[FM20] It was Cambrogi in Wales, but now it's all about aggression in Wales, in England. Bellicosity, pugnacity and belligerence are all excellent words. But Welsh belligerence, in England now.

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2040.

We got a late win against TNS in the league to ensure that they didn't become a squad of invincibles.

Neither of us have lost to anyone else this season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

7 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2039.

A new GK and a Welsh striker from that little-known Welsh town called Singapore. 

Youth Intake. Mar 2040.

Squad by PPA. 2x 3.0 PA. That's rubbish. That's REALLY rubbish. 

Squad by PA. I think what's missing from this intake is the (ENG) players. Usually they are the highest rated by PA and there is not a single one in this intake.

Squad by CA. 

(40g) Thiam (SIN).

(40a) Owen Bird.

(40b) Sainty.

[Edit]

My lack of comment does not suggest that I don't care about the rubbish level of the intakes. More that I just don't know what to say. 

Edited May 4, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake discussion. Mar 2040.

I asked for some clarification earlier in the thread, but it appears that Wales/England don't really work in the same way as many other Nations because by far the greater majority of the best Welsh players are produced at neither English clubs in Wales, Welsh clubs in Wales, nor Welsh clubs in England, but at English clubs in England. 

The truth is that I'm not sure what I improve and what in order that we start getting these players through our Academy. 

It's frustrating but can we get past this?  I just don't know. 

The English intakes happen about 1 week later than those in Welsh, so I will have a look at the intakes from Cardiff and Swansea to act as a comparison. We also have to take into account that there are still 9 players who have been poached and have not come through an intake elsewhere yet. One of these, John Roberts at Nottm Forest, is either going to be the best, (or very close to the best), that we have ever produced. His PA is likely to be 131-135 and obviously that's a pretty significant player in a save such as this. 

To put that in perspective, the very best player we currently have at the club, (rated by actual PA) is David Goode (ENG), who's PA is 133, (I have just checked), and that's pretty close to what we are going to see with John Roberts. 

The best player who has come fully through our Academy is (39b) Michael Hewitt (ENG) who has a PA of 123, (but his CA is currently 74 at the age of 18 and there is of course no guarantee that I can get his CA to his PA even if I manage to keep him at the club, (although with the facilities improving it should be significantly easier than earlier in the save). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Cardiff Youth intake. Mar 2040. 

53 PA
62 PA
67 PA
71 PA
51 PA
67 PA
57 PA
69 PA
78 PA
68 PA.

You have to remember that Cardiff are an established Championship side who have played in the Championship every season during this save. 

This is their current facilities. 

The 4 facilities for the purposes of Youth Production add up to 17 + 18 + 14 + 14 = 63 out of  80.

If I was playing in the English Championship and getting intakes like that, I would not be happy. 

Swansea Youth intake. Mar 2040.

48 PA.
94 PA.
61 PA.
87 PA.
80 PA.
67 PA.
97 PA.
62 PA.
84 PA.
81 PA. 

Swansea have spent most of the save in the Championship, but have also spent a few season in League 1. 

This is their current facilities. 

The 4 facilities for the purposes of Youth Production add up to 16 + 17 + 15 + 17 = 65 out of  80.

Swansea score 2 points higher on their facilities score, and the quality, (at least in terms of PA), is better. 

The average Cardiff PA over these 10 players is 64.3.

The average Swansea PA over these 10 players is 76.1.

We only signed 9 of the 16 players this season but this is their PA. 

70, 99, 83, 112, 100, 79, 87, 60, 64. That gives us an average of 83.77.

These are our facilities. 

The 4 facilities for the purposes of Youth Production add up to 14 + 14 + 20 + 19 = 67 out of  80. (so it's 2 points better than Swansea and 4 points better than Cardiff). 

I know we are only looking at 1 season's intake and only 29 of the 48 players, but it at least suggests that we are already out-performing the Welsh clubs in England in terms of Youth production. 

It will be interesting to see at what point we start competing with the big English clubs in England for the best Welsh players and also if the quality of English player we recruit also improves. Something that I have never seen explained in any detail is the connection between 2nd Nationalities and how they are generated. 

I wonder if @Seb Wassellhas any info on this that he would like to share? 

[Jimbokav1971]

17 hours ago, DazRTaylor said:

Your Youth Recruitment has been stuck on 19 for a while.  No option to improve it further?

Sorry @DazRTaylorI didn't see the second part of your post before. It must have been edited after I quoted.

No, I keep looking but it's never available. It's come to the stage now where I don't think I can afford any more upgrades. I have a feeling that those currently in the pipeline are going to get cancelled due to lack of funds. 

I really need to start making the Champions League group stages again, but the route is far harder from the Runners Up position and we're not good enough to beat TNS over the full course of a season at the moment. 

