[FM23] Singapore: Hougang Utd

[Motlhen]

I'm going to start unemployed with the intention of first managing in Singapore. There are 4 teams that have never won a domestic division title so I will hope that one of their jobs becomes available soon and then the mission will be to push to claim their first ever title! Not getting too far ahead of myself, if I manage my goal in Singapore, I'll move on to another nation with the same premise, always starting in the lowest playable division.

A few other "rules":
I will not be spending any money on transfers so will be relying on freebies, loans and youth intakes.
These signings will be made via staff recommendations only (no player search) and the staff I employ will come from the job centre (no staff search).
I usually also try to ensure that I am the highest paid person at the club, but I am not sure how possible that will always be.

 

Singapore

 

AIA Singapore Premier League

 

 

Eligible teams

 

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Aug 2023

After a disappointing season, Tampines have sacked their manager.
The Young Lions boss took the vacant Tampines job & proceeded to beat his former side 2-1 in his first game at his new club.

 

 

This left Young Lions 5 points adrift at the bottom of the league with 3 games to play & desperate enough to employ an unknown manager to consolidate on this season & build for the next.
 

 

Founded in 2002, two early 3rd place finishes were the closest the club has ever got to the title.
They have a completely empty trophy cabinet, so hopefully we can change that!

 

 

The club was founded to provide a better foundation for domestic youth players.
We are the only club not allowed to sign non-Singaporean players (whilst the other clubs can sign up to 4).
We also can only register 4 over-23's, of which we currently have 6!

 

 

Because of these restrictions, we are considered quite far outsiders for the league.
Both the board & supporter vision is to attempt to avoid to finish bottom of the league.

 

 

The squad is huge so there is a lot of organisation to do.
I might even open up the squad planner.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Aug 2023 continued..

I'm earning £300p/w, which means there are quite a substantial number of players earning more than me at the club.
The top 5 have contracts expiring soon, so I've set them to be released. The remainder I will fight to get there requested wage down below £300p/w or look to sell or loan them out before next season starts.

 

 

Unfortunately, as would be expected, the higher earners at the club were the better players & culling the team has greatly reduced our squads quality.
For comparison, I believe this is our best starting lineup using players that are on less than £300p/w.
(Hisham at centre-back has agreed to, but not signed, a deal on £275p/w which is why he's included below.)

 

 

From this group, the standout players are:

Yeo who is now the only over-23 player we want to keep on the books. Handily he also has a 1-year extension on his contract too.

 

Rashid will be the more attacking option in midfield.

 

Along with Saravanan who looks a great prospect at only 15yo.

 

And last but definitely not least, I will be doing everything I can to keep Baharom around as he will be the main focal point in attack.

 

 

Time to start looking to the transfer market for next season and as the final few games of the current season are quickly approaching, our only aim is to not get outclassed or embarrassed. (Which could be quite an ambitious aim.)

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, Motlhen said:

Aug 2023
The club was founded to provide a better foundation for domestic youth players.
We are the only club not allowed to sign non-Singaporean players (whilst the other clubs can sign up to 4).
We also can only register 4 over-23's, of which we currently have 6!

 

I'm a little confused here. I understand that you can't sign FGN players while everyone else can sign 4, and that's fine, but I'm wondering what the thinking is behind only being able to register 4 O23 players. Is that a league rule, (which seems very strange), or is that also a self-imposed club rule? 

If it's a real rule, does anyone know hoe it works because it doesn't make sense to limit your clubs to so few U23's. 

Or maybe this is a lower league and I missed that. (Apologies if I did). 

I love the idea of an Asian Journeyman like this. Great little idea for a save. 

[Motlhen]

6 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I'm a little confused here. I understand that you can't sign FGN players while everyone else can sign 4, and that's fine, but I'm wondering what the thinking is behind only being able to register 4 O23 players. Is that a league rule, (which seems very strange), or is that also a self-imposed club rule? 

If it's a real rule, does anyone know hoe it works because it doesn't make sense to limit your clubs to so few U23's. 

Or maybe this is a lower league and I missed that. (Apologies if I did). 

I love the idea of an Asian Journeyman like this. Great little idea for a save. 

