The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge

An absolutely massive shock! A great end of season run sees us climb from 7th to 3rd and qualify for next seasons Conference League!!!

Overall Best XI

2031/32 Best XI

Tim Kraft (YP4e) - Owen Xuereb (YP2o) - Daniel Scicluna (YP4a) - Adrian Xuereb (YP3e)

Timmy Agius (YP8a) Dejan Bajada (YP4b)

Manager Profile (start of save) Main Squad

All-time Best XI

RJLHJ · March 29, 2022

Sacked off the Enfield save as i had no useable GK and it just killed me. Reset and go again!

So a quick restart of this challenge, we're off to newly promoted Kingstonian FC - ive got found memories of a lower league save with these many years ago so it was an obvious choice. Looking forward to cracking on.

Makoto Nakamura · March 29, 2022

A 2-1 aggregate loss to Montenegrin side Buducnost Podgorica in the first qualifying round but it's given us some money!

Improvements!

libbyshuss · March 29, 2022

Novara FC

Italy

Serie C

2028/29

Season Summary

At one stage this was looking like being an amazing season. 10 games in and we were top of the table with 8 wins and 1 draw. But then we stumbled, lost to our nearest rivals and by christmas we were second, 6 points off the top spot. After christmas we regressed to the mean, narrowly lost a few we would have won earlier in the season and even went on 5 game losing run in march. By the end of the season, after only winning 3 of our last 15 league games, we were 8th, one spot lower than last season!

So into the play offs again! and out in the third round again! Only this time it was even more annoying than before....

Out on penalties! But it gets worse.....

they equalised in the 90th minute and then the 120th minute!!!!

Players

They're really coming on now. Most of them have been rated as potential Serie B players by my HoYD as well, which is a bonus. With my training ground the way it is they have every chance of reaching that level. Surely it's only a matter of time before promotion is ours?

Redaelli is a winger playing up front, i might try a proper striker for next season. Fiorenzo at centre back is the real deal, it's ridiculous how much better than the rest of the team he is.

Youth

A nice preview and intake this season. nobody first team ready but some really nice looking prospects

Best prospect is probaby this lad:-

Finances and Upgrades

Still losing money hand over first. But for some reason the board agreed to this, which is very nice of them I thought!

Surely one step closer to a Serie B level squad?

Career

Wil I ever get out of Serie C? how does anyone ever get out of Serie C? It's ludicrously difficult! 60 teams competing for 4 spots!

Can't complain with 5 elite talents!

Makoto Nakamura · March 29, 2022

2032/33 Youth Candidates

One good centre-back and that's about it.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Makoto Nakamura

the_hdk · March 29, 2022

Makoto you are going through seasons....so fast

Makoto Nakamura · March 29, 2022

2 minutes ago, the_hdk said:

Makoto you are going through seasons....so fast

I have a really fast computer and I use instant result. I'm also on day two of covid isolation. :lol:

Makoto Nakamura · March 29, 2022

2032/33 End of Season Review

First Team Fixtures

Our European run didn't last and our form from last season didn't either as we're back to our usual mid-table finish.

Our first ever youth double!

Overall Best XI

2032/33 Best XI

Tim Kraft (YP4e) - Owen Xuereb (YP2o) - Daniel Scicluna (YP4a) - Adrian Xuereb (YP3e)

Clayton Grech (YP10a) Dejan Bajada (YP4b)

All-time Best XI

DazRTaylor · March 30, 2022

Youth Candidates

Season 2022/23

Ta'Xbiex SC

The preview was amazing, so I expected big things:

I was hoping for a 5* current ability player though it wasn't to be. Still, it was a decent intake.

DazRTaylor · March 30, 2022

End of Season Review

Season 2022/23

Ta'Xbiex SC

Season Summary

An unbelievable season where we won the our group and the subsequent championship game to secure promotion to the second tier.

Season Details

League Table - By having such a strong season, we were at the top of the table early on and never looked back.

League Fixtures - We very nearly went the entire campaign unbeaten, until our penultimate game, where we produced the worst performance of the season.

National Amateur League Champions Playoff Final - An extraodinary game against the Group A winners, Attard FC, where we found ourselves down by three goals to one. We came back and won, after extra time, by five goals to four to lift the league title.

National Amateur Cup - Despite being two goals up, we lost at home, after extra time, to fellow third tier side Mellieħa SC at the quarter final stage.

Friendlies - It was a very tough pre season campaign, though by winning our final three friendlies, we entered the league season in high spirits.

Squad - We played way above our level as we lack a lot of quality across the board.

Squad Dynamics - After such a great year, I would expect this to be better, especially the team cohesion.

Transfers In - None.

Transfers Out - None.

