The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[JAwtunes]

Widzew Lodz

Season 1 (2020-21) - Youth Intake Preview

Great prospects: GK, 2 Wide Mids.

Promising: CB.

Spoiler

This feels like a long mid-season break here in the second division in Poland.  Over 2 months between games... time for some money grabbing friendly leagues!

 

Edited December 21, 2020 by JAwtunes

[Cheez3y]

Oh boy. We actually got a chance.

Idk how, but I would take it, even if we go down next season.

Im always more the cup game guy, then league guy.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Cheez3y

[DJ Sir Matthew]

6 games to go, still in 4th position, wondering if promoting would be smart (given @XaW 's experience maybe better to wait a bit). Then I saw our youth intake, and I think not promoting would be better to allow them to "catch" up (especially since most personalities are unambitious - low determination - fickle - casual etc. so far for a Failrly Professional HOYS, U18 Manager & Model Professional U18 Ass Man). There is some potential in our intake though (and lots of players) given that our current Best XI have 1 5*, two 4* and two 3* before dropping even lower. And our best DL is currently a 1 * so I hope Stuart Brown will prove to be an upgrade:

[XaW]

To be fair @DJ Sir Matthew, I'd rather take a promotion too early and go back down, than to stay down. The added reputation will help out with keeping players at the club for a longer time. I lost a far few to other teams due to them not wanting to sign new contracts. Now, they might not have wanted to sign anyway, but the chances would have been higher, since the reputation of your club often is left behind for smaller teams winning a lot.

[Shankly84]

Right, I've got quite a few updates to do, so apologies in advance.

[Cheez3y]

Season 2023/24 - League 1

We done it!

 

We acutally done it with this team.

But I think we go down next season.

[Shankly84]

SEASON 14 - 2035 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES -  PLAYER STATS  -  TEAM STATS  -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 

LEAGUE CUP

A good group stage followed by a 2-0 defeat to Breioabik in the semi-final. Still no League Cup for Haukar.

LEAGUE

So this was the most excited I had been for the start of the new season with our little Brazilian winger starting his first full season. Despite my positive mindset, we got under way with a 4-3 defeat at FH. Really dissapointing!! We then hit the ground running and went unbeaten in our next 13, winning 8. A setback at Valur didn't stop things, losing just once more to finally claim the Icelandic Premier Division!!! CHAMPIONS!!!!!

ICELANDIC CUP

Really poor!! We met a none league team (that I can't even type), and went down 3-0 at the first hurdle. I rested the whole team, but we still should of made it through. This may have helped with our league form though, with only that to focus on.

THE PLAYERS

Gylfi Sigurjonsson had an outstanding season. The league winning captain finished with an av. rat of 8.02. His centre back partner Hakon Ingi Leosson also carried on his great form and midfielder Ingolfur Adalsteinsson went up a level with a 7.61 rating. Kristofer Hinriksson finished with 28 goals on 28 appearances and became our record league goalscorer, with 102 goals. Jales made an impact from the right, with 12 in 23 and a 7.30 av rating.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

Following last seasons impressive intake, things carried on, with 5 4* potential players coming through.

[VooDooYouDo]

13 hours ago, tual said:

I'm going to start the challenge, too. I guess in Turkey. What are you doing with the "old" players? Try to sell them or keep them as long as they help you?

I hold onto them until they're no longer useful.  Skill-wise get rid of them when they're the 3rd best or so, or hold onto them for mentoring purposes if they have good personalities.

[Padders]

Season Review 2040/41

Another awful season

I've got nothing to say

[VillaSmith]

Season 4 - 2024/25 - Vanarama National League

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

League - Started off the season brilliantly and for a long time thought I might make a playoff push as I was in touching distance right up until the start of February, and then I just fell apart. A combination of a thin squad and poor fitness made the end of the season really difficult, only picking up 10 points out of the last 15 games, but I did finish in the same position as last season so it wasn't the worst season. I am happy though to still be firmly established in the league, and many of my players continued to develop well, especially Njoku and Miller, who are both getting EFL interest this summer, so they may be hard to hang on to over the summer.

Cups - A good year for me in the FA Cup, getting all the way to the 3rd Round! Unfortunately I drew Leicester at home rather than away, but it was still a good boost for my finances, £70k as it was on TV and then a sell out crowd too. In the end I was undone by two wonderstrikes from their CM, but it was a battling performance in which I restricted them mainly to pot shots. A great run, and one I hope to repeat again soon, and maybe get a trip to Old Trafford or Anfield! In the FA Trophy I didn't manage to get to the QF again, falling to Hartlepool in a replay (despite playing 120 mins in the first game!). By that point my rotten form was just setting in and I was no match for them., and I think the three replays I had this season, plus the longer FA Cup run, really hampered my fitness in the long term.