I actually believe the real life club impose some rules upon themselves as they are owned by the country's FA and this is the game's way of replicating their behaviour.

Wiki does a better job at explaining it:

Quote

Young Lions FC wiki

The team is under the direct control of the Football Association of Singapore. The Young Lions are one of the few football clubs in the world which place an age restriction on team members while playing in a top-flight professional league.

By entering the Young Lions into the S.League, the FAS hopes to expose young players to top-level competition, thus helping to prepare them for international tournaments such as the Southeast Asian Games. While the bulk of the Young Lions squad is made up of members of Singapore's national under-23 team, the club also takes in promising young foreign players (e.g. Luka Savić). However, foreign players are normally only recruited into the Young Lions squad if they could potentially change their nationality to Singaporean and be eligible to play international football for Singapore at some point in the future.

So in real life I guess they could sign over-23 players, they just tend not to, and they can sign foreign players, but they only do so with the vision that they'll take up the nationality one day. 
In the game, we are not allowed to sign any foreign players (those with dual nationality already are okay) and we can sign as many O23's as we want, but we can only register 4 of them.

 

There's actually some club-specific rules in the rules of the league:
(Albirex are a Japanese team playing in the Singaporean league system)

 

And this is our full list of registration rules to reflect that:

 

I'm going to try to sign as many of the national team youth players as possible to reflect real life!

[Motlhen]

One cool thing I noticed is that our U18's youth team is actually a dedicated sports school.
We have great recruitment and I will be focusing on improving these facilities too!

 

 

Our staff set up is really odd, I'm not getting on with them. Luckily all of their contracts are running out at the end of the season so I can do a full revamp with emphasis on the youth staff positions too.
Somehow this guy is my Chief Scout?!

 

[DavidBeckham]

I'm so excited about this thread! I'm a Singaporean and a Lion City Sailors Fan in real life. Young Lions have historically been struggling in the league due to their transfer limitations and the lack of foreign players to strengthen their squad in key areas. However, every Singaporean who wants to play professional football while serving the national service (army in Singapore, and it is compulsory for all males) has to go into the Young Lions squad. Would be interesting to see if you can do a build-a-nation save concurrently as Singapore's international team is struggling at the moment.

Shahril Jantan was a backup goalkeeper in Singapore's national team before he retired! I agree with you that he's certainly more of a goalkeeping coach than a chief scout in my opinion

Keep up the good work! Will be following this

[Jimbokav1971]

10 hours ago, Motlhen said:

I actually believe the real life club impose some rules upon themselves as they are owned by the country's FA and this is the game's way of replicating their behaviour.

Wiki does a better job at explaining it:

So in real life I guess they could sign over-23 players, they just tend not to, and they can sign foreign players, but they only do so with the vision that they'll take up the nationality one day. 
In the game, we are not allowed to sign any foreign players (those with dual nationality already are okay) and we can sign as many O23's as we want, but we can only register 4 of them.

 

There's actually some club-specific rules in the rules of the league:
(Albirex are a Japanese team playing in the Singaporean league system)

 

And this is our full list of registration rules to reflect that:

 

I'm going to try to sign as many of the national team youth players as possible to reflect real life!

Thanks for that.  That makes much more sense now. 

So the club was designed to facilitate a pathway for U23 players so it makes sense to limit the O23 players that could be used. Completely understand it now. 

[Motlhen]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks for that.  That makes much more sense now. 

So the club was designed to facilitate a pathway for U23 players so it makes sense to limit the O23 players that could be used. Completely understand it now. 

Awesome

 

5 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

I'm so excited about this thread! I'm a Singaporean and a Lion City Sailors Fan in real life. Young Lions have historically been struggling in the league due to their transfer limitations and the lack of foreign players to strengthen their squad in key areas. However, every Singaporean who wants to play professional football while serving the national service (army in Singapore, and it is compulsory for all males) has to go into the Young Lions squad. Would be interesting to see if you can do a build-a-nation save concurrently as Singapore's international team is struggling at the moment.

