b101 Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Genuinely the first time I've ever got one of my players to back down in one of the 'I want to leave' conversations and could not have timed it better... We absolutely can't let Abdul leave - he's pretty much our entire team... Also, randomly still part-time, but won't sign a new contract with us to change that. Grrr. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Sampedrense - 2021/22 Season Report Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2 - Transfers League Lots of positives here from the start - we had probably the toughest possible opening five fixtures and whilst we were only on four points after four, that did actually represent good going. The main issue remained the defence and goalie and we were basically at a stage where every shot on target went in, requiring Elton Abdul and others to score more to compensate for that. After Christmas, we started putting together some really good performances and with everyone near the top losing, we needed one point from our final two matches. With a tricky away tie to Uniao do Madeira last up, we really needed that to be at home to lowly Cinfaes, who'd been promoted with us a year ago. We were 1-0 down entering the 88th minute and won a penalty. Enter Emma Mimba, star of our first two seasons, on as a sub having been outshone this year. He stepped up, rocketed the penalty home, before we made sure of all three points a few minutes later. Promoted as champions! Cups - made it much further in the Taca before bowing out to Liga NOS opposition again and we got through to the league phase of the Taca de Liga for some much-needed gate receipts. Once we got there, we threw in the towel. Youth Intake Better than last year and we finally have a good CM! Miguel Rocha (YP04a) - literally exactly what I needed from this intake (although, actually, a top DM might have been better). He should be our next Elton in terms of a player who instantly lifts the team. Paulo Santos (YP04b) - could be good, could be utterly mental. --- This season's player of the year, still - Elton Abdul (YP02a) Spoiler The problem: There is one massive wrinkle in that Elton Abdul (YP02a) wants to leave, badly. He has one year left on his contract and the issue is that either I gamble on him signing a new deal and me persuading him, potentially letting him walk for nothing, or cashing in now. Thing is, nobody has even come close to the money I'd want, with the best bid being Inter's offer of £925k. I had promised that the youngsters would catch up, but (probably fairly) he doesn't think they have done. I was hoping promotion would cut it, but no such luck. Some are getting there - LB is solid, RB ok, Jorge Barros (other striker) is getting there, but there are just so many holes and we are massively overachieving thanks to him. Damn... My tactic? Same promise and I'll let him walk at the end of the season. We won't get an offer over £900k for him and that isn't worth the instant relegation that would follow - at least with him we'll have a chance. Sad, but I can't see another option. --- Aims for next season. Try desperately to stay in the division and improve the finances Keep getting the youngsters more playing time and see where we end up 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) | 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...? Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Youth Challenge - Achilles '29 Season 2 (2020/21) - Juliper League Final Table Past Positions Transfers Season Summary After a good first season, we hit a pretty hefty sophmore slump Started well, with 4 wins in the first 5, then dropped like a stone. Couple of key injuries, morale started to drop and it all snowballed to where we were firmly a bottom half side. Never in any danger of going down really, but a very poor season with not much progress on the field from season 1 Better news off the pitch, where we secured upgrades across the board. Both YRN and Junior Coaching moved up a second time in 2 years, and we completed upgrades to youth and training facilities. We continue to site nicely in the black as well. Youth Watch YP01a - Jeffrey Visser - Threw him in as first choice striker for most of the season, and although he was a bit inconsistent, with a couple of goal droughts, got to be happy with a goal every other game as a first season return YP01b - Lars Ten Berge - Had less first team chances, as CM is our strongest postion with experienced players, but still tried to rotate him in when i could. Youth Intake Class of 2021 - Wingersj, which we badly need, including one very good looking one, and not bad depth across the intake for season 2. Really needed a good DC, but looks like nothing more than a middling prospect there YP02a - Koen Bicentini - Looks like the best CA youth in this save so far. Nice personality type and i think will go right in as a starter YP02b - Sander Schmidt - Another winger, not as good to start but also "ambitious" so hopefully will develop into something Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Sampedrense - 2022/23 Season Report Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2 - Transfers League This was a tough year. As you can tell from the fixtures screens, we blew very hot and cold, having some great spells and some where we just couldn't buy a win. We did play well, but our lack of quality is really starting to show as we often have three/four clear chances and don't score, whereas the opposition may well score from their only shot on target as our keeper is only 17... We needed two teams to be worse than us and we did manage that fairly comfortably with safety secured some 5 matches before the end of the season - we then went and pretty much lost out. The issue is now our reputation - our best players want to leave and without them, we will be absolutely stuffed as we're overachieving in any case. The good news is that I seem to have youth recruitment and youth coaching maxed out, so we can at least bring through good players, but it'd be really nice to hold onto some of them to avoid going back down again. Transfers Big news here. Luckily, I'd forgotten that I'd stuck an extension opton on Elton Abdul's contract, so I was able to pop that on to hike up the price for bidders. I had two objectives: get over £4m for him and hold onto him until the end of the season. Suitors were Milan, Liverpool, Tottenham, PSG and Arsenal. In the end, Milan made the best bid - £2.5m up front, £2.5m over 12 months and 25% of next sale. Bad news