The Football Manager Youth Academy Challenge

[collindinho]

FK Älmeboda/Linneryd

YOUTH INTAKE & SEASON REVIEW 2022

TABLE | TRANSFERS | FINANCES

Fourth season -- CHAMPIONS! We make up for a disappointing third season (7th) by ending the year as champions of the Second Division East Götaland, awarding us automatic promotion to what I assume will be Second Division South. The media has us down as 55/1 (56.00) favourites to win the league before a ball was even kicked, but after a whole pre-season of working out the best formation for the team we started with a bang; unbeaten in the first 16 games. The beauty of this challenge is that it really makes you think about tactics in a whole new light, nothing is plug-n-play. You’re forced to perhaps use styles, formations or instructions you’re not necessarily used to. It paid dividends.. in the beginning at least. The wheels fell off soon enough though and opponents eventually started setting up differently – we never hit form again – stuttering to the title on the last day of the season needing results to go our way. Plenty to think about for next year.

Special mention to (3A) Joel Andersson for a truly incredible first season!

Spoiler

Off the pitch, likely due to my “untouchable” status, I argued my way into upgrading some facilities and completing some additional coaching courses. Perfect! We were able to arrange friendlies with the big boy’s pre-season which boosted the finances a huge amount and no doubt will be doing the same again for the upcoming season as well.

Youth intake for 2022 is looking promising already, with (4E) Markus Johansson the best of the bunch with 2.5* current ability. There’s lots of potential there and will be keeping an eye on how they progress within the U19 squad before deciding on their future. It’s a financial risk to keep ten players, but I’m confident high-profile friendlies, increased gate receipts and prize money will help.

Spoiler

Season | League                              | Pos.                  | Notes/Achievements    | Swedish Cup  | TF       | YF       | JC           | YR           | Highest Average Rating
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 9th                   | Survived              | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Minimal      | Limited      | Eric Hörnell (7.30)
2020   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 2nd - Lost in Playoff | Senior Affiliate      | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Minimal      | Basic        | Robin Johansson (7.37)
2021   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 7th                   | Regression            | Round 1      | Poor     | Poor     | Minimal      | Basic        | Robin Johansson (7.29)
2022   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 1st                   | CHAMPIONS!            | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Fairly Basic | Fairly Basic | Robin Johansson (7.55)

 

[Diego D10S]

 

League Table 2022/23      Transfer History

Another season finished in San Marino and another solid season. Again making the promotion playoff. This time got knocked out in the second round. Also reached the semi final in Serie C cup.

All in all a very good season but still dont feel I had a serious chance on promotion.

Youth intake was again very good with these guys standing out : Daniel Guagneli,    Cesare Mastracco,    Pino Capochani and  Gaetano Giorgi

Next season will be very important for me because I got two upcomming stars that have exploded i development.  Manuel Cavalli and Gabriele Molinari.

Still have them for a couple of seasons, but if I dont get promoted next  season I will have a hard time keeping them. Edit : Molinari Sold ! He really wanted to leave and I just couldt afford to say no.

Crossing my fingers. Got a feeling it will be a nerve wrecking season  

Edited November 23, 2018 by Diego D10S

[Diego D10S]

@collindinho congrats. great job

[collindinho]

2 minutes ago, Diego D10S said:

@collindinho congrats. great job

Thank you, Sir! Eagerly watching your progress too. All the best for the next season

[Sheyra]

Alright, time to give this challenge a go this year. Wish me luck!

Meet the new coach of Bishop's Stortford, Little Jimmy. Can he lead the side to playoff glory? Probably not this year, according to the bookies, who put the team at as 1-5 favorites for relegation, but Little Jimmy is determined to show them that his hometown team has what it takes to stay up in the Vanarama National League South. Bishop's Stortford has a decent stadium for its size, but it's overall facilities are rather lacking compared to others in the division, especially the youth team. While disappointing, Little Jimmy knows that if he can prove himself, he should be able to convince the board to improve the facilities in order to improve the youth team intake moving forward.

[SpS_Zen]

19.2 is in public beta. I will wait for it, as it looks promising.

[Novafluff]

 FK Älmeboda/Linneryd

Youth Intake 2021

Youth Intake | Edvin Bergström | Tommy Wennerholm | Anders Kempe

Another decent youth intake with one player sticking out in Edvin Bergström a very decent right back for our level and will probably break inte to first team very soon. other than that we got some players we hope get up to their potential but will rpobably remain in the u19 for now. Anders Kempe will get a chance in the first team aswell cause we really need a new LW and he will atleast take a spot on the bench and prove himself.

