Youth Academy v First team training

Dazza79 wrote:So to be clear if you want a possible representative player better to promote at 17 but for a good all round team player keep in. Or am I still reading this wrong

That is what I do, yes.

...to put that in context, I am about to be relegated after my first season in Div 3. ;-)

So was I mate so join the gang

I think the one thing which may promote using the YA longer for those with U20 aspirations is low core skills, especially low multiple core skills. Yes technically lvl 5s will outperform a YA for pops at low skills is on 2 nets and a TT slot, but if you've matched up 2x nets and a TT slot on 4 skills and the skills are below 10 you almost may as well use the YA for a period, especially if the low core skills would further disincline a player's use in a match which affords exp gains.

While that is true...

You wouldn't always - or even often in my experience - know that your 16yr old who'd just hit 17 _had_ low core skills.

Your policy for TT might make a bit of a difference too - I tend to have YA and TT set to "opposite" core skills on a two year cycle, so sometimes the timing of that change might make a difference...

ETA: I'd still stick to the rule of thumb: "YA until 19 for first team, Promote at 17 for a Star"

All my 16 year olds who could be promoted and trained for the next U20s are fully revealed, bar the youngest who has 16/20 reveals, and will be fully revealed next week.

Though yes not knowing if core skills are low would limit choices around keeping a player int he YA.

Cor - how so?

Maybe a third of my _entire_ youth squad are fully revealed, and I've a level 2 manager - does the level 3 make that much difference?

I use a level 2 manager. Just taken a bit of planning on who to pull and when over a period of time, also patience has perhaps been more important than planning.

My hat is doffed. I pull reasonably often to maximise the chances of getting decent un-trainables, and my manager can't keep up.

I'm at the point now where I need to promote fairly often else my manager doesn't have enough to do. I sloted in the odd 0 star replacement with a view they could stay there until they were replaced by a free 10 star scout, and if the players don't stay until they're 19-20 now they're not good enough to put on my bench or sell anyway, which has probably helped.

Ah, it might simply be how long you've had the manager - mine's only been with me for a couple of seasons, I think. Maybe only one.