Just apology to those that read any of my MK Dons story - I quickly lost interest as League One was too easy with the budget I had and no real targets. For this story I'm using LFCMarshall's latest transfer update. I'm not creatively writing in this story - rather just reporting on progress through screenshots/results.
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As we all know, F.C Barcelona have a fantastic youth academy. It is arguably the best in the world and current first-team stars like Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Puyol have graduated from world-famous 'La Masia'. Despite recent successes both domestically and in Europe, Barça struggled to keep pace in the 2011-12 season. After being knocked out of the Champions League by English side Chelsea, Jose Mourinho's Madrid piled yet more misery on the reigning champions by taking their league title away from them. Club legend Josep Guardiola then left the club in need of time away from the beautiful game.
As the new manager at the helm of this great club, I intend to bring back the domestic and European titles to Catalonia. People may call the challenge 'easy' with such a great first-team, but I aim to use as much youth as possible. To help with my targets, I've also taken over the Barcelona "B" team so I have full control over the club. For purposes of the story, I'll report on both teams' results. I don't want to spend much money on senior players from other clubs therefore I've limited myself to two £10+ players each season. Obviously with managing two different teams, progress may be slow but I feel it's quite a challenge. I'm not the best of managers - I don't really have success at all with mid-table sides like the "B" team - so I hope I can make good progress.
As already mentioned, some might think what I'm doing is easy but once the likes of Xavi, Puyol and Valdes are older - it will become much harder. Of course young talents like Thiago and Tello are coming through but there's parts of the squad which aren't so strong. Also, instead of just aiming for success with the first-team - I want to help the "B" team win the Liga Adelante. Basically, my whole aim for this story is to use youth whenever possible. I've never done it before - instead, I always prefer buying big-names in order to gain instant success. Some of you may find the idea or story boring, but I hope to show genuine progress to people who have an understanding of youth progression.
I guess all I'm doing here is trying to run a football club realistically instead of the fantasy option I so oftenly choose. The first friendly should be up soon, so please give it a read and if you have any interest; a comment or a simple "like" would be appreciated. Constructive criticism is welcome.
View attachment 262734
As we all know, F.C Barcelona have a fantastic youth academy. It is arguably the best in the world and current first-team stars like Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Puyol have graduated from world-famous 'La Masia'. Despite recent successes both domestically and in Europe, Barça struggled to keep pace in the 2011-12 season. After being knocked out of the Champions League by English side Chelsea, Jose Mourinho's Madrid piled yet more misery on the reigning champions by taking their league title away from them. Club legend Josep Guardiola then left the club in need of time away from the beautiful game.
As the new manager at the helm of this great club, I intend to bring back the domestic and European titles to Catalonia. People may call the challenge 'easy' with such a great first-team, but I aim to use as much youth as possible. To help with my targets, I've also taken over the Barcelona "B" team so I have full control over the club. For purposes of the story, I'll report on both teams' results. I don't want to spend much money on senior players from other clubs therefore I've limited myself to two £10+ players each season. Obviously with managing two different teams, progress may be slow but I feel it's quite a challenge. I'm not the best of managers - I don't really have success at all with mid-table sides like the "B" team - so I hope I can make good progress.
As already mentioned, some might think what I'm doing is easy but once the likes of Xavi, Puyol and Valdes are older - it will become much harder. Of course young talents like Thiago and Tello are coming through but there's parts of the squad which aren't so strong. Also, instead of just aiming for success with the first-team - I want to help the "B" team win the Liga Adelante. Basically, my whole aim for this story is to use youth whenever possible. I've never done it before - instead, I always prefer buying big-names in order to gain instant success. Some of you may find the idea or story boring, but I hope to show genuine progress to people who have an understanding of youth progression.
I guess all I'm doing here is trying to run a football club realistically instead of the fantasy option I so oftenly choose. The first friendly should be up soon, so please give it a read and if you have any interest; a comment or a simple "like" would be appreciated. Constructive criticism is welcome.
