Aston Villa, trying to do it all with youth!

[MadDog]

The Aim: To win the premier league and champions league in 2 consecutive seasons with Villa without buying or getting on a free a single player. While this isn't the most difficult youth only challenge, I am certainly not the best FM player so I believe it will be a tough challenge for me.

The club: Aston Villa Football Club ( /ˈæstən ˈvɪllə/; also known as Villa, The Villa, The Villans and The Lions)[4] is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder members of the Premier League in 1992, and have remained there ever since.[5] The club was floated by the previous owner and chairman Doug Ellis, but in 2006 full control of the club was acquired by Randy Lerner.

They are one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in England, having won the First Division Championship seven times and the FA Cup seven times.[6] Villa also won the 1981–82 European Cup, one of only four English clubs to win what is now the UEFA Champions League.[7] Aston Villa has the fourth highest total of major honours won by an English club.[6] They have a fierce local rivalry with Birmingham City. The Second City derby between Aston Villa and Birmingham City has been played since 1879.[8] The club's traditional kit colours are claret shirts with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and sky blue socks. Their traditional badge is of a rampant gold lion on a light blue background with the club's motto "Prepared" underneath; a modified version of this was adopted in 2007.[9]

Squad:

Goalkeepers - This is an area we are very much sorted in, we have Shay Given a very experienced goalkeeper with good handling and other key stats. We also have Brad Guzan who I consider as neat enough back up. Benjamin Siegrist could also be a potential for Villa no 1 when Shay retires.

Defence- Not too bad I guess, in central defence we have Dunne and Collins who are both very able players for this level although they do both lack some pace. We also have Ciaran Clark who will be looking to break through into the first team soon enough. At full back we have Alan Hutton on the right and Warnock on the left. I will be looking to train Clark at left back as I don't think Warnock is particuarly able.

Midfield- Wow probably the best area for us, we have got Petrov, Ireland, Jenas (on loan for the first season), Delph and one for the future Chris Herd who are all good central midfielders or soon to be good centre mids. On the wings we do have some talent but we still miss Young and Downing who both left the club last summer. Albrighton and Nzogbia will do for now and Agbonlahor may also be asked to fill in the wide roles frequently. Jean II Makoun is on loan at Olympiakos but he does seem decent enough for when Petrov (get better soon!) retires.

Attack- Very limited here, we have got Darren Bent who is a top striker and will do well for us. But apart from that we are very lacking in talent here, we have Emile Heskey who will do as cover to come on in the last 5 and shield the ball. But with his 8 finishing I doubt I will see him ripping up the scoring charts. Agbonlahor and Delfounso are both good poachers and I will be looking to develop both of them in to very good strikers.

[MadDog]

Reserved for future.

[MadDog]

Here is the team report and formation, I am going for a 4-3-3 which looks to use our pace to catch teams on the counter.

Here is our first game as a team a friendly vs the reserves.

I am pleased we only limited them to long shots and kept the ball well but at full back we need to be bombing up and down the wing that bit more. We also need to create some more chances as Stephen Ireland didn't do too much really. All in all thought it was a good run out and I am very pleased with the fox in the box - Darren Bent!

[MadDog]

Current U18 SQUAD

The u18 team at the moment seems to be decent enough but does lack some real stars. Here are the best of the bunch, these 3 are probably the only ones that will make it to the premier league in my opinion.

Graham Burke

Burke is a fine player that will play for us as a striker in years to come I'm sure, in the mean time I will be looking to loan him out for this seasons and probably next so he can continue his development. His finishing and composure do need to be worked on though.

Joshua Webb

Webb is a player who I believe is more of a full back than a centre back and has 3 star potential, I will also be looking to loan him out soon. Definitely a star in the making I think.

Callum Robinson.

I know first hand how good this guy can become as I had him in league 2 for my Newport County side as early as 2012/13 and he was already good enough for that level as he proved by bagging 4 in 9 games. I am very excited about his devlopment at the club!

