Need help creating a small youth league

[Iganga]

Hi guys,

I was reading an article about how Freiburg pump money into the local youth leagues, building academies for them, hiring professional coaches and generally trying to improve them as footballers, regardless of whether they sign for the club or not. It inspired me to create something similar for Liverpool on FM.

However, I'm encountering problems. My plan was to make six youth teams from scratch and to put them all in their own isolated league. So no FA cup entry, no relegation/promotion etc. I figured they could face each other four times, so that way they have a 20 game season.

I did a dry run with just four teams, but unfortunately it didn't work. The league didn't appear on any of their fixture lists, there was no trace of the competition at all in fact, all their players were greyed out, and after simulating the game until August 2013 they only got one youngster promoted between all four teams. Can anyone help?

League settings:

Nation - England
Continent - Europe
Parent Competition - English Premier League
Reputation = 1
Type - Domestic Other Division
Competition Level = 1
All boundaries set to "Liverpool"

All four teams are on the "Teams" page, and also the "Teams for Next Season" page. I have left "Registered Teams" blank.

I'm not sure how to set it so that the teams face each other four times, but I suppose I could look at the Scottish league and try to work it out from there.


Team Settings (All Identicle):

Nation: England
Based Nation: England
Continental Cup Nation: England
City: Bootle
Status: Amateur
Max age: 18
Reputation: 5
Competitions, General, Division: Liverpool Youth League


I think I'll be okay with setting up affiliations, youth facilities etc. I just need help getting the league working.

Thanks,
Iganga.

 

[Lami23]

Could you upload the xml or dbc file? I'll have a look through it for you.

 

[Iganga]

Oop, sorry - I've got it sorted now.

I created the teams and the competition, but I didn't select the "Add Rules to Nation" button to actually add it to the English league structure. I set it up as a seperate league, so it's not involved in the relegation/promotion system, and it has a full fixture schedule and league table, along with a full squad of regen youth players for each team. I've found that messing with the team's age limits can also set what type of youngsters are produced (14-16 year olds, for example).

Next up I'm going to build a youth academy/stadium (in the editor) that all four teams can use, which will be owned by Liverpool FC (I presume the game will automatically charge upkeep to the club), and then I'll play around with the affiliation settings to make sure Liverpool have exclusive access to all players produced by the teams there.

I'm not sure how I'll work the coaching staff, however. I'll need a half decent Head of Youth at each club, but I'll have no way of replacing him should he retire/****** off. Any thoughts on that front?

Anyway, back to the editor.

:-Iganga.