When Your Youth Intake Goes Bad

Adding challenge to your game

When Your Youth Intake Goes Bad

Youth Intake in Football Manager is never a sure thing.

It’s more obvious if you look back after you’ve gone several years into your project. I’m managing Hallam in the World Super League at the moment, and am not allowing myself to bring any players in via any transfers. It’s all home grown and youth intake players all the way.

For instance, this was the first youth intake I had in 2024 (in-game time, of course):

Looks good, right? It looks like there are several players here who could be long-term stars for the club. Peter Heron, in particular, looks exciting.

I’ve currently played through November 2035. This is what Peter Heron looks like now:

He never wound up playing in our first team.

However, the rest of these players have fared better. Sam Freer, for example, looks like this:

And the most impressive, of course, has been Finley England, who is a superstar:

There are things you can learn from this, even if you’re not doing a Youth Academy challenge.

• Hire all your youth intake players. There is enough randomness in Football Manager that players who look like they will never amount to something might wind up becoming good.

• Give players time to grow. It took Finley England years to turn into this kind of player. Trying to force players like this into the first team when they are 16 might not be the best idea — though it does work from time to time.

• Don’t cheat. I know that some players (and content creators) like looking at the CA and PA ratings as they play. You can do that if you like — but the game is actually a lot more interesting if you keep that a surprise. If you go along with the storyline Football Manager gives to you, you’ll have a much better experience.