Youth Intake

Christmas in Football Manager

Youth Intake

There’s nothing better than youth intake day for Football Manager players.

The game gets you excited a few months in advance with preview messages like this:

And then the day finally comes. In my save, since I’ve got a North Korean team, I have to wait until mid-April:

Now, there’s a lot that goes into a good youth intake. In particular, the following factors will make or break your intake:

• Club reputation

• Youth recruitment

• Youth facilities

• Junior coaching

• Head of Youth Development

• National youth rating

The first 4 factors can be improved over time. Your club reputation will naturally increase as you play and win matches — though, of course, it can decrease if you start losing. You can get the board to pay for better youth recruitment, youth facilities, and junior coaching.

You can hire a better Head of Youth Development, of course. His ability to judge player ability and player potential is rumored to have some kind of impact on newly generated players, though this is disputed by some people. We do know that his personality will influence the personality of newly created players, however. In other words, it’s worth it to get a Model Citizen Head of Youth Development even if he’s not great in his other stats.

National youth rating is a sore point among Football Manager players. There were statements a few years ago on the official boards to the effect that this rating was now dynamic and could change over time. However, those who have studied the rating have concluded that it changes extremely slowly over time — slowly as in about 2 points per 150 years.

Of course, you’re probably only going to notice that sort of thing if you’re playing with the in-game editor on. Those of us who play the old fashioned way likely care more about the specific players that the game has generated than the math behind the process.

A few other things to note:

• If you’ve got newly generated players that can fit straight into the first team squad (especially 3 stars or higher), this likely means that your first team squad isn’t very good. Remember that star ratings are relative to the players in your club and league.

• The youth intake preview usually has little to do with the actual youth intake.

• While personality is important for player development, it’s not the end of the world. A team with nothing but Model Citizen players won’t necessarily have a major advantage in the long run. In other words — don’t freak out too much if you get unambitious players, like I have above.

And, above all, enjoy your youth intake day gifts!