[FM22] Youth academy only - from English tier 10 to Premier League - Worcester Raiders

[Ron_Swanson]

Youth intake 2026

The fun part. Nice intake, I'm not as excited as last year, but I see 5 youngsters who can break into my main rotation, some of the even into first 11.

Spoiler

Ross Ross - I think he'll be more suitable as a right winger for me

Oscar Waldrum - will be traing as a AML but ocassionaly I can use him as a striker - great physicals

Louis Congreve - a lot of league games apperances for him, possibly my new starting DR

Jumaane Britton - just like above, maybe he'll earn a starting spot at the left side, unambitious tho...

Marshall Nabi - another striker with poor finishing, maybe he could be used as AMC or AML, I don't know yet

Keiron Summers - gives me a really nice depth in the post, 3rd best goalie for now

 

 

[Ron_Swanson]

March 2026

It's almost done, all I need is only 1 draw to get promoted

I got offered a new contract with a little wage raise

[Ron_Swanson]

April 2026

Officially - we're going up, great season, almost undefeated. After 4 years in tier 9 we built squad good enough to dominate this league and I'm pretty confident we're not going back here any time in the future.

Training facilities upgrade completed - below average currently. It will help developing all this talent we have.

[dtown1414]

Nice run. Good luck next season!

[Ron_Swanson]

Thanks, I'm wondering if there will be a significant change in opponents quality as the boards already set their expectations to reaching promotion playoff

[Ron_Swanson]

May- June 2026

My young midfielder got named Youth player of the year

Also meet new staff members. Promotion gave me better trainers to choose from so I didn't want to waste any time and signed new manager for both my youth teams.  Good personalities and attributes - Kyle Wragg especially looks excellent - I hope I can keep him for a long time but better teams probably will try to get him very soon.

New budgets are slightly lower than last year- that's no surprise because we used a lot of money for upgrades. After converting it gave me 5k for wages and I spend 2k now so we're very safe.

Don't you think those facilities upgrades came too easy for a club at this level? For me it looks a bit unrealistic to build such a good academy but it's just a game so I'll take that.

[Ron_Swanson]

July 2026

Friendlies to earn some money, we even managed to demolish Newcastle U23's. This shows that my team is getting better every year, we're losing most of them but the results are not looking as bad as in first seasons.

Season preview - we're near the top of the stake so I definetely want to get to those playoffs. Odds for Nuneaton are ridiculous but some of their best players are unhappy and want to leave due to team getting relegated so I assume they will get weeker.

Quick look at team profile

And my first team squad - there will be some rotation in starting 11 to get my youngsters a proper playing time. The weakest part of my team is defense but I hope there's a lot of potential and it only needs time to develop them.

[Ron_Swanson]

August 2026

Pretty good start in the league, but there goes my cup run... Lost already in first game vs tier 9 Heather St John's despite being better on the field, very dissapointing

Another upgrade of our academy

Edited April 1, 2023 by Ron_Swanson

[Ron_Swanson]

September 2026

Still going strong, 8 games undefeated run in the league

 

[Ron_Swanson]

October 2026

This month results look very green. Now it's more clear who is gonna be our main rivals, we still have to play Warwick twice.

[Ron_Swanson]

November 2026

We're keeping up the good pace, I think the playoff spot is pretty safe for us. Nice FA Trophy games, especially 2nd round when we demolished Bradford PA from Vanarama North

[Ron_Swanson]

December 2026

Worst month so far, only 2 wins and what's most important we lost to Warwick (again looking at match analysis we were better but luck was not in our favor) and they are leading the table now

Youth intake preview - full-backs are most interesting for me, I need someone with high current ability as I have some talent there but with max 2*CA and most of them with unambitious personalities. Another goalie will make a small crowd but I won't complain. Also AMC for better depth is a nice thing. My worst formation at this moment is defence

[Ron_Swanson]

January 2027

Not great, not terrible. Every time Warwick loses points we can't get ahead. Almost 1k spectators at Sixways in local derby game against Worcester City gave really nice financial boost, unfortunatelly we lost.

It's always nice to have a little chat with my board. This time it got me improved youth recruitment. We're still not rich enough to upgrade youth facilities but I'm trying every time I can, eventually I'll succeed.

On top of that I finished the highest coaching licence. I didn't expect to do it so quick.

[Ron_Swanson]

February 2027

A horrible month for Warwick and now we take the lead

[Ron_Swanson]

Youth intake 2027

One standout player, few more who will be usefull in rotation

Spoiler

Mark Daniels - wow a 5* goalie, already considered as my best player so maybe I'll try to loan my current keeper Jack Evans to not waste him as a bench player

Martyn Corbett - I was hoping for at least one good defender, the kids I got this year are no better than those already in squad. I think Martyn looks best from this intake but it's a close call, he'll get some playing time now but I will evaluate others at the beginning of next season

Michael Thornton - versatile player who covers 3 positions I use. I'm pretty happy with my attacking formation but my two Jordans are no longer considered a star players in terms of CA so I need to slowly bring some replacements and Michael will get a chance to prove himself

 

[Ron_Swanson]

March 2027

We continue our great run of wins, 7 in a row now. And right at the end of the month with a great 6-0 win we celebrated promotion.

