[FM20] It was Cambrogi in Wales, but now it's all about aggression in Wales, in England. Bellicosity, pugnacity and belligerence are all excellent words. But Welsh belligerence, in England now.

[rodesire]

will you play the leaders in the run-in?  Amazing form, btw :clap:

[Jimbokav1971]

17 minutes ago, rodesire said:

will you play the leaders in the run-in?  Amazing form, btw :clap:

Our form is fantastic. 

We have just played Llanelli and I am about to post the March update. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2028.

The Llanelli game was the big one. Win it and the gap would be down to 1 point with 5 games still to play. Unfortunately we couldn't finish them off and Rees missed a glorious opportunity to take all 3 points from the penalty spot. It was a close game that could have gone either way though so I can't really complain. 

Not only could we not turn Llanelli over, but we also couldn't win the next game against old rivals Swansea Uni. With that the points difference was up to 8 points and the season is all but over. 

Our awful start to the season has cost us. 

On the plus side, we are still unbeaten in 13 league games. 

Edited April 3, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Fans Trust. Apr 2028.

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake. Apr 2028.

Squad by PPA.

Squad by actual PA.

It's interesting that the 3 English players sit right at the top of the pile. 

(28a) Haley (ENG) *.

He is by far the best player we have ever produced, (at least in terms of PA).  84 is enormous for this level and for this level of facility.

The previous highest PA players we have produced are....

(21c) Alan Morris *. 55 PA.
(22o) Ian Dorword *. 80 PA (I had forgotten that he was that good. If anything that at least shows that I'm not taking advantage of knowing the PA of players). 
(22i) Jason Moore *. 66 PA. (Wow, had no idea his was that high either). It will be interesting to see how far they have progressed. 
(23c) Tom Brown (ENG) *. 60 PA.
(24b) Peter Moore *. 57 PA.
(25h) Matty Proctor *. 57 PA.
(26b) Gareth Bishop *. 57 PA.
(27j) Nigel Jones (ENG) *. 56 PA.

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2028.

We won 14 of our last 16 league games, (drawing the other 2), in a tremendous run of form that almost brought us back into contention to win the league. Unfortunately, Llanelli only lost 1 of their last 18 league games and it's just hard to compete with such consistent form after giving them such a big head-start. 

Llanelli have also made the Final of the Welsh Cup, where they will play TNS. Personally I think we have done remarkably well to run them as close as we did.

[rodesire]

Best league finish ⭐⭐

[Jimbokav1971]

41 minutes ago, rodesire said:

Best league finish ⭐⭐

Yeah, I'm happy with how we finished things. We can't have done an awful lot more. The reason we didn't win the league was because we gave them a headstart that was too big and couldn't catch up.

Assuming that I can keep the vultures at bay I expect to romp the league this season, (finally).

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

The previous highest PA players we have produced are....

(21c) Alan Morris *. 55 PA.
(22o) Ian Dorword *. 80 PA (I had forgotten that he was that good. If anything that at least shows that I'm not taking advantage of knowing the PA of players). 
(22i) Jason Moore *. 66 PA. (Wow, had no idea his was that high either). It will be interesting to see how far they have progressed. 
(23c) Tom Brown (ENG) *. 60 PA.
(24b) Peter Moore *. 57 PA.
(25h) Matty Proctor *. 57 PA.
(26b) Gareth Bishop *. 57 PA.
(27j) Nigel Jones (ENG) *. 56 PA.

Where are they now? 

(21c) Alan Morris *.
He came through the intake at 13 CA and 55 PA. He now has a CA of 36. He's been playing in a non-playable league so if anything I'm impressed that he has developed as much as he has. 

(22o) Ian Dorward *.
He came through the intake at 13 CA and 80 PA. He now has a CA of 36. When you look at how much he has played for us and that he still only reached the same CA as the player above indicates just how poor our facilities are and how hard it is to develop players. Just getting a player through with good PA isn't enough, (frustratingly), because if they stay with us they will never reach their PA. 