Finances - Another good year financially which allowed me to upgrade my training facilties (the £400k loss in the screenie), and after the second takeover pumped in more funds, allowed me to spend £1.6m on upgrading the Youth Facilities too. Unfortunately, I'm still not deemed financially stable enough to professionalise, but I'll keep asking! There was some reason to hopeful however, as West Ham got relegated, which will hopefully mean Sofokleous can break in to their first team (he is Championship quality imo), and drive up his value, then maybe even attract some PL interest! Also there is the interest in Njoku and Miller which may provide a decent shot in the arm too, but we'll have to see what happens there.

 

Youth Intake

Frank Hogg [26A] - Riley Parkinson [26B] - Jamie Wilson [26C] - James Bell [26D] - Kevin Skeoch [26E] - Kris Cairns [26F] - Phil Gamblin [26G]

A really good intake again as the Exceptional Junior Coaching is really paying off, although I am a bit disappointed in the averall personalities, despite a few good ones in there. I'm really happy to get Hogg, as he looks like he could be Gilchrist's successor, especially if Miller leaves. On top of that there are a few good CMs like Parkinson, Bell and Wilson, which was a bit of a problem area for me. Some will go in to the senior squad straight away to push for the first team, but I think I'm fortunate enough to be able to leave some of them in the U18s for now, and look to maybe loan them out.

[Shankly84]

SEASON 15 - 2036 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES -  PLAYER STATS  -  TEAM STATS  -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 

LEAGUE CUP

Hoping to kick on from our league win, I wanted us to start to stamp our authority on Iceland! We breezed through the group stage and demolished Grindavik in the semi-final. Into the final were we was humiliated 5-0 by Breioabik! Not what I had planned!!

LEAGUE

Before defending our title, we played Valur in the Icelandic Champions Cup. A 0-0 draw, followed by a penalty shoot-out defeat, meant we had already missed two chances for silverware.

A tough start in our defence of the league saw us lose 1-0 to Breioabik at home. Considering we had lost last seasons opener, I wasn't too downhearted. We went unbeaten in our next 6, but then hit a sticky patch. The Icelandic Cup, plus European comitments meant the players were exhausted and we struggled to catch our early season form. A dissapointing end to the season, with just two wins in our last nine games meant we had to settle for a dissapointing 6th place. Not what I was expecting after last seasons league win.

ICELANDIC CUP

Much better in the cup this season. Favourable draws saw us all the way to the final, despite our poor league form. We came up against Valur and were simply outclassed, losing 3-0 on the day.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

How unlucky could we get!! Our first year in the competition and we draw Rangers in the first qualifying round. We are trounced 6-1 away in the first leg, but manage to gain some credibility with a 0-0 in the home leg.

EURO CUP II

We dropped back into this competition after exiting the Champions League and are drawn against Cork City. Two routine 2-0 victories then see us move onto FK Tirana, of Albania. I underestimated them in the first leg and came away with a lucky 1-0 win. A stronger team for the 2nd leg saw us through, with a comfortable 3-0 win. Next was FC Inter, of Finland. A close tie overall, with a 0-0 draw in Finland. We scraped through with a 2-1 win at home and we had made it to the group stages of European competition, for the first time in our histrory.

We are drawn alongside Qarabag, Bodo/Glimt and St Gallen. Qarabag up first and we are brought back down to earth with a 3-0 pasting. Next  was Bodo/Glimt and despite a 3-2 defeat, we really did deserve something from this one. Our first win came at home to St Gallen with a 3-2 victory, but they made up for this in the away game with a 4-0 win.

This is where I'm not sure how to lay this out? as the remaining 2 games were in the next season...

THE PLAYERS

Usual suspect Gylfi Sigurjonsson carried on his previous form and Leosson was also impressive. Ingolfur Adalsteinsson plays well, no matter where I play him and Kristoffer Hinriksson finished top scorer, although nowhere near as impressive as previous, Jales was quiet and has been asking about a move. Man City and PSG are interested and have placed bids, but I have so far managed to refuse. I am hoping to get a sell on fee included.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

Despite being predicted as a golden generation, it was more another decent intake, which will hopefully boost the numbers more than anything.

