ri916's FM15 Youth Academy Challenge

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Looks like everyone's progressing nicely I'm into February of the 24/25 season....I didn't too bad while semi-drunk! I expect to update soon.

So I guess I caught up to go then I'm in March 2025 after intake (still drooling over them!)

[officiallydeej]

Cove Rangers - Season 2015/16

Squad - Table - Finances - League Overview - Transfers - Youth Intake

(Both Transfers were made Before I took over on June 30th.)

Well, this was most certainly unexpected! We set off like a train winning our first 5 league matches, as well as making it through to the second round of the Challenge Cup before succumbing to a 4-2 defeat to fellow League Two side Forfar. We lost in the First Round of the League Cup to Rangers, however a 26,000 crowd at Ibrox gave us £300,000 with which I managed to convince the board to pay for upgrades to the Youth Facilities and Junior Coaching.

After the lightning start we soon slowed down and after suffering a run of only 1 win in 11 matches between November and the end of the calendar year we had slumped as far down the league as sixth.

A change in my tactics prompted a revival, and despite a 4th round defeat at the hands of Hearts in the Scottish Cup we went on to only lose 2 of our remaining 16 games, which left us in with a chance of automatic promotion right up until the final day of the season. The odds were in our favour as leaders Berwick travelled to Clyde who were level with us on 58 points. We were away at bottom club East Stirling but disappointly lost 2-1 to condemn us to second, though this didn't matter in the end as Berwick won at Clyde to secure the title by four points.

Into the playoffs and after a 1-1 draw at Clyde we dispatched them 2-0 at Allan Park to set up a final against 4th placed Forfar, with the winners taking the place of the now relegated Arbroath.

We again played away first, somehow managing a 2-1 despite losing three key players the day before the game.

All we had to do was hold our nerve for the home leg and we were up at the first time of asking...

Playoff Final

We did it! 2 goals from untagged youth Kevin McNeil and a goal from leading goalscorer Kenny Deuchar (31 in all competitions) meant that against all odds we were promoted in the clubs first ever season in the Scottish Football League!!

Graeme Mitchell (16A) - Chris Hendry (16B) - Kyle Gauld (16C) - Ross Mackie (16D)

Mitchell and Hendry are the pick of the bunch here, with both having the potential to play at least one division higher than we're in at the moment. The other two are more squad players, however with only 2 natural strikers and 1 other keeper I'm sure both will see plenty of game time next season.

Not really sure what to expect from next season, but I'm fairly sure we're going to struggle as we were only predicted to finish 9th in League Two this season. Staying up is the aim and if we're lucky enough to draw another of the Old Firm away in the cup then the money would help no end.

[officiallydeej]

I should point out I did write a long intro post however it said it required Admin approval so doesn't seem to have appeared yet.. It may turn up at some point but will now be out of order as i've finished the first season.

[Twellman24]

Castellon SAD - 17/18 Season - Year 3

Our third year in Castellon was a breakthrough one. Even though we did not achieve promotion, we were one of the top teams in the league and made it to the playoffs with four YPs in the starting eleven, which is cool.

We are notorious for finishing the season poorly, and even though we spent several weeks 3rd and 4th, we came to the last match in 5th, hoping we could win and Hercules lose at home to get that last spot. Incredibly enough Hercules lost at home 0-1, so we got it.

In the playoffs, we beat Jaen by an overall score of 2-1, but Orihuela, 1st in their group, beat us at home 0-2 and it all ended. We bat them 1-2 in the second leg but it wasn't enough.

The good news? The youth products are making a name for themselves. Xavi Vergell is now the starting GK so much so that Salva was sold to Deportivo, Miranda finished the season starting on midfield next to Lois, and Castillo as right back and Neminho in the left mid are pretty much crucial for us these days.

The bad news? Our finances are now in the red, as we're around 1m in debt. Oh well.

Table - Stats 1 - Stats 2 - Transfers - Finances

Youth - Class of YP03

Costa - DR DL -Decent and, most importantly, defender who can play in both sides of the defense.

Juan Carlos- ST - Doesn't have much going on but he's young, fast, and we need strikers.

Mateo - MC- Midfielder with really good passing to be 15.

Nesto - CB - Another not great player, but he's almost 190cm and he's 16. Could be good.

Carlos Sendra - GK - Our promising goalkeeper tradition continues.

___________

Year 3 Summary - Great year, close to promotion but we weren't ready.

Goals Year 4 - Repeat playoffs, and maybe play against a La Liga team in the Spanish Cup?

