[FM23] Out of Africa. (Spanish out of Morocco to be precise). We will start with Ceuta, but if things go badly I might end up at Melila.

[vivu]

Money is rolling in

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, vivu said:

Money is rolling in

Yeah, it's made a significant difference already and I expect us to be well set by the end of the year. If we stay up from here no then we are laughing, but even if we're relegated I think we will be pretty strong in the league below and should bounce straight back, meaning that we will be in the money again. Surviving last season was a big deal. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2027. 

I generally played cautious away from home last season and positive at home, (with the same tactic), but this season I'm going to play cautious both home and away and see how that goes. 

LaLiga SmartBank. Despite only having 1 win from 3, I'm quite happy with our early season form. We won our home game and lost by a single goal in both away games, playing opposition expected to finish in the top half of the table. We have such a young squad that we know we're going to improve, and I think if we can just stay incontention until the New Year we should be better in the 2nd half of the season. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Only 1 shot from Diarra this month. 

Finances.  Things are looking much healthier in this area. 

(27a) Crespo *. He hasn't made any league appearances yet this season, (an unused sub in all 3 games), but he was in good form for the B Team during pre-season, with 5 goals in 4 games, (including 2 against the 1st Team). 

Internationals. This shows 11 players, but we actually have 13 players away on International duty, so it was a no-brainer to postpone the game against Tenerife in the league next month. 

Evina (CMR)(FRA) SC *, (who is not a regular starter for us), scored a hat-trick for Cameroon U20's, making it 10 goals in 8 games at that level. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2027. 

LaLiga SmartBank. We played pretty well this month, but have been unlucky with the woodwork and it's frustrating that we couldn't get a win out of either of the 2 home games. That being said, being 3-0 down at HT and not losing is pretty decent. If we can keep collecting points at a rate of 1 point per game, then we have a chance. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Just 1 shot from Diarra this month, (off target). 

Finances.  Surprisingly, our bank balance has only gone up slightly this month, despite us having 3 games at home. 

(27a) Crespo *. I started him against Tenerife and despite being 3-0 down at HT we dug in and he scored a late leveller for his 1st competitive goal. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2027.

LaLiga SmartBank. Well the good news is that we're pretty consistent.  I think we've just been unlucky this month, but 5 losses is 5 losses. 

The taking it easy thing has worked in respect that I'm having a much easier time playing the game, but our results are not what I would like. I think it's time to start concentrating again. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 3 shots from Diarra this month, 2 of them on target resulting in 1 goal. Rafa played against Coruña, (because Diarra was on Int duty), but didn't have any shots. 

  

Finances. 

Records. This isn't a record I wanted to set. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2027. 

LaLiga SmartBank. Well this made a nice change.  I decided after losing all 5 games last month that if we were going to go down we were going to go down swinging. I think teams underestimated us and we also got a little lucky, (but I'll take it). 

Goal-scoring GK's. 2 shots from Diarra this month, 1 of them on target but 0 goals. 

 

Finances. 

Records. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2027. 

LaLiga SmartBank. We seem really hit and miss at the moment and it feels a little like I don't have control and we're aquaplaning. I'm thinking of playing multiple players up top to try and get Crespo more game-time. I've seen some ridiculous non-marking from my centre-backs, (particularly not tracking 3rd man runs), so my thinking is that if I can overload the forward areas, we will do to the opposition what they have done at times to us.

5 losses.
4 wins. 
3 losses is our current form. 

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey. Yes, that is indeed 4 goals in 16 mins for Crespo. 

Goal-scoring GK's. I've put a block on this for the time-being because I need to concentrate on winning. 

Finances. 

(27a) Crespo *.

Job Offers. I was a little surprised at the offers. Not really sure I have done too much to deserve it, but maybe last months 4 wins out of 4 probably has a lot to do with it. 

Granada are 19th in LaLiga. 
Elche are 18th in LaLiga. 

Youth Intake preview. Who knows what this means. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2028. 

LaLiga SmartBank. We've got a GK goal and a Crespo hat-trick, so what's not to like? We're also out of the relegation zone. 

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey.

Goal-scoring GK's. 

 

Finances.  We're over £1M in the bank for the 1st time in this save. 

(27a) Crespo *. He had previously scored 4 goals in 16 mins and now he's scored 3 goals in 7 mins.  When he's hot he's very hot. 

Facilities. 

