The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[Constantine]

Finally caught up with this thread after reading it for last four, five days... Bloody hell!!

Truly interesting stories among those pages. And an absolute legend of perseverance that is Padders. Don't know how you're doing it mate, i'd given up two hundred years ago  

Also, one question for you guys... What's your stance on scouting packages? Does they influence youth intake?

Since there is barely any income in Serbia, i'd cancel it completely. Not that i need it for anything. Unless that influence intake. I don't see why it should. Thought it's better to ask.

Edited July 29, 2020 by Constantine

[darren1983]

1 hour ago, Constantine said:

Finally caught up with this thread after reading it for last four, five days... Bloody hell!!

Truly interesting stories among those pages. And an absolute legend of perseverance that is Padders. Don't know how you're doing it mate, i'd given up two hundred years ago  

Also, one question for you guys... What's your stance on scouting packages? Does they influence youth intake?

Since there is barely any income in Serbia, i'd cancel it completely. Not that i need it for anything. Unless that influence intake. I don't see why it should. Thought it's better to ask.

As far as I'm aware it has no influence on youth intake. Even with all the money I know have in the premier league I'm pretty sure I've still got no scouting package - I must check actually  

[darren1983]

Milestone 

[Sn00gle]

On 27/07/2020 at 20:40, TheRailwaymen said:

Railwayman - GKS Katowice 

I'm going to turn the miners football club into the minors football club!

They were pretty decent in the 90's, close to winning the league a few times before they dropped pretty rapidly. 

 

Here we go

 

Great to see someone in Poland with me good luck!  It took me  8 seasons in unofficial patch with lower polish leagues to get into Fortuna 1 League. In Poland people have a lot of fun from Katowice they have slogan "Ekstraklasa or death" and after that they got relegated from F1L. They lost so wierd goals like goal from half of the pitch or goalkeeper header in last seconds LoL. 

[TheRailwaymen]

48 minutes ago, Sn00gle said:

Great to see someone in Poland with me good luck!  It took me  8 seasons in unofficial patch with lower polish leagues to get into Fortuna 1 League. In Poland people have a lot of fun from Katowice they have slogan "Ekstraklasa or death" and after that they got relegated from F1L. They lost so wierd goals like goal from half of the pitch or goalkeeper header in last seconds LoL. 

Maybe the slogan propelled me to promotion in my first season.

 

Second season is even crazier.. I've hit some kind of FM sweet spot. 10 games in and I'm top 3

 

About of a third of the way through the season. I have no idea what is happening.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by TheRailwaymen

[Sn00gle]

17 minutes ago, TheRailwaymen said:

Maybe the slogan propelled me to promotion in my first season.

 

Second season is even crazier.. I've hit some kind of FM sweet spot. 10 games in and I'm top 3

 

About of a third of the way through the season. I have no idea what is happening.

 

 

Very nice! what tactic you are using?

[TheRailwaymen]

4-4-2, vertical ticitaka (sp?), aggressive tackling.. Many red and yellow cards

[Padders]

Season Review 2193/94

Unbelievably won the play offs after an awful season, finishing 6th

If you look at the fixtures we won 10 of the last 11 games 

Scored in the winner in extra time in the Semi Finals and won the final 2-1

 

[TheRailwaymen]

Well done @Padders!

 

I feel like morale really makes a difference. When you hit the run or slump you really go on bad runs. In denmark I frequently lost 10 in a row before winning 4 or 5 in a row.

 

Poland is strange so far. There seems to be little change in quality between the divisions apart from foreign players, and clubs are top 4 one season then bottom 4 the next.. 

 

I'm tempted to try my tactic in Denmark to see if I can turn it round there. Maybe it was because of my ineptitude as it was my first file on FM20... 

At mid season my players see some reward for their obscene effort!

Rogala - Won player of the year Stats

Szwedzik - Won most improved player of the year : He came in when my best striker broke his leg last winter and has been unreal. His stats are not even that good compared to other strikers in the league but he scores so many goals. Might be the decent mentals? 

 

Edited July 30, 2020 by TheRailwaymen

[Constantine]

Jedinstvo Ub

Season 2023/2024 - Review

Linglong Tire Super liga - Well... I might have overestimated us a little bit. From where we finished last year,  i secretly hoped we could sneak in the European places but boy, oh boy, did reality smacked us in the face and brought us straight back to the ground. I can't even remember how many times we had everything in out hands, controlled the **** out of the game only to drop everything and self destruct during the last 10 minutes. Second big problem that plagued us was... Don't know how to properly express it... We're playing in series. There's a patch of games where we're beating the living hell out of anybody only to lose once to set us onto downward spiral with no brakes on us. And it goes on and on and on, in cycles, throughout the season. But i'll write it down as growing pains and something that'll sort itself out as these kids mature. Anyway, we failed to qualify for play offs but we did boss the heck outta play outs. Won every game bar one against Spartak where i had to rest my best XI and against Proleter, where we showed glimpse of that self destructiveness as we conceded an equalizer in 90+2.

 

Kup Srbije - I did say we would try to do better and better we did. Lady Luck was on our side during draws as we faced opponents we could've beat until we met Partizan in the semis. Could've been Javor or Cukaricki but no, let's go with the strongest possible team. And ****, were we close to knocking the Goliath out. Took them to the extra time with man down, held ourselves really well but when both of ours centre-backs got sent off too... Yeah,  we stood no chance of getting to the penalties.

