The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge

[XaW]

1 minute ago, Perre8 said:

isn't that the same for the custom db's?

No, the custom db's are only for leagues created as they are in real life. No fantasy leagues, or other data updates allowed.

[Perre8]

5 minutes ago, XaW said:

No, the custom db's are only for leagues created as they are in real life. No fantasy leagues, or other data updates allowed.

okay 

[Perre8]

Another former club (instead of Bordeaux) of an absolute legend of the game caught my eye as i was checking the available teams in France...Les Dragons!

As a tribute to in my opinion the best player in his position... Zizouuuu! 

AS Cannes 

Everything Cannes

[Connor]

On 11/10/2024 at 18:12, XaW said:

I always say that Germany is a good place to start if you are new to the challenge. All professional teams, and getting to the 2nd tier isn't that hard and if you do, the financial side is sorted for a long while. Other places might be Portugal (4 tiers of varied rules and lots of high quality youngsters), Norway (my home country, and since the 4th tier is view only, you can essentially save scum up the team you want from the 4th tier), Denmark (4 tiers in Norway's more "normal" continental cousin), and Northern Ireland (3 tiers of very low level football, and loads of cups).

That's off the top of my head at least.

Thanks @XaW and others for the input, I decided upon Portugal for the challenge at Pombal!

This will keep me well and truly busy until FM25 and I will keep you all informed on my progress!

 

Edited Sunday at 22:06 by Connor

[JD78]

 

Hungary - Season 2033-34

First season in the Champions League and a title to defend. We managed to keep hold of our best players this season as I refused the bids and the board didn't step in and accept as we have some money in the bank. Double edged sword as  1 player was happy to stay and 1 very unhappy. Definitely affected his performance and one to think about in future.

League

Very close in the end but we finished 3rd, 2 points off top. Our inability to consistently beat Ferencvaros and Puskas Academy plus a run of 6 games with a defeat and 5 draws did for our chances. Not sure where that poor form came from as we were sitting nicely at the top of the league until then and after that finished with 5 straight wins to the end of the season. Can't put the poor form down to the Champions League because we weren't involved at the business end...

CL

We qualified for the league phase which is about as positive at it gets! We beat Legia Warsaw, Apollen Limasol and Aberdeen to get there. Our first League phase game was against Brondby and we won it 5 nil so we were very briefly on top of the league. We then took some absolute hammerings from Chelsea, Milan and Liverpool. We were unlucky against Panathaniakos as they nicked a late winner and a similar story against Monaco. Almost beat Villareal but they also nicked a late equaliser. After a fair showing in the Conference League last season this was a bump back down to earth. The big boys whipped us good so we're clearly a long way off. Slightly relieved we're back in the Conference League next season! The money has really secured our finances though and we're sitting with around £35m in the bank. 

Youth Team

They got to the final of the UEFA Youth League final but sadly lost 3-2 to Villareal. They won the Hungarian Youth League for the second season in a row.

Top 50!

2 players in the Next Gen top 50 list. Love that! 

Youth Intake

Preview here and intake here. Some great personalities and determination ratings for the decent prospects. Is the new HOYD having an impact already?  Gazdaq could be the next striker if and when I decide to sell the unhappy Belvon. Some other decent prospects but nobody near first team level yet which is fine. Would love them to win a European youth trophy at some point. 

Facilities and Ground

Maxed out everything now apart from Youth Facilities which I think will be stuck until out reputation improves. In the last update I mentioned that we were adding 750 seats to our ground to make it 5500 capacity. When we qualified for the Champions League I got an update saying we were increasing the ground to around 7500 capacity and it would be out of action for almost a season. 

 

Loving this save so wasn't too disappointed when  I heard the news of the FM25 delay!

[naterr]

Naterr Garcia - Barwell FC - 38/39

League

Champions! Incredible back to back promotion into the prem. We were unbeaten up to the 16th game of the season - but most were draws at that point...

Finances

A lot of the players are worth a bit more since we got promoted, which is lucky as a few players were attracting interest. I had to sell Ward (as the Board told me to), but we did get £3.7m from it. He was our new striker after Kitenge left the year before, seems to be a trend of having to sell our strikers.

Previous Players

On a previous post I updated you all to show I was getting £20m from previous player sales, well....he is having an interesting career.

Just one year after signing for £55m???

Then....

Bury???? really??? Not a clue why!

Youth Intake

Good intake again, Preston is the best. Nice tall Centre back - Really need some full backs as I am having to just use the Centre backs out there instead.