is that they've loaned him straight back to Braga, so the club legend (at 18 years old!) will be back to face us again. He kept us up in the end (winning European Golden Boy in the process), so this is all we could have asked for. In lesser news, I stupidly allowed a release clause of £110k to creep in for my starting left back, so off he went in January . Never tagged him, but he had developed really well and had a great determination stat that I'd been counting on for tutoring purposes. I don't really have a great replacement either, so this isn't good news. Youth Intake Forgot to screenshot, but this from a few days later should do. Clearly beneficial having maxed out Youth Recruitment and Youth Coaching as we get a couple of really good players, one in a proper position of need and the other a good complement to last year's star AM. Miguel Freixo (YP05a) - an awesome man mountain of a centre back, who will go straight into the first team. José Antonio (YP05b) - lots of decent stats in the right places and looks like he has potential to burn. Will also go straight into the first team. Spoiler # Takeover: We had a board takeover. Nothing special, not much in the way of new finances and sadly they cancelled our upgrade to the Youth Facilities... On the plus side, they did allow us to upgrade the Training Facilities, so that's something. He's also immediately helped me to block a transfer for Jorge Barros, so that's good, too. --- Aims for next season. Keep as many of the good players as we can. Our other striker (Jorge Barros) now wants to leave as well, but at least he backs down when I say he's better served by staying put. Stay in the division 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 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 Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armeniar Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Going to give this challenge a final attempt in what will (hopefully) be my last FM18 save. Up until now I always tried this in England, but want to expand my horizons now & chose Scotland. Extremely interesting, I was rather shocked to see the league system goes up to the 4th tier. Taking over Cove Rangers! Really have no clue what kind of competition to expect, but urging to find out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Sampedrense - 2023/24 Season Report Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2 - Transfers League Another year of ups and downs that finished nicely! We adapted to a 4-5-1 with Elton Abdul's absence leaving us just the one striker (Jorge Barros) and our worst run came when he was out for a month and a half. The defence feels a bit more solid than it did with a new centre back and a growing goalie, but we are so ridiculously far off the top six in this league. Benfica are a joke with the talent they have and the others can usually put four past us without breaking a sweat. We did manage a win over Porto in the Taca and over Braga and Pacos in the league, but we really have to be at our best to manage it. There are far more teams that we are capable of beating pretty handily, which is nice - I just feel we need continental qualification sooner rather than later to keep the players around. Cups This was a pleasant surprise! We drew good teams in the Taca de Portugal all the way to the Sixth Round, where Porto just eased past us. In the Taca de Liga, I actually holidayed the Porto game (only one team progresses from the group and it's at the time when I'm getting excited for Youth Intake day) and couldn't believe my assistant managed a win against their first XI! We did the rest well and took Pacos all the way before understandably losing on penalties. We literally have two players with more than 9 for penalty taking... Transfers This is definitely the most difficult part of the challenge currently - my reputation just won't rise quickly enough to get the youngsters to want to stay or believe that they can achieve whilst at the club. All of my major players are being hounded by the English clubs (plus Milan and PSG) who are offering peanuts. The worst part is that if I can get them to negotiate a contract, the agents have a red locked minimum release fee of something ludicrously low, like £40k. Currently, I'm having to load the youth contract with as many extensions as I can, but I'm not sure if it will really work in the long run. Oh, and the board tend to accept a silly low offer for my best players. Thankfully, protesting has always worked up to now (I decided to cash in on Elton Abdul). As things stand, I've had offers of £2m for striker Jorge Barros, £4m for our best player, midfielder Michael Rocha and £3m for keeper Paulo Santos, who I was actually able to re-sign to a decent contract with a £60m release clause. I'd be happy to cash in on him in a year though as I think we have a better keeper coming through. Youth Intake Another good year, if not exactly the positions I'd have chosen. Two clear first team prospects and one maybe with the rest just punts. Duarte Ferraz (YP06a) - A second really solid looking keeper prospect, but I think he's probably better than Santos, given that he's a) not utterly bonkers and b) has pretty similar stats already. Emanuel Leite (YP06b) - Really excited about this kid and I hope Barros sticks around long enough to partner him Ricardo Ferreira (YP06c) - Bit more of an outside shot, but I can see him developing as an inside forward. Love that he's two footed. Spoiler Takeover: We had another board takeover. All good so far, they are planning a new stadium and are blocking transfers out - hooray! --- Aims for next season. Somehow get the good players happy and re-signing Push towards continental spots... Eepa. 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 2022/23 | 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 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) Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 As a ridiculous extra, I have had one weird overperformer last year in my first ever tagged player, Joao Carneiro. He trains dreadfully, is barely competent, yet somehow managed 21 goals over the course of the season and an average rating of 7.10 (high for me!). He looks like this... Which, when you compare it to what Benfica have, is just a bit silly: --- Edit: also, good luck @Armeniar! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Youth Challenge - Achilles '29 Season 3 (2021/22) - Juliper League Final Table Past Positions Playoff Fixtures Transfers Season Summary After our poor season last year, we got off to a bad start this time and i was fearing the worst. However a well placed team meeting, a small tactical tweak and boom. We were flying along in the league. I have played in this division for 3 years and still cannot really work out how the playoffs work, but by midseason we had a message saying we had secured our playoff spot thanks to our finish in the first half! Ok.... probably a good thing, as we dropped off a bit after Jan, our best ST was out for 3 months which hit us hard. But we ended a bit stronger to finish 4th overall in the table. The playoffs were a bit exciting for my liking. Started with a promising 2 v 3 away win in the first leg of the semi. As for the second leg........well, my word. 7 v 4, including an insane 4 goals during first half injury time......what on earth!!! The final was also 2 legs and a 2 v 2 draw at home in the first leg left us looking probably second favourites. No matter, we saved our best for last in a great performance to win 2 v 3 away and secure PROMOTION Off the pitch things are really good. We completed our previous set of upgrades, got further YRN and JNR coaching upgrades accepted midseason and started on another set of training and youth facility upgrades. Youth Watch YP01a - Jeffrey Visser - Was first choice throughout, and respnded with a much improved goal tally. Only downside was injuries. Missed 3 months with a torn hamstring, made it back for the playoff semi's then missed the second leg of the final with another injury. Should form a lethal partnership with YP03a Though is the plan going forward......... YP01b - Lars Ten Berge - Got far more game time than last year, and the performances were good enough but not a huge amount of development happening. YP02a - Koen Bicentini - Our creative force. Started most of the season at LM and 19 assists was a great return. YP02b - Sander Schmidt - More of a rotation option, but did not disgrace himself when called upon. Also not overly developed but its easly days yet. Youth Intake Class of 2022 - Good Lord! I think we have our rented mule people.....obviously one big stand out. I had hoped for a good DC but the overall spread seems ok YP03a - Kevin Gorter - Well hello...........this could be the best prospect ive had in the early (ish) years of this challenge ever. Immediately rates as the best player at my club. Biggest issue will be holding on to him YP03b - Boyd Lelieveld - Far less eye catching, but we are in real need of a DC or two, he has a long way to go to be good enough for the top division though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Well this can't be good... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KUMB Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Is it usual to start this without a full squad of players? Taken over Hayes and Yeading (FM17) and they only have 14 players. I assume I don't use the grey players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 41 minutes ago, KUMB said: Is it usual to start this without a full squad of players? Taken over Hayes and Yeading (FM17) and they only have 14 players. I assume I don't use the grey players. You can use the grey players. It'll be because (like me) you didn't load players from the leagues below - check the first post for guidance. Either start over and do it again or just plow on until youth intake day. I had a very tough first season with only 11 players, but it was ok after that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KUMB Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 9 hours ago, b101 said: You can use the grey players. It'll be because (like me) you didn't load players from the leagues below - check the first post for guidance. Either start over and do it again or just plow on until youth intake day. I had a very tough first season with only 11 players, but it was ok after that Cheers. I think I loaded the league below but guess I’ll need to do more than just 1. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 28 minutes ago, KUMB said: Cheers. I think I loaded the league below but guess I’ll need to do more than just 1. Maybe depends on where you are. I totally forgot to do it but at least the game lets you have the grey players. Some of mine are still with me in the Portuguese Prem 6 seasons in because the game still hasn't given me a decent second centre back Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KUMB Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 32 minutes ago, b101 said: Maybe depends on where you are. I totally forgot to do it but at least the game lets you have the grey players. Some of mine are still with me in the Portuguese Prem 6 seasons in because the game still hasn't given me a decent second centre back How do the grey players work in terms of wages/contract? Do they just keep rolling over to the next year? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 1 minute ago, KUMB said: How do the grey players work in terms of wages/contract? Do they just keep rolling over to the next year? Sorry - had a stupid moment. I meant the random regens the game creates if your squad doesn't have enough real players. The grey players for me lasted until the first intake, then they all vanished. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KUMB Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Just now, b101 said: Sorry - had a stupid moment. I meant the random regens the game creates if your squad doesn't have enough real players. The grey players for me lasted until the first intake, then they all vanished. Ah - gotcha. I may just persevere with it then if it's only until the first intake. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Couple of steps forward, couple of steps back so far this season. The good is that we're up challenging for European football and were even in a distant second to Benfica at the start of January. The bad is that I couldn't stop my board from selling a couple of our best players and we will now almost certainly drop out of European contention, which may mean a couple more players leave... At least the board let me negotiate a couple of the transfers: Jorge Barros (board accepted over my head) to Watford for £11.5m. A good offer in fairness, but they did let some utterly stupid clauses in (50 games for them, 10 international appearances and we're paying £5k of his weekly wage until June, when we had him on an £800 p/week wage full time!). Our best player and we will find it hard to replace him as last intake's prospect Leite isn't really ready. Paulo Santos to Chelsea for £6m plus 40% of next transfer. This one was all me and I'm pretty happy with the deal. Way too eccentric for my liking and it does allow me to give my new keeper prospect more game time. --- My hope is that if I get the finances up (now at £18m balance), the board won't sell anyone else over my head for stupid bids. I have a really good CB and CM who I am desperate to keep if I can do - or at least get a lot of money for them rather than my board accepting £5m straightaway! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 What a Super Sunday! Just imagine... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asm08 Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I'm looking to start the youth challenge in England, by unplayable club at the start of the game I'm assuming a team like billericay town fc is acceptable to use? Also is there a rule about extending current player contracts or do you have to use purely youth intake players and realise current players as contracts expire? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 2 hours ago, Asm08 said: I'm looking to start the youth challenge in England, by unplayable club at the start of the game I'm assuming a team like billericay town fc is acceptable to use? Also is there a rule about extending current player contracts or do you have to use purely youth intake players and realise current players as contracts expire? All fine. Billericay is no problem and you can keep anyone in your starting squad as long as you like. Unless they leave, in which case you can't re-sign them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Sampedrense - 2024/25 Season Report Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2 - Transfers League Did not see this coming! With Elton Abdul leaving, we changed to a 4-1-2-2-1 and had a much better defensive record as a result. We were massive beneficiaries of Braga and Pacos falling way off the pace in the early stages of the season, whilst Porto were also really poor until late on. It was very much a season of two halves, pre and post January sales. In the early half of the season, we were definitely a one man team with Jorge Barros (YP03a) - albeit one in second place with him grabbing 20 goals in 18 games. Once he left, it was much more of a team performance, with youngster Emanuel Leite (YP06b) filling the void admirably up front with 16 goals in 22. Heading into the last game of the season, we were in fourth place, but with Guimaraes playing Porto away, we managed to sneak ahead into the third Champions League spot! (Qualifier permitting...) Cups Never a priority after the start to the season we had. Fifth round in the Taca before exiting to Benfica and made the group phase of the Taca da Liga. Transfers None, but a few major exits as mentioned previously, with Barros and Paulo Santos leaving for big money. Hopefully means we don't need to sell any of our better prospects! Main news was getting Michael Rocha to finally sign a contract extension - and it's still hardly expensive Youth Intake I think there must be something making me constantly get strikers... I'm going to do a bit of reading on these intakes and see what I come up with. Not a bad intake by any means, but not really what we needed. Still looking for that second centre back and two properly good wingers. Vitor Albino (YP07a) - I really need a good right back and I'm hoping he can turn lots of those 8s and 9s into 13s and 14s over time. Nelson Oliveira (YP07b) - That now makes four really good striker prospects since the start of this save, which is way more than I usually get! His base stat spread is good as well, so there's lots to be happy with! Spoiler Facilities: Yay! Well done to my board, too, for finding extra funding! --- Aims for next season. Try to make the CL group stages for money and reputation boosts! Qualify for Europe again - likely Europa League as the big sides won't have such a bad year again. Re-sign CB Freixo 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 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) Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KUMB Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 @b101 nice work! how do you manage to get through seasons so quickly!? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 9 minutes ago, KUMB said: @b101 nice work! how do you manage to get through seasons so quickly!? Thanks - I'm a teacher so on holiday for the moment and we're basically stuck at home as we're waiting on a baby to arrive! That and I have tended to have matches just on key highlights as I'm pretty comfortable with my tactic. Helps that Portugal is just a 34 game season as well and you can be done with the cups pretty quickly if you choose. When I start getting closer to completing the challenge, I'll start doing matches in more detail, but for the moment, it's more about grinding to get the youth players game time and keep moving the finances up. Oh, and I organise the friendlies (to make sure that we get as much money as possible), whilst the Assistant manages them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 On the one hand, woo hoo! And then reality strikes... At least we get £13m for playing in the groups - well worth it, even if only for one year! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 This is what FM is all about - had to pause after half time to put the Champions League theme song on in the background, which definitely inspired the turnaround. Awesome effort from the team to win one of our opening three games! Juve and PSG are far, far too good, but we could squeak 3rd place with some luck... I did a quick tally of the values of each starting XI plus subs for the group. Stands as follows: PSG: £889m Juve: £763m Hertha: £246m Sampedrense: £4.5m The fixture congestion for a squad like ours is utterly brutal though - I may have to rest an entire team against PSG and Juve and I dread to think how that will turn out... A game every 4 days for two months is just horrendous. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armeniar Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 Cove Rangers - 2018/19 (S1) - Ladbrokes League Two (4th tier): 1stPetrofac Training Cup - League Cup - William Hill CupTeam | Transfers Transfers: All the incoming transfers were arranged, I took over the 25th of June. During the January window, Sweeney (at the club with a non contract) forced a move to Dalbeattle Star. In December Burnett got injured for 3-5 months, since he only had a non-contract I initially wanted to keep him at the club but Dalbeattle Star made a move for him, so he was also transferred to them in the January Window. Youth prospect Dear was released, he didn't manage to get any games and just wasn't good enough. Season: I really didn't know what to expect, but my career at Cove started with a bang. The squad seemed decent to begin with, although we kinda lacked depth in some areas. But knowing this challenge that's not that big of a deal, I felt lucky being able to use some of my quality players. The pre-season made me worry about star player Megginson, he didn’t turn up for training, & wanted a move to a bigger club. Fortunately for us, I didn't want to hear a thing about it & he dropped his concern in November. We had a great start in the League and never really let our supporters down, I couldn't have hoped for more before the start of the season. For our championship, the most important win was imo against Albion Rovers in January, Megginson stood up and scored his first hattrick for the club. He’s the key player of the club and has experience in the Scottish Premiership, but his status doesn’t really add up to his overall appearances. He should play better, as he did in this game. Nevertheless he still ended up being our top goalscorer, so I shouldn't complain too much... What made Scotland real interesting to me, were the different cups. Due to the lack of financial resources and income, we would have had enormous worries if it wasn't for the cups. They are vital! Our balance in the beginning was 34K, and at the end of the season 57K. In the Petrofac Training Cup we did an excellent job and reached the Qtr Finals: Irish title holder Dundalk was our opponent, what a fixture! Youth Intake: Starting this challenge, you can't really have a bad intake since you're probably dying to get some more players to fill in some positions, but our first intake was actually quite good. I approached 6 players who all will immediately be in the first squad, since I don't even have a U20/U18 lol. Lewis O'Donnell - DL - Seems like the most gifted player of the first intake, this left back looks quite promising. It's a bit unfortunate that we already had three players able to play his position, but O'Donnell will definitely get his chance. Already played in 4 games as a starter and got an average rating of 7.05, this kid gives me hope! Chris Bruce - DC - I have high hopes for this one, Bruce could become a leading CB in the future. Thinking of making him first stand-in next year so he'll appear in lots of games. Martin Robertson - MC/R/L - Real useful prospect, can play in 3 of the positions of our tactic which makes him extra valuable to me. This temperamentel midfielder will for sure be an important aspect to the team next year, hoping he can develop quickly. Ryan Milne - ST - This 16yo became the clubs youngest goalscorer ever and scored twice in 4 games, he is the additional striker we desperately needed. He'll make sure the other strikers will stay focused and hopefully he'll also score one or two next year. Fraser Harvey - DM - Another much needed player, since we only had one defensive midfielder in our team. Don't think he's the most talented of the six, but could always surprise me. John Docherty - GK - Up until the intake we didn't have a back-up for our goalie, so Docherty comes in handy. Might play him in a couple cup games, but don't really like his starting attributes so we'll stick with Kinnear for now. I have no clue how good these guys really are since we're only a L2 club, hopefully they will be our future key players with some of them already having a real chance of becoming a starter next season. Overview Season League Position Petrofac Training Cup League Cup William Hill Cup Balance Achievements/Notes Top Scorer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2017/18 L2 1st Qtr Final Group stages (3rd) 3rd round 57K Masson POTY Megginson (21) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Biggest result I've ever had on any FM. Away at Juventus, massive underdogs and we go and pull off the impossible (and deserve it!). Leaves us third in the group, on the same points as Juventus with the last match us at home to PSG and Juve away at 4th placed Hertha. Could still get into the Europa League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andershs Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 @b101: Great results in the Champions League. Keep going @Armeniar: Well done on promotion in the first season. Scotland is a fun and challenging place for this challenge. A small update during the season. After 9 full season I managed to upgrade my Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment facilities to maximum level. This is an important and pivotal moment in time for this challenge. They are now Exceptional and Extensive respectively, and I can hardly wait for the new intake later in this tenth season. The intakes of the last two season have already been at a much higher level than previous, and has helped me to improve my general quality of my squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andershs Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Another small update. Another landmark in this challenge. We managed to obtain our first European point (in the UEFA Cup). A draw in a level match. This is a start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KUMB Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Accidental post! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 19 hours ago, andershs said: Another small update. Another landmark in this challenge. We managed to obtain our first European point (in the UEFA Cup). A draw in a level match. This is a start. Good result and performance against a much bigger side! Nice to see a Youth Product get the goal as well As an update, we are out of the CL - finished third which is a huge result - and went into the Europa. Favourable draw saw us face Anderlecht, who we beat and I've just won the first leg against Gladbach at home 2-1. Not sure that will be enough, but I'm proud of how we've done in any case. Good news is that there are 5 Portuguese sides still in the Europa (Us, Porto, Sporting, Braga and Guimaraes) and Benfica are likely about to exit the CL to Juventus, so the league is on the rise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Youth Challenge - Achilles '29 Season 4 (2022/23) - Eredivisie -14th Place Final Table Past Positions Cup Fixtures Transfers Season Summary Our first season in the top division got off to a rough start, with 5 nil and 7 