FM18 Youth Academy Challenge

[XaW]

XaW - MFK Dubnica - 2019/20

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Close to playoff last season, I was hoping for more this year. However, we suddenly found issues with getting goals. Our striker had scored for fun last season, but fell well short this season. This caused us to draw a lot more matches than last year and I also tinkered a bit with the tactics, but in the end I settled on the same I used last season. Zemplín Michalovce ran away quite early, but faltered a bit towards the end and let the other teams come closer, but not so much that their victory was ever in question. Sereď was the closest, but Haniska and ourselves were trailing not far behind while Partizán Bardejov was at our heels. In the end we finished in a respectable 4th after winning 5 of our last 6 games. Lower than last season, but the team feels better already. We are lacking some more depth in the attacking roles as well as right back, so I'm hoping for some talent there the next couple of seasons.

In the Slovenský Pohár we beat Sväty Jur before losing to Lokomotíva Košice in the 2nd round.

We are losing money like there's no tomorrow so no improvements are even possible. I can see how this can continue unless we get promoted soon.

A very good youth intake this season with a lot of talented players. The best ones are Pavol Hrncar 20a, already the best goalkeeper in the club, and Adam Kozak 20b, whom I'm training to play as a playmaker in the left wing to suit my tactic better.

[dkouv]

ASM Belfort youth challenge
 

Season 4 – 2022/23– Domino’s Ligue 2

TLDR: A great start to the season, but ended on a bit of a damp squib with a first-round playoff defeat

League: We played great up to around January, and sat in 2^nd, the automatic promotion spot. Then something happened - I am guessing some kind of combination of the 18.3 update, and our rep being revised up - and the results tailed off. I managed to sneak into the play-offs in 4^th, but lost in the first round to close neighbours Strasbourg, who came back from a goal down to score a 92^nd minute winner. Even though we did well this season, I don’t like our style of play at the moment, and it seems way too easy for teams to mount comebacks against us, so maybe a tactical reshuffle is due next season.

Cups: went through to the last 16 in Coupe de la Ligue, until the winter break / 18.3 update slump in form. Lost to Monaco in the French Cup 10^th round.

Star players: Strikers again, but this time another youngster Antoine Martins (AML/ST) ran the show with 23 goals and 19 assists in 34(1) apps. He assisted many but couldn’t buy a goal last season, so this is a welcome development. His strike partners Fode Guirassy and Rodrigue Aguene were not far behind, with 45 goals and 23 assists between them. Youngster Georges Schmitt 21d (DR/WBR) had a very solid season once he broke into the team at right back.

Youth watch: John Jacquet (GK) has cemented his place in goal, and Telmo Silva 21g (DC/DL) is pushing for a starting spot at center back. I ended up starting the season with almost no midfielders (see “Transfers”), so Djamel Abdellaoui 21e (DMC/MC) ended up getting lots of game time, and is developing into a decent player.

Youth intake | Christian Etoundi 23a | Maxime Martins 23b | Khadim Mane 23c. The intake screenshots got lost, so I took shots of the top prospects retrospectively. To sum it up, these are touted as another “golden generation”, but I am not too thrilled because the top prospects are two right wingers and a goalie, and I play without wingers, and already have two good young keepers. Looking at their attribute spread, these wingers will be hard to retrain into either strikers or wingbacks, so again, a tactical reshuffle may be due at some point.

Transfers: The year of our first big exits, with my board accepting two large offers over my head. A top prospect who was a first-team regular at 16, Toufik Salah 21a (MC/AMC), and a bright spark from the last intake Frederic Pruvost 22d (AMR/ST) have both gone to Nice for a combined fee going up to 1.9m with clauses. I didn’t mind Pruvost leaving, but Salah’s departure has really hurt me because two of my first-team center mids got injured at the same time, so I had to play some super unpolished youths there for the first few months of the season. Still, it didn’t hurt my form much and those youths developed, so maybe it’s for the best.

Facilities: I’m reaching the limit of what I can support in terms of coaching + recruitment, so just upgraded recruitment once again. A pricey training facility upgrade is done, and I just about managed to fund another training + a youth facility upgrade for next season.

Finances: We’re still earning a bit more than we’re spending, but not by as much as last season, with around £300k in the bank after the upgrades.

Next season’s aim: Another shot at the play-offs seems like the most realistic aim (and I hope it’s not the relegation playoff!)

Season  |  League   | Pos. |   Cup   |     CL      |     EL      |     Top scorer          |  Top assists         |    Top rating           | Notes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19 |  National |  4   |   R9    |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Guirassy (24)        |  Honore (18)         |    Guirassy (7.6)       |  1 point off the play-offs
2019/20 |  National |  1   |   R9    |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Valade (24)          |  David (13)          |    David (7.6)          |  Promotion!
2020/21 |  Ligue 2  |  8   |   R10   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    David (24)           |  David (15)          |    David (7.6)          |  2 points off the play-offs
2021/22 |  Ligue 2  |  4   |   R10   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Aguene (24)          |  Guirassy (18)       |    Aguene (7.7)         |  Lost in playoffs R1
	
Season  |  Finances |  Coaching    |  Recruitment    | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19 |   £450k   |  Average     |  Fairly Basic   |  Basic         |  Poor           |  5500
2019/20 |   £45k    |  Adequte     |  Average        |  Below average |  Basic          |  5500
2020/21 |   £1.2m   |  Good        |  Above Average  |  Adequate      |  Basic          |  5500
2021/22 |   £300k   |  Good        |  Established    |  Average       |  Basic          |  5500
	

 

 

[XaW]

Damn glass ankles on this kid.