[JojoVillaHursty]

Looking forward to this being a Villa fan myself, good luck with only using youth players will be a tough start with the team we have to begin with.

[MadDog]

Looking forward to this being a Villa fan myself, good luck with only using youth players will be a tough start with the team we have to begin with.

Thanks, but yeah it is proving harder than I first thought and I am not even through pre-season yet! At least I have managed to convice Martin O'Neill to be reunited with Heskey;)

I have to say I am shocked anyone would even spend a penny on him! He was on 60k a week at Villa aswell which was another reason for selling him.

[Jpr]

This will be interesting and one I'll keep an eye on, good luck!

Be sure to keep getting increases to your junior coaching as quickly as possible

[MadDog]

This will be interesting and one I'll keep an eye on, good luck!

Be sure to keep getting increases to your junior coaching as quickly as possible

Thanks it will be an interesting one I think. Yeah I will probably have ti wait till next season to increase my junior coaching after this:

[JojoVillaHursty]

Thanks, but yeah it is proving harder than I first thought and I am not even through pre-season yet! At least I have managed to convice Martin O'Neill to be reunited with Heskey;)

I have to say I am shocked anyone would even spend a penny on him! He was on 60k a week at Villa aswell which was another reason for selling him.

I was happy to be rid of Heskey aswell, somehow convinced O'Neil to give me what he was worth but with Weimann and Fonz I got a solid front line.

[MadDog]

Yeah Delfounso and Weimann both have good potential but by what year did they have premier league quality for you?

[MadDog]

2011/12 SEASON PREVIEW

Preseason

Wow, what a performance against a strong European club. N'Zogbia particuarly impressed for us. We did however a bit disappointingly have diffuculty turning our dominance into goals but we managed it in the end. All in all pre season was good apart from the Argentinos game where we were very poor. However I am confident we can get a result in our opening game of the season against newly promoted Swansea City.

Targets!

- Top 8 finish

- More wins than losses

-Beat one of the top 6 (Spurs, United, City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea)

-Lose no more than 5 games at home

- Continue to develop the current squad

- Quarters of one of the domestic cups

Board expectations

- Top half finish

- FA cup 6th round

- League cup quarter final

Our key players

- Agbonlahor

- Bent

- Petrov

- N'Zogbia

- Dunne

- Given

For us to have a good season most of these players will need to have a 7.00+ average rating.

Our 3 fixtures in August are Swansea, Arsenal and Newcastle, I would like 5 points or more from these fixtures. But we haven't played any English opposition who are higher than league 1 so far so let's see!

[danbowie]

Looking forward to this career as a Villa fan, with Bannan, Delph, Gardner and Herd you should have a strong midfield in future years, of course the main problems lie with whether Weinman and the Fonz can form a partnership up front when Bent and Agbonglahor's legs start to go, here's hoping the next Messi walks through your Youth Teams' doors.

[JojoVillaHursty]

Yeah Delfounso and Weimann both have good potential but by what year did they have premier league quality for you?

I sent them to Aberdeen first season and they destroyed the spl, so gave them a shot in the cups this year and into the final of the league cup.

[MadDog]

Danbowie- Yeah I agree with you about a strong midfield and issues up top, but I am a bit worried about central defence as I don't think Baker will be able to play with Clark when the big lads have gone. Because of course I am not buying anyone I think I will have to keep Fonz for this season and loan Weinmann.

JojoVillaHursty- That sounds like a plan but I am playing Gabby more on the wing this season so I will most likely keep Fonz and send out Weinmann to a championship/SPL side.

I will post the August update soon.

[MadDog]

August update!

My thoughts: I am very disappointed to come away with just 2 points from these 3 games, we definitely deserved all 3 against Swansea as we controlled the 2nd half, the Arsenal game they deserved their win but certainly not by that margin and the Toon game we were playing quite poorly but countering well and had most of the chances so I guess a draw is fair. Next month we have Wigan, Blackburn and Chelsea I would like 6 points from these games as Wigan and Blackburn are teams we should definitely be beating. While it wasn't the best month it certainly wasn't TOO BAD and we do have something to use as a starting block but I want better next month.

