The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[vikeologist]

1 hour ago, GIB.Rocks said:

Been taking some time to read through some of the epic challenges in here, but this one has been fantastic! The reality of those first 17 seasons to still be in the VNS is inspiring! Championship seems to be heading a similar way to been a long slog to escape!

Thank you. I'm sometimes unsure many even read my updates. I try to write about what I'd be interested to read about.

I'll be sure to read yours, though you've just posted as my eyelids are about to drop shut, but tomorrow, definitely.

Edited May 31, 2021 by vikeologist

[holidaysong]

FC United of Manchester ; season 2045/46

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

Our 2nd ever European campaign resulted in silverware as we lifted the Europa Conference League. In truth, we absolutely smashed it, winning every match except from our first leg of the qualifiers.

In the league, we finished runner up to the Glazer club, while Manchester City were relegated. United were always too far away to have any chance of catching them. For the first time though, I am actually feeling like completion of this challenge might actually be within touching distance...

Richard Roberts continues to be absolutely key to everything we do. The awards this lad is picking up speak for themselves. Unfortunately he's looking to force a move away. It's a good time to be thankful for optional 3 year contract extensions though!

[Safe Hands]

Couldn't get into the Steaua save so back with another crack this time in Chile.

Had 1 of 3 teams I wanted to manage and lucky on 3rd reload one popped up. Like the kit and name but facilities are shocking but decent sized stadium, other 2 options one played in same stadium and had decent facilities. Other just had a cool sounding name, small stadium and ok facilities. Not had a look at the squad yet but it looks thread bare in numbers. Loaded top leagues in all playable South American leagues. Also loaded top 7 nations in Europe as view only, mainly to make it an even playing field so not only do any regens coming through my ranks might get sold to Europe, they will also take players from Brazil etc.

[Vlach]

FC Messina - Youth Intake 2027

 

Nice intake with good personalities in general and quite some talent it seems. I guess i will retrain Bertazzi and Ferrari to central defenders although. As usual, those talented and those with great determination and/or personality will be signed.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Vlach

[XaW]

England broke me again. So I went to a place I was going before, but it I fuddled it up, so here is my new attempt in Malta!

I took over Kirkop United, the team who finished last in the National Amateur League Group C last season, as they failed to win a single game. I'm planning on playing this quite fast since there are so few matches here, so expect frequent updates.

Also, do note that a player was brought in before I took over:

[DazRTaylor]

2 hours ago, XaW said:

England broke me again. So I went to a place I was going before, but it I fuddled it up, so here is my new attempt in Malta!

I took over Kirkop United, the team who finished last in the National Amateur League Group C last season, as they failed to win a single game. I'm planning on playing this quite fast since there are so few matches here, so expect frequent updates.

Also, do note that a player was brought in before I took over:

All the best.  You always beat me to it.  I have downloaded the Maltese files, kits and player faces.  Was going to try Ta'Xibiex or however it is spelled.

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

All the best.  You always beat me to it.  I have downloaded the Maltese files, kits and player faces.  Was going to try Ta'Xibiex or however it is spelled.

Sorry mate! I've had Malta on the back burner for a long time, and I just lost motivation for playing in England, so I loaded it up and was tempted enough to start there! Come join me!

[JLAB]

Atlético CP – Season 3 – 2023/24 Season Preview

As we begin life in the Terceira Liga for the first time with Atlético CP, I know that this will be a massive battle to stay afloat in a division that is really competitive and will make this one of the biggest challenges I've ever faced since I got Siena to Serie A for the first time. I want to survive, but I have no idea what I am going to need to do in order to secure survival for this season. It'll be nice to dream of survival either way.

Still, I was named the manager of the year for the 4th tier last season, so at least I have that to celebrate going forward. I only won the league with a side only expected to finish mid-table after all.

As for my first game in the Terceira Liga? We drew 4-4 after throwing away a 2-goal lead. Twice. This might be a difficult season after all...

 

[DazRTaylor]

43 minutes ago, XaW said:

Sorry mate! I've had Malta on the back burner for a long time, and I just lost motivation for playing in England, so I loaded it up and was tempted enough to start there! Come join me!

I think I will.  

[XaW]

11 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

I think I will.  

The level of football is quite poor, but I have this kid who came through the youth academy last season (ie before I took over) who is storming... He is a very limited player, but at this level being fast, a good finisher and even good first touch is more than enough to score loads! 7 goals in the first 3 matches of the season is quite good!

 

[Proffa]

XaW, are you going to continue the other saves at all? Russia, Norway and England? 

[DazRTaylor]

So onto Malta.  Ta'Xbiex SC finished bottom of their division so here we go.

Club Introduction

Ta'Xbiex SC

The Manager

This is me.

Personal Coaching Data

Season    Reputation           Qualifications     Att   Def   Fit   GkD   GkH   GkS   Tac   Tec   Men   WWY   Ada   Det   PlK   YoK   LoD   MaM   Mot
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start  Minimal   (0.25*)    None                 1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     4     1     1     1     4     1     1     1

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start   Poor                 Poor              Basic                 Basic            Basic              Local   (0.50*)

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Time At Club
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------



Cup Competition Victories
-------------------------

Career Overview

Season     Champions League            Europa League               Europa Conference League             League                             Position     Boost Diesel F. A. Trophy              Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Appearances
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Assists
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Clean Sheets (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

[Vlach]

FC Messina Season Review 2026/27

 

What a magnificent season! We are promoted to Serie B again - but his time via winning the Serie C/C !

