The Football Manager Youth Academy Challenge

[optimusprimal82]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Youth intake 2024

It seemed like a fantastic intake when looking at the stars, but upon further inspections I'm not that impressed... Quite a lot of them are decent talents, but I couldn't help to be a bit let down when I looked at the majority of them. That said, there are some in there I think might be good for us.

Steve Thomas 24b will fit nicely into my squad. A left footed right back when I'm using inverted wing backs? Nice! Will most likely be part of the main squad the rest of the season due to our very poor selection of right backs.

Dewi Colbert 24f is a talented goalkeeper and will most likely be 2nd choice next season. Some horrible stats here and there, but still not bad for our level.

I think I need to change HoYD again and see if I can get someone with more professionalism. We need to get a higher professionalism throughout the squad and intakes is pretty much our only choice.

Some good potential there again!  

You've got quite a few lads there with 'level headed' for MHS which usually indicates decent Professionalism?

Spoiler

Do you think maybe he just has some other stats that are low he's passing on that are causing less favourable personality types? I'm pretty convinced at this stage that my HoyD has a low temperament stat (for example) due to the amount of volatile/confrontational players I'm getting in?

Edited April 16, 2019 by optimusprimal82

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Some good potential there again!  

You've got quite a few lads there with 'level headed' for MHS which usually indicates decent Professionalism?

Do you think maybe he just has some other stats that are low he's passing on that are causing less favourable personality types? I'm pretty convinced at this stage that my HoyD has a low temperament stat (for example) due to the amount of volatile/confrontational players I'm getting in?

Are you certain about that? From my, admittedly older documentation, I have this:

Quote

LH		Con 1-14, Tem 7-20, Loy 11-20, (Spo 12-20 or Pro 13-20)

So, low controversy, decent to great termperament, good to great loyalty and either good to great sportmanship OR professionalism.

The Media Handling I'm looking for are Reserved or Evasive (or at least with those as part of the MH.

Quote

Res		Con 1-5, Tem 7-20, Loy 11-20, Pro 15-20, Pre 1-14
Eva		Con 6-14, Tem 7-14, Pre 15-20, Pro 15-20

 

[optimusprimal82]

Those numbers based on this years game - was posted in GD just before xmas, someone on Discord I'm on verified them - link is here if you'd like to see the full list!

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Those numbers based on this years game - was posted in GD just before xmas, someone on Discord I'm on verified them - link is here if you'd like to see the full list!

Yeah, I've seen it, but I'm unsure how it's verified. Setting things and then, see what happens? Tweaking and then see how it affects the personality and media handling? I don't have the IGE, nor do I use any external tools, so I don't have any way of verifying it myself. I guess it could have changed though... Maybe I should appreciate Level Headed a bit more than I have done.... 

[optimusprimal82]

I don't know how he compiled it (it was posted on SI originally here) - I don't use the editors either so haven't verified myself, the guy on Discord who vouched for it used the IGE to confirm - I understand the reluctance, I myself was sceptical at first glance but it seems to fit. As with any 'forum knowledge' guess it comes with the caveat of 'maybe true until proven definitively'?

Fwiw, anyone I come across as 'Level headed' gets a 'good' score for professionalism (I just rate them as poor/fair/good as I can't track the exact numbers - saves me obsessing to ridiculous levels) and it seems to be a reliable indicator (so far).

[XaW]

1 hour ago, optimusprimal82 said:

I don't know how he compiled it (it was posted on SI originally here) - I don't use the editors either so haven't verified myself, the guy on Discord who vouched for it used the IGE to confirm - I understand the reluctance, I myself was sceptical at first glance but it seems to fit. As with any 'forum knowledge' guess it comes with the caveat of 'maybe true until proven definitively'?

Fwiw, anyone I come across as 'Level headed' gets a 'good' score for professionalism (I just rate them as poor/fair/good as I can't track the exact numbers - saves me obsessing to ridiculous levels) and it seems to be a reliable indicator (so far).

So, I took a long and hard look at the team and each and every scouting report to see if I can draw any conclusions from it. Here is an overview (players in the first team squad above the line, the ones in the U19s below):

Now, this shows me a couple of things. First of all, I have a major issue with consistency with the team, something I had no idea of and might explain why we sometimes just play horrible. And with it this ingrained into the squad, I'm not sure if I can improve it at all. I'll stay an optimist though. It also shows that the determination is less of an issue than I had thought. Though I consider everything above 10 as high, mostly because of the level of players I have.

To my surprise I also don't have anyone that the coaches rate a low professionalism. It seems like you might have a point here @optimusprimal82! I should probably study your link a bit more. However, it also goes to show I have issues with ambition in the squad. My current HoYD are "Fairly ambitious" though, so I need to find someone with an even more ambitious personality. Though, as we have talked about earlier it might not be all him.

I'll do this run up in a few years time and see if there are any big changes.

[XaW]

 XaW - Rhyl FC - 2023/24

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We won the league last season, and the goal were set, do it again. The start were quite poor though with a draw against TNS and a loss to Cefn Druids were our first two matches. Cefn Druids are becoming a slight bogey team for us though, and I noticed that they have gone professional now. I actually had a look at that; TNS started as professionals and since the start they have been joined by Llandudno as well as the mentioned Cefn Druids. And the next summer we are joining that specially selected group! Back to the league play. After the rocky start we got into it and started to pick up points and soon we were around the top teams. Cefn Druids and Gap Connah's Quay were our main opponents this season, but in November we went on a great run and left the rest of the teams in the dust. From that on, we walked the league and secured it with 5 games left to win our 2nd title in a row.

In the Welsh Cup we beat Caernarfon, Airbus UK Broughton, Aberystwyth Town and Port Talbot Town to reach the final. Here we narrowly lost to Cefn Druids after they scored in injury time. They really are my bogey team. In the Welsh League Cup we beat Bangor City, Gresford and Prestatyn Town to reach the final. Here we beat Haverfordwest to claim our first cup title.

We had another shot in Europe this season and as league winner we went into the Champions League. We started in the 1st qualifying round and drew Kazakhs FK Astana. We lost 3-1 away and didn't do much better at home were we lost 0-1. However, we got into Europa League and the 3rd qualifying round. Here we got Hungarian side Ferencváros. A solid 2-2 at home was followed by an amazing 4-1 win in Budapest. In the 4th qualifying round we faced Swedish outfit Hammarby. In a crazy match at home we both scored and conceded 5 goals! It was one of those games were all shots at both goalkeepers end in the net. In the return leg we took an early lead and held on to it for a long time, but conceded late and went out on away goals. A very good effort out on the continent, and quite nice for the coffers as well.

The main players I would like to mention this season are:

• Nathan Thomas 20h - Our goalscorer extraordinaire.
• Ben Ward 23a - Our new supertalent were instrumental in midfield this season.
• Aaron Hassall - Again our left back does great and contribute with goals and assists as well.

We are continuing to improve things, and with the new money we should get some more improvements to the facilities soon enough.

@optimusprimal82: My score for home/away draws are 19-14.

[optimusprimal82]

7 hours ago, XaW said:

So, I took a long and hard look at the team and each and every scouting report to see if I can draw any conclusions from it. Here is an overview (players in the first team squad above the line, the ones in the U19s below):

Now, this shows me a couple of things. First of all, I have a major issue with consistency with the team, something I had no idea of and might explain why we sometimes just play horrible. And with it this ingrained into the squad, I'm not sure if I can improve it at all. I'll stay an optimist though. It also shows that the determination is less of an issue than I had thought. Though I consider everything above 10 as high, mostly because of the level of players I have.

To my surprise I also don't have anyone that the coaches rate a low professionalism. It seems like you might have a point here @optimusprimal82! I should probably study your link a bit more. However, it also goes to show I have issues with ambition in the squad. My current HoYD are "Fairly ambitious" though, so I need to find someone with an even more ambitious personality. Though, as we have talked about earlier it might not be all him.

I'll do this run up in a few years time and see if there are any big changes.

Good sleuthing - very much along the lines of how I go about pigeon-holing my guys (as if you couldn't tell!  )!

The consistency thing is something that's bothering me a fair bit right now - 16 of the 27 guys in my first team squad are all rated as such. I know I'm odd and undoubtedly over the top when it comes to recruiting/judging my guys - but the rating isn't there for decoration so whilst it may not be as big of an issue that my brain thinks it is, it is still an undesirable trait and whilst I know/have read many times that it can/does improve as players age, I'm not seeing much evidence of it with my guys as I track them from season to season so not sure if there's a trick/perfect conditions required to getting it to increase but it's irritating that so many of my guys are saddled with the label, especially as it throws another variable into the 'why didn't we perform today' hat (although common sense suggests an entire team non-performance is not down to a few individuals being flaky?)

 

Have searched my bottom off trying to find more info but the most anyone can seem to confirm is that yes it can/does increase but have found little more of substance than that.

[XaW]

6 hours ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Good sleuthing - very much along the lines of how I go about pigeon-holing my guys (as if you couldn't tell!  )!

