The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge

glennuk · December 12, 2023

Oh no @DazRTaylor- Starting with a new team?

Winski · December 12, 2023

Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur (ÍR)

So, I decided to start a new save. I liked my time in Czech Republic, but I feel it’s time to move back to Iceland. A country I just really love managing in. As some of you may know, I had a great time in Iceland back in FM17 with ÍR. It was the first time I tried a youth only save, although I bought academy players back at some point. You can read about it here.
We won the Europa League with academy players only. And a couple of years later we won the Champions League, but I decided to buy players after the EL win. I have so many sweet memories of that save. I even remember a lot of player-names.

And I feel it’s time to try it again, but now with the official rules of the challenge. In real life the club won promotion to Lengju deildin in 2024. So if I want to try this challenge with ÍR, I have to do it know. So that's why I started this save. I created the kits, based on the in-game club colours.

The first look at the squad is that I have 25 players to my disposal, with an average age of 23.47. So it’s quite a young squad. Looking at our current best players, then Ásgeir Börkur Ásgeirsson, Stefán Þór Pálsson, Arnór Gauti Úlfarsson and Alexander Kostic are the most interesing players. I found for almost all our my players their real picture.
It looks like we even got some talented youngsters, who can hopefully develop into very good players for us. In particular Róbert Elís Hlynsson, Olsi Tabaku and Bergvin Fannar Helgason.

I'm a couple of months into the first season, and just got my first Youth Intake Preview from my HoYD Gunnar Már Guðmundsson.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Winski

DazRTaylor · December 12, 2023

1 hour ago, glennuk said:

Oh no @DazRTaylor- Starting with a new team?

Yes though no edited databases. Going back to out of the box.

glennuk · December 12, 2023

4 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

Yes though no edited databases. Going back to out of the box.

Join me in my seemingly never ending quest in Japan!!

Daddy · December 12, 2023

2029/30 Season Review - Belgian Third Tier - Season 6

I tried some tactical adjustments to score more but wound up giving up too many goals. Readjusted to end the season with a bunch of draws, but enough to barely avoid the relegation playoffs.

A lot of sales. Good players, but they wouldn't resign so I had to cash out. A lot of 40-50% clauses.

Real nice intake. No immediate standouts, but lots of high potential depth at all positions.

2030/31 Season Preview:

I'm just going to stick with my more defensive tactic and just grind my way to hopefully a safe but boring season until some offensive players develop.

DazRTaylor · December 12, 2023

50 minutes ago, glennuk said:

Join me in my seemingly never ending quest in Japan!!

Thanks for the offer but I am going back to an old favourite.

DazRTaylor · December 12, 2023

I always have at least one attempt with FC United of Manchester every season.

Club Introduction

FC United of Manchester

The Manager

This is me.

Personal Contract

Season     Contract Start Date     Contract Expiry Date     Pre Tax Wage     Post Tax Wage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start          24 June 2024             30 June 2025         £750 p/w          £600 p/w

Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation            Qualifications     Att  Def  Fit  GkD  GkH  GkS  Tac  Tec  Men  SeP  WWY  Ada  Det  PlK  YoK  LoD  PeM  Mot
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start   Minimal   (0.50*)     None                 1    1    1    1    1    1    1    3    1    1    3    1    1    1    2    2    2    2

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Youth Level  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start   Basic                Basic                  4       Adequate              Fairly Basic     Basic              Local   (1.00*)

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Time At Club
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transfer Sale Record

Date               Player                    Position               Club Sold To                 Country                   Transfer Fee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------

Cup Competition Victories
-------------------------

Career Overview

Season     Champions League    Europa League    Europa Conference League             League                             Position     F.A. Cup                    Carabao Cup        Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Appearances
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Assists
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Clean Sheets (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edited December 13, 2023 by DazRTaylor

Colossus · December 12, 2023

Sociedad Deportiva Leioa

2033/2034 Mid Season Review / Youth Intake Preview

It looks like another pretty boring and safe season, which I will take

More talent incoming, we actually don't play with a CAM but maybe he can be retrained as either a CM or a winger

Gonner · December 12, 2023

Austria Salzburg, Season 9, 2032/2033

Season Recap :

It does not show on this first screenshot, but we managed our best ever-finish in the League, 4th !

In the championship, Austria Wien had a very disappointing season and did not even qualify for the title pool. Points and goal difference clearly show once more that this league is a battle between RB Salzburg & SK Rapid for the title, 3 or 4 teams for Europe and the rest fighting relegation. This year there was a clear split between the top 6 and the rest.

After halving the points, we were clearly in contention for a podium spot or at least direct qualification for European competitions.

Like last year, Sturm collapsed in the final run. Admira, after exceeding expectations all season long, only managed to get 3 points over the final 10 games, so it was a battle between LASK and us for the final podium spot. We lost the away game and they managed to get a draw against us at home, which was probably the deciding game. Still, we will play in Europa League again next season !

In the Cup, we cannot replicate our success from last year and fall in Quarter Finals against Austria Wien. RB Salzburg out in the 3rd round, Rapid had a clear path to the title, and they did not let it slip from their fingers.

In the Europa League, for our first season, we manage to advance for the playoffs, as an unseeded team.
We do not get the best draw and face Aston Villa, who eliminated us last year in the semis of the Europa Conference. The gap is too big again this year, and we exit early, but I am still proud of the guys for getting this far, especially considering the clubs we faced in the Championship phase.

Transfers :

Just one transfer this year, but it is our wonderkid Rakic who decides to leave us for greener pastures in England.

9M€ and 50% of the next sale is all I managed to get, once the big names came in he was too eager to leave... I will miss him though, I enjoyed playing with an attacking midifielder.

Finances :

A little less money than last year which is understandable considering we did not go as far in the Cup or in Europe, and also played tougher opponents so less wins, less bonus money. Still, as long as we play in Europe, we are going to be more than OK. I am pushing our board for (costly) improvements but we seem to be close to the end of that journey.

Squad :

Even after Rakic left us we kept alternating between 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 throught out the year depending on sharpness and our analyst's recommendation. As always, our back 4 lacks depth, Finn Kiene being our 5th guy. Förster has been called up a few times to give some rest to Aksu but he is far from first team level at the moment. In midfield Bauer has been asked to play Attacking Midfielder after Rakic left, allowing Saedi to make a good pair with Neumann, Todorovic remaining the 4th guy. On the wings Bandlow has had a tremendous season on the right, but Ciric is getting above 9 in training grade every week and is quickly progressing. As for the left, Hartmann is now natural in his position and is a little better than Fötschl so for the first time all our top XI has come from the youth ranks. Up front, Walter has scored 30 goals for us and taken the spot away from Gül, who, on paper, seems to be better, but that is a different story on the pitch. They are our front 2 when we play 4-4-2 which prevens Gül from becoming (too) unhappy.

Admin & Facilities :

Révélation

As discussed in the finance tab above, new upgrades are now quite costly. Nonetheless we work on both the training and youth facilities to get them to superb !

Also, after a year spent with "searching for suitable ground", the plans are now confirmed for the new stadium. Completion scheduled in two seasons, and hefty loan taken out, hopefully the gate receipts will raise quite a bit.

Bonus :

Révélation

Austria U-23 team made it to the semis of the Olympics Games, falling to eventual winner Argentina. 2 of our players in the Dream Team !

Even if Fötschl did not play as much as he used to, he became our lead appearance-maker.

Saedi 18th among the top 50 best wonderkids. All those who appeared here left us soon after, so I am already prepared to see Saedi go to England, Germany or Italy...

Finally, I wanted to share this message, I had to read it twice to make sure I was not confused, but it seems that Bah, after scoring 1 goal in 48 caps, decided it was time to score 4 in a game !

Youth Intake :

This preview had me excited at the possibility of getting a Left-Back. Well, not today... But our Head of Youth considers that we have 9 elite talents this year so I cannot complain.

Tim Brandl : Seen by Reinaldo as having more potential than all our "existing" goalkeepers. I can work with "Balanced" personality.