 

Most important fact was the good start we had in the early fall - after that it all clicked into place and we kept winning most games until spring, then the hard season took its toll and we started to lose many easy points by drawing - but in the end it was more then enough.

Many of our best young talents were sold - I tried to keep the good intake from 25 and the actual core members of the squad. The extra money helped in convincing the board on improving the youth recruitment - lets hope it helps. Of course the goal will be for next season to survive in the Serie B - this time for real. This time the squad is much younger - hopefully this means theres space to grow for the players during the season and stay up.

 

To round that fantastic season up our U18 won the U19 Division 2 - hopefully a sign of great things to come

Key players:

Francesco Marone - 7.36

A fantastic season of our goalkeeper - one main reason why we won the league. Wanted to leave at beginning of the season, luckily I was stubborn and didnt let him go. He won even the Serie C/C goalkeeper of the year - award

Spoiler

Allessandro LaMonica 22b - 7,14

We got in him again a dominant central defender. his partners varied, but he was stable and crucial back there, with the ocassional assist via long ball.

Spoiler

 

Marco Paris 23b - 6.95

He fulfilled the expectation I had in him last year, and scored 21 goals. Quite streaky although, there are months where he scored nothing. I hope he is able to improve still a bit for the Serie B

Spoiler

Competitions:

Finances:

Spoiler

 

Transfers

Spoiler

Best XI:

Spoiler

Squad:

Spoiler

Records:

Spoiler

 

Summary:

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by Vlach

[XaW]

You ever feel like you are getting FM'ed....? Yeah, this was a bad one! They scored 3 times from a total of 0.36 xG! 

I've been on the other side, but it still hurts when it happens like this!

[craigcwwe]

[XaW]

Kirkop United FC - Season 2021/22 Review

Table | Squad | Transfers* | Finances

* - As I wrote in my intro post the transfer there was before I took over.

A very fun season and we scored LOADS of goals. I used the same tactic as I did with Merthyr, and it works like a charm. Of course, we conceded a lot, but it works, so I'm sticking to it. The first thing I did was offer a lot of new contracts, since the club had loads of player on high wages who didn't really play. So non-contracts where they got payed for playing suited the finances much better and the horrible financial bleeding halted.

In the league we won it with a good margin down to the rest so we went into the championship playoff. There we won both matches to be crowned champions of this wole tier.

In the Amateur Cup we beat Attard, Żabbar SP, Mdina K, Mtarfa, and Għaxaq to win the whole thing.

Youth

A pretty good preview.

Loads of potential and some ability as well.

Benediktas Juska 22d is a pretty good midfielder and should come in handy.

Statistics:

Spoiler

No new countries this season either.

Record Breakers:

Most goals in a season: Micwen Al Hamo - 34
Most league goals in a season: Micwen Al Hamo - 29
Most goals in a match: Micwen Al Hamo - 4
Most league goals in a match: Micwen Al Hamo - 4
Most assists in a season: Carl Caruana - 18
Most clean sheets in a season: David Mifsud - 6
Most player of the match awards: Micwen Al Hamo - 9
Worst discipline: Lawrence Grima - 12 yellow, 0 red
Most league goals overall: Carl Caruana - 32
Youngest player: Joe Penza 22n - 16 years, 77 days
Youngest goalscorer: Micwen Al Hamo - 16 years, 116 days
Fastest goal: Danny Claridge - 1 minute, 47 seconds

Trophy cabinet:

National Amateur League Group C - 2021/22
National Amateur League - 2021/22
Amateur Cup - 2021/22

[Deicide]

https://gyazo.com/88cf4f820800585e767ad035377a88c7

 

6 seasons in and he is by far the best prospect to come out of our youth system so far. Anyone else think he could do a job as a midfielder?

I doubt I'll will be able to keep him for for than a couple of seasons as a couple of Championship clubs are already showing interest. How much do you guys think I can get from him in a season or so?

[kkfootball]

Entering the management gig, I saw there were a few regens already at the club who were decent or had the potential to be decent. One of these was Koo Keun-Ho of Busan. He has a teammate who is also from Busan, but not quite as far along in his development. They are both strikers. Since all my regens were 16 I couldn't sign them to real contracts, despite my wanting to. As Koo Keun-Ho is arguably my best striker, I played him. He did so well, however, that upon turning 17 and getting his non-contract pre-contract a bunch of teams were coming in for him. I wanted to nip this in the bud when he turned 17 by offering him a contract but he refused to speak as he had jut signed a new one. Here's to hoping he signs it. 

In other news, Carl Baker, our 39 year old midfielder and captain is continuing his development it seems 

 

In the league we are doing okay. We are not in danger of relegation and are even to or are outplaying most sides. I am happy we have this stability to go forward and am not sure whether relegation is always a good thing, though I think we could stay up in the National League as well. 

As for facilities, the board is not budging on any improvements to junior coaching, facilities, or recruitment, despite us being almost 200k in the black and consistently turning a profit month after month. Perhaps it would've been prudent to have picked a club with a club philosophy that emphasized youth development as the board would be more willing to invest. Nevertheless. I expect with a good season and a good financial forecast coming, they will relent eventually. 

