The FM20 Youth Academy Challenge

[Cookie147]

JALKAPALLOSEURA HERCULES

SEASON 5 - Finnish First Division (3rd)

Play-off heartbreak for the second successive season, and again it was in the semi final stage. A win in this match would have given us a final against a team from the Finnish Premier Division, but this time it was Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) that denied us. I actually started the season really poorly as I tried creating a new full-on attacking formation, but despite having 60%+ possession each match, and more shots on target, we were getting picked off in true FM fashion. I reverted back to the same formation as last season, and we started marching up the league again, finishing in 4th before the split, and 3rd at the end of the season.

LEAGUE TABLES

PLAYER OF THE SEASON

A first club award for original, Onni Heikkinen, and since a loan move a couple of seasons ago, he's been brilliant. I'm expecting even better next season.

YOUTH INTAKE

When I advertised for a new HOYD last season, I surprisingly got an application from a Brazilian named Toto, an Ambitious individual with decent ratings that a good HOYD should have, so to get this intake was a little underwhelming:

I've picked this three to show-off, but I'm not expecting any to feature any time soon. Introducing, Ilkka Keskinen 05a, Ossi Siira 05b and Simon Kinnunen 05c.

IMPROVEMENTS

None. Still struggling with losses, despite the £160k pumped in from the board.

TRANSFERS

PROGRESS

Finally...

Having had the same 58 season ticket holders for four straight seasons, they have clearly persuaded 6 new family members to take up on the offer, as we've now got a whopping 64 of them signed up. Hopefully this continues to rise now, as I need to find a way of slowing down this increasing debt.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Cookie147

[manutdfan1999]

@Cookie147 unlucky in the playoffs, hopefully next season you can get the promotion and it should help financially somewhat 

[manutdfan1999]

Im in shock. we were good last season but after losing my best player i never expected to be this good this season

 

[manutdfan1999]

Katwijk 2027/2028 Season

League Table  Youth Intake  Transfers  Squad  Finances 

A season beyond my wildest dreams. I thought maybe we could sneak a playoff spot but never did i expect to get automatic promotion. Next season is going to be tough but im hoping we can survive by any means and hopefully the money in the top tier is good cos we are losing money every month at the minute and i need to turn that around.

Linssen YP24A - Absolute star. His goals were the catalyst behind our promotion and i am going to need him to be on top form to stay up next year

Youth Intake

Decent with a standout prospect in a position of need.

A promising striker who will get plenty of opportunity next year to stake a claim to start.

 

 

Season Divison  Position   Cup         YR            JC           TF         YF         Notes
21/22  KKD      17th       2nd Round   Basic         AVG          Poor       Poor       Survived, got 2 coaching badges, upgrades to JC,TF and YF
22/23  KKD      17th       2nd Round   Basic         AVG          Poor       Poor       Survived
23/24  KKD      19th       2nd Round   Basic         AVG          Adequate   Adequate   Survived
24/25  KKD      17th       1st Round   AVG           Excellent    Adequate   Adequate   Survived and was much better team overall
25/26  KKD      16th       2nd Round   Good          Exceptional  Adequate   Average    Survived, got some upgrades
26/27  KKD      5th        2nd Round   Good          Exceptional  Adequate   Average    Playoff semi final defeat
27/28  KKD      2nd        2nd Round   Exceptional   Exceptional  Adequate   Adequate   Promotion

Edited July 19, 2020 by manutdfan1999

[XaW]

20 hours ago, manutdfan1999 said:

@XaW are you running a 433? If so would you mind if I could see it cos it’s a formation I really tried to get to work but can’t seem to figure it out to get much going offensively 

Yeah, I'm running a 4-3-3/4-5-1/4-1-4-1 hybrid thingy with a DM and wingers with different tasks. Been using the same since about FM17 with some small tweaks here and there. I've also uploaded it to Steam if you want to take a look.

It's not an exploit tactic, so it's not necessarily something to plug and play, but I've used it at many levels and teams with just minor tweaks all the way. In the Steam page I've listed a few things I've had success changing as the dominant side, but every once in a while I change things up adding or removing an instruction or changing a role if I feel something is not working or something.

[XaW]

I'm going to lose another player after the season. He wouldn't sign a new contract...

