The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[djsterry]

26 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

Can you not offer a full time contract from the start? Ideally with at least one year's optional extension.

Don't give them what they want. Give them what they need. (Captivity).

I'm usually pretty tough with the contracts but he walked away from negotiations first time and I just wanted to sign him so didn't adjust anything second time round because he only had 1-2 days left on his trial

[JLAB]

ACN Siena 1904 - 2034/35 Season Youth Intake

Well then, it looks like we did have a good intake by my standards, there's a lot to be excited about in this intake, especially given that we've got a centre-back who can play on the wings, who's got some decent height to him at the age of just 16.

Massimiliano Rossi is easily the pick of the bunch, he has the best current ability and the best potential. The fact that he already makes some of our current players look weak already is a massive help as far as he is concerned. The only issue I have is that he is unambitious, but I know that doesn't affect things as much as I had feared, given that his determination is 15 and his professionalism might be pretty good too.

Francesco Dei is another player to be excited about, despite his personality of temperamental. Yes, he is quick to anger, but if he can be used as someone who has a lot of vision and can unlock the keys to the opponents defence, then we have a star on our hands. Plus, he's only 15, plenty of time to grow.

Matteo Ranzato is a problem. He has a lot of potential, but also has one of the worst personalities you could wish for. He will be immediately getting some mentoring to rid him of that hideous personality, something I have literally sacked players for having in the past. So I hope that his professionalism improves in the near future, or else I might have myself a problem child on my hands.

Another player, another right-back. Though this time, he is a proper right-back as far as I am concerned, unlike Rossi. He's shorter in height compared to Rossi and is not as good, but at the end of the day he has a lot of potential. Yes, being a Mercenary is not ideal, but it's not the end of the world either. It's just a minor inconvenience is he develops into a really good player.

I look at John Obot and instantly think "striker" because of his pace, his acceleration, his finishing, his heading and his first touch. He's probably got the best personality out of everyone in this class, but I still see my first Nigerian intake and see him as a potential long-term replacement for my top goalscorer and club legend, Jack Oliver. I am putting that much faith in John Obot to develop. I will be training him to be an Advanced Forward.

Andrea Marcelli is a problem that I will probably have problems trying to fit into my side at time because of the roles that he can play for the club. He's first and foremost a winger, but I also want to make him either an inside forward of a wing-back on support. Given that those roles he will probably struggle to get into the first team for, I fear for his future, even if I am also very excited about his potential.

Another winger, but this time much more well-rounded. Mattia Malpeli is someone that I will hopefully be able to develop into a leading winger on the right-hand side of the pitch in the future, but with how much success I will have with that, I have no idea. With Brondi and Lenzi standing in his way, he might have a struggle to stay above water in those roles.

Another striker, but this time has got the technical abilities that I would want from him. I see advanced forward, but how well I can train him to be that, I do not know.

 

Another right winger, and someone who can show you just how difficult it will be for both Angelo D'Andria and Mattia Malpeli to get into the first team in the future. Shame he's unambitious, isn't it now?

Allow me to introduce you to Srdjan Pavel, a player that he convinced me that my attempts to tinker the affiliate roles with the likes of Tabor Sezana, SV Wals-Grünau and Käpa Helsinki actually works. He is from Sezana and he arrived to Italy on the day of the youth intake. So I know now with the links of Srdjan Pavel that I am likely to be seeing more and more potential intake coming over from my affiliate clubs in the future. It helps that he's decent in both the left-back and the centre-back roles, but there's a lot to be excited about, and this young Slovenian has given me reason for that excitement, for what he represents.

[Brentmeister]

30 minutes ago, JLAB said:

ACN Siena 1904 - 2034/35 Season Youth Intake

Well then, it looks like we did have a good intake by my standards, there's a lot to be excited about in this intake, especially given that we've got a centre-back who can play on the wings, who's got some decent height to him at the age of just 16.

Massimiliano Rossi is easily the pick of the bunch, he has the best current ability and the best potential. The fact that he already makes some of our current players look weak already is a massive help as far as he is concerned. The only issue I have is that he is unambitious, but I know that doesn't affect things as much as I had feared, given that his determination is 15 and his professionalism might be pretty good too.

Francesco Dei is another player to be excited about, despite his personality of temperamental. Yes, he is quick to anger, but if he can be used as someone who has a lot of vision and can unlock the keys to the opponents defence, then we have a star on our hands. Plus, he's only 15, plenty of time to grow.

Matteo Ranzato is a problem. He has a lot of potential, but also has one of the worst personalities you could wish for. He will be immediately getting some mentoring to rid him of that hideous personality, something I have literally sacked players for having in the past. So I hope that his professionalism improves in the near future, or else I might have myself a problem child on my hands.

Another player, another right-back. Though this time, he is a proper right-back as far as I am concerned, unlike Rossi. He's shorter in height compared to Rossi and is not as good, but at the end of the day he has a lot of potential. Yes, being a Mercenary is not ideal, but it's not the end of the world either. It's just a minor inconvenience is he develops into a really good player.

