It's fun to play at the YSCC!

[Reiver]

Yokohama Sports & Culture Club is a Japanese club founded in 1986 in Yokohama. It's a rather unique club for Japanese standards - created before the advent of modern professional clubs in Japan, but it is not a Company club, as most professional teams that an be traced this far back; it was founded by players of the team of All Nippon Airways SC - the company team that would become Yokohama Flügels - who were unhappy with the way the team was being ran as a "company team", and decided to create a community-based club. While their original intent to remain an amateur team ended when they joined the J3-League  in 2014, the club is ran and is officially set up as a Non-Profit Organization. When the team started, they had 28 kids in high school, and only had youth football - at the moment they are a multisports team, with youth and senior indoor and outdoor football, basketball, tennis, badminton, and even yoga classes that ran at the same time as the youth teams training sessions.

The team shares their ground with Yokohama FC, playing at the Mitsuzawa Park Stadium,  which holds 15440 people. We have adequate training facilities and below average youth facilities; youth coaching is average and recruitment is fairly basic. Despite not having the most amazing facilities, taking into account the values of the team, I'd like to try and develop our players as much as possible.

Talking about the team, here's what I saw when I joined:


The very first thing I noticed, as you probably also did, is that I have no wing players. Pretty much at all. That is the first thing I need to address. And here I have some good news - the rules in Japan have recently changed, and I no longer have a limit of 4 Foreign players registered in the squad. Now, I can only have 4 Foreigners in the match squad. Still very limiting, but slightly better. I can also field a whole team of strikers! Even with the crazy schedule of this year (I believe this to be because of covid, we have several months without games at the beginning of the year followed by a whole league year with 2 games per week) I won't need this much offer for the position. To give you an idea of the level of football we're talking about, here's a few of our best players:

We're currently aiming for a mid table finish in the Japanese third division this year as we begin to slowly work on improving the status of the third biggest team in Yokohama.

[Dirk Nowitzki]

Wow, this is probably the weirdest squad I've seen. I mean, surely nobody plays a 3-4-3 narrow diamond!?
Good luck!

[Reiver]

Dec 22, 2020 9:27:00 GMT Dirk Nowitzki said:

Wow, this is probably the weirdest squad I've seen. I mean, surely nobody plays a 3-4-3 narrow diamond!?
Good luck!

I know! The good thing is that the rest of the team is well shaped for a 5 at the back tactic similar to what I was using in my previous saves, so I mainly looked for wingbacks.

[Reiver]

2020 明治安田生命J3リーグ (Meiji Yasuda J3 League) Mid Season Update

As seen in the previous update, we had total of 3 players in the whole squad that could play in the wings, one fullback on each side (but whose natural position was MC), one left-back, and one wide midfielder (again with their natural position being in the center). I decided to go for a five at the back with wingbacks, as the team already had a decent roster for the system otherwise, and because it meant that I needed to be on the lookout for less players - in the third tier, with just the 2 scouts and a small budget, finding and hiring 3 to 4 wingbacks sure beats having to do the same for 3 to 4 fullbacks plus 3 to 4 wingers. So my first few months were spent with the scouts going through South East Asia looking for wingbacks, with a special focus on Japan and Japanese players because of the league rules, while I manually scouted the top teams for potential loan moves.

The first two signings were these dudes on a loan from top tier teams. While not amazing technically or mentally (though on par with this league's average), their speed will make the difference - if they outpace the defenders almost every time, they ought to do the rest right some of the times after.

My scouts also brought this guy to my attention. I wasn't 100% sure at first on whether to go for this guy, because of his age and as it would take one of my Foreign spots - but I don't think I can fill up my Foreign quota this year, and while this guy will undoubtedly start declining, and he doesn't have pace going on for him like the loanees, his prowess with long shots and dead balls is absolutely amazing for this level, and might be decisive for us. He was found playing in the Korean third tier at Gyeongju KHNP and he's the only player of ours I could not find a picture of anywhere on the internet.

With 3 at the back, we needed to make sure we had adequate numbers playing at the back. Son Min-Chol, North Korean/Japanese dual national comes to the team after a couple of years out of the game, having last played in the Hong Kong top division for Lee Man FC in 2018. He also has over 40 games experience playing at top level in India. Fujii comes on loan to provide cover in both defense and midfield.

