The Youth Academy Challenge

[oneteaminglasgow]

Take Two: BSC Glasgow - Season 2026/27

First Team Squad | Transfers | Finances | Facilities | Training

League Campaign

Well, f**k. Looks like we fell just short of our aim of being less shite than two other teams. We had another complete shiter of a start to the season, winning just one of our games before December the 12th (a bizarre 5-1 thrashing of Queens Park, who ended up getting promoted). Our form didn't ever really get much better to be honest, two wins and a draw being our best run by an absolute mile. Fortunately, Cowdenbeath were absolutely dreadful, and Forfar weren't much better but managed to scrape together a few more results than we did. Mark Fletcher has just about cemented one of my centre forward roles as his own, considering he didn't play at all for half the season, then score 11 goals and got 3 assists in the half he did, which for an absolutely terrible team, isn't bad at all. Ryan Hunter has also developed into my best central midfielder, but Bob Dunlop has stalled completely and isn't any better than he was when he first signed. He still gets a game as I haven't got anyone better, but we'll need to hope someone pops up to replace him. Judas Scott has spent all season refusing to sign a new contract and has now decided that getting over 6x his current wage and playing full time football in the Scottish Premiership is a more attractive option that fighting against relegation to the fourth tier of Scottish football every year. There's no loyalty these days.

Anyway, as you can see, we faced a playoff to try to stay up, and first up we had Montrose.

The first leg was eventful, both sides missed penalties and we managed to be much more clinical, as Montrose had more of the ball, more shots (both on and off target) and hit the woodwork twice, although we created the better chances. Phil Higgins got his first goal for the club to put us 3-1 up, and that proved absolutely vital as we then went on to lose 1-0 at home in another game where we were outplayed, but managed to defend just well enough to see us through, and John Gallacher in goals put in a solid display too. Extremely fortunate, as had we conceded again, I'm absolutely certain we'd have lost in extra time.

All that set us up for a playoff final against Clyde.

A pretty poor first leg was a 1-1 draw, where we took the lead through an own goal with just 10 minutes to go. Our lead only lasted 5 minutes, and there was no time to do anything about it. 1-1 at home, so we went to Cumbernauld needing to get a result. That we did with Pat McManus getting his first goal in 8 games to secure our safety for next season. We were once again outplayed, and relied on absolutely cynical nonsense which would have me absolutely seething if they'd done it but it worked, and somehow, despite being absolutely terrible all season, with just a couple of glorious highlights (Cowdenbeath 0 - BSC Glasgow 5 and BSC Glasgow 4 - Raith Rovers 0), we've managed to stay up. Jamie Scott is obviously away, but we'll have the same squad next season more or less, so I expect another shitfest of a season.

The Cups

Cups are shite. They can f**k off until I'm good enough to not just get cunted whenever I have to play someone half decent.

I mean, 0-0 with East Kilbride for fucks sake. We didn't even win the penalties. Disgusting.

Youth Intake

Declan Shankland: At long last, a semi-decent looking right back. I'll try to get him involved in the first team next season, but he's not particularly good. He can't really attack, which isn't great as I'd rather my  full backs could, but he looks fine defensively.

Paul Ritchie: Another striker, he could end being a good target man, his heading and finishing is good, but he needs a lot of work to be the finished article. I do need replacements up front though, as Barry Wilson, Pat McManus and Jordan Donnelly who've been my go to strikers for years now really aren't up to it now we've been promoted. 

Other News

     

We've had our first international caps, both at under 19 level, with Chris Herd getting one for Scotland and Jamie Scott has played for the Irish a few times now. As Scott is leaving and we don't really have anyone of the same standard, I'd expect these to dry up but it's still a nice milestone. 

There's absolutely nothing else going on, we've still got no money to do anything. I'm absolutely desperate for a cup run and an away game against one of the bigger sides, as it's about the only way we'll make any money. We don't even have the capacity to capitalise on a home game properly, which is shite.

Still, if we can stay up again next season, that'll be great. If we can start playing before March that'll be nice too.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Take Two; BSC Glasgow - Season 2027/28

First Team Squad | Transfers | Finances | Facilities | Training

League Campaign

That should have been much, much more comfortable than it was. We were 6th at one point, and within touching distance of the playoffs with 9 games left, but then we completely collapsed and only managed another 2 points, including an absolutely mental game with Stirling Albion. Thankfully Elgin and Dumbarton were worse than we were, but not much. The leakiest defence in the league was always going to make the season a struggle, and I can't do too much about it as my full backs are a collective shambles and that's where the majority of goals we concede come from. Ryan Hunter is of huge importance to my team, with an average rating of just over 7 in a dreadful team proving it. John Gallacher also finally agreed to a new contract, which is lucky as  I'll be completely fucked if he leaves as we've had nothing approaching a competent goalkeeper in the youth system since him. Seems mad that he'll be due a testimonial next year despite being 24. He's already on 272 appearances for the club (the record holder, unsurprisingly) so he may well make a ridiculous amount by the time we get a replacement. 

