The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge

[Bartrcm]

56 minutes ago, WhiteCat33 said:

By continental you mean the Caribbean Club Championship right? As a second place team you should get two playoff games in like early March or so of the next season to then play an April/may group stage. 

For the NACL pretty sure it's only the top 4 of the previous CCC and that announcement is in december with games scheduled for February. Guess you have some strong st Kitts teams as I've never seen them make it that far in my save. 

You're of course welcome to join me in St Vincent but I have to say the league is stupidly easy so unless you have a skin with a simulate button even a short 18 game season would get tedious. Also be prepared to stay semi-pro for a long time.

If I was going to start again in the Caribbean I would chose a nation with free movement with their colonial nation. Martinique was my second choice I debated on when starting. That league could be interesting with French leagues and all other French islands loaded. For a larger nation Haiti looks really fun. AS Caproise are solid in my save and have the biggest attendance in the Caribbean (6500 season ticket holders!). They produced a GK good enough that he's now the #2 for PSG which is unreal. Would make for an actual domestic challenge as well as potential to generate some top quality talent. 

Yes, Caribbean Club Championship it is.  It seems that you are right, as at the start of the new season that competition is still not finished. So, I will stay in St. Kitts.  BTW, I'm still amateur and the chairman is not willing to upgrade anything at the moment. Update of the season will follow tomorrow.

 

[WhiteCat33]

2 minutes ago, Bartrcm said:

Yes, Caribbean Club Championship it is.  It seems that you are right, as at the start of the new season that competition is still not finished. So, I will stay in St. Kitts.  BTW, I'm still amateur and the chairman is not willing to upgrade anything at the moment. Update of the season will follow tomorrow.

 

You must have a traditional calendar like st Vincent does. My preseason is the CCC finals so I do my updates on here in september/October once they are finished. Because of the way the CCC and NACL work they won't show up in your competition tabs at the start of the season. So it's hard to tell early on if you've made it till the games start. 

Oof on amateur, I think I got semipro without trying for it early on. Let's you save money though!

[dkouv]

Sant Andreu – Season 16 (2037/38)

Europe The CL keeps eluding us. We topped our group and deservedly got through a tough round 16 against Inter, but narrowly lost to Man Utd in the quarters. It’s no shame losing against them of course, but we actually were the better team during the tie and deserved to go through, just our finishing and goalkeeping letting us down again, same story over the past three seasons.

 

La Liga Barcelona gave us a good run for our money but in the end they finished second on 98 points and we finished first on league-record 103. We beat them in the cup final too just to rub it in.

 

Players: The squad was stagnating a bit and I decided to try and bring through some youngsters, who all developed well. We now have a fair few wonderkids in the squad, with defender Guille Arribas 11a rated highly but playing badly (short centre backs really don’t get very good ratings for me), and winger Luis Miguel Pastoriza 12a earning player of the season at 19. The emergence of Vicente Esparza 11c gave me some hope to end our dearth of good strikers, but even though he plays well we’re really paying for his finishing of 8 in those knockout CL games.

Youth intake (preview): Good preview, absolutely terrible intake. Don’t think any of them will make the first team, but I signed a fair few just in case.

 

Transfers: Nothing special.

Facilities: Still no youth facility or stadium upgrades.

Season    |  League               | Pos. |     Europe     |   Best player                     |  Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23   | Segunda RFEF Gr. III  |  1  |     n/a         |  German Fassani (ST)              | Promoted
2023/24   | Primera RFEF Gr. I    |  2  |     n/a         |  Aaron Hotoria 01a (DC)           | Lost in playoff semi
2024/25   | Primera RFEF Gr. I    |  3  |     n/a         |  Aaron Hotoria 01a (DC)           | Promotion through playoffs!
2025/26   | La Liga 2             |  9  |     n/a         |  Aaron Hotoria 01a (DC)           |
2026/27   | La Liga 2             |  1  |     n/a         |  Sergio Mulero (ST)               | Promoted
2027/28   | La Liga               |  19 |     n/a         |  Aaron Hotoria 01a (DC)           | Relegated
2028/29   | La Liga 2             |  1  |     n/a         |  Muhammed Badjie 03b (DC)         | Promoted
2029/30   | La Liga               |  11 |     n/a         |  Manel Blay 05a (MC)              |
2030/31   | La Liga               |  5  |     n/a         |  Manel Blay 05a (MC)              | Qualified for Europa League
2031/32   | La Liga               |  4  |     EL Semi     |  Moisés Nieto 07c (MC)            | 
2032/33   | La Liga               |  2  |     EL Semi     |  Manuel Ristori 02c (AMRLC)       | 
2033/34   | La Liga               |  1  |     EL Winner   |  Ivan Deniz 04b (ST)              | League + Europa double
2034/35   | La Liga               |  1  |     CL Semi     |  Manel Blay 05a (MC)              | 
2035/36   | La Liga               |  1  |     CL last 16  |  Muhammed Badjie 03b (DC)         | 
2036/37   | La Liga               |  1  |     CL last 16  |  Jaume Soler 08f (AMRL)           | 
2037/38   | La Liga               |  1  |     CL QF       |  Luis Miguel Pastoriza 12a (AMRL) | 

