The Football Manager Youth Academy Challenge

[shogoki]

1 hour ago, theBlackPrince said:

Nice. RIght might have to try and get a San Marino save, must have holidayed too long as same teams in Italy now! Annoying!!

There are a few Serie D updates working.

[Padders]

Started again tonight as Dorking

Just had my biggest win

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

[janesy20]

German Third division added guys  Time for my usual RW Essen save. Season reset date is 19th June.

[Padders]

Had a really good start (for me) in new game at Dorking

 

Edited November 4, 2018 by Padders

[Padders]

Quote

 

Started again tonight as Dorking

Just had my biggest win

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

[Padders]

The good old losing every game bar one after stopping overnight fun is back

[TrickyTree91]

I’ve just started a new game with Kettering. Just curious about a handful of regens in my under 18’s. No one else that has started with Kettering seems to have had regens to begin with. Loaded the game as instructed so just wanted to check I hadn’t done something wrong before I continue with the game. 

[Ross Ingersoll]

34 minutes ago, TrickyTree91 said:

I’ve just started a new game with Kettering. Just curious about a handful of regens in my under 18’s. No one else that has started with Kettering seems to have had regens to begin with. Loaded the game as instructed so just wanted to check I hadn’t done something wrong before I continue with the game. 

thats normal, its because of the year you sim to start the challenge

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Season Review 2025

Veikkausliiga | Table | Suomen Cup | Squad | Transfers | Facilities | Finances | Best XI

Key Players: Ari Jurvainen (02b) | Matti Lähde (03a) | Daniel Martikainen (04b) | Jarkko Ahola (02d)

We survived so  all in all a successful season. We had to win that same playoff we won last year, but after an undeserved 2-2 draw in the first leg, we pulled away and won on aggregate. As you guys probably saw, the intake was great this year.  Finances are a little but better in the top flight and we were able to get the first upgrade of the save, a youth facilities upgrade. Our training facilities got downgraded for the first time unfortunately. Other than that, uneventful year and avoiding relegation will once again be the goal.

Season   League    Position   Suomen Cup     Europe    Training Facilities    Youth Facilities     Junior Coaching     Youth Recruitment     Achievements/Notes     Top Scorer         Most Assists           Highest Avg Rating 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019     Ykkonen     2nd      Group Stages    N/A           Average                Poor               Average            Fairly Basic      Lost promotion playoff   Touré (13)         Ahonen (10)            Remes (6.97)
2020     Ykkonen     8th      2nd Round       N/A           Average                Poor               Average            Fairly Basic               N/A             Jmaali (6)         Biga (5)               Ahonen (6.88)
2021     Ykkonen     4th      Quarterfinal    N/A           Average                Poor               Average            Fairly Basic               N/A             Al-Take (01b) (10) Ahonen (7)             Adili (01a) (7.05)
2022     Ykkonen     3rd      Group Stages    N/A           Average                Poor               Average            Fairly Basic               N/A             Ahonen (10)        Jurvainen (02b) (11)   Jurvainen (02b) (7.10)
2023     Ykkonen     3rd      Quarterfinal    N/A           Average                Poor               Average            Fairly Basic               N/A             Lähde (03a) (24)   Jurvainen (02b) (11)   Jurvainen (02b) (7.48)
2024     Ykkonen     2nd      Quarterfinal    N/A           Average                Poor               Average            Fairly Basic       Won promotion playoff   Lähde (03a) (25)   Martikainen (04b) (15) Lähde (03a) (7.28)
2025  Veikkausliiga  11th     Quarterfinal    N/A           Adequate               Poor               Average            Fairly Basic       Won relegation playoff  Lähde (03a) (25)   Jurvainen (02b) (14)   Lähde (03a) (7.11)

[TrickyTree91]

2 hours ago, Ross Ingersoll said:

thats normal, its because of the year you sim to start the challenge

Spot on. Thought I'd better double check, cheers.

[JWVG]

...

Edited November 6, 2018 by JWVG

[chocolatecoatedballs]

Looking good Padders, some big wins there, hopefully you will pull out of the slump and get promoted.

Not bad for your first season at the top Gato in Goal, you have some good players, I really like the look of Ari Jurvainen 02b and Jarkko Ahola (02d), can I borrow them?

Good luck TrickyTree91, janesy20 and JWVG.

