The FM23 Youth Academy Challenge

[Sir Cristao]

@OlivierL I have been looking for graphics files for Caley Braves and noticed you pop up quite a fair bit during searches. I also observed you have a facepack for the players. Could you share it? I would also be interested in the kits and stadium pics as well. 

I am currently doing an offline youth academy challenge with Caley Braves and would love to have the graphics. I was able to get them finally promoted to League 2 after a number (understatement) of load/reload cycles. 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Sir Cristao

[OlivierL]

29 minutes ago, Sir Cristao said:

@OlivierL I have been looking for graphics files for Caley Braves and noticed you pop up quite a fair bit during searches. I also observed you have a facepack for the players. Could you share it? I would also be interested in the kits and stadium pics as well. 

I am currently doing an offline youth academy challenge with Caley Braves and would love to have the graphics. I was able to get them finally promoted to League 2 after a number (understatement) of load/reload cycles. 

yes send me a PB with your mailadress and i'll forward whatever i can find  good luck with them

[HanziZoloman]

"Believe it or not but the cycle of doom got us in the final end. We were so close ..." Earl of Grey

Season 17 - 39/40

Our U18s won the title as always. We finished 9th which is a great finish, really. We are a bit sad about it because it looked like we'll qualify for play offs until April. We played Hornchurch who were fighting against relegation and are our rivals and it was a no brainer, I was lazy in team speech, in preparing for the match and then the match went all the way down. Terrible. After that lazy performance we lost momentum and didn't catch another wave to ride it home. We were sitting 5th then and dropped to 9th. Lazy defending, lazy finishing it was terrible to watch. We came close to our highest points ever (76 from 28/29) and had a lot of success in this campaign, there is no shame and no reason to be too sad about it after all.

Instead of Rhys Platt we now have Rui Pease up front who took a while but scored 18 goals in his first year, a young lad of 17 years. Inih Sole again delivered 18 goals and 7 assists a bit low on that but Calum McEachran had his first double double with 13 goals and 11 assists. on the right wing O'Connor delivered amazing 9 goals and 9 assists in his debut season. 
Again the team was in the top class regarding stats:

Avrg. Poss. 3rd / goals 6th / non pen. xG/90 6th / pass compl. ratio 3rd / chances created 5th / shots on target 4th / Final third passes for 3rd

We did a lot good work but failed to make it count. The cycle of doom. 

Youth intake was uninspiring a lot of unambitious lazy players. 

Spoiler

I like to show off a bit with the squad building which went especially well in the recent years just have a look at the personalities. "We like to bring out the best of our players on and off the pitch."

Spoiler

 

 

Best part of the year was the returning of the legend Rhys Platt as an U18s coach which is just a beautiful story. Love it! He joins with Simeon Maye a legendary player who retired in the early days of the game. 

Got an upgrate to junior coaching, can't believe it!

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by HanziZoloman

[libbyshuss]

20 hours ago, aldojags said:

 

With the being able to carry my save over onto FM 25, I don't see the need to wait for the new game, so I may start another save.

 

Oh really? I didn't realise that! that's a lovely touch, thanks SI!

[HanziZoloman]

vor 15 Minuten schrieb libbyshuss:

Oh really? I didn't realise that! that's a lovely touch, thanks SI!

I don't get it would you explain please?

[Johnny Ace]

10 minutes ago, HanziZoloman said:

I don't get it would you explain please?

For FM24 you can carry on your Billericay save from FM23 

[Vlach]

 

FC United

Season 2- 2025/26

 

 

Last season already surprised me. This season was nothing short of amazing.

 

 

We started very well, and besides two short bad slumps we stayed impressive and extremely hard to beat throughout the whole season.

Probably a combination of many players in their prime years, much better coaching staff then the other teams, great cohesion and good morale and not many injuries. Also the opponents seemed to be not as strong as last year. And we often had much, much luck.

 

I did not care much about losing quite early compared to last season in the cups - my full concentration was on the league because there was this window of opportunity opening.

We used sometimed during the season member of our youth team - most of the times they were good, sometimes pleasant surprises. But They are still far from playing regular. In the youth league they are performing above expectations and won the competition. I even persuaded the club to raise our youth level - not sure if thats worth it although.

 

 

Best XI

Spoiler

Stats

Spoiler

 

 

Transfers

Spoiler

 

 

Goals for the next season have to be to survive and not get relegated, and to get the best staff possible now that our reputation has risen, and a bit more money is on its way. Its also time to start to let the youth play more often

 

Youth Candidates

 

 

 

 

I think with OwenB-ird 26B i got a real gem here for those lower leagues. Again not happy with the personalities, will search for new HOYD. Signed 9.

 

Owen Bird 26B

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[HanziZoloman]

vor 12 Stunden schrieb Johnny Ace:

Well it happened, we got relegated, oh what a shame  But the biggest surprise is, we won the Welsh Cup!! I didn't understand, we were useless in the league and turned it on for the cup games 

I‘m sorry for the drop. It’s so frustrating at times. How do you set up at the moment? 

[HanziZoloman]

vor 40 Minuten schrieb Vlach:

Probably a combination of many players in their prime years, much better coaching staff then the other teams, great cohesion and good morale and not many injuries. Also the opponents seemed to be not as strong as last year. And we often had much, much luck.

Amazing!!! I‘m a fan. How did you made this happen? 
could you please talk a bit about tactics? 
Owen looks great. Hope he‘ll develop even better. Let’s go Manchester 

(… and also I feel like a stupid beginner but I take pride in my efforts and learning.)