Once Operation Find Some Wing Backs was finished, I split my scouts, one looking out for talent close to home, and another at the world's footballers supermarket that is Brazil - where else can you find as many players that are good enough to strengthen lower league teams for pennies and are interested to move to just about anywhere in the world? The first target with (supposedly) real talent I was given was Carlos Maia.  At 95 scout rating "You must sign this player at any price", and the price to get him on our team from Paraiba State League's Perilima was 0, it was hard to say no and dive right in. While his current ability might have been slightly exaggerated, I am very hopeful for his potential - in real life this kid just signed with Grémio, literally like a week ago. This also makes me look good in the eyes of the board who wants me to sign under 23 players for the first team. What it doesn't help with is our "Work within wage budget" rule - we're currently around 6000€ per month above budget and actively trying to offload lesser used players.

On the pitch, we started strong, scoring 9 goals in our first 3 games, but our form quickly came crashing down. We're usually very good defensively, but very inconsistent upfront. Cho Sung-Won  actually managed to be my best player... but he's only played in 6 games throughout the season, having had a dislocated shoulder in the game against Roasso. On the other hand, Carlos Maia  has been very disappointing. I don't know if I expected too much of him after the original scout report or if he's just underperforming, but 1 goal and 1 assist in 16 games at AMC feels rather low. Still, with a media prediction of 14th and the board expecting a mid table finish, I can't complain. Our biggest challenge if we don't manage to go up quickly is this one though:

[dalenichol]

That's a solid mid season update there buddy. That financial situation is a bit dire though, and at that level, how do you see yourself getting out of that one?

[Reiver]

Dec 30, 2020 19:37:24 GMT dalenichol said:

That's a solid mid season update there buddy. That financial situation is a bit dire though, and at that level, how do you see yourself getting out of that one?

Go up the leagues, find some Brazilians I can profit from a couple of years down the line, invest on the youth squad (I forgot to show it but in "already there during the first year becasue I ticked add players to teams" I have a few 4/4.5 potential players), and if all else fails hope for board cash injections. Possibly some decent cup runs? Because of Covid the cup runs differently this year, only the top teams from each tier play in it, so I think we won't be part of it, but maybe from next year onwards? 

[Reiver]

2020 明治安田生命J3リーグ (Meiji Yasuda J3 League) Mid Season Transfers & Youth Intake

A few more months have passed, and we've made some more moves in the transfer market - even if only one player has joined the club, as most transfers were for the future or for when the player's current contract ends. Let's start with the one that has already joined us:

Formed at Foz do Iguaçu (and having had unsuccessful spells as a teenager at Vasco da Gama and Atlético Goianense), and found playing at Araguaia, a team that plays only in the Brazilian State Leagues, Teles is a juicy player for us - great mental stats for our level, specially his Determination! He comes on a free after his contract ended. This guy is going to be playing mostly as a Mezzala and I think he'll be very influential in the team.  He is not the only one that will be joining us from Brazil, with two more players joining us at the end of their contracts, but this time the contracts will only end in time for the next season.

It's hard to read, but the first one is Marcio, a 22 year old midfielder. Where Teles will be the guy to build game, Marcio will be the guy to ensure that the other team cannot build their game. During his youth years, he played for Vasco da Gama and Cruzeiro, and is currently playing at Betim in the second division of the Minas Gerais State League. The other guy is Guida, and this time I didn't even wait until the player was at full scouting level to sign him - a player with 16 Heading and above average First Touch and Flair that is willing to come to the Japanese Third division? Quickest decision ever! Formed at Goiás, he was found at Brazilian Serie D team Itumbiara. Lastly but not least, a player not actually from Brazil! 

Lee Krause is a Japanese/American regen formed at St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, who at only 15 was already being called for the Japanese Under-19s. Once again, a 15 year old with 16-20 Finishing? Potentially high Determination and Decisions? I don't even care that he is unambitious, I had to get a piece of that - but because of international transfer rules or something, he can only come when he's 18, so we'll be waiting a while. This showed me that there is potential in USA/Japan dual nationals, so that is what I am currently scouting for, I might be able to get a couple more in for the future.

