ri916's FM14 Anglo/Euro Youth Academy Challenge

[gogogo golem]

Looks like you need that cash, Jambo.

[Jambo98]

Slightly bizzare actually. I was about £1.3million in the red, and have an existing loan of £1.7million. However they put in £4million, putting us 2.7million in the black, and actually gave me a 2million transfer budget!

No complaints from me it has allowed me to get a youth facility upgrade approved.

[Bartrcm]

I'm going to give this challenge a try. My very first attempt at any challenge.

Before I start, i've got 1 question. Can somebody explain me how I can see wich teams are the new promoted teams after season 1.

I'll start this first attempt in Portugal. Holidaying at the moment.

[vikeologist]

I'm going to give this challenge a try. My very first attempt at any challenge.

Before I start, i've got 1 question. Can somebody explain me how I can see wich teams are the new promoted teams after season 1.

I'll start this first attempt in Portugal. Holidaying at the moment.

There's a Portugal ->Season Summary which appears the day before the season reset date.

[Bartrcm]

There's a Portugal ->Season Summary which appears the day before the season reset date.

Ok, thank you very much.

[LuKo87]

Starting this challenge in Scotland, right now. I'm the new manager of highand club Formartine United. It will be tough to beat the Old Firm!

[Shakes]

Jambo - That youth intake looks decent enough to me, don't judge it against flashier ones in the lower quality leagues where everyone gets rated 5 star potential because 5 stars is still garbage.

ri916 - I've tried the tactic in a different save (wanted to know this had a hope of working before training everyone in new positions!) and I'm not sure I can get it to work in the one dimensional way it sounds on paper - I had hoped to have the target men feeding a shadow striker, but I'm not getting the interplay I want. It's not a bad tactic, but I'll need to tinker more if I'm going to be happy playing it season after season.

Braumiller - Actually I was disappointed when I got to game 22 and the season wasn't over because I picked a division with 13 teams instead of 12. But Sweden should be quite fast the whole way, even the top 2 leagues are only 30 games, and only one cup competition. England does drag, but on the other hand I was hoping maybe I could get a player to 1000 games there, that I'll never do in Sweden.

[Bartrcm]

OK, I've found a club. Can somebody tell me how to put links in a post. First time for me, so can use any help.

Thanks in advance.

[Jambo98]

The little icon which looks like a globe with a white pair of binoculars at the bottom (when your writing a post) - Click that, then paste your link

In my game, irony strikes. After being bailed out financially, we then go and get drawn against Barca in the Spanish cup. 2 legged affair means we get a cut of gate receipts from the Camp Nou. The million quid almost makes up for the 13 v 1 aggregate drubbing.......

[XaW]

OK, I've found a club. Can somebody tell me how to put links in a post. First time for me, so can use any help.

Thanks in advance.

[ url="www.google.com" ] Your text [ /url ] <- Without the spaces in the brackets.

[gogogo golem]

FC United of Manchester - Youth Intake

Youth Intake:

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/gogogogolem/media/2013-10-27_00001_zps60cfe60d.jpg.html

Youth Prospects:

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/gogogogolem/media/2013-10-27_00006_zps59a1ef28.jpg.html?sort=3&o=6

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/gogogogolem/media/2013-10-27_00010_zps852682b4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/gogogogolem/media/2013-10-27_00009_zpscb5a713c.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/gogogogolem/media/2013-10-27_00011_zpscb98fccd.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/gogogogolem/media/2013-10-27_00013_zps56337251.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/gogogogolem/media/2013-10-27_00014_zps6742f099.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/gogogogolem/media/2013-10-27_00012_zps6c688d41.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/gogogogolem/media/2013-10-27_00007_zpsc567b117.jpg.html?sort=3&o=9

Thoughts: A brilliant, solid intake. It's much better than last year as they're more first team ready, however, I now have four high potential strikers (well, five but one I'm converting to AMC). Some great centre backs, someone with the potential to be as good as my ageing starting goalkeeper and a ball winning midfielder, and I needed one of those. Maybe a decent winger as well. A left back to challenge Jacob Hamilton - YP00a. Great intake, would have rather had one great player not as a striker but a different position. I might convert a striker to left wing as well.

[Bartrcm]

Meet the new manager of Leca in Portugal.