Facilities
----------
Season    |  Coaching     |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23   |  Average      |  Average          | Average        |  Average        |  6,557
2023/24   |  Adequate     |  Good             | Average        |  Average        |  6,557
2024/25   |  Adequate     |  Good             | Adequate       |  Average        |  6,557
2025/26   |  Adequate     |  Exceptional      | Adequate       |  Average        |  6,557
2026/27   |  Excellent    |  Exceptional      | Average        |  Average        |  6,557
2027/28   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | Good           |  Great          |  6,557
2028/29   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | Excellent      |  Excellent      |  6,557
2029/30   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | State of art   |  Excellent      |  about 15k
2030/31   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | State of art   |  Excellent      |  24,042
2031/32   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | State of art   |  Excellent      |  30,503
2032/33   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | State of art   |  Excellent      |  30,522
2033/34   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | State of art   |  Excellent      |  30,522
2034/35   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | State of art   |  Superb         |  30,522
2035/36   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | State of art   |  Superb         |  30,522
2036/37   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | Superb	       |  Superb         |  30,522
2037/38   |  Exceptional  |  Exceptional      | State of art   |  Superb         |  30,522

 

[SuperRedditch]

The Spartans

Season 10 - 2032/33

Scottish Premiership - 1st (Champions)

 

 

I mean, the table speaks for itself. Rangers were awful and Celtic ran us close but our end of season form (once we were knocked out of all the cups) was phenomenal. We won the last 9 games, including Celtic and Rangers twice each to really build up that gap. For the first time in 47 years, Scotland has a non-Old Firm Champion. From the beginning this season, I played the way I've wanted to all along. We scrapped the two-up-front shenanigans and played a 4-3-3 DM; my favourite formation.

 

As for Europe, we entered the Europa League straight into the group stage! The rules said we'd have to be in the Playoff, but I'm not sure if last year's Scottish Cup winner affected it. Regardless, we were up against Benfica, Anderlecht and Qarabag.

 

 

Smashed it. Winning the group gave us a bye into the 2nd Knockout Round. We drew Wolfsburg.

 

Too strong for us. But I estimate the Europa League run netted us ~£5million.

In the Scottish Cup we were 2-0 up against Rangers with 5 minutes to go, in the Quarter Final.

 

 

The filthiest of comebacks.

 

The Squad

 

We had a release clause of £10m triggered for our best full-back in January. To be honest, if there was one position I had ample cover in, it was there, and that money got immediately reinvested in facilities. I rejected an eye-watering £26m offer for Cepkauskas 05b (Star Lithuanian Striker) for good reason - see below. We've got some decentish prospects ticking along in the U18s and have started loaning our promising 18 year olds. We're at the stage now where not everyone is earmarked for the first team and it's nice to take a longer-term view of player progression.

 

D. Cepkauskas 05b - ST - 40 goals in 41 games. The man's a machine.

J. Dunbar 09a - AMR - 12 goals/19 assists as a Winger(A) at 16 years old.

B. Parker 06a - MC - Calling all the shots from CM. The Scottish Gerrard.

 

And a massive special mention to J. McCutcheon 00a. The 00 tag means he was part of the intake during the holiday year at the beginning of the game. He's been here for all 10 seasons, Captain for the last 8, has made 317 league appearances (including 27 this season). I reckon he's convinced people to stay at the club at least 30 times. I'll be arranging a testimonial for him when I can (never done it before). Has a contract for life, I'm not even kidding.

 

Transfers

Finances

 

Youth Intake

 

Something, something wingers are like buses. Both might be talented, it's hard to tell, but the personalities are pretty poor this year.

 

 

Steven Coull 10a - AMR - I think this is the better of the two. Low determination though. I'm really not expecting a lot from them, tbh.