The consistency thing is something that's bothering me a fair bit right now - 16 of the 27 guys in my first team squad are all rated as such. I know I'm odd and undoubtedly over the top when it comes to recruiting/judging my guys - but the rating isn't there for decoration so whilst it may not be as big of an issue that my brain thinks it is, it is still an undesirable trait and whilst I know/have read many times that it can/does improve as players age, I'm not seeing much evidence of it with my guys as I track them from season to season so not sure if there's a trick/perfect conditions required to getting it to increase but it's irritating that so many of my guys are saddled with the label, especially as it throws another variable into the 'why didn't we perform today' hat (although common sense suggests an entire team non-performance is not down to a few individuals being flaky?)

Have searched my bottom off trying to find more info but the most anyone can seem to confirm is that yes it can/does increase but have found little more of substance than that.

Yeah, I quite often check the scout reports, but I had no idea it was this bad. Who says spreadsheets aren't informative and fun?

I do hope it rises with age, because realistically, it kind of do. I mean consistency is one of the few things that allows the game to mirror experience. The kind where you are unfazed by things because you have been there before and you know the consequences and have dealt with them before.

Like the first time you git a flat tire and you never had changed it before, and here you are in the middle of a busy highway or something. The first time it happens you kind of freak out and might do dumb things, but if it happens again, you know what you did last time and change your approach this time. Of course, this changes for person to person, but most people might be a bit fazed when experiencing something for the first time. As far as I can see this isn't mirrored in the game in any other way. Yes, decisions do impact this also, but not in the same way. Big matches? Yes, for actual big matches, but not on a general scale.

So I hope that it will improve as players have more matches under their belt and become more experienced. But it's definitely something I will keep an eye on!

[yipster1986]

Small update on my Fidelis Andria save as I'm currently at the halfway mark in my first season.

I got the board to agree to my phylosophy to develop youngsters throughout our own ranks before the season started. I also went on my first coaching course and have completed it by now. I'm currently studying for my second course. At the start of October I asked the board to upgrade our Youth Facilities. I was expecting a big fat no but to my surprise my chairman agreed with me. We're going to get along just fine! Construction will be completed by November 2020. I'm biding my time to ask for increased junior coaching and youth recruitment, I hope to get it late January.

In terms of football we're playing well above our expectation. Going with a pretty standard 442 we had some amazing results against top clubs like FC Crotone and Bari but we also got hammered at home 1-7 by US Catanzaro. We just completed the first round and we're sitting in 5th, in the playoff spots, while being 12 points clear of the relegation playoff zone. The last 4 games have been messy though.. 2 losses and 2 draws against bottom of the league teams. To be completely truthful: we scraped by those draws and were lucky to have them.

The problem lies in the fact that big teams do attack us and with some clever counters we manage to bypass their defense; but those bottom league teams just stay so deep all the time we can't find an opening apart from set pieces (which we train vigorously on during practice). I just lack the creativity to find openings and I guess I'm not a tactician enough to find ways to win these games. Just last game was horrible: we had 69% possession, they had 15 shots we only managed 4... from range... and we were playing at home. we lost the game 0-1. I do hope I manage to find a way to solve this because I dread dropping down the table and my players losing morale.

Apart from that: I got myself a new contract already! As we were on a high I asked for it myself. The board were behind me so I got myself a new 2 year deal and a big pay increase!

[yipster1986]

This is going from bad to worse. Early March and only a single victory in 2020. I need to go back to the drawing board. Any suggestions on playing hoofball? I have a striker 1m93 with 15 acceleration, 12 pace, 16 dribbling and 14 finishing. Sure he should be able to bang in some goals. I just cannot find a way to make him score. quick direct counters is what I'm looking at, I just can't seem to replicate it.

[XaW]

Youth intake 2025

I did change HoYD this summer and found this new guy I really like the look of. Perfectionist with 18 determination and good with youngsters. Yes, his judging abilities are not that good, but we are playing in Wales so this is like finding the holy grail as far as I'm concerned. The intake does look nice at first glance, but once again the actual quality aren't that spectacular. There is only one player I would like to show.

Taylor Peate 25e is the best, at least for now. A bit slow, and the coaches rate him as a target man. However, he is 169 cm tall and have a 5 in jumping reach... not exactly a target man in my book. But he does have some nice mental stats and good finishing. 

[andershs]

Scarborough Athletic FC (England)

Season 6 - 2024/25

This was an action-packed season. Second season in the Vanarama National League, and even though we ended lower than last year (13th and 12th), we actually managed to collect one more point than last year (61 and 60). We started strongly, but throughout the season we were very inconsistent and for a lot of the games we just did not show up and were completely outplayed. I contribute this to the facts that we are still rockbottom in most player stat comparisons across the division and that we have a very young squad.
But this year we embarked on a very thrilling cup run. We managed to reach the 5th round of the FA Cup! Fantastic. The players got the opportunity to play at the illustrious Saint Mary's and came away with a very respectable 0-4 defeat after a solid display. This showed me, that we have the potential in the squad to match a higher level in the future - we just need to show it more often than in glimpses - and it bolstered our finances considerably.

League (Results 1 | Results 2 | Results 3 | Cups) - A strong start, meant, that we did not get dragged into a prolonged relegation battle. The rest of the season was inconsistent and we failed to impress in most matches. We ended the season loosing three in a row with a final day defeat to relegated and 24th-placed Oxford City. I am a bit concerned since we are outplayed and trashed in quite a lot of the matches. We are not even close to gaining points, and when we win or draw, we have to fight throughout the match. We have no easy wins or draws. This needs to improve, otherwise, we are always only a loosing streak away from getting into real trouble.
But on to something much more enjoyable - our cup run. We were this seasons overachievers in the FA Cup reaching the 5th round going out to the mighty Southampton from the Premier League. We started positively against Brackley FC from the National North division below us before eliminating Barnet from our own division. Then we had the luck to play first Colchester United and then Blackpool FC from the bottom of League 2. Both teams had poor form when we played them, and this turned out to be enough for us. I was impressed with the squad. Then we delivered perhaps the best performance of the season eliminating first placed Grimsby from our own division in the 4th round before getting a shot at a Premier League team in the shape of Southampton. So some luck in drawing a Vanarama National League side in the 4th round as well as the struggling League 2 sides meant that we had an FA Cup adventure which the town and local area will talk about for years to come. Delightful.

Team - We lost our best striker Mel Davison before the season WBA in the Championship, and in the winter transfer window, I decided to let our second best striker John Muirhead leave for Oxford, also
in the Championship because his contract ran out after the season and we managed to get 50% of a potential future transfer fee. Davison spent a year on the WBA Under-23s team and Muirhead was loaned to Partick Thistle where he played eight times in six months. Satisfyingly, our centre-back talent of the decade Greenwood who decided to leave for Boston Utd ended in 16th place below us.
But back to our team. After christmas we were a bit thin in the offensive department. We are currently relying on John Hickson and attacking midfielder Henry Bower. Bower along with Daniel Metcalfe and Darren Powell are the standout players of the season having developed nicely and having secured places in the first team.
It is still an ongoing battle to tie down our most promising players and I fear, that I will loose our best winger Mark Dunning and striker John Hickson in two years time.

Facilities - Last year we maxed out our Junior Coaching which is currently Exceptional and this season I managed to push our Youth Recruitment two levels such that it is now Well established. Fantastic.
I did not mean to push for two upgrades but since our board decided to scrap agreed improvements to Youth Training and Training Facilities at the end of the season even though we had the cup money, I decided to try my luck. The intake setup is now very high quality compared to other teams at this level, and this should give me quite an advantage going forward. Even though I might not be able to keep my best players, the players I can actually tie down on contracts should be at a very good and competitive level and should have the ability to play at a better level in the future. Good times.

Youth Intake - The first upgrade to Youth Recruitment made an instant impact since we got our first foreigner - the spanish winger Victor Manuel Villegas. I am expecting big things from him alone because
of his Determination of 20. But his Technique, Flair, Pace and Acceleration are also good. Jonny Andrew looks like our coming first choice centre-back, and Jordan Haynes is currently our best striker.
He as well does not wish to sign a proper contract, so we will probably loose him in the summer. But it is encouraging to see the quality of players now coming through our intakes.

Transfers - This year we sold our first players. All strikers. We lost Mel Davison before the season. In the winter transfer window, Akritas from Cyprus offered a deal for our striker Panos Panagiotou. He did not have the quality or potential to compete with our other strikers, so I accepted the offer. John Muirhead did not want to sign another contract so when Oxford offered us 50% of the next transfer fee, I decided to let him leave in the winter. A bit of a gamble, because he was our top scorer, but now we have the chance of a bigger payment in the coming seasons. Lee Thompson was another striker which I did not see potential in so he left for Stevenage in League 2. Finances improved due to our cup run. This is also much needed because of our heavy investment in and running cost of the intake setup.

Goal next season: Stay in the Vanarama National League. Be more competitive and hopefully improve the quality of our squad through our improved intakes such that our better players will want to stay and sign at least a first contract with the club.