Just one day after winning the title I got offered new contract

 

[Ron_Swanson]

April 2027

Last games with no pressure. We finish with 13 points lead

This is how the squad looks like. Oscar Waldrum is my top scorer (with 4 finishing). Some of the younsters shown a lot of improvement throughout the season making me believe we can be strong enough to be atlest a top half team next year and even join a promotion fight if we can keep our best players.

I hired new ass-man who looks like he could coach a Premier League teams

[OleDK]

Congratulations - great season 👍. Also a very good story to follow so keep up the good work 💪

[dtown1414]

Congrats. Club is on a roll.

[Ron_Swanson]

Thanks @OleDK and @dtown1414 A bit of slow start to the career but as soon as all those facilities started paying off my team quality increased rapidly. It's still a lot of fun to build a team from scratch

[Ron_Swanson]

May - June 2027

Some well deserved awards, Quilt also got the Young Player of the Year award

New budgets, and as I'm pumping all the money into wages it ended at 6,6k p/w and only half ot that is used at this moment

A quick summary, there's a lot of changes in best perfomers, youngsters are taking the leading roles

[Ron_Swanson]

This deserves it's own post. Remember when I bragged about my new ass-man in april's update? Yea, he's gone... He was on a 3-month contract and refused to sign new one as he wanted to move to more prestigious club.

Same thing happened with my brilliant HoYD, he left on 1st of July and only one week later he joined Woodford Town (9th tier, predicted 18th/20 place) on a non-contract. More prestigious you say?

[Ron_Swanson]

July 2027

Here comes the trouble. As soon as we gained promotion we're no longer anonymous. Some bigger clubs started sniffing around my best youngsters. Two central midfielders Scott Steele and Sean Quilty are main targets and they're both coming into last year of contracts. I've made a mistake not offering them new ones earlier and now they're upset. My plan is to reject offers and hope they will change their minds quick. If it won't happen before like 1/3 of the season then probably I'll have to look for a trade. The best I can get now is about 1-5k paid upfront and some % from next sale. In some cases we could get really wealthy in a couple of years with that clause but nothing is guaranteed, so "high risk-high reward"

Finances are still fine, but youth setup is becoming more and more expensive. I need more spectators coming to Sixways  just to compensate for higher expeditures. I hope higher division will help with that.

And a really bad news. My top scorer is out for half a season.

[Ron_Swanson]

Season preview

Southern League Premier Division Central - tier 7

Odds just before first games - as I expected, we should be atleast playoff contender

Three of my players among the best in media predictions, more than any other team

And here are my core players

Spoiler

 

[TelcontarTargaryen]

How on earth do you have a 12k stadium? That is League One capacity stadium at least.
Edit: Aahhhh I googled it, you start with it. The team plays on that stadium in real life. That capacity for that tier is huge. Too bad they probably do not fill it. Imagine 12k people in seventh or eight tier. Madness.

Edited April 13, 2023 by TelcontarTargaryen

[Ron_Swanson]

@TelcontarTargaryen Yeah, it was a homeground for local rugby team Worcester Warriors that played in Premiership so the capacity makes sense. And the Raiders moved there lately due to same ownership.

Average league games attandance in my last season was slightly above 200 and record at around 1000 so kinda ridiculous for that size but it gives a nice advantage in friendlies. And we don't have to pay rent.

A little comparision to Worcester City - currently tier 8 - they play at Claines Lane with 1300 capacity - it looks like they're still way more popular

[Ron_Swanson]

August 2027

Very strong start, I have high hopes that we can keep this form for the whole season. Could be better financialy, a small loss this month. We are spending more money every year and income from home games is not enough already. League games are packed tightly now so not many chances to squeeze U23 friendlies.

A small success with keeping my best players in squad. My both midfielders decided they want to stay with us. Only Quilty agreed to sign a new contract, Steele thinks the team is not strong enough so I'm waiting, but clock is ticking and I don't want to let him go for free.

 

[Ron_Swanson]

September 2027

A solid winning streak plus a nice cup performance which gave good profit

Another payraise, initially they offered 325 p/w but didn't even complain when I said 400 and we got the deal

[Ron_Swanson]

October 2027

A slightly worse performace in league, but can I really complain with 10pts in 5 games? My focus was to save my best players fitness for cup games, so some reserves got more playing time this month. Great result in FA Cup, 4th qualifying round is the best we ever got. Carlisle United (they're in VNL) were too strong for us despite we had a 3-1 lead at one point.

[Ron_Swanson]

November 2027

Almost perfect, only one loss but it's a meaningless cup for me. A nice 10 point lead, promotion seems like a real deal now.