Youth Candidates - The intake was pretty good, with right back Clyde Cardona YP23A1 being touted as the best prospect.

Finances - We started in the red with insecure finances and it has only got worse.

Key Players

Liam Spiteri - Playing on the right wing, he played exceptionally well.

Kenny Hili - The winger was an assist machine.

Shamison Farrugia - The striker had a decent enough return, scoring 14 goals in 22 appearances.

Keith Anthony Borg - Vastly experienced and way past his best, the centre back played like a man half his age.

Jurgen Sciriha - Our midfield meastro. He had a good season, though had a tendency to disappear in games occasionally.

Next Season

I would be happy with survival.

Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation               Qualifications    Att   Def   Fit   GkD   GkH   GkS   Tac   Tec   Men   WWY   Ada   Det   PlK   YoK   LoD   MaM   Mot
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start   Minimal       (0.25*)    None                1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     4     1     1     1     4     1     1     1
2022/23    Minimal =     (0.50*) ↑  None =              4 ↑   3 ↑   1 =   1 =   1 =   1 =   3 ↑   3 ↑   4 ↑   4 =   1 =   3 ↑   3 ↑   5 ↑   3 ↑   4 ↑   5 ↑

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start   Poor                 Poor              Basic                 Basic            Basic              Local   (0.50*)
2022/23    Poor =               Poor =            Basic =               Basic =          Basic =            Local = (0.50*) =

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23      22        16        4        2          61              32                 +29              72.73%

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Time At Club
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23          22        16        4        2          61              32                 +29              72.73%             299 days

Transfer Sale Record

Date               Player                    Position               Club Sold To                 Country                   Transfer Fee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------
2022/23    Bank of Valletta National Amateur League

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------
1 x Bank of Valletta National Amateur League (2022/23)

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

Career Overview

Season     Champions League            Europa League               Europa Conference League             League                                            Position     IZIBET F.A. Trophy              Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23           N/a                       N/a                               N/a                       Bank of Valletta National Amateur League Group B     1st               N/a                     Won National Amateur League Champions Playoff Final and promoted as champions.  National Amateur Cup quarter final.

Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Appearances
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23    Clyde Cardona YP23A1                      1

Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23    No one                                       0

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                        Cumulative Number of Assists
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23    Clyde Cardona YP23A1                        1

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

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23    No one                                     0

Edited March 30, 2022 by DazRTaylor

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

2033/34 Youth Candidates

Another good centre-back, not quite what we needed as now three of the seven highest rated players are DC's and with Matthew arriving it looks like Tim Kraft (YP4e)'s time as DR is coming to a close.

XaW · March 30, 2022

XaW - Xgħajra Tornadoes FC - Season 2023/24 - Bank of Valletta Challenge League

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well, this was a bit of a surprise! Turns out there's not that much difference between the 2nd and 3rd tier here in Malta. So we got our 2nd promotion as champions in a row. I expect more difficulty in the next season when we finally are in the top tier. The title was decided in the most anti-climactic way possible, Mġarr United losing a match on a day we didn't play... Still very happy with the season, though!

FA Trophy: We beat St. Lawrence before we lost to Żebbuġ Rangers in the 1st round.

U20 Team:

They only played friendlies.

U19 Team:

They won the MFA Youth League Section C and got promoted to Section B for next season!

MFA Youth Knock-Out: They beat Qormi, Pietà Hotspurs, and Ħamrun Spartans before they lost to Naxxar Lions in the quarter final.

Player statistics (youths only):

Most apps:
Edward Grech 23o - 32 apps
Lucas Ciangura 23d - 31 apps
Liam Pace Briffa 23l - 31 apps

Most goals:
Liam Pace Briffa 23l - 14 goals
Lucas Ciangura 23d - 10 goals
Deisler Oliver Scicluna 23m - 1 goals

Most assists:
Liam Pace Briffa 23l - 10 assists
Lucas Ciangura 23d - 6 assists
Deisler Oliver Scicluna 23m - 3 assists

Average rating:
Liam Pace Briffa 23l - 7.66
Lucas Ciangura 23d - 7.18
Deisler Oliver Scicluna 23m - 6.98

Youth intake:

A good intake. Some nice personalities as well.

A really promising defender. Most likely first choice already!

Trophy cabinet

Bank of Valletta Challenge League - 1 (2023/24)
Bank of Valletta National Amateur League - 1 (2022/23)

National Amateur Cup - 1 (2022/23)

MFA Youth League Section C - 1 (2023/24)
MFA Youth League Section D - 1 (2022/23)

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

2033/34 End of Season Review

A much better season and we've made it back into the Europa Conference League, more money!!