Edited April 19, 2019 by andershs

[XaW]

 XaW - Rhyl FC - 2024/25

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So, two league titles in a row, could we make it a third? Well, to be up front about it, no, we didn't. TNS remembered they are a good team (And this fellow who scores against me EVERY DAMN TIME) and finally showed it to claim their first league title since I took over Rhyl. The season started quite good though, but TNS and Cardiff Met Uni also had good starts and the three of us soon left the rest behind. Going into the final parts of the season we had a good chance to win it, but we fumbled. We had some issues this season with losing leads, I don't have a count of how many times we were up by one or two goals, only to throw it away and end in a draw. All in all, it's not a bad season, but 10 draws is just too much. Our main issue is leaking goals when we should be in comfortable situations, and most of the time it's due to errors from the players, and not what I deem, tactical ones. Missed passes from defenders, dallying on the ball, missed headers, I almost tore my hair out this season. I suspect the damn inconsistency is at play, but I can't really do much about it. I did try to tweak the tactic, but that just made things worse, so I'm still on the 4-4-2 train. Roll on next season!

This season has also been overshadowed by a takeover saga that lasted almost the whole season. I even got this message a few months before it was finally resolved.

Yeah, we still had a few months with rumours before we had a takeover. The result? Nothing much, just a board that don't care much for investments and they brought a load of directors in.

In the Welsh Cup we beat Monmouth, Newtown, TNS and Cefn Druids to reach the final. Here we beat Prestatyn Town to claim our first title in this competition. After the match, I had the chance of claiming to be a certain Portuguese manager, but I'm not that smug. In the Welsh League Cup we beat Goytre United, Penybont and Bala Town to reach the final. Here we beat Cardiff Met Uni to retain the title.

In Europe we were once again in the Champions League and started in the 1st qualifying round against Qarabağ FK of Azerbaijan. A 2-1 win were followed up with 2-2 away to go through. In the 2nd qualifying round we drew NK Maribor of Slovenia. They thumped us 3-0 at their turf. In the home leg we gave it our all and at least won the tie, though only 2-1 to get knocked out. This meant we went into the Europa League and we entered in the 3rd qualifying round. Videoton of Hungary were beaten in both legs to go through. In the 4th qualifying round we met Zrinjski Mostar of Bosnia Herzegovina. A narrow 2-1 loss away and a 2-2 draw at home were not enough to go through. Still, we did very good and were not far of the group stages.

The main players I would like to mention this season are:

• Josh Roberts 22d - He had a great season and has had monumental improvements in his attributes this season. Also capped by Wales U19s.
• Marc Worrall 21c - Been very solid on the right flank and scores a lot of important goals.
• Meilir Evans 23f - The defence is our weakness, but Meilir have stepped up and shown us what he is capable of.

@optimusprimal82: My score for home/away draws are 23-18.

[Jtomsett11]

SSC Bari Season 5

Media prediction: 20th

Actual finish: 5th (qualified for Euro cup!)

Coming into our first season in Serie A I was pretty happy with the squad which, apart from our GKs, contained some decent, nearly Serie A standard players in most positions. However, our overall quality was significantly lower than most teams, and our form towards the end of our promotion winning season was woeful, so there was a good chance we would go straight back down.

We changed to a 4-4-1-1 formation for this season, which involved retraining a few of our AML and AMR, but very few newgens seem to be inside forwards as far as my experience goes so this change needed to happen sooner rather than later. The change proved a huge success. Early results such as this 1-1 draw against Juventus showed we could go up against and match some of the big boys. Half way through the season, the table looked like this. Some of our results were stunning, with us scoring 3,4 and 5 goals regularly. 

At the back end of last season, our two best players Fregonese and Proietti (both CMs) refused to sign new contracts, but our form started to win them over, and after initial ridiculous demands I managed to secure Proietti to a new deal. I was absolutely delighted with this, as I couldn't face the prospect of losing both of our only real Serie A quality players. Around this time, we were finally taken over by a new board, who so far have made no changes, invested no money (why would you when we make so much profit due to no transfer expenditure!!) and agreed to reinstate my focus on the youth. Both the new and old board have allowed us to improve our training and youth facilities, and after I moaned at the new board for rejecting youth recruitment upgrades this has been done too. As you can see below, our facilities are excellent for our stature. 

Back to the season. As we came into the closing stages, we were within striking distance of the top four, having even been second at one point due to our game playing on a Friday. We then lost our next two games, and it became clear we were now in a fight to finish in the top 6 and secure Europa League football. Drawing 0-0 in our next game, our CB smashed in a 79th minute winner from the edge of the box, and we then came from 2-0 down at home to Atalanta to win 3-2 and finish 5th!!

As a result of such a good season, we won numerous awards:

Best Manager

Club of the Year

Best Player

Best Goalkeeper + best defender(he saves so many penalties, at least 5 this season despite being Serie C standard!!)

Here is the squad's overall appearances etc:

GK and DF

MF and ST

And our youth intake from this year. Reggiani stands out, but Nafiu is a much needed tall CB, jumping already 13. I have noticed a significant improvement in personality and determination in the last two years, much fewer 'low determination' and 'unambitious' or 'fickle' players. I still had one 'spineless' one come through last year - hopefully mentoring will improve him!

Transfers as always. 

Next season:

I am resigned to losing Fregonese, by far our best player (now officially a wonderkid!!) but with only one year remaining on his contract and an official transfer request I don't want him leaving on a free transfer really. We do have other CMs who can slot in and hopefully develop themselves. 

Our squad is pretty solid, but with European football on offer this season I am going to have to rotate my defenders a little more. This is the one area I rarely change, with Manzo, Paba, Baldassarre, Nannini and Parise playing most games. However, Nannini was error prone towards the end, so possibly room for Tononi to push through. Favot only has jumping 6, so I'm not sure he will make it at CB, possibly another choice at RB...

I am hoping for a top half finish, or anything that isn't a relegation fight and a good go in the group stages of Europa League. I've managed to secure most of my players to long contracts without release fee clauses now, so the future looks bright!

Season	League	Finish	Finances	Youth facilities	Training facilities	Youth recruitment	Junior coaching	Top scorer	Top assists
1	Serie C	1st	£2.8 million	Average	Average	Above average	Average	Simeri (23)	Bollini (11)
2	Serie B	7th (lost in play off semis)	£2.4 million	Good	Good	Established	Adequate	Simeri (11)	Ottalenghi (7)
3	Serie B	9th	£2.95 million	Good	Great	Established	Exceptional	Simeri (7)	Paba 21D (7)
4	Serie B	2nd (promoted)	£7 million	Great	Great	Established	Exceptional	Rossi (11)	Margagliotti 20C (9)
5	Serie A	5th (qualified for Euro Cup)	£30 million	Great	Excellent	Extensive	Exceptional	Parlato (11)	Margagliotti 20C (8)

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2019 by Jaketomsett

[andershs]

Scarborough Athletic FC (England)

Season 7 - 2025/26

Champions and promotion to the Football League! What a season! Something just clicked for us, and we started the season strongly. Moreover, we did not loose a league match from 1st of November until the last day of January. But we did get 'rubber legs' (gummiben) as we say where I am from. Luckily we managed to get back on track and finished the season with four wins in the last five matches to secure the title. In the last match we fell apart completely and ended up loosing 1-6. Hangovers from the celebrations? Gaining access to the Football League meant, that we changed our set up at the end of the season to Full Time Professionalism and the board is building a new stadium matching the regulations in League 2.

League (Results 1 | Results 2 | Results 3 | Cups) - This season something clicked big time for the team. I made a few tweaks to our regular and well-proven 4-4-2, but nothing extraordinary. The team jumped out of the start blocks and quickly shot to the top places of the league. But we really cemented our challenge for promotion by our extremely strong performances in November, December and January, where we did not loose. In march however we had a dip in form loosing two, drawing three and winning only one. But we managed to finish strongly winning all four matches in april which was enough to secure the championship. We were not able to emulate our FA Cup run from last year, but winning the league was a good substitute. Here is the positional chart.

Team - The team is getting stronger as the players are getting older. Moreover, we have a very talented squad. The players performed admireably this year and limited the number of games where we were outplayed. When that happened we were often able to even draw the match. Standout players were Darren Powell who developed rapidly, Jonny Gregory who really helped scoring our goals, Connor Green, John Jones, John Hickson and in the last part of the season also our young defensive anchorman Ben Thompson.

Facilities - I managed to push our Youth Recruitment level again which means, that both Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment are now at the highest level. Bodes well for the future. After we gained promotion to League 2, we also went professional and the board decided to build a new stadium. So things are moving quickly now. Next step is to maintain the intake setup level and start looking into the training facilities. Additionally, I managed to increase the number of coaches allowed, so this should also help the players develop.

Youth Intake - Oh yes. What a brilliant intake. The upgrades are really paying off. Moreover, all players agreed to sign provisional contracts, and their quality in terms of ability and potential meant that many of my other players suddenly agreed to sign new contracts as well. That is tremendous news. Alex Longstaff is impressive and likewise Ben Thompson. Both are being chased by a horde of Championship clubs, so I hope I can keep hold of them.