T24

[ManUtd1]

Excellent seasons, officiallydeej and Twellman! And, congrats on the promotion, OD -- I'm sure you're in line for one next season, Twellman.

I've been obliterating Sweden for the first 2 months of 2020, and have thus decided to implement my training regime, with an eye firmly towards implementing my 4-3-3/4-1-2-3. There are dark clouds on the horizon, though, as Mattias Holgersson (17C) has sought me out to discuss moving to Nantes. Frickin' Nantes, of all places. Why? They aren't in the Champions League. They're just a more competitive league. I managed to talk him down, but this is not a good sign.

[Bartrcm]

AS Beauvais Oise - League 2 - Season 2016-2017

Predicted: 20th

Actual finish: 1th and CHAMPIONS!!!!

The fairytail continues!!! Didn't saw this comming at all. We started the season perfectly with 3 wins an a row. But suddenly everything stopped. We only managed 2 wins in our next 8 games. This still left us at the top half. After this slump, we got back in winning games. But we also drawed to much games, and we only came back in the promotion spots 5 games before the end of the season. With 1 game to go we were in second place and still could become champions or fall back at 4th place and out off promotion. But with a bit of luck we won our last game, and Dijon lost theirs so we leapfrogged them at the last game, to become champions. Next season will be the first ever season at the highest level, and I'm prepared for a long relegation battle, because I know this fairytail can't continue for ever.

Games 1

Games 2

French cup: we've been kicked out an round earlier than last year, but the 10th round was better than expected.

League cup: Kicked out in the first round. Didn't care about this cup, but when I saw what I earned after been kicked out in the first round, I really regretted it.

Youth intake: Very good one, with 6 players tagged.

Herman Labéjot (YP2a): DR, will be back up next season, because I only have 1 decent DR in the squad.

Papa Kaoma Diallo (YP2b): Very welcome DL

Mustapha Bamba (YP2c): Expect a lot in the future of this MC.

Dominique Cardon (YP2d): Potential to become a good League 1 DC

Patrick Luyeye (YP2e): Not sure about the potential of this ST

Henri Loiseau (YP2f): First decent GK that comes through our youth ranks

Transfers : None of course

After the season we finally could upgrade our youth and training facilities. This is a big step.

Oh and for making this challenge a bit more difficult, we have a 3th team with to much money. After PSG and Monaco, now Montpellier have been take over by a tycoon. This is going to be a very hard challenge.

Our stadium will be expand. After the expansion our capacity will be almost doubled to over 20500. Now find all these spectators to fill our stadium. This season we had an average of around 2500.

After all the upgrades and staduim expansion our finince look like this. Like you can see, there is no money at the bank, but League 1 will provide us enough money I think.

Goals last season:

Survive: SUCCES

Goals next season:

Survive

Don't be humiliated to much in the big games.

[Bartrcm]

Very good 1th season and promotion Officiallydeej.

Good progress Twellman24. You are close to promotion.

[Vintage06]

Blyth Spartans

2015-16

Most my photos are taken at the end of the season (1st May) I forgot to take others.

Predicted to finish: 21st

Finished: 10th

Facilities

Quite awful. However i have successfully managed to convince the board to at least relay the pitch. Hopefully can get some more youth setup advancements.

Youth Intake is Rubbish

Finances

Managed to make nearly 100k. Hopefully i can convince them to reinvest that in youth investment. I won't hold my breath though.

Transfers - Couple of players left throughout the season, Saved a little on wages.

First season at my home town club, I found a very small squad with only a couple of notable 'star' players, A Right Back Alex Nicholson and Striker Dan Maguire. Other than that total rubbish. The manager before that had decided to release all but one of my goalkeepers so i was left with a very quite awful keeper. Thankfully one has came through my youth that has a potential to be a 'decent' conference keeper.

The season started terrific for me. I was second or third for the first 20 or so games, Then it started going downhill, Injuries and Suspensions hit me hard, With only two proper centre backs injuries to those affected me badly. One Nathan Buddle is quite injury prone too so rarely lasts 90 minutes with his health about 40%

FA Cup went ok and as perhaps the most famous Non-League team, A reputation built on previous cup runs, I was hoping for the extra income. Lost to Shrewsbury in the 1st round. Fa Trophy was without a doubt the worst result of the season, a 5-0 drubbing to Kings Lynn. Terrible.

The second half of the season went quite putrid, Staying around 6th and in a play-off spot until a winless run of 8 games between March & April ruined any chance of a play-off spot. So it will be conference north again next season.

