The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[schnauzer]

I've decided to give up guys. Was on a horrible run of form, then my best player Tilt left on a free.

To top it all off, my youth training facilities were meant to have been completed by 22/9/21 in game and it has reached 25/22/19 and still no update, it just says 'planning'... Anybody know why or had a similar issue? @Scab?

 

Anyway, good luck to everyone carrying on, I will continue to follow your stories 

Edited November 29, 2019 by schnauzer

[Scab]

Sorry to hear that @schnauzer.   'Hope you'll be back for another try later on~.

I haven't had that issue, but I also haven't had any facility upgrades approved. Only youth recruitment, which seems to have worked just fine. Maybe worth reporting to SI?

[Kazushi80]

@Anners Looks like cool team. Welcome to the challenge.

@schnauzer Sorry to hear that, but i can feel you. I think transfers are my strong suit on FM, too, that's why I love this challenge. But if i would fail it several times, I would play a "normal" save, too. Seems like England is really a lot hard as the other countries.

Iuckily I am far from failing at the moment, maybe even progressing? Start to the new season is the best I've had on this save, yet:

 

 

[vikeologist]

I tried to get a really tricky English side (Folkestone) but gave up and went for the easier option (Palermo), but there's still a masochistic part of me that would have at least liked to try and fail in England.

But even Palermo has some real challenges.

[Fastbasher]

2036/37 Putnok season review - Hungarian division II

Champions

It was a fairly smooth season as we won our second second division title by leading from the front. We broke our record for wins and points and the margin of victory could have been even larger if not for a bit of a stumble towards the end of the season.

We also made the quarterfinals of the cup, going down to 1st division Haladás 1-3 on aggregate (0-3a, 1-0h)

The last two times we were promoted was because of a couple of players that were too good for division II and left us as soon as we went up. This was more of a team effort and no one is leaving. The 1-0 win over Haladás gives me hope we can get some points in the top division next season. Although they did get relegated.

 

The Players

Ádám Varga YP28b and Dominik Huszti YP31b continued to bang in the goals. 

Gergely Kovács YP35f had a season of good development. He played for Hungary in the U20 world cup, reaching the quarterfinals, before losing 1-2 to Brazil.

The youth intake was poor again but Árpád Csendom YP37a and Ádám Varga YP37b (not to be confused with Ádám Varga YP28b), look like they could be useful.

 

Transfers

A good stream of income. Only Szabolcs Németh could be considered in the 1st eleven. But we had three good centrebacks, so it was a gap we could cover and took away a selection headache.

[Soviet]

@AnnersLove the logo. Good luck!

[XaW]

8 hours ago, schnauzer said:

Unlucky @darren1983. After seeing yourself and @XaW both make good starts but fade I'm beginning to wonder if it's even possible to do this in England....

I think it's possible, but it's just really really hard. I think if you take over a club with better facilities than what I had at Stratford, then it should be possible. I'm thinking about giving it another try sometime down the line...

[XaW]

Youth intake 2024

The good intakes keeps on coming! Some great talents again this season.

Hörður Kjartansson 24g looks like a great attacking playmaker and he has amazing mental stats for his age.

And in Ragnar Magnússon 24c we have a more defensive minded all-rounder type midfielder. Also a great personality.

[XaW]

XaW - Íþróttafélagið Völsungur - 2024

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

With the great season last year I hoped we could continue in the same vein of form, however, we started very poorly. We only won 2 of the first 8 matches, and drew way too many games. So at that point, close to the halfway point of the season we were just above the relegation zone. However, that was also when the turning point happened, and we actually went unbeaten the rest of the season. While we still draw way too much, that's also the case for a lot of the other teams, HK drew 11 of 22 league games this season! Still, winning and drawing is much better than losing and started to rise up the table at that point. Going into the final part of the season we had an outside shot at the title, and a reasonable chance for the European spots, though HK and Valur were a bit ahead of the rest. Strangely, both of them went into poor form and with a single game left we were 2 points behind HK, but with a better goal difference, only a point ahead of Valur. Valur drew 1-1 at home to Grindavik, while HK also drew away to already relegated ÍA after getting an early red card. We managed to win a very hectic match away to Fjölnir 4-3. So the results? We were crowned champions on goal difference! Champions League here we come next season!