Another fun and great news that we are doing something right with our academy us that Lazar Kuzmanovic got a spot in the Bosnia u21 at the age of 17 which is great as he has double nationalities swedish/bosnian

 

Edited November 23, 2018 by Novafluff

[Diego D10S]

3 hours ago, collindinho said:

Thank you, Sir! Eagerly watching your progress too. All the best for the next season

Dont be too eager...things have suddenly turned really bad,,,sitting here in shock now

[XaW]

Just sold my backup right winger for half a million pounds (++)... Crazy offers for my players at the moment.

[collindinho]

Don't you just love Football Manager sometimes...

Spoiler

On a side note...

Spoiler

Sweden has some crazy high-scoring games!

 

[darren1983]

On 21/11/2018 at 19:36, Shankly84 said:

Is there a reason why leagues like Ukraine, Uruguay and China aren't listed for the challenge? Also would it be ok to start in an added league such as Kazakhstan?

Sorry for late response but I've not been around much this week.

Only reason they're not listed is because I didn't have dates for them last year and I just C+P'd the list from last year. 

Added leagues are not eligible for this challenge no.

[tomay]

CAXIAS

Season 2020 report

News:
The board have announced plans to build new stadium. Current ground "Centenario" is old and generates high maintenance costs.

Manager contract was extended to the end of 2021.

Finances: [0 Transfers]

We were staring season with 1,650k debt
we get:
1,250k for the TV rights SERIE B.
0,208k for the TV rights Gauchao.
Then we won some money in  the cup.
0,183k for Cup 1st round win
0,197k for Cup 2nd round win
0,291k for Cup 3rd round lost

But after season we still had 1,250k debt.
Was unable to do any coaching course or build any facilites.

Regional league:
1st league phase: 3rd - the best position we can get, first two are "reserved" for serie A teams: Gremio, Internacional
2nd Cup phase: semi-final, lost against Gremio

National league:
predicted 20th (last place, odds 251.00)

Whole season i messed A LOT with tactics. I have tried to make it more suitable for players i had. So lot of tweaking with position instructions and attitude, but no changes to the formation shape.
Still used 4-2-3-1 wide offensive in totally 5 version.

We had realy tense June - 9 matches and July - 8 matches. It forces me to use heavy rotation.
First we had series of 11 matches without losing, but then with some injuries and rotation, 6 games without a win came.

Had leftback curse, all my 3 leftback were injured for 2 months or more at the same time.

We almost gained promotion to the highest league. We landed 5th with only 1 point lacking to the promotion zone.

[Table]

September youth intake this year was promising.
We get two good striker, especially Dion is looking great.
[intake]: Dion - Romulo - Peninha

Top goalscorer: Douglas (S C)  - 30 goals in all competitions - best goalscorer in league "Artilheiro da Serie B" with 18 goals
Most assists: Danylo (D R) and Diego Miranda (AM L) - 14 assists - Danylo played 3 games less
Highest average rating: Diego Miranda (AM L) - 7.27
Most POM: Régis (D C) - 6 - penalty shooter
MVP: Diego Miranda (AM L) [37%]

Season|       League              |   Pos.    |       Cup         | Int.Cup|  Top scorer   |  Top assists  | Highest avg. rat.   | Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019    |   SERIE C                  |   4th     |  1st round    |   N/A    | Douglas [18] |  Danylo [14] | Danylo [7.26]        | promoted to SERIE B
2020    |   SERIE B                  |   5th     |  3rd round   |   N/A    | Douglas [30] |  Danylo [14] | D.Miranda [7.27]  |

Edited November 23, 2018 by tomay
text formatting

[XaW]

Youth intake 2028

A decent intake. 3 good players and the rest... meh...

The one that seems to be most exciting is Joe McPhillamy 28c.

[Diego D10S]

The end ! 

Well I got the sack after some very turbulent months. My first sale made my key players turn on me and alot of players loose their morale.

Long story short.....I lost my first 9 matches, board gave me an ultimatum and I got the sack after 14 matches.

Well this was my first try at this challenge. I have made alot of rookie mistakes and lessons are learned.

I will start again ofc, this time it will probably be Cesena. Have played vs them several times and been very impressed with their fans.

To be continued  

[yugular]

Is there somewhere a hall of fame and links to "end of challenge" reports from previous years?

[collindinho]

2 hours ago, Diego D10S said:

The end ! 

Well I got the sack after some very turbulent months. My first sale made my key players turn on me and alot of players loose their morale.