Will post season update tomorrow hopefully. Just had to share these two developments before the screenshots passed.

[libbyshuss]

Mirassol FC - Brazil

Season 8 - 2029

Serie A - 8th

Season Summary

As always the season starts with the Sao Paulo state championship and, seemingly as always, we came 5th in the league stage and went out in the quarter finals to Sao Paulo. It is a nice pre-season tournament really but it would be nice to get further than the quarters one day.

The league proper started brilliantly for us. 4 victories and a draw in our first 6 games put us top of the table. We then got a nosebleed and started dropping down but still managed to get enough results here and there to keep us out of trouble. We ended up 8th, which is great for us, witha promise of Copa SudaAmerica football next season. Do the top 8 qualify for continental football in Brazil? That sounds mad!

The cups in Brazil are annoying as they never set aside any time for them so the matched end up crammed in anywhere they can. So getting through to the fifth round means a game on a thursday with league games on the Tuesday and Saturday. I played mainly reserves and we went out.

This season is momentous in being the first season where I started a game with only youth pulls for the first time! We lost it to a 95th minute goal but the next match saw us beat Corinthians 4-2

 

Players

Richard 25A - He's still our best prospect but I'm starting to think his future will be as a winger rather than a striker, but sadly there's nobody in the dev centre looks good enough to replace him. So he stays up front and he scores - 33 in 52 this season. Valued at 4m he's got a relatively small release clause at 12m. Might need to sort that.

Jeferson 26A - given a chance at right back he excelled and has become a star player for us. I play him attacking wing back, mainly because he's brazilian and all brazilian full backs should be attacking wing backs!

Jef 25E - Just before the season started our first choice centre back had his release clause triggered and went to Vasco de Gama for 4.4m. Little upsetting as he was starting to look real quality, but it did mean I gave players like Jef their chance. He was the pick of the bunch and looks like he could become a good first teamer in years to come

 

Youth

So, what does a youth intake with expectional youth recruitment look like in Brazil? Like this!

A nice promising preview, with the 5th golden generation in a row!

i nearly fell off my chari with excitement when the intake came in. The best prospect is called Nirvana!!! I imagine it's because he turns up to training every day like this

He looks pretty good to be fair as well. Gonna train him as a CM and hope he makes it, cos I'd love a middy called Nirvana. Just need another one called Sonic Youth to partner him now!

 

Youth - Where are they now?

I'm still not bored of this new regular feature. What did the 2023 youth intake look like? Like this!

So how did they do?

Luan 23A - First choice keeper, now valued at 2m. Fair to say he made it!

Elverton Fabrizio 23B - Perpetual sub, pretty handy to be honest. He starts the odd game here or there but never impresses enough to get a run. CA is now 2 star, PA 3 star. at 21, he's not gonna make it

Jaoa Luis - Unambitious personality, and he's happy with his place on the subs bench. Don't think he ever made the first team. He's really not very good, i noly kep him cos you need a big squad in Brazil. He's out of contract now - i don't care if he signs a new one or not.

Eliomar - A really nice surprise. Thrived at left back when thrown in, now played 195 league games for us and looks pretty good. Might not last his whole career but a really good option and a really good youth pull.

The rest are nobodies. So 2 of class of 2023 made it, which isn't bad to be honest!

Finances and Upgrades

Loadsamoney and loads of upgrades. The youth and training facilities both had an upgrade and we've got one of the best youth set-ups in Brazil now. I just need to work on getting the club reputation up so the best come to us rather than Santos. 28m in the bank now, we'll be fine!

 

 

 

[Pukey]

Does anyone know anything about getting a reserve team? I've only got under 18s, been asking board to get an under 23s team but they just keep saying it's not the right time. We're in the PL, finances are fine, I've asked all throughout the season, not really sure when the right time will be?

[XaW]

1 minute ago, Pukey said:

Does anyone know anything about getting a reserve team? I've only got under 18s, been asking board to get an under 23s team but they just keep saying it's not the right time. We're in the PL, finances are fine, I've asked all throughout the season, not really sure when the right time will be?

I got one as soon as the draw for the EFL Trophy (Johnstone's Paint Trophy) happened in my last one. Don't quite remember when it happens. If you don't, it could be down to your youth level being too low. Should get it to level 1 asap for youth development reasons.

[Pukey]

6 minutes ago, XaW said:

I got one as soon as the draw for the EFL Trophy (Johnstone's Paint Trophy) happened in my last one. Don't quite remember when it happens. If you don't, it could be down to your youth level being too low. Should get it to level 1 asap for youth development reasons.

Thank you. Only just got it to level 1 so it might happen next season in that case I suppose, will see how it goes!

[GIB.Rocks]

Edited June 2, 2021 by GIB.Rocks

[GIB.Rocks]

Both excited and worried by the Youth Intake. I think this season might be an ok intake but the pipeline is looking healthier for the next few years, I think.

[kkfootball]

2021/22 Season - Nuneaton

 

So the first season with Nuneaton is done. I wrote the previous update after a poor run of form where we consistently played well, but didn't get the results we had wanted. After the update we were able to turn those losses into draws and draws into wins. I had written off playoffs with about 14 games remaining but after the good run we found ourselves three points off with 6 remaining games. After a great win and all of our rivals losing their games we found ourselves in 6th, a position we managed to hold until the end of the season. 

