10 · Dispatches
Growth, potential and the academy
A player is 44 numbers. 38 you can see; six you cannot — determination, adaptability, big matches, injury resistance, pressure handling, consistency. Every one of the 44 has a ceiling set the day he was born, and it never moves. You never see the ceiling as a number. Your coach and your scouts tell you in words.
Training is two sessions a day, the morning one heavier, all season long (the first session after a match is rest). You set a weekly pattern — six focuses: fitness, technical, tactical, attacking, defending, recovery — and override any day you like. Intensity low, medium or high: gains ×0.5 / ×1 / ×1.5, tiredness 5 / 10 / 20 percent. On top of the team session every player can carry one personal focus at half rate. The daily report tells you who moved.
How a point is earned. The lower the attribute, the faster it climbs. Then the ceiling starts to bite: at half-way you still get full gains, at three-quarters 80%, at 90% half, at 95% a fifth. There is no artificial cap per season — the slope is the cap. Hidden determination multiplies everything (a driven player trains ×1.5, a lazy one ×0.7); a tired player learns less; a good coach and a better facility add more. Grow a lot and you can even creep a little past the ceiling — a steep slope, not a wall.
The aging DNA. Every player has a pace and a type, and you find out by watching:
| Type | Share | Peak years |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | 55% | 26–30 |
| Early bloom | 15% | 22–27, then an early fade |
| Late bloom | 10% | 28–33 — the bargain nobody scouted |
| Consistent | 10% | 26–34, declines at half speed |
| Double bloom | 10% | 24–28 and again 31–33, with a dip between |
Goalkeepers peak two years later and play three years longer. Before the peak a player learns faster (×1.15); after it, every year past costs more, and his pace decides how brutally.
The academy. Build it for $3M and two weeks. Then fund it weekly, $0 to $50k; the level (0–10) is a three-season rolling average — about $5k a week per level — so it rewards patience, not a splash. Pick one of nineteen styles (a striker factory, a back-line school, a keeper school, a balanced one…); a style takes two seasons to reach full strength and two to fade after you switch. Youths arrive at 15–17 into eight slots, play a youth match on Sundays, get a report on Mondays, and grow toward their ceilings. You have from eight to nineteen weeks to decide: promote (permanent; a contract by his promise, one season plus two option years; a graduate trains 25% better his first year) or dismiss. Wait too long and he walks as a free agent.
The scars. Cut the funding by 60% or more against the last month and the academy drops three levels, the youths' morale crashes and it works at half strength for eight weeks. Years of neglect leave a permanent mark in its history that the town reads. Fund it steadily or not at all.
Tomorrow: fans, mood and the ground — what moves the mood, what fills the seats, and when to build.