(NETWORK) from Serie D to.......lets see. A journey with a friend.

Hi all, following on from my Annan blog, I have started a network game with a good friend of mine. We are both starting in Serie D, Group E in Italy. Neither of us have managed at this level before so it should be an interesting journey. My mate will be on to update his own team, Gavorrano, and I have chosen to go as the mighty Rieti. Why Rieti? Well I have no local links like with Annan, I don't support them like Chester FC, it was a good look through the division and 2 major points made my decision for me. Firstly, season 1 will be a challenge. All clubs in this division are semi-pro, but only 3 have regional reputation, recently bankrupt Sienna, Gavorrano and one other. All the other clubs have local or obscure rep, and in Rieti's case they are obscure, predicted to finish 17th out of 18. The other factor is the stadium, with a capacity of just under 10,000 I wont have to spend money upgrading this as we progress through the save. Only Sienna have a bigger ground in the division with their 16,000 all seater. 3 clubs in this division have grounds with a capacity of 500!!!! Wow!!!!

Ok so a little background on Rieti. Last season they came 2nd in the division below and were promoted into Serie D. Not a lot of history of winning here, although they did win Serie D group E in 2005, although were immediately relegated. The squad looks quite promising, I have a centre back who looks phenominal for this level, and a CM who could get into an English Lg 2 side too. Forgive me for not memorising the names yet, we have been playing for 2 hours and my mate is hosting so I don't have the game in front of me. I ask the board for a senior affiliate and they accept, however when I ask for more coaches they tell me they cant afford it. We start with £61k in the bank, but are projected to be £251k in the red by the end of the season. I am given a transfer buget of £1k and a wage budget of £5k PW, quite tight since the club is spending £4.9k PW now. The only problem I have is the balance of the squad, I have 4 keepers and 4 left wingers, but only 1 right winger, 4 anchor men but only 1 playmaker, no target men or poachers, and only 5 defenders in total at the club, and both full backs are on loan and also my most expensive players!!!!

I sorted out 2 tactics to start with based on my players abilities, a 4-2-3-1 with 2 anchor men, limited defenders, and 3 mids streaming forward in support of an advanced forward since I have no target man, and a 4-4-2 with the old fashioned balanced WM system I was brought up to love. Set up the forwards to be a poacher playing off a target man, however I don't have players for this role so unless I sign them I will start 4-2-3-1.

I do the usual meetings and media stuff, then get scouting. My scouting is worse than abysmal, so I do my usual thing of lots of trials. However my staff are no better at judging players, so instead of taking a guess on whether a player can be good, I arrange lots of friendlies early doors and look for certain things from those matches. Based on that I have offered contracts to 4 players, and am awaiting answers from them. All are youth or non contract as I am so tight on my budget. I have freed up a bit as I release 4 players immediately, only another £150 PW but if I find a gem it could make all the difference.

We are approaching the end of pre season, will update this when we are a few matches into the unknown......

Ps League rules are a bit strange in Serie D. You have to have at least 1 U20, 2 U19's and 3 U18's in every starting 11, and you are only allowed 2 non-EU players in the squad in total. I already have 2, so cannot bring any more in.

Well first of all i would like to introduce myself as the new manager of Gavorrano in the remote parts of Italy,my team choice was not really based on anything in particular and was just a combination of diffrent things,squad,reputation,things like that in all honesty.

The first season is a pretty formality by the looks of things here with a media prediction of 3rd place in the serie D section E.Siena are as expected,bound to walk the league with odds of 5/1fav,Myself(Gavorrano) have odds of 50/1,and Rieti are way back there at a long odds of 2000/1,but my colleague over there in Rieti feels he can do a job with the minnows as he said.

So the board will be demanding that we start to progress as a club overall and bulldoze our way through Italy,and that what was said at the press conference last week with chairman Paolo Balloni(pictured left),and managing director Enio Blagetti,who has a striking resemblence to Victor Meldrew looking happy as ever knowing we have a crazy scotsman in charge here

A bit of research into this semi-pro club then...The club was founded in 1930,located in beautiful Tuscany,the club play in a small compact 2,000 seater stadium called the Stadio Romeo Malservisi.The club won the Serie D section back in 2010,but other than have no real notable success,which is where i come in to change this.

Tactically,i know what kind of setup i will be using something quite similar to my good friend over there at Rieti,although i did feel it was a bit naive to publicly reveal tactical setup so early in the season,is this a mistake that could come back to haunt my good friend later on possibly.

The squad itself is made up mostly of youngsters and loanees from the bigger teams as you can see,not much of a budget,about 4k so not much really in the way of finance,which in itself is pretty ok although major work still needs done if we are all to achieve our expectations of keeping up with Siena,who again are expected to take the league at a canter.

The league structure as Mike said is rather bizarre,with the focus really on youth by the looks of it,although its not totally restricted to youths they will still have a major part to play,also you can have the maximum of 2 non eu players in the starting line up as well.

So thats it from me,my next update will be at the end of pre season where we can analyze what has been happening and where we see the club going,hope you guys can give us a follow and enjoy our save.

Should also mention, first match is Gavorrano vs Rieti!!!

Just looked up real life, Siena as they should won the league, with pogibonsi 2nd and rieti 3rd!!! Gavorrano finished 12th.

Just looked up real life, Siena as they should won the league, with pogibonsi 2nd and rieti 3rd!!! Gavorrano finished 12th.

No chance real life shall be replicated my good friend.

Any update to this thread?

Bump and a half there Heresda.

Mystic defender disappeared sadly. I have continued as Rieti as I was enjoying the game and learning about a level of football I know nothing about. Finished season 1 in 10th, winning 13, drawing 9 and losing 14. Lost both games to Gavorrano, 1-2 with a last minute goal was annoying. Lost 1-3 later in the season.

Game is finished for now, very disappointing. Season 2 was great, finished 3rd. Also made about £20k, and I never make a profit with a non league side unless I sell a player for lots of cash, so everything was looking great. Season 3 starts amazing with a 3-1 win followed by 5-0 and 1-0 wins, and a couple of draws. Then my star striker gets injured, and I only gave 2 17 years olds in the squad which seriously limits my options, and after a bad run I am sitting 11th having won 5, drew 8 and lost 4, and the board sack me. Should add this was a couple of weeks after a takeover, so my previous years success was wiped out. God damn it!!!! Ok, now for a little go in Germany or Czech rep....