Edited September 2, 2023 by HanziZoloman

[Traldon]

Youth Intake 2030:

[Johnny Ace]

11 hours ago, HanziZoloman said:

I‘m sorry for the drop. It’s so frustrating at times. How do you set up at the moment? 

It's fine, I expected it three seasons ago, I'm glad 

Nothing exciting on the tactic 

Spoiler

Update to come 

[Johnny Ace]

Season 2030/2031 - Port Talbot

Nice solid season but I have to start with the transfers

 

We lost a good few first teamers, Fraser Bentley was a wide forward, Hugh Lewis my right winger, Joe Sumner my best centre back and Ricky Mellor my main striker. None of them wanted to drop a division and I don't blame them.

With Bentley and Mellor leaving, we had no strikers so I was playing a 15 and a 16 year old up front for the season. How we still have Rowlands, I don't know, he's on an NC so anyone could swipe him at any time 

A nice solid 5th, it was such a breath of fresh air being able to win games 

 

And of course, we had Europe 

Which brought in around £850k over the four games which then put us £700k in the green. The only thing I could get the board to upgrade was the training facilities, that cost £700K so we were back broke 

The intake and preview were very meh again, I didn't sign up a few of them 

 

We had a board takeover in summer and they want a top four finish, so we'll see how that goes. I'll access the squads and release anyone who can't be bothered, problem with  this is that some are on YT's and cost £20 to release, the board reject it because of the cost but they'd rather pay the player a fiver a week for a year instead  

Final day squad 

Spoiler

ETA: Oh, there we go 

[HanziZoloman]

vor einer Stunde schrieb Johnny Ace:

It's fine, I expected it three seasons ago, I'm glad 

Nothing exciting on the tactic 

  Unsichtbaren Inhalt anzeigen

Update to come 

Thank you for the insights.

Great update, training facilities with the money from Europe! Amazing.

Of course all the losses didn’t make it easier for you and hope you‘ll get some solid players from future intakes.

Fingers crossed that Rowland will sign someday

[Sir Cristao]

23 hours ago, OlivierL said:

yes send me a PB with your mailadress and i'll forward whatever i can find  good luck with them

Thanks Oliver. Message sent with email. 

[Novafluff]

Season Review 2032

Table | Transfers | Finance | Facilities | Youth Intake

We were predicted first in a quite weak division 2. And we showed why during the whole season. Most of the season being smashing victories which the goal difference of 55 shows. We feek much more prepared for division one so i have a hope that we will never play in division 2 again. The loss of Simon Wallin which went to Norways tier 1 showed not to matter as his replacement Martin Tapper Holter dominated being our best average and assistsmaker as well as banging in 15 goals he even improved us. The intake where okay where we keep making the width of our team better with a few guys that will for certain feature in the lineup in the future.

Top Scorer: (06-A)Tobias Jonsson 22 Goals | 24(2) Games

Most Assists: (07-B)Martin Tapper Holter | 13 Assists | 26(0) Games

Best Average: (07-B)Martin Tapper Holter | 7.78 Average | 26(0) Games

Top Prospect: (09-A)Robin Rask | 10 Clean Sheets | 19 Conceded | 26(0) Games | 7.15 Average

Best Intake Prospect:  (10-A)Victor Ekendahl

[Sir Cristao]

On 15/11/2022 at 12:59, Ray46 said:

I have spent quite longer than expecting reading up all your challenges. Some nice adventures and cruel sackings. I try to upvote all your messages, but the forum won't allow me to do more today, haha.

I'm really fortunate with my Sant Andreu save, I inherited a complete squad with youth players that have developed beyond my expectations in the first three seasons. Also my club was already professional so I could attract staff with the right personalities. Spain has a lot of staff to chose from. Good personalities train well, which improves attributes, which improves performance, which improves morale.

I am micromanaging the morale, tactics, training, match fitness and finances a lot. I watch most games on Key highlights, but I do watch some games back to optimize how we defend set pieces or what happens with build up after a goal kick. That's how I made my Opposition instructions, it really helped the pressing.

It's also the reason I'm only 3 seasons in compared to some others who have done 23, LOL. I am really hooked on this save and this way of playing. (It's my first challenge). As I explained in my opening post, it's personal. I want revenge on the Barcelona board. I can't let Johan Cruyff down...

Did you use a custom database for this?

[Traldon]

Season 7 Review Alemannia Aachen

League table:

Even though we ended on 3 points more than last season, we ended a place lower in fith. Really hope we can push for the playoff next year. In the cup we got knocked out in the Second Round for the fith time in a row, this time against Darmstadt.

Newly starting newgens:

This guy might finally the answer to our keeper problem.

Since I've inverted my wingbacks, i needed to train up a right footed left back and this guy is the one i landed on. He's not great, but probably the best one we got right now.

This is probably the best prospect we've had in this club and i've played him on the wing in every game since he turned 16

I'm really blessed in the striker position, but he might be the one with the best potential of all of them.

Btw does anyone know why i can't even ask for better Youth Facilities. We certainly have the money for it, but the option just isn't there.

Transfer Screen:

[WhiteCat33]

1 hour ago, Traldon said:

Btw does anyone know why i can't even ask for better Youth Facilities. We certainly have the money for it, but the option just isn't there.

