ri916's FM15 Youth Academy Challenge

[Mr U Rosler]

OK. 2nd season.

Again predicted 2000-1 and dead last.

Targeted top 10 and got there in the end, was initially disappointed but was only 4 points of the play-offs. Had a lot of major injuries to key players which involved playing a lot of players out of position. Also had some good cup runs, 1st round proper of FA Cup, Semi Final of FA Trophy. Beat 4 teams from higher divisions but a lot of replays, can't help but think the extra games, injuries cost me a play off spot.

League Table

http://i.imgur.com/LOjdRaI.jpg

Wanted see how the Youth Players i highlighted last year got on.

Chase Holmes

13 Attributes improved by 1 point.

Jordan Pratt

Marking improved by 2, 8 other attributes by 1 point

Marcus Clarke

Didn't play as much but lost 5 attribute points !! getting worse !!

Pretty disappointed with that.

Made the Club £100k profit season 1 and £180k profit season 2 but they say they can't afford any training upgrades.

Pointless having players with good potential if you cant get them there.

Anyway, 1 potential start in this years Youth Intake, will start every game he's fit so maybe he will push on. Already good and he's only 15.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Real SC

2018-2019

I was actually so exited that I forgot picture of the league, transfers, and finances (I promised myself i'd sort it out ) | Youth Intake

So, our 2nd year in the Portuguese 2nd league... Well I was very happy with our finish. Our board expectation was to avoid relegation and we clearly did that, finishing 7th. As said earlier, there will be a squad update below so not too much to say now other than I was happy with our season. I think the goal for next season is to get promotion, but finishing top 3 or 4 wouldn't bother me.

Oh! I almost forgot my few useless facts followed by a rant on my finances! What even is an update without those things!?!

So, useless fact: My youth team somehow managed to pull off a 9-7 win under normal match rules/circumstances. Don't ask me how.

2nd useless fact: England won the 2018 world cup! Now I'm not English, but I think that you Englishmen don't fancy yourselves winning it anytime soon? Correct me if I'm wrong?

3rd useless fact: Our team managed to finish 1st and 3rd on quickest goals scored against us conceding in the 13th and 28th seconds (I need to have a meeting with my defense about that)

4th useless fact: You thought Chelsea have a huge lead in the premier league right now? The 1st and 3rd place teams in the division were separated by a whopping 34 points!

Finances: Well, I took lots of screenshots because I couldn't control my excitement over the finances in the past year (seriously though). We managed to get 867K as prize money this year!!!!!!!! That's 860K more than we got last year!!!! And as a result of that, the moment you have all been waiting for, a junior coaching budget increase!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tagged Youth

I know you guys can't wait for that squad report, but this comes first. As in the last few years, many of my untagged players have emerged as key players (my best 2 players at the club are untagged), I decided to tag a lot more this year.

Mario Cordeiro (04a)

Pedro Pereira (04b)

Paulo Moreira (04c)

Paulo Vilea (04d)

Henrique Brandao (04e)

Antonio Martins (04f)

Alvaro Eusebio (04g)

Marco Antonio (04h)

Squad Report/Development

Here it is at last! I didn't cover everybody in the squad, only my important youth players so it isn't VERY long (just a bit long )

These by the way aren't in any specific order.

Antonio Oliveira: Told you that my best players aren't tagged. Antonio is listed as my "key player" and although not the best technical attributes in the team, his mentals and physical more than make up for it. Will be my captain next year with 17 leadership.

Carlos Ferreira (02b): Carlos was probably my best prospect from the 2nd year even though he is 02b. He looks a good CB for this level, but will have to compete with Paulinho from last years intake.

Daniel Santos: Another untagged player, but it just shows you how youth players can develop no matter what their beginning stats might have been. I mean look at him, such a good RB. What can I say?

Felipe Melo: Funny how his name is the same to a Brazilian defensive mid. I was debating whether to tag his or not as he was produced in the 1st year while I was simming the game (maybe we can call him 00a). he has developed into a solid CM(D) and has played solid for the the last 2 years.

Joao Pedro (01b): You remember how we couldn't produce any youths but CMs? Well, some of them did indeed work out. Joao was here from the 1st intake with Pina and Teles (both ft. later) and he had develped nicwly into my starting CM(S). Nothing more to say really.