This should mean that our intake is very CA heavy, (or certainly stronger in CA than PA). It will be interesting to see how this one looks. I've long been of the opinion that when you upgrade facilities like this, the impact shouldn't be immediate but should take a few season before the effects are felt. 

This is the 1st time I've had to check this in FM23 so using the following graphic the above numbers equate to the following description. 

Training Facilities - 8 - Adequate.
Youth Facilities - 8 - Adequate.
Junior Coaching - 17 - Excellent. 
Youth Recruitment - 5 Basic. 

So this still seems to be accurate from what I can see. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Sonic Youth]

Some wildly fluctuating months, with a hot young striker 

Fifteen minutes for four, 7 for 3?  

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Some wildly fluctuating months, with a hot young striker 

Fifteen minutes for four, 7 for 3?  

Yeah, I've been changing tactics left right and centre. The same tactic that won us 3 on the bounce also saw us lose the next 3, (so that's gone). 

Crespo very hit and miss. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2028. 

LaLiga SmartBank. This still looks hit and miss, but actually this us our best form for a while. We won both our home games and lost our away games each by a single goal. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

Finances.  We're back under £1M in the bank again. 

(27a) Crespo *. He's developing well and has 10 goals in 13(3) games, but 7 of his 10 goals have been scored in just 2 Cup games so he's not consistent yet at all. I have a feeling that he might not be as good as I hope, because although there were some lower league clubs interested in loaning him, no club has been interested in signing him on a permanent transfer yet. 

   

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2028.

LaLiga SmartBank. This isn't decent form. This is brilliant form. Unbeaten in a month containing 3 away games is really good anyway, but when 2 of the opposition are Leganes & Coruna, (who are both in the Playoffs), then it's even more significant. I was gutted to only draw the Coruna game because not only did we lead 3-0, but Crespo missed a glorious chance on 17 mins and the Ass Man took him off with 8 mins to play when the game was still there to be won. I shouldn't complain though. A point is brilliant. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances. 

Facilities. Delighted to finally get this upgrade done. It's taken a while. 

Records. 

(27a) Crespo * has suddenly just exploded onto the scene in a big way. I mentioned that his 2 big performances had been in the Cup so far and although he had scored in the league I was struggling to get him performing consistently. Well that would seem to be a thing of the dim and distant past and in truth he should really have scored more than 7 goals in 4 games this month. I know he hit the post when he should have scored and put another little chip just wide when he was 1v1 with the GK. I'm not complaining though. It's brilliant. He's really poor in the air though and that's something he needs to work on. 

He's enormously out-performing his xG though. 

[GylfiAsCharged]

Really enjoyed catching up on this, congratulations on your promotion! Have also been playing with Ceuta and finding the max 18 over-23 players rule absolutely brutal. Glad to see you having success with your youngsters as it looks like the way to navigate these rules!

Crespo looks an absolute star in the making too!

Edited November 12, 2022 by GylfiAsCharged

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Apr 2028. 

Preview. This looks great. It's very likely to be a bunch of complete lies. 

Summary. This looks amazing, and it's certainly good, but the PA of these players is likely not to be great so I wouldn't get excited. Better PA than the players at the club, bit probably not great in the grand scheme of things. 

Squad by PA. Not much in the way of varied Nationalities, and loads of Unambitious players and quite a few also with Low Det.  The more I look at this intake, the less I like it. 

Personality/Ambition/Determination. 

(28a) Serrano looks excellent. Really like the look of him. (Just look at that passing & 1st Touch!) 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2028. 

LaLiga SmartBank. 2 more wins give us a gap of 7 points between ourselves and the relegation zone. 

Goal-scoring GK's. No goals this month, but we do have a change of GK. The Ass Man suggested we play (28c) Bermúdez 5'10", so I went with it. He made an awful error on his debut, (came rushing out of the area and let the ball bounce over his head for the opposition to slot into an empty net), but we won anyway so no damage done. 

Finances.  We spent £260k on the Youth Recruitment upgrade mentioned in the last update. That's why our balance has dropped again. 

(27a) Crespo * has signed a new contract and scored 2 more goals this month, but he also hit the woodwork about 3 times too. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, GylfiAsCharged said:

Really enjoyed catching up on this, congratulations on your promotion! Have also been playing with Ceuta and finding the max 18 over-23 players rule absolutely brutal. Glad to see you having success with your youngsters as it looks like the way to navigate these rules!