SI modified the hidden requirements for what enables the option to appear in requests. It takes a lot more reputation to do now (as well as an owner who has high Working with Youngsters). Since you're in a big country you actually have the possibility of maxing YF, but it will take probably till you're winning European Silverware.

[libbyshuss]

1 hour ago, Traldon said:

Btw does anyone know why i can't even ask for better Youth Facilities. We certainly have the money for it, but the option just isn't there.

I didn't get the option until I won the Champions League, which was a bit frustrating

[libbyshuss]

Uruguay - Villa Teresa

2024- Season 2

Division 2

Season Summary

Pretty much a carbon copy of the first season as we again started with a win in the pre-league competition Torneo Compentencia, which set us up very nicely for the league proper

We went through periods in the proper league where we looked unbeatable but at other times we were really poor. A poor end to the season meant we had to make do with a 4th placed finish. Still well above the media prediction though so we can't be too upset.

But then we saw the combined table, and I got a little bit upset. We missed out on automatic promotion by goal difference!

So into the play-offs we go, for the second season running. and for the second season running we got through to the final! and lost.

 

Youth

An interesting preivew which was 5 star, promising a golden generation, yet only offered C grades for each position. Which way would the actual intake fall?

It fell very nicely indeed thank you! some of these look really promising prospects! There were so many elite talents i couldn't fit them all in one go (but there was only one more and i couldn't be bothered to take his pic as well). Hopefully this lot can keep our good start to the save going in the next few seasons!

 

Career

So, two seasons in a row narrowly missing out promotion. Can it be third tinme lucky? So far I've used pretty much legacy players exclusively though. Next season I might start trying to bring a few of the better youth players through.

Also, our finances are a dumpster fire so it may be we have to start flogging off some of our star first-teamers anyway. we'll see!

[Traldon]

vor 27 Minuten schrieb WhiteCat33:

SI modified the hidden requirements for what enables the option to appear in requests. It takes a lot more reputation to do now (as well as an owner who has high Working with Youngsters). Since you're in a big country you actually have the possibility of maxing YF, but it will take probably till you're winning European Silverware.

Oh that's a bummer 
Thank You

[Virtual Male]

Wiener Sport-Club

2031/32

 

Competitions

• Admiral Bundesliga (1, 2) - Another solid season ending in another 4th place finish. Our form took a hit after the league split again this season, the players really showing their lack of experience against some of the bigger teams meanig we dropped more points than I'd like from winning positions. 
• Austrian FA Cup - All the way to the final again and the same opponent when we got there, unfortunately they just had too much for us on the day.
• UEFA Europa League - Eased past the play-off without any problem, the league phase was tough but we won the games we should have leaving us in 19th. We faired much better against FC København in the play-off knock out round than we did in the league phase and it was the same story in the Round of 16 against Rangers. FC Köln we're a step too far, but I'm more than happy with a quarter final appearance and the players showing that they deserve to be around Europe's bugger clubs.

Squad - Slightly bigger first team than I usually like to work with this season but plenty of game time to go around. Still struggling with quality at the back but there's a couple of young players I'm hoping will develop and challenge for places in the next season or two.

Key Players

• Robin Wimmer (26YP3) - Rather frustrating really, he started the season by deciding he'd rather not train, then he missed a match. Usually I'd just pop someone like this into the U18's, set their training to maximise injury and forget they exist until their contract is up. Can't really justify doing that with him being one of the better players so we had a talk about his recent conduct and that seemed to sort everything out.... Until he decided to consider his options with 18months left on his contact, so I'll be trying to cash in on him over the summer.
• Alexander Huemer (26YP1) - Another solid season from a player who's quietly gone about becoming the teams most valuable player, might have trouble keeping him though since he's wanted by half of the Bundesliga, has a release clause at the top end of his value and won't talk to me about a contract. I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

Youth Intake - 9 seasons in and I've only just realised it's possible to see you intake in a squad view. Overall another very good intake with the personalities being the main positive for me since we've struggled to bring though decent ones in any number. Leon Dittrich (32YP1) is my pick of them, he's not far from the ability of my current No.1 already and can get much better.

 

Transfers - Nothing much this season really with the only notable outgoing being

• Daniel Berger (28YP6) - Who doesn't show on the transfer screen because he threw a tantrum and I relegated him to the B-Team before his move, 850k and 50% of any profit wasn't a bad price though.

Finances - The ever increasing player wages aren't doing us any favours but we've still got a positive balance (just), I expect it to just carry on like this with any large player sales boosting the balance and allowing for upgrades. While on the topic of player sale, Paul Daun who went to Fenerbahçe a couple of seasons back is currently at the center of a bidding war between a few Premier League and Bundesliga teams so I'm following that hopeful the fee ends up being quite large considering we're due 50% of anything over £14m.

Other 

• We got a new HOYD in Björn Reichert, Model Citizen, lots of high stats and preferences that match how I play!! Almost perfect, the only thing letting him down is the preferred formation but even that's only a veery very small negative.
• Three players in the NXGN List, Richárd Tóth (29YP4), Dalibor Stupić (30YP8) and Peter Els (28YP8) coming in 50th, 49th and 2nd respectively.
• Florian Heimann (25 YP4) continued doing what he does and won Austrian Sport Magazine's Player of the Year as well as coming in 3rd for Austrian player of the year.

 

 

 

[Vlach]

vor 20 Stunden schrieb HanziZoloman:

Amazing!!! I‘m a fan. How did you made this happen? 
could you please talk a bit about tactics? 
Owen looks great. Hope he‘ll develop even better. Let’s go Manchester 

(… and also I feel like a stupid beginner but I take pride in my efforts and learning.)

