Subject: [U21] Inter

Firstly a huge thank you for voting me in and giving me a chance to take over a new nation in Ireland, and continue the long standing work of Skyland.

Despite not being the most experienced manager on Sokker, I will give my time and effort in collaborating with you all to bring the next batch of Irish talent forward. As a starting point I do things a bit unconventionally and will remove everyone from the squad before re-adding using the scouting sites and crafting my squad, it just allows me to make depth charts for age ranges etc.. and to learn the players and see what im working with. On top of that im keen on open dialog/discussion so if you see that a player you think should be in the U21 squad and isn't just drop me a message and I will have a look.

I know budgets for newer users might mean some you cant run Junior Schools, but I am a huge advocate for them as they have generated large profits for my own team and is the only way to keep Ireland generating new talent. Also if you have any players that your struggling to train or are unsure about I am very keen to take on Irish trainees (as I cant have a Irish Youth School) either post them in here or drop a message and ill take them on. I am very keen to not have stagnant players, if you cant train them then move them on and let someone develop them rather than rot in your squad!!

I have also entered us into the Druids cup as something to test ourselves against some of the better nations as an easy guarantee of fixtures and to test tactics if I am totally honest. I would hope this to be a longer term approach so will not stress hugely on the results of this season but will hope to put some building blocks in for the next competitive season (even if someone else is voted in next year).

As I say I will make charts for each position and age range which I can post every few months if that's something people would find useful to see and some other bits but its up to you how much information you would like posted. I don't want to spam the forum with things people are not looking at or interested as that will just get annoying!

Thanks again for the opportunity, and I look forward to trying to put a mark on the Irish team soon. :)

Spam away. We have 9 active managers but really only 3/4 of us are active in the forums. Maybe the others could be encouraged to be. I would be interested in any depth charts you make.

8 of the 9 active teams have youth schools which is a good uptake rate at least. It's a numbers game at the mid level of NT so I generally will only fire a youth if they're totally unsellable. Otherwise I'll train it sell on. My budget is pretty large and I'm only using it to buy Irish trainees. That being said if there's no realistic prospect of them being NT calibre I probably will just pass in them. I want to use my training slots purely to develop the NT.

You'll get a better idea soon when you reassemble the U21s, but maybe we need to have a lower standard for what constitutes a viable U21 player. The last of the players trained in the 16 week system are aging out of the full NT so levels will be dropping a bit overall.

Tbh thats a couple more than my last nation, but is a good rate of youth schools at least i know the most active users are very experienced but ill try and see if i can message the other/newer guys.

Ive released everyone and have a clear deck to start scouting and drawing up tables of what we have which i will try and do later today after work. Personally i have about 8 trainee spot so would be happy to take on anyone's surplus that get listed, or else ill keep some cash spare if any get listed during the season or from bot-turned accounts etc..

As for my view, without a competition this season i think we will probably run a U20 squad in not only the Druids cup but the friendlies that ive arrange before hand. Obviously that exludes all current 21 yr olds and if people are in desperated need minutes for them then i can add in a few, but i think it would be most beneficial to focus on the younger end of the squad/nation in anticipation for the future.

As i say i haven't looked at anybody yet, but if after this week your player isnt involved then mail me, i will look very closely through the scouting sites and Ireland but some may miss the net.

Evening All (ill try and keep this fairly brief and clear), Over the last couple of days i've been filtering through all that Ireland has to offer in the 16-20 range drawing up charts for each age group.

Here is a quick overview of how its all looking:
GK- At least 3 of sufficient quality, best are 19yrs. Happy with what we have got.

Def- Mixed bag, those with higher defending lack pace and tech and the ones with pace have lower defending (probably to be expected with U21's). A few coming through that are a bit more balanced though could end up as mids, wouldnt mind some better out and out defenders to be developed.

Mids- Probably our weakest area, actually think the 19/18s could soon be better than the 20yr olds (Hoey, Delap) and bar Darren Robinson there is practically no wingers which i usually like to use!.

Str- Starting 2 are good enough, not much depth but Boxall and Adrian Adams is one im keen to keep an eye on.

Will also say there are 2/3 players in bot teams and one that has gone bankrupt so would be keen to get those out onto active teams (though not sure how long that takes as it came in recently).

So a few areas that I would like to look to improve, obviously user numbers will limit what can be produced and I may need to tweak tactics slightly having seen the squad available.

Devenney is juicing pace until he hits unearthly later this season, then over to Def until unearthly in a few seasons time. Should be able to coast to Divine/super divine pace and Def over time then.
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Sounds good, definitely one of the best coming through. Will have to have a look over pops over the next few weeks as i think we have a few stuck players within huge squads that are probably receiving no minutes/training..