[FM16] Halesowen Town - Up the Yeltz (Youth Academy Challenge)

[HadleyBee]

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, welcome to the mighty Halesowen Town Youth Academy Challenge!!!

Before I get things going about the save I thought a give a little introduction about myself and how this save came about.

I have been an avid FM player for many years now firstly on PSP(!), then on iPod and then finally on FM12 made the conversion to the big daddy itself, the PC version. I have also been browsing this forum for a while and have always wanted to post a save but I never quite found the courage/the right save. Ordinarily on FM I would start a save as my hometown club, Barnet, and try in vain to make slightly less average. Having started playing the beta in similar fashion I soon fell out of love with the save due to the irritatingly high expectations of the board and pathetic financial management that meant I lost money regardless.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I had dabble in the Youth Academy Challenge on FM15 (albeit not with a newly promoted team) and thought I would give it a proper go this time round.

I chose Halesowen for a variety of reasons; firstly they were worst team that promoted when I holidayed (I like a challenge ), secondly they had the least in terms of history so I could create a proper dynasty, and finally they have an amazing nickname - what on god's earth is a Yelt anyway?

I have already played two seasons of this save (2016/17 and 2017/18 as the first season was holidayed) but something truely remarkable happened that meant I thought this save warranted posting and sharing with you all.

For those unfamiliar with the Youth Academy save, it means that no players can be signed apart from straight from your academy on regen day

In the next post I will give you a brief-ish overview of the first season and then following that a bit more in depth on the second season (fresher in the head) and then we can hopefully pick up from and see where this goes.

Finally, thanks for reading, any comments are very welcome and please advise and what I can do to improve

Profile

[HadleyBee]

Season 1 (2016/17) - Vanarama National League North

Having inherited a fairly large squad – around 27-30 players – my first job was trimming the fat. The players who left were either out of contract or on non-contracts so that was fairly simple. I was also happy to see that my predecessor had made a signing before his departure the form of Dan Hogan. Fantastic WWE surname aside, Hogan has been a key part of the team and it was very nice gift for the new manager.

Transfers

I also made the necessary backroom staff changes, nothing exciting but all very needed for this save. I appointed goalkeeper Jason Mellor as skipper and former Barnet man Joe Tabiri as his deputy. My final bit of admin duty was getting Plymouth Argyle as a parent club. Obviously I won't be using their loan players, but the £10K each year comes in pretty handy

Having been predicted the finish bottom (22 out of 22 for those not familiar with English football’s nether regions) my obvious goal was survival and maybe a decent cup run to boost the bank balance.

The season itself was fairly dull although I came a very respectable 14^th place. There was a brief point around February where a play-off push looked possible but after wretched form in the latter stages of the season, a mid-table finish was my reward.

Table

The cups were fairly pathetic with a win against a rubbish team in the FA Cup 2QR before being knocked by a team in my league in both the FA Cup 3QR and whatever the first round that I entered the FA Trophy was.

For anyone who hasn’t done a youth-only save, the most exciting day of the year bar none is regen day. Due to my poor excuse for youth facilities (something that needs addressing ASAP) the intake was a bit a damp squib. 9 players were signed from this intake although I should explain that is a bit of weirdness about how I go about things. I am aware that most people tag their best players something like YP01a but still sign other and tag them once they come good. Apart from one exception, which will be explained in due course, I tag any players I sign like so; (S Season Number/Ranking Of PA According To Ass Man) e.g. if it is the 3^rd best player from the fourth season’s intake they are tagged (S4/3). As a result of this you will see some tagged players that I don’t have screenshots for as I believe they are very, very unlikely to amount to anything but if they come good then screenshots will be supplied. The only player without a tag who was signed was backup GK as I needed one but he was so dreadful he didn’t deserve a tag.

The highlights of intake 1 were:

Andy Osborne (S1/1)

Craig Knibbs (S1/2)

Nicky Ramsdale (S1/3)

All got games in dead rubbers at the end of the season but it was certainly going to be a while before they made a noticeable impact, or was it???????

End of Season Awards

[HadleyBee]

Season 2 (2017/18) - Vanarama National League North

After a modest opening to my career, I saw the second year as one of consolidation as I looked to build up a decent VNN team and bring some youngsters into the first team.

The fictional and often hilariously wrong bookies predicted once again I would be dead last with odds of 500/1 for me to win the league. I laughed, put an imaginary tenner on it and was on my way.

Transfers wise, fairly unremarkable with two men leaving, one a backup GK who had been whinging about playing time and the other a striker who I just didn't need.

Before giving the story of the season I'm going to fill you in on the cups and the youth intake as I feel the league needs to take pride and place. The cups were identical to the previous season with more disappointment against teams in my own league and feeling that I should have done better. The youth intake was however better than season 1 with 8 players being signed although a whole 4 of them are considered competent enough for you to see them

Richard McDonald (S2/1)

Robert Golding (S2/2)

Keith Taylor (S2/3)

Robbie Wesley (S2/4)

The season was well...just look

I WON THE BLOODY LEAGUE!!!

