The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[Swindon69]

Well I've discovered that due to me playing in the Euro II cup my youth team get to play in one too.

[libbyshuss]

55 minutes ago, Fastbasher said:

How do you guys feel about playing players out of position?

I've only had one central defender for the last decade (not a great one) and despite efforts to retrain others, he's usually partnered with a full back or midfielder in the centre of defence.

Also, the quality of our players reduces significantly outside the first 11 and maybe 2 or 3 subs. A lot of my youth get sent out on loan for more game time.

When I am missing a player in a position due to injury/suspension, I prefer to play an out of position contracted player rather than play a grey in that slot. My reasoning is that at least they are getting experience and it may help them improve.

 

I'm interested to see what others do in these situations.

i tend to play players out of position. I never play with grey players if I can help it although i don't really know why

[libbyshuss]

1 hour ago, libbyshuss said:

Max Pederson 33A is a ready made replacement for Mazzolini

 

lol, so i let mazzolini go as he was refusing to sign a new contract and put Pederson in. 

5 matches later and 0 goals and 0 assists with a huge 6.7 rating he decides he wants to move to a bigger club. When I reject a 10k offer for him so he can sit and rot in the reserves at a superliga club he sulks. He's 17!!!!

youth only is way more annoying than I'd imagined!

 

edit: a week later....

 

so that solves that problem! lost both my AMCs in a month lol

Edited August 22, 2020 by libbyshuss

[Fastbasher]

1 hour ago, libbyshuss said:

 

lol, so i let mazzolini go as he was refusing to sign a new contract and put Pederson in. 

5 matches later and 0 goals and 0 assists with a huge 6.7 rating he decides he wants to move to a bigger club. When I reject a 10k offer for him so he can sit and rot in the reserves at a superliga club he sulks. He's 17!!!!

youth only is way more annoying than I'd imagined!

 

edit: a week later....

 

so that solves that problem! lost both my AMCs in a month lol

Well, you broke the club transfer record.

Hopefully the 50% sell on clause will bring in a windfall in the future.

[libbyshuss]

Just now, Fastbasher said:

Well, you broke the club transfer record.

Hopefully the 50% sell on clause will bring in a windfall in the future.

yep, plus our form has gone through the roof since he left! we seem to suit 433 way more than 4231

so far all my sell on clauses have brought in £0 as they keep getting released.... a windfall would be lovely.

[JLAB]

So I found this challenge thread on Wednesday and got inspired to try it out after reading through all of the thread posts.

 

FC Energie Cottbus - 2020/21 Season Preview

So I decided that I wanted to try out Germany having spent pretty much my entire FM 2020 time in England all season long, and was hoping for a team that could capture my imagination. I found that FC Energie Cottbus got promoted to 3. Liga in my save and did some digging to see their history. I found out some facts that made me invested in the side. They managed to get into the DFB-Pokal Final in 1997 as a third division side where they were beaten by VfB Stuttgart 2-0 in the final and were also known as the first Bundesliga club to field a side made up of 11 foreign players, something I'm hoping to avoid doing in this save.

As per the requirements, I have made a manager that has no coaching badges and has the reputation as a Sunday League Footballer, even if it means that the players at the club have very poor support for me and are going to take some convincing to get past my lack of experience, since I am an English speaking manager who has never managed a team before. Can you blame them? This is also made harder by the fact that I've already got a player unhappy with the fact that his playing time no longer reflects his status as an important player before I even arrived to the club.

Though given how good that the facilities are, I have no concerns about the potential prospects that could find their way into our club and the fact that last season's youth intake has already provided me with some promising players as it is, 7 of them being newgens that came in last year's intake already considered to have the potential to be 4 stars of over, even if some of their personalities could do with some work.

 There hasn't been any transfers so far this season, though last season the team sold a young prospect who wasn't a newgen to Eintracht Frankfurt, though looking at him, I wouldn't consider him to be a major loss all things considered when I show his ability.

Finances look pretty good at the beginning of the season, though they are expected to be in the red at the end of the year, though admittedly the influx of money at the beginning of the season was more due to the sponsorship money than anything else, which I hadn't realized at the beginning of the season was actually £2.7M, one of the highest in the league, which is always a nice helping hand. Though with the player wages being around £100K a week, I can see why we might be potentially struggling with money before the sponsorship money and any prize money, if we get any, comes in.

The board are expecting a mid-table finish with the goal to establish ourselves as a team in the 3rd tier of German football for the next 5 years, I look to ensure that any of our young players can get an opportunity to play for us, even with the limit of players being under the age of 17 not being allowed to play for us. There a lot of potential in this side and I can't wait to get started.