Shahril Jantan was a backup goalkeeper in Singapore's national team before he retired! I agree with you that he's certainly more of a goalkeeping coach than a chief scout in my opinion

Keep up the good work! Will be following this

Ah, wicked! Thanks so much for the extra insight. I do think it's going to take a while to build up the facilities to be able to produce good enough players to compete with the foreign players brought in to the league by the other clubs. I have one eye on International management for the future of the save - although I might be more tempted to start out with one of the national youth teams.

I definitely have a soft spot for Hougang United from a previous FM save. I found a bunch of incredible gifs of the team celebrations (I can't find a link to them right now, but they have a story on their IG called 'gifs' if you want to see what I mean) and watched a couple of short clips on YouTube about their fanbase. It was this save that brought Young Lions to my attention as they always seemed to be the league's whipping boys.

I've also found a good link to the real life games this season which is what I've been sticking on in the background whilst I'm playing this save!

[Motlhen]

I found the Hougang gifs!  They have some really great ones:

[Motlhen]

Sep 2023

We had our first youth intake just before the final game of the season.

 

The top prospects (including some I rate higher than the staff do):

 

 

& whilst I was looking at the league rules I noticed..

..so this was how we lined up for the final game of the season

 

 

Fixtures

We were completely outclassed.
In our first game, we had a player score a double hattrick against us:
The only positive was that we didn't concede 6 with the help of the new youth players.

 

The player who scored 6 against us is slightly better than our players:

 

 

One of the big disadvantages Singaporean players have over the foreign players in the league is their height. Half of the goals we conceded were headers and 11 of the 14 were scored by non-Singaporean's.

 

One of our top youth prospects suffered a big setback after breaking our youngest player record.

 

But it wasn't all bad news..
My favourite youngster & player (so far) got his first goals for the club. 

 

This is how the league looked by the end of the season.
@DavidBeckham LC Sailors are invincible champions!

 

These poor results were, in a way, expected and deservedly we lost 1 whole follower.

It's a bad start but the rebuild starts now.

[Motlhen]

Off-Season 2023

Our U18's finished dead last in their league too. I'll be trying to fill out their squad for next season too.

 

 

Transfers Out

I managed to shift a couple of players that were earning more than me.
There are still 6 players that we are offering out though. I'd much prefer not to pay the wages of these players that will be rotting in the reserves if they don't move on.

 

 

Transfers In

I've not managed to get in as many strong replacements as I had hoped.
I've brought in a few loanees and tried to flesh out with some backups in our weaker positions.

 

Our backup goalie might not make the registration places, but he's a decent GK coach so he'll definitely play a role at the club.

 

 

Finances

We've been slowly losing money so reducing our wages by releasing the dead wood in the reserves is doubly important.

 

 

Youth Development - we have produced twice as many top level players as the next club.

[Motlhen]

(Catching up on past major events)

2022 World Cup

Messi lifted the World Cup in what could well be his last major tournament.
USA making the semis the biggest shock with their best performance since 1960.
Qatar didn't make it past the group stage hosting & appearing in their first World Cup.

 

 

AFC Asian Cup 2023

Japan continued their dominance, winning for a record 5th time.
Philippines made the knockout stages in only their 2nd appearance in the competition.
& Indonesia were the surprise package, reaching the Quarter Finals after making it past the Group Stage for the first time in 14 attempts.

[DavidBeckham]

Lion City Sailors didn't win the league in real life though  We had an injury crisis towards the end of the season, losing both of our 1st-choice center-backs and we lost a number of games in a row to lose the title to Albirex 

Keep up the good work mate! Looking forward to seeing Young Lions rise up the table!

[Motlhen]

7 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Lion City Sailors didn't win the league in real life though  We had an injury crisis towards the end of the season, losing both of our 1st-choice center-backs and we lost a number of games in a row to lose the title to Albirex 

Keep up the good work mate! Looking forward to seeing Young Lions rise up the table!

Gutted  

Good luck for this season. Have you ever been to a LC Sailors game?

[Motlhen]

Feb 2024

Friendlies

We managed a couple of draws against weaker teams & only a single-goal loss against Hougang who are in our league.
I'm taking this as an indicator of progress - any game that we aren't shipping six goals would be!

 

 

Despite my view of progress, we are considered even further rank outsiders

 

 

Finances

The board have rejected all of my requests so far, but to be fair to them they have kept us afloat financially.
We seem to be losing money at a slower rate than last season too, which is positive!

