The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[VooDooYouDo]

I think this is the first time sharing my FM career (which started with FM09?).  I'm a few seasons in (2024 and in the 2nd League) and haven't posted anything yet, so I'll start with a S1 recap.

 

I've been giving this challenge a go in what has been, so far, easy-mode with Belenenses.  I was debating starting this challenge officially since I like to have Moldova as my primary or secondary nationality after having lived there for 3 years and falling in love with the country (it's never once gotten me a regen to speak of though), but here we go without my beloved.

My manager

 

There was a transfer that I couldn't cancel, a youth prospect that sat in the u19:

 

First year youth intake assessment

 

The intake:

Why yes, holy crap.  He's a short boi who makes up for it just about everywhere else.

 

The finale

We finished 2nd, and by some miracle of the Portuguese 4th tier we made the promotion playoffs (was fully expecting a 2nd season in the 4th tier).  In the 2nd round we came up against the #1 team in our league, who we drew both times in the league, and lost to them in the first leg! In the 2nd leg we advanced on penalties, earning promotion and then had no issue winning the championship. 1 of our 2 losses came to Limianos, who I aaaalmost ended up choosing instead of Bele due to loving their kit (still kind of regret not, tbh), so I wasn't too mad that they beat us.

 

Won manager of the year, as if it was in doubt

 

[XaW]

Had forgotten about the joy.... also no one available in staff search...

*Ring ring*

Me: For the last time, being Head of Youth Development in Skandinavia does not mean you are the head of Scandinavia... Yes, I know the name is similar.... So, do you still what the *click*.... hello? *sigh*

----

That's how I envision it anyway. Oh, and the off season is LONG here. I've been in charge for 5 months and I've played 3 games in the league cup (knocked out) and I have about a month until the season starts. So things will go fast as soon as I get things rolling. Maybe I'll add auto-continue during the off season...

[OlivierL]

17 minutes ago, XaW said:

Had forgotten about the joy.... also no one available in staff search...

*Ring ring*

Me: For the last time, being Head of Youth Development in Skandinavia does not mean you are the head of Scandinavia... Yes, I know the name is similar.... So, do you still what the *click*.... hello? *sigh*

----

That's how I envision it anyway. Oh, and the off season is LONG here. I've been in charge for 5 months and I've played 3 games in the league cup (knocked out) and I have about a month until the season starts. So things will go fast as soon as I get things rolling. Maybe I'll add auto-continue during the off season...

Yes this was the big issue for me with Njardvik.. 4/5 months not playing one game.. friendlies only available against teams from.. Iceland.. and no money coming in till u get into Europa (logic but extremly hard if u got good facilities/jun.coaching etc).

[XaW]

7 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Yes this was the big issue for me with Njardvik.. 4/5 months not playing one game.. friendlies only available against teams from.. Iceland.. and no money coming in till u get into Europa (logic but extremly hard if u got good facilities/jun.coaching etc).

Yeah, I knew what I was getting myself into when I chose it, and I don't really mind pressing continue for a few months! 

[Braumiller]

2 hours ago, hubwub said:

Would people like to know what the possible outcomes are for certain personalities with the use of mentoring groups?

Never hurts to learn new things  

[Sanno11]

Nuneaton Borough 2025/26 Season review

Competitions

Vanarama National League North- 20th position - League table

FA Cup - lost in 4th qualifying round

FA Trophy - lost in 3rd qualifying round

Another season in the bag, another frustrating slog. We again tried a few different set ups to try and tease out some improvements. The 20th place finish demonstrates this was not successful. 

The Vanarama North was a goal fest this year, with 3 players scoring over 40 league goals, and 10 hitting over 30. My own dynamic duo Arrowsmith and Ransome, combined for 71 goals between them. Which for a team in 20th is kind of silly. 

We witnessed so many extreme score lines that I longed for a simple 1-0. 

We're so vulnerable to pace, and that seems to be what a lot of the better teams possess. 

I feel a bit fed up with my time I Nuneaton, however I want to give myself one more year to make some progress. I am setting a strict target of a mid-table finish or better, otherwise I'll probably part ways and look north to Scandinavia. 

Playing squad

As I highlighted above, my pair of strikers had a great season. Richie Ransome in particular, scoring 28 and assisting 16. He is a real threat at this level. 

My constant disappointment is with Spencer Molyneux. He has developed into arguably my best player on paper, but an average rating for the season of 6.36 is pretty damming. 

We have just three original players left, two of which regularly start as our centre back partnership. I am dreaming of a centre back to come through the intake with great pace, we are in desperate need. 

Youth Intake

Hard to be too enthusiastic about this bunch, I've tagged the best in terms of potential, and then on personality. 

Josh Cooper (26a) An decent looking attacking midfielder, who can play on the left, centrally or right.

Finances, Facilities and Transfers

Another board take over threatened to end my tenure, but they decided to keep me. The new board organised two transfers, but I was able to cancel them. I also got my Continental C badge
 

[Constantine]

Jedinstvo Ub

2022/23

Well, that was bloody exhausting...

Progress has been made. Finished one position up comparing to last season. Scored ******** of goals more. Conceded a lot more too.

World Cup screwed us over big time. Schedule following it has been one freaking nightmare, game every three days which is fine when you have options on the bench. Which we absolutely don't. We were really threatened by a prospect of relegation as we went on a seven game losing run. It's not a coincidence our form improved massively very late in the season when we had game a week and we could field our best XI.

Cup run was nonexistent. Tripped over first obstacle.

Offloaded few unhappy players, just to relax our wage budget and balance a little as looking at our finances was migraine inducing.