Edited August 22, 2020 by JLAB

[XaW]

I have no idea what happened in this game, but I just got sacked from Follo... and we got relegated, so I know why I got sacked. What I don't understand is why we suddenly became so utterly crap. And when I look at the statistics, it just doesn't make sense to me. I create on average 3 CCCs more than the opponent every game, but just don't score. So what we got a preview of last season just came into full effect now and I'm out... Really annoying and I need a bit of a break before I jump into another game. Perhaps with a big team and the same tactic to see if it's just too poor players or if i need to switch it up. Perhaps I'll join this again, but try a completely new tactic... I don't quite know yet.

[Swindon69]

23 minutes ago, XaW said:

I have no idea what happened in this game, but I just got sacked from Follo... and we got relegated, so I know why I got sacked. What I don't understand is why we suddenly became so utterly crap. And when I look at the statistics, it just doesn't make sense to me. I create on average 3 CCCs more than the opponent every game, but just don't score. So what we got a preview of last season just came into full effect now and I'm out... Really annoying and I need a bit of a break before I jump into another game. Perhaps with a big team and the same tactic to see if it's just too poor players or if i need to switch it up. Perhaps I'll join this again, but try a completely new tactic... I don't quite know yet.

Sorry to hear that - hope to see you back.

[Winski]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

I have no idea what happened in this game, but I just got sacked from Follo... and we got relegated, so I know why I got sacked. What I don't understand is why we suddenly became so utterly crap. And when I look at the statistics, it just doesn't make sense to me. I create on average 3 CCCs more than the opponent every game, but just don't score. So what we got a preview of last season just came into full effect now and I'm out... Really annoying and I need a bit of a break before I jump into another game. Perhaps with a big team and the same tactic to see if it's just too poor players or if i need to switch it up. Perhaps I'll join this again, but try a completely new tactic... I don't quite know yet.

Crap... I really hope to see you back soon! 

[Padders]

Season Review 2215/16

Not a great season and lots of tweaking of tactics to try find one that's more reliable in the PL but scrapped finishing 2nd

Another dire Youth Intake. Will be sacking current HOYD in pre season

[bpecanha]

AO Trikala - Greek Superleague Two

So I've decided to start again after being sacked by FC Bavois, this time with Trikala Football Club, or simply AO Trikala. The club is located in the city of Trikala and plays at the Municipal Stadium of Trikala (14,000 capacity, 4,000 seated). Founded in 1963, the club played for the last time in the first division in 1999/00. After getting promoted, they will play in Greek Superleague Two next season. 

Trikala has lifted five trophies in their history:

• Greek Superleague Two (1): 1998/99.
• Football League [3rd tier] (1): 2014/15.
• Greek Ethniki [4th tier] (2): 2004/05, 2008/09.
• Greek National C Division Cup (1): 2014/15.

This season, we are predicted to finish 8th between 12 clubs, so hopefully we'll escape relegation and even try to be in the Championship Group, composed by the best six teams in the league. Group winners are promoted to the Superleague, 2nd will fight for a stop in the play-off against 13th placed club in the first tier. If we finish between 7th and 12th, we'll play in the Relegation Group, with the worst two clubs getting relegated.

Squad

Here's our senior squad. I feel that the pool of players is way more balanced in comparison with what I've found at Bavois. There are also some young prospects to be developed, like Zog Djaloshi, Vasilis Pelkas, Christos Katsantonis (he'll be loaned to gain experience) and Charis Pozatzidis. However, Orestis Grigoropoulos is already one of the best players at the club and I'm expecting him to become a key part of our progress in the future. We are perhaps lacking CBs and strikers, but hopefully we'll cope during the season.

Our under 19 squad is also good - I need to give them time at the U19s, but hopefully two or three of them will jump into the first team in the future. Christos Ntavouliakos is our best player so far, maybe he'll make into some senior match squads this season. It's all on him. His personality is bad, but maybe he can develop?

Staff

This is our current staff setup right now. With the exception of goalkeeping coach Giannis Zalaoras, I've brought them into the club. I need to highlight our famous coach Álvaro Arbeloa and Michalis Epitropakis, our Head of Youth Development, who is really competent at his job. Hopefully we will get some good intakes in the future.

Here's our U19 staff. Nothing special, but I'm happy that we had resources to setup this - something that I didn't had at Bavois.

Manager Profile | Finances | Facilities | Media Prediction

[Fastbasher]

3 hours ago, XaW said:

I have no idea what happened in this game, but I just got sacked from Follo... and we got relegated, so I know why I got sacked. What I don't understand is why we suddenly became so utterly crap. And when I look at the statistics, it just doesn't make sense to me. I create on average 3 CCCs more than the opponent every game, but just don't score. So what we got a preview of last season just came into full effect now and I'm out... Really annoying and I need a bit of a break before I jump into another game. Perhaps with a big team and the same tactic to see if it's just too poor players or if i need to switch it up. Perhaps I'll join this again, but try a completely new tactic... I don't quite know yet.