Preston

Competitions

Gorman has been a revelation of late, really improving well and making that AMC position his own.

Admin

 

Edited Sunday at 22:46 by naterr

[kingjericho]

Rödinghausen - Germany 3.Liga - 2024/25 - 10th

A good first season to start this challenge. We play a 4-2-4 however it may change to a 4-2-3-1 next season as one striker is retiring and we're left with only two options, plus the new strikers from the youth intake. Finances look bad which means no facilities work thus far. I was able to get more coaches but that's about it. Next season I'll probably lose three important players as they will explore options at the end of the contract. I'm not sure if there's already room in the senior squad for any of the youth players from this year's intake.

[Neo_Geo]

Congrats on the premiership promotion @naterr

[XaW]

 

XaW - Cardiff Draconians - Season 2025/26 (Season 2) - JD Cymru South

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Wow, what a season! This is the most fun I've had in a while, as we won so many close encounters and those feel so good winning. I have no qualms saying we over achieved a lot this season, but I'm not one to reject a surprise promotion! The big difference from last season was how well we avoided unnecessary conceding goals. Conceding less than a goal a game is always something I try to do, and this time we did it. I think we will struggle next season in the league with the top teams in Wales, but we'll do our very best to stay up.

Welsh Cup: We beat Caldicot, Hay St. Marys, and Flint Town before we lost to Penybont in the 4th round.
Nathaniel MG Cup: We lost to Llantwit Major in the 1st round.
Tier 2 League Cup: We lost to Carmarthen Town in the 1st round.

Best players from the academy:

Bradley Gregory 25c - Our main striker this season and did well enough. Some really cold streaks, but still scores a bit.
Kieran Jones 25a - Probably the best player at the club, but outside a few excellent matches, he didn't do as much as I had hoped.
Callum Bell 25b - Mostly a sub, but does well when he comes on.

New club records:

Most goals in a season - Marlon Daley - 17 goals
Most league goals in a season - Marlon Daley - 13 goals
Most goals in a match - Matt Jones-Martin - 3 goals
Most goals in a league match - Matt Jones-Martin - 3 goals
Most assists in a season - Danny Jones - 11 assists
Most clean sheets in a season - Jimmy Griffiths - 15 clean sheets
Worst discipline - Kieran Jones 25a - 8 yellow cards, 1 red card
Most league apps for the club - Jimmy Griffiths - 60 apps
Most league goals for the club - Marlon Daley - 25 goals
Oldest player - Marlon Daley - 28 years, 191 days
Fastest goal - Aaron Jones - 23 seconds
Youngest goalscorer - Kieran Jones 25a - 15 years, 298 days
Oldest goalscorer - Marlon Daley - 28 years, 191 days

I got one more improvement accepted this season.

U19s

They don't play in a league yet, unfortunately.

Welsh Youth Cup: They beat Tredegar and Llanfair before they lost to Haverfordwest in the 2nd round.

Around the world

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

JD Cymru South - 2025/26

Tier 2 League Cup - 2024/25

Most apps for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Apps
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bradley Gregory 25c	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	37
Kieran Jones 25a	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	36
Callum Bell 25b		Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	35
Chris Jones 25d		Wales		Ireland		2025-Present	31
Michael Davis 25e	England		<N/A>		2025-Present	25

Most goals for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Goals
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bradley Gregory 25c	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	15
Chris Jones 25d		Wales		Ireland		2025-Present	2
Michael Davis 25e	England		<N/A>		2025-Present	2
Kieran Jones 25a	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	1
Callum Bell 25b		Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	1

Most assists for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Assists
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kieran Jones 25a	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	6
Bradley Gregory 25c	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	3
Chris Jones 25d		Wales		Ireland		2025-Present	2
Reece Evans 25l		Wales		England		2025-Present	2

Supporters:

YAC Bingo:

Summary:

[naterr]

11 hours ago, Neo_Geo said:

Congrats on the premiership promotion @naterr

Thanks! The first season in the prem is not going very well! but the money is nice  

[Winski]

I decided to put my Raca Bratislava save on hold. Although things were going very well, I didn't have fun with it anymore.

I'm currently dusting off my BK Skjold-save in Denmark, and I'm having fun with it at the moment. So I think I'll continue with this save. I really want a succesful save in Denmark, so hopefully the contract-thing won't be a dealbreaker.

