian team, this time Molde FK of Norway.  Away leg first and it looks like the dream run is coming to an end.  We made it to HT at 0-0 but in the 2nd half Molde exerted themselves on the game and ran out 0-3 winners
Home leg and Molde were just too good, scoring another 3 for a 6-0 aggregate win.  A fantastic run and we just banked 2.8m for it!
Holy cow, in all the excitement of the Champions League run I forgot that the losers of the Playoff round drop into the Europa League group stages....  We just received another 2.2m!  To put into perspective, our treble winning season last year saw a total income of 471k for the whole year.  Draw time, we are 4th seeds (duh!) and actually have the lowest coefficient of the 48 teams left in it.  Not the worst draw of the 12 groups, but we should finish plum last!  Anderlecht of Belgium, Sparta Prague of Czech Rep and Zorya Lugansk of Ukraine.
One other prediction aside from finishing 4th in the group, this fixture list is gonna kill these kids!

September 18th 2025
First Europa League group game and it is the toughest on paper, away at Anderlecht.  We are 0-1 down after 44 seconds and 0-2 after 10 minutes.  We find our feet after that and ride our luck a little.  A red card for us on 63 doesn't help and the final score of 0-3 was not as bad as it first looked like what it was going to be....

The games are coming at a crazy pace for my squad!
So far in the league we are top (9-1-0) but the gulf in class in Europe is obvious.  3 defeats out of 3 in the Europa Group Stages so far!

November 27th 2025
Our 5th game of the group stage saw Anderlecht visit and it was our best performance of the groups, somehow there was only one goal scored in the game which saw 8 clear cut chances (5 for us) and that goal was scored by Ross Fisher 2020-A in the 91st minute!  Not just our first group point, but our first group win!  310k in prize money for it was well!

December 11th 2025
Wow, it really feels like we found our feet in the group now that it is ending :)!  We made it two wins out of two to finish up, with a fantastic 3-2 wom away at Zorya.  We led 2-0 thanks to a pair of quick fire counter attacks, they then pinned us back for the last hour of the game, pulling it back to 2-2 before a 3rd counter attack sealed it
in the 79th minute!  Another 310k!

January 18th 2026
End of the first part of the season and both TNS and ourselves are still unbeaten.  We hold a 4 point advantage due to them drawing a couple of extra games.  The fixtures for the Championship section are out and last game of the season?  Away at TNS....

February 14th 2026
This felt like a moment.  After TNS had drawn their last 2 games and we had won ours we met at our place.  A very tight game was 0-0 at HT, but in the 2nd half we broke them open and ran out 3-0 winners!  It leaves us 11 points clear with 6 games to go.

February 28th 2026
Youth Candidates 2026!
David Phillips 2026-A - A decent looking striker who already has a little bit of familiarity with the AMC position.  Some retraining next year and maybe a loan spell and he could be first team ready
Daniel Williams-Taylor 2026-B - A tall central defender who has a shot to get games in a couple of years if he progresses.

March 21st 2026
A 3-0 win for us and another draw for TNS wraps up the title 3 games early!  TNS have still only lost 1 game (to us), but they have now drawn 9 games.  Our new aim is for a first undefeated league season.  3 games to go.....

May 5th 2026
Last game of the season, away at TNS and we are still unbeaten.  As all of our games are, this is very tight and 0-0 late on.  Then the ref awards them a penalty in the 84th minute and the unbeaten streak is in danger!  They score, we go gung-ho and they get a 2nd on the counter in the 89th minute.  Streak gone right at the death....

May 9th 2026
Welsh Cup final time, against TNS.  Time to forget what happened 4 days ago!
Well, it was not a classic!  We went down to 10 men after a horror tackle right on half time and it stayed 0-0 until the 69th minute when Mark Heyes 2020-B popped up with what turned out to be the only goal of the game!
A second domestic treble in a row!

May 10th 2026
The day has finally arrived!  We just turned professional!  After our crazy run to the Europa League Group Stages our bank balance is sitting at approx 4.5m, so they had no more excuses.  We also just had our first ever training and youth facilities upgrades approved and work just began on those, costing around 550k.  Even the news of approx 1m in taxes over the coming year cannot dampen this day

Random Notes / Thoughts
That was a heck of a season!  The European run was unexpected but has set us up for the foreseeable future now!  The bank balance looks good, we have turned pro and I can now finally get some proper full time training going (traits!).  Funny how one game can change a save.  The second leg away to Copenhagen in our first Champions League tie was our best result to date.  It gave us an easier passage to an unlikely group appearance.
Emulating that will prove hard, at least for a few years.
The fixture congestion was a little crazy, but it led to giving a lot more games to kids who ordinarily would not have played.