In the Deildabikar we won our group ahead of Fylkir, Keflavik, Fram, ÍA and Fjarðabyggð to go through. In the quarter final we lost at home to Haukar. In the Bikarkneppni karla we beat FH and Fylkir before losing to ÍA in the quarter final.

We had our first try in Europe this season. We started in the Europa Conference League 1st qualification round were we faced Differdange of Luxembourg. We smashed them 9-0(!) away before a calm 5-1 win at home. In the 2nd qualification round we drew Basel of Switzerland. An amazing defensive effort saw us win 1-0 away. In the home leg Basel scored the only goal in normal time to take us to extra time, here we scored two goals to knock them out. Quite the surprise! In the 3rd qualification round our opponent were Arsenal Tula of Russia. We had a horrible home leg with an early red card and lost 1-4. We did a bit better in the away leg, but still lost 3-2. A really good run and we got a lot further than I had expected.

The leading players this season have been Freyþór Harðarson, Magnús Aðalsteinsson 21e and Daníel Sigurgeirsson 21f.

[DazRTaylor]

The first of many titles!  

[SuperLeeds]

Had an engaging 3 years with Whitby Town on this challenge.

Finished 14th, then 19th, then...... 23rd and sacked  

Starting again now in Switzerland this time

[Koetzer]

My second try in this challenge will be with Sport Clube Freamunde in Portugal. The club has average training and youth facilities, that's really good for the 3rd tier.

Manager

Squad | U19

We have a strong attacking group, Paulo Costa should become our first choice striker supported by Valdinho, Guzman and Pedro Alves (so 4-2-3-1 will be the optimal choice). Also there are good goalkeeper Diogo Freire and right-back Luis Costa... and that's all, we have no decent center-backs or defensive midfielders. So Pedro Trindade, the best first season newgen will go directly to the starting eleven, Other promising youngsters are Andre Martins, Luis Peixoto, Goncalo Martins, Clesio Campos and Manuel Pereira (three latest actually have better chances to be promoted due to the lack of quality on their positions). 

Most of the players are on amateur contracts, so I have to be quick offering them new deals, but at the same time useless backup players won't spend our budget.

We are predicted 14th from 18, and five teams are relegated, going to be a tough season  

For @darren1983 - reset date is June 29, and playoff final is played on June 21.

[XaW]

I'm losing my best right back to another Icelandic team...

He is a really good right back, and I don't want to lose him, but at least we get a lot for him. And when my protests were not taken into account, I could ask the board to negotiate a future fee and they agreed at least. Nice new feature there.

On a positive note, I do have a good replacement. The kid who was out on loan last year improved quite a lot.

[DrPoods]

OLYMPIAKOS VOLOU

Just a mini update. We had a shocker in the Greek Cup 4th round, which was our first competitive game. We gave up 6 CCCs so a little tweak was made to the tactic changing the style from a fluid counter to vertical tiki taka. And it seems (at this early stage) to have worked...

Both draws have been in away games. The second draw was against Larisas where a defensive lapse in the last ten minutes allowed the equaliser. Anyways, off to a good start. I just worry that our small squad will really hurt us as we start getting injuries.

Edited November 29, 2019 by DrPoods

[Fastbasher]

Good luck @Koetzer 5 teams to be relegated sounds a bit rough.

 

@XaW I think your backup right back is better than your current one. How good is 145k to your finances?

[XaW]

5 minutes ago, Fastbasher said:

@XaW I think your backup right back is better than your current one. How good is 145k to your finances?

I think he is as good, but not necessarily better. Well, it reduced my debt from 400k to 250k...

[OlivierL]

Great job @XaW , you are going fast  i'll read the details this evening.

