The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge

[Neo_Geo]

49 minutes ago, JD78 said:

I remember a save I had on FM19 with Crusaders in Northern Ireland (not a youth only save). I think I had 3 squads. 1 for Champions League, 1 for the regular league and one for the Noddy cups. Seasons took ages! I think it was before I had a simulate match feature as I was using the vanilla skin. I never actually won the Champions League on that save and still think about firing it up to finish it one day!

That thought had crossed my mind but your top players complain they aren't playing enough if you start to drop them for the smaller cups, makes squad management a nightmare.

I wish it was dynamic so that as the coefficients of the nation improve they do away with these tournaments or at least the SPFL inclusion.

Anyway its not my problem now......its @mpm2342's  (sorry mpm)

[mpm2342]

50 minutes ago, Neo_Geo said:

How are you finding all of the cup games? In particular having to play in the SPFL Trophy really bothered me, the thought of being in that whilst simultaneously being in the champions league group stage just seems so off but it’s hardwired into the game so it’s not like over time the places in that cup no longer go to northern Irish sides.

I sometimes regret not continuing my save with Crewe but then I remember the cup games (whilst in Iceland I’m looking at 2 cups and 22 league games).

Hopefully you can ride it out as it’s one of the remaining nations (and the last UK nation) yet to be completed.

 

37 minutes ago, JD78 said:

I remember a save I had on FM19 with Crusaders in Northern Ireland (not a youth only save). I think I had 3 squads. 1 for Champions League, 1 for the regular league and one for the Noddy cups. Seasons took ages! I think it was before I had a simulate match feature as I was using the vanilla skin. I never actually won the Champions League on that save and still think about firing it up to finish it one day!

OMG, it is insane.  There are sooo many matches - I think we had 75 matches last season.  Pretty much 2 matches a week for the entire season except for international break. And now there are 10-15 of the team who go play there too. I was relieved when I realized the Intermediate Cup was no longer once I got to the Premiership, only for the SPFL Trophy to show up 

I have an A squad, B squad and a set of older dudes who are the substitutes for all of them.  I play the A squad for the Champions league and tougher league matches and the B squad for the rest if I can line it up.  Even played the reserve squad for the SPFL trophy as that competition is pretty bad until the very end. Rotating the squads isn't too bad - just a selection, but the end of season contracting and squad sorting is a bit of a chore.... thankfully my spreadsheet and rating system makes it easier.

I can't image doing this without the instant result capability - it would just take too long. @JD78, you must really have staying power to get that far.

Overall, I would say I like it even with all the matches. There is an added layer of trying to get development out of the squad and not over playing some while balancing playing time ... certainly make this a challenge. Much harder than the Gibraltar Lions save where the limiting factor was the club reputation growth.

[mpm2342]

2 minutes ago, Neo_Geo said:

That thought had crossed my mind but your top players complain they aren't playing enough if you start to drop them for the smaller cups, makes squad management a nightmare.

I wish it was dynamic so that as the coefficients of the nation improve they do away with these tournaments or at least the SPFL inclusion.

Anyway its not my problem now......its @mpm2342's  (sorry mpm)

LOL.  I never sign anyone to Star playing time and try really hard to not sign them to important player contracts... so far have been able to juggle it alright. 

The good thing is if someone complains too much, I play them every match and they end up in a wheelchair never to complain again

You want matches? YOU WANT MATCHES? I WILL GIVE YOU MATCHES !!!! 

[Nottingham Forest]

Dulwich Hamlet FC

Season 2

2025-26

VNL

League Table

Youth Intake Preview & Intake

Other Bits

No improvements and about £200k in the bank. I forgot to take a screenshot of Kavanagh Borrett. Winning only 4/5 of the remaining 30 didn't help.

[JD78]

1 hour ago, mpm2342 said:

 

I can't image doing this without the instant result capability - it would just take too long. @JD78, you must really have staying power to get that far.

 

How many games do you simulate in a regular season? At the moment I very rarely SIM a game in Hungary because we tend to drop points when we do. 

[mpm2342]

6 minutes ago, JD78 said:

How many games do you simulate in a regular season? At the moment I very rarely SIM a game in Hungary because we tend to drop points when we do. 

I simulate most of them. I will occasionally play through a game if it's finals in a cup or close Europe one, but generally I just sim them and take my lumps.  I find a very close correlation between my squad rating and the overall success when played out over enough games / seasons, so I really focus on development, loans, youth etc.

[Nottingham Forest]

A tad disappointed that I got relegated but we should never have got promoted in the first season. Obviously naturally it becomes a firefighting situation when morale crashes. 
 

I’m just about to start pre-season in season 3 and it’s avoid relegation again so I think that shows you where we’re at. 
 

A lot of the better players want to leave and if we don’t get promoted again then we will definitely lose them on frees. 

[Winski]

To win a league match, against a relegated team from the highest division with some good players this easy...
I can't remember that I had so many shots, and such a high xG, in a league match before!

[Thebaker]

2024/25

Table | Squad | Transfers

Started the season really well and by oct was in the top 5 positions. My GK then got injured for 7 months and Carri complained about wanting to leave which lowered morale and together put the side into a losing streak. Martinez was also injured for 4 months during this period and i had to play a grey GK for 4 games. A brief upturn happened in feb took the club into midtable before another 8 match winless streak left the team looking over its shoulder. A wins at the end made for safety.

In the spanish cup the team faced Fed 1 Eldense at home and managed to win 2-1. The reward was another home match against La liga side Real Betis. A 1-3 loss brought in 15689 fans and some money at least.

Finances went down sharply with a small profit from the cup game against Betis. The training facilities were downgraded but i managed to get an increase in youth recruitment.

Carri, Mikan and Charid all left at the end of the season after deciding my squad wasn't good enough which will make next season really hard. Aimer retired and several other players are close.

Jovanovic was my best player with Carri the best assister.