[Shankly84]

SEASON 16 - 2037 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE - FIXTURES - FIXTURES - PLAYER STATS - TEAM STATS - COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE - CHARACTERISTICS - ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE - GENERAL - FACILITIES - HONOURS - FINANCES - TRANSFERS 

EURO CUP II

So the two remaining group games fell in this season. A 2-2 draw with Qarabag at home and a 2-0 home win to Bodo/Glimt, meant financially, we had done brilliantly out of the competition.

LEAGUE CUP

Due to the late ending of the previous season, the players hadn't returned in time for the League Cup (surely a bug!!). 3 defeats, a draw and a win not too shabby, considering the team was made up of grey players only.

LEAGUE

A good start to the season, had us dreaming of more glory. It wasn't to be however, as we were massively inconsitant again going on long runs of wins and losses. We stumbled to a dissapointing 6th place position for the second year running.

ICELANDIC CUP

Another poor showing, with a terrible 3-0 home loss to Fram at the first stage.

THE PLAYERS

Jales finally left, for a dissapointing £75k. I had previously rejected a £350k offer from Liverpool, but PSG's offer at least included the 50% of next sale clause I had been looking for.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

Another golden generation was predicted and six 4* potential players was a good outcome.

OFF THE FIELD

Some good news off the field, as the board announce the intention of building a new stadium.

[JAwtunes]

3 minutes ago, Shankly84 said:

SEASON 16 - 2037 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE - FIXTURES - FIXTURES - PLAYER STATS - TEAM STATS - COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE - CHARACTERISTICS - ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE - GENERAL - FACILITIES - HONOURS - FINANCES - TRANSFERS 

EURO CUP II

So the two remaining group games fell in this season. A 2-2 draw with Qarabag at home and a 2-0 home win to Bodo/Glimt, meant financially, we had done brilliantly out of the competition.

LEAGUE CUP

Due to the late ending of the previous season, the players hadn't returned in time for the League Cup (surely a bug!!). 3 defeats, a draw and a win not too shabby, considering the team was made up of grey players only.

LEAGUE

A good start to the season, had us dreaming of more glory. It wasn't to be however, as we were massively inconsitant again going on long runs of wins and losses. We stumbled to a dissapointing 6th place position for the second year running.

ICELANDIC CUP

Another poor showing, with a terrible 3-0 home loss to Fram at the first stage.

THE PLAYERS

Jales finally left, for a dissapointing £75k. I had previously rejected a £350k offer from Liverpool, but PSG's offer at least included the 50% of next sale clause I had been looking for.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

Another golden generation was predicted and six 4* potential players was a good outcome.

OFF THE FIELD

Some good news off the field, as the board announce the intention of building a new stadium.

Love the Icelandic league, super quick season where every game counts and a cool league cup that is like a competitive pre-season warm-up.  How are Grotta doing on your save?  They were my team in Iceland and still have a soft spot for them.

[Shankly84]

5 minutes ago, JAwtunes said:

Love the Icelandic league, super quick season where every game counts and a cool league cup that is like a competitive pre-season warm-up.  How are Grotta doing on your save?  They were my team in Iceland and still have a soft spot for them.

They yo-yo, to be honest. Valur and Breioablik are the two teams who have established themselves and done quite well in Europe.

[JAwtunes]

3 minutes ago, Shankly84 said:

They yo-yo, to be honest. Valur and Breioablik are the two teams who have established themselves and done quite well in Europe.

Valur and Breidablik were solid in my save too.  KR were a bit of a let down.

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, Shankly84 said:

SEASON 14 - 2035 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES -  PLAYER STATS  -  TEAM STATS  -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 

LEAGUE CUP

A good group stage followed by a 2-0 defeat to Breioabik in the semi-final. Still no League Cup for Haukar.

LEAGUE

So this was the most excited I had been for the start of the new season with our little Brazilian winger starting his first full season. Despite my positive mindset, we got under way with a 4-3 defeat at FH. Really dissapointing!! We then hit the ground running and went unbeaten in our next 13, winning 8. A setback at Valur didn't stop things, losing just once more to finally claim the Icelandic Premier Division!!! CHAMPIONS!!!!!

ICELANDIC CUP

Really poor!! We met a none league team (that I can't even type), and went down 3-0 at the first hurdle. I rested the whole team, but we still should of made it through. This may have helped with our league form though, with only that to focus on.

THE PLAYERS

Gylfi Sigurjonsson had an outstanding season. The league winning captain finished with an av. rat of 8.02. His centre back partner Hakon Ingi Leosson also carried on his great form and midfielder Ingolfur Adalsteinsson went up a level with a 7.61 rating. Kristofer Hinriksson finished with 28 goals on 28 appearances and became our record league goalscorer, with 102 goals. Jales made an impact from the right, with 12 in 23 and a 7.30 av rating.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

Following last seasons impressive intake, things carried on, with 5 4* potential players coming through.