And then came Vojvodina. Slavisa Jokanovic went after our best defender. I rejected his approaches, my board sadly received an offer they couldn't refuse. All cash, no clauses. Leaving me with my pants down, having to thinker about defense just as season was starting. Silver linings, we got JC and recruitment upgrades and kid from our academy just won league title.

At least i saved Govedarica from same fate, as they allowed me to protest.

And after all that jazz, financially wise, we're in exact same spot we were season ago.

And i'm yet to renew contracts... We're gonna go further down this rabbit hole.

 

Intake was... Fine, i guess...

Six players tagged.

Not really sure why i'm getting all these dmc's when my HoYD has 442 as his favored formation. Yet he's constantly chucking them out.

Nevermind, let's see the kids.

Top prospect, according to Strand. Not sure what he saw there. He's not terrible but his attribute spread is so bloody uneven.

 

Bit on a slow side but if he work on his quickness, Milos could become decent BBM.

 

My personal favorite of the bunch. Needs some work but i can see him getting into rotation sometime during next season.

 

Top performers: Svetislav Dzamic 21d, Luka Vasovic, Ademin Hadzic

Finest younglings: Zvonko Brkic 22a, Stevan Vuckovic 21c, Mirko Damjanovic 22e

 

 

[Cheez3y]

My Royal Virton save will be paused.

1.) I miss the enjoyment of scouting and finding players.

2.) Be able to buy, develop and sell players.

3.) Through the early bug of losing players, Im down to 9000 players in the Database.

 

Good luck to you guys for your saves.

[thomas_e]

Sacachispas FC 

Season Summary 2024 - 2025

A varied season that ended on a high note

Note: the Copa Libertadores and the Argentinian domestic cup does not correlate with the league calendar, so the save summary box at the end is a bit off.

Our first two games of the season was the knock out stages of the Copa Libertadores. We faced Brazilian side Santos after finishing 2nd in the group stage. We were far from favorites, but considering that the AI has no clue how to pull off a good pre-season we faced a team lacking in match fitness. We drew 3-3 at home 1-1 away, getting knocked out on the away goal rule. Fair enough, as Santos is a far better team than us! 

Last season we almost pulled of a miracle, finishing just one point shy of the league title. This season was a step back in that regard and only by winning our last game saw us qualifying for the Copa Libertadores. We started the season well, but hit a dreafdul run of form after the winter break, including a period of 12 games with only 1 win! 

A massively important 4-2 win over Boca followed and this result seemed to put some energy back into the team. We followed the Boca win with three consecutive 1-0 wins to see us finish 4th place. We finished on 70 points, only 8 points less than last year, and that was with 21 teams in the league, but the competition is getting stronger.

Even though we struggled in the league we impressed big in the Copa Libertadores. We won all our six games in the group stage against Chapecoense (Brazil), Universitario de Deportes (Peru) and Nacional (Paraguay). In the first knock out stage we will face Cerro Porteno from Paraguay and I think we have a good chance to go through. That's the first games after pre-season. 

Our two best players at the start of the save, Emanuel Romero and Adrian Martinez are now both 33 and not the players they once were! Gabriel Dezotti, by far our best player today is being chased by Chelsea and if they buy him in the next transfer window we have a left full back problem of massive proportions... So even though we have done really well so far on this challenge there is trouble ahead if we start to lose players and don't get more talent in through the intakes. Our finances are terrible, we have not gotten a single upgrade on anything (facilities, personell, recruitment) and we have a squad that is getting one year older each year.... 

Our striker, Moustapha Bissene, keeps impressing. 32 league goals in 36 games! 

We have a terrible GK and we will give our huge 17 year old talent Nicolas Ferreira the chance to earn a starting spot next season. 

 

Season Summary

          

 

Key Players

          

 

Key Talents

          

 

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by thomas_e

[XaW]

What is it with my saves and consortium takeovers?

Well that went fast.

So I took advantage of that "big" money and asked for improvements, and to my surprise, they approved!

Nice, nice, yes, this will do nicely!

Edited December 8, 2020 by XaW

[keeper#1]

South Shields September 1, 2026 Update

A great start to the season.  I'm bouncing between three formations: the 4-4-2 that I've been running since the beginning, a 4-1-4-1 low block defense-first formation and strike on the counter, and 4-3-3 aggressive pressing formation to use when we are behind to tie the match or push for a draw.

Mostly positive traits picks up.  I took control of mentoring this season.  My assistant wasn't getting the job done.

[hubwub]

This idea has been bugging me for awhile because I wanted to know what would be best for mentoring.

The hidden attributes we really don't see it. We could make inferences with their personality and media handling as to the ranges of the hidden attributes. Yet, the only attribute in regards to player development that we do see is determination. In a sense, we know that we can influence the growth of determination with mentoring groups.

An important thing about mentoring groups is that your mentor has to have a higher determination than your player, a good personality and has significant influence. By significant influence, they have to be to in one of the three hierarchy groups in the game (Team Leader / Highly Influential Player / Influential Player). There will be negative side effects if the mentor is lower in the hierarchy group, this might backfire when you have an aging player who's ability is declining but is a great mentor.

What is needed for a good mentoring group?

• Size: 3 players (2 mentors, 1 youth player). It is possible to have a group of 4 players in a mentoring group as in 2 mentors, 2 youth players. Never go for a big group.
• Your mentors have to be in a hierarchy group that is either in Team Leader / Highly Influential Player / Influential Player.
• Your youth player cannot have a hierarchy group that is higher than the mentors. This has negative side effects which could influence the hidden attributes and possibly change their personality.
• The Determination of your mentors has to be greater than the youth player that is being mentored.
• If it's possible, the mentor should be in the same position area as the youth player. The added benefit if they have the same position area, the mentor can transfer player traits (PPMs) that they have.
• Remember mentoring groups can also influence the hidden attributes to see what their progress is, you should see the monthly mentoring review. It arrives every 1st of the month.