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/2030/s3mu.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img824/3480/41hm.png

[XaW]

gogogo golem - Looks like a great intake. Churchill looks like a promising left back.

Bartrcm - Welcome to Portugal and good luck. It's a pain to get the first promotion, but I'm really enjoying it.

[gogogo golem]

Thanks XaW, Churchill does look good, but I'm more of a Nigel Roger fan.

[Bartrcm]

Thx Xaw. I'm following this thread for almost a year, and couldn't resist starting thsi challenge myself. I know the first years will be very difficult.

[darren1983]

I've had 3 of last seasons intake score on their debut's with another scoring in his 3rd game. At the end of one game we had 6 players from the youth team on the pitch

[c4ught]

Witton Albion FC Season 14/15

Table - Graph - Finances - Transfer - Youth Intake - Squad

First season in charge and I had no clue what to expect. Looking at the position graph above I wondered what all the fuss was about after sitting around 6th for the first 10 odd games! This didn't last though and I made a few mistakes letting non-contract players go leaving myself a very thin squad and no one to score. We should of wrapped up our league status with a game in hand but conceding in the 91st minute vs top of the league sent it to the last game of the season where a draw got us the point needed.

Youth

A reasonable intake and a much needed Goalkeeper as I managed the previous season with no back up.

Ant Mills YP01a - Back up Goalkeeper that will hopefully see action sooner rather than later

Nigel Faulkner YP01b - Looking to challenge for the already competitive Centreback position

Neill Winslade YP01c - A striker that we may have to rely on to much this season

I haven't labelled any other youths as I presume I can label them as the season progresses presuming I use them in the 1st team?

Goals for next season

I would like to think we could challenge for mid table but our squad is lacking any real quality. The two top players in the transfer history that left when I took over were a cut above my current squad but there was nothing I could do.

Avoid Relegation

4 Youth to be in starting 11

Stadium!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this season ended and I got this little surprise

Board Announce Plans For New Stadium

A new 6080 stadium that has made my finances worse than they already were! the board are mentioning player sales to help with finances so got my fingers crossed I don't get the sack due to losing so much money.

Do you guys use specific attribute training, position training or does it totally depend on the player?

[darren1983]

Just had 2 games postponed over Christmas which now means my tiny squad has to play 8 games in 25 days in January

[Bartrcm]

A small update from my Leca game.

Pre-season went awful, couldn't win a game.

First game of the season was a draw, and the next 4 games (3 league-games and 1 cup-game) were perfect. 4 wins in a row.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/34/68cf.png/

And where are we in the league?

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/tdv4.png/

That's right. First place.

Just wanted to post this, because I don't think we going to keep that 1st place.

[Jambo98]

Nice start Bartrcm - it rarely lasts but great having those small moments of glory in the early years!

That's a killer schedule darren1983. One of the reasons I like Spain is the reasonably balanced fixture level. Still 38 game season, but only one cup and 38< 46 games can make a helluva difference with the tiny squads we all operate with

[darren1983]

That's a killer schedule darren1983. One of the reasons I like Spain is the reasonably balanced fixture level. Still 38 game season, but only one cup and 38< 46 games can make a helluva difference with the tiny squads we all operate with

It was an awful time, killed off our faint hopes of pushing for a playoff place I feel, need to make sure we now don't get sucked in to the relegation scrap.

[janesy20]

Never been so happy to be thumped 5-2 at home. Been waiting for this moment for a season and a half. The first of my Youth Products turned 17 and 4 days later he came off the bench at half time at 4-0 down...

[video=youtube;69GJKmqZjdY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69GJKmqZjdY

Stuck it right in the stanchion 10minutes after he came on

[Shakes]

Can Yayla? Yes he can!

c4ught - Staying up by 1 point is in some ways easier than just missing promotion, nobody is going to have inflated expectations come next season. Don't worry about the finances of the stadium too much, you will lose money in this challenge since you can't do the usual challenge strategy of getting promoted faster than your debts can catch you.

Bartrcm - Good start, Leca at least shouldn't need a stadium upgrade for a while, 12000 seats is bigger than some of the top division clubs in Portugal.