The youth preview was good with the intake producing some needed depth on the right. Dorronsoro was the pick of the players. (i realized after that my ass man was still responsible for the intake not my HOY)

Spoiler

Youth intake nationalities:

Continent			Europe			Africa			South America			Asia			North America			Oceania
Overall	16	100%	Country	#	%	Country	#	%	Country	#	%	Country	#	%	Country	#	%	Country	#	%
Europe	15.5	96.88%	Spain	15.5	96.88%													Australia	0.5	3.13%
Oceania	0.5	3.13%
Africa	0	0.00%
Asia	0	0.00%
South America	0	0.00%
North America	0	0.00%

Spoiler

Season

League

Position

Spanish Cup

Europe

Top Scorer

Top Assists

Attendance

Training

Youth

Junior

Youth Rec

Notes

2024/25

Federation 2nd Gp4

8th

2nd Rd

N/A

Jovanovic (12)

Carri (13)

5034

Adequate

Adequate

Average

Average

 

Edited October 18 by Thebaker

[Neo_Geo]

1 hour ago, Winski said:

To win a league match, against a relegated team from the highest division with some good players this easy...
I can't remember that I had so many shots, and such a high xG, in a league match before!

When you told me it was very promising you weren't kidding!

That's some win (though FM had to chuck in the 2 goals conceded from their only 2 shots on target!)

[HbG93]

Seasonal Review 2034/35

The Squad

Squad development wise times are quite exciting! The strikers picked up from class of 2034 didn't have a big impact, but are all showing positive signs in their development. Sabba and Nardella seems to naturally grow as wingers, so that could become options for them. Sarkodie is a pure-breed striker. But the real star of the year is E. Cazzuffi 29e who's impact truly was massive a closer look can be had further below.

The Table

Hey hey! 10th place is our new record high! Truth be told it means we narrowly missed out on playoffs. Don't get me wrong I am in no hurry to make it into Serie A. As we would get slaughtered up there. But just consistently hitting mid-table after mid-table is kind of exhausting. I think the defender and striker talents. We have know are part of the crop that will get us up. We just need more options across the midfield now. Cazzuffi 29e while impressive will not maintain, such an insane goal contribution rate across multiple seasons. Sabba 34c I am genuinely considering putting in the LM spot. More so in games we need more offensive power, as Roicca 30b who normally covets that spot is far more defensive. 

Player Spotlight

Cazzuffi 29b had to be shown here as he's a bit out of nowhere. He has by far outplayed his attributes, but hopefully that only means a big growth spurt is about to come out of him. Sabba 34c played the most of the infamous 2034 striker line. His biggest weakness is his mentals which a winger role would better hide hence my consideration of putting him there. Sirri 32g keeps stealing the spotlight among our defensive talents! He's becoming a rather good defender. However he's pretty much allergic to being on the ball. 

Transfers

Big sales where made this summer! Zamagana 30g comes a bit out of nowhere! I can't help but think he probably has a high PA and we missed it. While that was the biggest sale in number. The biggest profile to leave us was Consagra 28d. Granted this was very deliberate, as his contract demands where way to high. Perhaps a bit hastily as our yearly costs will go up a lot from this. I was able to push through upgrades in all infrastructures with these sales!

Youth Intake

Not the best intake this time around. Regardless the better prospects deserves a fair shake. Nottoli joins a pretty competitive area, but he could play LM which would help aid his chances for a look-in. I quite like Moraes as we finally get someone with a passer build and potential again also good personality. Turini is one of our higher current ability players taken in, but with his personality and poor athleticism. There's plenty of work to be done before he can seriously challenge the first team defenders.

Edited October 18 by HbG93

[Neo_Geo]

PROMOTION VIA THE PLAY-OFFS FOR VIKO

After narrowly missing out on the title and automatic promotion by 3 points (was 1 point on the final day and a draw away to Þór didn't matter as Þróttur Reykjavík won their game against bottom of the league Afturelding 7-2) it was down to the play-offs.

We had never been lower than 4th throughout the season and I was confident of at least getting the play-offs but to be that close to the title and let it slip (I lost to Þróttur Reykjavík 3-2 at home 7 games before the end which gave them the momentum) was a little disappointing.

The squad is a bit imbalanced in terms of positional depth so I had to be a little more creative with my formation (as you can see from the Best XI in the squad news section). I took my approach with FC Fleury 91 with the DLF and SS and expanded on this to play a poacher alongside the DLF and it seemed to work rather well. What was difficult was my approach used a left wingback (or fullback depending on the opponent) but I had one DL and one DR/L meaning I was always going to struggle when injuries or suspensions came along. We also lacked natural central midfielders, they all suited played in the AM roles more which meant my formation choices were somewhat limited in the middle of the park.

The resulting formation did the trick with us being top scorers but still conceding more than I would like to. The 4 losses we suffered were all single goal losses with two of these being to the eventual champions so I have no complaints really that I didn't end up top.

 

In the cups the team really surprised me and stepped up. First up was the early season League Cup group stage beating Valur and Grindavik of the Premier League and drawing 2-2 with Breiðablik after being 2-0 up. Our luck ran out against Fram (also from the Premier) in the semi final losing 2-1 at home despite it being a very even game:

In the Icelandic Cup we put out Premier sides Stjarnan and IBV both 2-1 home wins, before drawing non league KFK in the quarter final which we won 3-1 (A) to set up a semi-final against Valur who we had beaten earlier in the season. The game ended 3-3 at the end of 90 and having been forced into a change when my right back was injured I was never likely to have the steam left to win the match, getting to penalties was my only hope but Valur were too strong:

If a few more results had gone our way it could have been an absolutely stunning first season but promotion to the top tier and two semi-final appearances is way above what I had expected so I am naturally delighted.

Our finances dropped by around £50k this year and with the prize money being as it is (near non-existent) the key will be to get the board to agree to junior coaching and youth recruitment improvements while the balance is in the black.

