The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[Habituz]

6 minutes ago, andershs said:

Don't get your hopes up. I started reasonably, but is currently on a 11 game streak without a win.

I fear this will be a short save

In season 1 i also started well, fumbled a bit around Christmas season due to progressing pretty far in FA Tourney, then came back in last few weeks one got youth intake and could actually rest players (I had 2 GK and 9 outfield so played greyed out for a defender most of season and to cover any injuries). Season 2 i lost all way till near Christmas before getting sack so they are a hard team for sure :-)

[andershs]

OK. I went 14 matches without a win applying my long ball 4-4-2 tactic which worked ok in FM19:

And in a moment of sheer desperation switched to the first 4-1-2-3 Gegenpress tactical template, which yielded this:

Now we are creating clear-cut chances every game, and my players are putting in Liverpool-worthy performances.

I don't know if I find that completely credible.

Long term, this save is still challenging though, with my best players demanding very high wages and with a board as stubborn as a donkey when it comes to upgrading Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment. Moreover, we are bleeding money.

But let us see.

Edited November 24, 2019 by andershs

[Winski]

Just a quick update.

I can't complain at how things are going at the moment.  I'm fighting for a playoff place, but also fighting against relegation. The difference between 4th place and 9th place is only 6 points.

In the fourth round of the Scottish Cup I've got an awaygame against St Johnstone, currently 4th in the Premiership. So that's gonna be very difficult. Hopefully I'll earn some money...

The preview of this years intake sounds very promising. An excellent group of players, with some nice looking forwards. My current striker (46 matches/25 goals) refused to sign a new deal. Some Premiership-teams are scouting him at the moment.
I also really want a new DR, but I don't think I'll get a good one in the next intake.

[Winski]

Finally! The first goal from my goalkeeper!! What a moment!

[SpS_Zen]

Are we allowed to have a senior affiliate? They may send players in loan...even if it is unlikely. I could still send them in u23.

[Novafluff]

21 minutes ago, SpS_Zen said:

Are we allowed to have a senior affiliate? They may send players in loan...even if it is unlikely. I could still send them in u23.

Yes you are allowed since you can still say no to them trying to loan out players

[andershs]

Rushall Olympic FC

End of challenge 2020/21

Mercifully, the misery came to an end with three games to go of the season. We are dead last.

I totally jinxed it with my last post, and we did not win a game again since mid January. Here are the results, including a fair amount of heavy defeats.

My last game in charge sums up the experience quite well.

 

I must admit, that I am tactically completely clueless in FM20. I need to lick my wounds, and figure out a working tactic.

Best of luck to the rest of you!

Edit: As an ironic side note, I did not even make it to the first youth intake  

Edited November 24, 2019 by andershs

[janesy20]

I am doing my usual RW Essen save, just finished first season and survived comfortably. For some reason Alt+F9 isn't working for screenshots as it usually did (Anyone have any ideas why?), but it's all above board honest!

I have a HoYD who has unbelievable stats - however he's already decided to move on at the end of the season - I have four 5* potential players 2 goalkeepers, a centre half and a centre mid coming through across 2 youth intakes. Don't think the youth intake is quite so generous in Germany as it was in previous saves so this might be a long slog!

Out of interest has anyone come across a team that isn't such a struggle? I looked at Palermo but was genuinely shocked at how poor their playing staff was - they have really hit rock bottom!

 

[Britrock]

10 minutes ago, janesy20 said:

I am doing my usual RW Essen save, just finished first season and survived comfortably. For some reason Alt+F9 isn't working for screenshots as it usually did (Anyone have any ideas why?), but it's all above board honest!

 

Alt + s for screenshots 😊

[janesy20]

1 hour ago, Britrock said:

Alt + s for screenshots 😊

Thanks!

HoYD - He's gone already

 

League - Like I said, never in danger of relegation

 

 

Manager Profile - Managed to bag national C Licence straight away, now on the verge of getting my B licence

 

 

Facilities - Just managed to upgrade youth recruitment to average level.

 

 

 

Transfer History - Clemens signed by previous manager, he's useless anyway! Lost my best centre mid before the season started chairman accepted on my behalf.

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by janesy20
Links didn't work

[andyus]

 

Meet the new Manager of Fc United of Manchester.