End of Season Screenshots
League Table
Results - League / Cups
Transfers
End of Season Awards
* Player of The Year 1st Place - Matty James 2024-B (56%)
* Player of The Year 2nd Place - Mark Heyes 2022-B (21%)
* Player of The Year 3rd Place - Ross Fisher 2022-A (14%)

Season 10 Targets
* Three-peat
 

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

3 hours ago, bdavies26 said:

Dumb question - there's no point in employing a DoF or any scouts in this challenge, right?

I got 1 scout for next opposition and if I feel like scouting any player so I can see them.

I also got a DoF purely for the reason to get 2nd nationalities in youth intakes. (Still hasn't worked in 7 years though)

[Shakes]

Wow top season @Braumiller, TNS who?

I think the only real use for scouts/DoF is expanding the nations on the intake, so I don't hire them until I can find a foreign one. I don't see a lot of use in scouting the next opposition, I'm not a reactive manager like that (maybe I should be, but I find it hard enough to get a plan A to work, let alone having a plan B).

[Sanno11]

@Duroliponte Brilliant season, congrats on promotion and reaching Europe. Should be a busy season next year. Anssi Kalermo YP5b looks like a great player, hopefully now you're in the top division he will want to stay.

@darren1983 Great recovery...... phew. I am using your success as a benchmark so when you posted the update about struggling I was thinking I have no chance. It's interesting with this challenge that you can't keep tabs on everyone's best players,   Orhan (YP07a) looks incredible, good luck holding onto him.

@MackieStaggie You have done well to bounce back so successfully from such a rotten start. Hopefully this trend continues and you can record your best finish next season. Glad to see McClean finding the net.

@Braumiller Amazing when it all comes together like that, well done. After reaching this tipping point I imagine you will be more motivated then ever. Glad the board finally approved your professional status, that annoyance was coming through in your updates!

[Dan BHTFC]

SELKIRK FC - SEASON SEVEN - 2023/24

Scottish Cup - Betfred Cup - Challenge Cup

 

League Table:

It's still tough to get off the bottom bit of the table, we always lose form at the end of the season, no idea why.

 

Squad:

The squad we have is good enough for the top half but we need some cash injection to improve the training and youth facilities.

 

Transfers:

Finances:

We are stable financially but still not enough to do the neccessary improvements at the club.

 

Youth Intake:

No one of worthy note, still waiting for that wonderkid!

 

Home Grown Watch:

Gerry Noble YP21a is still our best prospect to come through and he is improving with a few Scottish Championship clubs interested in him.

 

Season		League		Position	Achievements

2017/18		SPFL2		10th		
2018/19		SPFL2		9th		
2019/20		SPFL2		8th 
2020/21		SPFL2		10th
2021/22		SPFL2		9th		
2022/23		SPFL2		9th
2023/24		SPFL2		9th		

 

[wicksyFM]

Any club recommendations guys. will be starting in England today. Have no idea who to be. 

[GloryFan2002]

@wicksyFM Just do a club first to be promoted if you don't really know

[darren1983]

1 hour ago, Sanno11 said:

 

@darren1983 Great recovery...... phew. I am using your success as a benchmark so when you posted the update about struggling I was thinking I have no chance. It's interesting with this challenge that you can't keep tabs on everyone's best players,   Orhan (YP07a) looks incredible, good luck holding onto him.

My team are very strange, never know when we're going to go on a good or bad run or what causes either. Orhan has been an interesting one as he looked OK when came through but has really kicked on thanks to some tutoring and playing games, this season has been a rollercoaster for him, over the summer Swindon (who just got relegated to league two) made a bid of 100k for him which I turned down (my rule is to try and not sell best players to teams in the same league) which upset him. He then picked up an injury in pre-season, his first 3 games of the season ended in injury, injury and red card, he then scored 3 goals in the next 2 games before getting another knock  

@Braumiller what a season, fantastic mate. That European money is great.

 

[Pippadoc]

@Braumiller - Congratulations! Such a shame to lose the unbeaten season in the last game, but an amazing season all-round.

@darren1983 - Fantastic comeback to avoid relegation, hopefully you can crack on and have a comfortable season this time!

@Duroliponte - Great season! The overload tactic is and interesting way of attacking big sides, do you think you will continue with it next season?