Dan Maguire was simply a revelation playing upfront in 49 games he managed 34 goals. I will do well to keep him through the summer. Alex Nicholson won't sign a new contract, He says the squads too poor for him to stay lol. Oh dear.

Best Youth from last season: (Season I didn't play) All really terrible and in awkward positions.

Matty Bannister

Theo Beardsley

Best Youth This season: Not brilliant but a few decent players & at least a back-up goalkeeper.

Michael Reay AMC

Taiwo Jones

Next Seasons Targets: Play-Off Spot. FA Cup 1st Round. Get youth facilities upgraded. Progress some youth.

[Vintage06]

My star right back refused to negotiate a new contract - He leaves the club, Then out of interest i approach to sign and he's interested and for half the wages he was on. Very Annoying.

[Vintage06]

I put up a season summary but it said it had to be approved by an admin? Hope its approved quickly.

Guess its because i had to re-register to the forum.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Real SC

2024-2025

Table | Transfers | Finances | Youth Intake

Now that was a tense (and unexpected) end to the season. On the last day of the season we managed to beat Estoril 2-1 and SLB and Rio Ave both lost to secure us the 4th place finish and last Europa League spot.

Take a careful look at the table around us..... If anyone actually noticed that we had a +12 GD and SLB had a +15 I applaud you To clear things up the weird way the league works is that Head-to-Head performance comes before goal difference. We beat SLB 5-2 and tied 1-1 in our two meetings.

Soooo.... You guys know I'm going to want to talk about the intake, but I'll restrain myself for a bit longer. Let's talk about Europe, the Europa League should help our finances a bit even though we start in some qualifying round (I think the first one). So we finished 4th and will be in the Europa League next year. I don't know whether we'll have to move stadiums (I imagine so) since our capacity is on 5000. Also, what I found funny is that we didn't clear the home-grown player requirement by much; All our players are so young that they haven't been playing at club in Portugal for 3 years yet

And our facilities produced the guys below so I can't complain. Our youth facilities are good and our training are now average after experiencing my 3rd downgrade of them due to "technological advancements".

Useless facts:

Obviously, we are up there with 32 players produced that are now playing in the Premier League. With Manuel Sousa (08a) still playing (more like benching) for Man Utd we have a player playing highly abroad.

I got my "part of the furniture" achievement for being at Real for 10 years!

Rodolfo Teles (01c) continues to amaze me by not warranting any transfer bids even though he has led the Premier League in scoring for 3 straight years!

Tagged Youth

It's here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, Nuno Costa (10a) was rated by my HOYD as a "player of his generation" and is labeled the next Hélder Cristóvão (never heard of him)

also another CB, Miguel Carmo (10c) is also labeled the next Hélder Cristóvão... Yeah.

Oh, to rub it in more, Paulo Silva (10b) is labeled the next Paulo Futre

So my 1st world problem is that I have to many amazing CBs now and I don't play wingers in my narrow 4-3-1-2 formation. Thinking of retraining Silva as a Trequartista

Nuno Costa (10a)

Paulo Silva (10b)

Miguel Carmo (10c)

José Chieira (10d)

José Augusto Ramos (10e)

Luis Godinho (10f)

Thanks for reading this as I realized I promised a squad update/report... Sorry, I'll try to remember next season (you'll get to see this years youth progress anyways).

Seriously though, if anyone realized that GD thing I applaud you, I didn't realize that (although I knew the rule).

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
2022/23    Portuguese Premier League                                         14th           4th Round        Third Phase     N/A              N/A
2023/24    Portuguese Premier League                                         7th            5th Round        Third Phase     N/A       Youth facilities upgrade
2024/25    Portuguese Premier League                                         4th            4th Round        Third Phase     N/A      Europa League Qualification

[Bartrcm]

My best result on FM15 until now. Doing this as a newy promoted team is legendary!!!!

[Bartrcm]

Congrats on getting into Europe Gato. I hope you will earn a lot of money so you can upgrade everything.

Good start of the challenge Vintage

[smp20]

Welcome to the challenge officiallydeej and congrats on the first season promotion. Twellman it looks as though your youth products are progressing and I'm sure that promotion will come soon. Vintage that's a solid start to the challenge and those youth products aren't bad considering you've not been able to develop your setup yet.

Bartrcm you're making great strides in France and being in the top flight already is tremendous. Long may it continue! Gato congrats on getting into Europe and on catching up with me . The squads developing well and great to see some potential stars. I've just finished the 2024/25 season so an update is imminent.....I've also been graced with a 'best of his generation' player in my intake.