Long story short.....I lost my first 9 matches, board gave me an ultimatum and I got the sack after 14 matches.

Well this was my first try at this challenge. I have made alot of rookie mistakes and lessons are learned.

I will start again ofc, this time it will probably be Cesena. Have played vs them several times and been very impressed with their fans.

To be continued  

Sorry to hear that, Diego!

[Novafluff]

 FK Älmeboda/Linneryd

Season Review 2021

Table | Transfers | Finances | Facilities

 

A season were beforehand i thought we would be fighting for survival in the higher tier we actually were never even thinking about relegation once the season started. First game dominated all the play and got a win and we kept on going. In the middle of the season we got an bad run of games were we didnt win for 5 games this kind of killed our dream of promotion even if we finished strong, 7 wins in last 10 didnt help and we ended up 6th could come 4th if we had little better GD but an amazing first season and we look forward already to the next one!

The youth process starting to have a real impact on the first team with many players from the academy getting playing time but most playing time were given to our hottest prospect from last season Johan Hansson-Widén starting 22 and coming on 2 times 6.8avg is decent for the now 17 year old first whole season. next season probably 4 players from the academy will be starting players.

Finances goes stable not very much + or - we leak some during the season but friendlies and prize money keeps us going strong going + £8000 from last season.

Since Finances hasnt really moved the board hasnt accepted any better facilities we got a affilate club down in div4 to try to get a wider youth intake.

Top Scorer: Faton Trstena 17 goals 29(0) games

Most Assist: Eric Hörnell 9 assist 25(0) games

Best Average: Faton Trstena 7.30 avg 29(0) games

Best prospect Jonas Hansson-Widén 6.8 avg 22(2) games

[collindinho]

FK Älmeboda/Linneryd

YOUTH INTAKE 2023

I was going to wait until the end of the season to update, but just had to share this early. We have a 4.5* CA goalkeeper unearthed this season! It's a shame that he's not very determined and is classed as an "unambitious" personality, though. I'll take it at this stage and hopefully give him some mentoring to negate those attributes. The others seem fairly average at this stage, and I will go through them all to see who best to keep and discard etc. I was hoping for some decent defenders - all we seem to create is a lot of midfielders.

[XaW]

This is not football, it's MMA!

[Diego D10S]

 

Here we go again. Say hello to the new manager of Romagna Centro Cesena.

Newly founded in 2018 and looks like a club with alot of potential.

Another evening with FM and World Championship chess for me  

Wish a great FM weekend for you all.

Edited November 24, 2018 by Diego D10S

[MadCatPT]

Season 2023/24 - Vanarama North

After 4 years fighting for safety, this season we changed the field to the smallest possible in width and length, got our two strikers with the best personalities working together, started playing through the middle by the assistant manager tip and we got promoted!

Our home form was terrific and our away form appalling, but it was enough, and in the playoffs my preparation to have a determined squad seemed to give us the extra edge.

Records:

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
2023/24	Vanarama North	5th*	20	10	12	68	59	9	70	1st Round	2nd 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
2023/24	Basic	Basic	None	Bellow average	4	Average	Basic

League:

Youth:

The Edge:

The duo upfront:

The man at the back:

[XaW]

 XaW - Kettering Town - 2027/28

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So finally out of the hell that is the National League last season and into the Football League. I were unsure what to expect, but my coaches rate a lot of my players as good enough for League One, and when the media predicted us around the top, I got hope we could compete. Early on, my hope were unfounded. We only won one of the first 6 matches in the league, but as it turns out most of those were against teams finishing in the top of the table come the end of the season. After the rough start we got in a couple of wins and got morale back up. We continued to play well and deserved something out of most of the matches we played, and indeed won quite a lot of them. Going into the half way mark we were comfortably in the playoff spots fighting for a possible promotion. After January had gone we were part of a 3 team race for the top of the table along Exeter and Mansfield. With only 6 games left we were guaranteed a playoff spot and very close to a promotion as well. At this point we started to play poor and only a strong win to Exeter gave us the ensured promotion. Exeter ran away though, but we managed to cling to out 2nd place in the end. Up to League One we go!

In the FA Cup we got to the 3rd round again, but drew Arsenal at home and lost. In the League Cup we lost to Burton in the 1st round. In the League Trophy we didn't get out of the group stage.

We had an ok youth intake with Joe McPhillamy 28c as the best one.