Before we get to what happened in the playoffs, here was our intake. It was considered a golden generation and there are a few players I like, namely Molloy, Gater, Higgins, and Ashworth. I gave Molloy and Ashworth a game to introduce them to the side. The strategy for picking the HoYD was to find someone with decent attributes and a great personality. It just so happened that the one model professional we found was a decent HoYD. 

 

Ashworth looks the type of player who can replace our 39 year old captain and iron man Baker, who has been great for us this season, even developing his attributes. He has chosen to retire, however, and Ashworth is a good passer and leader already at 16.

Here's Baker being an absolute iron man playing 54 matches without so much as picking up a knock:

Despite this level of play, usage, and the fact his stats increased marginally, he chose to retire, despite my protestations. I may bring him on as a youth coach due to his having the resolute personality.

 

A notable thing is that our best striker is a youth product, presumably from last year's intake from Busan, South Korea. He had been approached by Ebbsfleet so I gave him a contract that was higher than I wanted, just to be safe.

Here are his season performances:

 

Back to the playoffs. We were matched against Alfreton away for the round. Alfreton was a team we handled well this season so I was confident going into it. We won 6-2 with Baker scoring a hat trick of penalties. 

We then handled Hereford in the semis in a close match.

In the final we faced Blyth who were 7th in the league going into the playoffs. The game was tied 1-1 in the 70th minute, but Koo Keun-Ho came on as a sub and scored the goal to send us up. The man is adding to his legacy early.

 

There's no doubt (and no surprise) that we are severely outclassed with regard to the talent of our players. Every time we get signing recommendations they are 4 stars or higher, although we have no scouts so I can't be confident about that. 

In any event, we are going up and the finances are looking healthy. We had about 100k in profit and upgraded our junior coaching to adequate and recruitment to fairly basic.

 

Here's proof we didn't make any signings (the sales were from before I joined the club)

 

Here's the league table:

 

Next season I'm hoping we can avoid the relegation zone so well that we can afford to play more of the fringe youth players in the second half of the season.

 

Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation            Qualifications       Att   Def   Fit   GkD   GkH   GkS   Tac   Tec   Men   WWY   Ada   Det   PlK   YoK   LoD   MaM   Mot
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start   Minimal   (0.25*)     None                   2     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     6     1     1     1     1     1
2021/22    Minimal = (1.25*)     National B             6     6     2     1     1     1     6     6     6     1     1     7     5     5     11    6     6 

Club Facilities

3Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Youth Level  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start   Basic                Basic                  4       Basic                 Basic            Basic              Local      (1.00*)
2021/22    Basic                Basic                  4       Basic                 Adequate         Fairly Basic       Local      (1.00*)

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22      56        27       18       11         110              75                 +35              48.00%

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Time At Club
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22         56        27       18       11         110              75                 +35              48.00%             348 days

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------

Cup Competition Victories
-------------------------

Career Overview

Season     Champions League    Europa League    Europa Conference League             League                             Position     F.A. Cup                    League Cup        Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22           N/a               N/a                    N/a                       Vanarama National League North        6th       Fourth round                     N/a           Won promotion playoff.  Fourth Round of the F. A. Trophy.

Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Appearances
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    Ben Molloy & Matt Ashworth              1

Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    No one                                  0

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Assists
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    No one                                  0

Record Number of Clean Sheets (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    No one                                   0

 

Ticket Sales

Season     Season Tickets/Price                    Average Attendance/Price           
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    166/$358                                    716/$18

 

Player Wages

Season     Highest Paid Player (per annum)            Cumulative Wage
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    Ravi Shamsi - 30k                           $242k

UK/Ireland Club-generated players

 

East Asia Club-generated players

 

Africa Club-generated players

Edited June 2, 2021 by kkfootball
added header

[GIB.Rocks]

Iñaki Morcillo 2a          Oier Merino 2b         David Pérez 2c          Asier Echeverría 2d

[vikeologist]

17 hours ago, XaW said:

I got one as soon as the draw for the EFL Trophy (Johnstone's Paint Trophy) happened in my last one. Don't quite remember when it happens. If you don't, it could be down to your youth level being too low. Should get it to level 1 asap for youth development reasons.

Yes. I was allowed an U23 team in England at the same point as reaching level 1. Didn't actually connect the 2 things actually. 

Still not in the JPT though, (being in the Championship) or any competitive U23 league, so not sure it was worth it at this point. Certainly no point fully staffing it.

[XaW]

 

Kirkop United FC - Season 2022/23 Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Ok, either I'm a tactical genius, or the league here is pretty even. Seeing that I'm using the same tactic I had struggles with in the Merthyr save, I'm unfortunately leaning towards the latter. So we are going into the top tier next season and will compete against the big teams like Birkirkara, Hibernians, Sliema Wanderers, and Valletta! Teams, I've actually heard of! I'm expecting to struggle much more next season, but I think we need to hit Europe before we can go professional though.

In the FA Trophy we beat Xagħra United before we lost to Birkirkara in the 1st round.

Youth

A golden generation, can't complain about that.

A very good intake this time, but an issue is the lack of defenders so I hope that will be better in the future.

Nikolai Aquilina 23a is a beast of a striker at this level, so I threw him straight into the team and he scored on his debut!