A lot of the former mainstays of my team are gone, or will be at the end of the season. Barry Wilson is away to Berwick, as he lost his place in the team and was causing a fuss about it, while Jordan Donnelly, Ciaran Campbell and Jamie Fraser will be out of contract at the end of the season. They're not good enough any more, but it's still a bit of shame as they played a big part in getting us to where we are. We also had our best attendances ever, with an average of 535, so hopefully we can keep building on that and not have the lowest in the division for the first time ever. I'll hazard a guess that we'll be fighting it out at the bottom of the division again next season, but we shall see.

The Cups

We kicked off with a win against Brora, and then did our usual by losing the other games, including our customary pumping, this time from Queens Park.

An 120th minute goal won it for Queen of the South, it was pretty even and was pretty gutting to lose it the way we did, but oh well. We ended up with 10 men after Fletcher got injured after our subs were made, which didn't help, but it's only the challenge cup. I'll care when I win it.

We beat Albion Rovers with our only shot on target, but we didn't let them have many chances, so I think it was a fair result really. Montrose scored in the 93rd minute to take us to a replay in the next round, which was really frustrating, but we managed to get the job done and set up a money spinning tie with Rangers. Last time we faced them, they played their youths and we held them to 1-1. This time, they played a bunch of international footballers, and we got cunted. I mean, the striker who scored a hat trick has 4 caps for England, and the guy who opened the scoring has 62 caps for Poland. Playing guys like that seems like overkill considering that we routinely get fucked by the likes of Ayr or Raith, but that's their prerogative.  We made a lot of money on it though, which is great. 

Youth Intake

The worst year yet, by a considerable distance. No one ready to make an impact straight away, and only one guy who looks like he'll ever make an impact. Lot of pish.

Donald Mitchell: A central midfielder, which is ideal as I've really needed more cover there, but he's far from good enough yet. Still 15, and he'll get game time so there's plenty of time to work on that. The one big plus is that he looks decent at set pieces, which is always useful, and if he can develop his other skills, he may be a steady source of assists from those.

Other News

We've been taken over.  The new board have put nothing into the club really, except taking out a loan to cover the debt which was mounting up at that point. As we've since cleared that debt with the Rangers cup tie, its annoying that we've now got a debt to pay off but oh well.

Almost immediately they cut our tie with Motherwell, which is a shame as we were basically getting 10k a year, plus a friendly with a decent gate, for absolutely nothing at all. Ah well.

Should help avoid another crap intake like this year. 

The board are being shitebags and refusing to improve any of our facilities despite the fact we're now rolling in it. Bit shite, but we're now into my 10th year in charge, and hopefully we can start moving up the leagues. I wouldn't count on it though, as we have pretty glaring deficiencies in the team. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Take Two: BSC Glasgow - Season 2028/29

First Team Squad | Transfers | Finances | Facilities | Training

League Campaign

Another season, another 8th place finish. Our highest points total since we got promoted, but it really isn't that much to get excited about as we're still fighting relegation, and I'd be stunned if we aren't doing the same thing next season. Stranraer were appalling. Genuinely an absolute shambles. Managed by Ryan Dow and then, bizarrely, Matt Phillips, but their relegation means they might be replaced by someone almost competent, which is a shame. We had the same struggle we have every year, we concede far, far too many goals. We managed to address that a bit by changing formations, and hopefully that can continue, but we'll struggle next season I would imagine. It took a last minute Stirling Albion goal to ensure our survival, as we hung on to a draw against Queen of the South. We're going to need to do much better, at the back particularly, to move up the league table. I don't see it coming next season, but another years worth of development for the players will hopefully see that start to happen.

The Cups

We actually won 2 games, for the first time. It made no difference, obviously, except a bit of prize money. Falkirk though, imagine losing 3-1 to complete shite like us.

Used up our quote of wins in the cup in the league cup apparently. Fucking shambles, especially getting pumped by Arbroath who aren't even that much better than us. Ah well, moving on.