Season	|       League	             | Position |   FA Cup      |   Europe	|   Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20	|   National League North    |   9th	 |  1st round    |   N/A	|   Just of playoffs
2020/21	|   National League North    |   1st	 |  4th qual     |   N/A	|   Promoted as champions
2021/22	|   National League          |  16th	 |  1st round    |   N/A	|   Survived
2022/23 |   National League          |  14th     |  4th round    |   N/A        |   Mid-table, good cup run
2023/24 |   National League          |  20th     |  1st round    |   N/A        |   Almost relegated
2024/25 |   National League          |  20th     |  3rd round    |   N/A        |   Almost relegated
2025/26 |   National League          |  13th     |  3rd round    |   N/A        |   Mid-table
2026/27 |   National League          |   3rd     |  3rd round    |   N/A        |   Promoted by playoffs, won FA Trophy
2027/28 |   League Two               |   2nd     |  3rd round    |   N/A        |   Promoted

[Sheyra]

@XaW Wow, congrats on the back to back promotions, mate!

[Muttley84]

@Diego D10S Good luck at Cesena, I tried them too... and failled in the first season getting the sack, but they do have some nice facilities.

[Fadedaf]

congrats on promotion @XaW @MadCatPT

[Diego D10S]

@XaW @MadCatPT great job. congrats

[Diego D10S]

9 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

@Diego D10S Good luck at Cesena, I tried them too... and failled in the first season getting the sack, but they do have some nice facilities.

Thx. I will consider surviving first season a great success then  

[Novafluff]

 

 FK Älmeboda/Linneryd

Season Review 2022 & Youth Intake

Table | Transfers | Finances | Facilities | Youth Intake

First shortly about the youth intake. It were a dissapointing year were its hard to see anyone of them really making it to the first team. We gave 3 players a contract and the benefit of the doubt.

The season were actually a really good one but for some reason even though we were jsuta point off sometims to 2nd and a playoff place it didnt feel like this as our season to make it cause in the middle we hit a really bad form 8 games 7 in the league 7 losses and one win. Have no clue how it happend we just couldnt find a win at all. Before that point we were ven 1st in the league and after that we found a better form only loosing 3 more games winning 7 out of the last 13 ending up 7 points off second place but a step forward and with alot of luck maybe next season can be our season.

Youth players wise their were as usual Jonas Hansson-Widén making the gratest impact getting 23 starts and 5 subs getting 9 goals! and 3 assists avg 7.12 so great improvment from last season. Both Tommy Wennerholm and Edvin Bergström made it to team of the year in the league which is nice since they came up last year only. Last good news in the youth is that another player got called up for U21 national duty in Christos Merkenidis getting called into greece U21.

Finances had a good year we were down really low around  £10k but since our good position we got £65k prize money we made a profit of £20k since last season which surely can help us improve. I think we will drop some staff to save even more cash for next season.

Facilities wise we coudlnt get the board to improve anything at all and our newly elected board even cut off Helsingborg as our senior affilates.

Top Scorer: Robin Johansson 19 goals 29(0) games

Most Assists: Faton Trstena 12 assists 26(0) games

Best Average: Martin Srpcanski 7.32 avg 29(1) games

Best Prospect: Jonas Hansson-Widén 7,12 avg 9 goals 3 assists 23(5) games

 

[Shakes]

Skipped FM last year, but a holiday to Spain & Portugal inspired me to pick it back up. While there I saw Betis beat Barca using a 3-5-2 which is the formation I used to win in FM13 so I figure that's an omen I need to use it again. Managing in Portugal because that's the only place where I've ever been remotely successful, picking up from the team I used there in FM16, Sporting Clube de Pombal.

My attempts have been mostly woeful since FM13, so just hoping to survive and get a few seasons put together with some decent intakes to start with.

[TrickyTree91]

Kettering Town 2022/23

Table   Squad 1/Squad 2  Overall Best XI

Slid down the table into 10th this season, couldn't really string a good run of results together. A really important season though with a lot of players coming on and starting to look capable of pushing us on. Another exit in the 4th round of qualifying for the FA cup. 

Youth Intake - A really good number of genuine prospects in a good range of positions, a couple of players that will move into the first team squad as back up to begin with. 

Loric Nsingi - A young striker with pace that can finish, excited about this one. Scored a great goal in a 1-0 away win at Southport.

Sam Redmond - A defensive midfielder, really strong mental stats. Should get a fair amount of game time.

Gaz Doy - Another DM, good stats as a ball winner. May possibly look at retraining him or Redmond as a CM. 

A year of developing the squad should bode well for a playoff push or more next season.