Thank you. Basically my tactical approach is simple. My standard tactic right now (and it was already in season one after experiments and half of season 2) is a narrow 4-3-3 DM. Simply because i have 4-5 good strikers atm, and because its a counter tactic and sometimes acting like kick-and-rush, which helps when playing against technical strong teams (most are better there imho then we are) and fits imho good in lower leagues. Then i got a flat 4-4-2 with DMs and a 4-2-3-1 DM as alternatives. Using those tactics is depending on the oppositions scouting reports. The last game i played for example was against a side where the scouts said they are very vulnerable to crosses and they have weaknesses at the fullback-positions - therefor i started with the 4-2-3-1 to exploit that (and won). The 4-4-2 I usually use when going against three central defenders, or last season against all opposition tactics with strong wingers to give us more stability on the flanks (doesnt work that well this season so far after promotion). The 4-2-31 is also used when the opposition doesnt use a DM. Since i usually just simulate (instant result) the games (and only watch them when its an important one) thats basically all I am doing about tactics.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Vlach

[HanziZoloman]

"Basically, that's all. Sometimes I'm a bit tired." Earl of Grey

Season 17 40/41

Youth U18s won the league. We finished 8th. Best result in almost 20 years still not enough. Players were good. 

Intake was great with strong personalities instead of all those unambitious we got spirited, determined and professional players. Thanks to the new man in charge. 

Attributes still low but a bit better than before. Finances still good.

Spoiler

@Vlach thanks for the insights. Maybe I need more different tactics.

YES !! 3rd upgrade we're good Academy coaching now ... blessed ...

Edited September 3, 2023 by HanziZoloman

[Virtual Male]

@Traldon You're so close to that top 3, fingers crossed with a year under his belt Scherder can help turn some of those draws into wins.

@Johnny Ace Nice to see you staying positive! Looks like your defence is pretty solid, I'm imagining some unlucky 1-0 losses cost you, sure you'll be there or there abouts next season.

@HanziZoloman Surely next year has to be the year, I think I'm more invested in Billericay than my save at this point.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Virtual Male

[Johnny Ace]

4 minutes ago, Virtual Male said:

@Johnny Ace Nice to see you staying positive! Looks like your defence is pretty solid, I'm imagining some unlucky 1-0 losses cost you, sure you'll be there or there abouts next season.

Cheers man!! Yeah, it's lot more fun dropping a division and seeing the team actually play and win. It's helping them train well and develop rather than them be losing and be miserable 

Yeah, all of the loses were pretty close, we didn't get any hammerings like we did in the Premier league. Our goals for was pretty low but my strikers were kids barely out of school 

[HanziZoloman]

@Virtual Male Great Upgrade, I read it with interest. and of course thanks for the motivation. 
Do you also coach Billericay?

@all: I only selected English leagues how many leagues do you select?

 

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Where did they find these 1485 "fans and experts," we drew the home leg and Barca are the defending champions 

[libbyshuss]

17 hours ago, Virtual Male said:

@HanziZoloman Surely next year has to be the year, I think I'm more invested in Billericay than my save at this point.

ha ha, you're not that only one!

@HanziZoloman keep going, it's only a matter of time now! and hopefully then you'll start flying up the leagues. That first promotion is always the hardest in England, usually takes me year too

[jstu9]

Off to Fiji!

First, I needed to use one of the megapacks to use Fiji. I used the one from Timo, which I assume is reputable. I know Ive seen people do saves in leagues that don't come with the game. Two, Fiji (at least in this pack) doesn't have promotion from a lower league. However, I'm fairly certain I read somewhere that it's ok to use a league if you chose the team that had the worst record in the league the season before. So, hopefully neither of these things are deal breakers.

So....

So, I had been managing in Mexico, I got I think 4 seasons in and I felt like I was treading water with not much hope in sight. So, I decided to try Fiji (mainly I'm a Survivor fan so it's on the mind).

Lami FC finished 0-3-7 in the Vodafone Senior League - Viti Levu Division. There are two divisions in the Vodafone Senior League, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. 6 teams in each, top 2 teams in each division go into a Lower Division Promotion Playoff, winner getting promoted to the Fijian Premier League. They had the worst record between the two divisions.

If either of the two things I list up top are deal breakers, oh well, I've already invested too much into this already to stop now. Plus, I'm having fun.

 

[HanziZoloman]

vor einer Stunde schrieb libbyshuss:

ha ha, you're not that only one!

@HanziZoloman keep going, it's only a matter of time now! and hopefully then you'll start flying up the leagues. That first promotion is always the hardest in England, usually takes me year too

Thanks for all your support it’s encouraging! 
with @Vlach inspiring the Earl to build three different shapes it’s all the more fun and results are positive but it’s only august. 
plus : I learnt tons about the game

Edited September 4, 2023 by HanziZoloman

[jstu9]

Seasons 1-4, 2023-2027.

I'm going to give you the summary of my first 4 seasons in one post. Before Season 1, we already lose our starting midfielder and center back on non-contracts. All of our players are on non-contracts, so having other teams trying to sign my players is just part of the job. Losing key players is just part of the save.

However, we win our first two games. Things are looking good. Its a short season, only 10 games. But we lose our starting striker, he who scored a hat trick in game 1 off to Rewa (shakes fist at Rewa - they are one of the better teams in the Premier League). By the end of the year, we lose 6 starters to these poachers. We actually had a pretty solid season, going 5-1-4, finishing third. Rakiraki won the league, a team from the division got promoted to the Premier League.