Have another go @XaW

5th time lucky

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, Fastbasher said:

Have another go @XaW

5th time lucky

Haha, I think I'll wait a bit before I go back to Follo. I have an irrational dislike for a few of the players at the moment, mostly because they kept missing sitters!

[Padders]

Welcome back to PL

New 4-4-2 tactics now not working 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Padders

[Padders]

11 games in. ZERO WINS!!
 

Tried 3 different tactics

[JLAB]

So I found that I had some exciting young talents that came through the youth intake in the previous season at Cottbus, so I'm going to show them off like a proud father despite only meeting them a few months beforehand.

2019-20 Exciting Youth Intakes

Santiago Degenkolb is the most exciting prospect for me as a striker, but Ergün Senol also a pretty exciting prospect as a defender. I'm excited about Ben Brosius, but his unambitious personality leaves a bit to be desired, even if he's a consistent player. Jorge Cordoba is a exciting left winger and has some nice consistency too, while Marko Mihailo is the player that I wish wasn't as young as he was, so I could play him in the 3. Liga, but is also inconsistent, which would be nice to work on.

Edited August 22, 2020 by JLAB

[XaW]

Ok, I'll have another go... I'm addicted, I'll admit it... England! I'm back again!

This time I'm going with Witton Albion. Not a big squad, so it's all down to try to survive until the intake!

[Padders]

Wooooooooooooo

Won one, first in 13

Edited August 22, 2020 by Padders

[OlivierL]

good luck @XaW and @bpecanha . Great youth @JLAB , two of them are really good for the first season.

[Padders]

Typical performance, 2 shots on target, 2 goals 

[libbyshuss]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Ok, I'll have another go... I'm addicted, I'll admit it... England! I'm back again!

 

 

it's by far the most addictive of the challenges i've done. I'm already planning my next 3 attempts after this one!

[XaW]

15 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

it's by far the most addictive of the challenges i've done. I'm already planning my next 3 attempts after this one!

It is.... I've played over 2,100 hours of FM20 and I've more or less ONLY played this challenge.

[JLAB]

I've got another two saves already created if I was to fail with Energie Cottbus, just so I have another "project" to work on.

[libbyshuss]

6 minutes ago, JLAB said:

I've got another two saves already created if I was to fail with Energie Cottbus, just so I have another "project" to work on.

 

oh no, don't tempt me....

[Jambo98]

SC Bastia - Season 3 (2022/23)

League Table | Squad | Finances| Transfers

Summary

Looking for a season of consolidation, and we started out slowly, it was a season of 2 halfs really, up until around feb time, we were struggling and never out of the bottom 4, but also never really in auto relegation trouble as the bottom 2 clubs were very poor. However for the last 15 games we caught fire, with 9 wins in that spell. Things clicked tactically and our youngsters seemed to get more consistent, in the end we finished in the lofty heights of 12th place for an easy survival 

After last years scoring woes, we found a consistent goalscorer this year and that really made a difference. 

Although finances are good, we have 3 of our players from last years monster youth intake all attracting constant interest and non stop bids from top flight clubs. Although all are under contract for plenty more years, 2 of them already started to grumble about being denied moves, so it will be tough to keep this group together i fear. 

Our youth facility upgrade agreed last year kicked in, and we also secured another youth recruitment upgrade so hopefully the production line will keep flowing 

F***ked it in the cup - rested playres as i was not doing a good job at managing the fitness of the fringe players and they got us knocked out in the first round to a lower league team

Top Performer

Steven Guillot - THe fact that this guy was not even tagged tells you just how insane last years intake was, but he was our top scorer and looks great already, but this of course means he is attracting transfer interest 

Youth Updates

Kadiena Teme (YP01a) - A big step forward, as i inserted him into the first 11 and he performed well enough to justify staying in the team all season. Looks to be becoming a solid CDM option for us 

Licas Durand (YP01b) - Overtaken by a player from the 2nd intake, he is purely headed for backup duties at best, and this season played in the 2nd team, and even then shared duties as we have some other young keepers around 

Julien Corre (YP02a) - Threw him right in as our starting keeper and he kept that role all year long, our defensive record improved as the season went on and his attributes look great already. Another one who will be tough to keep 

Gregory Le Berre (YP02b) - The diamond from last years intake, he was starting games for us the minute he turned 16, and is real quality in CM. Sadly he is making lots of noise about wanting to move on and he looks far to good for this division already. Hoping i can get another year out of him and then maybe a big fat fee. 