Jose Gomes: I am telling you guys, NEVER GIVE UP ON UNTAGGED PLAYERS! This guy or Santos will probably end up playing LB because we have 2 great RBs and 0 great LBs. Simple really.

Paulinho: I know I mentioned him earlier, but look at his technicals (marking, tackling, heading) then look back at Oliveira's equivalent stats. That's why this guy looks like he can be good. If he has better technicals than our "key player", who knows what type of a beast he'll grow into.

Paulo Pina (01a): Here he is, the man, the myth, the legend himself. Still our starting CAM (although Paulo Sousa you'll see in a bit) and has been from the beginning, Paulo Pina never ceases to amaze, still has leading 1st division potential so he's not done growing!

Paulo Sousa (03a): I told you he was coming. just look at this development he's made in the 1 years he's been at the club. next season the starting CAM will be whoever is in form between him and Paulo (Pina, realized they had the same 1st name).

Rafa (02a): Well, I can show you one guy who I'm still waiting on. Rafa has gotten so many injuries that he's never really got to where I wanted him to be. Still waiting on an AMR or AML to emerge since I'm still using real players in those positions.

Rodolfo Teles (01c): This guy is why I'm still playing this challenge (not really, but you know). After starting as a AMR with 3 or 4 dribbling, I converted him to an ST and he never did anything and developed very slowly. After 2 years of retraining though, he finally became accomplished (then natural) as a striker. In the last 20 game I played this season with him, he's score 13 goals and averaged a 7.13 rating! Just when I needed a youth striker he produced! Will get all the team's games next year as my only youth ST.

Well....................... You guys DO NOT know how tiring it is to type for a full hour straight with a broken wrist and a cast on it.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this and my pain was justified. Thanks for reading and I will see you after my arm gets a rest.

[ManUtd1]

Great updates, Gato and Mr U Rosler. My third season update will follow shortly -- I'm just uploading screenshots now.

One way to not give up on those untagged regens is to over-tag, like I seem to be doing! I definitely feel like jettisoning any underperforming non-regen (and non-regen of equivalent quality to a regen) is a key component of this challenge. Maybe that's because I'm getting good ones, though, as the quality of existing players in lower-league Sweden seems rather poor overall. I like the look of Chace Holmes! Shame he doesn't have a little more pace/agility, as he'd create tons of opportunities for you.

One final thought before I get back to preparing my update...one thing I've noticed this year in comparison to my last true lower league save (FM13 in Scotland), the ME's representation of "bad football" is light years ahead of where it was. I vividly remember a never-ending spectacle of crazy goals and mistakes you'd rarely see at a youth level in real life. Now, it looks/feels right, even at this level. Just something I've enjoyed, as the prior ME cut against my enjoyment of the save in 3D mode -- the football was comically bad, much more so than it should have been. Whatever that means.

[ManUtd1]

IFK Malmö

2017 Review

Superettan

This will be a much shorter update, as I managed to lose more than 80% of what I’d written as the season was coming to a close. Ugh.

Once again, the offseason treated us well with a a new kit sponsor at $38.1k/year instead of $26.19k/year. The TV revenue felt like a massive windfall, as well, and kept me in the black virtually all year.

Twice I asked the Board to turn professional. I kept a straight face both times. They rejected me outright. Both times. They had a much easier time maintaining serious expressions, though.

Perhaps they weren’t impressed by my promise to avoid relegation at the outset of the season? Maybe it was the media prediction of a 16th place finish? Maybe it was our 500-1 odds of winning the League? You know that old Swedish saying about lame horses picked to finish last in the race, right? Seriously. If you do, please tell me because I started this paragraph going in one direction and have since veered precipitously towards a yawning chasm of verbal nonsense.

Di gule supporters decided to turn up in droves this year, with 236 season tickets being sold. That may only be an increase of 51, but I’ll take it. Our actual matchday attendances over the year continued to rise, with 471 in attendance for the final home match of the season against Ljungskile.

Enough with the miscellaneous details.

It was an odd season. Again.

We started off away to Landskrona, down 2-0 at the half and 3-0 within minutes of the restart. Pode blames the ME for making him look bad, but I yanked he and his two non-regen teammates (Vincze and Pasagic) immediately after the third. The thought being – if we’re going to survive, we can’t rely on the older players. Our youth have to not only carry the day, but develop in the process. Two goals in quick succession made it a respectable return to the 2nd tier for IFK Malmö at the final whistle.