[Thebaker]

Seems like its proving more of a contest with TNS just when you looked like you had got the better of them. Those youth intakes from Cardiff and Swansea are terrible, are Newport and Merthyr equally bad?

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

Seems like its proving more of a contest with TNS just when you looked like you had got the better of them. Those youth intakes from Cardiff and Swansea are terrible, are Newport and Merthyr equally bad?

I'm loving the battle with TNS at the moment and it's making the save for me. 

We just seemed to have the sign over them when Giggs was there. That last season before he left, the only reason we won the league was because we beat them in all 4 league games I think, (and still only won the league narrowly). Now it's REALLY competitive but so far neither of us has lost to anyone else in the league this season. Even a draw to another Welsh team is points lost. 

The intakes from Cardiff and Swansea aren't this bad every season, (I don't think), but I will do some research at a later date about the quality of their intakes. 

I didn't bother even looking at Newport and Merthyr, (and Wrexham), because of what the Cardiff/Swansea intakes were like. When I looked at the Welsh National team before, (about 4-5 years ago I think), then there were some there who had come through at Cardiff & Swansea, but most had come through at English "Top 6" sides. Again, I will look at this at a later date, but the facilities of the 3 smaller Welsh clubs are pretty poor. 

I have a very loose plan at the moment that involves me moving on to Cardiff or Swansea at some point, but only after I think I have achieved everything I can with Ton Pentre. I don't think we have even scratched the surface really, (and I will shortly be updating you about a Euro Cup Quarter Final against Man Utd). When we started to dominate TNS I thought "this is going to get boring", but that has completely changed now. I had started to look elsewhere a couple of seasons ago, I am completely concentrating on Ton Pentre now and think I will be here for a good few years to come. 

I need to be smarter I think. Youth development is great and it's how I love to play, but I have also needed to crank up my scouting and I need to start buying players to sell just to generate income. Although we are guaranteed Champions League football at the moment, it's only Group Stages that bring the cash. 

The Welsh Champions get a pretty easy route to the Group Stage, but the Runners Up have a much tougher route. This season we beat Slavia Prague and Fenerbahce before losing to PSV. Last season we lost to Slavia Prague, (so we are getting there). The problem is that the other Welsh clubs are just not helping TNS and ourselves who are smashing it out of the park in Europe in recent seasons. We really need someone else to start putting some wins together. 

[Thebaker]

You are lucky TNS are doing something, I've managed in smaller countries before and had 3 other teams barely win a single match for several seasons.

[Jimbokav1971]

Just now, Thebaker said:

You are lucky TNS are doing something, I've managed in smaller countries before and had 3 other teams barely win a single match for several seasons.

You are right, but it's a bit of a double-edged sword. They are helping boost the coefficient but they are also winning the domestic league which means our route is that much harder. 

My experience in the past has much like your own in that I generally had to do it all. This is a bit new to me. It's rather a unique league in that respect, (with TNS being English and with most of the best Welsh newgens going to English clubs in England). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar & Apr 2040. 

Really sorry. I'm so engrossed in the game at the moment I keep forgetting to post updates at the end of the month. 

Domestic games. Had we beaten TNS in the penultimate game of the season we would have finished level on points with TNS. Had we won against Afan Lido in the last game of the season we would have finished level on points with TNS. Even then we would have lost the title on goal difference, but it shows what fine margins we're talking about. 

European games. We were absolutely smashed by Man Utd, and in particular their Welsh left winger who is the best Welsh player I have seen in this save. (pic of him below). 

Records. 

Karl Johns (WAL) *. Wales have some really good players and this bloke is the best I have seen. He was phenomenal against us. Everything went through him and he literally tore us apart. 

Interestingly, (at least to me), he was poached by Man Utd from Afan Lido. (He has a PA of 183 which is about 50 better than the best player we have had poached and 60 better than the best player we have seen come through our Academy). 

These are the Afan Lido facilities at the moment. It would seem that there is hope for us yet. 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Job Interview declined. Jun 2040.

Leicester are 8th in the Premier League. 

I have no idea what I would have done if this was Cardiff or Swansea offering me an interview. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Job Interview declined. Jun 2040.

Wolves are 5th in the Premier Division. 

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season Summary. Jun 2040.

Final League Table.

Squad by appearances. 

Overall Best XI. 

Finances. 

Facilities. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Rankings. Jun 2040.

Losing 1 position in the ranking doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is when it costs us a Champions League spot when we are currently losing the league battle with TNS. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Finances. Jun 2040. 

We've got £5.5M in the bank, but I think we're due to pay out £7.7M to pay for the next round of upgrades. 

Championship Huddersfield have just come in with a £4.3M offer for centre-half David Goode (ENG). We signed him on a free and while he's one of our best players, we simply need the money and £4.3M is big money. He has a min fee release clause of £4.6M so this is already in the ball-park, so I'm negotiating the offer to add some extra clauses. 

