The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[_JHTB_]

CD Mensajero

2024/2025

Segunda Division B 5th

Fixtures (1) -- Fixtures (2) -- Stats -- Awards -- Season Review -- Transfer -- Overall Best XI -- Key Player -- Hot Prospect -- Finances

League: The season got off to a pretty decent start but quickly took a downturn, and following consecutive games in which we conceded two penalties and lost I did make a slight tweak to the tactic. It worked well as we won 7 on the bounce in the league to challenge towards the top end though it was a battle with more teams this time round. In the new year our goals massively dried up only scoring 2 or more goals in a game on 3 occasions but even with that we were actually vey solid defensively so were still with a shout of playoffs with 2 games to go but a 0-0 draw saw our chances dashed. Such was our second half form that in the 19 games we played we scored 16 goals and conceded 8, pretty dull. Our ‘best’ striker Jose ended up not scoring in his last 18 competitive appearances this season.

Cup: We got to the Semi-Final of the Copa Federacion. In the Copa del Rey we drew Europe chasing Celta Vigo in the first round. Inexplicably we beat them 3-0 albeit with a man advantage which set up another tie against Europe chasing Sevilla. They were well in control of the game but only scored once which allowed us to score a late equaliser and ultimately better them on penalties. The 3^rd round saw us take on the top of the table from the league above in Malaga and it proved a step too far as we lost 2-0.

Squad: The team first choice team was largely the same as last season but Airam Lampon 3b moved into a regular centre back spot as our previous option there is nearing the end of his career.

Club Infrastructure: A couple of coaching courses were started with me on the way to my Continental A license and coaches increased to 7 but still no upgrades to facilities unfortunately.

Players of the year

Omar Fleitas: It’ll be a shame when we’re without Fleitas as once again he proved his quality and had his most productive season with 9 assists in the league, though didn’t manage a goal this season.

Adolfo Delgado 1d: Yet another solid season from the young defensive midfielder, 3 goals and 2 assists to his name in the league as well.

Ale: Ale managed 14 goals in the league for the second consecutive season though half were penalties he also chipped in with 7 assists

Young Player of the year

Adolfo Delgado 1d: nt.

Youth Intake

We had a youth intake. They’re getting worse each season.

Calin Mintas 5g: My coaches don’t really seem to rate his potential, but his attributes look decent enough for a goalkeeper without being spectacular. Not a fantastic personality though hopefully that can be fixed.

Overview/Looking Ahead

I wasn’t really expecting to be back close to the playoffs this season even still, if we had someone who could put the ball in the net we’d have easily made them. That said, I’m very happy with the defensive side of our game as it gives us a solid base to build from.

In the January window we did have a couple of bids for Adolfo Delgado 1d but they were pretty terrible offers and he’s near enough our only defensive midfielder so selling him is not likely.

Next season the main aim is to try and get more goals and hopefully another shot at trying for the playoffs. I feel like next season may be Fleitas’ last as he’s declined a lot physically in the past season but I’m pretty happy with a couple of midfield options that are close to the first team who may be able to replace him. Jose is in his last year of contract and whilst I’d like to keep him despite his lack of goals he’s wanting way too much money to stay which could leave us very light up front.

The story so far

Youth Record Holders

Edited August 31, 2020 by _JHTB_

[thomas_e]

FC Energie Cottbus

Season Summary 2022 - 2023

Shock promotion to the Bundesliga

 

Our second season in the Bundesliga saw us once again tipped to finish last. 10 months later we are promoted to the Bundesliga and I am just as surprised as the media. We beat Union Berlin in the promotion/relegation play-off, which was the last games of our undisputedly best player Tobias Eisenhuth who is leaving for Bayern Munchen. Promoted as the worst side in the league and losing our best player before the start of next season. I would say we have about a 0% chance of avoiding relegation..

The season started of with a win against Jahn Regensburg and what followed was a long period of not conceding goals, but not scoring any either. We drew 12 out of our next 18 games, seven of those games ending 0-0! 

In February we started scoring goals again and this saw us sitting between 2nd and 4th place until the season ended. No one could compete with Hamburger SV who ran away with the title. I lost two of the three last league games which saw us loose out on direct promotion. I of course wanted to finish as high up the table as I could, but going through qualification was more than enough. We had no business even being on the top half of the table! 

The first play off game was away to Union Berlin and they took the lead already in the 17th minute. I thought that was game over as they were totally in control, but all of a sudden we scored on lightning quick counter attacks in the 25th and 32nd minute. The game was suddenly turned around and Union Berlin had to chase a goal. They missed some huge chances, but with a lot of luch we managed to keep them from scoring. Our star player Tobias Eisenhuth scored our third goal in the 72nd minute. 

Our 3-1 lead after the first leg was enough and we secured playoff with a 0-0 (also known as the Cottbus classic) draw at home. 

A fantastic season and I had no expectation of fighting for a playoff for many years. Our problem for next year is obviously the loss of Eisenhuth, but at least Gunter Hollwitz is a big talent. 

I don't have any regen strikers of any quality what so ever, but Ourdy Kabangu, originally a right winger, seems like such a huge talent he can develop into a class striker. Just a shame I am one season away from beging allowed to use him. 

The goal for next season is to get enough points to not get fired. Avoiding relegation seems impossible. But we will give it our 100% best effort! 

 

Season Summary

               

 

Best performers

          

 

Top talents

               

 

Season	|	League              |   Position    |      Cup     |  Continental
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21	|	3rd Bundesliga      |	  2nd       |      N/A     |     N/A
2021/22	|	2nd Bundesliga      |	  7th       |   1st round  |     N/A
2023/24	|	2nd Bundesliga      | 3rd (promoted |   3rd round  |     N/A

 

[_JHTB_]

@thomas_e Hollwitz looks very good at 16, I hope you can keep hold of him for the long haul

 

[_JHTB_]

REJOICE 

 

[Fastbasher]

2022 Nassjo FF season review - Swedish Second Division West Götaland

The League

The move from North Götaland to West Götaland was beneficial to us. This league seemed a lot lower level, despite being at the same tier on the football pyramid.

The season was really exciting, with the top 7 team swapping places every round throughout the season. Onsala BK was top of the league with 3 rounds to go and finished 6th.