Good job, now u can grow in europa

[Sokker14]

Start | Season 1 (2024/2025)

''IJsselmeervogels exceeded expectations this season and were one of the feel-good stories as they impressed week after week. After a terrible start, quickly dropping to 20th place, they found themselves emboiled in a relegation scrap they were ultimately able to escape from.''

Stats:

Position: 19th (Keuken Kampioen Divisie)

Cup: Knocked out in 2nd round by Telstar

Player of the year: Stef Brummel

Topscorer: Joey Lieshout

Most assists: Philippe van Arnhem

Other links:

Transfers

Squad

League table

Youth intake

Edited December 21, 2020 by Sokker14

[Shankly84]

SEASON 17 - 2038 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES -  PLAYER STATS  -  TEAM STATS  -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 

LEAGUE CUP

Back to fielding proper players for this competion. We managed to scrape out of the groups on goal difference past Valur, only to be hammered 5-1 in the semi-final by KR. Still no League Cup after 17 seasons.

LEAGUE

Far better than the previous two seasons and back in Europe through league position. In the end the seasons good finish made up for a slow start with a respectable 2nd placed finish.

ICELANDIC CUP

An improvement on last season, but out at the quarter-final stage, once we came across decent opposition in KR.

THE PLAYERS

Gylfi with another good season and fellow centre back Kristjan Steingrimsson starting to establish himself as a possible successor. Adalsteinsson carried on his good form and Gudni Gunnarsson has made the left side of the team his. David Julian Kristinsson broke into the team and managed 12 goals in 21 starts. 

THE YOUTH INTAKE

Another good intake with six 4* players.

OFF THE FIELD

Holland offered me the position as manager, obviously this was rejected. Must be doing something right though :-)

[Shankly84]

Really sorry about all the posts. Need to catch up!! Otherwise I will lose track.

[thomas_e]

Copa Libertadores heartbreak!! 

As I've mentioned in earlier posts we start of the season with the knock out stages of the Copa Libertadores. This season we faced Corinthians in the first knock out stage. Last year we lost 5-3 to them in the first knock out stage, but this year it was time for revenge. A 2-2 result at home in the first leg didn't give me much hope, but we pulled of a massive 2-0 win away in the second stage. 

Next up, in the quarter finals, we faced Palmeiras. We won solidly 2-0 at home and things were looking good. Unfortunately we lost on aggregate after a crazy 4-1 loss away in the second leg. Really dissapointed as we missed some huge chances. Terrible to see my striker try a cheaky chip alone with the opposition GK at the end of the game, instead of just smashing it into the corner.

Dissapointed now, but we are showing progress! 

 

[DJ Sir Matthew]

SEASON 21-22 - VANARAMA LEAGUE NORTH

First try at this. Unexperienced manager takes charge of FC United of Manchester. The league table ended as follow:

A whopping 103 goals scored but also 73 goals against. And that is indeed how our team looks: decent quality up front (especially because of Kian Smith) and serious lack of quality at the back (even though Chris Doyle is a good DC, the full backs never worked). I use a simple flat 442 with DLP-BBM as midfielder pair and TM-AF as striker pair.  As you can see, we're no longer in the play-offs. While we beat Blyth 4-0 (after deciding to withdraw Kian Smith from the England U-19 selection) in the 1st round, we lost to Kidderminster after our team leader Potts got 2 yellow cards in a bit more than half an hour. Only 2nd dismissal of the whole team in the whole season, so came quite unexpected

We were in a play-off spot almost all season:

Cups

FA Cup went to 4th Qual where we lost to Port Vale who later were crowned champions in the Vanarama National League, so no shame there. FA Trophy we reached 4th round where we lost to Wealdstone which is a mid-table team of the Vanarama National League.

Youth Development

Currently improving Youth Facilities.  Junior Coaching as well as Youth Recruitment have been improved and are both at Adequate now, so looking forward to even better youth intakes and slowly building this team.

36 players in our team roster now in total, will try to keep hold of them all except for some senior members who, although still scoring decent on the potential overview, never delivered this season. Still need to have at least 2 senior members sign a new contract or I might lose them.

Future plans

It was a serious kick in the teeth to miss promotion so close and without rotation we might even have challenged champions Chorley. I need to find a way to get the Full-Backs blasting, shore up defense without euthanizing the attack and find an answer against 4-2-3-1 because that formation hurt us the most.