[manutdfan1999]

2 hours ago, XaW said:

Yeah, I'm running a 4-3-3/4-5-1/4-1-4-1 hybrid thingy with a DM and wingers with different tasks. Been using the same since about FM17 with some small tweaks here and there. I've also uploaded it to Steam if you want to take a look.

It's not an exploit tactic, so it's not necessarily something to plug and play, but I've used it at many levels and teams with just minor tweaks all the way. In the Steam page I've listed a few things I've had success changing as the dominant side, but every once in a while I change things up adding or removing an instruction or changing a role if I feel something is not working or something.

Yh I might give it a little look. Gonna spend the next preseason tryna get a 2nd tactic that works up and running and think a 433 is what I wanna start off just always struggle with it tho 

[XaW]

1 minute ago, manutdfan1999 said:

Yh I might give it a little look. Gonna spend the next preseason tryna get a 2nd tactic that works up and running and think a 433 is what I wanna start off just always struggle with it tho 

I think I've explained this before, but the basis of the tactic is trying to create a sustainable tactic with movement to allow teams to defend deep.

The defensive structure is like this:

But when the team have the ball, the idea is to make is a bit lopsided. 

Something like this. The left winger (AP-S) pulls in centrally to allow the left back(WB) to overlap, hopefully while the AP-S pulls the defender inside. At the same time, I want the winger on the right to be more of a regular winger, but he will naturally drift a bit inwards when the ball is on the other side. So a W-A will do so naturally. the striker role I most like is CF-A, but I've also used DLF and AP based on how the team functions. I have experimented a bit with PF and F9, but CF-A is the one I've had most success with. In midfield I want the BWM to be a semi-pivot for the left side is the overlap breaks down, as well as a first line of defence if we are to lose the ball. The HB is the real pivot to recycle possession (and to avoid speculative long shots from the other players), and the BPD also finds space behind if the HB is under pressure. The MC-A (?) is a role I've mixed up a bit, as I want him to be very offensive and support the attackers. I've tried a Mezzela, but they drift too wide for my taste and goes into the same space as the W-A too often, BBM also works, but an attacking central midfielder who can score does really well there. The right back is supporting the winger, and crosses sometimes, but is more a part of the defensive structure rather than attacking. I'm toying with the idea of using an IFB there to cover the space from the CM-A, but I haven't given it a real go yet.

So, there you have the explanation of my thoughts as to roles. For instructions I'm using counterpress and counters, while also higher pressure, simply because I like to see that type of play. I made a more pure counter version a while back, but haven't tried it too much in FM20, but I had success with it in FM18. Feel free to look at it, and use it as you want!

[manutdfan1999]

@XaW thanks for the explanation. The way I want to run the formation is quite similar with an AP out wide due to the personnel I have in the squad. Will have a tinker with tryna get something similar to work tonight 

[XaW]

Just had a bug on my end, I think I've overcome it, but I don't know the long term consequences yet. Hopefully none. So I had to holiday for 1 day to get past it.

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by XaW

[XaW]

Season 2024/25 Review - 3. Liga - Germany

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Another season done here in the 3rd tier, and we are improving. I'm still relying a bit too much on the older players, but I'm slowly phasing them out whenever I have a younger alternative. Unfortunately, we are losing one of our best players after this season. Our only international player, Luxembourger Laurent Joachim 21a, are leaving us on a free since he refused to talk new contract and he's joining Ingolstadt in the 2nd tier. He is currently our best player, so it's a hard loss, especially since we lost Rogério Heleno 21b last season. Still, he played 3 matches in the top tier this season, so he's enjoying life. This season we finished in the highest league position we've had so far, 7th. I'm delighted, and it's nice to see we have been away from the relegation battle for a few seasons, even if we are still scraping some wins. I still think we need a few more seasons getting in youngsters before we can make any kind of push for promotion though.

Finances... As I posted above we are in serious trouble financially, and I even got called into a board meeting that were bugged, so there's that. I've gotten the wage costs down, but I'm still over budget though. Thumping out a few more of the older players this summer will help more in that department. Still, we lost over £2m this season and most are still the loans we have so I don't think I can do much unless someone suddenly starts offering for our players. Hopefully, it will improve as we continue to do better and pull in more attendances though. 

We didn't play in the DFB-Pokal this season either.

Youth intake

Youth preview - Another "golden generation", but it looks like a goalkeeper, and that is very nice.
Youth intake - Yeah, a promising goalkeeper and a few other talented players. Some nice personalities this time around as well.