As in seasons past, the “throw the kids on the pitch” method paid dividends, and third time pays for all. Our third, and most glorious, season unfolded with some hiccups and ridiculous moments along the way.

We entered June in 2nd place, beyond any expectations. The departure of Patrik Gustafsson (15G) for the U20 World Cup did not help, however, as injuries left us thin (including a lengthy absence for Karl Lindmark (15H)). While that allowed me to give Jörgen Jönsson (16A) an extended run in the 1st team, we were missing something.

Turns out that was a critical something, as 3 straight losses (and 4 out of 5) saw us drop as low as 7th, which seemed to be where we would stay. July was looking rough, as we were in the midst of the poor run of form and Patrik Gustafsson (15G) and Fredrik Johansson (15A) were called up for the U19 European Championships. Nevertheless, we found ourselves winning matches by the skin of our teeth and ended August riding a wave of optimism once again.

We defeated Nacka in the 2nd round of the Swedish Cup, ensuring that we’d make the Group Stage for the first time in March 2018. We also found ourselves sitting in 3rd, with 9 matches left – promotion not at all out of the question.

A patchy run of form say us pick up 7 points from 12…5 matches left. Still in third, as everyone around us continued dropping points. We blew a 2-0 lead away to AFC United, losing 3-2. A win over promotion challenger Åtvidaberg moved us back to the top of the table, with matches against 2nd and 3rd place Häcken and Ljungskile up next. Back-to-back, end-to-end draws followed -- (1-1 against Häcken, and 0-0 away to Ljungskile), with Zlatko Basic (17B) scoring his first senior goal against Häcken. My faith in Kalle Hellman (15B) had also been well-placed it seemed.

We entered the final match of the season, away to Mjällby, 2 points clear of both Häcken and Ljungskile. An epic match against Mjällby followed, with Patrik Gustafsson (15G) scoring early and Jonas Tursic (16B) scoring yet another important, late goal. Resulting in a 2-2 draw. Promotion secured by the narrowest of margins – even on points, goal difference only better by 1.

In short, another incredible season. My only regret is that I didn’t take this challenge up sooner! Blind faith in youth has been the key, along with adjusting my tactic early in the 2nd season. That being said, I feel like the Football Gods are looking down kindly on di gule right now. Fortunate does not even begin to describe it.

I’m happy with my youth intake this season, although it is not as awe-inspiring as my first two. I initially planned on tagging 3 players, but ended up tagging 7.

Goals for next season: I don’t even know what to say at this point. I didn’t think promotion was even a remote possibility this season – rather, my goal had been to consolidate with an eye towards a promotion push the following season. My fear is that the Allsvenskan will be far, far too much for my part-time youngsters. Maybe now the Board will see reason and go professional!

Squad | Table | League Overview | Fixtures | Transfers | Youth Intake

Jesper Lindh (17A) | Zlatko Basic (17B) | Mattias Holgersson (17C) | Yiğit Meriç (17D)

Pierre Larsson (17E) | Demir Andersson (17F) | Björn Lindström (17G)

(Apologies on the Yiğit Meriç (17D) screenshot – I had to change his nickname to get the screenshot to save, as Windows apparently doesn’t like using ğ for filenames! I also inadvertently didn’t take my youth intake screenshot until after I’d offered contracts to the first few, so they don’t appear directly in the Youth Candidates capture. Nevertheless, their screenshots and the Transfers screenshot confirm their origin.)

Off to offer more sacrifices to the Football Gods...

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Off to offer more sacrifices to the Football Gods...

Haha! Don't we all do that?

Congrats on promotion though, Basic looks like he has some good physicals as well.

[ManUtd1]

I tell you, Gato -- it works. Within moments of doing unspeakable things to a Mourinho mommet and I get the news that not only are we going professional, we've landed a $120k kit deal.

[ManUtd1]

Just noticed the $264 in non-domestic kit sales. Love it.

All I want for Christmas is an IFK Malmö away kit.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

My sponsorship money has increased from 163K to 425K for next season, maybe for the first time in this save, my finances can be greater than 0.