I had some European leagues active (the big 5, Netherlands, Scotland, Wales, ireland & N-Ireland) but will remove them (except big 5) for next season as the season took too long to my liking. Desktop PC isn't the best around and the challenge will take long enough even without the added 'realism'

[Cheez3y]

I lost one of my veteran strikers in the summer, but I think someone stepped up.

 

Its "only" the Bedfred cup, but I didnt expect that from this 16 y/o boy.

 

Also my first 10.0 in FM21.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Cheez3y

[Shankly84]

SEASON 18 - 2039 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES -  PLAYER STATS  -  TEAM STATS  -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 1 2 

LEAGUE CUP

Despite losing the first game 1-0, we managed to get through the group, where we met Vikingur R. in the semi-final. After a drab 0-0 we got through on pens, meaning we would meet FH in the final. A 2-1 win, meant that we had finally won the League Cup!!! Not the most prestigious competition, but the only one in Iceland that we hadn't won. Finally!!

ICELANDIC CHAMPIONS CUP

Another competition that we had won previously, but never do well in, is the Icelandic Champions Cup. Basically the Charity Shield. For some reason, this has a greater reputation than the league cup and generally attracts 16,000 spectators.

We were in it this year, due to our 2nd place finish and Valur doing the double. After bigging it up so much, we lost 3-2!. The 4th time we have finished as runners-up.

LEAGUE

Another good season and the first time we have been consistant whilst playing in Europe. A good start had us looking like we may pick our 2nd title up, but a couple of poor results, once Europe kicked in and a terrible finish, losing 3 of the last 5, meant we basically threw the title away. With 5 games to go we were 4 points clear at the top with a game in hand, but somehow managed to throw it away. Dissapointing ending, but a good 2nd place finish for the 2nd season running. 

ICELANDIC CUP

A decent run till we encountered Breidablik in the semi-final, resulting in a 3-0 loss.

EURO CUP II

Gzira Utd, of Malta, was up first and two comfortable 3-1 win's meant we progressed. Next up was Zeljeznicar of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I really messed up with this one. I played a 2nd team in the first leg, as we were right in the title race and I wanted to rest players. Luckily, we just got the win 1-0. However, I pushed my luck and rested players again for the 2nd leg and we came unstuck with a horrible 6-1 defeat. We were out and it was completely my fault!

THE PLAYERS

 As always Sigurjonsson done well, as well as Leosson. Ingi Por Gunnarsson broke into the team and latest potential star Bjorgvin Reynisson played the final 7 league games. David Julian Kristinsson kicked on from last year, with 23 goals in 31 games.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

A superb intake, with another potential star on our hands in Reynisson.

OFF THE FIELD

 I reached 600 games in management.

[SoSolidSnake]

First "golden generation" I've had with Aachen! Let's hope it's true.

[DazRTaylor]

I have tried and failed in the Netherlands several times.  I can’t find a tactic to work there as my players are so inferior to the rest.  I see we have two people currently in this country who have survived.  What kind of tactic are you using?

I love the Dutch league and am desperate to succeed there. 

Edited December 21, 2020 by DazRTaylor

[Shankly84]

SEASON 19 - 2040 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES -  PLAYER STATS  -  TEAM STATS  -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 1 2

LEAGUE CUP

So after so long without a League Cup, we win 2 in a row!! Two dissapointing draws in the groups looked liked we wouldn't get out, but we did. A 2-1 win over KR in the semi-final set up a final with Breidablik. The game finished 2-2 and we managed to win the shoot-out to win the trophy for the 2nd time!

ICELANDIC CHAMPIONS CUP

Same old story in this one. A 4-3 loss to Valur.

LEAGUE

4 wins and a draw from the opening 5, had me thinking this could be the year for our 2nd title. It wasn't to be. Really inconsistant and dissapointing throughout. A 5th place finish in the end.

ICELANDIC CUP

Another dissapointing part of the season, going out on pens to Selfoss.

EURO CUP II

 A tough game against Belgian Charleroi in the 2nd qualifying round. We were superb in the first leg, finishing with a 4-1 win. A lot tougher in Belgium, but a 3-1 loss, meant that we squeezed through on away goals. Azerbaijan's Neftci was next and we made harder work than I would of liked. A 2-2 away draw and a home 1-0 win, just seeing us through. The fourth qualifying round was the final step, as we met Swiss side Servette FC. A 2-1 home loss, followed by a 4-3 away defeat.

THE PLAYERS

Adalsteinsson solid as ever, with not much else to write home about. A Gylfi Sigurjonsson shout-out with 255 league appearances so far.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

Another brilliant intake, with Axel Kari Sigurdarson the stand out.