[Sanno11]

East Kilbride F.C.

Season 12 2029/2030

First Team Squad | Finances | Transfers

Season Review

Cups - (Results) - We stumbled in the group stage of the Betfred cup, we looked comfortable and then Championship side Inverness spoiled the party. The board were not too impressed by this. A couple of easy games got us through to the quarter finals of the Scottish cup. We played Dundee Utd, our close league rivals and missed a lot of chances in a game that finished 3-3. The replay was during a busy week, so I fielded a weaker team and we were easily beaten.

League (Final Table |  Results 1 | Results 2) - This is the season we finally held our own. We began as well as I could hope with wins against teams I would class as equal to us and losses to the big fish. A couple of poor results against Ross County and Falkirk were worrying but we soon put it behind us. We managed to string together 4 wins in a row and they didn't feel like flukes, the 7-1 away win against St Johnstone was fantastic. We lost to Rangers in a tight game and then bounced back to win the next two. This kind of pattern was the best we could hope for and to my surprise we managed to keep it up for the whole season. As the season got to business end it narrowed down into the final battle for who could finish in the top 5, there was already a good gap to 6th place so our position in the championship group when the split happened was secured comfortably. The big 3 teams had a good lead, so that left us, Dundee Utd and Hibernian. We were in 5th place and 1 point ahaead of Dundee. We managed to beat them at home and then go on to beat Hearts at home, which was a huge result and guaranteed 5th place. We had done enough and so I rested everyone for the final game against Rangers (only 2 days after Hearts game). Rangers did not water anytime making us look rubbish but who cares.

Now to add some context, due to Scotland's rise up the reputation table (8th this year), we now have 5 teams qualifying for Europe. It does depend who wins the Scottish cup, but as Hearts went on to achieve this honour it meant 5th place would enter the EURO Cup in the 3rd qualifying round next season.

On paper this is a huge jump in performance from last season and I didn't change any aspect of our formation. What did change was the quality within the squad, these players were just developing last year but this season were key players. Here are the few that made all the difference:

Matt Houston (YP10d) Developed incredibly well and despite his poor jumping was a great centre back to use against pacey strikers.

Alan Foy (YP10b) Re-trained into a right back and made that position his own. Continued to developed well and now we are finally a little more secure on the flanks.

Jordan Mackay (YP10c) The star of the show, consistently dug us out of trouble by creating great chances. He chipped in with some brilliant goals to. We lost Dylan Waddell in the January transfer window and Jordan just excelled without him. Assist record for a season   Young player of the season

 

Youth Intake

Another really pleasing intake with 4 players that have a great chance of making the first team. Lee Roy looks like he could be a great player.

Lee Roy (YP12a) A natural defensive midfielder with great physical stats, he will be trained as both a midfielder and centre back as we need cover for both.

Andy Lindsay (YP12b) A decent looking winger and will get into the first team as soon as possible as a back up.  He is being re-trained as a right winger as well

Iain Alexander (YP12c) Another good winger, he lacks mental attributes but has enough technical and physical ability that he will be given a chance.

 

Transfers, Finance and Facilities

One of the most disappointing things over the last season was how poor Dylan Waddell (YP09b) performed. He was never consistent, he never contributed much and I gave him plenty of chances. With his contract running out in 6 months and him refusing to discuss a new one I took a chance and sold him. As the review above suggests, we didn't miss him. Following the season lots of interest is being shown in Houston and Mackay (Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal etc.). I have appeased them so far but it doesn't bode well.

We received 2.4 million for our 5th placed finish and got a training facility upgrade accepted. We have another stadium expansion scheduled and we will be sharing with Kilmarnock for 7 months whilst it happens. I have begun the final coaching badge. With Europe on the agenda next season I hope I can reach the group stage and then our finances should be secure for a while. It really depends on keeping hold of the talent.

[Ross Ingersoll]

Have a question before i start as im looking to try something new .  the players you start with, are you allowed to resign them when contract is up or no?

[Sanno11]

@Ross Ingersoll Yes you can keep offering new contracts to the players you start with, I usually have one or two original players stay for 10+ years. If they leave your club you just cannot re-sign them.

[Ross Ingersoll]

2 minutes ago, Sanno11 said:

@Ross Ingersoll Yes you can keep offering new contracts to the players you start with, I usually have one or two original players stay for 10+ years. If they leave your club you just cannot re-sign them.

good deal, thank you.

[Ross Ingersoll]

My Manager- http://prntscr.com/io709s

TSV Alemannia Aachen- http://prntscr.com/io710j

Will give a detailed post after first season. I do have one thing to say, For some reason i have four regens already at the start, Might be because i added the lower leagues in advanced database settings. just wanted to let it be known.

 

 

[XaW]

Good luck in Germany, @Ross Ingersoll! I would have given Germany a go, but because of the that no under 17s rule, I can't be bothered to wait several years for the youngsters to be old enough to play!

[Ice Ice Gravy]

OFK Belgrade – 2024/25

League (2nd) – Excellent performance to qualify for the Champions League. We’ve started to blow teams away now and scored 94 goals along the way. If we can tighten up against the big boys we have a chance to topple Partizan in the next few years.

Fixtures 1

Fixtures 2

Fixtures 3

EURO Cup – Incredibly proud of what we achieved. We cruised through the qualifiers against Braga and PAOK, and then failed to make the knockout stage by one point in what was a very tough group.

We managed a famous win away at Porto, but our losses against Everton cost us. We should have had a draw at home, but the game at Goodison still niggles at me. At half time we’d scored two goals, and they’d lost Ross Barkley through injury and had Tom Davies sent off. In the second half we conceded three penalties…

Serbian Cup – Second round. After making it to the final for the last three years it was actually a bit of a relief to go out early, so we could then concentrate on the league.