I hope i can finish my first season this weekend and start the next one.

[Scab]

St. Ives 2029/30 Season Review

League Table    Youth Intake    Squad    Transfers

About time for a reality check. No panic, but definitely time for tweaks.

It's not as bad as it looks, really, we just lost our attacking edge. Clifton's practically stopped scoring after a big pre-season injury and confidence crisis, and in midfield Knight struggled with lots of small knocks and bruises. Seal may be good enough to step in and do a job, but he's not one to support our attacking moves. I took the opportunity to give Woodward (and to a lesser extent, Steele) some game and mentoring time, but they're predictably not ready to be relied on. Maybe in a couple of seasons?

That's about to be the theme here. The old backbone of the team has either retired or is declining so sharply I can't keep playing them, so more youngsters will need to be shifted into the first team. And boy are they not ready. It's thankfully only a couple of positions still, but Baker, Osei-Bonsu, Wilson, and Forde are all getting into their 30s. I wouldn't normally worry yet, but I've seen other players' ability drop early and sharp already.

The youth intake follows the same pattern as before: Good potentials, poor starting ability. At least Stupple appeared with some decent physicals and promising personality. The others... Well, we'll see. I'm getting disillusioned enough with the slow rate of progress in our youth teams that I may start loaning players out more.

Next season will be an interesting one.

Season    League              Finish   Notes
2029/30   Vanarama National   15th     -
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     -

 

[basschaapje]

On 28/11/2019 at 06:37, Fastbasher said:

2035/36 Putnok season review - Hungarian division II

The League

We were in the promotion spot going into the midseason break. Unfortunately when the season recommenced, we started with 3 losses and 2 draws which effectively ended our promotion chances. We eventually finished 5th.

We were knocked out in the third round of the cup 0-2 by Ferencváros. But this marked the first time we sold out our 5197 capacity stadium.

 

The Players

Ádám Varga YP28b broke the club league goal scoring record by taking his tally to 98.

The youth intake was overall poor, but there were two players of note. Lajos Takács YP36a was very highly rated by my staff and Sándor Mészáros YP36b is good enough to become our new first choice keeper.

 

Transfers

Unfortunately Gheorghe Toma refused to sign a second contract, so I cashed in on him for 2m.

 

I checked in on our record transfer out so far and he's doing very well for himself.

István Kun YP31a is now playing for Inter. He has 22 caps for Hungary, is valued at 28.5m and gets paid 105k pounds per week. All at the age of 21.

I feel I may have got a bit shortchanged for 5.25m.

Do you holiday through the seasons? 

[schnauzer]

@Scab Another season of survival isn't so bad. You've managed to get a lot of seasons out of your originals, if they some are still going in 2030!

I hope for your sake that when you come to upgrade facilities it doesn't bug! If this is a common bug for all non-playable-at-start-of-game teams then it could be a game breaker for the challenge... @XaW and @Fastbasher have either of you had this issue?

[XaW]

21 minutes ago, schnauzer said:

I hope for your sake that when you come to upgrade facilities it doesn't bug! If this is a common bug for all non-playable-at-start-of-game teams then it could be a game breaker for the challenge... @XaW and @Fastbasher have either of you had this issue?

What bug?

[Fastbasher]

22 minutes ago, basschaapje said:

Do you holiday through the seasons? 

Only the first season so far. I find this challenge quite quick to get through seasons when you don't have to worry about scouting or buying players.

Currently have 472hrs played on FM20 according to Steam but some of that time was when I fell asleep on the laptop.

[schnauzer]

4 minutes ago, XaW said:

What bug?

This:

13 hours ago, schnauzer said:

To top it all off, my youth training facilities were meant to have been completed by 22/9/21 in game and it has reached 25/22/19 and still no update, it just says 'planning'... Anybody know why or had a similar issue? @Scab?

 

[Fastbasher]

23 minutes ago, schnauzer said:

I hope for your sake that when you come to upgrade facilities it doesn't bug! If this is a common bug for all non-playable-at-start-of-game teams then it could be a game breaker for the challenge... @XaW and @Fastbasher have either of you had this issue?

