[FM17] It takes a Village in Maresfield: A Lower League Academy Career

[Theodlard]

Welcome to Maresfield!  Tired of watching Keymer & Hassocks rise up through the ranks over and over again, the tiny village of Maresfield wants it shot at glory in the English Football Pyramid.  This save will watch the exploits of Maresfield Village and their youth system as they valiantly attempt to rise to new heights.  Focusing solely on the youth academy this career will see if National Conference glory is attainable and if luck and a generous owner emerges maybe higher.  

So youth only, no transfers in.  While the team is on amateur status, if a player leaves on a free a one time immediate offer can be issued to counter the poaching team.

As the youth intakes populate the team I will take a more active role in the youth teams, also working at moving them up the pyramid.  Currently Maresfield Village II plays in Mid-Sussex Football League 7, Maresfield Village III plays in League 9.   The senior teams is in the 13th tier of the pyramid, Mid-Sussex Football League Championship.

I'll be starting with the recommended badges, so that's a National A license and Sunday playing experience.  

Expect a regular Jan update as well as a season recap with a few others thrown in as I find interesting things to note.

And thanks to @danbhtfc  for this excellent database!

[Theodlard]

A closer look at the team

Lots of work to do on the academy and training facilities.

The team is not ideal, going to try a 4231 formation and see what happens.  Ideally, I would do 4123 DM but the one youth DM I have makes that not ideal at the moment.  We'll see what happens with the first youth intake.

With a look at the team, a mid-table finish would be great.  Hoping to not get bogged down in a relegation fight.  Have four cups to compete for but no expectations from the board and will not be a focus.

[Theodlard]

Mid-point of the first season.  After the first 4 friendlies I had to make a tactical adjustment, ability to work the ball into the box and play a control based style with solid defense was outside of our ability.  Added two more friendlies and went with a shoot on sight TI and results improved.  The first loss against Hartfield was a huge disappointment, they play several steps lower and it should have been an easy win.

After the change in tactic the season progressed nicely, much better than anticipated.  Mid-field is a mess, they rack up yellow cards like mad and yet score some amazing goals, and absolutely no cover for them.  Both have already served suspensions for yellow cards and will again before the season is done.  Really looking forward to the youth intake, at this point numbers are necessary. 

I will make a concerted effort at winning a few cups in the seasons to come but this year not so much.

Very happy with my table position.  Still a long way until promotion but got off to the right start.  Was not intending to go up this season but I'll gladly give it a run.

[mark1985]

Wow, how many cups are there in Sussex? Nice league form though

[Theodlard]

13 hours ago, mark1985 said:

Wow, how many cups are there in Sussex? Nice league form though

Thanks, and yes, lots of cups, pretty crazy schedule at times.

[Theodlard]

Youth Intake

Finally some warm bodies to fill out my rosters.  Most of them look like warm bodies as well.  One really good AMC which is exciting to see how he does.

3 games left in the season, lying 4th, 2 pts separating 1st to 5th, exciting finish coming up. 

[Theodlard]

First season done and although the ending was not to my liking it was still a good season.  I needed to win out to have a strong shot at promotion and only managed 4 pts, still finished fourth and felt good about the season.  Some much added depth should make the upcoming season feel less intense.  Team B got relegated after loosing their last 4, but managed to win the Malins Challenge Cup.  New youth intake will now allow B team to have all regens and no gray players.  Board agreed on an upgraded coaching badge during the summer break.  Hoping to make a stronger run at promotion in the upcoming season.

[YOUNGSTEVE]

It looks like you are having another good game. Wish you luck for next season. I notice the bookies were inaccurate as normal with relegation favourites Copthorne II getting promoted.  I think it is difficult to predict how 2nd & 3rd teams perform, as it depends on what players they use from their first teams.

[Theodlard]

The first half of the first season gave me hope that promotion out of this league would be fairly simple.  The last two half seasons have pretty much crushed that idea.