[smp20]

ManUtd1 I've had top teams sniffing around my stars (George Allen mostly) to try and unsettled them. Arsenal and Man City are the biggest culprits. I don't need the money so I will be holding on tight! Keep cracking on in Sweden, those results in Europe will come.

[smp20]

smp20 - Like I said, jealous of your Europa League . Your youth facilities look great now as well, just waiting for those top class players.

Curious questions, what's your HOYD look like and how many have you had over this save?

My current HOYD is none other than Andrea Pirlo - he's the highest paid member of the club after myself (he's on £22k, I'm on £25k and the highest paid player is on £18.75k). As you can see he is top class and I'm looking forward to his involvement at the club - he's been here since 2023. Before him my HOYD was Jonathan Woodgate, who is now my assistant manager. He took over the role from Ryan McBride in 2017.

[smp20]

Dulwich Hamlet 2024/25 Season

League Table ~ Domestic Cups ~ Europa League ~ Finances ~ Transfers ~ Best 11

Youth Intake ~ Berry 25A ~ Honey 25B

A fantastic season which saw us finish 3rd in the Premier League and qualify for the pinnacle of club football - of course the Champions League! Not only did we managed to do well in the league, we managed to do the cup double fighting off Arsenal and Man Utd in the finals. Our trophy cabinet is getting fuller . The only disappointment this season was the manner in which we exited Europa. We managed to finish 2nd in our group just behind Lyon and we found ourselves in an amazing position in the 1st knockout round after beating Roma 3-0 at home. We even managed to grab an early away goal at the Olimpico, however then came a huge collapse to a 5-1 defeat. The ultimate choke and I hope it's something that will not feature often in our European campaigns.

Our finances are looking exceptionally strong. The significant outward transfer was goalkeeper Simon Locke in January. He's been here since the beginning of the challenge but he wanted a new challenge so I let him go to League 1 Exeter after getting his final send-off starting against Man City on the 28th December. Our only remaining player from the start of the challenge is Xavier Vidal who still features regularly and recently had his Testimonial. I'm very excited about John Berry, our new 'world class potential' centre back. Also Ashley Honey could become a quality first choice left-back. The rest of the intake was rubbish, but I'd rather have one or two stars than several average players come through. Good work Mr. Pirlo.

Key Performers

Allen 21A ~ Skinner 19D ~ Wood 16A

I've highlighted the above 3 players as the key performers of the season. George Allen is really starting to develop into a world-class midfielder and he's had interest from a lot of big clubs, including this huge bid. In an ordinary save I'd have been tempted to take it, but in a youth challenge I think it's crucial to keep your key players. I don't know when or if I will get another centre mid like him. One player who has really emerged from nowhere is Daryl Skinner. He came in as a central midfielder but lacked the key skills for it so he spent a couple of seasons training to become a striker...He eventually got there and has ousted club legend Dean Moss from the starting line up and rightly so after his 39 goal season. Tony Wood struggled in his first couple of seasons in the Premier League, however he is back on form now and has more recently been capped by England. Not bad for a player who came through my first intake! The likes of Wood, Moss and Skinner have all done very well considering they lack a lot of attributes, I can only imagine what a top class striker could do in my 4-3-3 setup. Here's hoping I get one soon. Oh and I got offered the England job, pity I can't take it

Ten Season Summary

Honours

Vanarama Conference South Winners 2016

FA Trophy Winners 2016, Runners Up 2017

Vanarama Conference National Runners Up & Play-off Winners 2017

Sky Bet League 2 Runners Up 2018

Sky Bet League 1 Play-off Winners 2019

FA Cup Winners 2020, 2025

English Community Shield Runners Up 2020, Winners 2025

Sky Bet Championship Runners Up 2021

Capital 1 Cup Winners 2024, 2025

English Premier League 3rd Place 2025

[Bartrcm]

Very nice season smp20. And winning 2 cups in 1 season is incredible.

Berry 25A could start immediatly in my starting 11. What a very good player allready ar the age of 15!!!!!

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

When I thought I was catching up with you smp20 you just go out and... yeah. Berry looks good and we should see how him and Nuno Costa progress as they are both world class potential CBs of the same age. I smell a competition

[ManUtd1]

Nice work, smp20! I'm wrapping up 2020 this evening...updated posted late tomorrow.

[ManUtd1]

AS Aris Salonika

2015/16 Pre-Season

After much deliberation, I've decided to take on Aris. Croatia was tempting, but I've been thinking about a Greek save for some time now. So, here goes nothing...