Something peculiar has happened during pre=season, I got offered actual transfer money for one of my players! 275 euro plus add ons, the player at the centre of it all is my new LB Joao Monteiro 2d, so he has signed a lengthy contract as well.

They have just offered 500 euro, he could be the one!

Edited November 5, 2018 by chocolatecoatedballs

[MadCatPT]

Season 2022/23 - Vanarama North

Another season, another relegation fight. Once more save, but this time hope is on the way! Finally, after saving a huge amount of money my first youth facilities upgrade is on the way!!! Hopefully next season I can show the fruits of the upgrade in much better youth I will use to wreck havoc on the league and eventually gain promotion by 2030 or sooner... I hope.

Youth:

 

Season	League	Position	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points	FA Cup	FA Trophy
2019/20	Vanarama South	16th	13	13	16	45	57	-12	52	2nd Round	3rd Q. Round
2020/21	Vanarama South	18th	9	15	18	45	69	-24	42	2nd Round	3rd Q. Round
2021/22	Vanarama North	16th	13	7	22	54	79	-25	46	1st Round	3rd Q. Round
2022/23	Vanarama North	16th	10	12	20	48	66	-18	42	3rd Round	1st Round

Season	Corporate	Training	Data Analysis	Youth Facilities	Youth Level	Junior Coaching	Youth Recruitment
2019/20	Basic	Basic	None	Basic	4	Fairly Basic	Basic
2020/21	Basic	Basic	None	Basic	4	Fairly Basic	Basic
2021/22	Basic	Basic	None	Basic	4	Average	Basic
2022/23	Basic	Basic	None	Basic*	4	Average	Basic

* Under construction

Edited November 5, 2018 by MadCatPT

[chocolatecoatedballs]

@MadCatPT A fair way from relegation in my books is a success 

Good stuff on the facilities upgrade, I could only wish, good luck for next season.

[MadCatPT]

12 minutes ago, chocolatecoatedballs said:

@MadCatPT A fair way from relegation in my books is a success 

Good stuff on the facilities upgrade, I could only wish, good luck for next season.

Thanks.

It costed a lot, but hope it is worth it.

[theBlackPrince]

Season 2 in the books! Looking forward to season 3, big big year if I'm to keep my 2 star youth players but think promotion is a couple of seasons away still!

[chocolatecoatedballs]

@theBlackPrince Not bad at all, hopefully next season will see you closer to the top.

Billy Balls 20a looks quality and you are so lucky to have such a good GK in Luke Masters 20b, it makes such a big difference with a good GK.

Nice finances as well, I can dream, hopefully an upgrade to facilities on the way soon.

[Wlv]

So, halfway through the first season with Yverdon

 

League Table 

Also had this guy who was a youth candidate in 2018..

Jacky Gerard - Whilst his attributes aren't amazing, he's playing well and scoring goals

I'm not certain whether I should really push for promotion, there's only one league above and it's likely we'd be relegated straight away.

 

@theBlackPrince - I took Grantham to the Champions League a few iterations ago. Fun team to play as. I went to see them play last season too!

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Wlv

[Wlv]

@darren1983 - would the san marino challenge be allowed for the youth challenge as well? You have to DL a custom DB to enable serie D, so no holidaying..

[darren1983]

1 minute ago, Wlv said:

@darren1983 - would the san marino challenge be allowed for the youth challenge as well? You have to DL a custom DB to enable serie D, so no holidaying..

No - no custom databases allowed, can holiday and hope they come up though (and reload lots and/or holiday more than 1 season) 

[Motlhen]

Hey guys,

I'm following you all whilst attempting this challenge myself, albeit on FM18. I've holidayed a season and chosen to accept the job offer from Dulwich Hamlet over Hednesford due to their slightly better starting facilities.
 

Manager

After a career eclipsed by fictional fame, ex-Championship Manager (03/04) legend Supat Rungratsamee has hung up his boots early to try to make a name for himself in football management.

 

Dulwich Hamlet

 

Squad

We have a thin, but decent squad. There's a notable gulf in talent between the starting XI and the available backups, so hopefully we can avoid too many injuries. Ali Corbett is the stand-out youngster from the previous youth intake and a very decent backup at Centre-Back. 

 

We don't have much of a backroom staff to boast about at the moment, so that'll be the first task before I start to look at a tactical approach and each individual's training & development. 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Motlhen

[chocolatecoatedballs]

@Motlhen Good luck

[Motlhen]

Dulwich Hamlet - 2018/19 - Vanarama South

One-third of the way through our first campaign, I have settled on a flat 3-5-2 formation. We have been on the right side of some really intense games in what has become a we-can-score-one-more-than-you tactic, but how long we can ride this luck remains to be seen.