Transfers and Finances - The increased quality of my players means that they are becoming interesting as loan targets. I need to put more effort into this going forward. Switching to Full Time Professionalism and building a new stadium have along with the cost of our youth setup sent our finances plummenting. I really have no overview of our financial standing. Moreover, most players are demanding double wages to sign professional contracts. I did not realise it was that expensive to go professional. I have had some luck in removing pay-pr-match/goal related costs which most of the players have agreed to. But our income cannot in any way match our current expenditure and wages. I just hope it does not affect our youth setup or wage limits going forward.

Goal next season: Survive such that we can stay professional and maintain our current status and facilities.

Edited April 22, 2019 by andershs

[dkouv]

IFK Eskilstuna – Season 12
 

Season 12 – 2030 – Swedish Premier Division

League / cup: What a crazy season! We started off with the February cup games and our performances were bordering on embarrassing – a credible 1-1 home draw with reigning champions AIK followed by two defeats to lower league sides, the last one 4-0, albeit with my second string side.

We started off the league campaign with our usual mid-table form, but things were looking slightly better as I finally found some tactical consistency (changing mentality to cautious and sticking to a 4-4-2 rather than switching around seemed to bring some benefits). We then went on a great mid-season run – again as per usual, but because we started off higher and managed to put away a few higher-placed teams, this propelled us up the table all the way into Euro qualification slots by August. Again unusually, we kept this run going into the Autumn. Our euro/title rivals were very inconsistent and somehow we ended up first in late October with 5 games remaining:

We put away rock-bottom Örgryte and blasted away our close rivals Halmstads BK (who were second) 4-0 at home. Here we go I thought, title almost in the bag. In typical fashion, we then proceeded to draw and lose our next two games against sides 15^thand 8^th in the table. Miraculously our opponents were continuing with their inconsistency, leaving us top on goal difference on the last day – but we had to go away to 6^th place Djurgårdens. Other title rivals also had quite tough fixtures, however, most playing away to decent teams:

  

In the end it didn’t matter as we easily dispatched Djurgårdens 3-1, and secured the title with a Leicester-like 59 points (less than 2ppg) It wasn’t quite the Liverpool-Man City standard of the title race, but they all count  Plus, we apparently ended Eskilstuna's own 109 years of hurt

League table  |  Past positions  | Cup

Squad: We are pretty solid throughout, with good players in all areas of the pitch – although still a bit thin in attack with only 3 strikers and no youths coming through, so I’m retraining some midfielders to play up front. The best players are now rated as Premier Division quality rather than the league below, which I think was a key difference this season. Here’s a round-up of the best ones:

Johan Frosbald 22a (DRC) is our best defender with good physical and mental stats, and Niclas Jonsson 26c (DL) is rated as a good Premier Division player, even though he’s not very consistent

Oscar Claesson 26d (ML) has had a fantastic season with 14 assists and 9 goals from the wing, including 2 in the crucial last game of the season

Henrik Gustafsson 24a (ST) is finally living up to his potential up front, with 23 goals in 25 games

Youth watch: The first team is getting better so it’s harder for youngsters to break through, but two  players in particular stood out this season:

Charlie Jönsson 25b (MC) was on loan last season and I was only planning to use him as a back-up, but he’s been crucial in our run-in, directing play in the DLP role and chipping in with 9 goals. I guess his 17 in decisions really helps there, even though his other attributes are not that strong.

Niclas Sundberg 26h (ST) has been a pleasant surprise up-front, giving me a very competent second striking option. His dribbling, passing and finishing could do with improvement, but he has great physical stats.

Youth intake: Labelled a golden generation again, but it doesn't look that impressive, and the top prospect Hannes Pettersson 30a (DRL,MR) has 3 determination and an unambitious personality. I do need another left-back though. Peter Claesson 30b (DRC/DM) looks the most ready for first team football, and I’ll try to retrain Henrik Björklund 30c (AMLC) as a much-needed striker. From the rest, I only signed the players with good personalities or high determination - I'm trying focus a bit on improving the squad personality over the next few years.

Transfers: nothing of note

Finances: Breaking even, but losing slightly more than we gain

Facilities: board refusing upgrades, so as we were for now

Next season’s aim: We played well against the better teams but struggled against bottom of the table sides, so I might need to realign tactics again as our rep grows and teams become more defensive next season. So I’m not expecting any fireworks, but a European qualification place would be nice.

Season |  League       | Pos. |   Cup   |     CL      |     EL      |     Top scorer          |  Top assists           |     Top rating            | Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   | Div 2 S. Svea |  3   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (22)          |   Milde (15)           |     Alkoyun (7.7)         |
2020   | Div 2 S. Svea |  1   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (22)          |   Milde + 2 more (10)  |     Milde (7.8)           | Promotion
2021   | Div 1 North   |  1   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (21)          |   Milde (14)           |     Cirak (7.7)           | Promotion
2022   | Div 1 Elite   |  11  |   R2    |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (17)          |   Hallberg 19a (9)     |     Cirak (7.4)           | Survived
2023   | Div 1 Elite   |  9   |   R2    |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (12)     |   Milde (11)           |     Milde (7.1)           |
2024   | Div 1 Elite   |  6   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (20)     |   Milde (9)            |     Östling (7.4)         |
2025   | Div 1 Elite   |  7   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (19)     |   Palm 24c (14)        |     Lundin (7.3)          |
2026   | Div 1 Elite   |  4   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (14)  |   Palm 24c (12)        |     Palm 24c (7.2)        |
2027   | Div 1 Elite   |  1   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (12)  |   Hallberg 19a (6)     |     Hallberg 19a (7.5)    | Promotion!
2028   | Premier       |  8   |   QF    |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (19)  |   Claesson 26d (13)    |     Claesson 26d (7.3)    |
2029   | Premier       |  7   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Juhlin 20b (14)      |   Claesson 26d (13)    |     Sundberg 26h (7.2)    |
2030   | Premier       |  1   | ongoing |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (23)  |   Claesson 26d (14)    |     Jönsson 25b (7.6)     | !! :D
	.
Season |  Finances |  Coaching     |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   |   £23k    |  Fairly Basic |      Basic        |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2020   |   -£9k    |  Average      |  Fairly Basic     |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2021   |   -£6k    |  Average      |  Fairly Basic     |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2022   |   £55k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2023   |   £42k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Basic        |  Poor           |  7800
2024   |   £38k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Basic        |  Poor           |  7800
2025   |   £136k   |  Good         |     Average       |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2026   |   £241k   |  Good         |     Average       |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2027   |   £464k   |  Good         |  Above Average    |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2028   |   £464k   |  Good         |  Well established |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2029   |   £491k   |  Good         |  Well established |  Below Average |  Basic          |  7800
2030   |   £116k   |  Good         |  Well established |  Below Average |  Basic          |  7800
	

[janesy20]

Has anyone noticed the reload date for newly promoted teams has changed? You used to be able to save the day before the reload date but now its the same regional teams getting promoted. Any ideas how far back you need to go for the options to change?

[dkouv]

12 hours ago, janesy20 said:

Has anyone noticed the reload date for newly promoted teams has changed? You used to be able to save the day before the reload date but now its the same regional teams getting promoted. Any ideas how far back you need to go for the options to change?

Strange - from my experience it depends on the country, I remember in France on FM18 it would always be the same teams promoted, but in other countries it wouldn't be. Also if they have playoffs you have to save before the play-off date. But you probably know all that. Are you managing in the same country, where before you could reload but now you can't? I don't know of any options to control this...

[thomas_e]

Real Jean FC

Season Update 2031-2032

Another great season, but the last one in a while? 

We finished 4th place in La Liga, same as last year, and did great in the Champions League, advancing from the "group of death" with Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Basel. We had several players who took big steps quality wise this year and had a really good youth intake. All in all a great season. 

But...

We lost our star man, our best player by far (!!!!), Badr Senoussi, on a free transfer... 

Senoussi, who finished the season with 17 assist in the league from central midfield and an average rating of 7,34, had refused to sign a new contract for the last couple of seasons. With his contract coming to and end this year there was no chance of getting it renewed. He finished 3rd in the player of the year award in La Liga, and will definitely get a big contract at a huge club. This is a massive blow for us and we will have to rethink our whole approach tactically. Everything evolved around him...

To be quite honest it is also a motivational blow for me, I just dont see us finishing anywhere near Europe next year.. We have a couple of young talents, but they are far away from La Liga level at this point. Maybe a two-striker system and a more direct approach will be our solution, because now we have just lost all our midfield creativity.. 

But we did great this year, and we just have to move on, even without Senoussi. 