 

[DazRTaylor]

I love managing in Iceland.  One of my favourite countries in FM.  Wishing you a lot of success @XaW!

[janesy20]

10 minutes ago, andyus said:

 

Meet the new Manager of Fc United of Manchester.

 

Do you have a keeper? I wanted to do them but there was just a terrible 16yr old regen so didn't think it'd be possible.

[andyus]

10 minutes ago, janesy20 said:

Do you have a keeper? I wanted to do them but there was just a terrible 16yr old regen so didn't think it'd be possible.

Yeah! Got him. Hopefully he will develop into the beast i need in goal

Edited November 24, 2019 by andyus

[karax268]

Manisaspor 20/21

Start of Challenge

 

Manisaspor hire inexperienced manager Kaan Tahanci

 

I'm looking forward to try this challenge finally. There were some Transfers done before I took over. which is just as well. with those 7 in I have a total of 19 players for next season.

Also there isn't any staff in the club. So I might have an interesting first season

[Fastbasher]

2032/33 Putnok season review - Hungarian division II

The League

We broke our streak of yoyo-ing between divisions, but not in the way I wanted. We were in 2nd place going into the last round and I was reasonably confident of going up. As it turned out, all we needed was a point. Unfortunately we lost 0-2 to Mezőkövesd. Debrecen joined us on 64pts and took the promotion spot due to a better head to head tiebreak.

Knocked out in the 3rd round of the cup by Fehérvár FC.

 

The Players

Ádám Varga was as consistent as ever. He picked up his 2nd top scorer award for Division II and was selected in the team of the season.

Dominik Huszti won the Division II young player of the year award and was also selected for the team of the season.

The youth intake was poor by recent standards. Gheorghe Toma YP33a was the pick of the bunch. He was born in Romania (our first foreign born youth player), but came through with a Hungarian flag. His nationality changed to Romanian when he was selected by the Romanian U21 team to play in the European U21 championships. Finally some diversity in the team.

 

Transfers

Nothing special here. Just a few squad players sold to top up the funds a bit.

 

Extra Time

Despite failing at our promotion bid, the board have agreed to another round of youth and training upgrades.

We set record attendances at our new stadium, so gate takings and stadium sponsorship helped the financial side of things.

Our U19 assistant manager was poached to become the B Team manager at Puskás Akadémia. We are now hiring.

With no major losses to the team, the squad should have a realistic shot at another promotion campaign. A decent intake in March would be welcome though.

 

 

[schnauzer]

I'm just going to say it: how the heck do you overcome this match engine??

Nothing I try works

[Fastbasher]

1 hour ago, schnauzer said:

I'm just going to say it: how the heck do you overcome this match engine??

Nothing I try works

Try a weak league @schnauzer. There are plenty of teams that are absolute rubbish which makes for a smoother start.

 

[Kazushi80]

S.S.D. Latina Calcio 1932

Season 3

Squad // League Table (12th) // Transfers

 

On The Pitch

A relegation was predicted and again we had nothing to do with that. 12^th place might look a little bit worse than the season before, but i think we improved. We scored 12 goals more (and had so many more good chances) and conceded only 5 goals more. We were competitive in every match for the first – even against the big dogs.

A lot of our losses were 0:1, some 0:0 draws and in all this games we were better, but didn't manage to break down our opponents defense (or score with the chances we had, really bad chance conversion). That's still a struggle sometimes, especially with most of the teams playing with 5 in the back and defensive.

We experimented a lot with our tactics and had a great flexibility. Played our old 4-4-2, but (especially at home) a lot of times 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 to make use of the many strikers in our squad. Sometimes we played 5-3-2 if we wanted to keep a lead, but since our wing-back are not that good, it's no tactic we used for a whole game.

 

Key Players

Luigi Fontana: Second season in row the best goalscorer in the club and even second best in the league, but...

Fabio Fiori: … our new striker is this newgen who was created in the season before I joined the club. His quality and potential was the main reason I created a 4-3-3-formation. In the first half of the season he was only striker No. 3 and was on the bench in the 4-4-2, but at the end he became our main striker (Fan favourite Federico Cardella finds himself sometimes on the bench now). His finishing is not great, but look at these physicals. With his determination he could go a long way, but he wants to leave (and I promised him to accept reasonable bids). I hope no club will pay the agreed fee, since most clubs at this level can't.