Luca Schumacher 25a - A promising goalkeeper, though a bit on the short side for my preference. Still, he is only 15.
Carl Casas 25b - A Filipino wide player with a good personality. I hope he can improve. Really awful technicals.
Gerhard Kleefeldt 25c - A striker who can't finish to save his life. Good physicals for his age though.
Roland Fries 25d - Attacking full back who is slow as a slug. The full trifecta here. Still, good crossing so perhaps if he picks up some pace.

[XaW]

I think my assistant is Mr Brownnose...

I mean, I clicked the "ask assistant to take the team talk"-button, and we turned it around. Then he went into the press and said "my" words at half time was crucial to our win. 

[Brentmeister]

Quick question: I have a player on loan halfway through a 2 year loan deal and I can't terminate it, can I play him?

[manutdfan1999]

2 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

Quick question: I have a player on loan halfway through a 2 year loan deal and I can't terminate it, can I play him?

I would imagine so as you wouldn’t be making any signings as he is at the club when you start. @XaW might have a better idea 

[XaW]

9 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

Quick question: I have a player on loan halfway through a 2 year loan deal and I can't terminate it, can I play him?

No, you cannot play loanees, even forced ones. Terminate if possible, otherwise bin him in the reserves. The same for board purchases, ie forced ones. Sell asap, and don't let them play any matches. Also post screenshots proving this to avoid any questions. That's also why we ask for screenshots of pre-arranged transfers when taking over the club.

[XaW]

Season 2025/26 Review - 3. Liga - Germany

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

At least we keep finishing in the top half of the table. And I'm pretty happy with our performances in general, but some matches we really turn off, and that annoys me. Fair enough, we sneak in an undeserved win every now and then, but we also lose quite a few matches we should have won simply due to errors from the players. And I know they are not all up to the standards we need, and I know they are young and will make more mistakes, but it's simply so annoying when they do. In the 3rd last game we had a chance at beating Darmstadt away, in what would have been a really great win for us. But a simple misplaced pass just outside our box gave them a goal, in injury time to draw it. It's been a long time since I was genuinely annoyed at the game, but at that point I had to take a break and just breathe. Still, didn't take long before I'm back and in the last game of the season we battled out a win away to Borussia Dortmund II to finish 8th and I'm delighted again. Man, this game toys with my emotions!

We still have financial issues, but we made a profit this season. Though, the profit was based on the fact that the board invested almost £2.5 million throughout the season... And the wage budget have been cut even further, so I'm expecting a lot of player to leave this summer due to us not being able to offer them a proper wage at all...

We didn't play in the DFB-Pokal this season either.

Youth intake

Youth preview - They keep calling it a golden generation...
Youth intake - Still not something I'd call golden, but a decent intake with some good personalities at least.

Darko Dejanovic 26a - Two-footed and quite fast. Could be a good player and is actually wanted by a few clubs already.
Thorsten Aden 26b - Attacking full back in the mould I like. Very poor technical stats though.
Yoann Robin 26c - The professional personality is his biggest upside so far, but could become useful.

[uroszila]

 @XaW, good to see someone else also having a financial troubles in Germany not just me at my Havelse save 😝 

Germany is really fun but it's challenging to keep the finances in green. I'm dealing with the 600k€ loss each month in 2. Bundesliga and thus my Board doesn't want to upgrade facilities. Subsequently this means, that I must be satisfied with youth players that aren't anything near the ones from other teams in the league. I guess that's one of the reasons for what is making this save so addicting.

All the best and keep up the good work 👍

[Brentmeister]

9 minutes ago, uroszila said:

 @XaW, good to see someone else also having a financial troubles in Germany not just me at my Havelse save 😝 

Germany is really fun but it's challenging to keep the finances in green. I'm dealing with the 600k€ loss each month in 2. Bundesliga and thus my Board doesn't want to upgrade facilities. Subsequently this means, that I must be satisfied with youth players that aren't anything near the ones from other teams in the league. I guess that's one of the reasons for what is making this save so addicting.

All the best and keep up the good work 👍

Belgium is the same, prize money and TV money is so small that if you're not promoted quickly, you get caught in a vicious circle of not enough money to upgrade facilities, so not producing good enough youngsters to get you promoted to make more money to uprgade your facilities! It's tough.

