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Gibraltarian Youth Challenge: Gibraltar United


shaunvamos

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Hi all,

 

Following Gibraltar's recent inclusion into FIFA, meaning it can participate in the World Cup, I thought it'd be a great idea to try and turn the tiny country into a global force through bothclub and country. Upon looking at the league structure, I was surprised to see that there are quite a few professional and semi-pro clubs. In regards to the team selection, Gibraltar United caught my eye because they are only allowed to sign players that have Gibraltarian nationality. Seeing as I'm relying completely on youth, this policy works perfectly for me in the sense that it promotes the use of Gibraltarian players. So, as usual, the plan is to rely on players that come through my annual intake, and holding on to them as long as possible before they get poached by bigger and better clubs. Assuming that they will ever get to that point. I have loaded Gibraltar, England and Spain as playable leagues as well as including the other major European leagues and the leagues of the rest of the UK as view only.

 

Gibraltar_United_FC.jpg

 

Nation: Gibraltar

Year Founded: 1943

Status: Semi-Pro

Rivals: None

Finances: Okay

Estimated Value: $50K

Training Facilities: Poor

Youth Facilities: Basic

Youth Recruitment: Limited

Junior Coaching: Minimal

Achievements: 11 Premier League wins, 2 Second Division wins, 3 Rock Cup wins.

The last top division win was way back in 2001, and you have to go back to 1965 for their next one! So there is history at this club, but it's time to transfer this historical success to the present! I have started with a National A license (recommended for the role), having played as a Sunday League footballer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2016/17 Youth Intake Day

Gibraltar United FC Reserves_ Squad Players.png

 

Pretty average, I don't like the look of many of those personalities. What is interesting is that they just get promoted straight into the reserve team. What is even more interesting is that we are the only team that isn't in the reserves competition. Here is the best one of the bunch:

 

Chris Towers (YP1a)_ Overview Profile.png

He's not too bad I guess, but he will have to do.

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2016/17 Season Review

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Overall, a pretty par for the course season. We weren't expected to challenge for the title, and nor did we. However, there were some encouraging results against the pro clubs Lincoln and Europa, picking up points as a result. If it wasn't for us bottling it at the end we could have even challenged for European places. A cup run ended with  brutal thrashing from Europa, but its a positive result nonetheless.

 

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Robert Montovio_ Overview Profile.pngBrad Power_ Overview Profile.png

Good season from these two, if it wasn't for Montovio we would have been much worse off, accounting for almost half our league goals. Power was our rock (if you'll pardon the pun) in defence. We may be at a major disadvantage next season offensively as Montovio has decided to retire. At 33 and in the form of his life I thought that was ridiculous, but I didn't even have the chance to convince him otherwise. So I'm not too excited about next season.

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Mid Season Update

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After a slow start, we eventually gathered our bearings and went on a decent run including wins over pro outfit Europa and then a brilliant last minute win over domestic superpower Lincoln. However severe injuries to some key players, Green (broken leg), Montovio (sports hernia), & Bosio (achilles)  may hinder our second half, as evidenced by our recent form slump.

 

 

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2017/18 Intake

Seeing as there is no youth candidate team and the players just get assimilated into the reserves squad, I've nicknamed all of them and will only show the top 3 prospects, or more if the potential is well distributed. I feel that it's a much better intake this time around, despite no increases anywhere.

 

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A pretty decent intake I feel, the only problem I have is the keepers personality which may prevent him from developing. Add that to the fact that we have no real suitable candidates for tutoring and he may stagnate further. Also, the other two adding depth to a remarkably shallow ST and CAM pool respectively.

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2017/18 Season Review

 

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A season that was up and down, and almost resulted in my sacking, we were exposed as our attacking players went down with really bad injuries. But as soon as they came back the results took a much more favourable turn. Who would've thought that this season we would boast a 3-1 win-loss record over Lincoln? A record which culminated in a victory in the Rock Cup. We all know what that means:

 

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Key Players

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Anthony Hernandez_ Overview Profile.pngBrad Power_ Overview Profile.pngAlain Pons_ Overview Profile.png

Our top scorer was actually Montovio, but he retired so for some reason he doesn't count. But I have included Power, who was brilliant at the back again, and our assist leader Hernandez, who created 15 successful chances. Power is something of a revelation for me as I have never had a CB who has been our player of the year, let alone twice. Pons is also included as he was voted the Division's Young Player of the Year.