[collindinho]

FK Älmeboda/Linneryd

SEASON REVIEW 2023

TABLE | TRANSFERS | FINANCES

Fifth season -- SURVIVED our first season after having been promoted. We seem to have developed a trend of going unbeaten at the start, before dropping off completely. This season was no different. After the first 10 games we had a record of W3 D7 L0, but then couldn't get a good strings of results together and eventually just avoided a relegation playoff. Plans for next season is to build on this, hopefully finishing more in mid-table. This year was also the first time a youth product achieved the highest rating: well done (3F) Joel Andersson!

Season | League                              | Pos.                  | Notes/Achievements    | Swedish Cup  | TF       | YF       | JC           | YR           | Highest Average Rating
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 9th                   | Survived              | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Minimal      | Limited      | Eric Hörnell (7.30)
2020   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 2nd - Lost in Playoff | Senior Affiliate      | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Minimal      | Basic        | Robin Johansson (7.37)
2021   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 7th                   | Regression            | Round 1      | Poor     | Poor     | Minimal      | Basic        | Robin Johansson (7.29)
2022   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 1st                   | CHAMPIONS!            | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Fairly Basic | Fairly Basic | Robin Johansson (7.55)
2023   | 1st Division South (Tier 3)         | 12th                  | Survived              | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Fairly Basic | Fairly Basic | (3F) Joel Andersson (7.18)

 

[Diego D10S]

@Shakes GL

 

[TheMattB81]

I am going to join this challenge in Norway, but in order to get a lower reputation starting team, i may simulate a few years in before choosing a newly promoted team to take over. Is that okay?

[tomay]

CAXIAS

Season 2021 report

News:
Manager contract extended to the end of 2023.

Finances:
We were staring season with 1,250k debt
After season we still had 1,000k debt.

Was unable to do any coaching course or build anything.

We managed to find feeder club which give us 23k per year.

Lost best young MC Tiago Roberto, board accepted 275k (500k with bonuses) transfer, beacuse they feel it that was too good to reject - earlier they don't feel that rejected by me 500k offers were good enough.
Sold few older players dissapointed from being rotation or backup player.

[transfers]

Regional league:
1st league phase: 4th
2nd cup phase: final, lost against Internacional

Cup:
3rd round - totally 670k income from prizes.

National league:
predicted 20th (last place, odds 251.00)
finished 10th

Again lost one of my D L for 8-10 months injury.
Also we lost our best striker for 6 weeks due to injury.

Lost many goals from long balls behind my defense, and set pieces.
Next season will try to play without high pressing line.

matches without win in a row: 7
matches without lose in a row: 4

September youth intake was rather poor.
We get one decent central defender, promising ??? striker and not bad goalie (got 5 decent goalies)
[intake] [Mabilia] [Balao]

Top goalscorer: Douglas (S C)  - 29 goals in all competitions
Most assists: Diego Miranda (AM L) - 14 assists
Highest average rating: Danylo (D R) - 7.22
Most POM: Danylo (D R) - 7
MVP: Danylo (D R) [42%]

Season|       League              |   Pos.    |       Cup         | Int.Cup|  Top scorer   |  Top assists        | Highest avg. rat.   | Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019    |   SERIE C                  |   4th     |  1st round    |   N/A    | Douglas [18] |  Danylo [14]       | Danylo [7.26]        | promoted to SERIE B
2020    |   SERIE B                  |   5th     |  3rd round   |   N/A    | Douglas [30] |  Danylo [14]       | D.Miranda [7.27]  |
2021    |   SERIE B                  |  10th    |  3rd round   |   N/A    | Douglas [29] |  D.Miranda [14] | Danylo [7.22]        |

 

[TheMattB81]

I am starting the challenge in Norway with Traeff. Squad looks decent, so I am hoping i do not get promoted until i have had at least 1-2 seasons of regens coming through. 

 

Wiki

Manager Profile

Club

Facilities

Finance

Squad

Edited November 26, 2018 by TheMattB81
Fixed links.

[tomay]

Quote

 

TheMattB81

welcome and good luck
fix your links

 

[danger_mouse]

 

Matlock Town FC

Manager Profile

 

Going to get stuck into this, hopefully it'll keep the enjoyment of the game going for some time.

Edited November 25, 2018 by danger_mouse

[TheMattB81]

10 hours ago, tomay said:

TheMattB81

welcome and good luck
fix your links

 

Thanks, links fixed. 

[Diego D10S]

@tomay gj buddy. Balao looks promising. Striker with 3 in finishing  have changed up my tactic abit also. creating more and still solid in defence so looks good.