Révélation

Mark Heinz : We got Tobias Förster last year, now Mark Heinz, we might finally have some proper competition for Aksu in the next few years.

Révélation

Serhat Polat : Unanmbitious Central Defender, but left-footed. Might train him to be a Left Back.

Révélation

Dragan Pantic : First natural DM in ages, really good mental qualities (except for the low determination). Will likely see first team minutes right away when we play in 4-3-3.

Révélation

Tim Mohr: My favorite of the whole bunch. He has good technicall skills, I may see how he develops and train him as an attacking midfielder.

Révélation

Hermann Diegmann : Did we find Rakic's replacement ? Needs to get some more muscle but looks promising.

Révélation

Nico Lang : One year after Nikola Ciric, we get another promising winger, this time on the left wing !

Révélation

Oliver Albuschat : 14 in Finishing at age 15 ?? Good pace & acceleration ? Oliver will move to the first team and get some bench minutes.

Révélation

Samed Vidovic: Always tough to be the second best at your position, but could be a good 2nd striker or AMC.

Révélation

Edited December 12, 2023 by Gonner

Gonner · December 12, 2023

Apologies for the 2 posts but it was too heavy for one.

7 years after :
A quick look at what our 2026 youth became. Back in that day, we got 5 regens that I deemed worthy of a screenshot and to my surprise, all 5 are still with us ! This was a very good year.

Ivica Kovacic, GK became our starter when we got promoted and has never let anyone steal playing time from him. We have a couple promising goalies in our youth ranks but his position should be safe for at least one or two years minimum.

Fadil Aksu, RB has been a must-start for the past 6 years. He split the RB duties with Sandmayr initially when we were in 2. Liga and, like Kovacic, became our go-to-guy once we reached the Bundesliga. Förster (32) and Heinz above are seen as our most promising RFB but Aksu's position looks quite safe.

Finn Kiene, CD has clearly benefited from the fact that we have not been able to produce a proper LB, save for Sauer. Kiene is our second-best LB and third or fourth-best CB, but since we have no depth he frequently comes off the bench and has thus seen meaningful minutes.

Frank Lieberknecht, DM/CM is a weird beast. He is a natural Defensive Midfielder but has qualities that would make him more of a playmaker. He is been out on loan the past 3 seasons, I believe he is a fringe player but I keep him around in case we get multiple long injuries.

Maurice Neumann, CM/AM has been one of our key players for 6 years now. His best position is CM with an advanced playmaker role and he always gets close to 10 assists a year.

Game in a nutshell :

Edited December 12, 2023 by Gonner

Ron_Swanson · December 12, 2023

[FM23] Reymersholms IK - season 17 - 2039

Yagiz Ak and Johny Almqvist will be promoted to first team and play occasionally

With start like that I had the worst scenario in my head but some nice wins now and then and we climbed up to a playoff zone and eventually won against Qviding. We stay in 2nd tier for another year. Eddie Nelen yet again was our best performing player. Around 1 million prize for finishing place is making the finances healthy although board don't agree to turn professional as it will mean to high costs in their opinion. Atleast we found good use for that money and we're upgrading training facilities. I hope that reputation boost will unlock youth facilities also, I can't even ask for that now.

David played another decent season in Torns IF, they again finished somewhere around lower mid-table

Anners · December 12, 2023

On 11/12/2023 at 14:13, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2047/48 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

(Hibs deducted 15 points for going into Administration)

The season kind of fizzled out after the first couple months where it was rather exciting! It was actually a very average season - helped by the fact Motherwell and St Mirren were absolutely horrible this year. The gamble to sell Templeman and Scott at the start of the year has paid off okay so far. We've got training and youth facilities upgrades coming, as well as the stadium expanding:

We do have to ground share - although I was kind of hoping to share with Hibs in their nice 46,902 capacity stadium! Would've been very empty but I'm sure they need the rent money...!

A quick passing remark about the cups (as we don't do very well apart from that 1 Semi Final run) - out to Rangers in the 4th round. We've been getting some horrible draws in the past few years though (Hibs & Hearts for example) so surely the FM gods will be kind to us soon.

Youth Intake:

Speaking of the FM Gods...

We prayed to the FM Gods for a goalkeeper and it finally happened - and a Model Citizen personality!

Bit late with this screenshot as it's after he's already played the last 8 league games for us! It really says a lot about our options when Pick goes straight into the number 1 spot. I'm hoping I'm going to be able to keep him for a while - I could do with some consistentcy at the goalkeeper position as we keep having to sell.

Facilities:

Obviously with the influx of money owing to the Sneddon/Templeman/Scott sale, we've been able to get upgrades rolling once the previous ones are finished. Both are due in August and October, so we should move from Good Training/Adequate Youth up a level.

Major Round Up:

Like I said in the previous post, time to do a bit of a major round up as it's been a few years and there's some new faces, some old faces and some faces not at the club anymore which I'll include!

Kieran Pick is now our number 1 - as you can see above I've already touched upon him. More on his predecessor later...

The back 4 from right to left are George Green, Laurie Brian, Calvin Gilchrist and Rosen Proychev. Green is the most experienced at 24, but he's basically at his potential here but will do for now. Brian and Gilchrist could be a decent pairing in a year or 2 if Brian gets his technical attributes improved. Proychev is an intriguing case as I'm gambling on him being the better prospect than our others available.

The midfield 3 of Jamie Gormal, Michael Robertson and Liall Cairns have been fairly reliable all season. Gormal is our longest serving active player (ignoring some of the bench players who are getting a bit old), although Frimpong is only 60 appearances behind. Robertson has been attracting interest from Porto and Benfica (No idea why Portuguese teams!) and is a pretty solid midfielder who is improving rather well. Cairns was trying to leave, but seems to have settled down now so we should be able to keep him. Does the job very nicely - he's seen as an average Premiership player so would love to keep him around.

Douglas Fordyce on the right wing is a bit of a different player to Willis Easton on the left. Fordyce is currently trying to leave, but has a contract for 3 more years so hopefully can keep him around as he's an extremely good player to have on the right. Easton meanwhile spent a couple of years on loan in League 1 and probably isn't the best option we've got on the left, but with the Thomas Scott sale he was somewhat forced there.

That leaves the man, the myth, the legend - Solomon Frimpong. Took being shifted onto the left extremely personally with his hot start to the season - bagged 24 in 31 league games this year. He missed 7 games through African Nations duty with Ghana, which coincided with our very poor December. Seen as a team leader, he holds the captaincy and now I'd actually be incredibly surprised if we don't keep hold of him throughout his career. Will very likely be our top appearance maker and goal scorer for a long time.

Now, to the 2 other "categories" we've got. Bailey McKay is retiring at the end of this season, having made 767 appearances in total across a 21 season career with us. Stopped appearing for the team in the 46/47 mostly, but before he played at least 32 games in every season apart from 3 (where it was 25, 30 and 31!). First player I've had retiring that I've got a bit of an attachment to!

2nd category is former players - although a very specific example which is rather annoying to me but also very proudful.

Scotland's first 11 for the opening game of the 2048 World Cup included 3 ex-Tranent players:

I think if I had those 3 in my team we'd be a bit better than 8th position and would be challenging for Europe!

Full History:

Reveal hidden contents

Last 5 Years:

Previous Post:

2047/48 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

Not sure if this is a huge step forward, but it's one we'll take nevertheless! We were helped a bit by Hearts and Arbroath having poor seasons which meant we snuck into the top 6. You can see in the form table of the 5 games that it was a bit bizarre all round - draws absolutely everywhere! However, finishing in the top 6 wasn't actually our biggest achievement this year!

WE WON THE SCOTTISH CUP!

I said in the previous posts that the FM Gods had been somewhat cruel to us over the past few years, handing us ties against all the bigger teams in Scotland. This time however? We avoided almost everyone good, with the best team being St Johnstone who you can see in the League Table probably had other thoughts at the time. We also managed to draw Spartans at "home" and thanked them very kindly for us being able to use their stadium.... oops. Also, you can still see how reliant we are on Frimpong - he just scores so many!