We managed to take a major leap forward by gaining our first silverware in Sweden and promotion to the First Division (third tier) in the closest race I've had in a long time.

 

The Players

August Sander was top scorer once more with 19 goals. Veteran Dan Danneman also made a valuable contribution of 16 goals.

Youngster Tim Karlsson had a great season in midfield and may be a player to stay with the club for a while.

The youth intake was quite poor again, but Thomas Bergmark YP22a stood out as someone who may have a bright future.

 

Off field I managed to complete a coaching course and the junior coaching budget is being increased.

We improved most of the backroom staff, with experienced Swedish international Andreas Isaksson joining as a goalkeeping coach. Unfortunately it looks like he won't sign an extension.

The players and staff have only signed one year contracts so far. But with promotion, it looks like some will sign two season deals.

Money is tight. Only 64k pounds in the bank. Hopefully a season in the 3rd tier will help us fund some upgrades. 

 

Transfers

[OlivierL]

 Brave calling !

Caledonian Braves - Season 2023-2024 (Season 4) review - Scottish League one

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

For a whole season I was fighting to get from that last spot, after a start with 1 point out of seven matches. We were never in a safe seat, but on the last day of the game I was able to finish eighth if I won. Unfortunately I didn't win so I was relegated to the playoffs.

We beat the number 3 and 2 from League two , and are staying up !

Squad| Best eleven| Transfers | Staff | Finances

Again I was able to extend all basic players and talents (all with option). I gave one youth player a lot of minutes and that is Amewou 21B . He is the best pressing forward in the core and keeps on improving, his personality takes care of that.
Alan Reid has provided most of the assists (9) but wants to retire. Unfortunately I do not have a replacement for him so that will be sought. Marc Kelly is again top marksman (21) and achieved the best average rating.

Player of the season

Kelly, Who else ? Fourth time in a row. He is staying for three more years !

Young player of the season

Amewou 21B 's progress was good , he stayed in the first eleven as pressing forward.

Youth updates

Class 20 : nothing to report

Class 21 : Amewou 21B was the best player (see above) of his class. 

Class 22 : Nabab-Aquilon 22C got the most minutes as DC , a good sub.

Class 23 : Bultel 23E our potential star goalkeeper started the season but after conceding a lot of goals i replaced him with a more experienced goalkeeper.

 Youth intake - Class 2024

Youth intake preview

A Good DC, MC and forward is what they promise, still waiting for that WBR.
Class 2024

Signed 11 players. The promised good DC wasn't there but we received two good strikers (one targetman) , a good MC and a few average leftfooted defenders. First time i'm not happy with our intake, i'll give our model prof Hoyd one more year but hope that they'll improve.

Below the best three :

Henneuse 24A could become a good advanced forward, i already used him in the final playoff games as a sub. Robert 24B is an average midfielder, not sure if he'll make it. Maxime Clara 24C is a promising left wingback but i have better options at the moment.

Improvements

Upgrading our youth facilities isn't easy so we keep on upgrading the Coaching and recruitment part.

Next season

Fight again to stay in it and hope that the established values and young talents continue to grow (logically).
Avoiding the stress of the playoffs would be nice so I aim for spot 8. 

Edited August 31, 2020 by OlivierL

[Panneton0]

FC United of Manchester

20/21: The Legacy Begins

Squad | League Table | Transfers

 

The Story so Far: First season with the fan-controlled FC United of Manchester. The initial squad gave me a solid starting XI, except for a lonely 16yo amateur goalkeeper. Not much depth outside of the starting team. My aim for the season was to survive and find what is the DNA of that squad... We were expected to finish the season 23rd on 24 teams. How will we fare?

The Season: Experienced a roller coaster start of season until we settled for a simple 4-4-2, high-pression, wide-play. The plan was to outscore the opponent as we had a poor goalkeeper but an insane striker (see key PLayers). We were almost on our way to lifting the title but the end of season wasn’t as good as the middle 2/3rd. We still finished at an unbelievable 5th place. Unfortunately, our bad form in the last month went into the playoffs and we lost our promotion to York in quarter-finals.

The Club: The board luckily spent a little in this first season to help junior coaching and youth facilities! Also got my National C license and currently studying for National B. Looking good for the future. Also got a new U23 team to keep my squad fit.

Key Players :

The Captain, Michael Potts: A true captain. An unsung hero. Just stayed there in midfield, getting every ball back and distributing without fanfare.

The star striker, Tunde Owolabi: The guy is too fast for Vanarama S/N. Early crosses behind the defence and he’ll be there first. Always. Best rating, highest goals (not even close), most Player of the Match, Player of the season… I had to break my tiny bank to sign him back at the end of the season, but I’ve been able to extend his contract! He will be key to achieve promotion one day.

His partner in crime, Regan Linney. In Owolabi’s shadow, but he delivered. Made the goals when Tunde couldn’t. Gave balls to Tunde on all the other occasions.

The poor kid in goal, Pat Bell 20b: 16 yo, newgen from the first holiday season, no backup. He had to take the season on his shoulders. He did good even if he dropped most balls. But with good defences, it didn’t hurt too much.

Notable prospects from the Youth Intake:

Matt Law 21a: Nice guy, plenty of potential. Does not fit in my 4-4-2. Will retrain him as central midfielder. Looking forward to his contribution.

Ben Ford 21b: Solid striker. I will give him some playing time because Owolabi won’t stay with the Red Rebels for long…

Mark Stevens 21c: We were needing a right midfielder and he’s able to play there. A little too defensive to my taste, but he can be trained for better offensive capabilities! Already started 1-2 games at the end of the season.

Danny Chambers 21e: The point is not that he’s good, since he isn’t. But at least he’s a much needed 2nd goalkeeper… Maybe a challenge for 1rst goalkeeper next year... Battle of the weaklings, right?

The adventure: Amazing first season. The squad found its drive after ~1 month and never looked back. Some key investments from the board, renewed contract for our star player, great first youth intake and got close to promotion. That’s what I call a success story. Next season will be extremely difficult again with the lack of quality we have between the posts, but I believe in our capacity to outscore the opponent. We have a new striker to try out combinations and the Board seems eager to invest for the future. We will build on that! Go FC United!