Enrico Pace (02C) & Alessandro Colella (02A): Not “key players” in the regular since, but the first two self-produced youngsters featuring in the first team on a regular basic in this save, so I wanted to highlight them. Pace played so many games because all our right-backs are ****, former striker Colella was re-trained as a left midfielder (is much easier and better to do on this version of FM)

 

 

Off The Pitch

Not so good finances anymore. First time in debt at the end of the season, but the loss was smaller than in the year before and I think we can get it down to like losing 100k per season. At the moment no upgrading of facilities because of this, but I bagged two more coaching licenses (and are studying for Continental A).

 

The Youth Intake

Our new head of youth development delivered. That's what you can call a golden generation.

Emanuele Esposito (03A): Much needed central defender since we are missing good players in that position and our captain Thiago Cazé is declining so fast that he lost his place in the first team at the end of the season. Big, decent in all important areas, left-footed (which I don't have yet). I can image him getting game time in the first team next season already.

Francesco Indelicato (03B): Nice name and with goalkeeper another position I don't mind having a good prospect. Our first team goalkeeper Salvatore Ciulla is young, but is not developing very good (I think because of his abysmal determination). This youngster has bad first touch and passing (no sweeper keeper) and must develop his physical and become taller, but he could take over in a few years

Mirco Epifani (03C): only one with bad determination from the new 5-star-potential-player, but again: a position I don't mind having a new player, and he's versatile in midfield already. Weak passing is a problem and I don't know yet, in which direction i'll go with him.

Fabio Petroni (03D): Another striker for our big collection. Fast, good dribbling, decent heading, but the trait shoots from distance combined with long shots 1 is something we need to address in training.

Abdelilah Benali (03E): I am unsure what to do with him yet. For the right wing his acceleration and his crossing are letting him down. Maybe someone has a suggestion where he could play?

Something else: Our U18 won the youth title and our big neighbors (this time AS Roma and not Lazio) poached two 15 year old players.

 

 

Next Season

Another midfield finish is the target and giving more youngsters game time to develop them.

 

Through The Seasons

Season

Division

League Pos.

Playoffs

Coppa Italia

Coppa Italia di Serie C

Europe

Squad

Best Player

Best Goalscorer

Intake

Best New Prospect

Team Of The Season

Miscellaneous

2020/2021

Serie C Girone C

16th

-

-

Group Stage, 2nd

-

Squad

Salvatore Ciulla

Federico Cardella - 6

Intake

Carlo Di Mambro (01A)

4-3-2-1

National C Licence

2021/2022

Serie C Girone C

9th

1st Round

1st Qual. Round

2nd Round

-

Squad

Luigi Fontana

Luigi Fontana - 13

Intake

Alessandro Colella (02A)

4-4-2

National B Licence, National A Licence, Youth and training facilities upgraded, Youth recruitment upgraded

2022/2023

Serie C Girone C

12th

-

-

Qtr Final

-

Squad

Fabio Fiori

Luigi Fontana - 15

Intake

Emanuele Esposito (03A)

4-4-2

Continental C Licence, Continental B Licence

[Habituz]

Gainsborough Trinity

So at mid point of first season and got my youth preview

Not great but certainly not bad either, but fullback cover will be nice. I've stopped believing golden generation line.

Competition wise I've not done too bad, met or gone beyond everything asked of me 

Players have all helped out with most having periods of great play to cover the periods when other players were in bad form

Now to finish off this season.

[Scab]

St. Ives 2028/29 Season Review

League Table    Youth Intake    Squad    Transfers

Hey, 10th isn't bad for our first season "up" here. 

Atkins finally had his breakout season with the best goals/minute in the squad and it's a good thing he did, because Clifton's form and attributes are both going the wrong way. I need one of the younger strikers to fill his shoes and so far only Atkins looks even remotely up for the task. Hayes also came into the side at RB and did well, though I'm a bit disheartened at his ever-shrinking potential ability. What started at 3½ stars is now 2½, barely higher than his current level. Some staff members are still positive, but they're all worse at making that judgement...

In more encouraging news, I managed to convince the board to approve a youth recruitment upgrade. That is, our first upgrade of any kind. Probably thanks to the £101K sitting in the bank account after reaching the FA Trophy final. Our recruitment will still only be considered "basic", but hey, baby steps.