The whole run:

We also actually managed a bit of a ViaPlay Cup run (although I think the patch has reverted a few names of competitions so we're back to the League Cup for this year), managing to get to the Semi Final before going out to Rangers.

Youth Intake:

Bit of an interesting one here - Martin and Turner are the only good looking prospects here before a fairly couple of drops to the next players. Not too much to say here, but if Martin can develop into a starter at right back it'll be perfect!

I'm now at the stage of the challenge where I can probably put this every year, but we've had 2 entrants to the NXGN Top 50 this year:

Proychev hasn't improved too much since the round up last year, whereas Gilchrist has got steadily better. I imagine we will see Kieran Pick (GK) on this list next year with Proychev.

Facilities Update:

Another couple of upgrades for Training and Youth again coming - both cost in total about £7m, so we're definitely getting to that stage where we won't be struggling for decent players soon!

Spoiler

Last 5 Years:

Edited December 12, 2023 by Anners

dkouv · December 12, 2023

Brora Rangers – Season 7 (2030/31)

Championship We were terrible, but survived thanks to the two teams below us being simply beyond terrible. I mean 25 points from 36 games for 9th-placed East Fife, come on… We did win the lower-division cup though, FM-ming Livingston in the final!

I do fear next season, our performances are getting worse, finances are terrible, and lots of players want to jump ship. A restart in League 1 may not be a bad thing in the long run, as long as I don’t get sacked.

Players We have 4-5* strikers and wingers who are good enough for this league, central midfield good enough for League 2 (or league 1 at a stretch), and Highland-league level defence. Tony Jukes 05a (ST) is still great, and there is one player on the team who can kind-of defend, Kyle Brogan 06c (DMLC), who helped us a lot this season.

Youth intake (preview) More strikers!! But they are really good… At least there is a goalie there, and the overall quality is high again, but I am longing for some defenders.

Facilities/Finances I’ve given up on trying to cut down coaching and resigned myself to losing £100k+ a month, for now we’re just about afloat thanks to some cup games and cash injections.

No transfers in, and I’m hanging on to my star prospects for now.

@Anners Congrats on the cup win, reading your posts inspires me to keep going in Scotland!


Season    |  League       | Pos. |     Europe     |   Best player                    |  Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024/25   | League 2      |  1   |     n/a        |  Andrew Macrae (ST)              | Promoted
2025/26   | League 1      |  7   |     n/a        |  Andrew Macrae (ST)              |
2026/27   | League 1      |  6   |     n/a        |  Andrew Macrae (ST)              |
2027/28   | League 1      |  5   |     n/a        |  James Wallace (ST)              |
2028/29   | League 1      |  1   |     n/a        |  Andrew Macrae (ST)              | Promoted
2029/30   | Championship  |  6   |     n/a        |  Tony Jukes 05a (ST)             |
2030/31   | Championship  |  8   |     n/a        |  Tony Jukes 05a (ST)             | Won SPL Trust Trophy



Facilities
----------
Season    |  Coaching     |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024      |  Basic        |  Limited   	      | Basic          |  Poor           |  3000
2024/25   |  Adequate     |  Fairly basic     | Basic          |  Basic          |  3000
2025/26   |  Good         |  Average          | Basic          |  Basic          |  3000
2026/27   |  Excellent    |  Above average    | Basic          |  Basic          |  3000
2027/28   |  Excellent    |  Good             | Basic          |  Basic          |  3000
2028/29   |  Exceptional  |  Good             | Below average  |  Basic          |  3000
2029/30   |  Excellent    |  Good             | Below average  |  Basic          |  3000
2030/31   |  Excellent    |  Good             | Below average  |  Basic          |  3000

Gundo · December 12, 2023

Is anyone else finding transfers too active? I’m going lose as many as 6 players before the season starts. Does detail level make a different vs just playable division?

Anners · December 12, 2023

@dkouv The youth setup costs is genuinely a crossroads in Scotland - I just pushed ahead personally. I was also getting a few cash injections, so it's not out of the ordinary. It feels reckless, but if you can get that 1 player that can change everything, you can either get the promotion to the Premiership or at least get a sale or 2 to cover. You've got to the Championship quicker than me, but I was able to get to Exceptional for Junior Coaching/Recruitment before getting to the Championship.

@Gundo I'm presuming you're semi-professional? I did have quite a few players leave every year, but I sign all of my youth products regardless. I think I've only kept the same team together the past 2/3 years?

OlivierL · December 12, 2023

5 hours ago, Winski said:

Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur (ÍR)

So, I decided to start a new save. I liked my time in Czech Republic, but I feel it’s time to move back to Iceland. A country I just really love managing in. As some of you may know, I had a great time in Iceland back in FM17 with ÍR. It was the first time I tried a youth only save, although I bought academy players back at some point. You can read about it here.
We won the Europa League with academy players only. And a couple of years later we won the Champions League, but I decided to buy players after the EL win. I have so many sweet memories of that save. I even remember a lot of player-names.

And I feel it’s time to try it again, but now with the official rules of the challenge. In real life the club won promotion to Lengju deildin in 2024. So if I want to try this challenge with ÍR, I have to do it know. So that's why I started this save. I created the kits, based on the in-game club colours.

The first look at the squad is that I have 25 players to my disposal, with an average age of 23.47. So it’s quite a young squad. Looking at our current best players, then Ásgeir Börkur Ásgeirsson, Stefán Þór Pálsson, Arnór Gauti Úlfarsson and Alexander Kostic are the most interesing players. I found for almost all our my players their real picture.
It looks like we even got some talented youngsters, who can hopefully develop into very good players for us. In particular Róbert Elís Hlynsson, Olsi Tabaku and Bergvin Fannar Helgason.

I'm a couple of months into the first season, and just got my first Youth Intake Preview from my HoYD Gunnar Már Guðmundsson.

i love it ! good luck

Gundo · December 12, 2023

4 minutes ago, Anners said:

@dkouv The youth setup costs is genuinely a crossroads in Scotland - I just pushed ahead personally. I was also getting a few cash injections, so it's not out of the ordinary. It feels reckless, but if you can get that 1 player that can change everything, you can either get the promotion to the Premiership or at least get a sale or 2 to cover. You've got to the Championship quicker than me, but I was able to get to Exceptional for Junior Coaching/Recruitment before getting to the Championship.

@Gundo I'm presuming you're semi-professional? I did have quite a few players leave every year, but I sign all of my youth products regardless. I think I've only kept the same team together the past 2/3 years?

Hey, thanks for the reply. Yeah, I’m semi professional. It’s just so extreme compared to past versions of FM. The players in question all had very poor seasons just gone so the AI seems to be weighing potential ability very highly. @Anners do you find the AI more active when it comes to signing your newgens compared to FM23?

libbyshuss · December 12, 2023

I'm so addicted to this challenge i'm jumping straight back in again. I've always wanted to complete it in France for some reason, and have never come anywhere close, so here we go again!

I like playing with a couple of other playable leagues - makes it a bit more challenging in continental competition but also gives more options for sales.

France gives you a few choices to pick from, and I went for:-

They're based in the southern suburbs of Paris and were formed in 1991. They've never been higher than the third division either so it's quite nice to see if I can complete their journey. They're starting stats are pretty good too:-

The board and supporter culture appeals as it's the sort of football i enjoy creating, mainly due as it's fun. Plus, the stadium is mad. In real life their stadium holds about 2k!

Semi-professional is a pain in the butt though - definitely adds a whole new level of difficulty to the challenge as well.

Here we go!

WhiteCat33 · December 12, 2023

FM23 Barbados YAC: Road View FC

2062 Season 40 – BFA Digicel Premier League

Spoiler

Youth Academy Challenge FM23 Thread:

Youth Academy Challenge FM24 Thread:

Statistics Posts:

League Performance:

Cup Performance:

BDFSP really showed up in the cup, with what I consider the true cup final match early in the 3rd Round. Our GK came up big in the shootout with 2 stops, but it was a nervy game that saw us claw back both of their goal advantages. I thought we had lost it when they scored in the first minute of ET, but C Clark and A Lloyd combined again in the knick of time in the 118 to take us to penalties.

