[FM24] Chelsea - Youth Only - No Badges - Sunday League Experience - Real World start. Poch was treated unfairly, but I think I'm not even going to last as long as he did.

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 14. Dec 2023. 

We took a really early lead, but Everton played well and scored a late winner when I thought we had done enough to get a point. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Meeting with the Board. Dec 2023. 

Stage 1 of the plan was get through the Christmas period. The pressure is on. 

I've promised that we will do better over the coming month. 

We've got some winnable games and we will just have to keep our fingers crossed. Maybe using my squad rotation tactic will get us something out of the Arsenal, Wolves & Liverpool games. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 15. Dec 2023. 

We played quite well, but Arsenal are level at the top of the table with Liverpool, and they were just too strong for us. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 16. Dec 2023. 

A Cole Palmer brace was enough to earn us 3 points, but I'm sure the ref was just going to keep playing until they scored, no matter how long it took. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 17. Dec 2023. 

Cole Palmer missed a penalty and it could cost me my job!  We battered them and should have won comfortably. 

Cole Palmer (penalty taking 14) 4/5 at 80%. 
Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 18. Dec 2023. 

Cole Palmer fails from the spot for the 2nd successive game and his misses have cost us 4 points. He's getting me the sack at this rate. 

Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.
Cole Palmer (penalty taking 14) 4/6 at 67%. 
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 19. Dec 2023. 

We deserved that. Not because our performance warranted it in this game, but because our recent performances warranted more than we were given. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 20. Dec 2023. 

This game could have gone either way, but we've had our periods of bad luck and partly with our luck turning, (and our players being fresher because of rotation), we managed to turn over top of the table Liverpool. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Improve confidence. Jan 2024. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2023. 

Premier League. It was decent form, but I didn't think it was good enough to keep me in a job. Had the 2 failed Palmer pens been scored then we would have won 5 on the bounce and THAT would have been worth keeping me on. Maybe they just know we were a little unlucky and deserved more. 

Performance Review. 

Transfers.

Finances. The £51M they gave us for transfers, (half of which we spent on wages), have been paid for via a loan. 

I don't understand how they can spend the amount of money that they have on players, and then have the club running at such a shortfall on a monthly basis. There is no amount of Champions League money that can fund this. We need to sell players, but instead we're buying expensive players and selling players on the cheap. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 21. Jan 2024. 

A 2nd hat-trick of the season for Cole Palmer was enough to put Burnley to the sword. 

Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.
Cole Palmer (penalty taking 14) 5/7 at 71%. 
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.

[Jimbokav1971]

FA Cup 3rd Round. Jan 2024.

I rotated again here and we got the job done despite a Thiago missed pen. 

Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.
Cole Palmer (penalty taking 14) 5/7 at 71%. 
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.
Thiago (penalty taking 13) 0/1 at 0%.

[Jimbokav1971]

Successful bid. Jan 2024. 

The DoF, (or someone anyway), has made a successful bid and had a contract accepted by this guy, but I'm not keen. The fee is £15.25m (£23M) and we only have £29M available. 

Ideally I would like him younger, (and HG at Chelsea so I can stick to the Youth Only strategy), and I also can't see much of him. I think I'm going to cancel the deal because we're not as desperate at centre-back as we were earlier in the season because Benoît Badiashile returned from injury and is a regular starter and Trevoh Chalobah is now available for selection again

We've also had big bids for both our 1st and 2nd choice WBL's. 

Ben Chilwell was the subject of a £55M bit from the Middle East. 
Marc Cucurella was the subject of a £33M bid from PSG. 

Ideally I would accept 1 of these and possibly both of them because we would have other younger WBL's like Lewis Hall waiting to step up. Because Chelsea are such a shambles though, they have already sold 19 year old Lewis Hall to Newcastle for £28M, so not only do they miss out on a bigger fee for Hall, but they miss out on the £55M for Chilwell. It really is such basic stupidity. 

There are quite a few decent WBL's at Chelsea, but perhaps not many capable of getting to the proper elite level. 

Lewis Hall is still technically at the club, but he's as good as gone. He's on loan at Newcastle and they have triggered a clause to make the deal permanent. Really good deal for Newcastle. 
Ishé Samuels-Smith is probably the brightest prospect, but he's only 17 and it's early days yet. 
Ian Maatsen is 21 years old and has gone on loan to Dortmund. He looks good and if someone offers me £50M+ for Chilwell in the SUmmer then they can have him. 
Somto Boniface is another athletic 17 year old who could be good. 
Dylan Williams is 20 years old and can play all down the left. He's on loan in France at Strasbourg & is valued at £7M-£8.8M.
Zak Sturge 6'1" is 19 and capped by Guyana. He's just returned from a loan at League 1 Peterborough. 