Edited October 25, 2022 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

March 2024

Despite picking up no points, the performances have been much better than they were at the end of last season.

 

 

After being out for 3 months over the summer with broken ribs, one of our star prospects has had an even bigger blow in our first game this season.

 

 

Our next game is against Tanjong Pagar, where we have loaned quite a few first team starters from.

 

 

So I have quickly loaned in another midfielder from another club to plug one of the holes we'll have when we face Tanjong.

 

 

I have been pestering the board at every possible moment for facility improvements and it's paid off!

 

[Motlhen]

Apr 2024

We've picked up our first points!!! & we are not bottom!!!
A great win and a draw against two teams who finished mid-table last season.
LC Sailors went unbeaten last campaign so it was no surprise that they stopped our good run.

 

This is the current tactic I have been starting games with.

 

 

This is an incredible stat.
Hopefully we'll be able to keep up these sorts of numbers!

 

 

Finances are still looking better than last season.

[Motlhen]

May 2024

Losing a lead against Balestier was a blow to our chances of finishing off the bottom of the league.
We had a higher xG against Tampines, we just aren't putting our chances away as clinically as other teams & we keep conceding so many headed goals!

 

 

We have produced over triple the number of Premier League players compared to the next highest team.

[Motlhen]

June 2024

Transfers In

I have been slowly recruiting over the past few months and the transfer window opened after the first game of this month so we had an influx of players - hopefully they can help us end our run of bad form.

 

 

Youth Intake Preview

 

 

With all of the new signings lined up against Tanjong, it took Wong Qing Wei 15 minutes to get a straight red card whilst giving away a penalty.
The salt in the wound in that game was that the other two goals were scored by players I released at the beginning of the season.

But then we managed a deserved win against LC Sailors!!!
Yes, they had a man sent off. But we were solid in the game up until that point (55mins) and I'm ecstatic with the 3 points.

 

Last season we got 10 points. We've got 8 more games to get 4 points to beat that total. That's the aim for this season!

 

 

..and we still do have to play Balestier twice. I feel we'd have to beat them twice to have any chance of finishing off of the bottom of the league.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Motlhen

[the_hdk]

Singapore is always cool to play...very difficult though...and yong lions without being able to sign foreigners is nearly impossible

will keep following

[Motlhen]

July 2024

We managed hit our target of 4 points over the next 8 games in only the next 2 games!!!
The win against Balestier was brilliant, but it was even more incredible to pick up a draw against top-of-the-league Tampines.
We still have a way to go and we'll probably have to beat Balestier in our last game of the season (gameweek 21) to avoid bottom of the table.

 

But we're sitting pretty, off of the bottom of the league as we approach the business end of the season.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Aug 2024

A very poor month, but luckily Balestier have lost all of their games too.

 

 

The board have finally allowed me to try and get my first coaching licence.

[Motlhen]

Sep 2024

We were much better this month, battling to a tight loss against LC Sailors & then grabbing another win to stay above Balestier in the final game of the season!

 

 

Overall, a position and four points better off than last season and we'll be looking to improve on this again next season.
 

 

Youth Intake

We've got another good Goalkeeper and striker, two positions I was pretty comfortable with.
I'll never complain about solid backups and might change tactic to 2 up front next season to accommodate for our two young forwards.

 

 

 

Baharom made the difference this season.
I'll have my work cut out to keep him around.

[Motlhen]

Tanjong Pagar winning the title this season means that the number of eligible teams for me to complete the challenge with is down to 3:

 

& Balestier are after my services.

[Motlhen]

SEA Championship 2024

Thailand won for a record 7th time, demolishing Singapore over the two-legged final and smashing the previous record for the biggest win in the final which was 6-2 over two legs.
Laos did not qualify for only the 2nd time since the competition began (1996).
Brunei were the surprise package, after failing to qualify on the previous 8 attempts, they made the semi-finals in only their 2nd appearance in the competition.

[oche balboa]

Good start so far, Keep up the good work 

[JKLae]

Also do note that the Young Lions will not will not qualify for continental football. Just in case you had plans to foray into that, although I think you did mention you were just looking to win the title before moving on.