Spoiler

North American Champions League:

Another year to forget in the NACL, but that's not surprising. We have a ton of 16 - 19 year old players right now so the consistency just isn't there on both ends of the field. The only senior part of the squad is the midfield right now.

Caribbean Zone:

We lost 3-1 to Humble Lion early on and it basically meant the end of our run. They caught us out defensively with balls over the top and runners through our CD line that just didn't organize well at all against this team.

Spoiler

NACL Tournament Tree:

Familiar faces this year advancing deep into the tournament. Nice to see St Louis City get to the QF and Costa Rican side Herediano.

Spoiler

Squad:

CA Player List:

Spoiler

Excel Graphs:

Lots of rotation combined with how the NACL resets before the end of our season so the stats are never included in my exports means there are no 1500M players. I could change the value, but really I'm more interested in the rotational development right now with so many young players. Not much to say here about the graphs other than we are still not rebuilt yet and are well off the strength of the 2059 NACL Final squad. Optimistically we are 2-3 seasons away from returning to that caliber assuming our strikers develop.

Spoiler

Player Highlights:

I'll focus on the youngsters right now as we have a large number who have been featuring in the squad this year as we are in the midst of a massive rebuilding effort at the club.

16 & 17 Year Old Players: Player Screenshots

Rhys Jackson - The attacker I am most excited with right now. Even with a neutral personality he is developing well and putting in good performances from the AMR-IF position.

Azarel Howell - CD who started Casual, so mentoring is critical for him to have any chance of being salvaged. I've gotten him up to Low Determination & Level Headed, so he's moving in the right direction mentally, but hasn't improved his ability much.

Tajio Stoute - A major injury meant he never played competitively for us and has only just in the final month of the season begin to play youth games again to regain fitness. Didn't lose too much CA from the injury and still has potential. You can see the Youth Managers are playing him as a WBR and AMR due to lack of depth so he's gaining some positional knowledge.

Renaldo Harewood - Mentoring hasn't improved him yet, but he's done well enough as our 3/4th choice DM right now.

Rondelle Grant - In the rotation for our back 3, he has the best jumping reach of our current developing CDs which I value highly. Sadly his skill & mental attributes really haven't improved as much as I hoped. Even though he's fine, I'm disappointed as I was hoping for a 12/13 attribute player instead of a 10/11 one.

Tajio Williams - Like Grant above he is another disappointment whose personality has downgraded from Ambitious to Fairly Sporting and hasn't really developed his physicals at all for us. I'll probably send him out on loan when he turns 18 to see if that helps as being in our rotation obviously isn't.

Kayne Vickers - With Jackson above, this is the other youngster I'm actually happy with. Even without speed his 12 long shots and good (and developing) mentals has seen him play very well for us as a DM-SV.

18 & 19 Year Old Players: Player Screenshots

Rakim Brathwaite - One of our starting CDs he seems to reach what my coaches think is his potential already at 19 which is disappointing. Like Grant he has less than ideal technical skills defending, but is better mentally while lacking the jumping reach.

Raheim Highland - Our best developing youngster is unfortunately our GK. I've done my best to get him some rotational game time to develop and it seems to have worked. We have a 32 year old backup GK who I've loaned out for 2 years now to give Highland at club development. However, at this level of skill he's good enough to move to some of the better clubs in the Caribbean on loan so I think next year or two I'll flip it.

Nicoli Smith - A rare player I kept down in the Youth team I just promoted him and will see if he works for a more AMR-IW set up

Transfers:

Spoiler

Best XI:

FM Screenshots:

Excel Tables:

Spoiler

Head Coach:

Club Improvements:

Relocation to our 30k All seater stadium is complete! Still haven't notched enough rep for the next Youth Facility upgrade, nor any progress convincing the board to give us foreign affiliates. Financially due to the cup giving us 10Million every year finances are a distant memory. @V50 I know you changed how you did finances for this years file but figured its worth noting that around 2060 The Barbados Cup winnings went from the 1.5-1.8 Million it had been for a good decade directly to 10 Million.

Youth Academy:

HOYD:

No Change

Youth Intake Preview:

Good Preview

Youth Intake:

Top 3 Players:

Spoiler

We’ve got a great 19 year old GK prospect, so unfortunately this guy is unneccesary, but I’ll develop him and he’ll make one of the other domestic teams happy

Quick little winger for the left side, but he lacks skill

Striker could be decent, adds to the large pool of developing strikers we have at the club.

Excel Tables:

Quality is back down to what we have been seeing most seasons, so its possible we just had a 3 intake Golden Generation. Only improvement really is determination here, with drops in Ambition and Professionalisim with the drop in CA this year.

Spoiler

Barbados National Team:

2061

Brutal year for Barbados with a failure to qualify for the WC by being soundly dominated in the WCQ Group phase. This was combined with a poor showing at the Gold Cup.

Spoiler

2062

A breather year now after the pain of last year. Back up into Division A of the Nations League the draw was favorable for Barbados with Haiti and Costa Rica. Don't see any chance they win the group, but its plausible that they can beat the drop over Haiti. Note they played Costa Rica in the WCQ and failed to score in either match.

Spoiler

Road View Internationals:

With a lot of young players right now you can see we have a lot of young internationals and more U20 players than usual.

Barbados Main:

Spoiler

Barbados Youth:

Spoiler

Caribbean International Performance:

World Cup Qualifying:

Jamaican & possibly Haiti will be headed to the World Cup.

Spoiler

Gold Cup:

Both Dominican Republic & Trinidad & Tobago got handedly eliminated in the QF. Honduras might have another Golden Generation as they advanced over USA to the final.

Spoiler

Statistics Manager:

Personality Changes:

Something I didn't expect has been happening with the infamous (lost us the NACL) R Hoyte's personality, that I've only noticed with the tracking:

Spoiler

While I've allowed him to be a team VC and team leader I can't say I'll ever forgive him for his infamous error losing us the NACL in the 105' of ET. This has been due to his great Hidden Attributes, Det, Player Traits & positional versatility. What I've found fascinating is the changes in his personality during this save.

Intake: 2049

He generated with good determination, but the fairly average personality of Fairly Determined with Media-Friendly.

According to my tool, this puts his Pro & Amb into pretty large ranges whose averages are not anything spectacular.

18 Years Old: 2051

Due to our gap at WBR, at 16 he immediately went into the first team and quickly became a natural at that position. Since we had Resolute & Perfectionist mentors in CM, he was in a mentoring group and already by 18 he had upgraded his personality to Resolute while remaining Media Friendly.

This sets his new range as having on average a very high professionalism & a slightly higher ambition. Also notice his Determination increased by +1.

This happens because interestingly Resolute has a higher min-threshold for Ambition than Fairly Determined does. Since he is just MF we really don't know much about any of his other attributes except that he has low Pressure.

25 Years Old: 2059

By this mid-point in his career we had finally had a natural WBR come in so R Hoyte moved to the DM-SV role becoming his 3rd Natural position while through mentoring (and rotational cover) he got accomplished enough at AMR to add it to his positions. Through Fines & natural development he increased his Determination by +2, which resulted in R Hoyte going Driven over Resolute.

The tool now lacks information about his Professionalism completely as he remained Media Friendly so the average of his range dropped from 17.5 to 10.5, but he has on average 16 Ambition.

Looking directly at what I have for the different personalities:

I added Perfectionist in here, because that is what I expected him to become as we had (at the time) a lot of team leaders of that personality. If these ranges are correct, the reason he wouldn't are 1) The game considers Driven > Perfectionist ; 2) His Ambition is between 12 & 14 3) His Temperament is Greater than 9.

That 3rd point really surprised me, that Perfectionist could actually be considered a partial downgrade from Driven players with regards to Temperament. This explains why I notice the downgrades in temperament when I'm mentoring players. However, getting double upgrades in Ambition & Professionalism more than makes up for it.

Before spending time looking at these ranges, I always thought Driven had higher Ambition threshold than it actually does.