[Brentmeister]

3 hours ago, XaW said:

No, you cannot play loanees, even forced ones. Terminate if possible, otherwise bin him in the reserves. The same for board purchases, ie forced ones. Sell asap, and don't let them play any matches. Also post screenshots proving this to avoid any questions. That's also why we ask for screenshots of pre-arranged transfers when taking over the club.

That's a shame, he's my best player

[XaW]

17 minutes ago, uroszila said:

 @XaW, good to see someone else also having a financial troubles in Germany not just me at my Havelse save 😝 

Germany is really fun but it's challenging to keep the finances in green. I'm dealing with the 600k€ loss each month in 2. Bundesliga and thus my Board doesn't want to upgrade facilities. Subsequently this means, that I must be satisfied with youth players that aren't anything near the ones from other teams in the league. I guess that's one of the reasons for what is making this save so addicting.

All the best and keep up the good work 👍

Thanks! The really irritating thing is that the whole thing is because of the bank loans (and especially one of the two), without them I would be just about going even each month. And the loan is only 2 million left, and the board are investing a few millions each season. So my reasoning is that they should repay the damn thing and avoid all the interest we keep paying!

Still, it's a fun challenge and I'm enjoying it!

4 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

That's a shame, he's my best player

Sorry, but those are the rules. But I understand the need for some good players. 

[Padders]

Season Review 2185/86

Relegated again

Conceding 118 goals 

Still no decent defenders

 

[Cookie147]

Big news coming out of Finland later. I'll update this evening. Watch this space....

Edited July 17, 2020 by Cookie147
Poor grammar

[XaW]

Damnit! Losing another good player.

[SpS_Zen]

Il y a 8 heures, Padders a dit :

Season Review 2185/86

Relegated again

Conceding 118 goals 

Still no decent defenders

 

It is weird how you either win championship or get relegated. Have you consider tweaking your tactics for pl? May be something more counter attack oriented.

[Cookie147]

JALKAPALLOSEURA HERCULES

Season 6 - Finnish First Division (3rd)

Spoiler

Well, what a season! It started horrendously, and after 7 games I was sitting proudly in the relegation zone, and Hari Litmanen was seriously considering what his future would hold when the board realise what was going on. However, he decided to throw a new tactic together, and see what happened. What did happen, was a 10 match unbeaten run, taking the Hercules army matching into the top four. That was where we stayed for the remainder of the season, and qualifying for the top half promotion league. The top team gets promoted, and 2nd-4th end up in the play-offs. We'd lost in the semi final of these play-offs the two previous seasons, and wanted to at least go one better. We finished 4th, and then won against the 3rd placed team to reach the semi final again. We then beat the team in 2nd to progress to a two legged tie against the team that finished 2nd bottom in the Premier League. So we faced IFK Mariehamn, and in the first leg we won 1-0 at their place. In the second leg, it was tense, but despite the 0-0 scoreline, I felt I was always in control. Therefore, Hari and his men are promoted to the promised land of the Finnish Premier League. Next season aim - stay up!

PLAYER OF THE SEASON

Onni Heikkinen again - a wonderful midfielder.

YOUTH INTAKE

Not impressed with this again, we desperately need upgrading.

My favourite two - Foos Afrah, a Finnish/Somalian winger, and Niko Koski.

IMPROVEMENTS

None.

TRANSFERS

PROGRESS

[XaW]

Season 2026/27 Review - 3. Liga - Germany

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

I'd call us an established 3. Liga side now. Our 7th season is done and we are still mid-table. I'm really hurt by the fact I cannot improve the youth coaching, so my intakes are not as good as it could be. I do think the team is slowly becoming better, but now I'm losing another good midfielder on a free at the end of the season. This season we finished only 9 points of the playoffs, so we are getting closer albeit slowly. The original players are all but phased out now. There are 4-5 players left, but I think a few of them are leaving after this season, so I'm more or less at the full newgens stage.

The financial status is surprisingly the same as last season. The board have invested a lot and kept out debt close to last season. Only 3 more seasons with the horrible loan (in before they take up a new one to cripple us further...).

We didn't play in the DFB-Pokal this season either.

Youth intake

Youth preview - Yeah, yeah, golden whatever.
Youth intake - A decent intake this season. A few players I could have use for.

Tom Fluhrer 27a - Another two-footed player. This time a full back who can play at either side. Should come in handy.
Lars Carstensen 27b - A very attacking midfielder that likes to go forward at any chance.
Sebastian Duhnke-Lungwitz 27c - Striker who looks promising, but is very slow.
Fanouris Vissaris 27d - Another decent goalkeeper.