 

Top performers:

Milan Jovanovic 21g - With Ratkovic getting older and slower, he passed the torch to his young partner Milan Jovanovic. Our top scorer this year. His development continues and our coaches say there's more to come. His personality is a bit of a worry, Ratkovic has been mentoring him (among few other kids) but no success so far.

Stefan Drca 22a - Top prospect from intake two years ago is slowly becoming our midfield maestro. Already broke our record with 11 assists across all competitions.

Radosav Maric 22g - Quietly got into our starting eleven during the second half of last season as i realized old man Cicanin just couldn't cope with Super liga football. Maric got 7 assists from 20 odd games last year but this time around he decided to show us his scoring capabilities. 11 goals, 1 assist, pretty happy with that output. 

 

During the year, we've lost our #1 Mirko Curguz, who, out of blue, decided he wants to retire.  So we had two talented kids competing for a spot between the sticks. Not really happy with either of them, Djergovic started more games but Pjevic will take over next year for one simple fact; Djergovic, despite his decent handling and positioning, can't catch the damn ball. Free kicks became like penalties, i dreaded when we gave it up near our box. Pjevic had less issues with it and despite his low anticipation (brought it up to 5 over the year) so... Lesser of two evils.

Aside from goalkeeper, we suffered bigger loss as first of our kids got poached. Perhaps the most talented one. Pescara and Bologna waged war during summer window for his signature, i successfully rejected their advances until our board stepped in and said Pescara's offer was too good to refuse. And, to be honest, it is. 450k + 100 over 2 12 months installments, a friendly game and 40% of next sale. He stayed with us till he became 18 and as January window opened, Gobeljic became Pescara player and first one i added to my shortlist rightly named The Janissaries. His departure financed new upgrades, got my board to increase salaries for coaches and physios and got us our first affiliate. Honestly, i jokingly asked my board for affiliate to widen our regens pool and they said yes, to my utmost surprise. Among clubs they came back with, one stood out. Brodarac. Lower league club with ridiculous facilities, unofficially financed by president of Serbian FA and one club who from time to time produce cheap gems for pick up by other Serbian clubs. And the best part is, we get to use their facilities. My board wouldn't budge on upgrades for our still basic training and youth facilities (despite us having about 300k in the bank) so this came like given by God. And the difference is truly staggering. I have seen more green arrows during four months of using Brodarac's training ground than i have in all my time managing Jedinstvo. It was beautiful.

Also, first time we actually did some business in the market, aside from releasing players.

Top prospects:

Now, about intake... Had to stick by my current HoYD, as i couldn't find anyone else. So i was ready for another batch of unambitious young men who'll need mentoring.

As usual, i begged the game for a proper goalkeeper, a pair of fullbacks and maybe one centre-back, as we had to replace Gobeljic and all we had was two oldies who can't run anymore and underdeveloped Hungarian kid.

What have we got?

A bunch of wingers. More strikers. We now have, like 20 of those. Lucked out and got one good looking defender and potentially semi-decent FB. Anyhow, signed eight of them. Here's the best off, IMO.

Nikola Stojanovic - Decent looking winger, albeit he lack a bit of technical skills. Might turn out to be our fastest player yet.

Srdjan Markovic - Defender who'll feature in first team in the following season, as we have to fill the void left by Gobeljic and possible release of one of our oldie CB's.

Damjan Poznic - A towering striker, with no strength whatsoever. Got a bit of speed in him, as it seems. Weird mix but he might complement really well with Milan Jovanovic year or two down the line.

Overall, i'm satisfied with this generation. Got more cover on sides, more potentially decent strikers, CB's and as bad as they look now, we have some cover in fullback areas too.

Plans for next season... Pfft, i don't know. More consistency would be nice. Getting back in top 8. A new HoYD perhaps.  Don't get me wrong, this one did a decent job but personalities he chunk out aren't the best.

[TheRailwaymen]

Igor is being courted... enquiry

Response

 

*Does anyone else do this?  

 

Just signed a new contract as more clubs are getting interested... 20m release fee to foreign clubs.. I'm getting nervous.. CLose the window! 

 

He's gone from 2-4 stars in 7 appearances. He's a lump of a CB, a throwback.  

 

Just called up for Poland u19s as well. First international player! 

Edited July 30, 2020 by TheRailwaymen

[Padders]

1 hour ago, TheRailwaymen said:

Well done @Padders!

 

I feel like morale really makes a difference. When you hit the run or slump you really go on bad runs. In denmark I frequently lost 10 in a row before winning 4 or 5 in a row.

 

Poland is strange so far. There seems to be little change in quality between the divisions apart from foreign players, and clubs are top 4 one season then bottom 4 the next.. 

 

I'm tempted to try my tactic in Denmark to see if I can turn it round there. Maybe it was because of my ineptitude as it was my first file on FM20... 

At mid season my players see some reward for their obscene effort!

Rogala - Won player of the year Stats

Szwedzik - Won most improved player of the year : He came in when my best striker broke his leg last winter and has been unreal. His stats are not even that good compared to other strikers in the league but he scores so many goals. Might be the decent mentals? 

 

Totally agree, morale is massive in the game

[TheRailwaymen]

Ugh my youth intake was disappointing.

Two strikers and a CM I'm retraining as a rightback because I don't have any apart from my main two.