Overall Best XI

2033/34 Best XI

Tim Kraft (YP4e) - Matthew Azzopardi (YP11a) - Daniel Scicluna (YP4a) - Adrian Xuereb (YP3e)

Clayton Grech (YP10a) Dejan Bajada (YP4b)

All-Time Best XI

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

We won a European tie!

We lost in the next round but it's more money for more upgrades!

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

2034/35 Youth Candidates

We got yet another centre-back but also a player from San Marino!

Daddy · March 30, 2022

2028 Season Review:

Was a struggle all season to score and gave up too many. A lot of 1-1 draws or 2-1 losses. I tried a bunch of tactics changes and nothing clicked. I had a post about how broke the team was to the point they wouldn't offer me a contract early. I have one rule about how I play the game and that's I want some form of realism in how I act as a manager. Stuff like after the second contract each one needs to be better than the previous (has to be an increase in salary, years offered, or some attainable bonus like not getting relegated vs. winning CL etc) as I wouldn't turn down interviews from bigger clubs with more money to stay at a job that doesn't pay me more. The other thing, and I killed my Swiss save over it, is when things feel like a dead end job. With all that being said, I was 50/50 if I'd even get offered a contract let alone one I would want to sign.

2028 Youth Intake:

Bearing in mind that stars are relative to your team, this is still a massive intake. The keeper immediately solves a major problem. Fortunately shortly after this comes in a contract offer comes in and I was able to get a tiny salary bump, so I signed and am staying on. However, with finances the way they are there's not much the team can do to progress forward and get upgrades etc.

Transfers:

That led me to thinking about what I can do to fix the finances. Unfortunately ALL my players have value of $0 for transfers, but the better ones had massive appearance fees. I wasn't paying too close attention to that, so anyone with a 4 figure p/a was let go on free or didn't have contract renewed. Only one get caught in last seasons transfers, but I shipped out five players in total that were starters last season and any player that didn't have at least three gold star potential. Spent too much money on a bad team.

2029 Season Preview:

After gutting the team where does that leave us? Honestly, the same predictions they always give us, so who knows. Now with basically a whole new starting XI I need a tactic.

I took the blank tactic, sorted by CA star ratings and plugged the players in their "best" position and role and came up with this beauty. Still in preseason friendlies but we're scoring in droves. Way more than previous preseasons against basically the same teams. Who knows how the season will go

At least we'll look good doing whatever it is we do

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

2034/35 End of Season Review

So, so close! One more point would have given us 3rd since we had better goal difference and head-to-head record against both Floriana and Valletta, but instead we miss out on next seasons Conference League. The big story here is that Kirkop United, who also start in the 3rd tier are now champions of Malta!

Overall Best XI

2034/35 Best XI

Matthew Camilleri (YP12i) - Matthew Azzopardi (YP11a) - Daniel Scicluna (YP4a) - Adrian Xuereb (YP3e)

Timmy Agius (YP8a) Owen Xerri (YP5d)

All-Time Best XI

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

More upgrades with last seasons Conference League money!

JAwtunes · March 30, 2022

@Daddylove the formation

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

2035/36 Youth Candidates

More centre-backs. :lol:

Except, as it turns out, this centre-back is already the best one in the entire country, aged just 15!!!

Daddy · March 30, 2022

1 hour ago, JAwtunes said:

@Daddylove the formation

So do the teams I'm facing lol. I'll have to tinker with instructions. I had just left it all to default.

The7Striker · March 30, 2022

@Makoto Nakamura is that guy the Maltese Puyol ? :lol:

WhiteCat33 · March 30, 2022

On 29/03/2022 at 11:50, dkouv said:

Yeah I think I might have jumped the gun a bit with my excitement... Basically we upgraded back up to excellent but 6 months after that was completed there is still no option to ask the board for a new upgrade, which is unusual. I'll wait a few more months in the game and go back to that bug report I guess.

I'll be making a bug report tonight as I've finished my season and have yet to see an upgrade option. Sigh...back on the shelf for Slovenia. I've played 5 seasons of an England Tier 11 save with just 2 promotions up to Tier 9 so I might make that my main save or will go hunting for another league that looks interesting. The England save hasn't quite 'bit' like Slovenia did, but that may be the fact the players are still all under 19 and questionably skilled. My star is a Finnish U-21 CAM though, which is fun.

dkouv · March 30, 2022

18 minutes ago, WhiteCat33 said:

I'll be making a bug report tonight as I've finished my season and have yet to see an upgrade option. Sigh...back on the shelf for Slovenia. I've played 5 seasons of an England Tier 11 save with just 2 promotions up to Tier 9 so I might make that my main save or will go hunting for another league that looks interesting. The England save hasn't quite 'bit' like Slovenia did, but that may be the fact the players are still all under 19 and questionably skilled. My star is a Finnish U-21 CAM though, which is fun.