29 Years Old: Current 2062

A few more seasons as one of our top 5 players, VC and thus a team leader has seen R Hoyte gain in professionalism enough that he has improved himself from Driven to Professional. This means obviously there was no drop in professionalism when he switched over from Resolute.

Again, because he has remained Media Friendly the average of the ranges is pretty uninformative for everything except Professionalism.

Except the fact we now know he has Greater than 10 Temperament! The switch over to Professional tells us why he was never Perfectionist, as it was Condition 3 that was most likely the case.

Attribute Summary

Most likely R Hoyte started with 13/14 Professionalism, 10/11 Ambition and 10+ Temperament. Through mentoring he's gained +4/5 Professionalism, +1 or more Ambition, and +4 Determination.

Summary

This is a frustrating part of the save as we work to develop a new star attacker to build a formation around. This next season we should get back to advancing out of the Caribbean Group stage, but we don't have much of a chance against Liga MX sides currently. We lack a fast striker, which is pretty crucial to beating those teams. When we had Nurse and Carrilo they averaged around 14/15 on the speed attributes. All our current strikers are 13 or less, which just doesn't work to get behind teams. Combined with that, we actually have a weaker back-line aerially so balls over the top with fast forwards are a real weakness in the squad. I am adjusting the formation to a more dropping back-3 so we will see if that helps.

Edited December 12, 2023 by WhiteCat33

Gonner · December 12, 2023

il y a 50 minutes, libbyshuss a dit :

I'm so addicted to this challenge i'm jumping straight back in again. I've always wanted to complete it in France for some reason, and have never come anywhere close, so here we go again!

I like playing with a couple of other playable leagues - makes it a bit more challenging in continental competition but also gives more options for sales.

France gives you a few choices to pick from, and I went for:-

They're based in the southern suburbs of Paris and were formed in 1991. They've never been higher than the third division either so it's quite nice to see if I can complete their journey. They're starting stats are pretty good too:-

The board and supporter culture appeals as it's the sort of football i enjoy creating, mainly due as it's fun. Plus, the stadium is mad. In real life their stadium holds about 2k!

Semi-professional is a pain in the butt though - definitely adds a whole new level of difficulty to the challenge as well.

Here we go!

Fleury is known in France for having the biggest prison of the country and, if I am not mistaken, one of the biggest in Europe.

As for the stadium, it is a strange miss by SI, they used to play there temporarily a couple of seasons ago but have since gotten their own stadium, back in ... 2019.

Anners · December 12, 2023

2 hours ago, Gundo said:

Hey, thanks for the reply. Yeah, I’m semi professional. It’s just so extreme compared to past versions of FM. The players in question all had very poor seasons just gone so the AI seems to be weighing potential ability very highly. @Anners do you find the AI more active when it comes to signing your newgens compared to FM23?

I would say so, yeah. January tends to be quite busy as usually I'll lose 4/5 players to end of contract if I've not paid enough attention. The AI seem to be very on it this year - I'm loving it personally.

Meanwhile in the off season:

This is either going to be very good or very bad. Had so many takeovers fail in the past 15 seasons it's insane.

thomas_e · December 12, 2023

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the owner of PSG, just bought our club. Didn't see that coming!

Colossus · December 13, 2023

Sociedad Deportiva Leioa

2033/2034

Season Review

Competitions | League Table | Transfers | Schedule Part 1 | Schedule Part 2

We almost, almost, made it into Europe. Another great season for us though!

Team Stats

Team at the Start of the Season | Team at the End of the Season

Team Stats

Team of the Season:

GK – Oier Ruiz

RB – Inaki Eguaras

CB – Lucas Leguizamon

RW – Ignacio Villanueva

LW – Gaizka Alonso

ST – Ander Martin

Youth Intake

Both Iker and Aitor Marco go into the 1st team as backups, the rest looks decent.

Rest of the Players:

GK – Unai Prieto

CB – Raul Pastor

CB / RB / LB / LWB – Javier Ruiz

CM / RM / LM – Daniel Goni

CM / RM / RW – Mikel Franco

LW / LM / CAM – Ignacio Nieto

LW / RW / CAM – Luis Carlos Del Estal

ST / LW / CAM – Ekaitz Gonzalez

Other Stuff

Yearly Progression

Manager Attribute Progression

Youth Player Stats

In general news, we had our first World Cup player, with Leguizamon playing one game for Uruguay in the 2034, which was won by Mexico!

Gora Leioa!

Gundo · December 13, 2023

11 hours ago, Anners said:

I would say so, yeah. January tends to be quite busy as usually I'll lose 4/5 players to end of contract if I've not paid enough attention. The AI seem to be very on it this year - I'm loving it personally.

Meanwhile in the off season:

This is either going to be very good or very bad. Had so many takeovers fail in the past 15 seasons it's insane.

Yeah, it’s definitely different from past FMs – will have to give it a bit more time until I decide if I like it or not aha!

Good luck with the takeover, it would be epic if it comes off.

Riebow · December 13, 2023

Olot UE Season Review (25/26)

League:

After our unexpected promotion last season we find ourselves in the Spanish Federation First Division A. It promised to be a hard season, predicted to finish 17th and thus relegation. Our board wanted nothing more than simply trying to avoid relegation. Apparently our players didn't get the message because we just continued where we left off. At the halfway mark we were 4rd(!) and squarely in the play-off mix. We then encountered somewhat of a midseason slump, which looked like it would knock us out of contention. However, a strong end of the season saw us finishing on a miraculous 5th place AND the last play-off spot.

Did we achieve back to back promotions?

Spoiler

Play-offs

Mercifully, we're not going up. Even though we were the better team in both games against Alcoyano, I'm relieved we're staying in the 3rd tier. We will say goodbye to some of our older and declining players and will field an even younger squad next season. We would have no chance in the 2nd division.

Spoiler

Copa Del Rey

We made it to the 2nd round and welcomed Sevilla to our grounds. Obviously we didn't progress any further, but the extra gate receipt is much appreciated.

Youth Intake

The preview was promising. Especially an A on winger was tentalizing. The actual intake was kind of average. Lots of potential, but not that much in current ability. We signed 14 of them.

Spoiler

Andreu Gaixas (AMLC/Balanced)

We don't have much depth at central midfield at the moment, so he will definitely be part of the rotation.

Spoiler

Andrew Musa (DLR/Temperamental)

Our current right back is leaving at the end of the season, so he will definitely get his shot. We can only hope that mentoring might make him a bit less temperamental.

Spoiler

Best XI

Momodou Janneh is by far our most important player, bagging 24 goals in the league. He's indispensable at the moment. On the left wing we see our first youth intake player breaking in the first XI in Antonio Molist.

Spoiler

Finances and upgrades

So I'm starting to realize there's absolutely no money in the lower leagues in Spain. As a result we're currently about a 1M in debt., which means no upgrades whatsoever.

Transfers

Nothing in, a couple of loans out.

Next season

Now the youth challenge really begins. We will be losing our starting right back, a centre half and a center mid. They wil be replaced with some players from the intake. Overall I feel really good about this team. The spine of the team is there. The issue is time. We need to go up better sooner than later so that we can grab some of that delicious TV money.

Riebow · December 13, 2023

I notice a couple of weird things in my Olot save. Maybe people with experience managing in Spain know the answers? Maybe @Colossus?

- My U19 are not in a league, is that normal? Is there something I can do to have them join one?

- There is something called the Federation Cup for teams out of the 3rd and 4rd tier. However, for some reason we're not taking part in them. Does anyone know why?

Edit: Ignore my first question; they have been drawn into a league when starting the new season :-)

Edited December 13, 2023 by Riebow

Anners · December 13, 2023

2 minutes ago, Riebow said:

I notice a couple of weird things in my Olot save. Maybe people with experience managing in Spain know the answers? Maybe @Colossus?

- My U19 are not in a league, is that normal? Is there something I can do to have them join one?

- There is something called the Federation Cup for teams out of the 3rd and 4rd tier. However, for some reason we're not taking part in them. Does anyone know why?

Obviously not Spain here, but my U18s didn't get a league until we actually got to the Scottish Premiership. Could be similar?