I have also realised that I never showed how the youth team I started with looked like:

Out of all of those, I have singled out Yamamoto, Fukai and Wakizaka, as the other players with high potential have Personalities that make me doubt they will ever really improve, but hey, I might be wrong! None of them will be world beaters, but they might end up being useful players as I go up the leagues (or not).

To these players we have to add our first youth intake:

Only one player I can really see getting to a point where I can have him in my main team, Sutô. I hope the next youth intake is better, honestly.

[Reiver]

2020 明治安田生命J3リーグ (Meiji Yasuda J3 League) End of Season Update

Quick reminder - we started the season we a prediction that we'd finish in 14th, and the board wanted us to finish mid-table; this goes in-line with the history of the team, having finished 15th two seasons ago and 13th last season.  To have an idea, we have the lowest wage sheet of the league - not counting the under 23 teams, we're spending roughly half of what the top teams do; we also have one of the lowest sponsorship money, 375k€ per year, where all the teams above us have over 1M, some reaching 3M and 4M. All this to frame our success on the pitch:

Despite some inconsistencies on the pitch, we not only held our mid season position but we also improved on it to finish 4th - we were actually up there fighting for the promotion spots all the way to our game against Azul Claro - that defeat put us out of reach of the promotion spots. Still, I am very happy (and so is the board - they considered we already reached the top half goal they wanted for next season) with this, and I believe that with just a few adjustments, next season we'll be fighting for promotion. And we kinda have to, because we keep losing money.

And we're losing money at a steady pace of around 100k€ per month. Gate receipts and TV revenue, coupled with an increase in sponsorship money if we'd get promoted would mean that we'd stop hemorrhaging money. It has also inspired me - until we are one of the big teams, I want to see if I can start flipping players - it's true that the 4 foreigner rule will limit this, but I want to try and fill my foreign spots with great players coming on a free or very cheap, but I will not try to keep them at all cost - if a good offer comes, I will gladly accept it and move on to sign another cheap player. While I have 2 scouts, I have identified two main countries where I can get cheap good quality players that will accept coming to us - Brazil and the USA lower leagues/academies. I have already identified a few targets when I scouted Japanese/American players, which I will soon talk about.

Now, while I have already talked about our transfers in, I had not done so about out movements out. Not much to talk about thoughout the season, just me getting rid of deadwood and loaning some kids out, until the very last enrty in the list. Our first foreign signing, Carlos Maia, was a big disappointment. Never played to the level I expected him to - I mean, an average rating of 6.62, with just 2 goals and 3 assists when playing as an attacking midfielder?, and then when we tried to renew his contract, his demands were very unreasonable, and while I was trying to convince him to come back to earth, J2 team Holly Hock offered him a contract and he promptly accepted - I then checked him out asking them for 5k€ to let him join them 4 games before the end of the season.

This left the team like this at the end of the season. The best players of the season, in my opinion would be Miyamoto and Sagawa - Miyamoto is the absolute standout. The 27 year old Target Man scored plenty and also assisted quite a few goals - 15 goals makes him the best goal scorer, and 7 assists makes him second highest on the list for the team, and he is also the only one to have played every single game this year. He is the typical lower league tall target man too. Very physical, both strong and fast for the league, with good off the ball and decisions, very bad at finishing but great at heading - he also managed to get an award for himself, bagging the Monthly Most Valuable Player back in the month of April. Sagawa also managed to get himself an accolade, being chosed as the Goalkeeper in J3's Team of the Year. With great agility, handling and reflexes making him a great shot stopper for this level, he is possibly the reason why some of our worst exhibitions ended up as a draw.

Now, it's time of a new season. This time, things will be different. Last year, with Covid and because the Japanese leagues are suffering some slight re-structures, no team got relegated while to teams got promoted into J2 and two teams got promoted from the NFL below us. This season, two teams go up and two teams go down. I believe that with the players I have targeted for the transfer market we can be up there in the promotion spots next season. What I do know is that for next season the board  wants us to finish mid table again and they want me to repair the club's financial situation within the next two seasons. If we go up, and I manage to start flipping some players, I'd say that is doable too.