[Brentmeister]

 

That's enough lurking for me, i'm getting involved! I couldn't see any active Spanish saves, so after many failed attempts in Belgium I'll try Spain and hope posting on here will keep me accountable and motivated.

After looking around for a cool badge I settled on Alcoyano, I then read this on wikipedia and knew they were the ones for me.

A simile exists in Spanish which includes the name of this football club, "Tener más moral que el Alcoyano" ("To have more morale than Alcoyano"). The phrase possibly originated in the 1950s, when Alcoyano were losing a game by 0–13 at home but never gave up, still trying hard to score at the end of the match. However, this is disputed by some historians, with the origins being somewhat unclear (I'll choose to ignore the last bit).

 

I Googled the most common Spanish names and family names and picked the most alliterative one.

 

The boring stuff

 

Hopefully i'll be back soon with a season 1 review if I don't get sacked first.

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Brentmeister

[Brentmeister]

This could be a short save! They're somehow spending 135k a week on wages and I have no staff and only 500k in the bank. We're paying a 40 year old GK 12.5k pw. This must be a glitch, 40% of my team are 34 and over and 40% are 16!

 

I'm picking someone else (i should've researched further than, cool badge!)

[manutdfan1999]

Just completed my first season on the Eredivisie and am very happy with it. Will hopefully get the update done tonight 

[Cookie147]

It seems the Finnish Premier is a big jump from the First Division. Struggling early on with 0 points from 3 matches. 

[XaW]

Season 2027/28 Review - 3. Liga - Germany

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Wow, I did not see this happening! The defence really came together this season and gave us a solid foundation to build wins upon, and with the more attacking players become a bit more used to playing for us, this was a really fun and great season. Now, I'm more or less only using one original player, although a couple of more of the originals got some cameo appearances along the season. The youthfulness of the squad didn't show much at all, and we kept hanging around the top of the table throughout the whole season. Since Bayern II was one of the other teams at the top, it was actually a team less to worry about in the contention for promotion since 2nd teams cannot go higher up than the 3rd tier. So our real competition were Darmstadt, Jahn Regensburg and Eintracht Braunschweig. Going into the final few matches we had promotion in our own hands as we were in 3rd place behind Bayern II and Jahn Regensburg. Then Jahn Regensburg had a poor finish and on the final day we were only behind Bayern II and a win would guarantee a promotion. We won our home match to Schalke II, and when the game was done, I also saw that Bayern II had lost, so we were crowned champions of the 3rd tier! We are going up!

We are still in financial dire straits, but hopefully our promotion will help out. We had a new board after elections this season and one of the first thing the new board did was to invest some money into the club, so that's promising. Still, we are far into the red and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

We didn't play in the DFB-Pokal this season either.

Notable players

Franck Touré 22c - My assistant doesn't rate him, and I kind of agree, but he still plays really well for us.
Hamid Jafari 23d - Our tireless workhorse in midfield. Capped 4 times for Iran.
Thorsten Aden 26b - The surprise talent this season. Was first choice due to an injury to Daniel Möller 21d and just ran with it. Wanted by a bunch of bigger clubs.
Darko Dejanovic 26a - Our main offensive creator. Plays well in any of the 3 front roles, but is best our wide.

Youth intake

Youth preview - Another golden generation. I wonder how a real golden generation would look like?
Youth intake - Once again an intake with a few good players and a lot of trash.

Wael Shatila 28a - Don't like his low determination, but a promising midfielder at any rate.
Bledar Istrefi 28b - Professional and potential to be decent.

[b101]

Loved this challenge in FM18 with Sampedrense in Portugal, so starting out here with Palermo. Bit of an easier challenge, but the aim is to see how far I can get before the next game. Here we go:

[footy]

Hello guys, first time posting around. After many saves, I've decided to give this a try. I have started in Spain.

Real Avilés C.F.

League: 10th | Cup: 1st. Round| Squad | Transfers | Finances

2020-2021 - Season 1: 2B Grupo I

First season in charge, I chose Real Avilés, a club in Asturias in the north of Spain. Here is the profile and the game setup.