Colossus · December 13, 2023

2 horas atrás, Riebow disse:

I notice a couple of weird things in my Olot save. Maybe people with experience managing in Spain know the answers? Maybe @Colossus?

- My U19 are not in a league, is that normal? Is there something I can do to have them join one?

- There is something called the Federation Cup for teams out of the 3rd and 4rd tier. However, for some reason we're not taking part in them. Does anyone know why?

Edit: Ignore my first question; they have been drawn into a league when starting the new season :-)

I only took part in the Federation Cup on my 1st season, have no idea why or how to get qualified

Jimbokav1971 · December 13, 2023

Hi all. Just in case nobody has noticed yet, the boffins at SI Towers have tried to fix the confusion over whether Average was better than Adequate in terms of Facilities, (because in previous issues of the game it's been both), but in doing so they have just made it more confusing, (thanks @oriole01)

[Edit]

In the past, Average came before Adequate when talking about Junior Coaching.
But it came after Adequate in Youth Recruitment.
It also came after Adequate in both Training Facilities and Youth Facilities.

The smart thing to do was to have changed Junior Coaching so that all 4 values were the same.

Instead what they have done is changed Youth Recruitment so that it's the same as Junior Coaching, but they are both now different to Training Facilities and Youth Facilities.

This is what it used to be.

This is what it is now.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

Colossus · December 13, 2023

4 horas atrás, Riebow disse:

I notice a couple of weird things in my Olot save. Maybe people with experience managing in Spain know the answers? Maybe @Colossus?

- My U19 are not in a league, is that normal? Is there something I can do to have them join one?

- There is something called the Federation Cup for teams out of the 3rd and 4rd tier. However, for some reason we're not taking part in them. Does anyone know why?

Edit: Ignore my first question; they have been drawn into a league when starting the new season :-)

Ok, from a quick google search, the Copa Federacion is only for teams that did not qualify for the Copa del Rey. Which is strange, because you played in the Copa del Rey as did I when I played on the 1st season. Might just be a bug, tbqh.

Or maybe it's because we were Terceira Federacion teams in the previous year and then we got to the 4th tier? I do not know

Edited December 13, 2023 by Colossus

DrJones · December 13, 2023

Oriental Dragon 2031/32

Our first season in the top tier went way beyond my expectations. A really solid mid table finish and we were sneaking around the conference league spot for a while. I can already figure out that the main target for coming years is to be the fifth best team in the league. The usual suspects Sporting, Benfica and Porto are insanely good plus the surprise Estrela da Amadora, they havent had a tycoon takeover or anything, they just seem to have some great scouting or something.

Squad

Almost all of the chinese national team is Oriental Dragon players now, so we are practically a chinese national team in the portugese league.

Top players

Youth Intake

History

libbyshuss · December 13, 2023

20 hours ago, Gonner said:

Fleury is known in France for having the biggest prison of the country and, if I am not mistaken, one of the biggest in Europe

I was watching Lupin last night and he mentioned being in prison in Fleury and i got all excited!

Thanks for the stadium explanation - i'm not complaining SI messed up this time

XaW · December 13, 2023

XaW - Ubuntu Cape Town FC - Season 2027/28 (Season 4) - DSTV Premiership

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Wow what a season. While I knew we had the team to do well, this was more than I had expected. Winning the South African Premiership only 4 seasons in is a bit more than I thought, and with a cup win too, how I can ask for more. Granted it's not the Nedbank Cup, but the Telkom Knockout is still a cup! The team just clicked and gelled this season. We were on top for most of the season, but Mamelodi Sundowns were never far behind, and going into the final match we were only 2 points ahead. Luckily, we faced Maritzburg United at home, so we had a good shot at getting points, and we crushed them 4-1 leading by 3 goals at half time already. So Mamelodi Sundowns beating Cape Town City wasn't enough to catch us.

My top 3 pick of players this season are:

1. David Xulu 26f - When Cole Van Coller got a long term injury early on he took the striker spot and made it his own, scoring loads of goals. I also like shouting Xulu whenever he scores!
2. Thabo Makhanya 26a - Anyone who has seem my tactic knows how important the left back role is in it, and this guy really shows how well it can be done. 7 goals and 12 assists from 30 matches as a left back is amazing.
3. Samuel Khumalo 25g - Became first choice right winger when we sold Kyle Mthembu 25a to Marseille early in the season. Samuel replied with double figures for both goals and assists!

Nedbank Cup: We beat Cape Town City and TS Galaxy before we lost to Sekhukhune Utd in the quarter final.
Telkom Knockout - We beat NB La Masia, Golden Arrows, Chippa United, and finally Mamelodi Sundowns in the final to claim the trophy!

MTN 8 - We lost to Cape Town City in the quarter final.

I got some improvements accepted this season.

Around the world

U21s:

They finished 13th in the Diski Challenge this season.

U19s:

They finished 3rd in the South African Under 19s Group 2.

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

DSTV Premiership - 1 (2027/28)
GladAfrica Championship - 1 (2025/26)

Telkom Knockout - 1 (2027/28)

Player statistics:

Most apps for the clubs

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Apps
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Siphamandla Pillay 25e		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	95
Teboho Dlamini 25b		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	79
Joshua Nkosi 25n		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	75
Valentino Serfontein 26b	South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	67
Kyle Mthembu 25a		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-2027	63

Most goals for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Xulu 26f			South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	26
Teboho Dlamini 25b		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	18
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	15
Siphamandla Pillay 25e		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	13
Valentino Serfontein 26b	South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	11

Most assists for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Assists
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thabo Makhanya 26a		South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	25
Siphamandla Pillay 25e		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	21
Kyle Mthembu 25a		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-2027	20
Teboho Dlamini 25b		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	17
Valentino Serfontein 26b	South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	16

Supporters:

Summary:

Winski · December 13, 2023

Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur (ÍR)

Well, this was unexpected! We got promoted to the highest level on the final day!! I never thought it would be possible in our first season. And only 2 or 3 games before the end of the season we came on a playoff-place. We qualified for promotion playoffs on goal difference. Fylkir, who won the Cup surprisingly, became 6th.
We first met Þróttur R., who nearly missed out direct promotion. But we won 0-3 and 1-0! And in the Final we met Afturelding, a match we won with 3-0. So we are promoted to the highest level: Besta deildin!
Our Cup run ended in the Third Round, where we lost against KA.

Best players
Our best players this season were:
Bergvin Fannar Helgason, our topscorer with 20 goals.
Alexander Kostic, good old Alexander Kostic. He was in my team back in FM17, and he still is. Great player for us, great captain. And also very important with 4 goals and 11 assists.
Róbert Elís Hlynsson our very talented youngster! Don't know if he's related to Kristian Hlynsson, who is currently playing a lot of matches for Ajax IRL. But Róbert Elís is a great player for us, and only 17 years old.
Aron Daníel Arnalds, a midfielder that I retrained as a DL. Very important for us this season, with 3 goals and 6 assists.

Youth preview & intake
As posted before, our first preview looked okay. The actual intake was a very good one! Better then expected for sure. Some really talented youngsters! It looks like Óli Valur Hrólfsson 24b will be a star player for us in the near future.

Spoiler

U19's
They finished 3rd in Group 1 on Tier 3 youth level, with only grey players. The competition was already finished when our youth intake came in. So hopefully next season they will promote to Tier 2.

Facility Upgrades
I was able to upgrade our Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment once.

Trophy Cabinet

Progress

WhiteCat33 · December 13, 2023

Could this be the year!?! We actually got a very reasonable opponent, but that's what happened last time and we have to play the game away to them in Mexico Wish me Luck!

WhiteCat33 · December 14, 2023

1 hour ago, WhiteCat33 said:

Could this be the year!?! We actually got a very reasonable opponent, but that's what happened last time and we have to play the game away to them in Mexico Wish me Luck!

Well that was embarrassing... What happens when your team has 1 Star striker and he's out injured + you play away at a packed stadium:

glennuk · December 14, 2023

@WhiteCat33 - Ahhh no I read the first post and thought "THIS IS THE YEAR".