Statistics:

Spoiler

So we got in an Armenian fellow this time around. Surprisingly no Italians so far!

Record Breakers:

Most goals in a season: Micwen Al Hamo - 36
Most league goals in a season: Micwen Al Hamo - 34
Most goals in a match: Micwen Al Hamo - 4
Most goals in a league match: Micwen Al Hamo - 4
Most clean sheets in a season: David Mifsud - 10
Worst discipline: Lawrence Grima - 14 yellow, 1 red
Most league goals overall: Micwen Al Hamo - 63
Youngest player: Joseph Cipriott 23d - 15 years, 251 days
Youngest goalscorer: Joseph Cipriott 23d - 15 years, 251 days
Oldest goalscorer: Danny Claridge - 30 years, 332 days
Fastest goal: Keith Attard - 1 minute, 23 seconds

Trophy cabinet:

Bank of Valletta Challenge League - 2022/23
National Amateur League Group C - 2021/22
National Amateur League - 2021/22
Amateur Cup - 2021/22

[XaW]

First poached player here in Malta... and to a big team as well! The name sounds more Swedish than Maltese if you ask me though.

[Vlach]

FC Messina - Youth Intakte 2028

 

Well, neither really good nor really bad. Some talents in there, but nothing exceptionel - same goes for the personalities. Therefor business as usual: sign only those which might become useful.

 

[GIB.Rocks]

[XaW]

  

Kirkop United FC - Season 2023/24 Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So, the leagues here in Malta are quite even, since we were competitive here already. Also, one thing I noticed is that many clubs here could also be Tolkienesque orc names. Don't tell me you couldn't picture a couple of orcs shouting "Zebbug", "Balzan", "Hamrun", or "Gzira" and growling! Just a fun observation I thought I'd share.

Eventually, we finished in a very decent 4th place, and I'm very happy about that. With a few right additions I think we could fight for the top spot in a few years.

In the FA Trophy we beat San Ġwann and Valletta before we lost to Gudja United in the quarter final.

Youth

A great defender is much welcome, and the rest are not bad either!

Mark Grima 24d, meet the first team, you'll be starting from now on.

Statistics:

Spoiler

Norway and Australia off the list now.

Record Breakers:

Most goals in a match: Nikolai Aquilina 23a - 4
Most goals in a league match: Nikolai Aquilina 23a - 4

Trophy cabinet:

Bank of Valletta Challenge League - 2022/23
National Amateur League Group C - 2021/22
National Amateur League - 2021/22
Amateur Cup - 2021/22

[JAwtunes]

Widzew Lodz (FM20)

Season 18 (2037-38) - Review

Domestic: We enjoyed another successful league campaign, helped by Jaga's form falling off a cliff in the last few games of the season.  We lost out in the second round of the cup.

Spoiler

League

Cup

Europe: What a season.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Our UCL record:

Past Winners:

Spoiler

Our CL final winning team:

GK - Pieczara (14 career league appearances)

DR - Witek (123 career league appearances, 8 goals)

DL - Janicki (115 career league appearances, 9 goals)

DC - Bak (164 career league appearances,23 goals)

DC - Skiba (305 career league appearances, 81 goals)

CM - Bury (308 career league appearances, 48 goals)

CM - Swedrowski (72 career league appearances, 20 goals)

MR - Zawodzinski (255 career league appearances, 75 goals)

ML (captain and managers favourite) - Cyran (421 career league appearances, 159 goals)

AMC - Lazarevski (100 career league appearances, 32 goals)

ST - Budnik (117 career league appearances, 73 goals)

Sub (ST) - Wnuk (63 career league appearances, 22 goals)

Sub (MC) - Bartloszewski (209 career league appearances, 32 goals)

Sub (AMC) - Wodecki (35 career league appearances, 10 goals)

Special mention for 2 players who were injured for the final:

Slezak (190 career league appearances, 36 goals) and Flaszka (316 career league appearances)

 

Other bits:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[Vlach]

FC Messina - Season Review 2027/28

A really good season! we stayed clear most of the time of any relegation troubles, had even at the end of the season the chance to let some real young players get some Serie B exprience.

Financially i see no light at the end of the tunnel. I am constantly below the wage budget, but even with selling some players i would not be able to solve this mess -  i would have to sell half the total squad. Worrisome.

For next. season i hope to stay in the Serie B, and will try to sell some players in order to keep finances somewhat at bay. I am thinking especailly about Santo Manuli 25c - he is at age of 18 already my best player after one season, and several Seria A clubs are interested in him. 

 

Key playerrs

Santo Manuli 25c - 6.93

Left-Back, better then his rating suggests. Quickly became as defender and even in offense a very important player for us.

Spoiler

Francesco Marone - 7.08 

Without him in goal we wouldnt be in serie B, and probably wouldnt have stayed there. Has been even named Serie B keeper of the year.

Spoiler

 

Alessandro La Monica 22L - 6.95

The backbone of or defense and our build-up from behind.

Spoiler

 

Competitions:

Spoiler

 

Finances:

Spoiler

Transfers

Spoiler

Best XI:

 

Squad:

Spoiler

 

Records:

Spoiler

 

Summary:

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Vlach

[XaW]

Congrats @JAwtunes! 

[Proffa]

Congratulations!