(23c) Tom Brown (ENG)  *.
He came through the intake at 20 CA and 60 PA. He now has a CA of 50. That's an increase of 30 from the starting point where as the previous 2 players only increased their CA  by 23 points, (in more time). I'm putting this down to his personality which was (F.Det) when he came through the intake and is (F.Amb) now. While history and everything that I have learned previously about the game tells me that while Determination is going to be key, Ambition can't possibly have a similar impact. Despite that, the SI boffins tell us they now have equal billing and we must accept that. His Det attribute is 11 and his Amb attribute is 15. @Thebakermentioned the personalities of our players, and the facilities and this would seem to back-up what he says. 

 

(24b) Peter Moore *.
He came through the Intake at 11 CA and 57 PA. He now has a CA of 24 so it has risen by 13, although it's early days yet.

I could go and show you the other players, but what's the point? They are even younger so haven't had enough time to not develop. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Records. May 2028.

The Finances aren't good and we are also still paying off a small consolidation loan. There is absolutely nothing I can do about this without getting promoted 1st.

[Edit]

Edited April 3, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Around the Grounds. Jun 2028.

JD Cymru Premier.

Of course TNS romped to the title again. The last time they didn't win was 2011.

Sky Bet Championship.

Cardiff improved after appointing Albert Celades as manager and finished the season in 8th. Swansea didn't improve at all and were relegated under Nathan Jones.

Sky Bet League 1. 

Newport County finished the season comfortably mid-table in 11th. 

Vanarama National League. 

Wrexham finished the season comfortably mid-table in 11th.

[Jimbokav1971]

Pre-Season. 2028.

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul & Aug 2028.

It's a significantly better start than last season where we were awful. 

I thought we were absolutely nailed on to romp the league this season. That is at least until Davidson * and Roberts * were poached by other teams on a free. 

Davidson * scored 28 goals in all competitions for us last season and will be a big miss. 

[DazRTaylor]

I must admit that I have always enjoyed your writing style and this is no different.

[Jimbokav1971]

57 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

I must admit that I have always enjoyed your writing style and this is no different.

Thanks. Wasn't expecting to be stuck in this league for quite so long. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2028.

It's not quite the heady heights of 4 goals a game that we hit on the run-in at the end of last season, but it's decent. 

Instead of letting our challengers get away from us, we ourselves have already created a 5 point gap to the chasing pack. 

New goal-scoring GK. 

Decent way for Barker (IRL) to get off the mark. I wasn't in the market for a new GK, but the DoF bought him and I just went with it. )He is an upgrade on Rees, and the time for sentiment is after we have been promoted. 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[rodesire]

hitting all the right notes now!

[Jimbokav1971]

Anyone who reads my stuff regularly will know that I am quite superstitious when in comes to FM and as sure as eggs is eggs, if you boast about how well you are doing, the FM Gods will take offence and bring you back down to Earth with a bump. 

Where we we last month? Oh yeah, an unbeaten 24 game run...... 

Oct 2028.

I maybe got a little complacent and allowed the Ass Man to select the matchday squad for the Cearau Ely game. The starting XI was ok but I didn't notice that the centre-half cover was a 5'7" left back. That error was to cost us late in the game. 

Goal scoring keeper watch. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

42 minutes ago, rodesire said:

hitting all the right notes now!

That didn't last long. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2028.

I'm not concerned at all by the defeat to Harverfordwest. We had a player sent off after 12 mins and they are a decent team. It's just one of those things we have to accept. I'm glad that this wasn't the game that ended out winning run though. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Job interview. Dec 2028.

Slight reluctance towards prioritising set-pieces? 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2028.

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2028.

We're now 6 points ahead at the top and with a game in hand. 

The STM Sports draw might appear like a poor result, but we had another player sent off at 0-0 and then conceded to be losing going into injury time with 10 men. All things considered, an excellent point. 

[rodesire]

still doing amazing, promotion beckons at last.  I find it really impressive you did a double over the second placed team 👏 

[Mr_Demus]

I am also reading this with great interest, as I did with your nordic save.