[dtown1414]

May have missed the reason why, but quite a dip in revenue, over 900k to less than 200 in December. Too many holiday presents? Ouch!

Edited April 18, 2023 by dtown1414

[Ron_Swanson]

@dtown1414 It was just one big present, but very expensive. Training facilities upgrade that I was spaming my board about for quite a long time. Take a look at the end of that post

 

[dtown1414]

Gotcha! Makes sense

[Ron_Swanson]

December 2027

We're out of cups for this season and now I can focus solely on staying on top of league table.

Intake preview not looking great, but as I said earlier the grades can be missleading so worrying about it now. A top prospect who is a CM should be handy, because Scott Steele don't want to even start talks about new contract and it's definetely time to make some calls and get a deal before he'll leave for free.

[Ron_Swanson]

January 2028

There's a little problem with our offence, we barely score and it's hard to win that way, but the lead is still pretty safe. I decided not to arrange any friendlies to see how it will impact finances. As you can see it's necessary to get some income outside league and cup games. We spent too much now to be financialy stable in long term.

One of my best academy products so far is gone to League 2. This is the best I could get - a bag of peanuts plus a fat % of next sale. Now I only hope he'll be spotted by some big club who's gonna pay millions for his potential (if there's still a lot of room to improve). And a friendly game should bring us a couple of thousand $$, not much but at least some.

[TelcontarTargaryen]

Losing a player for free is always a *****, but that 50% could be great at this level.

[Ron_Swanson]

Yeah, sometimes you need to let them go even with that kind of deals. There's always possibility to sell this clause but his value after transfer is still a bit low so I can wait and take a risk.

[Ron_Swanson]

February 2028

We're doing ok, playoff spot secured, and with 13 points ahead I am more confident we can hold on top for the rest of the season. There's only 8 games left so we need just 4 wins to be sure. We still struggle a little with scoring goals, last time we had more than 2 was in december. Friendlies are back so finances are not in red, good thing.

[Ron_Swanson]

Youth intake 2028

I'm very happy with what I got. Two of them are a starting lineup material already.

Spoiler

Patrick Stanley - really good replacement for Scott Steele, I'm gonna use him as a MC or AMC most of the time

Glauco - as I'm lacking a good defenders he is just what I needed, versatile one, he'll take the spot at DC, he's got the size and skills

Jose Antonio Moreno - it's geting little busy at GK, maybe I'll try to loan him next season

Dougie Crabtree-Steadman - just nice add-on to squad depth

Dion Noble

 

[Ron_Swanson]

March 2028

Everything went as planned, our scoring efficiency is back, we end this month as a champions.

Look who's back - a familiar face. He's almost perfect HoYD for me at this moment, fairly determined with the same preffered formation that I use and great attributes

Spoiler

 

[Ron_Swanson]

April 2028

[Ron_Swanson]

May-June 2028

Best 11 of the season dominated by my players.

New U23 manager, another gem, I don't understand how this type of coaches are in the lower leagues for years without being hired by some top flight teams

Finances for may

and june

[_Ben_]

A lot of teams I recognise here as I live in the area. You're making a really good go of this and I'll be following along.

[TelcontarTargaryen]

On 23/04/2023 at 12:42, Ron_Swanson said:

New U23 manager, another gem, I don't understand how this type of coaches are in the lower leagues for years without being hired by some top flight teams

I think it is deliberately done by the game developers otherwise you would have all your coaches poached in a matter of weeks by the rich clubs, just as in real life (only IRL they do not have obvious coaching stats so it takes a bit longer to spot them.)

[Ron_Swanson]

@_Ben_ Thanks, looks like it's going easier every season so far but that could end soon as I'm in more competitive divisions, but I really want to make it all the way to Premier League

@TelcontarTargaryen Makes a lot of sense what you're saying, well, now I'm the one who poach

[Ron_Swanson]

July 2028

Those results are insanely good when you look what quality players can be found in U23's. But despite a lot of profitable friendlies we're barely 5k in plus. Staff wages are more than double of what I paid previous season so I hope that higher league will attract more people to Sixways.

Budgets are slightly higher, after conversion it's 8,6k p/w

[Ron_Swanson]

August 2028

We are considered as one of better teams in this division so I aim at playoffs spot. And first league games shows that it can definetely be done. What a start, massive force in offence, just keep it that way.

[Ron_Swanson]

September 2028

Going strong, squeezing the most of this form. Two very convincing wins in cup, maybe we'll finaly get through all qualifying rounds. But not everything is that great, some players are getting worried, because I'm declining transfer offers. I'm waiting to see how it will develop, they have no less than 2-yr contracts so it gives me at least this season to make them happy.

[TelcontarTargaryen]

It seems that greatest sign of advance is the fact that you have started winning your games against Premiership reserve sides.

[Ron_Swanson]

Yeah, especially in preseason where I use my strongest rotation it looks fantastic. All those early academy investments and coaching staff overpowered for that level were a crucial part of building such a nice squad.