As you may already know, the God of War was relegated to the 3rd tier in 2014 due to financial problems. To avoid any such future problems (*cough*) the Board has bought off on investing in and developing players through the youth academy. That being said, the Board is relatively demanding, which is only natural given Aris' position in the history of Greek football: a founding member of both the Macedonian Football Clubs Association and the Hellenic Football Federation; 3x Champions of the Superleague (1927-28, 1931-32 & 1945-46) and 3x Runners-Up (1929-30, 1932-33 & 1979-80); 1x winners of the Greek Cup (1969-70) and 8x Runners-Up (1931–32, 1932–33, 1939–40, 1949–50, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2007–08 & 2009–10). The most impressive statistic, however, is that Aris is undefeated at home in European competition since 1968, a run of 26 matches.

While that last item will certainly fall at some stage, our long-term goal is to embody our namesake, Ares, who represents the "physical, violent and untamed aspect of war" and is often described a dangerous force, "overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering." In a football sense, of course...

Ruthless. Attacking. Bold. Fearless. Clothed in the colors of the Byzantine Imperial flag. We will conquer.

Goals for 2015/16: Consolidate our position in the Beta Ethniki and lay the foundation for a promotion push in 2016/17. Per usual, I will offer numerous sacrifices to the Football Gods in hopes of a good 1st intake at Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, which seems to be a teeming cauldron of insanity fit for my purposes (1 | 2 | 3). While Aris are in a better shape, structurally, than most third-tier Greek sides, they Board's expectations are high. I don't expect much room for error.

Club Overview | Squad | Club Info | Facilities

My Overview | My Profile | My Info

[Bartrcm]

Good luck ManUtd1. Allready tried this with Aris and had a lot of fun with Aris.

I'm also back to this challenge. Can't resist this challenge.

[ManUtd1]

Thanks, Bartrcm -- I had forgotten about your run with Aris. Who are you signing up with this time around? Or, are you picking up a prior save?

[Bartrcm]

Just noticed that I've signed up with the same team as Gato. Never been in Ukraine, and they have impressive facilities.

[ManUtd1]

Feels like we might have turned a corner here, in the first match of calendar year 2016. We've been frustratingly inconsistent thus far, dropping points we shouldn't drop, picking up points we have no business picking up. Here, we blew our 2-goal lead in short order...in Alimos' first 2 shots on goal. Another tactical tweak and some subs...and it all comes together beautifully. Fingers crossed that this isn't just a false dawn...

[smp20]

Decent start with Aris ManUtd1 and welcome back to the challenge bartrcm - Obolon-Brewer looks like an interesting side to start with.

Update to come from me, in fact not far off two updates

[ManUtd1]

AS Aris Salonika

2015/16 Season Review

One year in, and I'm enjoying Greece. After a shaky, inconsistent start to the season, we started putting together a streak in December and once we hit January truly caught fire. We didn't look back and ended up cruising to the Beta Ethniki title. Per usual, I'm playing my asymmetric 4-4-2 and fully implemented my training regime at the end of the season. Not much to mention beyond improvements in junior coaching, other than an unfortunate downgrade in our training facilities. Finances are brutal right now, as even after a cash infusion we were still more than $2.4M in the hole at the end of the domestic calendar...a hole which grew greater over the next 2 months.

I'm very pleased with my youth intake, and expect to start working the youngsters in this season. No one made any appearances during the run-in, but that's going to quickly change as several squad players were released (no potential), Poy retired and Vasco Fernandes wants to leave for APOEL. We'll see what happens...

Goals for 2016/17: Consolidate our position in the Superleague and make a push for Europe (matching you, Bartrcm!). Greece lost a CL place this year, so only the champions will make it into the CL, with 3 spots in the EL up for grabs. I really need to snag one of them to staunch the bleeding in our finances.

Squad | Table | League Overview | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Greek Cup | Best XI | Transfers | Youth Intake

Ilias Sabanidis (16A) | Theofilos Podas (16B) | Menelaos Diallas (16C) | Dimitris Tsimikas (16D) | Christos Chatzipavlidis (16E)

Dimitris Gesios (16F) | Vasilis Sybetheris (16G)

Challenge Overview:

[Bartrcm]

FC Obolon Brewer - First League - Season 2015-2016

Predicted: 10th

Actual finish: 5th

This was a good season. The start was actually very difficult, but we were never in any relegation danger. The biggest problem was the amount of games before the winter brake. During this winter brake we had our youth intake. After this intake we completely changed our tactics and it payed off. 4 players were dropped immediatly in the starting 11, and we played much better football. The last 9 games of the season with our new youngsters were good, and I hope we can keep improving our youngsters next season. We only finished 4 points behind the champions, so I think we could have a shot for promotion next season.