From the youth intake, Aspin is the clear standout. A few weaknesses still, but plenty of headroom to grow and the attitude to maybe actually do it. Interesting to see him appear with the Curls Ball PPM as well which I believe can't be trained? Only passed on through mentoring? Could be an asset if I can get his Technique to progress well. Armitage deserves a mention as well, but for my money he has a lot of weaknesses to address before getting anywhere near my first team.

Onward!

Season    League              Finish   Notes
2028/29   Vanarama National   10th     FA Trophy runners-up
2027/28   Vanarama North      1st      League winners
2026/27   Vanarama North      2nd      Lost in Playoff 2nd Rnd
2025/26   Vanarama North      2nd      Lost in Playoff 2nd Rnd
2024/25   Vanarama North      2nd      Lost in Playoff 2nd Rnd
2023/24   Vanarama North      5th      Lost in Playoff 2nd Rnd
2022/23   Vanarama North      4th      Lost in Playoff 1st Rnd
2021/22   Vanarama North      9th      -
2020/21   Vanarama North      15th     -

 

[andyus]

Great season @Scab, keep up the good work

[Fastbasher]

Well done @Scab Great performance for your first season in the higher division.

[Brother Ben]

I’m on my third attempt at this and I’ve not made it past October without getting sacked.  
 

This is what makes this one of the best challenges, if I can get some success somewhere it’ll be so rewarding!

[XaW]

39 minutes ago, Brother Ben said:

I’m on my third attempt at this and I’ve not made it past October without getting sacked.  

This is what makes this one of the best challenges, if I can get some success somewhere it’ll be so rewarding!

Exactly. I mean, I got sacked after 10 seasons, but I'm still right back here being punished.

When I did it with Kettering last year I felt I could fly. Statford Town made me crash down to earth again though. But I'm going to make it! Up the Íþróttafélagið Völsungur! Now, if I could only pronounce the name of the club...

[schnauzer]

@Scab wow great season again! What tactic are you playing at the moment out of interest? No disrespect to your players, but it seems that you are really overachieving and deserve all the plaudits!

[The Gold Guard]

The Club:

Tidaholms GoIF better known as "TG&IF" are a small semi-professional side based in Tidaholms, Sweden. The black and white wearing battlers have won promotion into the 4th division and will participate in the Division 2 "Norra Gotaland" conference. With mostly domestic youth players in the squad helping them with the climb... The club's philosophy has been set in stone for a multi-year plan to develop youth players only and a special request from the Swedish FA..

Backstory: 

Sweden and North Korea are closer than you may think. The countries have had diplomatic relations since 7 April 1973. Sweden has had a long-term commitment in North Korea and its relations with the country are exceptionally close among Western nations. Sweden is one of the major contributors of humanitarian aid to North Korea... well now they are aiding the isolationist nation in football.

An Unusual Request:

A deal has been struck with both the Swedish and North Korean football association to allow a North Korean manager to experience European football and develop their managerial skills with a newly promoted Swedish 4th division club. This will help with obtaining UEFA Coaching Licenses as well as providing future opportunities for North Korean footballers to develop their technical skills in a safe, stable European environment - if the initial stage is successful, of course. 

The Manager: 

Ju-Sang Kang is a 39 Year Old North Korean football coach who is unknown to the football globe with his qualifications unrecognised by FIFA Standards. Coaching in the North Korean domestic league was not his calling with most of his work being with young school-children and youth teams. An educated man with martial-tier emotionless discipline, it will be interesting to observe such traits cross over to the senior football world. His wife and child, with one more along the way await at home for the initial first season with hopes that eventual success will bring them too towards the Scandinavian front... For now, his eye is on survival and working with the crop he has got. It's only up from here...

Hope you enjoyed the intro. Stay tuned for more!

[Soviet]

Looks more like G&TIF Good luck!

[Scab]

1 hour ago, schnauzer said:

What tactic are you playing at the moment out of interest? No disrespect to your players, but it seems that you are really overachieving and deserve all the plaudits!

4-4-2 with 2DM. The core idea is to shrink space between stratas with a high d-line and deep forwards, then aggressively compete for it with hard tackling.

Centrally I play one DM that holds position and one Segundo Volante that makes runs. I find that DMs guard the pocket better than CMs when we're soaking pressure and the Vol is perfectly happy to run all the way into the opposition box when we have possession, so he provides a strong late run for our transition play. BBM has long been my favorite CM role and Vol gets close to the same behavior from a deeper starting position, so I guess it's no wonder I like that too.