One of the strikers looks fairly promising to be fair to him. 

Edited July 30, 2020 by TheRailwaymen

[XaW]

FC Kufstein

Season 2025/26 (Season 6) Review - tipp3-Bundesliga - Austria

League | Championship Group | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We had a really good start to the season and we were flying for a while. Don't get me wrong, we were never in contention for winning the thing, but we did really well and picked up much more points than I had expected us to. We actually were 4th when the league split and thus went into the Championship group and were safe from relegation. Now, at that point, I guess the players felt things were done and turned off. I mean, REALLY turned off. In the 10 games of the Championship stage, we drew 1 and lost the remaining 9. So yeah, royally thumped! Still, we went into the playoff for the European spots and beat Wolfsberger in the semi final and then Austria Wien in the final. So I *think* we are going into Europe next season, but I haven't had any information about it yet.

In the ÖFB-Cup we beat Leobendorf, St. Pölten and BW Linz before losing to Rapid Wien in the quarter final.

Notable players

Maximilian Pfeifer - Another great season in DM from one of the few original players.
Vinko Miklic 22c - Had a stormer of a season, but about half way he got damaged cruciate ligaments and were out for the rest of the season and probably a bit of next as well. At the same time we began to lose...
Lasse Bruckert 22d - He has taken over as the main striker and scored quite a few goals. Some real bangers as well.

Youth intake

Youth preview - Looks pretty good, a new DM is something we really need as well.
Youth intake - A decent intake with a few good players and some ok ones.

Bernd Altsinger 26a - A playmaking DM is a very nice addition. Could be the eventual replacement of Pfeifer.
Jens Ballhaus 26b - A real sweeper keeper. Could become useful for the team.

[Padders]

Season Review 2194/95

Finished 10th back in PL, which is the highest we have finished since 2176/77

[Vélodrome]

Got inspired by reading this, but forgot to take a screenshot of my profile. Ended up in East Kilbride in Scotland, a club with next to no resources or facilities and a rather small stadium with a capacity of 1050 places. Still, ten seasons in I've managed to get to the Premiership and survived the first season there, just, thanks to winning the playoffs. Will probably fight relegation for the next couple of seasons, putting every penny we make into facilities and such. I am in dire need of decent strikers, currently I don't have a single one with finishing above 10. 

[XaW]

Damn.... but I saw it coming. He was in his final year, so I would probably have sold him myself. I do wish we had a sell-on clause though...

[darren1983]

40 minutes ago, XaW said:

Damn.... but I saw it coming. He was in his final year, so I would probably have sold him myself. I do wish we had a sell-on clause though...

Looks better than most of my CM options  

Must make the finances look great though? 

[XaW]

20 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

Looks better than most of my CM options  

Must make the finances look great though? 

Yeah, back in positive by a mile. Gotten approved upgrades to both types of facilities as well. So it really helps us. And I would have sold him myself, but I'd tick on a sell-on clause, other than that I don't have any issues with the sale.

[darren1983]

Season 2039/40 Review

League | FA Cup | League Cup | Transfers | Squad | Finances

 

Well this season felt like a proper breakthrough for us as a few of our youngsters really made themselves a part of the first team as we are finally able to phase out players of lesser quality who have been with us during our rise main ones being Sascha Weber 37A, most of his game time came from the bench but he forced himself into the team, needs more assists but he's a real threat from outside the box which is something we missed. The other is our golden star Han De Jong 39A, 12 goals in his first season and he's our best striker now so will be first choice next season. We ended the season in fine form with only 1 defeat in the final 3 months of the season which was against Chelsea and included a 0-0 draw away at Man City and a 1-0 home win against man Utd (our first ever win over them) as we ended 10th with more points than we have got before, missed out on final European spot by just 4 points.

The cups were odd, League Cup we struggled (I really probably should take it more seriously than I do, I tend to use it to give young players a chance and to rest first teamers early in season)but the FA Cup was good. Got to the 5th round again but were unlucky to lose to Arsenal, we were 1 up with 3 minutes to go but they scored then ran away with it in extra time. I really want to win a cup though.

At the end of the seaosn the board announced we would be looking to build a new stadium, as I am a FC United legend I hope this is named after me. All my time playing this game I've never had a stadium (or a son actually) so that would be cool. We also will be going to a level 1 academy over the summer which hopefully will increase the players we bring through. What I really need is to improve my training ground (it's adequate right now) but I never seem to have the option to do so  

Youth Intake - Pretty solid one again, lots of retraining though I think

Richard Wilkinson 40A - dubbed the new Gordon Banks. he looks good, will likely be our cup keeper next season
Aaron Dowell 40B - plays right wing but think he'd be an option as a complete wing back even if he may need some work
Stanley Adeniyi 40C - like the look of him but doesn't fit into any of our roles so have no idea what to do with him, not got the technical skills to be a CM for us or the dribbling/finishing to be a IF. Any ideas are welcome
Kyle Taylor 40D - came through as a ST but I don't see it? Think he looks like a advanced playmaker in the CM role

