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FM18 Youth Academy Challenge


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il y a 25 minutes, b101 a dit :

@SpS_Zen the amount of money you are now getting is ridiculous

True, once in PL you get at least 150m a season. It helps to have good staff, even if my reputation will catch up PL clubs only after my third season in PL. During my 2 first seasons, every week a player is crying to get a new contract with a higher wage :D  It's quiter now !

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This is my first go at this challenge in Austria, so a heads up to anyone else thinking of going to Austria there's a few things I've found.

1 - You start off with a massively lower rep then your players.

2 - You can only play players registered in two periods and your youth intake comes outside of the window and can't be used in that season.

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Ards Rangers (N. Ireland)

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Season 11 - 2028/29

 

Champions and Champions League group stages! Perfect.

League (Results 1 | Results 2 | Cups | Europe) - Champions again. This is getting more comfortable, which is nice, as we have closed part of the large gap between ourselves and the other clubs the last couple of seasons in term of player quality. Due to our much improved (and now top level) intake setup. Managed to win the Bet McLean Cup as well, but the board is indifferent with this competition.

But the story of the season is of course that we managed to reach the Champions League group stages. Brilliant. In the qualifying and playoff rounds we were
brilliant and managed to beat both Celtic and GNK Dinamo Zagreb. Fantastic. In the first home game against Zagreb, we basically killed the tie with a clear 4-1 victory.

A group containing Real Madrid, Chelsea and Shaktar Donetsk was always going to be impossible. But I am glad we managed to draw 0-0 at home to Shaktar and earned a single point.

Team - The players coming through our optimized intake setup have rapidly increased the general quality of the squad. Standout performers this season include our
new star goalkeeper Curtis McDowell, our two wide midfielders/wingers Jim Beattie and Darren Keenan who both had a tremendous season, Jordan O'Neill in central midfield and of course our formidable striker Pat Warwick.
Only major concern currently is that Warwick will enter the final year of his first professional contract and has refused to extend the contract so far.
He will unfortunately most likely leave on a free transfer/release at the end of next season.

Facilities - The intake setup reached maximum level last year. Upgraded to maintain the level. Due to our good finances, our training facilities are being
continuously upgraded. Nice. I am prioritizing upgrading training facilities as this affects the player development.
Moreover, a normal home game in the league will attract 400-500 spectators in our 1000-capacity ground. So a bigger stadium is really not needed so far.

Finances - Reaching the group stages of the Champions League vastly improved our finances. We went from a balance of £ 4.5 million last season to £ 13 million
this season.
Last season we received £ 431 thousand from Champions League and £ 2.1 million from The Euro League. A total of approximately £ 2.5 million. 
This year we received £ 11.3 million from Champions League.

Youth Intake - High quality again this year. William Morris is already one of the best players in the club and a starter in the first team. And Barry Harkin will take over from Pat Warwick when we loose him.

And again no transfers. Although this season our youth players became interesting for smaller clubs to loan. This is a good option for the coming youngsters in the future.

Long term goal: Increase the competitiveness in the Champions League. Improve coaching staff quality.

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2 hours ago, Swindon69 said:

This is my first go at this challenge in Austria, so a heads up to anyone else thinking of going to Austria there's a few things I've found.

1 - You start off with a massively lower rep then your players.

2 - You can only play players registered in two periods and your youth intake comes outside of the window and can't be used in that season.

Thanks for the info, and good luck in Austria with this addictive challenge.

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@b101: Congratulations! Well done on completing the challenge. It must be satisfying to buy back some of the lost gold of previous seasons? :)

@SpS_Zen: Well done stabilizing in the Premier League. That must be a tough task on it's own. Better luck next year with the intake.

@JWVG: Congratulations on the welsh league championship. Regarding winning the Champions League, if it helps, you have a fellow sufferer trying to accomplish the same with a Northern Irish team. I don't know if 50 years will suffice? :)

 

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23 minutes ago, andershs said:

Thanks for the info, and good luck in Austria with this addictive challenge.

Thank you - oh another thing I've recently discovered - if you have 12 Austrians in a match day squad for 8 out of the last 9 games you get £376k.

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2018-19

SV Grodig

Sky Go Erste Liga (2nd Tier in Austria)

Well it was an interesting season for the Village People, we failed miserably in the Cup but I did guide them to 5th in the end.

At various points in the season I was only able to name 15 players (including two goalkeepers on the bench), fortunately we didn't suffer too many long term injuries.

I got the board to agree to upgrade both the training facilities and the youth facilities, so they'll lift up from Basic and Adequate respectively, they also agreed to increase spend on junior coaching and youth recruitment.

Youth Intake

The first years intake produced a 2 star 4 star potential goalkeeper and a defensive midfielder and a 1 star 3 star potential forward. (The youth intake arrives after the squad registration window closes so they can't be used in the season they come through)

Various images to follow including the transfer screen.

 

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21 hours ago, andershs said:

@b101: Congratulations! Well done on completing the challenge. It must be satisfying to buy back some of the lost gold of previous seasons? :)

Absolutely - it does feel like I've unbalanced the team a little bit with all the transfer movement, but it's nice to have a few different options and keep the save fresh. The last few seasons were definitely a bit of a grind and I'm looking forward to taking this team further. I particularly want to see how far I can take Leite and Rocha and make them proper legends at the club. 