I have obviously won promotions before on FM but this was by far and away the best ever. After a shocking start to season caused mainly by injuries to about 5 key players, I slowly made my up the league grinding out results and making a mockery of the pre-season prediction. My favourite moment of the season was (obviously) the game which secured the title, the penultimate game of the season away at FC United. This game was fantastic for a number of reasons; 1) I dislike FC United a lot 2) I always lose to them 3) I was 1-0 down late on

But most important of all in the 84th as the ball was whipped in there was one man in the box and he had to win the header and of all men in a youth-only save who was it who nodded it home to secure the league title...that's right, my boy Andy Osborne (S1/1)

When my hysteria had softened somewhat, I had a think about my team and what they had achieved and I realised something very odd which made this extra special. In previous FM successes I had spent time and money finding great players and had people achieve the form of their life to drag me to titles. But with this team it was different. I hadn't signed anyone they were just given to me, and I found a tactic through luck rather than judgement. My top scorer (Darious Darkin) scored only 14 goals which is pretty poor and yet I won the league. Without wanting to come over all philosophical, the Yeltz Class of 2017/18 was a fantastic unit where the whole was far greater than the sum of the individual parts.

I had tried a similar career to this in FM15 and after 10 years I got my first play-off appearance with a team that was far superior to Halesowen. To win the league 2nd time round was just too amazing for words and even if I go straight back down, it will set the club up for years to come.

End of Season Awards

[HadleyBee]

Season 3 (2018/19) - Vanarama National League

Preview



Profile

2 seasons into this save and I am developing nicely and am currently studying for my Continental C License so these stats should continue to rise. My reputation had also gone up after the league win although as I have no intention of moving on this won't really benefit me. You will also be able to see my tactic that got me promoted. I am typically one to never change tactics unless completely necessary but this season may test my resolve

The board announced that they are delaying improving the stadium up to VNL standard until next year if necessary. They are clearly confident in my abilities...

Once again just two departures, a youth GK who was signed purely as backup from an intake and Greg Pearson who was supposed to be my best striker and scored twice in my first ever game. He then got injured and preceded to be dreadful for the rest of his Halesowen career. He was a high earner also so actually quite happy to get rid.

No prizes for guessing where the bookies think I will finish...bottom. again. Whilst last time I laughed it off and proved them wrong, this time round I feel they won't be too far wrong. With odds of 2000/1 to win the league they think I have no hope. I have never seen odds that high so this could be a long season. The board agree with the bookies say I should "attempt to avoid" relegation which sounds like a nice way of saying just give it a go and see what happens.

As for my personal goals, survival, that is all. I am not optimistic in the slightest, we have a team deemed incapable of playing in the VNN, playing in the VNL but stranger have happened.

Squad (1) (2 (below Amenku))

The squad (shown minus rubbish youth players) is ok. If I could make transfers I would have a field day improving this team but alas no. There are a few in there whose star ratings are in no way reflective of how they play thankfully so my little soldiers are just going to have to keep marching on regardless

Key Players

Jason Mellor - Goalkeeper and captain. We all know from in the Premier League how helpful a great goalkeeper is (I'm looking at you Mr. Cech and Mr. De Gea) and it is no different in this game. Mellor could well be the difference between me finishing last and second last

Dan Hogan - As touched open a few posts ago he is very useful to the team. Unlike his racist wrestling namesake, he is consistent in his performances. It is easy to love the top scorers and assist makers but there is nothing truly better than a Mr. Consistent

Darious Darkin - He looks dreadful but he isn't (sometimes). Top scorer in the championship winning side with having large amounts of ability but he had knack of getting in good scoring runs and can also be very damaging off the bench

One to Watch

Andy Osborne (S1/1) - Last season's hero and my first love of the save. He's not first choice, behind the perennially injured Dave Lander, but he had a great run in the last year and should be improving year on year

That is all for now, I hope to bring you August and September's results by the weekend and hopefully I might have a point or two, who knows?

[HadleyBee]

Season 3 (2018/19) - Vanarama National League

August - September

Results

Table

Well...this was an interesting start to my life in the Conference to say the least. Before the inevitable doom and gloom let's have a look at some positives:

• 
  [*=center]I won two games
  [*=center]I'm not bottom
  [*=center]Er...
  [*=center]That's it
  

The games against Ebbsfleet and Margate were small highlights in a very depressing two month spell. I predicted it and it was fairly obvious but this game can always through up suprises. To be fair, with a couple of exceptions, I haven't been that bad. There are quite a few one goal defeats and at least my defence isn't completely spineless.

The obvious problem is of course the goals, or rather the lack of them. I am unfortunate to be in a situation where this is very hard to fix. The obvious thing to do would be to have a more attacking tactic to create more chances but my defence isn't good enough to holds it own without extra support. If I try to support my defence then I have even fewer attacks than currently. So to cut a long story short I'm just gonna stick with it and see how it goes.

In more exciting off the field news, I reached my 100th game in management, the season tickets have increased from 113 to 266 and my average attendance for my home games has been around the 900-950 mark. Whilst obviously I want to try my damn hardest to be successful with the team, this season is basically a money making exercise so the season ticket and increased gate receipt money are worth their weight in gold.

After my fixtures over the next couple of months it will become clearer whether my chances of survival are above zero (hopefully they are) and they also get the fun and games of the FA Cup 4QR for the first time where I will be be drawn away to a team I faced last season and lose.

For those eager to learn, I found this article from BBC London (obviously) where it gives a little factfile about the club and their nickname (Spoiler: the reason is really stupid and doesn't help to explain in the slightest)

Adios, y hasta luego