Not noticed any problem so far. Upgrades were ticking over regularly. They're a bit slower now because it's harder to raise money for the high end ones.

One thing I was ticked off about was that my youth intakes in the 1st div were significantly worse than when I was in the 2nd div. I'm hoping it's just coincidence due to small sample size, or that the stars are compared to 1st division players.

[XaW]

1 minute ago, schnauzer said:

This:

Ah, didn't notice that one. I haven't had anything like that. I did get upgraded facilities with Stratford and that worked fine and finished. You should report it to SI and have them take a look, if you haven't already.

[Fastbasher]

2 minutes ago, schnauzer said:

To top it all off, my youth training facilities were meant to have been completed by 22/9/21 in game and it has reached 25/22/19 and still no update, it just says 'planning'... Anybody know why or had a similar issue? @Scab?

I had that happen many times in previous versions of FM. I just put it down to delays in building or a project, like in real life. Considered it a feature rather than a bug.

[schnauzer]

@Fastbasher @XaW thanks for the quick replies guys - I have just reported it to SI so I'll wait for them to get back to me.

Did the upgrades eventually go through then @Fastbasher? The thing is it when I press the toggle between 'ongoing' and 'completed' requests it appears under 'completed' - even though it says it is still in the planning stage 

Btw your facilities are insane @Fastbasher, you must be pumping out world class players pretty soon surely? 

Edited November 29, 2019 by schnauzer

[XaW]

2 hours ago, XaW said:

I'm losing my best right back to another Icelandic team...

He is a really good right back, and I don't want to lose him, but at least we get a lot for him. And when my protests were not taken into account, I could ask the board to negotiate a future fee and they agreed at least. Nice new feature there.

On a positive note, I do have a good replacement. The kid who was out on loan last year improved quite a lot.

FFS Valur, you really don't need two right backs?

Luckily, right back is one of the positions I'm well stocked. So now this fellow is my new first choice right back...

[Fastbasher]

2 minutes ago, schnauzer said:

Btw your facilities are insane @Fastbasher, you must be pumping out world class players pretty soon surely? 

Just one so far. István Kun, recently moved from Inter to Real Madrid. Valued at 64m now.

Dávid Gábor also got 2 caps for Hungary, but he is not in the national team now.

The world class players won't stay very long if I can't increase my club rep and Hungarian league rep. At present I'm hoping for solid Hungarian division 1 level players.

Hungarian division 1 is now ranked as the 8th best league in my game. The AI teams in Europe have been doing their job.

 

[DrPoods]

To be honest, I’m still tossing up my Volou and Palermo saves. I suspect Palermo would have more staying power. Also, I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy a bigger team. In the past I’ve done Iceland/Switzerland/Denmark and couldn’t really get any to stick.

What do you all reckon?

I’ll sleep on it.

Suffice to say I love this challenge!!

Edited November 29, 2019 by DrPoods

[schnauzer]

@Fastbasher Nice - the return of the mighty magyars!

[basschaapje]

update: After 2/3 months i'm rockbottom. 

Injuries been killing me while i do have the best medical staff in my division it's still hard on the team.

[darren1983]

I should probably take a break from this, especially as I have very minimal time to play between tomorrow and Wednesday but screw it! 

Back again. This time gone Palermo. Let's see if I can last here and get the eagles to fly once again  

[Jintro]

@darren1983 Denmark resets on june 29th, last game of the season is july 3th for a choice of teams.

[darren1983]

8 minutes ago, Jintro said:

@darren1983 Denmark resets on june 29th, last game of the season is july 3th for a choice of teams.

Do you mean June 3rd? Otherwise this date is after the reset date? 