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Junior Coaching		Youth Recruitment 	Notes
2020/21		VNLN		8th 		Adequate		Fairly Basic
2021/22		NVLN		3rd 		Good			Average			Recruitment and coaching upgrades Lost playoff semi finals	
2022/23		NVLN		14th 		Good			Adequate		Youth Recruitment upgrade, started first coaching badge
2023/24		VNLN		7th 		Excellent		Good			Got first coaching badge. Promotion via playoffs
2024/25		VNL		5th 		Excellent		Good			Won promotion via playoffs. Got Youth facility upgrade
2025/26		League 2	14th 		Excellent		Good
2026/27		League 2	5th 		Excellent		Good			Lost in playoffs semi finals
2027/28		League 2	8th 		Excellent		Good			Finally got 2nd coaching badge
2028/29		League 2	1st 		Excellent		Good			National A Coaching badge
2029/30		League 1	4th 		Excellent		Good			Promotion via playoffs. Continental C coaching badge
2030/31		Championship	18th 		Exceptional		Excellent
2031/32		Championship	19th 		Exceptional		Exceptional
2032/33		Championship	4th 		Exceptional		Exceptional		Lost in playoff semi final, moved from youth level 4 to 3
2033/34		Championship	5th 		Exceptional		Exceptional		Lost in playoff semi finals
2034/35		Championship	5th 		Exceptional		Exceptional		Lost in playoff final, completed coaching badges
2035/36		Championship	1st 		Exceptional		Exceptional
2036/37		Premiership	10th 		Exceptional		Exceptional 
2037/38		Premiership	14th 		Exceptional		Exceptional
2038/39		Premiership	16th 		Exceptional		Exceptional
2039/40		Premiership	10th 		Exceptional		Exceptional		Moved to level 1 academy 

 

[Brentmeister]

Season 3 review

League: That was painful. Just before the season starts, the board decided to sell our captain and best CB and our best young CB and 3rd best overall. Then to compound things our 2nd best CB and experienced head was out with a season ending injury.

As a result of all this we found ourselves in a relegation playoff after losing the last game of the season. We comfortably dispatched the lower league teams to live and fight another day in Division 3.

We scored fewer goals, got fewer wins, conceded more and lost more than previous seasons so this feels like we've regressed massively. I was so close to throwing in the towel.

Croky Cup: A shock 5th round exit to lower league opposition.

 

Key player: LOL! Not one player ended the season with an average rating in the green.

.

 

Youth intake preview: Not a golden generation, but a few problem positions hopefully filled.

I was pleasantly surprised with the intake and signed 11 from 16 binning a few with terrible personalties and/or low determination.

Top dog is probably this guy who goes straight in the first team squad.

 

Transfers: None in and proof of the culling of my defence I also moved on lots of youngsters who won't make it.

 

Finances: Not looking good.

 

No upgrades or coaching badges.

 

Final thoughts for the season: First off, i'm rubbish at this game and tinker far too much. I also shout and abuse my players too much and the whole season turns into a morale simulator. Moving forward I need to be more patient and keep things simple. The aim for next season is mid table mediocrity and a few youngsters stepping up.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2020 by Brentmeister

[libbyshuss]

 

Season 3

Vanarama League South

Finish 19th

Season Review

well. First 6 matches saw us win 3 and lose 3 and sitting comfortably just outside the playoff positions, so i figured here we go again. Then a fantastic October saw us win 4 and draw 1 to shoot up to 5th and I got quietly confident of a reaally good season. But then December and January only brought 2 wins and we slipped to 9th. 

never mind, after that last win at the end of January i was still cautiously optimisitc.  Wwe had some good youth comiing through,  tthe U23 team was looking strong, the future was looking good. Then February and March happened. Defeat after defeat punctuated by the odd draw. 13 winless games dropped us to the place above relegation, separated only by goal difference. 4 matches to play to save our season and my job. we lost the next one, drew the one after, even though we led for 80 minutes. still just above relegation but with two games to play and on a 15 game winless run. The next game was Dulwich Hamlet at home, who were mid-table, and we won 1-0. 1 game left and the table looked like this:-

 

We drew it, after leading for 50 minutes, but Maidstone lost and they went down. A scary end to a season that had promised so much.

The cups offered little respite, with us exiting the FA Cup on penalties to little Carshalton, which was hugely frustrating. we battered them!

 

Players

Not surprisingly we had significantly lower ratings across the board than the previous two seasons. Louis Rooney, who we rely on up front, posted his lowest golas total yet. Howson 21A, whose dead ball deliivery we relied o so much last season, dried up with his deliveries also. We're also at that stage where our first batch of youth are looking for more first team action, but are they ready?

We do have our first international player! well, 4 appearances for the Norway U21 team for Kristian Hurth 21D! and one of my young right wingers got called up the Dutch U19 squad, which was very exciting.

 

Youth

Third youth intake preview promised me my third golden generation

I was sceptical and when the youthh intake arrived:-

It didn't fill me with joy.

The best two are CM which I'm desperate for, but have terrible determination and personalities. A little upsetting as I really need them. They'll head straight into the first team squad anyways.

 

Finances and Improvements

Another loss making season. At least this time we only lost 150k rather than 200k. But it means we aare now 550k in the red and the board refuse all and any requests as a result. I'm kind of stuck at the minute, I need something drastic to happen to change my fortunes. A cup run, a takeover, anything. Once it comes we can start moving but at the inutte I'm justt treading water. Looking at the stories, it does seem like the first few seasons are the hardest. We'll see!

 

[libbyshuss]

6 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

 

I also shout and abuse my players too much and the whole season turns into a morale simulator. 

I'm finding exactly the same thing. At this level I'm essentially playing Morale Manager. 