Re-signing Freixo has been great - our CBs were certainly one of the weakest points and there was only one other that I wanted who wasn't already at a big club. Eventually signed him as well as he handed in a transfer request right at the end of the window when we had money left over. He looks even better :D 

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Le Mans - Season 2 Review

The expectations and aims this season were to fight bravely against relegation. With odds of 1/5 to be relegated, nobody gave us a chance. I was quite enjoying myself up to the half way point in the season. We were sat TOP of Ligue 2 and were performing way above expectations. Defensively as porous as Spongebob Squarepants, but rescued weekly by our attack. However, the dark Winter days came and we fell apart. I was left not knowing what to do or how to fix the fact we could no longer score and were conceding at 4 or 5 goals most games. From challenging for the title in December to just about avoiding relegation with 2 games left meant that although I exceeded my aims for season 2, I am bitterly disappointed and consider it a poor season. Oh what might have been!

I did achieve my other aim of giving the youth players more game time. Once we had fallen apart, I started playing youth players as I felt that if we were going to lose anyway, I may as well achieve one of my aims and aid their development.

Season Review

Transfers

In terms of youth intake, I was much happier this year as we got another golden generation, including a couple of players who once they turn 16 and are eligible to play, will go straight into the first team.

Best season 2 youth talent

Following the pathetic collapse in season 2, I think season 3 will be a massive struggle, and will play out how I thought this season would have done. If we can survive, I will be happy. More game time for youth players again as I try to sell some of the older players (which I doubt will happen as nobody at this level will want them).

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Dulwich Hamlet Season 9 2026/2027 !

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Premier League: Sadly, we finished the season with 1 point in 9 games...I dont really know what happened. Once i couldnt reach champions league, i may have neglect the tactics adjustement. We end up with 2 points more than previous season. A bit disapointing given how my players improved. Highest number of chances created => 65 goals (4th), 74 conceded (20th) 26 goals conceded in the last 9 games, ouch it hurts.

Cups: No miracles for my B squad this season.

Squad: Best player this season, by far, was my polyvalent AP O'Connor02a: 6 goals, 10 assists and 7,5 average rating. Several notable progress were done: Cole 06B is my new AP. This young 18yo player improved a lot and will be in my 11 next year. I think he will be my key player in the future.

The 7 players from the third youth intake (what a sucessfull year!) turned 22 or more this season. On 13 players aged 22yo+, only 4 enjoys big matches, 2 are not affected, 2 dont like them, and 5 are not confortable or worst. 

Tranfers: Many loans, and i sold my GK substitue. 165 games with an average 6,99. There should be more sells/release to come.

Youth 2025: A good year with my first WOW player: Foster 09a a 15yo winger. 

Aim: Take less goals and reach an european spot.

Season  |  League   | Pos. |   Cup   |     CL      |     EL      |     Top scorer          |  Top assists         |    Top rating           | Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18 |  Isthmian |  n/a |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    n/a                  |    n/a               |   n/a                   | 
2018/19 |  VNLS     |  1   |   1st r |   3th q     |     n/a     |    Allassanni (30)      |    Koroma (12)       |   Koroma (7,68)         | Happy with the VNLS win
2019/20 |  VNL      |  6   |   1st r |   Final     |     n/a     |    Allassanni (31)      |    Clunis (14)       |   Faal (7,77)           | Promotion and great year
2020/21 |  League 2 |  3   |   3th r |   1st r     |     n/a     |    Allassanni (32)      |    Allassanni (12)   |   Faal (7,58)           | Promotion, good regens
2021/22 |  League 1 |  1   |   3th r |   1st r     |     n/a     |    Allassanni (34)      |Allassanni,O'Connor01a(11)|  Allassanni (7,54)  | The win baby ! 
2022/23 |  Champ.   |  18  |   5th r |   1st r     |     n/a     |    Allassanni (23)      |    Croft01b (9)      |   Allassanni (7,25)     | New stadium, 29m debt 
2023/24 |  Champ.   |  1   |   6th r |   2st r     |     n/a     |    Allassanni (24)      |    Walters03d (17)   |   Foley03e   (7,55)     | Finally, the Premier League!
2024/25 |  PL       |  17  |   3th r |   2st r     |     n/a     |    Foley03e (24)        |    Foley03e (9)      |   Foley03e   (7,30)     | Allassinni leaves :(
2025/26 |  PL       |  15  |   4th r |   Semi-final|     n/a     |    Foley03e (20)        |    O'Connor02a (11)  |   Foley03e   (7,23)     | Faal leaves :(
2026/27 |  PL       |  14  |   3th r |   3th r     |     n/a     |    Foley03e (13)        |    O'Connor02a (10)  |   O'Connor02a(7,50)     | Foster 09a

Season  |  Finances |  Coaching    |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18 |   €35k    |  Average     |  Fairly Basic     | Basic          | Basic           |  3000
2018/19 |   €179k   |  Excellent   |  Etablished       | Basic          | Basic           |  3000 => 4000
2019/20 |   €1m     |  Excellent   |  Etablished       | Adequate       | Basic           |  4000 => 5750
2020/21 |   €(244k) |  Exceptional |  Well Etablished  | Adequate       | Below Average   |  5750
2021/22 |   €(384k) |  Exceptional |  Well Etablished  | Adequate       | Below Average   |  5750
2022/23 |   €8,88m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Adequate       | Below Average   |  5750 => 18645
2023/24 |   €(476k) |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Adequate       | Adequate        |  5750 => 18645
2024/25 |   €117m   |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Basic          | Average         |  18645 
2025/26 |   €163m   |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Below average  | Good            |  18645 => 27967
2026/27 |   €195m   |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Adequate       | Great           |  27967 => ~37000

 

@b101 Nice come back! How things are going in CL?

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15 minutes ago, SpS_Zen said:

Squad: Best player this season, by far, was my polyvalent AP O'Connor02a

Foster 09a a 15yo winger. 

@b101 Nice come back! How things are going in CL?