[ManUtd1]

The quality in the Allsvenskan is potentially worse than anticipated. I just battered GIF Sundsvall in our league opener, 4-1. Clinical on our side, impressively so.

Completely unexpected. Might be an anomaly, as they're predicted to finish 15th, but we also knocked off defending Swedish Cup champions IFK Göteborg 1-0 at home in the group stage.

Suffice to say, I'm a little speechless, and continue to enjoy this save more than any other in recent memory. The only one I can remember (offhand) which rivals it would be my first dafuge challenge many, many years ago.

Edit: It isn't just me, either. Newly-promoted Häcken have also won their first two matches over Norrköping and Djurgården, joining us at the top of the table.

[ManUtd1]

My sponsorship money has increased from 163K to 425K for next season, maybe for the first time in this save, my finances can be greater than 0.

It is a wonderful thing...although I've spent my money upgrading my non-youth contracts to fully professional, and signing some staff to assist with training!

[ManUtd1]

This is an odd facet of the Swedish Cup...you can sell home advantage to your opposition. A financial windfall (likely $150k for this match), but incurring a competitive disadvantage...

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Real SC

2019-2020

Table | Transfers | Finances |Youth Intake picture got screwed up | Best 11

Board expectation this year was to finish above mid-table and we've surpassed that by finishing 3rd. As you can see, the top two teams were miles ahead of us on points. The gap in quality between the top 2 divisions in Portugal is enormous though, looking back at the past years almost 9 times out of 10, the teams that were relegated come back up immediately. To be completely honest, I think promotion to the Premier League will be even harder than the promotion to the 2nd league. Our finances continue to fall to almost 1 million in debt every season until almost breaking even after the influx of money at the end of the year even with an increased sponsorship deal. Unfortunately that seems to put us in an endless loop of not having enough quality to go up and not having enough money to upgrade facilities. Our only chance really to get enough money to go anywhere is to win the Taça de Portugal and qualify for the Europa League. This might not be so far out of reach since we did make it to the semi-finals this year and if we were runners up and lost to a team already qualified for the Champions League (FCP, SLB, etc.) we might have a chance. Since I'm close to becoming annoyed with this save not going anywhere, no useless facts today, but wish me luck to get promotion!

Tagged Youth

Finally those facilities have finally caught up with the league were in, only 2 players with good enough potential to tag. Also, Silaghi is part Romanian in case you were wondering.

Silviu Silaghi (05a)

Nélson Abreu (05b)

[ManUtd1]

Always nice to have a central pairing coming through together, Gato! Nice season -- any hopes of promotion next year?

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

I'd like promotion, but the teams coming down are just too strong. Regularly there is a team that finishes with 100+ points leaving a small window of opportunity for that 2nd spot. (Plus, I've already finished the next season )

[ManUtd1]

You'll get there -- just keep building up depth and developing players!

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Real SC

2020-2021

Table | Transfers | Finances |Youth Intake

Don't expect these rapid update to continue much longer but here goes...

This time I told the board we could challenge for the title. I don't know why since we aren't using anywhere near our full wage budget. Regardless we met the expectations finishing 4th even though we had 4 more points than last year. See that we were 4th, 37 points off the title, you guys can see how hard it is to deal with the relegated teams from the Premier League! Our youth is continuing to develop a bit with 3 of our players finally representing the Portugal youth squads (including a player in the U21s!), but all we need is that one good season to hopefully save our finances. On to our finances though, they are not very good. Even with all the prize money and our sponsorship being increased (it will be 180k more next season as well) we are now in 300k in debt and all of our player are due for a large increase in wages for next season. If I don't get promotion in the next season, it truly is going to be a struggle to ever reach higher heights. We need to seize hold of our dying momentum and push through. Hopefully I'll be in the Premier League in 2 years and wish me good luck for next season!

Oh, almost forgot our useless facts (these ones aren't so useless)

Rodolfo Teles (01c) won young player of the year for 23 goals in 38 starts in the league averaging a 7.23 rating.

Rafa (02a) scored the goal of the season.

Jesùs Manzano won GK of the season with a league leading 17 shutouts in 42 games.

Aaaaaand..... Somehow we still finished 4th ...

Tagged Youth

I really wish we could get some money so I can upgrade facilities...

Diogo Henriques (06a)

And I decided to get one of these things to work..... Looks pretty....