Formation

 

We have become reliant on Mohamed Mohamed and Pat Davie who have both been solid so far in central midfield. Ali Corbett (our best prospect) has a lot meaner competition for places at centre-back, so has featured more from the bench. I have also been using Goalkeeper Ronnie Shaw in the cup games, but I am not convinced he will prevail into anywhere near a first team contender.

Youth Prospect Progress

  
 

High Scoring Results

 

 

We were knocked out of the FA Cup in the 3rd Qual Rnd and have the FA Trophy to contend with whilst we try to keep up our good form to battle for a Play-off spot in the league.

 Vanarama South

[RookTakesPawn]

2019-2020 PREVIEW

After a string of no less than 10 managers in the last three years, I plan on giving Whitehawk F.C. some much needed stability. Considering that we have very little in the way of facilities to foster our youth, we may have to rely on players like attackers Ky Marsh-Brown, Connor Tighe, and goalkeeper Melvin Minter for a long time. Here we go!

[chocolatecoatedballs]

Anyone else having majior issues with jaddedness?

It hit's my team around November/December, I thought maybe the patch might have fixed it a bit, but it's pretty annoying.

[GylfiAsCharged]

Giving this a go for the first time with Kingstonian, will post a bit of a preview this evening. Think I'm going to struggle as I often do at lower league level, but hopefully can get some good kids through to help me out. I've set my own (very few) manager attribute points all to Working With Youngsters and declared youth development as a philosophy I would like to be judged upon, what difference are either of these likely to make? 

Noted the suggestions earlier in the thread to invest in a good HoYD with the right personality, will have a look tonight and see who I can bring in. Enjoyed reading through the thread to date, some of you guys are making great progress, congrats!

[MadCatPT]

58 minutes ago, chocolatecoatedballs said:

Anyone else having majior issues with jaddedness?

It hit's my team around November/December, I thought maybe the patch might have fixed it a bit, but it's pretty annoying.

I had them in the Beta and now.

During the Beta even rest would not remove it, now rest will remove it.

Edited November 6, 2018 by MadCatPT

[JWVG]

Loading up Wales, maybe I start there...

Edited November 6, 2018 by JWVG

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Youth Intake 2026

Really poor intake this year. Wasn't anyone I considered worth tagging. The GK is alright, but we have 3 already ahead of him with more potential, so he'll never make the team. I just kept the top 2 and the one with a resolute personality. 

[theBlackPrince]

21 hours ago, chocolatecoatedballs said:

@theBlackPrince Not bad at all, hopefully next season will see you closer to the top.

Billy Balls 20a looks quality and you are so lucky to have such a good GK in Luke Masters 20b, it makes such a big difference with a good GK.

Nice finances as well, I can dream, hopefully an upgrade to facilities on the way soon.

Ooops, its only Billy Ball but just always seem to type balls  Those two are amazing, but at the minute it looks like I'm gonna lose them when their contract is up which will hurt us badly! And oh yes, cut all costs and build that upgrade ASAP is my aim!

 

20 hours ago, Wlv said:

 

@theBlackPrince - I took Grantham to the Champions League a few iterations ago. Fun team to play as. I went to see them play last season too!

I hope to get that far! I've been to the ground a few times for various games but never Grantham Town!

[MWE]

Just got the game just holidaying now will try my luck in Belgium this year I think.

[shaunvamos]

I'm gonna give this a go, with Frydek-Mistek of the Czech Republic!

 

 

 

Pretty solid base for a youth challenge I think. Predicted second last (bottom 2 get relegated) so the aim is to do better than that!

[GylfiAsCharged]

Kingstonian Football Club

Club Information | Facilities | Starting Squad | Season Preview | Manager Profile

Players to Watch: Muhammadu Faal, Louie Theophanous, David Fitzpatrick

Time for me to give this great challenge a proper go for the first time. I've chosen Kingstonian FC as my club for the challenge due to their good looking starting squad, which I'm hoping will buy me some time in the early few seasons to blood youngsters and establish a style of play.

In terms of current players, Muhammadu Faal will be a familiar name to those who attempted the challenge with Dulwich Hamlet last year; his physicals look exceptional for this level. He will partner Louie Theophanous up top, who I have managed successfully at St Albans on a previous FM. Our other key man is David Fitzpatrick, a handy-looking right winger.