Great season there, even if it could have ended better! I really like players like O'Connor, where you can tell your training has basically maximised him and just made him as good as he can be at that one, specific role. Love the look of Foster as well and look forward to following his progress.

CL groups were fairly straightforward - topped our group with Arsenal (two 0-0 draws where we just couldn't score), Fiorentina (3-0 home, 5-0 away), FC Copenhagen (4-0 home, 6-1 away). Waiting to see who we get next now... Could be any of: Liverpool, Sevilla, Salzburg, Atletico. Pleasingly, Braga, Benfica and Sporting all made it through 2nd in their groups, but Porto are into the Europa.

Bet I get Atletico - comfortably the hardest tie we could have.

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2019/20 

SV Grodig - Sky Go Erste Liga (2nd Tier Austria)

Well this was a turn-up for the books I managed to finish first and clinch promotion to the top flight.

My top scorer from last season refused to sign a new contract and in January signed a pre-contract deal with another second tier side as he thought my squad wasn't strong enough to meet his ambitions.

The less said about the Cup the better - I got knocked out in the 3rd round by a top-flight team, I knew it wasn't going to be my day when we took the kick-off and the ball bounced off the back of one of my players to set up their first attack.

The youth intake wasn't very inspiring only 3 players with any real potential.

Two of my intake from last year played a bigger part then previously planned due to quite a high number of injuries.

I have a horrible feeling I'm going to get heavily tonked in the top flight. 

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image.thumb.png.4fecac8e846ca3b679c8d3e181bd8a1b.png

So the league is going pretty well now. We've played all of the big three away, so hopefully that means we can push on for the unbeaten season. Got a nice 0-0 draw away at Atletico as well, so that's a great start and hopefully we can finish them off at home.

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Le Mans Season 3 Review

My expectations for this season were to avoid relegation and to provide the youth players with more game time. We managed both, but the same issues still plague my tenure. e were top scorers in the league with 84 goals in 38 games. We would get promoted if we could only defend. We had the 3rd worst defense and thus finished in lower mid table. Nothing illustrated this problem more than being 4-0 up away from home in the 75th minute and drawing 4-4. 

Season Review

Transfers

The only reason I have enjoyed this season has been a youth player, who when he arrived through the youth intake, was rated as 3 stars CA and 4 stars PA. He hasn't been shown before as he wasn't the top rated player in his year. However, hard training and youth games at 15 years old meant that when he hit 16, he was rated 4.5 stars CA and 5 stars PA. Better than all my first team. We had a match on his 16th birthday. He starts and scores. He keeps his place for the season and scores and scores and scores. This guy is incredible. He won the Revelation Player of the Year, Top Goalscorer, Team of the Season, has been called up to the U21s and is easily my star player. 

He won't sign a new contract though. 2 years left on his deal plus an optional year for me. At £50 p/w, he is sure to be wanting a move soon as he is rated a good Ligue 1 player by my coaches. My dilemma is do I sell if a good offer comes in, or do I keep him even though he is likely to be unhappy and get as many goals from him as I can? 

The top youth prospect this season was Gantes. Already rated as a top player for my team, I can't wait for him to turn 16 so I can use him. Called up by the Spanish U23s at 15 years old, I think he may be special. 

Finally, I have got the board to upgrade youth recruitment and junior coaching so both are now maxed out after just 3 seasons. They won't agree to anything that costs money though as we have none. We are in the red and that isn't likely to change anytime soon with our abysmal defending and my inability to sort it! 

 

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Sampedrense - 2032/33 Season Report

Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2 - Transfers

Transfers

As mentioned previously, we had a bit of an entertaining window with mega offers coming in for CM Alexandre (who I never really rated that highly) and ST Oliveira (who was good but never as good as Leite), which prompted more purchases. A couple of other good youngsters then came up for sale in January, so we added a few more beyond what we had. 

Out:
Marcos Alexandre (YP08b) - CM - Real Madrid (£45.5m rising to £55m)
Nelson Oliveira (YP07b) - AMR/ST - Atletico Madrid (£99m)
Rafael Garcia (YP12a) - AML/R - AC Milan (£20m)
Vitor Albino (YP07a) - DR - CSKA Moscow (£7.5m)

In:

Miguel Freixo (YP05a) - DC - AC Milan (£95m - but we had a 40% sell on from them, so it's really about £50m)
Guillaume Palestri - DC - Dortmund (£82m)
Angel Trujillo - ST - Chivas (£16m)
Babacar Gomis - MC - Lyon (£12m)
Wojciech Buczek - AMLC - Lech (£2,3m)
Ilija Ivankovic - DR - Osijek (£7.5m)

League

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Well, fair to say we've been threatening this for a while. There was a little wobble in November when we went 3-0 down two games running, but came back to a 4-3 win and a 3-3 draw each time. 88 goals for and 14 against is pretty good when you consider six of those goals came in two games running out of nowhere. 24 clean sheets is comfortably the highest we've had and it was some of the best football we've played.

Cups

Didn't play well in the Taca da Liga semi but nearly made it through. Won the Taca de Portugal comfortably in the end. 

Europe

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Another very good run!

Groups: Arsenal didn't try to win either game, which was hilarious. Otherwise, straightforward.

Atletico: Obviously, we got the hardest draw out there. Went 2-0 up late in the second leg (deservedly), before they grabbed a late goal to make things edgy. Nelson Oliveira didn't play a minute for them :( 

PSG: Our nemesis from the past two finals and it was great to put them aside earlier, with a vintage performance in the second leg (first time round, before the game crashed). Second time around wasn't quite as comfortable, but two poacher's goals from Trujillo was all we needed.

Liverpool: We were always ahead or drawing in the first leg, which was great. Couldn't get the first goal for ages at home, but there was no danger from Liverpool and Leite's late strike just made things more comfortable. Fully deserved.