 

[Motlhen]

6 hours ago, oche balboa said:

Good start so far, Keep up the good work 

Thanks!

 

5 hours ago, JKLae said:

Also do note that the Young Lions will not will not qualify for continental football. Just in case you had plans to foray into that, although I think you did mention you were just looking to win the title before moving on.

 

Oh really? Thanks for the heads up. How did you find that out?

I wasn't aware of that & I would've liked to have had some time in the continental competitions on the way to my main goal which is to win the league. I guess without the continental comps, I will just have more of a focus on the league. We also don't compete in the Singapore Cup (although Young Lions do irl) which is another shame, but neither absences will stop me from continuing with these guys.

[Motlhen]

Pre-Season 2025

The board agreed to a couple of improvements.

 

 

Transfers In

I feel we've brought in some strong players in key areas.
The only issue is their ages. Two of our signings being 22 mean we only have them for this year, unless they out-perform one of our four O23 players.

 

 

We have had a much better set of results in pre-season. Although we did play teams more at our level than last season.

 

 

Our odds of winning the title have gone down for a 3rd year in a row.

 

 

And we'll have a tough start with long-term injuries picked up by key players.

 

 

Thankfully we still have our key player & 2nd favourite for top scorer in the league.

 

 

Finances have been getting gradually better and better. (At least we're losing money at a slower rate each season.)
Fingers crossed this can lead to some more facility improvements.

[JKLae]

On 28/10/2022 at 22:48, Motlhen said:

Thanks!

 

Oh really? Thanks for the heads up. How did you find that out?

I wasn't aware of that & I would've liked to have had some time in the continental competitions on the way to my main goal which is to win the league. I guess without the continental comps, I will just have more of a focus on the league. We also don't compete in the Singapore Cup (although Young Lions do irl) which is another shame, but neither absences will stop me from continuing with these guys.

I'm Singaporean myself and have been following the local league quite religiously. Also have been mainly playing long term saves on the Singapore league on FM for the past few editions.  

The Young Lions are placed in the league in hopes to get younger players more regular game time to develop. But irl this hasn't really worked out, with the team regularly finishing near the bottom of the league. The best players do get poached, while the team has little consistency because majority of the players are serving their military service, and may not have full availability, and most return to the other clubs after they are done with their service. Military service isn't replicated in the game like the South Korean league in the game, so in some sense you have greater control over in/outs in the SPL in the game. 

I know the above doesn't explain why they don't qualify continentally, but the rule has been there ever since the team was added to the league 20 years back. But perhaps it's just the premise that they're a developmental side and hence have no place in representing the country at club continental competitions.

Young Lions are participating in the cup this year irl (which is ongoing right now btw), but it's been pretty inconsistent regarding their presence in the cup, almost as if they were there to make up the numbers at times. The last they they did was 2016, so I think it's understandable that the game hasn't coded them in this year, as we haven't had the cup for two years due to covid, and the cup draw for this year was only made around August or September.

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by JKLae

[Motlhen]

On 02/11/2022 at 15:12, JKLae said:

I'm Singaporean myself and have been following the local league quite religiously. Also have been mainly playing long term saves on the Singapore league on FM for the past few editions.  

The Young Lions are placed in the league in hopes to get younger players more regular game time to develop. But irl this hasn't really worked out, with the team regularly finishing near the bottom of the league. The best players do get poached, while the team has little consistency because majority of the players are serving their military service, and may not have full availability, and most return to the other clubs after they are done with their service. Military service isn't replicated in the game like the South Korean league in the game, so in some sense you have greater control over in/outs in the SPL in the game. 

I know the above doesn't explain why they don't qualify continentally, but the rule has been there ever since the team was added to the league 20 years back. But perhaps it's just the premise that they're a developmental side and hence have no place in representing the country at club continental competitions.

Young Lions are participating in the cup this year irl (which is ongoing right now btw), but it's been pretty inconsistent regarding their presence in the cup, almost as if they were there to make up the numbers at times. The last they they did was 2016, so I think it's understandable that the game hasn't coded them in this year, as we haven't had the cup for two years due to covid, and the cup draw for this year was only made around August or September.