 

Next Season

 

Well I guess that's the first big part of the challenge complete. I really need to sort out some players contracts this summer so we don't end up losing our best players. The goal now is to dominate Scottish football and develop world class facilities capable of creating a club that can take on the very best. Something tells me the easy part is over.

 

[aldojags]

Incredible progress @SuperRedditchsome fantastic talents there!

[XaW]

XaW - Amsterdamsche FC- Season 2024/25 - Keuken Kampioen Divisie

Squad | Transfers | Finances

An excellent first season in the Netherlands! We hovered around the upper mid-table for the whole season and eventually we secured a playoff spot since just about everyone gets a playoff spot. Unfortunately, we lost to RKC Waalwijk in the 1st round.

KNVB Beker: We lost to N.E.C. in the 1st round.

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

N/A

[Daddy]

2033/34 Season Review: 

Weirdly no trophy for the league again. At least we got it for the State Cup. Almost didn't get it at all for the league. No clue what happened but form fell off a cliff and went from updates about record pace to clinching the final match with a draw. Win is a win and it has huge implications for Europe.

 

Whole bunch of awards and it's nice to see they weren't dominated by one player.

Well this was unexpected. I knew the American was a wonderkid, but I did not expect him to climb to top rank. I certainly didn't expect the also have the second spot with this guy:

He's not even a primary starter, but he sees a ton of action as he fills in for either wing or striker when they're tired or injured and is first choice sub.

Transfers out and a new affiliate in US. Working on one in China now too.

This is the big update and why winning league was so important. I wanted to win to start in the playoff spot at least, but now we're automatically into the Group Stage. Massive stuff! I still think I'm a long way from actually finishing the challenge here in Israel, but actually building the nation here is a blast. This has made it go from a "do it until i get bored" run into a "I think I can win here and build Israel into a powerhouse."

European Update:

This wasn't just weird or off play. This came when the team was in peak form and actually played the games fairly well. Lazio was just plain better. 

2034/35 Season Preview:

Well starting in group stage we've already exceeded the club goals. In league I'm wondering if the every other year things happens and we finish second. I'll do a new post whenever I get to group draw.

Edit:

Yikes. Arsenal won in the 31/32 season defeating PSG in the finals. PSG has won three times in the save and reached the final one other time. Athletic is definitely not a push over either. I just hope to win a match.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Daddy

[DazRTaylor]

Damn it @XaW, you have me itching to get going in the Netherlands again.  Arguably my favourite FM nation.

[glennuk]

20 hours ago, SuperRedditch said:

https://www.guidetofm.com/players/personalities/3/

This is the one I use. Fickle is alright, they usually develop okay, it just means they have low loyalty and high ambition. Mercenary is a more extreme version of Fickle, both can be good players but are hard to keep hold of.

 

18 hours ago, Daddy said:

I also use this page: https://fmstats.com/2022-03-14-ambition-determination-professionalism/

 

I like the table at the bottom showing training progression

These are both amazing resources....I have clearly made some bad decisions with my youth that I can now learn from. Thanks again

[XaW]

2 hours ago, DazRTaylor said:

Damn it @XaW, you have me itching to get going in the Netherlands again.  Arguably my favourite FM nation.

Sorry!

[libbyshuss]

Argentina

Premier League

2034 (season 13)

Season Summary

Another ultimately disapointing season. We started off really well, going unbeaten in our first 12 league games. But weirdly the fixture list had given us all games against the lower teams. The next 12 saw us only win twice but given the fixture list it wasn't a huge surprise. The rest of the season saw us battle for a top 6 spot and qualification for Copa Libertadores, which we need for the money more than anything else. Ultimately, we fell just short, finishing 7th on goal difference

 

Back in the Copa SudAmerica, where we this season. We had a fairly easy group but I used it to give promising youth some first team game experience so it wasn't a huge surprise that we didn't make it out of the group

Only one win really wasn't great from that group. Ah well.....

 

Players

The first team do have a nice set of personalities and are getting better so with any luck next season we can get back to those top 6 finishes we had a few seasons ago.

Really disappointing season from Benitez 26B up front. I never succeed at this challenge without a top class striker, and it looks ike he isn't gonna be one.

Pacheco 32B at AMC is a huge bonus. Only 18 and 11 goals and 12 assissts is really encouraging.

Wonderkids

I finally got one! I think! not official yet, but......

Pinedo 32A at number 12! Really nice surprise that. Here he is:-

looks good for 18 right? Not yet described as a wonderkid but surely only a matter of time! and only £25 a week until the end of 2037 too. Not sure how I pulled that one off.