If Chelsea had just kept Lewis Hall then they would have been laughing. They would have had a consistent production line pumping out decent WBL's for years. Instead they have screwed things up by selling Hall and keeping 2 older players. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Disaster. Jan 2024. 

Cole Palmer has 13 goals and 5 assists in 15(2) league appearances. His slot on the left will be hard to fill for the next month. 

Edited May 22 by Jimbokav1971

[Captain_T]

Can you show your tactic?

Interesting youth challenge!

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 22. Jan 2024. 

Spurs dominated and deserved their win, but it was our old boy Werner who scored the winning goal. 

[Jimbokav1971]

11 minutes ago, Captain_T said:

Can you show your tactic?

Interesting youth challenge!

I'm not sure i will be around long enough to convert this into a youth Only challenge. I've done well to get through to Jan, but I think I will be gone by the end of the season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier league game 23. Jan 2024. 

I think we were a little unlucky against Man Utd, but all that matters is that they get all 3 points. 

[Jimbokav1971]

FA Cup 4th Round. Jan 2024.

I rotated the team completely, (again), and Mykhaylo Mudryk came up trumps with a brace to progress us into the next round. 

[Jimbokav1971]

HG at Chelsea list. Jan 2024. 

The tiny clubs I usually manage don't often have many decent ex players who I'm able to sign and yet still remain within my Youth Only guidelines. With Chelsea though it's a whole different story. 

The players I'm interested in are too expensive and the players i can afford to sign don't really interest me. 

Samuel Iling at Juve is possibly 1 exception. 

Tammy Abraham is another. The more I look at him, the more I think he's the player we should be signing. He's out with a damaged cruciate ligament though, so if we're going to sign him it won't be until the Summer, (although maybe i can get him on the cheap now if the medical isn't a problem because of his current injury). 

Ruben Loftus-Cheek might also be someone who i can find value in. 

Jérémie Boga is actually a player who I had never heard of before this save. 

Dominic Solanke isn't amazing, but he could certainly do a job. We have wide ball-carriers galore, but we're short of actual #9's.

Jonathan Panzo used to be the next big thing at one point. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2024. 

Premier League. Losing by a single goal to both Spurs and Man Utd is really frustrating. We're not a million miles away, but with our current injuries, we're just a little off the pace. 

FA Cup. I keep rotating the squad and we keep progressing. 

Performance Review. I know it's not ab glowing report, but actually I'm happy with it. 

Transfers. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 4. Feb 2024.

More shots, higher xG and dominated possession, but we still lost. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2nd meeting with the Board. Feb 2024.

The Board really didn't like the West Ham result, (and neither did I). I had to promise them an impressive result in the next game, (without even knowing who the opposition are). It turns out we're playing Newcastle at home, and they currently sit 10th in the league. We need 3 point or I'm gone I think. After that we have Sheff Utd and Luton, so if we can get 3 wins from 3 games then it could give us the morale boost to get us through to the end of the season. WIthout that.... I'm history. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 25. Feb 2024. 

I wasn't aware that Newcastle were without a manager before the game, but either way we played really well and gave the Board a really positive performance and a good result. 

Unfortunately Cole Palmer got injured on his return and will be out for another couple of weeks. 

Edited May 23 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 26. Feb 2024. 

Even without our star man Palmer, we were good enough to see off Sheff Utd. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 27. Feb 2024. 

Reece James was missing through injury, but Gusto came in and did a job. 

[Jimbokav1971]

FA Cup 5th Round. Deb 2024. 

I rotated the whole starting XI as usual and it came up trumps as we saw off high flying Arsenal thanks to our fresh legs. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2024. 

Premier League. We were just unlucky against West Ham, but it almost cost me my job. The next 3 results, (4 if you count the FA Cup), and performances were good, but we're really struggling with injuries again and both Reece James and Cole Palmer have been missing this month, with their replacements nowhere near their levels. 

The target was Champions League, (which is 4th), but that's 11 points away and I think that's unrealistic. 5th and 6th is more achievable, (10 points and 5 points respectively). 

Will the Board sack me at the end of the season if we finish 5th or 6th, rather than 4th? Yeah they possibly will, but we can only do the best we can do, so let's pick up as many points as we can and see where it takes us. 

FA Cup. The win against Arsenal was one of the best results of the season. (Rotation policy coming good again). 

Performance Review. 

Transfers.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 28. Mar 2024.

Ouch!  This was a serious beating. I'm not sure the Board are gonna like this. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 29. Mar 2024. 

The last time we played Man City they were 5-0 up agt HT so this is actually progress. 

Edited May 23 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Mar 2024.

This is really inusual. I don't think I have EVER seen a player already in National Team age-group squad on the same day of the intake. 

