unfocused_alex

Season 28/29 - Bradford PA - All Over After 5 seasons at the bottom end of the Vanarama North, we have succumbed to relegation and unfortunately the end of my time here. It'll be a short write up as I'm quite gutted, but we just weren't good enough for the level. It was made more frustrating as I felt like we may have started to click with players getting to a more first-team-worthy-age. In January we sold Darryn Bemrose to Swansea for £75k to try and better the financial situation, however it didn't really help much and as the finances grew worse, so did the performances. We closed the season off with 10 defeats on the trot and unfortunately could not salvage a third final day survival. I can't help but think of the players and how they could've developed with more funding from the board, let alone my own coaching development. We may return with a different country in future, we'll see!

Bradford (PA) End of 27/28 Season - Solidity Our fourth season draws to a close and we have survived in the Vanarama North once again. This year seemed better than last year and the results certainly show. However, we still were only clear of relegation with 1 game to spare. We crashed out of the FA Cup in dismal fashion in the 4th Qualifying round but actually made some in roads on the FA Trophy, getting to the 5th Round. Not as much of a money spinner than the FA Cup but worth a punt! We played an almost full academy side in our last game of the season against Chorley, which was pleasing to see - only losing 2-1 was pretty positive too. Fortunately, it's not been a doom and gloom season like last year and there has been some glimmers of hope. Glimmer #1 - Darryn Bemrose - My player of the season. He's developed really well this year and staked his claim as a starting central midfielder in our bog standard 4-4-2. He's provided some attacking output with a large amount of assists and links up nicely with our other academy products. Glimmer #2 - Nat Noble-Lazarus - His ability has risen a lot this season and he's been put out on the right hand side and provided some great attacking returns. His pace providing a real threat. Ten goals in his first full season is not to be sniffed at. Glimmer #3 - Marco Aeillo - A rather recent glimmer as he's literally just arrived through the door in this years intake but 2 goals in his first 2 games and I'm starting to think we may be on to something here. The Season So overall we didn't push on as much as I would've wanted. However, I never really thought we were a relegation threat and we certainly showed more fight this year. I'm hoping next year (with it being our fifth season) we can push on and the developed players really push on. Finances are looking dire so I can wave goodbye to any new facilities and maybe even any coaching badges for a while. Considering I've been here for 4 seasons, I'm a bit annoyed the board haven't gotten me on a coaching course yet! This summer will be a process of cutting out some deadwood, notably I'll be shifting on some of our original squad as they've past their peak and are just soaking up wages. Jamie Spencer, who's been a great servant at the club and Will Longbottom are set to leave when their contracts come to an end. Shame to see them go but they didn't offer much this season and I've got their replacements already bedded in to the first team. Looking at our squad depth I'm thinking we may shift back to our 4-2-3-1 that we started off the save with, but I'm eager to find out where Darryn Bemrose will fit into that if we shift our two central midfielders back to the DM strata. Maybe it'll be another string to his bow. Intake As previously mentioned, Marco Aeillo is the pick of the bunch. But finally I spot a Centre back Jan Suchy in our intake who could do some good. He's not the tallest, but provides cover across the whole back line. With us only being allowed 5 substitutes at this level, it'll come in handy. Aims for the following season Push up the table. Get into the FA Cup proper. Ensure plenty of youth products who are over 18 are getting game time (either here or out on loan). Bingo update Finally on the board! No hanging around! On to the next one.

Bradford (PA) - 26/27 Season - The Run In Well, it seems our third season has turned into somewhat of a disaster... It seems we certainly have not been good enough and not quite as prepared for the gruelling season as I had thought. After a pretty okay-ish start it was evident that it would be a struggle this year. Multiple big losses as well as high calibre squad loses proceeded to damage us further. Brad Dockerty (an experienced head from the original squad) refused to accept he was no longer the star player he once was and left in the summer when his contract expired and Jaromir Kucera (our gem of a Czech right winger) left on a free transfer after not accepting a part time contract with us due to our squad being "too weak". To lose our brightest prospect was hard enough, losing him for nothing is what really hurts. Transfers It seemed as soon as Jaromir left in January, our squad checked out... What followed was an 18 game winless run which brings us up to today. We have 3 games to save our season. We are 7 points from safety and on the back of 3 draws on the bounce, where we have looked really good. Is it too little too late? We have a favourable run in so I'm actually quite hopeful we can pull of the greatest of escapes. Also we've literally just got our youth intake so maybe it's the perfect storm! We need plenty of results to go our way and the odds are heavily stacked against us but, you know what, I believe. Intake The positives of this season so far? Simon Owen has developed pretty nicely and put in some good performances. Other than that there's not really been too much to shout about. No upgrades to facilities and the board still reject every request for me to get a coaching badge. We switched to a strikerless formation this year and that could explain our bluntness up front but we actually lack a real good attacking player anyway so I'll blame that. So on to the business. The business being whether we keep our job (and save) going. Game one - Darlington (A) Game two - Tamworth (H) Game Three - Stourbridge (A) End of Season Awards - Manager and Club Stats / Info I'm hoping next year we can start to push on! I don't know, maybe even get a coaching badge! You never know

