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Fullbacks with crossing and keepers with big hands, tall strikers leaping, and players from far lands, one out of India who can play wings, these are a few of my favorite things.
Last year I had to edit our youth intake set-up so we didn’t keep getting phenomes and this year it appears to have worked. It’s not the greatest intake and there are some serious questions about whether any of them will contribute before we out grow their potential.
1. Mickey Morris: Finally a striker who appears to be good and might supplant Rae, McLeish, and/or Macey. He’s not the tallest and can’t jump so he’ll never be a Target Man and he’s kind of slow so he probably won’t be a Poacher.
2. Kris Newton: This is the first time ever that I’ve had a player who was a Model Citizen. He’s not the greatest skill-wise but he’ll never leave Brixton as in 9 years he’ll be a wonderful mentor.
3. Defense: We have three youths who might eventually contribute if we take more than three years to make it up to League Two.
4. Pat Lawford: This right fullback isn’t the fastest but he is the bravest and most aggressive one we have. He also has very good Leadership and Work Rate, and finally we have someone who excels at long throws.
5. Jason Cosgrove: A tall right-footed central defender with high Bravery and Teamwork. He can be Nightingale’s backup, assuming we actually do lose Pilcher.
6. Colin Cockbill: He is currently a speedy left fullback but is tall enough to be a centreback. It doesn’t hurt that he’s already Accomplished there. He’ll get tutored by O’Shea to get his Determination up and his Balanced personality improved.
7. We maintain our streak players from the Caribbean. Mario Headley is a right winger from Barbados.
8. Only two players with single-digit Natural Fitness and a lot of players have high Work Rate.
9. Only four players have bad Personalities.
10. Not an over-abundance of central midfielders. We have oodles already so it’s a relief to only get two.
Though I’m glad we didn’t get too many MCs I do think I’ll try to find one or two more just because all our current ones, less Debellotte, are aging out of the U18s. One player, Sam Khinda, doesn’t have much potential but he comes to us already Natural at AMR, AMC, AND AML. As we move into the Conference South we’ll only be able to have 5 players on the bench and a player like Sam would be a key substitute.
Last year we had two players whose Favoured Club were not Brixton. This year with nearly everyone born in London they all favor Brixton or nothing.
I’ll be signing everybody but Terry Buckle as he’s too short for DC, too slow for DR, has no Determination, and is Unambitious.
The match between the Intake and established U18 youths starts in favor of the old hats when Flynn recovers a rebound of Hollet’s shot and makes it in from a tight angle. The new kids on the block tie it up a quarter hour later when M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-R-I-S gathers a corner kick and boots it in from 12 yards out. The other new striker, Carolan, gets an even easier one just after 30’ courtesy of a low cross from right midfielder Walker, Texas Ranger. From there the game devolves into both sets of forwards trying long shots with no success. Walker gets POM and the entire defense, less the player who won’t be signed (Buckle), stunk up the joint. Weird.
Brixton U18s 1:2 Brixton Youth Candidates
I try not to second-guess myself but dare I sign Buckle? Maybe make him a DMC?
As mentioned earlier, I would like an extra AMC and maybe an extra DMC. I search for all the newbies that fit that bill, have a reasonably good Natural Fitness, and have a good or neutral personality. I don’t have any mentors for midfield so I gotta avoid the bad kids. 892 kids fit the bill. That’s a lot. I don’t scout the ones from major teams (like, League One and above) because I know there is no way they’ll come to Brixton so I end up scouting only 85. I send out the scouts and they return the first night with 33 reports. Thirty-three! That’s amazing! Of those only one is interested and worthy.
He is very interesting though. He plays for AFC Liverpool but hails from Wrexham. He’s Natural at AMC, Competent at MC, and Unconvincing at ST. His Physicals are damn fine for his age and his Mentals are pretty good with only Concentration and Positioning being crap. My scouts aren’t impressed but I’ll probably ask my AssMan for his assessment because I can’t believe he’s only rated 2.5 in Potential Ability. I’ll show you Dave Doran’s card if he signs with us.
I’m having fun with Midjourney AI still and I think I’m getting better at it. One option I was considering before the realization of AI hit me was just screen-shooting FM14 players, then cropping the images, then simulating FM14 for a year to get age progressions. That may have been hella time consuming so I’m glad I found MJ.