Good idea; think I'll continue for a bit but not really as motivated now... Guess Spain shouldn't be too bad even with excellent facilities, as long as they don't keep downgrading them in the future.

That Finnish player looks pretty awesome for Tier 9, although it is a bit random to get a star Finnish regen at AFC Knowsley ))

WhiteCat33 · March 30, 2022

2 minutes ago, dkouv said:

Good idea; think I'll continue for a bit but not really as motivated now... Guess Spain shouldn't be too bad even with excellent facilities, as long as they don't keep downgrading them in the future.

That Finnish player looks pretty awesome for Tier 9, although it is a bit random to get a star Finnish regen at AFC Knowsley ))

Yeah he really is and only being able to do 1 year contracts makes it stressful every year to see if i can keep him! We actually just got the tier 9 promotion (because apparently even though the game says the top 2 get promoted some seasons that doesn't actually happen) so this has been a tier 10 player. I've been surprised by the wide nationality spread of youth players who stumble into this sleepy village and decide this is where they want to start their football careers.

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

2035/36 End of Season Review

Two games to go we were top of the table, we then bottle both games and miss out on our first ever league title but at least we still have the Conference League to look forward to.

Overall Best XI

2035/36 Best XI

Matthew Camilleri (YP12i) - Matthew Azzopardi (YP11a) - George Buttigieg (YP13a) - Brian Attard (YP13c)

Timmy Agius (YP8a) Owen Xerri (YP5d)

Josef Bonnici (YP7i) - Matthew Grima (YP9a)

All-Time Best XI

the_hdk · March 30, 2022

Might be a stupid question, but how come you have a different amount of games played each season?

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

4 minutes ago, the_hdk said:

Might be a stupid question, but how come you have a different amount of games played each season?

26 league games then cup and continental games, it changes every season.

the_hdk · March 30, 2022

Just now, Makoto Nakamura said:

26 league games then cup and continental games, it changes every season.

:seagull: I somehow read that as games played in league...its late thansk for quick replay

Novafluff · March 30, 2022

Season Review 2026

Table | Transfers | Finances | Facilities | Youth intake

A season where we look close to relegation zone but we were far ahead all season. A quite bad year still but our intake were fantastic. The only thing i can complain about is that the two best players both were CAM but we probably will make one into either a striker or CM but Rasmus Knutsson and Dino Lantz will for sure feature in our team right away. We still need a top striker thou as we are lacking goals

Transfers we lost two guys, our starting LD but our second choice there were just as good so no big loss and the other guy where still in the u19.

Finances is going down but it is expected, with the type of intakes we get now we are for sure gonna be challenging for promotion soon.

Top Scorer: (04-B)Colin Lundberg | 6 Goals | 17(8) Games

Most Assists: (01-D)Tommy Lundberg | 8 Assists | 24(1) Games

Best Average: (01-D)Tommy Lundberg | 7.26 Average | 24(1) Games

Top Prospect: (01-A)Milan Filo | 2 Goals | 0 Assists | 7.20 Average | 24 Games

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

1 hour ago, The7Striker said:

@Makoto Nakamura is that guy the Maltese Puyol ?

He's a Maltese monster! :lol:

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

Another First Qualifying Round defeat but enough money for more upgrades!

WhiteCat33 · March 30, 2022

Nogometni Klub Pobrezje: 2051/52 – Slovenian 1^st Liga (Season 28)

Performance

Honestly, after last season (and the gap between playing the save) this year was underwhelming. While last year my Striker & GK played out of their minds to bring the first European Trophy ever to Slovenia, this year they had below average performances. My GK especially had a couple 6.1 rating games playing so badly I swapped him out for the final part of the league campaign. I had issues keeping the whole team happy this year and had a period where I had over 10 players complaining a lot with the 'Wants a new challenge' Issue, but by the end of the season almost all of the players were either happy or on their way out.

Euro Champions Cup: First Knockout

Since we won the Euro Cup last season we got a 1st seed draw for the group stage instead of having to go through the full qualification. We got an easier group than last year with: Liverpool , Lokomotiv Moscow , Celtic . If you check the links you'll see that Lokomtiv & Celtic are slightly better than us, but within reason of being close. Liverpool are naturally a major step above us and have achieved good success in my save: 2 Champions League trophies (3 Runners up) ; 5 Premier League Titles ( 8 2nd place ; 11 3rd place) ; 2 Euro Super Cups ; 1 Euro Cup ; 8 Carabao Cups & 8 FA Cups. Not a bad haul in 28 seasons.