[Cheez3y]

13 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

I have tried and failed in the Netherlands several times.  I can’t find a tactic to work there as my players are so inferior to the rest.  I see we have two people currently in this country who have survived.  What kind of tactic are you using?

I love the Dutch league and am desperate to succeed there. 

Score more goals then the enemy.

I played 3 seasons so far and we always scored the most goals.

 

And if Im leading after 60 mins, I go into turtle mode.

This is the best way for me, until I get good players to play football.

[Shankly84]

SEASON 20 - 2041 - ICELANDIC PREMIER DIVISION

  LEAGUE TABLE  -  FIXTURES  -  FIXTURES -  PLAYER STATS  -  TEAM STATS  -  COMPETITION REVIEW  

MANAGER PROFILE -  CHARACTERISTICS  -  ATTRIBUTES 

 CLUB PROFILE  -  GENERAL  -  FACILITIES  -  HONOURS  -  FINANCES  -  TRANSFERS 1 2

LEAGUE CUP

Out at the group stage. Two dissapointing results against KF and KR, gave us no chance.

LEAGUE

Similar to last season, inconsistant and despite a decent points total, we finish in 4th place.

ICELANDIC CUP

A dissapointing 2-1 loss to KA, meant we didn't get past the first hurdle.

THE PLAYERS

Steingrimsson has established himself as one of the better players in the team now. Omar Ingi Hallson has also broke into the team at centre back and Gisli Adalgeirsson is pushing to establish himself. Kristofer Hinriksson made just 5 starts as we start to look for a changing of the old guard in certain areas. His replacement, David Julian Kristinsson, finished a good season with 21 goals in 28 starts. Dadi Svaer Arnarson looks like he has a great future.

THE YOUTH INTAKE

A decent intake, although no one ready to step in straight away.

OFF THE FIELD

Bjorgvin Reynisson moved on to Napoli, without ever really shining. A 50% sell on clause has been included though, just like the Jales deal. A little update on Jales, he is now worth £27.5m having just spent the season on loan at Valencia.

[Shankly84]

As I said earlier, apologies for taking over the thread. That's it for tonight, although I still have 5 seasons to upload tomorrow.

[SoSolidSnake]

Do you guys know if there's a bug with moving players from your II Squad (maybe B squad in other leagues) to your main squad? I keep trying with one of my players, but he doesn't actually move squads. It doesn't come up with any error or anything, and I'm fairly sure I've tried it both inside and outside of transfer windows. 

 

[JWB935]

27 minutes ago, Shankly84 said:

As I said earlier, apologies for taking over the thread. That's it for tonight, although I still have 5 seasons to upload tomorrow.

No need, really enjoyed seeing the updates!

Even though I havent started this challenge (Yet) I am watching this thread and everyones progress everyday (probably 4-5 times a day!)

[JWB935]

28 minutes ago, Shankly84 said:

As I said earlier, apologies for taking over the thread. That's it for tonight, although I still have 5 seasons to upload tomorrow.

BTW any updates on the new stadium? I saw your balance down to £15,000 so hopefully a new stadium and a 50% sell on you have will help a lot I think.

[XaW]

17 minutes ago, SoSolidSnake said:

Do you guys know if there's a bug with moving players from your II Squad (maybe B squad in other leagues) to your main squad? I keep trying with one of my players, but he doesn't actually move squads. It doesn't come up with any error or anything, and I'm fairly sure I've tried it both inside and outside of transfer windows. 

 

I know there are some restrictions in Spain (and potentially other countries?), but I haven't played there enough to know what's correct or not. I think it's only within transfer windows and only if the player are not registered for the reserves or something...

[DJ Sir Matthew]

3 minutes ago, JWB935 said:

No need, really enjoyed seeing the updates!

Even though I havent started this challenge (Yet) I am watching this thread and everyones progress everyday (probably 4-5 times a day!)

I know the feeling  a bit same here although I did already start, but I have this thread open constantly. Always interesting to see how other are faring as well as all the little golden nuggets of info

[SoSolidSnake]

5 minutes ago, XaW said:

I know there are some restrictions in Spain (and potentially other countries?), but I haven't played there enough to know what's correct or not. I think it's only within transfer windows and only if the player are not registered for the reserves or something...

Hmm, I guess I'll keep trying, he's much too good for the II Team, and it doesn't matter too much because I can play him whenever I want, but when he's in the other team I can't praise him when he does well (like when he breaks the record for goals in a game for us, and gets a 10 rating) or fine him if he plays poorly. 