Next year!! Next year!!!

glennuk · December 14, 2023

Rein Meer AKA ReinBerg - Season 4 - Japan J3 League - End of Season Review - Hope?

League

Another season of regression in the league...BUT we have hope. My end of season form was pretty impressive 9 points out of 15 available. If I could continue that kind of form it is playoff place form. Of course that 60% ratio coincided with the youth intake which my anyones standards seems like it is a true golden generation, with multiple members of the intake starting or at least playing in the last month of the season. (Intake is the start of November).

The Squad

We are starting to integrate some youth into the first team now. I believe that next season I may have 3 or 4 of my youth intake (2 being in the most recent intake (YP04)) in the starting 11 and 6 in the squad. Mitsuki Kojima (YP04A) having a very impressive start to his ReinBerg career, with 4 starts and a 7.15 average rating. My Strikers have not been as good as in past season with my top scorer only getting 14, hopefully that is not a consistent problem, as I have had 0 good strikers come through the intakes (mostly wingers and defenders).

Finances

We are still okay with our finances, however this may be on the turn, as we are signing more and more players from the Youth Intakes and we have had two Junior Coaching upgrades this season.

Upgrades

Two Junior Coaching upgrades One in the middle of season 4 and one near the start of Season 5 (some spoilers in the below image )

Edited December 18, 2023 by glennuk

Daddy · December 14, 2023

1 hour ago, WhiteCat33 said:

Well that was embarrassing... What happens when your team has 1 Star striker and he's out injured + you play away at a packed stadium:

Getting close though right?

Colossus · December 14, 2023

Sociedad Deportiva Leioa

2034 / 2035 Mid Season Review / Youth Intake Preview

What a start to the season! Ander Martin is just another gravy, he has been carrying us and we might just sneak inbto Europe

Another great Intake Preview. A new CB would be nice and a possible backup Striker would allow me to shift some players around

WhiteCat33 · December 14, 2023

@Daddy @glennuk thanks for the optimism, I need it after that resounding defeat. The team is super thin right now especially offensively so an ill-timed injury can derail it.

I'd say we have 3 more seasons with this group as we have a large 27-30 year old cohort of starters. Thankfully we have a number of U18 players right now so our depth will improve each season.

Hopefully our next chance we will be drawn as the home team instead of having to try and win in Mexico.

Anners · December 14, 2023

On 12/12/2023 at 17:13, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2048/49 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

Not sure if this is a huge step forward, but it's one we'll take nevertheless! We were helped a bit by Hearts and Arbroath having poor seasons which meant we snuck into the top 6. You can see in the form table of the 5 games that it was a bit bizarre all round - draws absolutely everywhere! However, finishing in the top 6 wasn't actually our biggest achievement this year!

WE WON THE SCOTTISH CUP!

I said in the previous posts that the FM Gods had been somewhat cruel to us over the past few years, handing us ties against all the bigger teams in Scotland. This time however? We avoided almost everyone good, with the best team being St Johnstone who you can see in the League Table probably had other thoughts at the time. We also managed to draw Spartans at "home" and thanked them very kindly for us being able to use their stadium.... oops. Also, you can still see how reliant we are on Frimpong - he just scores so many!

The whole run:

We also actually managed a bit of a ViaPlay Cup run (although I think the patch has reverted a few names of competitions so we're back to the League Cup for this year), managing to get to the Semi Final before going out to Rangers.

Youth Intake:

Bit of an interesting one here - Martin and Turner are the only good looking prospects here before a fairly couple of drops to the next players. Not too much to say here, but if Martin can develop into a starter at right back it'll be perfect!

I'm now at the stage of the challenge where I can probably put this every year, but we've had 2 entrants to the NXGN Top 50 this year:

Proychev hasn't improved too much since the round up last year, whereas Gilchrist has got steadily better. I imagine we will see Kieran Pick (GK) on this list next year with Proychev.

Facilities Update:

Another couple of upgrades for Training and Youth again coming - both cost in total about £7m, so we're definitely getting to that stage where we won't be struggling for decent players soon!

Reveal hidden contents

Last 5 Years:

Previous Post:

2049/50 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

I'd say I was the biggest disaster in the league. Until I say St Johnstone finished 2nd, 4 points behind champions Celtic last year. This league is getting incredibly weird.

The only way I can describe this season, to which I would say 9th is flattering (especially given the points total), is that you see them teams that over achieve and get a European spot, then struggle to handle the games and the demand that comes with it? Yeah that was us. We had a massive injury crisis which led to Fordyce being out for 2/3rds of the season, Frimpong just couldn't stay fit and we couldn't keep the same 11 on the pitch. Add to that, the African Nations meant when Frimpong eventually got fit, he went away for a month too!

Europe:

Oooh, I've got a fancy Europe bit now! For one season anyway...

I was actually reasonably surprised we managed to get through Besiktas, given we were already picking up injuries at the point. We had to give a debut to Callum Liddell (who is mostly just reserves) who promptly scored a 15th minute goal in the away leg in Turkey which actually got us through. Then I don't even know what happened in the Maccabi Haifa game, but that was alright! Though you can mostly sum up my European adventure by saying Tranent 0-2 Fiorentina. Playing a team in the knockouts straight away that you've faced in the League Phase is a bit weird.

Youth Intake:

Very meh, probably the worst I've had in this save so far.

In other youth/team news though, we've had 3 players on the NXGN list:

Although quite soon after this, Blackburn activated Proychev's release clause, so we've sadly lost him. We do seem to have a fairly strong group of left backs, so it isn't a huge loss.

Facilities wise, we've managed to get a new stadium!

Though I'm actually quite gutted by the name - I wanted at least a Legend/Icon named stadium. Foresters Park where we play now is being sold out every game with a 5,000 capacity so this should do nicely. It'll also mean if we get European football again we can play in our stadium as ours was too small.

And finally, we did get a takeover...... but not the Tycoon one sadly. It actually puts to bed the question of ownership as I don't think I've actually had this many attempts before?

That's a lot of screenshots from me for a change - but we seem to be making that next step off the field. Now if we can only match that on the field!

Full History:

Spoiler

Last 5 Years:

Skora11 · December 14, 2023

22 minutes ago, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2049/50 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

I'd say I was the biggest disaster in the league. Until I say St Johnstone finished 2nd, 4 points behind champions Celtic last year. This league is getting incredibly weird.

The only way I can describe this season, to which I would say 9th is flattering (especially given the points total), is that you see them teams that over achieve and get a European spot, then struggle to handle the games and the demand that comes with it? Yeah that was us. We had a massive injury crisis which led to Fordyce being out for 2/3rds of the season, Frimpong just couldn't stay fit and we couldn't keep the same 11 on the pitch. Add to that, the African Nations meant when Frimpong eventually got fit, he went away for a month too!

Europe:

Oooh, I've got a fancy Europe bit now! For one season anyway...

I was actually reasonably surprised we managed to get through Besiktas, given we were already picking up injuries at the point. We had to give a debut to Callum Liddell (who is mostly just reserves) who promptly scored a 15th minute goal in the away leg in Turkey which actually got us through. Then I don't even know what happened in the Maccabi Haifa game, but that was alright! Though you can mostly sum up my European adventure by saying Tranent 0-2 Fiorentina. Playing a team in the knockouts straight away that you've faced in the League Phase is a bit weird.

Youth Intake:

Very meh, probably the worst I've had in this save so far.

In other youth/team news though, we've had 3 players on the NXGN list:

Although quite soon after this, Blackburn activated Proychev's release clause, so we've sadly lost him. We do seem to have a fairly strong group of left backs, so it isn't a huge loss.

Facilities wise, we've managed to get a new stadium!

Though I'm actually quite gutted by the name - I wanted at least a Legend/Icon named stadium. Foresters Park where we play now is being sold out every game with a 5,000 capacity so this should do nicely. It'll also mean if we get European football again we can play in our stadium as ours was too small.

And finally, we did get a takeover...... but not the Tycoon one sadly. It actually puts to bed the question of ownership as I don't think I've actually had this many attempts before?