I look at John Obot and instantly think "striker" because of his pace, his acceleration, his finishing, his heading and his first touch. He's probably got the best personality out of everyone in this class, but I still see my first Nigerian intake and see him as a potential long-term replacement for my top goalscorer and club legend, Jack Oliver. I am putting that much faith in John Obot to develop. I will be training him to be an Advanced Forward.

Andrea Marcelli is a problem that I will probably have problems trying to fit into my side at time because of the roles that he can play for the club. He's first and foremost a winger, but I also want to make him either an inside forward of a wing-back on support. Given that those roles he will probably struggle to get into the first team for, I fear for his future, even if I am also very excited about his potential.

Another winger, but this time much more well-rounded. Mattia Malpeli is someone that I will hopefully be able to develop into a leading winger on the right-hand side of the pitch in the future, but with how much success I will have with that, I have no idea. With Brondi and Lenzi standing in his way, he might have a struggle to stay above water in those roles.

Another striker, but this time has got the technical abilities that I would want from him. I see advanced forward, but how well I can train him to be that, I do not know.

 

Another right winger, and someone who can show you just how difficult it will be for both Angelo D'Andria and Mattia Malpeli to get into the first team in the future. Shame he's unambitious, isn't it now?

Allow me to introduce you to Srdjan Pavel, a player that he convinced me that my attempts to tinker the affiliate roles with the likes of Tabor Sezana, SV Wals-Grünau and Käpa Helsinki actually works. He is from Sezana and he arrived to Italy on the day of the youth intake. So I know now with the links of Srdjan Pavel that I am likely to be seeing more and more potential intake coming over from my affiliate clubs in the future. It helps that he's decent in both the left-back and the centre-back roles, but there's a lot to be excited about, and this young Slovenian has given me reason for that excitement, for what he represents.

Hit Ranzato with fines for poor performance, even in u19 games, his work rate and/or determination should improve. That coupled with mentoring should/could alter is personality.

Edited March 13, 2021 by Brentmeister

[Brentmeister]

Brazil scheduling. I had 15 games in 7 weeks last season too!

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2041/42 Folkestone Season Report

Nearly half way through the season it looked as though we were going to walk away with the league, 8 points clear in 1^st, but we went into a slump, and near the end of the season were in danger of even missing out on the playoffs.

However we pulled it back together with 13 points from our last 5 matches. Unfortunately one of our star strikers, and this season’s top scorer, Michael Morgan picked up a bad injury right at the end of the season.

Well, hopefully not our top scorer. Hopefully Jack Collett will score 9 goals in the playoffs and overtake him. That would be nice.

Our first playoffs for 5 years, (which was in the VNL South). Seems like even longer though. Wish we were playing VNL South quality teams again.

At the very least we’ll get a bit of money.

Playoff Semi Final

Spoiler

 

Folkestone           2-1              Crewe

When Crewe took an early lead I feared that our playoff nightmares had returned, but we were the better side.

 

Crewe                   4-1              Folkestone

We took the lead, and I thought we might be about to reach our first playoff final; first final of any kind, but it was all one way traffic after that.

 

Playoff Final

Spoiler

 

N/A

 

 

Obviously a disappointing end to the season, but a good FA Cup run and selling one of our best players has funded imminent improvements our Training and Youth facilities. Obviously I didn’t want to sell one of our best players, but I had a situation where possibly our best two players were right backs. Obviously karma will ensure that I go for 20 seasons at some point without even 1 good player in that position, but these are the first facilities improvements since the VNL South and badly needed.

Top Goalscorer – Michael Morgan 9a – 36

Despite my saying on this thread during the season that I nearly always had 2 strikers reach 30 goals, we only just achieved that with Jack Collett 13a netting his 30^th goal in the playoffs.

As always, nobody else achieved double figures, but we do have a few very promising strikers who may threaten the dynamic duo.

 

 

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Michael Morgan 9a – 7.45

Man of The Match – Michael Morgan 9a - 10

 

Most Valuable Player– Michael Morgan 9a

 

Most Appearances (Regens) – Jason ‘Nepotism’ Ramsay 1a – 719

Jason has now left. He’s now the manager of Fylde in the Conference National and doing well.

We had 3 players from that first intake become managers. Jason’s midfield partner Lachlan Cook (who’s now retired after being sacked from his one job) and Graham Hudson who after being sacked from his one job is now an U18 coach with us.

3 time MVP Ellis Andrews 2c is our Director of Football.

 

 

Chris Pope 10b is on 512 appearances and still our starting goalie, but only by the skin of his teeth and thanks to his probable successor Russell Dalling 19c ******** the bed when I gave him a chance late in the season.

Most Goals (Regens) – Michael Morgan 9a - 359

But as alluded to above Morgan broke his foot and might not even be back for the start of the next league season.

The record in the Record’s thread is 472. About to turn 28, I think he stands a chance of surpassing Fastbasher’s Bryan Pham Ba , but obviously some of you probably have players that have already done that.