 

So, what of next year? Well, regardless of the European result I will have enough money to boost the junior coaching, so that is the first order of business. Second, to hopefully aim to comfortably finish in the top half, maybe even top 3. Seeing as Lincoln appear to have a stranglehold over the league, I will probably focus on the cup for money. It will only be slow progress from there. Also, it seems like Gibraltar only has two European spots, the league and cup winners. Will boosting the club coefficient change this?

 

 

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Good stuff mate that Europa money is gonna make a world of difference. This is gonna be a tough challenge, I'm doing the San Marino one and at least they've got a club in Italy to help them progress faster whereas you're confined to the Giraltar league. good luck, I'll be reading.

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1 hour ago, rycl77 said:

Good stuff mate that Europa money is gonna make a world of difference. This is gonna be a tough challenge, I'm doing the San Marino one and at least they've got a club in Italy to help them progress faster whereas you're confined to the Giraltar league. good luck, I'll be reading.

Thanks for the support! Yeah I've been following your thread as well, making some progress there as well!

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Progress.png

 

This will be included at the end of season updates from now on, I just forgot about it. The design is based off other users who have detailed their progress over the years. I should note that the spike in the national team ranking was off the back of a win against Cyprus as well as draws with Bosnia, Greece and Cyprus again. So very positive results so far.

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As soon  as I saw we were drawn with a Norwegian team I resigned myself to the fact that our run was over. I guess 12-0 isn't too bad. But we get a decent amount of money and as a result have increased our junior coaching straight away.

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2018/19 Season Review

Argus Insurance Premier Division_ Overview Stages.png

Gibraltar United FC_  Senior Fixtures.png

An excellent performance this season from the team which was not without it's trials and tribulations. A leaky defence at times was due to long term injuries to our main CBs, including fan favourite power. Fortunately we scored more goals than our opponents more often than not, and our continental qualification hinged on whether or not Europa could beat Lincoln in the cup final. Luckily for us they lost 3-0, and Gibraltar United will once more go into the Europa League 1st Round draw for the second consecutive season.

 

Key Players

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Evan Green_ Overview Profile.pngAnthony Hernandez_ Overview Profile.png

Strong performances from these guys formed our one-two punch up front, Green with his 19 league goals and Hernandez with his 16 assists. Hopefully they can continue that form as we head into next season, where I will just be happy with the money we get from the Europa League, while also attempting to close the gap to Lincoln at the top.

 

On the national front, the country keeps hitting new highs after wins against Kazakhstan (2-1) and Azerbaijan (2-0) ensured that they didn't finish last in their Nations League group, and an excellent 1-0 win over Belarus means they are sitting in 5th place in their Euro qualifying group.

 

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2019/20 Intake Day

Ended up with a decent set of players this time around, looks the junior coaching may be taking effect.

Oliver Lowe (YP4a)_ Overview Profile.png

Martin Gibson (YP4b)_ Overview Profile.png

James Stevenson-Reed (YP4c)_ Overview Profile.png

Jon Eccles (YP4d)_ Overview Profile.png

All these guys slot into positions where there is a lack of strong players, so there is a good chance they will be playing a few games as the season ends.

 

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2019/20 Season Review

Gibraltar United FC_  Senior Fixtures-3.png

As you can see from our results, it was a pretty successful season. Started off with a win in the super cup, and we were in with a shout of a league win when we began to bottle it. Luckily for us, Lincoln had a very slow start but then began to find form and surged up the table, knocking us off top spot. Going into the final game, we were on equal points with Lincoln ahead on superior goal difference. All they had to do was equal our performance in their last game. We did our part and won ours, how did they go?

 

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YES!!!!!!

We defied the odds and have won the league! So incredibly proud, I thought we had lost it several times over, dropping points we shouldn't have. But luckily Lincoln's poor start ensured our victory. Being league champions means we get a huge amount of prize money compared to second place. Lincoln won't even be in Europe next season as they lost the Rock Cup on penalties to Man 62.

Key Players

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Evan Green_ Overview Profile.pngErin Barnett_ Overview Profile.png

Another great season from Green, if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have won. Credit to Barnett as well who took out our young player award.