Crespo looks an absolute star in the making too!

Thanks very much.  

I must admit that I haven't really had issues with the registration after the 1st season, (once I realised what the rules were & we got our 1st intake), and most of the time I always have at least 1 slot free so that if I find someone I want to sign then I can just do it straight away. 

I think once you decide to play with youngsters, it doesn't really matter how good or bad they are. The decision has been made and you just use what you have. (That's how I look at it anyway). 

Crespo looks good, (but is very inconsistent), and it's interesting to see what we're producing with such a low reputation and with such relatively poor facilities. The improvements we've made to our facilities have already had a significant impact by the looks of it, but when I see a 5.0 PA player I don't expect them to be that good in the grand scheme of things. Just better than what we already have.n 

[GylfiAsCharged]

3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks very much.  

I must admit that I haven't really had issues with the registration after the 1st season, (once I realised what the rules were & we got our 1st intake), and most of the time I always have at least 1 slot free so that if I find someone I want to sign then I can just do it straight away. 

I think once you decide to play with youngsters, it doesn't really matter how good or bad they are. The decision has been made and you just use what you have. (That's how I look at it anyway). 

Crespo looks good, (but is very inconsistent), and it's interesting to see what we're producing with such a low reputation and with such relatively poor facilities. The improvements we've made to our facilities have already had a significant impact by the looks of it, but when I see a 5.0 PA player I don't expect them to be that good in the grand scheme of things. Just better than what we already have.n 

That's an interesting point about making the decision to play with youngsters and sticking with it, I think I'll be leaning into that from now on.

[Jimbokav1971]

9 minutes ago, GylfiAsCharged said:

That's an interesting point about making the decision to play with youngsters and sticking with it, I think I'll be leaning into that from now on.

When people say that they never get youngsters through their Academy good enough to play for the 1st Team, my answer is always that you need to play them before they are ready in order to develop them. Many seem to want to wait and wait and wait until they are ready before playing them. If you keep waiting they will usually never be ready. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May/Jun 2028. 

LaLiga SmartBank. We earned 2 more points this season than we did last season, and finished 16th on both occasions. We started the season poorly though, (and finished it poorly by the look of this), but I was happy for much of the season and go into next season with renewed optimism. 

I don't really care who wins the Playoffs. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances.  We're still under £1M in the bank, (because I keep asking for upgrades to our facilities), but avoiding relegation, (twice now), has changed our finances significantly. The 1st season paid off our debt and the 2nd season has put some money in the bank and allowed the board to increase our wage budget by approx 25%, (which is obviously significant). Whether that means better player, (which means higher wages), or more depth, (which means more wages), all we have to do is keep building year on year and sooner or later we will sign players who can get us promoted out of this league. At the moment that seems a long way away, (and the priority is still to avoid relegation), but we did it with a little bt to spare this season and I expect it to be more comfortable next season. 

Squad by appearances. 

(27a) Crespo * only turned 17 in March, (which seems ridiculous), but he was still our best player and topped the goal-scoring charts with 22 goals. What probably needs pointing out is that while we actually played 45 games this season, he actually only made 26(4) appearances as I looked to use him sparingly at times, (especially early in the season). There is a balance to be had in giving him the playing time that he needs to develop, and playing him too much so that he breaks down and/or has injuries later in his career as a result of being over-exposed to 1st team football early in his career. 30 appearances is the upper safe limit (imo). While he's brilliant for us now in terms of the save, it's hugely unlikely that he will have proper top-end quality so let's just enjoy him while he is here and see how he develops. 

5.0 PA players. Let's not mess about here. The PA star system is a rubbish way to judge the potential of players, (quite simply because it's designed that way), but it's also the only way we've got, so we will use it. 

There is a healthy mix of HG youngsters and Africans I've brought in, (it's a 7/6 split), and they will get opportunities and they will either improve and they won't improve and we will react to that. It's worth noting that there is nobody on the below list over 21 years old though. 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. Jun 2028.

2 steps forward and 1 step back. 

[Sonic Youth]

I like the contradiction your boar has: have youth facilities but not youth recruitment 

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

I like the contradiction your boar has: have youth facilities but not youth recruitment 

It's driving me bonkers. 

[wearesporting]

I think your head of youth found that last intake hanging around on a street corner and presented them as the next generation.

[Jimbokav1971]

This is a nice little screen. 

It's a shame that you can't go back year on year on this bit. 