 

Youth

Another encouraging preview and intake. Hopefully they'll start paying off soon!

always nice to see a lot of A grades!

3 elite talents is pretty good but not the best mix of personalities there.

Finances and Upgrades

We got a bit of cash for the Copa Sudamericana but not a great deal. It meant no upgrades and a season ending with a buidling debt in the bank. We might need to cash in on one of our remaining stars after all.

Career

In a bit of a rut right now. Hopefully these new young players can drag us out of it, there's some real prospects there that'll make me plough on for a few more seasons. I apologise in advance for the boring seemingly repetitve updates to come!

 

Edited May 22, 2022 by libbyshuss

[Bartrcm]

Youths of the future - 1th division - Season 2023-2024

Predicted: 12th

Final position: 2nd

Again, didn't saw this coming. Firts half of the season was incredible. 8 wins and 3 draws, and were the leaders with some points ahaid. But in the second half we struggled with scoring goals. We drew a lot more games, but only lost for the first time after 17 games. We also lost the next game. St. Paul had won 13 games in a row, and after the second loss, against St. Paul, the title race was over. But we had an incredible first season in the top league, and we could hold on our 2nd position.

 

Games 1:

Games 2:

Cup: We also had an incredible cup run. We made it to the final and pushed St. Paul until the end. In the 83th minute we took a red card, and from that moment on we just tried t survive. We survived, but lost after a lottery named penalties.

 

Youth intake: we had a good preview (forgot to take a screenshot) and the intake itself was even better. I signed all players.

Josh Watson (YP2a): AMC: starter next season

Kirae Clayton (YP2b): AMC, but will be retrained as an AMR. Starter next season

Dennis Jones (YP2c): DC: starter next season

Conor Hewitt (YP2d): AMC, but will be retrained as MC: starter next season

 

Transfers: 1 outgoing. My 2nd GK. Can become a problem as I now only have 1 GK left.

 

Finances: Good, we gained some money during the season.

 

We had also our first call-up for the National Team. It was only for the U20, but this is a start

 

[Vipertitan]

 

trying this in mexico with Tecos de la UAG

 

club overview

club history

squad

team selection

facilities

[Bartrcm]

St. Paul actually finished 3th in the Caribbean Club Championship, so it seems that the football in St. Kitts and Nevis isn't that bad.

We also received the message that the draw for the first round was mad, and we face a team from St. Lucia. Let's hope we gain some money, so we at least become semi-professional. St. Paul plays in the NACL champions league. This is great progress for St. Kitts and Nevis football.

[SuperRedditch]

39 minutes ago, Vipertitan said:

 

trying this in mexico with Tecos de la UAG

 

club overview

club history

squad

team selection

facilities

Your screenshots aren't showing for me. Imgur loads and then just shows a blank page.

[XaW]

XaW - Amsterdamsche FC- Season 2025/26 - Keuken Kampioen Divisie

Squad | Transfers | Finances

While this was a disappointing season, we were also really unlucky. By the xG-table, we should be 5th!

Just a poor season from so many players. Hopefully the next will be better!

KNVB Beker: We beat FC Groningen and Spakenburg before losing to Vitesse in the 3rd round.

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

N/A

[aldojags]

Season Review 2026/27

Bit of a nothing season, never threatened the top of the table, never in danger of going down. Can't decide on a system, can't get any consistency out of players at all, can't see any way this teams in any shape to compete for promotion any time soon!

 

 

Just couldn't get anything consistent going all year. Would have little flashes of promise, followed up by games where I just don't have a kick.

 

 

Anyways enough moaning. I actually in a way enjoyed the season as the whole point of the save is youth development, and seeing some of the young guys really take the lead with the team now is really nice to see.

 

My squad view now lists my best 4 players as home grown players...

 

Also of note this year we had our first player capped - fair enough it's only Luxembourg, but still a significant milestone. May try use this guy more next year he looks ok. Got plenty of u21 internationals but this is first senior cap that I'm aware of!

Transfers

Nothing major, have a few premier league clubs sniffing about Ward De Vos, and Eugene Dereckx, losing them would be a disaster.

 

Youth intake

Decent enough intake, disappointed my model professional HOYD is still producing largely crap personalities!

But the keeper will be my number 1 soon despite his poor personality.

 

 

Also had my first poaching of the save. Let's hope he's sold for £100m in a few years!

 

Next year board just want to avoid relegation again. I can't much more than a 5th place finish maybe. Which in a 8 team league is a little uninspiring. Please tell me it gets easier! I have no money, have not had any youth/training/coaching upgrades and during course of save, despite winning promotion, I got dropped to semi pro! 