So how did the odds-makers think I would fare?  Not so well, predicted at the same spot as last year but with worse odds to go up.  

Last season I kept running into difficulty with yellow cards, my BWM has no ability to play within the confines of the game, so I changed roles to start the season.  As you can see below it did not work well, after 3 games I changed back and things turned a little bit.  Several injuries and suspensions left me short on midfield players so we have a nice run of draws, some blown leads, some rescued points when down a man.  It's not been a dull season.

Some poor cup results, maybe a run at the vaunted Mowatt Cup to give some light to my season.

 

Two teams at the top look pretty comfortable.  Next game up is away at the Rockets, would be nice to break this run of draws.

[Theodlard]

Could it be possible to draw 11 of 20 games?  How about 4 1-1 draws in a row?  Impossible, but yet we managed to do so.  After the 11th draw we sat 9th in the league, needing a win to assure survival and we finally managed a 1-0 win to move up to 7th for a solid finish.  The positives were only 4 losses on the season, the least in the league, but coupled with only 5 wins it made for a tight finish.  Only relegation bound Ditchling managed less wins.   

Happy to get a GK and DL who are slightly above the .5 CA standard.

[Theodlard]

Season 3 Update

Picked mid-table again.  Picked higher than the first two seasons and better odds than last year.  Still have some pretty big holes on the team, both DR & DL are very weak and I'd like to have more than 1 serviceable central midfielder.  Going to go with a tweaked system this year and see if it won't improve my scoring a bit.

Played Copthorne a lot the first half of the season but the bookies are confused I guess.  Longest odds I've seen in FM.  Played the senior team and got the same odds.

Happy with the start of the season, two losses in all competitions and as many wins in the league as all of last year.  The Copthorne cup losses was in extra time and I was down a man.  Not bad considering the odds.  I got them the next time around, or some version of them.  Hesitantly optimistic going into the second half of the season.  Hoping for a decent youth intake.

[Theodlard]

Season 3 Final Report

Great end to the season that left me with the clubs first two trophies.  Played very consistent football throughout.  A combination of finding a solid tactic for the team and some younger players maturing nicely helped send us up to the Mid Sussex Premier League.   A solid mid-table finish next year would be acceptable.

Was really pleased with this youth intake.  Quality was above average in all the right places.  Young MC Beardsmore slotted into the starting 11, and helped us close out the season.  HIs addition at least gives us two serviceable central mid-fielders for the first time.  

You'll note below that I lost to Som Academy in a cup semi-final.  They were highly favored to win, so keeping them to one goals was a great accomplishment.  It was not that close, I registered three shots to their twenty.  After the match I noted this little tidbit.  Zero losses since the start of the save.  As of the start of season 4 they still have not lost.

Besides the one early cup loss, had an excellent run through the three other cups.  Lost to the eventual champs in two campaigns.  Glad to finish the season with a trophy.

As always a very tight table down the stretch.  Was in control most of the way with only a few slip-ups.  Changing those draws from the season before into wins really helped things out.  Even though I won the league by 6 points, it took until the next to last game to seal the league title.

[Theodlard]

How quickly expectations can change.  Started the season hoping for a mid-table respectable finish and the media predicted a similar expectation.  Young players learning to blend in with established veterans and hoping my lack of depth or quality in defensive backs were not too glaring.  After a hand full of games all of that got tossed aside and dreams of winning the league began to creep into my mind.  As we closed down on midway through the season finding a middle ground is probably best.  So a revised hope would be to compete for the league and give it a good run in the cup remaining.

Ran into a buzzsaw with Rye and a touch of poor form on my part.  Grabbed a late goal to make it look respectable but was never really in it.  Stole a win from Lingfield, a lucky bounce on the break and kept it tight for a nervy finish.  Next round is winnable so chances are looking up for a solid run.

Really good form to start the season.  The loss to Roffey was a by two amazing 30 yard strikes.  We've dropped off a bit of late, came back to the average mostly.  Disappointed in a few of those draws but overall pleased with the 1st half of the season.