Season                         Division                                      Position    Taça de Portugal    League Cup     Europe        Achievements
2014/15    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16    Portuguese National Championship (First Stage, Promotion Stage)   1st, 6th       3rd Round           N/A          N/A              N/A
2016/17    Portuguese National Championship (First Stage, Promotion Stage)   1st, 8th       2nd Round           N/A          N/A              N/A
2017/18    Portuguese National Championship (First Stage, Promotion Stage)   2nd, 2nd       2nd Round           N/A          N/A           Promotion
2018/19    Portuguese Second League                                          7th            3rd Round        Group Stages    N/A              N/A
2019/20    Portuguese Second League                                          3rd            Semi-finals      2nd Phase       N/A              N/A
2020/21    Portuguese Second League                                          4th            3rd Round        2nd Phase       N/A              N/A

[ManUtd1]

You're right there, Gato -- keep up the sacrifices to the football gods, and it will come together for you!

[Bartrcm]

Assi - First division elite - season 2020

Predicted: 16th

Actual finish: 1th and CHAMPION!!!!

Didn't see this comming, but in our 2nd season in the First Division Elite we became Champions. It seems that we always need 1 season to adapt at the level, and the season after we win it. But this season it was very though, and I think we only are champions because other teams failed. We had a lot of times that another team could overtake us, but when we lost a game, they did to. The last game of the season was against the team in second place at our place. It was an incredible boring game that ended 0-0. The teams from place 3-5 could gain promotion with a simple win, but all 3 teams failed. So both teams at Assi had a great party, and both gain promotion.

Next season will be though I think, but everything above 13th place will be incredible.

Games:

Cup: A very high scoring game and extra penalty's get us to the group stage, but we were awful. 5-5 was the score. This is the group we got, and I think we have a change to get 1 stage further.

In the group stage from last season we only got 1 draw, and became 4th.

Youth intake: The worst intake in 6 seasons. Only 2 players with a 5* potential.

Keljo Lindström (YP6a): Very needed ML. Will go straight in the starting 11, but is actually not ready for it. Is the best ML at the moment, my weakest place in the squad.

Mats Haglund (YP6b): again an AMC. Will be retrained as a striker. Not sure that will go well, but we have enough AMC's at the moment.

Transfers: None, only a lot of players dumped.

We can use more sponsors. When you see the difference between us and Gelfe (the team with the most sponsoring), it's just enormous.

At the end of the season we got some good news. Assi is PROFFESIONAL. We also upgraded the youth facilities.

Goals last season:

Top-10: SUCCES

Get a ST with the youth intake: FAILURE

Goals next season:

Stay up

Get a ST

Next round in the cup.

[Bartrcm]

Good seasons Mr. Rosler.

Incredible stuff ManUtd1. And your first game in the Premier division give me a bit of hope to stay up next season.

Very good 2 seasons in the second division Gato. I think next season will be yours to get up.

smp20, I think you will be the first to complete this challenge this season.

[Mr U Rosler]

Just had my 3rd youth intake with Dorchester and its terrible, not even 1 player with 1/2 a gold star CA, just 5 Silver Stars. 4 with 5 gold star PA but that's light years away.

Very weird attribute distribution, i've got a 2 footed Centre Back with 17 Flair, 5 Pace and 6 Jumping Reach and a Shadow Striker with 1 finishing.

Outside chance of making play offs though, will post at end of season.

P.S.... Anyone else keep getting a load of Midgets?... 5 foot 5" etc.....

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

bartcm - nice job with the promotion, how are your facilities and finances looking?

[Bartrcm]

Facilities terrible and finance are just in black. I'll take a screenshot of the facilities when I'll play FM later today.

[ManUtd1]

Congratulations on the promotion, Bartrcm!!! It certainly sounds like you had a season akin to what I've been experiencing! I can guarantee you that things aren't as bleak as they might seem with promotion. Consistency seems to be a big issue in the division, just like it was below. Without spoiling anything, Häcken is sitting 3rd in early July, title-holders Örebro SK are in 12th and I'm still running strong -- I hit patches of form and...err...non-form...but I'm in no danger of relegation. The money is great, too. Nothing compared to what smp20 is seeing in the PL, but with a squad full of regens my wage bill is very much under control (even if many players insisted on foreign club release clauses when we went pro).