[HbG93]

Season Review 2031/32

The squad

The squad is hanging together well. We are at a stage where we need newer talents too break out and overtake our developed ones. The class of 2030 are having a great impact. Newgen goalies are bit of an enigma for me. But I can recognize catching lighting in a bottle, so we are all in on the M. Mantineo 30d train! C. Tenaglia 30i leap frogged L. Marci 30a with his excellent growth, and M. Rocca 30b is giving Chiesa plenty of competition on left.

The Table

We did the most important thing and avoid relegation! We are very clearly far off sneaking into any promotion, but also decent enough to feel safe. While playing in the Serie B helped grow our reputation. It isn't helping much when it comes to finances. We are not in any danger, but there's a complete hault on any infrastructure growth, which isn't ideal for a YAC save. I foresee another longer stint doing our best to capitalize sale chances while still holding onto a better crop of players.

Player Spotlight

The mentioned Mantineo 30d who's had rapid growth this year. I don't expect Trasciani to be happy about it, but I fully intended to make Mantieno my starting goalie, because this one year growth is one of the best our club has ever seen. Then our frog, Tenaglia 30i also saw great growth this year and I can't help but spot the commonality between these two - their personalities. Lastly I choose to show off Capacci 27a yet again as he won Serie B Young Player of the Year! He's become a really nice player hasn't he?

Transfers

I have done the odd loan out here and there before. But this time around I got several loans setup and even a couple of sales! Caniglia 25d development looked to have plateaued. so I was happy to accept his out. Danilo Pagano has been a great servant to the club more often than not holding down the most playtime in his position. However with Chiesea repositioning to the left, Rocca 30b being an exciting prospect it made sense to take the cash. Lastly Lorenzo Gandolfi leaves us meaning Davide Chiesa is the last real player in the squad.

Youth Intake

A mixed intake for our first one done in the Serie B, but then again it probably will take a couple of them before we yield proper results from the promotion. Either way E. Giliberti 32a is a defensive winger with good feet and the consistency trait one to watch for sure. Fiorilli 32b is lauded to have great potential however that personality mixed with his cons are not good signs. Personally I find A. Sirri 32g too be an exciting looking prospect! Love a youth coming in with professional personality. 

Season Summaries

[Neo_Geo]

although it’s not an official rule for the challenge it’s my number 1 rule @Winski, the save must be fun otherwise why play it?

I do find myself thinking of going back to old saves, maybe even get as far as reloading before remembering why I stopped it in the first place 

Good luck resuming your Danish save

[XaW]

First time beaten TNS, mostly because they are apparently bad at pens!

[Neo_Geo]

3 hours ago, XaW said:

First time beaten TNS, mostly because they are apparently bad at pens!

Mon’ the Dracs!!!

Wow how I wish I had penalty shoot-outs like that, I always get the ones where every penalty is scored and I just know it’s going to be my player that misses.

[XaW]

30 minutes ago, Neo_Geo said:

Mon’ the Dracs!!!

Wow how I wish I had penalty shoot-outs like that, I always get the ones where every penalty is scored and I just know it’s going to be my player that misses.

Welsh league make sure of that. The quality of play here is.... questionable.... at times, but it goes both ways in matches. It just makes it fun whenever a player does something amazing!  

[Skora11]

 

RC Jaen Season 34/35

Now I have fully caught up I can get into more depth about each season, another solid season in the Second Division where we finished mid-table. We got off to an absolute flyer and found ourselves occupying automatic promotion places 10 games into the season. We then started to get a few key injuries and the form dipped dramatically, we went on a terrible run hardly picking up any points up until the winter break where we then found ourselves being sucked into a relegation battle and only 3 point off the relegation spots at one point. We managed to pick up some form and while not as great at the start of the season we were now picking up enough points to pull away from the relegation spots and finish comfortably in mid-table.

We also had a promising but unspectacular youth intake preview but were hopeful of one or two gems. 

While only one player came through as an 'elite' talent as can be seen from the screenshot their were at least 3 players there with positive personalities and some good potential ability. The pick of the bunch was definitely Sergio who has some outstanding technical attributes for his age.

We also had our first every player earn a senior international cap and one we are looking to bring through to the senior team for the upcoming season.

Cueto has been one of my most consistent players in this save and always provides goals and assists from RM. While he hasn't got spectacular atts he has been a great servant for the club and has come all the way through the leagues. Luna is another who has been on the journey from the days of Federation 2 and has now become our record all time top goalscorer.

The board have now also found a site for the new stadium and a loan was taken out in order to fund our brand new facility. 