New Youth

Preview - Wait, what? no Golden generation   

Intake - It was never going to live up to the intake from last year, but its still pretty damn good to be honest. Really need a right back, but no dice. Still, cant complain at the overall group and maybe i retrain a CB since i have so many now 

Saul da Silva Silva (YP03a) - An outstanding name, a random nationality, Model Citizen personality........what is not to like. And he looks pretty good, maybe even a starting winger 

Pape Camara (YP03b) - A decent enough looking CB, and another random nationality. 

 

[Jambo98]

As expected, serious money is now being plunked down on the table for my best youths  Managed to at least decline it for now, but i fear he is not long for us.

ALso first time i have seen this message  

[Swindon69]

Port Talbot Town

Season 2022/23

Season Summary

My second season feels like a disappointment - I finished second but a massive lack of consistency coupled with a lot of goals coming from errors was a let down.  I did however progress past the opening round of Euro II, the cash from that was invested in the youth set up.

Youth Intake

The intake was rubbish

I also had three players poached 

Internationals

One player continued to be selected for the Kosovo U21 squad.

 

Finances

Solidly in the black

[schnauzer]

8 hours ago, XaW said:

Haha, I think I'll wait a bit before I go back to Follo. I have an irrational dislike for a few of the players at the moment, mostly because they kept missing sitters!

Back once more to the mire of England my friend! You know it makes sense 

[schnauzer]

Just now, schnauzer said:

Back once more to the mire of England my friend! You know it makes sense 

Ah @XaW I've just seen your latest post - it seems we are both at Witton Albion! I managed a 9th place finish in the first season and I'm sure you'll do great. Need to get the best out of Renshaw, Goulding, Lingouba, McKenna and Will Jones, all of whom are pretty reliable. I had a pretty good first intake which helps. Hoping for a playoff placing in my second year but don't have much time to play this week. Good luck mate!

[XaW]

5 hours ago, schnauzer said:

Back once more to the mire of England my friend! You know it makes sense 

5 hours ago, schnauzer said:

Ah @XaW I've just seen your latest post - it seems we are both at Witton Albion! I managed a 9th place finish in the first season and I'm sure you'll do great. Need to get the best out of Renshaw, Goulding, Lingouba, McKenna and Will Jones, all of whom are pretty reliable. I had a pretty good first intake which helps. Hoping for a playoff placing in my second year but don't have much time to play this week. Good luck mate!

Well, you weren't wrong!

Renshaw is an amazing goalkeeper for this level, Goulding is slowly morphing into a DM. Partially since I didn't have any, and his jumping is not that great. The last three are not to be found at the team unfortunately...

Oh, and I have no idea how you reached 9th with this team! I'll be happy to survive! Sitting in 18th at the moment, a point above the relegation zone!

Edited August 23, 2020 by XaW

[Fastbasher]

Edit - I'm an idiot. It was the reserve keeper that got injured.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Fastbasher

[libbyshuss]

46 minutes ago, Fastbasher said:

Edit - I'm an idiot. It was the reserve keeper that got injured.

 

lol, i was a bit confused!

[libbyshuss]

 

Season 2033/34

NordicBet Liga

Finish: 2nd

Season Summary

Wow! What a season! It started with us losing both our AMC within a month, forcing me to go back to the 433 I used a couple of seasons back. And again, it really worked! We started well and carried on the excellent form from the end of last season. Our form in October and November looked like this:-

It pushed us into third, chasing Hobro and OB. Promotion looked unlikely as those two were so far ahead of everyone else it was scary. Heading into the promotion phase we started with to solid win while Hobro lost their opening two and we were suddenly within touching distance. We had a wobble, but so did they, and as we entered the final round of matches we were two points behind them. 

The final day results looked like this:- meaning the final table was 

 

We'd done it! I couldn't believe it! With the same points total that got us our 4th finish a couple of seasons back!

But the best result of the season?

get in!!

A really good cup run took us to the QF as well where we got beat quite easily by AGF

Players

Sergio Borges 32C - Not wanting to overplay his contribution but Borges was the reason we got promotion. He was unbelievably good. He broke into the team last season but was fairly ordinary, this season his first ten games brought 7 goals. He finished with 19 from AMR. He was immense

Simon Heine - Now 30 but still banging them in. No idea how I'm going to replace him. 

Martin Lynge 31A - Came into the side as cover but once he got his chance took it with aplomb. A really pleasing first season in the first team

 

Youth

Another golden generation! I pay more attention to the green lines though, and there were a few in this preview

 

the youth intake had 5 solid 4 star prospects, so I shouldn't complain, but none of them really excite me in terms of their attriubtes. They're all over the place. We'll see....

 

Finances and Improvements

Since we went semi-pro again and most of my players were on pro contracts we couldn't renew any contracts. We were looking at around 15 out of contract players at the end of the season and I had no idea what was going to happen. Clinching promotion prompted this message from the board:-

which meant I could sign everyone up again. Borges is the only one holding out as he doesn't think our squad is strong enough. I have 1 year left to convince him to stay.