This brings up Chelsea in the final, who we haven't played since they battered us in our first visit to the knockouts some 6 seasons back. They have a solid squad but nowhere near the might of PSG, so I was fairly optimistic and rightfully so.

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Delighted with this - we genuinely were better than every team we played for the first time in the competition, which just goes to show what a difference buying two good centre backs will do for you!

Youth Intake

A nice intake, even if both good prospects play the same position.

Carlos Kapoco (YP15a) - I really like his spread of attributes and has good potential. Could be Rocha's replacement when that sad day comes...

Joao Agostinho (YP15b)  - Shame we already have someone with his name, but looks a decent prospect. 

Facilities and Finances:

Back at max

---

Aims for next season.

  • Dunno, keep consolidating?

Progress:

Season  |  League   | Pos.             |   Cup    |     CL      |     EL      | Top scorer              | Top assists         | Top rating                  | Notes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19 | Prio      | 2nd - lost in QF | 3rd rd   |     n/a     |     n/a     | Mimba (30)              | Mimba (16)          | Mimba (7.65)                | Squad of 11...
2019/20 | Prio      | 1st - won league | 4th rd   |     n/a     |     n/a     | Mimba (35)              | Mimba (22)          | Mimba (7.70)                | 
2020/21 | Liga Pro  | 7th              | 4th rd   |     n/a     |     n/a     | Elton Abdul (YP02a) (32)| Mimba (20)          | Elton Abdul (YP02a) (7.69)  | Turned Professional
2021/22 | Liga Pro  | 1st - champions  | 4th rd   |     n/a     |     n/a     | Elton Abdul (YP02a) (47)| Elton Abdul (21)    | Elton Abdul (YP02a) (8.07)  | 
2022/23 | Liga NOS  | 10th             | 3rd rd   |     n/a     |     n/a     | Elton Abdul (YP02a) (27)| Abdul/Barros (11)   | Elton Abdul (YP02a) (7.37)  | Elton Abdul won European Golden Boy
2023/24 | Liga NOS  | 7th              | 6th rd   |     n/a     |     n/a     | Jorge Barros(YP03a) (23)| Barros (11)         | Jorge Barros(YP03a) (7.31)  | Made semi of Taca de Liga
2024/25 | Liga NOS  | 3rd              | 5th rd   |     n/a     |     n/a     | Emanuel Leite YP06a (16)| Tavares (12)        | Michael Rocha (YP04a) (7.46)| Qualified for CL 3rd round
2025/26 | Liga NOS  | 2nd              | 6th rd   | 3rd in group|   last 16   | Emanuel Leite YP06a (30)| Leite (YP06a) (14)  | Michael Rocha (YP04a) (7.39)| Taca da Liga runners up
2026/27 | Liga NOS  | CHAMPIONS!       | 4th rd   | 4th in group|     n/a     | Emanuel Leite YP06a (29)| Martinho (16)       | André Tabaio (7.55)         |
2027/28 | Liga NOS  | CHAMPIONS!       | Winners! |   Last 16   |     n/a     | Emanuel Leite YP06a (66)| Tabaio (21)         | Emanuel Leite (YP06a) (8.18)| 
2028/29 | Liga NOS  | CHAMPIONS!       | 4th rd   |   Last 16   |     n/a     | Emanuel Leite YP06a (44)| Rocha (YP04a) (22)  | Emanuel Leite (YP06a) (8.11)| 
2029/30 | Liga NOS  | 2nd              | Winners! |   Last 16   |     n/a     | Emanuel Leite YP06a (47)| Leite (YP06a) (22)  | Emanuel Leite (YP06a) (7.96)|
2030/31 | Liga NOS  | CHAMPIONS!       | 6th rd   |   Winners!  |     n/a     | Emanuel Leite YP06a (47)| Oliveira (YP07b)(22)| Emanuel Leite (YP06a) (7.82)|
2031/32 | Liga NOS  | CHAMPIONS!       | Runner up|  Runner up  |     n/a     | Emanuel Leite YP06a (47)| Oliveira (YP07b)(24)| Emanuel Leite (YP06a) (7.84)| Won Club World Cup
2031/32 | Liga NOS  | CHAMPIONS!*      | Winners! |   Winners!  |     n/a     | Emanuel Leite YP06a (45)| Belo (YP11a) (19)   | Emanuel Leite (YP06a) (7.64)| Invincible season
 
Season  |  Finances |  Coaching    |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.   | Youth Fac.       |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18 |   £96k    |  Average     |  Basic            | Good            | Good             |  3000
2018/19 |   £480k   |  Adequate    |  Fairly Basic     | Good            | Good             |  3000
2019/20 |   £256k   |  Exceptional |  Well Established | Good            | Good             |  3000
2020/21 |   £559k   |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Good            | Good             |  3000
2021/22 |  -£400k   |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Good            | Good             |  4000 - seriously, £1m for 1000 seats...?
2022/23 |   £2.6m   |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Good            | Good             |  5250
2023/24 |   £2.2m   |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Great           | Good             |  5250 (planning a 16,898 stadium)
2024/25 |   £20.5m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Great           | Great            |  5250 (building a 17,468 stadium)
2025/26 |   £32.5m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Great           | Great            |  5250 (still building a 17,468 stadium)
2026/27 |   £41.5m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Great           | Great            |  17468
2027/28 |   £43.6m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Great           | Great            |  17468
2028/29 |   £50.6m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | Excellent       | Superb           |  17468 (expanding). No more debt.
2029/30 |   £57.7m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | State of the Art| State of the Art |  26202 
2030/31 |   £64.4m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | State of the Art| State of the Art |  26202 (expanding to 32,656)
2031/32 |   £54.4m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | State of the Art| Superb           |  30697 (expanding to 32,656)
2032/33 |   £79.5m  |  Exceptional |  Extensive        | State of the Art| State of the Art |  34936
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Le Mans Season 4 Review

In season 3 we started well, topped the league for a while, then fell off a cliff. In season 4, we started well, topped the league for a while, then topped it some more, right the way through to becoming Champions! 1000/1 shot Le Mans will be in Ligue 1 after just 4 seasons! 