YOUTH INTAKE

In terms of the quality coming through it was a good intake, but there wasn't a great spread of positions which is most likely going to me retraining players for where I need them or where their attributes suggest they might do well. The Youth Candidates screen showed me my 23 year old left back all season until the intake day which was really strange so I took a screenshot of the news item instead of my usual screenshot.

 

Best Graduates

Spoiler

I will look to utilise Georgsson as a defensive midfielder for sure, its a position I wasn't really able to use this year and I think that whilst his attributes aren't natural for a half back at least having that positional cover would really help over the course of the season. Either that or I play 2 pivots to ensure that up against the tradition 4-2-3-1 I don't get burned. With the retirement of Mr Versatile, Þorsteinn Már Ragnarsson, I think Georgsson is likely to get into the team straight away this season.

 

Pálmason has the attributes and ability to be a first team player straight away and would have featured at the end of the season if the registration rules weren't as strict as they are (players have to be registered and there are 2 windows with no changes outside of those windows). Low Determination isn't great so perhaps in the long run he won't amount to much but he's a big upgrade on the other DCs I have at the moment.

 

Þórarinsson excites me as much as a keeper can. He already has attributes that would be mean he was potentially knocking on the door of the first team but he has the fairly determined personality. Using my spreadsheet he comes out as top ranked player for potential at the club so I need to see about getting him some game time this season.

 

CLUB NEWS

First thing I want to call out is the strange structure of the B team and Youth Team, its a shared team with other clubs but seemingly IA are the "owners":

When I signed my intake players they went straight into my first team squad so I am reluctant to actually send any of them to this squad for 3 reasons: 1) There are so many players they are unlikely to get game time, 2) I have no control over coaches and facilities (this explains why I can't ask for youth facility improvements as they aren't my facility to improve) and 3) If I move any players there can I actually get them back and if I can would that count as a transfer.

I might be able to just make them available for the U19s rather than move them there but if anyone knows about this let me know please as otherwise my main squad is going to become huge.

As for the rest of the club news following my first coaching course rejection was able to get one and complete it before the next one was refused a week before the elections. A new director was appointed and I was able to ask again and they agreed.

I've had 2 junior coaching and youth recruitment improvements this season (the second one was too late to be included in the updated facilities stats) so this is a really promising first season and far better than what I was able to achieve at FC Fleury 91.

We've had to move stadium for the promotion (the previous stadium was rented anyway so it makes little difference).

 

SQUAD NEWS

Our versatile midfielder Þorsteinn Már Ragnarsson retired in what was the biggest squad news. It leaves a bit of a hole and I may have to rejig my formation next season to accommodate the best youths anyway.

Here is the Best XI from the season just finished:

As ever my teams perform quite well apart from the centrebacks and keeper, its been this way for the last dozen or so seasons I have done in this challenge. 54 goals between the "front 3" is an excellent return and far better than just the DLF and SS combination on their own.

BINGO CARD

With only two divisions I once again had to come up with enough bingo targets to get 100 of them so I've actually completed quite a lot of them having gone through the play-offs and won it:

NEO_GEO'S FINAL THOUGHTS

A really enjoyable first season in Iceland and I love how compact the seasons are as it means I can make progress even when I don't have a huge amount of time to play. I am apprehensive of next season despite winning games against premier league opposition it will be a different story playing them week in/week out. I'm a little concerned as to how my youth players will develop given the strange structural setup for the youth teams but I will try to simply make players available this season rather than move them there and see how many games they actually get. Failing that it might be a requirement to turn professional to get out own or I simply look to loan them out if possible.

[Gersdude123]

Btw should i be worried if my club finances are not the greatest atm 

[OlivierL]

6 hours ago, Neo_Geo said:

PROMOTION VIA THE PLAY-OFFS FOR VIKO

After narrowly missing out on the title and automatic promotion by 3 points (was 1 point on the final day and a draw away to Þór didn't matter as Þróttur Reykjavík won their game against bottom of the league Afturelding 7-2) it was down to the play-offs.

We had never been lower than 4th throughout the season and I was confident of at least getting the play-offs but to be that close to the title and let it slip (I lost to Þróttur Reykjavík 3-2 at home 7 games before the end which gave them the momentum) was a little disappointing.

The squad is a bit imbalanced in terms of positional depth so I had to be a little more creative with my formation (as you can see from the Best XI in the squad news section). I took my approach with FC Fleury 91 with the DLF and SS and expanded on this to play a poacher alongside the DLF and it seemed to work rather well. What was difficult was my approach used a left wingback (or fullback depending on the opponent) but I had one DL and one DR/L meaning I was always going to struggle when injuries or suspensions came along. We also lacked natural central midfielders, they all suited played in the AM roles more which meant my formation choices were somewhat limited in the middle of the park.

The resulting formation did the trick with us being top scorers but still conceding more than I would like to. The 4 losses we suffered were all single goal losses with two of these being to the eventual champions so I have no complaints really that I didn't end up top.

 

In the cups the team really surprised me and stepped up. First up was the early season League Cup group stage beating Valur and Grindavik of the Premier League and drawing 2-2 with Breiðablik after being 2-0 up. Our luck ran out against Fram (also from the Premier) in the semi final losing 2-1 at home despite it being a very even game:

In the Icelandic Cup we put out Premier sides Stjarnan and IBV both 2-1 home wins, before drawing non league KFK in the quarter final which we won 3-1 (A) to set up a semi-final against Valur who we had beaten earlier in the season. The game ended 3-3 at the end of 90 and having been forced into a change when my right back was injured I was never likely to have the steam left to win the match, getting to penalties was my only hope but Valur were too strong:

If a few more results had gone our way it could have been an absolutely stunning first season but promotion to the top tier and two semi-final appearances is way above what I had expected so I am naturally delighted.

Our finances dropped by around £50k this year and with the prize money being as it is (near non-existent) the key will be to get the board to agree to junior coaching and youth recruitment improvements while the balance is in the black.

