Apprentices
As in real football your club may take on apprentices to develop into replacements for your existing players in the future, rather than trying to buy replacements on the transfer market. Such players can be `discovered’ at any time as long as you do not have more than five AGE 18 LEVEL 0 APPRENTICES on your books at that time. This is done by selecting him for a match by writing a `D’ in the number box, against the name you chose for him, on your team sheet (don’t forget his nationality). To see how to discover APP’s and SBY’s correctly, take a look at `Filling in your Turn sheet’, towards the rear of this book. Apprentices must be used sparingly however, as during a season there is a limit to how many can be discovered, which presently stands at eight. After that the computer will disallow any further discoveries until the following season, so think carefully about it!
An APP must play his first six `qualifying’ games in the same position that he was discovered in, playing at performance level 0 for these matches. After their six game qualification period APP’s then become a level 2 normal player in that position, the first step on the ladder to regular first team status.
(NB Friendlies grant 1 qualifying game towards this six game target, competitive games grant 1.5 games as the APP learn more quickly in a competitive game setting).
After qualification, and ONLY after qualification, an APP can have his performance level raised through normal coaching methods. As he is young and very keen, the APP can have his level raised by two points each session. The costs in SP’s are the same as for any other player in his position (i.e. an APP GK needs 2 SP’s to raise his level by one point, so raising his performance level by two costs FOUR SP’s). If you have any unqualified APP’s on your books at the end of the season they will be lost (presumed as being not quite talented enough to make the grade) and you will have to discover new APP’s the following season. This means that there can never be a 19 year old APP in the game, for once the season ends, all recently qualified APP’s become normal players, while unqualified APP’s are sent home to get `a proper job’!
See also…