Group Fixtures: Match Reports

Shouldn't be a surprise that Liverpool smoked the group, while we limped into second place with a 2-2-2 record. Only game worth singling out is the 10 goal shooter at Anfield. We just couldn't get the defense set up right at the start and gave up 4 goals in the first 25 minutes as their offense just ran over us. The real surprise was my Sub CAM coming on and scoring two goals, but you can see from the shots my defense just got pounded on.

For our Knockout we drew: Totenham, which I'd say was a good draw considering these options.

Totenham have done okay this save and while not as strong as Liverpool are significantly better than us. They won the EC2 last season, so this knockout is the faceoff of the two lower cup champions from last year. In England you can see they just have a couple of 3rd place finishes and a Carabao cup win. They’ve done much better in Europe with 2 EC (3 runner up) and 1 EC2 with 1 runner up.

We dominated the first leg, but couldn't secure a victory recording a 2-2 draw. We then went to England and just couldn't get anything to go right with VAR disallowing our goal and allowing theirs and we drop out of Europe with our 2-4 Aggregate defeat.

Slovenia 1st Liga: CHAMPION

We were way less convincing this season winning our 4th consecutive title by just a 4 point margin. We will need to do better next year if we want to keep the run going.

Slovenia Cup: CHAMPION

We actually had nice stiff competition this year in the cup as we played and beat the teams in 2-5 in the 1st league instead of random lower league teams like most years.

Squad

Looking at the team, my Mezzala Horvat 40c is our best rated player by a wide margin. He has had some big mental improvements this year and while he isn’t technically skilled he is perfect for a tiki-taka style passing team like ours as well as he’s lethal on corners with 17 jumping reach, solid heading and 6’4”. He’s our only player who is a regular starter for the national team. They tend to play him as a BPD, which I get as other than his Marking/Tackling he’s perfect for that role.

Youth Academy

YI Preview

Youth Intake:

Trash absolutely trash I’m firing my HOYD immediately. With winning the Euro Cup and my new affiliates I actually have some decent international options for U-19 Coaches & HOYD as well as increased salary caps to pay them. I took this Brazilian for HOYD who I’m assuming is a failed wonderkid as he got picked up by Juventus but never broke into the team and went back to Brazil for his career. He's still not the greatest, but is better than the Slovenian I had. I'm also replacing the majority of the U-19 coaches so that should help as well.

I took 5 players as I'm tossing a good number of non-developers and I want to be able to field a full squad for the U-19 Champions Cup. Sadly only the two elites really have a chance at first team if they develop correctly but even then they would just be backup or rotation players not actual improvements on my starters, which is why I basically rage-fired my HOYD.

Transfers

We got a random bid out of the blue for our lone Croatian Left Attacking Mid Adrian Glaves 38j for $525k and since he's 28 and a backup player it made sense to let him go.

Affiliates

We added a second global affiliates: Liverpool FC in Uruguay specifically as an Academy Feeder affiliate. It was one of the only South American options available, with most being in my South/South-East Europe region. Hopefully I can get some foreign talent out of this one!

Excel

Trophy Cabinet

Manager Note

So as I mentioned in the comment above I'll be shelving this save while SI looks into my Youth Facility bug. I know my HOYD and U-19 coaches have been in shambles the past few seasons, but if I want to take this club to the next level of competitiveness to challenge the English clubs I need to be able to get top Youth Facilities. That combined with my larger and larger international footprint (we are doing Winter Camps in Uruguay now) should help me draw in foreign youth talents, which I see as critical for us to step beyond the limits of almost exclusively (90%) Slovenian intakes.

the_hdk · March 30, 2022

Camisas Negras

Polonia Warszawa

- 25/26 - Season 3 -

League

We did less well than last season. 6th spot (4th PY) and 55 points (62 PY). Still quite happy with teh result. We had a much more stable season bouncing around spot 4-10 whole season. Pogon Szczecin with their 2nd Championship.

Looking at 1st 11 we have had some changes. WELNA was replaced by youngster GAJGIER who was away on loan and gained a star and surpassed WELNA (or WELNA got worse with age, WELNA also decided to retire at end of the seaosn sadly). Team demanded a new goalkeeper so I put in youngster RYCZKOWSKI who was a regen in the simulation year. Sadly he did not improve alot during the year and at the end was replaced by regen KOWALCZYK who came in this seaosn but more on that later.

JALOCHA our wonderkid had a brilliant 1st full season. Scored 17 goals and assisted 12 in 34 league games, bagged youngster of the year and grew to 5 stars. Lets hope we can keep him for atleast 3 more seasons.