Squad – We’re getting better and better and are now a very good team in this league playing some really good possession based football. As always key mentions as follows:

Bogdan Radojkovic – Top goalscorer (29). Yet again he finished as the top scorer in the league. I can’t believe I doubted his pedigree when I first took over.

Marko Jovanovic 2b – Most assists (19) and joint most MoM awards (8). He retained his Young Player of the Season award and was even voted Super League Managers’ Player of the Season.

Vasilije Djuric – Absolute superstar. My very own Steven Gerrard. Highest average rating (7.49) and joint most MoM awards (8).

Transfers – Next to no activity. Partizan finally sold Nemanja Sucurovic 1a to Atletico Madrid for peanuts considering he was £15m at the time, so finally got my sell on clause. More importantly though Partizan lost the best player in the league.

Youth Intake – Wow. Overall a decent intake but Mirko Zivkovic 7a is the best youngster I‘ve seen come through in my time at OFK. He’s already as good as Zoran Perisic 0b who’s one of the best defenders in the league anyway. Hopefully our defence will see improvements from now on.

Other – The board granted me improvements in our youth facilities and data analysis facilities so we keep on keeping on. Our u19s won their league again for the third time in four years. I also finished third in the Manager of the Season award.

Next Season – Hopefully we can qualify for the group stages of the Champions League, but appreciate it’ll be tough to do. If not I’ll take another strong group performance in the EURO Cup.

Domestically I expect, rather than mere hope, that we’ll cement our place as one of the top three teams in Serbia. It’s still hard to fathom that we had the players who were top scorer, highest average rating, and most assists in the league, along with several players in the team of the year…. And still didn’t win the league. Such is Partizan’s dominance.

Partizan are still head and shoulders above us, but despite what the league table shows, from our performances against them and Red Star they are both definitely getting weaker. They’ve both had a lot of transfer activity over the last 18 months and I feel are poorer for it, whereas we keep improving. Let’s wait and see.

 

SEASON-BY-SEASON PROGRESS

Season    League         Pos     Europe                Serbian Cup     Notes & Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19   First League   12th	 N/A		       1st Round       Avoided relegation on final day of season
2019/20   First League   9th     N/A                   1st Round 
2020/21   First League   2nd     N/A                   1st Round       Promoted as RU. Manager of the Year RU
2021/22   Super League   4th     N/A                   Winner          Qualified for the EURO Cup
2022/23   Super League   6th     EURO Cup 4th qual.    Runner up
2023/24   Super League   4th     N/A                   Runner up       FA Manager of the Season, Manager of the Season
2024/25   Super League   2nd     EURO Cup group stage  2nd Round       Third place in Manager of the Season


OFF-FIELD PROGRESS

Season   Finances  Balance Sheet  Reputation  Av. Att  Capacity  Stadium  Pitch      Corporate  Train Facs.  Data Analysis  Youth Facs.  Jnr Coaching  Youth Rec.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19  Okay       (£106k)       National       440   10,600    Average  Perfect    Adequate   Average      N/A            Good         Adequate      Above average
2019/20  Okay         £57k        National       416   10,600    Average  Very good  Adequate   Average      N/A            Good         Adequate      Above average
2020/21  Okay        (£26k)       National       778   10,600    Average  Very good  Adequate   Average      N/A            Good         Adequate      Established
2021/22	 Okay        £777k        National     2,543   10,600    Average  Very good  Adequate   Average      N/A            Good         Adequate      Well established
2022/23  Okay      £1,128k        National     3,355   10,600    Average  Perfect    Adequate   Good         Poor           Good         Good          Well established
2023/24  Okay        £568k        National     4,694   14,850    Good     Very good  Adequate   Good         Poor           Good         Exceptional   Extensive
2024/25	 Okay      £3,808k        National     5,325   14,850    Good     Very good  Adequate   Good         Poor           Good         Exceptional   Extensive

 

[eliseo]

I want to give this a try. Actually I have a save that I am really happy with, but I like this one as an alternative, though I know the challenge is pretty long. So, Argentinian manager Eliseo Avramides has been appointed for Stalybridge.

[XaW]

On 6.3.2018 at 19:30, XaW said:

Damn glass ankles on this kid.

I think his ankles are getting worse...

 

 

[XaW]

XaW - MFK Dubnica - 2020/21

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

With two good seasons where we have been fighting in the top of the table, I had hopes we could fight for it once again. The board felt the same and expected a minimum of playoff this season, and to help me accomplish it they slashed my wage budget in half. Luckily, this is a youth save, so I only used half of it anyway. The season started good as we got away from the pack along with Haniska. Going into the winter break we were a bit of the rest with Haniska just ahead of us. In the latter part of the season we continued to play well and won a lot while Haniska had some issues and dropped some points. With a few games left we clinched the title, Haniska struggled so much that they lost the playoff spot to Artmedia Petržalka after the last match. It's going to be exciting to see how hard the top tier is next season.

In the Slovenský Pohár we beat Banova before losing to MŠK Žilina in the 2nd round.

We are still losing a ton of money, but the board injected around half a million "to keep us afloat". Though it helps, the finances are still deep in the red so no new improvements.

A pretty good youth intake this season. The best ones are Martin Lukac 21a, a very talented striker who will be part of the main squad next season, and my young fellow Norwegian winger Sindre Ommundsen 21b. I'm thinking of turning him into a right back since I don't have any good players there. He is lacking in positioning and marking, but if I god those up a bit I think he might be a good player for us.