Next season we are hoping to push on and finish in the promotion places, can we do it?!

[kingjericho]

Rödinghausen - Germany 3.Liga - 2025/26 - 12th

Another eventless season. As expected we had a slightly worse season, but we now have two youngsters as regular starters. The financial situation is worrying and the wage budget has been cut significantly which means I'll have to part ways with some of my best players. This leaves a question mark over what we can do next season.

[Pedrike2021]

 

2 horas atrás, Neo_Geo disse:

Mon’ the Dracs!!!

Wow how I wish I had penalty shoot-outs like that, I always get the ones where every penalty is scored and I just know it’s going to be my player that misses.

I feel you, bro, 9 times out of 10, when my team goes to penalties, they almost never miss, and one of my players misses

[djsterry]

1st and 2nd season Update

Completely forgot about the first season  I get a bit engrossed in the first couple of seasons looking at staff trying to cut the team numbers down etc.

1st season I got a decent 8th place finish, the main struggle was goals. strikers were terrible

Finances are poor but the chairman seems happy to keep injecting money to keep us afloat, 

Took full advantage of this both years at the start of the season, He injected 1m, I requested facilities upgrades and they granted them. I now have below average facilities up from poor

Standard of the team is shocking so I was just trying to tweak tactics etc to get them playing to their max

2nd Season

Unbelievably I end up getting promoted, This is my first time managing in Asia and the standard must just be awful

My 17 year old striker managed 17 league goals, look at the state of him.

I have absolutely no idea what to expect in the Super League. Surely I come straight back down. 

I'm not even sure if finances will improve, hopefully there is better prize money etc. Enjoying this so far as it's all just a bit different to what I'm used to.

[Neo_Geo]

4TH PLACE FINISH IN SEASON 2 FOR FLEURY 91

Rather surprisingly to me we managed to finish 4th although with lower points than last season. This season we really struggled which is why the final league position baffled me. 13 less goals scored and 8 more conceded was a sign of me trying to shuffle my tactics around and dealing with ageing players failing to hit the heights of previous seasons and youth players not making much of an impression either.

I started the pre-season friendlies pushing my full backs into the wingback position and it looked good in the friendlies but this didn't translate well against teams with better players than I have at my disposal. In addition this caused concern over squad depth at right wing back (a position for which only one player was comfortable playing there) so it looks like Lavigne will now leave shortly after posting this update.

After the midway part of the season, where we were at our lowest position in the league I started to realise that I couldn't do a one size fits all tactic at this stage because my players just aren't good enough. Whilst I stuck to the principles of the 4-2-3-1 DM I started to dabble with the roles in particular looking at the opposition's wide players and whether they were playing wide or were more infield.

This approach provided some really impressive results and a climb up the table to attain our highest finish.

 

In the French Cup we progressed one round further, again with some luck in the draws with lower level teams at home, then we drew Clermont of L1 in the 10th round where we lost 3-2 at home. The finances from the cup aren't great so any cup run doesn't really matter at this stage.

On the topic of finances we are bleeding money. An ageing and expensive squad with the lower income in the league and fairly low attendance means we lose money every month. The board have provided £170k of funds at the end of the season just passed but it won't be long before we are back in the red once more.

 

BRAZILIAN ANGLE PROGRESS

This is going to take a long time for anything to happen. I think with the low reputation of the club and semi-pro status I can't attract any interest from Brazilian coaches (despite there being plenty in the staff search). We haven't managed to fluke any Brazilian youth players either.

Here is how my tactic is looking currently:

 

  

I generally switch the inside forwards/wingers to wingers if their fullbacks are narrow, and sometimes if the pivot is weak I actually switch in another AMC in place of the forward on the side of the better if the two fullbacks. I found that the ball winning midfielders were just chasing shadows and getting pulled out of position leaving my back line far more exposed with late runners and they offered little going forward. The segundo volante is working much better for me as the protection whilst not as aggressive is more structured but when attacking they are contributing more and allowing me to play around the press better.

YOUTH INTAKE

3 elites coming through in this intake with 2 that will potentially play a part next season with a my DMs being 34, 33, 33 and 28. I feel I have a ticking timebomb with regards to the squad age and it might be this save's undoing.

 

  

 

CLUB NEWS

Still no complaints with regards to the support I am receiving with regards to the coaching courses as I am now studying for the Continental A license.

The issue is still with the inability to improve the Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment. In 2 seasons they have approved these once each and its always based on the financial projection. It's a vicious circle unless I fluke a wonderkid that I can sell because a poor intake means we are poor on the pitch and if I don't get sacked then we just won't get anywhere. It's the old speculate to accumulate scenario and the board would rather be risk averse.