Bradford (PA) - 2025/26 Season - Vanarama North Our second season saw an opportunity for many of the first intake to get some minutes under their belts. I was keen this season not to overplay youngsters as I'm sure it's detrimental in the long run. Rather than run a group of 16-17 year olds into the ground I made a more concerted effort to keep the spine of the team relatively the same as the 24/25 season, with youth players filling in off the bench and starting when required. Looking at our squad, we are lacking depth in a few areas. Notably at centre back and midfield, but also really lacking a focal point up front. I'd rather play Osadebe to start games and then bring a youth product on rather than really stunt a youth player's growth early on. I do worry about next season in the defensive department but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Outside of the important and regular starters, we really only had 16-17 year olds left to rely on and that was a worry as the season went on. This definitely showed as we started the season pretty well but really struggled through the winter. After a goal on his debut last season, youth product Jaromír Kučera just kept proving he couldn't be left out the team. After a Czech U21 call up in October saw him pick up 2 assists in two games, his form continued in a BPA shirt with multiple goals off the bench. At times he would just pick the ball up on the edge of the area on the right side and just batter it into the top corner. Case and point below! Midway through October we received our record transfer sale of - wait for it - £3k! Harrison Hopper left due to not getting enough first team opportunities and I was pleasantly surprised to even receive a fee, but not arguing. Every little helps. After last season's implementation of a stricter wage structure we are now spending even less on wages and really seeing our overall finances improving as the months go on. Hopefully we can funnel some of this money into facilities and the like. Although we had an impressive run in the FA Cup which saw us reach the 2nd Round, we failed to impress in the FA Trophy again. I wasn't too bothered by this to be honest. We took plenty of cash off the FA this year and even though we lost 5-1 to League One West Brom, it was a run to be proud of. A sell out crowd at Horsfall gave our coffers a boost adn hopefully we can keep the interest in the club up! I'm looking forward to giving the cup another go next year. Thankfully the board finally approved a request with our Junior Coaching being raised to "Adequate", so hopefully we'll reap the rewards of that in years to come. The board do not seem to want to allow me to go on a coaching course though, as it seems to not be a priority. Cheers lads! We started the season really well and looked actually quite good for a potential play off push but as the season wore on, our inexperience showed. We were never in threat of relegation but look at that past position graph... A real drop off after through December. We finished the season 16th. Just like last season! Intake Youth Involvement This Season (All Comps) All Time Youth Involvement Manager Profile Manager Career Stats Club Info We go again next year and will spend the summer upgrading staff and hopefully pushing on to a top half finish next year!

Really enjoying this thread so far, some great stories going on. Saw in the post above plenty about mentoring and wondered if anyone had any resources / guides about mentoring? I've had a little search around but can't really find anything too useful at the moment! Thanks in advance!

Bradford (PA) - Update 2 - End of 24/25 Season I spent a lot of time bedding in training schedules and I reckon in a few years we may start seeing the fruits of all the labour. The aim being to develop youth players who are adept at a higher tempo pressing game. With development based more on technique, intelligence and hard work with core attributes being: - Anticipation - Decisions - Teamwork - Technique - Stamina - Work rate - Aggression I've bought coaches in who would hopefully begin the process and lay the foundations for the future generations. (That's the idea at least!) Realised pretty early on in the season that it'll likely be a bit of a slog and that the above may be a bit pointless implementing at a non-league club. So it'll be implemented with our youth and as they enter into the first team we'll adapt and move into the style. Our players weren't really looking up to it in the early stages of the season, so a pragmatic approach was needed and a larger focus on set-pieces. After the rocky start, we settled on a mid-block 4-2-3-1 and although shipping some goals we looked a lot better and put ourselves about. Competitions Club Info Manager Profile Finances Class of '25 Youth Involvement Notable Moments of the Season On to 25/26!

I'm curious as to when people get further into their saves - and obviously with this challenge finances are really important - do you have any approach to wage structures? It's something I've suddenly realised is quite important in the lower leagues (any league really!) Do you have any specific approaches to contracts? Just interested to hear different perspectives

Bradford (Park Avenue) - Update 1 We're on our way! Time to sort out some kits and badges before getting fully stuck in to sorting the staff out... Fun fact about Bradford (PA) - they used to be called just Bradford before Bradford City overtook them as the main club in the city, hence why they had to take on the "PA" section of their name after their old ground Park Avenue. So extra challenge to return them to their rightful place as biggest club in the city. Let's get stuck in then!

Hi everyone, long time lurker here over the past two years admiring youth challenges... Looking to give it a go this time round! Any disadvantages to starting the save on the early access? I'm guessing it would be about potential bugs in the game but relatively safe otherwise?