 

 

 

Season	|   League                   |  Position |  Copa Del Rey |          Europe         |   Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20	|   Segunda Division B       |  9th      |  2ns round    |         N/A	           |   Okay start up season
2020/21	|   Segunda Division B       |  2nd      |  3rd round    |         N/A	           |   Promoted through play off
2021/22	|   La Liga 123              |  7th      |  3rd round    |         N/A	           |   Promoted through play off, back-to-back
2022/23	|   La Liga                  |  10th     |  2nd round    |         N/A	           |   Great first season, finishing mid table
2023/24	|   La Liga                  |  14th     |  2nd round    |         N/A	           |   No progress to speak of, managed to get worse
2024/25	|   La Liga                  |  8th      |  5th round    |         N/A	           |   Solid season, finished 8th
2025/26	|   La Liga                  |  11th     |  4th round    |         N/A	           |   Decent season, good club progress if not so much on the pitch
2026/27	|   La Liga                  |  4th      |  4th round    |         N/A	           |   Amazing year, predicted 20th, finished 4th! 
2027/28	|   La Liga                  |  8th      |  5th round    |      Group Stage        |   Pretty good year, tough start to CL
2028/29	|   La Liga                  |  8th      |  4th round    |         N/A             |   Decent progress, but unconsistent
2029/30	|   La Liga                  |  7th      |  4th round    |         N/A             |   A return to Europe! 
2030/31	|   La Liga                  |  4th      |  4th round    |  EL knock out 2nd round |   Great year, finsihed 4th
2031/32	|   La Liga                  |  4th      |  Qtr-final    |  CL knock out 1st round |   Another great year, great run in CL

 

[Shankly84]

So I posted some updates on my first 3 or 4 seasons with Chelyabinsk in Russia, then ended up just getting a little carried away with it and not keeping the updates up. I have saved all my images ready to be uploaded but I had to share this one. Finally, after a couple of quarter final appearances and a semi final tonking (by City) the year before we have done it. Ironically beating (my real life team) Liverpool in the Ataturk, Istanbul of all places!!! So it took 18 years overall but I have become addicted to this save and plan to carry on, still only using youth players. I will get my season updates up soon and I apologise in advance if they take over the thread.

 

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Season 2032 Report

Our first season in the Norwegian Premier Division, the country's top league, has just finished. We had the singular goal of trying to survive, but it was always going to be a difficult task due to the massive inexperience and talent difference between our squad and the rest of the teams in this league. It was also a season of transition, as numerous youngsters took over starting roles from the now no longer developing veterans from our first few intakes. Both CMs, RB and ST positions saw new faces.

Cup- We beat our lower league affiliates Skjetten in the first round 3-0, then comfortably beat lower league Sotra 3-0 in the second round. The third round saw us beat UII/Kisa from the division below 3-1. We then drew Jerv, also from the division below but we performed badly and lost 2-0. A 4th round exit is pretty good, although it's mostly due to favourable draws and we potentially should have gone even further.

League- We started optimistically with a win in our first game over Honefoss, however it turned out they were one of the only teams worse than us this year. A terrible run of results for the first half of the season saw us lose 11 of our next 14 games, firmly entrenching us in relegation trouble. We then started to show some fight with a 5 match unbeaten run including some great wins over top half sides and we briefly escaped the relegation zone. Our form to finish the season was just not good enough to keep us up however and we finished in 14th. We almost survived on the final day, needing to better Kristiansund's result, and midway through the second half we were up 3-1 in our game and they were down 1-0 in theirs, however it all went wrong and we ended up losing 4-3 while they came back to win 2-1. The relegation playoff saw us play Fredrikstad and a dodgy red card to one of my fullbacks early in the first leg (which was later rescinded!) saw us go down 2-0 at home and we couldn't manage any comeback in the away leg, losing 1-0. I'm not sure why, but after never having a successful appeal for a rescinded red card in all my years of FM, i've had 3 in a row repealed, which is little consolation for all these dodgy red cards against us. 

Best Players-

Top goalscorer: Jens Hurthi 28F (8 goals) Our strikers really struggled this year against improved defences, and none of them really did all that well. Particularly disappointing so far is Thomas Aasenhus 31C who is rated really highly by my staff at the age of just 18, however he didn't do much in his starts. Hopefully he is someone who can develop a lot next year and come back stronger.

Most assists: Kasper Rytterager 30A (6 assists) Our wonderkid wide midfielder is one of our best players at the age of 19 but is almost certain to be sold over the winter. He has already made a fuss of wanting to leave for a bigger club and with the relegation he is determined to go and I don't think we'll be able to hold onto him. He even demanded a relegation release clause in his last contract, so this relegation really hurts us here.

Highest avg rating: Glenn Arne Knudtzon 29A (7.04) One of the few bright spots of the season, this guy took over a starting CM spot and did really well. He should become a great player.

Most POM: Kasper Rytterager 30A (4)

MVP: Glenn Arne Knudtzon 29A

Best U23 Player: Glenn Arne Knudtzon 29A

Results Results 2 (no) Transfers

 

Overall, this was a pretty disappointing season, especially as every time I thought we were doomed, the team would give me a little bit of hope before crushing it again. Anyways, it was always going to be a massive challenge to stay up and it's not hugely surprising that we couldn't manage to do it, despite coming so close. I guess I will try to emulate what I did last time we were relegated, and try to move on some of the older, lower determination players from our first few intakes who are probably not quite up to the standard of the team now, although it means saying goodbye to some club legends. We regularly had 3-4 teenagers starting for us this year so I have no doubt another year of development will make us into a much better team and hopefully we can bounce straight back up!

|         League        | Pos.  |   Cup       |  Europe    |  Top scorer     |    Top assists          |  Highest avg rating|     Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   2nd Division       3rd      2nd Round        -         Bransdal(22)        Bransdal(8)             Bright-Taylor(7.41)     PROMOTION
2020   1st Division      11th      1st Round        -         Langåker(11)        Östman/Nilsen(7)        Bright-Taylor(7.06)     Survived
2021   1st Division       9th      3rd Round        -         Langåker(14)        Rosendal/Nilsen(6)      Kristiansen(7.20)       Mid Table
2022   1st Division       9th      2nd Round        -         Langåker(18)        Rosendal/Paulsberg(6)   Bright-Taylor(7.07)     Mid Table
2023   1st Division      14th      1st Round        -         Bransdal(9)         Nilsen(5)               Nilsen(7.08)            Relegated
2024   2nd Division       2nd      3rd Round        -         Langåker(17)        Nilsen(9)               Bright-Taylor(7.51)     PROMOTION
2025   1st Division      15th      2nd Round        -         Langåker(10)        Harviken(7)             Nilsen(7.14)            Relegated
2026   2nd Division       2nd      1st Round        -         Langåker(17)        Harviken(11)            Granhaug(7.58)          PROMOTION
2027   1st Division       8th      3rd Round        -         Langåker(9)         Nilsen(7)               Nilsen(7.21)            Mid Table
2028   1st Division       8th      4th Round        -         Langåker(17)        Nilsen(7)               Nilsen(7.23)            Mid Table
2029   1st Division       8th      3rd Round        -         Krogstad(11)        Nilsen/Hoel(7)          Hoel(7.09)              Mid Table
2030   1st Division       8th      1st Round        -         Furthi(11)          Rygh(4)                 Furthi(7.10)            Mid Table
2031   1st Division       4th      2nd Round        -         Langåker/Furthi(15) Hoel(9)                 Hoel(7.23)              PROMOTION
2032   Premier Div.      14th      4th Round        -         Furthi(8)           Rytterager(6)           Knudtzon(7.04)          Relegated

 

 

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Youth Intake 2033

For the first time in a few years, we've had a pretty disappointing intake. Straight after a relegation it is not ideal, but I guess I can't complain after all we have had more good intakes than bad ones.

Lots of bad personalities, low determination and not a lot of talent! I may have to consider changing my HOYD, although there are not many better choices around. This guy seems to be the only one with some promise:

He could develop into a decent CM, although I doubt he will get any game time for at least a couple years.

[Reifi]

What do you mean by "unplayable"

[thomas_e]

On 01/05/2019 at 07:19, Fadedaf said:

Lots of bad personalities, low determination and not a lot of talent!

This made me laugh 

[XaW]

16 hours ago, Reifi said:

What do you mean by "unplayable"

A team that were promoted from a tier below the lowest available tier.

[XaW]

Ok, full disclosure. Wales broke me. I'm done there, I just can't do it. That said, I want to try again, but I don't quite know where yet. I still want Iceland, but the whole youth team not being your youth team things are putting me off it. I'll have a gander and see if anything suits me.

[optimusprimal82]

27 minutes ago, XaW said:

Ok, full disclosure. Wales broke me. I'm done there, I just can't do it. That said, I want to try again, but I don't quite know where yet. I still want Iceland, but the whole youth team not being your youth team things are putting me off it. I'll have a gander and see if anything suits me.

Oh no! What was it that broke you - the finances? Or the accent?  

[XaW]

6 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Oh no! What was it that broke you - the finances? Or the accent?  

All of it. I still don't understand how to pronounce 4 Ls in a row....

[optimusprimal82]

5 minutes ago, XaW said:

All of it. I still don't understand how to pronounce 4 Ls in a row....

Try saying the word 'Cello' but imagine getting 'it' stuck in a zipper whilst you're saying it...? That's (seriously) what my welsh mother-in-law suggested to me when I 'politely' enquired as to wtf were so many consonants doing piled up like that!?   

[XaW]

47 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Try saying the word 'Cello' but imagine getting 'it' stuck in a zipper whilst you're saying it...? That's (seriously) what my welsh mother-in-law suggested to me when I 'politely' enquired as to wtf were so many consonants doing piled up like that!?   