[Shankly84]

17 minutes ago, JWB935 said:

BTW any updates on the new stadium? I saw your balance down to £15,000 so hopefully a new stadium and a 50% sell on you have will help a lot I think.

Well, basically once the finances started to dwindle, the new stadium disappeared. When I asked to build a new stadium, they would say we don’t have the finances. 
 

All I will say is, watch this space 😁

[thomas_e]

We really have a special strikers in our club at the moment. Leonardo Moustafa is simply unstoppable! 

And it feels even better that he wasn't that highly rated when he came through the youth intake. He now plays in the starting 11 with the top prospect of the 2026 intake Diego Ledesma, but while Ledesma is still rated with only 2 stars ability (he has 16 in determination, so it's not a personality issue), Moustafa is now at 4,5 stars ability and an absolute beast! 17 goals in 14 league games (5 in the last game..) and 7 goals in 4 games in the Copa Libertadores. All those 4 games were in the knock out stages against superior opposition as well. 

Porto was sniffing around to sign him in the last window, so as soon as he turned 18 I pinned him down for a new 5 year contract with an additional 2 year extension clause. I think we have to face the fact that it's the last contract he signs with us! Our highest paid player now, but he's worth it! 

 

      

 

[DJ Sir Matthew]

2 minutes ago, thomas_e said:

We really have a special strikers in our club at the moment. Leonardo Moustafa is simply unstoppable! 

And it feels even better that he wasn't that highly rated when he came through the youth intake. He now plays in the starting 11 with the top prospect of the 2026 intake Diego Ledesma, but while Ledesma is still rated with only 2 stars ability (he has 16 in determination, so it's not a personality issue), Moustafa is now at 4,5 stars ability and an absolute beast! 17 goals in 14 league games (5 in the last game..) and 7 goals in 4 games in the Copa Libertadores. All those 4 games were in the knock out stages against superior opposition as well. 

Porto was sniffing around to sign him in the last window, so as soon as he turned 18 I pinned him down for a new 5 year contract with an additional 2 year extension clause. I think we have to face the fact that it's the last contract he signs with us! Our highest paid player now, but he's worth it! 

 

      

 

Wow, to be able to sign him on a 7 year contract sounds like a big win to me!

[JAwtunes]

Only a few months into the save and already have a virtual rivalry with the manager of our local rivals.  I'm going full Mourinho

[Braumiller]

On The Pitch - League Table
Europa Conference Qualifying 1st Round - Lynx of Gibralter and an easy 13-2 aggregate win
Europa Conference Qualifying 2nd Round - Tough draw and Rosenborg of Norway.  A fantastic 4-2 home win was followed up by a great 0-0 away result!  Our biggest scalp to date!
Europa Conference Qualifying 3rd Round - AaB of Denmark, still bigger than us (who isn't at this point!) but not as big as Rosenborg.  Away first and we held a 1-0 lead most of the game, until condeding in the 84th, but 1-1 away is good!  Home and this one was a battle!  We scored early on, but they equalized early in the 2nd half.  A nervy, foul laden game went to extra time.  Disaster in the 102nd minute as we get a red card (2nd yellow) and have to drop an MC into DC and an FC into MC and play a 441 aiming to get to penalties.  Then Adam Dunn 04 streaks away on a solo break and scores!  We just about hold on and are through!
Europa Conference Qualifying 4th Round - We draw Rijeka of Croatia in a friendly draw (we could have gotten Monaco, Wolves, Besiktas, Stuttgart, Villarreal, Olympiakos, CSKA Moscow, Feyenoord or Roma!).  Away leg first and a cracking result, 1-1!  Just a home leg away from our first ever Group Stage appearance in any european competition!  And disaster, for real this time.  The game just felt too big for the kids.  No-one performed and we got beat 0-2.  Depressing game.
Domestically, we were much improved.
With 4 games to go in the league, we still had our destiny in our own hands.  4 wins would have seen us champions (we were 3 points behinf TNS, but still had to play them), but again the kids were not yet up to the big match environment.  Our last 5 games in the league saw 1 win, 2 draws and 2 defeats.
The cups were the usual affair, losing to TNS in both when we finally got drawn against each other, including ANOTHER Welsh Cup final...

We did beat them twice this year though, our first wins against them all save!

Off The Pitch
We managed to get a Youth Recruitment improvement, but failed with the Junior Coaching.
The biggest news is that Lukas Jedlicka 10E now only has 12 months left on his contract and will not talk about a new one.  Torn between selling with a clause on it (not sure if there will be any worthwhile takers, no-one has shown interest yet unbelievably) or riding the 12 months out and hoping we can break either or both of our current glass ceilings with him before he leaves for nothing (winning the league over TNS or getting out of the Europa Conference qualifiers).  We won just about all awards from the club and the league this year!  64 goals!  A beast of a player at our level.