[Edit]

I think this might be a really good intake and where as before I didn't really care if I lost my job, (in fact I was expecting at after every loss), now I really want to try and hang on to the end of the season and see what I can do in a 2nd season. I wonder if this could turn into a proper save if I manage to build my reputation while I'm here?

Edited May 23 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

FA Cup Quarter-Final. Mar 2024. 

It's another really good performance, and this time I didn't rotate the squad, (with a Semi-Final place at stake). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 30. Mar 2024. 

We were below-strength after the FA Cup Quarter-Final but we did well to get a draw and earn ourselves a point. 

[Jimbokav1971]

NxGn 2024. 

Pleasantly surprised to see 2 of our players on this list, but it's not 2 players I was particularly expecting. 

Ângelo is a player that I have never heard of, either in real life or in game. He joined early in the save, (I think), in a bargain deal of only £13M, and after less than a full season in France he's now valued at £41M-£70M. This is the type of deal that Chelsea should be doing more of. He looks great and is likely to make some sort of impact on the Senior Team next season, (If I'm still here). 

Gabriel Słonina 6'5" * is another player I've never heard of, and another good deal for Chelsea. He only cost them £14M and is already worth £14.4M-£24M after less than a season in Belgium. I love his personality and he is ranked 3rd of the 13 GK's at the club by PA. The top ranked GK came from the recent intake by the way.  

5.0 PA players. 

4.5 PA players. 

4.0 PA players.

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 31. Mae 2024.

This was a really good performance and we absolutely tore them apart out wide. A fairer scoreline would have been about 5-0 such was the gulf in class between the 2 sides. 

[DaneBramage]

12 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Gabriel Słonina 6'5" * is another player I've never heard of

I started an FM23 game with Chelsea a short while back, and found the same thing (not necessarily with the same players though). Just so many in the squad you look at and have no idea who they are.

What's a Deivid Washington? Who is Carney Chukwuemeka? I'll probably never know. They'll likely just get quietly sold to a Ligue 1 or Serie A side to start their careers over properly.

[Jimbokav1971]

13 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

I started an FM23 game with Chelsea a short while back, and found the same thing (not necessarily with the same players though). Just so many in the squad you look at and have no idea who they are.

What's a Deivid Washington? Who is Carney Chukwuemeka? I'll probably never know. They'll likely just get quietly sold to a Ligue 1 or Serie A side to start their careers over properly.

I have actually seen Carney Chukwuemeka play a couple of times on the TV at the start of this season. (Looked pretty average). 

They have a completely ridiculous recruitment policy, (even before this season). There just doesn't seem a plan at all. 

I'm quite happy to sell players for a profit, (even good players), but every time I look at the Lewis Hall transfer to Newcastle, (that was probably driven by FFP compliance*), I honestly get the hump. In real life he seems to be a really good player already, (from what I have seen), but in terms of the game he possibly seems even better than that. Newcastle opt to sell him for a paltry £28M, when they have older players in Chilwell & Cucarella, who could be sold for significantly more and for whom there would be decent interest, (in real life but even more so in the game), and I think this is complete madness and whoever authorised that deal at the Chelsea end should never work in football again. 

That's before we even get onto all the ball-carrying attacking wide players at the club, when they are without a proper #9, (if you ignore the likes of Lukaku & Broja who are out on loan and/or not good enough). 

* My limited understanding of how the Hall sale links with FFP is limited in so much that I understand that because he is a product of their Academy, the amount they benefit from the sale is more than if he was produced elsewhere. I don't know if this is something as simple as if he was produced elsewhere then you might assume that a fee had been pad and there is obviously no fee with a product of the Academy, (and these 2 examples are not always the case and can be the complete opposite where a player is signed on a  free or where cash is paid for a young player arriving at the Academy). 

[DaneBramage]

4 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

* My limited understanding of how the Hall sale links with FFP is limited in so much that I understand that because he is a product of their Academy, the amount they benefit from the sale is more than if he was produced elsewhere. I don't know if this is something as simple as if he was produced elsewhere then you might assume that a fee had been pad and there is obviously no fee with a product of the Academy, (and these 2 examples are not always the case and can be the complete opposite where a player is signed on a  free or where cash is paid for a young player arriving at the Academy). 

I think that's roughly it. No fee, so a bigger profit can be recorded.

Though worth mentioning you've also benefited from it here, Man City selling Cole Palmer for the FFP boost.

I think we can consider it another way that modern football isn't designed for fans. We want to see academy players coming through and play for the team, whereas the clubs instead see the academy graduates as a moneymaking avenue.

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

I think that's roughly it. No fee, so a bigger profit can be recorded.

Though worth mentioning you've also benefited from it here, Man City selling Cole Palmer for the FFP boost.