[Sanno11]

Great season @XaW it is incredible you only conceded 12 goals! Good luck next season.

[XaW]

6 minutes ago, Sanno11 said:

Great season @XaW it is incredible you only conceded 12 goals! Good luck next season.

Yeah, I'm using a variant of my Liverpool tactic, and it seems quite good at least defensively.

The above image is roughly how I start most matches, but I do make changes depending on the opposition. It's very solid defensively, but sometimes it fails to break down very defensive teams, and it's also not very good when going down first with a short while to go. With better players I'll probably change the striker back into a Complete Forward, and maybe changing the two central midfielders into something even better. 

[charlo116]

I've been reading through a bit of this thread and thought I'd give it a go myself.

Added a manager in Switzerland, reset date is the 20th of June.

I've taken over SC Cham, I'll post a shot of the facilities later but it looks like it will be pretty tough, especially as I might be relying on lots of greyed out players to begin with.

[XaW]

XaW - MFK Dubnica - 2021/22

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

After the great promotion last season we finally got to try ourselves against the best Slovakia have to offer. We had only played them in a couple of cup matches, so I was very unsure if it was a very tough league, or quite similar to the second tier. It started quite good and we settled in mid-table early on. Going into the winter break we were quite comfortably 6th with good room down to 7th. The deal with the Slovakian league is that after everyone have played each other twice the league splits into two. Since we were in 6th place we were in the top bracket and faced the other 5 best teams two more times. Of course, here we had a rather tough time and didn't win many matches. We did do better than MFK Ružomberok who lost all 10 matches after the split. This lead to us climbing above them and finish in a very good 5th place. I'm very happy with the season, but we are quite a bit off challenging the likes of Slovan Bratislava and AS Trenčin.

In the Slovenský Pohár we beat FK Čaňa, AFC Nové Mesto, FK Senica, MFK Skalica and MFK Ružomberok to get to the final. Here we managed to beat Spartak Trnava 1-0. We did have a rather easy way to the final, and only faced two top tier teams throughout the  cup run. This means we are going into Europe next season!

We are still losing a ton of money and the board injected another half a million to keep us out of administration. Hopefully our stint in Europe next season will help out with the finances. As well with improved attendances with improved reputation. Hopefully we will stop losing as much money and in time maybe make some?

A very good youth intake this season with several players who have a chance at a decent career. I'm expecting a lot of the original players to leave in the summer and I need quite a lot of youngsters to come in a backup and rotation next season.

[XaW]

I also lost my best player. Not happy about that, but he wanted to go to a bigger club and thus refused a new contract.

[Sanno11]

That's a horrible way to lose your best player, I think it is always worth the risk to keep them and hope they change their mind. Let's hope you don't miss him too much.

I going to upload the screenshot below, as I am still amazed at what we are achieving. I know to complete this challenge will take more than this but for our first attempt in Europe we are having a really good time.

[Ross Ingersoll]

I was fired so starting over, just trying to decide what nation to go to, leaning towards france or Italy  . im done with minimum age requirements lol

 

*quick note, Hollands date is July 7th, not 8th*

 

[Ross Ingersoll]

Taranto F.C. 1927

Manager- Ross Ingersoll

Key Player- Marian Galdean

Finances

Squad 

After thinking it over i decided to go to Italy to begin my next attempt at the challenge, Having managed taranto in a previous version i decided to return as it was one of my all time fav saves. The team has plenty of players and unlike last try, wont be any gray players playing. I may even have to trim some as i have 96 combined players. Such is life at a Italian club. Looking forward to getting stuck in and seeing what i can do with these guys, At first glance it appears i have a solid base to start 

 

 

[XaW]

Holy bleep! I just got my first ever "Model citizen"!!!!

[QSF25]

what personality do you guys pick for your HOYD? What do you guys usually go for? 

[XaW]

31 minutes ago, QSF25 said:

what personality do you guys pick for your HOYD? What do you guys usually go for? 

This is my current HOYD:

Professional personality and high determination. I would very much like a Model citizen or a Model professional, a Perfectionist or Resolute would be nice. But a Professional with high determination is good enough. I would like his judging skills to be a bit better, but in Slovakia the options are limited. Other acceptable personalities for me if I cannot find any of the previously mentioned are Driven or Fairly professional if they have a rather high determination.

If I only have poorer personalities I try to find the best suitable one. I've bookmarked an old thread that might be a bit outdated, but while the actual numbers might have changed, the general thinking is the same. In general I'm looking for high professionalism, determination and ambition. Those three are the most important for players in regards of reaching their potential and their willingness to train and improve themselves in training and matches. Pressure, loyalty, sportmanship and temperament is all nice, but the former three is things I put higher.

[Tha Real behanger]

How can I see which teams are promoted? I am going to start in France!

 

[XaW]

3 minutes ago, Tha Real behanger said:

How can I see which teams are promoted? I am going to start in France!

 

When the season have rolled over into the new one you can see this by pressing the "Globe" and under nations you can see your country. There you can chose season summary and see promoted teams.

[Tha Real behanger]

Just now, XaW said:

When the season have rolled over into the new one you can see this by pressing the "Globe" and under nations you can see your country. There you can chose season summary and see promoted teams.

Thanks, I am just at the promotion point.

