07.03.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 2 - 2 Foggia (Lega Serie Bwin) Wesley Verbeek put us in the lead, before two mistakes lead to Foggia taking the lead. However, Sergio Corallo netted in the 89th minute to give us the draw.
11.03.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 0 Novara (Lega Serie Bwin) Valerio Grassi. BOOM.
21.03.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 3 - 1 Cremonese (Lega Serie Bwin) We took the lead twice through Valerio Grassi's double and Sergio Corallo's late goal sealed the deal.
24.03.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 2 - 0 Mantova (Lega Serie Bwin) Spmewhat revenge after their thumping of us in the earlier fixture. Valerio Grassi scored the opener, before Wesley Verbeek made the game safe.
28.03.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 0 - 1 Torino (Lega Serie Bwin) This was the game that could have seen us 6 points clear with 10 games left. Instead, we're tied with 10 left.
04.04.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 2 - 0 Vicenza (Lega Serie Bwin) Cristian Pinton lashed home to put us in the lead. Valerio Grassi then scored a beauty to give us the win.
10.04.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 3 - 1 Grosseto (Lega Serie Bwin) Wesley Verbeek's double and a goal from Mario Nosdeo gave us all three points..
18.04.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 0 Triestina (Lega Serie Bwin) A tight game was settled by Mario Nosdeo's goal.
25.04.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 0 Empoli (Lega Serie Bwin) Mario Nosdeo was again our hero, scoring the winner.
02.05.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 0 Nocerina (Lega Serie Bwin) Davide Ranieri hit the winner in this tight game.
05.05.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 2 - 0 Sorrento (Lega Serie Bwin) Davide Ranieri's opening goal knocked the stuffing out of them and it was only a matter of time before Valerio Grassi gave us all three points..
09.05.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 2 - 2 Brescia (Lega Serie Bwin) This was the most important game of the season. Win, and the title was virtually mine. Lose and we were behind, looking up. Valerio Grassi twice gave us the lead before twice being pegged back. This draw meant.....
16.05.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 2 Reggina (Lega Serie Bwin) Understandably, the boys seemed to have their minds on next season and playing in the Serie A TIM next season. Sergio Corallo notched our only reply.
23.05.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 0 Hellas Verona (Lega Serie Bwin) Valerio Grassi provided the only goal of the game in this match. Coupled with Brescia's loss, it mean't...
AWWWWWW YYEEEEAAAHHH!!
31.05.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 0 - 0 Varese (Lega Serie Bwin) Last game, had won the title, played the kids. Managed a credible draw.
So, this is it. I'm here. I said I wanted to take catenaccio to Serie A TIM and I have, by finishing 1st in Lega Serie Bwin. I'm over the moon. Next season will be a struggle, although I do believe I may ACTUALLY have a budget... *shock*
Well done on an amazing season, winning the title is just brilliant! Can't wait to see what Catenaccio can do in Serie A.
Originally Posted by HotChocolate
Flying up the leagues now!
Brilliant promotion *double thumbs up*
Originally Posted by B.W.G
Big congrats on winning Serie B with Santarcangelo.Enjoy next season
Originally Posted by City2000
Wow, brilliant progress. Congrats on reaching Serie A! Can't wait to see how you do there.
Originally Posted by roganp
Fantastic work. Looking forward to seeing if Catenaccio can work in Serie A
Originally Posted by P O\'D
Great stuff. Your in the big time now. Keep it going.
Thank you one and all. It's such a great feeling to get there finally. The personally satisfying thing is I've got there with mainly a youth policy, yes I've bought players in, but I've only spent £250k in 9 years, and that was only 1 player last year!
Great job you're doing with Santarcangelo, especially these last two seasons. Your youth setup is also quite amazing, Doria was brilliant and it's a shame you lost him, but Mazzanti already looks like a Serie A level striker at 15. If you manage to develop him I'm sure he'll become an Italian international player.
Good luck in your first season in Serie A as well.
Great job you're doing with Santarcangelo, especially these last two seasons. Your youth setup is also quite amazing, Doria was brilliant and it's a shame you lost him, but Mazzanti already looks like a Serie A level striker at 15. If you manage to develop him I'm sure he'll become an Italian international player.
Good luck in your first season in Serie A as well.
Thanks man. It's only because ALL my various boards would let me invest in over the years was the junior coaching.
Urgh! Gutted, He was my first ever signing for the club and my U-20 manager since day 1. He's been responsible for some of the big names in this team. Gutted.