Pretty sure this is wrong. I haven't made 5 requests during my time in charge. I think I've had more than 5 requests agreed. (In fact I've definitely had more than 5 requests agreed. 

2x Coaching courses
3x Junior Coaching
1x Youth Recruitment
1x Youth Facilities

 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, wearesporting said:

I think your head of youth found that last intake hanging around on a street corner and presented them as the next generation.

 Don't be too harsh in him. The truth is we don't know how good they are or aren't yet. Let's give them some time. 

[Sonic Youth]

2 hours ago, wearesporting said:

I think your head of youth found that last intake hanging around on a street corner and presented them as the next generation.

That’s one way to view it 

[Jimbokav1971]

47 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

That’s one way to view it 

As my HoYD is getting pelters from @wearesportingand @Sonic YouthI thought I had better introduce him.

I think he's doing ok so far.

• We have Youth players playing in the 1st Team.
• Crespo just had a 20+ goal season aged 16.
• (28c) Bermúdez 5'10" has gone straight into the starting line-up in goal after coming through the last intake. 
• When I rank players by CA, (23b) Escalona (VEN) * &  (27a) Crespo *, (both obviously Academy products), are at the very top. 
• I really like the look of (28a) Serrano, (DLP with 16 passing & first touch). 
• (23c) Víctor 6'0" * spent last season out on loan but will feature in the 1st Team squad this season, (maybe). 

Actually...... we don't have a HoYD.  

The U19's Manager was in charge of the last intake. This happened before but someone mentioned it in the thread and I'm sure we appointed one....... 

This was who we had. 

But he left 11 months ago and hasn't been replaced. 

I've been delegating all this but I will sign a HoYD now. I would prefer to sign an African, but will have to see what's available. 

This is our new HoYD, (signed simply because he's the 1st unattached African HoYD I could find who had Det in double figures. 

He played in 9 different Countries. 

I've signed him to a 3 year deal so I don't have to worry about that for a while. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jun 2028. 

GK. They may not be amazing, but I'm happy with the 2 senior GK's we have, (even though they are just 16 & 21). 

1st Team. (28c) Bermúdez 5'10" & Diarra (MLI)(ESP) 6'2".
B Team. (25c) Rafa. 6'4" 
U19's. (27f) García. 6'0" & (26h) Redondo. 6'2".
Loan. 
Sell.
Release. (24h) Avilés. 6'0"

 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jun 2028. 

DL. I would like to re-sign (23k) Álvarez and loan him out again, but he wants to be considered an important player and while he might have good PA, he's not ready yet and I can't afford to pay £6k pm for someone who isn't going to play, so I think I will just let him go, (even though I don't want to). 

1st Team. (23b) Escalona (VEN) * & Josema. 
B Team. (25l) Moukoko. (CMR)
U19's. (28j) Dani., (28o) Casal., 
Loan. 
Sell.
Release. (23k) Álvarez, (25a) Romero.

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jun 2028. 

DR. Mbae (COM)(FRA) 5'11" made 15(21) appearances last season, but he's 29 and if he's not 1st choice then I think that we need to look at replacing him with a young player, (so we won't be offering him a new contract). Sanyang (GAM)(ESP) 6'2" is a bit of a utility player, (a DM who could fit in well at DR, and with Yankey likely to be leaving next season I think DE could be an option for him. 

1st Team. Ramazani (BDI)(BEL), Yankey (MAR)(ESP) & Sanyang (GAM)(ESP) 6'2".
B Team. (26n) Gabieiro., (37i) Franchini. (ITA) 
U19's. (28p) Blanco.
Loan.
Sell.
Release. Mbae (COM)(FRA) 5'11"

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jun 2028.

DC. While I think we're weak in this area, I also think that all but 1 of our centre-backs are young and they need time to develop. We need to give them time. 

1st Team. Zaim (ESP)(MAR) 6'4" & Sibacha (ECQ)(ESP) 6'0". Nwachukwu (NGA) 6'2" & (23c) Víctor 6'2" *.
B Team. (27d) Kujabi. (GAM) 6'4" & (26g) Durán Durán. 6'1".
U19's. (28m) Porras. 5'10", (37k) Manolo. 6'1"
Loan. Mohamed (MAR)(ESP) 6'0" *
Sell.
Release. (26c) Arkhipov.(ESP)(RUS) 6'5", (24l) Núñez. (ESP)(BAS) 5'10", (25g) Álex. 6'0", (24k) González. 6'5", (24f) Sánchez. (PAR)(ESP) 6'0"

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jun 2028. 