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by Panneton0
Mistake in "coaching licences"

[Jambo98]

SC Bastia - Season 5 (2024/25)

League Table | Squad | Finances| Transfers

Summary

It was always going to be a tough season, and so it proved, we started out very slowly, although we never sat bottom, we were in relegation trouble across the first 2 months. However we made the most of our fixtures against those teams around us, and put on a spurt to get up to about 15th or so, and we sensed a chance at safety. Then though, as the tougher games came around, we just could never compete against the top half sides so slid back down........... however, the second set of "easier" fixtures came around in Feb against those teams around us and we took advantage again, surging clear of the bottom two. We even picked up a couple of points in draws against teams around the 5th - 9th mark which meant we finish 15th for SAFETY!! Amazing achievement really, our squad is miles weaker than the others in the division.

We also managed to not lose any of our youth, almost all had the max contract plus 3 years optional extension when first signed, so we are in a decent position, albeit salaries are escalating as time goes on. Our top earner is now on an eye watering £11.5k per week (YP03a). However the financial situaion remains great. 17m in the bank, and our youth setup (Excellent / Exceptional) and our facilities (Good / Great) are in nice shape, with an upgrade to training facilities on the way to take them from Good to.....whatever is above that! 

 

Youth Updates

Kadiena Teme (YP01a) - Actually stepped up his performances a bit this season, the lack of technicals is not ideal but he was a good performer and we eeked out a little more development, although the ass man thinks he is pretty maxed out

Licas Durand (YP01b) - Ended up staying because i needed a bench keeper, and although i have better prospects, i wanted them getting playing time in the other teams.  However he made 1 appearance because our starter was injured... and let in 7. Oh dear

Julien Corre (YP02a) - Our first choice keeper and now looks class, started to get France u21 caps and constantly getting interest from bigger clubs still, but exercised the 3 year contract extension 

Gregory Le Berre (YP02b) - Our star man in terms of attributes, again not many counting stats in terms of goals / assists but he looks classy. Going to be tough to hold him as he is now unhappy and wants to move to a bigger club  

Saul da Silva Silva (YP03a) - Huge development this year and is now up there with Le Berre as my best starting player. 

Pape Camara (YP03b) - Promoted to the first team and right into the starting 11 and he developed well, a bit over matched against the Monaco / PSG / Lyon types but still one of our best CBs available 

Samuel Ashu (YP04a) - We went bold with 2 strikers at various points this year and Ashu benefited by getting lots of playing time. He responded by being our top scorer with 10 goals, looks to have settled in nicely to the top team

Abdoul Karim Dante (YP04b) - Spent first half of the season in the u19s then actually was our first player to be loaned out, but didnt get many games or perform......

New Youth

Preview - Somehow didnt take the screenshot but yeah, the Golden Generation wording existed......

Intake - A little underwhelming if i am honest, i guess to be expected as we have had nice luck in previous years 

Mohamed Amine Meziane (YP05a) - Pretty good looking technical player not sure where i would use him as currently we dont use a CAM, but nice to have and looks to have good potential 

Lee Stevenson (YP05b) - Had to tag him as our first Scottish regen, and whilst he does not look to have huge potential, actually has decent enough attributes in a position we are still short in

 

[OlivierL]

I'll change my hoyd (model prof but low attributes) for a prof hoyd.. i hope i won't regret this.

[Panneton0]

il y a 19 minutes, OlivierL a dit :

I'll change my hoyd (model prof but low attributes) for a prof hoyd.. i hope i won't regret this.

If it goes well, you can take credit for the switch.

If it doesn't, you can just say it was a "bad year". XD

But I believe it was a good switch! I mean, his personality is still pretty great so the trade-off seems positive to me!

Mine has good stats, but only balanced personality. My first intake provided good players with pretty mixed personalities... Got some unambitious... got some light-hearted.

With yours, I'd expect better players still with positive personalities, it's not like you went from "Model Citizen" to "Sociopath". 

[OlivierL]

Just now, Panneton0 said:

If it goes well, you can take credit for the switch.

If it doesn't, you can just say it was a "bad year". XD

But I believe it was a good switch! I mean, his personality is still pretty great so the trade-off seems positive to me!

Mine has good stats, but only balanced personality. My first intake provided good players with pretty mixed personalities... Got some unambitious... got some light-hearted.

With yours, I'd expect better players still with positive personalities, it's not like you went from "Model Citizen" to "Sociopath". 

Idd from model prof to prof is not a big difference . his judging PA and CA are better so i have hope  we'll see . 

I would always pick the highest personalty but it's not set in stone.  Your looks good concerning attributes. Balanced is tricky but can go both ways

[Padders]

Season Review 2220/21

New 4-4-2 tactic managed to turn the tide and win enough games to keep us up

Beecroft who Liverpool nicked off me for £850k is now a 20yr wonderkid and worth £66

Edited August 31, 2020 by Padders

[XaW]

Witton Albion

Season 2029/30 (Season 10) Review - Sky Bet League Two - England

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Wow, quite the eventful season! First of all, we got a big cash payout when Mark Thompson 23a went from Sheffield United to Arsenal for about £40m and we had a 50% sell-on clause! So we are set for a while, financially at least. We are still in the process of building the new stadium and it should be done after next season is done, if everything goes according to plan. Back to this season. Quite surprisingly, we were fighting for the top spots as a newly promoted side, and perhaps equally surprising was the fact that our fellow promoted side Dulwich Hamlet also were up there all season. So I guess the difference isn't that big between these two tiers. We won a lot of matches, but also drew a lot of matches, but we managed to keep the losses pretty low. With 6 matches left it was insanely close.

We were in 2nd, but only a point ahead of 6th. Unfortunately, we had a really poor end and dropped down and when we lost the last match to Scunthorpe, Northampton sneaked past us and grabbed the final playoff spot. So we ended a single point behind. Dulwich Hamlet on the other hand, got promoted as they finished 2nd. So if this is how it should go next season as well, we should have a decent shot at promotion.

In the FA Cup we beat Northampton and Dag & Red before losing to West Brom in the 3rd round.

In the League Cup we lost to Port Vale in the 1st round on pens.

In the EFL Trophy we finished 2nd in our group, behind Bolton, and ahead of Sheffield United u23s and Carlisle. In the North 2nd round we lost to Oldham and got knocked out.