We also took out a 7m loan to build yet another new stadium, this one with 10k capacity. 

 

Next season? We are going to get battered from pillar to post. Staying up would be a miracle to be honest!

 

[XaW]

Witton Albion

Season 2020/21 (Season 1) Review - Vanarama National League North - England

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

After the horrendous season in Norway, I've made the switch to England and Witton Albion. The team started out with barely enough players to fill out a match squad, so I only tried to hang on until the intake. And we did! It was tough, but not many injuries helped out a lot and we were a bit ahead of the relegation zone when the intake came around. Of course, the enabled me to keep a full bench at all times and I could rotate a bit. A lot of the youngsters will make mistakes, but it's all part of it. Some seasons maturing are the thing now and the loads of matches will surely help.

In the FA Cup we beat Barwell before getting thumped by Gloucester City in the 3rd qualifying round.

In the FA Trophy we had a bit of a run as we beat Basford, Lancaster, Woking and Torquay before losing to Harrogate Town in the 4th round.

Youth intake

Youth intake - A really great intake, but since we had such poor team from the start it would be anyway, wouldn't it? I signed up everyone to at least bolster the ranks.

Lee Lynch 21a - Wide player for both sides and massive potential and ability? Get in the van lad!
Matt Atkinson 21b - Really excited about this one. Very good stats for a central defender.
Chris Fitzpatrick 21h - Not the position I needed the most, but I'll take a talented goalkeeper who can deputise for a few seasons before pushing on.

[Swindon69]

5 minutes ago, XaW said:

Witton Albion

Season 2020/21 (Season 1) Review - Vanarama National League North - England

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

After the horrendous season in Norway, I've made the switch to England and Witton Albion. The team started out with barely enough players to fill out a match squad, so I only tried to hang on until the intake. And we did! It was tough, but not many injuries helped out a lot and we were a bit ahead of the relegation zone when the intake came around. Of course, the enabled me to keep a full bench at all times and I could rotate a bit. A lot of the youngsters will make mistakes, but it's all part of it. Some seasons maturing are the thing now and the loads of matches will surely help.

In the FA Cup we beat Barwell before getting thumped by Gloucester City in the 3rd qualifying round.

In the FA Trophy we had a bit of a run as we beat Basford, Lancaster, Woking and Torquay before losing to Harrogate Town in the 4th round.

Youth intake

Youth intake - A really great intake, but since we had such poor team from the start it would be anyway, wouldn't it? I signed up everyone to at least bolster the ranks.

Lee Lynch 21a - Wide player for both sides and massive potential and ability? Get in the van lad!
Matt Atkinson 21b - Really excited about this one. Very good stats for a central defender.
Chris Fitzpatrick 21h - Not the position I needed the most, but I'll take a talented goalkeeper who can deputise for a few seasons before pushing on.

Good to see you back - and good luck.

[Swindon69]

Hi folks - quick question, when your youth players are poached do they at some point appear in the other clubs squads?

[XaW]

5 minutes ago, Swindon69 said:

Hi folks - quick question, when your youth players are poached do they at some point appear in the other clubs squads?

Already answered you in GD!

[Swindon69]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

Already answered you in GD!

Hi thanks for that - 5 players poached in the last year after I used some of my Euro money to improve my youth recruitment.

[andershs]

FC United (England)
Season 5 - 2024/25

First season in the Vanarama National League. We finished 14th and survived, which is a success. Unfortunately, a new chairman was also elected during the season, and he has already interfered more than the previous chairman. I suspect and fear, that he is going to make it much harder to keep hold of our very promising players over the next seasons. We need to kick on such that the value of our players will increase, enabling us to make good sales, that can maintain our high intake facilities and improve our training facilities. Right now, our players will be sold for minor amounts not really helping us significantly. But it will be hard with a rash, hot-headed chairman.

League (Results 1, Results 2, Results 3, Cups, League Chart) - Started the season with my tested and trusted 4-4-2 long pass formation. I don't know if it was match engine changes or what, but it did not work, and we conceded goals left, right and center. Particularly on corners and freekicks. In a state of starting panic, I switched to a 4-3-2-1 counter tactic with low defensive line. This luckily steadied the ship, and we finished the season steady if unspectacularly. Being newly promoted, we have to be satisfied though.
The initial cup games coincided with our less than impressive form. So nothing to share here. I realised, that since the first season of this save, the best we have done is reach the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. This is something we should improve as there are financial benefits here just lying and waiting.