YOUTH INTAKE

In terms of the quality coming through it was a good intake, but there wasn't a great spread of positions which is most likely going to me retraining players for where I need them or where their attributes suggest they might do well. The Youth Candidates screen showed me my 23 year old left back all season until the intake day which was really strange so I took a screenshot of the news item instead of my usual screenshot.

 

Best Graduates

  Hide contents

I will look to utilise Georgsson as a defensive midfielder for sure, its a position I wasn't really able to use this year and I think that whilst his attributes aren't natural for a half back at least having that positional cover would really help over the course of the season. Either that or I play 2 pivots to ensure that up against the tradition 4-2-3-1 I don't get burned. With the retirement of Mr Versatile, Þorsteinn Már Ragnarsson, I think Georgsson is likely to get into the team straight away this season.

 

Pálmason has the attributes and ability to be a first team player straight away and would have featured at the end of the season if the registration rules weren't as strict as they are (players have to be registered and there are 2 windows with no changes outside of those windows). Low Determination isn't great so perhaps in the long run he won't amount to much but he's a big upgrade on the other DCs I have at the moment.

 

Þórarinsson excites me as much as a keeper can. He already has attributes that would be mean he was potentially knocking on the door of the first team but he has the fairly determined personality. Using my spreadsheet he comes out as top ranked player for potential at the club so I need to see about getting him some game time this season.

 

CLUB NEWS

First thing I want to call out is the strange structure of the B team and Youth Team, its a shared team with other clubs but seemingly IA are the "owners":

When I signed my intake players they went straight into my first team squad so I am reluctant to actually send any of them to this squad for 3 reasons: 1) There are so many players they are unlikely to get game time, 2) I have no control over coaches and facilities (this explains why I can't ask for youth facility improvements as they aren't my facility to improve) and 3) If I move any players there can I actually get them back and if I can would that count as a transfer.

I might be able to just make them available for the U19s rather than move them there but if anyone knows about this let me know please as otherwise my main squad is going to become huge.

As for the rest of the club news following my first coaching course rejection was able to get one and complete it before the next one was refused a week before the elections. A new director was appointed and I was able to ask again and they agreed.

I've had 2 junior coaching and youth recruitment improvements this season (the second one was too late to be included in the updated facilities stats) so this is a really promising first season and far better than what I was able to achieve at FC Fleury 91.

We've had to move stadium for the promotion (the previous stadium was rented anyway so it makes little difference).

 

SQUAD NEWS

Our versatile midfielder Þorsteinn Már Ragnarsson retired in what was the biggest squad news. It leaves a bit of a hole and I may have to rejig my formation next season to accommodate the best youths anyway.

Here is the Best XI from the season just finished:

As ever my teams perform quite well apart from the centrebacks and keeper, its been this way for the last dozen or so seasons I have done in this challenge. 54 goals between the "front 3" is an excellent return and far better than just the DLF and SS combination on their own.

BINGO CARD

With only two divisions I once again had to come up with enough bingo targets to get 100 of them so I've actually completed quite a lot of them having gone through the play-offs and won it:

NEO_GEO'S FINAL THOUGHTS

A really enjoyable first season in Iceland and I love how compact the seasons are as it means I can make progress even when I don't have a huge amount of time to play. I am apprehensive of next season despite winning games against premier league opposition it will be a different story playing them week in/week out. I'm a little concerned as to how my youth players will develop given the strange structural setup for the youth teams but I will try to simply make players available this season rather than move them there and see how many games they actually get. Failing that it might be a requirement to turn professional to get out own or I simply look to loan them out if possible.

Only a few teams in Iceland have their own youth team, most of them are teams from higher division. IR had one in the past but latest edition's they also have a shared youth team. Njardvik also had one but they are not available for FM24 because of promotion.  That is why my options in Iceland were always limited because i don't like the shared structure.

 

[Neo_Geo]

50 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Only a few teams in Iceland have their own youth team, most of them are teams from higher division. IR had one in the past but latest edition's they also have a shared youth team. Njardvik also had one but they are not available for FM24 because of promotion.  That is why my options in Iceland were always limited because i don't like the shared structure.

 

Thanks for the info, I’m going to stick with it for a bit and see how it goes but if it doesn’t change at any point it might make me rethink the challenge attempt

[Scraborn]

In season 3 we made it to FA Cup third round... I was hoping for an away day at a premier league team to get some cash but we have to play Middelsbrough at home... is there still some cash coming our way?

 

[mpm2342]

1 hour ago, Gersdude123 said:

Btw should i be worried if my club finances are not the greatest atm 

Generally, no, but you could have trouble signing or resigning staff and the board could sell players on you if you get bids worth anything.

[kingjericho]

Rödinghausen - Germany 3.Liga - 2027/28 - 12th

I sold my first youth academy player, for a good sum. I accepted a loan back, though, I don't think I could have according to the rules but I forgot about it and I don't want to end the save just because of it. I'll make sure to reject this if it happens again.

Another eventless season apart from the transfer. We battled relegation until the final matchday where we won and climbed some places to finish 12th. 

[XaW]

XaW - Cardiff Draconians - Season 2028/29 (Season 5) - JD Cymru Premier

Squad | Transfers | Finances

We reached the upper brackets at the split for the first time! So of course, relegation was never really part of if this season. Playing in the upper bracket meant harder opponents, of course, but we still showed we are at this level for a reason. The top 3, Aberystwyth Town, Colwyn Bay, and Haverfordwest was a bit too much to handle for us, even if we can go toe to toe with them if we have a good day, but we are at the level of Gap Connah's Quay and TNS now, I'd say. And also Briton Ferry, Newtown and perhaps Penybont are teams that can reach the upper bracket, so it's a close battle now. At least we are part of it now, and I hope this means we can look more up the table than down in the coming season. The youth intakes are getting really good now that we have a built up a decent setup for this level!