Season Review

Our success quite simply, is down to Camille Fontaine. One of my favourite ever FM players. Record breaking season from the Striker, winning every award and becoming a club legend in the process. 

Fontaine

Transfers - sold a few of the older guys to allow me to involve as many youngsters as possible. 

Goodbye Fontaine - In January, every big club in the major leagues was interested in my superstar. I rejected multiple bids until City came in with a £6 million (plus sell on) which was too good for me to turn down for a player valued at 600k at the time. I felt I had no choice because the board had accepted an offer from Arsenal for just £2 million. I managed to talk them round but knew it was only a matter of time. I had to get as much money as I could. Following his second half of the season, he is now valued at nearly £2 million and I'm thinking City have got a bargain. He moves in January (can't leave until he reaches 18 years old) so we need to get as many points as possible before he leaves, otherwise we will be in major trouble. Really wish he wasn't leaving as he has made this save what it is with his performances the last 2 years. I'll now go sit in the corner and cry a little. 

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25 minutes ago, Shankly84 said:

What is the best way to get foreign players during the youth intake?

You can ask the board for an affiliate club to help provide youth players from foreign youth setups. I have 2 German clubs feeding my Sheff Utd save but the quality so far has been poor. 

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44 minutes ago, BuryBlade said:

You can ask the board for an affiliate club to help provide youth players from foreign youth setups. I have 2 German clubs feeding my Sheff Utd save but the quality so far has been poor. 

Cheers pal. I will give this a go!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

B1908 Season 1 - 2018/19

 

QYEGmzP.jpg

 

League - As you might expect, I was predicted to finish bottom of the pile. The second division in Denmark is divided into a rapid fire Autumn Stage where a late surge got me into the top four. With that, I'd achieved my goal of avoiding relegation. The second half of the season saw us having essentially a free hit at the Promotion Stage. I went in with zero expectation, but after beating promotion rivals Hillerod with four games to play, I allowed myself to dream. Cue taking one point from the last three games to finish two points off promotion. A shame in the end, and not convinced I'll be in such rude health next season.

Cup - Two draws early on, one won on penalties, one lost. Met expectations.

Transfers - The perils of having amateur contracts - you can lose players without warning for nothing.

Facilities - I managed to extend youth recruitment and improve my data facilities.

Youth Intake - Really not a lot to write home about here, so I'll be hoping to see better next season. I identified three players I may try to progress to the first team.

Tobias Schone 19a could be a useful back up right back, but lacks determination.

Lucas Riis 19b hopefully can develop into a target man, given I don't currently have one.

Anders Frank 19c doesn't have huge ability, but has a good attitude, so I'm not discounting him yet.

Aim for next year - With no prospect of bolstering my existing ranks with youth players progressing, I'd be delighted to repeat this year's performance, but I'd settle for entry into the promotion stage.

Season   League   Pos.   Cup   Europe   Finances   Coaching   Recruitment   Training   Youth   Stadium
2018/19   Second Division   3   2nd Round   -   -£46k   Fairly Basic   Fairly Basic   Basic   Poor   7200
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Thought i would give this challenge a try and thought I would attempt the Greek league.   Started the with Aiolikos with the challenge to keep them up in the second division.   Found it extremely difficult and had to resort to playing greyed out players as i barely had enough players to fill the bench with no injuries or suspensions.  The goal was to survive and we did that with a good late run after spending the majority of the season in the bottom two, bottom four get relegated which makes it even tougher.   The finances are dire to say the least despite only paying a third of wages budget allocation. The board had to inject cash a number of times during the season just to balance the books, so any hope of improvements to facilities, youth recruitment were slim to none.   After reading the first two pages of this thread ive given up as this challenge requires a lot more patience than Ive got so ive decided to try again with the Munchen Lions.

First season with them i didnt do as well as i had expected, finished 12th which was disappointing particularly as some have been promoted on their first season.   Lots of great 15/16 year olds who are ineligible for the first team which is a shame as they would be walk up starts.   About to start the second season and might read a little further into this thread to gain some hints and tips 

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On 09/09/2018 at 21:52, BuryBlade said:

You can ask the board for an affiliate club to help provide youth players from foreign youth setups. I have 2 German clubs feeding my Sheff Utd save but the quality so far has been poor. 

How does this work exactly? Does this make the foreign youth players appear directly in your regens pool, or do you have to sign them?

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23 hours ago, Soviet said:

How does this work exactly? Does this make the foreign youth players appear directly in your regens pool, or do you have to sign them?

They appear in your regen pool. So on youth intake day, as part of the inbox message, it would say along the lines of, Smith and Jones have been signed as part of our link with Club X. They would have the nationality of the country your feeder is from. 

Hope that helps. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Bit of a bump for this thread, with the Beta out sometime this week I'll open a new thread for this, thinking of just doing it as a general "FM youth challenge" thread rather than one for each new game, that way people playing on older ones can post and talk about their saves. If people would prefer to just leave it as it has been and leave it just for FM19 posts then let me know.

Also thinking of maybe allowing users to have more than one league running if that's what they want? Haven't thought about the implications of that yet though so that's a maybe.