[MadDog]

September Update!

First things first, what a month!!!!! I will talk more after you see the results for yourself.

!!!!!!!

Darren Bent and Marc Albrighton were sensational this month and got a 1,2 on the player of the month awards. We actually started the month with a quite poor performance against lacklustre Wigan but we managed to turn it around thanks to 2 superb strikes from Bent. The game against Blackburn was an interesting one, they had the better firts half especially domianting from set pieces until Stevie Warnock rose highest from a deep cross to nod us into the lead. I then decided to retain possesion and for some reason this made us turn incredible! A further 5 strikes were added with the pick being Jermaine Jenas piledriver which was credited to Paul Robinson as an O.G was really a powerful shot which was too hot to handle for the keeper. We then lined up to play a Chelsea side we had played about 4 days earlier in the league cup (more on that later), anyway we started perhaps the better and we took the lead after a good finish from Bent. It didnt last long though as JT rose well and headed them level from a cheap free kick. They then had the better first half but created very little. At half time I took off Cuellar and brought on Collins to solid us up from set pieces. It must have been exactly what we needed as Darren Bent hit a thunderbolt 20 seconds after the restart. We then defended well from a little Chelsea pressure although Bent missed 2 sitters for his hat-trick and to make the game safe. Malouda was sent off late on as we held on for a superb win!

Target achieved? Yes I got 9 points my target was 6.

Next months target? We have Man united, Liverpool, Wolves and Norwich next month, my target is 6 points again for this month as I feel we should get something off Wolves and Norwich. I also wouldn't rule off upsets after this month!

[hursty2]

If anything this is going to be tougher than the lower league challenges.

You have to produce results in the top flight all whilst using only your youth, without getting sacked. At least with a lower side you can build your players up to an amazing standard on your way to the Premier League without the risk of getting sacked, here you have to do it from the start!

[MadDog]

If anything this is going to be tougher than the lower league challenges.

You have to produce results in the top flight all whilst using only your youth, without getting sacked. At least with a lower side you can build your players up to an amazing standard on your way to the Premier League without the risk of getting sacked, here you have to do it from the start!

That is true and also my youth will certainly not be able to challenge for a first team slot which happens from league 2 down sometimes. What I meant by saying it isn't an impossible challenge is that Aston villa aren't a bad side with expectations probably lower than the squads ability. Though I was thinking of going with Everton because of their great facilities, no transfer budget (I wouldn't need it) and good squad. But I feel Aston Villa is a decent challenge that is on the other hand achievable.

[JojoVillaHursty]

Good set of results considering you dont start with the best team, looking good for top half and maybe snatch 6-7th.

[MadDog]

OCTOBER UPDATE

We started off the month with a 2-0 loss at Old Trafford to United that I can't show as I can only post 4 screenies a post. The veterans Scholsy and Giggs bagged for them with Rio Ferdinand sent off late on for them.

Meh, good results apart from a horrific display at Wolves I am very dissapointed with, the midfield was woeful. The Norwich game was annoying as Bent scored 4 (!) that were all disallowed for offside! I took him off and Gabby finished it off in stoppage time. My battering of the Canaries cost Paul Lambert his job as he has won just one from his first 10 games.

Target achieved? Nope I wanted 6 points and I got 4.

Next months target: We have Fulham, Tottenham and Sunderland in November so I would like 5 points from this month ideally.

[MadDog]

Sorry guys there will be no more updates here after I was sacked after a dire run. We went 1-2-6 (W-D-L) to leave us in 15th place after 19 games and I was given my marching orders after a 3-1 defeat at Swansea. I am going to come back with a new thread and a new challenge soon once I stop sulking! Thanks for your support during my short reign at Villa Park!