On the left I play an inside-cutting IW with an overlapping WB and on the right a regular wide-sitting W with an underlapping IWB. It's something I've been fond of since first trying it in rancer890's asian challenge in FM11. It keeps our attacks varied and it's pretty easy to change which wing does what depending on the footedness of the players available.

I... don't know what I'm doing with the strikers.  They're currently PF and AF, but I don't much care for either's off the ball behavior. What I want is for one to drop deep and help close down opponents while the other waits for counters, but both mostly idle around the opposition defenders until we win the ball then refuse to make runs into the box when the wingers are finally ready to cross. They still score so I don't complain too much, but it's usually from scrappy secondary situations.

Finally, I've more than doubled the goals I score from set pieces since tinkering with them, so I'd certainly recommend moving away from the default setup ASAP.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Scab

[Diego D10S]

                                                                       

                                                                                                                                2020 / 2021

                                                                                          League Table          Youth Intake       Transfer History 

 

Season 2020 / 21 - 10th Serie C/C - Knocked out 1st round Promotion Playoff

 

A rough season struggling with a very small squad and with my tactic. Was worried they would sack me at the end of the seaon, but got a new contract.

Have made a tactic I really belive in now, only problem is that it's very fluid and ambitious, hopefully my players can pull it off.

Youth intake was just what I needed, very welcomed depth to a small squad.

Next season is all about developing the youth prospects I have so maybe we can aim for playoff in a couple of seasons.

GL All !!  

                                                                        

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Diego D10S

[Kazushi80]

I want to reduce expenses next season and i am cutting my youth staff (i know you can just spend on FM and in the end the board will balance the books with an investment, but i set myself always the rule to keep the club out of red numbers). So i have a question for you:

 

How do you use U20/US18 assistant managers? i have all training sections filled, so i can't use them to improve in any area. I am thinking about hiring someone for the cheapest possible wages with good personality / high determination (did someone see this helping for improving youth players in this area?). Or to have no one on that position (does that hurt, because he does nothing if i don't need him for training)?

[Fastbasher]

4 hours ago, Scab said:

4-4-2 with 2DM. The core idea is to shrink space between stratas with a high d-line and deep forwards, then aggressively compete for it with hard tackling.

Centrally I play one DM that holds position and one Segundo Volante that makes runs. I find that DMs guard the pocket better than CMs when we're soaking pressure and the Vol is perfectly happy to run all the way into the opposition box when we have possession, so he provides a strong late run for our transition play. BBM has long been my favorite CM role and Vol gets close to the same behavior from a deeper starting position, so I guess it's no wonder I like that too.

On the left I play an inside-cutting IW with an overlapping WB and on the right a regular wide-sitting W with an underlapping IWB. It's something I've been fond of since first trying it in rancer890's asian challenge in FM11. It keeps our attacks varied and it's pretty easy to change which wing does what depending on the footedness of the players available.

I... don't know what I'm doing with the strikers.  They're currently PF and AF, but I don't much care for either's off the ball behavior. What I want is for one to drop deep and help close down opponents while the other waits for counters, but both mostly idle around the opposition defenders until we win the ball then refuse to make runs into the box when the wingers are finally ready to cross. They still score so I don't complain too much, but it's usually from scrappy secondary situations.

Finally, I've more than doubled the goals I score from set pieces since tinkering with them, so I'd certainly recommend moving away from the default setup ASAP.

@Scab Do you use players in the roles they are initially suited for, or do you retrain players to fit your own formation and style of play?

[Scab]

4 minutes ago, Fastbasher said:

@Scab Do you use players in the roles they are initially suited for, or do you retrain players to fit your own formation and style of play?

Well, I stick pretty rigidly to a system, but I also pick that system based on who's available to me. I don't think I've ever just played players to their individual strengths without an overall team vision. A lot of the suitability circles on my tactics screen are half full / orange.

I don't do a lot of positional retraining, but half my players train PPMs. Attributes are all over the place at this level, so it's my way of trying to make them focus on the one or two things they can actually do.

[Fastbasher]

2033/34 Putnok season review - Hungarian division II

The League

We were in a congested promotion hunt throughout the entire season, eventually falling slightly short and finishing in 5th. We needed 3 more points from somewhere.