Cup

Lost qst round to Resovia. Humilation. We really need to do better next year,

Conference League

In Qualies we got really lucky with teams, First Shkupi from Macedonia, Maribor from Slovenia and finally Academica Clinceni from Romania ware all teams who were less good or like MAribor on par with us. So we got into teh Group stage

And we actually won it! Our only defeat was away game with Braga and the tie was against Heereveen at home. Really exceeded my expectation and filled our coffers with moniez!

We continued our run and actually defeated Anderlecht! Againt Gil Vincente we nearly caused a wonder but lost the game in last minutes of the home game after tieing them 0-0 away. Really happy with the run and its sad we have no europe next year.

The money was well spent. We improved our training facilities twice. Somehow I do not have the option to improve yoth facilities. Bug?

Also junior coaching and youth recruitment was increased 3 times this season! amazing. to cherry on top was that we going to have a B team next seaosn as well. Great progress. Plus we got Escola Varsovia as an affiliate so hopefully we can get some of their youngsters in our intake.

Youth

Pred again Excellent!

Actual intake did not disapoint. 7 elite youngsters! KOWALCZYK went straight into first 11 as our new goaly. MILEWSKI looks like he will star in first team in next year team or year after.

KOWALCZYK with a pic now. Decent handling, F Professional personality. I have hopes he will be our 1st goaly for next decade or till a better youngsters comes by.

Sadly all polish youth intake...I hope once my rep growns we can atrackt more diverse intakes.

Edited March 30, 2022 by the_hdk

the_hdk · March 30, 2022

so the Youth Facility bug seems to be a thing? or after a few season yoiu finally can upgarde them again?

dkouv · March 30, 2022

29 minutes ago, the_hdk said:

so the Youth Facility bug seems to be a thing? or after a few season yoiu finally can upgarde them again?

Not in my experience... Might be worth you commenting on this in the bugs tracker, the more of us raise the issue the higher the chances SI will fix it though at this stage of the game I'm guessing these chances are pretty low.

WhiteCat33 · March 30, 2022

1 hour ago, the_hdk said:

so the Youth Facility bug seems to be a thing? or after a few season yoiu finally can upgarde them again?

It's been 5 seasons for me and nope never re-appeared. It started with the Winter Update. My suspicion is it is somehow linked to upgrading your stadium / building a new stadium, but it could be anything really. Mine disappeared around when I started planning for a new stadium and never came back even when we finished the stadium.

Here's the bug report I made.

Makoto Nakamura · March 30, 2022

2036/37 Youth Candidates

Can we please, please, please stop getting centre-backs for a little bit.

Sorting the squad by PA, 5 of the top 11 are DC's. :lol:

RJLHJ · March 30, 2022

Kingstonian FC

Vanarama National League South

2022/23

Season Summary

Went alot better then we anticpated. Once we got near to the top, we looked solid until a blip about mid way through saw us dropping to 6th but the points of the teams around us were so close, a good run saw us return to the top 2 places in the league. It looked like it was neck and neck between us and Havant until right a tthe death, they tailed off and Dorking came from nowhere; it was down to them and us on the final day of the season with a postive result bring us home the title.

Players

Only our first season together and the majority of this starting XI will be with us next season. I previously mentioned Figueira as being our star man and the threat of him leaving...this became more then a threat when he decided he would be leaving on a free. Step forward Haroon Salah who has taken over as my favourite player at the minute. Across all comps, he played 52 games and returned a credible 32 goals and 5 assists. Alot will be resting on his shoulders next season!

Youth Intake

I think it promised so much, especially in the Midfield area but delivered very little. 2 Elite Talents, both in defence. We will lose a few players at the end of their contract from the main squad so the right back miught have to step up sooner rather then later.

The best of the bunch falls to Andrew Monaghan

Finance

We've made small loses pretty much every month, bar the Pompey home game in the FA Cup, this has led to the chairmen, twice, injection ~100k into the club.

Due to the promotion, we've had to rent a new stadium. We're now off to Kingsmeadow, which holds 5,234 - lets hope we can start to fill it!

Career Round Up

Edited March 30, 2022 by RJLHJ

WhiteCat33 · March 30, 2022

England Tier 11 Youth Academy Challenge: AFC Knowsley

I'm not up to anything tonight so I figured I'd post my first 5 seasons at AFC Knowsley.

Here is my Game set-up. Only thing to note is I disable attribute-masking as since I'm not signing anybody it just saves the hassle of scouting.

In why Knowsley: I literally went through the Tier 11 leagues and found the a last place teams had a full 11 players. Proof of last-place finish.

Starting Squad:

For those like me who don't live in England and have never heard of Knowsley, its a small village outside of Liverpool. This will make the finances challenging for sure with only 11k living in the village.