Games:

Cup: Eliminated in the 3th round by a premier league team.

Youth intake: Very good, tagged 9 players, and gave 2 other players a contract.

Andriy Chernyak (YP1a): ST, but not so good as yours Gato.

Andriy Tarasenko (YP1b): AMR, straight into the starting 11.

Artem Pudy (YP1c): AML, also straight into the starting 11.

Anatolly Novak (YP1d): ML, wil be retrained as a AML.

Dmytro Fedorov (YP1e): DR, at least 1 year in U19

Sergiy Bablychuk (YP1f): AMC, straight into the starting 11

Volodymyr Shevchenko (YP1g): DC, a least 1 year into the U19.

Victor Shyman (YP1h): another DC, also U19

Andriy Miklashevich (YP1i): MC, straight into the starting 11

This is the team that have played the games after the youth intake. Only 3 players older than 20. Maybe to young but this team performed best, and they have a lot of potential. All my youngsters have been labelled at least with decent prmier league potential.

Transfers: None

Finances: Terrible, and board allready provided us some money to survive. Also no money at the end of the season for our league position. This will be our biggest problem during this challenge.

Goals next season:

Push for promotion

I hope its is not a problem for you Gato that I play with the same team as you, but I have a lot of fun with them.

[ManUtd1]

Nicely done, Bartrcm. If they're good enough, they're old enough! Looks like you're in great shape for a promotion push next season. I'm on my cell, so screenshots aren't loading...will check them out this evening.

[Bartrcm]

The new recruits aren't world beaters by far, but they seem to play good football for my team at the moment.

[ManUtd1]

In this challenge, that's all you can ask for! I had to sell 3 players from my 1st XI in the summer 2016 transfer window (Nlundulu, Sounas and Liolios), so several youngsters are having to step up sooner than anticipated. So far, so good...

[Bartrcm]

I think I lost a lot of players before the first season, so I don't think it will be a problem. The step up isn't that huge (besides the top teams).

[ManUtd1]

That definitely seems to be the case. I knocked off defending champions Panathinaikos in the 2nd match...Had no business winning, but that's the game! Olympiacos will be a different matter, though.

The good news is that with the player sales, I'm only $1.5M in the red! Only.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Just noticed that I've signed up with the same team as Gato. Never been in Ukraine, and they have impressive facilities.

Keep playing it by all means, I'm sure you'll show me up at some point

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Obolon-Brewer Kyiv

2016-2017

Table | Youth Intake

Finished 3rd, in a much better season and our youth players are continuing to come through and develop. I think promotion in 2 years is a realistic target since I don't think we quite have the quality to win the league next year. In our intake we got a "leading premier division" potential wing back in Sergiy Gryshko.

Tagged Youth

Sergiy Gryshko (02a)

Artem Medvedev (02b)

Olexandr Omelyanovych (02c)

Ivan Anikeev (02d)

Olexandr Ivanov (02e)

Volodymyr Melnyk (02f)

Eugene Chumak (02g)

Andriy Dobryanskyl (02h)

Olexandr Bashlay (02i)

Igor Levanidov (02j)

Olexandr Oliynyk (02k)

Leonid Yefremov (02l)

[size=2]
Season               Division       Position   Ukrainian Cup       Europe      Achievements
2014/15    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16      Ukrainian First League   9th      Second Round         N/A            N/A
2016/17      Ukrainian First League   3rd      Second Round         N/A            N/A
[/size]

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Obolon-Brewer Kyiv

2017-2018

Table | Youth Intake | Finances | Best 11

Like I said, we weren't going to better a 3rd place finish this year. Regardless, we only got 4 less points that last year. Our team is getting better as now only 5 players got tagged with 5* PA. Hopefully next year will be our year for promotion because our finances need it as you can see.

And unless I can finish another season today, this will be the last update before I go camping for a week.

Tagged Youth

Vitaliy Rafalskyl (03a)

Mykola Stargorodskyl (03b)

Dmytro Rud'ko (03c)

Yuriy Belov (03d)

Vladyslav Onyklenko (03e)

Best 11

GK- Petro Sokolenko (01b)

RWB- Vyacheslav Lyashenko (01h)

CB- Davit Iashvili

CB- Denys Sklyar (00c)

LWB- Sergiy Zavershenyuk

DM- Artem Favorov

CM- Danylo Gavrylyuk (00b)

CM- Kyrylo Matveev (00e)

CAM- Dmytro Tkach (00a)

ST- Illya Lysov (00d)

ST- Illya Kovalenko

[size=2]
Season               Division       Position   Ukrainian Cup       Europe      Achievements
2014/15    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16      Ukrainian First League   9th      Second Round         N/A            N/A
2016/17      Ukrainian First League   3rd      Second Round         N/A            N/A
2017/18      Ukrainian First League   5th      Second Round         N/A            N/A
[/size]

[Bartrcm]

2 nice seasons Gato. Is Artem Favorov playing good for you? He should be our best player, but he doesn't perform for me. He is only a back-up for me. Kovalenko doesn't play either in my team.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Favorov is a rotation player for me this year, he definitely should be performing better for me as well.