[Mathe]

Blyth Spartans A.F.C. Season 15/16

Skrill North

Table - Graph - Finances - Transfer - Squad part 1 - Squad part 2 - League Fixtures 1 - League Fixtures 2

I came in to the new season with plans to work on the clubs ability to score goals. For this I changed our old 4-4-2 tactic to a almost new 4-4-1-1. It was used a little last season with great succses. And a great succses it was this year too! With this tactic we won the first 5 matches with a score of 12-1. Then, with around a third of the season done, I began tinkering with the tactic after winning a match with a 4-2-3-1. This eventually was the beginning of a bad streak. This tactic was used for some 17 matches before I realised my mistake and changed back to 4-4-1-1. Around this time the team was places 9th but after I reversed back the Spartans slowly started crawling back into the playoffs. In the semi-finals we met a clearly stronger team in FC Halifax. After 1-1 at Croft Park we had to see our (small) hopes of promotion disappear when leg 2 was lost 2-0.

FA Cup

Not as succsesful as last year but 1st round none the less

FA Trophy

Somewhat better than last year making it to the 2nd round before being defeated by Walsall

Youth

The years youth intake looked like this

The most talented among these seems to be full back Graeme Archer. Report

Last years tagged players:

Jason Jameson. He was a key part of our new offensive system and played 44 first-team matches scoring 5 goals

Peter Tait. He wasm't the key-player Jason was, anyway he played a part in the defence playing in 41 matches

Key players

Keeper and captain Michal Misiewicz was maybe the most important part of the Spartans defence. Playing every single the 55 games of the season.

DefenderNathan Buddle. Almost as important for the defence as our keeper. Playing 41 matches scoring 5 goals.

Ollie Hotchkiss. Always making sure the midfield never fell apart. Playing 46 matches scoring 5 and assisting 13 goals.

Advanced forwardPhil Airey. He may have a very expensive contract but he is worth every penny. At least when he's not injured . Played 28 matches scoring 19 goals.

My old scottish targetman Scott Dobie choose to retire. Last year he was the teams topscorer. But this year he didn't get many appearances, because of the change from 4-4-2 to 4-4-1-1. Played a total of 26 matches scoring 8 goals.

Lastly we have living and still active Spartan legend Robert Dale. He wasn't exactly a key player this year. But none the less a important player if not just because of his impressive history with the Spartans. This man have the club record of most league apps with 385 matches AND he is all-time topscorer with 117 goals. This year he played a total of 31 matches scoring 8 goals.

Goals for this season

The most important goal this season was to score more goals. I was going for around 70, and with 76 goals scored I must say I am more that satisfied with my team.

The mid-table position was pressed down on me from the board. I wasn't quite sure if this was too ambitious, but with a 5th place and playoffs this was more than accomplished!

Lastly I wanted to give the young players more time the field. This was the easiest to accomplish! Nothing more to note

Goals for next season

Stay in the top of the league. Im not sure the team is ready for promotion, but you never know. Wink wink...

Misc

Got a new contract

And this

[vikeologist]

So many people doing this challenge, it's hard to keep up, but

Mathe - good progress. Archer's determination number bodes well, and you seem to be keeping a firm grip on the finances. I was picking up a vibe that it was difficult to stay in the red in England, but you're doing fine.

Bartrcm - good luck at Leca. I hope that your success continues.

LuKo87 - I'll be very interested in how things go in Scotland. Is Formantine semi-pro? Are your attendances ok?

c4aught - Imageshack is banned in my country, so I have no real idea how your first season went. At first I though you were promoted, but then looking at our comments, it seems you just avoided relegation.

Jambo - Good luck in Spain, and well done on that first season.

Shakes - what happened with hitchin. Were you sacked, and I didn't spot it, or was the lure of the Swedish fjords too much for you to resist?

A general question for those of you who were having (lack of) goalie problems. Have things improved with the next intake?

[Jambo98]

Xerez CD - Season 2 - 2015/16

Final League position - 6th

Past Positions

Summary

A little frustrating that we failed to improve on last seasons finish, but not altogether surprising as at least 6 of our first team players are over 33 and on the decline. We did introduce several more youths and this caused a bit of mid season inconsistency, which coupled with our disaster start (lost first 4 games) meant we could never quite make the playoffs.

Board are not unhappy, and the £4million bail out means the finances are ok for the moment, probably enough to get through one more year at this level.