As an aside Som Academy lost their unbeaten streak in match 97.  Glad they have been in another portion of the pyramid.

[Theodlard]

Season 4 Final Report

Excellent first season in the Mid-Sussex Premier League.  Only a crappy run of form at the end kept me from ending at the top of the table.  Lost my GK to injury for the last four games and it showed.  Overall a very good season but a bit disappointed at the finish.  Youth intake is quite uninspiring but the young players are coming along nicely.  Only a few old-timers left at the club and they are being faded out as the new ones keep getting better.  Managed to get the board to agree for a youth coaching upgrade and am working on a new badge.

 

[Theodlard]

Mid-point of my second season in the premier division (mid-sussex version) and it looks very similar to the start of the first.  Low expectations, early cup exits and flirting with the top of the table.  

Amazingly enough, managed two own goals to figure out a way to loose in the first cup game, one in the 90th minute, the next in extra time.

 

[Theodlard]

Season 5 Final Report

Had a terrible run of form right after the middle of the season.  Made for a challenging run-in simply because we needed some better results to keep the board at bay.  Never any real fear of relegation and we turned the corner with some good wins at the end of the season.

Youth intake has some potential and am working on my next coaching badge.

After loosing three in a row the team gave up and their confidence was shot, after 5 in a row it was looking bleak.  Changed formation got a win and finished respectably.  Ended up only 4 points off the previous season.

[Theodlard]

An uninspriring start to the season.  Two early cup exits and mid-table form.  The boards seems quite patient with me, wonder how long that will go on?  Playing lots of younger players hoping to spur along their development.  Maybe a good run of games will move me back into the top four by the end of this campaign.

The media is very consistent with their expectations, another mid-table slot for me with typically odds for promotion.

[Theodlard]

Best youth intake I've seen in a very long time.  Been using a new tactic recently and the the youngster Spetch will be a huge boost in making it work (or so I think).  Could still use a DM and left back but I'll be patient.  Another youth coaching upgrade puts me at average so progressing nicely in that area.  

[Theodlard]

Season 6 Final Report

Made a tactical change at the mid-point of the season and was pleased with the results.  Credit to @dafuge whose 442 tactic I borrowed and modified a touch.  Was even happier when I was able to slot 4 of the youth intake into the line-up at the close of the season and witnessed good potential.  Hopefully a full pre-season and some experience will help us strive for a bit closer to the top of the table next season.  The trick might be keeping my players.  Shortly after my star striker showed up there were 27 offers for him on one day.  His hat-trick in his second game did not help matters, we'll have to see how this season unfolds.

Good 2nd half run of results.  We still struggle to score goals on occasions.  Was really happy to thump the champs, they went on a 5 match unbeaten run after we trounced them.  We were too far out of sight to catch them anyway but it was a good result.  Overall it was the best half of football we've played in a while.  Lots to build on going into next season.

[Theodlard]

The season of youthful influence has begun.  On opening day, 1 player in the starting XI was over 21 years old, 4 were 16.   A recipe for disaster but the potential quality was there to give it a shot.  The odds makers agreed, picking us higher than in past years with good odds for going up.

Good start to the season, comfortably at the head of the table.  New striker and winger have been a devastating combo and did not have to change the starting XI for the first 15 matches of the season.  My leading goal scorer just picked up an injury that will sideline him for a month, will be interesting to see if we maintain form.  Lots of interest in my new youthful players but only lost one so far and he was not starting yet.

Cup loss was to a quality team in the division above us.  The game included 4 extra time goals, was a crazy affair.  

Pretty pleased with league results.  That last loss was a killer, 93' free kick, first game without my leading man, hopefully not a sign of things to come.

[Gribster]

Viva la revolution

 

On the up building with youth, hopefully you can keep the form up

[Theodlard]

Another good youth intake, some definite potential for the future.  I'll probably slot the right MF into my starting line-up next season.