25% of next sale.
arrange friendly.
£100,000 after 50 league games
£2,000 per league appearance for 50 appearances. 

The board accepted this offer on my behalf although I had the option to protest or negotiate the deal but chose not to. 

We had enough in the bank for the Training Facilities, but not for the Youth facilities. 

The transfer of David Goode (ENG) still hasn't gone through but I think I will still let it go through rather than protesting it simply to give our finances a bit of a cushion. I just have to accept that we need to sign players like these and then move them on for profit when the price is right. 

Swansea have tried to come in and gazzump Huddersfield at the last minute. They met the min fee release clause so it's out of my hands. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1st Wonderkid. Jun 2040.

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached. Jun 2040. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached Aug 2040.

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul & Aug 2040.

Pre-Season. 

Domestic games. 

European games. We were soft against LASK of Austria. We really should be beating a team like that and we really need the money but we were under-cooked so early in the season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Poaching update. Sep 2040.

From previous posts, it's clear to see that I have missed a few players who have been poached and I've only realised that they have been poached once they leave the club who's Academy they came through and I get a message advising me that we have missed out on a 5% sell-on clause. I then add their info to the chart and post again. 

I have discovered a different way to track it though.

Transfers - Transfer Centre - Clauses.

From the picture below you can see that we have 5 clauses available to buy and sell. 

Alun Rogers (WAL) * has been named because he is a member of the Welsh squad and someone I have highlighted as a high priority target. (This was a few years ago and I think I was trying to get him in on loan). 

George Griffiths HG I have already identified as a previous Academy product and the HG indicates that I have added him to my "poached" shortlist. 

Williams (TRI) was our old GK that I sold with various clauses. 

Jon Richards HG I have already identified as a previous Academy product and the HG indicates that I have added him to my "poached" shortlist. 

Rob Davies HG I have already identified as a previous Academy product and the HG indicates that I have added him to my "poached" shortlist. 

So we know what all the nicknames are for, but why then are we owed a 5% sell on clause for Alun Rogers (WAL) *? 

Let's look at his "milestones" and see where he came from?

So he definitely is a product of our Academy, (even though he was poached before he came through the intake). 

Is he any good? Yeah, yeah he bloomin well is. 

He's valued at £16.25M and has already made his debut for Wales. How has his career gone? 

He has a PA of 152 and he came through our Academy!  

[Edit]

I forgot to look at how much the clause could be sold for. 

We basically own a 5% share so......

If he goes for £1M we get £50,000.

If he goes for £10M we get £500,000

If he went for £30M we get £1.5M

I think I would rather take the £1.36M right now thanks very much. 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Updated poaching sheet. Oct 2040.

Here is the updated sheet that includes everyone I can find that has either come through our Academy or was at our Academy and then poached by another club. I've also included a shortlist of those players still in the game. Some might say that this is a waste of time, but to be honest I think it's really important. I have asked many questions in this thread with regards to the quality of the Youth we are producing and I don't think we can look at our Youth Intakes without also including the players who were with us and who were enticed away. I personally think this is really realistic and credit to SI on the way it works. I do wonder though if there is a point at which English clubs will no longer be able to poach our players.

My initial reaction is that surely the best way for this to work would be to base it on either competition and/or club reputation. Do I expect that Man Utd, Liverpool, Spurs etc can still poach my players? Yes, I think that's realistic. Do I think that Charlton playing in League 1 should be able to poach my players? No, not anymore. (They poached a player in Jun 2038 and to be honest back then it was fine. I would expect our reputation now to be at a level that should make this impossible, (if reputation is a significant contributing factor that is).   wonder if @Seb Wassellcould shed any light on this? (Pretty please Seb. I know you are probably really busy but would love some info on this). 

So let's look at league reputation 1st. Ours has been on the rise but the English Championship in England is going to have a huge reputation for a 2nd tier? (possibly the highest). League 1 though should not be near that level so let's have a look. 

While the English Premier League is ranked the top League competition in Europe, the JD Cymru Premier is now up to 20th. That's a huge achievement already, but I don't need to compare to the English premier League. I want to particularly compare the JD Cymru Premier League to the English Championship and English League 1. 

The filter to remove other Nations doesn't work in the game so I'm unable to show you a list that shows only English and Welsh competitions, so let's try something else. 

This is a list of league competition reputation for but ignoring top-tier competitions. 

So despite the fact that the JD Cymru Premier has seen it's reputation rise to rank it the 20th most league competition in Europe, (that's significant), it is still ranked behind the English Championship, (ranked 18th), and I think this is right. No problem with that at all. 

The above star ratings are fine as an indication, but basically it's a rating of 1-10 and that's pretty limited. 

English Premier League. 9 on star rating. 
English Championship. 6 on star rating. 
JD Cymru Premier. 6 on star rating. 
English League 1. 5 on star rating. 