[dkouv]

@Ross Ingersoll Good luck with Taranto! Was choosing between France and Italy myself and opted for France (fyi: they also have an age limit, although it's only 16 - so probably good that you went for Italy)

@QSF25 What @XaW said; I also try to get decent JPA + JPP + Working with youngsters + a preferred formation similar to the one I'm playing, so I get the right mix of positions for my tactic. JPA+JPP+WWY help with generating high PA players (think this was confirmed in a recent thread by a mod or SI staff). Also try to hire coaches, esp youth coaches with good personalities + preferred formation, as this also has an influence. I think HOYD personality, formation etc only has twice the impact of a coach. Finally, I think coaching style and playing style also affect the attribute spread of the players, but I haven't quite figured out how this one works yet.

[Ross Ingersoll]

51 minutes ago, XaW said:

This is my current HOYD:

Professional personality and high determination. I would very much like a Model citizen or a Model professional, a Perfectionist or Resolute would be nice. But a Professional with high determination is good enough. I would like his judging skills to be a bit better, but in Slovakia the options are limited. Other acceptable personalities for me if I cannot find any of the previously mentioned are Driven or Fairly professional if they have a rather high determination.

If I only have poorer personalities I try to find the best suitable one. I've bookmarked an old thread that might be a bit outdated, but while the actual numbers might have changed, the general thinking is the same. In general I'm looking for high professionalism, determination and ambition. Those three are the most important for players in regards of reaching their potential and their willingness to train and improve themselves in training and matches. Pressure, loyalty, sportmanship and temperament is all nice, but the former three is things I put higher.

I will have to find it but one of the main guys posted judging ca or pa has little factor in how good your HOYD is. its mostly his personality

[Ross Ingersoll]

 

[Ross Ingersoll]

9 minutes ago, dkouv said:

@Ross Ingersoll Good luck with Taranto! Was choosing between France and Italy myself and opted for France (fyi: they also have an age limit, although it's only 16 - so probably good that you went for Italy)

@QSF25 What @XaW said; I also try to get decent JPA + JPP + Working with youngsters + a preferred formation similar to the one I'm playing, so I get the right mix of positions for my tactic. JPA+JPP+WWY help with generating high PA players (think this was confirmed in a recent thread by a mod or SI staff). Also try to hire coaches, esp youth coaches with good personalities + preferred formation, as this also has an influence. I think HOYD personality, formation etc only has twice the impact of a coach. Finally, I think coaching style and playing style also affect the attribute spread of the players, but I haven't quite figured out how this one works yet.

Thanks and good luck to you also, 16 is better than 17 for sure. Italian clubs all have so many players and seems like half are loaned out. 

[XaW]

8 minutes ago, dkouv said:

@QSF25 What @XaW said; I also try to get decent JPA + JPP + Working with youngsters + a preferred formation similar to the one I'm playing, so I get the right mix of positions for my tactic. JPA+JPP+WWY help with generating high PA players (think this was confirmed in a recent thread by a mod or SI staff). Also try to hire coaches, esp youth coaches with good personalities + preferred formation, as this also has an influence. I think HOYD personality, formation etc only has twice the impact of a coach. Finally, I think coaching style and playing style also affect the attribute spread of the players, but I haven't quite figured out how this one works yet.

8 minutes ago, Ross Ingersoll said:

I will have to find it but one of the main guys posted judging ca or pa has no factor in how good your HOYD is. its mostly his personality

For the most part I don't quite care of his stats, but the DDM (Determination, level of Discipline, Motivation) also shows how good of a coach he is. The JPP/JPA is nice to have since it often gives a better picture of the player from day one. I like most stats to be as high as possible, but I care more for some than others. On top of this, I also switch out the HOYD if I don't get many good players in a few intakes.

[Ross Ingersoll]

I've been playing since 04 and just found out youth facilities aren't for under 18 squad lol

[XaW]

XaW - MFK Dubnica - 2022/23

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Now that we knew what we were up against, I had hopes of us finishing around the same spot as last season. I got rid of quite a lot of the original squad players last season and this lead to a lot of youth players having to come to terms with being part of the main squad. All in all this was a success for the players. Most of them have had great improvements and are starting to look like real footballers. We actually turned out to be pretty hard to break down this season and lost a lot fewer matches than last season and though we conceded a bit more we also score many more goals ourselves. In the end we finished in 5th again, but it still felt much better this season. The youngster keep blooming and everyone improves, so the future looks bright.

In the Slovenský Pohár we beat Nove Zamky, MFK Skalica, FK Pohronie, Dukla Banská Bystricka and Aquacity Poprad (no top tier clubs!) to get to our second final in a row. Once again it was against Spartak Trnava and once again we beat them as Martin Lukac 21a scored a hattrick in the final.

Finally, we were in Europe this season! The Europa League were our tournament and we started in the 1st qualifying round against FK Liepāja of Latvia. We crushed them 5-1 away and played even younger youngsters in the return leg were we beat them 2-0 to progress, Here we got a tougher draw in FK Partizan of Serbia. A narrow 2-1 loss in Belgrade was followed by a great 3-1 win to get past the Serbians. In the 3rd qualifying round we drew AZ of Holland, but only lost narrowly 2-1 in both legs. A very good run and far better than I expected. Quite a lot of money in as well as a boost to our reputation I hope.

We actually made money this season. Mostly due to our stint in Europe and some more cash injections from the board. With another European adventure next season we might get out of the red? I can only hope!

A very good player from the youth intake this season. While the rest wasn't the best, Adam Sloboda 23a is a very good prospect with a fantastic personality. I have high hopes for him.

[fairsy]

On 3/4/2018 at 02:07, QSF25 said:

@fairsy @darren1983 @DigitalPork @TheWillsy

 

Who else is doing an england save? 

 

How are you guys doing so far? 

 

 

I got into the PL with Dulwich but it was so hard it's taken the fun away - I haven't played this save for a couple of months as was so demoralising, have only won a couple of games all season and am in to February or March iirc.