The board are expecting a mid-table finish this season, and I would definitely settle for the same. Looking to make some early improvements to my junior coaching and recruitment over the course of the year too.

[Colossus]

Decided to give this one a go. Started in Portugal and went with Lusitano Evora, a team from a region of Portugal that has not had a team in the top tier in 20 years or so

The squad is not bad at all, but it has one main issue: two of our best players are AMR, and we have no AML. Might have to use a lopsided formation here

The youth squad does have some 5* players, which was nice to see. However, like the rest of the team, they all have pretty bad Determination. The two main ones might be Antonio Canhoto 00a and Carlos Dias 00b, the second one mainly for his ability to play on the left side.

And the coaching profile.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Colossus

[Motlhen]

@GylfiAsCharged Mahammadu Faal has been incredible for me in fm18 this first season. He managed to unlock the double-hattrick achievement for me too! Hopefully you'll see similar results from him at Kingstonian.

[chocolatecoatedballs]

@Colossus welcome to Portugal, get ready for loads of transfer bids of $0 with no clauses for your players every other day, I have about four premier clubs bidding for Hugo Martins 2c, in fact one of them actually surprised me with a generous 1.1k up front offer with no sell on fee. Then you get news highlights of these clubs spending 25M-40M on a player, If they offered me something reasonable like 100k or 250k with a sell on fee I might except with a loan back or something, but at the moment the bids are offensive haha. Luckily he isn't effected by it, just finds the whole business a bit flattering.

I also have another player who is angry at me for not selling him for 5 Euro's, Sergio Serrano is his name.

Any way have fun and good luck.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

@shaunvamos Good luck in the Czech Republic, I tried starting there and it went terribly so hopefully you'll find more success. How many players do you have at the club? It was an issue for me since I only had 14 or so on the roster.

[XaW]

21 hours ago, chocolatecoatedballs said:

Anyone else having majior issues with jaddedness?

It hit's my team around November/December, I thought maybe the patch might have fixed it a bit, but it's pretty annoying.

Yeah, I'm having real issues with it at Kettering. I'm in mid-October and I have 7 players who are in need of a rest. Rested them for a week, then got the same message after the next game they played. We are looking like we are going down this season though...

[chocolatecoatedballs]

15 minutes ago, XaW said:

Yeah, I'm having real issues with it at Kettering. I'm in mid-October and I have 7 players who are in need of a rest. Rested them for a week, then got the same message after the next game they played. We are looking like we are going down this season though...

The problem for a save like this is you have limited players and when you start to rest them they won't develop.

I think it's due to part time football, you can't have a fully sick pre-season because you only train every now and then, you also can't select recovery session in training which supposedly makes a big difference according to Seb Wessell.

I'm rotating players like crazy, ones who aren't even ready for first team yet, you seem to need two teams and a few fill ins, or the dreaded jaddedness sets in quicker than nan's pork pie.

[XaW]

19 minutes ago, chocolatecoatedballs said:

The problem for a save like this is you have limited players and when you start to rest them they won't develop.

I think it's due to part time football, you can't have a fully sick pre-season because you only train every now and then, you also can't select recovery session in training which supposedly makes a big difference according to Seb Wessell.

I'm rotating players like crazy, ones who aren't even ready for first team yet, you seem to need two teams and a few fill ins, or the dreaded jaddedness sets in quicker than nan's pork pie.

Yeah, my "main squad" now is about 30 players. Most are nowhere near the quality to compete against professional teams. And I think that is part of why I'm struggling so much. I know, excuses for my poor performances..  

[shaunvamos]

2 hours ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

@shaunvamos Good luck in the Czech Republic, I tried starting there and it went terribly so hopefully you'll find more success. How many players do you have at the club? It was an issue for me since I only had 14 or so on the roster.

Thanks mate, yeah your side came up every time when I reloaded and although I liked the colours and everything I opted for a hard slog with a different team. We have enough for a full team, but barely any are of playing age and can't play their assigned position. We've lost a couple of key players too but I had a loan striker come in before I joined and he's been pretty good so far.

[chocolatecoatedballs]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Yeah, my "main squad" now is about 30 players. Most are nowhere near the quality to compete against professional teams. And I think that is part of why I'm struggling so much. I know, excuses for my poor performances..  