Let's have a look, (using the editor), to see what the reputation of these competition actually is, (if I can find it). 

English Premier League. Reputation is 184 in editor. 
English Championship. Reputation is 136 in editor.
JD Cymru Premier. Reputation is 134 in the editor. 
English League. Reputation is 108 in the editor. 

The reason for this post though, (in part), is I'm less happy about League 1 clubs being able to poach our players, (but also let's acknowledge that this hasn't happened since Jun 2038, (so 2 years 4 months ago), and has only happened twice since May 2036, (4 years 5 months ago), when a League 2 team poached a player from us. The other thing I would say is that the club doing the poaching should have an impact on this too, (in my head at least). There is no point classing all League 1 clubs the same because.... (without checking), I'm pretty sure than Aston Villa were or are a League 1 side in my game, but they aren't a League 1 club in stature at all and I would expect them to have more pulling power than some Championship clubs for example. 

Let's just pick some random English clubs and then see how ourselves, TNS and Afan Lido match up to them. 

Man Utd are a top club, (in terms of reputation). 
Wolves have spent the whole save in the Premier League. 
Leeds might be a Championship club irl but they have spent most of this save in the Premier League.
Cardiff have spent the whole save in the Championship. 
Swansea have spent most of the save in the Championship but have also spent a few years in League 1. 
Aston Villa re bottom of the Championship, but have spent 4 seasons in league 1 during this save. 
Peterborough have spent most of the save on League 1, but have spent 2 seasons in the Championship. 
Newport County have spent about half the save in League 1 and half in League 2.  

So the question is, where do Ton Pentre sit in this ranking? 

Above Newport County? yes.  
Above Peterborough? yes
Above Aston Villa? I'm honestly not sure. 
Above Swansea and Cardiff? I don't think so, (but it might be close). 
Leeds, Wolves & Man Utd. No. 

So let's rank the clubs by reputation now. Remember that this is in 2040. 

Man Utd. 8861. 
Wolves. 8433. (That's closer to Man Utd than I was expecting, but i have very little to base that on). 
Leeds. 7508. (That's further away from Wolves than I was expecting). 
Cardiff. 5953.
Swansea. 6032. (That's a surprise that it's higher than Cardiff). 
Aston Villa. 5967 (I expected that, but Swansea & Villa both have better rep than Cardiff despite both playing at a lower level during this save). 
Peterborough. 4904.
Newport. 4863. (I'm surprised that that's as high as it is). 

Where do I think we are? Well we got to the Quarter Finals of the Euro League last season and have got to the Group Stage of the Champions League twice in recent years. Somewhere between 5,500 and 6,500 maybe? 

Ton Pentre. 5506. 
TNS. 5547 
Afan Lido. 3991

Ok. So we were just about where I expected, but the very bottom end of the scale. I suppose that whole our reputation is on the rise, our performances and consistency have only been this good in recent years and reputation is accrued over a longer period of time. 

So although that fits in with my thinking that League 1 clubs should no longer be able to poach our players, it at least explains why they were able to. 

Charlton's reputation for example is 6,033 so despite them being being in League 1 when they poached our player, they are usually in the Championship and their rep reflects that. 

So all in all I would say that while our progress in this area has been slower than I would like, I also think it's pretty realistic. 

So with all that in mind, here is the updated list and shortlist. 

Thoughts? 

[rodesire]

Great analysis and I agree with the idea that the club rep possibly combined with league rep could be deciding if a club can poach your players.

[Jimbokav1971]

Sept & Oct. 

Really sorry. I keep forgetting to update at the end of each month. 

Domestic games. Despite the loss, (more about that in a minute), I'm really pleased with how we are developing.

We've only conceded 1 goal in the league and that was a penalty after we were already down to 10 men in what was a weakened team anyway. Unfortunately it cost us 3 points We had a player sent off in the 33rd min against Connah's Quay in the league and after 23 mins against the same opposition in the Nat MG Cup. 

European games. 

Finances. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sell-on clauses. Nov 2040. 

After finding that I had sell-on clauses that I didn't know about, I have taken more of an interest in them. 

While I told you in a recent post about selling my 5% stake in Alun Rogers HG at Leeds for £1.3M, I didn't tell you about the others that I had sold. Nobody else was above £1M, but there were quite a few that were significant, (and by that I mean more than £100,000). I wish now that I had made a note of how much I had got for whom. 

We have received £7,467,506 from selling players this season. 

That sounds a lot, (even though I know we have sold a few players at the start of the season). Let's see who we sold and for how much? 

2 starting midfielders and 2 back-up GK's. 

Both midfielders had 12 months left on their contract and both GK's were surplus to requirements with a couple of decent youngsters at the club. 