Team (Stats, Contracts) - We have a very strong team now. After the previous years good intakes. They are just a bit too young still and need time to develop for a couple of seasons.
Moreover, I have managed to tie down practically all promosing players on long contracts with optional extensions. We have an abundance of promising attackers, and here I will have to make a tough decision on who to keep, and who to sell with good clauses. I count six attackers with plenty of promise. I think I need to sell two and keep four. Robbie Paterson and Brian Aitken are my two starters currently. Andrew Hughes is backup and I have high hopes for particularly Jay McIntosh, but also Tim Gamble. Alan Marsh from this years intake already looks ready to compete.
In midfield I have my two best players, but it is also where I am most vulnerable. John Garner is out of this world. I battled through the winter transfer window to keep him, and managed to hinder my new chairman from selling him by offering him to other clubs for nothing and then cancelling. At the end of the season, I gave him a new, expensive contract in the hope, that it will keep him here or increase his value. Billy Maher is my other strong midfielder, and unfortunately my chairman took revenge in the summer and sold him without consulting me. I did however get a nice sell-on clause. But I still believe, that we could have sold him in a year or two for much more money. And he was on a long contract. I am a bit worried since the gap in quality to my other midfielders is very large, and I don't really have any talents here.
In defense, Owen Pollard and Kieron Prosser are my rocks in the center. On right back I have the solid David Knowles. And on the left back, I had high hopes for Finlay Moloney from last years intake.
I don't know why, but he has just not been that impressive. I hope it will be better as he gets older. He will compete with Harry Phelan from this years intake. Kallum Tremarco is also lurking and Jonas Wolf, the diamond of this years intake, has taken us with storm.
In other news, Tunde Owolabi departed after the season when his contract expired. He has been brilliant for this club, but has been overtaken in recent seasons.
So all in all we are very strong with plenty of potential even if I am a bit worried about the midfield.

Facilities - Not much to report here.

Finances - The combination of increased wages, new more expensive contracts and our intake setup has really taken its toll on our finances. I am just hoping, that we can kick on and take advantage of our 
potential and quality to gain a promotion and secure our finances through a good sale. Selling Billy Maher for £200K will last for half a year or so.

Youth Intake - Another golden generation. Brilliant. Jonas Wolf is going to be a starter soon, and Harry Phelan, Alan Marsh, Samuel Azeez and Brad Kidd all look promising. I have secured all these players on long contracts with optional extensions.

No Transfers.

Goal for next season: A mid table finish. Hopefully without getting in relegation danger. Keep my chairman in check and keep my best players.

Edited August 23, 2020 by andershs

[michiganhugefan]

América Futebol Clube Rio Grande do Norte

Season 0

Manager Profile | Senior Squad | Reserve Squad

So I was bored and I decided to try this challenge again, all of the fluff around starting and setting up at a new club is usually what makes me quit a save early, but for this challenge I don't have to worry about most of that ******** early, so I can build up that save momentum early and hopefully get into a groove. I wanted to do not Europe and so I went for Brazil. I was also intrigued by Peru since it looks like Peru only has 1 division that is promoted into, but I decided I wanted a little bit more of a climb in my save. The only annoyance I have with Brazil is FM's names for clubs, but I was too lazy to put in a fix, so I'm joining "ARN". I chose them because they seemed to have good players already and they are in one of the weaker states so hopefully while moving up the Brazilian pyramid I can also win some hot silverware in the Portiguar State Championship. The team actually won the State Championship in Year 0 in a bit of an upset. The team also had a Youth Intake in year 0, so I tagged 3 players from it, 0A is a promising 15 year old striker who already probably could be useful depth in at least the state championship (if he weren't ineligible) and could become important if we can keep a hold of him. 0B is a 17 year old right back with some decent potential, I worry about his pace but hopefully that can be fixed through training, I quite enjoy that 14 tackling. 0C is a 17 Year old Center Back, his versatility in being able to play across the back line as well as in center mid makes him a good option to have as an 11th or 12th man filling out the bench, so he's probably the most likely to get playing time from the regens. I probably could have tagged some more but for now those are the 3 I envision being important going forward. The senior squad is actually pretty strong (3 Stars is 3rd division Level) and the expectations are to win the state championship and finish mid table in the 3rd division, both of which I think are very achievable.

[Swindon69]

Holy heck TNS just spent £450k on a player.

[OlivierL]

Brave calling !

Caledonian Braves - Season 2020-2021 (Season 1) review - Scottish League two

Pre-season | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Season review

 

Very difficult, standing 11th for a long time, very shortly 12th but in the last round we got 12 out of 27 . we survived.

Squad| Best eleven| Transfers | Staff | Finances

I started with 14 real players. One player left for free in January, so I finished the round back with two subs. Our three fake French central defenders are solid with central defender Flament as captain. Right wingback Reid is one of our best players and we have two good central midfielders and two good strikers. I hope that from our first youth intake some players can get promotion , because the third striker will stop playing semi-pro football at the age of 26. We need players.