Edward Mani was my best player, 3 goals and 4 assists. Though somehow Peni Singh scored 5 goals this year. You can see I have a number of pretty good veterans in the squad and things were looking good.

My first superstar! Rahul Prakash! Terrible personality but someone I can build my team around.

By the start of Season 2, I didn't have a player over 17 years old. Lost 3 more starters this season. So, I was playing all the kids I took over plus the '23 youth pulls.

The facilities when I took over were Poor Training, Poor Youth, Basic Junior Coaching and Limited Recruitment. I have hit this hard and heavy over the seasons. This is an absolute necessity. By the end of Season 2 I got my Junior Coaching up to Average and Recruitment to Basic.

Prakash (23a) had 8 goals with 5 assists. Jope Narayan had 4 goals, 7 assists. Peni Singh had another 6 goals. He's a 1 star striker but he can score goals, he had 5 goals in one match. This season was just one where we scored a ton of goals (24) and gave up alot (29). Last place of course, we just aren't very good. Luckily the Board is patient.

Unfortunately, we didn't get alot out of our youth pull this season....

Players really don't develop here. I've seen a few players gain a half star here and there but my facilities and coaching are just so primitive, that I just don't get much improvement. And who knows what the potential of these guys actually is. I think at this point, I didn't even have a Head of Youth Development because no one would sign with me.

Season 3 - 2025

I had Jope Narayan on the right side (actually, no he played all over), Prakash(23a) on the left. Edward Mani was my other attacker. They had been playing pretty well last season. But this season I just couldn't score goals. After 24 last year, we could only muster 8 this year. Luckily we gave up fewer goals as well. Another ho-hum last place finish.

The bad news was Rahul Prakash(23a), our superstar, our everything was poached at the end of the season. So, no more of him. Yes, this is an endless battle.

If and when I finish this challenge, my goal is to buy every single top player from every team in this country and then place their stars in my reserves and never play them. Or maybe put them on super stressful training programs so I can destroy all their top players. Or something. I hate these teams and their poachiness.

I got a few solid pieces in this youth pull, but again none that are game changing.

Season 4 - 2026

The key here is I've been developing my Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment every chance I can. I haven't seen much improvement yet in my youth pulls but by the end of this season I have my Junior Coaching to Adequate and Recruitment to Fairly Basic. But this is the season I finally start getting some nice youth pulls.

Less said about the actual season, probably the better. Last again. No attack, no defense. Just assume I'm losing a couple (or few) starters every season to poaching. 2026 I lost my starting AMC and starting GK.

But here is where we start to change.

We got a replacement GK, a starting AMC, a starting Striker, a starter in the midfield and a starting left wing. This was easily the best group of youths we'd had and will really be the backbone of the team for the next season.

Here are the transfers. I think all of them were starters for me when they left....

 

 

[WhiteCat33]

Barbados YAC: Road View FC

2032 Season 10 – BFA Digicel Premier League

Start Post | Season 1 |Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 |Season 7 | Season 8 | Season 9 |

 

League Performance: CHAMPION!

 

Cup Performance: 3rd Round Defeat

 Brutal cup draw sees us playing BDFSP in the first match, away as well. We pull off a great 3-0 win.

And it stays hard as we get the other professional team Waymouth Wales in our next match. Game really doesn’t want us to get NACL for a 3^rd season. And it was a shocking display with them scoring on 2 FK and 1 Corner and a short throw play to hand us our biggest loss in recent memory of 5-1… Defensive disaster tonight. 5 goals on 7 SoT with barely 1 xG…

North American Champions League:

We get a rematch against both Defense Force & Cavalier

Match 1: Guaynabo Gol  Home

We pepper their goal for the first 30' and then they get a straight red card for a nasty tackle, perfect! We turn up the heat, but my strikers are hitting all bricks in the first half. Finally in the 54' Morris gets a break-away goal. Then immediately after they concede a penalty and Burke converts. We get a late 3rd goal, for a convincing win. Our first win in the NACL! But man our finishing was dreadful.

Spoiler

A month of friendlies and then we come back for the rest of the matches. 

Match 2: Defense Force (Away)

I've been using my new intake Striker for friendlies and he's done well, so he gets a start. He's gets some good chances early on, but their GK is having a great game and I end up replacing him in the second half. Unfortunately, in the 25' we have a defensive lapse and they get ahead. But in the 67' we find an equalizer on a FK play with our star CB getting a back post header. Things are going well (even though we can't maintain possession) until the 91' when our CB-R gets a second yellow for a professional foul on a breakaway. We pack it in for the remainder and do well to get a 1-1 draw.

Match 3: Cavalier (Away)

With the red card I'm starting the new future-star defender C Skeete, what could go wrong  18' they sneak a ball in on a broken FK where, again the kicker is left unmarked. Maybe there's a way to fix that? then in the 23' C Ainsworth (who is a super high potential winger at the start of the game I've used in the MLS) beats my whole team on the dribble to make it a quick double. 66' Burke carries the ball up the field to find Gilkes in the box and he pulls one back for us. Sadly that was all, and we were deservedly beaten.

Another couple weeks of friendlies and we get our final match. We are already knocked out, but this to hopefully keep increasing our NA Ranking. Unfortunately, in the WCQ matches for Barbados our Striker and Dead-ball specialist picked up month long injuries so won't be available. Thankfully this is the 'worst' team of the group.