£7,467,506 - £3.3M = £4,167,506 Some of that will have come from add-ons for other deals we have done, but most of that has come from claused deals that I have accepted. 

We have 6 clauses available to sell at the moment. 

I know all about the 5% deals for George Griffiths HG, John Richards HG and Rob Davies HG and I think they are all worth less than £10k so let's just ignore them. 

Shaun Jacobs (ENG) SELL 50%  is a lot and I went for that because I was selling him for a paltry amount so I basically let him go on a free and boosted the % up from 25% to 50%. He;s now worth.... £100k and the deal is worth £35k. That's more than I was selling him for but he's playing every week at League 2 Luton so I think I will leave the deal in place. 

Noah Guy (WAL) SELL was in the Welsh Senior side and had a couple of caps so when the chance came to sell him to Man Utd ahead of someone else I declined the other bids and let him go to Man Utd. He's now worth £2M and while 25% of that is £500k, the deal has only been done for £215k. The only problem is that he was specifically signed as a Backup and is never going to play. So while I wish the £215k was closer to £500k, I'm going to accept that deal and thank the DoF or whoever.

Now this is where it gets interesting, (and is the reason for this post). I had to cash in on the 2 midfielders because they each had just 12 months left on their contract, but also because we needed the money. I want to be in charge of who leaves and when and in order to do that I need to make sure that we always have a few million in the bank. 

27yo Stewart (ENG) SELL went to Palace in the Championship. He's worth £10.25M  I don't think he's worth anything like that. He's playing regularly and reasonably well, but palace are mid-table at best. He's not going to go up with them and I can't see someone spending £10M for him.

So how much is the clause worth? 

 

Get in!  That's a flipping great deal. Where do I sign? 

The other thing to mention is because this money goes into "Players Sold" on the P&L, it also triggers an increase in our available transfer budget. 

Anyone who follows my stuff knows that I love a clause on an out-going deal and with that in mind I would say that I'm reasonable at checking them. I know the deals are there and every so often I look to see how much they are worth, but I think I should pay much much much more attention. 

[rodesire]

With all this money it should be a lot easier to keep hold of your stars now or at least get board to accept much higher offers now behind your back.

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, rodesire said:

With all this money it should be a lot easier to keep hold of your stars now or at least get board to accept much higher offers now behind your back.

Yeah, but "all this money" looks good on paper, but the truth is that we need to keep doing it just to keep our heads above water. We don't really get money from anywhere else except Europe, and when we perform poorly it REALLY impacts us. We should have made the Champions league Group Stages this season but we were under-cooked at the beginning of pre-season and crashed out early. As time has gone on we're looking much better now but we need to be more consistent early in then season. 

We're currently spending £6.5M pa on wages, the Youth setup cost is £3.9M last season, (and will cost us more this season), Ground Maintenance £3.6M last year and Bonus payments amounted to £1.6M last season. Just those things come to £15.6M per year. 

If we make the Champions League Group stage then I'm sure we make a profit, but this season we only made the Euro Cup Group stage and I'm positive that we would make a big loss were it not from transfer income. When I sold the 2 midfielders mentioned above, (James and Stewart), they were 1st and 2nd choice in central midfield and were both in their prime, (27 years old). 

What I have done is effectively sell our stars in their prime, but I did it on purpose rather than by accident. 

My plan is to really focus on individual strikers soon with a view to them scoring a lot of goals and generating transfer interest off the back of that and then simply getting a bit of a production line going. The problem is that our cash has been pumped into the facilities rather than future prospects until this time and it's only recently that I have really started investing in players with a view to the future rather than players who can do a job immediately and also might improve. We haven't had that luxury in the past. 

[Thebaker]

I would disagree with your theory about players only being poached by better teams although it would be less likely. Players at that age can move for different reasons aside from just wanting to go  to better clubs (ie family moves, english players simply wanting to move to english clubs even inferior ones, moving to clubs with a defined policy of playing youth players - crewe comes to mind.) This could be represented in the game.

Also have you managed to poach any players yourself and if so from where?

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. Nov 2040. 

And @rodesire, you know exactly where I really want to spend the money. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

I would disagree with your theory about players only being poached by better teams although it would be less likely. Players at that age can move for different reasons aside from just wanting to go  to better clubs (ie family moves, english players simply wanting to move to english clubs even inferior ones, moving to clubs with a defined policy of playing youth players - crewe comes to mind.) This could be represented in the game.

Also have you managed to poach any players yourself and if so from where?

I think you make some great point. 

I think it unlikely that "family moves" are in the game, but I would suggest that "career pathway" is something that certainly should be in the game, (however I fear it's not). 

Crewe are a great example, but more importantly than that I think that individual managers in the game can have a reputation for signing, nurturing and actually playing young players so it should have an impact, but again I'm not sure it does. 

We haven't poached any players that I have seen, (although let me go and look at out-going clauses because it's possibly but unlikely that i have missed it). 