I'm planning on returning to this challenge this year and already have my tea, picked out :cool:

Let me know if the above ideas are ok or if there's anything you want me to consider adding to the challenge.

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I'd be happy to combine the thread with other versions of the game. Guess there's an issue with when the new intake dates might be, but that's not insurmountable.

I'll admit to ignorance as to what the ramifications of having other leagues running would be? Does it do anything beyond widening the player pool?

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5 hours ago, darren1983 said:

Bit of a bump for this thread, with the Beta out sometime this week I'll open a new thread for this, thinking of just doing it as a general "FM youth challenge" thread rather than one for each new game, that way people playing on older ones can post and talk about their saves. If people would prefer to just leave it as it has been and leave it just for FM19 posts then let me know.

Also thinking of maybe allowing users to have more than one league running if that's what they want? Haven't thought about the implications of that yet though so that's a maybe.

I'm planning on returning to this challenge this year and already have my tea, picked out :cool:

Let me know if the above ideas are ok or if there's anything you want me to consider adding to the challenge.

You're the big boss and I'll follow your rules here! :)

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18 hours ago, ajsr1982 said:

I'd be happy to combine the thread with other versions of the game. Guess there's an issue with when the new intake dates might be, but that's not insurmountable.

I'll admit to ignorance as to what the ramifications of having other leagues running would be? Does it do anything beyond widening the player pool?

I know there was a reason for limiting it to just 1 league loaded but I just can't remember what it was, having other playable leagues doesn't seem to have harmed Dafuge's challenge so think I'll allow it here now as well.

17 hours ago, XaW said:

You're the big boss and I'll follow your rules here! :)


Haha, well once the beta is out I'll open the new thread and we can all get going again :cool: 

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I stopped posting, because I thought that downloaded tactics, (one of which I've used for this challenge) were banned, but looking at it again it's actually discussion of downloaded tactics.

Anyway, I might be on the point of failing in my final attempt to complete the challenge.

I got distracted anyway because I had a son come through, and my focus became developing him and trying to guide him towards getting a Scotland cap. 

I did write the updates. Just didn't post them. 

I suppose I could give you something to read while we're pining for nineteen. Not going to bother with screenshots though.

Dump alert.

23/24

League - 4th

Took a holiday from the challenge because the last season was so boring, and at first it seemed that this would be more of the same. We started badly and early on it seemed that we were in slight danger of falling into a relegation battle.

However, there were no outstanding sides in the league, and that resulted in about 8 clubs fighting it out at the top for most of the season, including us. Combine this with the fact that results between teams count before goal difference and it’s a good job it was a computer game working out the league standings.

I could write a novel about this crazy, crazy season. Matches that stand out. 8 games to go. We’re 3rd and playing the team in 4th. We go 4-1 up. They pull level at 4-4. We end up winning 7-4.

Last game of the season. Our chance of winning the league has gone. We’re in 5th, trying to make up the one place that will get us into the champions league, against Inter in 2nd. Late on, they’re winning 2-1 and going to win the league. We equalise, and I see that a point will be enough, so go ultra-defensive and still score the winning goal in injury time.

Given that my objective was just to qualify for Europe, getting into the Champions League is fantastic, but I do wonder when will be the next time a club can win the league with just 71 points.

 

Squad

Top Goalscorer – Christian Ruggiero (YP1d) - 23 Ruggiero is a top class left winger, but I don’t use wingers, and he’s right footed, so I plunked him in the first team as a right sided attacker. I’m surprised he was the top goalscorer, because I see him as a supplier rather than scorer, but as usual, he who doesn’t get injured scores most.

 

Top Average Rating – Nicolò Bottero (YP2a) – 7.50 Second year in a row for this, and more importantly the European Golden Boy. Like Ruggiero, mostly creates chances. If the two of them actually start finishing their chances we’ll be unstoppable.

Man of the Match – Nicolò Bottero (YP2a) – 8

MVP – Martino Perina (YP1b) – Got my best player to sign a new contract. I’m saying he’s the best based on the coaches’ rating, rather than on any stats, but I agree with the coaches. He’s the glue that keeps everything together in midfield.

 

Youth

Lucchese and Lopez featured a bit for the first team, but it’s probably Mohammed that will be the most important going forward, not least because my defence keeps shipping too many goals.

Transfers

I let a few players go, including my starting goalkeeper for the first four and half seasons of the challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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24/5 - Here Comes The Son, (and he's not alright)

League - 2nd

It was as I feared. 71 points won the league the previous season. We picked up 76, and still finished 2nd,  28 points behind Juventus on 104. We could have picked up more points, but I played a weakened side for the last 9 matches of the season largely because…

Youth – I got a son in the intake. Honestly he’s not very good. In fact he was only the 3rd best striker in the intake, but we had 2nd place all but assured, so I played him for nearly all of the remaining matches, (although my assistant manager invariably substituted him at half time when I instant resulted).

Transfers – As usual, nothing much to see here. It’s sad to see players who helped us get here leave, and for their careers to be pretty much over in their early 20s, but my squad is much too large. I need to be better at swinging the axe. I look in no danger of losing anyone important. As I say, my problem is that I’m not losing the unimportants.

Top Goalscorer – Nicolò Bottero (YP2a) – 29  Won European Golden Boy for the third year in a row. Has developed into a very good player now.

Top Average Rating – Nicolò Bottero (YP2a) – 7.71

Man of the Match – Nicolò Bottero (YP2a) – 11

LVP – Stuart Ramsay (YP7z) – Obviously Bottero is the most valuable player, but my son is comfortably the least.  1 goal in 586 minutes of playing time and an average rating of 6.62. Not so much bad, as invisible. After watching him closely waiting for his first goal, I identified the problem. He’s scared of footballs.