 

[wicksyFM]

Are you allowed to holiday two seasons to get a previously unplayable club or even 3. I'm struggling to find interestate in teams after the first holiday. teams in the 8th tier are interesting. Guernsey, Hereford and Salisbury. is this allowed

[Braumiller]

20 minutes ago, wicksyFM said:

Are you allowed to holiday two seasons to get a previously unplayable club or even 3. I'm struggling to find interestate in teams after the first holiday. teams in the 8th tier are interesting. Guernsey, Hereford and Salisbury. is this allowed

Yep, holidaying additional seasons is fine.

You just cannot take over a club who is promoted that were relegated in one of the previous holiday years (a team who were previously playable)

[GloryFan2002]

Atlantis FC Season 2 2018

 

League- Managed to come 6th this year being saved from relegation with 2 games to go. A pretty bad run in the cup only winning 1 but drawing 2 put an end to a pretty mediocre season in the Ykkonen.

 

Youth Intake- Petteri Miettinen 18A is the best player of the intake although i don't use an attacking mid anymore so he will be spending some time in the U19s. Jukka Riikonen 18B could play some first team action. at the moment but he has mediocre potential. Got 2 players with a Russian second nationality though neither are any good but it could be a good start. Hired a DoF with knowledge of better nations to try to get better youth products

 

Youth Watch (All Youth products to have played a senior game this year)

Ari Hiltunen 17A- First team player backed up his heroics to keep us up last year with a decent 2nd season coming up with a few goals in his new position in the center

midfield

Vili Lagerblom 17C- Backup to Hiltunen, had an alright season but if he can improve I can't see him not starting with Hiltunen in 1 or 2 years

Kimmu Sumusalu 17F- Really not good enough for first team was backup right back, as our starting right back left leaving my second choice DM to play Right Back

Mattie Talvitie 17B- Played 1 game let 3 in, had a nice job as benchwarmer for the rest of the season, which he did well

 

 

Bring on next season. Promotion, maybe?

 

 

[bdavies26]

13 hours ago, Braumiller said:

There are no dumb questions here.

I hired the cheapest scout possible, just so I could get a next opponent report each week.

I did not get a DoF at all, until I was 5-6 years in.  And only then as I like to add my kids to the Development list and have the DoF try and find them loan destinations.  You can certainly do this yourself, I just had a bunch of kids and was lazy

 

11 hours ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

I got 1 scout for next opposition and if I feel like scouting any player so I can see them.

I also got a DoF purely for the reason to get 2nd nationalities in youth intakes. (Still hasn't worked in 7 years though)

Cheers thanks all.

[wicksyFM]

So. I have narrowed down my choices to St Neots, Hitchin and Burgess Hill.

Whatever team is promoted first i will be.

[wicksyFM]

Sign me up guys. I got bored of trying to get St Neots , Hitchin and Burgess Hill promoted, so i picked a team in my next try. I am now the manager of Hednesford Town.

Media prediction of 20th, this is going to be tough

[Pippadoc]

@wicksyFM - Welcome aboard and good luck! How's your squad looking until the youth intake arrives?

[MackieStaggie]

@Braumiller Nice season there, the money from being in Europe really helps a lot and should be the building block for all the future Robbie Savages.....with better hair we all hope.

@Sanno11 Many thanks, not wanting to spoil part 4 of my journey too much but spoiler alert..

Spoiler

..we still suck.

@Dan BHTFC I noticed something similar on my previous season despite the good finish, I wonder if lose is form is tied to a poor fitness level so I've got a fitness coach in an attempt to prevent the end of season drop in form.

@wicksyFM welcome on board and good luck. 

[Dan BHTFC]

8 minutes ago, MackieStaggie said:

@Braumiller Nice season there, the money from being in Europe really helps a lot and should be the building block for all the future Robbie Savages.....with better hair we all hope.

@Sanno11 Many thanks, not wanting to spoil part 4 of my journey too much but spoiler alert..

  Reveal hidden contents

..we still suck.

@Dan BHTFC I noticed something similar on my previous season despite the good finish, I wonder if lose is form is tied to a poor fitness level so I've got a fitness coach in an attempt to prevent the end of season drop in form.

@wicksyFM welcome on board and good luck. 

Yeah I bought in a coach with a high fitness training level but it doesn't seem to have helped!

[wicksyFM]

any idea why unplayable clubs lose all there historical records when promoted into a playable league. 

[AliG]

Is it possible to holiday and takeover a new team in the same world as you've managed after being fired? If so, I'm assuming you'd need to create a new manager to restart from the lowest profile attributes?