[Jimbokav1971]

14 minutes ago, rodesire said:

still doing amazing, promotion beckons at last.  I find it really impressive you did a double over the second placed team 👏 

I've consistently found that my teams generally, (not just in this save or even in this version of FM), do better against opponents of a higher reputation than they do against those of a similar reputation. I have lost count for example, of the number of JD Cymru Premier teams that we have beaten in this save. Contrastingly, we have regularly lost to rubbish teams in the league.

I'm personally of the opinion that this is because of the way that the AI reacts to teams of a lower reputation, (bit have absolutely nothing to prove this). Just keep ana eye out in your own saves for games in which your reputation is significantly lower than that of the opposition.

Reputation. 

Pontypridd were relegated from Conference South last season so that's fine. 

Prestatyn have recently been in the JD Cymru Premier, but seem to be in a limbo right now. They played in the Nathanial MG Cup in the 1st season, but only played friendlies since. They played the 2018/19 season in Cymru North, (so the season before the game started), but are not in even regional leagues right now. I think that's a database error. The way that promotion from non-playable leagues work, (reputation + a random factor), In would have expected to seem them promoted many times between the start of the save and now. 

Anyone Welsh knocking about and know what is going on? 

[Jimbokav1971]

12 minutes ago, Mr_Demus said:

I am also reading this with great interest, as I did with your nordic save.

Thanks very much. Apologies for the slow going. 

Assuming we get promoted this season, we should start to see things progress soon. 

[Thebaker]

3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2028.

That's the least positive youth intake i think I've seen in fm20.   A lot of rubbish wide players

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan & Feb 2029. 

Apologies, I forgot to post the Jan update. 

We're not really in top form going forward, but far more consistent at the back with 3 clean sheets in February. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, Thebaker said:

That's the least positive youth intake i think I've seen in fm20.   A lot of rubbish wide players

You say that, but I bet it's no worse than recent years. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2029.

With 3 games of the season still remaining, we have already been crowned champions as we are 14 points ahead. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Another player poached. Apr 2029.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Any chance that these guys have come through? What do they look like?

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

Any chance that these guys have come through? What do they look like?

Yes, I've been keeping an eye on the Youth Intakes at these clubs.  

Graham Morris came through at Woking but didn't feature and is now one of our starting centre-backs. His CA is 42 and his PA is 47.

Nathan Rowlands HG did come through at Man City, despite the fact that I;m sure I looked and hadn't seen him. His CA is 97 and his PA is 105. I'm not really sure what level this is, but it's way better than our level.

Wayne Morris came through at Chester in 2036, but is no longer in the game. 

I think there were 2 more players too. 1 mentioned in this thread and another than I forgot to update and didn't note. Let me see if I can find the other player. 

No. couldn't find the other one. 

[Makoto Nakamura]

Nathan's very interesting going out on loan a few times, I reckon you could, at a push, get him a season or two before his retirement.  

[Jimbokav1971]

3 minutes ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

Nathan's very interesting going out on loan a few times, I reckon you could, at a push, get him a season or two before his retirement.  

You know what I'm like. I would love to get him back in. While our facilities are poor, it will probably be quite poor as I expect to play in Europe sooner rather than later, and while we have produced various players with decent PA, getting players through with decent CA, or to develop their CA has not been quite so easy. When we have to start registering x number of players who are HG at club then the likes of Rowlands from City will be key. 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2028.

Youth Intake Apr 2029.

Again, another "Golden Generation". 

Squad by PPA. 

Squad by actual PA. @Thebakercommented when he saw the Youth Intake PA something along the lines of "least positive intake ever", (or something like that anyway). While it's certainly not good by any stretch of the imagination, (which is what you would expect taking into account our Facilities and reputation), it's not significantly worse than recent intakes. In this instance I would point out that we have 2 players with a PA of 50+ and another in the 40's. This really isn't good, but apart from the few exceptions that I went through in a recent post, it's about "the level" that we produce. While my usual style of play is to concentrate "almost" exclusively on Youth, the reality is that the facilities are just not good enough to do so at this time. 