 

Awesome! Which team do you support?

Cool yeah, I saw they were in the cup irl. They're an interesting club. It's going to take a while to build up the facilities to get to a point where we are producing enough quality players each intake to be able to have a good full squad of players who are U23.

[Motlhen]

Mar - Apr 2025

We've started as I guess is expected. We nicked a draw against Hougang and have managed to beat Balestier to stay off the foot of the table.
Mahadi Baharom has not been playing anywhere near as good as he was last season & it's looking unlikely he'll sign a new contract with us. Losing him will be a big blow at the end of the season.

 

 

Finances

[Motlhen]

May 2025

I have been a lot happier with our performances this month, despite the results.
We led against Hougang until a reckless challenge took us down to 10-men & we fell apart.
In the other two matches this month we've played brilliantly until around the 75th minute where tiredness and lack of quality in squad depth meaning the subs are not able to protect the result and we have ended up losing. But like I said, it is a lot more positive than losing without putting up a fight!

 

Unfortunaley though, with Balestier winning a game and us dropping to the bottom of the table, the board are not happy without results and points on the board.

 

 

The next 5 games include a winnable game against Balestier. We did also beat Tanjong Pagar last season. And Hougang have dropped points to Balestier a couple of times over the last few seasons. The 6-point total is definitely attainable, but I am acutely aware that my time at Young Lions could be coming to an end if we don't find a way to see out the full 90 minutes.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

May 2025 continued..

The first of our 5 fixtures came against top of the league.

...and we have done incredibly well to come away with a point!
Which takes us off the bottom of the table.

 

 

We need 5 points from the next 4 games.

[Motlhen]

Jun 2025

We have fought back against Tanjong Pagar for a consecutive 2-2 draw.
I felt this was one of the winnable matches so it's mixed emotions at the end of this game.

 

 

We need 4 points from the next 3 games.

Next up is the must-win game against Balestier.

[Motlhen]

A win was necessary and a win is what we got.
Just about.

 

 

We've gone unbeaten in 3 since the board meeting to discuss my future but I still need 1 point from the next two games which are against Albirex & Hougang to keep my job!

 

 

The transfer window has opened and we have re-signed Rahmat, this time permanently rather than on loan.
+ another cover option in centre-midfield.

[Motlhen]

We have signed an O23 player who will be swapped in to one of the 4 registration places for our current right-mid.

 

 

Our unbeaten run is over as Albirex out-play us.

 

 

The pressure is all on the final game of 5 where I need to not lose to keep my job.
 

 

We have had another promise of a golden generation youth intake, but will I be around to see it?

 

[Motlhen]

It wasn't to be.
Hougang were too much for us as we pushed for an equaliser they ran away with the game.

 

I've been sacked and it feels a bit unjust.

 

 

But the challenge is not over!
There are still 2 other teams that have never won a league title in Singapore. I'll be waiting for one of these jobs to become vacant and attempting to win the league at a club which has less transfer restrictions.

[Motlhen]

[Mr_Demus]

1) kudos for an excellent manager name. 

2) Singapore must have the coolest club logos

 

 

 

 

[Motlhen]

51 minutes ago, Mr_Demus said:

1) kudos for an excellent manager name. 

2) Singapore must have the coolest club logos

Thanks! The name is from my favourite player from CM03/04

And yep, I agree. Here's some of the best ones imo:

[Motlhen]

Dec 2025

At the end of the season, Albirex were crowned Champions.

 

Balestier fired their manager & Hougang's manager decided to leave of his own accord, so both of the jobs I was hoping for have become available.
I've applied for both!

[Motlhen]

Hougang United

 

 

I've been given a contract of £400pw.
To make sure I am the highest paid person at the club, our four best players (by quite a way!) will need to be sold.

 

 

We're allowed 4 foreign players (one of which must be Asian)
& there are some restrictions on age but no where near as strict as at Young Lions.

[Motlhen]

Jan - Mar 2026

We made two big signings before the first game of the season.

 

 

We also had quite a few trialists at the club whilst I was trying to figure out which players to sign.
..and as I had been told the below, I thought what better way to figure out which players to sign than after some competitive matches.