The attributes to keep in mind:

VISIBLE

• Determination
• Leadership (When a player has 20 leadership, they are either Leader or Born Leader personality)

HIDDEN

• Ambition
• Professionalism
• Pressure
• Sportsmanship
• Temperamental
• Loyalty
• Controversy

I consider this portion the fun part because I loaded up the in-game editor in a different save and started playing with personalities and changing determination.

What happens when you have an Ambitious player who with mentoring changes their determination?

An Ambitious player can either change to Driven or Perfectionist.

Ambitious / Evasive  -> Driven / Evasive
Ambitious / Evasive, Unflappable -> Driven / Evasive, Unflappable
Ambitious / Outspoken -> Driven / Outspoken
Ambitious / Outspoken, Confrontational -> Perfectionist / Outspoken, Confrontational
Ambitious / Outspoken, Unflappable -> Driven / Outspoken, Unflappable
Ambitious / Outspoken, Volatile -> Driven / Outspoken, Volatile 
Ambitious / Media-Friendly -> Driven / Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Media-Friendly, Confrontational -> Perfectionist / Media-Friendly, Confrontational
Ambitious / Media-Friendly, Reserved -> Driven / Media-Friendly, Reserved
Ambitious / Unflappable, Media-Friendly -> Driven / Unflappable, Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Volatile, Media-Friendly -> Perfectionist / Volatile, Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Volatile, Media-Friendly -> Driven / Volatile, Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Volatile, Media-Friendly, Confrontational -> Driven / Volatile, Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Volatile, Outspoken, Confrontational -> Driven / Volatile, Outspoken, Confrontational

The personality change happens when Determination for this type of personality crosses the threshold of 18. This is only if Determination changes.

But what if the other hidden attributes change:

What if Leadership changes, it's a visible attribute, along with Determination: you can get a personality change of Leader.

What if the hidden attribute Professionalism changes along with Determination: you get a personality change of Professional.

What if the hidden attribute Loyalty changes but Determination stays the same: you get a personality of change of Fairly Determined.

What if the hidden attribute Ambition changes but Determination stays the same: you can get a personality change of Fairly Ambitious.

I'm going to stop here because I might not get anything done with my save or the day.

Edited December 8, 2020 by hubwub

[OlivierL]

48 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

My Royal Virton save will be paused.

1.) I miss the enjoyment of scouting and finding players.

2.) Be able to buy, develop and sell players.

3.) Through the early bug of losing players, Im down to 9000 players in the Database.

 

Good luck to you guys for your saves.

Thanks for the nice updates and ideas (youth intake tracking) !!

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, VooDooYouDo said:

I think this is the first time sharing my FM career (which started with FM09?).  I'm a few seasons in (2024 and in the 2nd League) and haven't posted anything yet, so I'll start with a S1 recap.

 

I've been giving this challenge a go in what has been, so far, easy-mode with Belenenses.  I was debating starting this challenge officially since I like to have Moldova as my primary or secondary nationality after having lived there for 3 years and falling in love with the country (it's never once gotten me a regen to speak of though), but here we go without my beloved.

My manager

 

There was a transfer that I couldn't cancel, a youth prospect that sat in the u19:

 

First year youth intake assessment

 

The intake:

Why yes, holy crap.  He's a short boi who makes up for it just about everywhere else.

 

The finale

We finished 2nd, and by some miracle of the Portuguese 4th tier we made the promotion playoffs (was fully expecting a 2nd season in the 4th tier).  In the 2nd round we came up against the #1 team in our league, who we drew both times in the league, and lost to them in the first leg! In the 2nd leg we advanced on penalties, earning promotion and then had no issue winning the championship. 1 of our 2 losses came to Limianos, who I aaaalmost ended up choosing instead of Bele due to loving their kit (still kind of regret not, tbh), so I wasn't too mad that they beat us.

 

Won manager of the year, as if it was in doubt

 

Good luck, I played with them this edition and they had a very expensive youth setup cost ! be careful and good luck.

[OlivierL]

Really strange that the youth intake bug isn't fixed yet :o 

 

[VooDooYouDo]

2 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Good luck, I played with them this edition and they had a very expensive youth setup cost ! be careful and good luck.

Thanks!  I'm in December 2024 and had 3m in player sales which put me +3m but I discovered during the 3rd season I can make good money by having tons of leagues during the pre-season, bringing in $200k+ per league!  If only I started that sooner...

[hubwub]

4 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Really strange that the youth intake bug isn't fixed yet :o 

 

I'm still too early in my save. I think I will see the repercussions of this after year 10.

[OlivierL]

1 minute ago, hubwub said:

I'm still too early in my save. I think I will see the repercussions of this after year 10.

Quote

This will likely require some further tweaks and we think there are still some issues with total player count 10+ years into saves, and the issue will be more prevalent in cases where user has used Advanced Options to load extra players into non-playable leagues. We’re working hard to iron these out and any future fixes will be save game compatible too.

 

[hubwub]

1 minute ago, OlivierL said:

 

I'll just add the other Asian countries for Asian Champions League.

[OlivierL]

22 minutes ago, hubwub said:

This idea has been bugging me for awhile because I wanted to know what would be best for mentoring.

The hidden attributes we really don't see it. We could make inferences with their personality and media handling as to the ranges of the hidden attributes. Yet, the only attribute in regards to player development that we do see is determination. In a sense, we know that we can influence the growth of determination with mentoring groups.