My closest attempt at this are either CelHOOOOOOOO or CellAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...

[XaW]

Ok, I'm doing something slightly different this time around. I'm heading to Germany! For those who don't know, you cannot play players under the age of 17 at the start of the calendar year so youngsters cannot play as early as other countries. In addition, the players come through at a younger age than other places. Sometimes as young as 14! So I might have to wait 3 years for a youngster to be legally able to play for us!

So, I went on a holiday and saw what teams that got promoted. I'll admit it, I went the slightly easier route when I chose Aachen. They have a pretty good youth setup, but I think that beating Bayern will be a real struggle. And with the addition of the wait for the young players I think I'll have a decent challenge. In addition to this I'm going to go out on a limb and do something new tactically and don't allow myself to go back to "known" tactics. I won't focus too much on this, but it's my own way to trying to do something new.

Well, that was me. Now what of the club. Well, we have a decent squad with a couple of very good players and even some very promising youngsters. Let me show one:

Yeah, I know, he is amazing. And only 14... So I can't play him for 2 years (he will be 17 before January 1st then).

And we also have this guy:

He is close to being a first choice already. He will be able to play since he will turn 17 before the new year.

My only uncertainty at the moment, is how well my players look when compared to the other teams in the 3. Fußball-Liga.

[TheRailwaymen]

Good luck @XaW! I'm joining the thread tonight after my first season at Stalybridge in the Northern Premier. By God it was hard until regen day surviving on 14 players! Now I have nearly double that!

 

 

[optimusprimal82]

Season 6 - End of Year Review - 2024/25

Competitions

Sky Bet Championship | Board Expectation - Fight Relegation | Media Prediction: 24/24 | Actual Finish: 6/24 (Promoted via playoffs)

Feels like a long old time since I've had to write an end of season review which I guess reflects how life got in the way of this season a little and perhaps how it was a bit more of a slog - the novelty/fun factor certainly dropped a little with us snatching wins/draws/results every week rather than bossing the game as I'd like. It goes with the territory of course with this challenge but there is a certain sense of fatigue that sets in considering how long a season takes to play through & when you continually have an issue with certain positions and you're powerless to do anything but wait for one random drop each season? I'm still delighted overall (of course) with how things are going but what I wouldn't give to go on a shopping spree and freshen the team up - a feeling that I can only imagine will grow this season as we make the ultimate step up in class and take our place amongst the elite - we were the lowest ranked team for nearly all attributes in the Championship so I can't imagine we'll be much better in the Premier League?!

As for the season itself, it hasn't quite sunk in yet that we're going up after just the one year. The Championship is a tough league and I found a lot of the games were really tough to try and get a foothold in, yet we still managed to consistently grind out results which ultimately made the difference. A quick look at the table and 18 draws read one way would suggest we have a problem, but if 9 of those were instead losses then the problem instantly becomes bigger. We were actually not too bad at keeping the ball out of our net, finishing a respectable mid-table for goals against. As for putting the ball into the net ourselves, we have to be happy with 6th overall given the paucity of our resources, but it's still disappointing when taking into account that we finished top of the table for 'chances created'? We've got players who can 'do a job' up top but no-one, not even playoff hero Shaquille Smith (24B), really stands out as potentially top class (let alone world class) and it's something that's been hurting us for a number of seasons - although if we hadn't continually have been promoted then naturally some of our existing prospects would undoubtedly have flourished!

Overall I think we've once again overachieved looking at the quality of players in our squad - man for man Stoke are a better team than us and if it hadn't been for a freak result in the first leg then I suspect it would have been them going up. Bristol City can also feel a little aggrieved having beaten us both home and away in the regular season - there were a lot of teams better than us this year who just couldn't match our consistency  -that's going to have to be our trump card again next year as I'm sure that without even looking we'll have the weakest team in the league - not a comforting thought when thinking back to how easily Stoke & League winners Sheffield Wednesday dismantled us in the league fixtures.

We'll take it anyway for now, promotion certainly isn't going to do us any lasting damage - yes if we get relegated we may lose a few players, but with us not buying anyone our finances should be secured and we should also be able to recruit a few higher quality coaches. Relegation clauses will sorely be needed in contract discussions, but being in the Premier League may help us tie down some of our better players on longer term deals, or get a better price if there's anyone we'd like to sell.

 

English FA Cup | Board Expectation - Reach Fourth Round | Achieved: Fourth Round Exit (Leeds)

A pretty non-descript year in our favourite cup with a solid result against Sunderland rendered obsolete by a tough away draw to Premier League Leeds. The ease with which they beat us should set some serious alarm bells ringing for next season, but we'll just have to get on with it as no-one can help us but ourselves!

 

Carabao Cup | Board Expectation - Reach First Round | Achieved: Second Round Exit (Southampton)

Well Southampton made a mockery of my desire to give this one a better go this year - we finally made it past the first round but were utterly destroyed by a superior side and can have no complaints. I imagine I'll be concentrating on league fixtures next year to avoid injuries to important players so this cup may again have to take a backseat

 

 

The 'Cup Draw' Table

Not a huge amount of cup games this year with early exits but a slight increase to the 'away' column;

 

Youth Intake 2025

Still not sure about this years intake as no-one really stands out. My coaches are very excited about Bob Reed (25A) but I'm yet to see anything special, whilst Tommy Holmes (25C) & Luke Fisher (25D) are decent prospects but slightly flawed and - more frustratingly - covering positions we're already well stocked in. Central defence is becoming a serious concern with Fagbola well below the standard now and Matty Hughes retiring this summer. Our first choice Goalkeeper - who has been immense for us - is 31 now too but we have no real quality alternative in the side, certainly not one I feel could become first choice in the next few years - this years intake did nothing to solve either of these problems or our long standing striker issue (unless Reed is the real deal after all - but a long way to go on that one)

 

Transfers

Not much to talk about here this year, unless you count the drama pre-season when I issued the board an ultimatum over Jared Kenyon (24A)? Thankfully they backed down and he had a solid season for us, his versatility being super useful as we deployed him at MC, DMC, ML & DL on occasion! Only other business of note was we lost a young GK on a free but no real concerns there as he wasn't as good as our other prospects who themselves aren't good enough!

Unsurprisingly we signed no-one. Because we can't. They're the rules. Boooo!

 

Squad Statistics

Top Scorer - Fraser Meaney 21A (14) | Most Assists - Owen Willis (7) | Top Rating - Peter Crook (7.07)

A very real difference in our stats across the board this year with the two most noticeable aspects being perhaps that our Goalkeeper had the highest average rating and that the number of assists across the team was way (way!) down overall, with only 3 players registering more than 5. I guess you could skew this argument in multiple directions and it is good to see so many players registering assists, but players getting 2 assists a year aren't the sort of numbers you take satisfaction from - if a defender hits 20 long balls forward every game you'd hope he might get 1-2 lucky assist each year (for example)? The stats definitely reflect our relatively lower ability overall and how we play more negative/counter attacking/hopeful football as a result.

 

Sky Bet Championship Player of The Season: Leonardo Mancuso (Sheffield Wednesday)

No surprise to see a Wednesday player pick this up - a classy (at least for this level) AMR who bagged 19 goals this season along with 10 assists and an average rating of 7.34 - not too shabby at all!

 

Sky Bet Championship Top Goalscorer: David Rokka (Hull - 26 goals)

Not a bad effort at all for a guy playing in a newly promoted side (way better than any of my guys managed for instance!). He didn't score past us though which makes him a worthy winner!

 

Sky Bet League 2 Manager of The Season: Ralph Hassenhuttl (Sheffield Wednesday)

Not a huge surprise really. I've have given it to the Hyde manager but then I'm slightly biased?

 

Sky Bet Championship Team of the year;

Sheffield Wednesday. Plus 2 Newcastle defenders and David Rokka.

 

Hyde United FC Awards Night: 

Should Meaney really be eligible for Young player of the year now? Really?

 

Managers Player of The Season: Peter Crook

Probably the biggest unsung hero of the save so far. When putting your save in the hands of the FM gods with regard to what players you'll be able to play I don't think I truly understood how huge a bonus it was that Hyde came with a keeper of such awesome quality that he has been a rock every season so far. He doesn't get the plaudits of the others, but he rarely has a bad game and never kicks up a fuss. At 31 he's just reached the age that I'd like to start blooding an understudy but there's no-one really at the club even close to his level. I have played Ian Pollock (22F) a few times but he's way below the level of Crook in both in C and PA terms.