No, I've just checked and there are no 5% fees owed to anyone, but I think I would notice this on Youth Intake Day anyway. 

[Thebaker]

16 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I think you make some great point. 

I think it unlikely that "family moves" are in the game, but I would suggest that "career pathway" is something that certainly should be in the game, (however I fear it's not). 

 

I'm sure they are not in the game, the reason for the poaching is not given. I was just giving reasons why young players may want to move to other clubs even lower rep ones..

I am surprised you haven't poached from any other welsh teams or lower down nearby english teams like Merthyr, Hereford or even Cheltenham

Edited May 6, 2020 by Thebaker

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

I'm sure they are not in the game, the reason for the poaching is not given. I was just giving reasons why young players may want to move to other clubs even lower rep ones..

I am surprised you haven't poached from any other welsh teams or even lower down nearby english teams like Merthyr, Hereford or even Cheltenham

I'm surprised too. 

I've been checking though and there has been a lot of poaching going on elsehwhere. 

I will do an Welsh National Team update at some point and show who came through what Academy and who has been poached from where. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2040.

Domestic games. 

I thought we had beaten TNS when right winger Amos scored with 5 mins to go, but this happened in the 92nd minute. 

European games. Our final group game is at home to PSV. A draw see us qualify top of the Group and I think.... avoid the teams dropping down from the Champions League. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake preview. Sec 2040.

One of our GK's is a "Great" prospect and we have a "Top" prospect in the centre of midfield? Is this wording common? Maybe I'm just having a glass half full day today. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2040.

Domestic games. We've been in really good form and we've needed to be because that's a lot of games in 1 month. We hit the post 4 times in the last games against Bangor and I had just about given up when Jamie Thomas (WAL) * struck from a tight angle. We have over-hauled TNS despite them still being unbeaten. (We have to fix that before the end of the season). 

European games. We finished top of the group so all we need now is a couple of decent draws. 

Finances. 

Goal-scoring GK. With 3 goals this month, (and no misses from the spot), Ngoie (BEL) is up to 7 goals and 5 assists for the season. 

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Awards. Dec 2040.

Welsh Footballer of the Year 2040.

Karl Johns (WAL) * is an absolute beast. He was poached by Man Utd from Afan Lido. 

(37a) McGoona (WAL) was the runner-up. 

Lee Turner (WAL) came 3rd. He has 8 different PPM'sand came through the Liverpool Academy without being poached. 

Welsh Young Footballer of the Year 2040.

You've already met (37a) McGoona (WAL). 

Jamie Thomas (WAL) * was Runner-Up. He came through the Academy at Barry Town. I'm trying to play him enough so that someone pays me decent money for him. 

Alun Rogers HG (WAL) came 3rd. He was at our Academy before being poached by Leeds and looks like he's going to be the modern day equivalent of Orri freyr Oskarsson. (Physical beast). I'm thinking of trying to get him in on loan. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2041. 

What a horrific month that was. Not in terms of games, but in terms of transfers and the effort it took.

I need to go back to work for a rest after this! 

Domestic games. We just kept on winning and smashed TNS in the league and then beat them again in the Nat MG Cup Final just to rub it in. 

Transfers. 

First the bad news. Chelsea have come in with a ridiculous offer of £8.25M for our GK Ngoie (BEL). He still had 18 months on his contract so I was in no hurry to sell, but the board couldn't turn it down and I can't really protest it, (although I would have loved the ability to negotiate a sell on clause). The problem is now that I need a new GK  and I haven't really got one. 

This is what Ngoie (Bel) looked like in Jan 2040 when we signed him for £3.5M

This is what he looks like in Jan 2041 after we have just sold him for £8.25M. I would like to have got more for him, but because we weren't swimming in cash the board just accepted. The fact that he's immediately worth £27M at Chelsea is a bit galling I admit. 

Now for the good news. Bristol City were serious about signing David Goode (ENG) * and he had a min fee release clause of about £4.5M. When they got close to that I negotiated 25%, a friendly and a loan back for the rest of the season, (plus a few little add-ons for my trouble). They agreed so he left, (and then came back again). We have lost our GK but we need him back because we have just beaten TNS twice to steal a march on them in the league, and I really think that if I can get a reasonable GK in on loan then we have a chance to wrest back the league title. I didn't want him to go, but the fact remains that we are a selling club and until I can get a steady stream of young players coming through I have to take the money when it's available. 

Sibanda (ZIM) * was signed on the cheap because the scouts suggested he had decent potential but when he arrived the Ass Man didn't agree. I haven't looked on the Youth Intake screen, (which shows me CA & PA). Hopefully he will be more like the scout report than the Ass Man report. 

I had been tracking Gagne (ROM) * for a while now and might have left it a little late to develop him fully, but he was cheap and I think he can both perform well for us and improve to generate some profit. 