Will pick it back up soon I'm sure

[charlo116]

Well then...my adventure in Switzerland hasn't gone well and although I haven't been sacked (yet) I think I'll be restarting in another country.

                    

Many of my 'real' players have performed worse than my grey players and I didn't have a single solid centre back in the squad.

We quickly became the league whipping boys and after 10 consecutive league losses and 11 consecutive competitive losses I think its time to pack it in.

[XaW]

Ouch, looks like you are having a hard time @charlo116! This challenge can be brutal if the starting players are too poor. It often gets a bit better when you've had couple of intakes and have started to blood the youngsters.

[Sanno11]

East Kilbride F.C.

Season 13 2029/2030

First Team Squad | Finances | Transfers

Season Review

Cups - (Results) - We were knocked out in the second round of the Betfred Cup (Our first game). In the Scottish cup we had our easiest run to the final. We had lower league teams until we met St Mirren in the Semi final. We comfortably beat them. A final against Celtic was the prize. We were poor and lost 2-0. That isn't the interesting part of this story. I have no idea if this is how it works in real life but we were given 7.5 million as a share of the semi-final gate receipts. Then after the final we got another 8.5 as combination of prize money and shared gate receipts. I suppose it was boosted by playing Celtic. That is 16 million for reaching the cup final!

Europe - (Results) - The screenshot will tell the story of how far we went, Beating Bordeaux and Basel to qualify was amazing. To qualify from the group was amazing. To beat Valencia, Dinamo and Liverpool was unbelievable. To draw 1-1 away at Dortmund in the semi final of the Euro Cup was amazing. However the fairy tale had to come to and end and Dortmund really showed up in the home leg. An amazing experience and has given us financial security for a few years.

League (Final Table |  Results 1 | Results 2) - The league now just feels like a steady process and we sit in a group of 3 teams capable of finishing in 4-6th position. We won the games we needed to win and really struggled against the big teams. Ross County gave us some problems away from home. In the end we managed to just hold on to 4th place and again reach Europe. WE also finally managed to beat one of the old firm, a 1-0 win away at rangers after about 18 attempts!

Jordan Mackay was a problem this year in the first few months of the season his body language was poor in games. He was destined to leave the club and was no longer putting in good performances. In January we sold him for 5.5 million to Man City.

 

Youth Intake

I am happy to see a really good striker come through this year. Poor old Ross Clark has been my leading man for around 8 years, with almost no back up. Some other talented players as well.

Robbie Andersen (YP13a) - An attacking midfielder with quite weak starting attributes. I will given him chances and see what happens.

Mark Telfer (YP13b) - The star of the intake, I have never had a more complete striker at such a young age. Is now second choice behind Ross Clark and I imagine will be a key player before too long

Jason Hay (YP13c) - A really solid looking centre back. He is being tutored to improve his personality and trained to improve quickness, then he will be used in the first team

 

Transfers, Finance and Facilities

As I mentioned above, the big news was the departure of Jordan Mackay. At the time the 5.5 million was too great to turn down. I could have forced him to stay, but in the end he was no longer reliable on the pitch. His wages at Man City are more than my entire first team so I am happy for him. He is worth 12 million now and I have a 40% of next sale clause which may pay off eventually. We now sit with over 20 million in the bank. I have pushed our junior coaching and youth recruitment to there max I believe and have gained all the coaching badges. Our stadium expansion was completed and we now have a ground that holds 4895. Our attendances are still pretty rubbish and when we borrowed Kilmarnock's stadium we never had more that 4000 of our our fans at home games.

[dkouv]

ASM Belfort youth challenge
 

Season 5 – 2023/24– Domino’s Ligue 2

TLDR: Promoted as champions!

League: It really was the reverse of last season – we started off with very patchy form, as I tried to figure out my best XI and tactic. We were hovering in lower mid-table come late November, with players arrogantly complaining that the team was underachieving. But then our form improved and we went on an absolutely ridiculous run, winning 9 in a row and climbing steadily up the table into the play-offs and then promotion places. The team remained unbeaten from Frebruary until May, sealing promotion with 2 games to go. We even took the league title despite playing youngsters and losing the last 2 games.

Even though we finished 8 points ahead of 3rd, I feel this absolutely bonkers game was key in the run-in, allowing us to maintain form and momentum going into the final stretch. Btw I switched to a shut-out defensive tactic every time I went ahead after the 70^th minute, only for Lens to equalise and me go into all-out attack again.

Cups: went out early in both cups during our early-season form trough

Star players: Plenty of solid performances across the team, but no standout players – everyone was rather good, but not exceptional. Hakim Valade (AMR/ST) came into the fold again, finishing top scorer with 24 goals, but he still had quite a few off games. was pivotal in a solid midfield, and Georges Schmitt 21d (DR/WBR) was the standout player in defense.

Youth watch: Another change in goal, with Jocelyn Gay 21b (GK) breaking through from the youth ranks. Gwenael Rio 22b (DMLC/MLC) developed well and fills in at left back or center mid. The surprise star of the year is the untagged Axel Dubreuil (AMR/ST), who broke into the team at the end of the season and was my best striker in April and May.

Youth intake |Sylvain Daval 24a (AMLC/ST) | Rudy Berard-Alves 24b (AMR/ST) | Oumar Kansaye 24c (ML). Oh no, not more wingers, I thought… But it turns out I have two really promising strikers in Daval and Berard-Alves, they would already be playing on rotation but are below the age limit for now. Kansaye also has 4* potential but does not fit very well into my tactic, so I’ll try to retrain him as a left wingback (need to work on that tackling!)