Notable Players

Sean Steadman 25a - Our top scorer again, but got a lot of small injuries this season and missed a fair few games.
Callum Bates 22g - The captain and leader in defence. Also lethal on set pieces.
Jonathon Knowles 26a - Great progression the last few seasons and is a key player for us now.

Youth intake

Youth intake - A good intake, but not spectacular.

Dane Boardman 30a - A talented full back, but needs work going forward.
Jon Lambert 30b - Lots of poor attributes, but well distributed into what a winger wants. Needs lots of work though.

[Crispypaul]

 

 

Crispypaul
Floy
Norwegian Eliteserien
2026

League - Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Table - after last year's 2nd place finish could we go one further?  As the season got on it was getting closer and closer, however after a poor last few fixtures it took until the very last game before we secured the title.

Cup - Fixtures - made up for last year's loss by beating Bryne in the final to lift the cup.

Europa Conference League - Fixtures | Table - Icelandic side Valur were first up in the qualifying rounds and we beat them fairly comfortably.  A much harder play off fixture was against Club Brugge of Belgium however a shock 3-0 away win meant we qualified for the group stages.  There we faced Atalanta, FCSB, and Norkoping.  We did brilliantly winning our first 3 games but then choked to lose the last 3 leading to a 3rd place finish.  Good on reflection but a shame we couldn't go through to the knockout rounds.

Mesterfinalen - lifted this also for the first time

Finances - league, cup and European prize money (and also see below) means we're now secure.

Transfers - I sold a clause for £2.38m for Akkaya and a great offer for Sigurdsen from the UAE.

Squad

Key players

Leif Otto Borhaug YP24e - brilliant.  Won player of the year, goal scorer of the year, and for some reason breakthrough player of the year

Henrik Andersen - one of the few remaining original players, and the best

Robin Fredriksen YP19b - dropped off a bit

Espen Sanden YP21f - great centre half and now the captain

Yang Junkui YP23b - solid between the posts

Thomas Haugeland YP22b - mainly a backup but pretty good

Anton Aker-Iversen YP23d - another good striker

Nils Kristian Akersvatne YP21c - still doing a good job

Phillip Nyhus YP25b - top notch right winger

Youth Update

Won the U19 league again and the cup

Intake: another good intake

1. Henrik Ellingsen YP26a - beginning | season end - great centre half, into our first team by season end

2. Tim Edwards YP26b - beginning | season end - an English left winger, might turn out good

3. Bjornar Ronning YP26c -   beginning   | season end - we'll see might be held back by poor det

4. Eskil Mjelde YP26d -  beginning  - stolen by Bologna...

5. Roar Oftedal YP26e - beginning | season end - could be a good midfielder

6. Jesper Buckner YP26f (came in later) -  season end - now tagged after a prolific U19 season

2025 intake

Ronny Pettersen YP25a - made a few more appearances, expect him to be starting right back in 2026

Kristoffer Hansen YP25c - backup goalkeeper

Martin Norheim YP25d - became starting left winger after Sigurdsen's departure

Espen Baras YP25e - looking decent

Jesper Buckner YP25f - might become good

2024 intake

 Steinar Dreyer YP24a  - sold to Honefoss

Slobodan Kadric YP24b - released at end of season

Jan Gunnar Ommundsen YP24c - getting held back by poor det

Ruben Blomlie YP24d - meh

Torbjorn Eide YP24f - will be fighting with Pettersen for the right back position

2023 intake

Sveinung Magnussen YP23c - a bit better personality

Dag Erik Bredal YP23e - loaned out, will give another season

2022 youth intake

Bard Korshavn YP22d - reasonable, has a better personality finally

 

Season	 	Division	Position		Cup		Notes						
2020    	D2	      	 1st      		SF   		League winners, promoted
2021		D1		 5th			4th
2022		D1		 7th			SF
2023		D1		 1st			4th		League winners, promoted
2024		Elite		 5th			4th		
2025		Elite		 2nd			Runnersup	Qualified for ECL
2026		Elite		 1st			Winners		Mesterfinalen winners

Future - so that's the first part of the challenge, now for the much harder part...I've released all but two of the original squad and I can see that being one by season end

Edited September 1, 2020 by Crispypaul

[libbyshuss]

 

Season 2041/42

Superliga

Finish 8th

 

Season Summary

A really good season back, we were never in any trouble and put in some really good performances. Hopefully we're here to stay now! the most dull season we've probably had but that suits me fine at the minute after 3 relegations.

Players

Rene Anderson - A really good season for the lad, made the step up with confidence. His value shot up to 1.3m, the most of any player of ours so far, but he's decided he wants to move to a bigger club. 2 years left on his contract, no interest, but with a 1.5m release clause. I think he'll probably go sooner rather than later tbh. He won this:-

my first golden boy!

Youth

some nice green again. I've realised that since my youth improvements the 3 star prospects i'm getting are better than the 4 stars i was getting a few seasons back, so i can't go wrong really

the intake was really intriguing....

 

I'm guessing The English players are coming through as I'm English. Matt Moore is interesting, predominantly a striker but when i looked at him he seemed a much better prospect for a DLP, so I'm retraining him. Here is the lad:-

he just seems so much better as a DLP, I'll keep Idrissa Green as a striker though. He could be ok.

Finances and Improvements

So our 7m sale to Bayern at the start of the season really helped us out. I spent some of it on training ground and youth facility improvements, which should be finished this coming October. The rest bolstered our accounts. The bank acoount is empty again though as a result. Ah well.

[Padders]

Love being FM-ed

First defeat in 8!

[OlivierL]

A small update before I start season 5 :

I'm going to completely reform my squad and re-select it based on my excellence calculations. Risky because I'm going to move a number of senior players aside and select a number of young players purely on attribute strength according to position/role.

13 from the youth intakes. 4 from class 21 ,2 from class 22 , 4 from class 23 en 3 from class 24 .

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by OlivierL

[JLAB]

So this is really promising. Just got to December and this was the thing I got given. I am hopeful that this will go really well. I'm just concerned that I won't get any good central defenders in the near future, which I feel will be my problem in the coming years. 