Season	Division		Position	Notes							MVP										
21/22	VNL South		18th		Steered clear of relegaton thanks to good start.	Callum Davies
22/23	VNL South		16th		Only 2 places better, but a lot more points.		Henry Newcombe
23/24	VNL South		18th		Big step backwards in points.				David Smith
24/25	VNL South		15th		Consistently mediocre.					David Smith
25/26	VNL South		14th		Just outside playoffs for most of the season.		David Smith
26/27	VNL South		16th		Otherwise known as the year 1AD (After Discipline)	Ellis Andrews 2c
27/28	VNL South		19th		Narrowly avoided relegation places all season		David Smith
28/29	VNL South		15th		Tried different tactics. Didn't find a magic bean.	David Smith
29/30	VNL South		7th		Lost playoff semifinal, but a great improvement.	Ellis Andrews 2c
30/31	VNL South		12th		Second half slump into mid-table disappointment		David Smith
31/32	VNL South		7th		Lost in S/F of playoff					Ellis Andrews 2c
32/33	VNL South		9th		Didn't threaten playoffs				Ellis Drake 10a
33/34	VNL South		2nd		Lost last 2 matches of season and 1st playoff game.	Michael Morgan 9a
34/35	VNL South		4th		Knocked out Playoffs 1st round on penalties		Michael Morgan 9a
35/36	VNL South		6th		Knocked out in Playoff semifinal			Michael Morgan 9a
36/37	VNL South		5th		Knocked out in Playoff semifinal			Giorgos Kragiopoulos 11a
37/38	VNL South		1st		Won the league by a mile. 17th time lucky.		Michael Morgan 9a 
38/39	VNL National		1st		Back to back comfortable promotions			Jack Collett 13a 
39/40	League 2		2nd		Won last 5 matches securing automatic promotion.	Jack Collett 13a 
40/41	League 1		11th		Pushing for promotion most of the season		Jack Collett 13a 
41/42	League 1		5th		Lost in playoffs semifinal				Michael Morgan 9a 

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by vikeologist

[Padders]

Here we go again 

1 win in 10

[Padders]

Still going

Embarrassing 2 wins in 21 and even more embarrassing losing to League 1 Stockport 4-0 in the FA Cup

Tried different tactics, fining players and team meetings. Nothing works

Championship here we come

[darren1983]

On 09/03/2021 at 23:39, darren1983 said:

So I realise I've been talking about my excitement for my team but realised I've not actually explained why, because unless you're able to remember players I posted about in my intake why would you?  I also realise many probably don't care but I've been playing this challenge for a few versions now and this actually might be the most excited I've ever been by a group of players I've had so if you'll indulge me a little here I'm going to showcase some.

Frist up is my Italian star Riccardo Bortolotti 23B. Captain and maybe my favourite ever player. He's been a rock for us and has been fans player of the season for 7 seasons in a row! Pops up with so many crucial goals from corners and is great at dealing with any players that moan. Has never expressed an interest in leaving us even when Italian clubs have come around. I love this man. He has also been player of the season for League 2, League One and this season he was the player of the season in the Championship.

His partner at the back Stephen Hammond 29C. England U21 player now and at some point had half the Premier League looking at him, managed to keep him though it's a battle with contracts with him and his agent at times. Despite his height he never looks like scoring many though. Is a solid partner for Bortolotti. Was the Championship young player of the season too this year.

Just in front of them is our little playmaker Taylor Morgan 30B. Baffled by the fact he's never had a sniff of a Wales call up at any level. He's who we might lose this summer as have had to agree to sell him if a club matches his 11m release clause. He has a 3 year option on his current deal so if no one matches his clause I will try and sort a new deal without one but otherwise add on 3 years to the current one and hope we can go up before someone comes in for him.

Our box to box guy was someone that didn't even get tagged when he came in, he just developed really well and forced his way into my thinking. Scott Scott really broke through in the U18s putting up some good numbers and has been solid for the most part this season. I expect big things next year.

Now time for what will be my front 3 next year. First up, and completing a clean slate of winners was the Championship top scorer Curtis Jones 29B. Became first choice last season and scored 16, got 25 this year. Not the best finisher but his pace and power gets him goals. Thinking of moving him out wide next season though. One wide option is Phil McDonald 31B. He cam through as a striker but with his dribbling and work rate and teamwork I liked him for a wide man cutting inside. Played mainly off the bench this season but likely first choice next year and finally the reason Jones may have to move out wide is Mark Campbell 31A. This kid is going to be something special I think. 15 goals this season as a 17 year old. I expect big things from him soon.

Anyway that's why I'm so excited for this group of players. Watch now as I lose half of them to crap clubs this summer now I've posted about them  

 

I ****ing knew posting this was a mistake. 6 months later and 2 of these players have been sold (Morgan and Scott for a combined 20m) with another (Campbell) wanting to play for a bigger club. Bortolotti has, overnight, lost his ability to talk down anyone in the squad, Jones goals have completely dried up and McDonald just has no form at all no matter what I do  

[Padders]

[Doggy366]

Starting at Batman Petrol Spor in Turkey, played half a season and we are overachieving - I actually had quality players there to begin with and thankfully was able to renew contracts before anyone was trying to get them from me.

 

Can't wait for the first intake: "golden generation"!

I'm holding back my hopes for now as this is not always accurate. Still hoping that the centrebacks are class, though I really need a striker and a playmaker. Also I am very happy that I got to get my National C Licence already!