As for Kovalenko, he plays well and was the leading goalscorer last year.

[Bartrcm]

In my first season Bidnenko, a youth player was my leading goalscorer.

I have to play 7 games to finish the season, but that won't happen this weekend (bachelor party of one of my best friends whole weekend). I hope to finish my season on Monday. It is going very well at the moment, but I hope I don't jinx it with this post.

[ManUtd1]

AS Aris Salonika

2016/17 Season Review

Well, Bartrcm, you weren't kidding. Aside from the top 3 (Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and PAOK), the quality in Greece just isn't there. PAS Giannina felt like a bogey team, with 3 draws and a loss in 4 matches (more on that later). Beyond that...the quality was truly poor.

As a result, we had a tremendous season. A moderately strong start was followed by a 3+ months unbeaten streak in all competitions (November through March), which saw us top of the table for the run-in. The top youth from my 2016 intake saw a ton of game time, thanks to transfers out and injuries. Dimitris Mousenikas was a 2015 academy promotion, before I took the helm -- as such, he isn't tagged. However, he took over at left back after Liolios' departure and ended up as the fans' POTY. Crazy. Menelaos Diallas (16C) was also forced to take over in goal when Baimakis went down injured for a 3+ month stretch. It is unlikely that I'll switch back.

Back to the season...what a league campaign. Epic. We were definitely playing above ourselves all season. With 5 matches left, we were 5 points clear of Olympiacos and about to face them at home. A credible 0-0 draw was not ideal, but had us in a great position for the title. A missed opportunity for them, to be sure. In our next Superleague match, we lose to 10-man Giannina while Olympiacos batters AEK. 3 matches left, and our lead is down to 2 points. In the next round, Olympiacos wins 1-0 away to Panathinaikos, and the next day we dominate but squeak by with a 1-0 win over Platanias. 2 matches left.

Disaster. We draw 2-2 away to Panaitolikos, giving up a late equalizer. Olympiacos wins 2-0 over Ergotelis. Level on points, but Olympiacos have the tie-breaker (head-to-head). We need help. It isn't to come. While we dominate Veroia at home, winning 3-1, Olympiacos hammer Atromitos 4-1. We have only ourselves to blame. Level on points, but finishing 2nd and thus missing out on the Champions League. A brutal end to the season, but it still was a great season.

We are forced to go through the European Places Playoff, and hold our own against Panathinaikos and PAOK. With our 2 point cushion from the regular season, we finish in the top spot ensuring a 3rd Qualifying Round seeding for the Europa League. All told a fantastic domestic league campaign following promotion.

We also had a great run in the Greek Cup, winning it on penalties after going through the quarterfinals and semifinals on away goals.

Our finances...well, in early July, after a bunch of new sponsors...we're still more than $700k in the red. Greece is absolutely brutal, financially. Europe can't come soon enough, so that I can start building up my facilities.

The youth intake is, once again, promising. None saw any minutes this season, but that will change next year. I tagged a bunch of players, but not this guy, despite his shades and potential...his base stats are just awful, and it isn't worth retraining him. His shades, though...

Goals for 2017/18: Make a run into the EL Group Stages. Qualify for the Champions League (Greece earned back its 2nd CL spot for the 2018/19 campaign). Begin developing our facilities (the Board agreed to increase our junior coaching and expand youth recruitment already).

Squad | Table | League Overview | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Greek Cup | Best XI | Transfers | Youth Intake

Charis Potouridis (17A) | Alexis Maros (17B) | Lefteris Zachariadis (17C) | Thomas Ntosis (17D) | Jorgo Curri (17E)

Fotis Solomonidis (17F) | Lefteris Pamlidis (17G) | Lefteris Tsartsidis (17H) | Lakis Papitsas (17I)

Challenge Overview:

[ManUtd1]

I can smell a promotion coming, Gato...Gryshko looks promising, and Sokolenko has developed quite nicely. Who needs to go camping?!