Player of the season

Kelly scored 13 league goals and was my best striker (targetman)

Young player of the season

/

Youth updates

Class 2020 - Liard (20a) : He was the first sub but didn't play a lot of games. He didn't really improve.
 Youth intake - Class 2021

Youth intake preview

A golden generation.. but i need a lot of players for the first team .. i love quality but need quantity.
Class 2021

Not great , not bad but what could I expect ?  A lot of good personalites (my Hoyd Gavin Allen has model Prof , so i think that was a good choice).

I'll sign them all and promote 10 players  next season. A lot of this class will be retrained. below the best three :

Above three played a small part in this first season, they were added to the bench after the intake. Amewou (21b) went directly in the first team as pressing forward. Jovicic (21a) has the biggest PA but don't know where he'll fit in yet.  Paulle (21c) will be used as DC or DMC and is a good extra option because i didn't have any sub for the defence.

Improvements

No money available for improvement in the first season.

Next season

I signed a new contract. And we have a new chairman after an election in december .  I hope by adding 10 youth players from the last youth intake, we have a chance to save ourselves faster and grow as a team. Hopefully next season I can improvise something of the youth stuff.

There is a great documentary about the Braves ' Braves calling" and they are posting videos referring to fm : 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by OlivierL

[Swindon69]

Just had a look at the wages in the Welsh Prem - I'm spending £80k, TNS are spending £1.2 million.

[libbyshuss]

6 minutes ago, Swindon69 said:

Just had a look at the wages in the Welsh Prem - I'm spending £80k, TNS are spending £1.2 million.

lol, i just looked at Superliga. We are spending 860k on wages. FC Kopenhagn are spending 25.1m!

[XaW]

Witton Albion

Season 2021/22 (Season 2) Review - Vanarama National League North - England

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So we survived last season with barely enough players to fill the bench, and as it turns out things are a bit easier with more players. And we had a really good season this time around. Now, we did overachieve a bit this season, I think. But I'll take it! A lot of the youth players from last season contributed this season, and when we had the new intake it helped out a lot. With a good push towards the end we actually managed to just about reach the final playoff spot. We did lose to Curzon Ashton in the playoff semi final after extra time, but still a really good season for us.

In the FA Cup we went on a run and beat Daventry, Stratford Town, Barrow and Macclesfield Town before losing to League Two side Portsmouth in the 2nd round after a replay since we drew away with them. This brought in some money for us and we managed to improve a few things.

In the FA Trophy we lost to South Shields in the 3rd qualifying round.

Youth intake

Youth intake - Another great intake, but with the poor level of players it's not surprising. I think I signed up everyone this season as well.

Padraig Browne 22f - A great attacking talent. Slotted him into the squad and he scored twice in his debut.
Callum Bates 22g - Towering centre back I have high hopes for.
James Dunne 22j - Inverted wingbacks? At this level? A bit strange, but a big talent.

[Winski]

I'm thinking of starting over. It seems I can't find a "click" with Widzez Lodz, although things are going very well. But I can't find the real enjoyment. So I'm thinking of starting a new save in Scotland, as I've got some unfinished work to do after my East Kilbride failure. But I also want to try the challenge in England, because I almost never managed a club in England in my whole CM/FM career.

Decisions, decisions...
 

[michiganhugefan]

América Futebol Clube Rio Grande do Norte

2020 - Season 1

Competitions

A very good first year. Winning both stages of the State championship was a little unexpected, as their were other 3rd division squads in the competition. It gave (or maybe forced is a more apt word) me opportunities to play some of the younger players at the club, due to the selection rules (although there were times where I made 1st minute subs to get around those rules. The big winner from that was actually a CB, Italo,  who became my starting CB for all of my 3rd division games after impressing in the state championship and also in training (and by impressing in training, I mean showing up as the best training rating every week. I wish he were a little bit taller, since 5' 9" is short for a CB, so I might try to get him to become a DM, but he's my 2nd CB for now. Speaking of the 3rd Division, we came 3rd in our group. It was unexpected, but the team started out strong, although they faded down the stretch. Ultimately I'm secretly pretty happy we lost in the playoffs, given that I don't think this team would survive the 2nd Tier. Oh and we lost in the Brazilian Cup on the Higher Seed tiebreaker, which I did not even realize existed, but now that I do, I think it is very dumb.

State Opening Stage | State Opening Stage Final | State Closing Stage | State Closing Stage Final

Brazilian 3rd Division | Brazilian 3rd Division Quarterfinals | Brazilian Cup

Transfers, Youth Intake, Upgrades

No transfers to speak of (obviously), and we couldn't upgrade anything too massive (since our financials went to ****) but I have taken the first step up the ladder and completed a Coaching License. Two of my tagged players from the previous intake played actual first team minutes this year, 0B and 0C. 0A will be able to next year as I gave him a real contract. Something odd happened with 0A, where my board sold him out from under me to a big side, and then he rejected their contract offer, so he is still with us. Good, since he was being sold for pennies when he looks like he could develop very nicely. We had another Youth Intake this year, not a very good one, mind you but there is definitely one player I am excited for.