4 games to go, tied on points for the top but behind on GD.  Hoping for a strong finish.

[Theodlard]

Season 7 Final Report

Just completed, by far, the best season of the save.  We still have work to do and my youthful team showed their inexperience down the stretch.  We needed one more break in the the last four games to go our way and we just could not manage it.  A missed penalty kick, a defensive lapse on a corner in the 93', a counter-attacking goal ceded after scoring to go ahead.  We fumbled every chance down to the final game and ended up just a touch short of champions.

Lots of positives to take into the next campaign.

[Theodlard]

Tough league this year.  Picked to finish 6th and have played like it.  Had some back luck along the way, played some good games and have not been able to score.  Hoping things turn around in the second half.  At this point fighting for fourth looks to be the best we will do and maybe a cup run.  

Club is in takeover talks and potential owners are already talking about a new manager.  We'll see how that turns out.

[Theodlard]

Season 8 Final Report

Uneventful end to a down season.  Lost my star striker in the midst of the takeover.  Knew it was only a matter of time for him to go.  Good news is his replacement looks as good or better in the youth intake.  Got a 2nd DM and my youth are coming along nicely.  Hoping for a better run next season.  Takeover still pending but it looks like it will fall through.

[Theodlard]

Picked to finish 8th and after last season I can see why.  Hoping to compete for a top three finish, but East Row and DCK are going to be tough.  Have lost all my games to DCK the past two seasons.

Amazing start to the season, was in great form, specifically my striker.  Faded a bit and DCK hammered me again.  Will try to keep it tight and hope for the best.

Still in both cups at mid-point of the season could be a first!

Should be an interesting 2nd half.

[Theodlard]

Just to show how much I know about predicting winners, here is a look at the league table.  I swore that it would become a 2 horse race with DCK and East Row.  At one point there were 2 pts separating 1st and 8th.  Too bad my star striker pulled his hamstring and is out until April.  Should be an exciting run in.

[Theodlard]

Youth intake

1 pt back, two games to go, my recent nemesis DCK for the final game at home.  Both 1st choice strikers out for remainder of season, fun stuff.

[Theodlard]

Season 9 Final Report

Lots to report at the close of this season.  Our takeover was finally completed.  A tycoon local investor finally managed to scrape together the 20k our club is worth and managed to infuse our coffers with another 9k.  After my cynical response to this overwhelming generosity I was actually able to convince the new board to up our youth coaching, we now sit at "good".  Hoping for this to pay off with increasingly better youth intakes.

League form ended great and we won the league by 3pts.  Was really nice to win on the final day against the team I had not managed to beat in three seasons and who was predicted to take the league.   Even better was that we did it without two key players.  One injured, one poached.  

Our cup form tailed off in the midst of a poor run,  although a respectable in both competitions.

Benefited from a league full of parity.  No one ran away with it and we had a good little stretch of play down the stretch to keep us close.  

Really glad to put this league behind us.  Took longer than I hoped, would be nice if the next few promotions come a little quicker.  

[Theodlard]

Getting ready to kick off the first season in the Southern Combination Football League Division 2 (lvl 11).  Media does not think much of our chances and the board hopes we will fight bravely against relegation.  A top 6 finish gets me into the FA Vase next season, that seems a loft ambition.

[Theodlard]

First season as a semi-pro team which has inspired most of my talented players to leave.  Several have complained that we are not doing well enough in the league for them to stick around.  This is definately a season of consolidation and waiting on a new youth intake.  Overall happy with position, not able to compete with the best but doing better than anyone anticipated.  Hopefully attrition of quality players does not hurt too much.  So far my only half-way decent DM and best center back have left.