I have commented in recent intakes that it's interesting that when you sort by actual PA, it seems that the non-Welsh players are the ones who rise up the list. (Something to keep an eye on in future intakes). Look at the 3 English players at the top of the actual PA list here. 

Where as usual I would just concentrate on PA stars and the way the players look, where players are unlikely to reach their PA, it means that I have to concentrate more on there here and now rather than invest in a future that we might never see. (usually it's the case that if you give a young player enough time then they will eventually develop, here it is simply not the case). 

Squad by CA. While a CA of 30 shouldn't be enough to get you a game in our Senior squad at the moment, I will have to admit that a player like (29i) Henry Dyer CA of 32 and PA of 36, is far more likely to see 1st team action than (29p) Tim Law who has CA of 11 and PA of 51. This is a marked difference to the normal situation I would find myself in. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2029. 

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season update. Apr 2029.

It might have taken us a while, but we did it in style eventually.

Overall Best XI.

End of Season awards. 

Top Goalscorer. 

Goal of the Season. 

Player of the Year. 

Young Player of the Season.

Dixon (ENG) *.

Manager of the Year.

Team of the Season. 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Takeover. May 2029. 

A Takeover and a Transfer embargo are not really what I need in the close season after gaining promotion. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Takeover completed. May 2029.

The new Chairman was as good as his word and he has cleared the debt. 

But he obviously did so by taking out a 2nd loan that we now have to repay. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Another player poached. Jun 2029.

I know I've missed 1 "poaching", but I haven't got any info on it so am just going to have to ignore it. 

Shane Llewellyn becomes the 5th player to be poached. Watford are in the Premier League so hopefully he might be good. @Makoto Nakamurawas interested in this. Is everyone else seeing this many players poached? 

[Makoto Nakamura]

I've not noticed a player being poached since I had player poached by PSG whilst I was managing in Qatar. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation. Jun 2029.

The last time I looked we were just barely on the list. After promotion we have rocketed up the list. We are still the lowest of the JD Cymru Premier clubs, (as you would expect), and there are 2 clubs with higher reputations who are still above us on the list.

[Jimbokav1971]

Cash. Jun 2029.

[Jimbokav1971]

13 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Another player poached. Jun 2029.

I know I've missed 1 "poaching", but I haven't got any info on it so am just going to have to ignore it. 

Shane Llewellyn becomes the 5th player to be poached. Watford are in the Premier League so hopefully he might be good. @Makoto Nakamurawas interested in this. Is everyone else seeing this many players poached? 

@Makoto NakamuraI've just found the one I missed. 

His PA is 64. His PA is 101. 

[Makoto Nakamura]

Hopefully he'll get snapped up by a lower league club and not retire! 

[Jimbokav1971]

23 minutes ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

Hopefully he'll get snapped up by a lower league club and not retire! 

I may have offered him a contract myself.  

[Jimbokav1971]

Question to those reading. 

I have a bit of a dilemma. The plan for this thread was going to be Welsh players only, with the obvious exception of non-Welsh players coming through our Academy. The problem I'm having is that there are LOADS of goof non-Welsh players about who will improve us, but far fewer Welsh players. Up until now I have kept the Welsh only rule, but I am currently considering removing that self-imposed rule. (To such an extent that I have non-Welsh players in on trial right now). 

I plan on playing this save for quite a while and I think there is quite a lot possible in the future, and something that was in the back of my mind was somehow "influencing" the Welsh clubs playing in the English structure and getting their facilities improved so that they produce better players to help us, (and the Welsh Nation as a whole). That's a looooooong way off, and of course Welsh only is something that I could revert to at some point in the future as and when our facilities improve. 

I'm in 2 minds at the moment and while I will make up my own mind, I would be interested to hear the views of others because it's quite a significant decision. 

As anyone reading will be only too well aware, I'm not overly bothered about taking things slowly, but I also don't want to take them so slowly that I lose interest. Just becoming the 2nd best club in Wales is going to be a big deal and then toppling TNS is going to be something else entirely. (That's before we even think about Europe). 

So what do you think? 

[rodesire]

I reckon you should play the way that's most fun to you, really.