The average attendance dipped this year as well which is the first time I can recall having a save where this happened, maybe it was related to fewer goals scored and more conceded and the poor league position by the mid-season point.

 

SQUAD NEWS

I mentioned earlier in the post that Valentin Lavigne is likely to leave as he was the instigator of the initial squad depth complaint and his contract expires in 11 days time from the point of writing this update. He is 31 and I do have a 25 year old 4 star potential 3 star current ability inverted winger who can take over. I do have a 16 year old who was a top talent this year who is showing potential at 4.-4.5 but he is left footed so perhaps not the best option for the inside forward but certainly possible for the winger.

I have issues up top with Walid Kadri YP-1A playing a fair amount this season (27 starts and 1 sub appearance) averaging 6.71 with 3 goals and 4 assists. I know that playing a DLF I am more likely to see them get involved deeper and maybe score less but its quite the drop. Here he is, see what you think:

In terms of the Best XI its a year of regression with the DLF dropping below 7 as well as the right back.

 

BINGO CARD

No targets met this year, so still sitting at 3/100.

 

NEO_GEO'S FINAL THOUGHTS

A tough season until adjusting the formation but there are definitely dark clouds on the horizon both financially and in terms of squad quality and depth. I am enjoying the battle but if I can't get the improvements to youth recruitment and junior coaching I struggle to see how I will make it out of this league (or even stay in the job).

 

 

Edited Monday at 20:37 by Neo_Geo

[Neo_Geo]

One day after posting the season update:

4 days later

He also agreed a £400 a week wage drop which should help the finances out a little bit (£20k saving)

[Neo_Geo]

New Kits for Season 3

Anyone want to buy one and alleviate some of FC Fleury 91's financial worries 

Edited Monday at 21:26 by Neo_Geo

[HbG93]

Season Review 2032/33

The squad

I won't lie I am starting to fear our goalscoring abilities. One end I am happy Toniolo keeps scoring, but it's a low year for him. And well it's time someone else surpasses him. Anyways, let's talk about the players who made step up into the first team. Many was given a couple of chances but it was M. Maltoni 30e and G. Puglia 30f whom took the proper step up. My long wish of new defenders has come true they just need time to develop. 

The Table

I don't have much too say here. We had a pretty similar season to last year, while a good thing. We also scored less which is something to keep an eye on. There's no surprise this team doesn't have enough quality right now to achieve anything meaningful. It's all about just digging in and getting the crop of players capable of lifting this team recruited. 

Player Spotlight

M. Mantineo 30d didn't make anywhere near the same progress in his first year as the full fledged first-choice goalkeeper. But there still was some improvements, and I am very excited to see how far he goes. The class of 2030 keeps on giving as M. Maltoni 30e showed himself quite a capable player. I suspect him to give our attack plenty of competition next year as well.  M. Rocca 30b has developed his positions and become a regular contender for the left defensive winger spot. 

Transfers

Less sales this time around, but still a little activity was achieved. I feel there's starting to be pressure too actually sell players as I need funds for better infrastructure. We also released some very recognizable players in De Lorenzo 25f and Mutton 27d.

Major injury

A massive hit occurred in March when Sergio Morelli the clubs most reliable and potentially best player damaged his cruciate ligaments. It's a big blow and comes at a poor time as he is only one of two DM's that have the DLP build in the club. The good news is that unlike Mutton 27d who's major injury cost him his place in the team. Morelli is now 24 years old and likely fully developed. This does make the next season quite a bit harder as he's ruled out of the winter half. .

Youth Intake

Class of 2033 is upon us! Di Carlo is a lovely addition being lauded as the top talent with a solid personality. A solid collection of mentals to build on, but before he can be trusted needs to grow as an athlete. I. Superbi 33b might become the striker I wanted to build-up. Campolo 33e has a good personality coupled with work-rate sure to be useful down the road. 

All-Time Club Records

Season Summaries

Edited Wednesday at 09:29 by HbG93

[Winski]

Boldklubben Skjold
Season review
Season 3 | 2026-2027
2. Division (3th Tier)

Transfers | Affiliates | Facilities | Finances | Manager Profile | Club overview

Back in Denmark, back at BK Skjold! As I said in a previous post, I didn't enjoy my Raca Bratislava-save anymore. So I decided to go back to Denmark for the time being. I'm still not sure for how long, but I like it for now! I also switched back to the Rensie-skin, just to have a different feel for the game.