 

[glennuk]

Worthing FC - Season 10 - Mini Update and Youth Intake Preview

Even though we turned professional it was not enough for some to stay. Allen Long (YP05F), who was only my 2nd choice (possibly 3rd) LB, left at the start of the season, heading to Norwich and Stefan Schroder (YP06B), who was my 1st choice AML (but was still not a locked in starter), joined him in the next transfer window. I am hoping that at least one of these Next Sale clauses pays off, as we have yet to receive any money from one, despite insisting on including them on any big sale.

League So Far

We are doing well in the league and have been on an amazing run of wins. One of the craziest games in the first half of the season was against fellow playoff hopefuls Mansfield, where we looked like we didn't turn up and then turned into world beaters in the last 10 minutes (Man City in real life just followed our lead  )

Youth Intake Preview

The preview is an excellent one for us. We NEED CBs badly. Mikka Luomanen (YP09J), the J should say it all considering I letter by how well I think they will do, is my starting CB and is pretty poor overall. So if we get an Elite CB he may come in straight away and join Louis Lang (YP08H), who isn't great but is the best of an average to bad bunch. 

[WhiteCat33]

4 hours ago, aldojags said:

Please tell me it gets easier! I have no money, have not had any youth/training/coaching upgrades and during course of save, despite winning promotion, I got dropped to semi pro! 

You will generate some truly talented players in Belgium even with lower facilities,  but you will have to sell them to keep the club from bankruptcy. I tried a save there during the beta and eventually abandoned it. The finances are intense; expensive wages combined with no league prize money and low TV revenues. 

 

[Daddy]

Midseason Update:

Time to see if I can break the every other season bit we have going and go on a run and take the league. I'm going to try to tank the state cup again to free the dates up to keep team rested.

European Update:

Brutal group. I think it went a little better than it looks. We were in both of the two matches against Athletic before they pulled away late. The first Arsenal match was close as the score details. Went up; 2-0 against PSG and then never scored again against them. Half of the groups had teams with worse goal differentials and a bunch of teams we've beaten in the last few seasons. I don't feel as bad as the Group Stage from two seasons ago. 

Intake Preview:

Always want more Fullbacks. Plus, keep the talent incoming here at Striker FC as I'm sure it'll be tough to hold the #1 & 2 wonderkid strikers for long.

[aldojags]

6 hours ago, WhiteCat33 said:

You will generate some truly talented players in Belgium even with lower facilities,  but you will have to sell them to keep the club from bankruptcy. I tried a save there during the beta and eventually abandoned it. The finances are intense; expensive wages combined with no league prize money and low TV revenues. 

 

Yeh I think I remember seeing your save, you did well if I recall correctly.

 

The finances are just torture, every so often the board injects £600k to help with running costs, so the debt never goes much above £2m. But yes selling players is probably the way im gna have to go, but the most valuable assets we have i'll gert like £200k for, it just doesn't seem worth it i'd rather hold onto them and try fluke my way to promotion a year! which aint happening soon!

[SuperRedditch]

They better name it after me or we riot.

[XaW]

XaW - Amsterdamsche FC- Season 2026/27 - Keuken Kampioen Divisie

Squad | Transfers | Finances

A season with much the same. At least we are nowhere near the relegation zone, but I had hoped for a slightly increased success compared to last season, but we continue.

KNVB Beker: We beat Excelsior M before we lost to Vitesse (again!) in the 2nd round.

Youth intake:

Interestingly, we got 17(!) players in this season, as opposed to the normal 16. So I looked around, and it seems we have poached a player!

We suddenly own them 5% of a future fee. So I had a dig around, and it seems we DON'T get an inbox item for when it happens, but we instead get in an extra player in the first possible intake. Not ideal, and I hope SI will fix it, but at least it's possible to see after the player appears. Perhaps worthy of a small note in the OP @darren1983? Anyway, the poached player are quite poor...

This kid however is anything but poor. A supertalent!

Trophy cabinet

N/A

[toshimitzou1]

Hi all. Love a good Youth Academy challenge. Been reading some great stories on here. 

For me, I relish the tactical side of the game and with this in mind my posts are likely to be centered around tactical decisions. If this becomes too much please let me know.

I really enjoy using exotic roles that go 'against the grain' and hope I will be able to incorporate a Wide Target Forward into this years playthrough. Time to choose a nation.....

[WhiteCat33]

12 hours ago, aldojags said:

Yeh I think I remember seeing your save, you did well if I recall correctly.