An important thing about mentoring groups is that your mentor has to have a higher determination than your player, a good personality and has significant influence. By significant influence, they have to be to in one of the three hierarchy groups in the game (Team Leader / Highly Influential Player / Influential Player). There will be negative side effects if the mentor is lower in the hierarchy group, this might backfire when you have an aging player who's ability is declining but is a great mentor.

What is needed for a good mentoring group?

• Size: 3 players (2 mentors, 1 youth player). It is possible to have a group of 4 players in a mentoring group as in 2 mentors, 2 youth players. Never go for a big group.
• Your mentors have to be in a hierarchy group that is either in Team Leader / Highly Influential Player / Influential Player.
• Your youth player cannot have a hierarchy group that is higher than the mentors. This has negative side effects which could influence the hidden attributes and possibly change their personality.
• The Determination of your mentors has to be greater than the youth player that is being mentored.
• If it's possible, the mentor should be in the same position area as the youth player. The added benefit if they have the same position area, the mentor can transfer player traits (PPMs) that they have.
• Remember mentoring groups can also influence the hidden attributes to see what their progress is, you should see the monthly mentoring review. It arrives every 1st of the month.

The attributes to keep in mind:

VISIBLE

• Determination
• Leadership (When a player has 20 leadership, they are either Leader or Born Leader personality)

HIDDEN

• Ambition
• Professionalism
• Pressure
• Sportsmanship
• Temperamental
• Loyalty
• Controversy

I consider this portion the fun part because I loaded up the in-game editor in a different save and started playing with personalities and changing determination.

What happens when you have an Ambitious player who with mentoring changes their determination?

An Ambitious player can either change to Driven or Perfectionist.

Ambitious / Evasive  -> Driven / Evasive
Ambitious / Evasive, Unflappable -> Driven / Evasive, Unflappable
Ambitious / Outspoken -> Driven / Outspoken
Ambitious / Outspoken, Confrontational -> Perfectionist / Outspoken, Confrontational
Ambitious / Outspoken, Unflappable -> Driven / Outspoken, Unflappable
Ambitious / Outspoken, Volatile -> Driven / Outspoken, Volatile 
Ambitious / Media-Friendly -> Driven / Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Media-Friendly, Confrontational -> Perfectionist / Media-Friendly, Confrontational
Ambitious / Media-Friendly, Reserved -> Driven / Media-Friendly, Reserved
Ambitious / Unflappable, Media-Friendly -> Driven / Unflappable, Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Volatile, Media-Friendly -> Perfectionist / Volatile, Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Volatile, Media-Friendly -> Driven / Volatile, Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Volatile, Media-Friendly, Confrontational -> Driven / Volatile, Media-Friendly
Ambitious / Volatile, Outspoken, Confrontational -> Driven / Volatile, Outspoken, Confrontational

The personality change happens when Determination for this type of personality crosses the threshold of 18. This is only if Determination changes.

But what if the other hidden attributes change:

What if Leadership changes, it's a visible attribute, along with Determination: you can get a personality change of Leader.

What if the hidden attribute Professionalism changes along with Determination: you get a personality change of Professional.

What if the hidden attribute Loyalty changes but Determination stays the same: you get a personality of change of Fairly Determined.

What if the hidden attribute Ambition changes but Determination stays the same: you can get a personality change of Fairly Ambitious.

I'm going to stop here because I might not get anything done with my save or the day.

Great post, thanks   

[jmonfu]

1 hour ago, Cheez3y said:

My Royal Virton save will be paused.

1.) I miss the enjoyment of scouting and finding players.

2.) Be able to buy, develop and sell players.

3.) Through the early bug of losing players, Im down to 9000 players in the Database.

 

Good luck to you guys for your saves.

You'll be back

[jmonfu]

27 minutes ago, VooDooYouDo said:

Thanks!  I'm in December 2024 and had 3m in player sales which put me +3m but I discovered during the 3rd season I can make good money by having tons of leagues during the pre-season, bringing in $200k+ per league!  If only I started that sooner...

tons of leagues?  You mean mini leagues in pre-season friendlies?

[Watson156]

Gremio Novorizontino Season 2 | Serie B | 2023

Manager Profile

Cup & State League Fixtures | League Fixtures 1 . League Fixtures 2 | Finances |Transfer History | Squad | Staff

 

Paulista Serie A1 (State League)

Overall Table . Group Stags . Knockout Round

What a difference a year makes! For some reason this year we were able to pull of some stunning results including beating mega teams Sao Paulo, Palmerias & Corinthians. Admittedly we also lost to a Serie C and non league team, but overall it was a fantastic effort which allowed us to finish second in our group behind unbeaten Santos. Of course in the Quarter Final we would be up against Santos and we lost 2-1 thanks to a 93rd minute goal. I was hoping that we could take them to penalties but unfortunately it wasn't to be, but it was a fantastic effort and really showed that our team had some quality to it.

 

Serie B

League Table

Well, what a season. We were predicted to come last and have the lowest salary in the whole league but I was very confident that we were going to be nowhere near the relegation places thanks to our performances in the State League. I didn't however think we would do as well as we did! Although we lost our first game we were by far the better team but we couldn't score. Thankfully however over the rest of the season we found our shooting boots including setting a league record for goals scored. At the other end of the pitch we weren't as good as the other top teams but we have to make do with what we have and we did just enough to see us into the top 4 and secure promotion to Serie A. The really pleasing thing is that looking back at the season we left so many extra points on the table through conceding late late goals. We honestly could have won the league if we had turned some of our draws into wins. But, who cares.... WE ARE GOING UP!!!