[_JHTB_]

CD Mensajero

2025/2026

Segunda Division B 1st – Promoted Via Playoffs

Fixtures (1) -- Fixtures (2) -- Stats -- Awards -- Season Review -- Transfer -- Overall Best XI -- Key Player -- Hot Prospect -- Finances

League: The final 19 games of last season saw us score 16 goals whereas this season it took us just 6 to get to 17 goals scored as we won our opening 6 games of the season. We were shut out the next game in a tie we dominated before league favourites Cordoba handed us our first defeat of the season. We bounced back well before we had a shaky spell as the season reached it’s midway point with a couple disappointing draws and defeats. We did pick back up and had very good form with us trading first place with Cord oba and Granada B through most of the second half of the season. All 3 of us however seemed to hit sticky patches which eventually culminated in a final day showdown between us and Cordoba for the title. For Cordoba to win the league they needed to better our result so we faced off against already relegated Merida AD knowing a win would secure the title. We drew 0-0 but thankfully Cordoba could only manage to draw so we won the league on head to head record. Incidentally, Granada B managed to come 4^th in our 3 horse race as Almeria lost one and drew 5 of their last 20 games to finish within a point of us.

Of course, first doesn’t guarantee promotion just a favourable playoff scenario, meaning even if we lost our first tie against Atletico Madrid B we’d still be with a shot of securing promotion. It’s a good job too as Atletico smashed us 4-1 in the first leg and a lacklustre second leg saw us lose 1-0. Losing that saw us face off against Almeria who were in incredible form and showed it beating us 3-2 in the first leg. Thankfully we managed to win 2-1 to progress on away goals. Which left Real Valladolid B standing between us and promotion to the 2^nd tier. A 0-0 draw meant that our fate rested back in the Canary Islands. It was a cagey affair but an early Jose goal and a fortunate own goal in the second half and we’re promoted to the Segunda Division!

Cup: I wasn’t particularly bothered by the cup this season and we got knocked out by a divisional rival in the second round

Squad: There were two new first choice players this season as Alexis Calonge 2b found his way into centre midfield in the Mezzala role – long term he is Fleitas’s replacement as deep lying playmaker. Mencey Momparler 2f also started the season as first choice right winger before an injury to Ale saw him move to the left, which incidentally is where I was planning for his long term position to be. Finally, whilst not for us, Ruyman Segura 4b got a full season at this level out on loan at Denia.

Club Infrastructure: No real change again here

Players of the year

Omar Fleitas: I thought he’d be replaced this season but he had other ideas contributing an incredible 17 assists in the league this season.

Adolfo Delgado 1d: Probably unlucky not to win the award having himself his best season for us yet with 8 goals and 3 assists.   

Victor 1e: The central defender was a big part of a defence that conceded just 21 goals in league prior to playoffs. 4 goals and 2 assists is good for a centre back as well.

Young Player of the year

Adolfo Delgado 1d: He managed to surpass the 200 appearances mark for the club this season.

Youth Intake

Another underwhelming youth intake that doesn’t really resemble the preview. To be fair, there is a left winger which is an area we lack depth but all in all my intake’s aren’t the best at the moment.

Andoni Llorente 6a: Llorente 6a goes straight into the first team as a back up on the left and he doesn’t look terrible in his attributes though in spite of his 20 determination a temperamental personality is a bit of a worry.

Ramatou Tienta 6b: He’s not going to set the world alight but he doesn’t look an awful option for the future though perhaps lacks a little in his mental attributes.

Acayamo Garcia 5d: Not this intake obviously, but I thought he deserved his limelight after developing a lot in his first year at the club after looking underwhelming initially.

Overview/Looking Ahead

We just started brilliantly and used that form to carry us through the season. I am surprised we made it through the playoffs as other than the second leg against Almeria we were hardly dominant in our games. Currently it looks as though Jose will be on his way out as he won’t accept a new contract which is incredibly frustrating as we lack options up front even with him at the club.

Next season I fully expect us to be relegated straight back down, the game against Atletico Madrid B was so one sided and they were at our level last season so I imagine on the whole we’ll struggle. I think I’m going to remove Fleitas from regular first team action just to allow players to progress so we can bounce back should we get relegated.

The story so far

Youth Record Holders

[XaW]

@JLAB and @_JHTB_ - You guys confused me right now. I've been mixing you guys up because of your similar (to my mind) usernames, and I couldn't follow the narrative... Note to self, be more careful when reading WHO is posting.... 

[_JHTB_]

4 minutes ago, XaW said:

@JLAB and @_JHTB_ - You guys confused me right now. I've been mixing you guys up because of your similar (to my mind) usernames, and I couldn't follow the narrative... Note to self, be more careful when reading WHO is posting.... 

Out of interest, did Mark Thompson get a Scotland call up in the last season? I was surprised he hadn't got one before he left Sheffield United

[XaW]

51 minutes ago, _JHTB_ said:

Out of interest, did Mark Thompson get a Scotland call up in the last season? I was surprised he hadn't got one before he left Sheffield United

He has 12 caps and 3 goals currently. However, he seems to be under performing at Arsenal.

His average rating is ok, but very poor end game in terms of goals or assists.

Edited September 1, 2020 by XaW

[andershs]

FC United (England)

Season 6 - 2025/26

 

Last season I had a hunch, that this group of players just needed a couple of seasons together to really mature and take the club forward.
Against all odds, we gained promotion this year by winning the Vanarama National League. Before the season I would have been more than happy with a midtable finish.
During the winter transfer window, I rejected offers for our star John Garner, and at one point I actually gambled and offered him to clubs for a fee I would satisfied with receiving and 50% of the next transfer fee. Luckily, no clubs made an offer, and the interest in him vanished for the rest of the window. It paid off, but I would have been in serious trouble with my midfield without him. Most of the season he lifted the rest of the team.

League (Results 1, Results 2, Results 3, Cups, League Chart) - I set up an asymmetric counter-attacking tactic, since my left wingers are not that good, and I have a promising attacking midfielder.
At times we also used my trusted long pass 4-4-2. 
We started very well, but then found a more natural level from September through November. Still improved upon last year though. From then on, led by the brilliant John Garner - 23A as Deeplying Playmaker, we went on a winning streak for more or less the rest of the season. When times are tough in FM, I will have to remember that the game can also present you with such delights. We gradually improved along with our morale until almost everything we touched succeeded. The best match of the season was this against Dagenham & Redbridge which all but secured the title. The title was then mathematically won in this very anticlimactic way. We didn't show up at all. But nevermind.
Our good form also translated to the FA Cup where we had a good run reaching the 3rd round being knocked out by Luton.