After three poor youth intakes in a row, we are struggling to progress. We have some experienced squad players, but are looking for a star or two to take us back up.

We got knocked out in the 2nd round of the cup to a non league team.

 

The Players

Varga and Huszti continued to chip in a decent amount of goals up front. Tibor Kundrák YP31c is also developing nicely and added 8 goals and 10 assists from the left wing.

Bence Elek put in some nice performances in goal and got called up to the Hungarian U19s team for the European U19 championships. Unfortunately his 275k release clause was met and he won't be with us next season.

 

Transfers

The one shock here was a bidding war that erupted between 6 division I clubs for István Stieber. A player I wasn't even considering for the first team. I managed to drive the price up to 750k before accepting.

 

 

[schnauzer]

5 hours ago, Scab said:

4-4-2 with 2DM. The core idea is to shrink space between stratas with a high d-line and deep forwards, then aggressively compete for it with hard tackling.

Centrally I play one DM that holds position and one Segundo Volante that makes runs. I find that DMs guard the pocket better than CMs when we're soaking pressure and the Vol is perfectly happy to run all the way into the opposition box when we have possession, so he provides a strong late run for our transition play. BBM has long been my favorite CM role and Vol gets close to the same behavior from a deeper starting position, so I guess it's no wonder I like that too.

On the left I play an inside-cutting IW with an overlapping WB and on the right a regular wide-sitting W with an underlapping IWB. It's something I've been fond of since first trying it in rancer890's asian challenge in FM11. It keeps our attacks varied and it's pretty easy to change which wing does what depending on the footedness of the players available.

I... don't know what I'm doing with the strikers.  They're currently PF and AF, but I don't much care for either's off the ball behavior. What I want is for one to drop deep and help close down opponents while the other waits for counters, but both mostly idle around the opposition defenders until we win the ball then refuse to make runs into the box when the wingers are finally ready to cross. They still score so I don't complain too much, but it's usually from scrappy secondary situations.

Finally, I've more than doubled the goals I score from set pieces since tinkering with them, so I'd certainly recommend moving away from the default setup ASAP.

Thanks for the detailed reply!

Sounds like an interesting approach for sure, I hadn't thought about dropping my midfield deeper. Do you have any problems with long balls over the top playing a high line? Also, with aggressive tackling I've found that I'm getting too many yellow and reds and conceding tons of penalties, has this been a problem for you?

I think that I need to be braver to try a really asymmetrical system that better suits my players, as you have. Would you put the more attacking central (or DM/volante) midfielder behind the side of the less attacking winger or the more attacking winger? I get that when a full back overlaps you pair him with a less attacking winger but never knew with the central midfielders.

I resonate with your problems with the strikers, it seems that they are struggling to strike nearly as many as they were on FM19! At the moment Advanced Forward is the best role for me at this level though.

I was actually having lots of successs with set pieces until the full release update and then it stopped working.. I was having corners set to far post where I'd put the CB with the best heading and jumping reach to attack, often scoring a simple header. For whatever reason this has stopped working  What do you do for corners?

Keep up the good work!

[Scab]

@schnauzer

Long balls - all the time. It's the most common way we concede. I've always had this problem though and always fix it by eventually signing quick defenders. I don't find dropping the d-line helps enough for how much it costs me in goals forward.

We do get a silly amount of yellows and reds, but not many penalties. My DMs are the main culprits and they rarely drop that deep, followed by the RB/LB who just give up a lot of wide FKs. The DCs aren't on hard tackling.

I don't think you need to match CM and W roles. I don't switch my DM roles when I switch the wings and haven't noticed any issues. The players seem smart enough to find the channels.

[XaW]

Youth intake 2021

Wow, what an intake! A lot of exciting players, and quite a few ready for the first team already.

This kid is just amazing for this level. Though I don't use an AM, so I think I might make him a striker instead. That acceleration will kill defences here!

Daníel Sigurgeirsson 21f is a good fullback and I expect him to be part of the main squad next season.

[OlivierL]

wow @XaW looks good ! I hope i have the same luck. What was your intake data ?

[XaW]

11 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

wow @XaW looks good ! I hope i have the same luck. What was your intake data ?

These ones?

[OlivierL]

Just now, XaW said:

These ones?