 

Copa do Brasil

Matches

Thankfully we got a much improved draw from last year and we were even able to make the higher seed rule work for us in our first game. We really didn't play well but thankfully an 88th minute equalizer put us into the 2nd round. Thankfully we got a nice easy tie in the 2nd round and a very comfortable 3-0 victory sent us into the 3rd round where we would play RB Bragantino over 2 legs. We comprehensively lost the first leg 2-0 when it could and should have been more, but we almost flipped the tie around in the return leg but although we did win 2-1 we just couldn't score that vital 3rd goal and we were out of the cup. 

A very successful cup run which helped bring in £464k in prize money. A similar or better run every year will be vital for this club in the short term as that money pretty much kept us in the black for the majority of the year.

 

* * * * * * *

Youth Candidates

Protogenes | Edilson | Luis Felipe | Igor Meneghel 

Another really good successful youth intake for us. We got some good quality in the right positions that can set this team up for a long time as long as we can keep them all.

Protogenes looks like the missing striker that we have needed. While he has to improve his attributes, which he is already doing, to me he has some real standout qualities. He has a good personality that hopefully we can improve on. He is both footed and has really good media handling. I would imagine that he will be involved in the 1st team at some stage this year, but if not then 2025 he will be starting every game in the State League. Edilson is another great prospect who will probably also end up playing up front for us. We don't need him to play CAM or RM so I'm hoping that a year retraining him to play up front will mean that he is ready to play and make an impact in 2025. Luis Felipe fills a hole that we had. We have got prospects at Left Back and Centre Back but we didn't have anything at right back. He will obviously need to improve but hopefully in a couple of years he will be ready to become our starter. Finally Igor Meneghel joins an already stacked position at wide midfield. I am not a massive fan of inverted wingers so he will be retrained to play at left mid this season and then will probably end up going out on loan the following season as I'm not sure if he will have an open position for him. 

Off the pitch we were finally able to get the board to agree to upgrade the Junior Coaching & Youth Recruitment. I'm sure that the next youth intake wont be as good as these first 2 have been, but I'm really excited to see what these upgrades can do. 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Watson156

[VooDooYouDo]

19 minutes ago, jmonfu said:

tons of leagues?  You mean mini leagues in pre-season friendlies?

Yep, exactly.  I have a fairly big squad since I'm not cutting many youth, so not too worried about them getting tired out having a mini-league each week in pre-season.

Edited December 8, 2020 by VooDooYouDo

[witticism]

33 minutes ago, jmonfu said:

You'll be back

This is me, I have four different academy challenges going on at the moment. Helps pass the time without getting too far into the future with any of them until the regen bug is sorted

[OlivierL]

11 minutes ago, witticism said:

This is me, I have four different academy challenges going on at the moment. Helps pass the time without getting too far into the future with any of them until the regen bug is sorted

Hmm so if they say it save game comp. their will be more regens popping up after the fix is released to compensate ?

[JLAB]

So it's not if people holiday through that it happens at teams that are not being managed?

[witticism]

13 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Hmm so if they say it save game comp. their will be more regens popping up after the fix is released to compensate ?

That entirely depends on the methodology of the fix and the cause of the problem I'd imagine. I am not well versed on either beyond the initial thesis where database size shrinks as time passes

Having multiple ongoing saves is my way of dealing with it for now, managing in some strange new places

[Hian]

Season 2025-2026

 

League Summary | League Table - Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2

After two seasons of mediocracy, I am pleased with our performance in the league this year. There is alot more consistency now and we don't throw away games in the same way we have done before. Our biggest weakness was scoring goals and with no good strikers coming through the youth intake, that problem might stil be there next season. I will be tinkering a little bit with the tactics to see if I can get a bit more out of the players but I am pleased with the 4-3-3 and will be sticking with it.

I don't know why but it seems that we only play in the Copa del Rey every other year and Copa Federación, that seems to be a cup for teams in the Segunda div. B and down, for the rest. With that said we managed get to the quarter finals in the less important Copa Federación.

 

Youth Development | Youth Intake - Squad - Transfers

The youth intake looks decent, if you only look at the potential. But in terms of personality it is pretty bad. So the best prospects, if you look at the potential rating, from this intake are: Cortés P26a, Saénz P26b and Diego P26c. However, the only one I have brought up to the senior team is Julen P26x, as he has a good personality and my current DM is getting his head turned by bigger clubs.

So I posted before about this seasons youth intake and complained about how bad the personalities despite my HOYD having a decent personality. After getting som great advice from  @hubwub and looking at the chart @OlivierL put up, I have revamped almost all my background staff and replaced them with people with good personalities and media handling . Hopefully this will improve the intake in the future.

I want to talk a bit about some of the players who have developed the most since coming in to the team. José Luís P23d is now my starting left back and has been great at both creating goals and scoring them himself (all from the penalty spot mind you). On the other side of the defence we have Santiago P24a, who has bevome a great wing back and I am a bit surprised that bigger clubs has not enquired about him yet. If that happens though we have a good backup in Andrés P25a, he has somehow managed to improve without actually playing that many games. And that brings me to the last but not in any way the least, El Makaazi P24x. He has been one of the most important players for me this season and his development has looked really good the last 12 months and gone from 2,5 star potential rating to 3,5.

 

Team Awards

Best XI

Player of the Year

Once again Andoni was the best player this year. We are getting quite dependent on him not getting injured right now as our defence has suffered the few games he has not played.

Top Goalscorer

Yes, our left back is our top goalscorer and they were all from penalties. It epitomizes how bad we were in front of goal.

Most Assists

Vela got in to good positions as our Inside Forward on the right wing, would have gotten a better average rating this season if he was more clinical in front of goal.