I have not been fired, I'm currently in the middle of a 9 points from 5 games promise though so just wanted to check in case it all goes badly. 

[darren1983]

Dulwich Hamlet - EFL2 - Season 2027/28

 

League - After the last 2 seasons of steady improvement (well by the end of each season anyway) I thought a good start to the season might be key, for the first time in our football league career we started the season at home and got a 1-0 win. In fact we would win our first 4 league games 1-0 as this set the platform for the season. Our defence was key (as usual) but the difference this season was the fact many players scored (3 players in double figures with pretty much every regular starter getting on the scoresheet bar the full backs) we seemed destined for 4th place (graph) as every time we got close to getting in the top 3 we blew with a loss of draw, with 4 games to go we were a pint off the top 3, 3 straight wins for us couple with Burton and Port Vale dropping points meant on the last day we were 2nd and needed a point at home to Champions Barnet to secure promotion. As is our usual way - we lost 3-1. Burton won and their greater GD saw them go above us but Port Vale could only draw meaning our 3 goal better GD saw us promoted. That was much tighter than I'd have liked!

League Cup - another good run, beat championship side, then a fantastic win away to Premiership Hull before Premiership Southampton beat us.

FA Cup - our first real run in this, beat 2 non league sides before championship leaders Sheff Wed were too good for us.

EFL Trophy - same as usual - 1 win and 2 losses.

Transfers

Squad

Finances - cup runs helped as we earned £2.4m in gate receipts compared to the £1.3m the season before.

Key Players

Ertgrul Orhan (YP07A) our best player and we're struggling to hold on. He wants to leave so if we get his buyout (400k) he's gone - I'm offering him out for £1m in the hope someone goes for it.
Ben Nightingale (YP03A) player of the season, 7 goals from a defender (couple lovely free kicks) been a constant presence in our team for past 3 seasons.

Youth Intake - a pretty solid one, still need that striker (just asking for one with championship potential - not much is it?)

Dean Kane (YP11A) - or Superman as I call him (not sure how many will get that reference) already our 3rd best CB so the loss of Orhan might not be too bad in the end.
Kevin Graham (YP11B) - CM, where we lack quality and a little depth 
Ashley Egan (YP11C) - same as above really
Paul Clarke (YP11D) - another CB to add to our roster, a little slow for my liking though

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Achievements

2017/18		VNS		1st		Champions
2018/19		VNL		7th		
2019/20		VNL		14th 
2020/21		VNL		15th
2021/22		VNL		4th		Promotion via playoffs
2022/23		EFL2		22nd 
2023/24		EFL2		4th		Lost Playoff Semi Final	
2024/25		EFL2		22nd 	
2025/26		EFL2		19th 		
2026/27		EFL2		9th		
2027/28		EFL2		3rd 		Promotion!

Next Season

Stay up - 55 points will be the target, it's going to be tough

[Pippadoc]

@darren1983 - Amazing work making it to League 1! Best of luck in staying up.

Love the Dean Kane reference, I used to love watching the show when I was young!

[Braumiller]

@darren1983 I will not be happy until you receive a Terrance Hatcher regent now!  

(Congrats on the promotion)

 

[darren1983]

1 hour ago, Pippadoc said:

@darren1983 - Amazing work making it to League 1! Best of luck in staying up.

Love the Dean Kane reference, I used to love watching the show when I was young!

 

32 minutes ago, Braumiller said:

@darren1983 I will not be happy until you receive a Terrance Hatcher regent now!  

(Congrats on the promotion)

 

I had to make the reference  

Cheers guys.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Nice job on promotion @darren1983, hopefully League 1 treats you to something better than relegation

[AliG]

@darren1983 well done! fantastic job!

I'm coming towards the end of my first season in charge of SV Grodig and I've just seen the craziest, most frustrating match in my FM career. Playing away to Austria Lustenau and we blitz them, 4-0 up inside 16 minutes and then 5-0 up at half time. I made sure that nobody was complacent, they were all calm apparently. So I sent them out to finish the job. Just 11 minutes later and our lead is reduced to 1 at 5-4. We immediately make it 6-4 from the kickoff. Still over half an hour to play. They make it 6-5 and again we extend the lead to 2 at 7-5 with 10 minutes to go. Needless to say, they scored two in the final ten to finish the game 7-7. After all that, my experienced centre back decided to let me know he was feeling complacent!

See madness within!