@TheMattB81 Welcome and good luck  

[collindinho]

FK Älmeboda/Linneryd

YOUTH INTAKE & SEASON REVIEW 2024

TABLE | TRANSFERS | FINANCES

Sixth season – SURVIVED – but only just! Our second season in this league and the same pattern occurring: a fantastic start to the season is let down by not being able to a) finish off games and b) hold on to a lead. Results were disastrous in the last 12 games (W1 D3 L8). Luckily, the great start we had was enough to help us avoid relegation. That, and other results going our way. I feel it’s going to be a long hard slog in this league, and we’re showing no signs of improvement. It seems no tactic is helping the cause, so I’m looking at the players themselves.

A major overhaul is needed. Most unambitious and low determination players will be shown the door. They’re serving to bring the others down with them, especially in training. I receive constant notifications that they are having “less than desirable effects” on the players trying hard.

Not only this, sifting through these players will improve our financial situation. We’re still in the black but cannot seem to stop the bleeding with all these youth contracts. It’s a constant balance of cashing in from friendlies and hoping that’s enough to keep us afloat. No more.

The upgrade of the junior coaching budget and youth recruitment took effect and something spectacular happened in the Youth Intake 2024 – the game decided to give me a son with 4.5* CA. What’s crazy is that it’s the first time I’ve ever had a son in Football Manager, let alone being the best youth prospect! He’ll go straight into the first team, no doubt.

Spoiler

Might be coincidence, but the best time to ask is asking the board when your board confidence is “untouchable”, the team is in some really nice form, and you have some money in the bank.

Apart from him, and a quality DC, the standard of the other youth candidates is fairly poor. I’ll of course be keeping the players filling the criteria of good potential and with good determination/personality.

In other news, we’ve been successful in obtaining a new Senior Affiliate – Djurgårdens IF.

The next season is well underway already, and we have the aim of survival again. No matter how unlikely that is!

Season | League                              | Pos.                  | Notes/Achievements    | Swedish Cup  | TF       | YF       | JC           | YR           | Highest Average Rating
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 9th                   | Survived              | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Minimal      | Limited      | Eric Hörnell (7.30)
2020   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 2nd - Lost in Playoff | Senior Affiliate      | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Minimal      | Basic        | Robin Johansson (7.37)
2021   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 7th                   | Regression            | Round 1      | Poor     | Poor     | Minimal      | Basic        | Robin Johansson (7.29)
2022   | 2nd Division East Götaland (Tier 4) | 1st                   | CHAMPIONS!            | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Fairly Basic | Fairly Basic | Robin Johansson (7.55)
2023   | 1st Division South (Tier 3)         | 12th                  | Survived              | n/a          | Poor     | Poor     | Fairly Basic | Fairly Basic | (3F) Joel Andersson (7.18)
2024   | 1st Division South (Tier 3)         | 12th                  | Survived              | Round 1      | Poor     | Poor     | Average      | Average      | (3B) Henrik Sandell (6.91)

 

Edited November 27, 2018 by collindinho
Forgot to add summary

[Novafluff]

 

 FK Älmeboda/Linneryd

Season Review 2023 & Youth Intake

Table | Transfers | Finances | Facilities | Youth Intake

First shortly about the youth intake. It were a dissapointing year since we upgrade both our YR and JC i expected alot more in an overall dark season the youth intake didnt go any better. Sundström has some nice finishing which makes it little bit exciting atleast.

The season i really dont want to talk about. An horrible season overall. First off we for some reason got transfered to Div 1 North which is very weird since we are a very south team. But the whole season were a big struggle couldnt get any tactic going we conceded so many easy goals and had trouble scoring ourselves. Faton Trstena whos been 20+ points every season and avg a good bit over 7 aswell this year only had 5 points and a 6.78 rating. We had to save the season via relegation playoff which we won by 6-5 over two legs. Next season we need to improve but i think we will struggle for a couple of years now.

Youth players wise their were as usual Jonas Hansson-Widén making the gratest impact getting 27 starts and 1 sub getting 4 goals and 4 assists avg 6.99 so worse as the whole team from last season but an okay season still regarding the teams position. Anders Kempe did an okay season aswell scoring 7 and assisting 9 in 27 starts.