Relegation avoided mainly to a nice calendar which saw us play the worst teams one after another and increase morale during the first part of the season even reaching the first place. In the end, the lack of squad depth (only 17 players in the club for the major part of the season!) meant that we slipped further down the table. I can see the lack of money as a problem in the future, maybe some good cups runs could fix it. Also, with limited promotion places, getting out is going to be hard.

 

Youth intake

Youth preview - Golden generation... suuuure.
Youth intake - Well lots of stars but that is mainly to our lack of quality and poor staff. At least they will help us with the lack of depth, but none of them look too good :/

 

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by footy

[XaW]

Season 2028/29 Review - 2. Bundesliga - Germany

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

With the surprise promotion last season, my hopes for this season were not very high. I didn't think I had the squad to compete in a higher tier, but after a year, I don't think the difference is as big as I thought. We survived and that was the main thing this season, but also looking at Darmstadt, who got promoted alongside us last season, they battled for promotion all season and only fell out due to a very poor finish to the season. So I do think we can compete here, although I can see us spending a few years here and trying to improve the infrastructure at the club. How can I improve it without money, us ask? Well...

Turns out the financial impact of playing here is massive for us! So that cleared out our negative bank balance and have given us some pocket change as well. I haven's asked for anything yet, since I just got that, but I hope I can get some improvements to the club from this. Oh, and that expensive stadium we've been paying loads for the last seasons? Turns out it's not good enough for this league, so we are renting another stadium... 

We DID play in the DFB-Pokal this season. Although it was a short run when we lost to Freiburg in the 1st round.

Notable players

Thorsten Aden 26b - One of our best players and even got capped for Germany U19s. Still need to work on his technicals, but everything else is really good.
Luca Schumacher 25a - The clear first choice goalkeeper for us. One of the main reasons our defence was very good this season.
Darko Dejanovic 26a - Very up and down, but is the one who can create something out of nothing for us.

Youth intake

Youth preview - Looks good, but I'll await the real intake to judge.
Youth intake - Actually, better than I expected based on the previous seasons. 4 promising players.

Igor Vidovic 29a - Good at everything, master of none? I really rate him, but I'm unsure where to focus his training.
Fréjus Akognon 29b - Potentially the future replacement for Franck Touré 22c as a DM. Just need to become a bit better with the ball at his feet.
Sergey Konovalov 29c - We really are good at two-footed players? The coaches rate him, but I'm unsure.
Michael Ibrahim 29d - Rated by the coaches, but I'm unsure.

[darren1983]

This was tough to sit through  

5 goals from corners, 1 indirect freekick too. No idea where our defending went. They also missed a penalty. They are the best side in the world (8 of last 9 premier league winners and champions league final for past 3 seasons) but still  

[Cookie147]

23 hours ago, Cookie147 said:

It seems the Finnish Premier is a big jump from the First Division. Struggling early on with 0 points from 3 matches. 

Survival in the Finnish Premier is really touch and go, my players are trying their best but the quality is lacking in the attacking areas, and we're getting found out. With only 7 matches left I'm just inside the relegation play off place by 1 point. The most likely outcome at the moment is a play off match with a team from the First Division. 

[XaW]

9 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

This was tough to sit through  

5 goals from corners, 1 indirect freekick too. No idea where our defending went. They also missed a penalty. They are the best side in the world (8 of last 9 premier league winners and champions league final for past 3 seasons) but still  

Ouch! 

[manutdfan1999]

Katwijk 2028/2029 Season

League Table  Youth Intake  Transfers  Squad  Finances 

We survived and thats all that matters. We gave a very good account of ourselves in pretty much every game which was very pleasing as i was expecting to be outclassed more often than we did. Hoping for the same again for a few years to help me build up the rest of the club. The finances are looking better with the prize money from the league giving us a big boost. This is allowing us to make improvements to the training and youth facilities as well as expanding the stadium.

Conteh YP26D - Mostgoals, assists and the highest average rating. Safe to say without him we wouldn't have been able to stay up.

Youth Intake

Good first intake in the Eredivisie hopefully a few of these guys can live up to the potential.