Let's hope for a strong finish to the season - we were predicted to be 16th and I'd be really happy with a mid-table finish.

[hyrule_king]

Now going through the under 19's and sending out any 3* potential and lower on loan , so that the 3* and above get the full quality of training.

[Deicide]

A couple of question for the more experienced players.. Is there a limit on how many players I should place in mentoring groups? Also, should everyone in their group be at least competent at playing in the same position or does position not really matter?

[djsterry]

2 hours ago, Padders said:

I think this just shows how difficult this challenge is, you have the best facilities etc but not had the luck with the youth intakes and the team looks very unbalanced

[OlivierL]

3 minutes ago, Deicide said:

A couple of question for the more experienced players.. Is there a limit on how many players I should place in mentoring groups? Also, should everyone in their group be at least competent at playing in the same position or does position not really matter?

U can find a lot of information about this in the tactics & training subforum . But positions help, but putting young players with leaders with the right personalities is much more important. I had to put a goalkeeper an two strikers in one group to get something out of this.  Groups of 3 or 4 work best.

[djsterry]

 

Having a really good season so far but I know its all going to fall apart 

 

 

and another one

 

I hope I can keep these lot together

Edited March 13, 2021 by djsterry

[Padders]

2126/27 Season Review

As expected, relegated, with an embarrassing SIX wins all season and 20 points

Huge clear out in the summer upcoming, players and staff!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carl Howe won't sign a new contract so will be leaving in the summer on a free

For the first time in 70-80 years I've had more than 2 stars in an Youth Intake and it was a keeper which I am desperate for as my No.1 is 33yrs old

After years of not getting a decent centre midfielder, Derby poach one!

The board want me to fight a relegation battle in The Championship next season, tells you everything you need to know about the current squad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

[Padders]

8 minutes ago, djsterry said:

I think this just shows how difficult this challenge is, you have the best facilities etc but not had the luck with the youth intakes and the team looks very unbalanced

Yeah the intakes are simply not good enough

[ravenation]

And now this going on .......... never saw this before

[Padders]

Never seen this before, board given me control of affiliates

[Padders]

7 minutes ago, ravenation said:

And now this going on .......... never saw this before

Be prepared for a lot more

Just lost two players in the last couple of months

[ravenation]

5 minutes ago, Padders said:

Be prepared for a lot more

Just lost two players in the last couple of months

Like it wasnt hard enough already 

[Brentmeister]

1 hour ago, Padders said:

2126/27 Season Review

As expected, relegated, with an embarrassing SIX wins all season and 20 points

Huge clear out in the summer upcoming, players and staff!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carl Howe won't sign a new contract so will be leaving in the summer on a free

For the first time in 70-80 years I've had more than 2 stars in an Youth Intake and it was a keeper which I am desperate for as my No.1 is 33yrs old

After years of not getting a decent centre midfielder, Derby poach one!

The board want me to fight a relegation battle in The Championship next season, tells you everything you need to know about the current squad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

A 4 star CA 'keeper who's 15? Wow! show us a screenshot

[djsterry]

1 hour ago, Padders said:

Never seen this before, board given me control of affiliates

I had that on my cottbus save but on my current one they won't let me have more than one affiliate

[karax268]

JS Hercules 2022 Season report: PROMOTION!

League table | Promotion Group Table | Fixtures Fixtures part 2 | Transfers | Finances

Results

Suomen Cup: The season opener was once again easy in the group stage. we scored a total of 14 and conceded 1. I even got to bleed some of the youngsters. The second round was tougher as we met reigning champions SJK. we did well, considering, and held out long. Defeat was inevitable however. They scored twice late on for a deserved win.

Ykkönen: our succes in the cup group stage had me confident we could once again fight for the top positions. Off course we went on to only win two of the first eight. with 5 draws we sat in the middle of the pack. I started to concile myself to the idea of a midtable  finish.

But optics can change weirdly fast. 4 wins in a row later we turned a 'ome win in eight' opening into a 'ten game unbeated run'. This run extended all the way to fifteen unbeaten. At this point we were on top with nine points clear of second. Our weird streaky season got weirder then as we only got one point in the next four. This reduced my lead to four points leading into the promotion group and I was sweating bullets.

The team righted their backs one more time. We played badly but got the job done. 3 wins and 2 draws and we were champions of the Ykkönen!

Player Performances

Topscorer: Pekka Welling. Once again Welling. 1 goal more this season compared to last. When he had a good game, we won. It's as simple as that. The streakyness of our season coincides one on one with his from dips and peaks.

Best Player: Jesse Kilpeläinen. Our CB. he gave everything every match and led the defence with Iron hand. During the ups and downs of the season the defense always looked solid and it's all down to him.

 

Of the Field

The Finances are a worry. we lost 142K this season. Not much I can do about this. Wages are low and I keep my staff small. Hopefully the promotion to the top division will help some.

despite all that the board did agree to increase both youth recruitment and junior coaching.

Personal

During the season I got my National A and Continental C Badges. In the off season I can fully focus on studying for the Continental B (it's not like I need to be at the club for scouting and recruitment meetings)

My contract is up at the end of next season and barring a desastrous season I see no problems to extend.