While I was actually looking for a big lumbering brute of a centre-half, I found this bloke and quite liked that he is already a teenage senior International. He looks like he might have something about him 

Future Transfers. I've got the following players arriving ON A FREE at the end of the season.   

I know 2 of them are right backs, but I signed the Brazilian and then the DoF found the other one and because he was a Wonderkid I just thought the hell he will never sign and then the next thing I know the DoF has done the deal and is asking me to sign on the dotted line. We've actually already got 2 decent right backs at the club already too. 21yo Rhys Collier (WAL) * is on the verge of a Welsh call-up and 18yo  (39b) Michael Hewitt (ENG) * is developing very nicely. What I'm going to do with 4 of them I have no idea.  The basic idea of these players is that they will all play with us for at least 1 season before being sold on to generate a profit. I need to get a tidy bank balance behind us so that we don't have to sell players I don't want to. 

 

New record. 

Finances.  We've brought in £16.5M from transfers this season, spent very little going the other way and we still only have £23.5M in the bank. This is what I'm talking about. It's going to take some hard work for a while I think. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Panic stations. Feb 2041. 

I really didn't enjoy that last month, and it has left us in a bit of a hole. 

• We lost our 1st choice GK Ngoie (BEL). I couldn't negotiate to get him back in on loan. 
• While the deal was going through, I recalled the next GK on the production line, Pajvot (CRO), and he immediately suffered a hernia while packing. 
• I eventually managed to get a loan GK in from Leeds, but I'm not happy about the quality of Kubica (POL).
• I sold right back Phillips * SELL because I had 2 good right backs at the club. Rhys Collier (WAL) * will soon play for Wales and (39b) Michael Hewitt (ENG) * is developing really nicely, (or was until he broke his ankle as soon as I let his competition go). 
• TNS and other clubs were starting to sniff around (37a) McGoona (WAL) who only had 18 months left on his contract, so I got him to sign a new one, (4+3 years), only for him to break down with a hip injury, (out for 5 months), as soon as he had signed it. 

Meh! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. Feb 2041. 

I know you are probably thinking that I should spend some of this cash on players rather than facilities, (and I will), but they will be young players and it takes a while to sift through so many scout reports to find someone who might be good enough and is also enough of a bargain. I don't think I will ever be able to say no to upgrading facilities. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2041.

I was gutted to lose against the Barry Town but we just couldn't cope with so many injuries and suspensions to key players and they scored and we didn't. We bounced back the following week to beat TNS in an absolute ding-dong affair. That means that we are now a whopping 9 points ahead of them with 6 games remaining, only 1 of which is against them. 

Finances. 

TNS imploding.  When we smashed 4 goals past TNS in the league in January they were unbeaten. We then went and beat them a few days later in the Nat MG Cup FInal. From a side that were previously unbeaten in domestic competition, we've put 10 goals past them in 3 games. 

Credit where it's due though. They recovered enough to progress in the Europa Cup, so will join is in the hat for the 2nd Knockout Round. 

After 6 wins in a row for them, we are now unbeaten against them in 7 games. 

It means that the head to head record is very interesting now, with us ahead just on goal difference. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Euro Cup. Second Knockout Round. Mar 2041. 

Not 1 but 2 Welsh clubs on show here. 

[Jimbokav1971]

9 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2040.

One of our GK's is a "Great" prospect and we have a "Top" prospect in the centre of midfield? Is this wording common? Maybe I'm just having a glass half full day today. 

Youth Intake Day. Mar 2041. 

Squad by PPA. At 1st look, this appears to be a rubbish intake. 1x 4.0 player and then 7x 2.5 players.. Rubbish! 

Squad by PA. But looks can be deceiving and this is actually significantly the best intake we have had in this save by some distance. The top 3 players have a chance of playing for the Welsh National Team. 

Squad by CA. Now here I'm a little confused. I look at the CA stars here and things look pretty decent. We have (41a) with 1.5 stars and then 4x 1.0 players. I have been used to 0.5 stars so this is a little surprising. What's more surprising is that a decent player, (I'm looking at (41h) in particular), has decent PA but pretty poor CA. This just makes it even harder for him to reach his PA. I've had a look at previous intakes and actually I'm wrong. The CA has improved on recent years and is decent, but what's happened is that the CA has improved by a bigger margin so it looks like the CA is further away. The 72 CA for (41a) is remarkable. 

In hindsight, this is actually a Golden Generation that hasn't been identified as such. 

I really feel like we are starting to get somewhere now. Don't get me wring, could really do with a centre-half coming through, but let's not complain after this eh!

If the above 3 pictures don't stop people from making a decision on Day 1 not to sign Youth Players based on star ratings then I don't think anything will. 

[Edit]

(41a) Ng (SIN).

Edited May 7, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2041. 