Welsh Cup: We beat Newtown, Rogerstone, and Aberystwyth Town before we lost to Caernarfon in the quarter final.
Nathaniel MG Cup: We beat Abergavenny and Ammanford before we lost to TNS in the quarter final.

Best players from the academy:

Juddy Ngoma 27b - Our main striker now and does really well being the massive lad up top.
Nick Davies 28d - The left back is an important position in my tactic, and we finally got a useful one. He is not amazing, but fits well.
Jon Davies 27a - A good season in midfield, he is now starting to control matches better.

New club records:

None new? Didn't get the season review for some reason.

I got a few more improvements accepted this season.

U19s

They finished 2nd in the Cymru Premier Development League (South).

Welsh Youth Cup: They beat Cambrian & Clydach before they lost to Llanelli Town in the 2nd round.

Around the world

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

JD Cymru South - 2025/26

Nathaniel MG Cup - 2027/28

Tier 2 League Cup - 2024/25

Most apps for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Apps
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kieran Jones 25a	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	143
Jayden Burns 26a	Wales		<N/A>		2026-Present	109
Bradley Gregory 25c	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	101
Juddy Ngoma 27b		England		DR Congo	2027-Present	78
Mark Cracknell 27f	Wales		England		2027-Present	78

Most goals for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Goals
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Juddy Ngoma 27b		England		DR Congo	2027-Present	45
Bradley Gregory 25c	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	32
Michael Brown 27e	England		<N/A>		2027-Present	20
Kieran Jones 25a	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	14
Jon Davies 27a		Wales		<N/A>		2027-Present	13

Most assists for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Assists
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kieran Jones 25a	Wales		<N/A>		2025-Present	20
Ryan Davies-Margetson 27d Wales		<N/A>		2027-Present	19
Juddy Ngoma 27b		England		DR Congo	2027-Present	12
Nick Davies 28d		Wales		Northern Ireland 2028-Present	12
Jon Davies 27a		Wales		<N/A>		2027-Present	8

Supporters:

YAC Bingo:

Summary:

[Neo_Geo]

Unbelievable how quickly a save can go from one I am enjoying and looking forward to only to then see it become something that I really don't want to take forward.

I was looking at a squad of 37 players only 25 can be registered but despite my homegrown status showing a number of the youth players as ""Trained at Club" when it came to registration I couldn't name a 25 man squad with 8 "Trained at Club" players meaning I had to leave spaces free. Even if I could register 25 players the fact I have to register my new youth players and leave out more experienced players or vice versa is not something I enjoy.

Everything else was going well with regards to upgrades and coaching badges but that has just sucked out all the fun, the first year was meant to be the hardest with regards to fielding a team but this was worse.

Add to this that I have no Youth teams to send the unregistered players to just means I have an inflated squad with one third of them unable to play.

I'm going to spend a bit of time finding a save without these types of restrictions, like I said before the number 1 rule fort me is to have fun and I really wasn't looking forward to the season ahead with this limitation. Such a shame after a great first season.

[naterr]

21 minutes ago, Neo_Geo said:

 

like I said before the number 1 rule fort me is to have fun and I really wasn't looking forward to the season ahead with this limitation. Such a shame after a great first season.

Oh man i feel this! I have completely lost interest since getting relegated from the Prem with Barwell! Hoping a break will change this but I just haven't been enjoying it! 

[Neo_Geo]

7 minutes ago, naterr said:

Oh man i feel this! I have completely lost interest since getting relegated from the Prem with Barwell! Hoping a break will change this but I just haven't been enjoying it! 

It's not great when you sink many, many days into a save and it just loses the magic. I hope you get it back as you've done really well to take them to the Prem......take heart from Padders!

As for me I'm now spending my late Friday night simming to get a new save for tomorrow morning 

[Neo_Geo]

I was looking at 4 countries as potential saves.

For now I have ruled out Italy and Japan primarily due to the 38 game seasons and 3 divisions, I'm looking for slightly shorter seasons.

For Austria I was thinking of SV Austria Salzburg due to the background they have with RB Salzburg and there are 30 games in the 2nd tier and 32 games in the top tier. Having completed Switzerland I suspected it will have a similar feel and I if my chosen save fails (lets face facts, it probably will) then I will be heading to Salzburg.

However, I did always want to have a go at Wales and with their 30 game a season 2 tier league system its a good fit. So its time to join @XaW (assuming you have no objections) but I will be starting off in the Cymru North with Conwy Borough:

A squad of 11 players will probably make this year be a bit of a push but they have 4s all round for the facilities which I think is quite well balanced and the starting balance is quite healthy at £53k. I can just about pick a 4-4-2 so I'm going to keep it very much Mike Bassett England Manager style for season 1!

I may well get frustrated and fire up Austria tomorrow but who knows, at least there are no player registrations here just rules about having two U19 players in the match day squad and I can play my youth players when they come through even at 15 so that will be a nice change.

My late father in law who we lost to cancer last year (hence the MacMillan sponsor I use a lot on my kits) loved going on holiday to Conwy so it’s a further motivation since I can’t manage his team (Stoke city).

Edited October 19 by Neo_Geo

[XaW]

5 hours ago, Neo_Geo said:

So its time to join @XaW (assuming you have no objections)

Certainly no objections! Welcome to Wales mate! Let's see if you also see the downfall of TNS, or if they are going strong there!

[XaW]

5 hours ago, Neo_Geo said:

player registrations

Also, these are the rules in the top tier:

But seeing as players under 20 don't need to get registered, I doubt it will ever be a problem for you, it hasn't been one for me yet.

[Thebaker]

@Neo_Geo i found in wales if players are on NC then it is impossible to keep hold of them and you end up with no players at all as the top tier teams hoover them up. Incredibly annoying.

[Neo_Geo]

59 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

@Neo_Geo i found in wales if players are on NC then it is impossible to keep hold of them and you end up with no players at all as the top tier teams hoover them up. Incredibly annoying.