It's my third season at the club, and we are in the 3rd Tier. And the season went surprisingly well! We qualified for the Champions Group, and played some good matches in there. We finished 5th with 46 points, 9 points behind a promotion spot. Promotion to the 2nd Tier would be way too soon, so I'm very happy with this 5th place. Some of our youngsters are developing nicely. Ayman Abdullah 26b came into the team in the Winter break. And Tommy Toft Kristiansen 25h is now a first team player as well, scoring 8 goals in his first full season. Oh, and a big thank you to our topscorer David Müller, who scored 29 goals in 30 matches.

In the Cup we lost in the 3rd Round against FC Nordsjælland.





Unfortunately we lost Esben Miltoft 25c to Brøndby IF. He was my best midfielder already, so it's a big loss. But we couldn't resist the bid of € 210k. The money was very welcome, and hopefully the 50% clause will give us some extra money in the future.
Speaking about money; I'm very happy with our current board. They injected several times money into the club during the season! So our current negative balance of €90k would have been way bigger if they didn't injected the money.

Youth intake
The preview looked excellent, and the intake itself didn't dissapoint. Lots of Elite Talents. But some of the bigger talents got bad personalities. Let's hope that some of them are good enough to grow into first team players.

 

Upgrades
At the end of the season, our board was willing to upgrade Junior Coaching once more. So it's now Exceptional! Very happy with that. That was the only upgrade this season.

 

Progress

 

 

[Padders]

Season 190 - 2210/11 - SBC

Another playoff finish, another playoff final, another playoff final loss

We are still not good enough with too many SBC/L1 standard players

We were again at the top of the table, sitting 3 points off top and went on another bad run around the time in losing in the QF on the FA Cup to a PL side

 

[JD78]

Hungary - Season 2034-35

Back in the Conference League this season and hoping to overthrow Ferencvaros at the top of the league. There weren't many bids for our top players this summer which was pleasing but the striker is still unhappy and wants to leave. I have said to him that I'll accept a decent offer and he's happy with that but he's not playing anywhere near as well as he did.

League

A bad first half of the season cost us this time around. The squad isn't quite strong enough to compete in Europe and the domestic league simultaneously, particularly as we have to go through lots of qualifying rounds. Perhaps another season of development will have the rotation options strong enough to compete.  The second half of the season was almost perfect however, Ferencvaros were too far in front. We finished 2nd, 8 points off top spot. First stab at the Europa League next season then. 

Conference League

Almost all the way! Easily qualified for the group stage. The fixtures we got were very kind and we won 6 out of 6. West Ham topped the group beating us by 1 goal scored. In the round of 16 we beat FC Copenhagen then Bolgna in the quarters. We beat Farense in the semi final after they knocked out West Ham. The final was against Rennes and I thought our name was on the trophy! Sadly they absolutely pumped us 3 nil! That was the first defeat since February so a bit of a bummer but made some decent cash. I'm hoping the club reputation might hit 3.5 stars on the back of this. Maybe wishful thinking. The nation coefficient has gone up though so we now have 5 European places from next season, 2 spots in the Champions League qualification rounds.

Youth Team

Their run of league wins ended, pipped at the post on the final round of fixtures by Puskas Academy. Knocked out in the round of 16 by PSG in the UEFA Youth League.

Top 50!

Just 1 player in the NXGN list this time.

Youth Intake

The intake preview promised an A rated midfielder and it didn't disappoint. Farkas is possibly the best youth player I've ever had. luckily this is an area of the team that needed strengthening so I think he'll be going straight in. It was a good intake all round. Reasonable personalities and good determination for most of the better prospects. 

Facilities and Ground

Ground capacity is now 7500. Everything maxed out except youth facilities.

[XaW]

XaW - Cardiff Draconians - Season 2026/27 (Season 3) - JD Cymru Premier

Squad | Transfers | Finances

A very good season for us, I'd say. After we finished ahead of TNS! Honestly, I have no idea how they failed this spectacularly, as they are still the only fully professional side in the league! Hell Cardiff Met Uni are amateurs! But it was a rather good season for us as we avoided a relegation battle. It's quite clear though, a lot of the current players are not good enough, but the youth intake this season was amazing! It let me switch out half the team for the last few matches of the season. We are still missing a good goalkeeper and left back though, and those are two key positions in my tactic, the left back especially, so I hope the next few intakes can remedy that issue. Now, we just need to stabilize at this level, and then try to finish in the upper bracket as the next step. Onwards!