Still, the one goal was fun. The goalkeeper had the ball at his feet, and my son started running towards him. The goalie did what any sensible player would do in that situation, and ignored him as not a threat. Then another of my players started to close down the goalkeeper, the goalie forgot all about Stuart who fired an admittedly good shot into the back of the net. You could say that he should have dribbled the ball in rather than attempting a difficult long range shot, but I have been training him to take long range shots, and he somehow pulled it off, so I can’t complain. He was probably just trying to kick the scary ball away from him and by fluke it went in the direction of the net.

Anyway, that’s his time in the first team done. It was just a fluke that we had dead rubbers at the end of the season. It’s amazing how much just one player made the whole team worse.

 

 

 

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25/6

League - 2nd again

Like last season Juventus raced off, and so in the second half of the season with a champions league qualifying top 4 place assured I started to put my son in the team. At least I thought a top 4 place was assured, but then we started to pile up bad results with a draw followed by 3 defeats, accompanied by lots of suspensions and injuries. However, let’s not be in any doubt about the real cause of the problems; my son. We were paying the cost of nepotism.

With 2 matches to go we were still in 2nd place, but only 3 points ahead of AC Milan in 5th.

Incidentally we were 36 points behind Juve, just to establish the point that the title ship had sailed.

In the end though, we won our final 2 matches and ended in 2nd, but with 70 points, 6 less than last season.

There’s reason for optimism though. Our training facilities and junior Coaching are now top notch, and the youth facilities will be by the end of the year. We’re a bit stuck with youth recruitment, but it’s well established. I don’t think that’s the best it can be.

Our team this year was pretty much the same as the previous season, but some of the younger players have improved a lot.

We are making progress.

 

 

Champions League

We made it to the quarter finals, and built up a 4-0 lead from the home leg. In the away leg I kept attacking looking for a helpful away goal that never came, and we managed to lose 6-0 and were out.

 

 

 

 

Son notes

Next season, I’m going to give him the number 45 shirt, because that’s the number of minutes my assistant manager waits to substitute him whenever I start him.

One match he played in a completely different shirt to the rest of the team, which is so Stuart. He always did just pick up the first item of clothing on the floor to wear.

He is quite fast. It’s just a pity that he never runs in the right direction.

He has improved. I think a year ago he was our 14th best striker according to the coaches and was blue star current ability. Now he has 1.5 stars and is my 12th best striker. Mind you, I did sell one of my best strikers.

He has picked up 7 U21 caps for Scotland, and that is my ultimate aim, for my son to gain a senior cap. It could happen. He has 3/3.5 star potential. On the other hand if he gets too big for his boots and thinks he can play for Italy, I’ll cut off his allowance, and I’m using ‘allowance’ as a euphemism for something young Stuart would surely like to keep intact.

I did manage to improve his personality with tutoring from Balanced and determination of 7 to Fairly Professional and determination of 12.

He does have a leadership attribute of 15, so he would make a good club captain. Sorry, getting my words mixed up. I meant he would make a good team mascot. There are two of them who have a head that’s too big for their body, run around energetically but aimlessly and spend matches on the sidelines watching. I’m not 100% certain which one is which.

Stats don’t tell the full story of just what a non-factor is on the pitch, but here are the basics.

Minutes per goal – 235

Average rating – 6.70

Man of Match – Ha ha.

Youth Intake

I tagged 5 players, I think, but the best 2 are central defenders, and 1 of them has a determination of 1 and an ‘easily discouraged’ personality, which I didn’t even know existed. I tried having him tutored, but it didn’t stick, and I think it’s going to be a fatal flaw, but I have hopes for Robert Duffy, (8a), another Scot, though this time I’m not the baby daddy.

I tend not to introduce youth players into the first team straight away, though I did play both defenders (and a lot of young players) in 1 match straight away in an earlier Champions League second leg, because we were 7-0 up from the first leg. We lost the 2nd leg 5-0, and only kept it that low because we played contain after the opposition were 3-0 up after about 10 minutes. The young defenders weren’t ready is what I’m saying.

 

Squad

None of the squad are internationals. Well, Roger, my goalie, is in the Albanian squad, but hasn’t nabbed a cap yet.

Top Goalscorer – Donato Dicandia (YP3c)– 25

Top Average Rating – Nicolò Bottero (YP2a) – 7.55

Man of the Match – Nicolò Bottero (YP2a) – 9

MVP – Martino Perina (YP1b) – Bottero had a bit of a down season if truth be told, and although he’s close to being the club record holder for appearances and goals, his place in the team is threatened by top scorer Dicandia, plus my son whenever results don’t matter. The guy I can’t do without is midfield general Perina, the only really good midfielder I have.

 

 

 

Transfers

Sold one guy, Ruggiero, who’s an excellent left winger, but consistently only a so-so striker which is where I needed him. I have a surfeit of fantastic strikers, plus my son of course. The deciding factor is that Ruggiero wanted a huge pay increase and only had 18 months left on his contract, so I sold him for an eventual £24 million.

I really, really need to cut the cords on a lot of other players, that I really don’t need any more.

 

 

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26/7

League - 1st

A league / cup double. Juventus were much worse than the last 2 seasons, we were much better, and it resulted in a season-long neck and neck race for the title. Juve were about 2 points ahead of us all the way, and our first time top of the table came with 5 matches to play. We went into the final match on top on goal difference, playing the bottom club, and obtained the necessary victory.

Nothing much to say about the cup, except that we won it.

Champions League

 

Once again we went out at the quarter final stage, annoyingly to AC Milan who we should have been able to beat easily over 2 legs.  This was the first season where I thought we had a shot at winning it, and in the end it was our rivals, Juventus, who did win it, on penalties in the final.