[Bartrcm]

Congratulations on the promotion, Bartrcm!!! It certainly sounds like you had a season akin to what I've been experiencing! I can guarantee you that things aren't as bleak as they might seem with promotion. Consistency seems to be a big issue in the division, just like it was below. Without spoiling anything, Häcken is sitting 3rd in early July, title-holders Örebro SK are in 12th and I'm still running strong -- I hit patches of form and...err...non-form...but I'm in no danger of relegation. The money is great, too. Nothing compared to what smp20 is seeing in the PL, but with a squad full of regens my wage bill is very much under control (even if many players insisted on foreign club release clauses when we went pro).

Thanks, and your season sounds great.

I've got a big problem with money. I've got 451 season-ticketholders in a stadium with 500 places. Can't get any money. Ok, I've just played 1 game this season, but I badly need a new stadium.

[ManUtd1]

Doh...I had forgotten about your stadium, Bartrcm. That has been a huge factor for me, as the bandwagon careens down the road. Your finances should still be set with the TV money and any cup runs, but being able to move to a bigger stadium will be HUGE. Something to press the board for, I guess. Good luck in your season!

[ManUtd1]

Our away support is top notch.

#GasUpTheBandwagon

[ManUtd1]

Another amusing screenshot...my u21s just lost to Falkenberg 24-23 on penalties in the 5th Round of the U21s Cup. I've seen some crazy scores in penalties, but that was so insane I had to post it.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Penalties are broken like that this year (and last year), my record though has only been 13-12 back on an fm 14 save.

[ManUtd1]

I've definitely noticed the penalty issue before. This was just insane, based on what I've seen!

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Whew! Just survived a board takeover. We were more than $1 million in debt.

EDIT: I used the loan the board took out to increase junior coaching budget and send me on a coaching course

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

My coaches had suggested for months on end to make my GK "avoid using weaker foot" so I finally got annoyed and said that they could train him to do that. Next month my coaches say that he should "develop his weaker foot".

[ManUtd1]

That's one coach's contract that need not be renewed!!!

[Mr U Rosler]

End of Season 4.

Was 3rd with 2 games to go, drew them both but ended up missing play-offs by 1 point Grrrrrrrr....... the laptop nearly got thrown against some walls......

Youth intake abysmal, no first teamers, some with 5 star potential but coming from a base of silver stars, with our training facilities and part time training there not gonna make it.

I've lost my star defender as he wont re-sign, given up on my midfielder 'hope' Chase Holmes, stuck at 2 stars and not getting better.

Despite that we've been competitive, we have 2 good strikers and a decent back up, some decent Full Backs & Wide Midfielders but nothing special, really, really need a decent centre back and 2 new central midfielders as what i've got is weak and not showing signs of improvement.

Sacked my Head of Youth Development on the grounds he hasn't been developing any youth

The new one looks good and has a 'resolute' personality so i hope he can come up with the couple of players i think i need to push for promotion.

Finances have changed for the worst, lost £200,000 worth of sponsorship despite over-performing massively in the league.

I'm now losing £100k a season and have £200k in the bank, 2 seasons till we run out of cash.

Need a big away cup tie to turn a profit or break even.

For some reason i'm strangely optimistic about next season, time will tell.

[Bartrcm]

Like promised my facilities and finances. And these finances are after selling my home-advantage n the cup. Just terrible, and the board doesn't want to build a new stadium because there is no money.

[Bartrcm]

Nearly there Mr. U Rosler. Such a shame about the last 2 games.

[ManUtd1]

Brutal, Bartrcm. I've no doubt that my facilities have made all the difference in my rise--2 solid youth intakes and the ability to expand. Not sure what to tell you!

Almost there, Mr U Rosler. Hopefully things are on the verge of coming together for that promotion push!

[Bartrcm]

I want the board to start building a new stadium at the end of this season. Otherwise I'm not sure I can carry on with Assi. We are losing money fast at the moment.

[ManUtd1]

Have you tried demanding it as part of your contact renewal negotiations? Might not work given the financial situation.

(Edit: This message was brought to you by Captain Obvious.)