Best Players

Ruben Belima - Our shining light from the original squad, as he is still only 24. A few bigger clubs sniffing around, but I have him tied down for another 2 years

Toni Moral - Ageing and his physical stats are shot to bits, but he still was a creative force as an AM(a)

Adrian (YP00a) - Our "inherited youth" had a really good season, with 11 goals a nice return. He benefited from tutoring, but his attributes still need to pick up if he is to be anything more than a back up long term

Transfers

Clean

Youths

Intake - Happier this year than last, one excellent player with another 3 or 4 who look to have enough potential to get into first team. A few other 2 stars signed for depth as well

Tags

Laurenao Maza (YP02a) - This guy could be mustard. Already thrown in for a couple of starts and has scored his first goal. Like his all round capability, works had but also quick and skilful.

Jose Alfonso Rodelgo(YP02b) - Glad to get someone of decent potential at full back, as again my starter is ageing. Has a bit of development to go before ready but will likely get thrown in for some gametime

Updates

Alvaro Saenz (YP01a) - A huge leap in development this year as he was thrown in as a regular starter in place of our 38yr old. 82% pass completion rate is pretty good for a first year novice! His ave rating looks low but I never really judge on that alone. If his stats keep going up at this rate he will be our best player in a years time.

Antonio Lopez de Lerma (YP01b) - Far less playing time, with a lot of bench time. Has picked up some attribute growth and was another to benefit from tutoring. Will see more game time this year, probably a good few starts in place of Toni Moral

Targets for next season

1) Promotion - Time for a real push, a last glory for our ageing veterans, and coming of age for our early youths required.

2) Wangle an upgrade - Still have some money in the bank from the big cash injection, hoping it will allow a junior coaching or even YRN upgrade

[LuKo87]

LuKo87 - I'll be very interested in how things go in Scotland. Is Formantine semi-pro? Are your attendances ok?

Things are going very well, we made a good start and we are in first position after 5 games and we made a good challenge cup run. We have the advantge of be professional while the other teams are semi-pro. The attendances are similar to the other bottom reputation clubs of our League (an average of 380).

[Braumiller]

Jambo, the Maza kid looks very nice! Looks like he will be tricky on the ball or spreading it around.

Mathe, unlucky in the playoffs.

c4ught, congrats on survival. Job #1 complete. Once you get the youths some first team experience and progression you will start heading upwards!

Good luck Bartrcm

Tasty looking intake there gogogo golem!

Weymouth season 2 update coming once I get the chance to write it up!

[Carey]

Hi guys,

I'm starting this for the first time, but only just came across this thread. I completed my first season but didn't take any screenshots (i can only assume you can trust me?) I can of course get screens of the transfers etc.

But first for a funny tale. I wanted to try a nation I've never tried, so I choose Northern Ireland. The team that got up, one was called Churchill United. I choose them but didn't look at the Youth Recruitment..

So, 23 games gone, I'm bottom with 7 games to go and 5 points from safety - regen date comes and goes... turns out we don't have any bleeding' Youth Recruitment and the board refused to invest! So I restarted!!

Now I am Dromara in the N. Ireland, first season over finishing in a healthy 7th place far away from bottom (only 16 teams).

Got some good youth, my Ass Man hasn't got the greatest JPA/JCA but he thinks 4-5 could make it as Premiership players (that's still not good.. trust me).

Anyways, looking forward to a second season, although we're in the red, so doubt I'll be getting any investment!!

Carey

[ri916]

Carey- Unfortunately this challenge isn't for smaller nations such as Northern Ireland. I imagine what you're doing is eligible for Gundos challenge though, and I'm sure they would be interested to hear about a youth only save over there .

As for me, well I started as Madalena in Portugal anyway and I've got up to January. Nothing really of note tbh as the first 18 games are all about finishing in the top two, and if you fail to do that you may as well come 10th in the group with 0 points. We didn't get into the top two, and now have the relegation phase to contend with. Judging on our performance in the first half of the season we should stay up, but then again everyone starts on 0 again so there are no guarantees. Unfortunately I've encountered a really rubbish bug . My staff screen says that I have 3 assistant managers, and I can also get reports on the players from them all, but only one of them is actually at the club. The two others is unattached and the other one is at a fellow 3rd tier side. Will have to get it reported, but for the moment the save is on hold.