Season Divison  Position   Cup         YR            JC           TF         YF         Notes
21/22  KKD      17th       2nd Round   Basic         AVG          Poor       Poor       Survived, got 2 coaching badges, upgrades to JC,TF and YF
22/23  KKD      17th       2nd Round   Basic         AVG          Poor       Poor       Survived
23/24  KKD      19th       2nd Round   Basic         AVG          Adequate   Adequate   Survived
24/25  KKD      17th       1st Round   AVG           Excellent    Adequate   Adequate   Survived and was much better team overall
25/26  KKD      16th       2nd Round   Good          Exceptional  Adequate   Average    Survived, got some upgrades
26/27  KKD      5th        2nd Round   Good          Exceptional  Adequate   Average    Playoff semi final defeat
27/28  KKD      2nd        2nd Round   Exceptional   Exceptional  Adequate   Adequate   Promotion
28/29  ERE      14th       2nd Round   Exceptional   Exceptional  Adequate   Adequate   Survuved and upgrades are incoming

[XaW]

Season 2029/30 Review - 2. Bundesliga - Germany

League | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Finally, no more financial troubles! And no players fussing about it, nor strange non-existing board meetings. Simply lovely. The season went well and we were never in any danger of relegation. We were much more shaky at the back though, and I don't know why... Quite troubling, but I couldn't find out why. We still seem to go on streaks of either wins or losses, and I'm trying to extend the wins and shorten the losses, with somewhat success, even if we ended on a poor streak with no wins in the last 6 matches of the season. Still finishing in 7th place even with a poor finish is just great. I really hope we can keep this up.

I've managed to improve the infrastructure a bit, and at the end of the season the board approved new improvements to all facilities. Things are looking up!

Oh, and we are building a new stadium, and have a new loan.... just before we are done paying for the last one...

In the DFB-Pokal we beat Bochum before losing to Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 2nd round.

Notable players

Franck Touré 22c - The coaches don't rate him, but he delivers every match he plays, Also our captain.
Gerhard Kleefeldt 25c - Now our first choice striker, even with poor finishing.
Luca Schumacher 25a - Our goalkeeper who scores. 7 goals in total this season.

Youth intake

Youth preview - Looking good!
Youth intake - I'm a bit underwhelmed. The improvements haven't had the effect I hoped yet, but I'm hoping it will improve with time and more improvements.

Nicolai Heidinger 30a - Promising attacking full back. Hopefully, he will improve enough to play for us.
Branimir Simic 30b - Looks more like a central midfielder than a winger to me.

Edited July 19, 2020 by XaW

[Cookie147]

JALKAPALLOSEURA HERCULES

SEASON 7 - Finnish Premier League (11th)

MORE PLAYOFF DRAMA

Survival was the only outcome that mattered this season, and what a way to do it! We looked safe with 2 minutes of the regular season remaining, but a FC Honka goal pushed Hari and his team in to the two legged relegation play-off match against the team that won the First Division play-offs. That team was FC KTP. With the first leg at home, we disappointing trailed 2-0 early on, but saved our blushes by levelling up to make it 2-2. Fortunately there was no away goal rule, as the away leg finished 1-1. This meant that our fate was in the hands of a penalty shoot out.

Which we won 4-3!! We made it. Next season will be just as tough, as we are still using many originals due to the poor youths coming through. Maybe I should take a chance on a few more of them.

LEAGUE TABLE

 

PLAYER OF THE SEASON

This award goes to Onni Heinikken again, as he adjusted to Premier life with ease.

YOUTH INTAKE

One stand out player in this bunch, Nordine Messaoudi, the rest are more of the same.

IMPROVEMENTS

This might end in tears financially, as we're not making money in this league, but we've agreed to upgrade our youth recruitment.

TRANSFERS

PROGRESS

[Padders]

On 17/07/2020 at 21:26, SpS_Zen said:

It is weird how you either win championship or get relegated. Have you consider tweaking your tactics for pl? May be something more counter attack oriented.

Yeah I've tried many different tactics tweaks and formations and nothing seems to work. In fact I tend to find I am am even worse and then struggle in the Championship

My biggest problem is the quality of new players I am getting through.

In the past I've had £40m-£60m players. Not getting any at the moment

Not had a wonderkid for a while (may have one now in a season or two)

[Padders]

Season Review 2186/87

Poor season, far too many draws and slipped into play offs

Lost in play off final to Chelsea

[b101]

Gutting @Padders - the amount of effort you've put into this is really impressive and love that the leagues have changed that much for Newcastle to be going down to L1 and Chelsea to have been in the Championship. Keep pushing, it'll come!

[SpS_Zen]

Il y a 4 heures, Padders a dit :

Yeah I've tried many different tactics tweaks and formations and nothing seems to work. In fact I tend to find I am am even worse and then struggle in the Championship

My biggest problem is the quality of new players I am getting through.