[Bartrcm]

I quit in Sweden. The new board rejected everyting. Started again in France. It's a pitty, because I loved Sweden.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Too bad about Sweden, but I haven't seen a France save in a while, good luck

[ManUtd1]

Just wrapped up my fourth season. Will post a full update later this evening. Long story short, the facilities I was fortunate enough to have...All the difference.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Real SC

2021-2022

Portugal: The only place where a team can have 94 points and finish 3rd place

Table | Transfers | Finances |Youth Intake

I kind of mislead you guys with the title, we finished 2nd with 96 points and won promotion.

We won promotion, finally... It actually came in the last game of the season against Beira-Mar. They had 94 points in 2nd and we had 93 points in 3rd, we managed to win 3-1 and promotion was ours.

After the long season, I was rewarded with the board planning to upgrade our stadium (only 1500 more seats to 4000 I think). Also our training facilities got downgraded "due to technological advancements" for the 2nd time this save (it's amazing that even with 2 downgrades our training facilities are still rated good).

With the board takeover that happened mid-season we actually sit on a balance of around $1 million (with a bit of loan debt ).

We did terrible in the cups going out in the 1st round in both competitions

We finally sold our 1st player (for a real fee) as well. Last years one tagged player Diogo Henriques (06a) left for RB Salzburg for 350k and a 30% next sale clause. Although he does look promising, I have enough CMs and 350k+ is a good offer for a player that still has to develop.

And finally, going up to the Premier League our players wanted some new contracts, that's okay since our payroll will be $47,000 more than this year's

Useless facts:

Jesùs Manzano won his first cap for Venezuela.

Tagged Youth

We got our first fully foreign player (2 others in this intake were Dutch as well)

Costa (07a)

Patrick Helle (07b)

Season                         Division                                      Position    Taça de Portugal    League Cup     Europe        Achievements
2014/15    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16    Portuguese National Championship (First Stage, Promotion Stage)   1st, 6th       3rd Round           N/A          N/A              N/A
2016/17    Portuguese National Championship (First Stage, Promotion Stage)   1st, 8th       2nd Round           N/A          N/A              N/A
2017/18    Portuguese National Championship (First Stage, Promotion Stage)   2nd, 2nd       2nd Round           N/A          N/A           Promotion
2018/19    Portuguese Second League                                          7th            3rd Round        Group Stages    N/A              N/A
2019/20    Portuguese Second League                                          3rd            Semi-finals       2nd Phase      N/A              N/A
2020/21    Portuguese Second League                                          4th            3rd Round         2nd Phase      N/A              N/A
2021/22    Portuguese Second League                                          2nd            1st Round        Group Stages    N/A           Promotion

[ManUtd1]

Nice work, Gato!!! Congratulations!!!

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

I know, I really needed that. And, I just got $1.42 million (if I can remember right) in TV rights for the upcoming season.

[ManUtd1]

I know the feeling very, very well -- the TV revenue from that first season is like mana from heaven.

[ManUtd1]

IFK Malmö

2018 Review

Allsvenkan

All I Want For Christmas Is An IFK Malmö Away Kit

Year after year, the magic seems to continue. Wonderously, improbably. Champions. Again.

The pattern was straightforward – an incredibly strong run of form, followed by a blip of varying length. Wash, rinse, repeat. We managed to find ourselves in a commanding position early, and held it when challengers hit a rough patch (or had to deal with fixture congestion due to European competition – this his our neighbors Malmö FF the hardest).

Again, it wasn’t just me – Häcken was in contention all year for Europe, only to drop off at the end and finish 7th (4 points off 3rd and a guaranteed spot in the Europa League). Åtvidaberg was a complete and total mess, though, finishing dead-last with a mere 11 points. Defending champions Örebro SK fell all the way to 12th, a mere 4 points above Djurgården in the relegation-playoff spot. Runners-up IFK Göteborg finished in 8th. An anomalous season, or is the unpredictability something we’ll continue to see? But I see that I’ve gotten ahead of myself.

Media predictions fell to the side as we squeaked out one win after another. With two matches left, we were 5 points clear at the top. A win away to Helsingborg was far from clear, and with their injury-time leveler called back (after a goal called off in the 65th), we found ourselves champions against all the odds.