Match 4: Camaguey (Home)

Neblett makes up for his first match by getting a goal inside 2' to start the goal frenzy. They are lucky that VAR is used for the NACL as we had so many goals called-back for tight offsides this game could have been even more of a smashing. Somewhat disappointed we gave up a corner goal in the final minutes.

Final Group Standings:

We got 3rd only by goal difference, which isn't bad at all.

Reserve & U18s:

 Both won their leagues this year:

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Squad:

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 Transfers:

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 Best XI:

FM Screenshots:

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Last Season:

Excel Tables: 

Head Coach:

 I'm studying for my final coaching badge and have become a pretty solid coach.

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Club Improvements:

 Well this is a nice sign, we’ve moved up to the next stage in the building stadium process and they’ve uped the capacity from 5k to just shy of 7k

Youth Academy:

HOYD:

If it ain't broke don't fix it, somehow this man is finding fantastic talent.

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Youth Intake Preview:

  

Youth Intake:

Bad personalities this year, might need to start actually hiring youth coaches as right now I only have Reserve & U19 Head Coaches. Ability is very good as 3* basically is a top player in the Barbados Premier League.

Top 3 Players:

Randolph Grant: The Coaches don't rate him as the best prospect, but to me this is a perfect lower-league AP-A.  I can work with "Unflappable" especially since I have a great Resilient mentor in the CAM position.

Spoiler

Christopher Skeete: According to my calculator this is our new all-time CA player. Pretty sure 15 tackling and either-footed is goosing it slightly, but he's got a good balance of attributes. Might consider training him as a WCD otherwise that first touch will disappear.

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Gregory Neblett: I really like this setup for an AF. Level Headed means he has decent professionalism, and I have mentors that can up it so he's at least Spirited.

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Poached Player:

Well I guess the Premier League is scouting Barbados! I'm excited to see his career unfold.

Excel Tables:

Statistically this is a fantastic intake where we have produced a new all-time high CA player and repeated last years level of top-5 quality. Might consider building a new table to show the Top 5 all time CA players to come through the accademy. 

Barbados League & National Team:

 Bump it up!

National team Have Grenada in the World Cup Qualifiers in October. Maybe they will do better than the friendlies this year. Really can't fault the T&T loss, but St Lucia should have been a win (even though I have the nation active). Last year Nations League was a dumpster fire with a 1 - 0 - 5 record, and the friendlies weren't much better.  Down to 166th Rank, which is basically the lowest all save.

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Road View Internationals:

Barbados Main:

Barbados Youth:

Barbadian’s Around the World:

English Academy Players:

Harry Parr moved to Hull and still hasn’t switched back to Barbados. None of the other English players have opted for the national team

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USA/Canada Academy Players:

Jelani Hoyte (Ottawa -CPL) has his first Youth CAP for Barbados, and went on loan here last season.

Shane Gittens was released by Santa Barbra (League One) and has come home to Barbados to play for BDFSP! This is what we want to see to build up the quality of the domestic league with foreign generated Barbadian players.

Jamaican Academy Players:

A new Jamaican player!

Other Nations:

N/A

Summary

Decided to post more of my tracking spreadsheet this year. Big news is we now are ranked in North America at 286! We will see how that changes with our NACL performance this year. Club finances are tight right now with the upgrades to JR coaching & the Facilities. It will only get worse when the new ground is built, but since we sell out the current ground hopefully we quickly get up to that 7k attendences. That gate reciept income will be what it will take to go professional. The board are at least open to it now, we just don't have the money.

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Edited September 4, 2023 by WhiteCat33

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Never seen poached players from different continents, that's exciting @WhiteCat33

If I remember right, I think I only ever had a St. Lucian poached from a Canadian side

[WhiteCat33]

10 minutes ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

Never seen poached players from different continents, that's exciting @WhiteCat33

If I remember right, I think I only ever had a St. Lucian poached from a Canadian side

I was shocked as this is with just 1 upgrade of Youth Facilities and England isn't even loaded in my game! I thought it would take a lot longer for a poaching, and even then I expected Jamaica/USA (considering where players are generating). He is a CB, which has been by far our best intake position, so he must really be special if they passed on all our other CBs and chose him.

There is precedence as Arsenal have already generated 1 fantastic ENG/BRB player in this save. Basically, generate a Jamie Bynoe-Gittens every 5-10 years I guess?

Thinking back to my St Vincent save I know I had multiple MLS clubs poach players, but I also don't think I ever had an English club poach a player. However, I think Barbados is a more common English-Caribbean 2nd nationality in the game. It's of course no Jamaica, but not quite as obscure as St Vincent was.

Someone with an active England save could search the nations and see how many are floating around after 10-15 years.

[HanziZoloman]

@WhiteCat33 amazing save you're doing and I have tons of respect for playing a league like that. Great!

 

Short Billericay Update:

We're getting better, of course anything can happen but and that is special: we had our first full house in FA Cup against Dulwich and won the game.

"Oh I say ... Rui Pease ... he scores when he wants"

3 goals against Dulwich in a few days later 4 against Heybridge.

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Earl of Grey manager of the month 1st time ... This has to be the year ...

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Edited September 4, 2023 by HanziZoloman

[WhiteCat33]

2 minutes ago, HanziZoloman said:

@WhiteCat33 amazing save you're doing and I have tons of respect for playing a league like that. Great!