Welsh Cup: We beat TNS and Airbus UK Broughton before we lost to Colwyn Bay in the 4th round.
Nathaniel MG Cup: We beat Haverfordwest before we lost to Ammanford in the 3rd round.

Best players from the academy:

Bradley Gregory 25c - Keeps scoring, but might get sidelined next season, if I'm honest.
Kieran Jones 25a - A better season than earlier, but still struggle to dominate matches.
Jayden Burns 26a - I'm turning him into my Halfback, and he is improving, but he is not up to scratch yet.

I got one more improvement accepted this season.

U19s

 

They finally joined a league! They finished 6th in the Cymru Premier Development League (South).

Welsh Youth Cup: They beat West End before we lost to Penybont in the 2nd round.

Around the world

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

JD Cymru South - 2025/26

Tier 2 League Cup - 2024/25

Most apps for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Apps
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bradley Gregory 25c	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	73
Kieran Jones 25a	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	70
Callum Bell 25b		Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	53
Michael Davis 25e	England		<N/A>		2025-Present	39
Chris Jones 25d		Wales		Ireland		2025-Present	38

Most goals for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Goals
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bradley Gregory 25c	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	29
Hayden Price 26c	Wales		<N/A>		2026-Present	7
Kieran Jones 25a	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	6
Chris Jones 25d		Wales		Ireland		2025-Present	2
Michael Davis 25e	England		<N/A>		2025-Present	2

Most assists for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Assists
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kieran Jones 25a	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	10
Bradley Gregory 25c	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	5
Chris Jones 25d		Wales		Ireland		2025-Present	3
Reece Evans 25l		Wales		England		2025-Present	2
Hayden Price 26c	Wales		<N/A>		2026-Present	2

Supporters:

YAC Bingo:

Summary:

[djsterry]

3rd Season Update

Managed to avoid relegation just about.

Changed to a 5atb defensive setup and managed to get a couple of results in tough season.

5 wins and a -41 goal difference tells you all you need to know about the gulf in class between my team and a vast majority of the league

Finances continue to be terrible despite me only using 15k a week for wages out of a 50k budget.

Not sure how I'm going to progress if I cant get any upgrades to junior coaching or youth recruitment

I was hoping being in the top league that finances would improve but its pretty dire and I don't have any valuable players.

The youth players coming through are terrible. Its going to be a very tough challenge.

Think a takeover is my best hope at the minute.

 

 

 

[Thebaker]

@Padders i really don't understand your save, are your players just bottling it every season due to poor personalities or just a young squad.

Why have you been unable to keep hold of any older players or do you let them go, your squad has almost no-one over 22. Can you not just offer higher wages since you have a lot in the bank and your wages seem low for a team near the top of the championship.

You seem to get through high potential players every year so how are they not developing beyond L1 standard players with your facilities.

[Gersdude123]

Thought i would gives use a mid season update somehow we have manged to secure a play off spot feel like this will be the true challenge to see how we can compete against the rest to try and secure another promotion on the Bounce. 

 

[Padders]

35 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

@Padders i really don't understand your save, are your players just bottling it every season due to poor personalities or just a young squad.

Why have you been unable to keep hold of any older players or do you let them go, your squad has almost no-one over 22. Can you not just offer higher wages since you have a lot in the bank and your wages seem low for a team near the top of the championship.

You seem to get through high potential players every year so how are they not developing beyond L1 standard players with your facilities.

Bit of both, we do have some poor personalities and we do have a very young squad

Any decent wonderkid never signs a new contract past the age of 18/19. I sign them up to 5 years + 3 optional and keep them to they leave on a free

I have had a clear out after the last few poor seasons and not renewed many over the age of 26/27 to try get the younger ones playing and improving

I have no idea why I never get more than 1 or 2 that are any good. The rest are always SBC and L1 standard

[mschafer13]

Club Cipolletti 2030/31

Finished 10th, predicted to finish 28th, so we'll call it a win

 

Somehow we ended up winning the Copa Argentina which, to be honest, I don't know which one that is. Argentina has a LOT of cups and stages to the season, it's hard to keep it all straight. But we won a trophy unexpectedly, so that was nice!

Not a great youth intake but I have one more year left with my core squad before they all go to bigger clubs. None of them want to renew but I'm not selling them. Got my first 2 players valued at more than $1 million so we'll see if we can't win something more next year, as we're taking part in Copa Libertadores for the first time.