Youth Intake

Better intake than last year. But it doesn't really feel like the golden generation I was promised

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by karax268

[Padders]

1 hour ago, Brentmeister said:

A 4 star CA 'keeper who's 15? Wow! show us a screenshot

[keeper#1]

Farnborough 2030-31 Season Review

Fixtures 1, 2, 3, 4: Inconsistent start followed by a focus on outscoring the opponent and seeing what happens.  Putting the opposition defense on the back foot seemed to work as the wins started to roll in and we made a push for the playoffs.

League Table: We rode our offense and Stephen Lynch 30D all the way to a 4th place finish and earned ourselves a home game for the opening round of the playoffs.  Lincoln sneaked into the league title and automatic promotion solely on goal difference.

Playoff Tree: Sometimes you need a little bit of luck and we got that in the playoffs.  After a 1-0 win over Flyde, we advanced to the finals when Wrexham allowed an own goal in stoppage time during extra time.  We claimed a victory over 3rd place Northampton to win the playoffs and advance to League Two and professional football.

FA Cup: Cup run ended at Chelsea this season.

FA Trophy: Our last appearance in the FA Trophy was a one-and-done affair losing at Ebbsfield.

xG General Performance: All I asked for this season was just an average defense and we could do things.  In the second half of the season, our defense trended back to average so we were above average in the second half after being below average in the first half.  Stephen Lynch 30D banged in the goals on the offensive end.

xG Expected vs Actual      xG Attacking Efficiency      xG Defensive Efficiency

Stats 1      Stats 2

Player of the Year Stephen Lynch 30D

Rookie of the Year Mike Johnson 29E

Transfers

Youth Intake Preview     Youth Intake     Youth Intake DNA     Tafadzwa Mutasa 31A     Wade Andrews 31B     Jason Charlton 31C     Michael Young 31D     Jack Lucero 31E

Moments to Remember     Best XI     Accolades      History in the Making

Almanac

Kids had a tough year in the U18 Alliance League but didn't come in last which all I ask at this point.

Joe Baitup 23D with over 300 appearances.  Stephen Lynch 30D has fired his way into second on the goalscoring charts with 46 goals in slightly over 50 appearances.

Tieba Haidara 29A moved on the U20-U21 International list with a hat-trick in his lone appearance for Mali.

Stadium expansion to meet the League Two requirments

Expanding the youth recruitment net one more time.

[TheGreatTraveler]

New intake is in and ... well it's ok. Nothing stellar compared to some of my other intakes, but there is definitely some talent here. 

[vikeologist]

13 hours ago, Deicide said:

A couple of question for the more experienced players.. Is there a limit on how many players I should place in mentoring groups? Also, should everyone in their group be at least competent at playing in the same position or does position not really matter?

I don't think position matters; at least not as much as their personality improving by having good personality players influencing them. There's a danger they could take on unhelpful PPMs, but I don't think it's a big one. 

People tend to think that the groups should be quite small, maybe 4 players, but it depends how many good personality players you have. If you only have 1 professional highly influential player, you might has well try to have him mentoring more than 3 players.

You can't do everything with a mentoring group, so you have to decide what your priority is. Just don;t use it to get determination up. That's what player fines are for. 

[vikeologist]

12 hours ago, Padders said:

Be prepared for a lot more

Just lost two players in the last couple of months

I have still never had a single player poached in 21+ years at Folkestone. Every now and then I check in the Clauses screen in case I missed it, but no.

 

[Morpheus13]

Chengfeng Season 28/29 Review

Table - Squad - U23 Squad - U19 Squad - Transfers - Finances

So we were able to survive our first season in the Chinese Super League, altho it was close.

Finances are looking ok, we decided to sell our 30% Clause from Ma Zhiyi (22D) for about 4 Millions. It allowed us to upgrade the Youth Facilities again. We are lucky that we keep having between 10k and 15k spectators, so pretty decent gate recipes.

Our Youth Intake Preview was looking awful and the Intake wasnt that good aswell. Its strange, since I upgraded the Facilities and the Youth Recruitement the Intakes seem to get worse, but maybe some players will develop better than expected.

Liu Yadong looks like the best of them

Next Season

Will be another season of survival, since we have no players who will break into the first team and be an upgrade on the current team. Song Hongzhi (27D) looks like the closest one. Ren Qisheng (22B) wants out again, but until now there is no interest from other teams.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Morpheus13

[JLAB]

ACN Siena 1904 - 2034/35 Season Review

Our best season to date, by the 24th game of the season we had already surpassed the number of points that we had managed to accumulate in the first season. In the end, despite fearing a relegated battle, we managed to secure Siena's best ever finish of 9th place, surpassing the club's previous best finish of 13th place. In fact, we ended up only missing out on European Football by a measly three points in the end, which should tell you how much we over achieved at the end of the day. Next season I'm expecting a much harder season, especially with my backroom staff telling me that my players are somehow managing to decline in their early 20s despite playing...

In other news though, I've started to throw Pigneri into the first to see if he would sink or swim. So far, he's floating on his back, not been brilliant but contributing here or there. I plan on making him either my attacking midfielder or inside forward on support. He's got the ability for both as far as I am concerned.