That's a lot of screenshots from me for a change - but we seem to be making that next step off the field. Now if we can only match that on the field!

Full History:

Hide contents

Last 5 Years:

Don't think you are too far away now. Been following your progress with great interest. I'll eventually re-start my challenge in Scotland after a Bilbao save I have got going.

Anners · December 14, 2023

16 minutes ago, Skora11 said:

Don't think you are too far away now. Been following your progress with great interest. I'll eventually re-start my challenge in Scotland after a Bilbao save I have got going.

Thanks! The St Johnstone relegation has actually unnerved me a bit, shows how wild this league is getting for some reason! It's actually somewhat predictable, Celtic/Rangers/Hearts/Hibs/Aberdeen - with 1 of these 5 usually having a meltdown and being replaced by a random team. 5 of the last 6 titles have been won by each of those teams so the league itself is certainly now anyones at the start of the season!

The most interesting news is that Thomas Scott is currently being eyed up by Inter in the January transfer window and his value is up at £110m. Oh please!!

DazRTaylor · December 14, 2023

Youth Candidates

Season 2024/25

FC United of Manchester

It was a decent enoug preview:

The intake was better than I was promised and even better than I hoped.

Daddy · December 14, 2023

2030/31 Midseason Review - Belgian Third Tier - Season 7

This looks worse than it is.

Very impressively underperforming. After rattling off a nine-game stretch where I lost 6 and drew the other three with a total of six goals scored I knew I had to figure something out or it was over, so I did something I've never done. I watched the full games at slow speed. Because of work, I could only do it in 5-minute batches so it took all day to finish two matches. However, I was able to observe my tactics and drilled down on a few role changes and position instructions. In the seven games that have followed, some after the screenshots above were taken, the team has won three, drawn three, and lost only one. I recommend this to anyone struggling with tactics, or just curious about them. Full match in slow and you can isolate players and see how they're behaving.

I just need someone that can score. The team lacks finishing quality.

glennuk · December 14, 2023

Love the dedication @Daddy. I may need to do the same next time I go on a bad run of form

Daddy · December 14, 2023

1 hour ago, glennuk said:

Love the dedication @Daddy. I may need to do the same next time I go on a bad run of form

I really want to make this save work. I want to spite the bad finances in Belgium and complete the challenge.

EDIT: The other thing I did with my testing was I saved the tactic and tested it with Man City and Luton to see how the tactic performed with better players. Man City finished 4th and had the fewest goals scored in the league. Luton gave up 15ish fewer goals with my tactic than they did with the Man City trial. I immediately set all responsibilities to staff, set the tactic, and holidayed to end of season for my tests.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Daddy

DazRTaylor · December 14, 2023

End of Season Review

Season 2024/25

FC United of Manchester

Season Summary

We clearly overachieved this year by qualifying for the promotion playoffs. We were not so good in the cups, however.

Season Details

League Table - By finished sixth, we not only qualified for the promotion playoffs, we also exceeded all expectations set for us by both the board and the fans.

League Fixtures 1 & 2 - We were very well placed until January, when we went on a two month winless run. We turned it around and finished the season on fire, winning ten straight league matches.

Promotion Playoffs - It proved a game too far as Kings Lynn Town beat us by the odd goal in a five goal thriller.

F. A. Cup - We crashed out at the fourth qualifying round stage as Gosport Borough, who play at the same level as we do though in the South division, beat us on their own patch.

F. A. Trophy - Fellow Vanarama National League North outfit Alfreton Town dumped us out at our first hurdle, the second round.

Friendlies - Five wins and five draws show we had a mixed time of it during pre season.

Squad - We overperformed by a considerable margin as we lack depth and quality all over the pitch.

Squad Dynamics - This is rather good though the support for me is only average, so work to be done!

Transfers In - None.

Transfers Out - Two players left on free transfers as they received offers from elsewhere.

Youth Candidates - It was a great intake, with central defender Dave Day YP25A1 being the pick of the group.

Finances - We made a healthy profit which has allowed the club to improve its youth academy.

Key Players

Max Cane - A return of 31 goals in 50 appearances represent a fabulous season from our main striker.

Michael Donohue - Predominently playing in central midfield, he was excellent.

Callum Gribbin - Supposedly our best player, the former Manchester United man declined considerably the more season went on.

Luke Griffiths - Comfortable as either a central midfielder or playing the anchor role, he had a good campaign.

Charlie Munro - The midfielder was inconsistent and was in and out of the side as a result.

Next Season

I think a repeat is an unreasonable expectation, so the aim is for a comfortable mid table season.

Personal Contract

Season     Contract Start Date     Contract Expiry Date     Pre Tax Wage     Post Tax Wage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start          24 June 2024             30 June 2025         £750 p/w          £600 p/w
2024/25          28 March 2025             30 June 2026         £775 p/w ↑        £600 p/w =

Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation            Qualifications     Att  Def  Fit  GkD  GkH  GkS  Tac  Tec  Men  SeP  WWY  Ada  Det  PlK  YoK  LoD  PeM  Mot
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start   Minimal   (0.50*)     None                 1    1    1    1    1    1    1    3    1    1    3    1    1    1    2    2    2    2
2024/25    Minimal = (0.50*) =   None =               3 ↑  3 ↑  1 =  1 =  1 =  1 =  3 ↑  4 ↑  3 ↑  1 =  3 =  1 =  3 ↑  3 ↑  4 ↑  2 =  4 ↑  4 ↑

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Youth Level  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start   Basic                Basic                  4       Adequate              Fairly Basic     Basic              Local   (1.00*)
2024/25    Basic =              Basic =                4 =     Adequate =            Good         ↑↑↑ Above Average ↑↑↑  Local = (1.00*) =

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024/25      52        26       11       15         121              97                 +24              50.00%

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Time At Club
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024/25          52        26       11       15         121              97                 +24              50.00%             304 days

Transfer Sale Record

Date               Player                    Position               Club Sold To                 Country                   Transfer Fee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------

Cup Competition Victories
-------------------------

Career Overview

Season     Champions League    Europa League    Europa Conference League             League                             Position     F.A. Cup                    Carabao Cup        Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024/25           N/a               N/a                    N/a                       Vanarama National League North        6th       Fourth Qualifying Round         N/a            Lost in promotion playoffs first round.  F. A. Trophy second round.

Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Appearances
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024/25    Dave Day YP25A1                                 5

Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2024/25    Sam Wilford YP25F6                            5

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Assists
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2024/25    Jordi Parreño YP25D4                          2

Record Number of Clean Sheets (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024/25    No one                                           0

Matsusipida · December 14, 2023

IFK Lidingö Season 8 / 2031

After finishing 4th and 3rd previous two seasons, I was hoping we could fight for pomotion playoffs this season. Allmost all hopes of promotion were thrown away after just eight matches and five losses. After that we made a great comeback just to finish one point short of promotion playoffs.

In cup we lost on second round.

Spoiler

After bad start of campaign I was planning to sell Philip Palmén 28A as he was not willing to renew his contract. I decided to keep him as he wasn't worth that much and he might eventually sign a new contract. Well.. now he's gone and we are lacking one quality winger.

Frej Ahlin 27D had a fine season with 11 assist as DL. Jonatan Sletsjøe 30A took over central midfield duties and scored 11 goals and 5 assists. Ömerhan Küçük 28C scored 10 goals as striker. Thomas Meunier 27A and Emil Starfelt 29A also had fine seasons as wingers. I've been wery impressed with Frej Ahlin 27D's development so far, I never tough he could develop so much as semi-pro.

Spoiler

Youth prewiev was promising some quality central defenders, but I guess HOYD was just joking once again. we are really lacking some CD as Hugo Lemne is 32y and declining and no one really challenging for his place. Actual intake was fine. Andreas Söderström immediately took his place in rotation.

Spoiler

No major changes off the field. finances and facilities pretty much the same as before.

transfers

Spoiler

Per-Olev

Spoiler

I was quite suppriced after the season. We were drawn into 1st Division South instead of North as usual.

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