[darren1983]

Hampton and Richmond Season 2015/16 Review

Skrill South

Table - Graph - Transfers - Finances - Squad

After last season's 6th place finish we took a step back as our older players started to decline while the youngsters have been pushed into first team action a little sooner then I would like, the result was an inconsistent season (look at the position graph) and a final league place of 14th is still better then the media prediction. We ended the season with 4 straight losses which is a cause for concern for next season.

Our main issue this season has been goals - not scoring enough and letting in to many

I'm thinking it's gonna take me about 5 seasons per division with this team so one season step back isn't the worst thing.

FA Cup

Not really too much to see here.

FA Trophy

Much better, the standout being the 1-0 win over Cambridge

Youth Intake

Not the best this season, but not the worst

Tagged Players

Spencer Gildersleeve (YP02A)

Kyle Beasant (YP02B)

Pat O'Brien (YP02C)

Last Seasons Tagged players

A handful of last seasons players have made the step up to the first team

Richard Partleton (YP01A) - Scored on his debut and went on to make over 20 apperances this season

Brandon Parr (YP01B) - keeper played 17 games last season and is now first choice

Abdallah Kassa (YP01D) - broke into the heart on the midfield this year

Jonny Cuthbert (YP01F) - got a run towards the end of the season and his pace gets him goals. 6 in 11 games is just what we need

[Braumiller]

Weymouth Season 2 Review - 2015/16

League Table | League Positions Graph | Squad Stats | Transfers | Finances | Seasons Records

Competitions

Skrill South : 1st

FA Cup : 1st Round

FA Trophy : 2nd Round

League Review

Wow. Beginning to love these guys already. They started off like a house on fire, and even though when crunch time came around they (worryingly for the future!) faltered, we stumbled over the line in first place! 3 wins on the trot to start the season, with 8 scored and zero conceded gave everyone confidence. This was needed as we suffered 2 long term injuries very early on and our already thin squad was tested. Thankfully no more big injuries happened and the kids performed very well in what was a heavily rotated squad due to fatigue. Both ourselves and Salisbury had run away from the league and with 5 games to go we had a 3 point advantage but a trip to their place next on the fixture list. We trailed 1-0 for most of the game, before Stewart Yetton popped up in the 88th minute to grab a priceless equalizer! Including the Salisbury game, our last 5 games were against 5 of the other 6 teams in the top 7 of the league. We managed to then lose all 4 of our remaining games. Fortunately that 88th minute goal had also knocked the stuffing out of Salisbury and they lost their next 3 and needed a win and big GD swing on the final day of the season to steal top spot. They won, but only 1-0, so we somehow had held on to top spot! The most underwhelming promotion feeling I have ever had!

Cup Review

Decent cup runs this year.

In the FA Cup we made heavy weather of our first two qualifying rounds, needing a replay in both, but we then beat a Skrill Premier team in the 4th qualifying round to set up a FA Cup 1st Round game away at non-league Bashley. Sadly we never showed up and lost 0-1, losing out on even more prize money. Nevertheless, our run netted up 24k prize money

In the FA Trophy we won two rounds of matches before falling 3-4 in the 2nd round, netting 8.5k in prize money

Squad Information

Heavy rotation meant that a lot of players saw a lot more action than anticipated. Thankfully this worked out as we performed well and they gained useful experience.

Youth Intake

A decent intake on paper, but a little underwhelming when taking a deeper look at the youths with good potential. Two tagged, but others with decent potential who could prove me wrong

Des Betts (YP 02A) - Report - Very nice looking midfielder and should develop nicely into a first teamer. Love his Model Professional personality, will try and ease him into the first team activities next season when possible. Due to our run-in this year he only saw 1 appearance. Good Skrill Premier potential so far.

Ali Sutton (YP 02B) - Report - Pacy forward, which is actually needed in the first team squad. Sadly he lacks a lot in finishing and composure so will take a lot of work in those areas. Hoping he catches fire in the u18s next year and takes advantage of the odd chance in the first team. League Two potential so far, just does not have the stats to back that up yet.

Miscellaneous

Another good financial season, with the wage budget being kept to and for the most part around 900 under. The two mini cup runs rewarded us with 32.5k combined.

Finally the day after promotion was (fortuitously) won the board relented and gave me an upgrade! Our youth academy is now level 4!

Season 3 - 2016/17 Goals

* Pure and simple. Survival!

* Minimize wage increases. A lot have promotion increase clauses (unavoidable now), but the majority of the squad are up for renewal at the end of season 3.