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by libbyshuss

[SpS_Zen]

Season 28 2047/2048

 

A sucessfull season, with promotion/a decent run in FA cup/my best hot propect.

Back in our stadium, we enjoyed way better results at home than during the previous season (2,4pts/game). We managed to keep 1st place from the 20th journey until the end. 

Nikolaou 19a won the player of the year for the second year in a row. Mills 24a won the best young player award.

You can notice in my squad the predominance of the 22th youth intake with 4 first team players and 2 substitues. This is a real golden generation.

End of a cycle. My captain and club icon, Campos 11a will leave the club after reaching the appearances record for the club (507) He helped the club from VNLS to PL. I hope he will become a coach.

An other important player will go, Stone 12e. With more than 300 appearances this solid defender always gave me satisfaction when on the pitch. I will also sell my 2 back up wingers, they are decent for L1 but this won't be good enough for PL.

I reached Quarter finals for the first time in FA Cup, beating the Wolves, a strong PL team, 3-2 at home thanks to a header during extra time (90+2)

Some minor sells, a lot of loans (around 15). I was surprised to receive an other help (30M) for the relegation from PL.

It seems i forgot to make a screen from this year youth intake. This is probably due to the excitment from having the best hot prospect of this save. Chadwick 28a looks amazing for his age. (#Chadstrong) 

Aim: Survive

Edited July 31, 2020 by SpS_Zen

[Padders]

7 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

I'm finding exactly the same thing. At this level I'm essentially playing Morale Manager. 

 

Yeah know exactly how you feel

[Constantine]

Jedinstvo Ub

Season 2024/2025 - Review

Linglong Tire Super liga - Baby steps but we are improving. Got back into top 8 and replayed our greatest finish ever, 6th place in Serbian top flight. On the brink of European qualification. And we have done it with a positive goal difference, for the first time since we got promoted. Our defenders are getting better. Pjevic solved most of our problems between the sticks. I can see why people love this challenge, it is really great to see these lads mature and grow over time. Kept all the boys together, as no undesirable sale was made over the year though we got really close to one as Crvena zvezda tried and failed (suck it, Zvezdo) to get Poznic to move. I feared board would step in but they kept their hands off the trigger. Oh, and we've got our first gay player, as Zeljko Vukcevic came out.

 

Kup Srbije - Sadly, our adventure ended prematurely as overachieving Javor knocked us out early on.

 

Top performers:

Milan Jovanovic 21g - Our top scorer second season in a row. IMO, our best player right now. His growth was immense though he went few steps back with one foot injury but hopefully he'll be up and running next year.

Mirko Raosavljevic 23a - Jovanovic's partner in crime. Pulled a risky one as i dropped old man Ratkovic for this kid but oh boy, did that risk paid off. He was immense with Jovanovic, played brilliantly off each other. Raosavljevic was also our first player whose value broke 100k margin. Can't wait to see what these two will do in years to come.

Stefan Drca 22a - Our maestro finished first half of the season with 8 assist to his name. I thought he would easily break his own record after the brake but he went quiet, ending the year with 9 assists. Still, that's more than anyone else in red-and-white shirt.

Starting next year, we'll have no original player in our squad. Could've kept at least Aleksandar Radovanovic, as he is our best right back but Martin Stankovic 24b did really, really well during his limited game time so i'm willing to gamble and give him a chance to impress some more. Hadzic did decently enough for us but Stanko Dunjic 22c is ready to step up, with another kid, who just came in from the academy serving as backup.

Finances are fine, though i'm conflicted whether or not to cash in on clause for Gobeljic 22f and gote some work done on our own facilities but i think i'll wait a bit more. We're stable as it is, no need to hurry.

 

Top prospects:

Golden generation this is not but we've got ourselves few fullbacks, great GK prospect, two decent CD's (though they're both on a short side) and... You'll see.

Change of HoYD worked as we got some decent personalities this time around. No more Unambitious-galore.

Milos Radisic 25a - Our best graduate, one i was so excited... Til i saw his physicals. Overall great player, decent technique, great mental and just terrible physical attributes. He's already on regime to improve his speed and maybe, just maybe we can make him decent Superliga player.

Milan Djukanovic 25c - Already bench ready. Djergovic 21b will have to give up his place. He did develop somewhat though even mentoring couldn't fix his low self belief. And i don't want a player like that in such sensitive place.

Nikola Popovic 25d - Another winger... We have ******** of those. So i'm gonna try to convert this one into full back. Looks decent enough, pretty much carte blanche and we could get decent attacking wing back in the future.

 

[Swindon69]

Hello chaps - giving this a go with East Kilbride, it could be interesting as I start with 12 players.

[Brentmeister]

Season 4 review

League: Mid-table mediocrity acheived! A massive improvement on last season even if the numbers don't tell the whole story. We didn't flirt with relegation at all and we ended the season with 8 of the first 11 being from our own academy. Our away form was poor though so that needs to be addressed. Hopefully next season we can push on further and maybe even challenge for a play-off place.

Shout out to @XaW, his tactics post from page 83 helped me out and gave me some good ideas (I didn't blindly copy it, honest!)

Croky Cup: 3 easy wins followed by the traditional defeat to a Jupiler Pro team.

 

Key Player(s): Half way through the season our senior players weren't doing it so I made the decision to play the youngsters whether they were ready or not. It paid off, all 3 became regular starters and re-invigorated our season. They may not look much but their performances belied their stats. They deserved real faces.

