Looking for advice on creating custom team w/ custom players

Alright, so I'm hoping to create my own custom team with custom players for FM19. What I'm hoping to do is create a club in a lower English tier with a team full of 16-17 year olds who have a variety of PA that will result in a competitive EPL team in x years time. A few questions I have:

* Which league should I start my club in for it to be a competitive challenge for a squad of 16-17 year olds?
* Should I model the team settings off one of the existing teams in the chosen league?
* Is there an easy way to create players off random generation, or by putting in the -8, -9 stat rating into a single PA attribute and let the game randomise the CA and other stats etc? (there are way too many stats to go through filling in each one for 20-30 new players!)

I'm hoping to be able to be competitive and slowly make my way through the leagues up to the EPL, and of course hopefully win it one day. I really want to keep this squad together for the entirety of the journey, but that will probably be unlikely. Either way I want to set it up so that the club will be able to progress both on and off the pitch and keep up with everything financially, without it being sugar-daddy-esque. I also want to players to develop such that some may become world class, a few stars, a solid squad, and maybe a few who just don't quite cut it.

Any tips are greatly appreciated!

In general, I've found that FM doesn't really model the lack of experience in a team very well, so I don't reckon it'll make any difference where you start off, as long as the players' CA is high enough.

Re team settings, I'd probably use the same attributes (or similar) to one in the division you want to start in.

If you leave a player's attribute(s) empty, the game will generate appropriate attributes based on the guy's CA. You can only enter a minus value (-6, -7 etc. in the PA field, not in the attributes section as you seem to be mentioning. The game also weighs different attributes according to CA and playing position (e.g. marking is weighted more strongly for a defender than for a winger, while finishing is more important for a striker than a defender).

Remember also, that just because a player has a high PA doesn't mean he'll achieve it. The level of coaching he receives in his formative years, the quality of the facilities, the amount of exposure to first team football, amount and duration of injuries and mental attributes (among other things) all impact on his ability to reach his potential.

Hope this helps

Thanks mate,

So the simplest way to create a team is to pick a random league, rename a team of choice (as I have to dump a team from a league if I am adding my team anyway don't I?), then either duplicate some young players I know of who are potential future stars, or create new players with as little as PA, position, and CA values?

I want to make it as simple as possible because if I spend a week trying to make a club I'll never actually play any games. But alternatively I don't want to play it heaps, get to season 3 and realise that my entire club is junk and I completely wasted my time. Guess I could sim through a few seasons, but that almost feels like a spoiler for any future play.