I think we can consider it another way that modern football isn't designed for fans. We want to see academy players coming through and play for the team, whereas the clubs instead see the academy graduates as a moneymaking avenue.

I know that the General Election announced today by the midget millionaire has put the kibbosh on the Football Governance Bill, (or whatever it's called), but there is so much that needs changing. The way that clubs are compensated for Academy products seems ridiculously skewed towards the bigger clubs and that just doesn't make sense to me either. 

I think FFP is being replaced by FS (Financial Sustainability), but I don't know the changes involved never mind about understand them. 

The idea that Man City can get away with what they have been doing, yet Forest & Everton get points deducted seems astonishing to me on a really basic level. 

The idea that Chelsea have sold parts of their ground, (to themselves), to avoid FFP punishments also seems astonishing. 

I'm a Barnet fan who was brought up a Spurs fan as a kid, so luckily my footballing fix isn't largely impacted by the likes of VAR & FFP, but for those who support a Premier League club, (especially one of the big 6), I dread to think how I would feel. They showed their true colours with the European Super League breakaway and had to be shamed into returning to the Premier League by their own fans. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2024. 

Premier League. It's not a good month, and largely because we conceded too many goals. 

We're 14 points behind Spurs in 4th now and the size of the gap is commented on by the board. I still haven't given up hope of finishing 6th and I personally feel that if we can finish 6th then it will be deemed a success even if it falls short of what the board demanded/expected. 

#

FA Cup. We will play Leicester in the Semi-Final, (who are 2nd in the Championship at the moment), but considering the other Semi sees Man City play Liverpool I think we've had a result with the draw. 

Performance Review. 

Transfers. 

Finances. We're over our budget again because of the contracts offered to the Youth Intake. I signed all 16 of them and a couple in particular were quite demanding. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 32. 

Arsenal are 2nd in the Premier League, (behind Man City on goal difference), so they are a good side and deserved to beat us. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 33.

I'd like to think that we deserved to nick it, but whether 0-0 or 0-1 us, there wasn't an awful lot in it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 34.

A 2nd successive clean sheet, and this time we manage to score to take all 3 points. 

[Jimbokav1971]

FA Cup Semi-Final. Apr 2024. 

Cole Palmer might have scored a hat-trick, (and had what appeared to be a 4th given as an OG), but we were awarded 3 pens in this game and he only scored 1 of them, (as well as then scoring the winning penalty in the shootout), so had he converted all 3 pens he should have had 5 goals, (and 6 if the OG was given to him). 

I'm not sure if that's his 3rd or 4th hat-trick. (3rd I think). 

Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.
Mykhaylo Mudryk (penalty taking 120 1/1 at 100%
Cole Palmer (penalty taking 14) 6/10 at 60%. 
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.

I wonder what it is about the inner mechanism of the game that makes Cole Palmer of all people convert pens at 60%.
 

[Jimbokav1971]

I've had a crash, (low memory because I hadn't deleted my saves in ages), so I have lost the last 3 weeks back to 1st March. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2024. 

Premier League. I had to replay the 1st 3 league matches of the month, (and the FA Cup Semi), but actually all the results were the same even if the scores were different. 

FA Cup. And we're into the Final.

Performance Review. We've just won 3 games in a row, keeping 3 consecutive clean sheets, but the board have got the hump because haven't qualified for the Champions league, (and we were way off). I was always aiming at the the Europa League, but I'm not sure the board will accept that come the end of the season. If we win the FA Cup, (which is unlikely considering we're playing against Liverpool), then that might be enough to sway things our way, but I'm not overly hopeful. 

It's been good while it lasted though and I'm happy even to have got this far considering my starting rep and no badges.

Transfers. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 36. may 2024. 

We were helped by an early red card for Palace, but we still took advantage well. 

Edited May 24 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 37. May 2034. 

A really good result, (and a 5th consecutive win/clean sheet), especially against Brighton who now sit just 1 position and 2 points above us in the table. With 1 league game remaining, we still have a chance of a European finish. 

It came at a cost though as we lost Raheem Sterling with a broken leg. 

Edited May 24 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 38. May 2024. 

We manage a 6gth win on the bounce, but we can't make it a 6th clean sheet on the bounce. The Wolves red card might have made some difference, but we were already 3-0 up at the time. 

[jrobertgordon13]

13 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake day. Mar 2024.

This is really inusual. I don't think I have EVER seen a player already in National Team age-group squad on the same day of the intake. 

[Edit]

I think this might be a really good intake and where as before I didn't really care if I lost my job, (in fact I was expecting at after every loss), now I really want to try and hang on to the end of the season and see what I can do in a 2nd season. I wonder if this could turn into a proper save if I manage to build my reputation while I'm here?

This save should continue, although I was loving the Tullibody save.