Domestic games. 

European games. 

The Italians are ganging up on us. We meet vanquishers of TNS, (Napoli), in the Quarter-FInals, and if we are somehow lucky enough to get past them then we face either Inter or Roma in the Semi. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Bugs. Apr 2041. 

I know that this version of the game has been far more bug-laden than recent issues, and in particular the likes of @Makoto Nakamurahave literally had the life sucked out of them by bug after bug after bug after bug. 

I had a big one with the facilities bug towards the start of my Nordic save. (and that really had an impact on me stopping playing before Christmas and basically killed the save for me), but other than that I've been quite lucky. Let's be honest though, I don't play with an edited database so you would expect me to have fewer issues than the likes of @Makoto Nakamurawho plays with a heavily edited database. 

That being said, there are a few issues in this game. 

• I have no U19 competitive fixtures. The U19's South League is working as expected, but there are no fixtures for the U19's North league and never have been since the start of the save, (although I have played 4 seasons in the U19's South league over the course of the save. 

• The Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup is being run, but the fixtures are not real and it looks like they are being simulated somehow. (Maybe this is because the Scottish structure is not active). I loved the idea of this competition at the start of this save, (It's like a UK version of the now defunct Scandi "Royal Cup"). Either way, we should either be in it or not in it. We shouldn't be pretending to be in it. 

I think there were 2 more that I was going to add here but I've just been side-tracked by something else and can't for the life of me remember what they were now. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached. May 2041.

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr & May 2041.

Domestic games. We smashed the life out of TNS in the end. After firing 4 past them in the league in January then completely imploded and unbeaten in 26 domestic games to that point, they lost 7 of 16 games on the run-in.  I remember thinking that they were going to go unbeaten at 1 point. I needn't have worried. 

European games. Gutted. Absolutely more gutted than I can remember being in a long time about this game. I thought we were in the Semi's.  Their last goal in the 1st leg looked ridiculously offside and they needed a penalty, an indirect free-kick and a phenomenal free-kick from absolutely miles out to beat us. 

Some of you, (particularly @rodesire), might remember a certain young striker by the name of Hartley (BEL) *. He played for us but had a £250,000 min fee release clause and try as I might I couldn't get him to renegotiate his contract. He moved to Napoli in Jul 2038. 

This is him now, worth £56M. 

He was the World U21 Footballer of the Year in 2038, he won the European Golden Boot this season and was a Runner Up in the Euro Cup with Napoli last season. I haven't been able to replace him since he left. Not even close. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Cardiff sack their Manager, (again). May 2041. 

They finished rock bottom of the Championship and have been relegated to League 1 so it's not a surprise. 

Am I wrong to be interested in the job? Decent facilities, use the Academy, just been relegated and financially secure? 

 

[rodesire]

I reckon it's a great rebuild job as long as you get to come back to Wales before too long..

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, rodesire said:

I reckon it's a great rebuild job as long as you get to come back to Wales before too long..

I was always planning on moving on to one of the Welsh clubs in Europe and I secretly said to myself that if Cardiff ever got relegated from the Championship it would be perfect but..... We have just got to the Quarter Finals of a European competition and were beaten on away goals by last season Runner Up. 

This seasons Finalists are Roma and Leicester and we beat Roma on away goals last season. 

We're definitely capable of winning the Euro Conference and that's even without a proper top-end striker. We have some players joining in the Summer who are going to take us to another level. 

Going out on a treble is great, but imagine winning a European trophy with a club from Wales? That's the stuff of @Makoto Nakamuralegend! 

 

[Makoto Nakamura]

5 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I was always planning on moving on to one of the Welsh clubs in Europe and I secretly said to myself that if Cardiff ever got relegated from the Championship it would be perfect but..... We have just got to the Quarter Finals of a European competition and were beaten on away goals by last season Runner Up. 

This seasons Finalists are Roma and Leicester and we beat Roma on away goals last season. 

We're definitely capable of winning the Euro Conference and that's even without a proper top-end striker. We have some players joining in the Summer who are going to take us to another level. 

Going out on a treble is great, but imagine winning a European trophy with a club from Wales? That's the stuff of @Makoto Nakamuralegend! 

 

Have two saves, one where you stay at Ton Petre and one where you take over Cardiff, see which one takes your fancy more. 

[Jimbokav1971]

8 minutes ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

Have two saves, one where you stay at Ton Petre and one where you take over Cardiff, see which one takes your fancy more. 

That would take too much time and effort I think. 

I think the reality is that while I do want to move on to Cardiff/Swansea at some point in the future, AND while this would be a perfect time to take Cardiff over in League 1, they are still going to be around next year or the year after that or the year after that. 

If I leave, while I can come back, we all know what the AI is like and God only knows what we would come back to. No. I'm staying where I am. Cardiff/Swansea et al will have to wait.