 

The finances are just torture, every so often the board injects £600k to help with running costs, so the debt never goes much above £2m. But yes selling players is probably the way im gna have to go, but the most valuable assets we have i'll gert like £200k for, it just doesn't seem worth it i'd rather hold onto them and try fluke my way to promotion a year! which aint happening soon!

Depends on what you define as well. I struggled to break into Europe which is what is required to fix your finances in Belgium. The issue was its not just a couple teams that were strong but 4-5, so even getting EC2 was a struggle. I stopped the save because bayern stole my belgian national team level GK and my defense collapsed. 😤 

The worst part was I had a failed tycoon takeover. I could almost taste the 75 million he intended to inject into the club. Maybe you'll get luckier than me!

[glennuk]

5 hours ago, XaW said:

 

This kid however is anything but poor. A supertalent!

 

Wow. 17 Tackling at 15 years old is just ridiculous, the Mentals all being good, the physicals all starting decent. This is like a dream player! Sign him up with a 3 year optional contract extension post haste!!

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by glennuk

[toshimitzou1]

The Chilean Youth Challenge has begun! Chose Chile as it has not been done yet and I like the idea of trying to win the Copa Libertadores whilst vying against the giants of Argentina and Brazil.

Club History

Had to reload 6 times to pull this team out. They have an awesome stadium already, have finished runner-up in the top division just the once and based on what I have read, they are well supported, with a city rival ,"C.D. Universidad de Concepción" ripe for being usurped. Media prediction is relegation (no surprises there). Time to check out the squad, eep.

[glennuk]

Worthing FC - Season 10 - Youth Intake - 10th Golden Generation

We always get a 'Golden Generation', not sure if luck or a bug, because some of them don't seem too golden. This is an example of my non-golden generation. We do have some players who may develop into role players, but this is not the most exciting Youth Intake.

Disappointingly this is our first intake in a while where we are back to just having Youth Players from the home nations. Also unfortunately the best personalities are on the players with the worst PA, that will not be signed up regardless. Overall definitely not a Golden Generation.

Top 3 - Youth Intake 10

Jonny Docherty (YP10A) - A decent personality in fairly determined and a mixture of okay physicals, decent mentals and relatively high heading and tackling. However this is probably my worst A player so far. I project that he will be at most a squad player, but I am hoping that he will prove me wrong.

Ellis Deer (YP10B) - Stats wise he is nothing to write home about. Unambitious is not the worst, but is also not a good personality. So why is he my B player? Well simply for the fact that I am still desperate for good CBs. I am hoping that perhaps we can change the personality and get him to improve those poor Marking and Strength attributes.

Dean Holmes (YP10C) - A mercenary personality means that he may not stick around long, but I am hoping that I may be able to develop him enough to get a decent chunk of change for him. He has decent pace and acceleration which I love in a RB (which is what he will be retrained in). Crossing is also important for me, as we get quite a few goals from our RB crossing to our Inverted Winger AML. 

[glennuk]

Serious Question - Is this the best player to ever play in the Vanarama National? He is rated as a Leading Sky Bet League One Player with potential to be a Sky Bet Championship Player. Rejected a bid of 1mil plus 50%, he is still on a part time contract as he will not sign a new contract...

 

EDIT: Now rated as a Sky Bet Championship Player

Edited May 24, 2022 by glennuk

[Daddy]

2 hours ago, toshimitzou1 said:

The Chilean Youth Challenge has begun! Chose Chile as it has not been done yet and I like the idea of trying to win the Copa Libertadores whilst vying against the giants of Argentina and Brazil.

Club History

Had to reload 6 times to pull this team out. They have an awesome stadium already, have finished runner-up in the top division just the once and based on what I have read, they are well supported, with a city rival ,"C.D. Universidad de Concepción" ripe for being usurped. Media prediction is relegation (no surprises there). Time to check out the squad, eep.

That's actually the team I won with

Was a blast and I still want to go back and play more with them. I finished in November 2027, but I hope you can win faster

[libbyshuss]

On 22/05/2022 at 23:58, aldojags said:

Please tell me it gets easier! I have no money, have not had any youth/training/coaching upgrades and during course of save, despite winning promotion, I got dropped to semi pro! 

i always have periods like this in this challenge. I'm kinda stuck in one right now! it does get better, but it can take so long sometimes. When I was in Belgium I think it was the 2050s when I was out of it, something like that! Sometimes you just need a really big dollop of luck somewhere

edit: i loved Belgium - one of my most favourite challenges! 