The bandwagon is well-and-truly careening down the Swedish road, with 3,721 turning out for our final home match of the season, compared to the 942 who saw us open the competitive calendar in March with a 1-0 win over IFK Göteborg in the Swedish Cup Group Stage. Nearly 11,000 saw our 1-0 victory over neighbors Malmö FF in September, too. Heady days, these.

Malmö is YELLOW.

In the Swedish Super Cup, we obtained some revenge on AIK who defeated us in the Swedish Cup and whose manager wouldn’t stop complaining about the state of our pitch. I probably should have handled it more professionally, but we’d just won the Cup...

Holland won the 2018 World Cup on penalties over France. Not the most notable tournament, other than Germany getting knocked out at the Group Stage (#1; #2).

My youth intake was very, very disappointing this year. Even with my usual tag-everything-that-moves mentality, I only ended up tagging 2 players. I’m sacking the HOYD and my assistant manager, who’ve been with me for ages. The time has come to move on; they just aren’t good enough at this level. That being said, I remain highly reliant on the developed players from my first two intakes, and will post some screenshots later to give you an insight into how some of the key players have developed.

One note on that point – I didn’t intend to have Mattias Holgersson (17C) step into anything more than a 3rd XI role this season, but he stepped up big time when injuries required his call-up. Unless he plateaus, he will push Patrik Gustafsson (15G) for a spot in the XI before too long. Two words regarding injuries this season: broken pelvis. Ouch. Ok, that was 3 words. Deal with it.

What interest has developed in my players has been fleeting, at best. Their heads haven’t been turned, much, so the promise of Champions League football on the horizon should keep everyone happy and (hopefully) here. With success, of course, came requests for new contracts – hard to say no to key players under the circumstances, especially when many had foreign club release clauses between 180k and 300k, most of which have now been raised to the high six figures. We’ve also started to get more players called up for their youth national squads.

Goals for next season: Once again, I feel like I don’t know what to say. The quality has not been particularly good in Sweden, so I clearly feel obligated to continue challenging for the title and European qualification. Anything less will be a big let-down under the circumstances (in the role-playing sense). Obviously, the added challenge of fixture congestion will be there if I manage to push on in Europe. Squad depth is always going to be an issue, as I can hardly believe what my XI has accomplished – there just isn’t a ton of depth in the squad.

I definitely don’t have the players to begin (slowly) implementing the 4-3-3 (4-1-2-3 DM Wide) I initially set out to play. The plan is to eventually come back to that, but the technical demands may be more than my kick-and-run boys are capable of.

Again, I’ll try to post some screenshots tomorrow of players as they’ve developed. I’ve got some legwork to do regarding staff…and I’m jonesing to get playing after all this writing.

Squad | Table | League Overview | Fixtures | Swedish Cup | Transfers | Youth Intake

Eric Jacobsson (18A) | Christoffer Lämsä (18B)

[Twellman24]

My Starting Information

General Information

Club Background

The Starting Squad

The manager is Paco Salillas, an actual Castellon ex-player (as well as Villarreal, Levante and others). A traditional poacher who scored 20+ goals per season well into his 30s.

Castellon used to be in La Liga, they even played in a Spanish Cup final, and in the past decades it all has gone downhill, including money problems. Our idea is to bring them back up to glory, and to fighting in La Liga against powerhouses Valencia and Villarreal. That would be awesome.

(I'm from Castellon, btw)

The squad is decent, and we do have a bunch of reserves in the youth squad, so we'll be pulling from those. Our best player is this one and we'll have to do our best to keep him while the youth products start to trickle in.

The board is asking for mid-table, so we'll have to start things off well.

Let's play!

T24

[ManUtd1]

Welcome aboard, Twellman24! I considered Castellon as well, but ended up in Sweden (having also strongly considered Arandina). I'm not from Spain, but spent a lot of time in Bilbao, Sevilla and the Ribera Del Duero region, and a bit less time in Villajoyosa and Madrid.

[Bartrcm]

Started again in France. Meet the new manager of AS Beauvais Oise. These are the facilities. Not good, but I think the money will be better in France. Just survive my first season.

Again incredible stuff ManUtd1.

Congrats on the promotion Gato.

Good luck Twellman24. Played with Castellon last season, and it went pretty well.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Good luck Twellman24, don't know what the prize money is in Spain (tbh it can't be much worse than Portugal ).

EDIT: Just looked at your club info, is it a problem that your club is already valued more than mine?