Interesting addiction rating: "what are humans". 

[GIB.Rocks]

Wow, great job JAwtunes!!! Some real impressive work there 

[GIB.Rocks]

  Xabier Olabe 3a          Oier Sanz 3b          Mathis Seguín 3c          Néstor Tastet 3d

[hrmantovani]

 

Any tips on how to follow specific stories here? I'm thinking about doing this challenge for the first time so I'll need some tips/inspiration and these stories are the best place to find them. There are lots of good ones here, I wish I could pick one and follow it like it had its own thread

Edited June 4, 2021 by hrmantovani

[Winski]

Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur (IR)
End of season 2022
League Table | Competition Overview | Finances | Transfers | Youth Intake | Club Overview

Well, I am back at my old Icelandic love ÍR. Let's see how far I can take them this time. The seasons go very fast on Iceland, so that's a good thing. The first season went okay. We finished 6th, so for a first season it's not that bad. Hopefully next season will be better. At least we've got some more options with the youngsters from our first intake.

We also managed to upgrade some facilities:

 

Youth Intake 2022
We hired this HoYD:

And he gave me this youth intake:


These are the best prospects:

Benediktsson 22a, Petkovic22b and Baldvinsson 22f looks like really good talents, they will go straight into our first team squad. I'm also happy with Valdimarsson 22e because we're lacking defenders, so he will also get his chances next season.

 

 

[libbyshuss]

Mirassol FC - Brazil

Season 9 - 2030

League Finish: 8th

Season Summary

What a season for us - we won our first trophy!

Copa Sudamericana - we have to start here! The Sudamericana is South America's version of the Europa League which we qualified for at the end of last season. The group stages were fun as we were so much stronger than the teams with us and qualifying was easy. The first real challenge for us was Boca Juniors in the quarter finals. I expected us to come undone but we put in our best performance of the season to win the second leg 4-2 after stealing the first leg. The semi and final were against fellow mid-table Brazilian teams who I knew we had the beating of. Still, it was hugely exciting when we finally did it in the final. We won a continental competition, and with it qualification for next seasons Copa Libertadores!!

   

Look how happy David Mota is celebrating his winning goal with Abdila, Zaguinho and Richard!!

The League - Hugely frustrating. We started the season fantastically well, bouyed by our form in the cups and we found ourselves third after the first 15 games or so and mounting an unlikely title challenge. As soon as September hit though our form fell off a cliff. Like, really plummetted. From 14 games unbeaten to ten defeats out of the next 14 bad. It was hugely depressing. We rallied after the Cup win but finished with form of WLDWLDWLD which kinda summed up the season as a whole.

Copa de Brasilia - Our first proper cup run, and testament to our growing strnegth in depth as it really stretched our squad thin. We got all the way to the Semis where Santos did us over, dammit.

 

Players

David Mota 25D - we have a new hero! He broke through as a midfielder a season or so ago but  is also a natural up front. Richard 25A was having a poor season so I shoved him onto the wing and put Mota up front and we were a different team. His value flew up to 5.35m as well, which is nice. He had a few injuries though, which coincided with our poor runs of form. There may be a correlation there.

 

Youth

So here was this years youth preview. Interestingly a load of green text but no promise of a golden generation

And here was the intake. Which was ok, I'm usually happy with two potential first-teamers. I do like a driven personality.

 

Youth - Where are They Now?

Time to look back at the 2024 youth intake and see how they did.

Zaguinho 24A - Never really impressed until this last season where he made the left wing position his own. out in some really good displays and is now valued at 3.9m with 3.5 CA and 4.5 PA. Nice one Zaguinho, you got there in the end!

Naldo 24B - 3* CA and 4.5 PA still but not quite made the break through yet. He can play centre back and right back which makes a really useful squad player, meaning that as we had over 70 gaems last season he played 31 games last season. Hopefully he'll push on but if not he's a handy lad to have around

Olivia 24E  - oh unambitious Olivio, released without ever playing a game you useless twit.

Luciano Emilio 24C - Somehow still at the club but his PA is now 2.5*. had a season on loan somewhere, was rubbish. probably get released sooner or later

Regis Kalil Abdala 24D - Was 3* PA in the intake but is proof of how important personality is. PA is now 4* and he's a first choice, playing wither at centre back or centre midfield. He's great, i love him, even though his personality slipped to fairly proffessional. Bad influences in the squad.

 

Finances and Upgrades

We had to sell jeferson 26A. Really annoying. SOme rubbish team like Gremio or whoever triggered his domestic release clause. He wasn'tthat interested, but Man City, Liverpool, Man United were all interested so I offered him out. They all went with 1.5m and 50% sell on. I had 40m in the bank so I gambled he'd reject the domestic offer. He didn't. dammit.

Still, we got loadsamoney and now our youth facilities are state of the art. Jurassic Park!

 

Career

 

 

 

[JLAB]

Congrats @JAwtunes

[Winski]

 

Look at my central defender, I should make him captain, right??

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by Winski

[XaW]

   

Kirkop United FC - Season 2024/25 Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

A bit of a step back this season, and we finished just outside the European spots. For some reason we conceded a lot more goals this season, and I don't quite know why. I think we got very unlucky though, as we conceded 64 goals, but looking at xG against we should have conceded 35.17! So we conceded almost double what we should! Hopefully, that will normalise next season and we can fight back up into the European spots again. We need money since the club was in financial shambles before I took over. At least I've halved the debt so far, so we are on the right track at the very least.