[Bartrcm]

My first season with Leça is over, and it went actually very good.

We were predicted to finish 7th, but we managed to finish 5th. Not bad at all.

http://imageshack.us/a/img703/5949/qjiy.png

Due to our 5th place we had to play the relegation round. Against all odds we finished 1st, even we played with a couple of new youth players in the last 4 games. 2 of them allready scored in these games. I think the future is looking good for Leça.

http://imageshack.us/a/img163/8205/yt4x.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img543/6597/9aha.png

Our youth intake.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=189898833

And these are the players with the highest potential.

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198074895983/screenshot/560989571759728036

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198074895983/screenshot/560989571759728036

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198074895983/screenshot/560989571759736871

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198074895983/screenshot/560989571759740218

No transfers were made, off course.

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198074895983/screenshot/560989571759955498

My hopes for next season are:

- finish at least as 5th

- Have a good cup run like this season

- Have a DR in the next youth intake

[Braumiller]

Well, I was going to get straight back to work after the write-up, but of course this is FM, so "one more week"....

Was it last year there were issues with the implementation of the board philosiphies? Was it ri916 who encountered the issue that it wasn't recognizing you playing your youth products and causing issues with the board?

Well, that is well and truely fixed in FM14!

After my season ended I was at 100% board confidence for our agreed philosophy of giving youth a chance, and then I just tried a board request and the following conversation was the result!!!

Youth Recruitment Request Conversation

Check out the wording. They agreed to it due to our agreed upon club philosophy. Fixed and flourishing as a fluid part of the game! to SI

[c4ught]

Jambo, the Maza kid looks very nice! Looks like he will be tricky on the ball or spreading it around.

Mathe, unlucky in the playoffs.

c4ught, congrats on survival. Job #1 complete. Once you get the youths some first team experience and progression you will start heading upwards!

Good luck Bartrcm

Tasty looking intake there gogogo golem!

Weymouth season 2 update coming once I get the chance to write it up!

Yeh looking forward to a few seasons time. Hopefully can get a good season and a half in tonight all being well.

Just read to page 10 of the 2013 thread! You did some nice work Braumiller

[Bartrcm]

Very nice braumiller. I hope you survive next season. Going up in a youth challenge is always nice, but gives a very hard season afterwards.

[Tyler42]

I've decided to join this challenge. But I did break some rules with the loaded leagues since I always want to have the Icelandic one in the game, I have that one loaded and I have the biggest top divisions in EU as "View-Only", its just my personal preference to be able to keep track of foreign football and I really don't see how these things will affect the outcome of my game.

So I took over FC United and got an increase in the Junior Budget granted, also a expansions of the youth facilities, but it will only cost 65k to construct so I doubt it will make a huge difference.

So far I've played 5 games and won 4 and drawn 1. My tactics are very basic, I planned on starting by addings simple changes to it, but so far it has worked great without needing any tweaking so far. Its basically 442 - Counter playing football + Rigid. Only instructions I have set is Lower Tempo. It seems to have worked so far.

Matthew Wolfended has been amazing, scoring more than a goal a game so far. Norton is giving the assists but only 1 goal so far.

And oh my god, the wage demands from the players are very high. And they are always asking for an amazing offer since they "arent really interested in signing a contract", why the hell would they not be interested to play for a newly promoted team? beats me. But my wage bill has increased a lot.

Sorry im at work so no pics atm, but later on ill post some later.

[Mathe]

vikeologist - I guess Im doing fine moneywise but I still think some of my player demand too high wages and their contracts are soon up for renewal.

Braumiller - Thats was one fantastic season! Good luck in Skrill Premier. I haven't yet had the same experiences regarding philosophies, the "playing youth products" have been at 50 % for 2 years now. But that board interaction sure look awesome!

Jambo98 - Wow that Meza looks great. That is some crazy amounts of money you talk about

[Jambo98]

Amusingly, looking through my entire squad I have one single player in their 20s...... 8 over 30's and 34 under 18s (damn, reading that makes me realise I might need to trim a little!)