Next season? Try to repeat the success of this year. Also try to repeat what Lincoln did in the Champions League (second qualifying round). I then plan to use the money to increase the facilities. Currently our training facilities are under construction. 

The national team did nothing of note this season, and as a result have dropped out of the top 150.

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What an incredible result! This was a lot easier than I thought it would be as we dominated possession over both legs. Bit of a nervous last five minutes as the momentum was majorly turned against us. But we pulled through. Now we get:

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Well, it was fun while it lasted I guess.

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6 minutes ago, Jupjamie said:

Congratulations on reaching the CL for the first time, and congratulations on getting past Zalgiris! That money will be huge for taking the club forward :D 

Thanks ? Yeah hopefully I can use the money, but for some reason there hasn't been an option to increase junior coaching for nearly a year and a half ? I hope that's not a bug.

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23 minutes ago, Jupjamie said:

Congratulations on reaching the CL for the first time, and congratulations on getting past Zalgiris! That money will be huge for taking the club forward :D 

Seconded. Truly a big deal, even if the club is being stingy for now. The increased reputation will also help!

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On 02/12/2016 at 13:03, shaunvamos said:

2019/20 Intake Day

Ended up with a decent set of players this time around, looks the junior coaching may be taking effect.

Oliver Lowe (YP4a)_ Overview Profile.png

Martin Gibson (YP4b)_ Overview Profile.png

James Stevenson-Reed (YP4c)_ Overview Profile.png

Jon Eccles (YP4d)_ Overview Profile.png

All these guys slot into positions where there is a lack of strong players, so there is a good chance they will be playing a few games as the season ends.

 

What are you using as your selection process when deciding on which players to show us from each Youth Intake?

These players have 3.5, 3.0 2.5 and 2.5 PPA respectively, so I'm guessing it's not PA.

They seem to be a long way short in terms of CA too. 

Is it liked to just which position you want and their current attribute balance? 

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12 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

What are you using as your selection process when deciding on which players to show us from each Youth Intake?

These players have 3.5, 3.0 2.5 and 2.5 PPA respectively, so I'm guessing it's not PA.

They seem to be a long way short in terms of CA too. 

Is it liked to just which position you want and their current attribute balance? 

I'm doing it based on PA. The standard of youth is so weak because there is no option anymore to increase junior coaching despite it being only basic. Also our top players are excellent for this division so that could be an issue with low CA as well. 

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@shaunvamosJunior coaching is what determines a Youth Intakes CA rather than PA. It's not really what you should be looking to improve initially anyway. What you want is the PA to be increased, (which is what you are looking at and judging these players on), but you can't improve that with with Junior coaching. What you need to do is get the Youth Recruitment up, (not easy I know), but it's this that directly influences the PA level of players coming through the intakes. The problem with this being increased is that it might be greyed out/invisible at the moment because of reputation, (both structure and club), limitations, as well as financial limitations. This is what you need to concentrate on. Nothing else will matter unless you manage to get this up a notch or two, (or three or four). Also be careful about improving the Training Facilities and Youth Facilities. They can be expensive and if the PA of the players coming through the Intake is low, then no amount of training is going to make them better than their PA. My advice would be to try and save money, (you are going to need it to turn Pro), and it's this that is going to give your reputation a nice bog boost and hopefully unlock the next level of Youth Recruitment. 

Training Facilities: Poor

Youth Facilities: Basic

Youth Recruitment: Limited

Junior Coaching: Minimal

The above is taken from your opening post. 

I have seen that you have £2M+ in the bank and it looks like you have only increased Junior Coaching twice and not any Facilities. The good news is that the early levels of Facility improvement should be quite cheap, but if you do improve them then keep an eye on how much each one costs and keep in mind that the next level might be 3x the cost of the previous one, (that figure has been plucked completely out of the air so is not accurate at all but will give you something to work on). junior coaching is never shown as a cost so I have always assumed the the cost is negligible, but every penny counts when you are saving towards turning Pro. 

I used to think that £5M(ish) was the tipping point as far as turning Pro is concerned, but I turned Pro in Iceland in FM17 with closer to £3.5M, so it could be less but could also depend on which structure/Region you are managing in.