Edited May 24, 2022 by libbyshuss

[Vipertitan]

On 22/05/2022 at 17:59, SuperRedditch said:

Your screenshots aren't showing for me. Imgur loads and then just shows a blank page.

they should.  here they are again ,,...  

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Vipertitan

[XaW]

7 hours ago, glennuk said:

Wow. 17 Tackling at 15 years old is just ridiculous, the Mentals all being good, the physicals all starting decent. This is like a dream player! Sign him up with a 3 year optional contract extension post haste!!

He has already accepted the longest contract I could give him!

[aldojags]

52 minutes ago, XaW said:

He has already accepted the longest contract I could give him!

ah, the old 3 year contract with 3 year optional extension!?

[XaW]

14 minutes ago, aldojags said:

ah, the old 3 year contract with 3 year optional extension!?

Could only do 2 year extension for some reason, but added the "extension after 15 league matches in the final season" to compensate!  

[aldojags]

10 minutes ago, XaW said:

Could only do 2 year extension for some reason, but added the "extension after 15 league matches in the final season" to compensate!  

nicely done sir, nicely done

[SuperRedditch]

The Spartans

Season 11 - 2032/33

Scottish Premiership - 2nd

League Cup - Winners
Europa League - Semi Finals
Scottish Cup - Lost Final

 

The hardest season I've had to take in a very, very long time. Six points clear of second with 5 games to go, this was our end of season form:

 

Injuries crippled us. 3 out of 4 full-backs out injured for a month, then my 2 best strikers. The 3 full-backs got injured in the same week! This game is so rigged sometimes, I swear. The games were so often, Monday/Thursday/Sunday/Wednesday was the point at which it got laughable, that I basically wasn't training people between matches. From being in contention to win the league, Scottish Cup and the Europa League (the latter being my lowest priority as just getting to the Semi was a massive bonus) we won none of them - only the League Cup victory in December offering paltry compensation.

And it all started so well, we had a great time in the Champions League, finishing 3rd in the group behind Chelsea and Villarreal and ahead of Genk. We won 3 matches (Genk twice and Villarreal away).

 

Not highlighting anyone from the squad. They're all the same as they were and to be honest they let me, themselves, and most importantly the fans down this season.

 

Youth Intake

 

 

 

Worst intake I've had. All awful, not showing anyone. The A ranked DM I was excited about to challenge our only established player in that position? 4* PA Unambitious. Very funny, HoYD, you got me good there. Hope you enjoyed your sick joke you manipulative, two-faced, lying %$*&£! When it came through he actually had the audacity to tell me it was a golden generation.

 

Next Season

I'm so angry right now (unhealthy, I know it's just a game, get a grip). We really don't have anyone exciting coming through, so it's a matter of holding onto our best players, but there's a couple that are entering the 3 year optional extension I negotiated, and they arent willing to discuss a new contract, so I've only got a couple of years before I have to sell them. This season was a setback in that regard, because our reputation didn't rise enough.

We're planning building a 21k capacity stadium, financially, as long as we're in the Champion's League, we're doing well, and our facilities are close to being maxed out - it's not all bad, just went a bit wrong in the final month of the season.

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by SuperRedditch

[glennuk]

@SuperRedditchKeep the faith. I have had some frustrating seasons too. BUT yhe light is even though he is now only 3 star PA, that Model Citizen CB could turn into something. Best personality. I had a 3* PA Model Citizen end up in 3 years as a 4 star CA....will see if I csn find screenshots, but save was on my old laptop.

[toshimitzou1]

9 hours ago, Daddy said:

That's actually the team I won with

Was a blast and I still want to go back and play more with them. I finished in November 2027, but I hope you can win faster

Doh. That's put me right off. Clearly my reading skills are somewhat lacking. Back to the drawing board. Will select a new club later on today.

Top work though BTW.

[XaW]

XaW - Amsterdamsche FC- Season 2027/28 - Keuken Kampioen Divisie

Squad | Transfers | Finances

A much improved season. We were close to a playoff spot, but fell just short. At least we are finally showing we have something to offer here, and with a few more seasons under the belt, we might fight for a promotion.

KNVB Beker: We beat Cambuur before we lost to Utrecht in the 2nd round.

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

N/A

[Daddy]

51 minutes ago, toshimitzou1 said:

Doh. That's put me right off. Clearly my reading skills are somewhat lacking. Back to the drawing board. Will select a new club later on today.

Top work though BTW.

Sorry! I like chasing the countries it's never been completed in as well

[SuperRedditch]

 

Cya.