The tip that someone gave me on here was to offer the contract but starting at the end of the season meaning for the rest of the year they'd be "protected", it made a big difference in my last Semi-Pro save.

2 hours ago, XaW said:

Also, these are the rules in the top tier:

But seeing as players under 20 don't need to get registered, I doubt it will ever be a problem for you, it hasn't been one for me yet.

Good to know but as you say not having to register under 20s means you essentially have an unlimited squad size in this type of save (to have more than 25 players over the age of 20 is something I haven't had in this save for a very long time).

That was the most annoying part of the Iceland save was having to register 16 year olds and even then it wasn't seemingly counting as Trained at Club.

Oh well, got my Saturday morning errands done and now can settle in 

[LDB]

New user here, hello everyone from Italy/Albania!

Found out about this challenge yesterday evening while I was looking for something "new" to enjoy FM24 (which i havent played much because I didn't have a PC good enough to enjoy the game last year).

After spending a bit of time (I won't disclose the numbers!!!) understanding how to properly set the save up, I started simulating today until Matera gets promoted in Italy's 3rd division.

It's my big local team so immediately I had the idea to try and use them and have a team full of players of my region, maybe even my super small town and lead them to glory  

14th try still no luck tho, even if the team promoted from their unplayable division is changing quite often, there isn't a massive team with big reputation that just gets promoted almost everytime.

While I sim hopelessly, I'd appreciate any basic little tip that you guys would give to someone who has never done a save like this  

[Neo_Geo]

Welcome @LDB

Unfortunately getting the team you want through the re-loading of the game at the date to generate new teams is just part of the challenge.

If you are certain the team sits 1 level below you can either just keep reloading or you can simulate out multiple seasons (I did this in Scotland recently and simulated out 30 years to get the team I wanted being promoted). It actually gave a unique spin on the save because the world of football had changed from 2024 when you normally take over.

In terms of Matera there are 21 teams with a higher reputation in Serie D and 4 other teams on the same reputation (the last one is just below Matera in the DB hence not in the screenshot):

I actually simulated Italy a few times last night and I found that Nocerina came up a few times who are only 50 reputation higher, in fact I've seen most of the teams in this screenshot so I don't think its impossible to get them promoted.

I assume you have a save on the 28th of May and are reloading to that to try again (sorry I had to ask just in case)

[LDB]

Thank you @Neo_Geo

To get promoted luckily they just need to win their Serie D - Group H which is pretty open, only 3 teams, Andria, Gelbison and Paganese have better reputation (not that much higher), so they don't have to face the giants like Reggio (they will end up in the same 3rd tier group, but in 4th tier they belong to group I and not H)

Out of 21 sims, the 3 strongest teams of the group i named before went up 18 times (the 3 odd ones were Barletta twice and Casarano 1 time)

But just as I was typing this reply to you... we did it!!! nobody beats LDB 22 times in a row, I guess  

 

[Neo_Geo]

4 minutes ago, LDB said:

Thank you @Neo_Geo

To get promoted luckily they just need to win their Serie D - Group H which is pretty open, only 3 teams, Andria, Gelbison and Paganese have better reputation (not that much higher), so they don't have to face the giants like Reggio (they will end up in the same 3rd tier group, but in 4th tier they belong to group I and not H)

Out of 21 sims, the 3 strongest teams of the group i named before went up 18 times (the 3 odd ones were Barletta twice and Casarano 1 time)

But just as I was typing this reply to you... we did it!!! nobody beats LDB 22 times in a row, I guess  

 

Nice one 

Now the fun can start 

[LDB]

The challenge begins!

Finally the city of Matera won't be famous only for their UNESCO site "Sassi", the oldest urban settlement in Europe, but also for football

 

The Club isn't exactly ready for this (idk how to post an image yet, but here's a link I guess): Club Details

And this is me, ready to join the challenge and bring them to glory!  Manager's Page

 

 

[JAwtunes]

Is someone happy to share a bingo card please?

[djsterry]

On 17/10/2024 at 17:16, djsterry said:

6th season update 

We survive again despite only scoring a measly 19 goals all season

Somehow made it to the final in the cup, got really lucky getting the easiest draw every round.

Got heavily beat in the final but that was to be expected

Finances 

Finally I'm not longer classed as insecure 

Projection looks ok, still going to be a long wait to get anywhere close to top facilities 

 

But I did finally convince the board to increase junior coaching and youth recruitment 

Slow and steady wins the race with this one I think, 

I'm still rank outsider in the league 

 

9th season update 

Skipped a couple of updates as quite frankly nothing was happening apart from the usual clinging on for survival.

I've just entered my 10th season at the club and I have managed to push through a few improvements

Excellent progress from where we started and I'm in the funny position at the moment where my youth intake players are better than my first team players straight away.

This has led to mass clear outs at the start of the season for the last couple of years and I have an extremely young team

I'm expecting the same again this year as I have pushed through a couple more improvements since the last intake

 

 

This is the level of player I was getting rid of (terrible)

 

Losing money now as the youth setup is costing 125k a month and my income is about 45k a month, with tv rights sponsorship etc I probably just about break even or make a small loss.

hopefully I can start producing a couple of good standard player I can sell to boost the finances. It would be nice if I could pull myself away from a relegation dogfight every year.

Feel like I've gone from being a Pep to a Big Sam

I'm now a 442 park the bus merchant

[Neo_Geo]

19 minutes ago, JAwtunes said:

Is someone happy to share a bingo card please?

What country do you need it for, I may already have one I created before that you can tweak

[mschafer13]

Club Cipolletti 2032/33

Picked to finish 27th this season, we finished 4th

We actually won 3 trophies this year - none that count towards the YAC however. Still happy about them!

Decent youth intake AND the board was so happy with our treble, they agreed to multiple youth network upgrades over the season, so we actually have 5-star youth recruitment now. Hopefully we will start seeing the positive benefits of that soon, because teams are starting to poach my best youngsters (like Bournemouth stealing my keeper, still mad about that)

 

[mschafer13]

1 hour ago, Neo_Geo said:

What country do you need it for, I may already have one I created before that you can tweak

I'd take an Argentina one!