Youth Intake

That's more like it! Some very decent prospects in there, and all we had to do was spend a completely unsustainable amount of money on junior coaching and youth recruitment, blowing through about 350 grand this season. Hopefully a few of them can develop into solid options for the first team.

Jimmy Charlesworth: I've been crying out for a left back for years now, and at long last I've got one. He needs an awful lot of work, but f**k it, the guys I've got aren't currently good enough, and never will be, so I'm going to throw him in and hope he does ok.

Owen Hayes: An attacking midfielder, looks like he could develop into a very decent player for me. I've been trying to play 4-4-1-1 recently as it seems to make us a bit more solid, so having someone to play in the first 1 is ideal. He's got a bit of flair, and is pretty decent technically, so looks good.

Bailey Brown: A goalkeeper which is ideal, as all we've had is Gallacher for years. In an ideal world, I'll send him on loan to the lowland league for a bit, as I don't really want to throw him into my first team yet.

Ronnie Foy: A right winger, we've got a few, but he's quick and can cross.  If he can learn how to dribble, he'll be ok.

Daniel MacDonald: A central midfielder, a good first touch, and not much else currently, but there's potential. I'd want to loan him out as well, but we'll see what can be done.

Other News

New record goal scorer for us, which is nice. Not much going on at the club, no money (cause I've spent it on staff to be fair) to do anything.

Also saw this, which I've never seen in any other save... 

[Miguel Sanchez]

I've not played a new FM in ten years. Does playing 15 year olds regularly really work? I'd have thought they'd just get tired after their first game and take about three weeks to recover.

[oneteaminglasgow]

On ‎17‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 22:36, Miguel Sanchez said:

I've not played a new FM in ten years. Does playing 15 year olds regularly really work? I'd have thought they'd just get tired after their first game and take about three weeks to recover.

They do ok with the physical side, they're just really, really shite at football.

Looks like last season was my final one, as I've been sacked...

Seems fair enough really.

[Miguel Sanchez]

 

[Ralph_wiggum]

Just came across this is anybody still doing the youth academys save was thinking of starting one or waiting till fm19 comes out.

[RandomGuy.]

On 28/02/2018 at 20:04, oneteaminglasgow said:

They do ok with the physical side, they're just really, really shite at football.

Looks like last season was my final one, as I've been sacked...

Seems fair enough really.

That's gutting. Fair fucks btw, just re-read all your posts on here and started getting attached when this happened :sad: 

[RandomGuy.]

8 hours ago, Ralph_wiggum said:

Just came across this is anybody still doing the youth academys save was thinking of starting one or waiting till fm19 comes out.

I'm away to start again, as I've blanked out the crushing agony and hopelessness it brings. 

[RandomGuy.]

Civil Service Strollers is who I've got, here comes the pain

[oneteaminglasgow]

That's gutting. Fair fucks btw, just re-read all your posts on here and started getting attached when this happened :sad: 

From what I recall, the team was an absolute shambles that whole season...

Best of luck with your attempt

[oneteaminglasgow]

As if football wasn't shite enough already at the minute, I've decided to completely ruin football manager for myself as well by giving this another go. So far, all I've done is holiday through a season, and this time it's Gretna 2008.

Despite, as any right-thinking person should, hugely disliking the original Gretna for their antics,  hopefully this should be interesting. They've already had a number of players sign, and a similar number leave as well so I think I'll just leave it as it is, as I'll have about 13 players left without them.

A wildly unbalanced squad, 5 strikers and 3 goalkeepers in a 22 man squad seems like overkill. Centre back, right back and right midfield particularly look like problem areas, just for depth if nothing else. Jamie Hope, Connor Scully and Daniel Wadge all look like they'll be pretty important players for me this season, and particularly for Hope and Wadge, seem to have a lot of potential to be decent players going forward as well. 

Our facilities are dreadful, we're still playing at Raydale park, have poor training facilities, and the ability to bring through youth players is... we'll say lacking. I'll need to look to fix that pretty quickly, or this'll be even more of an absolute slog of a save than it usually would be. 

Right, that's that for now I think, I'll probably not really start properly until the full game is out, but I'll probably start trying to work out a way to not be too terrible before then. The first few seasons will, without doubt, be really, really grim, so obviously can't wait for that.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Gretna 2008 - Season 2019/20

First Team Squad | Transfers | Finances | Training | Facilities | End of Season Awards

League Campaign

As expected, we weren't very good. That's putting it lightly to be honest, we were an absolute gang of jobbers for the most part, but thankfully Queens Park went into administration and their 15 point deduction kept us up. We've still not won a game in 2020, taking a grand total of 7 out of 51 points since the new year. The one thing that I had been happy with was that most of our losses were pretty tight, but that changed later on and we took some real hammerings later on in the season.  We scored much, much less than anyone else, and conceded almost as many as anyone else, so it's no surprise to see us where we are. I'm going to have to work out a tactic for next season in order to bring everyone else down to our level, as what we've been doing isn't working. Still, survival is something I suppose. 