[brugi82]

Weymouth Season 2 Review - 2015/16

League Table | League Positions Graph | Squad Stats | Transfers | Finances | Seasons Records

Competitions

Skrill South : 1st

FA Cup : 1st Round

FA Trophy : 2nd Round

League Review

Wow. Beginning to love these guys already. They started off like a house on fire, and even though when crunch time came around they (worryingly for the future!) faltered, we stumbled over the line in first place! 3 wins on the trot to start the season, with 8 scored and zero conceded gave everyone confidence. This was needed as we suffered 2 long term injuries very early on and our already thin squad was tested. Thankfully no more big injuries happened and the kids performed very well in what was a heavily rotated squad due to fatigue. Both ourselves and Salisbury had run away from the league and with 5 games to go we had a 3 point advantage but a trip to their place next on the fixture list. We trailed 1-0 for most of the game, before Stewart Yetton popped up in the 88th minute to grab a priceless equalizer! Including the Salisbury game, our last 5 games were against 5 of the other 6 teams in the top 7 of the league. We managed to then lose all 4 of our remaining games. Fortunately that 88th minute goal had also knocked the stuffing out of Salisbury and they lost their next 3 and needed a win and big GD swing on the final day of the season to steal top spot. They won, but only 1-0, so we somehow had held on to top spot! The most underwhelming promotion feeling I have ever had!

Cup Review

Decent cup runs this year.

In the FA Cup we made heavy weather of our first two qualifying rounds, needing a replay in both, but we then beat a Skrill Premier team in the 4th qualifying round to set up a FA Cup 1st Round game away at non-league Bashley. Sadly we never showed up and lost 0-1, losing out on even more prize money. Nevertheless, our run netted up 24k prize money

In the FA Trophy we won two rounds of matches before falling 3-4 in the 2nd round, netting 8.5k in prize money

Squad Information

Heavy rotation meant that a lot of players saw a lot more action than anticipated. Thankfully this worked out as we performed well and they gained useful experience.

Youth Intake

A decent intake on paper, but a little underwhelming when taking a deeper look at the youths with good potential. Two tagged, but others with decent potential who could prove me wrong

Des Betts (YP 02A) - Report - Very nice looking midfielder and should develop nicely into a first teamer. Love his Model Professional personality, will try and ease him into the first team activities next season when possible. Due to our run-in this year he only saw 1 appearance. Good Skrill Premier potential so far.

Ali Sutton (YP 02B) - Report - Pacy forward, which is actually needed in the first team squad. Sadly he lacks a lot in finishing and composure so will take a lot of work in those areas. Hoping he catches fire in the u18s next year and takes advantage of the odd chance in the first team. League Two potential so far, just does not have the stats to back that up yet.

Miscellaneous

Another good financial season, with the wage budget being kept to and for the most part around 900 under. The two mini cup runs rewarded us with 32.5k combined.

Finally the day after promotion was (fortuitously) won the board relented and gave me an upgrade! Our youth academy is now level 4!

Season 3 - 2016/17 Goals

* Pure and simple. Survival!

* Minimize wage increases. A lot have promotion increase clauses (unavoidable now), but the majority of the squad are up for renewal at the end of season 3.

Congrats Braum, that is another awesome season!

Are you going again with strikerless formation?

[janesy20]

Hope you resign the goalie janesy. Your youth players look great. That HoYD looks too good to pass up, but changing it too regularly can negatively effect intakes, if Addo has a better personality then I'd say he's worth it, if not, I don't think so. Good luck to everyone else starting.

UPDATE

Well, this has come back to bite me in the a**e. Very, very disappointed with this years intake.

Here is my HoYD:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=190007730

Here is what he has produced, with three players getting tagged:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=190009330

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=190009502

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=190009643

My main gripe is that each of these three players are maximum leading Third Division potential players. My previous HoYD despite having lesser stats has produced players to be leading second division and even one or two players good enough to compete in the Bundesliga. I'm angry, but is it justified? So many questions are swimming through my head. Is it my fault? Have I changed HoYD twice in two years and has that taken it's toll on the quality. I can just about afford one poor youth intake that I have to put up with this season. If I retain this HoYD he cannot afford to get it wrong again. My immediate reaction is to sack him in anger. But now I've had chance to cool off a bit I am starting to think I am not an innocent party in this...