Vanhove was the star, our top scorer with a huge 10 goals in all comps, fans player of the year with 75% of the vote and young player of the season too.

 

Youth intake preview:

I'm convinced 'excellent group of players' is better than 'golden generation'.

Top dog is probably this guy, though his passing among other things need a big improvement.

Not the best intake. I still signed all but 3.

 

Transfers: 1 major out. The second season running we've lost our main man before a league game was played. I managed to get a 50% sell on clause that I can already sell for £350k. This guy could fetch me some much-needed income.

No ins obviously.

 

Finances are looking a little better as I managed to get rid of a few high earners. Still skint though.

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by Brentmeister

[Padders]

Have you ever seen a worse start to a season

Out of nowhere, after 3 seasons of comfortable mid table PL finishes

[Padders]

[XaW]

2 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

Shout out to @XaW, his tactics post from page 83 helped me out and gave me some good ideas (I didn't blindly copy it, honest!)

No worries, and even if you had stolen it completely, I wouldn't mind. There is a reason I've added it to the Steam workshop. And I don't claim it to be a masterpiece, nor a plug-and-play tactic, only a base I use for almost all matches and teams and then tweak a bit to fit my players. And it's a tactic that's easy to fit players into. The main issue might be the left winger that I recommend a right footed playmaker. It looks like you are on the right track now. More game time for the younger players, and more intakes always helps out!

[Vélodrome]

11 hours ago, Swindon69 said:

Hello chaps - giving this a go with East Kilbride, it could be interesting as I start with 12 players.

Good luck. Playing with them myself, albeit on FM19. Proper struggle, no money or facilities to speak of the first couple of seasons. 

[XaW]

FC Kufstein

Season 2026/27 (Season 7) Review - tipp3-Bundesliga - Austria

League | Relegation Group | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So, first of all, as I wrote above, I had to sell my Norwegian midfielder to Tottenham. Well, the board sold him, but I'd do it as well. Not that I wanted, but he had only a year left on his contract, and there were no chance of getting him to sign a new one. A blow, but at least central midfield is one of the spots we have a lot of talentes. The season itself went fine, even if we did worse than last season. We finished just below the line for the Championship Group, so we were the leading team going into the Relegation Group instead. Here we did quite well and won the group in the end without much issue. So we went into the European playoff, but lost to Rapid Wien in the semi final, so no Europe for us next season.

In the ÖFB-Cup we beat Hohenems and Mannsdorf/Großenzersd before losing to Red Bull Salzburg in the 3rd round.

We had a go in Europe this season, for the first time and the Europa Conference League. We started in the 2nd qualifying round against Académica Coimbra of Portugal. We beat them at home, and narrowly lost away to go through. In the 3rd qualifying round we beat Aris of Greece in both matches. In the 4th qualifying round we actually managed to draw 2-2 away to Germans RB Leipzig, the big brother of our league rivals Red Bull Salzburg. However, they crushed us at our home and knocked us out.

Notable players

Vinko Miklic 22c - Another season plagued by injuries, but he is so good when he plays. Still, not much left on his contract and I'm not sure if I can get him to sign another one...
Bernd Altsinger 26a - Stepped into the DM role with ease. Continues the great job by Pfeifer.
Lasse Bruckert 22d - Really found his scoring boots this season. Our top scorer by a mile.

Youth intake

Youth preview - Lots of positives for several roles, so promising at least.
Youth intake - I'm really happy with that intake. A few amazing players and a lot of good ones as well.

Jonas Allenbacher 27a - A really good left back. Not that I have a lot of need for it, but I'll take him in a heartbeat.
Mario Bönsch 27b - A big burly central defender. Should be useful.

[Swindon69]

2 hours ago, Vélodrome said:

Good luck. Playing with them myself, albeit on FM19. Proper struggle, no money or facilities to speak of the first couple of seasons. 

Fortunately I've managed to grind out a mid-table finish, but it looked bad for a while.

[Jambo98]

Great to see this thread not only still around but thriving. I think i have given it a go each year (often many goes!) since like FM 14 or something, but this year i have been remiss so far. Not really been quite as hooked on FM as usual, but i cant let a year go by without an attempt.

Was going to head to Belarus for obscurity, but i think one of my fave attempts at this back on about FM16 or 17 was in Portugal.........plus, the weather is surely nicer there than in MInsk.........holidaying now 

[Jambo98]

Sport Clube Angrense 

 

So to Portugal it is. This club caught my eye, to be honest, because the badge is an almost exact copy of the Benfica badge  A bit of research suggests though that this is legit - that is the badge for this club.

What closed the deal though, is that i love an island save and Angrense are located on Terceira Island, some 1500km from Portugal in the middle of the North Atlantic. No idea how this will impact intakes.......anyone tried Island saves elsewhere? 

Manager Profile

A quick initial look suggests we have 39 players on the books, a healthy start, although of course non are contracted yet (all Amatuer). We have a 5000 capacity stadium which only has 936 seats, and if the images i could dig up on google are right......that is a generous estimate by our Portugese researchers  

 

[libbyshuss]

 

Season 4 - 2023/24

Vanarama National League South

Finish: 15th

Season Review

A bit of a groundhog season, this one. First 6 matches again brought 3 wins and 3 draws and by January we were 10 points off the play-offs and 10 points off relegation. It stayed that way all the way through to the end of the season where, worryingly, we finished the last 12 games with only one victory to show for it. Mainly against lower half/relegation threatened teams, teams in the bottom half of the form table as well. Our season was essentially over already but it's still a fairly miserable way to finish it.