I picked up playing at 6/15 so here are the few transfers they made ahead of my takeover

Only staff (who is still at this position after 5 years) is my Assistant Manager / HOYD Steve Parris. Of course his attributes are low, but he's actually Professional which I was surprised to see at this level

Season 1: 2022/2023 - Cheshire League Premier Division

Performance: 2nd - Promotion

We just lost out on getting a first season trophy on GD. Helps when half the teams are still almost entierly grey players, but I'll take the promotion to drop this league ASAP (the processing is atrocious).

Youth Academy

YI Preview

Youth Intake: All Elites, so pointless showing the table. Two Grenada second nationalities is odd.

Coach

Got a License

Club

Didn't expect to go Semi-Pro so quick

Season 2: 2023/2024 - NW Counties League Division One South (season preview)

Performance - 4th

Well the season is over and we slipped down to 4th and didn’t finish all that great. Painful considering we were top of the table for a good portion of the season and then fell apart to lose the promotion bid. We were 7 points away from the leaders who both got 80. Not sure if next season it will happen either as the teams should be getting much stronger soon as the top level youngsters get released. Season Review: https://imgur.com/a/UHplk4s

Squad

Transfer

Big loss this year was both my Captain AMR and Vice Captain DLP who were sniped as they were on non-contract deals

Youth Academy

YI Preview:

Okay Intake - remember we are still with very poor players, so 3* CA isn't all that high and 1/2 star players at this level are an absolute joke.

. Our best of this batch is our Finish Storbacka, guess he can take free kicks even if he can barely run.

Season 3: 2024/2025 - NW Counties League Division One South (season preview)

Performance

Frustrating performance that we were 1 point away from promotion. Luckily after this season I could drop the Tier 11 part so the processing got a lot better

Squad

Transfer

Lost our GK this time as I forgot to put him onto a full time deal. Anoying.

Youth Academy

YI Preview

Youth Intake: Still All Elites so just squad view

So I was scared when this intake came in as our budget was so low I couldn't sign anyone. Luckily once the season ended and the new budget was given to us (luckily before the trials expired) I was able to sign whoever I wanted unfortunately most of these are just awful.

Coach

National B

Season 4: 2025/2026 - NW Counties League Division One South

Performance: 2nd

We made it to 2nd place and could have lost it the final game of the season. Reason I'm using this screenshot is notice the news article "AFC Knowsley promoted..." Yeah, so apparently that isn't guaranteed but only happens if enough people get dropped down into my specific pool of the pyramid. So even though we qualify for promotion in 2nd place we don't get promoted and have to fight it out again in tier 10...

Squad

Head is what a 20+ Goal a season striker looks like at this level. He’s scored 73 goals in 107 club appearances at tier 10. He got quiet near the end of the season, but the teams are getting a lot better with more and more drop downs from higher level teams. He has terrible skill but decent physicals (for this level) and acceptable mentals. The constant drop in skill is pretty common with our terrible facilities.

As our left CM we have a decent Captain. I played him at LB the first year he came in due to gaps in that position, and then moved him up to CM this year and he’s done well. He was Resolute but fell down to Fairly determined, but I think he’s decent overall as a captain. While not the most attacking CM he provides some tackling.

Youth Academy

YI Preview

Youth Intake

I ended up taking the GK, SA striker, LB and then the 3 CBs. Rest really aren’t worth it getting pretty awful draws here. Of them the GK and Striker are the big wins even if my staff don't think they can play. (I forgot to screenshot the GK, but he took over as first keeper)

Transfers

None

Club

Dang it only took $4000 to purchase the club.

With the buyout the new chairmen took out a loan so that we have a positive balance, which allowed me to push through Youth Recruit & Coaching upgrades

Season 5: 2026/2027 - NW Counties League Division One South

Performance: CHAMPIONS!

We ran away with the league. By End of January with 26/38 games played we were on top of the table by 12 points with an 18-5-3 record. We held that lead the entire rest of the season ending with a 25-9-4 Record

Season Review: https://imgur.com/a/tmfwSFC

Squad

My CAM & Striker crushed it this season setting league records with their performances.

Transfer

Youth Academy

YI Preview

Youth Intake

Golden Generation apparently, we will see when they hit the youth team. Our upgrades got us our players a little earlier, they were hitting in April before and now its 27 march. Hopefully that means we got slightly better ones.

Stars are still a lie. All have basically the same chance to be decent or not. I’m liking this Canadian CAM

A possible CB, which we have a lot of depth at now. We need LBs

Coach

National A License

Manager Thoughts

With this big of a post I've run out of upload size so I'll do a second post with my Excel tracking everything. But yes now we are up to tier 9 and hopefully we can avoid relegation back down. I haven't fully committed to playing this save, but might see how this next season works out before deciding if I'll continue longterm since Slovenia is shelved. Up in tier 9 we actually get to enter the FA Cup so maybe we can get a little money somehow.