In other news, I've managed to convince the both to continue upgrading our facilities, with the club now having Great Training Facilities and Good Youth Facilities, with both being upgrade into the beginning of the new season, I can see them getting more upgrades in the season to come. The board want the club to have the best facilities in Serie A and I for one am all for it.

 

[Armeniar]

 Just an average game against the 4th in the League: 

 

Gaspar is on fire this season, scoring 24 goals in 20 (3) games so far in all competitions as inverted winger! P$G also just suffered an extremely rare loss at Stade Brestois (16e), we're coming for you...

Spoiler

 

[darren1983]

17 hours ago, ravenation said:

And now this going on .......... never saw this before

 

4 hours ago, vikeologist said:

I have still never had a single player poached in 21+ years at Folkestone. Every now and then I check in the Clauses screen in case I missed it, but no.

 

Had the most random poaching ever this season. Losing a player from a English Championship club to a A-League side  

Edited March 14, 2021 by darren1983

[Cardiovascular]

I've been keenly following this thread and trying to emulate some successes with various lower league English teams on FM17 (I was rubbish) but finally took the plunge and bought FM21. So going to throw myself off the deep end and into this challenge for my first save on a new FM in about 5 years or so. Decided to go different to my norm, which would be Scotland or England, and ended up taking over at newly promoted Dravograd in the Slovenian Second League.

 

The team itself was well populated but didn't cover every position. Specifically, we lack goalkeepers and centre backs so will have to make do without those for a season at least - we do have one centre back and one goalkeeper in our U19s but they can't play until they turn 17. Have retrained a 6'6 central midfielder to be a centre back in the short term until we at least get someone good who can play there.

 

We've reached the winter break in 12th and four points clear of the drop. Our performances have been mixed to say the least, ranging from good away wins to top half sides to a 0-7 drubbing at home by the team in third. Disappointingly, we faced three sides below us just before the break and drew all three games. We really needed to win at least one or two to put some distance between us and the drop, but we failed. Time will tell if we will suffer for this.

 

Also got my first youth intake preview!

 

A great prospect in goal and a promising centre back is good to read. I'd be pretty chuffed even if those were the only two good players we got, we have a pretty solid team otherwise.

 

 

[Doggy366]

1st Season is done - Youth Intake was unspectacular and we got worse in the second half of the season as I suspected.
10th place is exactly what I wanted though and mid table finish is still a really good season for us.
Let's see what the next season will bring.

 

 

[TheGreatTraveler]

Just a little preview of my season as I write up the summary...

[holidaysong]

FC United of Manchester ; season 2039/40

League Table ; Squad ; Starting 11 ; Transfers ; Youth Candidates

We are Premier League!

I reached the playoffs again in my second season back in the Championship, but was able to go the distance and win promotion.

My advanced forward Jonathan Miley scored an incredible 50 (fifty) goals in the season (47 in the league) and scooped both the golden boot and player of the year.

My second striker Ian Williams won young player of the year and contributed 14 goals and 13 assists, while my other standout performer with 18 assists was Kelechi Friday.

[darren1983]

South Shields Season 2033/34 Review - Championship

 

League - Strange season. Easily my most frustrating in this save so far and yet we finished higher than last season. I'm actually ignoring the final league position as we ended up 5 points worse off than last season and the league as a whole was not a good one. 81 points won the league this year and in all but 1 of the previous 12 seasons that wouldn't even get you a top 2 place. We were really frustrating this year, on our day we'd play anyone off the pitch but then when it wasn't our day we looked non league. Sadly we had many days that weren't ours. We started OK, results wise anyway as performances not great, and went top after 12 games. We then only won 3 of the next 19 and bobbled around midtable most of the season, a little run at the end took us to 7th but overall this wasn't good. I'm thinking of doing a big tactical rethink this summer. We need more going forward. Most games we struggled to even have 40% of the ball and created very little. We'll see what the summer brings I guess.

League Cup - A little early run in this as we struggled to find our best team and our form at the start of the season

FA Cup - another decent run ended by the other side of Manchester this year. Nice 1.4m though from gates.

Squad - Annoying, there's some real talent here but some utter dross as well. Might have a mini clear out this summer as well

Transfers - as soon as the window opened we lost Morgan and is listed in lasts seasons sales as a result, that was a big blow as didn't think anyone would match his buy out and then on transfer deadline day we lost  Scott Scott to his buy out. So that was 2 of our midfield 3 we'd spent a couple years getting ready gone and left us relying on players either not good enough or not ready yet. Maybe explains our struggle on the ball this season

Finances - at least this is look decent still, so much so that we were able to announce a new ground for 2 years time

Youth Intake - 2nd year in a row with a average looking one, with only 1 tagged. Might be time to change HOYD as have had the same one since 2021 now! 