We did make it to the 1st round of the FA Cup for the first time ever. Lost 3-1 away at league 1 Mansfield so didn't really give us the windfall we're so desperate for. 

Looking at our pre-season odds, we did ok I guess

Players

We're still relying on the old guard to see us through. The thing is, we can't afford their wages for more than another season so the youth team are going to have to step up. So far I've only had 2 really made any impact on the first team.

Youth

Fourth potential golden generation in a row!

And when they finally came it was the best batch I've had yet. I was desperate for a left winger and they gave me two! The only problem is the useless personality/determination combo...

Finances and Improvements

We're still in huge debt. 700k now. The board have cut my wage budget back from 6k to 3.5k so I have one more year with my big earners before they have to leave. The youth team aren't improving as much as I'd like, but with my rubbish facilites what should I expect? Again, due to finances, there's just no way the board will improve it. So at the minute I'm kinda stuck. It's a weird Catch 22 I'm in - without better facilities I can't get better players, but without better players I can't get the finances to fund better facilities. 

It's a different type of challenge to the ones I'm used to but I'm enjoying it, just struggling to see a way out at the minute.

 

[Swindon69]

Team : East Kilbride

Competitions

League 2 - 6th

Tunnocks - 3rd Round

Scottish Cup - 3rd Round

I think this may be the first time on this challenge that I've survived the 1st season.

I knew things were going to be tough when I realized my entire squad consisted of 12 players, fortunately 1 was a keeper. 

After a pretty decent start including knocking out Rangers Reserves in the Tunnocks form dropped off a cliff due to injuries and suspensions - at times I had 4 grey players in my starting line-up, I then thought lets go hell for leather and adopted the gegenpresse approach. Form turned around fairly quickly and I finished fairly comfortably in 6th. The Cup exit was disappointing as I'd taken the lead and got knocked out by a 92nd minute OG when my CD decided to try and pass back to my keeper when he could have easily put it out for a corner.

Youth Intake message:

I ignored the "Golden generation" comment.

This is what my youth intake looked like:

 

There's a couple of decent players in there.

Transfer screen.

This lad went into the team as soon as he could

Edited August 2, 2020 by Swindon69

[Brentmeister]

Back to the drawing board!

[XaW]

3 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

Back to the drawing board!

[Brentmeister]

You can come out of the bushes mate, the very next game!

[XaW]

[XaW]

FC Kufstein

Season 2027/28 (Season 8) Review - tipp3-Bundesliga - Austria

League | Relegation Group | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We had another solid season, and we are now starting to become an established top tier side, I believe. We still didn't reach the Championship Group, but we once again finished top of the teams going into the Relegation Group, so at least we are consistently the best of the poor half of the league. After the split we did well and didn't lose any games from that point on. In the end we finished top just ahead of Rheindorf Altach. That meant we went into the European spot playoff. Here we lost in the semi final to Wolfsberger.

In the ÖFB-Cup we beat Kalsdorf, Wacker Innsbruck, Grazer AK and Mauerwerk before losing to eventual winners Rheindorf Altach in the semi final.

Notable players

Vinko Miklic 22c - We are losing him this summer on a free. He refused to sign a contract, and when I offered him out for money, he refused the contract offers. And in January Germans Hoffenheim came calling and he signed for them. Sad to see him leave.
Ganbold Mönkh-Erdene 25a - Our best player this season. Both scored and assisted quite a lot.
Bernd Altsinger 26a - Another good season from our young defensive midfielder.

Youth intake

Youth preview - We have a youth agreement with Brommapojkarna in Sweden, so good to see us getting a Swede in.
Youth intake - A great intake, and the Swede looks really promising.

Denis Scholz 28a - A defender I really like the look of. No big weaknesses and a lot of strengths.
Viktor Granberg 28b - The driven Swede comes really in handy. We are lacking options up top, and he will get his fair share of games.

[Swindon69]

I'd been having big issues conceding from set pieces - on checking I realised where I'd moved players around my 5 ft 4 in midfielder was set to man mark.

[Brentmeister]

How do you go from scoring goals, conceding few and unbeaten, to can't buy a goal, concede lots and 6 straight losses with the same team and formation? It makes no sense and it's starting to **** me off!

[XaW]

17 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

How do you go from scoring goals, conceding few and unbeaten, to can't buy a goal, concede lots and 6 straight losses with the same team and formation? It makes no sense and it's starting to **** me off!

That often happens if you overachieve at the start. Then the AI will go more defensive and you might need to change up the tactic a bit. More patience and more recycling is the keywords there. Also be wary of counterattacks against you.

[XaW]

FC Kufstein

Season 2028/29 (Season 9) Review - tipp3-Bundesliga - Austria

League | Championship Group | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We keep slowly improving, and it also shows on the pitch, We are no longer getting spanked by the best teams, and we are also beating the poorer ones comfortably at times. So it's quite clear we are heading in the right direction. Even if we are losing our best players to other clubs, at least the clubs are foreign, so I don't have to face them regularly. This season we were in a 3 team battle to reach the Championship Group against Ried and Rheindorf Altach. In the end we edged it, so no Relegation Group for us! In the Championship group we had a hard time, as expected, but we did beat Red Bull Salzburg away in a very good effort from us. We finished bottom of this stage, but still a great season. Also, for the first time since 2013 Red Bull Salzburg didn't win the title! They actually finished 3rd behind Rapid Wien and Sturm Graz.