[HbG93]

Seasonal Review 2035/36

The Squad

The focus is all on the youngsters from the class of 2034, who are not just becoming starters but leading the team. I started deploying Sabba as the ML to allow Sarkodie into the team. The youths from last year’s intake are still a bit off from challenging this eleven, but I believe both Nottoli 35a and Turini 35c have plenty of talent. I just need to draw it out. Hopefully, their mentoring will have an impact, as their personalities aren’t great, especially Nottoli’s. E. Giliberti 32a has spent his career away on loan, but a recent sale opened a spot for him. The building blocks needed to take this team into Serie A are starting to fall into place.

The Table

This has been our best season yet! I had hoped we’d finally break into the playoffs, but 5th place is quite something! Also, look at that healthy goal difference a rarity in our seasons. Unfortunately, the playoffs were not in our favor, as injuries struck the team, most crucially with our starting keeper getting injured, forcing us to field a unready Demba 34e in goal.

Player Spotlight

It’s no surprise the spotlight is on the excellent growth of our 2034 striker trio. From a sporting perspective, it’s ideal to keep them all, as I have no doubt they would eventually secure our promotion to Serie A. However, given our finances, sacrificing one of them at the right moment might be the best move. Also, it’s exciting to see two of our players break into the Serie B Team of the Year. This attention could attract suitors for Nardella, but I have him on a three-year triggerable contract extension, so any bids would have to be substantial.

Transfers

This wasn't the year of sales I was hoping for. The plan was to sell Canirapoli 28b, as his development seems to have stalled, and his wages are quite high. However, I was unable to move him. I’m also unhappy with some of the fees we got, particularly for Canessa 27f. We must also take a moment to applaud Alessandro Toniolo, our early-day machine! Sadly, his quality isn’t enough anymore, and I can’t justify giving an older, less productive striker more money than all three of our top strikers combined.

Youth Intake

I found this year’s intake rather weak overall. However, Pedone stands out and makes up for the lack of depth. He needs to improve athletically, but with his solid foundation and our need for midfielders, he’s being fast-tracked. Sabella and Fabiano are also worth keeping an eye on, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Pedone is the only one from this batch to make significant contributions to the club over time.

[Neo_Geo]

36 minutes ago, mschafer13 said:

I'd take an Argentina one!

YAC Bingo Club Cipolletti (Argentina).xlsx

You can open this in Libre Office Calc if you don't have Excel

[Gersdude123]

16 hours ago, mpm2342 said:

Generally, no, but you could have trouble signing or resigning staff and the board could sell players on you if you get bids worth anything.

Thanks was worried cause somehow were like 200k in the red for some reason

[JAwtunes]

1 hour ago, Neo_Geo said:

What country do you need it for, I may already have one I created before that you can tweak

Thanks mate.

I'm thinking of heading back to Guinea Bissau.  Happy to adapt a template if you've got one. Ta.

      Just seen the file youve attached for someone else - I will download that a bit later.

Edited October 19 by JAwtunes
link spotted

[Padders]

Season 192 - 2212/13 - SBC

Another play off finish and another play off loss 

My two best players want to leave (again!)

They have long contracts and optional extensions but doesn't stop them moaning most weeks

[kingjericho]

Unfortunaly I'm abandoning the save. I was holidaying through matches to get through seasons faster and accidentally I didn't renew the contracts of my two best youngsters and now they're leaving on a free. Good luck to the rest of you, though!

[Weed07]

Workington Reds  - Challenge Complete

Firstly I want to apologise for a lack of updates, I posted my first season update but then just started blasting though seasons and I kept meaning to post some updates but kept putting them off and then as the seasons went on I had too much to update and wasn't sure how best to do it, individual season updates seemed daunting to write up so I put them off more and now I've completed the challenge without posting any updates so again apologies for not updating as the save went on.

Anyhow, now its complete I figured I would do a write up on what's happened.

So, the save started off ok with a 13th placed finish in the Conference North in the first season and the second we were worse as we finished lower in 15th place but then in the 3rd season we managed to finish 2nd missing out on top place on goal difference but we did win the playoffs so it only took 3 seasons to get promoted from the bottom division.

The Conference National however wasn't as easy, we finished 20th in the first year surviving on the last day on goal difference, then 16th where we again survived on the last day, we finished 16th again the season after but surviving with a few games to go before a surprise 7th placed finish but losing in the playoff first round and then it was back to surviving relegation with only 1 game to go as we finished 19th.

At this point I was wondering how we were going to progress, we had played 8 seasons but had every request to improve facilities, recruitment and coaching rejected and our intakes were rubbish but we then had a takeover and the new owners agreed to invest in youth recruitment and junior coaching, just what we needed. The first season after the takeover we finished 17th and also had youth and training facilities upgraded, the season after we finished 7th and had our youth recruitment and coaching increased twice and we were starting to see the benefits as our intakes were getting better and after 8 seasons in the Conference National league we finished 2nd and won the playoffs and after 13 years we had made it to the football league.

I thought at this point things would get harder but actually that didn't happen, as we went full time and we continued improving facilities our players attributes started shooting up and in our first season in League Two we finished 19th but were never in danger of relegation and we maxed out our youth recruitment. I also decided to change tactics to an attacking tactic because we were getting better attacking players than defensive players and I decided we would just try to score more than we conceded and it work as the next year we finished 2nd and got promoted scoring 108 goals 40 more than the previous season.

This is the tactic I created and used from this point forward, I trained my players for the roles rather than switch roles for the players

Spoiler

Our first season in League One, like in League two we were never in danger of relegation and finished 14th, we maxed out our junior coaching and made £5m through player sales which was much needed as we were losing a couple of million a year mostly through the youth set up. Then like in League Two we pushed on and got another 2nd placed finish to gain promotion in only our second season at this level.

