Daddy

Congrats @fries

congrats @the_hdk!!

They definitely need to fix the issue of needing to scout your own players. The few seasons I did I focused on trading all my players for top picks and making use of the superdraft (which is how I play other US sports games anyway lol)

Which is not really representative of how it is in the MLS as well. At least as a Union fan they invested heavily in youth setup and have developed some real good players from the local area (Brendan Aaronson being the biggest name I can think of). I did a few seasons of MLS in FM22 and hated it. I still hope one day they restructure.

I'm in lurk mode for the time being. Wanted a little break from the challenge with my backup journeyman save getting interesting and a bunch of new games I'm playing. No updates for a while, but I'm following along with everyone else's journeys!

I hope you keep it going! You're so close!

2031-32 Season Review: Late in the season, we lost our keeper. The backup is a significant dropoff and we went from challenging for the league to a comfy 3rd place. Disappointing to end up in Europa League Instead of the Champions League, but we go right into League Phase at least. We had a really tough draw but managed to do well enough to claim the final playoff spot in the league phase. The score in the Real Madrid game is misleading as it was 1-0 until the 80th minute. two late goals to put it out of reach. Other than Milan we hung in with all the teams in the league phase. Porto in the playoff was a tough draw as well. The first match was a back-and-forth draw, but in the second leg we got thumped by the eventual winners of the Champions League. Overall I'd call it a successful run as we weren't completely run out of the competition. We had the most wins in the league we've had, but more losses which cost us valuable points since we couldn't turn them into draws. Still more progress season over season. Two repeat wonderkids. The first-place guy is our star goalie. Sadly he's in the final year of his contract and won't sign a new contract. As you can see from the finances there's no real reason to see the wonderkid so I'll just run the contract down and hopefully get one more good season out of him. Youth Facilities was downgraded and I haven't had a chance to upgrade yet. Stadium was expanded to 10K which finished halfway through the season. Youth Intake: Another varied intake. I signed all the players with three gold star potential. 2032-33 Season preview: There have been repeating champions but the league is frequently won by different teams so no one team has dominated the league. As it's been for the last few seasons and will be going forward, I want to make a push to win the league and hopefully start to develop into that team that dominates. Newcastle and Freiburg are tough draws, but the rest are teams at or below levels we've beaten before so I expect to make the playoffs/knockouts in the Europa League.

2031/32 Midseason Review: We've been in second and third most of the season. Haifa may be running away with the league this season. If we can't catch up then our goal is second to at least get into the Champions League Qualifying again. Speaking of the Champions League, we're still alive with two matches left to play, but one of them is Arsenal. Intake Preview: Doesn't look like a super deep intake this year.

2030/31 Season Review: We almost did it. We were in first for the majority of the season, but the team just ran out of gas down the stretch. My fear was we would get trounced in the Europa League and poor form would result in the league. Clearly, that did not happen as we finished 2nd and qualified for the Champions League - League Phase. As for Europe: A very fast start put us almost in a position to finish in the top 8. My fears were put to rest about poor form and we made it to the Round of 16 where we put up a good fight against a Bundesliga team but fell short. Well exceeded expectations. We also won the Domestic Cup! Great season of progress. We have a new wonderkid. Never had a goalie wonderkid I think. I basically have two more seasons of him as he's already trying to force a move. Lot of loans and a little clear out of players that aren't going to make it. Getting a stadium expansion already. Not sure why they built such a small new stadium. Youth Intake: I like this intake a lot because of the diversity of positions. Will really help with depth. 2031/32 Season Preview: Expecting a little more from us this year in the league, as the club's reputation is climbing up. I expect to finish somewhere in the Europe places spots. Will also keep hopefully pushing for our first league title. I advanced far enough to get the fixture draw. That's some stiff competition. Fortunately, two of the toughest are at home.

