The article they had linked from the main page of hattrick which spoke against youth squad investment got me thinking. Is it really worth it? On one level it seems to be worth it. You spend $352k a season. I had a 17 year old solid scorer late last season and sold him for $340k. At that time my youth squad was passable and I was investing 10k a week, but now I've upped that to 20k a week and I'm now at solid. Since then I've only sold a few players, none for more than a few thousand. But I've pretty much covered the cost. And with a youth squad at excellent I think you're pretty much guaranteed to rake in more than the $352k/year you invest. So it seems to be a good investment. On Oceania Central there's an article where a guy claims to make $1.5-$3 million a year from his excellent squad. I've also seen somebody claim to have had a $1 million loss over 4 seasons of an excellent youth squad. Anybody know of any sites with some empirical data on the subject? Just having info from people with excellent YS's would be very nice to have. But look at it another way. $22,000 each week could buy you a passable player every week of the season. And you don't usually get a passable player every week. Might it be better to spend your youth squad money on trainees? If you're in a position where an extra few hundred thousand dollars wouldn't help your squad, then it might be different and you might as well look for that 17yo excellent. But for many couldn't that money be a nice way to upgrade the trainees you bring in. It's more than a million dollars every three years. Would investing that money in trainees make you better off in the long run? And for the sake of gathering some info here, if you have an excellent YS please estimate how much revenue you've brought in per season for as long as you've had an excellent YS.
My youth squad (never better than passable) paid for itself in my first two seasons, between a couple of solid players and my current keeper trainee. However, this season, at solid the whole way, it's been a loser. That's unfortunate, considering I could use the extra money; there's a specific improvement to the squad that I want to make in three weeks, and I'm not sure I'm going to get the attendance in week 22.10 to build my bank account that far.
i can't help but think that on average, youth squad will break even. If there is someone who earns 1 million per season, there's someone who'll lose that much. i've played this game for exactly 2 seasons now. I've made 900 000 from youth squad, high solid scorer, an excellent defender, and four crappy guys i sold for 15 000 each. so i guess i made like... 200 000? my youth squad just went to excellent, so i expect to make more money in the future. i think it's worth it, because it gives you the joy of promoting a player =). it's a game afterall. enjoy it in everyway you can.