[kingjericho]

@JD78fyi in the dark theme your text is unreadable due to the background 

[JD78]

12 minutes ago, kingjericho said:

@JD78fyi in the dark theme your text is unreadable due to the background 

Thanks. Could one of the mods edit that?

[HbG93]

37 minutes ago, kingjericho said:

fyi in the dark theme your text is unreadable due to the background 

Hol up theres a dark theme on this site?

[djsterry]

5 hours ago, djsterry said:

3rd Season Update

Managed to avoid relegation just about.

Changed to a 5atb defensive setup and managed to get a couple of results in tough season.

5 wins and a -41 goal difference tells you all you need to know about the gulf in class between my team and a vast majority of the league

Finances continue to be terrible despite me only using 15k a week for wages out of a 50k budget.

Not sure how I'm going to progress if I cant get any upgrades to junior coaching or youth recruitment

I was hoping being in the top league that finances would improve but its pretty dire and I don't have any valuable players.

The youth players coming through are terrible. Its going to be a very tough challenge.

Think a takeover is my best hope at the minute.

 

 

 

4th season update 

May as well just see above 

Awful again, awful intake, awful finances and no improvements. 

Teams getting worse as my best players are getting older.

At a bit of a loss with this one at the minute, I like to see some kind of improvement but I'm stuck

 

[XaW]

The true Welsh football experience... run as slowly as possible and miss the goal.

[XaW]

53 minutes ago, HbG93 said:

Hol up theres a dark theme on this site?

Indeed, right at the bottom.

[Scraborn]

behold the dark mode

[HbG93]

Indeed it's glorious! I kind of figured this is just one of those old sites that doesn't have it LOL

[Scraborn]

After the promotion to VNN in Season one we have a surprisingly good time. Media predicted us to become rock bottom but right now we are 22 matches in and sit in 8th place 14 points clear. Our first crop is doing well and needs to step up because of all the injuries. My main striker is out for 8 months out with an Achilles tendon rupture and a potential end of career. During this match nothing special happened but his replacement 16 year old Steve Horgan scorred a late winner... oh and Jasmie Vardy scorred 2 offside goals...

[HbG93]

KING BEHAVIOUR

[aldojags]

@JD78 Farkas - ooft!!

[Neo_Geo]

Well that's my French attempt over. I powered through this season today as I had the time to do so and now I wish I hadn't 

Absolutely awful run of form, couldn't score despite having better XG in a number of the games, just fluffed chance after chance. The squad was old and complaining at not getting played as I opted to give the youngsters game time as it was either going to be this season or next where it collapsed.

We were 500k in the red still no additional improvements to the junior coaching and youth recruitment. The intake had no elites either so it was always going to be on a downward spiral.

Oh well......time to find a new save!

[aldojags]

Hard luck @Neo_Geo -aging squad in this challenge is a killer - i just quit my greek team as i hadnt noticed before starting most the good players in 30s, knew it was gna end in tears so just chucked it in

[Neo_Geo]

3 minutes ago, aldojags said:

Hard luck @Neo_Geo -aging squad in this challenge is a killer - i just quit my greek team as i hadnt noticed before starting most the good players in 30s, knew it was gna end in tears so just chucked it in

"so just chucked it in" - Yeah I probably should have done that to be honest 

Ageing squad on too high wages, losing £80k a month, no chance of improving facilities, was only ever really going to end one way.

[RCola1]

Brora Rangers - Season 7 - Cinch League 2 (Scotland) *SACKED AND RELEGATED*

 

Hey guys, I got sacked and relegated in my 7th season in Scotland. I usually wouldn't post about it, but my final season was torturous on a Shakespearean level. I won the first game and then proceeded to lose all but five games in the season. When I watched the highlights, it seems like most of my conceded goals involved wingers running through five of my players, or endless back post headers. In the relegation playoff, I took the lead twice, only to lose in the last five minutes of extra time. The sad part is that the youth intake class was amazing for that year. They went into the first team immediately and made us competitive for the last games. Time to go again for Scotland, which seems to reload a diversity of teams.

 

 

[Nottingham Forest]

So I’ve started with Dulwich. Yes I know it’s been done but somehow I’ve got promoted first season.

[Neo_Geo]

@RCola1 ouch, having gone through a similar season it sucks but look on the bright side now you get to pick a new country and team!

Back post headers are a real problem so much so I think for my next save I may look to retrain tall centrebacks as inverted fullbacks just so that I can look to stop these!