 

But this was misleading! We still had to obey the registration rules and we are not allowed to register any trialists.
What that meant was we started with a very bit-part squad and after the first game I decided to sign quite a few more players in a short space of time.

 

 

 

We've started pretty well, all things considered.
Beating Young Lions felt sweet!

 

 

Our finances will have been helped by shipping 2 of the 4 players on a higher wage than me (the other 2 won't play) plus one other player who was on way too high of a wage for his ability.

[JKLae]

On 06/11/2022 at 02:26, Motlhen said:

Awesome! Which team do you support?

Cool yeah, I saw they were in the cup irl. They're an interesting club. It's going to take a while to build up the facilities to get to a point where we are producing enough quality players each intake to be able to have a good full squad of players who are U23.

Hougang. 

Definitely wished you could have succeeded with the Young Lions, but no better club to go to next than Hougang! You just moved on the last of the original (present in 2022) players though - Zulfahmi Arifin. But hardly surprising as the Hougang squad are mostly around their 30s.

Might not be apparent to you yet but the league typically experiences a huge drop in quality a few seasons into the game as a lot of senior pros across the teams in the league either lose their ability very alarmingly or retire, while the facilities typically don't generate good enough regens to replace them. This was the case for FM20-22, I don't have 23 yet but I expect it to be similar. It's not immediately obvious as the other teams in the league face the same issue, but it'll be more evident in the results of Singaporean clubs in continental competitions, and especially for the national team, who will start to struggle significantly.

Looking forward to see your progress though! Exciting times ahead I'm sure 

 

[Motlhen]

On 07/11/2022 at 13:30, JKLae said:

Hougang. 

Definitely wished you could have succeeded with the Young Lions, but no better club to go to next than Hougang! You just moved on the last of the original (present in 2022) players though - Zulfahmi Arifin. But hardly surprising as the Hougang squad are mostly around their 30s.

Might not be apparent to you yet but the league typically experiences a huge drop in quality a few seasons into the game as a lot of senior pros across the teams in the league either lose their ability very alarmingly or retire, while the facilities typically don't generate good enough regens to replace them. This was the case for FM20-22, I don't have 23 yet but I expect it to be similar. It's not immediately obvious as the other teams in the league face the same issue, but it'll be more evident in the results of Singaporean clubs in continental competitions, and especially for the national team, who will start to struggle significantly.

Looking forward to see your progress though! Exciting times ahead I'm sure 

Ah cool your part of the Hools! 

Yeah, I've noticed that before. Young Lions are still producing some pretty good players but it's very hard competing for them with the other clubs. Other than that, I am aiming to bring in some decent, young foreign players to make the difference or to stick around until the take up Singaporean as their 2nd nationality.

[Motlhen]

Apr - May 2026

We started well, but the past 3 games haven't been good.
After conceding only 2 goals in 6 games, we've not been able to keep them out recently!
The losses to Balestier and Geylang were games we really should have been winning.. and if we had we would be level on points in 3rd place, 3 points behind 1st! But as it stands we are battling to not be 2nd bottom.

 

 

At the beginning of the season I promised a couple of the signings that we would improve our training facilities.
Luckily, the board have been very generous!

[Motlhen]

We brought in Ammar at the beginning of the season. Only a couple of days ago (in-game) I check his eligibility for Singaporean nationality and he had completed way over the number of required days and was "awaiting paperwork"

 

Well, the paperwork has come through! & we now have a foreign slot back to add to the squad in the next transfer window.

 

 

As for our other slots. We haven't filled the foreign-but-Asian slot and the other two foreign slots have quite a way to go before they can take up the nationality.

[Motlhen]

Jun - Jul 2026

We signed some new players including two new foreign players (meaning we are looking to sell or loan out one of the others to meet the registration rules).

 

We also signed a decent Singaporean too.

 

 

We've had our youth intake preview too.
It doesn't look amazing and I'm not getting my hopes up as they'll be no where near as good as they were at Young Lions due to the difference in the state of the facilities.

 

 

On the pitch we have slightly improved with the new signings but we are still chasing that elusive win.
5 losses in a row, followed by two draws, including what should have been a definite win against my old club.
We have to improve!

 

The only thing we're good at at the moment in picking up cards!