No sorry i mean when did your youth intake happened ? augusts 20 ?

[XaW]

Just now, OlivierL said:

No sorry i mean when did your youth intake happened ? augusts 20 ?

Just now, Soviet said:

I think he means date

Ah, it was September 5th.

[Braumiller]

A New Start

As often tends to be the way with myself, my long term Youth Challenge save is often not the one I start out with.  Small things annoy me, and not having any competitive reserve or youth fixtures after 3 years in my Scotland save was a (mental) gamebreaker.  I went ahead and disqualified that save from the challenge as well after deciding to drop it, and holiday'd another 2 seasons to see.....  Still no competitive non-1st team fixtures.

So Ijsselmeervogels is my new adventure! (it is easier to pronounce than you'd think once you know how!   Eshel - meer - vogels )  

I have never played in Holland before, although I have often thought about it.

A different kind of start for me, as the club becomes professional from the get-go (it was amateur, a lot of contracts to figure out) but you are against a lot of established pro teams (and reserve teams from Ajax, PSV and similar).  Hoping for a long, consolidating stay in the Dutch second tier to get a solid base established.  Just need to survive the first couple of seasons, hopefully.

I like their logo, I like their nicknames, bank balance is healthy, facilities are poor but should be upgradable and they have a potentially fun rivalry (with another team I considered managing in the reloads).

Will post pics and other stuff tonight when home and re-united with my laptop

[XaW]

XaW - Íþróttafélagið Völsungur - 2021

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

A new season in Iceland, and this time I actually had a goalkeeper. Such luxuries are quite amazing compared to last season, and it started quite good when we won a couple of games to get away from the fight to avoid relegation. We kept around the middle of the table for the most of the season and weren't in any real danger of getting relegated at all. Of course, we were nowhere close to getting promoted either. We did show we can beat anyone, but unfortunately we can lose to anyone as well. On our day we are more or less unbeatable (for this level) and showed it when we were the only team to actually beat promoted Fram this season. However, we also lost to relegated Þór this season, so that kind of says it all. In the end we finished on a pretty strong 8th, 13 points of promotion and 10 points ahead of relegation.

In the Deildabikar we finished in 2nd in a group containing Fjölnir, Fylkir, Keflavík and Magni to progress to the quarter final were we lost to ÍBV. In the Bikarkneppni karla we beat Fram, Vestrí and ÍR before losing to Þór in the quarter final.

The leading players this season have been Birkir Sigþórsson 20h, Freyþór Harðarson and Tómas Ingólfsson 20i (Goalkeeper who scored 5 goals)

[Braumiller]

@XaW is that 6 goals combined for your GKs?  Set pieces or having to play them in outfield positions at times?

[XaW]

6 minutes ago, Braumiller said:

@XaW is that 6 goals combined for your GKs?  Set pieces or having to play them in outfield positions at times?

The only play as goalkeepers, so only pens. I've given them the sole responsibility of taking shots from freekicks, but none have been scored yet.

I've once again joined @Jimbokav1971 in trying to get the goalkeepers to score.

[Winski]

What. An. Intake!! Very, very, very happy with this. I still need to tag the players, but I first show you some screenshots.

Again a golden generation. Look at the potential!

I can show you a lot of them, but these 6 are the best ones:

 

 

[andyus]

Youth Intake 2021

 

Her is my first youth intake as Fc United of Manchester manager. Not the best but got some talented youngsters.

I'm looking forward to work and hopefully develop them into first team players. 

 

[OlivierL]

@Winski wow Adam black is good !

[keeper#1]

9 hours ago, OrToDaRy282 said:

I'm the new manager of Truro City!
Let's bring the glory to Cornwall!!

Last year I failed at Widzew Lodz in Poland. This year I want to go all the way!

For those looking a good club to do a save with, I highly recommend Widzew Lodz.  Decent team and great youth facilities for the level.

[The Gold Guard]

Year 1: 

This was the hardest season I have ever managed in my life. So tense. I had less than 10 players, not one striker nor a keeper. JUST survived the drop in the unique Swedish playoff. 
Youth candidates at least give me a full squad to work with now, thankfully. Let's climb together!

Youth Candidates:

 

A #10 but I play classic lower league 4-4-2, will shape him to an MC for now until I can work with depth. 

Transfers: