San Marino Double Challenge FM2010

It doesn't work for me.

Copy and Paste this link if you are having trouble:

http://rapidshare.com/files/299811276/sanmarino.xml

Far as I can tell, its working.

It is now, thanks!

I'm surprised to see this up so early! After a break in 09, I was planning on finally getting back into this after enjoying a demo game with San Marino. I was just wondering about the nationality issues - none of my players could gain a San Marino passport in the demo, was 09 the peak for that? Even Italians could take up a passport if they couldnt get near the international team, now I'm assuming it might be back to non-EU nationals only. If they dont even work... well, youth team recruits only will be 'interesting'!

Just as a background, I was in the 08 San Marino challenge and dominating Italy with the club side (in a 50,000+ Olimpico) while reaching quarter finals with the national side, when my save game corrupted before Uruguay '30 I really felt I had a great chance of winning that, but after putting so much in I never really recaptured the fun in 09. I'm hoping this time around it'll be much better!

Isn't it really up to Ter to start this thread if he wants to? I know it's a slightly different challenge with the league editor now, but still it was Ter's challenge.

I'm at the halfway point of my first season, where the demo cut off, so I guess time for the first update.

January 2010 - Serie C2B

Same position as the demo, in the playoff places and with enough points to be top in either of the other two divisions! A slightly slower start means less points than before though, and now I'm really on a roll its time to have a real run at Celano.

A key early signing (and someone who I think will be very popular in this challenge) was Davide Bottone. £180k on the transfer list at Torino is a lot of money for this level, but in the summer the money was there and he's someone to really build a team around, hopefully for as long as he'll want to stay at the club. He took a while to settle, but now he has he's been absolutely monstrous - his tackles per game stat is terrifying to attackers at double the frequency of next highest in the league, and he's just completed training to dive into tackles even more. Key to our success has been keeping things tight at the back, and he's proved key in ensuring that very little reaches the defence to have to deal with.

Behind the scenes, Mirco Papini was promoted from youth coach to assistant manager, and through a couple of aquisitions we have a solid training schedule, at least 2 stars for all aspects and a couple of 3 - even 4 for goalkeeping coaching. A top physio (19 rating) was brought in, and although quality scouts are thin on the ground, I just dispatched our current one to central europe, more out of hope than anything that the knowledge might unearth some decent staff from Spain or France. Surprisingly though, it was a trip to Switzerland that proved the most fruitful...

Gentlemen, meet Emra Tahirovic

A £2m summer signing from Lille, he quickly found himself out of favour at FC Zurich and was transfer listed for a tenth of that. Strong, quick, driven and good with both feet (strong/very strong), he is by far the best player in the Serie C2, and I'd be surprised if there are many better in the division above. The £200k asking price has put us deep into the red, but for a player this talented I'm really looking to recoup at least seven figures from him in the next few years, he should really be playing at Serie B level and I'm hoping he'll settle quickly enough to produce the kind of performances that will attract that sort of attention. A complete striker at this level is almost unheard of, so the expectations are sky high - I'm hoping he has the attitude to go with the skills to accomplish them.

Have you asked Ter whether you can run the challenge this year?

:confused:

What's wrong with people doing it anyway.....?

I've hardly said its official... If Ter wants to endorse it, that's his choice.

Likewise, if he wants to run his own San Marino database, thats up to him.

I've made a database specifically for this challenge... which is different to previous years.

Ter might well choose to not have any San Marino leagues running - or even include Serie D.

I don't mean harm, and anyway, what is the harm anyway?

There's nothing 'that' wrong with doing it... its just regarded as extremely poor form on this forum to try and take over a challenge from someone else if you haven't asked them whether they are going to set it up again this year (even if you have credited him in the OP).

It is kind of regarded as etiquette that the original creator has the right to run it or not. A few years back Ter was quite late putting it up if I remember, and when the topic did go up so many people had done it anyway there were a load of Serie B people already on page 1!

I would have been playing San Marino regardless of topic, its just nice to have somewhere where I can share my exploits where I wont get told off for boring girlfriends or family members Season's almost over, I'll post an update either here or in Ter's topic depending on what happens.

What I was thinking actually was that until an official FM10 one went up, we could continue to post in the 09 challenge thread, but I didnt take part in that so dont know if it took off and couldnt find it on here, which is slightly unusual.

Final Serie C2/B Table

A stunning run from Christmas onwards saw only a single loss as our defence gelled and Tahirovic settled instantly, losing only a single game, going 6 games without conceding and managing two 5-0 victories to romp home to the title and promotion with a week to spare. Celano could have taken it to the wire, but fluffed their lines at the last minute, although recovering to win the playoffs. Our only minor failing was a very poor showing in the C2 super cup, suggesting that a change in approach might be needed for next season to cope with higher quality opposition.

Had Emra Tahirovic played two more games he would have easily taken the league's player of the year, with the highest rating by some distance in the division. Davide Bottone had a solid second half of the year, slightly marred by his high yellow card count causing him to miss several games - cover might be necessary for next year's campaign if he doesnt improve this side of his game.

The first choice squad by the end of 2010.

Financially, things are looking average by the end of the year, only £200k in the red due to new sponsorship, and we can expect higher attendances in a better class of league. However, while some fat will be trimmed from the wage budget, its likely that we'll again need significant investment in several positions to remain competitive, meaning advancement will need yet higher overheads. Due to their age, Bottone and Tahirovic are likely candidates for co-ownership during the summer, and we'll probably need to seriously consider it should the oppertunity come along.

Serie C1B Table - Xmas 2010

The table is a lot kinder to our performances than I'd be!

The squad had a complete overhaul in the summer, with a whole new midfield in particular built. Our diamond was already struggling against the top teams towards the end of last year, so I changed the tactics significantly - less direct, more focused on posession and build up play rather than going through an AMC playmaker. Defensively, this has worked a treat, allowing counters against the more formidable opponents, but also often struggling to score quite as many as we'd like - and if Tahirovic can be shut down, it'll take a lot to get the ball in the net. With no money to make any investments in the squad we've needed to do a lot of wheeling and dealing, and all of our signings to date have been free transfers.

I've got to really hand it to the new tactic system, its proving very intuitive and finally FUN at long last to make tactical tweaks where needed. Previously noticing that the MCs were struggling to influence the game would have required a lot of trial and error playing with width, closing down, tempo etc, now its much more intuitive. Essentially we're playing Liverpool's 4-5-1/4-3-3 system, but much flatter in the absence of wide quality or a Gerrard figure at this level. Bottone's moved more into the centre as a ball-winning midfielder with an advanced playmaker alongside him, and a much more straightforward anchor man shoring up the defence with no frills. Ideally I'd rather use no MC players at all, but quality at this level is an issue so we're making do for now.

There's a couple of interesting things happening in the game world outside of San Marino - some of the regens are catching my eye already, to name one. I sent a scout to the Czech Republic where he stumbled across a 19 year old goalkeeper with "Serie A potential", but with no money to spend I couldnt make a move. In the end, he went to Palermo for £200k, and he's already in their first team with them sitting in third! Also its worth keeping an eye on the teams that come up from the Serie D at the end of season 1 - in reality, Avellino, Pisa, Venezia and Messina were all removed from the Serie B due to bankrupcy over the summer, so there are some potential giants coming in under you if it takes too long to escape the lower levels. So far though none are performing anywhere near the level their resources should allow.

The second half of the season will be far less drastic than last time around - with virtually no prospects coming in to change things its more about consolidating our position, aiming to sneak into the playoffs and the financial windfall that'd provide, and keeping an eye on expiring contracts in the higher leagues and abroad.

Final Serie C1/B Table 2010/11

After expecting a quiet consolidation season in a higher division, this was the furthest thing from my mind! Consistent results had us in the playoff spots most of the season, but the most I was expecting was a game or two in front of a full house, not winning them as favorites!

On the last day of the season, I was level on points with Ternana but had lost to them twice over the course of the season. They were the one team I really didnt fancy - and to avoid having to beat them outright, I needed to finish above them for higher seeding. However, on the last day, they had Celano at home, and I had champions Rimini away - not the easiest task! 2-1 down at half time after a spirited showing, I checked the results... and was surprised to see that Celano were 3-0 up with nothing to play for, Ternana having utterly blown it. We pushed and pushed throughout the second half, but no breakthrough, until in the 92nd minute, with everyone up for a corner, a penalty was awarded! With the last kick of the ball in normal time for the season, Tahirovic stepped up and put it away to sneak second place and high seeding for the playoffs.

Lanciano were first, and after 2 very tight games we snuck through with higher seeding after a pair of 2-2 draws, with none of our trademark defensive steel on show. Ternana nearly blew it again - losing thier first leg, they managed to recover to win the second and meet us in the final.

Serie C1/B Playoff final first leg - Ternana 1 - 2 San Marino

Playing on the counter attack, with Ternana out of sorts we managed to break twice and lead comfortably at half time - with our seeding advantage, they needed to score 3 now, and didnt look remotely like doing it. Their goal after 72 minutes was very sloppy to give away after our normally dependable right back headed his clearance back into danger, but it was late on that our substitute keeper from last season's campaign had to put on the gloves to cover for Szamatulski's broken ribs, and entered San Marino folklore by saving an injury time penalty. Back to the fortress of Serravalle, they now needed to win by 2 clear goals, but with our keeper out injured would some cracks begin to show?

Serie C1/B Playoff final second leg - San Marino 1 - 0 Ternana

In short - no, not even close. Sub keeper Pellegrini barely had a save to make throughout the 90, another counter attack meant they needed to score 3 goals, and the heads went down and we crossed the finish line in cruise control. A stunning end to a season that far surpassed even the most optomistic of expectations, and we'll be spending next year in the Serie B!

Key to our fortunes after a relatively anonymous start was Rotterdam-born Cape Verde playmaker Guy Ramos. Released despite a stunning season for FC Dordrecht, it was only when he was granted a little more creative freedom in an advanced playmaker role that he really started to find his feet, linking up with Tahirovic to really strike fear into the hearts of defences. Talking of our Swedish star, it seems that in January his ability got to his head, requesting to leave to play at a higher level. With debts of £600,000, all credit has to go to our chairman for offering me the right to refuse bids of £375,000 - not what I thought he was worth, and we would never be able to find a suitable replacement with the debts still looming. He was forced to stay til the end of the season, and if anything got even better as he tried to place himself in the shop window. The summer will be interesting - Serie B TV money ought to drag us out of the red, and we could well end up playing at the sort of level he's aiming to be at, so it could prove beneficial for all involved for him to stay at the club.

On the to do list, a goalkeeper, left back, anchor man and right winger are needed to step up a level, plus a potential striker replacement should a suitable bid come in for Tahirovic. We should have a non-EU slot to make things interesting, and maybe even a bit of a transfer budget depending on sponsorship and TV money. Unlike last summer where we had to rely on wheeling and dealing to get any cover in, this time around we might even lose the resource of loan cover from higher clubs - unless Champions League teams' youngsters would finally be willing to come. It'll be a very interesting season next year - we'll have the least resources and smallest ground in the division by some distance, so I dont foresee any more continuations of our epic journey just yet.

San Marino Calcio Season 09/10 Serie C2/B

After playing last year’s challenge and completing it, what better way to start a long term game than with this year’s edition?

Initial assessment of the squad was that it was probably strong enough for a mid table finish, but with the formation I had in mind; a 4-3-1-2, a new attacking midfielder would be needed at the very least, along with a new striker and a couple of new midfielders. Defence looked pretty strong, but if the opportunity came along to improve it I wouldn’t hesitate to buy some extra defenders. The wage budget was generous, but I know from experience how fast you lose money in this league even if you’re under budget, so I transferred some to transfer budget to free up some money to improve the squad and hopefully escape this division at the first attempt.

First order of business was to find suitable players to improve the squad, and the first through the door was central midfielder Matteo Longhi for £12k from Alessandria. Then came Diego Ricardo, another central midfielder, on a free transfer. Luka Spetic also joined, this time for £40k as we continued to strengthen the middle of the park. Michel Cruciani joined as an attacking option in the midfield trio I had planned. I then turned my attention to the attacking midfield slot, and a Morrocan on loan from Brescia, called El Kaddouri, filled the spot nicely, where he would hopefully be able to chip in with a couple of goals whilst also linking up well with my strikers.

Veteran striker Sossio Aruta came in to partner Alessandro Cesca up front, and his high finishing ability would hopefully mean he could tuck away the chances that would be created by my newly strengthened midfield.

With the addition of Aruta, I turned to my defence, who were now looking weak in the face of my additions. Hannes Kiem came in for £35k, while Emanuele Bruni and Giulio Daleno joined on frees. Mirko Quaresima joined for £8k to become my first choice right back, while the left back position alternated between Bruni and Christian Pennucci. Daniele Tazza joined on a free, the goalkeeper ousting Scotti as the number 1, to complete my overhaul of the defence and also complete the summer’s spending.

With this many players coming in, others inevitably had to be let go. Most notable were Luigi Grassi, who left for Pro Vasto for £14k, Federico Tafani who left for £10k, and Davide Poletti, who left for £16k. Daniele Pedruzzi also left for £14k, and along with 7 free transfers they were the club’s exits this season.

In the Serie C Cup we made it through the group stage unbeaten, with two wins and two draws meaning we qualified as one of the best runners-up. In the first round we pulled off a shock by beating Serie C1 club Foggia 2-1, Cruciani and then Bruni scoring late on to let us come from behind. Novara dumped us out in the next round however, the then Serie C1/A leaders beating us 4-2, despite a spirited fightback that saw us come from 3-0 down to 3-2, missing a penalty in the process.

We won 4 out of our first 5 Serie C2/B games, the only blip a 2-1 loss to Prato. Cesca scored our winner on the opening day against Poggisbonsi, a 1-0 win. Cesca and Bruni then both scored to give us a 2-1 win against Sangiovannese. Loanee right back Calfiero scored a late winner against Giacomense to put us up with the leaders after 4 games, and then a 4-0 win against Pro Vasto put us top, briefly. El Kaddouri scored his first goals for the club, getting a hat-trick, and Cesca got the other one to give us our most comfortable win yet.

We then proceeded to lose 3 of our next 4, which dropped us down to mid table, our only win coming against Sacilese courtesy of a penalty from Bruni. Next followed four wins in a row to propel us back into playoff contention. Cesca and a brace from Cruciani against our rivals from Bellaria set us on the way with a 3-1 win, and another 3-1 win against Lucchese, thanks to goals from Cesca and first goals of the season for Guaita and Diego Ricardo, the latter winning goal of the month. Sanguiestese were dispatched 2-1, with Cesca and Guaita scoring the goals, before another 2-1 win against Celano, Cesca getting another, and Delano scoring his first for the club.

Our inconsistency struck again as we lost 4 of our next 5, the only relief coming against Prato, a 2-1 win with goals from Cruciani and Cesca briefly getting our hopes up. Despite this, we were still just about hanging on to a playoff spot, a position I would be delighted with at the end of the season.

Next came the run that made our season. 9 games unbeaten, with 5 wins and 4 draws firmly catapulted us into the playoff picture. Our new £1.5k signing Tchomogo proved to be the key man in this run, as he replaced El Kaddouri at AMC and proceeded to score 5 goals in these 9 games.

With 5 games left we were looking like a playoff spot. Gubbio were miles clear at the top and we had a nice cushion between ourselves and 6th spot. Even a 3-0 loss to Celano didn’t make our position seem that precarious, despite that meaning the gap closed to 6 points. We went back to winning ways against Fano, as Tchomogo scored all 4 in a masterful performance. With that 4-1 win we were almost certain of our playoff spot, and it was secured despite a 1-0 loss to champions Gubbio in the next game. Cesca scored the winner against Colligiana to set up a tasty final day fixture against Itala. They were 3rd, we were 4th, and it was almost certain we would meet in the playoffs barring a minor miracle. If we won we would have the higher seeding, anything less and Itala would be 3rd. As it was we dominated but didn’t find the breakthrough, so we finished 4th and headed into our playoff matches against Itala knowing we needed to win clearly over the two legs.

The first leg couldn’t have gone much better. Tchomogo and Cruciani gave us a 2-0 lead and we held onto it for the rest of the game. A fairly routine win but it would have been nice to convert some of the other chances that came our way. Aruta was particularly guilty of these misses.

In the second leg we went 1-0 down inside 5 minutes, leaving me to contemplate what went wrong in the team talk. Nevertheless, we switched to a counter attacking style and it paid off, Longhi scoring his first for the club with a point blank header to restore our 2 goal lead. Our targeting of Itala’s top scorer effectively blunted their attack, so despite their second goal, we hung on to put ourselves into the playoff final against Nocerina.

In the first leg of the final, played at home, we went 2-0 down just after half time and I was looking down the barrel of another season in this league, when Cruciani managed to loop a header over the Nocerina keeper to give us hope. Cesca then blasted in his 11th of the season to give us the equaliser and give us hope to take to the away leg.

Things once again looked bad once Nocerina took a 6th minute lead, but Cruciani again began the recovery in the 15th minute as he tapped in a rebound from Cesca’s shot. Three minutes later Tchomogo combined with Aruta, a move which left the African attacking midfielder free to slot home his 10th of the season and give us our first lead in this tie. This lead lasted until midway through the second half when Nocerina scored from a corner. Just as extra time loomed on the horizon, 39 year old Aruta picked the perfect time to end his near-1000 minute drought, popping up to send us into the third tier with a close range finish.

Serie C1 football for Titani next year

Next year I’d be happy to avoid relegation, but we pushed the two Serie C1 sides we played in the cup hard, so with the right additions and the replacement of some of our ageing bodies, we may find ourselves higher up the table.

Final Position 4th (Promoted through playoffs)

Top Goalscorer Alessandro Cesca (12) Honourable mention to Tchomogo, who finished with 10 in half a season

Highest Rating Christian Pennucci (7.15)

The Josef Svec award for best signing

Tchomogo certainly has to be a contender here; his goals in the second half of the season were instrumental, and all this for only £1.5k. Despite this, the award goes to Giulio Daleno, who was a rock at the back for us this year, and with his fee being £0, he has to be one of the biggest bargain signings for a while.

And about a quarter of the way into the next season the San Marino National Team job becomes available. I applied and got the job, so I'll be juggling both halves of this challenge from now on.

A quick bit of news from the new season: We're 2nd in the league after 8 games. We would be first but for a ridiculous 5 minute comeback from 2-0 down by our last opponents.

The first national team game is done, a 7-0 defeat to Denmark. We're useless without Selva. And only marginally less useless with him

Might go back to the old standby tactic for this challenge of "Give it to Selva and see what he can do with it".

Ah - what an almighty challenge this is. Played the FM09 challenge. It was hard but I won Serie A eventually and qualified for some NT tourneys.

Its the only game I played in FM09, wasn't too motivated for anything else.

Good luck to all takers of the FM2010 version. Spend your money wisely and use your sell on clauses wisely.

Ive just started this. I think Ill set expectations as mid table finish so that I don't risk the sack

Now affiliated with Fiorentina which will hopefully get me some good young players

Today is a momentous occasion in the history of San Marino. We drew against South Korea 1-1 even, so the first goal in my short international career, scored by some random amateur centre midfielder playing in the San Marinese league.

Urgh, I've been really unwell the last few days, sorry if this update's not quite up to my usual standards.

Final Serie B table, 2011/12

Frankly, we were utterly outclassed in the beginning of the season, just went up too soon. The team was a work in progress all year, and by January we were doomed - 10 points and rock bottom. Somehow, miraculously though we turned it around and had a storming run up the table, but in the end just fell short by the most agonizing of margins. A single extra point from somewhere would have kept us alive going into a playoff, but we just couldnt quite pull it off.

The club's finances are secure at last though - £400k for Tahirovic with only 6 months left on his contract was a great deal, and going into the new C1 season I managed to get £500k each for a DC and goalkeeper that I'd already signed replacements for! Excellent business considering I wasnt happy with their contribution in keeping us up.

This year we should have the strongest squad in the division, so I'm expecting to probably come back up again, will just need to keep an eye out for decent players. There were plenty of top quality players available and willing to come, but we just couldnt compete with teams that had literally 10 to 100 times our resources. When we had £100k to spend and at least one transfer in the division went over the £10m mark (albeit outward), it'd take miracles in the free transfer market (with a tenth of the wages of our rivals available) to compete. It almost wouldnt have been so bad if we'd just continued on the way we had and gone down bottom with 15 points, but the fact that we came so close to pulling it off was hard to take. At least in a much less pressured environment, and finally with some cash in the bank we can try and invest in the future a bit and really get to grips with a tactical system the way I want us to play, instead of desperately trying to fit around what little talent we can manage.

After finally completing last years challenge not long ago, afraid to say I don't think I have the will to do it again!

Good luck to anybody doing it though, it really is a great challenge.

That's really quite unlucky Oktober, hopefully you can bounce back quickly.

Just approached a player who wanted a £7 signing on fee. Does he want bus fare to and from the contract talks or something?

Also, with 4 games left of the season I'm in 5th place in Serie C1/B, and I play 3 of the top 5 in my last 4 games, including the two of the top three. Automatic promotion, while unlikely, is not out of the question.

First game played: Omar Torri scores a hat trick to give Titani a 3-0 win, moving them up to third, only two points behind Crotone and Gallipoli, who are battling it out at the top and are neck and neck. Next up for the San Marinese is a home game against Gallipoli.

And in that game, we take the lead through Jabuti. Everything looks great, we're second in the table and only 2 behind Crotone, but a late Gallipoli fightback leaves us 2-1 down, and that's how it finishes. We're in 5th with two games left. Auto is pretty much gone now, all we can do is try and place as good as possible for the playoffs.

We're still in the playoffs after our game against Cavese, only on goal difference despite a 4-1 win in which Torri continued his good form by scoring all 4, admittedly including 2 penalties. The last game is against Potenza, the team in 6th, and we can still reach 2nd if results go our way.

And a 2-1 win against Potenza, Torri getting another goal and Nizzetto scoring the winner secures our playoff spot, while losses for Portosummaga and Gallipoli mean that we finish second and have the highest seeding for the playoffs.

San Marino Calcio Season 10/11 Serie C1/B

Our first season in the third tier of Italian football, and we knew that strengthening would we required to hopefully challenge for the playoffs, but even relegation would be a worry with the squad as it stood. The main issue was the amount of players that were probably too old to make the step up, including last season’s heroes Sossio Aruta, who ended up in the reserves for the season, and Tchomogo, who left on a free due to him not playing. The main moves out were Massara, a left winger who wasn’t needed due to the formation we’re playing, for £7k to Venezia, Mortaro left to join Pisa for £40k, a large amount for someone who played only 10 games last year. Christian Pennucci joined Cuneo for £6k, the player of the year’s age catching up with him in a big way, and Alessandro Ligi left to join Montevarchi for £10k. Emanuele Bruni left for £7k, also to Pisa, and Daniele Tazza exited for 12k to Rodengo. The other main move out was the free transfer of Spetic to Fano. All in all we recouped £82k in transfer fees, but also moved out a large chunk of wages that were not going to be required this season.

Coming in, we first made the free transfer signings of Omar Torri, the striker coming in from AlbinoLeffe to improve our ailing forward line, and Ivan Romero, a left back who would be taking over from the departing Pennucci in the left back spot. His attacking stats also help him, as in my formation the full backs take part in a lot of attacks to provide width. The biggest signing was Javi Ros, the young Spanish DM, who joined for £250k, which admittedly was spread out over 48 months. Alessandro Rapino, from Cavese, and Andrea Bertin, from Inter, were the big signings in the centre half position, while Oscar Valero was brought in to take over from Quaresima at right back. Gabriele Aldegani and Simone Colombini were my goalkeeper signings, the two being at opposite ends of their careers. Aldegani, at 35, is coming to the end of his while Colombini is only 19 and just beginning his professional journey. Jabuti came in to add some much needed pace to the forward line, and alongside Torri he would be half of my first choice forward line. Davide Georgino and Luca Nizzetto, a free transfer and £40k signing respectively, came in to improve my midfield positions alongside Javi Ros, with all three capable of performing the box-to-box task adequately. Gianluca Simari joined near the end of the transfer window from Erfurt for £22k, and he would be my first choice AMC.

Our season got off to a great start as we played in the Coppa Italia for the first time. In the first qualifying round we managed to sneak a win against fellow Serie C1/B side Sassuolo, although they had recently been relegated, so this still counts as a shock. Jabuti and Georgino got debut goals to give us a 2-1 win. In the second qualifying round we pulled off an even bigger shock, as we beat Serie B team Salernitana 2-0, with two heroes of Serie C2 doing the damage. Diego Ricardo opened the scoring and Michel Cruciani gave us the cushion we needed. Next up was Serie A side Bologna, and we, frankly, needed a miracle. It didn’t come and we were comfortably dispatched 3-0, but it was still a promising run for my side.

In the Serie C Cup first round we were held to a 2-2 draw against Paganese, with Simari getting his first goals for the club. We ended up holding our nerve to win on penalties and advance to the second round. We then dispatched our former nemesis Nocerina 1-0, Cruciani getting the winner to put us into the 3rd round group stage. We lost our first game against Cremonese 5-3, with Simari getting another brace and Cruciani scoring one, but that made our task nearly impossible, and we had to hope Foggia could beat Cremonese. They lost heavily, so we were out of the competition by the time we had to play next, against Foggia. Jabuti made sure we exited on a high with a 1-0 win.

Onto the league, and we started with a win over Real Marcianese thanks to Torri scoring two on his league debut. We then drew two and won three of the next five games, Jabuti scoring four and Torri getting another three to add to his tally. Another two draw-three win sequence, including consecutive 4-1 wins had us top after eleven games. Jabuti got another five and Gianluca Simari scored four in this sequence. The unbeaten record went after we lost 1-0 to Pro Vercelli, and three draws in a row allowed the rest of the pack to catch up. A win in the next game thanks to Torri and Jabuti got us back on track but a 2-1 loss to Gallipoli dropped us into second. Despite winning the next two games we were still second after 18 games. Then came a run that very nearly cost us dear, as we lost two and drew four of our next six games, putting us on the brink of going out of the playoff spots. Torri at least kept us his form with four goals, and then Jabuti along with Nizzetto got us that long-awaited win. Two more 2-2 draws kept us in the playoffs, with Torri and Simari scoring in both games. A 1-0 loss to Pro Vercelli nearly cost us, but then we won four of our last five games to secure second spot behind champions Crotone. Torri really came into a purple patch in these games, notching nine times to take his tally well past 20 for the season.

The Playoff Semi Final was against 5th place Ternana, and we were doing well, leading 2-1 through Carletes, a January signing at AMC, and Jabuti, but another January signing, Joona Toivio, a centre half, got himself sent off and we paid for it, conceding in injury time to lose 3-2. We therefore went back to Olimpico knowing we had to win, and at half time it was level, but up popped Andrea Bertin, in to replace Toivio, with two headed goals to send us through to a final against Portosummaga.

The first leg played out similarly to against Ternana. We went 1-0 up through Torri, but we sat back too much and were punished by two quick goals, leaving us with a 2-1 deficit to make up at Olimpico. Torri then managed to do that just before half time in the second leg, and we held on to take it to extra time. We could have won it, but as it stood, we ended up winning on higher seeding after extra time, so we were thankful for Portosummaga’s loss in the last game of the season.

Serie B football for Titani next year

One other thing, let’s take a moment to laugh at Birindisi. Relegated with 5 points, in total, they were down by the end of March.

Final Position 2nd (Promoted through playoffs)

Top Goalscorer Omar Torri (26)

Highest Rating Omar Torri (7.10)

The Josef Svec award for best signing

Unsurprisingly, Omar Torri makes it a clean sweep, his goals being enough to secure us another promotion. Not bad for a free transfer.

Year League Position Notes    National Team Ranking
09/10 C2/B  4th      Promoted 207th
10/11 C1/B  2nd      Promoted 198th

Any one playing in the San Marino Leagues

I'm considering adding another manager to play in the San Marinese league aswell, see if I can't improve them enough to give us good youngsters from two clubs.

A big result for the national team, their first ever competitive point, as goals from Manuel Marani and Matteo Vitaioli pull them back from 2-0 down against Azerbaijan to earn a 2-2 draw.

Edit: I've added a new manager. Marco Selva is now the manager of SS Murata. Time to see how I can improve the squad enough to win the league.

Final Serie C1/B Table, 2012/13

A massively frustrating season, topped off by coming literally within a minute of promotion in a playoff final where we conceded an equaliser in injury time.

As the new big boys of the division, basically everyone set up to park the bus against us, leading to a hugely frustrating amount of drawn games. Once we got the first goal and broke down defences we tended to go on and hammer them, but in the end while we had the better of any team on the day we just didnt get enough points.

Same again next year, the aim is just to try and turn more of those draws into points so we can sweep the division like I know we're capable of. On the plus side, a lot of money was made via player sales thats been reinvested in promising youngsters, so hopefully that will pay some long-term dividends. Until then its just business as usual, looking for good free transfers and loaned backups.

Final Serie C1/B Table, 2013/14

Exactly the same story as last, with too many draws, massively frustrating yet again.

The season started very well with key striker Tomas Jun in stunning form, netting 20 in the first 20 games, and leaving us looking in good position - if it wasnt for how well our rivals were also doing. Two periods of 5 draws in a row after christmas killed things though, and typically we only managed to draw twice in the playoff semi final to end the season two matches earlier, very disappointing.

We still have youth prospects and should be more than capable, its just about making sure we take all the points from games, which we seem to find extremely hard. Too many teams are prepared to just park the bus and nick one from a set peice, and even going all out through the whole second half only ever seems to bring about 2 or 3 chances. Its also extremely unhelpful when our chairman sells 3 of our back 4 for roughly £500k each with a week before the end of the transfer window, but a takeover is looming and I'm hopeful that this new one will help provide some funds to push on into the Serie B. The talent is there and interested, but when we can only offer £3000 a week its massively stifling our potential for improvement.

San Marino Calcio Season 11/12 Serie B

A boatload of free transfers this season as we prepared for Serie B, with a completely pointless transfer budget (£30k) but a surprisingly lenient wage budget. In came Inigo Perez (MC) from Athletic Bilbao, Tommaso Berni (GK) from Lazio, a bit of Brazilian flair in FC Zürich’s AMC Lincoln, and to add some strength to the backline, LB Lee Naylor also joined. Spanish midfielder Benat joined from Betis while we also completed the coup of signing 36 year old Julio Cruz on a free from Levante. Despite his age, his technical stats are still miles ahead of anyone else I have, so I’d just have to find a way to ensure he didn’t need to run around too much. The final signing of the summer was Nicolas Desenclos, the Armenian coming in at right back to improve on my options there.

We offloaded a large amount of players to be able to pay for the wages the players coming in demanded. Michel Cruciani and Gabriele Aldegani both joined Pisa for fees just above £20k, and the rest of the departures were for around the same level, except for Ivan Romero who joined Pro Vercelli for £60k.

In the TIM Cup we made it to the 4th Qualifying round once again, beating Modena 5-4, after being 4-1 down at half time. Omar Torri scored a hat-trick, and Benat and Inigo Perez got debut goals to complete the comeback. We beat Cremonese 3-2 in the third qualifying round, Lincoln and Cruz getting their first goals for the club, and Jabuti making it 3-1, before Cremonese got a goal back late on, but too late to make a difference. Jabuti’s late equaliser against Siena didn’t end up mattering as we went out on penalties, Gianluca Simari missing the crucial kick.

In Serie B things didn’t go brilliantly to start with, as we began with consecutive 2-1 losses, and then drew the next 3 games to give us 3 points from the first 5 games. We finally got our first win in the next game, against Mantova, as we won 2-0 through Cruz and Jabuti. Torino then smashed us 6-2, and we recovered well to win our next two games, Jabuti scoring the winner against Crotone and a 4-2 win against Ancona, with a double from Benat, Jabuti getting another and Cruz continuing to score despite age being against him. 5 losses out of the next 6 games didn’t help our cause, the only point coming from Cruz’s equaliser against Vicenza in a 1-1 draw. We then won one and drew two of our next three games, with Jabuti and Cruz scoring 2 each, Carletes getting his first of the season and even Bertin chipping in with one. We ended the year and began the next with a run of 5 games without scoring a single goal. Luckily we managed to pick up a couple of points through 0-0 draws.

The January window was always going to be important, and I shifted the bulk of our wage budget to transfer money to pay for the improvement that would certainly be needed. The main signing was from Sampdoria for the hefty sum of £625k, and central defender Santos also joined, for only £22k. Ramses Gado came in at right back to improve our attacking side of the defence, as goals were certainly our issue. Julio Cruz’s injury came as a slight setback, but he would likely have been phased out by Foti eventually anyway.

We still struggled as January came to a close, with two draws and a loss in the next three games, but Foti scored a brace in both draws to get himself off to a flyer. We finally won a game in mid-February against AlbinoLeffe, a 2-1 win courtesy of Javi Ros’ thunderbolt, and we followed it up with a 3-1 triumph over Torino at Olimpico. Foti, Javi Ros and Benat got the important goals. A draw and two more wins in the next three games allowed us to slightly pull away from the relegation zone, and after a minor blip of two straight losses we won three and drew two of our next five to almost certainly save ourselves. 3 consecutive 2-1 losses ended up meaning that we weren’t safe from a playout, and we ended up dropping into 18th position in the last game of the season as we drew with Verona. We would play AlbinoLeffe for the right to remain in Serie B.

The first leg was away from home, and Foti gave us an early lead, which we held until half time. Lee Naylor then gave away a penalty less than a minute after the break which was converted. Foti again put us back in the lead but another goal for AlbinoLeffe meant it was 2-2 on aggregate as we headed to Olimpico.

A dull game, to be honest, which was only brought to life by the magic touch of Julio Cruz, who proved he still had something to offer even at the age of 37 and after suffering an injury that made him consider retirement. In the 87th minute he stepped up and smashed a free kick home to make it 1-0 on the night, 3-2 on aggregate, and we held on to ensure our place in Serie B.

Final Position 18th (Won Playout)

Top Goalscorer Jabuti (16) Foti pushed him close, getting 14 in only 23 appearances

Highest Rating Benat (7.16)

The Josef Svec award for best signing

There are perhaps three contenders for this: Salvatore Foti, for his goals and assists that probably kept us up in the end, Benat, who stood in as captain and provided a good amount of goals from midfield, and Julio Cruz, who ended up scoring 8 goals and setting up 9, not bad for a 37 year old free transfer. Overall, it has to go to Benat, who joined on a free and was integral in our midfield.

Year League Position Notes National Team Ranking
09/10 C2/B  4th      Promoted   207th
10/11 C1/B  2nd      Promoted   198th
11/12 B     18th    Won Playout 205th 

The national team dropped, surprisingly, considering their draw against Azerbaijan, but hopefully the club side’s progress will result in some better players eventually.

hey all ill be doing this again i love this challenge and i have more time now

NT ranking will be very very hard to improve.

In 09, i had it up to 9th.

But since can't nationalise players now - very tough.

Oh well; lucky I played it in 09

hey i'd love a crack at this but rapidshare is telling me there's no more space for non-registered people at this point in time, anyone want to send me the necessary file? That'd be dead sound

Nice, i like these challenges.

Just one question: why don´t you put the option to players gain second nationality?

I´ll do this when i discover ho many years are necessary... : )

has this just been given up on?

I gave up because I got back into playing my East Belfast FM 2008 game. May start it up again soon though.

Looks like it perhaps someone could manage in the San marion league?

Right then boys... Thought I'd share this magical day with you...

Based on my hugely successful and even more enjoyable FM08 game...

I made the pilgrimage yesterday and lived the dream today...

In with the "ultras", all 9 of them!

And the proud owner of a San Marino Calcio Shirt and scarf! Scarf was a present from the fans I stood with! (So was the beer, wine and shot of something!)

P.S. San Marino 1 - 0 Nocerina, Forza biancoazzurri!!

That's awesome jamiechuter.

What was the attendance at the game you were at by the way? I'm curious.

€15 well spent

That's awesome jamiechuter.

What was the attendance at the game you were at by the way? I'm curious.

Probably about 300-350 I'd guess at, 200 probably the away fans alone! By far out sung the 9 San Marino fans that actually wanted to sing....

Okay on the SM website.... "Spettori 250 circa." so change the above to 250 fans and about 150 away fans...

Was a cracking goal that won the match as well I'd love to find a video to watch it again!

Right then boys... Thought I'd share this magical day with you...

Based on my hugely successful and even more enjoyable FM08 game...

Excellent work.

Feel good?

How you doing with NT?

Amazing

+1

Great photo's. Having done the 09 challenge, I always wondered what it all looked like, stadium. And now I know, there is a track and a long jump pit. hehe. Nothing new in those parts.