In the past I've had £40m-£60m players. Not getting any at the moment

Not had a wonderkid for a while (may have one now in a season or two)

I'm following your road, just got relegated :/

How is your reputation?

 

[Padders]

3 hours ago, b101 said:

Gutting @Padders - the amount of effort you've put into this is really impressive and love that the leagues have changed that much for Newcastle to be going down to L1 and Chelsea to have been in the Championship. Keep pushing, it'll come!

I will keep plugging away.

I need that squad with 3/4 wonderkids/£40m+ players at one time

 

[Padders]

1 hour ago, SpS_Zen said:

I'm following your road, just got relegated :/

How is your reputation?

 

Showing there as National

Bar the news mention at the end of the season where can you view it?

[vikeologist]

6 hours ago, Padders said:

Yeah I've tried many different tactics tweaks and formations and nothing seems to work. In fact I tend to find I am am even worse and then struggle in the Championship

My biggest problem is the quality of new players I am getting through.

In the past I've had £40m-£60m players. Not getting any at the moment

Not had a wonderkid for a while (may have one now in a season or two)

I'm going to put a conspiracy theory out there.

TLDR: If you're managing a top facilities club you get rubbish intakes.

Not saying I believe it.

Doing my time on this challenge I felt that the quality of the youth coming through the final 8 or so seasons declined a lot, although I did still have maybe one wonderkid come through at that time.

Now I'm doing the Ultimate Challenge, for the last 8 or so seasons I've been managing top clubs, and those 8 or so intakes just do not seem as good as one would expect.

Of course, I don't really care. I don't need good intakes for the Ultimate Challenge, but having done the Youth Challenge, I am aware of intakes, and wow, have they been bad.

I know, I know, the rating of the intakes is affected by the overall quality of your squad, and as your team gets really good, the intakes seem poor by comparison.

All I can say is that it doesn't feel like that, and over the 2 challenges that's almost a 20 year almost famine.

(The intakes before I arrive are good. It's just once I arrive my intakes start stinking up the place).

Edited July 20, 2020 by vikeologist

[ashton321]

Right guys, I am going to give this a go on FM 12 if thats ok. I have decided to go to Austria.

Facilities / General

 

League - It was a great season for us this year. We started off a bit poor loosing in a big way in our first three games, but then our basic 442 system stuck into place and we seemed to climb the league. We have beaten every one in the league this year but we did not have enough consistency to get promotion. Playing each team 4 times means that teams can get revenge on us easily. I am happy with the finish though. 

Cup - Road warriors this year as we played every game away from home. A big loss in the quarters to one of the biggest clubs in Austria is no shame

Finances - We make money most months so that is handy

Transfers - Nothing to see here

Youth Intake - A few decent players come in

Tony Kholer - Very good looking right back

Nicolas Roth - Another decent right back

Thorben Schmidt - Looks decent enough in the middle of the park

Matej Vracko - Superstar striker who has smashed the goals in for us this year absolutely brilliant

Tamas Szalai - Played down the right and did very well always looked a danger

Next Year - We will be moving home next year so the finances concern me a little but to be honest more of the same will be more than welcome. 

 

Year       Division      Finish        Cup           Europe
-----------------------------------------------------------
2012/12     1st           4th          1/4 Final      N/A

 

 

 

 

[XaW]

52 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

Doing my time on this challenge I felt that the quality of the youth coming through the final 8 or so seasons declined a lot, although I did still have maybe one wonderkid come through at that time.

You're not sure this is down to you getting equally good players as before, but you current players keep improving? I mean if you have an average CA of say 100, and you usually get players with PA around 120, they will be highly rated. If you then have an average CA of 120 and you get in a 120 PA they will be rated average. So the intake is the same as before, but since you have better players it's rarer to get in youngster rated above what you currently have.

And in addition to that, players will improve most by playing, so when you have Player A (1*CA/5*PA) you might play him above player B (3*CA/3*CA) since he will become much better. But when Player A become 3*CA/3*CA (due to better overall team average), and you get in Player C (1*CA/3.5*PA) you might not play him since you rate him as a worse talent than player A, even if his PA is actually higher, but he is lower rated due to the quality of the squad.

Or the moon landing was faked, I dunno!

[b101]

Giving me real hope ahead of my Palermo intake there @vikeologist! 

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by b101