2029/30 Season Review: I forgot to capture final table with the progress graph. That would have shown a bit more context to things. At the midpoint presplit we were in 6th place and doing a fair amount of tactic tinkering. I tried a few formations, role changes, instruction changes, etc. I eventually settled back on the 4-2-4 I had been using, but with the adjustments in roles/instructions the team really took off. The team choked away the final match which with the right goal differences could have netted us second place, but it seems the players were a bit nervous about their next, unexpected, match. Finishing third is a major step forward and with Israel climbing the coefficient ranks we go right into Europa League Phase. As the pictures above will show we quite handily qualified for the league phase in the Conference League. Once we made it there we had a couple tough matches with Leeds and Metz, but did enough to finish 13th and secure a spot in the knockouts. By this point we had settled into the new tactic and somehow made it all the way to the final! There were some fortunate draws, but we beat teams from top flight leagues. The luck ran out in the final against Napoli. The score was closer than the game and after staying in it until the very end, Napoli put a 90 minute dagger to seal our fate. A major accomplishment just making it that far. First real signs of progress. Tough draw in the state cup sent us packing early to the eventual winner. With players aging out of the U19 but not getting minutes with the first team the loaning out has begun. Not much to mention facilities wise last season, but we do open a new stadium this season. Youth Intake: Another very strong intake. No one ready to take a first team spot, but will be knocking on door quickly I think. We still have eight legacy players and four are regular starters. The oldest are now just hitting 30. I am not forcing anyone out until they're clearly overtaken. 2030/31 Season Preview: I could see a step taken back this season. My concern is the step up in competition in the Europa League. If we get stomped there I could see it hurting morale and maybe affecting things in league. I still expect a top half finish and to qualify for Europe of some kind.

2029/30 Midseason Review: As I stated in the preview I planned to do some tactical tinkering. The results have been a bit mixed, but I'm at least learning some things that don't work. I'm still pretty confident we'll finish top 5, but if things look dicey I'll switch to old ones which would be good enough to finish 5th I believe. Intake Preview: I don't really need another keeper, but all the other A's and B look good to me.

2028/29 Season Review: I was hoping for more so this is a bit disappointing. There's a gap between us and the teams above us and one for all the teams below us. An early exit in Conference league was rough. A rec Card in the 2nd leg and we managed to hold on to penalties, but the keeper missed his. The red card struck us twice. Y25B wouldn't resign and we just let the contract expire since I don't really need more money and figured I'd max out time with my best player. A slightly larger stadium is being built. Not really sure the benefit of just under 3000. Youth Intake: Another good crop of players, and the keeper is immediately going to push for starting. 2029/30 Season Preview: Since the third has never been used I decided to make that the away this season. Third will just be plain white until it's ever used. I suspect a similar finish in league, and hopefully making the league phase in Conference League. I'll be doing some tactic tinkering to see if there's more I can get out of the players and push higher.

2028/29 Midseason Review: After the disappointment of crashing out of Europe early the team is playing well in league and in good position down the second half. Intake Preview: Little underwhelming, but Center Mid is a good spot to have an A rating. We're going to lose another top player this year as he feels he's outgrown the club.

2027/28 Season Review: I was hoping to take a step forward and wound up doing a little worse. The league was very tight and dropping points last day took us from potentially winning the league to finishing fifth. In the Conference League we also took a step back and didn't make it to the league stage. No real discernable reason why, so hopefully just a little underperformance. Actually, I forgot when writing the above paragraph that we lost our wonderkid striker. He was a 0.66 goals a match player so there's a fair amount of goals that went away. Youth Intake: Another quality intake with lots of potential on the horizon. 2028/29 Season Preview: We already are knocked out of the conference league. Bad draw and lost on penalties after barely even making it there due to a red card. That means the only thing to worry about is the league. I expect to be in the champions group and qualify for some form of Europe.

No international management until completion of challenge.

2027/28 Midseason Review: Little sluggish start, but things have rounded out nicely. I still think we're just a bit behind the top teams, but once the split happens we'll see if we can stay in a title battle. Intake Preview: Fullback is a good thing to have an A rating in. Not too much really needed otherwise right now other than depth and any player that can challenge for spots.