 

Son Notes

My son played a lot less this season, because of our being in a title race. Nonetheless he made some progress.

His current ability is now 2 star, with a 2.5-3.5 potential. No clubs in the next 2 divisions down were interested in having him on loan though.

A goal every 253 minutes, but his 3 goals were all in easy Cup or Champions League matches. He didn’t score a single goal in the league; but he only featured in 5 league matches, or rather parts of matches.

I’m having him tutored by a Resolute mentor, but at the moment he’s stuck at Fairly Pro and a determination that regressed by 1 to 11.

Winning the league means that I’ll be able to start him in every league and cup match from now on, although my Assistant will always take him off after 45 minutes. I’ve told him that’s why he’s been allocated the 45 shirt, but really it’s because he’s a Single and goes around in circles.

 

Youth Intake

 

Probably the only useful player is Lapo Manzo (YP9a), but this challenge has shown that you can’t tell who will turn out to be good at first.

 

Squad

We had our first 2 full internationals this season, both for Italy, and both just one cap so far. Henry Mohammed (YP6b) (who was actually born in Nigeria) and Daniele Corona (YP5c). To my annoyance Robert Duffy (YP8a) has decided to play for Italy at youth level, but I’m fairly certain I don’t have to worry about my son abandoning Scotland.

Top Goalscorer – Giovanni D'Addato (YP5b) – 30 The top scorer only because he wasn’t injured much and thus played a lot more matches, but he is probably our best striker. Still, Botterro was a the top Serie A scorer.

Top Average Rating – Nicolò Bottero (YP2a) – 7.85 Bottero is now our all time appearance leader, and 2 goals away from the top goalscorer record.

Man of the Match – Giovanni D'Addato (YP5b) – 10

MVP – Giovanni D'Addato (YP5b)

 

 

Transfers

We sold a few players, some of whom played a lot of matches for us in the early days, but all my top players are tied to long term contracts, and are getting more playing time and money than they would anywhere else.

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27/28

League - 3rd

Having won the league, it doesn’t matter that much, but I do still need to finish in the top 4, and with 2 matches to go, suddenly that was in danger. Barely in 4th, our last 2 matches were against the 6th and 5th placed sides, but we won both matches and finishe din 3rd.

We lost in the cup final to a Serie B side managed by one of our ex-coaches. Again, didn’t really care.

Champions League

 

For the third season in a row we went out at the quarter final stage, again losing the second leg by a large margin.

Son Notes

My son played a lot this season, (at least until my assistant subbed him, usually at half time), but didn’t progress very much, or play well. He scored a goal every 199 minutes, a third of which came in just one match. 12 goals, which brings his career total up to the heady figure of 20. Don’t think he’s going to make it to 1,000.

 

Youth Intake

 

My a player is a right winger who I’ll try to retrain into a central midfielder. The b player, a central defender, is more likely to make it with us.

Squad

Top Goalscorer – Giovanni D'Addato (YP5b) –  41

Top Average Rating – Giovanni D'Addato (YP5b)  – 7.69

Man of the Match – Giovanni D'Addato (YP5b) – 9

MVP – Giovanni D'Addato (YP5b)

 

 

Transfers

I’m surprised to realise that we didn’t sell anyone at all, but we will be releasing a lot of players from our massively bloated squad.

 

 

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28/29

Son Notes

His attributes have improved a bit, but honestly, I think he’s pretty close to full potential. He fluctuates between 1.5 and 2 stars actual, and his potential after occasionally stretching to 3.5 seems set at 3 stars at most.

Last season he switched his national allegiance to Italy, which annoyed me, but he seems to have seen sense and switched back to Scotland now. Don’t think he actually made an appearance for Italy at any level, but was in one of the junior squads.

35 appearances, 13 goals, a 6.99 average rating and 190 minutes per goal, all slight improvements.

 

Season	Division				Position	Notes										
18/19	Serie C/C				4th		Reached playoff quarterfinal.
19/20	Serie C/C				7th		18 pts in first half of season, 47 in second. Reached playoff second round.
20/21	Serie C/C				1st		Promoted as champions.
21/22	Serie B					1st		Promoted as champions again, much to my surprise.
22/23	Serie A					9th		Boring (but profitable) season.
23/24	Serie A					4th		Crazy, crazy season. Nearly won the league, but so did at least 3 other teams.
24/25	Serie A					2nd		Boring apart from getting a son in youth intake. Picked up more points but still finished 28 points behind Juventus.
25/26	Serie A					2nd		36 points behind Juve this time.
26/27	Serie A					1st		League/Cup double. Won league on goal difference.
27/28	Serie A					3rd		Cup R/U, eliminated from CL at Q/F stage for 3rd year in a row.
28/29	Serie A					2nd		Eliminated from CL at Q/F stage for 4th year in a row.

 

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18 hours ago, darren1983 said:

I know there was a reason for limiting it to just 1 league loaded but I just can't remember what it was, having other playable leagues doesn't seem to have harmed Dafuge's challenge so think I'll allow it here now as well.


Haha, well once the beta is out I'll open the new thread and we can all get going again :cool: 

Good news, look forward to starting from the beginning of 19 and finishing it this year

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 15/12/2018 at 05:42, Football-Rick said:

ok your challenge is stupid.. i dont have enough players to fill a team now.. and i cant sign grey players. thanks jack ass

 

Very late with this, but this is why you must click add players to playable teams when you start. It is in post one. In fairness, it caught me out, too, and made life very tough with the start of the first season until the youth intake came in.

Back to this save now after struggling to really get into anything with FM19 - I'd forgotten how much I love my team from this save, so keen to see if I can get Rocha and Leite through a few more years.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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