In the FA Trophy we beat Mtarfa before we lost to Ħamrun Spartans in the 2nd round.

We had our first effort in Europe this season. In the European Conference League we lost to KuPS of Finland in the 1st round.

Youth

This was a very good intake, indeed. Lots of good talents here.

Alexander Vella 25c is another good defender to be thrown into the main squad.

Statistics:

Spoiler

Mostly local lads, but we got Scotland added.

Record Breakers:

Most goals in a match: Benjamin Lorentzen 22m - 4
Most goals in a league match: Benjamin Lorentzen 22m - 4
Most player of the match awards: Benjamin Lorentzen 22m - 9
Fastest goal: Benjamin Lorentzen 22m - 1 minute, 11 seconds

Trophy cabinet:

Bank of Valletta Challenge League - 2022/23
National Amateur League Group C - 2021/22
National Amateur League - 2021/22
Amateur Cup - 2021/22

[vikeologist]

@libbyshussFirst time I've seen your review of an intake. I do mine after 4 years. Originally, in a previous save I think, it was 3, but that's not enough time. I personally find 4 years the sweet spot, because it can take all of that time for players to blossom, and the review is really useful for me to make decisions. I often start notice players and start giving them a chance because of the review. Not saying 6 years is a bad idea. As i say, it can be after 4 years that they start to blossom.

[libbyshuss]

46 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

@libbyshussFirst time I've seen your review of an intake. I do mine after 4 years. Originally, in a previous save I think, it was 3, but that's not enough time. I personally find 4 years the sweet spot, because it can take all of that time for players to blossom, and the review is really useful for me to make decisions. I often start notice players and start giving them a chance because of the review. Not saying 6 years is a bad idea. As i say, it can be after 4 years that they start to blossom.

yeah , i think my reasoning behind 6 years is if they haven't blossomed by then, they're really not going to. 

It is quite an interesting exercise to do, to go back and see who made it and who didn't and possible reasons why

[craigcwwe]

Season 1 - 2021/22

 

Youth Intake:

\

Not a bad first intake I don't think. Three or four players have started well in my u18s particularly Jan Kotwica (ST) who bagged 10 goals in just 8 youth games after arriving at the club. Not a bad start for him considering he's been tagged with the 'F' label upon first inspection. 

First upgrade to the facilities! This wasn't even at my request. I'd have rather the 600k be spent elsewhere quite frankly but there we go. I did ask for an upgrade to the youth facilities about halfway through the campaign but it was turned down due to the club's financial position yet mere months later we've suddenly found over half a million. Go figure?!  It's certainly not come from any prize money throughout the season as we didn't make anywhere near that amount. 

End of season thoughts:

Well a fifth place finish before a gutting play off semi final loss in the 93rd minute made for a quite unbelievable season seeing as we're a newly promoted side and predicted to finish 3rd from bottom. We've got the lowest salary per annum in the entire league and we're only spending just over half our total allowed wage budget per week, just 9.7k so we definitely punched well above our weight in the league. There was only one league game all season that we were never in the game so that was quite remarkable too. Definitely was not expecting to be in and around the POs come the end of the season. It was only down the stretch, the last half a dozen games or so that we actually got into the PO positions but they were always within sight throughout the season.

The FA Cup 3rd round defeat to a lower league side was a bad 'un. Got the pre match team talk wrong and it backfired big time. Lesson learnt there but we did exceed board expectations ultimately. 

My personal player of the season would have to be my GK, Peksa. Only 19yo. Been first choice between the sticks all season. 10 clean sheets in 35 games and he's a bit of a penalty saving expert. He made 5 penalty saves from 7 faced in the league and he also saved 3/6 in the FA Cup 2nd round. 

Rafał Maciekewski finishes the season as our top goalscorer with 15 in 22 games. All came in the league. Second top scorer in the division this season. He actually started the season as backup in the position but it didn't take him long to dislodge the first choice. 

 

Notes:

The Ektrakalasa has moved up three positions in the UEFA league rankings to 32nd whilst the Fortuna 1 Liga (second tier) has moved up 8 places to 62nd!

2.5* and 2* reputations respectively now. 

In terms of how the Polish clubs fared in Europe this season Lech Poznan were knocked out of the Europa League at the 2nd KO round. Jagiellonia were KO'd of the Europa Conference League at the 2nd qualifying round and Legia Warsaw fell at the 4th qualifying round in the Europa Conference League.

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by craigcwwe

[Proffa]

3 hours ago, vikeologist said:

@libbyshussFirst time I've seen your review of an intake. I do mine after 4 years. Originally, in a previous save I think, it was 3, but that's not enough time. I personally find 4 years the sweet spot, because it can take all of that time for players to blossom, and the review is really useful for me to make decisions. I often start notice players and start giving them a chance because of the review. Not saying 6 years is a bad idea. As i say, it can be after 4 years that they start to blossom.

I noticed that it's a lot easier for a newgen to make it in the lower leagues where they might have an impact immediately. Now that I've been in Premier League for a few seasons, chances of getting a player who instantly goes to the first team are quite slim, even with state of the art facilities, best coaching and recruitment.

