Developing Youth - Help a N00b

[polda]

I am hoping that someone will be able to point me in direction of a guide to developing youth, what to do and how to do it.

Below is my assistant report on some of my youth players (assistant is 19 in JPA and 20 in JPP)

So as you can see I have a few potential future stars. What is the best method in making sure these kids do develop!?

[tomc990]

send some on loan to affiliates but check that they play

[tingting]

Read it somewhere on the forums but dont remember where. Train them at your club till they turn at least 18 years of age. This will help not only in getting them to spend the mandatory 3 years at the club for them to become a home grown player, you can also use this period to get them tutored by players whom you want to replace them with (and now in 09 you can specify their preferred moves too) Then in the next year try to give them a run out in the first team..in matches such as weak oppositions in the cup tournaments or if u r already in the Champions League then in the remainder of the group matches after u have qualified to the next round.

If he manages to put up some good performances on par with your first choice player in that position, then u might want to use him on a rotational basis or else send him out on loan for a couple of seasons to get him match experience (make sure that the club plays your player..you can include the recall clause in the loan contract) Then he will be ready for first team action

[mancity12]

Is letting these players play in competetive matches more important than the training scheme you put in-place?

Also, am I right in thinking you shouldn't make them train too hard?

[bflaff]

I only have experience up to FM07, but fwiw:

I don't know if training kids in house until they turn 18 is the best way to go, since I haven't done it that way, but a decent combination (if you have top coaching and facilities) is to try to get a combo of loan spells and in-house training going. Like learning something in school and then going out to test it out in the real world.

I don't like to send guys out on full season loans year after year because although they're getting game experience, they are most likely playing against low skill competition in a lower league, on a team with bad to mediocre coaches and facilities. That only helps so much. So let them spend some time in your U-18s or reserves, gaining the benefit of superior coaching and facilities, as well as tutoring from your first team players. Then they can take what they've learned and apply it when they go on loan. For most promising players, I try to do one half of the season with the club, and the other half on loan.

While they're in your U-18s, it also helps to let them get an appearance or two with the main club if you're in a sure win situation (i.e., league cup match against a minnow) or playing some meaningless game at the end of the season. The first team appearances, if nothing else, seems to boost their value and exposure, which seems to help get them decent places to play on loan. I've had youth players with great stats get ignored by other teams when I was trying to send them out on loan, but in a number of cases, some minutes with the main team suddenly made them more marketable. You don't have to do this with all of them, but if they should be drawing attention but aren't, keep that in mind.

When they go on loan, at least in 07 the teams approaching you indicated their plans for the potential loanee, ranging from 'They see X as a valuable first team player' to 'They see X as cover for the first team.' Assuming you have better coaching and facilities than the other team, don't let them go to a place if they only want him for cover, since there's a risk that they could sit on the bench and never play. 07 also let you negotiate a clause in the loan deal that says you can recall the loanee at any time. Most times I asked for it, if the team had originally said they wanted my player to be a valuable first team player, they downgraded him to first team cover, so keep that in mind.

Also, in 07, if you had a feeder club and tried to send a player there, the feeder club simply accepted him, without telling you their plans for him. So try to send the players to a team that announces their intentions for them ahead of time.

(I put in all the 07 caveats because that's the version I'm still playing, so there's a chance that there is a clear way to go for 09 that's different from this. But since no one has yet offered a wwfan-type definitive statement on the subject, I'll post this in case it helps.)