Our first season in the Championship continued how our last ended as teams couldn't cope with our attack and we scored 127 goals, we also conceded 71 as out tactics of just scoring more worked better than expected and with 2 games to go we were top with the title in our hands but we bottled it and ended up finished 2nd but at the first time in this league we were promoted and we have now gone from the Conference North to the Premiership without winning a league, we had finished 2nd in every season we were promoted, we hadn't done anything in any cup either as all focus had been on the league games.

By now I couldn't believe how easy it had been going up the leagues after going full time, every year I expected us to struggle but we overachieved and I was convinced we would have problems in the Premiership but it didn't happen as in our first season we finished 11th, then in our second season we managed to finish 5th and won the FA Cup, our first ever trophy. The 5th place finish also got us a place in the Champions League as England were given an extra place.

In our third season I again thought it would be hard as we now had the Champions League to manage too but again we done better than expected, much better in fact as in the league we finished 3rd and were in the title run right until the last game of the season but even better we won the Champions League, I don't know how but we avoided the best teams and had some massive wins, I thought we were out when Arsenal beat us 4-1 away in the quarter final first leg but we often scored goals for fun and beat them 5-1 at home after extra time, we also lost 2-1 away to Porto in the semi but had won the first leg at home 3-1 so got to the final where we beat Inter 2-0 but it could have been more as we dominated the game and we won the Champions League at the first time playing in it and it seemed too easy.

Then the next season we completed the challenge as we won the league, it went to the last few games and with 2 to play in was between us and Arsenal with them having the advantage as they were ahead of us on goal difference but they dropped points away to relegated Wolves throwing away a 2 goal lead to draw so our win took us top and we won our last game to confirm the league win, we lost in the Champions League semi that season but with the previous seasons win and now the league win that completes the challenge.

Its taken 20 seasons but we won the Champions League in 2043 and the Premiership in 2044 and I honestly thought it would take a lot longer, I'm surprised at how easy it got once we went full time, it took us longer to get out of the conference leagues (11 years) than it did to go from League Two to Premiership winners (9 years).

There was a couple of things that helped:

1) despite playing FM for over 30 years, I didn't realise how big an impact resting players between games has, I've always rotated players but I've found during this save that if there are 4 or less days between games that resting my starting 11 from training between games meant they would be fit for the next game, this meant that I was able to play my best 11 every game except for injuries which was good because outside out best 15 players we didn't have a lot of quality.

2) with not spending money on signings I pumped all money into wages and I kept renewing my best players contracts each year giving them a pay rise to sign for 5 years plus 3 year club options so that I could keep them and ward off any interest, I also used the tricks with either getting the DOF to negotiate a contract and then changing it myself to remove release clauses by giving them a lot more money or talking to the agents and removing non negotiables from it which meant I rarely had to give release clauses at a cost of higher wages but it meant I didn't lose many players I wanted to keep.

I also think that playing an attacking tactic worked better than it should because every season we were favourites to finish bottom and our reputation lagged behind our ability which I think means teams will be more likely to attack us thinking we are an easy win which plays into our tactic of just trying to outscore teams rather than trying to defend as we can exploit the space they leave in their defence attacking us.

Overall this has been one of my favourite ever saves and something I didn't think I would be able to achieve having tried and failed several times before.

Heres some spreadsheet data:

Club Info:

Spoiler

Season info:

Spoiler

 

Manager info:

Spoiler

Manager profile and history:

Spoiler

My best players:

Spoiler

GK and our only Wonderkid

Best centre back

Our captain and dlp

Our dm

Our vice captain and goal scoring attacking midfielder

Our striker, won NxGN award 1st place and Golden Boy

The rest of the players are average, decent players but nothing special

I want to shout out to this player, hes the first player I have ever had thats played at every level for a club i've managed, hes the first thats played over 500 games ever for me and he has scored at every level too. He came in the first intake and was our star striker for a lot of years.

Spoiler

To summarise, I've loved this save, I'm actually a little disappointed that it ended a lot sooner than I thought it would and it seemed to get too easy, much easier than I expected it to be and I'm not sure where to go from here, I might continue playing it as youth only, I may start signing players or I might retire the save and try something new but I'm pleased I have been able to complete it, especially with a club thats local to me.

Edit - Forgot to add screenshots of the wins so added below:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 06:28 by Weed07

[mschafer13]

4 hours ago, Neo_Geo said:

YAC Bingo Club Cipolletti (Argentina).xlsx 48.93 kB · 0 downloads

You can open this in Libre Office Calc if you don't have Excel

Thank you!

[Perre8]

I just didn't feel it at AS Cannes. With the delay of FM25 i was thinking of a nation where i didn't manage yet in the YAC. I holidayed three seasons and got Bury as a reload so here we go!!

I fired up the first season in a record tempo (for me is a season of 46 games in 3-4 days is very fast). Very good start gave us these 2 upgrades!

This Norwegian guy (born in Nordre Follo @XaW  ) was in the intake of 2026, what a beast he became in our first season!!

Great preview!!

 

 

And it delivered!! 13 Elite talents and 3 top talents, decent personalities.

The league went very very good! We won the league with a stunning 112 points!!

 

Look at his progression and goals!!

 

 

Edited October 19 by Perre8

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, Perre8 said:

(born in Nordre Follo @XaW  )

Hey, I think I know that kid!  

[Scraborn]

Sadly I had to cash on the best youth player so far. He didnt want to renew his contract because he wanted to play in a higher division. Not the best for our fight to survive in VNL. So the other have to step up

[DomD]

On 17/10/2024 at 14:19, XaW said:

S

Sonny Fish from Bala Town just did this to us... I feel violated!

That's just disrespectful 

What do you use to capture and create the gifs? 

[XaW]

3 minutes ago, DomD said:

That's just disrespectful 

What do you use to capture and create the gifs? 

I use a program called ScreenToGIF I found to capture and render the gif, then I upload to imgur.