MC. I have dispensed with using a dedicated DM, but we have used one for the last 4 seasons so there are likely to be players who are specific DM's. I will need to either retrain then to play at DC or MC, (or in 1 case DR), or offload them. We're still using 3 MC slots though so there are a few positions to be filled. 

At the moment I have a DLP(s) a BWM(s) and the 3rd slot is open to change. I'm thinking about a CM(a) just because I like it. 

1st Team. Mohamed (COM)(FRA) 6'3" (DLP), (28a) Serrano (DLP), Nchama (EQG)(ESP) 6'2" (BWM), Tassembédo (BFA) (BWM), (23l) Soler * (BWM), Sanyang (GAM)(ESP) 6'2" (CM) & (23e) Manuel * (CM). That's 7 players which is probably 1 too many, (at least). Sanyang can also cover right back so I like him in the squad. It's probably Soler or Manuel who I will loan out. 
B Team.
U19's.
Loan.
Sell.
Release. Doumbia (MLI) 6'4", Frimpong. (GHA), (25e) Tchamba. (ESP)(CMR), (25b) Ochoa. (ESP)(MLI), (24b) Soler.

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jun 2028.

SC. Because we're playing 433 now, our wide players will have to play somewhere else, (up frontmost likely). As a result there are lots of players here listed here. 

1st Team. Coulibaly (MLI)(ESP) ML *, (27a) Crespo *, Yvan (EQG)(ESP), Evina (CMR)(FRA) SC *, Awudu (GHA), Sylla (GUI)(FRA) *, Mendy (SEN)(ESP) *, (23f) Francisco SC *
B Team. (25o) Ordóñez., (25f) Morillo. ML, (26o) Daniel.,  (25i) Cheikh. (ESP)(MAR), (23h) Vallejo MR, (23i) Raúl MR, (28n) Rosales, (28h) Roberto
U19's. (26i) Medrano., (26e) Ramis. SC, (37n) Hernández., (27b) Arias. DLP, (26d) Álvarez. DLP, (26b) Siles. (POL)(ESP) ML, (26a) Wurster. (POR)(GER), (37j) Cabrero. ML, (37e) Jesús., (28n) Rosales, (37h) Adouna. (ESP)(MLI), (28f) Sánchez, (27c) Alberto., (28i) Riera., 
Loan.
Sell.
Release. (24d) Iglesias. ML, (24i) Nicolás., (24p) Benítez. ML, (24b) Soler., Faye (SEN)

[Peter G]

You must have been able to clear a lot of wages with releasing all those players

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Peter G said:

You must have been able to clear a lot of wages with releasing all those players

Not really. Most of them are youngsters on youth contracts or 1st pro contracts. Obviously it all adds up, but youth contracts are only £240 pm and basic pro contracts are somewhere in the region for £1,000 per month. 

To put that in contect, a player expecting to feature in our 1st Team would want between £6k-£10k per month, so it's not going to save us much I'm afraid. 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

International call-up. Jun 2028. 

Well Crespo has got his foot on the 1st rung of International recognition. It remains to be seen how far he can go. 

[Thebaker]

Looks like the club is progressing. You are getting through some decent youth players considering the level of facilities.

I always assume a player is at a high level of PA if they are described as promising (although this also depends on the club rep), Crespo looks fantastic and must be of La liga potential to be called up by Spain

[Jimbokav1971]

43 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

Looks like the club is progressing. You are getting through some decent youth players considering the level of facilities.

I always assume a player is at a high level of PA if they are described as promising (although this also depends on the club rep), Crespo looks fantastic and must be of La liga potential to be called up by Spain

In my experience U19 call-ups are all about CA and not at all about PA, so it's dangerous to read too much into it. Don't get me wrong, I would love him to have good PA. I'm just trying not to get to excited. A far bigger indication of whether he has a high PA or not is whether the big clubs show an interest in him early, and although there was some loan interest for some clubs at lower levels, there hasn't been any interest at all from big clubs yet, (or any proper transfer interest at all). Considering he's just had a 20+ goal season in the 2nd tier in Spain at the age of 16, (just turned 17 towards the end of the season), I would have expected clubs to be all over him. 

 

The coach report also doesn't really help.

There's not even any guarantee that he will be much better than he is now. I like that though. I think this is realistic.