The 4-5 score line in my 3rd game of the season was the worst FM17 game I've ever played.  We had a 4-0 laed at 75'.  Keeper fumbled a ball and the opposing poacher put it in the back of the net.  Two minutes later he did it again.  GK then totally fell apart allowing three more goals of questionable quality.  The defense crumbled around him and the all powerful Goring-by-the Sea Cricket Club and their star striker ended up winning.  GK ended with a 4.6 rating, lowest I've ever seen.  Almost released him on principal but he's been a decent GK and no one else is close.  Was a rough start to the season.

All in all it could be much worse, we've not played that well and our talent is less than last season.  Not much hope to catch the top of the table, but looks like survival is a real possibility.

[Theodlard]

Four games to go five points off promotion spot.  We'll give it a good try but doubt we'll make it.  Pleased with second half of the season, will be playing in the league cup final to wrap things up.

[ToMexico!!]

Newdigate storming the league. 2nd to 9th is fairly compact too!

[Theodlard]

Youth intake!  The left back is one of the best I've seen.  Doubt he'll survive the summer poaching.  Nice to have another striker option, my starting two have done well this year but good to have a reliable back up in the ranks.  Very happy with this group of new players.

[Theodlard]

2 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Newdigate storming the league. 2nd to 9th is fairly compact too!

Looks like they will go without a defeat in the league this season.  With 4 relegation spots this league can be nerve wracking.  At one point I was 5pts from promotion but only 6pts from relegation.  Not much room for a bad run of form.

[Theodlard]

Season 10 Final Report

Good finish to a good season.  Was happily surprised to see my striker combo upfront both contribute well, 20 goals apiece was unexpected.  We were not a team of draws, changing some of those losses into draws would have got us promoted.  Newdigate was unbeatable but no one else was that far above our talent level.  We'll make a strong run of it next season and see what happens.  Bad news is that my youth intake has already been pillaged.  The left back made it two games and was gone, the new striker left at the end of the season.  Next promotion should allow me to give youth contracts and keep them around for at least as season or two.

Some of our score lines were crazy.  When we were good we were really good, and other times not so much.  Not middle ground this season.

Very good cup runs.  Was unfortunate to play Dormansland twice to close the season.  They stomped us in the final.

We safely avoided relegation, now to make a run at promotion.

[ToMexico!!]

With Newdigate gone and the rest of the league so close you should have a real change of promotion this season. In my save I also find the lower leagues have crazy scorelines, I've played out four 3-3 draws in 20 leagues game, lost 4-3 twice and won 4-2. Until we reach the Vanarama National I doubt we will be solid at the back. 

[Theodlard]

Not picked to do so well, fairly normal preseason prediction from the media

Poor cup run.  Ability to score goals is lacking.  My strikers, as well as they played last year are coming back to the average players they are.

And poor run of league play as well.  Not a good season.  Looks like a potential relegation scrap the 2nd half of the season.

[Theodlard]

Youth intake

Probably going to loose the top three before the end of the season.  The non-contract status of semi-pro in this league is brutal.

Two games left in the season, relegation a real possibility, currently safe by 2pts, sitting 10th.

[Theodlard]

Season 11 Final Report

Three games to close out the season.  Faced the top two teams in the league and another relegation survivor.  Needed 3 points to guarantee survival.  The team thought we needed 3 goals.  Managed to loose all three 1-2.  Needless to say relegation followed and I was immediately sacked.  Can't say I blame the board, was a rotten season.  In my meager defense, lost every player we had (4) that was a 3 CA or better, including 3 central defenders.  Our GK defected the day before our final game.  What's that saying about rats and a sinking ship?

Was a good run, enjoyed the save.

[ToMexico!!]

Unfortunate to get relegated with only minimal points needed to survive. Planning to takeover another club or start over? 

[Theodlard]

7 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Unfortunate to get relegated with only minimal points needed to survive. Planning to takeover another club or start over? 

Just too much attrition and strikers in poor form all season, finally caught up with me.  I looked around for another lower league job briefly but none sparked my interest.  Probably just roll up a new save and see what happens.  Learned a lot this go around I'd like to apply to a new situation and see what happens.