[aldojags]

My first sale of the save of note - the money is a joke, but getting them to agree to end of season and a 50% sell on fee is a risk worth taking I think. Was gna lose him on a free in a year.

 

THe money is a joke though he's worth so much more than that...

 

 

[libbyshuss]

Argentina

Premier League

2035 (season 14)

Season Summary

A much improved season! We were miles off the title but were bouncing around 6/7th most of the season until an unbeaten 9 game run at the end of the season pushed us right into 4th. We're back in the Libertadores which will give us some much needed funds. And the team seems to be coming together!

Copa Sudamericana saw us finish second in the group stage. Again. ah well....

 

Players

The first team managed to keep injury free for most of the season and are starting to both improve and really gel. I'm kinda looking forward to next season!

Wonderkids

Pinedo 32A is gonna be the one! I got to plan what to do with him though as there's only two years left on his teeny tiny contract, and he'll want at least a £15k raise and i have no money!

My first ever wonderkid! although it's still not official on his profile.

Youth

a nice preview. but would the intake be as good? Probably not, to be fair. The elite talents all have awful personalities and single figure determinations. 

 

Finances and Upgrades

We lost such a lot of money! getting back into the Libertadores was essential as my wage bill had shot right up. At least now i won't have to sell anyone. unless a groovy bid comes in but weirdly i get very few offers for some reason. I got loads leagues loaded up as well so who knows.

 

Career

First season for a while where i've felt really optimistic! Hopefully we can make a proper breakthrough in the next couple of seasons and challenge for titles. I think the ingredients are there, we just need a bit of luck against the bigger clubs here and there. 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by libbyshuss

[Neo_Geo]

Hello all, new to the forum and new to this challenge but I really like what I've read so far and want to give it a go (being playing FM since the immortal Champ Man 97/98).

I've opted for Holland for my first attempt (wanted to avoid England and Scotland as they make up about 90% of my saves and I figured 2 tier league is a good start and Holland have a good nation level).

 

After the 3 year wait I have opted for VV Katwijk

XaW - VV Katwijk- Season 2024/25 - Keuken Kampioen Divisie

 

My manager is given a chance due to club colours to dust off the Dumb and Dumber Tuxedo 

 

Not too shabby as far as the starting squad is concerned however I'm sure I'll be up against it when the league games start.....time for some morale boosting very small team friendly wins 

 

[XaW]

Welcome @Neo_Geo! Happy to see you join me in the Netherlands! Lovely to see the suit match the Dutch colours as well!  

[Neo_Geo]

Thanks @XaW, I had to roll a few times for a different team as I got AFC each time and saw your latest save and thought best not to introduce myself by copying your save!

Made some initial progress tonight with staff and managed to get this HoYD in the door!

Opting for a 4-3-3 DM wing play with a target forward, not the stereotypical Dutch approach but looking at Hans Botermans definitely suggests its a way to get goals from crosses and set pieces

I just hope I can get the results to stay in charge long enough for at least the first intake as it looks like a really tough challenge but enjoyable if you can get it going long enough.

 

[rdevlin98]

Hi all,

I just expected to have my first youth intake (In England) but March has come and gone and there's no sign of it happening. I am using a custom database but I've used this database before and had a youth intake. Other teams in my league (11th tier) have had a youth intake too in this save. I got the preview back in December too.

 

Does anyone know if there's a bug? Could it because I had limited youth recruitment (unlikely)? Any help? I'm going to save the game and holiday to next March just to see if its bugged for just this year.

Edited May 24, 2022 by rdevlin98

[WhiteCat33]

3 minutes ago, rdevlin98 said:

Hi all,

I just expected to have my first youth intake (In England) but March has come and gone and there's no sign of it happening. I am using a custom database but I've used this database before and had a youth intake. Other teams in my league (11th tier) have had a youth intake too in this save. I got the preview back in December too.

 

Does anyone know if there's a bug? Could it because I had limited youth recruitment (unlikely)? Any help? I'm going to save the game and holiday to next March just to see if its bugged for just this year.

Which custom database? I've tried "England Level 11" and it worked for me including the first season. Think mine happened later than normal like Mid April, but I forget its been a minute.

[rdevlin98]

1 minute ago, WhiteCat33 said:

Which custom database? I've tried "England Level 11" and it worked for me including the first season. Think mine happened later than normal like Mid April, but I forget its been a minute.

I'm not sure, I don't think there's many around so it's likely the very same.

Hopefully mine shows up in April. When I go to the development centre, and click youth candidates, the preview is still there so hopefully like you said it's April.