He's great for us now, (his listed as our top rated player by CA), and interestingly he's not listed top rated by PA. We have 3 players from the last intake ahead of him. It could be that they are all going to be amazing, (unlikely), or it could be that his PA isn't that high, (quite possible), but more likely the truth is that the all the PA info here is a little inaccurate. 

I will keep an eye on the PA, and clubs showing interest, but until things change I think his PA will decent but unspectacular. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul & Aug 2028. 

Pre-season. I wouldn't usually even comment on pre-season games, but I'm adding a friendly every Tuesday to keep the fringe players match fit. 

LaLiga SmartBank. We failed from the spot against Granada so we should have gone unbeaten in the opening month. I'm feeling quite positive for this season. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Bermúdez has 2 assists and 1 goal from the opening 3 matches of the season, and he also saw a penalty saved in the Granada game. 

The last 3 friendlies have seen Bermúdez in good form, scoring 4 goals, 1 assist and also failing from the spot on 1 further occasion. It doesn't mean anything, but it certainly suggests that we will win penalties with this tactic when we dominate games. (We just have to dominate the games 1st). 

 

 

Finances. 

[Thebaker]

i wouldn't take the lack of interest or otherwise as an indicator. Last year in spain when in L2, i had a youth player come through who had Liverpool and Man Utd interested so i gave him a long contract to keep him although he wasn't really improving from 18 onwards.  By 22 he had not improved at all and obviously had peaked at L2 level.

I also had a GK come through rated the 2nd best that same year for PA, I didn't really pay much attention to him and after a few loan spells a number of L2  and teams at the bottom of La liga made bids (he was 20).  I kept him and made him my no1, by 23 he was Spains no 1 GK and world class. No clubs were interested at 16-18 even though he had been given spanish u19 caps. (i should point out i had nearly maxed out the facilities when these players came through!)

I guess Crespo could go one of these 2 ways, there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest from the bigger clubs in very young players in Spain it seemed to me.

Edited November 14, 2022 by Thebaker

[Jimbokav1971]

30 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

i wouldn't take the lack of interest or otherwise as an indicator. Last year in spain when in L2, i had a youth player come through who had Liverpool and Man Utd interested so i gave him a long contract to keep him although he wasn't really improving from 18 onwards.  By 22 he had not improved at all and obviously had peaked at L2 level.

I also had a GK come through rated the 2nd best that same year for PA, I didn't really pay much attention to him and after a few loan spells a number of L2  and teams at the bottom of La liga made bids (he was 20).  I kept him and made him my no1, by 23 he was Spains no 1 GK and world class. No clubs were interested at 16-18 even though he had been given spanish u19 caps. (i should point out i had nearly maxed out the facilities when these players came through!)

I guess Crespo could go one of these 2 ways, there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest from the bigger clubs in very young players in Spain it seemed to me.

You could be right. In the past, the real test of whether a young player was any good was if Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Barca or R.Madrid were interested in him. It will be interesting to see how this develops. 

He didn't start the season league very well, (but has been ok in friendlies), and I think this is because he was at the U19 EURO's where he scored the winning goal in the final and was named in the EURO U19 Championship Dream Team. 

He did however spank 6 goals past a club side from Gibraltar as he regained his fitness. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2028. 

LaLiga SmartBank. Vigo gave us a right doing, but even in that game we had and spurned our own chances. Crespo scored his 1st goal of the season against Vallecano, and by the end of the month he had scored 5 more, winning the League Player of the Month award in the process. We're in the Playoff spots for the 1st time in this league. I know it's early days, but it's still nice to be there. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances. 

Records. 

Awards. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2028. 

LaLiga SmartBank. I think we've been in decent from, but we've squandered chances and been sucker-punched at the other end for double measure. We're 14th after 4 losses in our last 5 and I feel like we should be higher. Can't complain though. The goal as ever is just to avoid relegation and stay in the job. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 2 shots this month, both on target resulting in 2 goals. #economical

 

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Wanted by PSG. (No, not him). Nov 2028.

Well this is a surprise. I was expecting that is anyone was going to attract the interest of the big boys it was going to be Crespo, but actually Bermúdez is the one why has caught the eye of the French oil-backed giants. He's got a min fee release clause of £600k, so I will be trying to negotiate his contract immediately so that PSG can't activate his clause. 