Delighted to see you've made Serie A, man. Even happier to see you remained loyal!
I'm a little fed up with my game, simply because the rules of Serie B squad registrations well and truly caught me with my pants down. Actually considering starting again and trying to develop a team....
Delighted to see you've made Serie A, man. Even happier to see you remained loyal!
I'm a little fed up with my game, simply because the rules of Serie B squad registrations well and truly caught me with my pants down. Actually considering starting again and trying to develop a team....
It's been really rewarding, but it does take some time!
Well, here we are. The promised land. Serie A TIM. Given a £63k wage budget and £600k transfer budget, we had the brief to avoid relegation. I approached about trying to upgrade everything and they agreed to upgrade the youth facilities and junior coaching. They also relaid the pitch. We had Kuami Agboh leave us for Fiorentina, so I had to get in a new Youth Coach. But otherwise, we had a quiet period with the club business
23.08.20 Santarcangelo Calcio p1 - 1 Ravenna (4-3 on pens) (TIM Coppa Italia Third Qualifying Round) Dani Santos netted on his debut as I gave a start to around6 new signings, but it was a difficult display which had me biting my nails until youth keeper Cristian Longni saved the first sudden-death penalty
30.08.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 0 - 0 ChievoVerona (Serie A TIM) An encouraging start as we had some chances and defended well
Well, my first proper transfer budget. I almost choked on how much it was. And like normal, I put it all in the wage budget . However, incoming were DC Riccardo Bonato; DL Stefano Mercati; DC Raffaele Fiore; AMC Federico Casarini; Russian U-19 keeper Stanislav Matvienko and finally, professional headcase AMRL/ST Mario Balotelli. Coming in for ACTUAL money were MC Dani Santos for £65k from Santos FC. He was out of contract in 6 months, but I felt I needed him now. Also coming in was legend-in-my-own-mind ST Ciro Immobile for £45k from Grosseto. Finally, I splurged £825k compensation on U-19 Swedish DM/MC Gabriel Spångberg from Malmö FF.
Leaving the club were a lot of out-of-contract players who had been with me for a while, such as Kadir Caldi and Simone Rea, but they were just not good enough. DM/MC Andrea Giovanni Maino was co-owned by Sampdoria for £1.8m, along with AMC Antonio Durante (£80k by Carrarese) and AML/ST Francesco Braga (£250k by ChievoVerona). One-time star prospect Francesco Martino was sold to Deportivo Alavés for nothing, as I didn't check his contract clauses.
Looks like some decent business, great to see Immobile back! Interesting how Balotelli never seems to fulfill his potential, and actually ends up regressing from his starting stats. Must be to do with his poor mental stats, although they don't seem to stop him IRL. Might be that SI have to tone down his "bad character" slightly in future.
Good to see Immobile return. What happened with the co-ownership deal with Corallo? Is it a 2 year deal or did Udinese not bother taking up the option?
Wow Fiore looks like he could be deadly at set pieces...20 for heading,18 jumping and he looks like he is going to be a solid DC in the future as well.I hope Balotelli can produce the goods for you
Good to see Immobile return. What happened with the co-ownership deal with Corallo? Is it a 2 year deal or did Udinese not bother taking up the option?
I put the £0 bid in him at the end of the year, wincing as I did it, only to find Udinese did the same. Score! I kept him.
Looks like some decent business, great to see Immobile back! Interesting how Balotelli never seems to fulfill his potential, and actually ends up regressing from his starting stats. Must be to do with his poor mental stats, although they don't seem to stop him IRL. Might be that SI have to tone down his "bad character" slightly in future.
Wow Fiore looks like he could be deadly at set pieces...20 for heading,18 jumping and he looks like he is going to be a solid DC in the future as well.I hope Balotelli can produce the goods for you
Problem is, I don't have anyone good at set pieces. I also wish he'd stop heading it over the f****** bar!
13.09.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 1 Udinese (Serie A TIM) Sergio Corallo hit the equaliser and our first ever goal in the top division.
20.09.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 2 Napoli (Serie A TIM) Mario Balotelli first goal for the club was a penalty and a consolation goal as we lost in the 94th minute.
23.09.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 0 Cagliari (Serie A TIM) Our first win in Serie A TIM came courtesy of a header by Raffaele Fiore from a corner late on.
27.09.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 0 - 0 Genoa (Serie A TIM) We're holding our own at the minute. A good battling draw.
04.10.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 2 Roma (Serie A TIM) Sergio Corallo hit the our goal and we looked to be on course for a famous result, until they headed home on 92 mins to break all our hearts.
17.10.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 2 AC Milan (Serie A TIM) Sergio Corallo got our consolation, after we were totally outplayed.
25.10.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 4 Juventus (Serie A TIM) That man, Sergio Corallo hit a shock opener. However, we were taken to the cleaners from 70 minutes onwards.
28.10.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 2 - 2 Atalanta (Serie A TIM) 0-2 down at halftime and looking down and out. However, some strong words saw Wesley Verbeek hit a double to give us a great battling draw.
Not really any horror shows so far, that's got to be a positive!
What's not a positive is that I'm only a point above the relegation zone. So far Brescia, Palermo and Torino are below me. Torino are the ultimate yo-yo club.
01.10.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 1 Cesena (Serie A TIM) Wesley Verbeek stroked home into an empty net after the Cesena keeper parried Corallo's shot to give us a battling draw.
08.10.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 0 - 1 Palermo (Serie A TIM) Gutted, really. We tried, but they were just too good.
11.11.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 3 - 0 Brescia (Serie A TIM) These are the games I have to win if I have any chance of staying up. Francesco Valentini, Sergio Corallo and Wesley Verbeek did the damage.
22.11.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 0 - 1 Parma (Serie A TIM) Relegation zone vs 1st place. They scored on their ONLY shot on target. Robbed. Especially considering Cristian Pinton was given a straight red for a studs up tackle.
25.11.20 Santarcangelo Calcio p0 - 0 Sorrento (4-3 on pens) (TIM Coppa Italia Fourth Qualifying Round) We were woeful throughout the game and during extra time. We also missed our first penalty. Luckily, Masek made an outstanding save to keep us in it and then blocked a fierce penalty to give us the win 4-3
28.11.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 0 Fiorentina (Serie A TIM) Sergio Corallo lashed home, what proved to be, the only goal of this game in a tight, tight encounter. I taunted the Viola keeper before the match and it seemed to work, despite Sebastian Mladen going for a second yellow late on in the second.
Not the best start to life in Serie A, but by the looks of things you.ve got the quality to keep clear of the bottom three when May rolls around. With your lineup of future superstars I'm sure you'll quickly become a force to be reckoned with.
"..I awoke, bolt upright. Happy, yet depressed. For I'd had the most wonderful dream in which we had taken the Serie B title and got promoted to Serie A. But, it was 3am on the eve of the Pescara match on February 4th 2020. I got up, put the coffee maker on and sat at the kitchen table to try and make my dream a reality...." - Memoirs of an Italian Hero by Andrea Managerino*
*What happened was my laptop restarted because of Windows' f****** updates and it obliterated all of my saves up to a year back. Guess adversity doesn't like it when you're attempting to beat it...
01.02.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 2 - 1 Catania (Lega Serie Bwin) A great win over our promotion rivals. Valerio Grassi slammed the ball home to give us the lead and Daniel Addo nodded home the second.
04.02.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 1 Pescara (Lega Serie Bwin) Davide Ranieri to our rescue in this one.
08.02.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 2 Livorno (Lega Serie Bwin) We took the lead through Valerio Grassi, but were beaten by our own lacklustre play.
15.02.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 4 - 0 Piacenza (Lega Serie Bwin) We dropped the boom on Piacenza to this one. Sergio Corallo hit an early double. Valerio Grassi, his partner, also netted a double to give us a fantastic win.
22.02.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 2 Novara (Lega Serie Bwin) Valerio Grassi curled home a beautiful free-kick to haul us level, but a defensive error let them in for the winner.
07.03.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 2 Foggia (Lega Serie Bwin) A tale of two penalties. Both deemed harsh. Both given against me. Davide Ranieri hit our reply to equal it up before the second farcial decision.
21.03.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 2 - 2 Cremonese (Lega Serie Bwin) We took the lead twice through Valerio Grassi and Wesley Verbeek, but twice we were pegged back.
24.03.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 0 Mantova (Lega Serie Bwin) Spmewhat revenge after their thumping of us in the earlier fixture. Wesley Verbeek made the game safe with the winner in the first half.
28.03.20 Santarcangelo Calcio 1 - 0 Torino (Lega Serie Bwin) Oh wow. Valerio Grassi's game winner lit up this sterile match like a flare.
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