[Braumiller]

TABLE  //  TRANSFERS //  SQUAD STATS

On The Pitch
That was one of the more stressful seasons I have ever had.  Nothing clicked until very late in the season, when we finally found an approach and system which appears to be working.
Our first win of the season didn't come until the 7th game.  We quickly nicked a 2nd win, which gave us false security and then the grind began.  Wins were next to non-existant and draws felt like trophies.  Through all of this our goal difference gradually became the worst in the league.  During a particularly bad first half when we were 0-3 down, I scrapped our defensive approach and set up a new style.  A 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 (DR, DC, DC, DL, DM, MC, MC, AMR, AML, FC).  All positions were set-up with a generic role, but the individual instructions were set.  I then played each player in that position, but in their personal best role.  We ended up losing the game 2-3, but the second half was great.
From then on we were usually competitive!
It was very tight at the bottom

Our terrible goal difference was a constant worry, as we were never more than 3 points above last until the penultimate game.  We went 0-1 down early, but scrapped a 2-1 win and survival!  Last game of the season was away at top placed PSV Reserves and we were pummeled 0-4 as expected

Off The Pitch
Steady progress, but not at the pace I was hoping.
 * October - Youth Recruitment improvement
 * October - Academy Coaching improvement
 * October - Coaches from 3 to 4
 * November - Youth & Training Facility Updgrades Approved (Total cost 170,000 to start at the end of the season)
 * March - National C Licence completed
 * April - Coaches from 4 to 5

Youth Intake
Wow.  7 days after securing survival the intake appeared and it was a huge disappointment.  Just very uninspiring and we came straight back down to earth.  Even top two have bad personalities.
Matthijs Janssen (01A) - A pacey wide midfielder is never a bad thing.  Personality is an issue to be addressed.
Jovi Van Der Maarel (01B) - Another unambitious kid.  Has the makings of a useful player in the middle of the park, but needs a lot of work
Sidney Van Den Dikkenberg (01C) - I actually like this kid the most of out the three, but according to the coaching staff he has not quite as much potential.  Hoping he progresses well.

Challenge History

Season	League	Position	Highest Average	Top Goalscorer	Top Assists	Top POTMs
1	Eerste	18 / 20	Stef Brummel - 6.89	Ahmed El Azzouti - 9 Danny van den Meirsacker	Many - 3	Ahmed El Azzouti - 2

Facilities

	Training	Youth Training	Academy Coaching	Youth Recruitment
Start	Poor	Poor	Fairly Basic	Basic
End of Season 01	Poor	Poor	Average	Fairly Basic

Edited November 29, 2019 by Braumiller

[Jintro]

1 hour ago, darren1983 said:

Do you mean June 3rd? Otherwise this date is after the reset date? 

Sorry, june of course.

[Britrock]

Does anyone happen to know which of the leagues has the shortest seasons? I'm looking for a country where I can smash through a few seasons fairly quickly, my English save is taking forever with 46 games a year. 

[keeper#1]

8 minutes ago, Britrock said:

Does anyone happen to know which of the leagues has the shortest seasons? I'm looking for a country where I can smash through a few seasons fairly quickly, my English save is taking forever with 46 games a year. 

Iceland has a 22 game season.

[XaW]

7 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

Iceland has a 22 game season.

Plus two cups, once of which is a group stage, so you'll likely end on around 30 games a season (before Europe, of course). The same is Norway, 30 league games, but only 1 knockout cup, so not many more games there. I think those two are the ones with the fewest matches, at least in Europe.

[MikaelS]

7 hours ago, Britrock said:

Does anyone happen to know which of the leagues has the shortest seasons? I'm looking for a country where I can smash through a few seasons fairly quickly, my English save is taking forever with 46 games a year. 

Norway has 26 games and a knockout cup.

[SpS_Zen]

Uruguay second divison has 18 league games, no cup, and a weird average point rule lol.

[Fastbasher]

19 minutes ago, SpS_Zen said:

Uruguay second divison has 18 league games, no cup, and a weird average point rule lol.

ooooh.... Two seasons a day

[XaW]

Youth intake 2025

A good youth intake, but it's getting obvious my players are improving. Fewer 5 star talents now.