My squad is 22 players which would be normal for me, I have just played the two busiest months (nearly 2 games every week) and it should start to become weekly now, a couple every fortnight so the ship should steady. But I have been rotating and resting and have currently 9 (plus 3 injured) players who are jaded asking for rest after the last game.

The worst thing is that my discipline isn't going up after handing out multiple fines lol, there could be some benefit to it, hahaha.

I'm having an alright season though, it's just a bit much how it is and seems to effect part timers badly.

Hopefully you'll survive the drop.

[chocolatecoatedballs]

Barreirense

Just a quick update, I just had a youth intake, some pretty good prospects in there.

[TrickyTree91]

Kettering Town 2019/20

Table - Squad 1/Squad 2

Started with Kettering after trying other teams and realising the intakes were far too poor to compete. Had a pretty steady start with an 11th placed finish. 36 year old player of the year Aaron O'Connor scored 8 and assisted 7 but retired at the end of the season as did our first choice centre back. Helped by having some decent youngsters in the Under 18's at the start of the season. The pick of them being

Dean Fleming - Pick of the prospects, scored 16 in 39 league games before refusing to sign a contract and leaving on a free.

Josh Broughton - Another decent striker, bagged 11 in 35 after finishing the season well.

Alex Greening - Centre back, played a few games towards the end of year. Will be in the starting eleven next season due to retirements.

Youth Intake was good but failed to add any decent players in the centre of defence or midfield which is what we needed. Neil Dunn will come in as a replacement for Fleming and Gareth Greenwood will slot straight in at full back as Dion Kelly-Evans left on a free after his contract expired. 

The best hope for next season will probably be a similar finish as we're lacking any depth or quality in too many areas to really challenge, fingers crossed a good intake can go some way to fixing that problem.

And of course, no transfers.

[XaW]

8 hours ago, chocolatecoatedballs said:

Hopefully you'll survive the drop.

In January now, and the season can, at the time of writing, be summed up like this:

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by XaW

[MWE]

I'm starting with KSK Hasselt

 

10 players i'm screwed haha

 

 

[Muttley84]

Due to the Fm Touch Manager Profile bug I can't still edit my manager for minimum qualifications, so I have a head start on the others by being automatically given a higher reputation. While acknowledging I am not able to qualify for the hall of fame and do not deserve any credit for my (unlikely) performances, I would still like to post here some updates about my Cesena attempt. That would perhapse give me the motivation to go on when I get stucked or hit the rough times. Would that be ok @darren1983?

[darren1983]

@Muttley84 I don't see why not. You'll still behaving many of the same struggles as the rest of us but will, I assume, have an easier job of gaining the respect of your players. We'll give you an honourable mention and/or a * in the hall of fame  

[XaW]

Youth intake 2025

Intake day came and quite a lot of talent.

The one I'm most excited about is probably Joel Henderson 25f.

[Motlhen]

Dulwich Hamlet - Vanarama South - 2018/19
 

Youth Intake
Three decent players. We had no decent AMC or DL so very welcome additions to the squad, along with a ST who could provide adequate backup.

 

Competitions
Overall a steady campaign - no complaints.

11th

 

Player Stats
With 3 strikers on 20-goals each, it's clear our problem is at the other end of the pitch! We struggled with injuries across the end of the season which is why we dropped off of a push for the play-offs.

 

Affiliation Proposal
The question now is, to affiliate or not to affiliate? What are the benefits / drawbacks of setting up a Senior Affiliate in a YAC save?

 

EDIT: I've accepted the affiliation with Barnsley and will hopefully benefit from their 'Good' Training & Youth facilities over the next few Newgen dates (although I have a save-file prior to acceptance in case someone advises me against this or it's against the rules?!.) I've also signed a new contract with a few bonuses as personal targets for the next two seasons and as part of the negotiations managed to get some Data Analysis facilities at the club too!

 

Year	League	Pos   FA Cup  FA Tro	Corp	Train	Data	Yth Fac	Yth Lvl	Jnr Coach  Yth Rec
17/18					Basic	Basic	None	Basic	4	Adequate   Fairly Basic
18/19	VNS	11th  3rd Q.  1st R.	Basic	Basic	None	Basic	4	Adequate   Average

 

**One thing I have noticed though is that the Data Analysis Facilities hasn't changed after the Completion Date of the works. Anyone have any idea what might be wrong?

Edited November 7, 2018 by Motlhen