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Obolon-Brewer Kyiv

2018-2019

Table | Youth Intake | Finances | Best 11

So we finally won the league and got promoted this year. It was by a slim margin, but we had a great year all around and deserved our promotion at last. We actually sold Illya Kovalenko mid-season for his release clause of £775k. Because of that, our finances are looking better (but still terrible). In our youth intake, we got a GK with leading premier league potential which is very nice.

Tagged Youth

Evgeny Knyazev (04a)

Valentyn Turkenya (04b)

Vasyl Chabak (04c)

Best 11

GK- Petro Sokolenko (01b)

RWB- Sergiy Gryshko (02a)

CB- Davit Iashvili

CB- Denys Sklyar (00c)

LWB- Olexandr Bashlay (01i)

DM- Artem Favorov

CM- Danylo Gavrylyuk (00b)

CM- Andriy Donets (01j)

CAM- Dmytro Tkach (00a)

ST- Illya Lysov (00d)

ST- Vitaliy Borysenko (01a)

[size=2]
Season               Division       Position   Ukrainian Cup       Europe      Achievements
2014/15    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16      Ukrainian First League   9th      Second Round         N/A            N/A
2016/17      Ukrainian First League   3rd      Second Round         N/A            N/A
2017/18      Ukrainian First League   5th      Second Round         N/A            N/A
2018/19      Ukrainian First League   1st      Quarter Finals       N/A         Promotion

[/size]

[ManUtd1]

Enjoy the camping trip, Gato -- Knyazev looks very, very promising. Congrats on the promotion, too!

[ManUtd1]

March 2018...the best regen I've had in this year's edition, by far. Absolutely phenomenal. He can play in all 4 of my midfield positions. I'm going to retrain him to play as an F9, too...watch, he's going to be a sick note. I totally just jinxed him...

Now, if he can stay healthy. If I can keep him. If...

[Bartrcm]

March 2018...the best regen I've had in this year's edition, by far. Absolutely phenomenal. He can play in all 4 of my midfield positions. I'm going to retrain him to play as an F9, too...watch, he's going to be a sick note. I totally just jinxed him...

Now, if he can stay healthy. If I can keep him. If...

Wow, what a player. 1 of the best I've ever seen.

[Bartrcm]

Congrats with th e promotion Gato. I hope to finish my season today.

[Bartrcm]

FC Obolon - First League - Season 2016-2017

Predicted: 6th

Actual finish: 1th!!!!

The end of last season showed us that we could be up for a good season, and maybe a puch for promotion. And that is just what happened this season. From day 1 we were in very good shape, and scoring for fun. Our only opponent for the title was relegated last season from the Premier League and the wanted to go up again as soon as possible. We actually we were to good for this league. We were actually in 1th position from day 1, so we totally deserve our promotion.

Games

Cup: unfortunally got Dynamo Kiev in the first game, and it was at home. So no change of going through and not a lot of money.

Youth intake: another good one. I tagged 7 players and gave 3 more players a contract.

Dmytro Shevchenko (YP2a): DC, another year in U19

Oleg Sokol (YP2b): AMC, straight into the starting 11. Scored allready 2 goals.

Oleg Syril (YP2c): MC, allready had some playing time

Gennadly Zavarin (YP2d): GK, will be at least back-up next season. Pre-season will define if he get a real shot in the starting 11.

Dmytro Rudnytskyi (YP2e): DR, but I don't see a big future for him. I hope I'm wrong.

Leonard Maximenko (YP2f): MC, another year in the U19

Victor Polyakov (YP2g): DC, 1 more year in the U19

Tranfers: None

We have allready 12 different players that played for the U19-U20-U21 of Ukraine. So our youth devellops very nice. These are the last 10 that have got a international call-up.

Finances: Terrible. I hope there is some price money in the Premier league, because otherwise I don't have an idea how we will survive financially.

Goals last season:

Push for promotion: SUCCES

Goals next season:

Top-10

Get some better finances

[MADA]

what is the youth level number in greece?

[ManUtd1]

what is the youth level number in greece?

I don't know the "official" number in 2015. Historically, Greece has been equivalent to Croatia, Belgium, Denmark, Czech Republic, Serbia, South Africa, Ukraine, Uruguay, etc. However, that rating isn't the only thing that affects regen quality in a country (much less at the club level).

[ManUtd1]

Congrats on the promotion, Bartrcm! Sokol (YP2b) looks like he's got some great potential. I feel your pain regarding finances...if it wasn't for the Europa League, I'd be drowning in Greece! As it is, I'm still in the red.