Anyway, good luck. Enjoying your thread. If I could make a request it would be that you show us the whole Youth Intake squad (the squad as a whole rather than individual players), because this will give is a better idea of PA development.  

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@Jimbokav1971 Thanks for clearing that up for me, it makes a lot of sense. I've always thought that for challenges like this it helps to increase junior coaching as the CA for the real players is quite low and the CA of the newgens can boost the team in the short term domestically. 

So are you saying that to get a boost in reputation I have to save money, turn pro or both? Obviously winning high profile matches helps too, but I didn't realise there were other ways.

By the youth candidates squad, do you mean the reserves squad? For some reason we have no youth candidates team, they get promoted straight into reserves. I could post a screenshot of the reserves squad comparing the qualities of the intake if that's the next best thing.

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The Junior Coaching is good, but obviously you can't polish a turd as the saying goes, so what's important is the PA. If the PA is rubbish then it doesn't matter how good the CA is. If you can increase the Junior Coaching and the cost is minimal, (you need to try and work out the cost increases you have incurred so far), then that's something you should continue to do, but keeping in mind that what you really want to is to turn Pro. 

Reputation is a strange thing in that there are no absolutes as far as I know. I can't tell you for example that having £XXM in the bank equates to xxxx points of reputation, but having money in the bank does give you reputation. Turning Pro gives you an automatic and sizeable boost in reputation. At your level I would say that at the very least it would be 0.5 star club reputation, but possibly even a whole star, (probably somewhere in between but the stars will depend on how the game rounds it up/down). Your progress in Europe (and of course domestically), will help with reputation, but your medium-term goal should be to turn Pro. I would be looking to save as much as I can to encourage that, (because it is largely finance driven).

I didn't realise that you didn't have a Youth Candidates squad, (I had read it and forgotten), but yes that's what I meant. I also see what you mean about the REALLY low CA of your players and I stand corrected. In hindsight I think you are doing the correct thing in upping the Junior Coaching. I must admit that I'm surprised by the gap between CA and PA as that's not what I have experienced in Gibraltar before, but then maybe that;s club/facilities specific. I can't remember what my facilities were like back when I started on FM14. I certainly didn't have that size a gap.

 

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I think it's unlikely that it's an error, (although that's possible), and more likely that UEFA have imposed an initial allocation that will be revised over time, (Remember that the coefficient is an average over a 5 year period). 

Lincoln have already beaten a team from Andorra, and Celtic, so you would expect that their coefficient is going to rise from a starting point of 0.00, (especially after the Celtic result), but maybe UEFA haven't yet made the decision as to what will happen after a full coefficient has been produced, (although this is only guess-work on my part).

I just can't believe that SI would have something like this working in FM16 and then make it not work on FM17. There must be a reason for it. 

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Just now, Jimbokav1971 said:

I think it's unlikely that it's an error, (although that's possible), and more likely that UEFA have imposed an initial allocation that will be revised over time, (Remember that the coefficient is an average over a 5 year period). 

Lincoln have already beaten a team from Andorra, and Celtic, so you would expect that their coefficient is going to rise from a starting point of 0.00, (especially after the Celtic result), but maybe UEFA haven't yet made the decision as to what will happen after a full coefficient has been produced, (although this is only guess-work on my part).

I just can't believe that SI would have something like this working in FM16 and then make it not work on FM17. There must be a reason for it. 

No, it is actually an error. They have 2 Europa League Spots from next season. But it was not included.

Annoying to say the least.

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10 minutes ago, Anaconda Vice said:

No, it is actually an error. They have 2 Europa League Spots from next season. But it was not included.

Annoying to say the least.

If it is static, it's going to be hard to keep going with this saves it's not really helping the development of the domestic sides as a whole. For me an indirect benefit of this type of save is bringing the coefficient up so you get more European places and in turn give other teams more money, making them more competitive etc. 

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3 hours ago, Willigenburg said:

@shaunvamos - Time for Andorra, Faroe Islands or San Marino? :rolleyes:

I don't think it will be San Marino, but it's a toss up between the Faroes or Andorra. I've always enjoyed my Faroese saves, but with Jimbokav and yourself doing a youth only save in that general area already has probably meant that my decision will be Andorra.

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