Finances were one of two lightpoints this season as we got drawn against Norrköping in the cup they first offered to switch so they got home for around £30k and then we share the gate receipts so we earned around £100k on that so we might have our best season finance wise even thoug we have more expenditure then before

Facilities were the other lightpoint were the new board accepted upgrades in YR and JC which will ofc benefit us overtime

Top Scorer: Robin Johansson 14 goals 27(2) games

Most Assists: Anders Kempe 9 assists 27(0) games

Best Average: Eric Hörnell 7.09 avg 24(1) games

Best Prospect: Jonas Hansson-Widén 6.99 avg 4 goals 4 assists 27(1) games

[Diego D10S]

Romagna Centro Cesena

 

League Table Season 2019/20  --   Transfer History

 

A very good first season for me in Cesena. Finished 7th and got all the way to the 3rd round of promotion playoff. Got knocked out over 2 matches by Novara.

But just happy to survive and keep my job first season. I got rid of most of the older players so next season might be different. Its already time for some of the prospects to step up and play a role in the first team.

The first Youth Intake  was very good with these guys being the most promising. -  Alessandro Cesaroni  --   Luca Di Giacomo  --   Antonio Vocaturo  --    Gianmarco Baiardo  --    Kelly

-- Gianni Mancini will already next season be my first choice in goal hopefully he will handle the pressure. I'm desperate for some central defenders in next intake.

Fingers crossed  GL to you all

 

Edited November 26, 2018 by Diego D10S

[Shakes]

Sporting Clube de Pombal - 2019-20 - Campeonato Nacional Prio

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

First season is always the hardest, and it wasn't made any easier by the best player in the squad deciding he didn't want to sign a contract and would leave for another club in the division early on. It feels a bit dirty to say this, but we had a couple of other midfielders come in on a transfer arranged before I arrived, and it was just as well because they were very much required to cover the loss.

I wouldn't say it was ever easy - nobody hit double figures for goals, in fact one of those pre-arranged transfer midfielders was our top scorer. But after a pretty poor start we turned in the right direction and headed reasonably steadily upwards and out of the relegation zone. Safety was assured with a game in hand, and in the end we finished 10th on the table, 7 points clear of the drop zone. A very satisfying first season made better by beating the club Mr Wont Sign A Contract  went to twice and seeing them finish dead last. Not that I'm petty or anything.

The cup was an ... ahem ... chance to concentrate our focus elsewhere. Cup runs aren't usually very valuable in Portugal anyway, unless you can get super lucky and hit an away match against one of the big 3. Finances are as I'd expect, woeful, so just as well the club starts with average everything across the board, because they're not getting improved any time soon. (Edit: Just to prove me wrong the board approved an increase in youth recruitment budget after the end of season competition money came in)

The youth intake was very pleasing, with three players ready to take their spots straight in the first team. Personalities could be better but lets see how this new mentoring thing works. I had two solid centre backs, but getting (20a) Gonçalo Pegas will help my 3 at the back system, (20b) Félix Carriço has better size than my existing strikers and will free up the player I had in the support role to lead the line, and (20c) Isac Henrique immediately becomes the best GK at the club.

With a couple of the better young players not willing to sign new contracts at the moment due to the squad strength getting games into the young players and building the team is going to be vital over the next couple of seasons. 3rd division is brutal to get out of - 72 teams compete, 2 advance - so we can't exactly count on a promotion to convince them to stay. We're going to have to train up replacements just in case.

Season  | Div | League | Cup | Notes
--------|-----|--------|-----|---------------
2019-20 | 3rd | 10th   | 1st | 7 points clear

 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Shakes

[Diego D10S]

@Shakes great job. I would kill for Goncalo Pegas  fantastic talent

[XaW]

That damn chairman!

[MWE]

Finally got some internet i am midway through the 3rd season currently so will post screenshots of my first two seasons up now


KSK Hasselt 2019-20

League Table

Squad

Finances

Youth Intake

Amrani
Benali
Mertens
Bogaerts

[MWE]

KSK Hasselt 2020-21

Squad

League Table

Finances

Youth Intake

Deman
Reis
Stevens

 

Season    League                   Position    Belgian Cup      Achievements/Notes  Top Scorer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20   First Amateur Division   11th        5th round        Stayed up           Sam        (12) 
2020/21   First Amateur Division   11th        5th round        Stayed up again     Djonhambo  (17)

Edited November 28, 2018 by MWE

[collindinho]

FK Älmeboda/Linneryd

YOUTH INTAKE & SEASON REVIEW 2025

TABLE | TRANSFERS | FINANCES

Seventh season – SURVIVED with minor progression after finishing 8^th. Well, we did slightly better than last season after (another) tweak of the tactic. This time opting for and ultimately sticking with a defensive 3-1-4-2. This seemed to play more in our favour to prevent our very weak full backs to make mistakes and to allow star wingers (fast!) and strikers (TM & P) to shine. Having three at the back meant we conceded more than usual, but also, we went back to scoring more goals. Games like 5-4 were not uncommon this season! Historically we loved to draw games. That has now changed to either win or lose – usually winning at home, usually losing away. It was more stressful/frustrating not to have a good run at all; no unbeaten streak sequence this year. But was nice to achieve more points. We also achieved a second-round finish in the cup after finally beating non-playable opposition (we failed to do so last season), eventually losing to equal standard opposition. The board still seemed to really enjoy the cup "run".