2026/27 Season Review: In league we started strong, but faded a bit at the end. We still did well enough to qualify for conference league qualifications again though. In the Conference League we made it through qualifying much easier than I expected, but in the league phase dropped a lot of points and wound up knocked out. A very successful first run though. With so much talent coming in through the intakes the roster is getting bloated and the clear-out has begun. I probably should have kept Awawdi as he was still a useful striker backup. Maxed out most facilities and got an elusive Youth Facility upgrade. We have a ton of money and nothing to spend it on now. Youth Intake: Another good batch of players. No one jumping right in, but lots of potential. 2027/28 Season Preview: The goal is to hopefully see some progress. In league I'd like to see the gap close between us and the top three. In the Conference League I want to make League Phase again and improve our standings.

2026/27 Midseason Review: I was expecting with Europe play we'd struggle a bit more in league for fitness, but to my surprise we have done fairly well in both. I thought maybe we'd finish mid to upper, but now it looks like we should be back in Europe. Intake Preview: With the last few intakes being so good it makes sense the all As would stop. Unfortunately the tactic I'm playing doesn't use the roles a lot of the top prospects are, so they'll have to be retrained.

2025/26 Season Review: I was confident of avoiding relegation, but I wasn't expecting things to go this well. Clearly a step below the top three, but held our own against them. Started to clean out some legacy players as the youth players are overtaking them. More upgrades as well. Our first wonderkid! He developed lightning fast and claimed a striker spot. Youth Intake: Another really strong intake with some players getting some minutes early. 2026/27 Season Preview: I've yet to see the third kit used, so until that happens I'm not changing it. Expectations a little higher this season, but still not being asked to do much more than survive. I suspect European matches added to the schedule with require more rotation and probably will drop some points this year.

Good luck and welcome back! I also love OOTP!

2025/26 Midseason Review: Doing much better than expected. It's most likely we fall and settle midtable, but first season up and no relegation battle is a win to me. It also helped me get another batch of upgrades. Intake Preview: Another loaded looking preview. No specific position of weakness yet, so anything helps for depth or if someone comes in ready to take first team minutes.

2024/25 Season Review: Promotion secured, but it was fairly competitive. Towards the end a few teams fell off pace, and Rishon was never catchable. I would not have been surprised to have fallen to 3rd again and had to spend another season, but fortunately we held on and are moving up. Another good season of upgrades. The stadium is also being expanded. Youth Intake: A really strong intake! A couple players between the last two intakes are on senior squad and will see some time. With so many players coming in at a decent current ability I think they'll push for time quickly. 2025/26 Season Preview: I've decided to make the third a unique kit instead of plain or a different color variant of the primary/secondary. I don't even know if it's used too often. Clearly not much is expected, but from having played some of these teams in State Cup last year and the Toto Cup this year I'm pretty confident we'll be safe from relegation.

2024/25 Midseason Review: We're not losing, which is good, but we've dropped a fair amount of points late in matches with a lot of draws. That's on me for not adjusting for late pushes. If I get that figured out I think we can cruise to the top. Upgrades: Another batch of upgrades. I'm really looking forward to things really humming along in a few seasons when these are maxed out and the players coming out of the system. Intake Preview: For already being a solid squad I'm really surprised to see so many A rated positions. Fullback, Center Mid, and Striker all need depth and even could be a spot a young player quickly moves up.

2023/24 Season Review: If it weren't for the fact that with three matches left we were in first having just beat the teams that finished 1st and 2nd back to back I would be thrilled with a 3rd place finish. Instead it was a bitter collapse. In the State Cup we handled all the teams at and below our level and gave a good fight against a good top league team. The Toto Cup is basically a preseason cup, so it was mostly used for rotating for fitness. Lots of upgrades this year. Also an approved stadium expansion. I suspect in a few season we'll have maxed out a few things. Youth Intake: A really strong intake. No one challenging for first team minutes yet, but that's a real strong U19 depth squad building up for the future. 2024/25 Season Preview: These seemed appropriately gaudy. After coming so close last season I have to expect a promotion push. The team is capable of winning the league.

2023/24 Midseason Review: Off to a real good start and promotion is a real possibility. A good start and good finances here meant I could get some upgrades. Intake Preview: No immediate weaknesses I can see right now. Lacking depth at fullback so it's good that's A rated.