Youth Intake

Bismarck Vinícius (1A) - When I saw that my HOYD claimed the best player had taken after his personality, I was excited, Resolute is a good personality, however it was actually better since instead Bismarck has Perfectionist Personality (I had to look it up to be sure it was not a bad thing). Beyond, that a lot of solid bases for a young player to work from and 18 Bravery and 16 Determination is quite tasty.

Rivaldo (1B) - Seems to be a solid CAM off the get go, could possibly get some playing time early in a State championship, sine CAM is one of my worse Depth positions. I like the Passing Teamwork and Good physicals. The low determination and awful finishing attributes are where he needs to grow.

Vandir Gomes Ferreira (1C) - A decent GK prospect. Could be untagged in the future undoubtedly, but for now maybe he is the future of the GK position at the club. He's definitely got the potential to grow into something more. Not sure how important agility is for GKs in FM, but it looks nice that his is already high.

Manuel Miluir (1D) - Across the entire squad we have holes at outside midfielder positions, we aren't using an ML yet, so we'd probably want to train this guy up to be an AML, but he already has decent speed, and apparently has potential so I tagged him.

 

 

 

[JaytheGreat]

Decided to give this challenge a try, and I've decided to start in Portugal.

 

A.D Os Limianos

Located in Ponte de Lima, Portugal, Limianos has been around since 1953 but has never finished higher then the 3rd division in Portugal. Their home games are played at the Campo do Cruzeiro which hold up to 2.500 fans. Ponte de Lima is located close to the Spain-Portugal border in the north and is founded on the Lima river. Which hopefully means I might get lucky and have some Spanish talent spill over the border. Ponte de Lima is one of the oldest towns in Portugal and is best known for it's wine. 

 

Season 20/21 Portugal Championship 

Transfers Season Goals Squad Facilities

The squad is made up of 15 players and no staff. Interesting to note 3 of my players come from outside Portugal starting GK Guilherme Cioletti from Brazil, LB Califo Balde from Guinea-Bissua, and ST Eduard Torrez from Venezuela. Staff wise I'll have to build up from scratch so we'll see how that goes, formation wise I'm running a counter attacking 4-4-2 considering my players have surprisingly decent stats I think I'll survive atleast this season, not bad facilities to start out with either. 

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by JaytheGreat

[OlivierL]

11 hours ago, Winski said:

I'm thinking of starting over. It seems I can't find a "click" with Widzez Lodz, although things are going very well. But I can't find the real enjoyment. So I'm thinking of starting a new save in Scotland, as I've got some unfinished work to do after my East Kilbride failure. But I also want to try the challenge in England, because I almost never managed a club in England in my whole CM/FM career.

Decisions, decisions...
 

Brave calling ??  England seems a good option for you if u didn't managed over there.

[libbyshuss]

 

Season 2034/35

Superliga

Finish: 11th

Season Summary

Well, I knew it was going to be tough. After being completely battered for the first 9 games of the season I was seriously thinking we may actually go the whole season without a win to our name. But the next game saw us scrape a 1-0 away to AAB. We managed to scrape a few more wins but it was never enough, and in the end we were relegated with a good 5 matches left to play. We were seriously outclassed.

Borges had only 6 months on his contract too and was refusing to sign so I cashed in on him at christmas. Only got 150k for him when he's worth at least 3 times that but I did get a nice 50% sell on clause.

The Cup was no respite, battered away to NBet side Middlefart. I love that name.

 

Youth

Got myself a nice new Determined HOYD with 20 in determination, hoping he'd produce some determined young players. He didn't disappoint.

The preview:-

The intake:-

The pick of the bunch by far is Jensen. I really needed a new DC, I was playing in Superliga with a DS standard centre back so he was a lovely addition. Straight into the first team for the new season.

 

Finances and Upgrades

Well, I now know where all the money in Danish football is. I made a bucketload of cash. So much so, I need to get back to Superliga for more! I now have 2m sitting in the bank but the 7m loan for our second new stadium means there was none available for any upgrades. If I can quickly go back up then hopefully more will be coming.

Our reputation increased to such a degree that we a re now exactly the same as Silkeborg IF, which is nice. Hopefully we can overtake them this coming season

 

For next season I'm going ahead with a much younger side. Our last few youth intakes are ready and it's time I retired some of the old guard. Sadly, I think it's the end of the line for Heine but what a servant he's been. You never know though, he still has a year to run.