Josh McKinnon 34A - Best player is a right back. Another one. That makes it 3 under 20 right now with our best 2 being 20 we're well stocked here. A left back would be nice though

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Youth Recruitment	Youth Coaching		Notes & Achievements 

2021/22		VNLN		5th 		Adequate		Adequate		First coaching badge
2022/23		VNLN		2nd 		Adequate		Good			Promoted via playoffs, FA Trophy runners up
2023/24		VNL		16th 		Average			Excellent 		2nd coaching badge
2024/25		VNL		12th 		Average			Excellent		3rd coaching badge
2025/26		VNL		6th 		Average			Excellent		Promotion via playoffs
2026/27		League Two	1st 		Good			Exceptional		Promotion as champions
2027/28		League One	11th 		Good			Exceptional
2028/29		League One	14th 		Good			Exceptional
2029/30		League One	7th 		Good			Exceptional
2030/31		League One	1st 		Good 			Exceptional		Promoted as champions. Completed all coaching badges
2031/32		Championship	18th 		Excellent		Exceptional
2032/33		Championship	8th 		Excellent		Exceptional
2033/34		Championship	7th 		Excellent		Exceptional		Training ground upgrade, Academy up level 3, new ground announced

 

[TheGreatTraveler]

SC Freamunde

Season 12 - 2032/2033

Transfers - Past Positions - Best XI - Finances

Season Summary - 2nd - Promotion!

Promotion at the end really hides what was a very strange season. We started on fire, winning 7 and drawing one of our first eight games, which included 7 clean sheets. My doubts that maybe we weren't good enough for promotion quickly dissapeared. Only to then come back as we only managed 5 points from the next 9 games as we fell down the table. Some improved results got us back into the top 6 and the promotion fight, as did a change to a 5-4-1 tactic to try and refind the defensive solidy we'd had at the start of the season. However, promotion felt like a stretch despite our improved form. 

And then, the teams around us began to crumble while we mantained decent form and heading into the last match of the season we had won 4 straight, sat first, with Beira Mar and Leixoes one point behind. We managed to lose the game (of course), but thankfully so did Beira Mar so we get to go straight back up. 

The Portuguese Cup had us get to the 4th round, where we lost in extra time to 2nd Division Chaves in a game we really should have won. 

Off the Field

Facility improvements are continuing to happen, with Superb training and Great youth facilities right now set to be become even better in a few months. Hoping this will allow our players to develop better even without as much gametime. 

Bismark Danso - YP5a did end up leaving for Dortmund after all and I did miss out out on like 5M had I waited, but I think guaranteeing the 21M was well worth it as it is giving me some facilities. 

Prospects worth Noting 

Gustavo Gomes - YP1k (ST/AML/AMR) - Somehow Club Legend falls short for him as he had his best ever season. 40 goals, 5 assistss in 43 games with 13 POM awards and a 7.36 Avg rating, the club captain continues to excel. Also became the player with most league appearances for the club, currently at 263. 

Gustavo Campos - YP1b (AML/ML) - The left winger regained his starting spot after Cassiano's departure and did very well. 7 goals and 11 assists from him, we will need a good season from him next year if we hope to stay up. 

Luis Miguel Freitas - YP3g (DR/DL) - Finally became the starting right-back after years of fighting for the spot, and had quite an effect. 11 assists and his first ever goal are a great set-up for next season. 

Duarte Moura - YP9a (GK) - Despite not having made an appearance until this year, I threw him straight into the team and he responded. Only the 3rd starting keeper I've had in this entire save, I'm hoping his amazing performances this year continue in the next. 

Gustavo Campos - YP10a (AMR/MR/AML) - An absolute superstar of a player, the now 17 year old got 7 goals and 10 assists, as well as some great performances on the right wing that have helped us forget about Daniel Andre - YP6b's departure last summer. There is interest from multiple top tier sides, but I'm hoping the promotion keeps the second Gustavo Campos at Freamunde a little longer. 

Youth Intake

Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, it's a good if unspectacular intake. Will have to wait and see how the players develop. 

Next Season

Fight for survival. Not sure our squad now is really better than the one that went down in terms of depth, so we will have to see how we do. Hoping some players really step up in the higher level. Not sure what to do tactically either, whether to stick with the 5 at the back or make some other change. 

Next season will also be the first without any players that were with us at the start of the save. Nuno Casaca - YP0d's contract is expiring and we will not be renewing it as we have enough cover in his positions now. 

[keeper#1]

How did things go in our League Two debut?

Edited March 14, 2021 by keeper#1

[Padders]

Season Review 2127/28

Awful season

Was sitting 2nd then for some reason won 4 games in last the 19!

We are just not good enough.

Only two players worth over £10m

Years of awful intakes and again this season!! (in the bad circle period!)

Just need to battle through until it changes

Carl Howe went to Barcelona on a free, after scoring 304 goals in 393 games

 

 

[Cardiovascular]

NK Dravograd - Youth Intake 2022

 

 

We get a solid enough intake, with a central defender second in potential rating which is exactly what we needed. And whilst we're pretty stacked at central midfield, we don't have any out and out DMs, so Marko Lah is a welcome option in the middle. Disappointingly, the intake mentioned a goalkeeper who was a great prospect but he's way, way down the pecking order of good potential. Maybe next year.

 

 

If we can get his physical side improved, he'll be a really good player. I like the look of him.