Team (Stats, Contracts) - Other than John Garner, my attack led by Robbie Paterson and Brian Aitken had a good season. Moreover, the offensive is brimming with talent and Tim Gamble had a breakthrough season while Andrew Hughes and Simon Woodford also had decent seasons. The next generation is also secured with Jay McIntosh and Alan Marsh. The last one was loaned out and scored a decent amount of goals at relegated Halesowen in VNN.
In defense, Owen Pollard was once again the rock together with right back David Knowles. The revelation however, was left back Harry Phelan from the latest intake. He made the position his own. Again plenty of talent with the next
generation raring to go in form of Samuel Azeez and the jewel Jonas Wolf. Wolf was a loaned regular starter for VNN champions Darlington.
The central midfield is a potential worry going forward, as beside from Garner, there are noone around at a decent level and no talents are emerging. So I really need to keep hold of Garner. Annoyingly, the one that got away (thanks Chairman), Billy Maher spent half a season in the Stoke U23 team before being loaned to Chester in League Two, where he played five league games. I could really have used him!
Contracts-wise we are in a good place with the best players tied down for at least three season yet. The offers I have received at the beginning of the new League Two season are significantly better than the ones I have received so far.
So this means, that given I stay in League Two, I can begin to get decent amounts for my promising players and invest them in training facilities.

Facilities - No change here. At the end of the season, the board decided to expand our stadium costing us approximately £1,5 mio. I would rather have put some money into our training facilities.

Finances - I would have written that they were decent. But when promotion happened, this piece of news ticked in along with the expansion of the stadium and professional status. So I really have no idea in which state my finances are. Poor I would assume.

Youth Intake - Another golden generation. But this time around, I am for the first time a bit underwhelmed. Maybe it is just my generally improving players. Oliver Rowland and Rhys Pipe look most promising while Phil Williams also has potential.

No Transfers.

Goal for next season: Survival. Hopefully with the revelation, that my finances are not as terrible as I am currently imagining.

Edited September 1, 2020 by andershs

[JLAB]

Well, Hertha Berlin just brought my young talent for £2.9M after the club president thought the offer was too good to turn down. Had offers from Borussia Mönchengladback (£425K rising to £2.2M), 1. FC Köln (£825K rising to £2.4M) and Schalke (£825K rising to £2.7M) that were accepted with other clauses involved. The board and fans feel that Hertha Berlin overpaid for him, but I'm more annoyed that we didn't get any sell-on clauses included in the deal.

Edited September 1, 2020 by JLAB

[gadedk]

Edited September 2, 2020 by gadedk

[Jambo98]

Got myself a new HOYD at Bastia, the previous guy served me pretty well, with one great intake and a couple of respectable ones, but this new option was too good to pass up

Welcome aboard Dirk Kuyt! Legend.......and also a "Model Pro" 

[Diego D10S]

                                                                                                                                                    Season 2021 / 2022 - League Win and promotion too Serie B.

 

Started this save a while ago, will now put in some time and try finish this challenge  

Great promotion second season but lost my 3 best players due to release clause so expecting a hard battle to survive.

Not anything special from youth intake yet but maybe they will surprise me  

GL All !!  

 

 

 

[JLAB]

The Golden Generation Youth Intake arrived in the beginning of April, and it gave me some comfort for the future going forward. With the players being as young as they are, I knew that it would be some time before they would be ready for the first time, but it's this time that the German age rule was rather handy, seeing it would allow the players to develop without too big of a spotlight on them for now.

Still, I feel excited by the prospect of seeing the likes of Rainer Walter and Finn Goossens developing at the club with the aim to give them some first team football two seasons from now, with the idea that we would still be in the 2.Bundesliga at that point.

The fact that we also had the likes of Niklas Thömmes and Emre Can Baran also coming through out youth system was also a nice relief as well, since the extra strength in depth when they were old enough and had developed enough to play for us would be ideal. All we needed more of now was defenders and central midfielder, and I would have less of a concern about most of the team as a whole, with the team being as young as it is overall.

[_JHTB_]

 

Oh well, didn't want a fitness coach anyway 

[JLAB]

FC Energie Cottbus - 2021/22 Season Review - 2. Bundesliga

 

We came to the end of our second season in charge and first season in the 2. Bundesliga having started the season with the expectation of only being able to fight to avoid relegated. Not only did we managed to finish 29 points clear of the automatic relegation zone, we managed to finish 19 points clear of the relegation play-off places, where newly relegated Darmstadt 98 finished, and finish above league favourites VfB Stuttgart who after winning the DFB-Pokal as a 2. Bundesliga team the year before, were playing in Europe this season as well. A top half finish was what we managed to achieve in the end, which with all things considered, made for a really good first season in the 2nd tier of German football. The league finish was particularly helpful given that finishing in 9th place saw us gain £9.62M, which covered our yearly salary of £5.21M with an extra £4.41M to spare. Something that made us feel even better when you take into consideration that we were also getting a yearly sponsorship of £2.7M when the season started.

The more impressive thing I'd like to point out is that the team that came up with us last season Würburg, managed to achieve a second straight promotion as runners-up, which after winning the 3. Liga the season before, made their season all the more impressive compared to our own, even if we had gained two straight promotions ourselves the season before.

 

Just after the season finished, we were informed of the news that we would be building a new stadium that was 18,052 seats, which was over 3,000 seats more than originally planned. It'll take two years to be built, but with myself not targeting a promotion until the squad develops more overall, I'm more than content with waiting things out until we're finally ready for the Bundesliga, in what I feel will be the biggest test of our young careers to date. There is also the fact that we managed to convince the president to improve both the Youth Recruitment and the Junior Coaching as well that gives me hope for the next generation of talent that can come through our academy as well. 