Transfers: No big exits this year – teams seem to be interested in one of my center mids Alban Morales 22a (MC), but I managed to fend off the offers so far. Getting rid of deadwood is hard, but I shifted out a few players, and a couple more will be released during the summer. I now only have one senior in the squad for tutoring purposes, the rest are our youth products - although some were here before I took over the club.

Facilities: Managed to improve training and youth facilities, and youth recruitment.

Finances: £160k after paying for another training + youth upgrade.

 

Next season’s aim: Really not convinced we can stay up – we have lost all our matches against Ligue 1 teams this season, but that was early on, so I’m hoping to scrape through somehow.

Season  |  League   | Pos. |   Cup   |     CL      |     EL      |     Top scorer          |  Top assists         |    Top rating           | Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19 |  National |  4   |   R9    |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Guirassy (24)        |  Honore (18)         |    Guirassy (7.6)       |  1 point off the play-offs
2019/20 |  National |  1   |   R9    |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Valade (24)          |  David (13)          |    David (7.6)          |  Promotion!
2020/21 |  Ligue 2  |  8   |   R10   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    David (24)           |  David (15)          |    David (7.6)          |  2 points off the play-offs
2021/22 |  Ligue 2  |  4   |   R10   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Aguene (24)          |  Guirassy (18)       |    Aguene (7.7)         |  Lost in playoffs R1
2022/23 |  Ligue 2  |  1   |   R9    |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Valade (24)          |  Martins (14)        |    David (7.4)          |  Promotion!

Season  |  Finances |  Coaching    |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19 |   £450k   |  Average     |  Fairly Basic     |  Basic         |  Poor           |  5500
2019/20 |   £45k    |  Adequte     |  Average          |  Below average |  Basic          |  5500
2020/21 |   £1.2m   |  Good        |  Above Average    |  Adequate      |  Basic          |  5500
2021/22 |   £300k   |  Good        |  Established      |  Average       |  Basic          |  5500
2022/23 |   £160k   |  Good        |  Well Established |  Good          |  Below Average  |  5500

 

[dkouv]

@Ross Ingersoll @XaW This is my HOYD btw, I went for personality + WWY/JPA/JPP, but couldn't find one with a similar preferred formation:

I think the WWY/JPA/JPP only influences the "outlier" probability of a high-PA regen, so it probably only helps a little bit, to be fair. And I found out about training facilities affecting youth player development a couple of years ago, but only found out that determination affects development speed a couple of months ago, always thought that was a myth!

@Sanno11 Congrats on the European adventure, very impressive! Hope you can push on to the next level (CL) soon. I think I saw the Scottish cup revenue flagged as a bug in one of the career threads for FM2017, looks like it has not been fixed - might be worth flagging in the bugs forum? Unless this is actually a real thing...

 

[Ross Ingersoll]

he is a good one, some of you must be playing FMT? im jealous you seem to be zipping through seasons. takes me far too long. 

[dkouv]

Playing the full version; but I find that once you get the first half a season out of the way it goes pretty fast. In the beginning it takes a while (for me) to figure out the playing personnel, hire staff etc, but after that you're not buying any players so the seasons can be pretty quick. I don't have much time to play at the moment, so have been playing most matches on commentary mode during the last season, which sped things up. Still, I'm probably not that fast - have only completed 5 seasons so far!

[Ross Ingersoll]

never played commentary mode, will try that. first couple seasons arent exactly fun for me until i get a couple newgens playing . for whatever reason makes it more fun for me. I think thats why this challenge is good for me, i usually start newgens over slightly better real players in my saves because i like using them

[XaW]

10 hours ago, Ross Ingersoll said:

some of you must be playing FMT? im jealous you seem to be zipping through seasons. takes me far too long. 

I usually only spend a lot of time until I get a tactic working. This time I tried to work in my Liverpool tactic and with some small tweaks it works well enough. I maybe could have done a bit better if I spent a lot of time with details, but for me much of the joy in this challenge is watching the youngsters improve and get better. So I don't really care that much about my results and as long as I do well enough to keep my job, I can't be bothered to micro manage for a small gain when I'm in this for the long run.

So once I feel I have a tactic working and a couple of plans for when I'm leading or trailing, I run through the games. I do spend a bit of time 3-4 times a season to change individual training, choosing PPM's, tutoring, and stuff like that. If I hit a run of poor form I slow down until I get things working again and then pick up the pace. I do spend a bit more time when playing in Europe, the latter stages of the cup, and the final matches in the league if I have a good chance at something good.

That is why I often spend a lot of time deciding where I want to do this challenge. I like to do seasons quite quickly, so I often chose leagues with fewer games. Iceland is a very good example with very few league games. I would like to do my native Norway, but I really don't like the spring-fall season when playing in Europe...

[darren1983]

Champion Hill to the Champions League Season 1

I'm back "home" realised I hadn't put my starting profile up so here it is.

League - a good season. We started well, going head to head with Dartford at the top, around the end of the year we played Dartofrd at home. They were top and still undefeated while we were 2nd, 2 points back. We were leading 2-1 when in the 95th minute Dartford grabbed an equaliser. This seemed to kill us for a while as we would go on to concede injury time equalisers in the next 3 games, in fact we would win only 1 league game in 8 and dropped why behind Dartford. We would remain fairly in consistent for the rest of the season, until the run in. We had dropped to 4th but a run of 5 straight wins (including a 2-0 win away at Dartford that cost them the title after their own stumble) meant we finished 3rd, just 2 points off the top. In the semi final we played host to Gloucester (we did the double over them) and a comfortable 2-0 win saw us in the final where we would play Dartford again. This was becoming a mini rivalry and we went to their ground (as they finished 2nd) a slow start saw them grab an early lead and could have been 2 up withing first 10 minutes, our team seemed to slowly regain confidence and just after the half hour we equalised. In the 92nd minute, with the game heading to extra time our right back pops up on the edge of the area to smash home a winner! And we're promoted! Justice! 