 

Short Billericay Update:

We're getting better, of course anything can happen but and that is special: we had our first full house in FA Cup against Dulwich and won the game.

"Oh I say ... Rui Pease ... he scores when he wants"

3 goals against Dulwich in a few days later 4 against Heybridge.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

I love me a small nation save. I have the same respect for you with the determination to get Billericay up where they deserve!

Out of curiosity, how many Barbadian players can you see in England in your save so far in the future?

[HanziZoloman]

vor 31 Minuten schrieb WhiteCat33:

I love me a small nation save. I have the same respect for you with the determination to get Billericay up where they deserve!

Out of curiosity, how many Barbadian players can you see in England in your save so far in the future?

Is there a way to check on that?

[WhiteCat33]

Just in scouting you search for nationality "Partially" Barbadian. Since you're in England you should naturally know most that are in the country. When I do my showing of foreign Barbados players I use an added new manager to see all in the game.

[HanziZoloman]

vor 23 Minuten schrieb WhiteCat33:

Just in scouting you search for nationality "Partially" Barbadian. Since you're in England you should naturally know most that are in the country. When I do my showing of foreign Barbados players I use an added new manager to see all in the game.

there are two I even played one

Spoiler

 

[WhiteCat33]

Stadium plan came through - apparently they didn't want to name it after their Legendary Coach, jerks! Honestly not the worst financing I've seen, and reasonably cheap at $83/Seat. We only will have ~50K plus the interest not covered by Sponsorship + FA Grants. Timeline of one year is nice. Won't have it next year but will the following year.

Edited September 4, 2023 by WhiteCat33

[Vlach]

FC United

Season 3- 2026/27

 

 

We started well into the season, with mixed results. And that continued throughout, sometimes the surprise win against a title contender, sometimes the loss against a relegation candidate. Some expected results, some utter surprises. Some short slumps, some short winning streaks. But overall a satisfying season, we were never in real danger of relegation, but also had never a chance to go for playoff places. In the end the 13th place was a real success, i can only hope we continue to stay in the middle of the table for the next years.

At the end of the season, players now start to leave - either into retirement or because they want a new challenge. No one who will be terribly missed (i hope), but the squad i inherited is slowly decreasing in numbers now. Quite soon the first youngster will have to play regularly in the main squad - crucial seasons where I only can hope that we will be able to survive that until we got a constant pipeline of talent.

Competitions

 

Lineup

 

 

Accolades

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Finance

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Transfers

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Youth Intake

 

Spoiler

 

 

Some better personalitites this time - i changed the HOYD last season and that might help now.

 

Youth Team

The youth team won its league

 

 

 

Summary

 

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Brønshøj BK - Youth Intake Season 25

What an awful intake, the personalities are terrible and there's not much potential either. Not what we needed to get over the hump in the Champions League. At least our affiliates gave us some spice.

Hamre 25a looks decent actually, so long as his potential holds up and he has some high professionalism or ambition behind the scenes.

[HanziZoloman]

@Vlach wonderful season and great finances. Good job. 

after a series of financial mistakes and a long and hard recovering from it I’m finally moving forward financially but that slowed everything down a lot. That’s a big point to check on in the YAC

@The_Gato_In_Goal awful intake and that on your level. 

[Johnny Ace]

I don't think promotion will be on the cards this season, Swansea Uni are insanely strong and priced at 1-91 to win the league. We have them next and our star striker is on international duty. That's a bit of a bumber with having a young team, quite often the Wales U-19's/18's/17's play when there's a league game on 

 

ETA: We lost 2-1 but they hammered us stats wise 

[jstu9]

Season 5, 2027

Promotion! I wont draw that out. I won a trophy too.

We had that great youth pull from last season, really building out our squad. So after 3 straight last place finishes, I figured we had a shot to at least compete. It was an up and down season, we won 2, lost 2, won 2, lost 1, then won 2. Last game of the year, even with Rakiraki on points, one of our nemesis', we are up in goal differential though. We play Taveuni, they play Tavua. We are up 3-0 in the first half, all we need to do is win...... until Taveuni starts to score. 1, then a 2nd. Then in the 66th minute an equalizer. 3-3. We try valiantly to score a goal to win, but we fail. Draw. Our first of the season. I hadn't been looking at the score of the other game. But they had a crazy back and forth game too. That ended in a 3-3 draw. The result....

Our first trophy! We both go to the Lower Division Promotion Playoff though. Us, Rakiraki plus the top 2 teams from the other Division (Bua and Tailevu/Naitasiri). 6 games, 2 against each team. After 5 games, Rakiraki and I are even with 8 points. However they lead on goal differential. I play Tailevu/Naitasiri and they have Bua. So we need to do better than whatever Rakiraki does. We score (Veremo Chand 25a) in the 43rd minute and milk that the rest of the game. Win 1-0. And Rakiraki can only draw against Bua 1-1. And we finish first in the playoff!!!

Promotion!

So those youth pulls, the '26ers really led the way. Mohammed Chand 26c scored 14 over the season. The core of my team were those kids.

My brand new sparkling GK Mohammed Naidu 26a had a great season and then got poached by Suva (yeah I have a personal vendetta vs Suva - my goal is to destroy them after them poaching a number of my players) at the end of the season.

But I knew that I needed a strong youth pull to stay up. I had gotten my Junior Coaching to Good by the end of this season, Youth Recruitment to Average. And we got this....