As for our players, we have two talents who managed to be the top goalscorers this season in both Santiago Degenkolb and Jorge Cordoba, with the Costa Rican being the only one of the two talents to be considered good enough to play in 2. Bundesliga in regards to his talent. With both of the players scoring 11 goals overall this season, I'm excited to see how they do. Santiago Degenkolb's total of 21 league goals in 59 league games isn't the most impressive in the world, but he is comfortably the best goalscorer for the club in the two seasons we have managed so far, and is the only player to have gotten into double figures for goals in every season he's played in the league for Energie Cottbus under my management.

As for the player who was our best player and has achieved the most assists this season, that would be Ben Meyer. He is one of the highest earning players at the club and someone we would have moved on if we weren't able to get promoted last season, but he has repaid our faith in his this season with 9 assists at left-back and the highest average rating of 7.08, which probably shows you how inconsistent the team was at times this season. Either way, I'm happy with paying him £10.5K a week if he keeps up with these kind of performances.

I did however, want to give a special shoutout to most developed player in Ergün Senol, who if we were to compare from when I first arrived to the end of my 2nd season at the club, he has developed incredibly well and has managed to win caps at the under 21 level for Turkey, but has now managed to begin winning caps for Germany at the under 19 level. For me, this guy has become my favourite player to watch develop and I wouldn't be surprised if we were to lost Ergün to a big team in the very near future. I just got to hope that we managed to gain some wonderful intake in central defence before that happens. 

Edited September 2, 2020 by JLAB

[Panneton0]

Oh please please be true

 

[OlivierL]

Just a quick question, i can ask for this Hibs link ? but i can't loan or sign players from them (logic). But is it possible they or the board will force some loan transfers to us ?

Anyone got experience with this ?

 

 

[JaytheGreat]

AD Os Limiano Season 20/21 Youth Intake

 

It's a big class coming in and I think we'll get a lot of use from this class. There are no starters straight out of the gate but Nuno Silva will be great cover. There are 4 players that will go instantly into the first, but quite a few will be given a chance in the summer to fight for spots. Unfortunately there are only 2 CMs so I will be trying to retrain the AMCs into either CMs or Strikers. With the state of our squad any one of these players could make a big impact on the squad and it really good be a golden generation here at Limianos. A few interesting facts about this class; there is 1 dual citizenship player (ST Serghei Tsypneu who has citizenship for both Portugal and Moldova), every player is from Port de Lima which is the town we are from, and every player has atleast a basic understanding of Portugese, Spanish, and English. The Spanish I'm assuming is from being so close to the Spanish border, and the English might be because my coach is fluent in English.  

Top Prospects

[Panneton0]

il y a 9 minutes, OlivierL a dit :

Just a quick question, i can ask for this Hibs link ? but i can't loan or sign players from them (logic). But is it possible they or the board will force some loan transfers to us ?

Anyone got experience with this 
 

If you keep all your transfer responsibilities for yourself and do not hire a loan manager, I believe you'll be fine.... But I can't guarantee it 100% :S

[libbyshuss]

32 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

i can ask for this Hibs link ? but i can't loan or sign players from them (logic). But is it possible they or the board will force some loan transfers to us ?

Anyone got experience with this ?

i had a similar deal with aston villa. they gave us 50k a season but never once sent us any players. if they did, i was gonna stick them in the reserves and not play them

I didn't have a choice though, the board forced it on me

[andershs]

"A top prospect in the centre of midfield". Man I like that. Much needed.

And to make it even better, a left winger, and what looks to be an exciting intake 

[XaW]

Witton Albion

Season 2030/31 (Season 11) Review - Sky Bet League Two - England

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

After the very close call last season, I had hopes we could improve this season and we did! The start was horrible as we lost the first 3 matches, but then went on a bit of a run and joined Wigan and Chesterfield in the battle for the top spot. As the season went on, we were quite close up top, but a few other teams also started to meddle, like Crawley Town and Doncaster. Going into the final few matches of the season, Wigan was unstoppable, while we had a poor time. Luckily for us Chesterfield and Crawley Town also had a poor time, so we ended in 2nd place and promotion! This summer we should also move into our new stadium, as well as finishing improvements to the facilities. So things are going great for us now.

In the FA Cup we lost to Shrewsbury in the 1st round.

In the League Cup we beat Oldham before losing to Shrewsbury (again) in the 2nd round.

In the EFL Trophy we finished 3rd in our group behind Everton U23s and Accrington Stanley, but ahead of Carlsle. Still not enough to go through.

Notable Players

Sean Steadman 25a - Another really good season from our top scorer.
Martin Barbour 27b - Our more attacking central midfielder had a good season.
Callum Bates 22g - Captain Bates had another good season in our defence. Closing in on 400 games for us now.

Youth intake

Youth intake - Now this is an intake! Those improvements to the facilities are paying off!

Sean Wilson 31a - A really nicely talented winger. Good utility since he can play on both sides as well.
Dusko Starcic 31b - A bit too short for my taste in centre backs, but still a good talent.
Anthony Clarke 31c - Amazing mentals for his age, and some very good stats. Could become excellent.
Paul Enobakhare 31d - The most shining jewel in this intake as far as I can tell. Some amazing attributes for a 17 year old.
Cardo Ngongé 31e - A very promising right winger that could go far.

[gadedk]

F.C. Barreirense

2020/2021

The first season is done, we started the season with a very small squad around 13-14 players and almost no defensive players. The first couple of games i think we struggle to win and play well, so i changed tactic from 4-4-3 to a 4-4-2. Overall its was fine, nothing speciel to tell you about, since we dont have any youth players ( [url=https://i.imgur.com/iNTv52y.png] expect one [/url]) this season. 
We got a new [url=https://i.imgur.com/98njNGj.png] HOYD [/url], nothing speciel, i will try to find another in the next season if we get some money to do that. 

Overview of the season

We ended on the 7 place in the league, a long way from the top, but also long way from the bottom. The must important before the season, was ofc not to be part of the bottom this season. I think with at little more luck and if start the season well, we can try to fight for the top 4 places.

Player stats

Denilson is the topscorer with 14 goals, the number 2 & 3 is Fernando and the Newgens silva, who was in the club when i started. After i got my youth intake, a lots of them (8) got pulled up to the first team right away, because we didn't have anything to play for in the league. So why not give them a chance and some playing time?

Youth intake 2020/2021

As you can see i have been really lucky with my first YI, i got a Keeper  that's gonna play in the first team right away. I think 8-9 of them will be playing for the first team next season. I have to start training some young players to my team.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2020 by gadedk

[Padders]

Robbie Beecroft just moved to Derby for £134m!!