Sindri Jónsson 25c is a nice AMC, but I don't use that role, so I might turn him into a Pressing Forward. That acceleration!

Atli Már Hafþórsson 25a is a good prospect for the defence.

[DrPoods]

I'm going to restart this in a week or two.

I need to get to grips with all the changes since I last played FM.

I'll be back once I've sorted out how I am going to play and what I'm going to do.

Edited November 30, 2019 by DrPoods

[Britrock]

1 hour ago, SpS_Zen said:

Uruguay second divison has 18 league games, no cup, and a weird average point rule lol.

Now that sounds very interesting. I can try to find the next Luis Suarez and I've never really played outside of Europe so south America would be a nice change of pace. 

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's Palermo 2023/24 End of Season Report

I thought stood a chance of going one better and winning the league so, instead of instant resulting as I normally do, I watched every match for almost half a season until I was certain that we were sufficiently far ahead that we wouldn’t be caught.

I also thought watching the matches might be helpful in deciding on a new goalkeeper. As mentioned before, I decided to put the retainer out to pasture, but I had 3 kids, all with identical current and potential ability. Frankly though, opposition sides had so few chances against us, watching wasn’t really instructional. In the end I opted for the slightly better shot stopper, but once the league was won, gave some more games to the youngest of the three.

We didn’t lose a match until after Christmas, and ended up winning with 4or 5 games to go, eventually winning by a comfortable 22 points. We won the Super C Cup equally comfortably, winning both matches.

Obviously I’m a bit worried about how we’ll fare in Serie B, but I think that this is a good time for promotion.

Top Goalscorer – Daniele Corti YP3a - 16

Our star striker, Alfonso Marsiglione was sold at the start of the season, but Corti equalled last season’s top goalscorer’s tally. He does indeed seem to be our best striker.

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) - Spoilered because he's a legacy player, and other Palermo managers might not want to see.

Spoiler

 

Roberto Crivello

Our left back. He’s 32 now, and I need him to stave off decline for a while yet to let his heir Francesco Paolo Lanzetta YP4b develop. Unfortunately, once players start going downhill, it can be rapid, and especially so for someone like Crivello, so dependent on speed.

 

Man of The Match - Roberto Crivello / Simone Calì YP1d – 5

Last year’s MOM Simone Calì YP1d picked up 5 before leaving us (for a lot of money and a future fee clause) mid-season, so I guess he’s the real victor.

 

Most Valuable Player - Daniele Corti YP3a

He is our best player.

A few quick notes. Sold 2 star players, one by choice, the other less so, but despite all of Palermo’s advantages, we were losing money, so the fees were helpful.

I’m continuing to improve facilities, although we had to spend a lot of money just to reverse the decline in main training facilities, and we haven’t yet been able to afford to upgrade Youth facilities.

Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching are now exceptional, which I think explains why I’m able to introduce youth players pretty quickly.

The squad personality is professional now, which is a source of great joy for me. We have 16 Fairly Pro players to thank for that, and a depressingly low number of Professionals (2), Resolutes (1) and Model Citizens (1, and hopefully I’m not going to cock that up via mentoring). Mentoring has actually robbed me of a couple of Resolutes, but the mean is more important.

Season	Division		Position	Notes										
20/21	C/C			8th		Eliminated in 2nd round of promotion playoffs.
21/22	C/C			8th		Eliminated in 3rd round of playoffs
22/23	C/C			2nd		Eliminated in Quarterfinals of playoffs.
23/24	C/C			1st		Won league and Super C Cup easily.

 

[andbec]

SEASON 2020/2021

 

League Table  Transfers

A solid start to the challenge, Mid table team the whole season. The last seven games, i just played youngsters, to get them more game time as we were no threat to promotion or relegation. A really good season from our young front two, Charlie Gosney and Neemo Nixon, who i hope will fire us up the leagues in the coming years. In the FA cup, we were knocked out in the 3rd qualifying round by Vanarama National team Eastleigh, after a replay and the FA trophy we made it to the 2nd round, losing to Vanarama north team Tamworth. Made some money and the board allowed me to increase the junior coaching and youth recruitment budgets. Won't improve facilities just yet. 