I don't mind paying him more, but I basically want to insert a £5M min fee release clause so that if and when someone does come in for him, he can go with my blessing for a fee that will seriously benefit the club. 

Job done. 

[Jimbokav1971]

I knew it was coming. Nov 2028. 

The big boys have finally come sniffing around Crespo. They can show me the money or.... be gone. 

I didn't get the list of clubs quite right, but I wasn't far off either. 

The difference here, (compared to the recent situation with Bermúdez), is that Crespo already has a £5M min fee release clause and while I don't want him to go, (and will try and get him back in on loan if he does go), I certainly wouldn't be upset with £5M to spend on facility upgrades. 

[Peter G]

Wonder if you'd be able to get £10m for him

Although, not sure how it would work as obviously teams will bid £5m and that's it. Maybe offer him out for more?

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2028. 

LaLiga SmartBank. How on Earth did we win only 1 game this month?  we played really well but just didn't take our chance. Crespo seemed to spend the month through 1v1 on goal and put the ball wide/over/against the GK/woodwork. Sooooo frustrating.  We're sitting 13th and I should be happy with that, but we're only 3 points ahead of the relegation zone and we need to put a bigger gap between us and it because if a big club comes in and meets Crespo's £5M min fee clause we will have lots of lovely money in the bank, but be absioolutely screwed on the pitch. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Nothing to see here. 

Finances.  We're losing money again now. This is partly because of a bigger wage bill, but we've also been spending more on scouting and of course our Youth Costs and Facilities have increased significantly. 

Facilities. 

Crespo was rubbish in the last 2 games of the month. I must admit that I'm not too upset. He's very hit and miss at the moment. He could have easily had 8-10 goals this month. I lost count of how many times he hit the woodwork. 

[Jimbokav1971]

19 minutes ago, Peter G said:

Wonder if you'd be able to get £10m for him

Although, not sure how it would work as obviously teams will bid £5m and that's it. Maybe offer him out for more?

Let's be completely honest here. If I get £5M for him then he goes with my blessing. That's a lot of money for us at this stage of the save. I have no idea if he's worth that, (or whether the GK is). It's just a nice round amount. £500k was what was asked for in the initial contract and that seemed too small  and £1M or even £2.5M didn't seem enough of a compensation if we were to lose him. It's not really about what he's worth. It's simply compensation for us. £5M or £10 or £20M. It's all a huge amount of money when you only have £350k in the bank and you've never had more than approx £1M in the bank. In an ideal World they would each go for £5M and then we would immediately get a better replacement through the next intake. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2028. 

LaLiga SmartBank. 2 good wins mean that we reach New Year 5 points clear of the relegation zone, but it's really tight in the bottom half of the table and I really need the gao to be bigger than that. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances. 

Job Offer. I often play Youth Only saves and for the most part I'm content with that, but I also often only have 1 active league running at a time, so I rarely get job offers from a 2nd Nation. I wasn't even the slightest bit interested in either of the Granada or Elche jobs, but I must admit that I would have jumped at the chance to manage Eintracht Frankfurt. I did a Scandi Journeyman save a few issues of the game ago and it was great fun hopping around, and in other circumstances I would love to do the same thing here. A Youth Only Journeyman save must be on the cards for me soon. (Asia perhaps). 

It's interesting, (at least to me), that Granada and Elche both offered me more money than Eintracht Frankfurt, despite the fact that the Germans are playing in Europe. I'm currently earning £6,750 per month by way of a comparison. 

(27a) Crespo * is still wanted by the big boys, but there have been no offers as yet. 

I'm developing his PPM's and lobbing is next. 

He's already scored more league goals this season in 19 appearances this season than he did in 23(4) appearances last season. 

He should really have scored LOADS more goals though. He's getting so many good chances. He scored in all 3 league games this month, but he should have scored way more than 4 goals. He looks well set-up to be taking these opportunities, (technicals & mentals might not be as strong as physicals but they're still good), but I think another point on first touch and some points on jumping and strength and I think he will run riot at this level. 

New contract. I've mentioned previously that I really take it as a personal slight when I get offered a 1 year contract, so it's good to see that the board are keeping me sweet with a 3 year deal.

International call-ups. I know I'm a bit of a masochist, but part of the challenge here is to see how many players I can get called up to the AFCON. 

[Bigshow1]

Do you contest the decisions from your board to turn down youth recruitment improvements? I nearly always get it accepted after using the convince or insist options.