 

 

[VillaSmith]

Season 4 - 2024/25 - Vanarama National League

League Table - Fixtures 1/Fixtures 2/Fixtures 3 - Squad 1/Squad 2 - Best XI - Transfers

League - Steady progress on and off the pitch, although it was looking dicey for a while. The win at Gateshead spurred a decent run of form to finish well and achieve a higher position of 14th, but the season could've easily ended in relegation. The youth players are starting to really benefit from game time as the likes of Nwachukwu, Njoku and Miller are becoming important first team players. Off the pitch I've improved both my Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching to excellent, however, my Training facilities have decreased, but fortunately my board has agreed to improve them back up. Also  Jason Gilchrist had a brilliant season going above 30 goals again and getting more assists this season than the previous four combined. I think this is down to me switching to a more possession based system. Whilst I don't quite have the technical ability for it, I also don't have the pace and general physicality to play the direct style I was playing before, and with no Sofokleous to create something out of nothing, I needed to focus on keeping the ball more.

Cups - Once again knocked out by League One opposition in Doncaster, but unfortunately I wasn't able to even stay in the game for more than 30 minutes, which isn't too bad as they did end up getting promoted. Also there was a bigger crowd for this than the previous season, which netted me a decent amount of cash. In the FA Trophy it was a good season, getting to the Quarter Final. I did have a fortunate run as I avoided most of the good teams in the VNL, but then the Quarter Final fell right in the middle of my terrible form, and I ended up going out to Weymouth in the VNS. It was probably a blessing in disguise in the end, as I'm not sure the distraction of a Semi Final would've helped when I was crashing so hard in the league.

Finances - Finally broke the £1M! The West Ham friendly along with a with a few vs Championship sides in the summer put me in a great position, and then regular good attendances meant that months with a lot of home games were quite profitable. Hopefully, if I can keep improving the finances steadily, I can start to improve the facilities and even move to professional status. Although my Chairmen is looking to sell now, so maybe I could get a board more willing to invest in the facilities.

 

Youth Intake

Martyn Taylor [25A] - Daniel Waite [25B] - Joe Riddell [25C] - Kenny Sullivan [25D] - Yuri Bengue [25E] - Adam McCann [25F] - Liam McCarthy [25G] - Henry Okoye [25H] - Dan Murray [25I]

A very strong intake, I usually only include players above 3 star potential, but that would be so many I only included the 5 stars this time! Quite a few of these players have already been promoted to the senior squad, either to challenge for the first XI such as Taylor and Bengue (due to his pace), or because they are versatile like Okoye and McCann. I was also very happy to see only one Unambitious player, although it was still a fairly average group of personalities, and I even had a Resolute player in Crosby! Out of all my intakes so far, this is the one I'm most confident will be able to push me on over the next couple of years.

[XaW]

Skandinavia - Iceland - Season 2022

League table | Squad | Transfers

So the first season is done, and it went about as expected. We finished mid table and I'm quite pleased with it. I started with a bigger squad than I expected, but it's quite good since I haven't gotten my youth intake yet. I guess it's due soon, so I'll update when it's done. We had a takeover this season and the new board accepted improvements to both academy coaching and youth recruitment, so I'm excited to see what we get. Our biggest issue is that most of the defenders are really poor and we concede a lot goals due to stupid errors. So I hope I get some defenders in the intake, and the preview looks promising in that it mentions a defender.

Oh, and we are getting a brand new free stadium! Thanks government!

The intake was about what I expected. The best is still not amazing, but more players is a good thing anyway.

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by XaW

[officiallydeej]

After battling through the first 37 league games in Serie C with only 8 players (I had to field 9 greyed out players in 1 starting 11!) our youth intake arrived before the last game.

 

This is probably the single best debut I've ever had. This lad is a centre forward and honestly not very good. The most amusing thing? He has 3 finishing..

[hubwub]

I've been tinkering with the in-game editor again.

It's possible for a player that has a hidden attribute of Controversy between 15-20 and not have an Outspoken media handling personality. They can actually be Evasive or Evasive, Unflappable. WHAT?!

Edited December 8, 2020 by hubwub

[SannieJordi]

    

 

 

 

 

Ijselmeervogels Season 25/26

 

 

Year overview:  League table | Best Eleven | Transfers | Squad

 

It was again a rough season letting a lot of goals in and my striker almost the only person to score goals.

However we stayed up again and can hopefully push towards a mid table finish next season.

After a lot of tactic changes and losses i managed to turn it around in the end of the season and survived. With this tactic it (seems) like i can end mid table.

 

 

Landmarks:

 

League Goalscorer:  Joey Lieshout

Our striker and goalie are the sole reason we stay up again.

Finishing in 19th place with our Goalie having a 7.03 on average and our Striker scoring 22 goals.

 

Youth Recruitment upgrade 

 

Our youth recruitment got an upgrade again and we now have an Adequate recruitment.

 

Youth Intake:

Hot prospect S2 | Erik Van der Putten 2B | Andreas Pamungkas 2C

 

Only 3 noticeable players from this seasons youth intake. But with the squad I think I will be able to finish mid table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by SannieJordi

[JLAB]

Remember this preview I had? Well, what I got from this preview is shown below.

This is easily my best youth intake so far with Siena. I couldn't quite believe it when I saw the sheer potential of the talent coming through in this intake.

The first player on the list is a Left back, an area that I'm not exactly weak in, but not something I wouldn't take any reinforcements for if given the chance to get one. Could I get this guy to play the wing-back role? Probably.

Now this guy, I'm extremely excited about. He has a lot of things that I'm excited about. Naturally a ball-winning midfielder and considered close to being part of the first-team already? It seems like a really exciting prospect, especially when I've already made my other exciting central midfield prospect, Michele Mazza into a player that's made the first-team role his own and looking like a future captain of the club.