A lot of the deadwood – or players who I deemed deadwood – have now left. This includes some of the original player roster such as Wennerhag, Eriksson and Johansson. All had dropped to 1.5* CA. There were also a bunch of youngsters bloating the wage budget unnecessarily. They were, perhaps a bit harshly on my part, released, if they were not still 5* PA and/or were not determined.

Saving on wages, finishing 8^th (for £45k) and Djurgårdens IF (£21k) affiliate money has put us in a better condition in the run up to lucrative friendlies again – with the aim of more upgrades. I just wish my coaches would stop deciding to undertake expensive coaching course and then leaving for other clubs – leaving our club facing the bill and not reaping the benefits. Is there a way to stop that at all, guys?

This seasons Youth Intake was fairly decent with some good CA players in the midst. I think this is more likely due to the fact the squad was decimated more than actual quality – so that remains to be seen next season. (7B) Petter Lindblom seems like a decent player already, though. I'll be keeping maybe 4 or 5 of these players, maximum.

Next season’s aim: I would be happy with a) improving at least one facility, b) finishing 8^th again and c) enjoy another cup “run”.

[Shakes]

Sporting Clube de Pombal - 2020-21 - Campeonato Nacional Prio

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

I was hoping for some gradual improvement but we really came on in leaps and bounds this season. Instead of watching the drop zone we were watching the promotion playoff spots, admittedly mostly from the outside looking in. Early season we ran into a few injuries - we were probably due after a pretty clean run last year - and that combined with our woeful away record looked like it would make any chance of making the playoffs a pipe dream.

However our strong home record of 13-2-2, some late season scrappy results away, and other teams stumbling meant we some how climbed into the second spot with a game to play. The equation was simple - we were 2 points clear of the team in third, but we'd blown a 3-1 lead late in our match up, so they held the head to head record. If they won we also needed to win. If they didn't win, we were through. We didn't win - we got belted 3-0 in fact - but they could only manage a 2-2 draw and we were in to the playoffs!

The playoff draw was the one that had to happen - facing off against my old team from FM13 that I'd won the challenge with. I felt like I was supporting the wrong team while watching the match, and honestly they were the better team, but we were ahead on the scoreboard when the clock stopped, thanks to a big home win. So on to the semi finals and a chance at promotion. I really thought we had a shot after our never die wondering approach on the away leg somehow ended in only a 4-3 loss, but our home leg we couldn't hit the scoreboard and we were out. Honestly we're probably not ready for promotion so from that respect it's hard to be too disappointed, but getting in a position to get promotion is so hard it's not a chance you want to pass up.

A small run in the cup was mostly an exercise in our strikers padding their goal totals in games of no real consequence. 

Next year hopefully we can consolidate, but it's going to be tricky with our best midfielder and best striker both leaving after signing contracts with higher division clubs. The striker in particular is a problem - we don't exactly have a lot of youth depth there, and players capable of 24 goals in 35 starts don't grow on trees. Given our biggest problem was already scoring goals in away games, I wouldn't be surprised if we slip back a bit next year.

After getting a youth recruitment upgrade and also taking advantage of my untouchable status to get a junior coaching upgrade I was hoping the youth intake would be a good one, and it didn't disappoint: the HoYD calling it a golden generation. The standouts are either footed midfielders (21a) Paulo Teixeira and (21b) Carvalho as well as the hulking defender (21c) Fábio Rocha. With two other good central defensive prospects this intake means I'll be able to continue to play 3 at the back even when my best young defender leaves after the next season.

I'm feeling like there's the makings of a good team coming together, just need to hold out for another striker prospect or two and we'll be able to push on up.

Season  | Div | League | Cup | Notes
--------|-----|--------|-----|---------------
2019-20 | 3rd | 10th   | 1st | 7 points clear
2020-21 | 3rd |  2nd   | 3rd | Playoff Semi-Finals

[Diego D10S]

@collindinho  @Shakes  Looks like a very good youth intake for both of you. Fabio Rocha <3 I'm praying to the FM gods for a central defender myself

GL next season