WhiteCat33 · March 31, 2022

Excel Spreadsheets

Youth Intake Excel

Daddy · March 31, 2022

2029 Midseason Review:

My weird formation did not quite work, so I went with old reliable 4-3-3 and the form rebounded. Not much progress being made, but the finances are improving, so hopefully some money to get upgrades in the next year will be feasible.

2029 Youth Intake Preview:

Makoto Nakamura · March 31, 2022

2036/37 End of Season Review

Typical, we're getting so close but we can't catch a break as we break the record for the most points without winning the league. :lol: Michael Bowen also becomes our first senior international with 4 caps for Malta aged just 16!

Players to release:

Tim, Joseph & Kurt will all be released this season as they are now surplus to requirements, Kurt is our record scorer but I don't think it'll take too long for someone else to hit his numbers.

Overall Best XI

2036/37 Best XI

Matthew Camilleri (YP12i) - Michael Bowen (YP14a) - George Buttigieg (YP13a) - Brian Attard (YP13c)

Timmy Agius (YP8a) Alex Calleja (YP14n)

Josef Bonnici (YP7i) - Miguel Hili (YP14b)

All-time Best XI

Edited March 31, 2022 by Makoto Nakamura

Makoto Nakamura · March 31, 2022

Another Conference League exit and another facility upgrade! :cool:

the_hdk · March 31, 2022

Camisas Negras

Polonia Warszawa

- 26/27 / Season 4 -

League

Soooo close to a surpsise...but we gave it away in last few rounds. We had a great run in March and April, 8 games won in a row that put us in teh race for the title. It was already more than we can dream of. And it was all due to one man. JALOCHA. Young player of the year and Player of the season.We qualified for Champions League qualies...doubt we can make it to the tourney but lets hope to get group conference again. Good money.

Team unchanged from last season. Sadly in august Widzew offered a million euro for BEDNARCZYK. That was a an offer I could not refuse , so off he went. He was replaced by rookie WROBEL.

In Cup btw we lost at home to 1. Liga club LKS Lodz...so our again failoure.

He's even #13 top talent!

AMAZing./..but it comes with this...

Huge clubs show interest...Dortmud and Inter! he is currently valued 200k-2.2m so maybe I could get 3mln out of it...But its not much. I'd rather keep him. He still has a 2 year contract so I hope we can keep him one more year.

Youth

Again Excellent! They promised me a goaly but he was nothing special.

Still 6 ELITE youngsters! Still no foreign player intake. Kinda makes me worried they will never arrive.

Best of the bunch are GOLDA (named after cheese city in Netherlands) and SOBCZYK. Especially SOBCZYK looks like he could make 1st team quite fast.

Decent passing, but low determination im a bit worried about.

Quick season due to insomia last night

Edited March 31, 2022 by the_hdk

Winski · March 31, 2022

Very nice progress, @the_hdk! Some very decent intakes.

I'm also back in Poland now. I continued my Garbarnia Krakow-save. I spent some time away from that save, and I started a youth only in Italy recently. But there was no click. So I went back to my Garbarnia-save and it felt good! I'm almost done with season 2029/2030, so I'll post an update in the next couple of days.

the_hdk · March 31, 2022

6 minutes ago, Winski said:

Very nice progress, @the_hdk! Some very decent intakes.

I'm also back in Poland now. I continued my Garbarnia Krakow-save. I spent some time away from that save, and I started a youth only in Italy recently. But there was no click. So I went back to my Garbarnia-save and it felt good! I'm almost done with season 2029/2030, so I'll post an update in the next couple of days.

thanks! yeah a click is very important. I tried a few YC challanges but sometimes i have a click with the club but not the league or country so its difficult to progress. Poland is nice as you can progress fast compared to Netherlands where I was in eerste divisie for 7 seasons.

looking forward to your update!

Makoto Nakamura · March 31, 2022

2037/38 Youth Candidates

When I saw we were expecting more centre-backs I was annoyed, but thankfully we have no standouts, this could be a good intake for depth though!

Makoto Nakamura · March 31, 2022

2037/38 End of Season Review

It's happened! Let the floodgates open because we have finally won our first silverware of the challenge and we made it look easy! The next aim will be to be the club with the most league wins, this is currently held by Floriana with 29, followed by Silema Wanderers with 26 (both of these sides are in the 2nd tier now) and Valletta with 25.

Players to release:

Another few to get rid of this season, Daniel and Adrian being the players with the 4th and 5th most appearances for the club so far as we look to get even younger, and even better as well.

Overall Best XI

2037/38 Best XI