 

Now this guy is an absolute blessing of a player. Can play as a Centre Back, a Defensive Midfielder and a Central Midfielder, and has a lot of potential? I've got a lot of options as to what I want to do with this guy and all of the excite me.

 

Another exciting player, and this time has more of a play-maker feel to him. He is the only player out of the 4 best for potential ability to have an unwanted personality, being that he is unambitious, but putting him in a mentoring group and that can be sorted out sooner than later.

[officiallydeej]

Arzignano Valchiampo - 2021/22 Season Review

 

 

Coppa Italia - Squad - Finances - Transfers

 

Well we stayed up and that was all I was hoping for, but as my goal difference of -45 probably shows this was not the most enjoyable season. We started the save with 9 players, one refused a contract and left before a ball was kicked in frustration leaving us with 8 players, one who was 39 and at least 3 greyed out starters (including one in goal) for every game. There was one game where we had 6 players unavailable and only 2 real players started, we got thumped 6-0. With our full 8 available we were competitive with the teams around us and most teams at home, but as soon as injuries and suspensions hit we struggled and 4 and 5 goal defeats became all too regular. The youth intake arrived just before the final game of the season, and the influx of bodies was enough to beat Lecco over 2 legs and keep us up for another season.

The 8 players we were given are actually pretty decent for this level, although 2 of them have asked to leave for bigger clubs so I may only have them for one season. None of the first youth intake are anywhere near the standard of the division but we don't have anyone else and this league allows 12 substitutes so they've all gone straight into the squad and hopefully first team exposure coupled with full time training will see some speedy improvements. The club were in a decent position financially when I arrived (1.4m in the black) so the board approved upgrades to the training and youth facilities and also youth recruitment. The funds are slowly ebbing away but I'm hopeful of at least one more set of upgrades before we inevitably slide into the red.

Giuseppe Fina

There's not an awful lot of plug and play talent here, but I'm grateful for the numbers if nothing else. The preview told me there were no good players and to expect a really poor intake, so it will be interesting to see whether or not our first 5* PA player develops. After my excursions in Greece I'm actually pretty happy with these personalities and I have a couple of capable mentors, so my HOYD will at least live to see one more season.

Edited December 9, 2020 by officiallydeej

[Diego D10S]

                                                                            

                                                                                                                                   Season 2021 / 2022 

                                                                                                     7th in Serie C / A - Lost Promotion Playoff Third Round

 

Finished a season in Arzignano and decided to stay and put my time into this save.

Great first season but I have no interest in getting a promotion anytime soon.

Youth intake was pretty bad 

 

   

 

GL ALL !!                                                                          

 

                                                                                                               

Edited December 9, 2020 by Diego D10S

[hubwub]

Media handling has me in a tizzy.

From these two players, who do you think is the Evasive, Unflappable and who is the  Outspoken, Unflappable?

[Bruce Drundrige]

I tend to play on Comprehensive Highlights but I think I'm going to have to start weaning myself off and move to Key and Extended if I'm going to make progress through the seasons. As this is my save for trying new things then there's no excuse really!

[KVJ92]

15 hours ago, Padders said:

Yeah I have, tried one save with Hornchurch and got relegated first season so gone back to Witton

It is getting a bit desperate and most been at least 15 or 20 goes now

Oh okay I believe you can do it quicker this year than FM20

Have you thought about setting the tactics completely different? Try to start from the back and tighten the defence - then later the goals will come into play?

I could never do this. Started the dafuge challenge with Morpeth. If I couldn't sign any players I would never survive the first season. I'm in season 3 now (got relegated in the first try) and in a playoff spot in Vanarama National.

Edited December 9, 2020 by KVJ92

[vikeologist]

18 hours ago, officiallydeej said:

He's chosen every position and individually told me the players in each one are poor.

At least he's told you not to expect much, which is what I'm told every year. Of course maybe this is his way of telling you to expect nothing at all. This may indeed be the worst preview of all time.

Then I got to the report of who actually came through. Oh well. In the first season, I suppose one can just be grateful for anybody.

Edited December 9, 2020 by vikeologist

[Watson156]

4 hours ago, hubwub said:

Media handling has me in a tizzy.

From these two players, who do you think is the Evasive, Unflappable and who is the  Outspoken, Unflappable?

Unambitious = Outspoken, Unflappable?

[JLAB]

4 hours ago, hubwub said:

Media handling has me in a tizzy.

From these two players, who do you think is the Evasive, Unflappable and who is the  Outspoken, Unflappable?

How did you even see those hidden attributes?

[Padders]

2 hours ago, KVJ92 said:

Oh okay I believe you can do it quicker this year than FM20

Have you thought about setting the tactics completely different? Try to start from the back and tighten the defence - then later the goals will come into play?

I could never do this. Started the dafuge challenge with Morpeth. If I couldn't sign any players I would never survive the first season. I'm in season 3 now (got relegated in the first try) and in a playoff spot in Vanarama National.

Yeah tried so many different ways of playing.

Some are below

5 at the back, defensive. Grind out results with one up top

Really attacking

When ME figures out my tactics completely change them

Tried really aggressive team talks and shouts

Leave all to Assistant Manager

Team Talks Ass Man and shouts by me

The problem I am having is the poor Youth Intakes in the first 1-3 years. I need a bit of luck with a really good player out of the blue one of the saves.

 

 

[officiallydeej]

5 hours ago, Diego D10S said:

                                                                            

                                                                                                                                   Season 2021 / 2022 

                                                                                                     7th in Serie C / A - Lost Promotion Playoff Third Round

 

Finished a season in Arzignano and decided to stay and put my time into this save.