 

 

He'll be promoted to the first team the second he turns 17, he's our second best centre back already. Not hard, given we really don't have numbers in that position.

 

 

Needs work, but he might be okay for a back-up DM.

 

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by Cardiovascular

[holidaysong]

I was just offered the job as Spain manager.

Gracias, pero no gracias amigos! 

[Pieyanthikos]

2025/2026 review

Manager profile | Squad pt. 1 / pt. 2 | U19 squad | Matches pt. 1 / pt. 2 / pt. 3 | Youth intake | Table

We are still in a slow build-up phase, as the very fluctuating results clearly show. A large part of the squad must be replaced either due to age or poor adaptation positionally to the tactics. Therefore, five players aged 17 or younger have already been promoted to the first team squad. It will take some years to incorporate them, so we may have a long period in the lower half of the table.

That said, there are some bright spots. We started the fall with lightning and thunder: seven wins and one draw in the first ten games, after which we led the league. It turned around in December and the rest of the winter and spring with a paltry four wins in 17 games. Then we felt how a narrow, ageing squad is exposed to injuries and adversity. And, most important: Our intake this year was insane!

The regen Samuel Boakye, a striker who is slowly being transformed into an offensive midfielder, has made his debut for Germany's U18 national team. Our big star, Mirac Akdeniz, would like to join a bigger club, but agreed on a price of around € 200k, which no one will bid right now. The economy is healthy with a profit of € 1.7m to be invested in staff and facilities.

[djsterry]

How bad is temperamental personality? I have a gk that's just come through and he looks quality it's just the personality I'm worried about

[XaW]

17 minutes ago, djsterry said:

How bad is temperamental personality? I have a gk that's just come through and he looks quality it's just the personality I'm worried about

Putting it in spoiler tags so anyone who doesn't want to know don't have to see.

Spoiler

Pretty bad. Low (1-10) Professionalism is the killer. He also have, unsurprisingly, very low temperament (1-4). 

I would advise getting him tutored by someone asap.

[Cardiovascular]

NK Dravograd - 2021/22 - Slovenian Second League

League Table (12th) | Slovenian Cup (2nd Round) | Squad | Transfers

As mentioned, inherited a decent sized squad but it had alot of players competing for the same position and lacked in a few key areas, mainly centre back and goalkeeper. So we played the entire season with a greyed out GK and at least one greyed out centre back per game. I immediately tried to rectify our centre back situation by re-training Cene Kitek and Stas Dobaj (6'6 and 6'0 respectively) as centre backs. Dobaj wasn't used as much there though and is still a work in progress, but by the end of September, Kitek was competent there. Thankfully, this ensured we had at least one decent centre back for the season.

 

The season itself was not incredible by any means, but it was okay. We had a couple of winless runs of over six games, and we lost by an aggregate score of 13-0 to the team that finished fifth for some reason, but we never once dropped into the relegation zone which was pleasing. The other side of that coin though is that we were also never really safe from relegation either, but I suppose that's to be expected with greyed out players still making up the squad. We were confirmed safe before the final day thanks to our away goals record vs Bilje, not that it mattered as we would end on a high with a 4-0 win.

Key Players

Peter Kogelnik | Leon Ferencak | Cene Kitek

Kogelnik was our top scorer with fifteen goals as he played a mixture of left wing and up top, depending on our formation. He was pretty good all things considered, but he's really unhappy with the depth of the squad which is an issue I can't really fix until more of our U19's turn 17 and are able to beef up the squad. Hopefully this unhappiness doesn't affect his performance. Ferencak was a solid option at left back throughout the season and has some really good attributes for this level. Kitek was our saviour at the back, the central midfielder turned central defender. He's our best player by far and sadly, he's decided he's too good for us. To be fair, it's probably true but I'm not ready to let him go yet unless we get a really good offer.

Next Season

Survival, better cup progress, start to bed in young players if they turn 17. Plenty goals to achieve.

 

 

 

[JLAB]

ACN Siena 1904 - 2035/36 Season Preview

So going into the new year, we're expected to be rock-bottom once again. The three teams that got relegated in my first season in Serie A have all been promoted back to the top flight. So I feel that we can potentially get the better of the teams around us in the lower-half of the table if we play to our strengths.

In other news, we've got a new affiliate in N.E.C. after I asked for a new affiliate club. Bari, despite being relegated are still our parent club due to their higher reputation. All of the feeder clubs outside of Badesse (being too rubbish) and N.E.C. (being brand new) have got a clause in our affiliate links where the feeder clubs will send us academy players to get experience, meaning that we will be getting some of their players coming through our youth intakes.

I am hoping that if Bari do not get promoted and we survive in the Serie A league for another season that we will be able to make their our feeder club instead, but that's a dream that I have for the future.

Edited March 15, 2021 by JLAB

[Raffen]

Chairman starting to accept offers "too good to turn down" now... Luckily I managed to negotiate a bit before he took over, so got the 50 % resale

[Padders]

Just a quick update

About to be sacked

I over 400 years in FM20 and FM21, I have never seen such a drop in standard and quality of players

Currently sitting in bottom 3 of Championship and have the board requesting to meet me about performances

Absolutely gutted