The Cups

The season opener was a bit of a thrashing by St Johnstone, who probably should have had more goals than they did, and our goal came when we were already 4 down and they were in cruise control. We followed it up with 3 draws, and two horrific penalty shootouts then a good one. We should have lost to both Dumbarton and Queen of the South, but managed to hold on in the latter while Dumbarton seemed to go out of their way to throw the win away. Meant that the group finished like this. 4th place is fine, a bit more prize money, and the 3 draws ensured our confidence wasn't absolutely destroyed.

Beat Annan in extra time, before being pumped out by Motherwell Reserved. Oh well, never mind. The tournament ended up being won by Dundalk. Cheers for that one, Neil Doncaster.

This one really annoyed me. We should be beating Spartans. We dominated the game as well, but contrived to lose through an own goal by Daniel Wadge. Perhaps, I shouldn't be surprised since it came right in the middle of a run of 12 games without a win, but still. 

Youth Intake

Not really ideal, there's some decent prospects in there, but not one of them is anywhere near good enough to make much of an impression on my current first team. Still, it is what it is, and the best of them, on first impression, are:

Jack Waterston: An attacking midfielder, he's not great just now but certainly could be a good player for us. Has already had some game time, as I have very little strength in his position, so hopefully he'll get better pretty quick.

Billy Forbes: He should be decent (at some point in the future) as the holding player in my midfield. I don't really have anyone for that role, so I'll look to introduce him in for a bit of game time throughout the season coming. He's had a bit already and been... well, poor at best, but I've no choice but to persevere.

Calum Connelly: My defence is terrible, so he'll be getting player regularly most likely. His positioning and tackling is already good, which is ideal, so it's just everything else about him I'll need to work on.

Paul Wilson: See above, my right backs have been consistently dreadful all season, so this guy can't do any worse. He's determined, and that's about it, but f**k it. Let's just see what happens.

This might well be the only season I complete, as after the last game of the season I was called into a meeting and told if I didn't pick up 7 points from our next 5 games, I'd be out on my arse. As above, I took 16 games to get that many points recently... It's not looking good. I really need some money to invest in the youth development, but, without a good cup run, that's not going to happen, so I'll need to be patient for the time being. Still, we've stayed up (albeit largely due to Queens Park's administration) and that's going to be our aim for the next few seasons (if I can stay in the job) at the very least. I think the best we can look for is small improvements each year, not necessarily in the league table, but all over the club. 

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Ah pish, I've been sacked. I'm going to fanny about with some other saves and give it another go. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

At the risk of spamming this place with the pyramid I created [clicky] is part of the problem not just the huge disparity in reputation/finances between the non-league/league teams in Scotland? Ye'd need to start on an equal footing so either a game that has the leagues below the SPFL added or starting with a 3rd division club

[oneteaminglasgow]

Civil Service Strollers - Youth Academy Challenge

Right, I've decided to give this another try as I haven't really been able to get properly into a save on this FM, and the BSC Glasgow save from last year was the most I've enjoyed a save since FM12. For my second attempt this year, I've got Civil Service Strollers.  As per usual, they've signed some players already and since I won't be able to release any of them I'll just leave it and make it no signings from here on out.

My squad is pish. Like, total pish. Burt, Guthrie and Churchill are my most important players, but not one of them are good enough for league two. That and having 3 left backs in a 17 man squad, and only 2 centre backs will make it a bit challenging keeping anyone fit. But still, that's always an issue in these kinds of saves.

Facilities are pretty poor, and the youth facilities etc will make it a bit of a challenge getting anyone decent through. Still, at least we've not sold a proper hilarious amount of season tickets...