Great first season but I have no interest in getting a promotion anytime soon.

Youth intake was pretty bad 

 

   

 

GL ALL !!                                                                          

 

                                                                                                               

I didn't realise you were managing Valchiampo too! That really is an excellent first season, I still think I'm light years from a top half finish.

[KVJ92]

1 hour ago, Padders said:

Yeah tried so many different ways of playing.

Some are below

5 at the back, defensive. Grind out results with one up top

Really attacking

When ME figures out my tactics completely change them

Tried really aggressive team talks and shouts

Leave all to Assistant Manager

Team Talks Ass Man and shouts by me

The problem I am having is the poor Youth Intakes in the first 1-3 years. I need a bit of luck with a really good player out of the blue one of the saves.

 

 

Have you tried not changing the tactics and see if they get back to normal? I'm using the same tactic that got me promoted and I'm still looking to go into playoff after 33 games. 

But, yeah - as said, I couldn't do the youth only. And really admire your persistence!

[thomas_e]

 

Sacachispas FC

Copa Libertadores knock-out stage 2025 update

*Since the Copa Libertadores group stage ends at the same time as the domestic season and the knock-out stages continue into the next season I will do an extra Copa Libertadores knock-out stage update if I progress from the group stage

We progressed from the group stage after 6 straight wins and this got us seeded in the knock out stage. This is really important for one simple reason: You avoid the Brazilian teams in the first knock out stage. They are at another level compared to the Argentinian teams and by that I mean far, far better! 

We drew Cerro Porteno from Paraguay in the first knock out stage and we progressed easily. A 4-0 win away and a 6-1 win at home gave us some confidence going into the next round! 

Next up was Palmeiras in the quarter final and that also proved to be our exit from the tournament. Even though Palmeiras is sitting 5th in the Brazilian league they won the Club World Cup a few months ago, beating Real Madrid in the final!! They have wonderkids in midfield and star players up front... that combo led to a 1-4 loss away and the tournament was basically over at that point.  I was extremely pleased with winning the return leg 1-0 at home (some changes to the tactic that hopefully could provide useful in the upcoming games as well), but we have to face the fact that we have a lot of work to do if we are going to compete for the Copa Libertadores title. But this was my first quarter final, we got some money (£1,16m) and we should be proud of our perfomance! 

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by thomas_e

[shaunvamos]

Excelsior Maassluis 2031/32 Season Review

 

 

 

 

Omar Mulder 5D - Oussama Najah 7C* - Selorm Mohammed 5B*

Our highest ever finish in the Eredivisie, and probably our most consistent season. Even when injuries tore through our squad in the back end of the season our youngsters filled those gaps and filled them well, going unbeaten in our last 10 league games before winning the European places playoff to qualify for continental football for the second straight year.

In terms of Europe, we did pretty well I think. We beat Bosnian side Siroki Brijeg 5-0 and Kazakhstan's Shakhter Karagandy 8-0 before falling to Sevilla 5-3 in the 4th qualifying round. Hopefully we get an easier draw next season. But our squad is looking super strong, and we have strikers that know how to score a bunch of goals. Our wingbacks are turning into excellent players, and the only real weakness I think we have is at CB. 

Next season we are getting another training facilities upgrade (I think our last), youth facilities upgrade and our stadium is also getting expanded. We are going places every season, and it's great!

 

Youth Intake
 

Robbert Scholten 11A - Remco Rebergen 11B* - Rowan van Steen 11C*

 

This was a supposed golden generation but it actually looks like the weakest intake in terms of potential by a long way. That being said, Scholten looks pretty good and Rebergen's personality should help him grow a bit. The ones with an * have been signed as they have good personalities and may develop.

 

Transfers

 

A few guys leave on frees, and we sold 194 game veteran Lemonnier, as he was forced out of the first team by the emergence of Hendri Adrian 8A*, and then was forced out of the reserves by Zerguinho Koolwijk 5A .

 

Progress

 

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 4th Folkestone Intake Report

A new intake and time to get brutal with some of the underachievers from the early intakes.

The fact is that we haven’t had a single good youth player in 4 years.

8 of my 9 best players according to my Ass Man are legacy players.

The regen is a striker, with finishing of 1. I’m retraining him as a wing back. He has no technical ability whatsoever, which makes him unusable everywhere.

Will Southwood 4a – Nowhere near as good as my starter, but he could earn a spot on or near the first team, just because my 2^nd best left back (Alfie Paxman, 27 years old) is also my 3^rd best striker, and with no good regen strikers coming through, maybe I need to get Alfie ready to take over when my oldest striker declines.

On that subject, and out of order,

Scott Harris 4d – Probably my best potential regen striker ever in reality. Already nearly as good as Paxman. He doesn’t seem to have the greatest potential, but perhaps I need to utilise him.

Dylan Wilkinson 4b – A left winger. Nowhere near good enough for the first team at this point.

Liam Bulmer 4c- A right back. As good as a right back as Southwood 4a is as a left back. Also he has a Resolute personality, so some real benefits if I can get him up to scratch. I have very few good central defenders. I’d say 3 that have any place in any football team in the universe, and one of them is my starting right back, so even though Bulmer is not that good, I might throw him straight in and instantly improve my central defence.

[Padders]

58 minutes ago, KVJ92 said:

Have you tried not changing the tactics and see if they get back to normal? I'm using the same tactic that got me promoted and I'm still looking to go into playoff after 33 games. 

But, yeah - as said, I couldn't do the youth only. And really admire your persistence!

funnily enough just done that and just got sacked

Usual stuff, great start