Youth Intake - screenshot
Another below par intake.  4 tagged and time will tell if any make an impact.
Josh Harding 12A - A terrible personality, coupled with not a great combo of positions and attributes.  May retrain to MR to give more options of use
Connor Tinsley 12B - A useful looking player, although a lot slower than I like my forwards.  A nice personality and English (my two big sales were high potential English kids, which I am starting to think was not a coincidence)
Adam Bale-Garner 12C - Will need retraining into MC to fit our formation and will need to get the unambitious personality fixed
Dion Barrett 12D - Pace!  Will retrain to be better at ML and will need to progress well in the u19s, but he could see some action

Squad Stats

Transfers

Edited December 21, 2020 by Braumiller

[thomas_e]

Sacachispas FC

Youth Intake 2028

We got promised a really talented midfielder in this years intake and it didn't dissapoint. Carlos Brunetti is an extremely gifted player and the best player we've had in the youth intake for several seasons. He's good enough for the first team already and with his ability to play both half back and as a central midfielder he will get plenty of opportunities. 

The rest of the intake doesn't look too good to be fair, but with a talent like this I can't complain! 

 

          

[VooDooYouDo]

Belenenses 2nd Season in Liga NOS (2027-28).  We somehow finished 6th, with puts us in the 2nd Qualifying Round in the Europa Conference League!  This is my first time in FM playing in this league, so I'm not sure how tough it is or our chances but I'm excited to see what this is all about--assuming we can make it to the group stage.  You'll notice here that Porto has 2 losses.  Guess who ended their nearly 2 full season (league) winning streak? YEP. How though? I don't know. I don't expect to beat them again for a while..

The good news is that I finally have a striker better than Soares (2, actually) and that I'm getting goals from everywhere on the pitch.  The bad news? Manchester United and Tottenham came calling for my starting defenders and the backups are a clear step down... Also, 2 seasons ago, some clubs came hard for Renato Valente, which thankfully I was able to fend off and look how he performed for me this season!

Intake Preview

Oh wow, TWO good keeper prospects, surprise surprise. I really wonder what is causing so many keeper prospects year after year.

The Intake

Quite a good group I must say. I wish I could re-train some of those keepers to other positions! At least when the big clubs come calling for my keepers I know I'll have someone waiting in the wings, but seriously, soon every club in the leagues below are going to have my keepers on loan. This season I loaned my backup keeper to a fellow Liga NOS club and he came in 3rd in keeper of the year!

 

Onward to our first attempt at getting into the Europa Conference League. Not sure how we'll do with losing our 2 best defenders, but I know I'm lucky to lose ONLY them with my high flying. At least we have $20m in the bank now, so I'm less worried about the board going over my head to accept offers for our players...just have to convince the players to keep re-signing now..

[shaunvamos]

3 hours ago, DazRTaylor said:

I have tried and failed in the Netherlands several times.  I can’t find a tactic to work there as my players are so inferior to the rest.  I see we have two people currently in this country who have survived.  What kind of tactic are you using?

I love the Dutch league and am desperate to succeed there. 

 

This is what I use, and it definitely seems to overachieve, although early on we would get smashed by the much better teams.

[witticism]

Another late sale but this time I managed to negotiate it take place at the end of the season as to avoid being left short handed for the second year in a row.

[keeper#1]

For @Paddersand the others who are struggling with match fatigue and squad rotation.  I came across this, today, in a blog post.

"In FM21 there is no such thing as training too much. And because of FM21’s added focus on squad rotation (due to simulated travel fatigue), maintaining a proper 2nd team is essential. You can no longer get away with a top-heavy team with little depth."

https://dictatethegame.com/non-league-legends-total-football-total-training/

Edited December 22, 2020 by keeper#1

[witticism]

First derby win in my career, took long enough

[Braumiller]

1 minute ago, witticism said:

First derby win in my career, took long enough

Kid, that's nothing  

[witticism]

12 minutes ago, Braumiller said:

Kid, that's nothing  

Oh probably but you know how the board is, love to harp about the one defeat in an otherwise successful season

[witticism]

 

Just when I had finished teaching him all the player traits I wanted

[Diego D10S]

Got fired  

Well deserved after a number of bad decisions by the manager. 

Was expecting a ability boost giving my prospects an early introduction to the first team, that didnt happen.

Not giving up on Italy just yet, starting over in Taranto.

 

GL ALL !!