nil shellackings in games 2 and 3 and we looked out of our depth. A well placed team meeting though, and a decision to stick to out attacking approach, started to pay off as we started to pick up wins against the lower half teams and make our way out of trouble. We got as high as 11th, and could have finished in that spot if we had not lost our last 3 league games, stil easily safe thought which was all we ever wanted. The other teams have massively better quality, but our strikers basically fired us to safety. We also managed that rare beast in the youth challenge of an actual Cup run! Although we did not need to beat many great teams, suddenly we found ourselfs all the way to a cup final. Unfortunately, despite a valient effort, PSV were just too good for us in the final We continue to make good strides off the pitch, keeping up our record of improving YRN and JNR coaching every single season and also securing a further upgrade to our Youth Facilities. Finally the board decided to splurge on upgrading our stadium from 4,500 to 7,350. Finances took a slight hit and the youth costs are now stopping us from making a profit, but our cup run did net us over £1.5m which was nice Youth Watch YP01a - Jeffrey Visser - An incredible season, 31 goals and only 2 shy of being the top scorer in the entire division! He really stepped it up a level this season and as a result Ajax and other clubs of that level have been bidding all year for him. Fortunately the board have supported me in rejecting the lowball bids but only a matter of time probably before he goes. YP01b - Lars Ten Berge - Took over as one of our first choice CM's and just about held his own. Couple of injuries and a red card cost him game time but he has also started to develop a bit YP02a - Koen Bicentini - Remains our first choice LM and again was a key creator for us with plenty assists. Also has bigger clubs bidding on him regularly. Not quite as big as those after YP01a but clubs bigger than me so a threat i lose him YP02b - Sander Schmidt - Started to get more of the lions share of game time at RM, but looked a bit over matched at this level really. Also failed to unlearn the mega annoying "shoots from distance" PPM. Next year probably make or break for him YP03a - Kevin Gorter - Our young superstar did not disapoint, despite being outscored by Visser overall. He was also a creative force, generating more assist than any player in Eredivisie which is a great achievement in his first season! YP03b - Boyd Lelieveld - No where near good enough for this division at the moment, but a lack of any decent DC's and injuries meant i had to throw him in for quite a chunk of first team action. Unsurprsingly, he was very poor Youth Intake Class of 2023 - Less eye catching than last year, and 2 right wingers at the top was not exactly what we need but couple of other potential useful pieces. YP04a - Jovi Huiskamp - Looks to have pretty good starting attributes, and i am seriously considering retraining him to play DC due to our horrific other options back there YP03b - Edwin Dijkman - Another striker, but i suspect i might lose one of YP01a or YP03a in the near future, this guy has some speed and can finish already, so hopefully with a year of development he could step up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Some nice players there @Jambo98 - Gorter is class and I like the look of your LM Bicentini as well. Solid first season - how tough are Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord for you at the moment? @Armeniar - good start for you there and hope it continues! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 3 minutes ago, b101 said: Some nice players there @Jambo98 - Gorter is class and I like the look of your LM Bicentini as well. Solid first season - how tough are Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord for you at the moment? @Armeniar - good start for you there and hope it continues! Yeah this summer i am constantly rejecting bids from clubs like Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal and even PSG For Bicentini Gonna lose him in the next window or two for sure. I generally get beaten by 4 goals at least by the big 3 teams still My keeper and defenders are my weakest points, so i figure absolutely no point in even trying to be defensive against them which probably adds to my woes..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Sampedrense - 2025/26 Season Report Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2 - Fixtures 3 - Transfers League So we finally beat Benfica and finished above them thanks to Nacional da Madeira taking a point off them on the last day. Sadly, this year it was Porto's turn to be immense and we were never close to them. To be honest, it was still a great season given that we have no real squad depth still and we were fighting on four fronts for a long time. Striker Emanuel Leite picked up where he left off and was the top scorer and average rating winner in the league, whilst the defence is getting better. I'd still say we are a long way off the better sides in the league, struggling against the big four (Porto, Benfica, Guimaraes and Sporting) away from home, but we manage well against the weaker sides and can pick those four sides off at home as well. Cups Sixth round in the Taca before we exited to Benfica despite being 1-0 up with 8 minutes to go. I hate them. In the Taca da Liga, I really tried to rotate the squad, but we somehow won our group in spite of wholesale changes. We then beat Guimaraes to face Sporting in the final. We were 3-2 up, but conceded a penalty in the last minute, before losing in the shootout. Gutting. Europe We played really well throughout, first beating Shakhtar and Club Brugge to reach the group stages and then holding our own once we did, beating Hertha (H), Juventus (A) and holding eventual winners PSG to a 2-2 draw at home as well. We then went into the Europa League and saw off Anderlecht before exiting to Gladbach on away goals in a tie we definitely could have won. A bit frustrating, but a great adventure for us, all told. Transfers None and no exits this year, although we may have one this summer if Freixo refuses to sign a new contract. Youth Intake Another striker and a decent looking midfielder, as well as a few players who could be backup prospects. Rodrigo Santos (YP08a) - a nice looking striker, who I will be trying to convert to an inside forward given his lovely PPMs. Marcos Alexandre (YP08b) - I love the mental stats but there's lots of work to do on the technical side. Should get a good bit of game time this year, as this is a position of need. Best players: Just because it's nice to screenshot them and track where my best players are (as well as comparing them to when they came in). I'd say I have 5 key players at the moment, with everyone else just a bit 'meh' - the others do a job, but it's these five that are the reason that we are where we are currently. Michael Rocha - CM Just an outstanding talent, who actually sees his future at the club . He's our leading centre midfielder by a mile and gets involved all over the place. Great for persuading other players to stay as well! Emanuel Leite - ST One of the reasons why I was ok with selling Jorge Barros last season, Leite has stepped up and offers more to the team. He isn't the dominating goalscorer that Barros was, but he has loads of room left to grow as well and has a long contract left. Michael Freixo - CB I'm worried that we might lose him for nothing, but he's just a monster at the back. Problem is, he won't entertain signing a new contract... We also don't have any other star centre backs coming through. Hmm... Jose Antonio - DM Not a world-beater, but a really solid, dependable player who has developed really nicely in the last few years. Also sees his future at the club in spite of lots of interest from elsewhere. Duarte Ferraz - GK When we sold Paulo Santos to Chelsea (he literally hasn't played since leaving us), it's because this guy was waiting in the wings. He was injured for the last month of the season with a broken arm, so I'm hoping he comes back the same as he was! Spoiler Facilities: No changes really - more work going in to the Training and Youth facilities and the stadium should be built for the end of next season. --- Aims for next season. Keep earning money Either cash in on Freixo or sign him to a new deal. Time very much running out here, but I'd rather hold onto him for a year than lose him for under £10m. 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 (14) | Michael Rocha (YP04a) (7.39)| Taca da Liga runners up 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) Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 And just a short while later: Didn't feel I could lose him for nothing and that 40% of next sale could come in handy one day. Now to unearth another CB from somewhere... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Ugh, in the same transfer window...... Then Got loads of cash now but not much need. Upgrades have been flowing anyway, and means im going to struggle badly this year i fear. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 11 hours ago, Jambo98 said: Ugh, in the same transfer window...... Then Got loads of cash now but not much need. Upgrades have been flowing anyway, and means im going to struggle badly this year i fear. I feel your pain. Board accepted or you? If it helps, once I got over £20m in the bank, the board stopped accepting transfers on my behalf and have backed down every time I protested a transfer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 1 minute ago, b101 said: I feel your pain. Board accepted or you? If it helps, once I got over £20m in the bank, the board stopped accepting transfers on my behalf and have backed down every time I protested a transfer. Board accepted both. The Bicentini one was pretty dumb as they originally accepted £2.3m, i protested it and they agreed with me and cancelled the sale. Then they let me reject bids up to about £6m, before randomly then accepting £4.2m No sell on fee etc or anything. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 21 minutes ago, Jambo98 said: Board accepted both. The Bicentini one was pretty dumb as they originally accepted £2.3m, i protested it and they agreed with me and cancelled the sale. Then they let me reject bids up to about £6m, before randomly then accepting £4.2m No sell on fee etc or anything. Always irritating. They did similar with one of mine who went to Watford. Admittedly for a decent fee, but they negotiated that we would pay £4,600 of his wages per week for two years. At the time, our total squad wage was £5,000. Just doesn't make sense sometimes. It's a long term save and I'm sure you'll get a few more replacements through Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Youth Challenge - Achilles '29 Season 5(2023/24) - Eredivisie -14th Place Final Table Past Positions Transfers Season Summary After the loss of 2 key men before the season, i was always feeling a bit worried about our chances. We lost our top scorer, and top assister, not easy to absorb when you already have the worst squad in the league. We got off to a bad start, hindered by some brutal fixtures to start, but managed to pick things up to get out of the bottom 3. Similar theme to last season, but this time we were not able to fully pull clear of the relegation fight. We stayed out of the bottom 3 for most of the second half, but were at threat until 2 games before the end. Ultimately survival was all we aimed for and we made it Cup this time was a first round shambles So no extra cash Off the pitch, we are in a great financial place with the player sales, and we have maxed out YRN and JRN coaching and are constantly upgrading Training and Youth facilities each season which should stand us in good stead. Youth Watch YP01a - Jeffrey Visser - Sold to AC Milan for £6m at start of season 5 YP01b - Lars Ten Berge - Has grown into a stalwart in our midfield and upped his performances a bit this year, with his development also seeming to increase at a good pace YP02a - Koen Bicentini - Sold to Man City for £4.2m at start of season 5 YP02b - Sander Schmidt - Took over as our first choice RM this year, and with Bicentini leaving he also picked up as a big source of assists which was a relief. Becoming a key piece for us YP03a - Kevin Gorter - Our main man, and leading scorer now. The biggest of big clubs are bidding on him, but fortunately he is signed up for a few more years but at some point the board might just accept a bid YP03b - Boyd Lelieveld - Was relegated almost totally to the B team this year, as not really good enough yet. Has been jumped by YP04a on the depth chart as well YP04a - Jovi Huiskamp - Ended up being promoted to the first team mid season to step in at DC, after some retraining, as we are so poor .He did ok and might well be a fixture there for another few years YP04b - Edwin Dijkman - Rotated in as a regular starter at ST after the sale of YP01a and he is off to a good start. Hopefully cant absorb the loss of Visser longer term Youth Intake Class of 2024 - Our top notch YRN and JNR coaching having a nice effect, one really good looking prospect at a position I am not strong in and a good bit of depth in other areas YP05a - Willem de Man - Already our best LB so will jump right in and looks like he could be a good top division talent YP05b - Grant Fuller - A keeper and also our first English regen so worth tagging just for that! Looks like has some potential Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Love the star ratings on that intake @Jambo98! Good season given the losses of those players and the bank balance is looking better for it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Can't say I've seen the news item before: Serves me right for resting just about everyone... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Safe to say that Benfica's new striker they bought in January has started well... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Two quick questions regarding youth intakes: Does anyone else get loads of good keeper prospects? I've just had another stunner come through, which makes 5x five star prospects and a four star prospect in the last seven years. Add that to the fact that my number one is pretty damn good (4* CA) and it feels a bit odd. I've also had literally every intake I've ever had labelled as a golden generation, even when they're a bit average like this one. Surely wrong? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpS_Zen Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 il y a 4 minutes, b101 a dit : Two quick questions regarding youth intakes: Does anyone else get loads of good keeper prospects? I've just had another stunner come through, which makes 5x five star prospects and a four star prospect in the last seven years. Add that to the fact that my number one is pretty damn good (4* CA) and it feels a bit odd. I've also had literally every intake I've ever had labelled as a golden generation, even when they're a bit average like this one. Surely wrong? There are a lot of bugs and non sense on this fm...thats why i started this challenge. I have a similar thing with GK, i guess it depends on the quality of your staff. Yeah same thing for the golden generation, may be it means the avg potential of the youth intake is the higher ever on the club. Or something like that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 5 minutes ago, SpS_Zen said: There are a lot of bugs and non sense on this fm...thats why i started this challenge. I have a similar thing with GK, i guess it depends on the quality of your staff. Yeah same thing for the golden generation, may be it means the avg potential of the youth intake is the higher ever on the club. Or something like that. Could well be - I wonder whether the GK thing is to do with having four GK coaches on the youth team. Then again, it's just one U19 GK coach and the other three are main coaches, so I'm not sure there. The golden generation thing would make sense as my club reputation should have been going up constantly. Maybe it'll sort itself out once we stabilise. Glad to know I'm not the only one who has been seeing this! --- As I write this, we've just had the second best performance of the save (after that Juve away win), destroying Sporting at home: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andershs Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Intake Day and just got this beast. Say hello to Pat Warwick: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andershs Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Ards Rangers (N. Ireland) Season 10 - 2027/28 Champions for a fifth time in a row. Intake Facilities upgraded to maximum level. Reached the Europa League group stages again. All in all another fantastic season. League (Results 1 | Results 2 | Cups | Europe) - Champions again. Fantastic. In terms of player quality, we are still not close to the other top teams in the division such as Linfield, Crusaders, Cliftonville and in particular Ballymena Utd, but we are the most consistent team. But we still only manage to scrape a draw in most encounters with the top teams. We always have a very hard time against Ballymena Utd. In Europe, we managed to earn our first european point in the Europa League group stages with a level draw** against Maccabi Haifa. Perhaps that is a sign of things to come? Team - After the last years intake upgrades, our player quality is rapidly increasing, but we are still a good way below the other top teams. Stephen Reid was our top scorer and turned out to be as good as hoped. In midfield Jordan O'Neill was the biggest surprise, and developed rapidly. Finally, Gareth Hassan looks like our new rock in defence. We are at a crossroad now, where the players from the intakes of the first years, who should be the backbone of the team, are only half the players of the new intakees, which means, that they are overtaken by 15, 16 and 17 year olds. This is sad and nice at the same time. But it means, that I will probably make a complete overhaul of all our players before the next season across all squads and thin out our bloated player list. Facilities - This tenth season we finally managed to upgrade our intake facilities to the maximum level. Fantastic. And it soon after yielded a beast of a striker. In time, this will mean, that we slowly will close the quality gap to the other teams in the division. Moreover, the board invested £2.7 million in new Training Facility upgrades at the end of the season. Finances - The Training Facility upgrades at the end of the season meant, that the prize money from Europe are more or less gone. I am a bit worried, that the increased cost to intakes and particularly staff wages will mean, that we are dependant of a yearly Europe run to break even. We are far from at a point where we can expect this. But still healthy finances. Youth Intake - Fantastic intake. We got a beast of a striker in Pat Warwick. Moreover, Colin O'Hare and Curtis McDowell look promising, and we got our first foreigner in José María López. ¡Bienvenidos! Finally, no transfers. Goal: Keep winning, while decreasing the number of players and staff to optimise finances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Finally broken Benfica and Porto's streak - more in the end of season review, but what a way to do it, with three games left to play as well! Now to hope that this encourages a few players to stick around. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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