I copy that great idea from Spendlove to have a thread for interantional managers below premier league. In the German section this thread is full of thrilling and funny stories, valuable tipps and insights in potential strategies. I hope this thread will fill up similarly.
So I start with my main club: SSV Jahn Regensburg playing 2. League North. I began in season 80 and after the first steps without a real strategy I focused on developing young adults with the help of trainers. I took up regular friendly matches around season 86/87. Until then I was always surprised when teams with lower ability squashed my boys.
Also, I built good relationships to other managers in this game (great guys ) through friendly matches and cooperation at player lending. For me that brought even more fun to the game.
Meanwhile I am scouting and developing the youths myself and I am waiting for my first completely self-scouted and developed guys (Francesco Fraioli and Johann Linde) to join the adult team. That is absolutely necessary, since my top players are about to reach the peak of their performance and I need fresh players to achieve my goal which is to promote to the premier league. I missed this goal this season which was a big disappointment. But other managers develop strong teams as well and competition is fierce.
My strategy is to stay in the 2. League for the time being to benefit from the efficient special training and get the guys ready for Premier League.
I am looking forward to reading more stories from other managers. Naturally, German speaking managers are more than welcome here as well to share their experiences.