 

In other news

Premier League Winners: Liverpool

FA cup Winners: Liverpool

League Cup Winners: Liverpool

Champions League Winners: Manchester City

Europa League Winners: Arsenal

La Liga Winners: Real Madrid

Bundesliga Winners: FC Bayern

Serie A Winners: Milan

 

Board room updates

Well I thought we were in a good place following the take over. The new board seem pretty reasonable and given control over wages this year we've made a steady profit each month this year so were ok financially. That's just (literally as I was writing this review) come to a crashing halt however as the following mail dropped;

Now whilst a new stadium is usually a good thing, I'm pretty disappointed at this news. We're leaving behind a stadium we've played in since 1906 to move to a new ground that will still be the smallest in the Premier League (if we're still in the Premier League when it's finished) by a considerable margin. There's no mention of expansion capacity on the new stadium so that's one potential thing we can improve on, just spending 14-15 million as a club of our size seems a tad irresponsible - although naturally 9 million of that comes in the shape of a loan. With us unable to make transfers the TV money we get in should more than cover the cost, yet somehow it's annoyed me and I don't really know why - maybe because it just doesn't feel like a priority, especially when our average attendance was far from stellar? Admittedly Ewen Fields falls short of the Premier League requirements,but we're renting the Univeristy of Bolton Stadium whilst the new one is built so we could've just used that for a season and judged how we got on - if we go back down we could have waited etc? Regardless, our finances are now listed as 'insecure' as we sit well in the red following the initial outlay and further expenditure they've made for other facility improvements (not at my behest for once!);

The board are - somewhat unsurprisingly - delighted with how everything is going otherwise!

 

Final Thoughts

Not a lot else to add on from this year, although contracts are already breaking me - my (very) average young DC has just demanded a new contract, currently on £400p/w he's now asking for a slight raise to £17,000p/w. His agent wants a £500k signing fee too - welcome back to the Premier league >sigh< Can't wait to see how much Meaney asks for (yikes!)... Needless to say, there will be wage reduction clauses in everyones contract in the event of relegation etc.

[TheRailwaymen]

Stalybridge Celtic 2019-2020 National League North

Railway Man (profile) - intake - Season Review - No Transfers -Season Graph

 

The League

We started with a 4-4-2 and spent half a season floundering. We were really struggling all over the pitch and crashing out the cups at the first available opportunity. Then the season changed when we smashed Kidderminster and went 5 games unbeaten winning me manager of the month! This coincided with a 4-1-2-2-1 formation, aiming play to our decent quality wingers that were not doing enough in a 4-4-2. Finally regen day rolled round and we were gifted some great quality with Nicky Hoskin the pick of the pack who came straight into the first team and ended the season strongly. We managed a very respectable 15th!

Liam Tongue carried us in the dry spell scoring 7 free kicks. Kengni, Bakkor and the youth prospect who started at the club, Banks carried the club with their impressive goal-scoring antics. 

Best XI

 

The Cups

FA CUP - Second qualifying round (loss vs Bamber Bridge!)

FA TROPHY - Third qualifying round vs Evesham

 

The youth

A "golden generation" surprise surprise! 

Greg Hoy (1b) - I needed an actual left back, and he was greatly appreciated. Mentally a beast but technically deficient he is an interesting project. 

Nicky Hoskin (1L) - Current ability alone hes my best central midfielder and goes straight into the side.

The rest spent the first season in the u18s. I will introduce them as they play more games.

 

The Changes 

I survived a takeover!

Michael Clark retired (Age 30!!) and is now my director of football.  Clarky

The old board planned a new stadium. But I don't know if the new board will agree to it.. 

The Future

- Take over training from my assistant (It's new to me as it is my first file on FM19)

- Aim for a FA CUP run.

- Look to increase youth coaching/budget.

 

Season 1: Northern League - 15th. FA CUP - 2nd Qualifying Round. FA TROPHY - 3rd Qualifying Round. 

 

 

 

 

[thomas_e]

 

Real Jean FC

Season Update 2032-2033

A fantastic season, finishing 2nd behind Barcelona in La Liga. Last season we finished 4th and we lost Badr Senoussi on a free transfer, our best player by far. I thought that would be a massive setback, but even though he is a great player, it forced me to change tactics, and that worked really well. 

We went from a classic 4-3-3 with a DM to a more offensive 4-2-2-2 with two offensive wingers and two strikers, one pressing forward on defend and an advanced forward. Our main striker for the last few seasons, Santiago Sanchez, took the pressing forward role. Constantino Santos, a 21 year old striker who had spent the last two seasons on loan in the 2nd divison did really well up front, scoring 14 goals and making team of the year! 

Lolo Guillen was player of the year in the right winger role, a constant threat to the oppositon, finishing with 11 goals and 13 assist. 

A lot more pace and counter attacking focus really made us a lot better this year. Yes, we controlled games a lot more when we had Senoussi, but our team is overall a lot better and the future isnt looking too bad. 

We had another good Youth Intake, and with our facilities and 15 (!) affiliated clubs we really should have high demands in this department. Overall we have a really good generation of players coming up, and now its all about managing the development. 

We did our best in the Champions League, but with Manchester United, Inter and Zenit in our group it was okay finishing 3rd. In the Europa League we beat Hapoel comfortably 6-0 over two games, but then Chelsea became too strong, beating us 2-1 on aggregate. A 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge was great, but they were better over two games. 

Goals for next season: Quarter final in CL + top 3 in La Liga

 

 

 

Season	|   League                   |  Position |  Copa Del Rey |          Europe         |   Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20	|   Segunda Division B       |  9th      |  2ns round    |         N/A	           |   Okay start up season
2020/21	|   Segunda Division B       |  2nd      |  3rd round    |         N/A	           |   Promoted through play off
2021/22	|   La Liga 123              |  7th      |  3rd round    |         N/A	           |   Promoted through play off, back-to-back
2022/23	|   La Liga                  |  10th     |  2nd round    |         N/A	           |   Great first season, finishing mid table
2023/24	|   La Liga                  |  14th     |  2nd round    |         N/A	           |   No progress to speak of, managed to get worse
2024/25	|   La Liga                  |  8th      |  5th round    |         N/A	           |   Solid season, finished 8th
2025/26	|   La Liga                  |  11th     |  4th round    |         N/A	           |   Decent season, good club progress if not so much on the pitch
2026/27	|   La Liga                  |  4th      |  4th round    |         N/A	           |   Amazing year, predicted 20th, finished 4th! 
2027/28	|   La Liga                  |  8th      |  5th round    |      Group Stage        |   Pretty good year, tough start to CL
2028/29	|   La Liga                  |  8th      |  4th round    |         N/A             |   Decent progress, but unconsistent
2029/30	|   La Liga                  |  7th      |  4th round    |         N/A             |   A return to Europe! 
2030/31	|   La Liga                  |  4th      |  4th round    |  EL knock out 2nd round |   Great year, finsihed 4th
2031/32	|   La Liga                  |  4th      |  Qtr-final    |  CL knock out 1st round |   Another great year, great run in CL
2032/33	|   La Liga                  |  2nd      |  5th round    |     Group Stage CL      |   Great season in La Liga, runners up

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by thomas_e

[optimusprimal82]

4 hours ago, TheRailwaymen said:

Stalybridge Celtic 2019-2020 National League North

 

Playing as one of your local rivals and we've just (literally a day or two ago) made it to the Premier League - it's been a slog but I'm sure if we can do it then you can! Very interested to see how you get on - best of luck!  

[optimusprimal82]

On 04/05/2019 at 05:22, XaW said:

 

So, I went on a holiday and saw what teams that got promoted. I'll admit it, I went the slightly easier route when I chose Aachen. They have a pretty good youth setup, but I think that beating Bayern will be a real struggle. And with the addition of the wait for the young players I think I'll have a decent challenge. In addition to this I'm going to go out on a limb and do something new tactically and don't allow myself to go back to "known" tactics. I won't focus too much on this, but it's my own way to trying to do something new.

 

Good luck sir - certainly getting a 'Radiohead - Just' vibe from your adventures (You do it to yourself!), but hope this one goes well for you, I know people have historically struggled with this type of save in Germany!

Just interested in the bit I bolded - I forced myself to setup/use a shape that fit my new side (which meant abandoning my old tactic sets but I can't unlearn what i've learned etc) so wondering how far you're going with this? Do you mean using formations you've never used before, or perhaps different roles/duties & forcing higher/lower mentalities etc?

I'm being so nosey because I've had a similar idea for when I move away from Hyde, banning the 4141 (or even 442) I know to be so awesome this year and avoiding my go-to roles (Mezzala/Carrilero etc) to mix things up - but wondering just how much of a restriction/handicap that'll place on an academy only manager?

[XaW]

6 hours ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Good luck sir - certainly getting a 'Radiohead - Just' vibe from your adventures (You do it to yourself!), but hope this one goes well for you, I know people have historically struggled with this type of save in Germany!

Just interested in the bit I bolded - I forced myself to setup/use a shape that fit my new side (which meant abandoning my old tactic sets but I can't unlearn what i've learned etc) so wondering how far you're going with this? Do you mean using formations you've never used before, or perhaps different roles/duties & forcing higher/lower mentalities etc?

I'm being so nosey because I've had a similar idea for when I move away from Hyde, banning the 4141 (or even 442) I know to be so awesome this year and avoiding my go-to roles (Mezzala/Carrilero etc) to mix things up - but wondering just how much of a restriction/handicap that'll place on an academy only manager?

Well, in short I have a couple of tactics that work for my teams in FM19. Mainly 4-4-2s or variants of that. This time I'm not allow myself to use any 4-4-2 or anything similar. At the moment I'm trying to use a 4-5-1 similar to one I had fun with in the last few version, but that I haven't been able to get to work with the new tactics setup. With Kettering I used a 4-4-2 hoofball with great success, and in Hungary and Wales I also did good with 4-4-2 wing plays. But now, I want something else, something new.