 

Youth Intake

Could this actually be a golden generation intake??? Best prospects GK Ali Davies, will become my No 1 and FB Thomas Ingram, will be in the first team squad. The first game after the intake i played all youngsters, no one over the age of 18 and we beat Bath (who were pushing for a playoff place) 6-2!! Is that a sign of things to come?? There are a few others who could be in the first team squad, so i'm excited and hopefully will continue for future intakes!

 

 

Season	League	League position	FA Cup	FA Trophy	Notes
2020/2021	Vanarama national league south	13th	4th Qual Rd	2nd Round	Junior coaching budget increased; Obtained National B license; youth recruitment networking budgets upgraded

Edited November 30, 2019 by andbec

[XaW]

XaW - Íþróttafélagið Völsungur - 2025

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

As the reigning champions our goal were clear, do it again! But with a lot of cups we had enough distractions to make it harder for us. Before the season even started Valur bought BOTH of my best right backs, due to the board accepting bids. While the money was nice, it was still a bit annoying. However, the wing back position is one I had quite a number of, so it wasn't that big of an issue as it could have been if it was my goalkeeper or something like that. The season started a bit slow, just like last season. And, just like last season, we got better as the season progressed. We were part of a three team race for the title along Grindavik and Breiðablik. With a game left we were in the lead, 2 points ahad of Breiðablik and only 1 point ahead Grindavik. However, those two faced each other, so a top 2 finish were guaranteed. Breiðablik won their game 3-1 away to Grindavik, so our result would decide it. We were at home to already relegated Fjölnir. It looked good when we took an early lead, and kept pushing on. However, we didn't find the net more, but going into overtime everything looked fine. Then Fjölnir gave a last push and actually managed to equalise the game! What did this mean? We lost the title on the final day, on goal difference, because of that goal. So no title this year...

Before the league started we played in the Frábær Bikar, kind of like the Community Shield, were we beat Afturelding on pens.

In the Deildabikar we didn't progress from the group stage when we finished behind Stjarnan and Fjölnir, but ahead of IR, ÍA and Víðir. In the Bikarkneppni karla we beat Haukar and Afturelding before losing to FH in the quarter final.

We had another go in Europe this season and this time it was the Champions League due to our league title. Our first opponent in the 1st qualifying round were Qarabağ of Azerbaijan. We beat them 3-0 at home and lost 3-2 away to go through. In the 2nd qualifying round we faced Zrinjski Mostar of Bosnia Herzegovina. A great 3-1 away were followed by a 1-0 win at home. In the 3rd qualifying round we drew Maccabi Tel-Aviv of Israel. We narrowly beat them 2-1 at home and held them to 1-1 away to go past them. In the Playoff we got Viktoria Plzeň of Czechia. We lost 0-3 away, and could only draw 1-1 at home and got knocked out. This meant we went into the Europa League group stage! Here we got some tough opponents in Ajax of Holland, Watford of England and Zorya of Ukraine. We still haven't played all the matches yet, but I don't expect we can do much.

The leading players this season have been Gunnar Jónas Hinriksson 21c, Freyþór Harðarson and Reynir Baldursson 21h.

[Fastbasher]

2037/38 Putnok season review - Hungarian Division I

The League

We changed to a 4-5-1 to try and hold the stronger opposition. We battled hard in some games, failed miserably in others and ultimately came up 6pts short of survival.

There are leagues within a league in division I. The gap between the teams in Europe and the rest is growing. There is another gap back to the teams coming up from division II.

We made it to the quarterfinals of the cup before losing to Division I champions ZTE 1-5 on aggregate (0-3h, 1-2a)

 

The Players

Not much to write about here. Ádám Varga scored another 11 goals. Many players are refusing to sign new contracts and the ones that will sign are wanting too much money.

We're in for a rebuilding phase.

 

Transfers