Cups - In the FA Cup we had a great run to the 2nd round, beat a couple of lower league sides before national league side Eastleigh were beaten. We then went to league one Burton and somehow came away with a 4-2 win before another league one side, and former winners, Portsmouth proved too strong for us. In the FA Trophy we had a great run where we beat 4 National league sides on the way to the final where we played Wrexham. They only stayed up in the National league on the final day thanks to GD. It was one of those days were we clicked and all 6 of our shots on target went in as we won 6-0 to win our first ever FA Trophy.

Finances - With cup runs and prize money we're looking good. Got 2 Junior coaching and 2 youth recruitment upgrades (Junior coaching now good while recruitment is above average) as well as youth facilities upgrade.

Transfers - 2 out before I took over, none in obviously

Youth Intake - not the best (despite the "golden generation" tag) but can't complain with a couple 5* PA guys

Alistair Haven (YP01A) - can play anywhere across the back line, could be come a valuable squad player with that. Trying to tutor him to lose that unambitious personality.
Steven Pressley (YP01B) - left winger or forward which suits the formation (I call it 433 but in game it's the 4123 Wide)
Jamie Murdoch (YP01C) - a prospect at inside forward on the right

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19		VNLS		3rd		Promoion via playoffs, FA Trophy winners

 

[MWE]

Season 12 with Torpedo Moscow done

Squad

League Table

Transfers

Finances

Youth Intake

Kokoev
Gordeev
Sorokin
Pozdnyakov
Lukichev

 

Season    League               Position    Russian Cup      Achievements/Notes               Top Scorer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19   Wtoroj Diwizion      8th         5th round        Stayed up                        Kosyanchuk  (33) 
2019/20   Wtoroj Diwizion      5th         Qtr Final        Only 4 points from promotion     Kosyanchuk  (31)
2020/21   Wtoroj Diwizion      13th        5th round        Bit of a step back               Kosyanchuk  (21)
2021/22   Wtoroj Diwizion      3rd         4th round        Lost in play offs                Yeliseev    (28)
2022/23   Wtoroj Diwizion      9th         4th Round        Another step back                Kosyanchuk  (26)
2023/24   Wtoroj Diwizion      11th        4th Round        Another step back                Kosyanchuk  (15)
2024/25   Wtoroj Diwizion      13th        4th Round        Still going backwards            Kosyanchuk  (14)
2025/26   Wtoroj Diwizion      9th         4th Round        Abit of movement upwards         Panfilov 4E (23)
2026/27   Wtoroj Diwizion      2nd         4th Round        Finally promoted!                Panfilov 4E (29)
2027/28   Priemjer-Liga        16th        5th Round        2 wins all season                Panfilov 4E (13)
2028/29   Wtoroj Diwizion      14th        6th Round        Not sure how im still in charge  Panfilov 4E (15)
2029/30   Wtoroj Diwizion      6th         5th Round        Bit of an improvement            Kuznetsov 9C(24)

[janesy20]

So I'm 1860 Munich, hemorrhaging money. Since taking over had this lad in my youth squad. Now dubbed the next Rudi Voller. I know 1860 isn't that much of challenge (though trying to sort the finances is a massive issue) but getting a player like this is great!

 

[XaW]

XaW - MFK Dubnica - 2023/24

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

After a good showing last season I had hopes we could continue improving throughout this one. And we came out of the start blocks with amazing pace. We actually went the first 13 matches without a loss, and 8 wins in a row in that run was just amazing. It gave us some room down to the other teams, but Slovan Bratislava and AS Trenčin were never that far off. After the winter break and the league split we had a bit of a downward turn in form when we lost 4 games in a row. Luckily, we found our footing again and a few matches later we had sealed our first league title with a good finish to the season. We are heading into the Champions League next season and I can't wait to give it a go.

In the Slovenský Pohár we beat TJ Vel'ké Leváre, Partizán Bardejov, Šport Podbrezová, Aquacity Poprad and Tatran Prešov to reach our 3rd final in a row. Here we managed to beat our nemesis Slovan Bratislava 1-0 and get our third cup win in a row!

We also had another go in Europe this season and we started in the 2nd qualifying round were we drew Strømsgodset of Norway. An amazing away match saw us beat them 7-0 in Drammen, and when we also beat them 3-0 at home we easily progressed to the 3rd qualifying round. Here we drew Kayserispor of Turkey and we narrowly beat them 3-2 away before a controlled 2-0 win at home. This put us through to the 4th qualifying round and here we got Stade Rennais of France. We lost 2-0 away and couldn't find the net in the home leg either as it ended 0-0. Close to reaching the group stage, but I very happy with out effort.

Financially we made some more money this season and actually were into the black for a short while. I managed some small improvements and also got my National B licence this season. Hopefully we can continue to improve and have some possibilities of improving the facilities soon enough.

A good intake this season, but no one spectacular. The best ones seems to be Pavol Pecha 24a, a talented right back and Vladimir Ulrich 24b, a promising winger.

[darren1983]

Congrats on the title win @XaW 

[XaW]

4 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

Congrats on the title win @XaW 

Thanks! A surprise really, but a very welcome one! I hope I can keep it up next season, but I think I got lucky with Slovan Bratislava this season. They have the clearly best squad in the nation, but they had some shockers of matches this season.