The formation is as following:

When we attack, the left winger pulls inside and allows our very offensive left back to overlap and create space. The CM go forward to support the striker and the DM pushes up to help the BWM control the centre. So when we are in a controlled attack we should look like this:

So the Forward is the main outlet while the row of 4 behind him should stay wide and try to create space. Since the WB, CM and the Winger are on attack they will create runs in behind. AP is the playmaker while the BWM and DM are the double pivot for switching play to the other side. The FB on the right tucks in to create an almost 3 centreback-line to help us if we lose the ball.

So far I'm doing very good defensively. We are not conceding much and that is great for a team projected to be relegated. However, we are not scoring as much as I would like. And I'm having issues with the striker being to isolated. I've tried more advanced roles, but  that quite often leaves him even more isolated. I think a CF-S would be perfect, but that role is not that easily used by lower standard players. Another thing I'm thinking about is the BWM role. He is doing much good defensively and are really harassing the other team, but I'm concerned the role don't do enough on the ball.

The one defensive drawback is that we allow a lot of space behind the left wingback, but I haven't been caught out much so far. I'm also using my best centreback on the left one to help cover the space.

So, this is kind of me going "back to the roots" of a tactic I've had success with before, but failed every time I have tried in FM19 so far. But this time.... this time...

I must say though, when I see the IF/AP pull the opponent fullback with them and creating a lot of space for the wing back allowing a cross in behind the defence where the right winger runs on it and scores is just amazing. And I am seeing some nice central buildup play from the AP, CM and striker. There are also good movement between the lines of the opponent and defenders getting pulled out of their lines.

[HunterKiller]

Good to see this challenge still going strong - think I attempted it (and failed) back in FM16 maybe? Anyway, going to give this a go on FM17, is it ok to post updates here?

[Jtomsett11]

Bari Season 6 update

Predicted finish: 19th. Actual finish: 5th

Italian Cup: Knocked out quarter finals

Euro League: Knocked out to Manchester United Second knockout round

Overview

This was a really interesting season. Another one where consistency was a major issue, and I'm guessing it still will be for a couple more years at least due to the age and lack of consistent players many others have noticed in their saves. 

I knew it was likely we would lose our best player Fregonese this season, and sure enough, he refused to sign a deal, so I managed to secure £11 million upfront and 50% of profit in a sale to Tottenham. I'm sure they'll end up selling him so this should ensure we have an excess of money to avoid the chairman accepted any bids over my head. He didn't leave until January due to them missing the deadline day, which was partly a bonus, but also it just highlighted how difficult like will be without him as I struggled to not play him. Indeed when you compare my points total at 19 games to 38 you can see we didn't do as well in the second half of the season.

Our first european adventure was very exciting; we needed a late goal to send us through the from the group stages and then having outclassed Basel, we conceded late on at home to win 2-1 against Man Utd. However, their strength paid off away and we lost 3-0. Overall though, a promising first foray into Europe. And the good news is we will be back next season! However, it could have been so different!

Final game of the season, we needed to better Inter's result. As you can see, we were 3-0 up at half time. In the final minute, Inter conceded and we moved up to 4th! They then hit the bar from a free kick in the last minute and as I turned away relieved, I saw the flashing of a goal... the ball had bounced back off the bar for a simple nod in from their striker. 3-3 and we had to settle for 5th. Pretty gutted, but overall a good season again. 

Major improvements of many players has led to much greater potency. Parlato got 18 Serie A goals, Boakye is now a wonderkid and looks the real deal, with all his goals and assists coming in the second half of the season. Favot somehow plays well at CB despite 8 jumping (up from 5 as a 16 year old lol). Reggiani also played exceptionally well in the second half of the season as he overcame his youth to put in some good performances. Overall, lots of development and a good range of players now of the required quality (3.5 stars is roughly Serie A quality now). Screenshot 1 and 2.

However, my youth candidates were a disappointment this season. Lots of low ambition, determination and professionalism, and the two best are both AMR which I don't use anymore! I was really hoping for a GK, As you can see from the screenshot of the squad above we are lacking in this department and I'm blooding Ferrari despite his age and general lack of ability to save shots haha!

Further improvements to the youth and training facilities have been promised, and our finances are looking really strong. I even got offered the Italy job this season! 

Next season

For me, next season is about working out who from the youths is worth putting the effort in with. I played 33 players this season, showing I'm trying and testing some out. However, many of them are having drops in potential and don't play well anyway, so I'll try and get rid of some on loan or transfer them so I can focus development on fewer players. Easier said than done, I always seem to end up with a squad of 26 ish plus a few youth players who end up improving through the season. 

I'd like further progress in Europe, to not lose any of my important players and to aim for top 4 in the league now that we've had 2 5th places! My head of youth recruitment is retiring after 1 season of having him so I'm going for someone with high determination, professional or better personality and I'll see if this impacts next years intake. 

Final notes

I must say I've noticed some weird trends in this game. I've been promoted on 66 points (Serie B), and seen Napoli and Atalanta break Juventus' hold on Serie A, with Atalanta winning with just 81 points! I also could have had champions league football with just 64 points this season. Low scoring or what?! Anyone else finding this?

Transfers

Summary

(please note I haven't been taxed yet so finances will go down a bit!)

Season	League	Finish	Finances	Youth facilities	Training facilities	Youth recruitment	Junior coaching	Top scorer	Top assists
1	Serie C	1st	£2.8 million	Average	Average	Above average	Average	Simeri (23)	Bollini (11)
2	Serie B	7th (lost in play off semis)	£2.4 million	Good	Good	Established	Adequate	Simeri (11)	Ottalenghi (7)
3	Serie B	9th	£2.95 million	Good	Great	Established	Exceptional	Simeri (7)	Paba 21D (7)
4	Serie B	2nd (promoted)	£7 million	Great	Great	Established	Exceptional	Rossi (11)	Margagliotti 20C (9)
5	Serie A	5th (qualified for Euro Cup)	£30 million	Great	Excellent	Extensive	Exceptional	Parlato (11)	Margagliotti 20C (8)
6	Serie A	5th (qualified for Euro Cup)	£72 million	Excellent	Superb	Extensive	Exceptional	Parlato (20)	Parise, Margagliotti and Bernardini (8)

 

[theBlackPrince]

I guess buying back former players is banned? 

[theBlackPrince]

Long time since I played this, so time to kick it off again!! Note - Loans were sale of players and part of sale was to loan them back for the season.

[XaW]

14 hours ago, theBlackPrince said:

I guess buying back former players is banned? 

That is correct. While some like this and other dislike this rule, it's still a rule.

[JWVG]

vor 35 Minuten schrieb XaW:

That is correct. While some like this and other dislike this rule, it's still a rule.

Then loaning back a player would also be disallowed, or not?

[theBlackPrince]

6 minutes ago, JWVG said:

Then loaning back a player would also be disallowed, or not?

Was part of the sale agreement when they were still technically my player, didn't see anything about it not being allowed (unless I missed it).

[XaW]

1 hour ago, JWVG said:

Then loaning back a player would also be disallowed, or not?

1 hour ago, theBlackPrince said:

Was part of the sale agreement when they were still technically my player, didn't see anything about it not being allowed (unless I missed it).

@darren1983: A dispute for you?

 

[darren1983]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

@darren1983: A dispute for you?

 

Thanks mate - just what I needed for bank holiday monday  

3 hours ago, JWVG said:

Then loaning back a player would also be disallowed, or not?

 

2 hours ago, theBlackPrince said:

Was part of the sale agreement when they were still technically my player, didn't see anything about it not being allowed (unless I missed it).

Loaning back a player, even as part of the deal to sell them, is against the "no transfer rule" because when the player is sold his registration is transferred to the buying club and therefore no longer your player. 

So while there isn't a rule written down that says that can't loan a player back due to the sale that's because it comes under the no transfers part. A loan is still a transfer. Maybe we should have been more detailed with what counts as a transfer in the rules? (I'll update them later I guess) so I'd say carry on with the save and still post about it because from look of things you just were not aware a loan back as part of a deal counts as a transfer (best thing to do with this try and get the deal go through at end of the season instead of a loan back as then the players registration will still be yours) but don't loan back again is what I suggest.

[darren1983]

23 hours ago, HunterKiller said:

Good to see this challenge still going strong - think I attempted it (and failed) back in FM16 maybe? Anyway, going to give this a go on FM17, is it ok to post updates here?

Yeah feel free, I've tried to make this thread this year just a general youth challenge thread and not just the FM19 version. Mainly so people can continue saves past when the new game comes out or do it on older versions if they prefer.

[Fadedaf]

How does everyone feel about playing a youngster in a role they don't know how to play but have good attributes for?

I have this guy:

And currently I have basically thrown him straight into the starting lineup because I want to play false nines and only have one striker who knows what that is. Is kind of brute forcing him into becoming a false nine the way to go? he is already training in that role but hasn't made any progress so far.