[GloryFan2002]

@AliG Unlucky and I was amazed when I beat FC Haka 5-4 in terms of score lines this smashes mine

[Crispypaul]

Out of curiosity is is better to start in a country where the bottom division is semi-professional or professional?  As I see most of the two-league countries are fully professional but those with more than two tiers tend to have semi-pro teams also.

[GloryFan2002]

Just lost my best youth player on a free, he only signed youth contracts with me and then left on a free.

[Shankly84]

Loving reading all the stories on here. Congratulations @darren1983 on the promotion.

 

After relegation and failing in Russia I have started again in Turkey with Ankara Demirspor. Hopefully I will get at least a season done over the weekend. 

[AliG]

Sportverein Grodig - Season 1 (2017/18) - Austrian First Division

Starting Profile - Manager Profile

League - (Positions) We started with expectations of finishing in the top half. Based upon the squad I though we would be just about mid-table so I was happy to leave it there. The season started badly and we bumbled along in the bottom half but never too much in the relegation battle. Just before the winter break hit, the board lost their temper following a 4-0 drubbing at home to Austria Lustenau. They told me they were going to sack me and I convinced them to give me a chance but I had to earn it. I need to secure 9 points over the next 5 games. Two wins and two draws later, I needed to pick up a point away to LASK Linz. The lads pulled out all the stops and we ran out 4-2 winners. This period of form then continued and we didn't lose another game all season winning 13 of the remaining 17 fixtures. Combine this with Kapfenberger SV 1919 hitting a run of terrible form and we overhauled them with 4 games remaining. A final day of the season victory away to SV Horn secured the title at the very first attempt!

Austrian Cup - A cup run started with a simple win over a regional side and then a penalties victory over SV Mattersberg. This meant that top side FK Austria Wien headed to our home in what would prove to be a tough match. We acquited ourselves well and could have won the game but took them all the way to penalties. At one point, we were 3-2 up with one penalty left each but the inevitable misses from us and their clinical finising saw them win 4-3 in the end. The cup was actually won by a second tier side in the end as SV Horn beat Kapfenberger SV 1919 in the final. This cup run likely didn't help their league form so I didn't mind at all!

Transfers - Squad - Finances - Facilities

A quirk in the Austrian league whereby you are given payments for playing Austrian players proved very useful indeed. A payment of £409,000 was received every 9 games for playing 12 Austrians in each game.

Key Players

Daniel Krenn - The right winger who converted to play on the left in my 4-4-1-1 tactic proved to be a handful. He finished as top scorer for us but sulked his way throughout the season. Seemingly unable to please him, I just accepted that he is a major pessimist and as long as he keeps performing I'll deal with his moods.

Markus Berger - The experienced centre back was a rock for us. While we experimented through the season he appeared in a large number of games, not all of them though as he had a penchant for a booking. He was also our penalty taker and managed to miss a few crucial ones throughout the year.

Mersudin Jukic - Upon accepting the job, the experienced striker looked like he would lead the line for me but by the time the season started, he just wasn't clicking. So we gave the job to young Markus Wallner who started with a good few goals. We persisted with Wallner through his struggles until Jukic became unhappy and we promised him a chance. We gave him that chance and never looked back. He hit form and stayed on top of it until the end of the season finishing tied for first in assists and second in goals.

Youth Intake

Youth players - The intake has a few promising players but if we are going to survive in the top division we need these to develop quickly.

Fabian Dittman YP01A - Dittman is clearly the most talented of the bunch. With our lone striker approach, we will be training him for the deep lying forward role and hoping he can lead the line for a good few years to come.

Carsten Doll YP01B - Hopefully Doll can become my midfield rock but he will need to show significant improvement. His low determination and positioning are definite worries.

Kevin Bittner YP01C - With just two keepers on the books and one heading for retirement in the near future, developing Bittner is crucial. His personality should lend itself to spending long days on the training ground so heres hoping.

Other Developments

The board agreed to send me on a coaching course so I'm in the process of completing my National C badge. They also agreed to improve junior coaching to back the development of youth prospects philosophy. They have yet to agree to improve any facilties but I will keep working on them.

Next Season

Cling on for dear life. I'm hoping that the rapid ascent will not prove too much but I will be happy to finish 9th next season. The board however may have other ideas. I certainly hope not!

Overall Progress

Season    League     Position     Achievements
=============================================================================
17/18     AUT.1      1st          Promotion!

 

[JWVG]

@AliG Wow, not bad. But surviving in the Bundesliga will be hard without transfers.

As you managing in Austria, can you sign an Assistent Manager? There seems to be a bug.