[vikeologist]

31 minutes ago, Proffa said:

I noticed that it's a lot easier for a newgen to make it in the lower leagues where they might have an impact immediately. Now that I've been in Premier League for a few seasons, chances of getting a player who instantly goes to the first team are quite slim, even with state of the art facilities, best coaching and recruitment.

 

If they don't play first team football at all for more than 4 years, then i think that might be a problem, but I have had players who have been thrown straight into the first team and it doesn't necessarily pay off.

As an exercise, let's look at my best few players and how early they became first XI mainstays.

Ciaran McGlynn 22d - 3rd season, although has always been used rotationally because he's in the same position as someone who is the swizzle whatever my coaches think.

Dave Jackson 21b - 3rd season

Pete Larkin 18d - 2nd season

Ross Gethins 22c - 2nd season

James Jennings 21g 2nd season

Alex Taylor 21e - 3rd season

Eden White 21a - 1st season

(Note by 2nd season, I mean the 2nd full season after their appearance, so if they appear March 2030, their 2nd season is 31/32)

So, I would suggest that nobody is likely to become your top player if they stay in the reserves for 4 years, (although goalkeepers may be the exception to this rule). Even so, my new first team goalie has obtained a first team place in his 5th season, and I would suggest that his lack of opportunities has definitely hampered his progress. He did however improve enough to make it feasible to sell my (very much better, but mercenary and exorbitantly paid despite not being really all that) previous starer goalie.

As you can tell from the letters, I have had players who, theoretically at least, had a lot more potential than these guys, but just didn't gt the chances, although I can think of a few that did get chances and were just rubbish. 

No top prospect from my last 8 intakes (and nobody at all from my last 7 intakes) is amongst my top 7 players, (although to be fair, the players nominally 8th and 9th best are 24a and 26a). I have complained about my last 7 or 8 intakes, and I WAS RIGHT!

For those a fair way into your save, I'd be interested if all your top players became permanent starters within the first 3 years.

Edited June 5, 2021 by vikeologist

[libbyshuss]

Brazil - Mirassol FC

Season 10 - 2031

Serie A - finish 12th 

 

Season Summary

In all, an appalling season for us after two really encouraging seasons.

State Championship - yep, we finished 6th and went out in the QF. like we do every season

League - we sucked hard in the league this year. We won 1 game in the first 14, losing 10, and looked to be set for a proper relegation battle. BUt then we went on an 8 game unbeaten run, including winning 5 in a row, that took us out of trouble. We managed to stay out of trouble but were still generally awful, with our poor season summed up by losing the final four games, including the final game agaisnt already relegated Juventude. We really sucked. 

Copa Libertadores - Weirdly, as we sucked in the league we were pretty good in the Libertadores, getting all the way to the quarter finals. There we met Flamengo, who beat us 5-4 in the first leg  despite us dominating and playing really well. They taught us a lesson in the second leg but we did really well in the Libertadores, showing me that we can compete at that level

Cup - Cos we were in the libertadores we joined in the fifth round. And promptly lost. D'oh.

 

Players

Zaguinho 24A - Proper quality this season. Our only real player as both Richard and David Mota disappointed. 16 goals and 14 assists is a pretty good return from left wing but I could do with more next season! Valued at 4.5m now, he has definitely finally made it!

The rest were rubbish and I'm sulking with them all

 

Youth

So, the first youth intake with all my facilities maxed out. It's gotta be a good one, right? Well.....

Lots of nice green writing but no golden generation again. ah well, no matter as long as i get some good four star potentials....

Well, two four star potentials aren't too bad. I'm not sure if they'll make it, but having a Korean is pretty exciting. Now I have 3 nationalities playing for us! Ricardo Jesus is intriguing as he has 20 determination and a determined personality. Let's see......

Youth - Where are they now?

It's time for the 2025 intake now, by far my best ever youth intake ever. So here is the original intake, which made me fall off my chair with excitement.

Erico - He made it into the first team at 19, played all the season, was amazing and then had his domestic release fee triggered. 4.4m to America, who are rubbish. He's still there, still playing, but not that well and not that much

David Mota - Why did I make him D? He's clearly an A! I am a fool. Look how good he is now! 6.5m value, my only issue is he a better midfielder or striker? I'm leaning towards midfield to be honest...

Jef 25 E - Stepped in when Erico left, is now our first choice centre back

Richard 25A - Moved over to the right wing, still performing but his lst two seasons have been fairly poor compared to his teenage years. Hopefully there's still more to come.

Arminio 25 - Reserve keeper, would be first choice but for Luan 23A

Ricardo Thedora 25K - Another example of how important personality is. Only 3 star potential but proffessional personality. He came in when Jeferson 26A got sold out from under me and performed really well. He can also play CB as well and has done well there when called on. Now a first team regular with 4 star PA

Juan Borghetti, Jose Luis - Really thought they'd make it at 18/19 as they played a few games and did well. But now they're 22 they are miles off the first team and will probably be moved on or stay as sub options. Shame, but you can't win them all

Jo - whatever happened to him? no idea, he got nowhere close to the first team

Vinicius and Tanaka - Been on the subs bench, amde a handful of appearances, still on the subs bench, unlikely to get anywhere near first choices and more likely to leave 

 

Finances and Improvements

46m in the bank and all facilities maxed out. Which is nice

Career