In the ÖFB-Cup we beat Union Gurten, Wiener Neustädter and Ried before losing to Sturm Graz in the quarter final.

Notable players

Bernd Altsinger 26a - Another good season as he tries to shore up the defence against the best sides, and contribute with penetrating passes against the poorer sides.
Ganbold Mönkh-Erdene 25a - He broke his leg at the start of the season and were out for much of it. We were a much poorer side without him.
Denis Scholz 28a - A newcomer in the side, but he are showing he really deserves to be here. A great debut season.

Youth intake

Youth preview - Promising, I'd say.
Youth intake - Wow, what an intake. Much better than I expected based on the preview.

John Mifsud 29a - A very promising defender from our Maltese feeder club Birkirkara.
Michael Büchler 29b - Lots of good attributes, if only his passing and vision were better, he would be amazing!
Dragan Kovacevic 29c - A defensive midfielder who is best ON the ball. Interesting player.
Uros Popovic 29d - A very good all-round attacker, not any weaknesses to his game.
Abdulkadir Bak 29e - An inverted winger with little pace, passing or finishing. Interesting player, but not sure what I can do with him.

[Jambo98]

Taken me a while to get up and running in Portugal, but based on the first week of the league season........its not going to be dull over here in this tiny island.......

Goals Galore

Also got a couple of decent looking existing prospects to work with, headlined by this guy

[Padders]

Season Review 2197/98

Relegated again.

You saw my awful start (posted above 1 win in 10)

We then turned it around and was sitting mid table.

Then on transfer deadline day my only wonderkid left due to minimum release clause for £55m. I had been trying to get a new contract signed for the previous two seasons. Not interested!

Then after that we didn't win a single game (13) until the last game. Leeds beating 2nd place Viila meant we went down.

And now in preseason my best player out of the youth players has been poached by Derby and again he wouldn't sign a contract!

[Constantine]

Jedinstvo Ub

Season 2025/2026 - Review

Linglong Tire Super liga - We just had our greatest season ever!! The boys definitely started to mature, it is clearly visible in our performances. In seasons before this one, we usually conceded late goals and completely laid down our weapons, succumbing to undeserved draws and most often, defeats. This time, no sir. We kept fighting! Conceded first goal? Who cares, we'll keep going and going till we win the damn game. It happened often throughout the year and games like the one against Partizan showed me we're capable of great things. Year, two or three ago, we would just downed our tools and conceded a defeat but not anymore. Greatest finish ever for these boys, tied with Partizan, who get to experience Champions League football again. We had our chance, Partizan has lost their final league game but so have we. Cukaricki, led by Slavisa Jokanovic, was ****ing superb this season. Maybe we could've nicked a point off of them in the final round but i had a Sophie's choice to make ahead of it...

 

Kup Srbije - And seemingly, i chose correctly, since we WON THE DAMNED THING!! Just three days following Super liga's final round and 5-1 defeat against same opponent where i made a conscious choice to play kids, well, rotational kids and our best XI, fresh and well rested has won us our first trophy. In this save and in club's history. As cup finals goes, this one was ****ing intense. They got the lead at the right time but our mental fortitude and determination came through once more as Mirko Raosavljevic 23a clinched a 93rd minute winner, followed by a lot screaming and air punching. ****ing hell... What a experience...

 

Top performers:

Quite a few to choose from...

Mirko Raosavljevic 23a - Out top scorer and Hero of the Cup... What a season for the lad.

Stefan Drca 22a - Decided to dust off his scoring boots this year. Nine goals (some of them ridiculous screamers), seven assists, very nice output from our midfield maestro.

Zeljko Vukcevic 22e - Played his best season yet. One of the reasons our defense was well improved this time around.

 

Made bit of a money this year... One big sale and bunch of paying loans and we're looking really great, financially wise. Vesovic was supposed to take over Radosav Maric 22g duties on the left wing but since he kicked up a fuss after i rejected their first few approaches and we have a healthy number of wingers, i decided to let him go. Couldn't in right mind refuse 1.1 million. Tried to get sell on fee clause in the deal but Partizan wouldn't budge so i took the clean money. Already funded works on youth facilities but for some reason we couldn't further upgrade our junior coaching and youth recruitment network...

Also, we now have our first full international on our hands, as Martin Farkas 23f got his debut for Hungary. And he scored too. What a lad...

 

Top prospects:

Comparing to previous intakes, this one felt a little bit underwhelming... Bar three prospects, i wouldn't signed anyone but our reserves and u19 squad needs some new blood.

Milovan Raonic 26a - Perhaps the best player we ever got and one of the two from this year's crop that got me excited... His personality and determination really bring him down but hopefully we'll remedy that.

Aleksandar Popovic 26b - Dat personality... Dat sweet, sweet determination... Should he develop nicely, we might have a future team leader on our hands.

Nemanja Petkovic 26d - Yet another keeper prospect on our books. I think we're set between the sticks till foreseeable future...

 

Europa League Third Qualifying Round awaits... So freaking excited for our first European adventure. Bring. It. On.