My expectations have risen, up until the last few games I have been in 2nd/3rd place with just 10 games to go despite being tasked by the board to avoid the drop for the second season running. This is a team getting promotion this season or next and part of me feels those who are not up to scratch will be getting off the promotion train before it even gets out the station. Those of you playing this challenge will know of the excitement at an impending youth intake. As managers in this challenge it's what we live and breathe for... But sitting here now in the boardroom, the chairman sat at the head of the table, with me looking sheepish and distraught, the HoYD looking rightfully embarrassed, and my Assistant wondering which either side of him is going to get the bullet as the relentless b*llcking continues. Suddenly, as if called to order the chairman suddenly barks "I cannot let this continue, someone has to go and I've a bloody right mind to get rid of all three if i could... but unfortunately due to finances the axe can only fall on just one" pointing his finger visciously he volleyed "YOU'RE FIRED"

In disbelief I turned my head to the side in utter shock - The Assistant manager's head had rolled. That'll teach him for having judging player potential of only 11

[Tyler42]

I've decided to join this challenge. But I did break some rules with the loaded leagues since I always want to have the Icelandic one in the game, I have that one loaded and I have the biggest top divisions in EU as "View-Only", its just my personal preference to be able to keep track of foreign football and I really don't see how these things will affect the outcome of my game.

So I took over FC United and got an increase in the Junior Budget granted, also a expansions of the youth facilities, but it will only cost 65k to construct so I doubt it will make a huge difference.

So far I've played 5 games and won 4 and drawn 1. My tactics are very basic, I planned on starting by addings simple changes to it, but so far it has worked great without needing any tweaking so far. Its basically 442 - Counter playing football + Rigid. Only instructions I have set is Lower Tempo. It seems to have worked so far.

Matthew Wolfended has been amazing, scoring more than a goal a game so far. Norton is giving the assists but only 1 goal so far.

And oh my god, the wage demands from the players are very high. And they are always asking for an amazing offer since they "arent really interested in signing a contract", why the hell would they not be interested to play for a newly promoted team? beats me. But my wage bill has increased a lot.

Sorry im at work so no pics atm, but later on ill post some later.

Manager Profile

Finances

Facilities

Squad

[Shakes]

Braumiller - Top stuff going up so soon. Not sure if it still works but I found in previous versions you could sometimes get players to sign new contracts before the league changeover date without a promotion wage rise for less than their new wage would be. Me dumb footballer kick ball not understand money.

janesy20 - Nobody really knows what makes a good HoYD, or even how much influence they have on the intake, so it's really hard to say whether it's worth firing them. There's just so much random variance anyway, you can go several years getting no standouts then hit back to back wonderkid years.

[Jambo98]

Excellent job Braumiller, as always! Onwards and upwards.

How many have made it out of the bottom division in any country so far? anyone counting lol

[c4ught]

Had the wage budget at Witton cut to 4.2k then 3.5k during contract talks and during the boards initial budgets it gets cut to 3k! Going to be an interesting season this one Currently spending 5k so only 2k to get rid of!!

[darren1983]

Nice work ​Braumiller

[Braumiller]

Thanks all!

brugi82, alas no, at least not yet.

Going strikerless is certainly I will be looking at doing further down the line though.

[Jambo98]

I am quite enjoying strikerless, although no doubt its a bit easier in spain.

c4ght - harsh on the budget there. Really just illustrates the different levels of challenge this can bring. I have 4 players earning more than your weekly budget, yet its still dammed hard in spain!

Just noticed one of my untagged 4.5 star youths has "model professional" as his personality type. He could be a hidden gem.

[Braumiller]

I am quite enjoying strikerless, although no doubt its a bit easier in spain.

c4ght - harsh on the budget there. Really just illustrates the different levels of challenge this can bring. I have 4 players earning more than your weekly budget, yet its still dammed hard in spain!

Just noticed one of my untagged 4.5 star youths has "model professional" as his personality type. He could be a hidden gem.

I would be very interested to read about your strikerless formation if you ever want to post about it Jambo!

Love it when youths come through with Model Professional as their initial personality! A lot of your initial worries about tutoring etc. already taken care of and you are safe in the knowledge they will rarely cause you issues as you train them up!

[Tyler42]

What a time for the game to crash!

Im not sure at what point the auto save was last on but I hope its after I secured a playoff spot :/ I had just done a 1 - 1 draw away on the 1st leg...

EDIT: just my luck, i had turned off the Auto save feature when i was holidaying to the reset date. Last save will start at Sept. 7th.