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Always a fan of these. Good luck.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Civil Service Strollers - Season 2019/2020

First Team Squad | Facilities | Transfers | Finances | Training | Attendances

League Campaign

8th place, even if we were only a point ahead of those below us, is a pretty good result for a first season with a weak squad as far as I'm concerned.  Fortunately, both Cowdenbeath and Stenhousemuir were dreadful (even if Stenny beat us 7-0 out of nowhere...). Cowdenbeath managed to only win 1 game from the start of December until the end of the season which, amazingly enough, was against us. You don't have to look very hard to work out where our problems came from. 96 goals conceded and only 2 clean sheets all season - we conceded 4 or more goals in 9 league games this season and in 5 games we failed to win where we scored 3 goals. Fortunately, we seemed to be relatively decent at actually scoring goals.  I said at the start that Churhcill was one of my most important players, and he proved it - 11 goals and 9 assists from central midfield. Huge for us. I lost quite a few players from my squad at the beginning, which left us very short for a while, and we really struggled. Still, 8th place gives us a good platform to hopefully push on next year, now that we have some depth  - even if, as you'll discover, that cover isn't very good. Brechin went up through the playoff and Cowdenbeath stayed up, beating EK. Forfar and East Fife got relegated.

Cup Competitions

Other than beating Falkirk on penalties, which was slightly amusing, and beating a now Lowland League Albion Rovers - absolutely awful. The cups are always awful in these saves, I get humiliated by enough teams in my own league without teams from higher leagues piling on too. Ah well, we got some money I suppose.

Youth Intake

Not what I was looking for, but it'll have to do I guess. Eddie Barbour is the best out of the lot really, but he happens to play in the one position where I have 2 fairly good options, so I'll focus on the others who I think will potentially make a difference:

Andrew Dalziel: An attacking midfielder, he's garbage just now BUT he has a decent work rate, is fit and can sort of pass a ball a bit. Maybe he'll end up ok enough. Probably not though.

Jack Smith: Will be very important, and is almost certain to play a lot. He can mark and has decent positioning, but everything else needs work. Still, my defence is shite anyway, so I've got basically nothing to lose by throwing him in.

Derek Ritchie: Important, if only because he's the only person in the entire squad who can play right midfield, but he can cross a bit, he's quite fast and works hard. Should get plenty of games, and will hopefully improve.

Craig Morrison: Might turn into a vaguely competent striker, where I actually have a couple of decent players already, but will see if he improves.

Other News

Nothing else of note happening, really need to improve the youth facilities as the intake this season wasn't good enough frankly, but I've got no money to do it. Hopefully we'll be able to get a nice wee cup tie somewhere and change that. Onwards and upwards. Or maybe downwards.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Civil Service Strollers - Season 2020/21

First Team Squad | Facilities | Transfers | Finances | Training | Attendances

League Campaign

9th place, but with more points than last season, so I'm pretty happy with this. Cowdenbeath and Stirling both had horrific starts to the season (Cowden had 5 points after 16 games, while Stirling had 6). They both picked up, however, while we slumped completely for a long time. We managed to do just enough to get by though, and are safe. Played a lot of youth players pretty consistently as well, and they mostly did ok, which is positive. Our defence is hugely improved, but at the expense of our attack - we're the only team to score less than a goal a game on average over the season. That's not good enough, frankly, but we managed to get through in the end so I'm not too annoyed really. Cowdenbeath stayed up, beating EK, while Brechin are coming down from the League One.

The Cups

The League Cup was hilarious, I played as many youth players as I could, in every game, and it clearly didn't go well. Beating Spartans, who apparently I have a rivalry with, was great, as we came from 2-0 down and got a "moneyspinner" against Airdie (genuinely my biggest crowd of the season - comfortably). Other than that, the cups were uneventful.

Youth Intake

Another year with lots of potential, but not a lot of current ability.

Grant Kerr: I'll be playing him, mostly, as a centre midfielder, and I hope that if he improves he should be decent enough. He's technically good (as 16 year olds in the League 2 go), so that's a plus.

Reece Henderson: He can pass, which is a big plus, but a lot of work needed to make him useable. Still, could turn out to be a good player.

Chris Graham: A good finisher, and a decent bit of pace, which could be very useful. His complete lack of composure is an issue, as is the fact he's got no technique or first touch, but if those can be improved then I could have a player on my hands.

Bryan Marshall: The makings of an alright centre half. He's slow as a week in the jail which isn't helpful, but he can header and mark a bit, so a bit of work and he'll be ok - maybe.

Other News

Two improvements which should help us to produce better players. They won't have had much impact upon this years intake, but should hopefully start to show signs from next year. Our finances are looking pretty healthy, based almost entirely on having a squad of 16 year olds on 20 quid a week and playing friendlies against Celtic and Rangers repeatedly in pre season...

 

[Poet of the Macabre]

Enjoy these. I'd struggle to stay up.