Nothing to really report last two season

Managed to stay up. Not really improving and my best two players are late 20's are youth intakes have been poor last 3 seasons

[gadedk]

38 minutes ago, Padders said:

Robbie Beecroft just moved to Derby for £134m!!

Nothing to really report last two season

Managed to stay up. Not really improving and my best two players are late 20's are youth intakes have been poor last 3 seasons

Wow, did you get any % of next sales when you sold him to Liverpool?

[Diego D10S]

                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                                       Season 2022 / 2023 -  11th in Serie B

 

                                                                               

                   

[XaW]

My chairman sold our brightest talent...

[gadedk]

46 minutes ago, XaW said:

My chairman sold our brightest talent...

Damn... 

[_JHTB_]

CD Mensajero

2026/2027

LaLiga 2 – 11th

Fixtures (1) -- Fixtures (2) -- Stats -- Awards -- Season Review -- Transfer -- Overall Best XI -- Key Player -- Hot Prospect -- Finances

League: I predicted we might struggle this season and, for the first half of the season we definitely did finding ourselves in a 4 or 5 team battle to stay out of the final relegation spot – the bottom 3 were a fair way off the pace. A 2-0 win over Extremadura in January saw us climb above them and out of the relegation zone whilst also providing a catalyst for a very solid second half of the season form wise. In fact, we briefly harboured some faint hopes of making the playoffs as we found ourselves 9 points away with 6 games remaining though we promptly lost our next game 4-1. To end of the season back to back games against Extremadura and Valencia Mestalla saw us win both and relegate a team in consecutive games.

Cup: My hope for the cup was lower league sides so I could get morale boosting victories and first round provided just that with a 7-1 victory but we then lost to lower league opposition in the second round on penalties.

Squad: Jose did end up leaving when his contract ran out meaning we needed a new first choice striker and following a deep dive into strikers at the club Rosmen Meilan 3d was the chosen one following their strong development with the B team the season prior. Andoni Mancisador 3a battled with Acoran 1g for the left back spot. Ruyman Segura 4b and Pedro Jose Crespo 3m both went out on loan to Peralada in the tier below but they were comfortably relegated.

Club Infrastructure: Huge change, the TV money for LaLiga 2 completely resolved our financial difficulties and we improved both youth recruitment and junior coaching as soon as we could with youth facilities planned for the summer. I eventually managed to get the board to agree to let me go on my final coaching course persuading them that the 14^th place at the time was not performing below expectations of 22^nd.

Players of the year

Rosmen Meilan 3d: Last season he wasn’t even on my radar for first team action and this year he proved why he should have been with 15 league goals. He was a fairly good performer even when he wasn’t scoring as well.

Airam Lampon 3b: In spite of the increase in quality a centre back who just tended to play well, he also contributed 4 goals.

Victor 1e: Lampon 3b’s centre back partner both playing a key role in defense. Victor 1e was ever present this season.

Young Player of the year

Rosmen Meilan 3d: I am glad Jose decided not to renew as I wouldn’t have played Meilan if he had and Jose would not have reached the same goal tally nor developed as much.

Youth Intake

A very nice youth intake this time around although the positions of the better players not necessarily those most in need

Armando Rodriguez 7a: A bit of a weird player, rated well by the coaches but I don’t see what position he’d be any good at. My main thought is maybe centre mid – his physicals limiting him for pretty much everywhere.

Arkaitz Dominguez 7b: A promising looking centre back option. Not great physicals or personality but he could be a good option for the future.

Juan Nzeng 7c: A very solid looking goalkeeper. He’s straight in as second choice goalkeeper I think and hopefully will develop well enough to eventually take Zebenzui Rosa’s spot,

Victor Morales 7d: A pretty well rounded player by all accounts, I think I’m going to retrain him as adefensie midfielder though as I believe he can provide a solid deputy to Delgado 1d for the time being.

Adrian 7g: I’m not completely sold here but left back is our weakest area so another option with at least some potential is only positive.

Overview/Looking Ahead

I had thought the second half of the season would see us go back and forth on the final relegation spot so to do as well as we did was a pleasant surprise. Meilan 3d finding goalscoring form was a huge help as he scored 12 of his 15 goals in the second half of the campaign. All said a top half finish is extremely good for us.

This summer will see our wage bill skyrocket as we offer a lot of new contracts but the minimum wage for LaLiga 2 is £1.3k per week with most our players on less than £500 p/w from the league below. Fleitas’ has decided to hang up his boots though he did contribute this season with 4 assists to his name.

Next season I’m really just hoping we can comfortably survive relegation again and continue to improve the infrastructure. If we can replicate the second half of the season form we could reach the playoffs but we were heavily beaten by some of the better teams in the league so we’re probably not good enough for them.

The story so far

Youth Record Holders

[_JHTB_]

@gadedk The link for the keeper screenshot is the wrong one - it's the HOYD link

@XaW Dusko Starcic looks more of a winger than a centre back to me 

[XaW]

3 minutes ago, _JHTB_ said:

@XaW Dusko Starcic looks more of a winger than a centre back to me 

I don't disagree, but I have a few better talents there. As a right wing back though.... 

[thomas_e]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

My chairman sold our brightest talent...

At least you get 40% of profits from the next sale. 

[XaW]

Just now, thomas_e said:

At least you get 40% of profits from the next sale. 

Yeah, that is the saving grace from that deal. The other things are just... meh... Nice, but we have money right now, so I'd rather have the player. Should he be sold for silly money in a few years, then that's something else...

[thomas_e]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

Yeah, that is the saving grace from that deal. The other things are just... meh... Nice, but we have money right now, so I'd rather have the player. Should he be sold for silly money in a few years, then that's something else...

Agreed, you would of course rather keep him. After plenty of seasons on this challenge now I would say that keeping players rather than selling them is the better option 99% of the time. 

Edited September 3, 2020 by thomas_e

[JLAB]

So we lost Tobias Eisenhuth after Hamburg met his minimum release clause of £1.3M outright and the board accepted it without any sell-on fees after I started negotiating with Hamburg to see if I could get them to pay more than the release fee. Needless to say it didn't go well for me.