A superstar left wing, a superstar center back, a superstar AMC, a damn good midfielder, a good left back, another solid center back and a solid striker. Following the last youth pull, this really stocked me up. Also, note I got a 2 star GK thankfully. Ratu Dakunaiduca 27n came at the right time, after our starting GK got poached in back to back seasons. As an aside, I did hire a HoYD in 2025 (Fairly Professional). He has been able to bring in some Fairly Professional players.

[Vlach]

FC United

Season 4 - 2027/28

 

 

In general, a fantastic season for us.

At the end of the season we caught a bad slump, mostly caused by tired players - the "old" ones can't go on a whole season, and the young ones mostly are still too weak and too young to provide constant backup.

We made the playoffs, but had no chance there. 

Since old players are leaving us again, and the young ones are mostly not ready, i guess next season will be much tougher. We had much luck this one, i doubt that will repeat - especially since i mostly lack good players in defense.

 

Competitions

 

 

 

Lineup

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Accolades

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Finances

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Youth Candidates

 

 

 

 

Again, not happy with the personalities. Also, the attributes don't strike me as particularly good, for example, the biggest talent:

Spoiler

 

 

The problem is: so far, I am unable to attract a better HOYD then the one I got. and the Chairman doesn't want to expand the youth recruitment. Will have to wait and see.

 

Youth Team

Won its league. At least hope there

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Johnny Ace]

I might be a bit screwed here, because the contracts only tend to be a year, I've loads of players out of contract in the summer and can only offer £5 p/w in wages. If I'm without a squad I might have to resign 

[Virtual Male]

@Vlach Massive Fa cup tie against United that, was it at old Trafford or your place?

[Virtual Male]

Wiener Sport-Club

2032/33

Competitions

• Admiral Bundesliga (1, 2) - A poor start left us well off the pace and we spent the season fighting for 3rd as the top two were nearly 20 points clear at the League Split. Managed some good results in the Championship stage but the team never really looked sure of themselves, Comfortably winning against RB Salzberg before getting taken apart by a bottom team the following weekend. Came home in 4th, I think we've cemented ourselves as a team that competes for 3rd now. 
• Austrian FA Cup - Back to back to back finals and we came out on top again this year!! Our hardest game on paper came in the Semi-Final where we drew RB Salzberg but but a 4-0 win made it feel routine. The final was against a team in the 2nd division so I game some key players a rest and we made it a 2nd FA cup in 3 years with a 2-0 win.
• UEFA Europa Conference League - I expected to have a run into the Knock-out rounds and the team didn't disappoint. Eased through the qualifying rounds and into the League Stage where it was more of the same winning 5 of our 6 games and drawing the other, what was most impressive is we didn't concede a single goal on the way! The round of 16 saw us come up against Astana which was another straight forward tie with us coming out 4-1 winners on aggregate. Unfortunately that was as far as we could go, Liverpool proving to be too much in the Quarter Final beating us 7-1 over 2 legs. The good performances were noted though with 2 of our players making the Team of the Tournament. Our new No.1 Goran Popović (27YP1) and  Stefan Schwarz (28YP4) who has been stepping in up top since we've had some injury problems. 

Squad - Largely the same as the last few years, we're still weakest at the back and that's costing us points over the season but it's not like we can just buy someone is it , players are coming through though.

Key Players 

• Dominik Danneberg (29YP2) - Played much more football than I'd planned for him to this season due to a sale and looked at home from the start. Signed his first 'proper' contract at the start of this season and his agent locked in a £32.5m release clause from the off, given he's currently got the highest value in the squad by a distance he might be something really special.
• Jonas Fink (29YP6) - By far our best CB even though it was his first year with the senior squad. He's developed a lot over the year so I'm hopeful that I can move onto worrying about being light in another area of my team soon.

Youth Intake (Full View)

2 5* and 3 4.5* players so another solid intake, there's been a real lack of fullbacks over recent years but until they get bought that wont be an issue.

• Jordan Altier (33YP1) - Looks like he could be the best of the bunch this year. Solid if unspectacular stats already, I'll see if I can improve his personality but if not I think he'll still come along nicely.

Transfers

• Some big outgoings this season, Wimmer was always going since he said he wouldn't sign a new deal £1.7m was a very good fee for him under the circumstances. Huemer and Els I'd rather have kept but release clauses were met and off they went, luckily we had ready made replacements in the B team already. 
• Paul Daun who we sold a few years ago was on the move again, to Wolfsburg for a fee rising to nearly £50m so we'll be getting about £15m from that over the next couple of seasons.

Finances - Looking very healthy now, most of it will be pumped back into upgrades when the board give the option.

Other - 

• With the influx of cash we got straight onto hassling the board to spend it, they agreed to upgrade the training facilities at the start of the year and as soon as that was done I got them to agree to a further upgrade that'll be completed just before the new season. Hopefully the carry on being so agreeable. 
• Jonas Fink (29YP6) and Ivo Cosic (31YP5) made the NXGN list this year, Cosic was a bit of a surprise because he felt very meh when he was on the pitch, but I'll take it.
• Stefan Schwarz (28YP4) had a good year scoring 29 in 35. Almost half of these goals came in Europe leading him to finish 3rd in both the Player of the Season and Golden Boot awards.

This season has really made me realise the true scale of this challenge. The team is getting better but the pace has slowed right down, which is to be expected, it's just a slow grind to gain club reputation and crossing my fingers in early March for the next couple of decades now! Overall a very good first decade.